"I don't... I... There-wh-what?"

"My-I don't... Have any words."

Esme and Regulus stood side by side, looking up at the house that only several hours earlier had been occupied by a happy young family.

Now, it was fair to say, things had changed.

"How is this even possible?" Esme mumbled weakly, unable to tear her eyes away from the wreckage of the house in front of them, which was barely even recognisable as a building anymore.

Regulus gulped, "We're too late."

She scoffed, "Just a little, yeah."

It was as though the house had exploded from the inside, and everything was now just charred and black. Any sign of life had been effortlessly wiped away, and all that remained was this dark pit of nothingness.

Then, rustling.

Then a yelp and a crash.

Esme grabbed ahold of Regulus, squeezing his hand tightly as she asked, "What's that?"

He stood up on his toes to peer over some of the rubble, and then slowly said, "I think... That's Hagrid."

"Rubeus Hagrid?" She frowned in confusion, and this only deepened as Hagrid moved into her eye-line and made his way closer, carrying a small bundle of something in his arms.

"Hagrid!" Regulus hissed, leading the way towards him and off the empty street.

The half-giant looked bewildered for a moment, nearly tripped over some debris, and finally he locked eyes on the young couple. "Oh!" He called out, "It's yer two, isn't it? Er, Regulus and Esmer'ilda, yeah. Wha-what are ye doing here?"

"Hagrid," Regulus nodded his head once, "What happened? We were here only a few hours ago."

Hagrid gulped, adjusted the bundle tightly in his arms, and attempted to explain, "It-it were him, you see. Tha'-that He Who Must Not Be Named. He..." Hagrid lowered his voice dramatically, "Killed them. Those Lily and James Potter, he did."

Esme took a step back, dropping Regulus' hand as she turned back to look at the obliterated house. "But when?" She asked, "I don't understand how this happened."

"He er... Must'a found out where them two were stayin'. Here, you see. This lil one - Harry, 'ere - stopped You Know Who. 'E's gone! Almost didn't believe it a' first, meself, but it's true!"

"Harry - as in the baby? Lily and James' son? How could he stop the Dark Lord?" Esme almost laughed in complete and utter shock.

Hagrid stammered slightly before saying, "I don't know. Nobody seems ta know. But 'e's gone. Destroyed. Thas' the prophecy, for ya."

Esme turned back to Regulus and admitted, "We must have just missed it."

He sighed sadly and combed a hand over his hair as he mumbled out, "I know. Just."

It wasn't that they'd missed the downfall of the Dark Lord, which of course they would have liked to have seen. But they'd gone to Godric's Hollow with the sole intention of guarding the Potters until Dumbledore and the Order could arrive and do something.

They'd failed.

Esme and Regulus had fled from an ambush by the Death Eaters, Dumbledore had never turned up, and now Lily and James were dead.

There was nothing in the prophecy about them needing to die. They could have been saved.

And that would haunt Esme for a very long time.

"I've got to get goin' I 'ave." Hagrid interrupted them, glancing down at his watch.

This was what prompted Esme to look closer at the bundle in his arms. Because it wasn't a package, like she had previously thought. It was moving.

"Is... Is that Harry?" She asked, pointing at the blankets.

Regulus followed her gaze and slipped out, "Harry Potter?"

"Aye." He confirmed, "He's goin' ta Professor Dumbledore. 'E'll know wha' ta do with 'im."

"Dumbled-"

"Esme." Regulus held up his hand, signalling that it perhaps wasn't the best time to start that whole thing.

Then Hagrid chirped up, "Oh, Regulus, I did see ya brother, I did. He were 'ere not long before I saw you two. Gave me his bike, 'e did. I'll be needin' it ta get Harry away from 'ere."

"Sirius?" Regulus almost choked, "Sirius was here? Where has he gone?"

Esme couldn't pay attention anymore. Her mind was hooked on Dumbledore. Yes, he was of course incredibly clever, and there was every chance that he knew more about the specifics surrounding the prophecy than Esme knew. But she still believed he hadn't stepped in to save Lily and James because it could have interfered with the downfall of the Dark Lord.

And now Harry's life was in the hands of Dumbledore? She almost wanted to scream with frustration.

They needed to find Sirius.

"He were in a right state, he was. Young Sirius." Hagrid shook his head solemnly, "Said 'e had to be goin' somewhere. Had somethin' important ta deal with. Said someone needed ta be stopped. 'E left before I could ask wha' he meant."

But Esme and Regulus knew what he meant.

Clearly Dirk had passed on the message to Sirius. Whether he had believed them about Pettigrew or not didn't matter, because clearly he'd arrived at Godric's Hollow and seen the destruction of the Potter home.

Perhaps he had gone there upon hearing about the destruction, rather than believing Pettigrew betrayed them. It didn't matter anymore anyway.

There was only one thing Sirius would do now, knowing his best friend and Lily had been killed, and that would be to stop the person responsible. The traitor.

