Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Nine

"Are you sure that's your brother's hair?" Dirk asked with raised eyebrows.
Esme nodded, "It came out of his head."

Piper folded her arms, "It could be someone else's, that brushed against him. You could end up as Professor Slughorn, or someone worse."

"I took this hair straight from his scalp myself. It was quite funny, really." Esme shrugged.

Dirk groaned, rubbing his temples, "Doesn't that give it away? You going up to Ignatius and pulling some hair out of his head... He'll know what we're up to."
"No." Esme shook her head, "We're siblings. That's exactly how everyone expects us to treat each other."

Piper nodded, "She does have a point."

"Yeah, well... Whatever, Avery." Dirk grumbled and folded his arms tightly in disapproval.

"I don't think I ever thanked you guys for helping me to brew this. So cheers." Esme held up her glass to the two before taking a deep breath and swallowing the cup's murky grey contents.

Piper pursed her lips, "I still think this is a little far to go for a prank."
"You have no idea." Dirk shook his head, not entirely impressed that Esme was making him keep the truth of her intentions hidden from Piper.

Esme smirked slightly, thoroughly pleased with herself. She knew Ignatius was in detention tonight and this provided the perfect opportunity for her to take his place in the Slytherin common room and interrogate Regulus as to what the Black family was really up to.

"Well... Down in one, as they say." Piper chuckled with a shake of her head.

Eyeing the grey concoction in her hands, Esme took a deep breath before tipping her head back and rolling the potion past her lips.

"Merlin's... Beard..."

"I think I'm going to be sick." Dirk winced as Esme's shaky hand dropped the cup down into the sink and squeezed her eyes shut.

One thing Esme had not accounted for when conjuring up this plan, was the fact that she was going to be in her brother's own body. Looking at herself in the mirror, she wanted to punch herself in the face. Ignatius' perfectly maintained hair and cocky face was staring straight back at her.

"Do you feel okay?" Piper questioned quietly.

"Oh no..." Esme muttered, her - or rather his - face turning pale, "Oh... no..."

"What?" Piper's eyes widened.
"What's wrong?" Dirk held his hands over his mouth.

Gulping, she replied, "I kind of need the toilet."

"Well... that might be karma for you." Dirk chuckled now, leaning back against the sink.
"Shut up Cresswell."

Half an hour later, Esme stood in a pristine Slytherin uniform outside of their common room. She looked up at the door and let out a huge sigh. In their hurry to get her plan rolling, she had completely forgotten about requiring the password to enter into the common room. The dim narrow corridors of the dungeons were laced with cold breezes nipping at her cheeks.

Perhaps this whole plan was eccentric and stupid.

"Come on Avery, the Slytherins can't be that smart." Esme grumbled to herself, rubbing her temples. Her thoughts running wild was beginning to give herself a headache, and this wasn't helped by her desperate need to go and throw up.

Then the sudden words that emanated from the shadows nearly caused the girl to jump.
"Avery! What are you doing, lurking about?"

Whipping around suddenly, Esme was face to face with none other than Regulus Black. Stumbling backwards, she gasped for air.