Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Seventy Seven

Deep in the countryside, sprawling across shallow hills and glowing fields, sat the large Potter household.
The grounds encompassed the large, redbrick central house sat underneath its dark thatched roof. Leading up to the home was an uneven stone driveway that crunches as Esme and Regulus walked over it.

"Wow." Esme let out an airy laugh of surprise as they looked up at the house.
"Yeah..." Regulus nodded slowly, "That's one word for it."

Looking up at the building, she made note of the particularly beautiful stained glass window in the centre of the second floor, which depicted a large, flowering tree.
Beside the house stood a large oak tree, sheltered under which was a small white barn filled to the brim with cardboards boxes full of years of possessions and belongings.

"You know... This house might actually be bigger than yours." Regulus pointed out as he dug his hands into his pockets and looked around at the vastly expansive grounds.
"Don't tell my parents that." She replied.

After a moment of silence, Esme nudged the boy beside her gently with her elbow and asked, "Do you think we should knock on the door rather than continue to lurk outside like creeps?"

"I suppose so." Regulus replied quietly.
"Do you want me to knock?"
"Yeah."
"Okay."

Esme rapped on the door a few times with the back of her hand, and then quickly stepped back beside Regulus.
"Your brother's mates better not be annoying." She muttered under her breath.

He forced out a nervous half-smile, "You remember the signal, right?"
"Yes, we pretend our dark marks burn and quickly apparate away." She nodded, "Don't worry, everything will go fine. I'm even going to play nice."

"Tha-" Regulus quickly clamped his jaw shut as the green front door swung open to reveal a familiar boy with flushed red cheeks and a mane of wild, shaggy black hair that fell down to his shoulders.
Regulus greatly resembled his older brother, though was noticeably taller and more slender in frame.

"Took you long enough!" The older boy exclaimed abruptly with a large grin as he threw his arms up in the air, "What have you been doing? Actually... Maybe I don't want to know."

Regulus and Esme glanced at each other, trying to figure out between them who should reply. Before Regulus got the chance to calmly respond, the girl beside him was already retorting, "Are you going to let us inside or what?"

Then, behind Sirius, appeared a second boy. He was quite a bit taller than his friend, though still not as tall as Regulus, and had wild, scruffy dark hair spiking up at all angles and slightly skewed glasses pushed up his nose.

"Oh! It is you two!" The older boy, James Potter, exclaimed suddenly before taking a deep breath and smiling warmly at them as he greeted, "Sorry, hi. Regulus and Esmerelda, right?"

Esme glanced over at Regulus, expecting him to speak but upon seeing that he didn't make any signal to do so, she spoke up, "Bet you can't tell who's who."

"Word is you're the new Head Girl, huh?" He asked, moving aside to let them step into the hallway.
"Oh, did it make front page of the Daily Prophet? I knew it was groundbreaking news." She replied with a smirk.

"Are you guys actually going to invite them inside?" A higher-pitched voice called from within the room at the far end of the hallway.

James' mouth hung open slightly as if having a lightbulb moment, and then stepped back as Sirius finally said, "Oh, yeah, come on in. This is Prongs' parents place. They're away for the week."

"Prongs?" Regulus questioned at last as he followed Esme into the home.
"Nickname." Sirius explained and gestured to his friend behind him, "It's James."