Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Twenty Four

She caught sight of the boy she'd been avoiding as he chatted amongst a large group of students at the bottom of the stairs in the Divination tower. Pursing her lips, she wondered whether she should pull her hood up and run past them in the hopes he wouldn't notice... Or perhaps it was easier to just abandon the lesson altogether to avoid any unwanted confrontation.

Sitting just outside of the room, Dirk Cresswell had begun working his way through the mountain of books he had challenged himself to read before the end of the year. He did think perhaps it would be best to prioritise studying for the OWL exams, but he told himself it was never a bad idea to get a head-start on the NEWT studies.
Settling in for another chilly study session by himself, Dirk nearly let out a shrill shriek when the door next to him slammed open and a whirl of dark robes and blonde hair flashed past him.

"I think I just lost ten years of my life." Dirk clutched his chest as he composed himself and his breathing slowed. Looking towards the person who had caused the commotion, he was not at all surprised to see Piper Horix straightening out her robes and flattening down her hair as she turned to him with a sheepish grin.

Leaning forward on his knees to frown at the girl, he inquired, "I thought you had a lesson now?"
"Oh, yes... I do-did. It's cancelled." She shrugged, sliding the pile of books along the bench away from Dirk, so she could sit beside him.

Biting down on his lip in an attempt to calm himself, Dirk felt a pit of guilt growing in his stomach. Secretly, he had been avoiding the girl. Despite preferring to work outdoors, he would study in the dormitory when Piper wasn't in lessons in a feeble attempt to get some peace and quiet. He did like the girl and truthfully he thought she was quite lovely. However, he was growing uncomfortable with her lack of personal space and he was quite afraid he might accidentally snap at her. Dirk never wanted to upset anyone, so he didn't dare express his true concerns - instead he feebly avoided any risk of confrontation on the matter.

"Well... I actually promised I'd study Herbology with a classmate back in the dormitory, so I should head off." Dirk slid a bookmark between the pages of his book and gently closed it.

"Dirk, wait." Piper placed a hand on his arm, "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. It's bad enough Esmeralda and Regulus have been distant the past week, but you can't disappear now too."

"I'm sure Avery and Black aren't avoiding you." He shrugged, not paying attention to what he was saying.
Piper frowned, "Avoiding me? Why would they do that?"

"What? No!" Dirk exclaimed, "No..." He lowered his voice and slowed down, "They're definitely not avoiding you. So, nothing to worry about."

Her eyebrows remained thoroughly knitted together as she watched the boy pile up his stack of books. "You three are like my only proper friends, really. It sucks you guys aren't around anymore."

"Next time I see Esmerelda, I'll see if she fancies going into Hogsmeade at the weekend. We could all go as a group and catch up. I-I really do need to go though; I have a mountain of work to get through." It wasn't just that Dirk wished to get away from Piper's apparent infatuation with him, he was also growing increasingly stressed about the amount of work he had to cover in preparation for the exams. He was academically brilliant, but that status was only earned from the copious amount of hours of work he put in - building up a sometimes overwhelming feeling of stress.

Piper sighed, "Dirk, please just stay for a minute. You don't have to talk, you can study, I just really need to be with you for a bit."

"Piper, listen, I don't want to say this but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed because you-"
"Dirk," The blonde stood up suddenly and placed her hands on his shoulders, "Give me a second to explain-"