"Remind me again why I agreed to this?"

"Because it's a nice thing to do."

"That's not a good enough reason."

The autumn of 1979 was practically the same as the summer had been. It was still warm and dry and Esme was not impressed.

She adored autumn and winter - when the cold weather settled in and the leaves changed colour. This particular autumn it was still too warm to wear anything jumper-related, which was Esme's favourite part of the season.

"We could have said we were busy." Esme pointed out as she attempted to button up the back of her dress.

Regulus chuckled slightly, stood on the other side of the room as he did his tie up the mirror, "I'm not sure that would have worked given they know we're not doing anything, and haven't done anything for months."

"Alright, smart arse."

He shook his head with a grin, "At least I got us out of going to the ceremony. It could have been a lot worse."

"Yeah, thanks for that." She admitted, "Oh, and can you do up these buttons for me? I can't see what I'm doing."

"Of course." He wandered over towards her and fumbled slightly with the small buttons for a moment before he got the hang of it and did up the neck of Esme's dress.

Regulus watched as she turned around, and settled his hands on her waist. Esme rested her arms up on his shoulders and tucked some of his dark hair behind his ear. "At least this wedding got Sirius out of the house for the day." She pointed out with a smile.

"See? There's your silver lining." He offered.

"Do you not think, perhaps..." Esme straightened out his tie and dusted off his jacket, "It might be a little uncomfortable - us going to Lily and James' wedding?"

"Because we don't know them?"

"Yeah."

Regulus paused for thought, "Maybe. I think it's nice though - a break from all of the war stuff going on."

"Do you think everyone will know that we're... Technically Death Eaters?" She asked.

"No." Regulus shook his head, "I trust they didn't say anything."

"Alright." Esme nodded, then stood up on her toes to briefly connect their mouths, "Let's go to this stupid wedding."

Regulus smiled, "Oh, before we go, you do look absolutely breathtaking."

Esme blushed slightly, "I wish you wouldn't do that; you know I can't take a compliment." Then she grazed her thumb along the side of his jaw, "Thank you, though, and you look very pretty yourself."

He laughed, "Thanks."

The wedding reception, much like the ceremony, was a small affair of only a select group of people.

Needless to say, really, Esme did not feel like she was fitting in well.

"Will it look bad if I go home now?" She whispered into Regulus' ear as they sat side by side at one of the empty tables beside the dance floor.

He hummed and nodded, "Possibly. I mean, given we have only been here..." He checked his watch, "Twenty minutes, yes."

"I'm going to need a drink when this is over. Will you want one?" She asked.

Regulus raised an eyebrow, "They haven't even finished their first dance yet." He gestured to Lily and James swaying together in the centre of the dance floor.

"I'll take that as a yes." Esme got up from her seat and wandered over to the long white table at the back of the room, which was lined with countless glasses all magically filling themselves up with sparkling champagne.

"Esmerelda, it's been a while. I didn't expect to see you here."

She lifted up one of the glasses from the table and took a sip before turning to see who had spoken.

"Ah, Remus, right? I haven't crashed this wedding, if that's what you're implying?" She mused thoughtfully as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder watching the dancing-mad couples began to join in as the music grew louder.

He chuckled and shook his head, "No. You didn't really strike me as the wedding type."

"I could say the same about you." She replied, "I'm really here to please Sirius and it's good to get out of the house."

"Yeah... Pad-Sirius has been rather wary of me lately. I think he distrusts me because I'm a werewolf." Remus explained with a sadness to his tone.

Esme frowned at this, "Because you having lycanthropy is news to him?"

He sighed, "Well, no, obviously. So many of my kind support the Dark Lord though - all of those hollow promises he made to the werewolves. I suppose Sirius imagines I feel the same way."

"I could speak to him?" Esme offered, "Well, I could get Regulus to speak to him - that's probably the only way to get him to listen to anything."

Remus shook his head, "It's fine. He'll realise it eventually."

Esme took another sip of her drink and locked eyes with Regulus, who had turned in his seat to watch what she was doing.

"As uplifting as this conversation has been, I really should be getting back." She stepped away slightly.

"Of course, sorry for keeping you." Remus lifted his own glass to his lips, "Now I know you better, you're a really good person. I'm glad I got to see that."

"Oh." Was all Esme could push out of her throat before she quickly strode away and back over to Regulus.

"Did you make a friend?" He joked as she handed him a glass.

Esme sat down beside him, resting her arm on his shoulder closest to her as she leant into his side, "I've just been called a really good person." She stared proudly with a grin.

"Oh right." He turned to her - their faces less than an inch apart, "Was this person blind and under the impression they were talking to someone else?"

