Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Luca Hollestelle as Emma Lily Potter

Elle Fanning as Carina Malfoy

Sky Katz as Aster Diggory

Bailee Madison as Megan Avery

Peyton List as Melia Rosier

Mikey Madison as Cassia Flint

Madison Pettis as Zoe Accrington

Nicola Peltz as Daphne Greengrass

Chapter Text

I can't even put into words everything that has led me here. Last year my brother and I found out we are wizards, which led to my brother being accepted at Hogwarts, the school for kids like us; in his very first year at Hogwarts my brother already had to face none other than the wizard who killed our parents; the very year I received my letter, my imbecilic aunt and uncle decided to ban us from going to Hogwarts; an exotic creature has appeared in our room, he says he's called Dobby, the house elf, and he says it's too dangerous for Harry and I to study at Hogwarts this year; and finally, Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend, has appeared in a flying car with his twin brothers to rescue us from here.

That's basically all it took to get to where I am right now: facing the cosy home of the Weasley family.

"It's not much," says Ron, when he sees that Harry and I are staring at his house.

"It's brilliant," Harry and I say at the same time.

"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," one of the twins says behind us. Their plan almost works, if it weren't for a woman crossing the yard and coming towards us.

"Oh dear," says the other twin. Even I'm afraid of her. I'm glad her anger isn't directed at me or Harry.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs. Weasley whispers in a frightening way.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to..." Ron tries to explain himself.

"Beds empty! No note! Car gone... could have crashed... out of my mind with worry... did you care? ... never, as long as I've lived... you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy... You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job..."

"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she turns first to Harry, whom she already knows. "And you must be Emma, right? It's nice to meet you, darling. Ginny will be delighted to have another girl in the house, especially as you'll both be classmates."

Ginny is certainly Ron's younger sister, who Harry has told me about. When she sees that we're not moving, Mrs. Weasley calls out to us. "Come in and have some breakfast."

I could easily pass for a Weasley, especially when we're all together. The biggest difference is the colour of my hair: while the Weasleys have a lighter shade of red, mine is darker, coppery. We all have breakfast as soon as Mr. Weasley arrives, I meet Percy and Ginny, our Hogwarts letters arrive (I learn that the headmaster seems to be keeping an eye on Harry and me, since he knew we were with the Weasleys), and then we go to Diagon Alley to buy our school supplies.

Harry and Ron find their friend Hermione and the three of them, together with Mr. Weasley and Ron's other brothers, go into some shops to buy materials while Mrs. Weasley takes Ginny and I to buy our wands and uniforms. The three of us meet up with Harry and the Weasleys after we finished buying our wands and uniforms. Harry, a celebrity everywhere he goes in the wizarding world, is immediately recognised by Gilderoy Lockhart, a book author, and gets his entire collection.

As we're leaving the shop, we're stopped by a voice I don't know, but which Harry, Ron and Hermione seem to know very well.

"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" When I turn around to see who it is, I see a blond boy, who I immediately recognise from the stories my brother told me, he is Draco Malfoy.

"Famous Harry Potter," he continues. "Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

It's undeniable that this boy seems to be jealous of Harry and the attention my brother gets.

"Leave him alone," I say, trying to defend my brother.

"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend!" the boy says, apparently mistaking me for Ginny.

"I'm his sister, you imbecile." I reply.

Malfoy is speechless, he certainly wasn't expecting such an answer. Before he can say anything, Ron, Hermione and Ginny find us.

"Oh, it's you," says Ron. "Bet you're surprised to see Harry and Emma here, eh?"

"Not as surprised as I am to see you in a shop, Weasley." retorts Malfoy.

It is at this moment that Mr. Weasley catches up with us. "It's mad in here, let's go outside."

"Well, well, well – Arthur Weasley." I hear another voice. A man as blond as Malfoy puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Lucius," Mr Weasley says in a cold tone, nodding his head.

"Busy time at the Ministry, I hear," says Malfoy Senior. "All those raids... I hope they're paying you overtime?"

He reaches into Ginny's books, which are inside a cauldron she is holding.

"Obviously not. Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," replies Mr. Weasley.

The silence that remains between us is embarrassing.

"Here, girl – take your book – it's the best your father can give you..." says Malfoy Senior, putting the books back in Ginny's cauldron.

September 1st, 1992

Ginny and I become close in the days leading up to our departure for Hogwarts, especially considering that we end up sharing a room during the time I stay at the Burrow, the Weasley family home.

The day finally arrives for me to go to Hogwarts. Harry, the Weasleys and I drive to King's Cross in the same car that Ron and his brothers rescued us from, this time bewitched so that we can all fit.

As soon as we arrive between platforms 9 and 10, we all stop.

"Percy first," says Mrs. Weasley. He then walks quickly to the barrier and disappears. Mr. Weasley follows, and then Fred and George, the twins.

"I'll take Ginny and Emma and you two come right after us," says Mrs. Weasley to Harry and Ron. She follows Ginny and I as we race to the barrier, and in the blink of an eye, we're on the other side, facing the Hogwarts Express. As soon as we're on the other side, Mr. Weasley helps us with our luggage, and then he and Mrs. Weasley say goodbye to us.

Ginny and I get on the train together. So we walk through the train looking for an empty compartment to sit in. Shortly after we have settled into the compartment, two other girls open the door that separates us from the corridor.

"Can we sit with you?" one of them, a girl with dark hair and almost pale skin, asks.

"Of course," Ginny and I reply at the same time. Then they both sit down facing us.

"I'm Ginny Weasley." Ginny is the first of us to introduce herself.

"And I'm Emma Potter." I introduce myself. I notice the two girls exchanging glances. I mentally wonder if it's because of me, because of the fame of my family name, or if it has to do with the same reason the Malfoys despise the Weasleys.

The blonde girl smiles at me and Ginny before introducing herself. "My name is Carina Malfoy and this is Stella Lestrange."

It's Ginny and I's turn to exchange glances. A Malfoy? I had no idea that Malfoy Junior had a sister. If she's anything like her father and brother, she must be just as arrogant and repulsive as they are.

"Are you Draco's sister?" I ask.

"Yes, Draco is my brother." she replies. I'm a little apprehensive when she confirms what I already knew, but she seems to have noticed. "I'm not like my brother, don't worry."

I'm relieved to hear that.

We get to know each other a little more on the way to Hogwarts. Carina and Stella, who explain that they are almost like cousins, tell us that their entire families were Slytherins, and about their fear of going to any house other than Slytherin. Opposite them, I say that apparently most of the Potters were Gryffindors, and that I wouldn't know how to feel if I were from any other house, even more so if I were sorted into Slytherin.

When we're almost there, the four of us change and put on our uniforms. When we arrive, the first-year students are greeted by Hagrid, the half-giant I ended up meeting in Diagon Alley on the day we went to buy the school supplies, who takes us to the boats that take us to the castle.

We wait for someone to open the door to the castle. Soon a middle-aged woman opens it.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid introduces her to us.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She then opens the door for us to pass through. We follow her into an empty room.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," the professor says. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

Ginny and I look at each other, I think deep down hoping that we'd be sorted into the same house.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

"It's going to be all right," says Ginny.

The professor soon returns and leads us into the Great Hall. As soon as the doors open, I look for the Gryffindor table and, consequently, for my brother. But he's nowhere to be seen, not even next to Hermione. Ginny and I look at each other, she has also noticed Harry's absence, and now I realise Ron's absence too.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," the professor says as we face a stool with a hat on it. "Avery, Megan."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Bell, Jasper!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Creevey, Colin!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Diggory, Aster!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

And then the professor gets to the letter L. The girl who was in the train compartment with me. From what she said, her family seems to be one of those pure-bloods who despise everyone who isn't pure-blood and who expect her to go to Slytherin. When the hat makes up its mind, it shouts, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

I can only feel sorry for her. I can't imagine what her family might do when they find out.

"Malfoy, Carina!"

I'm paying attention again. The hat takes a while to make up its mind, perhaps so far she's the one who's taken the longest to be sorted.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lucky. I mean, not so much... The silence in the Hall is shocking, from what Harry and the Weasleys have explained to me, the Malfoys are one of the oldest and most traditional families in the wizarding world. Carina herself told me that no Malfoy has ever been from any house other than Slytherin, at least until now.

"Potter, Emma!"

The hall falls silent again, the same silence it was when Carina was sorted. I hesitantly climb onto the stool and Professor McGonagall puts the hat on my head.

"Ah! Harry Potter's sister..." the hat starts to say. "the courage that you Potters have really is something... But is it your courage that will make me put you in Gryffindor?" I start to ask it to put me in Gryffindor, just like Harry did last year. "Are you sure? Your brother was stubborn, he didn't listen to my advice, I still think he made the wrong decision... I feel you have a lot of creativity... You seem to have the same issue with rules as your brother and father... Something differentiates you from both of them, you're not impulsive, you rarely act without thinking... That's it, I've made my decision... SLYTHERIN!"

Chapter Text

I stop breathing for a moment and it seems that the whole hall does too. I look at Ginny, whose mouth is hanging open, speechless. The other Weasleys seem to have the same reaction. Just as everyone seems to recover from the shock of a Potter being sorted into Slytherin, I hear the Slytherin table vibrate in celebration. I get up and walk over.

"We got the other Potter!" I hear some Slytherins say.

Surprisingly, the first person to greet me is none other than Malfoy Junior, Draco. He holds out his hand to me, no longer with that look of superiority he had in Diagon Alley.

"Welcome to Slytherin, Potter." he says, with a mischievous smile. "I so wanted to see your brother's face right now..."

I shake his hand. I greet a few other people at the table until I sit next to the girl I recognise as Megan Avery, the first to be sorted.

When I glance over at the teachers' table, I soon see a teacher I recognise from Harry's stories, Severus Snape. He was apparently already looking at me, but for a second I wonder if my brother hasn't lied at any point about the stories, since the professor doesn't seem to be looking at me with disdain or anything like that. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm in Slytherin.

"Weasley, Ginevra!" I hear the teacher calling.

Everyone falls silent again. Ginny climbs the steps and sits down. In a few seconds the hat decides. "GRYFFINDOR!"

I hear the Gryffindor table stand up and applaud. I'm upset that we aren't together. I don't have time to ask for Harry or go after him, as the Slytherin prefects are already leading us down the path to the common room after dinner.

I meet all the girls I share a room with: Megan Avery, Melia Rosier (who is apparently a distant cousin of Draco and Carina), Cassia Flint and Zoe Accrington.

Given everything Harry has told me about Slytherin, I hesitantly introduce myself to my roommates, expecting them to judge me and be prejudiced against me because I'm a half-blood, which surprisingly they don't. I find out that Megan and Melia come from two of the oldest wizarding families in the UK. Melia's father, Evan Rosier, was killed in the First Wizarding War. Cassia Flint, despite her family being part of what I discover is the Sacred Twenty-Eight, wasn't brought up in a supremacist environment as much as the other two. Zoe is the one I identify with the most, as she is also half-blood. Besides, she has a slight accent, and when we ask her about it, she tells us that her mother is American, and that she spent part of her childhood in the United States, and that technically she could have been at Ilvermorny, the magic school there.

I go to bed earlier than the others, because they end up writing letters to their families, and as I don't have anyone to write to, I end up going to bed earlier.

I wake up early to go down to the Great Hall and have time to talk to Harry about yesterday. As soon as I change out of my pyjamas and into my school uniform, I'm about to leave, when I see that one of my roommates has woken up too. 

"Are you going to the Great Hall?" Zoe asks.

"Yes, do you want me to wait for you to get ready?" I say.

And then I wait for Zoe to quickly get ready so we can go together. 

When we get there, I'm relieved to see that Harry is already sitting at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione. I turn to Zoe. "Go and get us a seat at the table, I need to have a word with my brother." I see her nod and then walk away towards the Slytherin table.

I then take a deep breath and head towards the Gryffindor table. When I get close, I see Hermione nudging Harry discreetly, pointing at me with her head.

"Hi, Harry." I greet him hesitantly.

"Oh, hi, Emma." he replies, also looking a little hesitant. 

"Can I talk to you?" I ask.

He looks at Ron and Hermione before turning to me. "Of course,"

He gets up from the table and we go to a more private area of the Great Hall. I take a deep breath before I start talking.

"You're not angry with me, are you?" I ask, afraid that he might be angry that I was sorted into Slytherin. 

"Why?" he asks, and seems really confused about what I'm talking about. My brother can be a bit daft sometimes.

"Because I was sorted into Slytherin." I explain.

"Oh, no, of course I'm not." he says, taking a deep breath. "I was upset that we aren't in the same house, but I'm not mad at you." he then gives me a hug.

I sigh with relief that he says that. And then I remember my second reason for wanting to talk to him. "What happened yesterday? Why weren't Ron and you at dinner?"

"For some reason the passage on platform 9 3/4 had closed! Ron and I couldn't get through..." he begins to explain. "That's when Ron had an idea. We took the car and..."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me that you two came driving a flying car?" I ask in shock.

"Actually, Ron drove..." he says.

"Do you have any idea how much danger you've put yourselves in?" I start to almost scold him. "Surely there were other ways for you to get to Hogwarts than driving a flying car?"

That's where I have to agree with the Sorting Hat: I'm really not impulsive like my brother, I tend to think much more rationally and less hastily. 

After that, Harry goes back to sit at the Gryffindor table while I walk over to the Slytherin table and sit down next to Zoe. Draco is already seated when I arrive and I sit down facing him. He looks at me with a smile before speaking, "What was Potter's reaction?"

"I think you're going to be disappointed, Malfoy... It was better than you and I thought." I answer him.

Our conversation is interrupted when Draco, I and other Slytherins turn towards the entrance to the Hall and see Carina Malfoy in her Gryffindor uniform, walking in. 

"As for your reaction to your sister, I can't say the same..." I whisper, making Draco stare at me for a few seconds before turning round and pretending not to see his sister.

Carina says something to her Gryffindor roommates, who go to sit at the Gryffindor table without her, before approaching the Slytherin table. I and other people, Draco's friends, watch her approach her brother.

"Draco." Carina says, trying to get her brother's attention. Her voice clearly shows her nervousness about interacting with him. I watch him slowly turn towards her. Draco seems to be thinking about how to react.

"I have nothing to talk to you about, blood traitor." he says. Definitely not the reaction I was expecting. 

I can see in her eyes that it hurts her, I don't know how I would react in her place if Harry reacted like that. I feel sorry for her, I have only the faintest idea of what it must be like when a wizard is sorted into a house other than the one their family is expecting, especially considering what family she comes from.

I can't hide the pity I feel for her right now. She then turns towards the Gryffindor table, but someone else from Slytherin stops her. I recognise him as a boy from the same year as Draco and Harry.

I stop paying attention to the two of them and go back to eating my breakfast, glancing at Draco.

"What?" he asks, noticing my gaze on him.

"Don't you think you were a bit hard on her?" I ask. For a moment I could have sworn I see Draco with a look of regret for having treated his sister like that.

"She deserves it... This is a reason for our family to be ashamed." he says, looking at the food on his plate. I roll my eyes and snort in annoyance.

"As if it were her fault, Malfoy." I say, making him look at me, surprised by my tone. "Do you really think she chose to be sorted into Gryffindor? We can't choose our house, we can only suggest to the Hat... If we had a choice, I certainly wouldn't be here."

I don't know if he seems offended to hear that I wouldn't be in Slytherin if it were my choice, or if he seems ashamed to have acted like that towards his sister, but I do know that all this has made me want to try to change the minds of people like him, the reason for Slytherin's bad reputation.

The owls arrive bearing letters from the students' families. I watch Draco receive a package along with a letter. I stare curiously at the package, and Draco seems to notice my curiosity. 

"It's from my mum, she sends me sweets every week when I'm at Hogwarts," he explains, putting the letter aside and opening the package. "You can have one if you like."

That seems to be what makes us end our little argument and make up, at least for the time being. 

Chapter Text

As soon as I've finished breakfast, my fellow first-year  Slytherins and I head off to our first lesson: Potions. What I know about the teacher of this subject is that he hates Harry, which is definitely not a good sign, given that I'm his sister... But at the same time I know that he usually favours the Slytherin students, so I don't know what to expect.

I smile at Ginny and Carina, who smile back. The classes are divided into pairs and, already realising that people from Slytherin and Gryffindor don't mingle much, I know that I'm probably one of the only ones (if not the only one) willing to pair up with someone from Gryffindor. Since Ginny and Carina choose to sit together I can't pair up with either of them, so I end up sitting in one of the remaining seats, next to a blond boy from Gryffindor. As soon as I sit down next to him, he smiles broadly. The boy must definitely not be aware of the rivalry between the two houses. 

"Are you Harry Potter's sister?" he asks, sounding completely fascinated. I nod. "I'm Colin Creevey! Nice to meet you." he says, holding out his hand. 

I hold my hand out in greeting. "And I'm Emma Potter."

"I feel like I'm meeting a celebrity!" I hear him muttering to himself.

The door to the room opens and then Professor Snape walks in, causing all the students to fall silent immediately. He makes the call, and I gulp when he gets to my name. He pauses before reading my name, and then he reads it. Watching him, it seems that for a few seconds he's trying to decide for himself whether or not he's going to hate me.

"Emma Potter..." he says, making me shiver. "Sister of our celebrity." the way he pronounces the word celebrity sounds disdainful. "I hope you're not arrogant and insufferable like your brother, I don't want to have to take points off my house because of someone like you."

It's odd how he doesn't look at me at any point, he doesn't seem to want to recognise my presence in the room. His face is rigid, trying to hide his irritation with me. He finishes the roll call and then faces the whole class. When I notice the first time he really looks at me, strangely his expression seems to falter for a few seconds, as if his gaze softens when he finally looks at me, all for mere seconds before he pulls himself together and his face hardens again.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he begins. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death, if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Nobody dares to even breathe while he's talking.

"Potter," he calls me. At least I know what to expect, since the same thing happened to Harry last year. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Not only does he ask the same question he asked Harry (not that my brother remembers, but Hermione told me), but even if Hermione hadn't mentioned the question I would have known the answer, since I read some of the school books before the year began.

"You'd get the Draught of Living Death potion, Professor." I answer.

He looks surprised when I answer the question correctly, but then hides his surprise and asks me again. "Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

"In the stomach of a goat."

He doesn't seem convinced to stop questioning me. "And what is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

"They are the same plant, sir." I answer him again. 

"Well done, Miss Potter." he says, without looking at me directly. "Or maybe you're too clever, after all, I asked your brother exactly the same questions last year."

I feel like I'm going to get very tired of being compared to Harry.

"With all due respect, Professor," I start to say, which makes him look me in the eye. "but I'm not my brother."

Once again I see surprise on his face, and incredibly I don't feel any irritation or contempt directed at me.

"We'll see." he says, before asking me again. "Tell me, what ingredients are needed to make the cure for boils?"

It takes me a few seconds to remember the ingredients. Snape cracks a smile before I can answer him.

"I knew you were just like your..." he starts to say, but I interrupt him.

"The ingredients needed for the cure for boils are two spoonfuls of dried nettles, six snake fangs, four horned slugs and two porcupine quills."

He seems to be stunned for a few seconds, and during those seconds I could swear I even see a look of pride, but then he pulls himself together and answers me, without looking at me, "You, Miss Potter, may have the intellect that your brother doesn't," he begins. "but you two certainly have arrogance in common."

I know he only said it to provoke me, since I didn't answer him with arrogance or pretentiousness, I simply answered the question he asked me. The room remains silent, as if everyone is waiting for me to respond to this comment, but I'm not going to play this childish game that the teacher is trying to get me to play.

"A point for Slytherin," says Snape, after a few seconds in silence, probably waiting for me to respond him. "since Miss Potter at least answered the questions correctly."

I feel like it's going to be a long few years here at Hogwarts, especially with Snape as a teacher. 

Chapter Text

I wake up early as usual, even though today is Saturday. As soon as I get up, I get dressed. I hear movement in my dormitory, so I turn round to see what it is.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I woke you up." I say when I see that one of my roommates, Cassia Flint, is also awake. 

She flashes a smile, which, although it has no malice whatsoever, ends up making me afraid. I probably still have to get used to the fact that most of my roommates, as well as most of the Slytherins, come from pureblood supremacist families. Besides, Harry told me a bit about Cassia's brother Marcus, who is captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Don't worry, I was already awake." Cassia says. "I'm going to watch the Slytherin team practice now, do you want to come along?"

It's my turn to smile. I'm glad that nobody in my house has treated me badly so far, I really believed everything Harry had told me. "Only if we go for breakfast first, I'm starving."

