"This is sickening." Esme shook her head, "I mean it's just... Perverse..."

But regardless, she continued to read through the yellow-stained pages of the Dark Magic book, sinking deeper into its contents but still becoming increasingly disgusted.

Regulus glanced up from the other side of the room, "Have you stopped packing again? Put the book down if it's that horrible."

"I don't have anything here to pack." She explained, "I don't get why you're not in such a rush to read this. Reg, what the Dark Lord must have done to create the locket... It's-"

"Horrifying?" He asked, continuing to roll up tops and jumpers and pushing them tightly into the bag on his bed.

"Yeah, that." Esme confirmed.

"Oh..." A thought occurred to the girl, finally leading to her closing the book in her lap as she stood up and turned to face Regulus, "What do you want to do about your parents?"

Regulus abruptly stopped packing, focused his gaze on the contents of a backpack for a moment and then finally lifted his heavy gaze, "Well... I... Honestly, I think it's best if they don't know anything. If they don't know anything, then there's no reason for anyone to hurt them."

"Yes. You're right-you are right. It's just..." She sighed, "It won't be safe for us to come back and say goodbye to them. We don't know how long this is going to last and what's going to happen to anyone. We can't come back to see them."

Not that Esme was particularly desperate to speak to Walburga Black again. She knew how much Regulus cared for his parents though, despite all of their differences, and Esme felt the same about her parents. She'd at least had the opportunity to speak completely freely with her mother for the first and last time, for a least a long while.

He nodded, sniffled, then continued to pack the remainder of his clothes into the bag. "I know. It's best that way. Anyway, where is Kreacher?"

"Downstairs, I presume." Esme wandered around the bed to stand beside him, "No matter how many times I tell him to take a break, he will not stop cleaning. As much as he says he likes me, he only listens to you."

Regulus smiled softly at this, "I'd tell him to stop if I thought it would make him happy. He's about as close to disobeying my mother as he can get without going mad. At least he's keeping himself busy."

"Yes, I suppose so." She rested a hand on his shoulder and peered over to look in the bag, which prompted her to ask, "Why the need for so many clothes?"

"Well you don't have any." He explained simply, "And we can't go to your house to collect your clothes, and I presume you're not going to wear that same outfit everyday for the foreseeable future."

"I might." She scoffed, a grin emerging across her face as she took a step back and folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, if you decide you want clean clothes at some point - though I can't possibly imagine why - then you can borrow some of my extra ones." He pulled out one of his Slytherin tops and one of his old jumpers, both of which would drown Esme's frame but she was used to that as she'd always been one for particularly oversized clothing.

She shook her head and a laugh escaped from her lips, "I'm not wearing that Slytherin top again. Absolutely not."

"But you looked so... Nice in it."

Esme whacked him in the shoulder, "You mean because it was tied up at the front and I wasn't wearing trousers?"

"I'm just saying, perhaps I should spill tea in your lap more often." He shrugged slightly, then let out a laugh as he finally zipped up and closed the backpack.

"Merlin... You are such a boy."

Whilst this was going on, downstairs, Kreacher was busy dusting the staircase. With one hand he clutched the duster, moving it up and down the bannister as high as he could reach, and the other hand clutched the locket at his side.

He could feel the dark magic radiating off it, and only hoped Regulus or Esme would quickly get rid of the object.

"Oh, Kreacher." Esme greeted as she arrived at the top of the staircase, "Where's the locket?"

He extended his hand, and lifted his fingers to reveal the green necklace. "It's here, Miss Avery. Will... Will it be destroyed?"

"When we figure out how..." She nodded and began to descend the stairs, "But, will you keep ahold of it until we find out how?"

"Kreacher will keep the locket, miss. Kreacher will keep it hidden for you." He nodded his head and tightened his grip on the locket once more.

Esme reached the foot of the stairs, and Regulus appeared on the landing with the large, packed rucksack over his shoulder. "And you're still happy staying here?" She asked the house elf.

"Kreacher lives to serve the Black household, miss." He responded with a bowed head and a croaky voice.

"I have asked him already." Regulus reminded her, "And anyway, I think it's best if he doesn't come with us. The point of Kreacher keeping the locket is so it's safe even if we get caught - that wouldn't work if we were all together."

Esme nodded, "No, I know. I just feel bad leaving you behind." She glanced over at Kreacher, who was busy dusting again.

"We'll see you again, Kreacher, okay? I'll be back." He reassured the house elf.

Esme sighed, "Yeah, we'll see you soon."

"Did you pick up the Dark Arts book or did you leave it on the bed?" Regulus dropped the rucksack onto the floor and raised one of his eyebrows, already knowing what the answer was.

Esme looked down at her empty hands and, after a moment, responded, "I most certainly did not pick it up."

"I'll go get it."

"No need." She pulled her wand out of her pocket and cast, "Accio Secrets of the Darkest Art."

