Regulus Black stood by the side wall of the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade. He was wearing all black and had his hood pulled tightly over his head - despite the vicious heat beating down on the town that summer day.

He had been waiting there for quite some time when a second figure, also clothed entirely in black, drew near him.

It was clear, from a distance, that the two figures knew each other and had been planning their meeting.

The second figure out stretched their hand - signalling for a handshake. Though Regulus made no move to meet this greeting and, after a hesitant pause, the hand fell back down to the other figure's side.

"Were you serious?" Regulus asked, "About what you wrote in your letter?"

"I'm surprised you turned up." A voice sneered, "Thankful, but surprised."

Then he lowered his hood.

"Don't play games with me, Severus. We both know I won't fall for it." Regulus replied shortly and then reached into his pocket to pull out the black envelope.

"I was serious." Snape nodded solemnly, "Am serious. I was worried you'd think I was laying a trap for you and that you wouldn't turn up."

Regulus sighed, "I did think that. Part of me still thinks this could be an ambush, but I had to come because of what you wrote."

"I don't mean you any harm, I really don't. I didn't know who else to turn to - who else I could trust." He confessed, "I heard rumours that you were distancing yourself from the Death Eaters so I took the chance that you might help me too."

Regulus narrowed his eyes, "You really want out? To leave it all behind? Severus, do you know how dangerous this is?"

"Yes. I'm not an idiot, Regulus." He responded.

"You're an idiot for becoming a Death Eater when you didn't have to." The younger boy hit back, "And you're an idiot for writing that letter. If that had been intercepted, we'd already be dead."

"It's true, every word of it." Snape insisted, growing more desperate with every word he spoke, "There's a spy in the Order. I heard it. I wasn't meant to, but I heard it."

"You're only telling me this because you want to escape the Death Eaters yourself. You don't care about the well-being of the Order." Regulus shook his head.

"Please." Snape scoffed, "You're not even a part of it yourself. You and that Avery girl have just been hiding out since the Dark Lord gave you some job or whatever. Everyone has heard the rumours that you two are trying to escape by the skin of your teeth. You're just watching out for your own necks."

Regulus smirked slightly, "If you want my help you better start making friendly with that Avery girl, because you're not getting my help unless she agrees to it."

About an hour later, sitting on a bench in the muggle village of Fort Augustus - about twenty miles south of Hogsmeade - the conversation had not progressed much.

"You're joking? Regulus, have you lost your mind? No way!"

"Maybe... Just maybe, you could be a little quieter?" Regulus asked, "You know, so we don't draw attention to ourselves."

Esme scoffed and started to pace again, "Well I'll be drawing attention to us when I hex this idiot! You know we're on the run from the Death Eaters, right? And, last time I checked, he's one of them!"

"Esme, come on." Regulus rose from his seat and stepped towards the girl. He placed a hand on her arm, stopping her pacing, and glanced over his shoulder back to Severus Snape, who was patiently waiting on the bench, "Stay there a moment." He stated before guiding Esme away a little so they could converse privately.

As they came to a halt, she shook her head, "I don't know why you want to help him. The minute we let him out of our sight he could go running to the Dark Lord."

"You trust me, right?" Regulus asked with a hushed voice.

Her expression softened, "Yes, of course. Without reservation."

"And I trust Snape." He admitted.

"What? Why? How?" Esme almost let out a laugh of disbelief, "Are you drunk?"

Regulus sighed, "I know it sounds ridiculous, but I see myself in him. I think... If it hadn't been for you, I might have turned out like him. I think right now, he's in the same place I was over two years ago - when I found out I was going to be a Death Eater. I was scared and desperate to get out and you helped me then. I've got to help him now."

She didn't want to disagree with him. She didn't want to express how dangerous the whole thing was, when Regulus had put up with everything she had dragged him through over the years.

Even though it was something she didn't want to do, Esme wanted to help Regulus, and Regulus wanted to help Snape.

"Alright, fine. If you believe him, that there's a spy, then we need to go to Dumbledore." She gave in.

"Thank you." Regulus smiled with relief.

Esme sighed, "Yeah, whatever. Just, make sure Snape doesn't make me regret this."

"Will do. Love you very much." He hooked a finger under her chin and briefly connected their lips.

She hummed, "Yeah, you too."

And another hour after that, Esme was writing a very long and complicated letter to Dumbledore.

Snape had returned home no long after, safe in the knowledge that Esme and Regulus would take him to Dumbledore in the next few days.

"Sirius is back." Regulus stated as he sat down beside Esme at the kitchen table.

They had been staying in Sirius' small house for the past week after leaving Piper's flat.

Things had gotten off to a rocky start when Sirius had accused the girl of eating all of his crisps - only to later found out Regulus had thrown them away because they had been shockingly out of date.

She groaned and folded up the letter before pocketing it out of sight, "I'll add this to the list of things we're not telling your brother about."

"Probably best, yes." He stretched an arm out across the back of her chair.

"Good afternoon, losers." Sirius greeted as he slammed the kitchen door open and promptly threw his jacket onto the table.

Esme rolled her eyes, "What a delight you are."

"I know." Sirius grinned, "You're welcome."

"Oh..." He thought as he moved through the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, "Evans was asking after the pair of you."

"Evans?" Esme asked, turning to Regulus.

He clarified, "Lily. Going out with James Potter."

"Right." She nodded, then turned back to Sirius, "Why?"

"Did you do something wrong?" Regulus asked.

"No." She frowned, "I don't think so."

Sirius took a sip of his drink and leant back against the kitchen counter. "Nothing like that." He explained, "She just wanted to make sure you guys were alright. Oh, and they've gotten engaged."

Regulus almost choked on his tea, and had to thump his chest to catch his breath again.

"Engaged?" Esme almost laughed.

"Yeah..." Sirius shook his head, then his eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Don't you go getting any ideas!" He jabbed a finger in his brother's direction.

"Well I wasn't planning on proposing... But now you've told me not to, I might just do it." Regulus chuckled lightly.

Esme snickered, "Getting married just to spite your brother? I could be okay with that."

"You two are not funny." Sirius complained, "You're gross and, as far as I'm concerned, we're all just platonic roommates."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." She scoffed, "But be careful where you look because I could kiss my platonic roommate at any time."

Sirius mimed himself gagging and throwing up all over the floor before he warned, "I'm going upstairs, and I've told you guys you're not allowed to do anything couple-y in any of our shared spaces, alright? So, just, keep your distance."

"Do you think you need to get your own girlfriend?" Regulus asked, shuffling his chair closer to Esme.

"What? I could get my own girlfriend if I wanted to." He stated, folding his arms, "It's just I don't want to."

Esme raised an eyebrow, "How do you know you can if you don't try?" Then, a wicked idea occurred to her, "You know who you should ask out?"

"No. Who?" Sirius frowned with scepticism.

"She's single, and blonde, and very flirty." She smirked.

"Who are you on about?" He asked.

But Regulus had worked out exactly who it was, and discretely raised a hand over his mouth to mask his muffled laughter.

"Piper Horix." Esme stated, "If you want to prove you can get yourself a girlfriend anytime you want, then why don't you ask out Piper?"

Sirius thought for a moment, then replied, "Well I did ask her out in my fourth year... We went on a date together... She is hot, I'll give you that."

Regulus swallowed his laughter and egged on his brother, "You should do that then. Ask her out and if she says yes, we'll admit you were right and we were wrong."

"Alright, you're on." Sirius grinned mischievously, "And it's not if she says yes, it's when."

-

a/n sorry this chapter is a little all over the place in terms of locations but i'm having a bit of a struggle keeping this timeline in pace with the one from the books so bare with me ty