Quietly, Esmeralda waited at the end of the long Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall. Most other students were talking amongst their friends - catching up on the events of the summer or anticipating the events of the school year. However, Esmeralda was patiently awaiting Dumbledore's speech and, most importantly, the start of term feast.

"Avery, you're never short of wit; what do you make of Lucy Blackwell's new haircut?" One of the Ravenclaw boys leaned over the table towards her, gesturing his thumb over at the girl in question - Lucy Blackwell. The girl sat hunched over a little way down the table, her eyes were dead set on the empty table and she could presumably hear every single word everyone was saying.

Truth be told, her hair did look somewhat like her mother had put a bowl on top of her head and simply cut the girl's hair around it. This wasn't helped by the fact her hair was a kind of mousy brown colour. Esmeralda thought to herself that the younger girl did honestly look slightly like she had a dirty mop on her head.

"Her haircut sure has more character and personality than you, that's for sure. I don't even know what your name is." Esmeralda hit back coldly, a small smile emerging on her face as the boy's smug grin was quickly swiped off his face. The surrounding Ravenclaws roared with laughter and resumed to chat loudly amongst themselves, causing the boy to turn a vibrant shade of red.

Esmeralda looked up as the bench opposite creaked and Dirk Cresswell sat down opposite her at the table. "Merlin, Avery, we've been back all of five minutes and you've already destroyed a boy's ego. How do you do it?" He shook his head somewhat disapprovingly, although he had the faint trace of a smile playing across his lips.

"Oh shut u-"

"Dirk! I haven't seen you in forever! You didn't write over summer!" A blonde girl practically shrieked as she threw her arms around Dirk, practically smothering the boy. Behind her flailing arms and wild mane of curly hair, Dirk shot Esmeralda a pleading look.

"Why don't you introduce your guest." Esmeralda leant forward on the table, resting her chin in her hands as she smiled falsely.

"Avery, I swear-"

"Go on, Dirk. Introduce me." The girl purred, pushing herself into the seat beside the boy and pressing her chest up against his arm.

Dirk took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before sighing. "This is Piper Horix. She's in the year above." He introduced simply.

"Horix? That's an interesting name." Esmeralda mused, moving her leg so Dirk couldn't kick her under the table. Instead, the boy's foot collided with the wooden leg of the bench and he yelped in pain.

"Ow!"

Piper frowned, eyeing Dirk and Esmeralda suspiciously, "When my mum left my father, she changed our name. I think it's just a made up surname to be honest." She explained.

"Aren't all names made up?" Esmeralda questioned.

"Well..." Piper furrowed her eyebrows in thought, "I guess so."

"Hey Piper, where are all of your mates?" Dirk asked, drawing her attention back to himself.

She licked her lips slowly, "They're all sat down there talking about their holidays. I wanted to come and see you though." The blonde batted her eyelashes and looked up at him. Her long hair fell effortlessly down to her waist, and it was framed neatly around her warm olive skin and - almost highlighting her deep brown eyes and long eyelashes.

Before Esmeralda could burst out laughing, an unexpected silence fell over the Great Hall as Dumbledore rose from his seat and stood at the centre of the stage. All of the students looked up, eagerly anticipating the news of the school year. Dirk tried to shuffle away from Piper discretely, but this only caused her to grip onto his arm and hold it tight against her body. The boy was truthfully too polite to risk hurting her feelings by admitting his discomfort.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts." Dumbledore began slowly, peering over the top of his half-moon glasses to cast his gaze over his audience.

Esmeralda sighed and turned slightly away, not having the energy to pay too much attention to the announcements. They were the same every year: don't go into the Forbidden Forest, and don't annoy Filch. She blinked, dragging her heavy eyelids open before making eye contact with a boy across the hall. At first, she thought he hadn't seen her. She was wrong.

Regulus Black put no effort whatsoever into breaking the eye contact with Esmeralda. He stared at her intently, narrowing his eyes somewhat as if trying to figure out a problem or see a minute detail.

She frowned at the boy, trying to send a rather explicit message to look away. However this did not work. Instead, Esmeralda folded her arms tightly and turned her body away.

