"I don't know what's going on, but it's driving me insane." Ignatius looked up from the chessboard and stared directly at his sister opposite him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She replied shortly with a slight shrug before sliding a piece across the board and wiping out one of her brother's pieces.

"Pawn to E6." Ignatius muttered, "You know full well I'm talking about you and Regulus. You guys used to be best friends, then you don't speak for like five years, and suddenly you're at each other's throats. All you've done all week is argue. I'm surprised his parents haven't said something."

"They'd have to actually spend more time with their son to notice." Esme pointed out as she swiftly knocked down another of his chess pieces.

"First of all, you've got to stop doing that."

"What? winning?"

"Secondly, you don't need to physically move the pieces. That's part of wizard chess." He grumbled, slouching back down in his seat.

"Well if it were all up to your sister, we might all be living like muggles so we don't frighten them, right?" Regulus Black quietly stood in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen.

She rolled her eyes without turning to the other boy, "That's right, the broken chess pieces might scare the muggles so much they simply kill us all out of fear. And god forbid we use magic to improve medicine and save lives. We really are monsters to them."

"Merlin's beard, do you two ever actually shut up? I preferred it when you both pretended the other didn't exist." Ignatius held his head in his hands, "We get it, you both have opinions. I don't remember asking to hear them."

"I don't remember asking to suffer in silence. I tried that for four years and it wasn't fun. If our... If our family is getting dragged into this dark magic mess, I'm not staying quiet anymore." Esme argued, glaring at her brother.

He looked straight back, "Then you're putting us all in danger, Esmeralda. You know where I stand on this, you know we don't agree. Personally, I don't care what your opinion is; believe what you want so long as it doesn't affect me. You need to know, though, that if you shout a little too loud then the wrong person might hear. Traitors and spies are worse than muggles to them-us. Your opinions could be putting me and our parents in danger. You're not a lone wolf, you're tied into this mess as much as anyone else and if you pull the wrong strings we're going down with you."

Esme sat back, her lips pursed and expression otherwise unreasonable. It had come as a shock. Normally, Ignatius was never a particularly serious person but he feared for his sister. In their own home, with their parents, Esme had much more freedom with her voice. Lucas and Antoinette Avery knew their daughter didn't share their exact views, and they allowed that as long as it didn't lead the confines of their safe home. In Esme's mind it had never clicked that outside of her home, and outside of Hogwarts, her views could put her and her family at risk.

Even though she knew what she believed was right, she felt like everyone was against her. The girl was screaming at a brick wall and fighting a fight she alone could never win.

"Ignatius..." Regulus started slowly, shattering the deafening silence that had cloaked the room.

Esme rose slowly, glancing over her shoulder and connecting her eyes with Regulus'. Their constant battling over the past week - arguing over every small matter every time they were even in the same room together - had lead the two to almost understand each other more than ever. Even though they were both too stubborn to admit it, they understood the other.

"I'm going upstairs." She muttered quietly, tearing her eyes away from Regulus and quietly exiting the room.

Igantius exhaled loudly, pinching the bridge of his nose in thought as he closed his eyes.

"Do you think we should-" The raven-haired boy was abruptly cut off.

"Fancy continuing this game with me?" Igantius lowered his hand and plastered on his usual grin.

Regulus nodded once, knowing not to push the matter regarding Esme, "If you were losing this badly to her, I'm going to obliterate you."

"I'd rather lose to you than Esmeralda. You won't rub it in my face as much." The boy grumbled, looking down at all his broken pieces.

Regulus chuckled, "As much."

Far removed from the game of wizard chess, Esme paced angrily in her room. Everything was just too overwhelming and she didn't know how to control it. Over a few months her entire world had come crumbling down.

Before the summer holidays, she had barely a care in the world and no fears for her own survival.

She had been ignorant.

Then a snap.

"Miss Avery." Kreacher greeted the girl tentatively as he had overheard the argument several moments earlier from the cupboard in the kitchen.

Esme turned to the house elf with a small smile, "Kreacher."

She could feel it still, this gnawing anxiety in the pit of her soul. Recently it had become an all too familiar feeling, constantly keeping her company when she lay awake deep into the night. Esme yawned slowly, rubbing the deep set bags under her eyes.

"Miss Avery?" Kreacher leaned forward slightly to inspect the girl. Her attention shot back to reality and Esme realised she must have been sat in her own little world for several minutes.

"S-sorry. Lot on my mind. What can I do for you?" She shrugged off her thoughts, lazily pushing them to the back of her mind.

Kreacher readjusted the enormous pillowcase that frowned his crooked frame, "Mistress Black gave Kreacher the task of ensuring all guests were content."

"How sweet of her." Esme held back a scoff.

"Kreacher was informed Miss Avery isn't happy so Kreacher brought these." The house held tentatively outstretched one arm and revealed what he was gripping in his hand.

There were three chocolate biscuits.

Esme's eyes lit up at the sight, a sudden laugh escaping her lips. It was quite rare to change the girl's mood so suddenly but the site of the biscuits wiped her memories of any previous concerns.

"Wow, Kreacher, you've really outdone yourself this time." The girl chuckled slightly, not noticing how the house elf fidgeted uncomfortably at her words.

For little did she know, on the other side of the door stood Regulus Black. In one hand was an empty wrapper for the biscuits, and on his face were sad eyes but a contradictory small smile tracing his lips.

-

a/n

kinda short chapter - sorry about that - i just ran out of ideas for this particular scene and couldn't move onto the next one as it's a long chapter with a flashback