"And then he added some powdered foxglove - which is nowhere on the list of ingredients. He didn't tell me, then as I was stirring it the whole thing exploded in my face!"

Regulus pursed his lips tightly, trying to stop from laughing as Esme held up the singed ends of her hair. He snorted, and quickly covered his mouth with a hand.

"I could have killed him. I can't believe the exams are in a couple of weeks and I've been partnered with an absolute moron." Esme grumbled.

Regulus grinned, "Well I'm very happy you've been paired with an absolute moron. Otherwise I would never have seen you covered in soot whilst I was prefecting."

"Yes, very funny." She muttered disapprovingly, "So, that's why I looked like that this morning."

They sat together in the far corner of the Great Hall, in the late afternoon whilst it was quite empty. It was proving to be quite difficult for Esme to avoid Dirk and Piper, considering they belonged to the same house. There had also been the particularly awkward situation of Esme moving seats in Transfiguration so she no longer sat next to Dirk. Regulus had begrudgingly agreed to swap with her, so he sat next to Dirk, and as Dirk wouldn't speak a word to the Slytherin boy, now the Transfiguration lessons were spent in complete silence.

Truthfully, Regulus was doing everything he could to keep Esme happy. He couldn't imagine the turmoil she was going through - not only was she about to become a Death Eater, she couldn't talk to her friends and her father was most likely a murderer. He knew it probably wasn't healthy for Esme to keep suppressing her feelings but if that's what she wanted to do, then Regulus would be there with her every step of the way.

Things had so quickly become so dark and twisted, they were both clinging into each other's company for their own sanity. They were each other's safety nets.

"Well you've cleaned up rather nice." He smiled warmly at her.

Esme rolled her eyes, "Right, thanks."

"What? Am I not allowed to say you look nice?" Regulus inquired, knowing full well this would wind the girl up.

"Shut up."

He smirked, "Shut up about the fact you look nice?"

"Regulus."

"I think your hair looks nice, even when it's singed at the ends."

"Regulus."

"And I like your face."

"Regulus Black." Esme warned, a smile growing on her face as a slight laugh escaped from her lips.

"Wow." He chuckled, "You really don't know how to take a compliment."

"What's the point? They're stupid." She shrugged, casting a straight expression across her features.

He leant towards her, "I beg to disagree. Can I not compliment you?"

She scoffed, tucking some loose curls behind his ear, "You're an idiot."

"Good attempt, but that doesn't really count as a compliment. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." Regulus reciprocated by tucking some of Esme's hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I hate you." She shook her head with a grin before briefly connecting their lips in a light kiss.

As Regulus leaned back, he replied, "Well, by all means keep hating me."

"I swear to-"

"Look who it is!"

Turning around, they both looked up to see the group of Slytherins boys. Ignatius led the way, a cheeky grin on his face as he sat down opposite his sister. Following closely behind were Mulciber, Rosier, and Selwyn.

"Avery! Long time no see!" Selwyn cackled, simultaneously hitting Rosier upside the head.

Regulus placed a hand on Esme's knee as she retorted, "Not long enough."

"Friendly as always, dear sister." Ignatius chuckled with a cheeky grin.

Rolling her eyes, she replied shortly, "Well I do try."

"Oh!" Rosier exclaimed suddenly, drawing all the group's attention, "You'll never guess who I got talking to last night: the hot Zabini girl."

"There's no point asking us to guess if you're just going to tell us straight away anyway!" Avery hit him in the arm.

Ignatius frowned, "You're completely lying."

"I'm not."

"Yeah, you are."

"Not I'm not!"

"Are."

"Not."

The bickering continued amongst the boys and Esme took the moment to slowly turn towards Regulus.

"I know." He mumbled quietly, "It's just important to be on their good side. We need to blend in, remember?"

She huffed, "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Just play nice." He replied with a faint grin as he nudged her gently, coaxing out a smile from her.

"So Avery..." Mulciber smirked, "You going to come down tomorrow and watch our quidditch practice?"

"I thought the tournament was finished for this year... And you're not even on the Slytherin team, are you?"

He laughed, "Any excuse to hit a bludger around for a bit."

