Regulus stared at the empty seat across the classroom. It felt as though he'd been watching the chair for countless hours, yet simultaneously time could not have been passing slower.

"Reg..."

He couldn't work out where she was. She never missed lessons. It was peculiar.

"Reg..."

Regulus didn't want to worry. It was only breakfast and one lesson. He was starting to worry though.

Mulciber, sat beside Regulus, had grown tired of being ignored. He watched as the distracted boy leant his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands - focusing intently on something on the other side of the room.

Chuckling to himself, Mulciber leant across the desk and sharply elbowed the other boy's arm. This caused Regulus' head to slam down onto the table, sending out a large echo across the otherwise silent room.

Regulus groaned, rubbing his forehead and completely unaware that everyone had turned around to stare at the source of the commotion.

"Mister Black." Professor Mcgonagall lowered her nose to glare at him over the brim of her glasses, "Do you have something to contribute to the lesson?"

"Wh-Sorry, Professor. No. Sorry." The boy stammered, heat rising to his cheeks as he discretely rubbed his sore forehead.

"Right, best focus on the work at hand then." She raised an eyebrow before turning her back to the class again as she continued to mark some work.

Regulus turned to the boy sat next to him, suspicion setting in, "Mulciber... Why would you do that?"

"I didn't do anything." He shrugged with a smirk.

"You bloody did!" He hissed.

Mulciber held his hands in the air, surrendering, "I promise you, I did not."

"We're the only people sat at this desk. It couldn't possibly be anyone else." Regulus exhaled with exasperation.

The other boy chuckled, "Ah, well... You see... You've got me there."

Regulus scoffed, "What is wrong with you?"

"It's you that's wrong. You're being weird - weirder than usual." He frowned, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Bit rude." He pointed out, "I'll let it slide."

Mulciber smirked, "Is it the Avery girl? Come on, it's clear to everybody how obsessed you are. Rosier and I thought it was bad when you two didn't speak to each other, but now it's like you're magnets. You're hooked."

"Those aren't even part of the same metaphor." Regulus grumbled angrily, feeling a warmth rise to his cheeks.

"Black! Mulciber! Would you like to share your conversation with the rest of us?"

The two boys snapped their attention to the front of the classroom, where Professor Mcgonagall had her hands firmly on her hips as she scowled at them.

It wouldn't be long before Regulus found out where Esme was. Although, Piper Horix was about to beat him to it.

Hesitantly, Piper pressed her hand against the door to the dormitory, ready to push it open. She had searched high and low, all over the castle, for Esmerelda. It had taken her some time to think of the most obvious place to hide whilst everyone else was in lessons - the dormitory.

For some reason, she was feeling a little nervous. It wasn't like she was about to step into something out of a nightmare. Was it?

So Piper opened the door.

At first, she didn't see anything. The room appeared perfectly normal. Tidy, even.

Unlike Esmerelda.

The beds were made, the curtains pulled back, and the floor was clean. Everything was...

"Oh." Piper noticed it. One of the bedside tables was moved so it stood about halfway down the bed. The top of a brunette head poked out from behind the cupboard. "Esmerelda?" She called out quietly.

No response.

"Is... Is it Esmerelda?" Piper tentatively stepped forward, rounding the corner to see Esme was indeed sat on the floor. Her gaze was fixed on the horizon outside the window as she hugged her knees up to her chest.

"Esme." She sighed softly.

Finally, the girl reacted. An unreadable expression was carved into her features as the brunette turned and looked up at Piper. "What did you say?"

"I-nothing, really. You didn't correct me though." She smiled.

Esme frowned, "Correct you? What?"

"I called you 'Esme'." Piper explained.

"Oh..." She turned back to the window for a moment before quietly replying, "I don't like being called Esme. It's Esmerelda."

Piper frowned, her eyebrows knitting together, "You almost forgot to correct me. What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Clearly something is wrong. You've been ditching lessons and you're hiding behind your bedside table."

Esme only hummed in response.

"Okay." Piper's shoulders slumped down, "You don't have to tell me anything. Is there anything I can do, though?"

