▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER FOURTEEN ▬▬▬▬

All of your super nice comments were a relief for me to read, it made me feel a lot better about myself, so thank you everyone!!! 🥰 🥰 🥰

I'm not the type to lash out about issues like that, even behind the safety of the laptop screen, so doing this was kind of liberating for me, and your supportive comments were a boost of serotonin 💖 💖 💖

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE NEVER ENDING SUPPORT AND LOVE, NOT JUST FOR THE SERIES BUT FOR ME TOO! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING, THE BEST READERS I CAN EVER ASK FOR

Which is why I will give you some good news (which you might already know about):

I was just told that...

RICK ANNOUNCED A CASTING CALL YESTERDAY Y'ALL!!!!

IM SCREECHING OH MY FUCKING GOD YESSSS THIS IS THE BEST NEWS EVER 🥳 🥳 🥳

WATCH ME AUDITION TO PLAY AS NYMPH #14 OR RANDOM TRAITOR DEMIGOD #9, IDK. I'M JUST SO EXCITED!!!!

Now onto the story!

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️

No forbidden tango yet, but there's some minor sexual themes at the beginning!!!

ESMERELDA WOKE UP AT TWO o'clock in the morning the next day, wrapped up in Ethan's arms. It would've been romantic had it not been for the fact that he was snoring so loudly in her ear.

He'd always been such a loud snorer since they were kids... She wondered if there was some sort of spell or potion or whatever in the wizarding world that could relieve that. They always seemed to have magical spells for everything—there was even a spell that could help you pick your nose!—so surely they had to have an anti-snoring spell or product...

Giggling softly to herself, she craned her neck up to kiss him on the cheek before carefully attempting to free herself from his hold. Unfortunately, all she managed to do was stir him from his slumber.

"Wh... what are you doing?" He slurred, his eyes barely opened.

"Getting ready," she replied, smiling in amusement at how cute he looked. His hair was sticking out every which way, his cheek was smushed against the pillow, and there was a faded line going down his face from wearing his eye patch all day.

That perked him up a little. "Hmmm...? Gettin' ready for what...?"

She turned slightly pink. "Stop thinking dirty. I'm getting ready to go back to Scotland."

"What?" He sat up immediately and turned on the lamp at his nightstand before slipping on his eyepatch. "You're going back? Seriously?"

She stared at him, "Dude, I missed out on weeks of assignments and skipped a bunch of classes. I need to make up for it before by grades get worse."

"Can't you just drop out and attend Goode?" He grumbled. "No one's gonna ostracize you there and the teachers are mostly lame, but at least they don't physically abuse the kids."

It was tempting, especially since she already had a bunch of her closest friends attending the school and Percy's stepdad, Paul, worked there and he was always good at covering for the others when there was a monster problem around.

But the thought of her uncle always held her back. Even though she and Sirius were no longer on good terms, she still cared about him. And she hadn't forgotten about the Fates either. Sirius was reckless, foolish, and naive like her father said, and it was evident from how little he took the Fates' message seriously.

Recklessness was her uncle's fatal flaw, and she feared that one day he would get himself killed because of it.

I need to stay close by for now, she told herself. And I still need to perfect my spell for him. Then I can relax.

"Not yet," she answered when she realized that Ethan was still awaiting her answer.

He blinked. "Wait... 'yet'? As in..." He began to smile. "You're actually gonna leave that hellhole?"

"Yes," she confirmed, sharing his smile. "But don't get your hopes up, this is your last year of high school, you know. Even if I do transfer there right now, we'll only have, like, a couple months together at Goode before you go to college."

"Screw that," he grinned, shaking his head as he wrapped his arms around her and dragged her back down to the bed with him. "I'm just glad you're finally getting out of there. That place is awful to you, and I'm not just talking about the school."

"Yeah," she agreed, laying her chin on his chest. "Now can you let me go? I need to shower, and grab some breakfast."

"Only if I can join you," he grinned boyishly.

"Ethan!"

"I was kidding," he lied, before turning them over so he could lay his heavier body over hers, practically trapping her in the bed. "But let's just go back to stay here a little longer. You can go back to school later."

"Scotland's five hours ahead of New York. So it's seven o'clock over there right now. Classes are gonna start soon," she pointed out.

"Miss another day," he murmured, trailing kisses down her jawline.

