As the days turned into weeks, and they rolled into winter, Esme was starting to feel somewhat better.

Some days she woke up and felt almost as if nothing could stop her. But other days she felt dreadful, as if she had taken five steps back, and wouldn't even want to get out of bed.

Esme was starting to suspect that those feelings might not ever go away, and she feared she may have to learn to live with it - but Regulus was always there to remind her that she'd dealt with worse.

So as the Christmas decorations were being set up around the castle, and term was drawing to a close, Esme was focusing her energy on things that would make her feel better. That was really how she found herself sat with Levi in the library one early Monday morning.

"Are we ready to do this?" He asked.

The two teenagers were sat by a small table beside one of the large windows. Esme paused for a moment, glancing out at the view before replying, "I was born ready to prank Selwyn."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear." Levi grinned.

"We better not be late then." She rose to her feet and tugged her bag over her shoulder, "Have you got what we need?"

He reached into his bag and pulled out a carton, "Obviously." he stated.

"Fantastic."

The Great Hall was sparsely filled with a few lone students scattered around the tables. It was so early that breakfast had barely begun, and most of the students there were hurriedly rushing through some last minute work for their morning lessons.

As expected, Esme and Levi spotted a familiar figure at the far end of one of the tables and wasted no time in joining him.

Regulus Black, as usual, was up bright and early and had been enjoying a rather peaceful breakfast. In fact, his favourite bit of the day was sitting down with a nice stack of waffles whilst he browsed through the latest book he'd been reading.

"So which seat is it?" Levi asked as he sat down opposite the others.

Regulus took a sip of water before replying, "Well, good morning to you too. Yes, you're right, what a lovely morning it is."

Esme, noting the neatly arranged stack of waffles on his plate, interjected, "Don't act like this isn't the only reason we've gotten up this early."

"Charming." He muttered, before turning to point at the table at the opposite end of the room as he explained, "Selwyn will be down any minute. He always sits at the end of that table, on the same side as the wall."

"Brilliant, I'll be right back." Levi flashed a grin before grabbing his bag and dashing over to the seat Regulus had just gestured to.

"Oh, by the way..." Esme reached into her own bag and pulled out a tattered-looking book, "Here's my Potions textbook for you to borrow."

Regulus promptly thanked her, but quickly regret the decision as he saw the state of her book. It didn't matter how many times he saw the state in which Esme kept her books, it always distressed him.

Even the cover was battered beyond belief, and the spine was snapped at almost every point. Most of the pages were folded at the corner, so any sense of a bookmark was utterly redundant. The few pages that weren't folded down were often torn in some capacity and there were so many notes scrawled down the margins and in between lines that it became an actual challenge to read the printed words.

Regulus pursed his lips and silently pocketed the book, and as he turned back to Esme he yet again had to bite down on his tongue.

"I look away for two seconds and what have you done?" He complained.

Esme had, in the brief moment Regulus wasn't looking, reached across to grab one of his waffles. Except, unlike most people would, she hadn't grabbed the waffle off the top of the stack, but rather one from the middle.

As Regulus turned back around, he was faced with waffles scattered all over his place at the table, and Esme cramming one of them into her mouth.

"I don't really think you want me to answer right now." She mumbled through a full mouth, cupping her hands over her face to stop from spraying crumbs all over him.

Regulus sighed, heavily, "You were really put on this earth to test my patience, weren't you?"

"And you're passing with flying colours so far." Esme grinned cheekily, patting him on the shoulder as she munched on her last bite of waffle.

"The stress is going to give me grey hair." He muttered as he piled the waffles back up on his plate and swept the crumbs off the table and onto the floor.

Before Esme had the chance to reply, a giddy Levi arrived back at the table and slammed down into the seat opposite them. "He's just come in now! Look!" He pointed to the entrance of the Great Hall, where Selwyn had just arrived.

In sync, the three students spun around to carefully watch the oblivious Slytherin boy make his way down the table to sit at the far end - exactly where Regulus had pointed to.

