Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.

Written for;

Three for Three Challenge - Mirror Of Erised.

Pairing Appreciation - BartyRegulus

WC - 384

Hearts Desire

Regulus didn't want to be here. Surely, at seventeen, he should be allowed to decide for himself when he wanted to go to the Magical Collections exhibit? Of course not. His mother had insisted that Regulus accompany her, and when his mother requested his presence, Regulus generally had no right to say no.

He passed by exhibit after exhibit, nothing catching his interest. His mother was talking with the collector, likely trying to get her hands on something shiny, Regulus thought. She'd paid him no mind since their arrival, in fact, she'd told him to go and look around and leave her to her business.

A glint caught his eye at the end of the room, and he wandered over, finding himself face to face with a very pretty mirror. The engraving along the top caught his eye, and for a moment, he thought it was foreign. A second look told him different.

I show not your face, but your hearts desire.

Frowning, Regulus stepped closer so he was standing right in front of the mirror. His eyes widened to take in the picture the mirror presented and he glanced behind him on reflex but there was nobody there.

Inside the mirror, Barty smiled at him, running a hand down the chest of the mirror Regulus. The real Regulus could have sworn he felt an echo of it on his own chest. He watched as the mirror Barty and Regulus kissed, gently at first, but as their hands wrapped into each other's hair, their naked skin pressing together, he shivered.

Hearts desire…

"Regulus! Come along, we're leaving," his mother demanded, her shriek forcing his eyes away from the lovely idea's being presented to him on the mirror. "Now!"

"Coming, mother," he called, stepping back from the mirror. He felt drained suddenly, and every step he took away from the mirror hurt.

The collector watched him with his head tilted and when Regulus caught his eye, he winked. He knew exactly what had caught Regulus' attention.

"Sweet Merlin, boy, hurry up! Forever with your head in the clouds, I don't know why I bothered fetching you, you were no use here anyway -"

Regulus tuned his Mother out as she reprimanded him, his thoughts already back on what he'd seen in the mirror.

Hearts desire…

Barty.