Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Forty Three

It was only the fourth day back at Hogwarts and already Esme was infinitely grateful to be back. It was a much appreciated escape from life at home.

Still, that morning she sat with Regulus and Ignatius, absentmindedly picking at the food on her plate. As he'd promised, the first night back at Hogwarts Ignatius had promptly cut his hair. Though everyone found it far too funny to help, the boy had ended up trimming his own hair. This resulted in a much shorter hairstyle than usual. In fact Ignatius looked almost as though he'd shaved his head, and at the crown of his head, where the hair was longer, it stuck up at jagged angles. Nobody had pointed this out and Ignatius couldn't tell when he looked in the mirror.

Despite all of this, there was something nagging at Esme, a thought that she couldn't quite get rid of. Well, not so much a thought as a concern.
Esme seemed to be living in a constant state of concern and it was tiring.

She had hoped, rather foolishly, that upon returning to Hogwarts she could attempt to live a somewhat normal life. Esme wanted to hang out with her friends, sleep lots, be with Regulus, and have her main concern be overdue homework. However, this was not the case. It seemed, no matter how desperately she craved escape, Esme was bound to the Death Eaters and as such, that meant she couldn't be a normal student.

A couple of days ago, she'd had a rather significant lightbulb moment. An epiphany. An idea that, if executed correctly, could not only save lives but also give a real meaning to her involvement with the Death Eaters.
If Esme could pull this off, it would make all of her trouble and turmoil worthwhile.

As a few owls swooped into the Great Hall to deliver some early mail, Esme kept an eye out for a familiar little grey owl.

"So have you come up with a name for your cat yet?" Regulus asked, grimacing at the sight of Ignatius ramming two whole pieces of toast into his mouth.

Esme thought for a moment as she handed another piece of toast to her brother to see if he could manage three slices, and replied, "No. Nothing seems to fit."

"It's a shame you can't bring her to lessons." He continued, now blatantly ignoring the older boy sat next to him who had begun to regret his decision.

"She does seem to love you." Esme chuckled as, finally, Ignatius started to choke on the toast in his mouth.

Regulus nodded contently, "I'm a cat person, for sure."
"I always thought of myself as more of an owl person, but she's definitely growing on me." She admitted, taking a sip of water.

At long last, Ignatius pulled out two soggy slices of bread from his mouth and dropped them down in the plate. He panted heavily as he chewed and swallowed the first slice, his cheeks a vibrant red shade as he glared at Regulus and Esme.

"Why didn't you do something?" He exclaimed as he picked up his goblet and began to gulp down his drink.

"Oh christ, Ignatius!" Regulus complained, looking at the disgusting state of the older boy's plate, "That's vile. Push it away."
"Regulus, have you ever thought you're a little bit of a neat freak? Prim, maybe?" Esme laughed lightly.

Ignatius let out a long breath once he put down his goblet, "I think the term you're looking for is OCD."

"I just don't like things that are gross. Is that so bad?" Regulus shrugged it off.
"Gross like this?" Esme asked and opened her mouth, revealing it to be full of food as she stuck her tongue out.

Regulus closed his eyes and recoiled, "Merlin, you two are just the worst. It's not OCD, it's just manners and cleanliness."

Then, just as Esme forgot about what she'd been waiting for, a letter fluttered down through the air and landed neatly on top of the half-empty pile of pancakes in front of Esme.

"Is that for you?" Ignatius asked, reaching towards the letter.

"Yes. Mine." Esme snatched it up quickly, tucking it away in her robes so it was out of sight.
Regulus frowned at this sudden action but thought it best not to press on the matter, particularly in front of her brother.

"I've got to go and finish an essay for Charms. So... I'll see you guys later." Esme held on tightly to her pocket - clutching the letter.
Regulus offered, "I can come with you, if you like. I have some Potions work I need to read over before handing in."
"No!" She exclaimed, "I... I've left it in my dormitory so I'll just work on it in the common room."

"Alright, weirdo. Bye." Ignatius scoffed with a shake of his head. Regulus didn't say anything as he watched Esme get up and walk out of the Great Hall. Although he hoped it wasn't true, Regulus was suspicious that Esme was partly avoiding him. They had barely seen each other over the past week and, despite it being only a short period of time, that was unusual for the two of them.

Esme hurried out into the courtyard, wasting no time in pulling out the letter and tearing apart the envelope.
As expected, it was from Andromeda.
The two had reconnected at the end of the summer holidays as Esme explained her ideas and Andromeda desperately warned against them.

But, the older woman knew this would do no good to deter the girl. Andromeda held the secrets that would make Esme's mission possible.
Because Andromeda knew which pureblood witches and wizards secretly wanted to escape from the Death Eater's clutches, and that was vital information.

With Andromeda's help, Esme could find the people that had unwillingly been drawn into the hands of the Dark Lord.
Esme didn't quite know yet how she was going to do it, but she was going to help.

After glancing over it, she pocketed the letter containing the whereabouts of a wizard to get in contact with.
Esme would start there.

Finally looking up, she saw her cat perched proudly on one of the empty benches in the courtyard. It was watching her, almost as if it was trying to figure out what she was doing. Esme, with a gentle smile, walked towards the kitten and sat beside it. She gently combed her fingers through the fur on its head and said to it, "Guess it's time I head to the library."

If Esme's plan was going to work, there was one subject in particular she needed to study up on. And Regulus could never find out.
So as she pulled out a chair at the back of the library, and opened the first of the many books she'd gathered, it's opening chapter title read: An Introduction To Occlumency

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sorry it's only a short chapter today but this bit needs to be included and it doesn't fit well with either of the chapters before or after