Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Twenty Nine

"What's going on?" Regulus groaned as Esme tightened her grip on his wrist and led him out of the castle. He hurried to keep up with her as she marched with purpose across the Hogwart's grounds. She had ignored him the whole way, and Regulus had given up any chance of getting some sort of logical answer out of the girl.

Then he realised where she was leading him.

"Why are you taking me here?" He asked hopelessly.

Esme responded this time, "I need to do something."
"Merlin, you haven't got another letter have you? I'm starting to think mail is a bad omen." Regulus grumbled as they started to climb the stairs up to the Owlery.

Then Esme came to a sudden halt at the top of the staircase, dropping Regulus' arm and facing him with her arms tightly folded.
"Esme, what are we doing?" He sighed.
She pursed her lips and inhaled deeply before replying, "Doing what we should have done last time we were here."

"Excuse me?" The boy raised an eyebrow.

"We should have ignored Ignatius when we were last up here together. I should have kissed you. So we're back to finish what we should have started." She explained, as if it were the obvious thing to do.

"Right..." Regulus peered past Esme's shoulder at all of the owls perched inside the building, "I mean... Don't get me wrong, I completely support this. There are a lot of owls though."
"Well that's why we're stood out here. I'm not being surrounded by owl poo in there. Besides they're not going to judge you, Regulus." She smiled, letting out an airy laugh.

"I don't know if this is smart. We could be putting ourselves at greater risk." Regulus muttered, standing opposite Esme at the top of the stairs to the Owlery.

"Quite frankly, I don't care. I'm not putting up with your stupid idea of keeping distant to stay safe. If you're allowed to risk your own life, so am I." Esme frowned up at him.

Before he knew it, his hand cupped the side of Esme's face, his thumb grazing her jaw. After a moment, his mind caught up with his actions. Slowly Regulus went to pull his hand away and step back but was stopped by Esme placing her hand over his, holding it steady against her cheek. They gazed at each other for a moment, before breaking the stare, Regulus looking down at the floor as Esme trained her eyes on the sky.

Looking up at him, the confidence that had filled Esme moments before had been wiped away instantly. Nerves replaced that feeling, and her knees started to tremble slightly. Perhaps she had put a bit too much pressure on the situation. Esme lowered her hand and hoped to express her gratitude to Regulus for the endless things he had done for her, so she started "Thanks for-"

"Can I kiss you?"

She scoffed slightly, allowing a smile to emerge across her face, "Did you just interrupt me?"
"I thought this was more important." He shrugged, lowering his hand from her face to her neck and running his fingers through her hair.

Esme tucked a strand of Regulus' hair behind his ear, "I'll let you get away with that, because I like you."

"Don't go soft on me, Avery. I like you because you don't let me get away with everything." He mumbled.

"Shut up and kiss me, Black."
"Don't have to tell me twice."

With that, his hands were back cupping her face as they leant into each other. Esme hung her arms around his shoulders, pulling their bodies tightly against each other. Then their lips connected in a moment better than they could have ever imagined.

She pulled away gradually, "I can't believe how much you put your neck on the line to keep me out of trouble." Esme let out an airy laugh.
"Well you did make it rain as your own moral form of justice. You make trouble, you're practically a magnet for it." He dropped his hands down to her waist.

"Just because I'll allow you to kiss me now, doesn't mean you can change. I need you to be able to tell me when I'm wrong." She whispered.
"If we're going to survive this, we need to be strong. We need to have each other's back." He added, leaning down so their faces were barely an inch apart. Their noses brushed up against each other as Esme nodded in agreement.

"Now back to this business of allowing me to kiss you?" He inquired with a slight smirk.
"Don't get cocky, Reg. We both know I'll win that battle." They were so close now that as Esme spoke, her lips ghosted over Regulus' own mouth.

"Fine by me." His hands planted firmly on her hips. Esme cupped his face in her hands, "Oh, I could get used to this." She beamed before reconnecting their lips.

Neither of them could truly believe what was happening. It was as though they had truly found each other again. They had finally been completely reunited with their best friend.

Pulling away for breath, they rested their foreheads together.

Their worries for the future temporarily faded away. For a moment, Regulus wasn't consumed by the fear of becoming a Death Eater. For a little while, Esme wasn't being crushed under the weight of trying to protect everyone.

Esme was by far the brightest person Regulus knew. Not just in terms of academics but that the girl had such an amazing awareness of the world. She knew what was important and she valiantly protected what she believed in. Yet, and this was what Regulus loved most, Esme was never afraid to be reckless or fight for something she wanted - no matter how whimsical or impulsive.

"If you say something stupid I'm going to be annoyed." She raised an eyebrow as her scanned over his expression.
Regulus scoffed slightly, "Why would I say something stupid?"
"You have that look in your eyes." Esme furrowed her eyebrows and absentmindedly ran her fingers along his collar.

"Are you sure that isn't just my natural expression?" He asked.
She leant back a bit, looking sceptical, "Yes I think it is... That would explain a lot, actually. You do talk a lot of nonsense."

"Charming."
"It must be hard not being me. I can't imagine not being right all the time."

Regulus couldn't wipe the enormous grin off his face as he lowered his head towards her, brushing his nose against her jaw as Esme turned her face away from him, "Is that how it is now? I just have to accept that I'm always wrong?"
"Only when you're disagreeing with me."

Esme slowly turned back to face him with a smirk on her face. He placed a chaste kiss to the corner of her mouth and hummed, "I'm perfectly okay with that."

"Merlin," She sighed, "I didn't realise you'd be so cheesy."
"Es, we practically know everything about each other. Of course you knew I was going to be cheesy." Regulus smiled softly, "You like me and I think it's because I'm cheesy."

"Don't call me 'Es'." She grumbled as her eyebrows knitted together in a frown, but she kept one hand on the back of Regulus' neck and the other was against his chest.
He laughed lightly, "If I can get you to cave into being called Esme, eventually I'll get you down to Es."

"I think you were made to wind me up."

"It is a lot of fun." Regulus smiled coyly.

Esme pulled one side of his collar out from underneath his jumper, "What I was about to say... Before you so rudely interrupted me..."
"My mistake; I won't kiss you again." He smirked, rubbing his thumb in a circle where his hand rested on her hip.

"Regulus." She pushed against his chest but Regulus pulled her to take a step closer to him as he kept his grip on her hips, "Would you let me say this? I just... I owe you a lot of gratitude. Thank you for... For sticking by me when I got that news from my father. I would have quite happily curled into a ball and never woken up again, but you were there to help even when I was being selfish and miserable. You're so patient and... Thanks for making me laugh again. Nobody else would have."

"I don't think I'm the cheesy one. I think that's you." Regulus jibed, poking Esme in the stomach as he beamed at her.

She rolled her eyes, "I can't believe you're an idiot. In every sense of the word. I'm never admitting anything like that again."
"It was nice." He chuckled as Esme pretended to pout.

"You're a nightmare. You won't even take me seriously when I'm genuinely being nice. You know, it doesn't happen often."

"I can't help it; I'm happy." Regulus admitted, cupping the back of Esme's head in one hand as he guided their lips together again.