Peter Pettigrew.

"Sirius didn't say where he was going?" Regulus asked.

"No." Hagrid shook his head, "Gave me his bike an' run off, he did."

He groaned and rubbed his hands over his tired face, "Alright, thanks Hagrid. We'll find him."

Hagrid smiled warmly at the two of them, "Is a tragedy, it is. Young Lily and James. Thes' already word of wizards out n' about celebrating though. You Know Who is gone. This little tyke put an end to 'im."

"What will Dumbledore do?" Esme suddenly asked.

Hagrid frowned slightly, "What d'ya mean?"

"With Harry. He's Sirius' godson, after all." She stated.

Regulus set a hand on her arm as he spoke up, "It's fine. Hagrid, you get going. Thanks for everything." He said, bidding the half-giant farewell as he clambered aboard the blue motorcycle and swiftly took off into the sky with little Harry Potter tucked in tightly beside him.

Regulus then wasted no time in dragging Esme under the cover of some trees so they were out of sight of anyone who might be watching them. "We need to find Sirius." He said urgently, "If he gets to Pettigrew, who knows what he'll do."

"I don't understand though, none of this makes any sense." Esme complained, "Sirius told us he was the Secret Keeper for Lily and James. Sirius must have told Peter, and then Peter told the Dark Lord."

"Well that makes sense. They thought they were all friends." Regulus shrugged slightly.

She shook her head, "But why? Why would Sirius want to tell Peter?"

Regulus could feel a lump rising in his throat as he said, "So he could visit Lily and James? What does it matter? Peter knew they were here. He told the Dark Lord. Snape overheard and told us. The Dark Lord killed Lily and James. Harry stopped the Dark Lord - somehow. Sirius is missing, presumably hunting Pettigrew."

"Do you think Pettigrew was a Secret Keeper too?" She questioned.

He shrugged, growing impatient as he wanted to search for his brother. "I don't know." He admitted, "What does it matter?"

"Maybe it doesn't." Esme mumbled, "But I feel like Sirius would have said that there were two Secret Keepers. I just-something doesn't add up. I can feel it."

"Can we not do this, please. Not now. I just-I need to find Sirius." Regulus pleaded.

Esme instantly, hearing the distress in her voice, pushed her thoughts aside and replied, "Of course, sorry. Priorities. How do we find him?"

She tucked a strand of his dark hairs behind his ear, cupped his face in her hands, and reached up to press a quick kiss to his cheek. The smallest of actions to show she was with him the whole way - through whatever they faced.

After that, time seemed to just skip away and before they knew it, hours had passed.

They would spent the whole night tracking down Sirius. They'd visit everywhere they'd think he could be. They travel miles all through the dark night and the early hours of the morning.

But they never found Sirius.

What they did find, the morning after Hallowe'en, when they were just about to return back to Aberforth's to get some sleep, was a copy of the latest edition of the Daily Prophet tossed into a puddle on the ground. Esme had been so tired that she hadn't even bothered to scan over the headlines at first, and it was the enormous picture on the cover that caught her eyes.

It was just a picture of an empty street. Something that made absolutely no sense. Why would something so mundane be on the front cover of the Daily Prophet.

"Regulus..." She mumbled groggily, forcing her eyes to stay open as she tugged on his sleeve to force his attention to the newspaper she was pointing at. He reached down to pick it up, holding it at arm's length so it didn't drip on his shoes, and read over the main article.

His throat dried up. A cold sweat ran down his spine. His mouth hung open.

Sirius Black had been arrested for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles.

It... It couldn't be real.

Regulus blinked, hoping he'd been tricked by mere sleep deprivation. But the words stared back at him, as permanent as ever.

Esme didn't know what to say. She never would have considered Sirius to be capable of such a thing. But his friends had died as a result, and that could change a person.

Truthfully, if Esme had been given a chance, she would have tried to kill her father for what he did to Piper.

"It's..." She couldn't finish her sentence. Perhaps Sirius has killed Pettigrew, that much she could come around to believing. But the twelve innocent muggles?

It must have been due to a spell backfiring. There was no way he would intentionally killed twelve muggles. Or any muggles, for that matter.

"Regulus..." Esme whispered, softly placing her hand on his shoulder as he continued to stare at the newspaper.

Regulus felt like he was going to be sick. His mother had tried to cut Esme out of his life. His father had sold them out to the Death Eaters. Now his brother, the one person he never thought would do such a thing, was a murderer.

In that moment, everything changed.

His whole childhood and all of his memories were tinted with this knowledge that he was all alone now. They'd left him, just as they'd all promised never to do again.

"Regulus..." Esme squeezed his shoulder, trying to gain his attention.

He turned to her, his expression cold and distant. His features hardened and his eyes unreadable.

Sirius had promised never to leave him behind again. Promised.

"Let's go. We need to get out of here." He said bluntly, dropping the newspaper back to the floor.

"Are you-"

He shook his head, "We need to go."