So, things had progressed.

Yet again, Regulus found himself dragged into one of Esme's perilous plans. There wasn't really much more of an explanation for it than that.

That was why they found themselves outside Godric's Hollow on Hallowe'en night.

"You know when we went into the Forbidden Forest on the night of the full moon?" Regulus hissed into her ear, "This has the same kind of feeling to it. I don't like it."

"That's good. If you were onboard with this plan, I'd know I was doing something wrong." Esme replied.

He frowned slightly, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean don't let your guard down." She explained, "If Pettigrew really did betray the Potters, then the Dark Lord himself could be on his way."

"So you essentially want me to be cautious for the both of us?"

"Love you very much." She cheekily responded, not taking her eyes off the house down the street.

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"When I said we needed one of your plans," He whispered to himself, "I was perhaps a bit optimistic of the level of danger this would entail."

The cold night air continued to sweep down the street, loudly rustling the trees and whipping at their faces as they waited in the shadows.

"Remind me again why we aren't going straight in there to warn James and Lily?" Regulus asked, pulling the collar of his coat up higher to shield more from the oncoming storm.

"Because..." Esme inhaled slowly, "There might be Death Eaters watching the house. If we go storming in, we alert them and that could set a whole fight off. I've sent my Patronus to Dumbledore, so he should be getting our message any minute now."

He shook his head with unease, "Sirius should be here."

"You think that's a good idea? He would be freaking out and risking our cover right now. That's if he even believed us." She muttered.

"And what happens if he turns up?" Regulus asked.

"I don't know. I haven't had time to plan for all the things that could possibly go wrong." She replied.

He hummed and nodded, "Of course, yes. That would be impossible."

They continued watching the Potter's home in Godric's Hollow for a while longer, occasionally stopping in order to sit down behind the wall to give their legs a rest from crouching.

Then something happened.

"I should have brought some biscuits." Esme muttered to herself as she zipped up her coat - the night had now fully set it and the temperature had quickly fallen.

"Well, well, well... Look who we have here."

Before either of them even got the nerve to turn around, a chill like no other had rattled through both of their bodies.

"And to think, I never thought I'd see my daughter again."

Tears were already pooling in Esme's eyes at the sheer memory of the last time she had seen her father. The image of him pointing his wand at her, uttering the killing curse, flashed over and over in her mind.

But she was dragged out of her spiralling as Regulus set his hand on her arm, and the two of them slowly turned around to see a small group of Death Eaters before them.

"My, my, Esmerelda... I thought you'd have left this life behind by now." Lucas Avery sneered slightly. Beside him stood Ignatius Avery, and behind them were Corban Yaxley, Evan Rosier, and Lucius Malfoy.

Esme already knew the answer of course but, with the hope the Dumbledore was on his way, needed to delay for as long as possible. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I think it's safe to say, we're here for you." Ignatius said, running a slightly shaky hand through his hair.

Regulus frowned slightly, holding his hand over where his wand was in his pocket as he stepped slightly in front of Esme. "What does that mean?"

"It means the Dark Lord cannot be interrupted." Lucius spoke, "And clearly there is a traitor in our midst."

Esme rolled her eyes, "If you're talking about me, you're about two years too late."

"Esme." Regulus hissed.

Lucius brushed past this as he continued, "It's clear that someone told you that we were coming. We haven't just happened upon you by coincidence."

She replied, "Oh, you know there's no such thing as coincidences."

"There's no Order to save you now, so what will you do?" Lucas raised an eyebrow cockily.

"Well," Esme glanced across to Regulus, "My guess is you won't let us walk free, so I suppose we'll have to duel."

Ignatius scoffed slightly and tugged at the collar of his shirt, "Five to two? The odds aren't in your favour."

Regulus shrugged slightly and drew out his wand, "We're very good though."

"Are you su-"

"Expulso."

