Esme rubbed her eyes tiredly, full aware of how disheveled she must have looked. Despite trying to put all of her time and energy into having fun with Regulus, she couldn't stop the incessant bombardment of worrisome thoughts. Every night, she would lie awake for hours, fretting over not just her future, but also those of Regulus and everyone else she cared for.

"You keep getting up later and later. So much for being an early bird." Dirk chuckled lightly as she sat down opposite him, "Is the stress of the OWLs getting to you?"

"Something like that." She mumbled.

"Paper."

Esme propped her elbows up on the table, holding her head in her hands as she let out a long sigh. She couldn't possibly keep juggling everything - let alone productively come up with any solutions to any of her numerous problems.

"Avery!"

She gasped, jerking upwards at the sudden sound and sigh with irritation when she saw it was only Dirk again. "Can I help you?"

"You tuned out for nearly five minutes there." Dirk frowned, suspicious, "I was asking if I could read your copy of the Daily Prophet."

"Oh, of course. Help yourself." She mumbled before tiredly resting her head back down on the table, holding her hands over her ears in an attempt to block out the sound of student chatter. Then, a loud clatter.

Cutlery struck plate, and landed sharply on the floor.

"Cresswell, are you trying to annoy-" Esme froze when she looked up.

Dirk was a ghostly shade of pale, clutching the newspaper so tightly his knuckles had turned white to match his face. He showed no sign of movement at all and she instantly knew something was wrong.

"Cresswell?"

No response.

"Cresswell."

Nothing.

"Dirk!"

Slowly, Dirk dragged his eyes up from focusing on the headline to look directly at Esme. His expression was unreadable as he stared, unwavering.

"Show me." She insisted, reaching out for the newspaper. A couple of nearby students turned to watch the two, uncertain of the situation which was unfolding.

Esme caught sight of a third year ago had turned in the seat to stare at her, as he sat on the table behind Dirk. "You better be looking for someone sat behind me, because your nose sure as hell isn't in this newspaper. Get back to your toast." She snapped, causing the younger student to yelp and quickly spin around in his seat.

Tentatively, with a shaking hand, Dirk outstretched his hand and passed the Daily Prophet over to Esme. She took it quickly, straightening out the front cover and scanning over the front page article.

"I-I need to go. I've... A letter... I need to write a letter." Dirk stammered suddenly, quickly rising to his feet and clambering out from the bench. He looked back, staring at the newspaper for a moment before letting out a shaky sigh and striding swiftly out of the Great Hall - leaving his bag behind.

There it was.

Muggle Town Tamworth Hit By Brutal Death Eater Attack. Castle Fire Killed Two Wizards, With One Witch Still Missing. Muggle Families Under Growing Threat.

Esme knew... It wasn't just any muggle town. Tamworth was where Dirk lived. It was where he had grown up and where his parents still lived and worked. His family would be alive (they were all muggles) but they definitely weren't safe.

Anger surged up within, boiling over as Esme slammed the paper down on the table, startling some nearby students.

Without thinking, she shot to her feet, slinging her bag over her shoulder and picking up Dirk's too, not forgetting to bring the paper with her.

She could barely contain the rage that was threatening to spill from her lips.

Unluckily, Regulus Black would be the first person to step across her path.

"Esme! Good morning." He waved with a warm smile as he caught sight of the girl storming down the corridor towards him. He frowned, noticing her cold expression and dark eyes, "Why do you have Dirk's bag? Is something wr-"

"You!" She growled, striding right up to him and pushing against his chest and causing Regulus to stumble backwards slightly.

"Woah! What was that-"

"Stop!" Esme snapped, "Did you know about this?"

She threw the newspaper at the boy and stepped back as he took a moment to read over the headlines on the front page. Esme rolled her eyes, "Who am I kidding? Of course you knew! All of you Slytherins probably bloody knew! It's sick!"