We have breakfast in the Great Hall and then Cassia takes me back to the Slytherin common room. At first I thought we were going straight to the Quidditch pitch, but as soon as we enter the room I see the players from the Slytherin team in uniform. Surprisingly, Draco is one of them. I can't wait to tell Harry that he's on the team now.

"What's up, little sister?" says an older boy I assume is Marcus Flint. "Ready to watch me practice?"

Cassia rolls her eyes. "As if I'm going to watch the practice because of you, Marcus." she says, and then I see her glance discreetly at Draco.

A few other people join us to watch them practice, including a girl Cassia tells me is called Pansy Parkinson, who seems to only have eyes for Draco. I wonder what's up with this boy. She's already the second girl who's clearly interested in him. It could even be money, if I didn't know how girls like Cassia and Pansy also come from rich, traditional families. I can't help but notice that Pansy is very cute...

We all walk together to the Quidditch pitch, and as we get closer I see some people flying around, surely a team from another house practising. As we get closer, I see Carina's platinum blonde hair, and apparently I'm not the only one to notice her there.

"Look, Draco," a boy I recognise from always being around Draco, says, pointing at Carina. "Isn't that your sister over there?"

I see Draco gulp as he realises that his sister is there with the Gryffindors.

"She really replaced us then..." Pansy says. "If she's even watching the Gryffindor team practice."

As we get closer Carina and the Gryffindor players notice us and come towards us, including Harry. I give him a shy smile and he smiles back just as shyly.

"Flint!" an older boy in a Gryffindor quidditch outfit says. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

"Plenty of room for all of us, Wood." says Marcus Flint.

Wood... must be the captain of the Gryffindor team Harry had told me about. Three girls from the Gryffindor team approach us.

"But I booked the pitch!" says Wood. "I booked it!"

"Ah, but I've got a specially signed note here from Professor Snape." says Flint.

Wood takes the piece of paper from Flint's hand and reads it aloud. "'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practise today on the Quidditch pitch, owing to the need to train their new Seeker.' You've got a new Seeker?"

Ah, Draco must be the new Seeker then. He comes out from behind the older boys from the Slytherin team.

"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" asks one of the Weasley twins.

"Funny you should mention Draco's father," says Flint, the entire Slytherin team smiling with delight. "Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team."

Everyone on the team shows off their brooms. They must be a new edition by the looks on the faces of the Gryffindor team. Ron and Hermione come closer.

"What's happening?" Ron asks Harry. "Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?"

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasley," says Draco. "Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team."

Ron stares open-mouthed at the brooms.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," says Hermione. "They got in on pure talent."

I have to stop myself from laughing at what Hermione says.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood," Draco responds.

I don't know what that word means, but it's certainly an offence, and a bad one, since it creates an uproar. I see Carina take a step forwards, approaching Draco and facing him. Then out of nowhere she punches Malfoy right in the nose. Most, if not all, are completely shocked to see Carina punch her own brother. Hermione approaches and holds Carina while Pansy steps forwards.

"You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" says Ron, walking past Carina and pointing his wand at Draco.

A stream of light comes out of Ron's wand and hits him, knocking him to the grass.

"Ron! Ron! Are you all right?" Hermione says, approaching Ron.

When Ron opens his mouth to speak, instead of words, a huge slug comes out of his mouth. Almost all Slytherins burst out laughing, except Draco. I then approach him, as does Pansy, to see how his nose is. Pansy holds Draco's face with her hands, while I come closer to try and examine his nose.

"Yeah, it seems to be broken." I say. Only then does Draco stop staring at his sister and look at me. "You deserved it, you know that, don't you?" I say before Pansy and the other Slytherins accompany Draco to the castle.

I turn to where Ron was lying on the grass and see him propped up between Harry and Hermione, so I run to catch up with the three of them.

"What were you doing with the Slytherins?" Ron asks when I catch up with them. 

"As far as I know, I'm also a Slytherin, Ron." I reply. "Anyway, where are we going?"

"We are going to Hagrid's hut," says Ron, before throwing up more slugs. "I don't know about you. Why don't you go back to your new pureblood friends?"

I roll my eyes. "As if you weren't a pureblood too, Ron." I reply. "Let me know as soon as you stop being childish just because I'm hanging out with the people from my house."

Before I turn round, I look at Harry and Hermione, who look at me with a certain pity, both of them not agreeing with Ron's attitude.

I get to the common room and find my roommates, so I sit down with them. I end up remembering the word Draco used to offend Hermione and, naturally, I get curious.

"You know I haven't grown up in the wizarding world, don't you?" I say, making the four of them pay attention to me.

I see Melia nod slowly.

"Draco used a word today, a word I don't know what it means." I start to say it, and Melia, Megan and Zoe move a little closer, curious about what word he used. I see Cassia with a strange expression on her face.

"What word?" Megan asks.

"Mudblood." Cassia whispers.

Melia and Megan seem uncomfortable answering my question, now that they know what the word is.

"Mudblood is an insult that refers to someone who is a muggleborn." Zoe replies. 

The other three remain silent. I know their families must use that word a lot to insult others.

"I particularly think it's a step backwards the way blood status is important here in the UK." Zoe says.

The four of us turn to her. I see the three girls with raised eyebrows, surprised that Zoe would speak so openly about this subject. 

"I mean, it's so different in the US." continues Zoe. "My mom told me that at Ilvermorny, the school there, nobody cares about your blood status. Even one of the founders of Ilvermorny was a muggle." 

This seems to shock the other three, but at least they don't say anything back. I realise that my mother was a muggleborn, and that perhaps she had already dealt with someone calling her a mudblood like Hermione heard from Draco today.

Chapter Text

I'm in the Great Hall during dinner. Strangely, when I got here I didn't see my brother anywhere, not even Ron, Hermione or Ginny. I notice Draco discreetly trying to look at the Gryffindor table, trying to look at his sister.

"Why don't you just talk to her?" I ask, making him look at me.

He sighs before answering me. "You don't understand, I..."

"You were an arse with her?" I complete his sentence.

He looks at me incredulously.  "I was going to say that I'm scared, because of my father..." he says. "But you're right."

"Your father? What does your father have to do with it?" I ask without understanding.

"I told you you wouldn't understand..." Draco says.

"Draco is afraid that his father will reject him too, just like he did with Carina when he found out she was sorted into Gryffindor." another boy answers for Draco, the same boy who went to talk to Carina the day Draco was an arse with her.

He realises that I'm confused, not knowing his name. "Where are my manners?" the boy says, and then extends his hand to greet me. "Theodore Nott, it's a pleasure to meet you."

I greet him back. "Emma Potter." I say.

He smiles. "Of course I know who you are, who doesn't? But back to the subject at hand, Draco's father is quite... traditional, so to speak."

"By 'traditional' do you mean a prejudiced arsehole?" I ask.

He chuckles, ignoring Draco's gaze. "Exactly."

I turn to Draco again. "You mean to tell me that you'd rather lose all the affection you and your sister have for each other because your father is an imbecile? Do you realise how idiotic that sounds?"

It even looks like I've hit Draco from the look he's giving me. "Don't even bother scolding me, my mum's already done that for you."

"I think it's good that aunt Cissa did it, you deserve it. At least one Malfoy has common sense..." says Theodore.

They must be close for him to call Draco's mum his aunt, even if he did it jokingly.

"Hey!" says Draco indignantly.

"You're right, Draco." I start to say, jokingly. "Theodore is forgetting that your sister also has common sense."

Draco rolls his eyes. "Great, now you've both joined forces to pick on me." 

When we've all finished dinner, I follow the Slytherin prefects and my friends to the common room. On the way, we stop because of a commotion in one of the halls. I feel my feet step on something wet seconds before I bump into Draco, who is standing in front of me.

"I'm sorry, Draco," I say as he turns round to swear at whoever has bumped into him.

"Oh, it's you, Potter." he says, realising it's me. 

I roll my eyes at being called 'Potter', the same way he calls my brother. Lately, as we end up talking relatively often during meals, I think I can consider him almost a friend, so we've started calling each other by our names.

"I told you to call me..." I start to say before I stop talking when I see the writing on the wall and a cat hanging next to it.

"Enemies of the heir, beware! You'll be next, Mud..." Draco says, but doesn't finish his sentence. I see his sister on the other side of the hall with the Gryffindors, looking at him as if she's scolding him.

It's only now that I notice Harry standing right in front of the writing with Ron and Hermione.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" we hear someone say, approaching us. Then I see Filch, who, on seeing the hanging cat, puts his hands to his face in horror. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he screams. He turns to Harry. "You!" he shouts. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll..."

"Argus!" we all hear the headmaster's voice approaching. Behind him are a few teachers. "Come with me, Argus," says Dumbledore. "You too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."

Professor Lockhart steps forward. "My office is nearest, Headmaster, just upstairs, please feel free..."

"Thank you, Gilderoy," says Dumbledore.

The Gryffindor students move aside to let them pass.

"There's nothing for us to do here. Students, everyone back to your respective common rooms." I hear Percy Weasley's voice.

I see Draco glancing at Carina, trying to communicate silently with his sister. Then I pull him by the arm so we can return to the common room. Before I go up to my dorm, I try to talk to Draco again. 

"You know you're going to have to apologise to her, don't you?" I say. "And definitely calling other people Mudblood isn't the best way to do it..."

"My mum would love you..." he mumbles before going up to his room.

When I go up to my room, I see that my roommates are already sitting on their beds, chatting.

"What are you talking about?" I ask curiously, changing from my uniform into my pyjamas and then sitting down on the bed.

"About who we think might have opened the Chamber of Secrets." Megan replies.

"It has to be someone from Slytherin." Melia says, continuing the conversation.

"Who knows, Draco, maybe?" Zoe suggests.

Melia laughs. "No offence, but knowing my cousin, even if he is a more distant cousin, I doubt it's Draco."

"Yeah, I agree with Melia." I say, and the four of them turn to me. "I don't think he did it. Besides, I think he has other things to worry about at the moment..."

"You two have been talking a lot lately..." Cassia says, in an accusatory tone. I know she's probably saying it out of jealousy.

"Because we understand each other, in a way." I reply. "With his sister being sorted into Gryffindor and me being sorted into Slytherin, you know... But we're just friends, if that's what you're suggesting."

I almost mention the fact that I don't even like boys, but I let it go. 

My roommates and I enter the library to do our homework when we see other first-years, including Carina and other Gryffindors. I know that deep down they want to mingle with people from other houses, but that both the fear of their parents' opinion about it and the fact that the other houses generally don't like us very much means that they end up only with other Slytherins. So I approach the other students and ask, "Do you mind if we sit with you?"

I notice the surprised looks on several of their faces.

"Only if you don't mind sitting with a bunch of half-bloods and muggleborns." Stella replies, speaking defensively. I realise she's not referring to me, but to some of the other people who are with me.

"Of course we don't mind." I hear Zoe's voice behind me. She then steps forward and holds out her hand. "I'm Zoe Accrington, nice to meet you."

Carina shakes her hand. "And I'm Carina Malfoy."

"We can still be friends, can't we?" I hear Megan ask Carina and Stella.

I see Carina give her a slight smile before nodding. We soon join them, as well as first-years from Gryffindor, Aster Diggory from Hufflepuff and Luna Lovegood from Ravenclaw are also together. While we're doing our homework, I see Draco approaching, coming up behind Carina. Before he calls her, I flash him a smile, trying to encourage him to talk to his sister.

"What do you want?" Carina asks harshly as she turns round and sees her brother.

It makes me feel sorry for him, seeing Draco looking down at his feet with a regretful look.

"I just want to talk to you."

I see Carina sigh and then she turns to us. "I'll be right back."

She then gets up and follows Draco to another part of the library. Just then, I notice my brother sitting some distance away from where my group and I are, with Ron and Hermione. I get up and walk over to them. 

"Hi, Harry." I say, making the three of them turn round. "Hi, Hermione."

At first, Ron seems annoyed that I have - on purpose - ignored him.

"Where were you last night?" I ask.

I see Harry and Hermione look at each other before Harry answers me. "We were invited by the Gryffindor ghost to go to a ghost party."

I don't know if I should believe that, but I decide to let it go, at least for now.

"I was worried when I didn't see you at dinner..." I say before saying goodbye and turning to go back to my seat.

"Wait!" I hear Ron's voice.

"Yes?" I say after turning round, curious to know what he's going to say.

He takes a deep breath before speaking. "You... I... It's not your fault you're a Slytherin. And I shouldn't have treated you like that the other day..."

"And...?"

"I'm sorry." he seems to have extreme difficulty apologising, but at least he did it.

I nod. "Apology accepted." I say before turning round again and heading back to my group.

Chapter Text

My most hated class of the week comes: History of Magic. It's almost a consensus among the students, I think even Hermione doesn't like this subject. It's a close tie with Potions, which, as much as I'm a Slytherin and Professor Snape favours the Slytherins, he apparently has a love-hate relationship with me, probably because Harry is my brother, but at the same time I'm a Slytherin. At least during History of Magic class I can sleep without fear of the teacher swearing at me.

So that's what I do: with my arms on the table I rest my head on them as if they were a pillow, and with Professor Binns' low, boring voice I soon find myself in a deep sleep. At least until I feel something hit the back of my head. I open my eyes and grumble quietly to whoever woke me up, when I realise that apparently all the students are paying attention in class. Surely something important has happened. Next to me, Ginny slips out of her chair.

"My subject is History of Magic," I hear the teacher answering someone. I lift my head and see that he's answering a question from Aster Diggory. "I deal with facts, Miss Diggory, not myths and legends." he turns to the board and resumes the content. "In September of that year, a sub-committee of Sardinian sorcerers..."

Aster raises her hand.

"Miss Diggory?" 

"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?" says Aster.

"Well," he says slowly. "yes, one could argue that, I suppose." he looks like he's never paid so much attention to a student before. "However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational, even ludicrous tale..."

Then he looks at all of us, realising that the subject draws our attention more than the content he is teaching.

"Oh, very well. Let me see... the Chamber of Secrets..."

He seems to think about what to say.

"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago – the precise date is uncertain – by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."

He pauses and looks at us again before continuing.

"For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy. After awhile, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Slytherin left the school."

I see Cassia, Megan and Melia look at each other. He pauses again.

"Reliable historical sources tell us this much, but these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."

The silence in the room at the moment is one of apprehension on the part of the students about the story Professor Binns has just told. 

"The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course. Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."

Another hand is raised, this time Zoe's. "Sir... what exactly do you mean by the 'horror within' the Chamber?"

"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the heir of Slytherin alone can control,"

We all exchange nervous glances.

"I tell you, the thing does not exist. There is no Chamber and no monster."

"But, sir," says Stella. "If the Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would they?"

"Nonsense, Lestrange," the teacher says in an irritated tone. "If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing..."

"But, Professor," says Carina. "You'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it..."

"Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic, doesn't mean he can't, Miss Malfoy," Professor Binns retorts. "I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore..."

"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't..." says Stella.

"That will do," he interrupts her. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story! We will return, if you please, to history, to solid, believable, verifiable fact!"

Today's lessons are over, and I'm walking with the rest of first-years towards the Great Hall when I bump into Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Ah, hi, Emma." says Harry. 

"What's up, Harry?" I ask, and turn to the other two. "Ron, Hermione."

They both greet me with a smile and a nod. I signal to my friends to go into the Great Hall without me, while I stay behind with my brother and his friends.

"I had perhaps the most exciting History of Magic lesson I'll have in all my years at Hogwarts," I start saying.

"Why?" Ron asks.

"I was asleep, and then I was woken up and..." I start, but Hermione interrupts me.

"You were asleep during class?" she asks me incredulously.

I roll my eyes. "It's the only way I can stand a few lessons... As I was saying, the teacher explained a bit about the Chamber of Secrets and..." then I see the three of them exchange glances. "What?"

"We just wanted to talk to you about it." says Harry. "Have you been talking to your roommates about the chamber?"

"We talked a bit... Why?" I ask suspiciously.

"Well, we thought the heir of Slytherin might be Malfoy." says Ron.

I chuckle. "Some of my friends thought so too. But Melia, Draco's distant cousin, says it's unlikely..."

"I told you! I don't think he's the heir either, but your brother and Ron can't get the idea out of their heads..." says Hermione.

"Wait a minute!" says Ron. "Draco? Are you two on first name basis now?"

I roll my eyes again. "We sometimes talk during meals and in the common room... He can be quite nice when he's not being a complete arsehole, you know? But why..."

"Can't you find out if he's the heir? What if you tried to talk to him?" Harry asks.

"Your sister is friends with your biggest enemy and that's what you care about? How..." Ron says, but we both ignore him.

I take a deep breath. "I don't think Draco would tell me anything if he knew something. Maybe it's something he only tells his closest friends, I bet those two gits Crabbe and Goyle must know..."

From the looks exchanged between Ron, Hermione and Harry, I can see that I gave them an idea.

"Whatever you're thinking, don't get me involved in it." I say, walking faster and entering the Great Hall, heading for the Slytherin table. 

Chapter Text

The day arrives for Slytherin's first Quidditch match against Gryffindor. Should I feel bad that I'm rooting against my brother? I know that he's Gryffindor's Seeker and that Draco, his biggest enemy at school, is the rival team's Seeker, but I'm used to being Slytherin now and I really want my house to win the match.

I wish my brother good luck this morning, but I am internally rooting for Draco to win. I don't feel bad, I'm sure that if it were the other way around Harry wouldn't be rooting for me either. Besides, this rivalry between the two of us is fun.

When I said I was going to root for Slytherin, I didn't want a Bludger to chase my brother! And then Gryffindor won... And my brother got a broken arm. I spend most of my time keeping Harry company in the hospital wing, having to listen to taunts from Fred, George and Ron with a frown.

I leave the hospital wing at dinner time and the next day I and the entire Slytherin common room are woken up early by Professor Snape making the announcement that a Gryffindor boy from my year, Colin Creevey, was petrified during the night. I know that the Slytherins are pretending not to be alarmed by the situation, and as much as it won't affect the majority of the students in our house (since the vast majority are pure-bloods and half-bloods), I can still see the tense atmosphere after Snape's warning.

December comes and Christmas is approaching. I'm sitting at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall next to Draco, when I see him reading a letter he's received, looking sad.

"Is something wrong?" I ask, noticing his frown.

He sighs, trying to mask his emotions in front of the others.

"Mum doesn't want me to come home for Christmas." he replies, throwing the letter on the table.

"I'm sure it's not that she doesn't want you and your sister to spend Christmas at home?" I say, trying to make him understand his mother's side of the story, even though I don't know why she doesn't want her children to spend the Christmas holidays there.

"Whatever." I notice a few tears forming in his eyes, before he blinks several times to wipe them away.

I exchange glances with Theodore, who is sitting in front of us. He just shrugs his shoulders, not knowing what to do.

"If it's any consolation," I start to say. "I'll be spending Christmas here too."

He remains silent. A few seconds pass before I see Draco hesitantly open the box his mum sent, probably full of sweets as usual. It smells delicious, and I think Draco realises I've noticed, because he immediately pushes the box towards me.

"I'm not hungry." he says quietly. "You can eat if you want."

"Draco, I know I had one the other time, but your mum made it especially for you, I can't accept it..." I start to say, but he stops me.

"She won't mind." he says. "Besides, I told her you loved the cake you had last time. She was very happy to know this."

I then hesitantly reach out and take a cake from the box his mum sent. It's just as delicious as the other one.

"I wish I had a relative who did that, you know." I say, referring to the sweets that Draco's mother, 'Aunt Cissa' (according to Theodore), sends.

"Don't you have any close relatives outside Hogwarts?" Draco asks, his tone showing a certain pity.

I sigh before answering him. "Only my muggle aunt, uncle and cousin, who hate me by the way."

"Hate you? Why?" Theodore asks.

"Harry and I remind them of our parents, I think." I reply.

As soon as the Duelling Club is announced, my roommates and I go to the Great Hall at the appointed time. In place of the four long tables is a stage. Before any of us has time to wonder who is going to teach us how to duel, Professor Lockhart takes the stage followed by Snape. Great. An idiot and the other one who hates me.

"Who thought it was a good idea for this imbecile to teach us how to duel?" I hear Carina say.

I and other people close to her laugh, she's right.

"Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Duelling Club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions– for full details, see my published works."

Dumbledore must be going mad.

"Let me introduce my assistant Professor Snape," says Lockhart, giving a broad smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry – you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"How did a man like that get into Ravenclaw?" Beatrice, one of the Gryffindor girls, whispers. 

"It would be so cool if they finished each other off..." says Lydia, another girl from Gryffindor.

 I completely agree.

The two teachers face each other and bow.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," says Lockhart. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"I wouldn't bet on that," I hear Harry mutter.

