"How... How do you think it went?" Regulus asked.

"Huh?" Esme mumbled, a little distracted.

He fidgeted awkwardly, "The Transfiguration exam. Did it go well?"

"Yeah... Sure thing."

He chuckled slightly, "Esme..."

"Shut up?" She offered with a slight smirk, planting another kiss on Regulus' jaw and then another on the corner of his mouth.

"You're right, that works for me." He nodded fervently and wrapped his arms around her waist.

They sat together in the library, hidden behind a large bookshelf. At the moment, they were about halfway through their OWL exams and could just about see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, an exciting summer of parties and freedom didn't lie ahead of them. The threat of the Death Eaters and their own initiation continued to loom over the two of them.

"I hear something." Regulus pulled back suddenly, peering around the corner of the bookshelf as he concentrated his senses.

Esme huffed, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms tightly, "By any chance is it the sound of the hundred other people in the library?"

"Hush."

"Did you just 'hush' me? Reg-"

"Well look who it is!" Mulciber clapped his hands together, with a cheeky smirk playing on his lips.

Ignatius laughed, "We've been looking all over for you two."

"Why?" Esme quizzed, "I don't remember ordering a bunch of morons. Do you think they offer returns?"

"You might just be the worst." Ignatius grumbled, sitting down opposite his sister. She scoffed in response, casting a glance across to Regulus.

"Ignatius..." Regulus began slowly, "What are you doing here? You're not even sitting your exams yet, let alone doing OWLs."

The older boy shrugged slightly, "Not my fault I was born ahead of my time. All the people in my year are suck-ups."

"Yeah, Avery and Black aren't as bad as that snivelling Snape who's friends with that mudblood girl." Selwyn cackled with a smug grin.

"Wouldn't be so sure about that." Esme exhaled quietly, earning a tentative glance from Regulus.

Mulciber narrowed his eyes, "What was that?"

"I think she was going to tell us another embarrassing story about Ignatius, weren't you?" Regulus smiled, coming to save her from interrogation.

Rosier leant back in his seat, a wicked smirk spreading across his face, "Great, I need something to distract from the Divination exam I have this afternoon."

"I'm sure any sense of reality would distract you. That's your own fault for choosing to study Divination." Esme sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she mustered up the energy to keep putting up with the Slytherins.

Rosier hit back, "Let's just focus on embarrassing Ignatius, yeah?"

"Woah, hold on!" Ignatius stood up quickly, causing the table to judder, "We're not going to do that. Don't you guys have studying to do?"

"We're all here for the express reason of not studying." Mulciber grinned, nudging the boy playfully.

"Alright..." Esme sighed, trying to think of a worthwhile story to tell. Then one popped into her mind. "Have you ever heard the tale of Ignatius Avery and the crow he trapped in a net?"

"He did what?"

"Why?"

"Oh!" Esme exclaimed excitedly as Ignatius buried his head in his hands and sunk down in his seat, "I forgot to mention he was eight years old and tried to give the bird as a gift to our parents one Christmas morning."

Ignatius grumbled, sinking further into himself, "I wish the ground would swallow me whole."

"Or..." Esme flashed her wicked, lopsided smirk, "There's the story of the Easter Sunday."

"No!" Ignatius leapt across the table, swatting at Esme, "Let's not tell that story. Back to the crow. Want me to tell it?"

"Ow! Alright, get off." Esme pushed him away.

The Slytherin boys all looked around at each other, completely bewildered. Regulus pursed his lips shut as he tried not to laugh at the sudden outburst from the siblings. However this didn't stop the other boys from howling with laughter as Ignatius blushed a vibrant scarlet shade.

Esme looked up, ready to begin telling the story when her eyes locked on someone. She blinked, hoping that she'd just imagined it, but upon reopening her eyes they locked back on to the same figure. He stared directly back.

Dirk Cresswell.

The two of them had been going out of their way to avoid each other, which had proved to be a challenge on numerous fronts. Seen as they both belonged to Ravenclaw house and were also in nearly all of the same lessons.

However, so far so well and they hadn't had another confrontation since the initial argument.

Besides, it wouldn't be long until everyone would be returning to their respective homes for the summer holidays. Then regarding Dirk, Esme's problems would be solved.

Yet the beginning of the summer holidays would bring a boatload of other issues to Esme to tackle. Although she was very much putting off dealing with that for the time being.

"I...I'll be back in a minute." Slowly, Esme rose to her feet. Upon seeing this, Dirk hurriedly turned away and made his way hastily towards the door to leave the library.

Regulus frowned and asked, "Where are you going?" But by the time he'd finished his sentence, she was already halfway out of the room. He looked across at Ignatius and shrugged slightly. Esme hadn't told him about the falling out with Dirk, so Regulus couldn't begin to guess what was going on.

Ignatius ran a hand through his slicked hair and, after a moment, spoke up, "I'll go see. Back in a minute."

"Oi!" Rosier called after the older boy, "Don't think you're getting away from the crow story that easily!"

"Shut up." He hit back quickly, not casting a glance back at the group as he strode out of the library doors. Yet as he pushed the door open, due to his gaze being fixated upon the floor, he walked blindly into someone who had come to a stop just on the other side of the doorway.

Ignatius groaned, rubbing his head, as he finally looked up at who he'd walked into. Esme had nearly been knocked from her feet and was now stood a little way down the corridor with a hand on the back of her neck and a sharp scowl on her face.

"That hurt." He grumbled with an extended sigh.

She scoffed back at him, "Gee, wonder who's fault that is."

"What are you doing?" Ignatius inquired, looking around to try and work out what Esme was doing.

His sister grumbled, "Fighting the urge to sock you."

"I'm serious." He folded his arms, "You're acting strange."

Finally, Esme straightened up and dusted herself off, "I just... I thought I saw someone from Ravenclaw... My Potions partner. We have something to discuss." She lied through her teeth.

Frowning sceptically, he replied, "I'm not sure I believe you."

Esme cast a quick glance down the corridor, nervous that someone might be eavesdropping. Originally her plan had been to find Dirk. She still couldn't explain the truth to him, but she just wanted another chance to talk to him without it turning into an argument. However, with Ignatius stood in front of her, another idea popped into her mind.

"Are you sure - I mean completely certain - about the... The initiation?" Esme asked.

Ignatius had been expecting this. Truthfully, he was a little surprised it had taken Esme so long to talk to him about it. But without skipping a beat he replied, "Of course. It's the right thing to do."

"You're kidding." She shook her head, "What's right about it?"

"Protecting our kind, duh." He laughed as if she'd just asked him the stupidest question possible.

Esme had to bite down on her tongue, holding back from just exploding her anger and desperation call over the boy. The circumstances had drastically changed, and now was not the time for Esme to lose her temper. "Do you not see what they're doing is wrong? The innocent people that have died or gone missing... How can anyone justify that?"

"A little thing called the greater good, sister. What's wrong with putting down a few wizards who step out of line? If it protects the rest of our kind, it's simple utilitarianism." He blinked, unwaveringly.

"I'm not quite sure that's-"

"Listen," Ignatius interrupted, "It doesn't matter what you think. You know that. You just have to blend in. Soon enough you'll see that we're correct, and you'll be thankful you were on the right side."

She could see now that Ignatius' mind couldn't be changed. Esme wasn't capable of persuading him to see sense. Although, even if she could, she knew it wouldn't make any difference. No matter how many people she could convince to turn away from the Dark Lord, it wouldn't stop them from being bound to him for the rest of their lives.

"Don't you have an Arithmancy exam to study for?" Ignatius asked, snapped Esme out of her thoughts.

She nodded, "Yes. Let's go."