Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Twenty Eight

Esme sat quietly in the Great Hall, scrawling away hurriedly on the parchment as she raced to meet the deadline for all of the class work she'd been neglecting. It wasn't exactly like she could get an extension on the grounds of soon becoming a Death Eater.

It had only been a couple of days since that trip to Hogsmeade, and Esme had been keeping herself occupied with studying so hadn't seen Regulus at all. Yet he had massively helped pull her out of the darkness regarding the news from her father and Esme had moved on to coping with the situation by making morbid and quite dark jokes about her circumstances. Although, they were often told to herself in the mirror as she dared not to tell a single soul apart from Regulus.

"Esmerelda!" Piper hissed sliding into the seat beside Esme and pulling out some books from her back but not opening a single one of them. Esme raised an eyebrow, suspecting that the other girl hadn't joined her simply to study.

"Can I help you?" She asked.
The older girl leaned in close, resting her chin in her hands as she waited to have full attention. After a moment Esme sighed, knowing Piper wouldn't back off until she paid attention. So Esme turned her head and nearly fell backwards off the seat when she saw how close Piper's face was.

"Lord, Pipes..." Esme placed a hand over her heart, "What is it you need?"
"I need to talk to you about something." She replied shortly, tucking some hair behind her ear and glancing past Esme to the intimidating Professor Vector was pacing in front of the teacher's table.

Esme turned back to her work, rifling through books in search of the sheet of notes she'd misplaced, "Go ahead."

"Esme, it's just-"
"Esmerelda."
"Right, yes, sorry. It's just, this is really important." Piper urged.

"Ladies..." Professor Vector leaned over between the two students, "You are aware this is silent study. Do you know what that means?"
Esme pursed her lips together, closing her eyes as she made a mental note to wind up the Professor later.

"Yes, sorry Professor." Piper spoke up, smiling sweetly at the older woman as she stood up straight.
Professor Vector narrowed her eyes, a glimmer temporarily showing, "I don't recall that being the definition of silent study."

"Oh! Well, that would be doing work quietly." Piper innocently fluttered her eyelashes.
Vector was not impressed; she quipped, "Is quiet the same as silent?"
"No, sorry Professor."

"Right, good." Professor Vector cast her eyes between the two girls before finally turning away and continuing to pace the rest of the hall.

Esme watched with narrow eyes as the professor walked away, "I would love to see her suffer."
"Don't say that!" Piper swatted the girl's arm with a grin.
"Whatever." The brunette rolled her eyes and turned back to her studies.

They sat for a moment, Piper cautiously watching as Esme continued to scrawl out an essay over the tattered sheets of parchment. "Esmerelda... I, um, need to talk to you about something."
"Shoot." She replied.

She clenched her jaw, unsure of how exactly to broach the subject. "This is really important..." Piper began, "It's just... Esmerelda."
The younger girl was not paying attention.
"Esmerelda!" Piper exclaimed, clicking her fingers in front of Esme's face.

"Yes." Looking up, Esme was yet again startled by how close Piper was sat, "Merlin, Piper, what is going on with you?"
"I need to tell you something." She complained.

"Okay." Esme put down her quill and held her hands up, "You have my full attention. Go."

"Well... I told Dirk last week... What it is, is-"