"One... two... three..."

They both point their wands at their opponent. Snape exclaims, "Expelliarmus!" a red light shoots out of Snape's wand and hits Lockhart, throwing him into the air and causing him to crash into the wall.

The Slytherins and I start celebrating as soon as he hits the wall.

"Well, there you have it!" says Lockhart as soon as he pulls himself together. "That was a Disarming Charm – as you see, I've lost my wand – ah, thank you, Miss Brown. Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy. However, I felt it would be instructive to let them see..."

Snape has an almost murderous expression on his face.

"Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me..."

I see Snape quickly go over to Harry to separate him from Ron and Hermione. He pulls Harry and Draco together. When he gets close to me, he pairs me with Carina.

"Potters against Malfoys, that's going to be a good one..." someone says.

"Face your partners!" calls Lockhart. "and bow!"

And then we do just that.

"Wands at the ready!" says Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent – only to disarm them– we don't want any accidents. One... two... three..."

"Expelliarmus!" I shout before Carina.

Her wand jumps out of her hand and falls to the ground.

"Well done, Miss Potter!" says Lockhart as he passes us.

Carina smiles at me before picking up her wand from the floor and pointing it at me again. 

"Flipendo!" Carina shouts seconds before throwing me backwards.

I'm not going to deny it, that one literally hurt. From the floor, I can see Professor Snape behind Carina whispering something to her, something that probably isn't good from the look on his face. I watch Carina walk over to me and hold out her hand. I take it and she helps me up.

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," says Lockhart. "Let's have a volunteer pair – Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you?"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," says Snape. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and Potter?"

Carina and I look at each other before walking over to the stage where the teachers are standing. I see our brothers are doing the same. The teacher didn't specify which Malfoy and which Potter... 

 Snape raises his hand to Carina and me as we approach. "I meant your brothers."

Carina and I turn around and join the students who are now approaching the stage to watch the duel. Our brothers face each other, bow, and then point their wands at each other.

"Serpensortia!" says Draco.

A snake comes out of the tip of Draco's wand and lands between him and my brother. Carina, I and the other students who are closer to the stage quickly retreat.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape says lazily to Harry, who is motionless. "I'll get rid of it..."

"Allow me!" shouts Lockhart.

I roll my eyes at the sound of that man's voice.

And then he casts a spell on the snake, which flies a few metres into the air and falls to the ground. Angrily, it slithers straight towards Justin Finch-Fletchley, a boy from my brother's year from Hufflepuff. But something unexpected happens. Harry steps forwards and speaks Parseltongue to the snake. Carina and I look at each other.

"What do you think you're playing at?" shouts Justin before leaving.

Snape soon approaches and casts another spell on the snake that makes it disappear.

Chapter Text

Because of what happened at the Duelling Club, people now think that Harry and I are the heirs of Slytherin. I've never heard so much rubbish as I have in the last few days. Even Megan and Melia have been treating me strangely, especially Melia, who has been ignoring me.

"Okay, what have I done?" I ask one night after we've all gone to bed, each in our own bed.

"You know very well." Melia finally recognises my existence.

The other girls are all silent, uncomfortable with the atmosphere in our dorm.

"I don't really know." I say sincerely. "You just stopped talking to me, for no reason."

"I thought we were all friends." Megan starts to say, trying to defend Melia. "That we could be honest with each other. But apparently you haven't been telling us the truth."

"The truth?" I say, already knowing what they're getting at, but I need to hear one of them confirm what they're talking about.

"I think they're both talking about what happened at the Duelling Club with your brother." says Cassia, apparently not knowing which side to take in the argument.

"Do you really believe the rumours that she and her brother are Slytherin heirs?" Zoe asks.

The two remain quiet, but their silence already answers Zoe's question. I laugh wryly.

"This rumour is completely illogical, have you stopped to think?" I say. "Why would Harry and I want to reopen the Chamber of Secrets? Why would we both want to hunt down muggle-borns when our own mother was one?"

As I say this, I can see the expressions of guilt on both of their faces, especially Melia's.

"You're right... But it's really weird that your brother talks to snakes!" she says, trying to defend herself. "The only other person my parents know who is a Parselmouth was Salazar Slytherin himself!"

"Believe me, my brother and I are just as shocked as you are..." I say more calmly. "I wouldn't lie about this to you."

Melia and Megan nod their heads, finally believing me.

"I apologise for accusing you of lying." says Megan.

"And I'm sorry I've ignored you lately. We were angry because we thought you weren't telling us the truth." says Melia.

I end up accepting their apologies, even though deep down it would take me a while to forgive them. To be honest, I just wanted to go to sleep.

Christmas morning finally comes and, as in recent days, I wake up to a completely empty room, apart from Nimbus, my owl. I take the opportunity to have a very hot shower on this cold winter's morning and then get dressed before going down to the common room.

The lit fireplace makes the common room less cold than usual. I see that some presents are laid out near the window. I'm curious, so I walk over to them to see if there are any for me. Soon I hear noises of people coming down from the dorms, it could only be Draco with Crabbe and Goyle. I'm gathering up the presents with my name on them to take them to the sofas in front of the fireplace when Draco and the other two approach.

"What are you doing?" asks Draco, who still sounds sleepy.

"I'm stealing your presents." I say sarcastically. "What does it look like I'm doing?" I roll my eyes.

"You clearly are not a morning person." he says, scratching his eyes. "Just like my sister."

I giggle before sitting down on the sofa and starting to open one of the presents.

"By the way, Merry Christmas." I say.

"Merry Christmas," the three of them reply, and then eagerly make their way over to the pile of presents for the three of them.

The first present is from Mrs. Weasley, I see from the card that came with it. I open the wrapping and see a green knitted jumper, with the letter E knitted in the middle in gray. I'm glad she doesn't seem to have cared that I'm in Slytherin.

I receive other small presents, some sweets from the shop in Diagon Alley from Ron, a Quidditch book from Harry, and writing quills from Hermione. I haven't even thought about buying presents for anyone, my presence and a hug will have to suffice.

Draco, holding his presents, walks excitedly over to one of the armchairs near the sofa where I'm sitting. I can't help noticing how many presents he's received. He seems to do the same with my presents.

"Is that all you got for presents?" he asks, surprisingly not in an arrogant way, but in a curious one.

"Have you forgotten that my only living family are muggles? Apart from Harry, of course... Not even if they liked me could they send me presents, since they don't have an owl." I say.

He seems to be sad for me. Is that really what I've just seen? Draco Malfoy feeling sad for someone?

"Well, you can help me open mine if you'd like." he offers kindly.

I don't think anyone ever thought that a Malfoy could be described as kind. Crabbe and Goyle sit on another sofa and are distracted by their own wrappings. I politely decline Draco's offer and end up eating some of the sweets Ron gave me while I watch him open his presents.

"Look," Draco says, catching mine and the other two's attention. "Not you two... Emma, it looks like my mum sent you something too."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise.

"How so?" I ask, getting up from the sofa. "I don't even know your mum..."

"She knows you, at least from the letters I send her." says Draco, reading the letter his mum sent before extending his arm to give the present that is apparently for me. "Mum was pleased to hear that you liked the sweets she had sent, so she decided to send some especially for you."

"That's very kind of her." I say sincerely. Again I use the term I never thought a Malfoy could be described by. I imagine she must be very different from her husband, whom I met in Diagon Alley when I was with the Weasleys. "Please do make a point of thanking her."

We go down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As I pass the Gryffindor table, I realise that my brother and his friends aren't here yet, so together with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle, I head for the Slytherin table. A few minutes later I see Stella approaching us, her face strangely swollen and her eyes red, a clear sign that the girl cried not long ago.

She sits down next to me and wishes us a Merry Christmas. I see Draco's face soften a little as he notices the tear marks on Stella's face. The two of them even hug. For some reason Stella and the Malfoys seem to be very close. To satisfy my curiosity, and also out of concern for her (knowing that the girl being a Lestrange and being in Hufflepuff would surely have suffered some consequence from her family) I decide to ask, "Are you all right?"

For a moment she seems confused by the question, but then she realises that we all notice that she was crying.

"Oh yes. These are tears of happiness, I promise." she replies.

Draco also seems curious, or at least concerned. 

"What happened?" he asks.

"Your mum." she replies. Apparently I'm not the only one outside the Malfoy family to receive a present from Draco and Carina's mum. "She sent me a present and a letter, saying I'd be welcome at your house when school's over."

Draco, in a rare moment of affection, reaches out and takes Stella's hand. "But of course, you're practically a Malfoy."

She giggles awkwardly.

"Don't let your father hear that." I say to Draco.

The three of us laugh. Our conversation ends as soon as we see more students enter the Great Hall, Hermione and Carina. Draco's sister promptly walks towards the Slytherin table as soon as she sees us. Stella excitedly gets up and runs to hug Carina. As soon as the two of them hug, Draco gets up to hug her too, then takes his sister by the hand and leads her to our table, casting threatening glances at Crabbe and Goyle, before the pair of morons say anything about a Gryffindor sitting with the Slytherins. I giggle. 

"Siblings love..." I say. "I'm glad you've worked it out."

Draco rolls his eyes. Then I see my brother enter the Great Hall and walk towards the Gryffindor table with Ron.

"Speaking of siblings, there's mine..." I say before getting up and walking over to Harry.

Draco, Carina, Ginny and I end up spending the afternoon in the Hufflepuff common room at the invitation of Stella, who was the only Hufflepuff staying at Hogwarts over Christmas. At the end of the afternoon, Draco and I walk together back to the Slytherin common room. When we reach the entrance, we meet Crabbe, Goyle and Percy Weasley.

"Have you two been pigging out in the Great Hall all this time?" Draco asks when he sees his two friends. He doesn't even let them answer before looking at Percy. "And what're you doing down here, Weasley?"

How can a person change so drastically in such a short space of time? He doesn't even sound like the same Draco from hours ago.

"You want to show a bit more respect to a school Prefect!" says Percy. "I don't like your attitude!"

Draco sneers and calls Crabbe and Goyle to follow us. I don't usually pay any attention to these two, but for some reason I've noticed that, although physically they're no different, something is off.

"That Peter Weasley..." says Draco. 

"Percy," corrects Crabbe.

Wait a minute... How would a git like Crabbe know Percy's name? I walk up behind Draco, but turn around quickly to get a better look at Crabbe, who seems to gulp as he sees my suspicious look. It can't be true... Is that really not Crabbe? But... only if they've used the Polyjuice Potion, which is extremely difficult to make...

"Whatever," Draco continues, apparently without suspecting a thing. "I've noticed him sneaking around a lot lately. And I bet I know what he's up to. He thinks he's going to catch Slytherin's heir single-handed."

Draco then turns to me. "What's the new password again?"

"Pure-blood." I reply, and the stone guarding the entrance to the common room opens.

Draco says he wants to show something to Crabbe and Goyle, who I'm pretty sure aren't Crabbe and Goyle, and leaves the three of us in the common room, alone.

"You two act very badly." I whisper. "It's a good thing Draco didn't notice."

They both look at me wide-eyed at having been discovered.

"I bet you," I point to 'Crabbe'. "are Ron and you," I point to 'Goyle.' "are Harry."

"Emma, please..." 'Goyle' whispers, but stops as soon as we hear Draco coming back.

Draco carries what looks like a newspaper cutting. "That'll give you a laugh,"

'Goyle' takes the piece of newspaper, reads it nervously and hands it to 'Crabbe'. I notice both their eyes go wide again. I quickly take the newspaper clipping from 'Crabbe's' hands, and then I see Draco widen his eyes and try to take the newspaper from my hands.

ENQUIRY AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle car.

 Mr Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr Weasley's resignation.'Weasley has brought the Ministry info disrepute,' Mr Malfoy told our reporter. 'He is clearly unfit to draw up our laws and his ridiculous Muggle Protection Act should be scrapped immediately.' 

Mr Weasley was unavailable for comment, although his wife told reporters to clear off or she'd set the family ghoul on them.

"You weren't supposed to read it..." Draco whispers embarrassed.

I shake my head in disapproval.

"For a moment I really deluded myself into thinking that you might not be what my brother had described." I start to say. "That you were different, that Harry perhaps just hadn't had the chance to get to know who you really were. But it seems my brother is right about you."

I could swear I see tears forming in Draco's eyes, and for a second I wonder if I have overreacted, but I decide to continue.

"I wonder what your sister will say about this ridiculous behaviour of yours." I say, and he looks at me as if I've just threatened to tell his parents about something bad he's done.

I don't give him time to say anything, I just leave the common room.

Chapter Text

As soon as I meet Carina, I discover that as well as Harry and Ron, Hermione has also turned into someone else, something else, a cat in fact. She stays in the hospital wing for weeks because of this. I obviously don't stop myself from snitching on Draco and telling his sister about him being an idiot. I end up ignoring him for weeks. I won't deny that I do it hoping to see him stop being proud and let go of the idiotic supremacy he's been taught by Malfoy Senior, and seeing the look on his face as if he's internally fighting against what he's been taught is definitely pleasurable.

The Great Hall is decorated as if a unicorn has vomited here. Everything is pink, including Professor Lockhart in his bright pink robes, which hurt the eyes of anyone who tries to look. I soon sit down at the Slytherin table. I chat to the people around me: Theodore, my roommates, even Pansy, and our peace is interrupted when Lockhart tells the students to be quiet.

"Happy Valentine's Day! And may I thank the forty-six people who have so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all – and it doesn't end here!"

Great, he's not content to torture us enough with the clothes he's wearing. Lockhart claps his hands and then the doors to the Great Hall open, and eleven surly-looking dwarves enter, wearing wings and holding harps.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" Lockhart smiles. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your Valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

I can only think of one thing. 

"It's not possible that there are forty-six people demented enough to send letters to this man." I say. I see Megan blush when I say this. 

"Megan, you disappoint me. I thought a pure-blood like you had better taste." says Zoe.

Of course I'm going to use today to make fun of Draco. He has no idea what waits for him.

We're back in the Great Hall at dinner time. Draco is telling us about the dwarf who sang a song to Harry before one of their classes, everyone at the Slytherin table is laughing when a dwarf approaches our table. I hold back my laughter, and I see that many at the table are doing the same. Draco is the last one to notice the dwarf, as his back is turned.

"Dragon Malfoy!" the dwarf shouts, and I feel very grateful for this little being, because his shout attracts the attention of almost everyone in the Hall.

I've never seen Draco turn so red before. He turns slowly towards the dwarf.

"I have a musical message to deliver to Dragon Malfoy." says the dwarf, preparing his harp. "Here we go,"

Dragon Malfoy, with hair slicked back so neat, 

A face like he just sniffed a lemon, oh, what a feat! 

But beneath that smug façade, so pristine and trim, 

Lies a Slytherin heart, cold as a winter's grim.

I think I've avenged my brother with this one. Everyone in the Great Hall laughs, and Draco looks like he wants to dig a hole and hide forever.

I'm in the common room, studying, sitting in front of the window overlooking the majestic Great Lake, and I hear someone clear their throat to get my attention. I turn around and see Draco himself. I raise my eyebrows, waiting for him to speak.

"Have you had enough of ignoring me?" he asks.

"Have you had enough of being an arsehole?" I retort.

I realise he's trying not to roll his eyes and walk out. He sighs.

"I'm sorry, okay?" he says, clearly not used to apologising.

"Are you apologising because I read something you didn't want me to, or because you regret what you did?"

"Becauseiregretit..." he says so quickly and quietly that I can barely hear him.

"What?" I ask, even though I've already understood what he's saying.

"I regret it, okay?!" he says desperately, then looks round to see if anyone else has heard him.

I chuckle.

"What now?" he asks, rolling his eyes.

"I had already accepted your apologies before you came to see me." I say sincerely. "The embarrassment I made you go through was enough."

"What are you..." he starts to say. "Wait a minute. The dwarf... It was you!"

I just giggle, getting up from where I was sitting. I pick up the book I was using to study and go upstairs to my dormitory.

I'm lying on one of the sofas with my feet on Zoe's lap, the two of us chatting with our other roommates, when Professor Snape enters the common room holding a piece of parchment.

"All students will return to their house common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities." he reads the parchment.

To make this announcement, surely something happened, some student has been petrified. I raise my hand.

"Professor Snape," I draw his attention. "What's going on?"

He seems to ponder for a few seconds whether to answer me.

"It's none of your business, Miss Potter." he replies in a rude tone, without even looking at me.

"Who else has been petrified?" Daphne Greengrass, a girl in my brother's year, asks.

He turns to her before answering, "Penelope Clearwater from Ravenclaw and Hermione Granger from Gryffindor."

What? I don't know whether to be offended that he only answered when someone else asked the question or shocked to learn that Hermione has been petrified. Snape soon leaves the common room.

"I'm glad it wasn't one of ours." says Pansy.

"Of course it wasn't, didn't you realise? Only mudbloods have been attacked." says Marcus Flint.

"Shut up, Flint." I hear Theodore say, getting up from the armchair he was sitting in.

"What did you say, Nott?" Flint asks in a threatening tone.

Theodore is almost half Flint's size, but he doesn't seem afraid to stand up to him. I get up, already sensing that something is going to go wrong because of this.

"You heard me, Flint." Theodore says, without any fear.

"Since when did you become a defender of mudbloods, Nott?" Flint says, laughing. "I bet your parents won't be happy to hear that."

In a moment of impulsiveness, Theodore lunges at Flint and punches him in the face. Just then, Draco intervenes in the fight, putting himself between the two, dragging Theodore away, but not before Flint strikes back and punches Theodore right in the nose. Cassia and other students pull Marcus away, also breaking up the fight and trying to calm the bigger boy down. I help Draco take Theodore away from the commotion.

"Are you all right?" I ask, even though I know it's a stupid question, given that Theodore's nose won't stop bleeding.

He laughs, as if he hadn't just been punched in the nose. 

"I've been wanting to do this with Flint for ages." he says.

Only now do I realise that Draco left the two of us alone to find a tissue for Theodore's nose, as he returns with one in his hand.

"It's not worth getting into that kind of mess, mate." It's going to take a while for me to get used to Draco acting like this, soft. "You know that. Your parents, they can..."

"I don't care what my parents may or may not do, not anymore..." interrupts Theodore. "And you shouldn't care about yours either."

Draco glances at me, something very discreet, but I notice it. 

"We've already talked about it..." says Draco.

"Let's fix that cute nose of yours, Theo." I hear a voice say, coming towards us. Pansy's voice. She points her wand directly at Theodore's nose. "Episkey."

Theodore complains of pain at first, but his nose stops bleeding, and it's fixed. "Thank you, Pansy."

Chapter Text

The atmosphere at Hogwarts has been pretty bad lately. Of course, with the students still petrified, Dumbledore having been sent away and Hagrid imprisoned, anyone would be tense in a situation like this. At least Carina and I had a moment of fun during this time, when we got soaked in vinegar while trying to get into the Hufflepuff common room to spend a Saturday afternoon with Stella and Aster.

Unlike other days, I feel something strange when I wake up. A sharp pain in my stomach. I think it might go away, but the pain doesn't go away or even diminish over the course of the day. One of my roommates, Cassia, notices my discomfort and even asks me about it.

"Are you all right?" Cassia asks worriedly during lunch.

Her question attracts the attention of the other people sitting near us at the Slytherin table.

"Ever since I woke up I've been feeling this pain..." I say, with my hand pressed against my stomach right where it hurts.

"Could it be something you ate or drank?" says Theodore. 

"Maybe..." I say. "But I haven't eaten anything di..."

Pansy interrupts me. "Ah, I think I know what it might be."

Everyone paying attention to the conversation turns to her. Cassia and Megan also seem to have come to the same conclusion.

"If it's that, I think you should go to the hospital wing, you know. Ask Madam Pomfrey for supplies." says Cassia, for some reason her face blushing as she talks about it.

"What's 'that'?" Draco asks curiously.

"It's none of your business, Draco." I hear Pansy reply rudely to Draco for the first time.

Draco seems surprised by Pansy's response.

"Haven't you noticed anything different today, Emma?" Megan asks, before speaking in a lower tone of voice, so that Draco and Theodore won't hear us. "No blood...?"

Draco (not so discreetly) moves his head closer to us girls, trying to hear the rest of the conversation, nosy as ever. I forget the pain for a moment when I see Melia slap the back of Draco's head and say, "Stop being nosy, cousin!"

This makes him move away, but he still tries to listen to the conversation from further away.

"Your mum never talked to you about..." Pansy starts to say.

But Zoe interrupts her, "Her mom's dead, you stupid girl!"

Instead of retorting Zoe, I see Pansy with a genuine expression of guilt for having mentioned my mum.