"Ethan...!" She whined, trying halfheartedly to shove him off.

"No," he whined back, running his hands up her sides before finally reaching up to grab her hands. He interlaced their fingers together before burying his face in her neck.

Her breath hitched.

"Can I?" He breathed out.

She didn't speak, but nodded once.

Ethan's lips tentatively kissed the side of her neck, and when she didn't do anything to stop him, he took it as a sign to keep going.

She let out a pleased, audible sigh and gripped his hands back.

The kisses he pressed against her skin were soft to the point that they were almost like mere brushes. They didn't feel like constricting fingers wrapped around her throat, nor did they send a rush of fear coursing through her body. He was being gentle with her, knowing that her neck was a sensitive spot for her and that anything too rough would make her uncomfortable.

And she loved him even more for that.

When he pulled away, she turned to face him and pressed her lips against his. They exchanged hot kisses several more times before Ethan latched his lips onto her neck again, and this time, she could feel him licking and sucking at a particular spot.

When she felt his teeth lightly scrape at her neck, she let out a small gasp of surprise.

He pulled away instantly.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

She nodded, her face just as flushed as his. "F-fine," she said, breathing heavily. "It just... mmm... it felt good."

He reddened at her admittance. "Stop being cute," he grumbled before leaning down to peck her on the lips.

She let out a breathy giggle. "I love you," she cooed.

He huffed in annoyance before nuzzling her neck.

"I love you more," he replied back, his voice muffled.

He continued to where he left off. Now that he knew she was okay, he wasn't so hesitant on nibbling at her neck anymore. She let out a little whine before throwing her head back against the pillow to give him better access.

He tightened his grip on her hand while the other one moved up to cradle her face, his fingers threading through her messy hair. Occasionally, he would stop to suck and lick at her neck, leaving wet kisses on her skin. He let out a small moan when she used her free hand to run through his hair, spurring him on.

But he knew he had to stop. And so, he pulled away, struggling to ignore the growing ache in his lower region. Instead, he focused on the faint marks on her neck, knowing that they would darken after a couple of minutes. He felt a deep sense of satisfaction within him and lightly ran his finger over the love bites he created.

Dazedly, Esmerelda blinked up at him before she regained a sense of clarity. She saw the satisfied look on his face and smiled teasingly.

"You know I'm going to have to cover them up, right?" She pointed out.

He scoffed. "Whatever. I can still give you more later."

She giggled before lightly pushing him off. "I need to shower now. Do we still have leftover pancakes?"

"Yep," he replied, laying back down the bed and watching as she slipped on her super annoying duck slippers. They quacked every time she walked. When he moved in with her, he had ordered everyone to stop walking around the house with their shoes on and told them to wear house slippers instead. Esmerelda chose to buy those.

"I hate those slippers," he told her. "Please just walk barefoot instead. Or get something else that isn't annoying."

"I think they're cute!" She protested, before leaning down to peck him on the nose. "Forget about my slippers already and just go back to sleep. It's still two o'clock."

"When are you coming back?" He asked.

"Soon," she promised. "This is the last week before winter break anyways. Now seriously, go back to sleep!"

"Fine," he grumbled, but the ache in his pajamas told him that he would be busy doing something else instead.

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Esmerelda came back to school in a good mood and it was probably freaking out the inhabitants of Hogwarts, not that she cared. Nico had finally contacted her after being missing for months and he was okay, Percy was missing, but alive, and she had spent some quality time with Ethan.

Really, it was no surprise she was so content right now, but it wasn't like anyone at school knew that so most of her day was full of people shooting her bewildered looks.

A day had already passed and people were still astonished by it.

Cedric even felt safe enough to sit with her during dinner, but he kept an eye out for the knife she was using to slice through her steak. He couldn't help but notice how easily she cut through the meat. It was certainly nerve-wracking.

"So," he began. "You're... better now?"

"Mmmhmm," she replied, lathering chili jam over the meat.

"Oh. That's good. Glad to hear." He said awkwardly. "Will you be able to attend the meeting tonight?"

She paused just when she was about to take a bite of her food. "There's a meeting tonight?"

"Yeah, right after dinner. You in?"

She lowered her fork, an unsure look on her face. "You... you guys still want me around? I mean, I haven't showed up to a meeting in so long..."

