Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter One Hundred and Two

"You haven't forgotten to water the plants have you?"

"Which ones?"
"I don't know. All of them. It's like a bloody jungle in here now."

Regulus looked around the kitchen at the numerous potted plants littering every available surface. He had to admit, Esme did have a point.
Especially since he'd started growing a venomous tentacula and the magical plant had accidentally grown to an enormous size and was becoming particularly hazardous as you entered the kitchen and had to avoid the reach of its fanged leaves.

He nodded, "It might be time to get rid of a few of them, yes."
"Sirius will be glad to hear it." She replied.

Regulus hummed in response. As he turned to make his way closer to Esme, he was suddenly stopped by a sharp knock at the door.

"You know what I'm looking forward to when this war is over?" Esme grumbled, "Not jumping every time there's someone at the door."

"Sirius definitely has his keys." He explained, "I hid them in his jacket pocket this morning so he wouldn't forget."
Esme's face washed over with concern as she asked under a hushed voice, "Well who is it? Who would know we live here and turn up unannounced?"

"I can think of one person." Regulus mumbled to himself as he walked down the hallway. Before he opened the door, he turned to see Esme lingering by the door at the far end, and then he turned back and twisted the door handle open.

"WHERE'S BLACK?"

This immediately startled Regulus, and he stumbled backwards into the wall and barely caught sight of the person that dashed past him.
His heart was still racing as he heard Esme shout out, "You're crazy!"

After a few slow breaths to calm himself down,  Regulus combed a hand through his dark hair, proceeded to shut the front door, and quickly made his way back into the kitchen.
There, he saw Esme stood by the door with her arms folded as she looked thoroughly unimpressed. At the other end of the room, pacing back and forth with an urgency never before seen, Severus Snape was back.

"Are... Are you looking for me?" Regulus asked, snapping the other boy out of his thoughts as he spun around to look at him.
"You?" Snape almost cackled bitterly, "No, of course not. I need the other one. Sirius. Where is he?"

Esme stated, "Not here. What do you want?"

"It's Pettigrew!" Snape exclaimed urgently, "Pettigrew!"

She frowned in confusion, "Petti-who?"
"Who's Pettigrew?" Regulus asked.

Then, a lightbulb moment. Because they had in fact met a Pettigrew before - a couple of times.

"Are you talking about Peter Pettigrew?" Regulus inquired, "The short one who's friends with Sirius, James, and Remus?"

"Yes!" Snape pointed directly at him, "Peter Pettigrew! I think he's a mole!"

Esme still wasn't completely following along as she questioned, "Mole? What do you mean by that?" The first thing, of course, that popped into her mind was that Peter's animagus form was a rat.

Snape, at this point, had calmed down just enough to properly explain himself. "I've just come straight from a meeting." He said, "And they-they know Lily is. Pettigrew went to the Dark Lord. He knows where they are!"

"Is it possible Peter is a secret keeper as well?" She turned to Regulus.
He shrugged slightly and admitted, "I don't know enough about the Fidelious charm. It could be possible."

"As well?"

They turned back to Snape.
He asked, "What do you mean 'as well'?"
"Nothing." Esme quickly responded.

"There's no time for this." Regulus moved the conversation on, "If the Death Eaters know where the Potters are then we need to act. Now."

She agreed, "Yes."
"I've got to come. We've got to save L-them. Them." Snape urged.

However, Esme didn't agree. "No. You need to go back. Keep your cover. If the Death Eaters come face to face with Reg and I, it won't be a huge surprise. If you're there too, that could make things more unpredictable."

"We need to go to Dumbledore as well." Regulus thought, "But I don't want to split up in case something goes wrong."

She turned back to Snape, "Did you just hear about Pettigrew, or did you hear where the Potters are too?"
Snape nodded and quietly replied, "Godric's Hollow."

Regulus dug his hands into his pockets and faced Esme, knowing they had such little time to act and they had to get this right, there was only one option.

"Do you have a plan?" He asked.

She closed her eyes and slightly turned her body away as she responded, "I'm working on it."
"If there was ever a time for a plan of yours, it's now."

"Got it." Esme confirmed, turning back to face the boys with a smirk on her face, "I know what to do."

"Well, what?" Snape practically cried out.
She explained, "You go back. They can't suspect anything from you. I've got it from here."

"Next step." Esme clasped her hands behind her back and paced, "I'll send word to Dumbledore about this. The odds are Sirius won't believe what we tell him, so you send your patronus to Dirk, get him to find Sirius and convince him of what we've found out."

"That I can handle." He confirmed, drawing out his wand.
Snape, instinctively backed up against the wall as Regulus silently waved his wand and out poured a brilliant stream of white light.

"Merlin..." Snape mumbled hoarsely as the patronus took shape and stood enormous and proud in front of him. "I never would have guess-"
"Shut up." Esme quipped.

Regulus' patronus turned its head slightly from side to side, as if trying to listen in to some information, and then at last rose up to its feet and raced through the air and suddenly out of the room.

"Now," Esme pulled her own wand out, "I'll send mine to Dumbledore, and then we go to Godric's Hollow."

"I should come-"
"No." She stated bluntly, "You need to go back."

Snape pursed his lips and frowned, "But-"
"Just go." Regulus insisted, "Now. Hurry."

Esme lifted her own wand into the air and announced, "Expecto Patronum."
Dazzling white light flashed around the room and when the white spots in Snape's vision had cleared he saw the form her own patronus had taken.

He gulped and whispered, "Oh."

"Go on, quick." Regulus urged him again, and having seen what he'd seen, Snape didn't want to argue with either of them anymore.

And with that, Severus vanished from sight with a loud pop.

Regulus watched as Esme's patronus ran through the sky and out of sight, then he moved over to the girl and took her hand, "We should go then."
"Yeah, we should." She squeezed his hand.

"One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger." He said.
Esme smiled and replied, "If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything!"

Regulus chuckled, "Who said muggle studies was a waste of time?"
"Me." She snickered, "And I stand by it. As much as I don't want to murder muggles, I still don't want to sit around loving the Queen with them."

"Well that's a real shame, because I hear those are the only two options in life." He smirked slightly.

"Okay, okay," She rest a hand on his chest, "We should stop wasting time and get going."
He nodded, "You're right. In one jump?"

Esme sighed, "Yes, fine. We can't delay any longer. I'll lead."
She tightened her grip on his hand and took a moment before the two of them disapparated out of the house with a loud pop.