"Right, I forgot, I'm sorry." Pansy says.

And that's how four first year girls (Cassia, Zoe, Megan and Melia) and two second year girls (Daphne Greengrass and Pansy) explain to me what it's like to menstruate. Obviously my aunt never bothered to have this conversation with me, why would she? And in the end my friends were right. Just before dinner I feel something wet between my legs, it feels like I've peed myself. I end up skipping dinner to go to the hospital wing to ask Madam Pomfrey for pads (which I discover are magical, very different from the ones that muggles have) and go to the bathroom.

Hormones (something Madam Pomfrey herself explained to me) probably make me cry in one of the bathroom stalls. I cry because I don't have a mum who could help me in this kind of situation, I cry because I miss my mum who I barely remember, I cry because I'm jealous that my brother was able to spend more time with our parents, even if it was just a year longer.

As soon as I leave the stall and head for the sink to wash my hands, I'm startled by a figure that appears next to me. A ghost in Ravenclaw uniform. I jump as soon as I see her, a girl who looks a few years older than me, maybe fourteen or fifteen.

"Were you crying?" she asks curiously.

As soon as I've recovered from my fright, finish washing my hands and wipe the tears from my eyes, I answer her. "Yes,"

She keeps looking at me, curious. "I used to come here to cry too when I was alive."

Now it's my turn to look at her curiously. "Who are you?"

"Myrtle." she replies. "And you?"

"Emma Potter." I introduce myself.

She smiles when she hears my name. "Your brother and his friends were hanging around this bathroom a while ago, making the Polyjuice potion."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I heard. Myrtle," I can't help my curiosity. She looks me in the eye as soon as I call her name. "How did you die?"

She pouts sadly. "Right here in this bathroom. A girl was making fun of me and I ran in here to cry. A few minutes later I heard the sound of someone entering the bathroom and when I turned round to ask them to leave I... died."

"You just... died? How?" I ask curiously.

"It was a monster with scary yellow eyes... I turned around and looked into its eyes and then I died." she says. "You know, as soon as I turned into a ghost I saw it coming in right there," she points to a set of sinks behind me.

My eyes widen as I hear what Myrtle has just told me. The entrance to the Camber of Secrets! And the monster... Now it's much easier to know which monster it is! I need to tell Harry about this...

I run from the bathroom towards the Great Hall, where people are leaving straight after dinner. I head towards a group of Gryffindor students and spot Carina and the other first year girls. I stop and catch my breath before asking where Harry is.

"I need to..." I start to say. "I need to know where Harry is, where my brother is."

"Uh..." says Carina, worried and confused. "I think Ron and he went to visit Hermione in the hospital wing."

"Thank you so much!" I say with a smile, shooting off towards the hospital wing.

I run as fast as I can and open the doors to the hospital wing, not as gently as I should. I see Madam Pomfrey about to come and swear at me, but I quickly run to the bed where Hermione is, stopping in front of Ron and Harry.

"You won't believe it!" I whisper loud enough for them to hear, but low enough so Madam Pomfrey doesn't hear anything.

"The monster is a basilisk!" says Harry.

"A what?" I say. "How do you know?"

Ron shows me a piece of paper he's holding.

"It was in Hermione's hand."

I take it from his hand, looking at the description of the Basilisk.

"Great!" I say. "Because I've found out where the Chamber is!"

They both look at me as if I've found a treasure. 

"Where?!" they both ask me at the same time.

"Myrtle's bathroom."

The three of us look at each other anxiously. "What're we going to do?" asks Ron.

"We need to speak to a teacher," I suggest.

"Let's go to the staff room," says Harry.

The three of us run straight to the staff room.

"All students to return to their house dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately, please."

We hear McGonagall's magically amplified voice.

"Not another attack? Not now?" says Harry as he turns to us.

"What'll we do?" says Ron. "Go back to the dormitory?"

"Are you mad?" I ask. "We need to stay here and wait for the teachers to arrive. We need to tell them about what we've discovered."

Harry nudges me and points to a cupboard. "In here. Let's hear what it's all about. Then we can tell them what we've found out."

The three of us quickly run to the cupboard to hide before the teachers arrive.

"It has happened," says Professor McGonagall to the teachers. "A student has been taken by the monster. Right into the Chamber itself."

The three of us try not to make any noise.

"How can you be sure?" asks Snape.

"The heir of Slytherin," McGonagall says. "left another message. Right underneath the first one. 'Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber for ever.'"

"Who is it?" asks Madam Hooch. "Which student?"

The three of us move even closer to the cupboard door to hear the name.

"Ginny Weasley," says McGonagall.

I silently (and as quickly as I can) cover Ron's mouth with my hands before he can make a sound.

"We shall have to send all the students home tomorrow," the professor says. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said..."

I hear the door to the staff room open and close, and then I hear footsteps coming in.

"So sorry – dozed off – what have I missed?" 

What a complete moron.

"Just the man," says Snape. "The very man. A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Taken into the Chamber of Secrets itself. Your moment has come at last."

"That's right, Gilderoy," says Professor Sprout. "Weren't you saying just last night that you've known all along where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is?"

"I... well, I..." stutters Lockhart.

"Yes, didn't you tell me you were sure you knew what was inside it?" says Professor Flitwick.

"D-did I? I don't recall..."

"I certainly remember you saying you were sorry you hadn't had a crack at the monster before Hagrid was arrested," says Snape. "Didn't you say that the whole affair had been bungled, and that you should have been given a free rein from the first?"

"I... I really never... You may have misunderstood..."

"We'll leave it to you, then, Gilderoy," says McGonagall. "Tonight will be an excellent time to do it. We'll make sure everyone's out of your way. You'll be able to tackle the monster all by yourself. A free rein at last."

"V-very well," Lockhart stutters. "I'll... I'll be in my office, getting – getting ready."

I hear the door open and close again, Lockhart walks out.

"Right," says McGonagall. "that's got him out from under our feet. The Heads of Houses should go and inform their students what has happened. Tell them the Hogwarts Express will take them home first thing tomorrow. Will the rest of you please make sure no students have been left outside their dormitories."

We wait for all the teachers to leave the room before we come out of the cupboard.

"What are we going to do?" Harry asks.

"I think we should go and see Lockhart. Tell him what we know. He's going to try and get into the Chamber. We can tell him where we think it is, and tell him it's a Basilisk in there." says Ron.

Harry nods in agreement. I look at them both as if they're going mad.

"Do you really think there's any point in talking to Lockhart?" I say. "He's a fraud."

Harry sighs. "You're right, but don't you think we need an adult if we're going to get into the Chamber?"

"We?" I say, giving a sarcastic chuckle. "Good luck to you, but I'm not going. I'd rather not risk my life."

So I quickly leave the staffroom and walk to the Slytherin common room. I'm about to go in when Snape opens the door and comes out.

"May I ask what you're doing wandering around the school at night, especially when all the students have been explicitly sent to their dormitories?" Snape asks.

"Don't you see what I'm doing?" I say. "I'm about to enter the common room as you instructed."

"You think you're clever, don't you? Just like your bloody idiot father." Snape retorts. "The only reason I don't take points off your house is because you're a Slytherin, Potter. Now tell me once and for all, where were you?"

"In the hospital wing, Professor." I reply.

"And what were you doing in the hospital wing at this hour?" he asks impatiently.

"If you really must know, women's issues." he stops looking me in the eye just as I answer, getting a little flustered.

He clears his throat before saying, "You may go now, Miss Potter."

I hold back my laughter as I pass him, then enter the common room. 

Chapter Text

Half an hour after I arrive in the common room Snape returns to call me. I'm taken to Professor McGonagall's office, where I see Fred, George, Percy, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. She immediately hugs me when she sees me. We stand there in anguish, waiting for Harry, Ron and Ginny to return.

The silence in the room is broken when the door opens and the three walk in, accompanied by Lockhart. Ginny, Ron and Lockhart are covered in dirt, while Harry is covered in blood. I don't care at the moment, I run to hug my brother, who has got himself into trouble again.

"Ginny!" I hear Mrs. Weasley's voice.

Dumbledore's phoenix flies across McGonagall's office and lands on the headmaster's shoulder. I run and hug my brother, relieved to see that Harry is okay. The second Harry and I pull away from the hug, Mrs. Weasley takes my place and hugs my brother.

"You saved her! You saved her! How did you do it?" says Mrs. Weasley.

"I think we'd all like to know that," says McGonagall.

It's then that Mrs. Weasley releases Harry from her embrace and my brother walks over to the desk and leaves the Sorting Hat, a ruby sword and an old black diary on the table, which I instantly recognise as the one Malfoy Senior put inside Ginny's cauldron in Diagon Alley.

We all listen in silence as Harry tells us everything. How he found out about the basilisk, how he discovered where the chamber was, about him and Ron following spiders through the forest, that Myrtle was the basilisk's last victim...

"Very well," says Professor McGonagall. "but how on earth did you all get out of there alive, Potter?"

Then Harry tells him about Dumbledore's phoenix that arrived with the Sorting Hat (with the sword inside) in the chamber.

"What interests me most," Dumbledore speaks. "is how Lord Voldemort managed to enchant Ginny, when my sources tell me he is currently in hiding in the forests of Albania."

"W-what's that?" says Mr. Weasley. "You Know Who? En-enchant Ginny? But Ginny's not... Ginny hasn't been... has she?"

"It was this diary," Harry replies, picking up the diary from the table. "Riddle wrote it when he was sixteen."

Dumbledore takes the diary from Harry's hands and examines it carefully.

"Brilliant," he says softly. "Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen." he then turns to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. "Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts. He disappeared after leaving the school... travelled far and wide... sank so deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognisable. Hardly anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was once Head Boy here."

"But Ginny," says Mrs. Weasley. "what's our Ginny got to do with– with – him?"

"His d-diary!" Ginny begins to sob. "I've b-been writing in it, and he's been w-writing back all year..."

"Ginny!" exclaims Mr. Weasley. "Haven't I taught you anything? What have I always told you? Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain. Why didn't you show the diary to me, or your mother? A suspicious object like that, it was clearly full of Dark Magic!"

"I d-didn't know," sobs Ginny. "I found it inside one of the books Mum got me. I th-thought someone had just left it in there and forgotten about it..."

"Miss Weasley should go up to the hospital wing straight away," Dumbledore interrupts her. "This has been a terrible ordeal for her. There will be no punishment. Older and wiser wizards than she have been hoodwinked by Lord Voldemort." he heads for the door and opens it. "Bed rest and perhaps a large, steaming mug of hot chocolate. I always find that cheers me up," he adds. "You will find that Madam Pomfrey is still awake. She's just giving out Mandrake juice – I dare say the Basilisk's victims will be waking up any moment."

This means that...

"So Hermione's OK!" Ron exclaims, as if reading my thoughts.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley leave with Ginny.

"You know, Minerva," says Dumbledore thoughtfully. "I think all this merits a good feast. Might I ask you to go and alert the kitchens?"

"Right," says the professor, heading for the door. "I'll leave you to deal with Potter and Weasley, shall I?"

"Certainly,"

Before she leaves, the professor looks at me. "Come on, Miss Potter. I think the headmaster still has a lot to discuss with your brother. I'll take you back to the Slytherin common room myself."

The party was huge. All the students were in their pyjamas and the celebration was great. The Defence Against the Dark Arts classes were cancelled because the teacher was hit by a memory spell cast by himself (a true genius) and Malfoy Senior was dismissed from his position on the Hogwarts council. The journey home was uneventful. Despite everything that happened, I'm excited for next year.

Chapter Text

My summer holidays could have been better. Although I manage to exchange letters with my friends, like Ginny, Hermione, Draco, Carina, Zoe and my other roommates, I spend the whole time at home. It is boring. Well, apart from the fact that Harry manages to inflate our Aunt Marge like a balloon and we both pack up all our things and basically run away from home. 

So at the moment it's just Harry and me, wandering the streets at night with our trunks and our owls. We stop near a wall and sit down on the ground. I begin to feel the strange sensation of being watched and then, as if reading my mind, Harry looks at me with a certain apprehension, probably having had the same feeling. We both pick up our wands and mutter. "Lumos."

I could swear I see a creature with sparkling black eyes staring at us near the garage of a house. It sends a shiver down my spine. Harry, who is standing and also sees the creature, steps back, trips over his trunk and falls backwards. I get up to help him when we are practically blinded by a very bright light.

 A triple-decker bus stops right in front of us. I notice that the windscreen reads: The Knight Bus. The driver jumps out of the bus and speaks, "Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this eve..."

 The man stops talking as soon as he sees Harry lying on the ground. I pick up Harry's wand (which had fallen with him) and hand it back to him.

"What were you doin' down there?" asks Stan. 

"He fell." I answer, as if it were the most obvious thing.

"Choo fall over for?" Stan asks Harry. 

"I didn't do it on purpose," Harry replies, taking a peek at where the creature was seconds ago. 

"'Choo lookin' at?" says Stan.

"There was a big black thing," I answer for Harry, who points to where the creature was. 

"Like a dog... but massive..." says Harry. 

"Woss your name?" Stan asks Harry. 

"Neville Longbottom," Harry lies. 

Stan then turns to me. "And yours?"

"Hermione Granger." I lie too.

"So... so this bus," says Harry. "did you say it goes anywhere?"

"Yep," says Stan. "anywhere you like, long's it's on land. Can't do nuffink underwater. 'Ere," he looks at us suspiciously. "you did flag us down, dincha? Stuck out your wand 'and, dincha?"

"Yes," I say, lying again, as if we had deliberately flagged them down.

"Listen, how much would it be to get to London?" asks Harry.

"Eleven Sickles each person," says Stan. "but for firteen you get 'ot chocolate, and for fifteen you get an 'ot water bottle an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice."

Harry opens his trunk and takes out some money to pay the ticket for us and gives it to Stan. As soon as my brother has paid, Stan helps us get the trunks and the owl cages onto the bus.

"You 'ave these ones," whispers Stan, throwing our trunks under two beds that are just behind the driver. "This is our driver, Ernie Prang. This is Neville Longbottom and this is Hermione Granger, Ern."

The driver is an old man wearing thick-rimmed glasses. He greets us with a nod. Harry and I soon sit down on the beds.

"Take 'er away, Ern," says Stan, sitting down in the seat next to the driver.

The speed is so high that Harry and I are thrown against the glass of the window. It's a good thing it's closed...

"How come the Muggles don't hear the bus?" I ask as soon as I recover from being thrown against the glass.

"Them!" Stan says with contempt. "Don' listen properly, do they? Don' look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don'."

The bus drives for a few minutes and Stan opens the Daily Prophet to read.

"That man!" says Harry. "He was on the Muggle news!"

I stretch to look at the front page of the newspaper and see who my brother is talking about. Stan chuckles. 

"Sirius Black," he says, nodding. "'Course 'e was on the Muggle news, Neville, where you been?"

Stan tears out the first page of the newspaper and hands it to Harry. I get up from my bed and sit down next to my brother to read the page with him.

BLACK STILL AT LARGE 

Sirius Black, possibly the most infamous prisoner ever to beheld in Azkaban fortress, is still eluding capture, the Ministry of Magic confirmed today. 

"We are doing all we can to recapture Black," said the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, this morning, "and we beg the magical community to remain calm." 

Fudge has been criticized by some members of the International Federation of Warlocks for informing the Muggle Prime Minister of the crisis. 

"Well, really, I had to, don't you know," said an irritable Fudge. "Black is mad. He's a danger to anyone who crosses him, magic or Muggle. I have the Prime Minister's assurance that he will not breathe a word of Black's true identity to anyone. And let's face it—who'd believe him if he did?"

 While Muggles have been told that Black is carrying a gun (a kind of metal wand that Muggles use to kill each other), the magical community lives in fear of a massacre like that of twelve years ago, when Black murdered thirteen people with a single curse.

Sirius Black's face is frightening. He's very thin, probably because he's been imprisoned for so many years, the expression on his face is totally lifeless, his skin very pale. 

"Black woz a big supporter of You-Know-'Oo," says Stan. Harry and I start to pay even more attention to Stan. "Very close to You-Know-'Oo, they say. Anyway, when little 'Arry Potter got the better of You-Know-'Oo..."

Harry and I look at each other the moment he is mentioned. Stan continues chatting, this time with the driver, Ernie. It only takes a few minutes before we arrive in London.

"Right then, Neville," says Stan. "whereabouts in London?"

Harry glances at me briefly before answering. "Diagon Alley,"

"Righto," says Stan. "'Old tight, then..."

The bus speeds through the streets of London until we reach the Leaky Cauldron, where the entrance to Diagon Alley is. When we arrive, Harry and I, with the help of Stan, take down our trunks and the cages of Nimbus and Hedwig. As soon as we get off the bus, the door of the pub opens and a man comes out.

"There you are, Harry and Emma."

The man then puts one hand on Harry's shoulder and the other on mine, and leads us into the pub. 

"You've got them, Minister!" says Tom. "Will you be wanting anything? Beer? Brandy?"

The man is none other than the Minister of Magic himself...

"Perhaps a pot of tea," says Fudge. 

The minister leads us into a room.

 It takes me no time at all to get used to the new reality. I've never had a room of my own, so I think it's marvellous that at the Leaky Cauldron Harry and I have separate rooms. We can both eat what we want and when we want, plus we can wander around Diagon Alley. We take the opportunity to buy our materials and other items for the school year at Hogwarts.  As the start of the school year approaches, we meet more and more Hogwarts students and future students wandering around Diagon Alley. I have the chance to meet some of them again, such as Theodore, Cassia, Luna and Aster.

 On the last day of the summer, Harry and I are looking at (actually more Harry than me) the new broom, the Firebolt, and deciding where we're going to have lunch, when someone calls us.

"Harry! Emma!"

Soon my brother and I turn round and see Ron and Hermione sitting on the pavement of the Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. We run over to them.

"Finally!" says Ron. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and..."

"We got all our school stuff last week," Harry explains. "And how come you knew we're staying at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Dad," says Ron. 

 The night before we go to Hogwarts, we have an almost family dinner. The Weasleys and Hermione dine at the Leaky Cauldron with us, which gives me time to catch up with Ginny and Hermione.

The next day, I pack my things to go to King's Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express. Harry, me, Hermione and the Weasleys go together. Ginny and I get on the train and soon we're looking for an empty cabin for ourselves (or to find our friends). Ginny soon finds the cabin where Stella, Carina and Theodore are. I'm about to get in when I feel someone grab my arm from behind.

"I need to talk to you, Emma." says Harry.

"All right..." I say, curious to know what it is. I turn around to follow Harry, Hermione and Ron to another compartment, and hear Ginny right behind me.

"Go away, Ginny," says Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," she says sarcastically. 

 We both look at each other. "It's okay, Ginny. I'll meet you and the others later."

 Hermione, Ron, Harry and I set off in search of an empty cabin, which we only find at the end of the train. The cabin is almost empty, apart from a man sleeping next to the window. He has light brown hair and doesn't look a day over 35. 

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron whispers as we enter and close the cabin door.

"Professor R. J. Lupin," replies Hermione quietly.

"How d'you know that?" asks Ron. 

"It's on his case," I answer for Hermione, pointing to where the man's name is engraved.

"Wonder what he teaches?" says Ron.

"That's obvious," whispers Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I hope it's a decent one this time." I say. "If it's someone like Lockhart again... What did you want to talk about, Harry?" I turn to my brother.

 Then Harry tells the three of us about the conversation Mr. Weasley had with him before Harry got on the train. Apparently the Weasleys' father told my brother that Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban to come after Harry and me, well, to go after Harry specifically.  

"No one knows how he got out of Azkaban," says Ron. "No one's ever done it before. And he was a top security prisoner too."

We continue chatting until the train starts to slow down.

"We can't be there yet," says Hermione, looking at her watch.

"So why're we stopping?" I ask, confused.

Harry and I are standing closer to the cabin door, facing each other. We stretch out to take a peek down the corridor, curious to know what's going on. The train then stops suddenly, causing several trunks to fall out of the luggage racks. Soon all the lights go out and we're left in total darkness.

"What's going on?" asks Ron.  

"Ouch!" I hear Hermione gasp. "Ron, that was my foot!"

"D'you think we've broken down?" asks Harry. 

"Dunno..." I say.

I hear Ron trying to clear the window to look outside.

"There's something moving out there," he says. "I think people are coming aboard..."

The cabin door opens and we hear Neville fall on top of Harry.

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," says Hermione. 

I feel Hermione pass me. Before Hermione can leave the cabin, we hear the voice of the professor, who was asleep.

 "Stay where you are," he instructs us.