His face softened up. "We all knew you were having having personal problems. It was kind of obvious, so most of us understood why you weren't around as much. Nobody's really angry or annoyed by you. I think they'll be glad to see you come back."

Her shoulders relaxed a little bit.

"Oh," she let out a small sigh of relief. "Then I'll be there."

Cedric's face lit up with a smile, something she hadn't seen since last year. Since then, he had always been so nervous and careful around her.

It was strange now, how much their friendship had changed. While she was glad that he was finally starting to tell people the truth (even if it was just the DA members for now), she still hadn't forgotten how much hate she and Harry had received from the public because of his lies.

After that, she went back to ignoring him and finishing her dinner.

She did her homework as fast as she could once she finished her dinner, though she was very much aware that there was a lot more work she needed to make up for. After that, she hurried to the Room of Requirement for the last DA meeting before the holidays.

"Wow," she marveled as she stepped in.

The entire room was decorated for the Christmas spirit, but that wasn't all. There were a hundred golden baubles strung from the ceiling, each showing a picture of Harry's face and bearing the words HAVE A VERY HARRY CHRISTMAS!

Harry was the only in the room, and he whirled around in a panic the second he heard her voice. He already had an armful of his faces like he had been spending the time hastily taking them all down.

"Essie," he grew flustered, then widened his eyes in realization. "Essie! You're... you're here...!"

She winced guiltily. "Yeah... I'm sorry I haven't been attending lessons as much."

He snorted. "Not like you really need to be taught by me anyways. Though you are a good assistant. I've seen you and Cedric help the other members when I can't. Thanks for that, by the way."

"No problem," she smiled.

He returned it, albeit awkwardly. "Hey, um, have you talked to Sirius lately? He's been worried about you."

"You mean worried about my grades?" She asked bitterly.

"No, he's been worried about you... well, you and your grades, but mostly you," he clarified. "He's been asking me about you, why you haven't been replying to his letters, why you've been skipping school, and whatnot."

"Well," she said, the bitter tone still not leaving her voice. "I'm better now, so he doesn't need to worry."

"...Oh," he swallowed thickly. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better."

She decided to help him take down all the large faces, and together they finished just in time before the door creaked open and Luna and Ginny entered, the redhead giggling about something.

"Harry!" Ginny said excitedly. "Oh Merlin, Essie you're here!"

"Hi," the older girl greeted.

"Welcome back," Luna smiled at her. "We have amazing news to share."

Esmerelda gasped softly, looking between them with wide eyes. Had Ginny finally asked her out? Were they finally dating?

"I tried out for the Gryffindor team and I got in!" Ginny exclaimed. "I'm the new Quidditch Seeker!"

Harry's face fell blank. "Oh," he said lamely. "That's nice."

Esmerelda nudged him harshly before clapping her hands. "That's great, Ginny! And what about Fred and George?"

She vaguely remembered planning to talk to Umbridge in order to make her change her mind about punishing the three boys, but she had gotten completely sidetracked when Ethan IM-ed her that day. Whoops. She felt kinda bad about it, but she couldn't go around fixing everyone's problems.

"Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper," Ginny answered. "They're not as great a pair of Beaters as my brothers, but they're good enough."

"Well, I'm sure the team will be fine," Harry said with a strained smile, barely hiding how upset he was.

After that depressing conversation, people started filing in the room. As expected, people were pointing and whispering at Esmerelda, as if she was some circus freak. She knew her attendance was a big shock since she hadn't been in the meetings for a long time and all, but they really needed to stop making such a big deal about it. It was beginning to get annoying.

"Okay," Harry said, calling them all to order. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break—"

"—We're not doing anything new?" Zacharias interrupted in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come..."

"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," Fred said loudly. Several people sniggered.

"We can practice in pairs," Harry continued. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again."

They all divided up obediently, with Cedric and Esmerelda walking around and providing their assistance. She idly wondered if Harry had ever had them duel one another yet, because that would be the best way to fully train them.

The room was soon full of intermittent cries of "Impedimenta!" People froze for a minute or so, during which their partners would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.

She turned her attention over to Ginny and Luna, who weren't practicing and were instead talking to each other. Ginny seemed to be joking about something, and Luna was laughing softly with a sort of light pink blush dusting her cheeks.