"Esme..." Regulus furrowed his eyebrows, thoroughly confused by what was going on, "I don't under-"

"Don't you dare!" She snatched the paper back from him, tucking in under her arm, "You-Don't you dare! I-I can't believe this. I can't believe you."

He stepped towards her, hurt washing over him as she recoiled from him, "What's going on? I don't understand what's happening."

"Oh that's rich." She spat venomously, "This!" She waved the paper at him, "It's Dirk's hometown! His family lives there! Don't pretend you didn't know! When I find Ignatius, I'll have his neck for this!"

Regulus groaned with annoyance, rubbing his hands over his face and letting out a sharp sigh, "I don't know anything about it. How would I even know that's where Dirk is from? Are his family hurt? Do you really think if I knew about this before, I wouldn't tell you?"

This stopped the girl in her tracks.

Regulus could tell Esme was starting to crack - no matter how much she wanted to deny it. The pressure of becoming a Death Eater, hiding their identities, pretending to be our blood fanatics when everybody knew otherwise, it was all becoming too real and too much to cope with. He could see it in her eyes. The sparkle in her eyes had faded, now replaced with deep set bags hanging down. Normally, Esme cared little for her appearance, but recently even brushing her hair had gone out of the window.

She would not be fooling anyone when she came to lie about her loyalty to the Death Eaters.

"Do you trust me?" He asked quietly. He desperately wanted to help her, but there was little anybody could do. Esme was hanging on by a thread and it had only been a matter of time until something caused her to explode with all of the frustration that had been building up.

She paused for a moment, thinking. Without out a doubt, Esme trusted Regulus more than anybody else. But she was scared, and fear does terrible things.

"Regulus-I..." Esme sighed shakily, "Someone knew about this. If you didn't, why didn't you? Because somebody has to know something! And they're about to get their head torn off."

"If?"

Esme frowned, opening her mouth to speak when she was cut off again by Regulus, "If I didn't know? Let me get this right, you're saying you think I might have known about this? You think that's possible?"

"Regulus-"

"No." He stated, "I think this is the point where you vehemently deny that. Don't you?"

"You know-"

"No. I don't know." He snapped now, "Esme, I'm doing the best I can. I can't help you cope with all of this, if you don't trust me. We need to trust each other, because otherwise we have nothing. You can't just yell at everyone the second something goes wrong for you. We both need to calm down and think about this rationally."

Esme clenched her jaw, biting down on her tongue to hold back from lashing out at Regulus yet again. She wasn't in any position to be wasting time being civil and orderly. Her friends and innocent people were at risk and Esme's safety wasn't more important than their lives.

"Hi.... Regulus?"

The two older students turned to see a rather timid second year Slytherin student looking up at them. The girl had heavy, dark hair and a blunt fringe that skimmed the top of her eyes.

"You're a prefect, right?" The girl inquired.

"Yes." Regulus replied, eyeing Esme carefully before turning his attention to the younger student.

She tentatively glanced over at Esme before asking, "Could you help me find a book in the library? The librarian terrifies me." She laughed nervously, "None of my friends will help, they just said to come and talk to you."

"He's busy right now, and doesn't have the crayons to draw you a map. Go grow a pair and ask the bloody librarian." Esme rolled her eyes.

"Esme!" Regulus exclaimed, unsure of how to balance the situations he decided to turn back to the younger girl, "Of course I'll help."

The Ravenclaw girl scoffed, "I'm going."

Adjusting the two bags on her shoulder, Esme stormed away from him. She couldn't believe what was happening. It was almost as if Regulus had lost his sense of perspective. Yet there was the increasing feeling that perhaps... Maybe... Esme had overreacted.

No.

She had to remember Dirk. He was the brightest, nicest - the best of all of them. He didn't deserve this. Dirk was the only friend Esme had ever made by herself and she would be damned if she allowed anything to cause harm to the boy.

Reaching the end of the corridor, she glanced over her shoulder to see Regulus leaning down to talk to the young Slytherin girl. He looked up, their gazes locking for a brief moment before Esme broke it, walking out of sight.