"Well, are you coming in or not? I mean, if you want you can lurk out here like a stalker. I'd rather sit down, if I'm being honest." She spoke with her typical snark.

Regulus slowly turned around, his eyes falling on Esme. He adjusted his robes around his neck slightly, not letting his grip go on the window frame of the Hogwarts Express. He had spent the past ten minutes intently staring out of the window, his thoughts a million miles away from the train tracks they were currently travelling over.

"Regulus?" She reiterated, blinking hard as he hadn't replied for a couple of minutes.

"Yes."

"Yes?" Esme laughed, "Yes to what?"

"Yes I'm coming in." Regulus exhaled.

"Are you sure?" Esme closed the compartment door behind her now and faced the boy fully, "If you don't want to, I understand. I mean, us getting along again has kind of come out of the blue. It might be overwhelming to dump Dirk and Piper on you. He's extremely muggle born and she's... A bit of an odd one." She laughed lightly again.

Thinking about it, the girl's life had practically turned upside down since the start of the school year. It was only January and she'd practically made her own friendship group. Dirk was around a lot more, she'd met Piper, and reconnected with Regulus. It was an odd feeling to not be so lonely anymore.

Though, in the rush of all of this, Esme had completely forgotten about the mystery of what had actually happened over the Christmas holidays. She was too giddy to still be on high alert... But when Regulus finally shared what he'd learnt over the holidays with her, it was sure to catch her off guard.

"It's not that." Regulus stammered, "It's just weird being back here. It feels like I never left. The holidays went by too quickly."

"I would have thought you'd be glad to be shot of Grimmauld Place?" She cocked an eyebrow.

He smiled softly, "It's a relief to be out from under the intense scrutiny of my parents, if that's what you mean."

"Well, I do feel bad Kreacher has to stay there." She admitted.

"Speaking of Kreacher, you know that summer-"

"What are you doing out here?"

Esme and Regulus turned around to see Piper Horix stood in the doorway to the train compartment.

"Nothing." Regulus replied quickly.

Esme scanned her eyes over Regulus for a moment, trying to read him, before deciding to let it be for now, "We were just coming."

Regulus stepped into the compartment behind Esme, nervously wiping his hands on his robes.

"This is Regulus. Regulus, you've already kind of met Piper, and that is Cresswell." Esme introduced.

Slowly, Dirk lowered the newspaper masking his face and stared at the other boy for a moment. "Hello." Regulus greeted with a half-wave.

"Regulus Black?" Dirk questioned somewhat hesitantly. He was no fool, Dirk had heard the rumours about the Black family - more importantly, about why Sirius Black had run away. The muggle born boy didn't quite imagine himself spending time in the company of someone that probably wanted him dead.

"Um, yes." Regulus nodded, sitting down on the very edge of the bench, opposite Esme.

"Dirk Cresswell." The boy held out his hand, shaking Regulus'.

"You're... You're in Ravenclaw as well?" The Slytherin boy asked.

"We all are." Piper spoke up, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"Although," Esme explained, "Piper is in the year above. Apparently the sixth years aren't as fun as us."

"Oh, you guys are a delight!" Piper laughed with glee, nudging Esme in the side.

"What is it like having your common room in the dungeons?" Dirk questioned.

"Cresswell." Esme spoke in a warning tone.

"Avery?" He replied innocently.

The compartment door slid open again, and the four students all turned to inspect who had arrived. Esme frowned as an unfamiliar Hufflepuff student stood in the doorway, his hair askew at all angles and his tattered robes loose and dirty.

"Piper! I've been looking all over for you!" He announced, exhaling sharply.

"I-we... Right. Great. You found me!" She laughed nervously, scanning the room.

Esme sat back in her seat, tightly folding her arms and furrowing her eyebrows in an attempt to figure out what was going on.

"Nobody in our year seemed to know where you were. I almost thought you hadn't come back to Hogwarts." The boy chuckled lightly.

Esme tilted her head, "Well we're not back yet."