Awwww, she couldn't help but think. There weren't many same-sex relationships in Hogwarts, but those mostly came from muggle-borns. She had never seen a Pureblood or even a half-blood engaging in anything like that. It kind of made her worry if Luna or Ginny would ever face any problems should they ever get together, especially since she had a pretty good feeling the hIgH InQUiSiToR would be very against it.

But Ginny was tough. She seemed like the type to punch first and ask questions later, which was cool.

"Enough flirting you two, time to get to work," Esmerelda teased, creeping up behind them.

Ginny jumped while Luna merely turned around.

"We weren't flirting," Ginny scowled, red-faced.

"Sure you weren't," she snorted. "Just get to practicing the Impediment Jinx."

She walked away, but in the corner of her eye she could see Harry and Cho stealing glances at each other. Cedric didn't seem to mind, in fact, he already seemed over their previous relationship which was a relief because love triangles could get ugly.

After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor and started practicing Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over.

At the end of an hour, Harry called a halt.

"You're getting really good," he said, beaming around at them. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff — maybe even Patronuses."

Esmerelda perked up at this. She had heard of it before, but never bothered to learn the spell. Most of her time was spent on learning combative spells, and Patronuses weren't really useful for that... Though she did read about how they were another form of communication, though she had no idea how fast or effective they were for it.

She wasn't the only one excited about the Patronuses. There was a murmur of excitement coming from the other students as they left. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Harry a Happy Christmas as they went.

Esmerelda helped the trio collect the cushions and stack them neatly away. She, Ron, and Hermione were ready to go but Harry was still pretending to be busy, clearly waiting for Cho to give him a 'Merry Christmas' as well.

"Come on," Hermione whispered to them. "We should go, give them a moment of privacy."

They filed out as well, with Ron giving Harry a discreet thumbs up when Cho's back was turned.

"Cedric's not too upset about this, is he?" Ron asked once they left the room. "I mean, he's the one who dumped her."

"I'm pretty sure the only reason he dumped her was because of the personal issues he was facing over the summer," Esmerelda pointed out. "You know, with the Daily Prophet and the crushing guilt. But I don't think he's bothered by the idea of them dating anymore."

"Good," Ron said. "Harry deserves a little bit of happiness."

"I feel like he needs therapy more than a girlfriend," Hermione said dryly. "But whatever works."

Harry and Cho had been staying in the Room of Requirement for some time now, and Ron was starting to get some dirty ideas about what they were doing. Hermione had to smack him in the shoulder twice to get him to stop blabbing.

At that moment, the doors finally opened and all three of them hushed up. Cho left in a rush, head bowed and shoulders shaking. She disappeared down the hallway in a matter of seconds, and that was when Harry walked out next. He looked numb with shock.

Esmerelda, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. Clearly something wrong had happened.

"Erm, Harry," Hermione spoke up first. "What happened?"

He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"Did you kiss?" Ron asked eagerly.

He nodded numbly.

Esmerelda frowned in confusion. "But why did she run away like that, then? Were you that bad?"

He winced.

"I guess he was," Ron whispered to her. Hermione sent them pointed looks.

"How was the kiss?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Wet," he answered in a dull voice. "Because she was crying."

"Are you that bad at kissing?" Ron asked incredulously.

"She said it wasn't my fault, she was just... upset," he shrugged.

"At your kissing?" Esmerelda blinked.

"His kissing's not the problem!" Hermione groaned before turning back to Harry. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"She regretted it because apparently she still has feelings for Cedric," he explained. "But she also likes me. She mumbled something about struggling to move on, and she cried because she felt like she was using me as a... rebound? And she felt guilty about that. Then she ran away."

"You'd think a bit of kissing would cheer her up," Ron said dumbly.

Hermione and Esmerelda gave him disgusted looks.

"Ron," Hermione said in a dignified voice. "You are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron said indignantly. "What sort of person cries while someone's kissing them?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed, slightly desperate. "Who does?"

"You two are clueless," Esmerelda frowned at them both. "Can't you be more considerate towards her?"

"Can't she be more considerate to me?" Harry despaired. "I'm the one that got cried all over!"

"Don't you understand how Cho's feeling at the moment?" Hermione asked them.

"No," Harry and Ron said together.

She and Esmerelda shared a disappointed look.

Hermione decided to take charge.

