Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Twenty Six

Regulus stared at the empty seat across the classroom. It felt as though he'd been watching the chair for countless hours, yet simultaneously time could not have been passing slower.

"Reg..."

He couldn't work out where she was. She never missed lessons. It was peculiar.

"Reg..."

Regulus didn't want to worry. It was only breakfast and one lesson. He was starting to worry though.
Mulciber, sat beside Regulus, had grown tired of being ignored. He watched as the distracted boy leant his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands - focusing intently on something on the other side of the room.
Chuckling to himself, Mulciber leant across the desk and sharply elbowed the other boy's arm. This caused Regulus' head to slam down onto the table, sending out a large echo across the otherwise silent room.

Regulus groaned, rubbing his forehead and completely unaware that everyone had turned around to stare at the source of the commotion.

"Mister Black." Professor Mcgonagall lowered her nose to glare at him over the brim of her glasses, "Do you have something to contribute to the lesson?"

"Wh-Sorry, Professor. No. Sorry." The boy stammered, heat rising to his cheeks as he discretely rubbed his sore forehead.
"Right, best focus on the work at hand then." She raised an eyebrow before turning her back to the class again as she continued to mark some work.

Regulus turned to the boy sat next to him, suspicion setting in, "Mulciber... Why would you do that?"
"I didn't do anything." He shrugged with a smirk.

"You bloody did!" He hissed.
Mulciber held his hands in the air, surrendering, "I promise you, I did not."

"We're the only people sat at this desk. It couldn't possibly be anyone else." Regulus exhaled with exasperation.
The other boy chuckled, "Ah, well... You see... You've got me there."

Regulus scoffed, "What is wrong with you?"
"It's you that's wrong. You're being weird - weirder than usual." He frowned, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Bit rude." He pointed out, "I'll let it slide."

Mulciber smirked, "Is it the Avery girl? Come on, it's clear to everybody how obsessed you are. Rosier and I thought it was bad when you two didn't speak to each other, but now it's like you're magnets. You're hooked."
"Those aren't even part of the same metaphor." Regulus grumbled angrily, feeling a warmth rise to his cheeks.

"Black! Mulciber! Would you like to share your conversation with the rest of us?"

The two boys snapped their attention to the front of the classroom, where Professor Mcgonagall had her hands firmly on her hips as she scowled at them.

It wouldn't be long before Regulus found out where Esme was. Although, Piper Horix was about to beat him to it.

Hesitantly, Piper pressed her hand against the door to the dormitory, ready to push it open. She had searched high and low, all over the castle, for Esmerelda. It had taken her some time to think of the most obvious place to hide whilst everyone else was in lessons - the dormitory.
For some reason, she was feeling a little nervous. It wasn't like she was about to step into something out of a nightmare. Was it?
So Piper opened the door.

At first, she didn't see anything. The room appeared perfectly normal. Tidy, even.
Unlike Esmerelda.
The beds were made, the curtains pulled back, and the floor was clean. Everything was...

"Oh." Piper noticed it. One of the bedside tables was moved so it stood about halfway down the bed. The top of a brunette head poked out from behind the cupboard. "Esmerelda?" She called out quietly.