With the light of his wand, he heads for the cabin door, which opens before he even reaches it. We see a figure at the entrance to our cabin, a hooded creature. The creature soon moves towards Harry and starts sucking out what seems to be his soul. The professor promptly uses a spell to ward off the creature, and Harry falls to the ground, unconscious.

Chapter Text

Hermione and I immediately try to wake Harry up. I try to tap his face to wake him up, while Hermione calls out to him. "Harry! Harry! Are you all right?"

"W—what?" is the first thing my brother says when he opens his eyes.

I was so focused on trying to wake Harry up that I hadn't noticed until now that the train was moving again and the lights are back on. Ron, Hermione and I are kneeling on the floor next to Harry, while Neville and the professor are standing watching him. As soon as Harry wakes up, the three of us help him into his seat.

"Are you okay?" asks Ron.

"Yeah," Harry says, glancing quickly at the door, probably looking for the creature that attacked him. "What happened? Where's that—that thing? Who screamed?"

Hermione and I look at each other, confused but worried at the same time. No one screamed. 

"No one screamed," says Ron.

Harry looks at everyone in the cabin. Me, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Lupin. 

"But I heard screaming..."

I hear a snap, which makes me look back and see Professor Lupin breaking a chocolate bar.  

"Here," he says to Harry, offering him a piece of chocolate. "Eat it. It'll help."

Harry accepts the chocolate, although he doesn't eat it.

"What was that thing?" he asks the professor.

"A dementor," says Lupin, now offering pieces of chocolate to all of us. "One of the dementors of Azkaban."

What was a dementor from Azkaban doing inside the Hogwarts Express? 

"Eat," the professor insists. "It'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me..."

He then walks past us and disappears down the train corridor.

"Harry, are you sure you're all right?" I ask my brother worriedly. 

"I don't get it... What happened?" Harry says, wiping the sweat from his face.

"Well... that thing... the dementor... stood there and looked around... I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face... and you... you..." says Hermione.

"I thought you were having a fit or something," says Ron. "You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching..."

"And Professor Lupin pulled out his wand and with some spell, a silver ray came out of his wand that made the dementor move away..." I say.

"It was horrible," says Neville. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

It really did get very cold, strangely cold.

It doesn't take long for us to put on our uniforms and arrive at Hogwarts, and I share the carriage that takes us to the school with Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville. Near the entrance to the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall stops us and asks us to have a word with Hermione and my brother, so Ron, Neville and I head into the Hall together. We split up just as I go to the Slytherin table and the two of them go to the Gryffindor table. As soon as I sit down, the questions start.

"Is it true that your brother was attacked by a dementor?" asks Daphne Greengrass.

"Did he faint? At least that's what they said on the train..." says Zoe.

"How did you feel?" Theodore asks.

"Yes, yes, and I felt weird." I reply. "Everything had suddenly become very cold and it seemed that happiness had been completely sucked out of the atmosphere."

"Little Potter fainted at the sight of a dementor..." says Draco, mocking my brother.

"Oh, please, Malfoy Junior," I purposely use the nickname I gave him when I first met him. "if you were him, I bet you'd have shit your trousers."

Draco, who was laughing seconds ago, immediately turns serious when I mock him back. Everyone sitting near us bursts into laughter, agreeing with me. Soon we all fall silent to follow this year's sorting. I don't pay much attention to the new students, except for the girl who Daphne tells us is her younger sister, Astoria, a girl with very dark hair and pale skin, who is soon sorted into Slytherin and joins us. 

Harry and Hermione enter as soon as the sorting is over. The two quickly take their seats at the Gryffindor table. 

"Welcome!" says Dumbledore just before dinner. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast... As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business. They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises—or even Invisibility Cloaks. It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors,"

Dumbledore looks around the Hall before continuing.

"On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Some of the students clap, not very enthusiastically. I don't blame them, this school has a bad record with DADA teachers. But I feel that this year will be different, Lupin has already managed to win me over by acting quickly when Harry was attacked by the dementor.

"I think this teacher is going to be different." I whisper to those near me. "He did very well on the train when my brother was attacked by the dementor."

"Let's see." says Pansy.

"Look at Professor Snape's face..." says Theodore.

Snape looks worse than usual at the announcement of the new DADA teacher, as well as angry (for wanting the job) his face shows clear contempt for the new teacher.

"As to our second new appointment," continues Dumbledore. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

There's a lot of applause, mainly from the Gryffindor table. I clap too, happy for Hagrid, even though I don't have that subject this year. Some of the Slytherin students give me dirty looks, but I just ignore them.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance. Let the feast begin!"

The first feast of the school year, just like last year, is always the best. Probably because spending the whole summer with the Dursleys makes me see Hogwarts food as the best in the world. Over dinner I update my friends (and whoever is sitting next to me listening) on my summer. I tell them about my brother inflating our aunt like a balloon and our stay at the Leaky Cauldron. 

I see that most of the students are excited (or at least curious) about this year's Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. I arrive with the second-year Slytherin students in the classroom and end up sitting between Carina and Aster. 

"How is my brother?" I ask Carina.

"Better than I would have thought for someone who was attacked by a dementor." she replies. "And mine? Has he been making fun of Harry too much?"

I chuckle. "He even tried, until I said that if it had been Draco instead of Harry, he'd probably have shit his trousers." Carina laughs out loud when she hears that. 

"My brother deserved it..." says Carina. "And in case you want to use something against him, I'm sure you'll want to know about something that happened this summer that made little Draco panic."

I turn to her. "Please tell me!"

"Draco panicked when he saw a spot of blood on my bed sheet... Logically, I'd only had my period, but he couldn't help screaming and thinking I was dying."

We both laugh. Shortly afterwards, Professor Lupin walks into the classroom and the lesson begins. He calls the roll, and I realise that his eyes are on me for longer than on the other students, perhaps because I'm the sister of the Boy Who Lived. He explains the content we'll be studying this year and starts teaching about Cornish Pixies. 

At the end of the lesson, everyone is organising their books and other materials and leaving the room in the direction of the next lesson, when I'm called by the teacher.

"Miss Potter, would you mind staying a few minutes? I'd like to have a word with you." says Professor Lupin. 

My heart races a little, nervous at not knowing what he wants with me. I exchange glances with Carina and Aster. 

"We'll reserve a place for you in the next class, Emma." says Aster, leaving the room.

"Don't worry, I promise I won't be long." says Lupin, as the last students leave.

With my materials sorted, I get up from my chair and walk hesitantly over to the teacher's desk. 

"What did you want to talk to me about, Professor?" I ask, trying not to show my nervousness. 

Professor Lupin smiles gently, looking at me as if he's remembering something.

"You've probably heard it from many people, Miss Potter, but you look just like your mother." he says. "Apart from your eyes, of course, you have the James' eyes, your father."

I smile back, feeling less nervous about the way the conversation is going. I giggle, realising that the teacher probably knew my parents. "Yes, everyone who knew my parents says that. And that Harry looks just like our father except for his eyes."

"When I took the job, I knew I'd meet the two of you, and I'd heard about the resemblance you have to your parents, but I never thought it would be so much..." Lupin says. "It's like I'm facing Lily."

I can notice the emotion in his voice. "Did you know them then?"

He smiles again before answering. "I knew them very well. James had been one of my best friends since my first year at Hogwarts, and Lily... Well, even though we got closer because of James in fifth year, she was always very kind, one of the best people I've ever met."

Although I've met other people who knew my parents, I've never met anyone who was as close to them as Lupin seemed to be. It makes my heart warm, it makes me feel a little closer to them.

"Please, you were their friend, professor, if possible, at least away from the other students, you can call me Emma." I say, giving a smile.

He seems happy about it. "Well then, Emma. The reason I called you is that... You probably don't know, but... When you were born, your parents chose me to be your godfather."

I wasn't expecting that. So I have a godfather? I don't know how to feel about that. My surprise must be obvious, because he seems to notice.

"I realise that this may be a lot of information for you." he says. "I'll let you go now to your next class. I don't want you to be late. But if you want, of course, we can talk about it at another time."

"Of course, Professor." I say. "I'd really appreciate it if we could talk more another day."

With that, I say goodbye to him and head off to my next class. I wouldn't reject his suggestion that we talk, I want to take advantage of this to satisfy my curiosity about my parents, to get to know someone so close to them better. But with what Lupin has told me, I'm also left with several questions: who might be Harry's godfather (or godmother)? If we had more decent people to take care of us, why did we still stay with the Dursleys? Why did I only find out I have a godfather now? 

Chapter Text

I spend the rest of the day looking forward to meeting Harry and telling him about my brief conversation with Professor Lupin, but something happens in the third year Care of Magical Creatures class that makes it difficult to talk to my brother. Draco (who has now 'affectionately' earned the nickname Malfoy Junior thanks to me) is attacked by a hippogriff (knowing him well, the attack is most likely deserved). So that ends up being the talk of the day at school. 

I take advantage of finding Harry sitting at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione, just before dinner time, and go over to them. I sit down facing Harry, next to Ron.

"Have you heard that your little friend Draco was attacked by Buckbeak, Hagrid's hippogriff?" comments Ron. 

I roll my eyes at Ron's attempt to pick on me. "Of course, there isn't a soul in this school who doesn't know that. But come on, is it all just jealousy at seeing me hanging out with little Draco?"

Ron turns red, I can't tell if from embarrassment or anger.

"But I didn't come here for that." I say, turning to Harry and ignoring Ron. "I wanted to talk to you." 

 "What about?" Harry asks curiously.

"Professor Lupin called me for a chat straight after class today, he told me some interesting things." I say.

Ron, Harry and Hermione move closer to the table to hear what I have to say.

"Apparently he was a friend of our parents, Harry." I say.

The three of them have expressions of surprise and shock on their faces.

"What? Lupin?" says Ron.

"No, your rat... Of course Lupin, Ron!" I say sarcastically. "Who else are we talking about..."

I see Hermione roll her eyes, equally impatient with Ron's sluggishness.

 "There's one more thing..." I start to say. "Lupin told me that he's my godfather."

"What?" Harry says in shock.

"If Professor Lupin is your godfather... Who's Harry's?" asks Hermione, clearly the most intelligent and sensible of the three, asking the right question.

I shake my head. "I don't know, we spoke for a short time, he didn't tell me much more. But I've agreed with him that we'll talk more at another time." I look at Harry. "Maybe then you'll go with me?"

Harry nods. Gradually more students arrive in the Great Hall. As the Gryffindor table fills up, I decide to get up. 

"I'll see you later." I say, standing up and giving a smile to Carina, Ginny and the other second year Gryffindor girls who are approaching the table. 

As I sit down at the Slytherin table, I realise that everyone is focused on the conversation. 

"Do you think he'll lose his arm?" Crabbe asks.

"Poor thing... I hope not! It was a pretty big wound." says Pansy. 

"Please..." I say, rolling my eyes. "I bet he won't even get a scar."

"And how do you know?" asks Goyle.

"You didn't hear the poor guy's screams. He even thought he was going to die." says Pansy.

"We're talking about the same boy who panicked and thought his sister was going to die when she got her period." I say, using what Carina had told me earlier.

Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle stare open-mouthed, seemingly discovering just how dramatic their friend is. The others, including Theodore, Blaise Zabini, Daphne, and my roommates, laugh at what I've just told them. I'm sure this will make people disbelieve Draco's dramas again. 

Sure enough it was all drama. Harry told me that Professor Snape made Ron cut up the ingredients of a potion for Draco (which honestly must have been quite funny to watch), and that my brother saw him faking a grimace of pain. 

Halloween comes round in the blink of an eye. I'm having breakfast on Saturday with my Slytherin classmates, and I overhear several of them (students from third year upwards) talking excitedly about going to Hogsmeade. I know my brother is devastated at not being able to go, since our aunt and uncle haven't signed the authorisation, so I decide to spend the day with him.

Together with Harry, I follow the students leaving for Hogsmeade in the school hall. As soon as the students leave, we turn our backs and wander around the school grounds.

"Emma? Harry?" we hear someone calling us. 

We turn round at the same time, towards the voice that has just called us. It's Professor Lupin at the door of his classroom.

"What are you two doing?" asks Lupin. "Where are your friends?"

"My friends are probably doing the homework I've already done. Harry's are in Hogsmeade." I answer for both of us, since Harry isn't in the best of moods.

"Ah," says Lupin, watching us for a moment. "Why don't you two come in?"

We both walk into the room.

"Cup of tea?" Lupin offers, looking for his kettle. "I was just thinking of making one."

"All right," Harry replies, while I just nod.

The teacher (or should I say my godfather?) casts a spell on the kettle and in seconds the water heats up.

"Sit down," Lupin invites us, and then we both sit down.

We sit in silence for a few seconds before Lupin speaks again. "Emma may have told you about the conversation we had."

Harry shyly nods.

"Professor," I begin. "Perhaps this is too direct a question, but since our conversation I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Why didn't you take me and Harry if I'm your goddaughter?"

"You have to understand that I would have liked to have given you the opportunity to live somewhere better than with the Dursleys." replies Lupin. "But back then, I couldn't afford to raise two children. Harry, you were only a year old, and you, Emma, were only a few months old."

I nod, understanding his point. "There's one more thing." I say. "I'm just curious, but... You told me you are my godfather, but you didn't mention being Harry's godfather at any point, so I imagine Harry has another godfather or godmother. Do you know who that is?" 

I know he's heard my question, but he takes a deep breath and just stares at Harry. "Anything worrying you, Harry?" he goes completely off topic, which only makes me even more curious to know who my brother's godfather (or godmother) is.

"You know that day we fought the boggart?" asks Harry.

Harry told me about that day. The students were learning about boggarts and Harry's turned into a dementor.

"Yes,"

"Why didn't you let me fight it?" Lupin raises his eyebrows at the question.

"I would have thought that was obvious, Harry," says Lupin, surprised. "I assumed that if the boggart faced you, it would assume the shape of Lord Voldemort."

It's a surprise to see a teacher using his name without fear. I'm proud of the godfather I have.

"Clearly, I was wrong," says Lupin. "But I didn't think it a good idea for Lord Voldemort to materialize in the classroom. I imagined that people would panic."

"I didn't think of Voldemort," says Harry. "I—I remembered those dementors."

"I see," says Lupin thoughtfully. "Well, well... I'm impressed. That suggests that what you fear most of all is—fear. Very wise, Harry."

I sip my tea in silence as I watch the conversation.

"So you've been thinking that I didn't believe you capable of fighting the boggart?" asks Lupin. 

How very Gryffindor of my brother...

"Well... yeah," says Harry. "Professor Lupin, you know the dementors..."

Someone knocks on the door. 

"Come in," calls Lupin. 

Professor Snape walks in holding a goblet with a liquid in it, but he stops when he sees Harry and me.

"Ah, Severus," says Lupin, smiling. "Thanks very much. Could you leave it here on the desk for me?"

The professor then leaves the goblet on the table, never taking his eyes off Harry and me. 

"I was just chatting to Harry and my goddaughter, catching up." says Lupin pleasantly. 

I'm surprised to be called goddaughter by him, even more so in front of Snape. 

"Fascinating," says Snape. "You should drink that directly, Lupin."

"Yes, yes, I will,"

"I made an entire cauldronful," continues Snape. "If you need more."

"I should probably take some again tomorrow. Thanks very much, Severus." says Lupin. 

"Not at all," says Snape, leaving without so much as a smile.

"Professor Snape has very kindly concocted a potion for me," Lupin answers my thoughts (and probably Harry's), smiling. "I have never been much of a potion-brewer and this one is particularly complex."

"Why...?" asks Harry.

"I've been feeling a bit off-color. This potion is the only thing that helps. I am very lucky to be working alongside Professor Snape; there aren't many wizards who are up to making it."

I'm sure there's something there, something that Lupin is omitting, but unfortunately I'm going to remain curious without knowing what it is.

I'm with my friends: Zoe, Cassia, Megan and Melia, in the common room when the people who went to Hogsmeade arrive. Some of them, like Draco, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, Daphne, Theodore and Blaise join us by the fireplace. 

"Have you bought enough?" I ask the obvious question to Theodore, who is holding a huge carrier bag. 

"I bought all kinds of sweets at Honeydukes!" Theodore replies.

"Not to mention what we bought at Zonko's." says Blaise.

When evening comes, we all go to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. At the end of the feast the ghosts put on a performance, and then we head back to the common room. It doesn't take long (long enough for us all to put on our pyjamas) for Snape to burst through the door of the room, asking us all to return to the Great Hall, without further explanation.

We follow him into the Great Hall in silence, but very confused and curious without knowing what's going on. We get there more or less together with the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students, which makes me exchange glances with Luna, Stella and Aster, trying to find out if any of them know what's going on, but none of them do. I realise that the Gryffindor students are already in the Hall when we enter.

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," says Dumbledore as soon as Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick close the doors to the Great Hall behind us. "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately," he adds, addressing Percy Weasley, Head Boy. "Send word with one of the ghosts."

The headmaster stops before leaving the hall and turns to us. "Oh, yes, you'll be needing..."

With his wand, he moves the tables of the four houses to the corners and conjures up hundreds of sleeping bags.

"Sleep well," he says, closing the door as he passes.

As soon as Dumbledore leaves, leaving the students alone in the Great Hall, everyone starts talking loudly, wanting to know what happened. I approach the Gryffindor girls: Carina, Ginny and the others, along with Stella, Aster, Luna and my Slytherin friends.

"We were on our way back to the common room when we saw that the portrait guarding the entrance was empty, the Fat Lady was gone." Carina says, students from other houses, including Draco and his friends, gather round her to hear what happened.

"Her portrait was cut." says Amber Noel, one of the second year Gryffindor girls.

"By whom?" Aster asks.

"Peeves said it was Sirius Black." replies Ginny.

As a result, many people gasp in fear and others start whispering about why Black has invaded the castle. The commotion doesn't last long.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" shouts Percy. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

I grab a sleeping bag and soon we join (me and my Slytherin mates) the Gryffindor girls, well, all except Carina, who ends up joining Draco and Stella, the three of them seem to be talking quietly about something, they look worried. Strange... but soon I'm lying in my sleeping bag, between Ginny and Zoe.

"Do you think Black's still in the castle?" I hear Hermione whisper.

"Dumbledore obviously thinks he might be," says Ron.

"It's very lucky he picked tonight, you know," says Hermione. "The one night we weren't in the tower..."

Could it really have been luck? I don't doubt that it could have been deliberate. Perhaps he was looking for something and waited for a moment when no one would be there. 

Chapter Text

The night Black broke into Hogwarts, more precisely into the Gryffindor common room, proves that if he really is out for revenge (which I personally think is unlikely), he's going after Harry specifically, since the Slytherin common room remains untouched, at least for the time being. This means that the teachers don't leave my brother alone at almost any time, not even at Quidditch practice in the evenings, as Madam Hooch is supervising them. Meanwhile, the weather only gets worse. Heavy rain and wind have covered the grounds of Hogwarts for the last few days.

I walk into the common room after dinner on a Tuesday, noticing the commotion around the fireplace. Marcus Flint and the other players from the Slytherin Quidditch team, including Draco, seem to be happy, even celebrating something. 

"What happened?" I ask as I approach them. I turn in the direction of Cassia's voice.

"My brother managed to change the Quidditch matches." she replies. "The match that was supposed to be this Saturday between Gryffindor and Slytherin will now be between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

I frown, still confused as to why the change. 

"We can't play without our seeker, can we?" says Pansy. 

This doesn't help to answer my question, and Zoe seems to realise it. 

"Flint is using the excuse that Draco's arm hasn't recovered 100% yet." explains Zoe, and then she comes close to my ear. "But of course it's just an excuse not to play in bad weather."

I can't complain about that attitude, I'll support whatever it takes to make sure we don't lose. 

In the same week as the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, there's another change: Snape teaches the Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Very strange... 

Saturday arrives and the rain and heavy wind continue. However, that's not enough to dampen the cheering on the Quidditch pitch, as the whole school is there. Me, Cassia, Zoe, Megan and Melia join the Hufflepuff crowd, including Stella and Aster, to watch the match. Most of the Slytherins are rooting for Hufflepuff, myself and a few others are even wearing yellow and black clothes to show our support. Aster is rooting for her House more than ever, after all it's her brother Cedric Diggory's (Hufflepuff seeker) first match as team captain. Not only is she dressed head to toe in yellow and black, but her face is also painted in the colours of her House. 

Even though my support is established, I pop into the changing room before the match to wish Harry good luck. I enter the changing room and see a few heads turning to see who's come in. Several look at me with disdain, seeing that I'm wearing Hufflepuff colours. 

When I find my brother in the midst of people wearing red and gold, he's stunned, probably surprised to see me in Hufflepuff colours. I speak before he can say anything, "Come on, you would never root for Slytherin if it were the other way round, would you?"