"Well, obviously, she's feeling very sad, because of Cedric dumping her so out of the blue. Then I expect she's feeling confused because she likes Cedric and now she likes Harry, and she can't work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking she's only seeing Harry as a rebound, and she'll be worrying about what everyone else might say about her if she starts going out with Harry, you know how cruel the kids here can be. Oh, and she's afraid she's going to be thrown off the Ravenclaw Quidditch team because she's been flying so badly."

Esmerelda nodded in approval. "Well said."

A slightly stunned silence greeted the end of this speech, then Ron spoke up, "One person can't feel all that at once, they'd explode."

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have," Hermione said nastily.

"She was the one who started it," Harry said. "I wouldn't've—she just sort of came at me—and next thing she's crying all over me—I didn't know what to do—"

"—Don't blame you, mate," Ron said, looking alarmed at the very thought.

"You both are hopeless," Hermione scoffed, starting to walk away. "I hope your boyfriend's not like any of them, Essie."

"He isn't," she replied with a dopey smile. "He's a sweetheart. We're both pretty good at understanding each other's emotions."

Hermione looked back over her shoulder to address the two boys who were scrambling after them. "Did you hear that? You both ought to take a leaf out of Esmerelda's boyfriend's book—he knows how to handle girls."

They muttered in protest, and the four of them continued walking before finally parting ways to reach their respective dormitories. Esmerelda, however, sneaked out of the castle for the forbidden forest.

She hadn't been able to practice her new spell in months thanks to the Underworld being closed and Nico being unable to summon her dead souls to use. She didn't know necromancy as advanced as he did and she didn't want to use living people either so she would have to resort to... monsters...

It wasn't very smart. Monsters worked differently than people. Even if she managed to make the spell work on them, it might have different results than on humans. But she really didn't have much of a choice anymore.

She went deep into the forest, testing her spell out on blood-sucking bugbears, blast-ended skrewts, and trolls. By the end of the hour, the forest was starting to turn into a bloody, bloody mess to the point where the metallic smell was beginning to sting her nostrils.

"Maybe it could work after all," she muttered to herself, grabbing her pencil and hastily writing down the results. Standing before her was an unconscious troll, the first surviving subject after seventy attempts. Similarly with several other human subjects, a brief glow had appeared after the incantation before it flickered out. The troll had fallen unconscious afterwards, but it was fine. He was still alive and even remained uninjured.

She wiped her hand on her skirt in a futile attempt to get the blood off.

Attempt: 718: Minor success. Faint glow appeared. Troll fainted, but received no other injuries. First monster to survive so far.

There was a crunch of branches that alerted her of someone approaching, but the second she saw their shadow, she relaxed.

"What... is this..." Bane breathed out as he slowly galloped into the bloody clearing.

"Hi, Bane," she greeted, closing her notebook shut.

"Godling," he greeted wearily. "Have you finally lost your mind?"

"Not really," she smiled wryly. "I just made my own spell. I need to test it somehow, but I'm running low on test subjects. So I decided to use monsters instead."

"And you'll clean up?" He asked, looking around in disgust. There were dead bodies everywhere, all various forms of gore.

She nodded in reassurance. "I will. I'm just getting finished up anyways."

She forced the troll back to consciousness before placing her hands over it's eyes once more. It moaned in pain, trying to get back up but Esmerelda kept it down.

"Communis oculos," she murmured softly.

Her palms started to warm up, and a faint glow appeared over it's eyes before it suddenly began to grow brighter. Esmerelda straightened up with excitement before suddenly out a cry of pain. She stumbled back, placing a hand over her eyes and falling to her knees. In that same moment, it disappeared.

What was that...? She wondered, breathing heavily. Did her spell work, even for a short moment...?

"Well?" Bane demanded, and she was reminded of his unwanted presence. "Will you clean up your mess, or not?"

"Fine, fine," she muttered angrily, before quickly jotting down her observations.

Attempt #719: Troll from the previous attempt died on the second try, but results were better. A bright glow appeared, and we were both able to feel a short pain in our eyes before the spell faded away.

She put away her things and went to work with cleaning, grumbling in annoyance whenever Bane pointed out she had missed an organ or two.

"So?" She asked, motioning to bloodless forest grounds. "Is it up to your standards?"

"Adequate," he snapped. "And before you go, godling, I have a warning for you."

She rose a brow.

"The earth is stirring," he told her. "If I were you, I'd find a way to stop it before it's too late."

