Hiraeth | Regulus Black

Chapter Seventy Four

Frost had politely settled on the green grass of the Hogwart's grounds that morning, but wasted no time in melting as the warm sun rose over the hills.
All in all it was a stunning day, but not one that anyone wanted to spend trapped inside a train travelling down the country.

"You know you don't have to go home for Christmas just because I am." Regulus pointed out with a grunt as Esme passed Egeria into his arms and he boarded the Hogwarts Express.

She scoffed, following behind, "It's a bit late for that, isn't it?"
"Yes, I suppose so." He nodded.

"It's just... You can stay here if you want." He spoke quietly, leading the way down the train corridor in search of an empty compartment.
The two of them had originally planned to go down to the station platform early in order to avoid the hoards of young, chaotic students. However, they had been delayed saying goodbye to Dirk and Levi, and Regulus had kept needing to return to his common room to gather possessions he had nearly forgotten.

"Regulus, stop." She insisted, "Relax. I'm not doing anything I don't want to. What's got you in such a state?"
Sighing again, he came to a temporary halt and turned to face Esme as he admitted, "I think I'm just anxious."

Esme asked, "Do you want talk abo-"
"No thanks."

"On another note though, I think we should just kick out some first years. What can they do?" She moved around Regulus to begin leading the way down the train.
He sighed disapprovingly, "I'm not sure that's a good idea - particularly coming from the Head Girl."

Esme shook her head, "We could say we're commandeering the compartment for a Prefect meeting?"
"I don't-"
"I'm just going to kick them out. Here we go." She pointed at one of the compartment doors, through which was a small group of about four first year students.

"Do try not to shout at the first years." Regulus pleaded, knowing it was pointless to even ask because Esme would never listen to him on the matter.
She rolled her eyes and stood up, "No promises; they deserve it."

"Well, it's not really their fault - we were all eleven once." He pointed out.

Esme scoffed at this, "They're twelve now, they should have grown out of being unbelievably annoying. Besides, you're the one that hates the third years so much."
"Well that's just because they're so cocky. They act like they run the school and I just... Merlin, they're the absolute worst." He took a deep breath.

"Ha!" She laughed, "It's not often you get wound up to almost the same degree as me."

Before Regulus got the chance to reply again, Esme had slammed open the compartment door and stormed into the room, much to the shock of the first years.

"Right, out." She commanded, gesturing her thumb back to the door she'd just walked through. Regulus remained out in the corridor, with Egeria still in his arms, hoping that perhaps he could stay out of trouble.
Clearly the young students knew about Esme all too well as there wasn't so much as a murmur of disagreement as they all scrambled to their feet and dashed from the room.

"I suppose that's the upside to being horrid to first years..." Regulus muttered as he entered the compartment, "There's never any backtalk like there is with third years."

"It's no fun if they don't put up an argument." Esme dug her hands into her pockets and started to pace up and down the room as Regulus sat down on the bench and allowed Egeria to sprawl out beside him, "I've missed having a go at people."
"Our Head Girl, ladies and gentlemen."

"Oh you're funny, you're really funny." She tutted, collapsing down onto the bench opposite Regulus, "You know I can take house points off you, right?"
He shook his head slowly, "I don't think you can; I'm a Prefect."
"Well I'll just take house points off some other Slytherin. Same result." Esme shrugged it off.

"Why are you being so argumentative? Well, more than usual. Are you trying to pick a fight with me?" He reached into his bag to pull out a book.

"Ugh." She groaned, spinning around to lie across the length of the bench and look up at the road as she explained, "No, not really. I'm just bored. Ignatius isn't here and we don't hang around the Slytherins anymore so I have nobody to wind up. I've missed it."

"I wonder what it says about you that you need to argue with people all the time." Regulus mused absentmindedly as his attention wandered deeper into his book.
Esme wasted no time in sitting up and staying, "Don't start psychoanalysing me."

He chuckled lightly, "No, you're right - that would take me far too long."

She folded her arms tightly across her chest and slumped down, "You wouldn't be making fun of me if I was wanting to shout at third years."
"Esme, I'd hug my brother if he offered to shout at the third years."

"Jeez, what did those third years do to you?" Esme laughed, cheering up slightly.
Regulus raised an eyebrow, "When have you ever needed a reason to hate people?"
She pursed her lips in thought for a moment before she sighed, "Fair point."

Regulus peered over the top of his book, discretely watching the girl opposite as a small smile grew across his lips.
Perhaps for other people being around Esme would unnerve them, because she had this knack for making people look at themselves. As much as everyone else spent all of their time trying to prove themselves, or sell themselves to people they met, Esme never did that. Regulus had never met someone so comfortable in themselves before. Even though there were days that Esme felt down in the dumps, there was never a moment where she felt the need to prove or explain herself to anyone.
She had this knack for being able to reflect people back onto themselves. In the moments between her witty remarks and insults, Esme always made you look at yourself - address who you are and your happiness with that.
For some people that would make them uncomfortable, but for Regulus he felt a certain comfort as this made him want to be a better person.

"Reg?"

He blinked a couple of times, tuning back into what was happening around him as he finally took note of the fact that Esme was waving at him.

"Reg?" She asked again, her eyebrows knit tightly together.
He cleared his throat, "Sorry, excuse me. Yes?"

"Did you not hear anything I just said? Because I was talking a lot." Esme let out an uncertain laugh.
Running a hand through his hair, Regulus replied, "Yes, I may have not been paying attention."
"You were staring at me the whole time."
"Yeah..."

"Are you alright? You're... Acting kind of... Odd." She quizzed delicately.
Regulus raised his book in front of his face more, before mumbling a response, "Nothing. Fine. I just... I want to tell you whatever."

"Oh." Esme straightened up in her seat, "Well..." A grin emerged slowly across her mouth, "Whatever."

He raised his arms up as Egeria clambered into his lap and lay down and then he asked, "Are you still happy to come with me to see Sirius?"
This caught Esme somewhat off guard as she momentarily paused, trying to figure out if Regulus really wanted to talk about his brother, before replying, "Of course. You still want me to, right?"
"Yes." He nodded, "Please. That would be good."

"Well then..."  She spun around to lift her feet up onto the bench and reclined across the seat, "I'll try not to argue with Sirius too much, but no promises."
He laughed lightly at this, "You can argue with him all you like; it might make the whole time less awkward."

"I'm not sure arguing makes anything less awkward." Esme shrugged slightly and rested her hands behind her head, "But if you want me to wind up your brother, rest assured I can do that."
"Trust me." He replied, "I have no concerns that you can annoy people."

"Oi!" She quipped with a smirk.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Regulus smiled slightly as he pulled Egeria's claws out of where they'd become stuck in the threads of his jumper.
She rolled her eyes, "Oh, whatever."