Ever the Same

"Convinced yet?"

Regulus scowled. "If you could refrain from snogging me where my students can see, Potter, that would be preferred."

James's lips widened into a signature Potter smile at the words, watching the way that Reg's eyes danced with the color of silver. He always loved to watch Regulus's occlumency walls fall, exposing the real and true feelings of the wizard that tried so very hard to remain secretive.

"There's no one out at this hour, Reg. I'm sure your reputation will remain intact."

Even as he spoke, James leaned back in to kiss Regulus again. He wasn't sure what it felt like to be a starving man, but the closest he had ever been to such was when he tasted Regulus Black.

Regulus broke away from him for the second time that day, asking, "What is it that you had to tell me, then?"

James blinked. "Oh. That."

"Yes, that. I know that tone. What's happened now?"

James carefully slid out of Reg's side of the booth and back into his own, straightening the collar of his cloak and folding his hands in front of him.

Regulus watched silently, his own hands in his lap to keep himself from reaching for the man across from him.

"I've been given a new case from the Minister himself," James began carefully. "And I want you to know about it."

Regulus scoffed, "What, are they making you do a deep investigation into the Black family lineage or something?"

James remained silent.

Regulus's eyes clouded back over. "You are, aren't you?"

"You and your dramatics, Reg," James laughed subtly, reaching into the extended pocket of his cloak to pull out the file. "It's never as bad as you think it is."

He placed the file on the table between them, sliding it over in front of Regulus. Regulus reached out and flipped the cover open, only to be met with the last known photograph of his dear, deranged cousin.

Regulus inhaled through his teeth, "Has there been another sighting?"

It was a personal project of his, searching for Bellatrix. And one that he quickly surmised no one knew about. His contacts after the war had waned dramatically, given the dicey backstory he had fed to the public. The Death Eater sympathizers painted him a turncoat. The Order of the Phoenix and the rest of the Wizarding World just assumed he was a selfish bastard.

But Regulus had been searching.

Every place that held any meaning to Bellatrix or Voldemort, Regulus had checked. How she had disappeared from the most secure jail cell to ever exist was still beyond Reg.

"There has. She was spotted in Sunderland. No idea why."

Regulus's brow furrowed. "That town holds the largest muggle population in all of England. Is she hoping to blend in?"

"Bellatrix?" James all but snorted. "Blend in with muggles?"

"What of the child? Any sight of her?"

"Nothing since she was abducted from the group home in Port Erin. I don't know what she's done to conceal them, but there's no trace. We even tried to track their magical signature and it doesn't read."

"What about the book at Hogwarts?"

James looked confused, "The book?"

"Delphini would have turned eleven this year, same as Harry. Her name would have appeared on the Hogwarts roster. You haven't checked?"

James remained silent, staring across the dingy table at Regulus.

Regulus sighed, "What now, Potter?"

"I've missed you."

It came out so soft that Regulus almost didn't hear it. The words slipping from James's mouth like a sigh as his shoulders relaxed.

A fluttering feeling began to build low in Regulus's stomach, forgetting just how intense it could be to be under James Potter's full attention.

"Of course you have. I shudder to think about how you've survived this long without me."

The corner of James's mouth lifted. "I'll take that as you missed me, too."

Regulus didn't confirm or deny, but James could see the flush that had begun to build at the base of his neck.

"Have you talked to Evans about this?" Reg asked, changing the subject.

"She knows, although she hasn't been an Evans in quite some time."

"She'll always be Evans to me," Regulus quickly dismissed. "Has she talked to Severus?"

"Lily?" James's eyes widened. "She hasn't talked to him since the final battle."

There was hesitancy when Reg answered. "You're sure?"

"I don't see why she would lie." But James could hear the doubt in his own voice as he said it. "Maybe I should ask again. Just to be sure."

Regulus cleared his throat. "Can I take this?" He pointed at the file.

"Yeah, 'course. This is a copy, anyway."

Regulus hesitated, "I'll check the book for you. Unless you just want to use it as an excuse to pester Minerva."

James leaned forward, placing both of his elbows on the table and mumbling, "And here I was under the impression that you'd invite me back to yours."

Cocking an eyebrow, Regulus drawled, "You thought I would be that easy? Ply me with alcohol and a good mystery?"

James's smile was wide. "I know what you like, Reggie."

Regulus leaned in to almost completely close the distance between the two over the table.

"You haven't been with me in a decade, James. You wish you knew what I liked."

James shuffled in his seat, suddenly feeling very warm. This was the Regulus that he had missed for so many years.

James picked up the last shot of firewhiskey between them, throwing it back and sitting the glass back on the table with a thump.

"You're right; I do. So show me."

Intensity rolled off James in waves as he and Regulus stared at one another, the silence hanging in the air between them. This was not the James Potter from the war, of that Reg was certain.

This was the new Potter. Grown up and matured and so incredibly sure of what he wanted that he wasn't afraid to wear it on his sleeve.

