the secret of Erised {s.b.}

chapter 36: tattoos

Cold air and emptiness was everything Esmeralda felt walking through the Hogwarts corridors late at night. She had the Marauder's Map in her hand and her wand on the other. Due to her busy schedule, the only time when she could have her private lessons with Dumbledore would be after dinner. The castle corridors were usually empty by the time Esmeralda finished.

That night, they tried to make Esmeralda get into Dumbledore's head without her having to contact him. Usually, Esmeralda had to be touching the person to actually see something with her abilities. They had decided for her to try doing it on Dumbledore himself because he was a master at Occlumency. They had found out that Esmeralda's abilities were a bit similar to Legilimency, but not quite.

Dumbledore had put it this way;

"You see," he said, "A Legilimens can see previous memories stored in a person's mind, but you my dear, can see their desires and if my theory is correct, the future"

"What do you mean the future ?" Esmeralda asked, confused.

"After I heard what you had seen while touching Bellatrix, I investigated if her and her husband had murdered someone together," he replied, "Turns out that the Dark Lord always sends them on different tasks because he doesn't want his two best Death Eaters to get distracted."

"But what if that is something her twisted mind desires ?" she asked, "Finally being able to murder someone with her husband by her side..."

The Headmaster sighed.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," he said.

As she walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room, Esmeralda thought about that specific point of the conversation she had with the Headmaster. If she could actually see the future by going into someone's mind, then what she had accidentally seen that Summer night at the Potter's Spanish villa was Sirius' future.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly bumped into someone and fell to the floor.

"Watch were you-" the person said, "Mer ! What in Merlin's name are you doing out so late ?"

"Nice to see you too, Reg," Esmeralda said, getting up. She whispered 'Mischief managed' under her breath and the Map went blank.

"Sorry," he said, "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Don't worry," she said, chuckling a bit, "Neither was I."

"Got a lot on your mind ?" the young Slytherin asked.

Esmeralda sighed and looked to the floor.

"You've got no idea,"

Regulus placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. She looked up and stared at his eyes. He reminded her so much of Sirius. The beauty of their faces masked the sadness behind their eyes, Regulus' more than Sirius. When she first met Sirius, the sadness in his eyes resembled the one Regulus wore, but since she had been pulled out of the Mirror, sadness had been replaced with happiness and hope. A hope that the Gryffindor girl knew Regulus would never have.

"I know I'm probably too late to do this," Regulus said, "But I never thanked you for saving me in the village."

"Oh, it's nothing," Esmeralda replied, "You would've done the same."

"It's nothing ?" he asked, shocked, "The Death Eaters that your fire reached had to be in bed for a whole day because their wounds took too long to heal with magic."

"At least none of them got into a two-day coma," she said.

Regulus widened his eyes.

"What ?"