Sitting opposite each other on the sofa, their legs crossed and blankets tugged over their shoulders, there was a silence that had fallen between Esmerelda and Dirk.

"It, erm..." Esme fumbled over her words, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Dirk asked, "What for?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. It's a thing people say, isn't it?"

He smiled softly at her, "I think so, but you don't need to."

"Okay, cool."

Another silence settled between them for a moment before Dirk spoke up again.

He cleared his throat slightly, "How are you doing?"

"What? With knowing my f-Lucas tried to kill me? I'm delightful." She responded, tugging the blanket tighter around herself.

Dirk sighed, "At least Mr. Horix really liked you."

"Yeah, that was a nice surprise."

"Um... I meant to tell you as well..." He ran his hand through his hair as he paused slightly, "I wanted to say, I'm sorry I haven't been around much. You know, I feel like we haven't seen much of each other recently. At least... Not like we used to."

Esme responded, "You're busy; you've got a life and a job. I'm cooped up here being hunted by the Ministry and the Death Eaters. Don't worry about it. You're still my best friend."

"Really? You haven't replaced me yet?"

She laughed slightly, "What? You idiot, no. You'll always be the loser who was friends with me when nobody else was. You're not getting away that easily."

Dirk chuckled, "I'm glad to hear that."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Regulus Black was blowing the steam off the top of his mug of tea that he cupped in his hands.

Sirius was sat on one of the dining chairs that he'd set in the doorway, where the doorway was open, and he had a lit cigarette between two fingers.

"You know if you drink much more tea, you're going to turn into tea leaves." He pointed out as he watched his younger brother.

"I might be surprisingly alright with that." Regulus responded, taking a sip of his drink.

Sirius sighed, shook his head, and took a drag of his cigarette, "I'll let Avery know, shall I? That you're about to become a pile of soggy leaves?"

He chuckled slightly, "I think she might argue that it wouldn't be a noticeable difference."

"Glad to see you're back to your snarky self." Sirius replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Well..." Regulus took another sip, "It's about time..."

His brother asked, "You still hung up on being betrayed by our parents?"

He nodded, "I know it shouldn't have been a surprise, but part of me always thought they could possibly, one day, become normal parents. Then they went and sold us out to the Death Eaters, so that was nice."

"I should have put money on that happening." Sirius responded.

"I'm a complete idiot for always expecting more of our parents, aren't I? I should just lower my expectations so they don't disappoint me again." Regulus mumbled.

"No," Sirius disagreed, "It's not your job not to be disappointed. It's their job to meet the expectations of their children."

He nodded solemnly, "Thanks."

"Anytime."

After a few moments of quiet between them, Regulus spoke up again. He asked, "How did you stop caring what our parents thought?"

"Well... Since I started at Hogwarts I had all my friends that I considered family. I cared about what they thought, not anyone else." He explained.

Regulus slowly nodded in agreement, "I suppose I didn't have that when I went to Hogwarts. I didn't really connect with anyone in Slytherin."

Sirius took a final inhalation of smile before extinguishing the cigarette on the outside wall. As he exhaled, he thought, "I suppose that's why you're clingy around Avery. She's your James."

Regulus snorted, "She's my James?"

"Pretend I didn't say that."

"Alright." He chuckled.

"What I meant to say," Sirius clarified, "Is that because you spent four years essentially by yourself before getting along with Esmerelda again, you've spent a lot longer looking up to our parents than I ever did. You went into Slytherin where their views were reinforced everyday. Plus, when I left you wanted to make them happy - so of course you care more what they think."

Regulus smiled slightly, "Thanks for making me feel more sane."

"As long as you're over it now." Sirius shrugged and stood up and closed the back door, "Because if you keep trying to please mummy and daddy after everything they've done, I'm going to punch you. Really hard."

"Well..." He began slowly, "Really, I don't think Mother knew what Father had done. When he revealed what was going on, she seemed surprised."

Sirius waved his hands through the air, "Stop right there. I will hit you. Don't think I'm joking."

"Why are you hitting Regulus?"

The two brothers turned to see Esme had entered the kitchen, the blanket still wrapped around her shoulders as she made her way over to the cupboards to rifle through them in search of snacks.

"It's nothing." Regulus said.

"He's stupid." Sirius said at the same time.

Esme stopped what she was doing and spun around to face them with one of her eyebrows raised as she replied, "Fair enough."

Regulus grumbled, "You do realise you're meant to be on my side? You know, compliment me and stuff. Generally don't let people hit me."

She laughed lightly and took down a packet of crisps, "You didn't say you weren't stupid, so, really, I'm not disagreeing with you. Compliment-wise, you are very pretty."

"Thank you." He mumbled a response.

"You're the smartest person I know." Esme explained herself, "But that doesn't mean you can't be stupid sometimes."

"I think he's stupid all the time." Sirius raised his hand in the air.

"Okay." Regulus finally stood up, "When did everyone decide to gang up on me?"

Esme frowned, "Woah, hey, I thought I was on your side! If Sirius hits you, I'll hex him."

"What?" Sirius exclaimed.

The younger brother smiled as he announced, "And that's what makes you the best girlfriend."

She smiled and hit back, "I know." Before leaving and returning to Dirk's company in the other room.

"She's my James, huh?" Regulus snickered quietly and took another sip of his tea.

Sirius groaned in annoyance and loudly pulled out a chair at the kitchen table to sit down at, "I didn't mean it like that! I'm not in love with Prongs. He's like a brother to me."

"I'm your actual brother, though."

"I know that!"

Regulus smirked slightly as he continued, "I mean, I'm your biological brother. Blood related. Same surname, same parents... I'm actually your real brother."

"Reggie, you're essentially an old man. You're closer to being a grandfather than my younger brother." Sirius retorted.

"What do you mean?" He set down his mug, "I'm young, cool, hip, and only twenty."

Sirius chuckled now, "You're a sixty year old trapped in a twenty year old's body. Nobody else our age would call themselves hip."

"Yeah, they would." He argued, "Esme said it was the cool new thing to say."

Sirius burst out laughing now, and took a minute to regain his composure before he explained, "Avery told you that? You took her seriously? The girl who told me to ask out Piper - who was gay?"

Regulus pursed his lips and quietly mumbled through gritted teeth, "Alright... You make a good point."

But the humour of their conversation had quickly been wiped away by the mentioning of Piper.

It was still a very fresh wound for all of them, and something they could so easily dwell on.

It hurt because Piper was in the past tense now. She wasn't living or smiling or laughing.

She isn't anything anymore.

Piper Horix was.

"Sorry." Sirius whispered hoarsely, "I didn't mean to say that."

Regulus sighed, "Don't worry; she would have found that funny."

-

a/n

hi again, i hope you're all well

we're very near the end of this story now so i really hope you guys have enjoyed this

and sorry about the shortish chapter