Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Eighteen

"Well, are you coming in or not? I mean, if you want you can lurk out here like a stalker. I'd rather sit down, if I'm being honest." She spoke with her typical snark.

Regulus slowly turned around, his eyes falling on Esme. He adjusted his robes around his neck slightly, not letting his grip go on the window frame of the Hogwarts Express. He had spent the past ten minutes intently staring out of the window, his thoughts a million miles away from the train tracks they were currently travelling over.

"Regulus?" She reiterated, blinking hard as he hadn't replied for a couple of minutes.

"Yes."
"Yes?" Esme laughed, "Yes to what?"

"Yes I'm coming in." Regulus exhaled.

"Are you sure?" Esme closed the compartment door behind her now and faced the boy fully, "If you don't want to, I understand. I mean, us getting along again has kind of come out of the blue. It might be overwhelming to dump Dirk and Piper on you. He's extremely muggle born and she's... A bit of an odd one." She laughed lightly again.

Thinking about it, the girl's life had practically turned upside down since the start of the school year. It was only January and she'd practically made her own friendship group. Dirk was around a lot more, she'd met Piper, and reconnected with Regulus. It was an odd feeling to not be so lonely anymore.

Though, in the rush of all of this, Esme had completely forgotten about the mystery of what had actually happened over the Christmas holidays. She was too giddy to still be on high alert... But when Regulus finally shared what he'd learnt over the holidays with her, it was sure to catch her off guard.

"It's not that." Regulus stammered, "It's just weird being back here. It feels like I never left. The holidays went by too quickly."
"I would have thought you'd be glad to be shot of Grimmauld Place?" She cocked an eyebrow.

He smiled softly, "It's a relief to be out from under the intense scrutiny of my parents, if that's what you mean."
"Well, I do feel bad Kreacher has to stay there." She admitted.

"Speaking of Kreacher, you know that summer-"

"What are you doing out here?"

Esme and Regulus turned around to see Piper Horix stood in the doorway to the train compartment.

"Nothing." Regulus replied quickly.
Esme scanned her eyes over Regulus for a moment, trying to read him, before deciding to let it be for now, "We were just coming."

Regulus stepped into the compartment behind Esme, nervously wiping his hands on his robes.

"This is Regulus. Regulus, you've already kind of met Piper, and that is Cresswell." Esme introduced.

Slowly, Dirk lowered the newspaper masking his face and stared at the other boy for a moment. "Hello." Regulus greeted with a half-wave.

"Regulus Black?" Dirk questioned somewhat hesitantly. He was no fool, Dirk had heard the rumours about the Black family - more importantly, about why Sirius Black had run away. The muggle born boy didn't quite imagine himself spending time in the company of someone that probably wanted him dead.

"Um, yes." Regulus nodded, sitting down on the very edge of the bench, opposite Esme.

"Dirk Cresswell." The boy held out his hand, shaking Regulus'.
"You're... You're in Ravenclaw as well?" The Slytherin boy asked.

"We all are." Piper spoke up, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
"Although," Esme explained, "Piper is in the year above. Apparently the sixth years aren't as fun as us."