"But you're not even on the Slytherin team!" says Harry, still astonished to see his sister wearing the colours of the rival team. 

I roll my eyes. "Don't make me want to join the Slytherin team to prove my point... Besides, you'll thank me for what I came to do for you."

This seems to pique his interest. Other Gryffindor players approach, equally interested and curious. 

"As well as coming to wish you good luck like the great sister I am," I start to say. "I've discovered a spell that will help your glasses from fogging up in all this rain."

I pull my wand out of my robes and point it at my brother's glasses before saying, "Impervius!"

"Brilliant!" Oliver Wood screams. 

I think that with this action I seem to have won a little more respect from some of the Gryffindor students. One of the girls on the team, who I think is Katie Bell, is so grateful that, from the look on her face, she could kiss me right here and now. Well, I wouldn't complain, she's actually quite pretty...

Harry slowly takes his glasses off his face and puts them back on, trying to see if he can notice any difference. I then hug him quickly.

"Good luck and take care today."

I leave the changing room and try to get to where my friends are as quickly as possible. People are shouting excitedly, but you can barely hear them over the noise of the heavy rain and thunder. The sky is so dark that it looks like night.

The match begins, but it's hard to follow the players because of the weather. As the game begins, I start to suspect that most of the girls (and several boys too, as I can see in Theodore's gaze) wanted to watch the match more because of Cedric than because of the game itself... 

At some point in the match I lose sight of my brother, until I find him again... A dementor attacks him one more time and... He falls out of the sky, completely unconscious! Thankfully, Dumbledore acts quickly and casts a spell on Harry's body to cushion his fall. I run out of the stands towards my brother. Hermione, Ron and many others from Gryffindor who were watching the match from the stands also run to Harry. Hermione, Ron and I accompany him to the Hospital Wing to be looked after by Madam Pomfrey. I was so focused on him that I didn't see the outcome of the game after Harry fell from an impressive height, unconscious. Fred and George tell me that Cedric managed to capture the snitch just after Harry's fall. 

A relatively large group of students gather around my brother's bed in the Hospital Wing, waiting for him to wake up. We're all incredibly soaked from the rain, our clothes sticking to our bodies and the icy water sending shivers down our spines, but nobody seems to care at the moment. 

"Lucky the ground was so soft." says Fred.

"I thought he was dead for sure." says George.

"But he didn't even break his glasses." says Angelina Johnson, another Gryffindor player.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life." says Hermione.

Harry suddenly opens his eyes. 

"Harry!" I say as soon as I see my brother waking up. I approach the bed where he's lying. "How are you feeling?"

His face shows the confusion he must be feeling right now.

"What happened?" he asks, sitting up in bed.

"You fell off," says Fred. "Must've been—what—fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died," says Alicia Spinnet, the third girl to play for the Gryffindor team. 

"But the match," says Harry. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"

Typical of my brother. He fell more than fifteen metres and his concern is Quidditch. 

"We didn't—lose?"

"Diggory got the Snitch," says George. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square... even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?" asks Harry.

Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, is the only one not in the hospital wing.

"Still in the showers," says Fred. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

Why are boys so dramatic? Draco and his arm acting like it had to be amputated, Wood trying to drown himself because of a Quidditch match... The expression of sadness on Harry's face is noticeable. 

"C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before." says Fred.

"There had to be one time you didn't get it," says George.

"It's not over yet," says Fred. "We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin..."

"I doubt it..." I mutter, obviously wishing that Gryffindor would lose to both Slytherin and Ravenclaw.

Fred and George argue about Quidditch for a while longer, until Madam Pomfrey approaches Harry's bed and basically kicks them out, taking everyone from the Gryffindor team out of the hospital wing, leaving only Ron, Hermione and me.

"Dumbledore was really angry," says Hemione with a trembling voice. "I've never seen him like that before. He ran onto the field as you fell, waved his wand, and you sort of slowed down before you hit the ground. Then he whirled his wand at the dementors. Shot silver stuff at them. They left the stadium right away... He was furious they'd come onto the grounds."

We remain silent for a few seconds.

"Did someone get my Nimbus?" asks Harry.

Once again, my brother is more concerned about Quidditch and his broom than his health. I watch Ron and Hermione look at each other, this can only be bad news for Harry.

"What?" Harry asks, noticing the looks on both their faces.

"Well... when you fell off, it got blown away," says Hermione hesitantly.

"And?"

"And it hit—it hit—oh, Harry—it hit the Whomping Willow."

I see Hermione slowly bend down and pick up a bag that was at her feet. The remains of Harry's Nimbus. 

Chapter Text

Lupin is back in class, justifying his absence with illness. I'm sitting in the DADA class with Luna when, at the end of the lesson, the students get up to leave and the teacher calls me back to talk. I slowly pack up my belongings, taking my time because I have to wait for the students to leave the room. As soon as the last student (Colin Creevey) leaves, I walk over to the teacher's desk, where he is sitting. 

"You wanted to see me, Professor?" I ask, smiling gently as our gazes meet.

"I'd just like to extend an invitation to you, Emma." says Lupin. 

I nod, signalling him to continue. 

"Your brother asked me to teach him the charm used against dementors at some point after class." Lupin gets up from his chair, his hands in his trouser pockets. "I know they haven't been trying to attack you specifically, but... I'm inviting you to take part in the lessons with Harry, if you'd like to, of course."

He's right. Technically, I don't need to learn the charm use against dementors, at least not now, but I know that this invitation means a lot more for him to spend time getting to know me, getting to know us, than for me to learn the spell. I smile before answering him.

"I'd love to take part in your classes, Professor." I say. I see him sigh with relief at my answer. 

December comes faster than I imagined and, with it, most of the students are getting excited and discussing their plans for Christmas. Just like last year, my brother and I will be staying at school, as will Ron and Hermione, who make different excuses for not spending Christmas with their families to keep me and my brother company during the period when most of the students go home.

On the Saturday morning of another trip to Hogsmeade, Harry is once again upset that he can't go. Together with my brother, we say goodbye to Ron and Hermione before they go. We're walking through the castle when we're called, well, actually when my brother's called.

"Psst—Harry!"

We both turn around to see who was calling him. That's when we see Fred and George spying on us from behind a statue.

"What are you doing?" asks Harry curiously. "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?"

"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go," says Fred, winking. "Come in here..."

He points to an empty classroom. Harry and I follow the twins and, as we enter the room, George closes the door quietly and turns to my brother and me.

"Early Christmas present for you two," he says.

Fred takes a piece of parchment out of one of his pockets. Knowing Fred and George, I get suspicious, expecting some kind of prank.  

"What's that?" I ask, pointing to the parchment.

"This, Emma, is the secret of our success," says George, tapping the parchment with his hand.

"It's a wrench, giving it to you two," says Fred. "but we decided last night, your need's greater than ours."

"Anyway, we know it by heart," says George. "We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore."

"And what do we need with a bit of old parchment?" says Harry.

They then explain to us how they managed to get hold of the parchment. Then George takes out his wand and lightly touches the parchment with the tip of it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

 Words begin to form on the piece of paper.

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers are proud to present 

The Marauder's Map 

The map shows the grounds of Hogwarts castle in detail. What's most impressive isn't this, but the fact that the map shows small footprints and the name of each person in the school grounds, moving in real time.

"The map shows many secret passages." says Fred, then he points to one. "This one leads directly to Hogsmeade. There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four." he points. "But this one here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes. We've used it loads of times. And as you might've noticed, the entrance is right outside this room, through that one-eyed old crone's hump."

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," sighs George. "We owe them so much. Right," adds George. "Don't forget to wipe it after you've used it..."

"... or anyone can read it," says Fred. 

"Just tap it again and say, 'Mischief managed!' And it'll go blank." 

And then the two of them leave us alone in the room. We both ponder for a few seconds whether or not to go.

"What are we waiting for?" I ask. "Let's go!"

I take the map and Harry and I leave the room, heading towards the statue where the passage is. Our little footprints with our names on the map accompany our steps until we reach the front of the statue. Harry takes his wand out of his pocket and touches the statue with the tip. Nothing happens. Suddenly, on the map next to Harry's name, there appears a text that reads 'Dissendium'.

"Dissendium!" whispers Harry, hitting the stone again.

Then the statue moves enough to open a hole big enough for us to go through. The hole looks like a slide as we go down. We land in a dark place. As soon as Harry and I stand up, we raise our wands and mutter, "Lumos!"

We walk for what seems like an eternity until we start to climb and then find a trap door. Harry, who is in front, opens a crack to peek through. When he realises there's no one around, he climbs up and then, with one arm outstretched, helps me up. We look at each other for a few seconds and then turn towards the stairs that lead up to the shop. 

When we finally arrive at the shop, Honeydukes is so full of students that no one cares about us. I shouldn't even be here, since only as of third-year students have access to Hogsmeade. Harry and I squeeze between the students to look for Ron and Hermione, until we spot them staring at a shelf of blood-flavored lollipops.  

Silently we walk until we are behind the two of them.

"Ugh, no, Harry won't want one of those, they're for vampires, I expect," says Hermione.

"How about these?" says Ron, picking up a jar of Cockroach Clusters.

I have to stop myself from vomiting.

"Definitely not," Harry and I say at the same time.

Ron almost drops the jar. 

"Harry! Emma!" squeals Hermione. "What are you doing here? How—how did you..."

So the four of us leave the shop and this is when we tell them about the Marauders' Map. 

"How come Fred and George never gave it to me!" Ron asks indignantly. "I'm their brother!"

"But neither Harry or Emma is going to keep it!" says Hermione. "They're going to hand it in to Professor McGonagall, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not!" says Harry. 

"Of course not!" I say.

"Are you mad?" says Ron, his eyes widening. "Hand in something that good?"

"But what about Sirius Black?" hisses Hermione. "He could be using one of the passages on that map to get into the castle! The teachers have got to know!"

After a lot of convincing on the part of the three of us, Hermione seems to start to give in.

"Yes, but—but... Look, Harry and Emma still shouldn't be coming into Hogsmeade. Harry hasn't got a signed form! What's more, second-year students can't even come! If anyone finds out, they'll be in so much trouble! And it's not nightfall yet—what if Sirius Black turns up today? Now?"

"Come on, Hermione, it's Christmas. Harry and Emma deserve a break." says Ron.

As soon as we manage to convince Hermione, we start walking through Hogsmeade. Hermione and Ron show us all the places along the way. In the end, we decide to go to the Three Broomsticks. Harry, Hermione and I grab a seat while Ron orders us butterbeer. In a few minutes, Ron approaches, carrying four full mugs.

This is the best thing I've ever tasted in my life. We sit drinking and chatting until we feel a little wind enter the pub, the door opens and McGonagall and Flitwick walk in, followed by Hagrid and the Minister for Magic. 

In the same second, Ron pushes Harry's head under the table while Hermione pushes mine. Hermione cleverly casts a spell with her wand, so that the Christmas tree near us covers Harry and me under the table. The teachers sit relatively close to us, close enough for us to hear their conversation. The owner of the Three Broomsticks, Madam Rosmerta, joins them and they start complaining about the dementors. To be honest, the conversation doesn't arouse my interest until they start talking about Sirius Black.

"You don't know the half of it, Rosmerta," the minister says. "The worst he did isn't widely known."

"You say you remember him at Hogwarts, Rosmerta," murmurs McGonagall. "Do you remember who his best friend was?"

"Naturally," she says. "Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here—ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!"

Harry and I look at each other, both wide-eyed.

"Precisely," says McGonagall. "Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course—exceptionally bright, in fact—but I don't think we've ever had such a pair of troublemakers..."

"I dunno," chuckles Hagrid. "Fred and George Weasley could give'em a run fer their money."

"You'd have thought Black and Potter were brothers!" says Flitwick. "Inseparable!"

"Potter trusted Black beyond all his other friends. Black was best man when James married Lily. Then they named him godfather to Harry. Neither child has any idea of this, of course. You can imagine how the idea would torment them." says the minister.  

"Because Black turned out to be in league with You-Know-Who?" whispers Madam Rosmerta. 

"Not many people are aware that the Potters knew You-Know-Who was after them. Dumbledore, who was of course working tirelessly against You-Know-Who, had a number of useful spies. One of them tipped him off, and he alerted James and Lily at once. He advised them to go into hiding. Dumbledore told them that their best chance was the Fidelius Charm."

"How does that work?"

"An immensely complex spell," explains Flitwick. "involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find—unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it. As long as the Secret-Keeper refused to speak, You-Know-Who could search the village where Lily and James were staying for years and never find them, not even if he had his nose pressed against their sitting room window!"

"So Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper?" whispers Madam Rosmerta. 

"Naturally," says McGonagall. "I remember that Dumbledore was still worried... I remember him offering to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper himself."

"He suspected Black?"

"He had suspected for some time that someone on our side had turned traitor and was passing a lot of information to You-Know-Who."

"Black betrayed them?" whispers Madam Rosmerta.

I don't need to (and can't) listen to the rest any more. Sirius Black betrayed my parents and that's why they're both dead. Harry and I wait for the teachers, Hagrid and the minister to leave so we could head back to school.

Wanting to be alone, as soon as we reach the grounds of Hogwarts Harry runs towards the Gryffindor common room. I'm walking slowly towards the Slytherin common room, not paying much attention to my surroundings, when I bump into someone. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention..." I start apologising to whoever I bumped into. 

"Emma?" I hear Carina's voice. 

Chapter Text

The moment I hear my name called, I lift my head and look at Carina.

"Oh, Carina." I say, my voice sounding shakier than I'd like. "Well, again, I'm sorry..."

"Is everything all right?" she asks me.

It must be obvious that I'm not. I quickly wipe away the tears in a failed attempt to hide them, but of course it doesn't do much good, since Carina has already noticed that I'm crying. I nod, lying. I take a step towards the Slytherin common room when Carina speaks again.

"Wait," she says, making me turn to her again. "Don't you want to go to the kitchens with me? I was thinking of going there myself."

It's a tempting invitation, since I've never been and don't even know where the kitchens are. 

"Okay." I decide.

"Let's go then." she says, smiling slightly.

She starts walking towards the kitchens and I follow her. For part of the way we both remain silent. Part of me wants us to stay that way, because I don't want to tell her what I heard or even that I snuck out, but the other part of me is desperate to get it off my chest with my friend.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but what happened?" Carina asks me, breaking the silence. 

I keep thinking about whether or not to tell. When I decide, I take a deep breath and stop following Carina. When she turns around and walks towards me, I ask, "Do you promise to keep it a secret?"

She smiles gently. "Of course. We're friends, aren't we?" 

I nod, and for the first time since I discovered the truth about my parents, I smile. I let out a sigh before telling her what I have to tell her. 

"I... I sneaked off to Hogsmeade with Harry." I start to say, waiting for Carina's reaction.

She is clearly shocked, her eyes widening when I say this. Of course, no first or second year students are allowed to go to Hogsmeade.

"H-how?" asks Carina.

I'd imagined she'd be curious about it, but I'm still thinking about whether or not to tell her. 

"Well, now that you know I sneaked off, there's no point in me hiding this... The twins gave me a magic map, actually they gave it to me and my brother." since she already knew the worst part (that I sneaked out) there's not much point in hiding the rest. "That's how we managed to sneak out through one of the school's secret passages. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. Harry and I were with Ron and Hermione at the Three Broomsticks and we found out something about our parents..."

"What did you find out?" she asks.

I sigh before answering. "Sirius Black was our father's best friend. He's Harry's godfather. He... he betrayed our parents the night they were killed. My parents are dead because of him!"

I start to cry again, and then I feel Carina wrap me up in a hug, causing me to lean my head on her shoulder and start sobbing. My parents could be alive, that thought is what hurts me the most. Harry and I could have had a happy childhood, we could have been raised by our parents instead of our uncles. All this if it hadn't been for that man. 

Gradually I manage to calm down and my crying subsides. Carina, realising this, releases me from her embrace and then takes my hand. 

"Shall we go to the kitchens?" she asks. "I spent the afternoon with Stella and Aster found out where it is and how to get in."

I sniffle, trying to decongest my nose, which is stuffed up from crying, and wipe the tears from my face before nodding. Carina then leads me into the kitchen, the two of us holding hands. Looking around, I realise we're near the Hufflepuff common room, in the basement of Hogwarts. We stop when we're facing a painting of a bowl of fruits. I see Carina looking for something specific in the painting and then she steps forward and hesitantly begins to tickle the pear. A doorknob then forms. I can't help but giggle at this. 

"Tickling a pear as a password to get into the kitchens..." I mutter.

Carina turns the handle and opens the door. She nods for me to go in first. I hesitantly enter, observing my surroundings. It's a huge space, as big as the Great Hall. In the middle of the kitchens are four long tables, just like the ones in the Great Hall. I see hundreds of house elves scattered around the room, too busy with their various tasks to notice us here. I hear a voice that I'm sure I've heard before. I turn in the direction of the voice. 

"Dobby?" Carina and I say at the same time.

Of course Carina knows him too, after all Dobby was the Malfoy family's house elf until my brother gave him a sock as a present and Dobby became a free elf. As soon as we call him, the elf turns to us quickly. His big eyes widen when he sees us. He runs towards us. You can see the sock my brother gave him at the end of last year. 

"Emma Potter, Carina Malfoy!" he greets us, apparently very happy to see us.

"It's great to see you again, Dobby." says Carina.

Dobby, emotional as ever, starts to tear up when he hears this. "Miss Malfoy, kind as ever..."

Carina puts her hands on her waist as if she's upset. "How many times do I have to remind you, Dobby? You can call me Carina, especially now that you don't work for the Malfoy's anymore."

Dobby turns red with embarrassment. "Of course, miss... Dobby means, Carina... Dobby never thought he'd see the misses again. Dobby is very happy to be able to see you both." 

"Where do you two know each other from?" Carina asks, turning to me.

I giggle. "Ah, Dobby probably sneaked out of your house last year, he paid me and Harry a visit, warning us not to go to Hogwarts because the school was in danger."

Carina's eyes widen in shock as she realises that Dobby was sneaking out of her house. 

"Dobby, how did you know that Hogwarts was in danger?" Carina asks, turning back to Dobby. 

Dobby turns red again. "Dobby is sorry, ma'am... Carina.... Dobby may have overheard some conversations between Mr. Malfoy and his friends..."

The elf does something similar to what he did when he visited Harry and I the year before, he picks up a rolling pin from one of the tables to hit himself with. Carina promptly grabs the rolling pin before Dobby can hit himself with it, as if she was expecting the elf to do something like that. She probably was.

"Dobby, I'm not angry, just surprised..." she says, taking the roll from Dobby's hand and dropping it on the table where it was placed. "We came here because I think Emma here needs some distraction, perhaps some pumpkin pasties?"

"Whatever you want!" says Dobby excitedly. "Dobby may no longer work for the Malfoy family, Dobby may be a free elf now, but Dobby will never forget how Carina and Miss Potter always treated Dobby as an equal."

Dobby quickly skips off to the other side of the kitchen and, together with the other elves, starts preparing pumpkin pasties. As soon as they're ready, Dobby happily brings them to us. 

"Thank you very much, Dobby." says Carina. "I look forward to seeing you again."

Dobby bows before we leave the kitchens. Carina has managed to improve my mood in the short time we've been here. I start eating one of the pasties.

"You know, when Dobby was still working for my family, he often acted like a second brother to Draco and me." says Carina. "He'd been in my family since before my brother and I were born. I think he looked after both of us more than our father..."

I can't help feeling sorry for her. On one hand, at least Carina has a living mum and dad, but on the other I don't know if I'd want an absent father like hers.

"I'm sorry..." I say, with my mouth full of pumpkin pasty. I let a few crumbs escape when I speak with my mouth full, which makes Carina giggle. I quickly swallow the rest of the pasty in my mouth before continuing to speak. "You know, when Dobby met Harry and me, he had so many good things to say about my brother... I can't imagine where he knew so much about Harry."

"Emma, I know you and your brother grew up in the muggle world, but... I don't think you have any idea how famous your brother is in the wizarding world." she says. "There isn't a wizard or witch who doesn't know about the Boy Who Lived." 

I nod slowly. Unfortunately, I'm beginning to realise just how big Harry's fame is, and given that I'm only in my second year at Hogwarts, all I can think about is how long the years until my graduation will be, and that they'll probably be full of comparisons with my brother. So far (and I imagine it will be a lot longer) people always react with 'the sister of the Boy Who Lived' (and that's when they at least know that the Boy Who Lived has a younger sister).

"Even so, Dobby spoke of Harry as if he already knew him, very strange..." I say.