There was some ruffling, the sound of a leather-bound book hitting a wooden door, and then a yelp.

Regulus leant back against the wall as the large purple and black book came hurtling towards him. It zipped past his face, close enough to feel the air blow as it moved in front of him, and sped down the stairs and straight into Esme's outstretched hand.

He took a deep breath, hands pressed against the wall he'd fallen back on, and then bitterly exclaimed, "That could have hit me in the face!"

"Sorry." Esme replied, "Didn't think."

It was that small thing that caught Regulus off guard. The simple apology with no retort or cheeky comment. Just a simple sorry. The kind of thing Esme would never do in front of anyone else, but that she would do without thought for Regulus.

"Reg? Are you coming downstairs?" He was snapped out of that thought by Esme, her arms folded and her foot tapping on the floor as she waited.

"Yes, coming." He lifted the bag up over his shoulder and descended the stairs. Once he reached Esme, he cupped her face in one hand and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips.

She hummed as he pulled away, and questioned, "What was that for?"

"Why? Did you not like that?"

"W-well... No. Just, why?"

He shrugged and smiled, "Felt like it?"

"Fair enough." Esme laughed slightly.

"Are you ready to go?" Regulus asked.

She nodded, "I think so, yes. But I'm not doing the jump all in one go."

"Whatever you're comfortable with, but I really don't think there's a need to." He pointed out, adjusting the bag on his back as he watched Kreacher finish dusting the bannister and wander into the kitchen. "There's really mood need for you to worry about long distance apparition. You're too skilled to be worried about it." He continued.

Esme pursed her lips in slight disapproval, "You keep saying that, but one of these days you'll get splinched and you'll be sorry you didn't listen to me. Adding in a couple steps along the way only takes a few extra minutes."

"I don't want to push you." He hooked their hands together and entwined the fingers, "But you're too skilled a witch to be concerned about messing up an apparition."

"Sure, whatever you say." She gave his fingers a squeeze, "Anyway, you ready to say goodbye to this place?"

"It's going to be weird not coming back here. I might never come back again... I've never lived anywhere but this place... Yeah, um, let's just go."

And a moment later, with a sharp sounding crack that echoed through the hallway, Esme and Regulus vanished from Grimmauld Place.

Sitting in a very cramped flat across the other end of the country, Sirius Black was impatiently pacing back and forth with his hands grasped together behind his back.

"I don't like this one bit. We should have gone to get them. I hate sitting here, waiting, feeling helpless." Piper tapped her fingers on her leg as she sat in her arm chair. She had been trying to keep herself busy throughout the day but none of it had helped distract her worrying mind.

The walls of the flat were precariously stacked high with countless boxes that had yet to be unpacked. There was one tiny, battered wooden coffee table in the centre of the room with two arm chairs facing each other - other than that no other furniture had been unpacked.

Originally, Piper had moved closer to London to seek work for the Ministry of Magic but upon quitting her job in Diagon Alley, she had moved further north to the Lake District to work for a Kelpie conservation organisation.

"I was too stubborn to go back to Grimmauld Place. They'll be fine though; they're both strong. There's no point worrying now." Sirius shook his head tiredly.

"That's not helpful. They're always involved in some sort of chaos." She sighed.

He let out a slight chuckled and collapsed down into the only other chair in the room, "That's how you know they'll be okay - this is nothing new to them."

Then, on cue, a snap sounded.

"Next time I'm side apparating and you can lead. I don't like it one bit." Esme grumbled disapprovingly as both she and Regulus regained their footing as they found themselves in Piper's flat.

Regulus chuckled lightly and lifted the bag off his shoulder and onto the floor as he replied, "That's fine, but you know I'll do it in one big jump."

Esme tutted.

"Where have you two been?" Piper leapt to her feet, "We were worried!"

"We?" Esme scoffed, "Because lazy over there sure looks anxious." She gestured to where Sirius was sprawled out in the arm chair.

"You know what?" Sirius argued, "I'm glad I didn't get up to go and check on you. I'd almost forgotten how annoying you are."

Regulus rolled his eyes, "Alright, children, calm down."

The older boy swung around to sit upright, planting his feet on the floor as he looked over at his brother and asked, "You alright?"

"Yes." Regulus responded, "I'm good, thanks. You haven't been waiting long have you?"

"Only a quick four hours. I wanted to make sure you both got here alive." He raised an eyebrow.

Esme scoffed again, "Well you sure were a lot of help to us, what with not being there and all."

"You're welcome."

"Alright." Piper held her hands out to get them to be quiet, "Reg, you can put your bag in that room over there - careful of the boxes. And somewhere in here I've got a mattress that I can stay on."

"How about we sit down and tweedledee and tweedledum can find the mattress." Regulus gestured over to the other two with his thumb.

Esme and Sirius both glanced at each other before turning back to Regulus and exclaiming:

"You bloody idiot!"

"How dare you!"