"Wait! Hold up! Stop a second!"
"Come on, slow down! Esme, I'm actually out of breath. How do you walk to fast?"
"Esme, come on. Just hold on for a moment."
Finally, Esme came to a halt and turned to face Regulus. He jogged the final few metres up to meet her, and realised he didn't quite have a plan for what he needed to say.
"I need to go." Esme mumbled.
Sighing with exasperation, he said, "Just stop for a minute. Think this through."
"Think it through? Regulus, people have died!"
"Esme!" He exclaimed, looking around their surroundings as a few bystanders stared over at them with confusion, "Let's talk about this outside."
"No! I'm not talking about this. Somebody needs to pay for this, and I'm going to see it through. " She shot back and turned to walk away.
He tugged on her arm now, spinning her back around to face him, "I get you're angry, I understand why. We're all scared, but you can't fly off the rails just because a good excuse comes along."
Esme tore her arm out of his grip, "You-you think I'm mad about this as an excuse to complain about the Death Eaters - an excuse to throw a fuss about becoming one? I can't believe you! Dirk is my friend... My best friend and his, or his loved one's, safety is not being put at risk under my watch. This stops now."
"So what? So you are going to singlehandedly take on the Dark Lord? Listen to yourself. You're not being rational." He urged.
She scoffed, "Rational! The whole world is insane, there is no rational."
"Esme..." Regulus sighed finally, running a hand through his hair and tugging on the ends of it, "Just... Pretend you trust me, just for a moment."
"I do trust you. Completely and utterly." She admitted quietly.
"There's no need-"
"Regulus, I do trust you." Esme insisted, "I shouldn't have accused you - I just need to blame someone. Somebody is at fault for this. They need to pay for this."
"You need to listen to me." Regulus persisted, reaching out to take Esme's hand and pulling her around the corner at the end of the corridor so they were out of sight of other students. They stood together, looking at each other for a moment as the gravity of the situation set in on them. "If you truly care about Dirk, you need to go to him. You need to be with him and support him through this - he's going to be distraught. Running around shouting at Slytherins isn't going to help anybody. You go to Dirk, I'll talk to your brother and see what I can find out."
Regulus was nearly knocked off his feet as Esme threw her arms around the boy and tugged him towards her. "Thank you." She mumbled into the crook of his neck. Heat flushed up to the boy's cheeks, bringing the faint trace of a smile to his lips as he gently wrapped his arms around her.
"For what?" He asked.
Her fingers combed through the hair at the nape of his neck, "For putting up with me. For not getting mad. For helping me see sense. Nobody else can."
"Anytime." Regulus replied quietly.
"For the record," She added, "I do trust you. I trust you more than I trust myself. I'm... I'm sorry I implied otherwise."
"You don't need to apologise for anything. You have every right to mistrust me. I've hurt you before, I'm becoming a Death Eater; it's not a good look."
Esme pulled away from him, her arms still loosely hooked around his shoulders as she looked up at him with a frown on her face. "Regulus, you're a good person. Don't ever think otherwise."
"You help me be a better person. I'm braver because of you." He smiled, leaning in so their noses brushed against each other.
"I don't make you better or braver. You were always like that. I'm just slowly convincing you of it." She raised a hand to the side of his face and grazed her thumb over his cheek.
Regulus stared at her for a moment, just watching, before straightening himself up, "Go and check on Dirk. Find Piper too; he'll want you both there. I'll talk to Ignatius and try to find out if he knew anything. My guess is only higher up people - like the Lestranges - will have been aware or involved."
"Don't go to Ignatius yet." Esme placed a hand on his chest, "I want to be there. I'll go to Dirk and after dinner we'll find Ignatius together, deal?"
"Alright, deal."
Esme stepped closer, pressing a chaste kiss to the corner of Regulus' mouth before dashing past him in search of Dirk and Piper. However, Regulus was not going to wait to confront Ignatius. He had to confront the boy now.
So just as Ignatius Avery was heading into his Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, Regulus grabbed the boy by the arm and dragged him after him, down the hallway.
"Oi! What are you doing! Someone get him off me! You psycho!"
Ignatius yelled and writhed as Regulus dragged him along, one hand on his arm and the other on the scruff of his neck as the younger boy led him down towards the dungeons - where they were less likely to be seen.
"Shut up!" Regulus hissed, holding a finger up to his lips as he finally let go of the older boy. Ignatius scoffed, straightening out his robes and flattening down his hair.
"Have you lost your mind?" Ignatius grumbled, "What is wrong with you?"
Regulus jabbed a finger against his chest, "What do you know?"
"Know about what?" Ignatius laughed, running his hand through his hair again, "Reg, mate, I think spending all that time with my sister has made you as loopy as she is."
"This is no time for joking, Avery." He warned, jabbing Ignatius in the chest again and causing him to step back up against the wall.
"Alright!" The older boy threw his hands up in surrender, "But you're going to have to explain yourself. What are you on about?"
"Have you seen the paper this morning?" Regulus asked.
"Mate, look at me." Ignatius chuckled, "Does it look like I read the news? I'm too cool for that."
"You're too something for that." The raven-haired boy mumbled under his breath, "Seriously, though. There was a Death Eater attack on the muggle town. What do you know?"
"Know?" Ignatius looked around, "I know nothing. Does it look like I know something?"
Regulus grumbled "You're an idiot."
"Hey, watch it!" Ignatius exclaimed, punching him in the shoulder.
"Ow!" He yelped as he quickly stepped away from Ignatius.
"Right, moving on." Regulus began, still rubbing his shoulder, "Two wizards died. A witch is missing. It's lucky no muggles were harmed."
"Lucky? Black, remember who you are. It's unlucky." Ignatius warned warily.
"Shut up." He snapped sharply.
The older boy scoffed and rolled his eyes, "All right, I won't talk anymore. Have fun interrogating me."
"Avery!" Regulus almost shouted. He could really see how Ignatius and Esme were siblings; they both drove him up the wall with how difficult they could act.
"Alright! Calm down." He glanced around to make sure they were still alone, "Listen, I didn't know anything about this. Seriously. I swear, nobody told me about this."
Regulus frowned, "Do you think I believe that? Last week you came to Esme and I, you gave us this... This ominous warning about something serious happening. Are you really saying there's no connection?"
"Merlin!" Ignatius exclaimed, "You just don't get it, do you? My father wrote to me a couple of weeks ago... There was an initiation of Death Eaters... Macnair... I can't remember his name - he snitched on someone. My father didn't say who, but Macnair told the Dark Lord they weren't to be trusted and... The traitor was killed. Once Esmeralda becomes a Death Eater, that'll put a magnifying glass on her. All of her actions will be under scrutiny and if she makes a mistake... There's no second chance."
"Ignatius..."
"That's what the warning was. I've got Mulciber and Rosier breathing down my necks because they don't trust you. They're too stupid to do anything but... If they dare speak to Snape... It'll get passed on through the Malfoys and Lestranges as quick as anything. I don't want to see my sister die." He explained quietly, lowering his head.
Regulus' shoulders dropped, the air being knocked out of his lungs, "This is insane. The whole world... This is too much."
"Don't-don't tell Esmerelda. It will only make her mad... Or upset... And then it'll be even harder for her to act normal. Say whatever you need to say, Reg, but you need to get her as onboard with this as possible. You'll both come to see that this is the right decision, you just need to stay alive long enough."