"I can't believe you! I can't believe you did that!" Esme swatted his shoulder, causing the boy to lean back from her.

Regulus laughed, "You really think if you had spoken to Ignatius it would have ended well?"

"Fine, whatever." She grumbled, folding her arms tightly and sinking down in her seat.

"Still..." She began slowly, "I don't know if I believe him."

Sighing, he placed a hand on her knee and pointed out, "It doesn't make much difference. There's no way we can prove Ignatius knew anything and even if we could, what would we do?"

Esme groaned, running her hands through her hair and tugging on it slightly, "There has to be something we can do! It's nearly exam season and then... Then we go home and... That's it. That's it then - the end of the road. I can't believe it's over."

"Relax, it's going to work itself out."

"How can you be so sure? How can you be so relaxed? Nothing has ever just worked itself out for me. I've always had to work so hard for whatever I wanted, why should now be any different? How can you say I should just give up?" She rambled hopelessly.

"Esme." Regulus sighed, "You're spiralling. We've been through this a million times."

Closing her eyes, Esme took a deep breath, "I remember: we might as well accept our fate, because there's nothing we can do to change it."

"We should be thinking about how to survive once... It happens... Because there's nothing else we can do." He mumbled quietly, making sure nobody around them could make out what they were talking about, "We need to stick to what we promised to do - to keep them safe."

"I don't need remin-"

"Hiya!"

Regulus sighed quietly as Esme suddenly looked up, almost jumping at the sight of Piper with her arms firmly entwined around Dirk's. She narrowed her eyes, scepticism ready to spill from her lips. Spotting this, Regulus, beside her, nudged her gently with his knee as a reminder to keep her less-than-kind thoughts to herself.

"Piper. Dirk." The slytherin boy nodded curtly, earning a roll of the eyes from the girl next to him.

"I was just saying how we hadn't seen you two around much recently," Piper chirped, "And now look! This just proves that manifestation is real."

Esme and Regulus looked at each other, a million words being spoken in that glance. As usual Regulus lost the unspoken argument between them, and so he was the first to speak.

Taking a deep breath, he began, "I hate to... Er... Ruin the reunion, but we were actually just about to leave."

"What? Why?" The blonde quizzed.

Regulus opened his mouth to reply, but had to clue what excuse to come up with. He couldn't exactly tell them that he and Esme were soon to become Death Eaters and needed to distance themselves from Dirk and Piper for everyone's safety. That was a bit much.

Esme stammered now, "Well... You see... We're... Planning a party! Oh yes! A party!" Glancing around the group, she realised she might have looked insane, "It's a secret party." She mumbled sheepishly.

"A secret party?" Piper frowned.

Dirk was utterly confused and he asked, "For who?"

Digging herself further into the hole, "For you! Obviously." She shrugged, wanting the ground to swallow her.

Regulus stared at Esme, he couldn't believe this was the same girl. Lo and behold, she was actually an idiot. He was almost tempted to smile and laugh at how Esme was struggling to stay afloat but he knew this would only land him in more hot water with her.

Wading into the mess, Regulus began, "I-I heard you two went on a date to Hogsmeade. So-so it's a celebratory party."

Esme scoffed, "You heard what?" She turned to face Regulus and almost laughed in his face.

"At least word is finally getting around." Dirk shrugged, finally sitting down opposite them.

Piper laughed lightly, "Took a lot longer than I thought it would have."

"Blink."

Esme looked up at Regulus and it finally clicked as she realised what he was telling her. He couldn't hide his smile as she finally blinked again. It was not possible. She could not even entertain the idea that Dirk and Piper were dating. It was ridiculous. Why-why would that happen?

"Surely you must have known, if that's the reason for the party?" Dirk inquired, knowing full well that Esme and Regulus were lying through their teeth. He wanted to know how long it would take them to give in.

That's when Regulus spotted it. Or rather, him. Mulciber was sat two tables over from them, but was undoubtedly staring at the group. His eyes narrow, lips pursed, most likely making a report of how Esme and Regulus were fraternising with the 'enemy'.

This had the potential to be very dangerous. Regulus knew how important it was to convince Mulciber and the other Slytherins that he and Esme supported the Death Eaters wholeheartedly. This would require some drastic changes.

"You've got to be kidding me." Esme scoffed, still talking to Dirk and Piper, "Why-when did this-"

"Esme." Regulus interrupted suddenly, causing the group to fall quiet.

She looked across at him, seeing he was staring at something across the hall, and turned to follow his line of eyesight. That's when she saw the hunched over, thoroughly unimpressed Mulciber. She knew what that meant. Regulus had repeatedly, at great length, told her how careful they had to be. She had always brushed him off, convinced the boy was simply overreacting. Yet, seeing Mulciber scowling, it sent shivers down her spine. Esme knew what had happened to Sirius when he started straying from his path - and that boy had gotten away with a lucky escape. She couldn't dare put Dirk, Piper, or anybody else at risk. Not for herself.