Listening to Dumbledore drone on was far better than facing any memories of her once forgotten childhood.

"Without further ado. I take great pride in announcing it's time for the feast." Dumbledore raised his arms and on cue plates and bowls and dishes and mountains of food snapped into place in front of all of the students. Golden crockery and cutlery glistened under the flickering candle light and slowly the room filled with an aroma of mouth watering foods and delights.

Esmeralda would have been lying if she said she hadn't been dreaming of a roast dinner from Hogwarts since the first week of the summer holidays.

Leaning across the table to fetch a Yorkshire pudding, she found the plate rudely snatched away by the boy she had earlier insulted.

"Oh sorry, did you want this?" He sneered, scowling at her.

Esmeralda scoffed, "That was why I was reaching for it, yes. Did you not figure that out?"

The boy opened his mouth to retaliate, growing red in the face again, before he was interrupted by Piper.

"Hi, hello? Sorry, could you pass me that plate please?" Piper asked, flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder and revealing a dazzling smile of perfect white teeth. He flushed a vibrant pink shade now and only had the muscle capacity to nod feverishly before handing over the plate to Piper.

Esmeralda noticed it now. She had always known intelligence came in a variety of forms. Personally, she had the intelligence to correct people and stand up for herself and those she felt needed it. For sure, Esmeralda had wit. Dirk, on the other hand, was academically brilliant. He excelled in all of his classes without showing a single sign of stress. He had the intelligence to read people's feelings and characters to know how to act around them.

Clearly Piper knew what she was doing as she thanked the boy, brushing her fingers over his hand as he passed the plate. Piper was intelligent and Esmeralda couldn't help but smile at the realisation and appreciation of it. Piper had charm and she could easily manipulate it.

"Want one?" Piper asked, holding out the plate.

Esmeralda smirked, "Not too bad." She nodded and took a Yorkshire pudding.

Dirk rolled his eyes as he focused his gaze down on his own food. He should have known introducing the two girls would be a mistake. "Guess it's too late now." He muttered to himself under his breath.

"Sometimes being sarcastic and cold isn't always the answer." Piper suggested with a slight shrug.

Opening her mouth to reply, Esmeralda was abruptly cut off by something unexpected.

"So what do you think of what I've done with my hair?" Piper asked, holding her tongue between her teeth in a smile as she turned back to Dirk, changing the depth of the conversation completely.

Stammering, Dirk glanced over at Esmeralda for a moment - of course she'd have no idea what Piper had done differently; they'd only just met. "It looks great. Honestly, it's lovely." He smiled genuinely.

Piper ran her fingers through her golden locks, pulling apart a few stray knots. "I thought about dying it back to brown but then I thought I wanted a new look, and I don't know... Plus the saying always goes: blondes have more fun." She giggled, holding her fork in between her lips as she waited for a response.

"I suppose they might say that, yes."

Esmeralda hid her grin behind her hand as she watched the encounter between the two. She honestly couldn't realise how she'd never been properly introduced to Piper before. She seemed like quite the enigma and Esmeralda was more than interested in uncovering the mystery that lay beneath.

Dirk, on the other hand, was just trying to get through dinner without Piper touching him anymore or Esmeralda laughing at his predicament.

Across the hall, Regulus Black sat. He rested his head in one hand whilst swirling his food around on the plate with a fork in the other hand. His gaze had wandered away from the girl that sat at the Ravenclaw table and now he simply stared at the greying wall. Over the past few weeks he had been playing over in his head what Kreacher had said.

Apparently Esmeralda had said something to Kreacher that had caused him to act slightly differently. Sure, the layer of dust on the windowsill in the kitchen would go unnoticed by many. However, Regulus had noticed and never before had Kreacher allowed a single particle to be out of place in the Black household. Not only that, but one evening Regulus had awoken in the middle of the night and ventured downstairs to get a drink, where he discovered Kreacher was eating a single chocolate biscuit which he would never have dared to do before. The third clue, was that Kreacher, himself, had let slip that he'd been thinking of something that had happened in 1967.

It was all extremely peculiar and Regulus was making it his personal mission to solve the mystery once and for all. Even if it meant facing the one person that made him feel truly guilty - Esmeralda.