"Er... Everyone, this is Darien Fawley. He's in my Transfiguration class." Piper hesitantly introduced the boy.

"I didn't really come here to sit with... These... Guys. I was kind of wondering if you wanted to join me and some other mates in a different compartment." Darien ran a hand through his hair.

Piper suddenly leant forward, placing a hand on Dirk's thigh, "I'm actually kind of busy here, at the moment. Maybe another time?"

Dirk lurched forward in his seat and had to hold back from exclaiming at Piper's unexpected move.

Esme bit down on her tongue to mask her laughter but failed to do so and let out a short snort, earning a kick in the shin from Regulus.

"Oh... Right. Well, yeah, later then?" Darien went to leave but stopped and turned back once halfway through the door, "Piper, did you change your hair? It looks nice."

"Nope. No. Haven't changed it. I hate it at the moment. I might dye it dark. Or cut it all off. I don't know." Piper stammered hurriedly. Esme was almost stunned, she'd never seen the older girl act this way.

"Well-" Darien was cut off by Regulus standing up.

"Did you hear that?" Regulus questioned, blocking Darien's view of Piper, "Oh! There it was again!"

"What? I didn't hear anything." The Hufflepuff boy frowned.

"Yes you did." Regulus stated, "You must have. Someone is calling your name. There it is again! It must be really important."

"I don't-" Darien shook his head.

"Better hurry." Regulus reiterated, "Don't want to keep them waiting."

The older boy frowned, letting out a long sigh before lowering his head and finally deciding to leave. Regulus slowly closed the compartment door and sat back down.

"That boy is as slimy as venomous tentacula." Esme quipped.

Dirk had pushed himself as far back into the corner of the compartment as possible and had laid out the newspaper he'd been reading across his lap - a feeble attempt to maintain some sense of personal space.

"He's about as spineless as one, as well." Esme added, grinning at Regulus opposite her.

Piper nodded, "Merlin knows how I'm going to get rid of him."

"Anybody want a pumpkin pasty? I'm going to go and buy some." Dirk stood up, tentatively sliding past Piper to the door.

"Please." Piper smiled warmly across at him.

"Esmeralda?" Dirk turned to her.

"Esme doesn't like them."

"What?" Dirk turned to Regulus, who was innocently staring up at him.

"Esme doesn't like pumpkin pasties." He explained again.

Dirk pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, looking between the two.

"It's true." Esme added.

Dirk didn't like this one bit. He had an odd feeling about Regulus Black. Something was off. He didn't like that Regulus could swan in here and nobody questioned his allegiances to the pureblood mania currently gripping the wizarding world. He didn't like that Esme was perfectly comfortable opening herself up to Regulus nor that he was the only one given the privilege of shortening Esmerelda's name.

Dirk vividly remembered the first couple of months at Hogwarts in their first year. Esme barely spoke and spent most of her time locked up in the girl's dormitory. It took months for her to finally talk to Dirk, and even longer for her to laugh and joke with him. He was certain that had been due to being abandoned by the people she thought were her friends.

"Alright." Dirk finally spoke, pulling some money out of his pocket.

"I'll come! It'll be nice to have a little walk." Piper announced suddenly, quickly moving to the door and holding on tightly to Dirk's arm.

"Wonderful." The boy spoke, glancing at Esme with pleading eyes.

Esme smirked, "Well go on, then. Take your time. Don't rush back."

Dirk mentally cursed the girl whilst closing the door behind them and heading off to find the Trolley Witch.

"I noticed something." Regulus spoke up.

"Nice to know you're not oblivious." Esme retorted.

The boy sighed, rubbing his temples, "Esme."

"Alright, what did you notice?"

"Esme."

"What?"

"Esme."

"Is your hard drive broken? I don't know any spells to fix broken robots."

Regulus sighed, trying to hide his smile, "Why are you so opposed to other people calling you Esme?"

"I'm not."

"You are a terrible liar."

"I'm not."

"Point proven, really." Regulus snickered.

She rolled her eyes, "Oh do shut up."