She chuckles, seeming to remember something.

"I know we both like to pick on my brother from time to time, but now it's your turn to keep a secret, OK?" says Carina.

My eyes widen with curiosity at whatever Carina has to tell me. 

"Of course." I say.

"This will probably shock you, but... my brother always wanted to meet Harry." she starts to say.

I'm beyond shocked. Draco always wanted to meet Harry? Are we talking about the same Draco who never misses an opportunity to pick on my brother? "What?"

Carina nods. "Well, I imagine that most children in the wizarding world, even some adults, at some point wanted to meet your brother. And Draco, well he... we grew up hearing about the boy who defeated the Dark Lord. Not to mention the fact that my father used to encourage my brother to try to befriend Harry, especially just before Draco went to Hogwarts. Of course, my father always had a great interest behind it, don't get me wrong, but my father would never want one of his children, even more so his heir, to make friends with a half-blood unless there was an interest behind it."

I listen to Carina so intently that I almost drop the pasties from my hand. 

"And since Draco and I grew up in a huge mansion, but in a very solitary environment, Dobby spent most of his time with us. It was during these times that we would talk to Dobby about the Boy Who Lived. Draco told Dobby how he dreamed of making friends with Harry."

My shocked face must be pretty obvious by now. 

"I know my brother is an idiot with Harry." she looks me in the eye. "But believe me, it's all an act because Draco was hurt that he missed the opportunity to get close to your brother, as well as he's jealous and envious of all those Harry considers friends." 

At this point I stop to reflect on all the situations in which Draco and Harry have interacted and it actually makes a lot of sense. Knowing Draco, he's very proud and would never admit such a thing.

When we reach the entrance to the Slytherin common room, we both stop walking.

"Well, I think I'll go back to my common room." she says, after letting out a sigh. "I hope I've managed to distract you a little from thinking about..." 

I interrupt her by giving her a big hug. 

"Thank you." I whisper in her ear.  

Chapter Text

The next day, Sunday, I wake up to my dorm room practically empty. Megan, Zoe and Melia have gone home for the Christmas holidays. This time Cassia stays at school. At least I won't be alone.

I go down to the common room and when I see that platinum blond hair sitting on one of the sofas near the fireplace, I frown, surprised that Draco is still here, given that the students who were going home for the holidays were supposed to have already left. I turn around, exchanging confused glances with Cassia, who also doesn't seem to know why Draco is still here. 

I slowly approach Draco until I can see his face. His eyes are swollen and red and I can see tear stains on his face due to the light from the fireplace. My gaze drifts to his hands, which seem to be holding a letter. 

"What happened?" I ask, coming closer to him. 

I've never felt as sorry for him as I do right now. I even wonder if what I see on his face is real or a figment of my imagination. Draco pouting, trying not to cry anymore...

He sniffles before answering me. "My damn parents don't want me to come home anymore!" he shouts, extremely angry, but I know his anger isn't directed at me. I stop myself from saying something like 'at least you have parents', I know this isn't the time. 

As soon as I sit down on the same sofa as him, right in front of the fireplace, he gets up so abruptly and with such hatred that the sofa moves back a little. I turn my head, glancing quickly at Cassia, who joins me on the sofa. Draco tears the letter into several pieces and throws the pieces into the fire. 

I lightly and discreetly nudge Cassia, who is sitting across from me watching Draco. She turns her head to look at me, and then I point at the boy who is standing with his hands on his waist watching the letter burn. 

"Go and hug him." I whisper in her ear. 

I'd do it myself as Draco's friend, but since I'm such a good friend, I'm using this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: making sure Cassia can comfort the boy she likes. She gets up and hesitantly walks over to Draco. She opens her arms, silently inviting him into a hug. For a second I think he's not going to accept, but he hugs her desperately, and that's when I see his shoulders shake, indicating that the boy is sobbing. 

On Christmas morning I'm woken up by a pillow being thrown in my face.

"Wake up, Emma!" says Cassia, the one responsible for throwing the pillow at me. "It's Christmas!"

I reluctantly get up, sitting on the bed trying to adjust my vision to the brightness. I get out of bed.

"Merry Christmas, Cassia." I say, heading for the bedroom door.

"Merry Christmas, Emma."

Cassia pulls me by the arm before I reach the door.

"Are you going in your pyjamas?" she asks incredulously.

"What's wrong with that?" I ask, turning to her. "Is Hogwarts hosting Queen Elizabeth?"

Cassia looks confused. "Who?"

I sigh, I'd forgotten that many students probably weren't raised in the Muggle world, or even know of any famous Muggle. "Never mind..."

"I meant that we're not alone. Are you really going to go downstairs in your pyjamas knowing that Draco, my brother, Crabbe, and Goyle are going to see you like this?"

"I have no interest in impressing any of them." I say, shrugging and turning around again to go down to the common room. 

When I get there, I see that the boys who stayed (Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and Marcus) are already scattered around the common room. Marcus whistles jokingly. 

"Fancy pyjamas, Potter." he says.

I roll my eyes and simply give him the middle finger before walking over to where the presents are. I separate the presents that have my name on them, pick them up and then take them to one of the sofas near the fireplace. I'm about to open my presents when I notice Draco sitting on the same sofa he was on when he received the letter. I don't see any presents around him, so I imagine his presents are untouched with the rest. I realise that he's probably still upset with his parents for not going home. 

The first present I open is another jumper made by Mrs. Weasley, another green and silver jumper, but in place of the letter E (as is my jumper I got last Christmas) a silver snake has been knitted, representing Slytherin. I put the jumper on straight away. The second present comes with a handwriting that I don't recognise.

ιт'ѕ ησт мυ¢н, вυт ι тнσυgнт уσυ мιgнт ℓιкє тσ нανє αη єχρℓσ∂ιηg ѕηαρ тσ ρℓαу ωιтн уσυя ƒяιєη∂ѕ ιη уσυя ѕραяє тιмє. мєяяу ¢няιѕтмαѕ. - ℓυριη.

The first present from my godfather. I open another package, and again I get several sweets made by Mrs. Malfoy, whose handwriting is impeccable. Two Christmas presents from my friends' mums? If I get another present from another mum next year, I can say I'm a hit with them... The last present comes with no letter, nothing to indicate who it's from. The box is from Zonko's. I open it and see various items: dungbombs, frog spawn soap, hiccough sweets, a nope-biting teacup, stink pellets, belch powder, whizzing worms and a sneakoscope. Whoever gave me this is certainly not very responsible... but I can only thank the stranger who presented me with a box full of Zonko's jokes. 

When I meet my brother at lunch, Ron and he tell me that Harry has won a Firebolt, a present that also came without a letter or anything to identify who gave it, just like my box from Zonko's. Could the two presents be from the same person? And why does Harry get a FIREBOLT and I get a box of jokes? Could it be... but it can't be, it's impossible... For a moment it occurs to me that the present is from Sirius Black, our father's best friend and Harry's godfather, but why would he give it to us?

The next few days were relatively boring. I take advantage of the free time to do the remaining homework, Cassia and I explore the castle a bit, but most of the time I stay in the common room, near the fireplace, since it's winter and it's been really cold lately. All the Slytherins who stayed at school during the holidays (i.e. Cassia, Marcus, Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and I) are in the common room sprawled out on the sofas. Cassia watches her cat play around the room while I read a book, when we hear the boys get up and head for the common room door. 

"Where are you going?" Cassia asks, suspicious.

The four of them look at each other. 

"We're going to explore the castle." replies Draco. "It'll probably take us a while to get back, so don't wait for us."

"Nothing you have the right to meddle with, Cassia." says Marcus, and then the four of them leave. 

It's our turn to look at each other, both sceptical of whatever the four of them are going to do. 

"I have an idea." I say, breaking the silence in the room. Cassia looks at me curiously. "Why don't we invite Stella, Carina and Hermione to spend the afternoon here?"

Cassia seems to think of my suggestion.

"They don't know our common room yet, and it's a great time for them to get to know it, since we'll be alone here."

She then nods. I quickly put down the book I was reading in our dorm before we leave. First we pass the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room to invite Stella. Cassia reaches out to knock on the giant barrel that serves as a door when I quickly slap her hand away.

"Believe me, you don't want to do that unless you want to be bathed in vinegar." I say, speaking from experience. I end up having to shout Stella's name so that she can hear me on the other side. 

In a few minutes the barrel opens and Stella steps out. 

"How would you like to visit the Slytherin common room?" I ask. 

Stella immediately breaks into an excited smile. "Yes!" 

"Now we just need to find Carina." says Cassia.

"Ah, Carina and Hermione are spending their days in the library." says Stella, letting out a giggle, which makes me a little suspicious of what she might be giggling about. 

So the three of us make our way to the library to invite Carina and Hermione. We find them both sitting on the floor with books around them, probably doing their homework. We approach them, but they both seem so focused that they don't even take their eyes off the books. 

"I don't want to talk to you two." says Hermione, without taking her eyes off her homework.

I raise my eyebrows, surprised to hear Mione speaking in that kind of harsh tone. Carina raises her head and has the same surprised reaction as me at seeing the three of us. 

"What are you talking about?" Cassia asks.

"Ah..." Hermione says, embarrassed at having confused us. She'd probably mistaken us for my brother and Ron, who'd argued with her at Christmas after she'd handed over his Firebolt so McGonagall could inspect it. I see her face turn red.  "I thought you were my friends..." 

"All right..." Cassia says. 

"What have you come here for anyway?" asks Hermione.

"We've come to invite you to spend the afternoon in the Slytherin common room." I say.

Stella jumps up and down next to me. "We've never been to the Slytherin common room. This is the best time to go."

I watch Carina turn to Hermione, waiting for her to decide. 

"Huh... Isn't it forbidden for students from other houses to go to the Slytherin common room? Or any common room that isn't yours?" Hermione says. 

"I don't remember any specific rules about this..." says Cassia.

"Come on, Mione, it's not like you haven't broken hundreds of rules before..." I say.

"In any case, I doubt the teachers will care, especially during the holidays." says Stella.

"But... what if Draco and the other boys who stayed at Hogwarts on the holiday are in the common room? I don't want to go in there if they are there too." Hermione argues.

"Oh, Draco, my brother and the two idiots won't be there." says Cassia. "They've apparently arranged something very secret to do today, all I know is that they'll probably be out all afternoon."

"Okay then..." Hermione says.

"Come on, then!" Carina says, getting up excitedly from the floor.

We wait for her and Hermione to collect their books and supplies from the floor and then we leave the library and head for the entrance to the Slytherin common room. We stop in front of the snake-shaped stone statue that hides the door. 

"Amortentia." I say the password, and then the snake moves and the door appears.

"Who would have thought that the entrance to the Slytherin common room would be guarded only by a password, like the one in Gryffindor?" says Hermione.

"The password to the Slytherin common room changes practically every week." Cassia says.

And then the five of us enter the room. I can see on Stella, Hermione and Carina's faces that they are enchanted by the common room. 

"Awesome, isn't it?" I say.

Carina nods, looking around. I notice them looking at the windows, which overlook the bottom of the Black Lake. A merperson passes by the window at that moment, causing the three of them to run over to it. 

"How marvellous!" Hermione says. "What just passed?"

Cassia walks up to them. "A merperson. The creatures often swim near the windows, but after a while you get used to the sight." 

I can't help but find it amusing to see Stella and Carina so amazed by the common room, as if they were both poor... We spent the afternoon playing the Exploding Snap that Lupin had given me as a Christmas present. 

Chapter Text

School resumes. On the first Thursday after the end of the Christmas and New Year holidays, Harry and I have our first extra lesson in Defence Against the Dark Arts with my godfather, Professor Lupin. We agree to meet in the History of Magic classroom at 8pm. So after dinner, Harry and I go there together. At no point do Harry and I mention what we'd heard at the Three Broomsticks with Lupin, even though we are both upset that he omitted certain information from us. The whole time we pretend as if we know nothing.

About five minutes after we enter the room, Lupin shows up carrying a large mysterious box.

"What's that?" asks Harry.

"Another boggart," says Lupin. "I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr. Filch's filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real dementor. The boggart will turn into a dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."

"Okay," I say, it really does seem like a good idea not to train with a real dementor.

"So..." Lupin takes out his wand and signals for us to imitate him. "The spell I am going to try and teach you two is highly advanced magic — well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."

Of course I'd heard of it, I got curious when Lupin invited me to extra classes and I decided to read up on the Patronus Charm.

"How does it work?" asks Harry nervously.

"Well, when it works correctly, it conjures up a Patronus, which is a kind of anti-dementor—a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the dementor." says Lupin. "The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon—hope, happiness, the desire to survive—but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you, that the charm might be too advanced for you two. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."

"What does a Patronus look like?" asks Harry curiously.

"Each wizard conjures a different form." I answer for Lupin, who looks at me in surprise.

"Well done, Emma. I see you've been doing some research." he says, smiling proudly. "If we were in class time, I'd give Slytherin five points."

I smile shyly.

"And how do you conjure it?" asks Harry.

"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory." says Lupin. 

I try to think of my happiest memory. When I received my letter from Hogwarts? When I met my friends? When the Weasleys picked Harry and me up in the flying car? Trying to search for happy memories, I start thinking about my parents, about all the times someone has told me how much I look like my mum, and then I start imagining her, Lily, her green eyes like Harry's, her red hair and pale skin like mine. My imagination goes to me being sorted into Slytherin, coming home during the Christmas holidays of my first year and imagining Mum picking me up from King's Cross, Dad and her telling me that they're proud of me no matter what house I'm in, even though I'm in Slytherin. 

"Right," Harry's voice pulls me back to reality.

"The incantation is this..." says Lupin, clearing his throat. "Expecto patronum! Are you ready?"

Harry and I nod anxiously. Lupin switches off the lights. We each hold our wands tightly, waiting for Lupin to open the box. As soon as he opens it, the dementor slowly stands up and walks towards us, well, more towards Harry than me. 

"Expecto patronum!" Harry and I shout, both with our wands pointed at the creature. "Expecto patronum!"

The second time I say the spell, a wisp of something that looks like silver gas comes out of my wand, and I control it, pushing the dementor back and putting it back in the box. I smile proudly at myself for a moment, until I look back and see Harry, looking pale.

Lupin puts his hand on my shoulder. "Apparently it's not just your looks that you got from your mother. Lily was also extremely talented."

I feel my eyes water a little when I hear that. 

"Here..." says Lupin, handing each of us a chocolate frog. "Eat this before we try again."

Harry and I eat the chocolate frog in silence.

"Harry, you might want to select another memory, a happy memory, I mean, to concentrate on... That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough..." says Lupin, before turning to me. "Maybe we'll let Harry try again on his own, Emma?"

I nod, then walk further away from where the box is positioned. Harry raises the hand holding his wand once more before waiting for Lupin to open the box and release the dementor. 

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry shouts. "EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A silver shape identical to the one that had come out of my wand a few minutes ago comes out of Harry's wand, scaring the dementor away. My brother does the same as me and pushes the creature back into the box. 

"Excellent!" says Lupin. "That was definitely a start!"

"Can we have another go? Just one more go?" says Harry.

"Not now," says Lupin. "You've had enough for one night. Here..."

He gives Harry another piece of chocolate.

"Same time next week?" Lupin asks, looking at both of us. 

"Okay," says Harry while I nod.

Harry soon leaves the room, probably not as good as I am at disguising his irritation that the professor hasn't told us about Sirius Black's connection to our father and to Harry. I try to put my feelings about it to aside, because perhaps Lupin has a good reason for not having told us about Black. I stay in the room, just waiting for my brother to leave so I can talk to the teacher about something that's been on my mind since my first year at Hogwarts.

"Professor?" I draw his attention, who hasn't noticed that I'm still in the room. 

He turns round quickly. "Is there a problem, Emma?"

I think about how to start what I want to ask him. "You know, the happy memory I chose... well... it's not real..."

He seems curious about which memory I used, raising an eyebrow as he listens. "If I may ask, which memory did you choose?"

"I started to think of some happy memories, but the ones I had I didn't feel were strong enough, then I started to think about my parents and that led me to imagine myself coming home in my first year, my parents welcoming me to King's Cross both telling me they were proud of me even though I had been sorted into Slytherin..."

Lupin smiles gently. "And you want to know how I think your parents would've reacted to the fact that you were sorted into Slytherin instead of Gryffindor?"

I say. "Yeah..."

"Well, Emma, your mother, Lily, was one of the brightest and kindest witches I've ever met in my life... I'm sure Lily would have been very proud of you, even though you are in Slytherin. Your mum never judged anyone by their house, she even made friends with Slytherins." 

It gives me a warm feeling in my heart, knowing that my mum never cared about anyone's house, knowing that she probably wouldn't care about mine. 

"What about my father?" I ask. 

He sighs before replying. "James... I won't deny that James did have a lot of rivalry with the Slytherins, but we were young, teenagers, rivalry between houses is something completely normal. Although perhaps it wasn't something your father expected of his children, for one of them to be sorted into Slytherin, I can imagine that having a child in Slytherin would perhaps make James start to look at the house with new eyes."

My eyes fill with tears again, imagining my life if my parents were alive.  

Chapter Text

It takes a few extra lessons with Lupin before I finally manage to cast a corporeal Patronus. During this time, the same silver figure comes out of my wand. Harry and I are in the History of Magic classroom practising the Patronus Charm when it finally happens.

"Expecto patronum!" I shout with my wand pointed at the dementor (that is actually a boggart). "Expecto patronum!"

At first the same silvery figure comes out of my wand, but it soon begins to take shape, and then a beautiful doe is formed by the silvery blob. The animal scares the dementor away until it goes straight back into the box. The room is silent for a few seconds after that. I turn to my godfather, who is dumbfounded.

"I... I could... I could never imagine a second year student being able to cast the corporeal Patronus Charm like you just did, Emma!" he says as soon as he recovers from the shock. I can see that it looks like his eyes are slightly watery. "Your mum's Patronus, Lily, was also a doe..."

I feel tears in my eyes when I hear this, knowing this magical connection I have with my mother. Lupin turns to my brother.

"You're expecting too much of yourself," he says. "For a thirteen-year-old wizard, even an indistinct Patronus is a huge achievement. Here—you two have earned a drink—something from the Three Broomsticks. You won't have tried it before..."

Being from the Three Broomsticks, I can already imagine what it is. Lupin takes three bottles out of his briefcase, butterbeer.

"Butterbeer!" my brother says without thinking. "Yeah, I like that stuff!" these Gryffindors and their difficulty in controlling their impulses...

I glance quickly at Harry, silently telling my brother to shut up. Lupin raises an eyebrow.

"Oh—Ron and Hermione brought me some back from Hogsmeade," Harry quickly tries to lie.

"I see," says Lupin suspiciously. "Well—let's drink to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw! Not that I'm supposed to take sides, as a teacher..."

That's great, he's a Gryffindor too. We drank our butterbeer in silence. I am silently rooting for Ravenclaw to win.

"What's under a dementor's hood?" I ask curiously, breaking the silence.

Lupin puts down his bottle thoughtfully.

"Hmmm... well, the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us. You see, the dementor lowers its hood only to use its last and worst weapon." says the teacher.

"What's that?" I ask.

"They call it the Dementor's Kiss," he says. "It's what dementors do to those they wish to destroy utterly. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and—and suck out his soul."

I see Harry spit out some butterbeer. "What... they kill...?"

"Oh no," says Lupin. "Much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no... anything. There's no chance at all of recovery. You'll just—exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever... lost."

Lupin drinks a little more beer before continuing.

"It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The Ministry have given the dementors permission to perform it if they find him."

Harry and I have to try very hard not to show any reaction that might make the professor suspicious about us going to Hogsmeade.

"He deserves it," my brother says, again losing the fight against his impulse.

"You think so?" asks Lupin. "Do you really think anyone deserves that?"

For a few seconds I wonder if the professor might be defending Black. After all, if Lupin was my father's friend when they were at Hogwarts and Black was my father's closest friend, the three of them should be friends, shouldn't they? Unless Lupin and Black didn't get along...

"Yes," says Harry. "For... for some things..."

Just before Transfiguration class, Carina, who is sitting next to me, invites me to visit the Gryffindor common room.

"Don't you think it's a bad time for that?" I ask. "Considering we're in the middle of school year and the common room will probably be full?"

She shakes her head, giggling. "Oh, that won't be a problem."

I raise an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well, maybe this isn't good news for you, but it's definitely good news for me and the other Gryffindors, but... your brother got the Firebolt back."

I roll my eyes and sigh, disappointed by the news.

"I still don't understand what this has to do with the common room." I say, confused.