"Are you talking about an earthquake? That's just Poseidon, he's mad because his son is missing."

He scoffed rudely. "Foolish ignorance."

"You could be helpful, you know," she muttered under her breath, but he was already walking away. "Aaaand you decide to leave after giving me a vague warning instead. Thanks, Bane. That'll totally help me from keeping the earth from stirring."

Still muttering in annoyance, she trudged back to the castle after cleaning her clothes of blood too.

She was just about to head off to the path leading to the Hufflepuff dormitory before she heard several pairs of loud footsteps approaching her.

"S-so much blood," Harry rasped. "There was so much—"

"—Hush, now, Potter we're almost there," Professor McGonagall said as she, Harry, and Ron rounded the corner and immediately spotted her.

"Miss Black, what are you—? Forget it, just follow us!" Professor McGonagall said and rushed passed her without a word.

Looks like I won't be getting any sleep after all, Esmerelda thought as she rushed after them.

She had no idea what was going on. Harry was freaking out over blood, and Professor McGonagall and Ron were freaking out over Harry freaking out over blood.

"What happened?" She quietly asked Ron.

But Harry was the one who answered.

"I saw Mr. Weasley," he said shakily. "He's dying."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

Esmerelda found herself back in Grimmauld Place with a bunch of shaken Weasleys and Harry. She did not miss Grimmauld Place. It had only been a few months since she had been here and it was still as shitty as ever.

"Lady Esmerelda, you have returned!" Kreacher greeted her joyously, before spotting her company. His face fell into a disgusted scowl. "And back again, the blood traitor brats, is it true their father's dying...?"

"OUT!" Sirius roared, storming into the gloomy basement kitchen where they were all gathered.

Kreacher sneered at him before disappearing through the door to the hall.

Sirius was hurrying toward them all, looking anxious. He was unshaven and still in his day clothes; there was also a slightly Mundungus-like whiff of stale drink about him.

He's been drinking, Esmerelda realized, blinking in surprise.

"What's going on?" He asked them hastily. "Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured—"

"—Ask Harry," Fred interrupted.

"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself," George said.

Everyone was staring at him. Kreacher's footsteps had stopped on the stairs outside.

"It was—" Harry swallowed. "I had a—a kind of—vision..."

He told them all about how he had this weird, vision-like dream of watching a large snake attack Mr. Weasley. It had bitten him near the neck, and he woke up just as Mr. Weasley fell to the floor bleeding profusely.

"Is Mum here?" Fred demanded, turning to Sirius.

"She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet," he replied. "The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore's letting Molly know now."

"We've got to go to St. Mungo's," Ginny said urgently. She looked around at her brothers; they were of course still in their pajamas. "Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything—?"

"Hang on, you can't go tearing off to St. Mungo's!" Sirius exclaimed.

"'Course we can go to St. Mungo's if we want," Fred protested "He's our dad!"

"And how are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?"

"What does that matter?" said George hotly.

"It matters because we don't want to draw attention to the fact that Harry is having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!" Sirius said angrily. "Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information?"

Esmerelda had to agree with him on that one. If the Ministry knew what 'science' was, they'd probably see Harry as some sort of potential human experiment.

Ginny spoke up in a quivering voice, "Somebody else could have told us... We could have heard it somewhere other than Harry..."

"Like who?" Sirius asked impatiently. "Listen, your dad's been hurt while on duty for the Order and the circumstances are fishy enough without his children knowing about it seconds after it happened, you could seriously damage the Order's—"

"—We don't care about the dumb Order!" Fred shout.

"It's our dad dying we're talking about!" George yelled.

"Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" Sirius hissed. "This is how it is—this is why you're not in the Order—you don't understand—there are things worth dying for!"

"Easy for you to say, stuck here!" Fred bellowed. "I don't see you risking your neck!"

"Let's all just calm down," Esmerelda finally spoke up, lacing her voice with Charmspeak. "Sirius is right. We can't risk giving ourselves away, it's too dangerous with how many people are against us. As for your father, Harry warned Dumbledore in time. He's been rescued and will receive the proper care he needs to survive."

Her words quickly took affect on everyone. Harry and the rest of the Weasleys took their seats around the counter. When Sirius snapped out of it, he had given her a pointed look but thankfully said nothing else.