"You cow!" She laughed, swatting his shoulder and leaning back, "You absolute arse!"

Regulus laughed too and took a swig of his drink as he turned back to watching the dancing. Across the floor, Sirius was precariously leaning into a table as he chatted loudly to a girl with flaming red curly hair. He was rambling away and gesturing broadly with his arms as droplets of what appeared to be firewhiskey spilled onto the floor. But the girl, someone Regulus vaguely recognised from Hogwarts, seemed completely entertained by the conversation as her equally red face nodded eagerly and she repeatedly burst into fits of giggles.

"Do you want to dance?" Esme asked, placing a hand on the boy's knee.

He scoffed, "Do you?"

Esme lifted her legs up and swung them over one of Regulus' legs so her feet fell between his knees. "Why not? You like dancing and I like to see you happy?"

"But do you like dancing?" He questioned, rubbing his thumb in small circles where his hand now rest on her leg.

She shrugged slightly, finishing off her drink and putting it down on the table, "I enjoy dancing with you, yes. No one else."

Regulus grinned, "It's almost sounds like you're flirting with me?"

"Please," She rolled her eyes, "I do not need to flirt with you."

"Doesn't stop you from flirting with me all of the time though, does it?"

"All of the time?" Esme gasped, "Like when?"

"Like that time this morning when you threw my socks at me." He pretended to fan himself, "You were practically all over me."

She folded her arms and rolled her eyes again, "Oh you're an idiot. You're nearly as bad as your brother!"

"Let's go and dance then, come on." Regulus waited for Esme to lift her legs off him before he stood up and held his hand out to her. She sighed before grasping ahold, entwining their fingers, and following him out to the dance floor.

"People are already staring at us!" Esme hissed into his ear as he lead the way across the room.

"That's just because-hi!" Regulus was interrupted as they came face to face with the newlyweds James and Lily Potter. "Congratulations, again." He smiled, somewhat awkwardly as though he didn't know what else to do.

Lily smiled, "Thanks. I'm glad you two came."

"Yeah, this is just an excuse to throw a party, really." James joked, earning a roll of the eyes and a poke in the stomach from his new wife.

"Well, I think we could all do with something uplifting." Esme replied as she looped her arm around Regulus'.

James chuckled, "My thoughts exactly." He pressed a kiss to Lily's temple and then continued, "We were actually just on our way to check that Peter isn't eating all of the sandwiches. We'll catch up properly in a bit though, yeah?"

"It'll be a short conversation our end." Esme muttered.

"Yes, of course." Regulus spoke over the top as he shook James' hand and then they watched the married couple walk away.

Regulus turned back to Esme, held his hand up to the side of her face and connected their lips in a deep kiss.

She hummed as he pulled away, opened her eyes, and asked, "What was that for?"

"I just needed to make sure that I could still get away with that." He responded.

She frowned, "What?"

"Well you're the most stunning person here... Well, that I've ever met. You're completely out of my league and for a second I thought I'd imagined that you were my girlfriend." He explained with a slight pink blush rising to his cheeks.

"Oh, you're cheesy." Esme snickered before pecking him on the lips again and guiding him over to the edge of the dance floor. As she walked, having a bit more confidence now that she wasn't making eye contact with him, Esme said, "If anything, you're out of my league. I mean, you're one of the nicest people I've ever met. You're smart and brilliant and funny and cool and everyone adores you."

"Maybe we're just the two greatest people ever?" Regulus suggested with a cheeky grin.

Esme laughed, "You know what? I think you're right. We're just the best."

Regulus sighed with a smile as his hands rested on her hips and the two of them began swaying from side to side. "What will we do when the war is over?" He asked after a while, breaking the silence that had settled between them.

Esme stepped closer to him, resting her head against his chest so they were practically hugging as they continued to sway. She mumbled, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know." He admitted, "I haven't allowed myself to think about it - given how uncertain everything is."

She nodded slightly, "You could go and see your parents again. I could see my mother. We could... Get jobs... Buy a house somewhere. I think I'd like to live by the sea. We could get our own owl."

Regulus lowered his head to press his mouth to the top of the girl's head. He didn't reply straight away, but when he did he spoke into her hair, "I like the sound of that. Let's do that when this is all over."

"Yeah... As long as I get to spend time with you, we could go anywhere and do anything."

The smell of coconut off Esme's hair filled the boy with such warm comfort. All he wanted was for the war to end so he could live in peace. He wanted everyone he loved to be safe, and he just wanted to be with Esme.

So, with a light buzz from the alcohol and a nose full of the scent of coconut, the two of them clung onto each other and continued to sway into the night - desperate to stay in that moment of unreserved happiness for as long as they could before they had to return to the real world, where everything was at stake.