Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Fifty Six

It was only late February, but still winter very much had Hogwarts in its clutches. The sun would set a little too early and the wind would bit a little too chilly.
Yet inside the bustling Three Broomsticks, Esme and Regulus were entirely oblivious that the day was drawing to a close as they had spent the whole afternoon tucked away in the far corner of the Inn.

"It just makes no sense!"

Esme complained again as Regulus clutched at his sides, rocking forward as he tried not to howl out loud with laughter.

In between panting to catch his breath, he laughed, "I thought you were meant to be smart."
"Don't be so bloody rude!" Esme exclaimed, folding her arms and slumping down in her seat.

At this point, they were several Butterbeers down and were now sitting side-by-side on the same side of the booth, Esme's legs resting over Regulus' lap.
"You're seriously telling me that you're smart after that?" He chuckled.
Esme rolled her eyes, "I was six! I thought I could train them!"
"They're bees!"

She pouted, "And I'm a witch."
"What were you planning on doing? Using the Imperius curse so you could have pet bees?" He started to laugh again, tears rising in his eyes.

"I could have done! It's completely possible. It makes no sense that nobody else understands it's entirely possible and would be amazingly cool." She rambled before halting herself.
He tilted his head to rest it down on her shoulder, "You're utterly weird."

"I'm never telling you anything again." Esme sulked, though despite her best efforts, her mouth tugged up into a faint smile as she watched him continue to laugh.

"I'll keep it a secret forever." Regulus promised, placing a hand on her knee and rubbing his thumb in small circles.
She shook her head, "You'd better. I think somewhere in the baby pictures my mum saved is one of you and Ignatius having a bath together."

"Are you threatening me with embarrassing baby pictures?" He lifted his head to look at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Yes."
"Right, love you too."

"Yes, yes, whatever." She rolled her eyes.
Regulus nudged her with his shoulder and questioned, "Whatever?"

"I like to think it's a much cooler way of saying I love you." She mumbled, a slight blush rising to her cheeks.
"Oh, in which case, whatever."

Regulus picked up his drink to finish it and, as he did, Esme ran her fingers through his hair, combing it out of his eyes. She leant forward slowly to press a soft kiss to his cheek, but her eyes locked on something on the other side of the pub.
Rather, a group of people on the other side of the pub.

"Esme?" He asked slowly, his head still in her hands.
"Sorry." She mumbled, lowering her hand but not tearing her gaze away as she continued to stare past Regulus.

"What are you-" He turned around, hoping to see what Esme had spotted.
Yet she interrupted him by whispering, "You know how we need to find out who sold us out to Bellatrix?"

"Yes..." Regulus grimaced, not liking where this was headed.
Finally, Esme leant back and flashed her smirk, "Now's the time to find out."

"W-what?"
"Get a shift on!" She hissed, pushing him to get up so she too could get out of the booth.
Regulus sighed, sliding across the bench as he asked, "What are you planning?"

"No time to waste!" Esme urged, "Just follow me and go along with what I say."

"Esme, I really thing you'd gone ma-"
"Hush!" She insisted, grabbing his hand and pulling him after her across the pub, "Just, act natural!"

That was when, at last, Regulus spotted who Esme was so concerned about.
The group of Slytherin boys gathered around a small, rickety, wooden table as they muttered to each other with hushed voices. Anyone with two eyes could tell they were up to something suspicious.
Ignatius sat at the head of the table, peering over something as Mulciber, Snape, Selwyn, Rosier, Rowle, and Snyde - from the sixth and seventh years - were all intently listening.

"Follow my lead..." She whispered, coming to a stop so they were stood only a couple of metres away from the table in question.
Regulus had no idea what was going on, but he knew that Esme's plans were always crazy and he was about to be dragged right into the middle of it.

"We need to plan phase two, Regulus. Though we shouldn't talk about it around the castle!" Esme blurted out, raising her voice to it could just be heard over the murmur of chatter throughout the Inn.

"What?" He asked without thinking about it.
She raised her eyebrows at him and continued, "We need to plan our next course of action away from the castle. Away from Hogsmeade, even. Somewhere nobody will hear us."

Regulus sighed, knowing full well it was too late to back out of it and he had to suck it up and follow Esme towards whatever chaos she was walking into. He knew it was very much an over exaggeration, but they needed to attract the attention of the Slytherin boys, so he asked, "Where would you suggest? To make our next plan to destroy the Death Eaters?"

Esme beamed from ear-to-ear, a sparkle shining in her eyes as she stated, "The Forbidden Forest, of course."

"Oh, god, Esme." Regulus grimaced under his breath.
"Next weekend, on the night of the full moon." She continued, raising her voice again slightly, "Good idea?"

Regulus hated the idea.
"Great idea." He replied through gritted teeth.

Esme tilted her head to the side so she could just peer past Regulus' shoulder. The table the boys were sat at had fallen silent, and she knew they were eavesdropping.
She flashed a quick smile to Regulus, "We'll sneak out after dark and come up with a strategy, yes?"

"Absolutely brilliant." He nodded, trying not to sound too bitter at the prospect of sneaking into the Forbidden Forest at night to lure out a group of young Death Eaters.
What could go wrong?

-

hiya!
sorry for the short chapter but the next one is quite long and has some serious adventure/suspense in it

hope u enjoy!