Suddenly, a burst of fire in midair illuminated the dirty plates in front of them and as they gave cries of shock, a scroll of parchment fell with a thud onto the table, accompanied by a single golden phoenix tail feather.

"Fawkes!" Sirius exclaimed, taking the scroll. "That's not Dumbledore's writing—it must be a message from your mother—here—"

He thrust the letter into George's hand, who ripped it open and read aloud, "'Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum.'"

George looked around the table.

"Still alive..." He said slowly. "But that makes it sound..."

He did not need to finish the sentence.

Sirius decided to serve them all butterbeer in hopes to lighten up their moods. It didn't work, but it was nice of him to try at least.

Esmerelda managed to drink all of hers in less then five minutes, and that was when Sirius started to approach her.

"Come on," he muttered, motioning for her to leave the room. "We need to have a talk."

Dread pooled in her stomach, but she followed after him anyways. He led her to the drawing room where the Black Family Tapestry was held.

This is going to be bad, she thought to herself, feeling her nerves worsen. You can do this, Essie, you can do this.

"I want to talk about how you've been doing," he began, his voice neutral.

"What does this have to do with Mr. Weasley?" She asked, wanting a change of subject.

Sirius saw right through the pitiful attempt. "Mr. Weasley's fine right now, so we don't need to concern ourselves with him. I want to talk about you. You're—you—I don't even know what's been going on with you, it's always one problem after another. You've been purposely avoiding my talks in Floo call, ignoring my letters—your fucked up boyfriend, your shit grades, and the fact that you've been skipping school—! You've been leaving the grounds, haven't you—"

"—What the fuck do you want from me?" Esmerelda hissed, trying hard not to raise her voice. She didn't want Harry or any of the Weasleys to overhear. "You want to know what's been going on in my life, yet you don't at the same time! I'm not the only one avoiding things here, Sirius, you have as well! You haven't once asked me about how I've felt after the war, you never even talk about it unless it's to bitch about me charmspeaking you to save your gods damn life!"

She was full with rage now, to the point where she had stormed towards him and shoved him back with each enunciation of her words. She felt vicious, angry, and violent, as if her wrath was reaching to a boiling point. She just wanted to let it all out now, regardless of who would be the victim of it.

"If you want to know about me—about my life—then stop ignoring the harsh truth of it! I'm a child soldier, Sirius, a demigod! It's completely ruined me and you purposely ignore that! You just keep going around pretending that you can fix me and turn me into some normal kid—you act like you can teach me about morals like I'm some dumbass! Get off your high horse, Sirius!"

She grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall, her fist pressed forcefully against his sternum.

"Don't you fucking patronize me and belittle everything I've been through just so you can feel better about yourself—just so you don't feel like a fucking failure every time you look at me!" She snarled.

She stepped away, and Sirius was left bracing himself against the wall. He was breathing heavily, his eyes wide as he stared at her.

Esmerelda was shaking, and some clarity seemed to return to her mind. She had never lashed out like that before, nor had she ever attacked her uncle like that. It felt good to finally speak out her mind, but she felt some guilt for physically harming him—even if it was just a minor thing.

She took another step back, feeling slightly ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry," she said, though she knew it was useless now. "I shouldn't have done that... but I meant what I said. In fact, I've been wanting to say it for a while now. Do whatever you want with this information, I don't care anymore. Ethan... Ethan was right about you. You can't handle what I'm like so you're trying to mold me into your version of normalcy."

His eyes widened in horror. "He...?! No...! No, Esmerelda, you can't listen to him, he's—"

"—Enough," she said firmly. "Just know that I won't tolerate any of your bullshit anymore, Sirius. It's my turn to put my foot down. Now if you need me, I'll be in the kitchens making sure the Weasleys are okay."

She started to leave the room, but she paused at the doorway.

"Oh and," she started to add. "I'll be spending my vacation in New York, so congrats, you won't need to deal with me and my problems."

╞═════𖠁𐂃𖠁═════╡

"Mistress," Kreacher croaked, bowing down before Narcissa. Draco stood behind her, his face etched in disgust. He always detested being near the house elves, mostly because they looked so filthy and smelled like trash.

"I recognize you..." Narcissa murmured, her eyes narrowed. "You are aunt Walburga's house elf. What are you doing here?"

"Kreacher comes with important information mistress might want," he replied.

She rose an elegant brow. "Important information? I doubt anything a house elf could say would be relevant. But what is it?"