"I can't believe it." Esme scoffed, turning back to Regulus, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

"Come on, we need you to keep Ruby Parkinson company, otherwise she won't come." Ignatius mumbled, just barely intelligible as he stuffed various bread rolls into his mouth.

"No thank you." She shook her head furiously, "You couldn't pay me to spend time with that mess."

"I'll give you a galleon." He offered.

"Two."

"Deal."

"Shake on it?"

"When Hell freezes over."

Selwyn chuckled, "Coincidentally, that's also when Gryffindor will beat us at Quidditch."

Esme glared across at him, remembering all too well what he had done earlier that year. Then, almost as if fate couldn't get anymore unpredictable, she looked over the room and her gaze fell on Levi Rogers. The Gryffindor boy had spotted Esme with the Slytherins, and he seemed to be making his hasty exit from the Great Hall.

"I-er... Need to go." Esme stood up suddenly, knocking the bench slightly as she stumbled out.

Ignatius inquired, "Go? Where do you need to be?"

"Study."

"Study?" Regulus asked, "Why, all of a sudden?"

"I-er... The OWLs, clearly. Only a couple weeks to go so no time to waste." She stumbled half-heartedly over her words, eyes trained heavily on the door Levi Rogers had just exited out of.

He shrugged it off, "Alright, see you later."

"Yeah..." She trailed off, walking away without really having a plan of action.

The Slytherin boys watched her leave, mildly confused by her sudden change of character.

"Damn." Rosier raised an eyebrow.

Selwyn laughed, "You can say that again."

"I'll punch both of you if you're not careful." Ignatius warned with a disapproving mumble. He leant across to flick Selwyn in the side of the head.

"Ow!" He yelped, rubbing the side of his temple, "I'm only vocalising what Black is thinking."

"Selwyn, shut up." Regulus grumbled, running a hand through his hair.

Esme adjusted her collar as she chased after Levi, trying to come up with a plan of what she was going to say before calling for his attention.

Before she even knew what she was doing, she rounded the corner and called out, "Levi! Wait a moment!"

The Gryffindor boy turned around, inhaling sharply as Esme jogged up to him. That's when she spotted Dirk and Piper.

"So you're hanging out with the Slytherins now?" Dirk asked, raising an eyebrow and planting a hand on his hip.

Esme swallowed, "You couldn't pay me enough to be friends with them."

"You're buddies with Black, and that took nothing. He's only one stepping stone away from the rest of them." Levi retaliated.

"Just tell us what's going on." Piper offered gently, worried at the back of her mind that this conversation would quickly go south.

"I'll tell you." Dirk scoffed, "Avery's upgraded. Ditched us for better people. Black is playing you like a damn puppet."

"You're an idiot, Cresswell." Esme argued, "Stop talking out of your arse. If you're not careful, people might start believing the rubbish you're spouting."

Levi stepped back, "It wasn't that long ago you wanted to ruin Selwyn. You remember what he did. Why would you be around him now?"

She snapped back, "It's none of your business. I do you one favour and you think you can have any opinion on what I do?"

"Esme... Come on..." Piper sighed with exasperation.

Esme spat, "It's Esmerelda. You want to stick your nose in my business so bad, but you never explained to me the messed up stuff going on with you. You and Cresswell are actually dating? Is that some sick joke?"

"Avery." Piper warned.

Dirk interrupted, "I can't believe you're here, defending yourself. You do remember the past through years when you loathed everything they stood for? I used to have so much respect for you... When you had morals. See you later, Avery."

Dirk was mad. Unbelievably so. After everything that Esme had been to, he couldn't believe that she would run back to the people that had so carelessly hurt her. He was angry that Esme would do that to herself and he didn't want to be around to see it.

"Let's go." Dirk urged, grabbing Piper's wrist and turning away with Levi quickly following them.

Esme stood, dumbfounded. That had not gone how she'd hoped it would have. She wished, prayed she could just explain herself. All she wanted was to tell Dirk about what was going on. She wanted to tell Piper all that had happened. Esme imagined Piper coming up with some crazy plan to escape and Dirk pointing out the dozens of flaws.

It was safer this way, though. If they all hated her, then hopefully they'd stay out of the way and no harm would come to them.

After all, it wasn't long until the end of the year now.