Regulus almost jumped as a jet of blue light rocketed past him, hitting the floor at Yaxley's feet and blowing the man right back through the air. Bits of dirt and rock blew up all over the place and, out of sight, there was a loud thud some distance away where Yaxley had violently landed on the ground.

"Four to two now." Esme stated as she lowered her wand slightly.

Lucius, flustered and red in the face, stormed forward and thrashed his wand through the air as he cried out, "Oh, you! Incarcerous!"

Thick ropes shot out of his wand and, before they hit Esme, were ricocheted back into the dark as a shimmery shield emerged in front of her.

Regulus had pushed his wand out in front of her, silently casting the protection charm.

From there, a not-so-discrete duel broke out.

It proved particularly challenging for Esme and Regulus to gain the upper hand as they were so outnumbered and constantly having to defend themselves from various curses.

This only got worse when Yaxley regained consciousness and joined the fight again.

Esme cast another spell with a flick of her wand, knocking Lucius Malfoy off his feet and lifting him upside down into the air.

As she cast her wand again and began announcing, "Stupefy!" things took a turn for the worst.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a stream of red sparks growing closer and closer. Behind the light, stood her father, and Esme already knew it was the disarming charm making its way towards her.

But what she hadn't counted on was someone leaping in front of her.

Regulus had done it on instinct. He'd had no plan on what he was going to do, just this impulse to throw himself in the way.

He'd outstretched his arm and was going to cast Protego again, but the word hadn't passed his lips before the spell hit his hand.

Then, no matter how hard he clung onto it, Regulus' wand slipped out of his grip and flipped through the air and softly landed on a pile of leaves several feet out of reach.

At the point, the spells stopped.

Because no matter how good Esme was at duelling, she couldn't take on five Death Eaters by herself.

Let alone when she had to protect herself and someone else.

"It's over now." Lucas cleared his throat and straightened himself up, "Enough of your silly games."

"Go on, then. Your big turn." Yaxley sneered fo Ignatius.

Lucas turned to his son, nodded, and confirmed, "You know what you need to do."

Ignatius gulped, trying to swallow the lump in his throat as he stepped forward to the front of the pack. Esme, still standing behind Regulus, gripped tightly onto the back of his jacket with her wand still in her hand but no nerve to use it yet.

"I think you knew this was coming, r-really." Ignatius stammered out as he slowly lifted his wand and pointed it directly at Regulus' chest.

Regulus' eyes widened in shock and he felt the colour drain out of his face as he pleaded, "Come on, mate, there's no need for that. You aren't that person. You're better."

He scoffed slightly, "Oh, please. I was your friend. Was. You left. This is your fault. You don't know me anymore."

"We are friends." Regulus continued, "We both know you won't do it. You can't. Please."

And for a moment, Ignatius' hands started trembling violently and beads of sweat were rolling down the side of his face. Briefly, it looked like he might even lower his wand, but Lucas coughed loudly behind him and Ignatius tightened his hand on his wand, twisted his arm around slightly, and took a deep breath.

Esme and Regulus had thought he wouldn't do it. He couldn't do it. They had, for the shortest of moments, both been certain of that.

But then they thought... He could. Really. Why wouldn't he? It was true, they had left him behind with no thought to the matter. Ignatius had been left behind, with only the highest regarded Death Eaters to guide him.

"Ignatius, you don't need to do this." Regulus slowly held his hands up in front of him in an instinctive way.

"Stop wasting our time, Ignatius." Lucas warned, "If you can't do this-"

"I can!" Ignatius stammered desperately, his whole arm now shaking, "I can do this. I will, I-"

Regulus tried one last. "Please."

He locked eyes with Ignatius and neither of them could break the gaze for a while.

That was all it took. That one look.

Ignatius, for a mere second, lowered his wand and that was all the time Esme needed to act.

"Accio!" She exclaimed, pointing her wand out and causing Regulus' want to fly through the air towards them. As her fingers wrapped around it, she grabbed ahold of Regulus' arm and snap.

They were gone.