"Sirius Black," he spat the name out with venom. "Hides within the walls of Grimmauld Place. He has dirtied the floors of Kreacher's poor Mistress' home with blood traitors and mudbloods! Lady Esmerelda has been infected by their beliefs and driven out of the house by him!"

Narcissa's eyes widened. "Draco," she said quietly. "Go get your father, now."

Draco didn't hesitate twice to do as he was told, though he had no idea what was even going on. He retrieved his father from his office and led him back to the foyer where his mother and Kreacher still stood.

He stood back at a distance, but he was still able to hear what was being said:

"Speak, elf," Lucius demanded. "You say you know where Sirius Black is hiding?"

"Grimmauld Place," Kreacher said, all too eager to give up the information. "The new headquarters of the Order of Phoenix."

"The Order..." Lucius breathed out, before barking out a laugh. "Wonderful... So that's where they've been hiding. And I take it Potter is there as well?"

"We can't go there," Narcissa told him. "It's always been guarded with protection spells, and they must have added more. There'll be hundreds at this point."

"Then we'll lure them out," Lucius smirked. "I'll be sure to tell the Dark Lord of this... He will thank us graciously. In the meanwhile, Narcissa, the elf will listen to you. Order him to never tell a soul about this."

Narcissa nodded, her face blank and smooth. "Kreacher. I order you to keep quiet about our plans. You cannot tell anyone in that house what you've done, including Sirius and Esmerelda Black."

"Yes, mistress," he croaked, bowing slightly.

Narcissa turned around and spotted her son standing not so far away. There was a noticeably anxious look on his face.

"Draco," she called out. "Draco, dear, come here."

Draco walked forward, his feet feeling like lead.

"Yes, mother?" He said in a quiet, tense voice.

"Henrietta has sent me letters concerning her daughter. According to Pansy, you've been close to Esmerelda Black. Is that true?" She questioned.

He gulped. "I..."

Lucius made a noise of disgust, and Narcissa sighed.

"Draco," she murmured. "You cannot tell her any of this, do you understand me? You mustn't tell her."

Draco couldn't speak.

"Promise me, Draco," Narcissa pleaded. "This is important for us, for the family. You must not tell her."

"I won't, mother," he said, his mouth running dry. "I promise. I won't tell her a thing."

— author's note —

LUNAR ECLIPSE (Lunar_Eclipse930 on Wattpad) SENT ME SOME NICE ASS GIFS ABOUT THE ESSIE SERIES SO TAKE A LOOK!!!

First off here's cutie Essie with the first line of the series:

Then Essie eating ice cream, Ethan catching feels, and Nico third-wheeling (or is it ETHAN third-wheeling on his own date??? who knows 😂):

(The quality of the second one is poor because I had to optimize and resize it to lower the file size... The better version is on Quotev)

Okay, okay, I've been struggling with this for MONTHS while planning for book five.

So in canon, Sirius orders Kreacher to get out, which was how he was able to get out of the house and snitch to the Death Eaters about Sirius' location and shit. And I was like, "well, Essie would never tell Kreacher to leave!!!" so I did some research...

Kreacher canonically serves THE BLACK FAMILY, but (in canon) his master is Sirius. He still listens to other members of the Black family, however, which was why he went to Narcissa and snitched. Narcissa also must have told him "hey, make sure you don't tell him of this evil plan we got, so if he ever asks or demands to know your whereabouts, LIE." So going off on this, I deducted that Kreacher probably takes orders from members of the Black House and not JUST Sirius.

Meaning, in this series, Kreacher can definitely take orders from other people aside from Essie AS LONG AS THEY ARE A BLACK. Essie may not have ordered him to get out, but Sirius did and Kreacher happily used that as a loophole to leave the house entirely and betray him (essentially betraying Essie but Kreacher doesn't under why she cares so much for him because in his eyes, Sirius is 'lowly' and a 'blood traitor'. Plus, he's heard of Sirius and Essie's arguments, and is furious that Sirius is always trying to 'drive her away').

Also, in canon I think Kreacher told Narcissa AND Bellatrix??? But I changed it because Bellatrix hasn't escaped Azkaban yet and I just wanted to get to get the scene over with lol

BUT ON A BRIGHTER NOTE!

Essie goes back to Camp Half-Blood in the next chapter!!! :D