Regulus could remember the stories from Hogwarts. The days that James loudly and proudly made a scene just to get a small morsel of Lily Evan's attention.

Trepidation, lust, and the tiniest bit of fear shot through Regulus at the thought.

Because the one thing that he couldn't be, if James was involved, was silent. Regulus would not be the person that blended in with the shadows, the quiet and reserved version of himself that he had meticulously crafted over the past decade.

No, if James was involved, Regulus would have to be bold. Proud. Because no one deserved to be loved louder than James Potter.

James watched in alarm as Regulus's occlumency walls slammed shut, his eyes darkening back to the storm cloud grey.

"Alright, Potter," He said, standing from the booth and beginning to pull his cloak about himself. "You're coming back to mine."

There was a thrum of excitement as James took Reg's hand as they exited the Hog's Head, noticing they were some of the last in Hogsmeade for the evening. Even though he knew it to be impossible, he couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to know Regulus while they were in school.

James and the Marauders had so many secrets, some of which Regulus knew. But James found that he wanted him to know them all. The new secrets, the old secrets from their times in school, he wanted Regulus to know everything there was to know about him.

"Can I show you something?"

Regulus had a sarcastic remark waiting on the tip of his tongue until he turned to look at James.

His eyes were bright, wider than they were before. Joy radiated off him as he slipped his hand into Reg's.

"Alright."

James began to pull Regulus towards Honeydukes, and Reg almost stopped walking.

"I'm sure they're closed by now, Potter. And I hardly think Potter junior needs a second box of Bertie Bott's this week."

"I haven't sent Harry a box yet, but that's not-"

James froze in his tracks, causing Regulus to bump his shoulder as he came to a stop beside of him.

"What is it?"

"Merlin's beard," James laughed. "You gave harry the candy. Didn't you?"

"...I don't know what you're on about, Potter."

"My Gods, you did."

James pulled Regulus towards him by their intwined hands, their noses touching first.

"When did Regulus Black start to care so much?"

James ran the tips of his nose across Reg's cheek and down to the point where his jaw met his neck, kissing him there.

"Always have," Regulus spoke roughly, closing his eyes as James kissed down his neck. "But tell anyone and you're dead, Potter."

James lifted his head from Regulus's neck and smiled, looking like pure sin. "Secret's safe with me, Reggie. Come on."

"Why are we breaking into Honeyduke's?" Regulus asked calmly.

"You'll see."

The passageway wasn't the most dramatic of places to take a lover on a date, but James surmised that Regulus Black wasn't any normal type of lover. He wanted Reg to know him down to the singular atom that made up James Potter, and the One-Eyed Witch passageway seemed like a safe place to start.

"We used to use this tunnel to sneak out of the castle all the time," James began as he pulled Regulus through the underground tunnel. "Life-changing, really. At least for a bunch of school-aged blokes like us."

Regulus looked around at the tunnel, and at the joy that seemed to continue to radiate off James at his admission. He had launched into the story of how they found the tunnel in the first place, needing to find a way to replace Moony's chocolate that Pete had eaten without his permission.

It was halfway to Hogwarts that he stopped.

"Do you ever wish it could've been different?" James asked.

And Regulus knew what he was referring to. Them, the war, losing their friends.

"It was different once," Regulus reminded him. "I'd prefer not to go back to that."

James was extremely close, Regulus began to notice. The distance between them seem to shrink as they looked at one another. He thought back to his earlier assumption that he would have to be loud for James.

He was kissing him before he could think much of it, holding him by the lapels of his cloak tightly. There was no more magical fate bond holding them together, but part of Regulus almost felt like the magic was still there. The heat, always simmering just below the surface of his skin, burst out of him and felt as though the tunnel had been lit on fire.

"Reg," James gasped against his lips. "Please."

He wasn't thinking when he pushed against James roughly, pinning him to the wall of the tunnel and kissing him until he couldn't breathe.

Sirius Black was many things.

Marauder first, the love of Remus Lupin's life second, and maybe still a Black somewhere along the line.

The one thing that Padfoot would never be able to admit to himself, though, was that he was incredibly nosy.

Sirius Black loved a good secret, especially one that was being kept from him. He knew that Moony had already grown tired of Sirius demanding answers from him about his brother and James.

Which is exactly why he decided that he was going to sneak back into the castle.

As far as he knew, he and the Marauders were the only people that knew of the One-Eyed witch passageway, unless Harry had somehow deciphered it off the map already. But to Sirius, there was absolutely no risk in slinking through the darkened streets of Hogsmeade and through the basement of Honeyduke's.

He was in his animagus form as he made his way through the dusty and old passageway, not expecting to see anyone else. But his nose caught a familiar scent halfway to Hogwarts, and his ears perked up.

It couldn't possibly be.

Shifting back into human form, Sirius rounded the bend quietly that separated him from the sounds that he had been hearing.