"What... What should we do?" She asked quietly. Truthfully, Esme barely knew the Slytherins. Up until this year, they had shown absolutely no interest in her. This has resulted in Esme now feeling woefully unprepared to second-guess what any of them might be thinking.

"Get up. We need to go." Regulus whispered to her. He snapped his gaze back to the table they were sat at and flashed an unusual smile towards the two sitting opposite them. "We actually need to leave. I know, bad timing, but I need to talk Esme out of a detention with Professor Slughorn."

Piper laughed, "Well, we all know how much he adores your quidditch team. Surprised he doesn't just give you all O's in your OWLs now."

Dirk was not impressed. He frowned as he watched Esme and Regulus climb to their feet. Not only did he not trust the Slytherin boy, he also didn't like what Esme was being dragged into. Sure, he didn't know what it was, but it couldn't be good.

"Yes, well, see you later." Regulus nodded once and turned to grasp Esme's hand, hurriedly leading her out of the Great Hall.

Piper leaned back slightly, and turned to Dirk with a grin, "Did you see that? Their hands?"

"They're up to something." Dirk invited her, staring at them as they walked away, "Alright, Piper, I'm in - let's find out what they're up to."

Just outside the Great Hall, Regulus tugged Esme along as he led the way down a random corridor, in search of anywhere where they could get away from people.

"Where are we going?" She asked inquisitively, suspecting that Regulus wasn't just avoiding Dirk and Piper. He didn't reply though, continuing to lead the way across the castle. "Regulus!" Esme exclaimed, tearing her hand out of his grip so he had to stop and turn to face her.

"We're being followed." He warned with a hushed voice.

She raised an eyebrow at the boy and once certain he was being serious, she let out a laugh, "You're not James Bond. Who on earth would be following us?"

"Oh Merlin..." Regulus groaned, setting his eyes on the boy who was walking towards them.

"What's-" Esme frowned, following the line of Regulus' gaze to turn and see Mulciber striding down the corridor, "Oh no..."

"Black." Mulciber nodded curtly before turning to Esme and greeting, "Avery."

"Mulciber." Regulus replied shortly.

"Still hanging around with the mudbloods I see." He raised an eyebrow, hoping to strike a reaction from Esme. However, she looked over at Regulus and bit down on her tongue, remaining silent.

The raven-haired boy retorted, "Clearly not, seen as we're all purebloods here. I don't see any muggle borns."

The shorter slytherin boy scoffed, "Well I'm sure Lucas Avery would sure love to hear who his daughter is friends with. Especially considering what he's been up to recently."

Esme coughed slightly, "W-what? What do you mean?"

Shrugging, he smirked, "I hear he's been very busy. At least... That's what Ignatius has been telling us."

"Us? Who's us?" She turned to Regulus, "Do you know what he's on about?"

"No. Of course not." He responded before quizzing Mulciber, "What are you talking about?"

"Word is... That mudblood Cresswell got some pretty bad news last week." Mulciber kicked the floor, scuffing his shoes, as he tried to conceal his smugness.

"Spit it out, Mulciber." Esme warned darkly.

He grinned now, "Well, I heard that was also the week Lucas Avery took a little trip away. Curious, isn't it? Coincidences don't exist, after all."

Esme's face fell at the news. At the back of her mind, she knew that her father could be capable of such a thing. He adamantly supported the Dark Lord and when Esme paused to think about it, it shouldn't have been that surprising. Yet, nobody really wants to hear the true horrors their parents are capable of.

"Let's play a game, Mulciber." Esme pulled her wand out of her back pocket.

The colour from his face drained as he stumbled back a few steps. Regulus sighed, "Esme..." There was little point in trying to stop her, but he didn't want Esme to land herself in trouble for transfiguring the Mulciber into something less-favourable.

"Do you want to know what it is?" Esme asked, pointing her wand at his face and stepping towards him, "It's called Piss Off. You go first."

Mulciber was choking on the air in his throat as he stumbled away from them, too scared to turn his back to the girl.

"Esme." Regulus placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and she finally lowered her wand as the other boy disappeared from sight, "About your d-"

"Let's not talk about it. In fact, I'm done talking about all of it."

"All of it? What does that mean?"

"I'm not going to be upset or angry about the initiation anymore. It is what it is. Besides, I need to study otherwise I'll never pass these OWLs." She muttered.

Regulus stood still as Esme started to walk down the corridor. He didn't know what to do. The past few weeks it was as though Esme had finally allowed him in. He had finally been privy to her emotions and how she was coping with everything. All of a sudden, it now felt as though the gates had closed and the walls had been rebuilt.

"Are you coming?"

Tuning back in, he gazed up at Esme who was stood halfway down the corridor.

"Yes." He replied, knowing that despite all of the trouble that lay ahead of them, he wouldn't go into it with anyone other than Esme.

-