"We can't all stare!" Levi pointed out, "He'll know something is up!"

Esme scoffed, "He'll know something's up when he drinks the potion."

"Just-try to be lest obvious." He insisted, holding his hands up over his mouth to stop from suddenly bursting out with glee.

Regulus muttered something ineligible under his breath as he turned back around and presumed eating his breakfast.

"There he goes!" Esme hissed, gripping onto his shoulder as she narrated, "He's poured the milk in the bowl."

"What kind of sadist pours the milk in the bowl before the cereal?" Levi almost exclaimed with shock.

Regulus shook his head again, "You're right - that's what makes him a sadist. Not the fact that he's a Death Eater or anything."

"Oh hush!" Esme squeezed his shoulder and let out a giggle as she watched Selwyn lift the first spoonful of cereal to his lips.

At this point, Levi and Esme were giddy with excitement at what was about to happen.

Regulus sighed, "This isn't going to get you guys in trouble, is it? This won't cause permanent damage to Selwyn?"

"Hopefully not." Esme smiled awkwardly, "We'll just hope I measured the ingredients out correctly and he'll change back after about twenty minutes."

"Well, I'm glad we're relying solely on your maths." Regulus mumbled.

Esme and Levi were completely distracted and had not paid attention. Across the room, Selwyn was now halfway through his bowl of cereal when, all of a sudden, something unusual happened.

At first, Selwyn didn't notice what had happened. Then he caught sight of his own reflection in one of the jugs of water on the table.

"Okay, look look look!" Esme tapped Regulus' shoulder repeatedly to get him to turn around and watch what had happened.

To their delight, Selwyn had sprouted whiskers and, as he jumped to his feet in shock, he revealed a long, furry cat tail.

"You've got to admit we've really smashed this one out of the park!" Esme beamed as Levi no longer held back his happiness and suddenly burst out with a roar of laughter.

"What the HELL HAS HAPPENED?" Selwyn shouted across the hail, suddenly ducking down under the table when he noticed people starting to stare at him - and this was only worsened as more people were coming into the Great Hall for breakfast.

Levi, now panting for breath, mused, "I'd almost feel bad if he didn't harass girls in the years below."

"On a completely unrelated note..." Regulus began, "I assume as Head Girl you've finally been invited to Slughorn's Christmas party."

Esme visibly grimaced at the mention, "Technically he invited me to his Slug Club, yeah. I was perfectly happy when he didn't like me, but now he thinks I've got this bright future and wants to suck up to me."

"So I take it you have no real excuse for not attending the party with me this time?" He asked with a soft smile.

Esme reached across the table to lift the jug of water, and refilled Regulus' glass before putting it down again and facing him. She didn't reply for a short moment, only looking at him before tucking some of his hair behind his ear.

"You can't just start being nice to me so I can get you out of Slughorn's party." He pointed out.

Esme complained, "But you could come up with an excuse for me not making it. You could tell him I'm sick!"

"I could. I won't, though." Regulus' smile grew a little bigger.

She groaned, "I suppose the chances of me being in a horrible accident between now and the party are pretty slim. So I suppose I should go, and you might make the evening less painful."

"That's the enthusiasm I was hoping for."

At this point, Levi had watched as Selwyn had sprinted out of the room as quickly as his lanky legs could carry him - much to the amusement of everyone else in the Great Hall. Once the Slytherin was out of view, and everyone had returned to their previous activities, Levi tuned back into the conversation.

"Wait, you're both going to that stupid party? No fair. Dirk always goes so that means I'll be left on my own." The Gryffindor boy grumbled, folding his arms tightly across his chest as he sulked, "I'm always left on my own."

"Go as someone's date. Or you could be one of the waiters. That might suit you." Esme smirked as Regulus placed a hand on her knee - a signal to not wind the boy up too much.

"Ha. Ha. You're real funny, Avery. A true comedian." He retorted.

Then, Esme blurted it out in such excitement before she'd even thought to stop, "You could be Cresswell's date!"