Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Eighty Three

It was like Esme was starting all over again.
She felt as though she was back in her first year at Hogwarts - completely alone. She felt isolated and abandoned, which made it all the more difficult to focus on her studies.
Even Dirk and Levi, no matter how hard they tried, couldn't seem to bring much happiness to the girl.

As was becoming common in her life at this point, Esme never settled in one feeling too long as something was coming to uproot everything yet again.
And it was coming fast.

Walking down the empty corridor beside the courtyard after her last lesson of the day, a sharp snap sounded. Something clearly unnatural and most likely magical.

Instinctively, Esme ducked down and dashed for cover behind one of the stone pillars. She stayed still and silent for a moment, thinking perhaps she had just imagined the sound.
Life was getting so dull and repetitive, perhaps her subconscious had just willed something more interesting to happen.

Though, it wouldn't be long until she wished she'd never had that thought.

"Miss Avery?" A croaky voice called out.

A croaky voice Esme recognised to be very really after all, and not a threat. She poked her head out of cover and peered down the corridor to see none other than Kreacher stood a few metres away, looking up at her through hooded eyes.
Though, he looked very much different. Frail, almost. He looked bruised and battered and worse than she had ever seen him before. And there was something in his eyes... A dull, darkness.

"Kreacher... Are you alright? What are you doing here?" Esme asked somewhat hesitantly, her eyes scanning over the battered figure of the house elf.
He only managed to stammer a short reply, "M-master Regulus, the master called out for you."

She frowned, "What? Why? What happened?"
Kreacher's bottom lip trembled as he suddenly cried out, "The master is in danger!"

Esme wasted no time in reaching for Kreacher's hand and commanding, "Take me to him."

A second, short snap sounded out, and Esme's Charms textbook clattered to the floor as she and the house elf vanished out of sight.

Stumbling backwards upon landing on uneven ground, Esme gasped as she reached forward and was pulled upright by Kreacher. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to their dark surroundings, but she could instantly tell something was wrong - a chill coursed through her blood.
What Esme saw, she couldn't possibly comprehend. It was unbelievable.

"Well this sure as hell isn't a party." She muttered to herself, "What's going on?"

The island she found herself on was no larger a few metres in diameter. The uneven ground was made of flat, dark stone and in the centre stood a tall basin.
What was more curious was that the basin, clearly made to hold some sort of food or drink, was completely empty.

"Kreacher..." Esme reached into her pocket to draw out her wand, "What's-where's Re-"

"Esme?" A hoarse voice croaked out from the darkness. A chill ran down her spine as the tip of her wand illuminated with Lumos and she tentatively clambered around the basin to see Regulus lay at the very edge of the stone island, clinging to the rocks as if he was going to fall of the ground.

She had absolutely no clue what was going on. One thing was for certain though, she had a very terrible feeling about remaining in the cave for much longer.

"Regulus!" Esme exclaimed, falling to her knees beside him and scraping his hair back out of his eyes to see his shockingly dilated pupils and worryingly pale skin, "What-what's going on? Are you alright? Kreacher said-"
He groaned, "Thirsty... So... Kreacher had to... I'm so thirsty..."