"I just can't believe it! I cannot believe it! How unfair!"

"Shut up, Ignatius."

Ignatius slumped down in his seat, his arms folded and a frown playing across his features. Over the summer, the boy had let his hair grow out and he now resembled, as Esme put it, an off-brand Regulus. This had ensured the was bombarded with an unusually high amount of mockery, and the boy had since vowed to cut his hair the second the arrived at Hogwarts.

"For my birthday, every year, I've asked for an owl. Did I ever get one? No." Ignatius continued to grumble, blowing some of the hair out of his eyes.

Rosier hit him upside the head, "Nobody asked. Merlin, you're a pain."

"I care!" The older boy complained.

Esme laughed lightly, "Guess this is just proof that I'm the favourite, isn't it?"

She looked down at the small black kitten that was currently curled up in her lap. It was tiny, a ball of fluff just bigger than her hand, and writhed around as it tried to get comfortable. Just before returning to Hogwarts, Lucas Avery had given the cat to his daughter as a gift. Esme parting suspected this was just an attempt to absolve him of any guilt he may have been feeling about ruining her future.

The cat was surely not going to solve that.

"Do you have a name for it yet?" Mulciber asked as he leant across to stroke the cat, "Ow!" He yelped as the kitten suddenly snapped its eyes opened and scratched at him.

"Guess she wards off evil." Esme smirked as Mulciber rubbed his bleeding hand, "And no, I don't have a name for her yet."

"You should name her Rosier. Cool name. I won't take credit." Rosier shrugged nonchalantly.

"You see..." Esme smirked, "When I hear 'Rosier' I think of someone stupid. Whereas this cat seems very intelligent to me."

"I don't know how Regulus puts up with you." Rosier grumbled.

Ignatius added, "She's a nightmare."

Regulus was at the front of the train, in the prefect's carriage. That meant Esme was left alone with the knuckleheads, which she wasn't too pleased about. She had, for some time, been toying with a precarious idea. Looking down at the kitten in her lap, it turned up and looked at her with its pitch black eyes, dauntingly reflecting Esme's face back up at her. Gently, she ran a hand through its silky black fur and finally, Esme decided to be a little more reckless.

The Death Eaters could take away her freedom and her independence, but she was never one to give up without a fight. Esme wasn't going to let the Dark Lord ruin her life anymore.

"I've-I've got to go and sort something out." She stated suddenly.

Ignatius, Mulciber, and Rosier all looked up at her with confusion. But they didn't think too much of it as Esme commonly acted so bizarrely around them.

"Here." She held the cat out to Ignatius, dropping it in his lap as she swiftly left the compartment.

"Oh no." Ignatius mumbled, awkwardly picking the kitten up and holding it out at arms length, "Someone take it away. I don't like cats."

Esme adjusted her robes around her shoulders and dusted off the cat hair as she marched down the train, peering through each of the compartment windows in search of a very specific group of people.

Then, just as she was nearing the back of the train, she spotted them.

Without pausing for a moment, slightly wary that this might cause her to back out, Esme swung open the compartment door.

Piper gasped, caught off guard at the sudden sound. She, Dirk, and Levi turned to see Esme hovering awkwardly in the doorway. None of them had quite been expecting that.

"Hello." The Ravenclaw girl greeted with a half-wave. She truly had no clue how to broach a calm conversation with the group.

"Esmerelda." Piper grinned warmly up at the girl she'd so dearly missed.

"What-what are you doing?" Levi asked, offering a small smile to show he didn't mean any harm by the question.

"I... Er..." Esme exhaled, "I'm not entirely sure."

"Well come on in!" Piper stood up, gesturing to encourage the girl to step into the room. As Esme did so, Piper moved to close the compartment door behind her. It shocked Esme, that Piper was acting as if nothing out of the usual had happened. If anything, it was more unnerving than if they just acted annoyed at Esme.

Dirk watched, silently. He didn't quite know what the girl wanted, and honestly, he was still feeling very sour about the whole situation.

"I'm sure you guys don't really know my family." Esme began, rather sheepishly.

"Sit. Er, sorry, you can sit down." Levi shuffled up to allow her to sit beside him, with Dirk and Piper sat opposite.

"Thanks." She mumbled as she finally looked up and made eye contact with Dirk.

"Has something happened with your family?" Piper asked, leaning forward slightly.

"No. No." Esme began slowly, taking a deep breath before explaining, "I just... I did something stupid. My family are very obsessed with the idea continuing our heritage - mainly through belonging to Slytherin and the pureblood families. I... Er... I didn't really fit that very well and felt very cut off for ages. I thought I didn't mind it but... Last year I kind of got an opportunity to reconnect with the people I grew up with and used to love whenI was little. I took that opportunity without really thinking about what it meant-"

"What did it mean?" Dirk asked, blatantly interrupting.

Piper scoffed, swatting Dirk in the arm to shut him up.

Esme continued, "It meant that I ignored how prejudicial and ignorant they are. It meant I alienated the people that I actually like. I threw my actual friendships away in order to return to what I missed from my childhood. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. You have every right to be mad."

The three others looked at each other, a little in awe. Then, much to Esme's surprise, Piper laughed, "You really think we could ever hold a grudge against you?"

Esme blinked, a smile spreading across her face as she looked out at her friends. "Wow. I never expected that."

Levi grinned, "I never expected to ever hear you apologise to anyone. Besides, we're hardly a good group without our snarky friend."

"You're going to regret that when I start making fun of you." Esme retorted.

"I still owe you for helping out my sister." Levi reminded, "Rip into me as much as you want."

"Oh don't say that! Esmerelda will never shut up with her snide comments!" Piper giggled.

Dirk stood up slowly, adjusting his collar, "I'm going to get some food. Back in a bit."

Esme waited patiently until Dirk had left before turning to Piper and asking, "What's up with him?"

"Oh, he's been increasingly miserable since he saw you hanging around with those Slytherins. I think he just needs to sulk around for a bit. He'll be fine." The older girl admitted, staring directly at Levi as he spoke.

"Yeah." Levi spoke up, "He'll get over it soon. You'll be back to being best mates in no time."

"I actually hope you're right. How weird is that?" She smiled softly, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"You've got to have some good stories from over the summer." Piper pleaded, changing the uncomfortable topic with such natural ease, "All Levi did was go fishing with his grandfather and if I have to hear anymore about it, I might go mad."

"Hey! It was fun." Levi grumbled.

Piper scoffed, "You sat in a boat in silence for like eight hours a day for three weeks."

"And Dirk wasn't any better." The older girl continued with a sigh of exasperation, "All he did was read old, boring books. I'm friends with a bunch of nerds! How did this happen?"

"Pipes, you're in Ravenclaw. That makes you like the ultimate nerd." Levi smirked as Piper's jaw dropped open in a state of despair and realisation.

Esmerelda hadn't realised how much she deeply missed being a teenager without life and death worries. She had taken her friendships for granted and now she was finally back with the people she cared about, Esme wasn't going to throw it away anytime soon.

As Regulus kept reminding her, Esme couldn't let the Dark Mark engraved on her arm ruin her life.