No reply.

Piper was met with silence.

"Do you want me to go get Regulus?" Piper asked, kneeling down in front of Esme and placing a hand on her knee. She didn't know how to offer any support to the girl who wouldn't tell her what was wrong. But Piper had a feeling whatever it was, Regulus stood the best chance of fixing it.

"What? I don't-I don't need anyone. Anyone. I'm fine by self. Just, leave me alone. I'm fine. I don't need him." She stammered, turning away and resting her chin on her knees.

Piper sighed, with a half-smile, "I didn't say need. I know you don't need anyone. Do you want him, though?"

"No."

"Okay Esmerelda, I'll leave you alone then. Should I check how you are before dinner?"

Esme pursed her lips before quietly replying, "Fine, please go get him."

"Regulus?"

"Yes."

So that's what Piper did.

And a mere twenty minutes later, Piper had stopped Regulus from going into his Potions lesson and had dragged him halfway across the castle to the Ravenclaw tower. So that's where he stood, beside Piper, in front of the door to the Ravenclaw common room, waiting for the golden knocker to reveal the riddle they had to solve to gain entry.

"I still don't understand what's going o-"

"Shush!" Piper held up her hand to quickly silence him.

"If you have three, you have three. If you have two, you have two but if you have one, you have none. What am I?" The door proudly asked.

Regulus was stumped. He had always thought how insecure the Ravenclaw common room had seemed to be. Riddles and quizzes couldn't be that difficult. Apparently they were... But surely not all of the Ravenclaws could answer it.

"Well... It's choices." Piper shrugged nonchalantly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

And just like that, the door swung open.

"Well, yes. Obviously. I-I would have guessed that." Regulus muttered as he followed the girl into the common room.

Esme had her hands dug deeply into the pockets of her jumper as she paced around the circumference of the circular common room. She couldn't get her mind to focus on anything else. The same thought - obsession - over and over and over again. Constantly haunting her. She hadn't slept at all the prior night and was now starting to feel nauseous.

As soon as the door to the common room opened, she froze in her spot with her back to whoever was entering.

"Esme?"

Regulus was more than a little shocked when Esme slowly turned around to face him. She had deep set bags under her eyes, hair flying wildly about her face, and she nervously tapped her foot on the floor as she slowly looked up at him.

Esme pursed her lips tightly, sadly staring at him.

"Well... Guess that's my signal to leave." Piper let out an awkward chuckle before pulling the door closed behind her.

Regulus waited to the door to click shut before asking, "Where have you been? Did something happen?"

"Little bit." She whispered.

"Do... You want to talk about it?" He inquired.

"Not desperately."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't know."

Regulus frowned slightly, unsure of what to do. Then Esme started walking towards him. And she didn't stop.

Not until she walked straight into his chest and wrapped her arms around his back.

Esmerelda was hugging him.

It took a moment for Regulus to realise he couldn't just stand there, frozen. Almost hesitantly, as if he were afraid she might break, he wrapped his arms around her too. So they stood for a while, embracing each other.

Esme let out a shaky sigh as her head rested in the space between Regulus' neck and shoulder.

"Do you want me to talk now? I can distract you, if you want. I can tell you how annoyed I am at Mulciber. Did you know for some reason he thought the anchor on a ship is magnetic? I mean, it would just stick to the boat!" Regulus offered, almost tempted to hold the back of her head and run his fingers through her hair, but he decided against it.

"My life is over." Esme quietly mumbled into the fabric of his robes.

Regulus furrowed his eyebrows, "Right, yes, bigger problems. What do you mean?"

"You can't tell anyone about this hug, by the way." Esme pointed out, tightening her grip on the boy to hold herself closer.

He chuckled, "Well that goes without saying. I'm not a complete fool. But... Why the need for a hug? Is something-"

"No."

Regulus stepped back a little, looking her directly in the eyes as he tucked some of Esme's hair behind her ears. He held a hand to her cheek and asked, "Do you not want to tell me what's wron-"

"I'm going to become a Death Eater." She admitted.