"Merlin almighty himself! You can't be serious!"

He had experienced many, many forms of torture in his life, all of which came from someone in the Black family tree. That was no exception either as Sirius couldn't get the image of his younger brother on his knees and James's trousers around his ankles to leave his mind.

Pivoting on his heel and facing away from the two, Sirius couldn't help but launch into a tirade.

"I can't believe the two of you! Snogging right out in the open like that. What if I was someone else?"

Regulus sounded eerily calm as he answered. "If you think that's what snogging looks like, I'm sure our resident werewolf is a very happy wizard."

Sirius turned back to look at his brother, his jaw hanging open in shock. "Well, I- What-"

James, who seemed somehow even more flustered than Regulus, clapped Sirius on the shoulder.

"Sorry, Mate. Didn't expect to see you here." The tips of his ears, even in the low light, appeared impossibly red.

"I've been wondering about the two of you! I knew the draw to one another would be impossible to resist, and I see that was more than accurate," Sirius, despite his mortification, began to smirk.

"Shall we all head on to the castle, then?" Sirius hummed, moving ahead of the two. "Might as well see Moony now. No need in a wasted trip."

"I think I'm going home, actually. Fudge has been on me about the latest case and expects another update in the morning. How that man ever got elected is beyond me."

Regulus stared at James. Without looking away, he addressed his brother.

"Leave, Sirius."

"I beg your-"

"Now. Please."

The eye contact between the two was intense enough that James began to feel his heart hammer away in his chest, feeling akin to that of a golden snidget let loose inside of himself. The tunnel heated around him, and his body almost acted instinctively.

"Alright, alright! Blimey, at least let me get out of here before you continue. Seeing both of your brothers in a compromising position with one another is enough to scar any wizard, even me!"

"Shut it, Sirius-"

"Go on, Pads."

James and Regulus spoke at the same time, moving towards one another without acknowledging Sirius in the slightest.

Turning towards the entrance to Hogwarts, Sirius muttered under his breath, "Merlin's beard. And I thought me and Moony were awful to be around."

But that didn't stop him from smirking about it.

Minerva was unaffected as Regulus Black strolled into her office the next morning, his robes billowing around him dramatically. She had yet to understand if he did it on purpose, but it almost felt like a storm followed Regulus around, giving him the commanding air of dramatics that fit him so well.

"Mister Black. Good morning."

"Good morning, Minerva. I was wondering if I could take a look at the first-year ledger."

At that, Minerva lifted her head from the paperwork in front of her and removed her glasses. "May I inquire what for?"

Regulus shuffled on his feet. "Potter is working the Lestrange case again. She's been sighted. I told him I would check the ledger for her daughter, see if there was any last address that the book gathered."

Minerva paused, and Regulus squirmed in the silence.

"Potter, you say? As in James Potter?"

"The very one, unfortunately."

".....Yes. Unfortunately."

He didn't have to meet her eyes to know that she was happy about what she was hearing. Despite her constant complaints and groaning over the Marauders, Minerva McGonagall loved those boys with every fibre of her being. And he would never admit that he knew, but Regulus could feel the very same love extended to him.

Rising from her desk, Minnie fished through her robes and retrieved her wand, waving it at one of the various hidden compartments on the left side of her office. Regulus watched with rapt attention as a stone dais appeared before their eyes, the book sitting closed on a pedestal on top of the steps.

"You are welcome to look, Regulus, but I don't believe she's listed. In all my years at this school I have never seen a magical child not within those pages."

Regulus had already begun to thumb through the pages as she spoke, fearing the Minerva was correct. His eyes stuttered over Harry and Draco's names, but there was no Delphini listed. There were no children with the last name Lestrange or Riddle either one. He even looked for Gaunt to no avail.

"It is possible that she isn't magical, of course," Minnie proposed.

"The Lestranges haven't produced a squib in centuries," Regulus mumbled, flipping through the pages.

"And the Riddles?"

Regulus paused. "I...suppose it's possible. But if that's the case, it's going to be nearly impossible to track them in lieu of Delphini. Bellatrix has done something to disguise her magical trace, but I haven't the foggiest idea of how."

"I might have something that will help. She is your blood relative, yes?"

"Double first cousin, if I'm correct. Yes, Headmistress."

Minerva produced a book from a hidden compartment underneath her desk with a flourish, a bit of dust following it through the air as she handed it over.

The titled stared back up at Regulus glaringly. Sanguis Magia Imperium.

"Quite a dark book to be carrying around, Headmistress."

"Definitely not one of mine," Minnie sniffed. "But Albus kept a collection of everything, even the darker things. What you find inside is beyond me. But remember, Regulus, be careful."

"Of course, Minerva," Regulus softly answered, holding the book between his hands. "I'll return this once I'm done."

Regulus Black exited in a flurry of black cloak and familial trauma, wondering what exactly magic had in store for him yet again.