"We'll go when the Gryffindor Quidditch team is practising. Everyone knows that Harry will be debuting the Firebolt, so I'm pretty sure the common room will be practically empty." says Carina. "Please?" she asks, pouting. "I'm trying to cheer Hermione up a bit, she's been very irritable and also sad..."  

"What happened with Hermione?" I ask curiously.

Carina sighs before answering. "She's had a fight with Ron. Apparently Scabbers, his rat, has disappeared and he thinks it was Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, who did something. Plus she's upset because she feels that your brother is on Ron's side."

I'm still thinking about whether or not to accept the invitation.

"I've also invited Stella to come with us." Carina says.

"All right..." I say, accepting the invitation. 

So Stella and I follow Carina to the Gryffindor common room at the end of class. With a password, the picture of a knight opens and gives access to the room. Carina enters first and holds the door for Stella and me to pass through. 

 Gryffindor common room couldn't be more different from Slytherin's, it's much brighter compared to the dark green that illuminates Slytherin common room because of the Black Lake. Although it may seem cosier due to the warm colours that highlight the common room, it is much smaller than Slytherin's, which has a much higher ceiling and seems more spacious. As soon as I finish observing my surroundings, I see Hermione sitting on one of the sofas with Crookshanks on her lap.

"How cute!" says Stella, approaching the cat. "How can such a sweet creature be capable of..." but she stops herself as soon as Hermione's cat bares its teeth and growls.

"Crookshanks!" Hermione scolds the cat. "I'm sorry, Stella... Crookshanks isn't very sociable, there are few people he likes. For some reason, apart from me, he only lets Harry and Carina pet him..."

I carefully move closer, at the same time as Stella moves away. I hold out my hand, offering it to Crookshanks to sniff. When he sniffs me, he lowers his head and purrs, allowing me to pet him. 

Hermione raises her eyebrows in surprise. "Well, apparently he likes you too... That's odd."

As soon as we all sit down on sofas and armchairs close to each other, Carina strangely close to Hermione on one of the sofas while Stella sits in an armchair and I in another, we start chatting.

"Did my brother ever find out who gave him the broom?" I ask Hermione.

She rolls her eyes. "Your brother and that damn broom... I didn't speak to Harry and Ron for days just because I was worried about Harry's safety!" Hermione says incredulously. "But no, we haven't found out who gave him the present. Why?"

"Well, I also got something for Christmas without any kind of letter or anything to identify who the present came from." I confess. "I got a box full of jokes from Zonko's."

"So it was probably the same person who gave Harry the Firebolt!" says Hermione. 

I nod, agreeing with her.

"But who could it have been?" Carina says.

"Weird, isn't it?" Stella says. "You get a box of Zonko's while your brother gets a Firebolt... Of course, you're not on Slytherin's Quidditch team, but even so..."

"I thought of one possibility, who might have given us the presents," I say. The three of them look at me with wide eyes, extremely curious. "Sirius Black."

"What?!" says Stella. 

"But why...?" Hermione starts to say.

"I know that on the one hand it doesn't make any sense for Black to buy us Christmas presents, but... He was my father's best friend, he's Harry's godfather. That would explain a much more expensive present, since Harry is his godson..."

The other day is the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. I'm in the Great Hall at the Slytherin table having breakfast when my brother and the Gryffindor team appear in uniform, Harry with the Firebolt in hand. All heads turn towards him at that moment, well, actually towards the Firebolt he's carrying. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Draco gawking. 

Several students from other houses approach the Gryffindor table to get a closer look at Firebolt, including some Slytherins like Theodore, Zoe and Daphne. That's when - surprisingly - I see Draco get up from the table with Crabbe and Goyle.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

"Take a look at your brother's new acquisition, can't I?" he replies. I can tell by the mischievous grin that he's probably going to pick on Harry.

I roll my eyes. 

After breakfast, people slowly make their way to the Quidditch pitch. I end up joining Stella, Carina and the Gryffindors like Hermione, Ron and Ginny. When the players take the field, I know I should be paying attention to my brother and his new broom, but... I can't help but notice the new Ravenclaw seeker: Cho Chang. She's very pretty, the only girl on the team.

Madam Hooch then blows the whistle and the match begins. 

"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship..." Lee Jordan begins to comment. "The Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and..." he is interrupted by a shout from McGonagall. "Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal..."

Harry speeds past Katie, Cho not far behind him. Harry tries to throw off the Ravenclaw seeker, who falls behind. I'm almost deafened by the screams of the Gryffindor crowd around me when Katie Bell scores the first goal of the match. When my eyes return to Harry, I see him diving for the snitch, Cho does the same, following Harry. A bludger almost hits him.

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn— Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision balance is really noticeable in these long..."

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!" McGonagall's screams can be heard. 

Ravenclaw scores three goals, leaving Gryffindor fifty points ahead. My brother seems to find the snitch, but is distracted when Cho appears, blocking his view. I wonder if he's also distracted by the girl's beauty, it would be comical if we were both into the same girl... Harry manages to pull himself together, because shortly afterwards he manages to catch the snitch.  

Chapter Text

I'm reluctant to accept Carina's invitation to go to the Gryffindor victory party in their common room, but she and Stella insist that I go, and as I don't want to be the only Slytherin surrounded by a bunch of Gryffindors, I end up dragging Zoe along with me.

It's obviously Fred and George who come up with the idea for the party, who disappear for a while and return with butterbeer, pumpkin fizz and lots of Honeydukes sweets. Many people question them on how they manage to get all that, but I know very well that it's probably because the two of them have memorised all the secret passages out of the school. 

Harry exchanges glances with me when he spots Hermione sitting in a corner of the room reading a huge book. We both go over to her. 

"Come on, Mione, aren't you going to enjoy the party? Even I'm enjoying it more than you... That's a miracle considering how angry I was about Gryffindor's victory." I say.

My brother looks at me offended, but ignores what I say. 

"Did you even come to the match?" he asks her.

"Of course I did," she says. "And I'm very glad we won, and I think you did really well, but I need to read this by Monday."

I see Carina coming towards us.

"Come on, Hermione, come and have some food," says Harry.

"I can't, Harry. I've still got four hundred and twenty-two pages to read!" she says. "Anyway..." she glances at Ron. "He doesn't want me to join in."

Ron couldn't have chosen a better moment to say it out loud, "If Scabbers hadn't just been eaten, he could have had some of those Fudge Flies. He used to really like them..."

Hermione starts to cry, picks up the book she was reading and runs up the stairs that probably lead to the dormitories. Harry, Carina and I exchange worried glances. 

"Let me go." says Carina, moving away and quickly going up the stairs that Hermione climbed seconds ago. 

"Can't you give her a break?" Harry tells Ron.

"No," says Ron. "If she just acted like she was sorry—but she'll never admit she's wrong, Hermione. She's still acting like Scabbers has gone on vacation or something."

I roll my eyes when I hear that. Zoe, Stella and I stay at the party until it's (forcibly) over when McGonagall enters the common room at one o'clock in the morning. 

The next day the topic of the moment (which I thought would be the Gryffindor party) is Ron, who insists that Sirius Black tried to stab him during the night. He may have been very scared when it happened, but it's undeniable how much he's enjoying having all the attention on himself. I don't blame him, as the second youngest of seven children and my brother's best friend, he's always someone's shadow, and I understand exactly what it's like to live as someone's shadow. 

 I'm in the Slytherin common room doing homework with some people from my year when Draco arrives with Crabbe and Goyle. As well as his face showing a mixture of deep irritation and fear, his nose is bleeding. Before I have time to leave my things on the table and see what's happened, Pansy goes first. I can see Cassia rolling her eyes.

"What happened to your nose, Draco?" Pansy asks dramatically. Draco groans in pain when she touches his nose.

"Granger..." he says, his voice raspy because he's holding his nose. 

This catches my attention, making me stand up and approach Draco and Pansy. 

"What did you do this time?" I ask defensively. If Hermione hit him, she probably had a good reason. 

"What did he do?! Look what she did! That Mudblood..." Pansy says indignantly.  

I try to control my anger when I hear Pansy calling Hermione that word.

"If you don't shut up, your first kiss will be between your mouth to my fist, Parkinson..." I say.

"Are you threatening me?!" Pansy says incredulously, turning to me with her chest puffed out.

When things start to get heated (unfortunately not in a good way) between the two of us, some people arrive to pull us apart before the situation gets any worse. I feel hands pulling me back, as Theodore puts himself between Pansy and me and Daphne and Tracey Davis pull Pansy away. I turn round and see Zoe and Megan pulling me across the common room.

The long-awaited Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor arrives. The days leading up to the match are very tense, the rivalry between the houses is greater than ever, so much so that even Harry is wary of being alone with me (or maybe that's Oliver's fault, the Gryffindor captain), perhaps afraid that I'll try to do something to him at the behest of the Slytherins, or try to steal his broomstick or do anything to harm the Gryffindor team. It's absurd nonsense, does Harry really think I'd do something like that at the behest of the Slytherins? Of course not, if I did it would be out of my own free will to beat Gryffindor...

At breakfast I can see that Draco is trying to disguise his nervousness, he barely eats. Of course, he has a huge responsibility at the moment, especially considering that Harry has a Firebolt. 

I go with my friends (and roommates) and the third-years to the Quidditch pitch. When the pitch is full, it's noticeable that most people are rooting for Gryffindor, as the crowd is full of people holding red flags. In the Slytherin supporters' section we're all dressed in green and silver, Professor Snape is in the front row of the stands, wearing green, with a frightening smile on his face...

"And here are the Gryffindors!" says Lee Jordan. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years..."

The Slytherin crowd starts booing.

"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the line up and seems to be going for size rather than skill..." 

The Slytherins boo again. To be fair, Lee is right. Draco is by far the smallest player in our team.

"Captains, shake hands!" says Madam Hooch.

Flint and Wood approach, clasping hands tightly. The sound of the whistle is barely audible over the din of people shouting.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Alicia Spinnet of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good, Alicia! Argh, no—Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing up the field—WHAM!—nice Bludger work there by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by—Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina—nice swerve around Montague—duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger!—SHE SCORES! TEN—ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor crowd roars when Angelina flies close to them. She is almost knocked over by Flint when he collides with her. One of the Weasleys throws his club at him, causing his nose to hit the broomstick hard and start bleeding. 

"That will do!" shrieks Madam Hooch. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Chaser!"

Madame Hooch whistles for Alicia to take the penalty.

"Come on, Alicia! YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY—ZEROTO GRYFFINDOR!"

It's Flint's turn to take the penalty.

"'Course, Wood's a superb Keeper!" yells Lee Jordan. "Superb! Very difficult to pass—very difficult indeed—YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"

Shit!

"Gryffindor in possession, no, Slytherin in possession—no!—Gryffindor back in possession and it's Katie Bell, Katie Bell for Gryffindor with the Quaffle, she's streaking up the field—THAT WAS DELIBERATE!"

Montague, one of Slytherin's chasers, swerves in front of Katie Bell and, instead of seizing the Quaffle, grabs her head. Madam Hooch whistles again for another penalty.

"THIRTY—ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING..."

I see my brother arrive near the Slytherin end, Draco immediately following him. Derrick, one of the Slytherin Beaters, throws a Bludger at Harry, who dodges it. Bole throws another, and my brother dodges again. The two Beaters, clubs in hand, fly towards Harry, who turns round just in time, causing Derrick and Bole to collide with each other.

"Too bad, boys! You'll need to get up earlier than that to beat a Firebolt! And it's Gryffindor in possession again, as Johnson takes the Quaffle—Flint alongside her—poke him in the eye, Angelina!—it was a joke, Professor, it was a joke—oh no—Flint in possession, Flint flying toward the Gryffindor goal posts, come on now, Wood, save..."

The Slytherin crowd roars at the sight of Flint scoring a goal. 

"Gryffindor in the lead, thirty points to ten, and Gryffindor in possession..."

Shortly afterwards, two more Gryffindor goals are scored. The Slytherin Beaters throw the Bludgers at Wood, which hit him in the stomach. 

"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN THE SCORING AREA!" yells Madam Hooch. "Gryffindor penalty!"

Angelina scored. Sixty-ten. Minutes later Alicia scores another goal for Gryffindor. My brother probably spots the Golden Snitch and starts flying across the pitch. Draco catches up with him, holding the Firebolt's tail, slowing Harry down.

"Penalty! Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics!" yells Madam Hooch.

"YOU CHEATING SCUM!" yells Lee. "YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B..."

Alicia takes the penalty, but fortunately misses.

"Slytherin in possession, Slytherin heading for goal—Montague scores... Seventy-twenty to Gryffindor..." 

Angelina scores another goal, making it eighty-twenty. Harry almost dives into the stands before returning to the middle of the pitch to look for the Snitch. Just then, I see Draco diving down to catch the Snitch. Come on Draco... My brother realises Draco is close to catching the Snitch and shoots after him. They get into a heated fight to catch the Snitch until... Harry catches... Gryffindor wins the match and the Quidditch Cup. 

Chapter Text

At last the end of the school year is near. The exams had just taken place. I've just left the DADA classroom when I bump into Harry, Ron and Hermione, all three of them with sad faces.

"What happened?" I ask.

None of the three speak, Ron just takes a note out of his pocket and hands it to me.

Lost appeal. They're going to execute at sunset. Nothing you can do. Don't come down. I don't want you to see it. - Hagrid.

"You're still going, aren't you?" I ask, already knowing the answer, knowing my brother and the other two.

Harry nods. "We're going to use my Invisibility Cloak." 

"Can I come along?" I ask. 

"Sure, we'll go after dinner." my brother says. 

As soon as the four of us have eaten dinner, we enter an empty room in the entrance hall until the school corridors are empty. When the last student crosses the corridors, we cover ourselves with the cloak. The walk to Hagrid's hut is slow, as we make every effort not to uncover ourselves from the cloak. When we get there, we knock on the door and wait for Hagrid to answer. He opens the door and looks round, pale, without seeing who knocked.

"It's us," says Harry. "We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off." 

"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispers, stepping aside to let us in.

Harry pulls off his cloak as soon as we enter.

"Wan' some tea?" Hagrid offers. I see his hands tremble as he picks up the kettle.

I offer to make the tea, since Hagrid's hands are shaking so badly that he's likely to accidentally break something. I zone out of the conversation the four of them are having. When I pick up a bottle of milk to fill the milk jug, I scream: there's a rat right there! Disgusting... My scream attracts their attention as I hear footsteps coming towards me.

"Scabbers!" I hear Ron's voice behind me. "Scabbers, what are you doing here?"

Ron picks up the rat with his hand. I hear Hagrid get up suddenly.

"They're comin'..."

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I turn round quickly. A group of men comes down the steps towards the hut. Dumbledore, Fudge, and one last man who must be the executioner.

"Yeh gotta go," says Hagrid. "They mustn' find yeh here... Go now..."

I grab the cloak while Ron stuffs the rat in his pocket. Hagrid opens the back door for us to go out. There's Buckbeak, tied to a tree near a pumpkin patch. The four of us hesitate to leave, until Hagrid insists so that we don't get caught. I throw the cloak over us. As quickly as possible, we climb the slope towards the castle. Ron stops suddenly. I can see Ron struggling to hold Scabbers in his pocket, but the rat is very agitated. "Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron,"

"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!" Hermione says. 

But Ron can't hold the rat, which continues to squeak. That's when we hear the sound of an axe slicing through the air behind us and knocking Buckbeak down. I hold Hermione as I feel her unbalance on my side.

"We need to get back to the castle." I say. "Dumbledore, Fudge and the executioner will be passing by in a little while." 

Hesitantly, the others obey me, and then we walk quickly back to the castle. 

"Scabbers, keep still," Ron hisses. "OUCH! He bit me!"

Just then I see big yellow eyes glowing in the dark: Crookshanks. 

"No, go away, Crookshanks!" Hermione says desperately.

"Scabbers—NO!" says Ron.

But the rat slips out of Ron's hands and falls to the ground, running away quickly. Crookshanks runs after him. Before any of the three of us can stop him, Ron rips off the cloak and runs after Scabbers. Harry, Hermione and I look at each other for a moment and then run after Ron. When we catch up with Ron, we hear him shouting at Crookshanks and then, "Gotcha! Get off, you stinking cat..." 

The three of us almost fall on Ron. He's on the ground, putting Scabbers back in his pocket.

"Come on, Ron!" I whisper. "We've got to get back."

Before we can do anything, we start to hear the sound of gigantic paws approaching us. The same dog that Harry and I saw the night we ran away from the Dursleys' house. I see Harry try to pick up his wand, but the dog jumps over him before he can reach it. Ron gets up from the ground and the dog jumps at Ron and my brother. Instead of attacking Harry, the dog grabs Ron's arm and starts dragging him away. Before we can run after Ron, something hits me in the face, making me fall and scream. I also hear Hermione's cries of pain. I grab my wand and quickly whisper, "Lumus!"

A few seconds later, Harry manages to find his wand lying on the ground, picks it up and also uses Lumus so we can see better. We're practically under the Whomping Willow. I can see the dog dragging Ron into a hole under the tree's roots.

"Ron!" Harry shouts, but again a branch hits us, knocking the three of us down.

There's silence, then we hear the sound of something breaking. I look round to find the source of the sound, and then I see that it's coming from Ron's (now broken) leg. He disappears down the hole. The tree tries to block our path to the hole, any sudden movement a different branch tries to hit us, until Crookshanks appears, slips between the branches and touches something on the trunk, making the tree freeze.

"Crookshanks!" whispers Hermione. "How did he know...?"

"He's friends with that dog," says Harry. "I've seen them together. Come on—and keep your wands out..."

Crookshanks slides into the hole first, then Harry, then Hermione and finally me. We walk quickly through the tunnel. Now I can better feel the blow that one of the branches landed on my face, I can feel the cut burning and my left eye starting to swell. The tunnel begins to rise before we reach a small opening. As we enter, we come across a dusty room. I feel Hermione grab my arm.

"I think we're in the Shrieking Shack." she whispers next to me.

We cautiously climb a staircase leading to the second floor of the house.

"Nox," we whisper at the same time.

 We see an open door and as we approach, Harry kicks it wide open. The first thing we see is Crookshanks on a bed, purring and looking at us. On the floor next to him is Ron, clutching his broken leg.

"Ron—are you okay?" I ask.

"Where's the dog?" asks Harry.

"Not a dog," Ron says, groaning in pain. "Harry, it's a trap... He's the dog... he's an Animagus..."

We turn round quickly and see a man closing the bedroom door. Sirius Black.

"Expelliarmus!" he says, pointing Ron's wand at us.

The three wands fly out of our hands and the man picks them up. The man's eyes are fixed on Harry.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he says. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful... it will make everything much easier..."

I feel hatred when I hear him talk about my father, and I know Harry feels the same way. That's why I'm not surprised when my brother takes a step forwards. I grab his arm before he can do anything.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" I hear Ron say behind us. I can hear him trying to stand up.

Black takes his eyes off Harry for a moment.

"Did you hear me?" says Ron, leaning on Harry to stand up. "You'll have to kill all four of us!"

"There'll be only one murder here tonight," Black says, his grin widening.

"Why's that?" spits Harry, trying to get away from me and Ron. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew..."

"Harry! Be quiet!" I say.

Harry turns to me, looking me in the eye.

"HE KILLED MUM AND DAD!" Harry roars, green eyes staring into brown eyes.

My brother is so angry that he manages to get away from me and Ron, approaching Black to attack him. They both hit the wall, Black grabs my brother by the neck.

"No," he hisses. "I've waited too long..." 

Hermione and I, thinking the same thing, approach the two discreetly without Black seeing, and we snatch our wands out of the man's hands.

"Get out of the way!" Harry shouts to both of us, now holding his wand.

In our desperation to make room for Harry, Hermione and I collide, knocking each other off balance, and we both fall on top of Ron.

"Going to kill me, Harry" I hear Black whisper behind us.

I turn round quickly and see my brother pointing his wand at Black's heart.

"You killed my parents," says Harry.

"I don't deny it," he says, taking his eyes off Harry and looking at me for a moment. "But if you two knew the whole story."

"You sold them to Voldemort. That's all we need to know." says Harry furiously.

Black opens his mouth to speak, but is cut off by noises from downstairs. The bedroom door opens and my godfather, Professor Lupin, enters.

"Expelliarmus!" the wands we were holding flew out of our hands. 

Lupin nimbly picks them up, striding across the room, his eyes on Black. "Where is he, Sirius?" he asks.

Black points at Ron.

"But then..." Lupin murmurs. "why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless... unless he was the one... unless you switched... without telling me?"

Black nods. Lupin slowly lowers his wand, which was pointed at Black, approaches him and then hugs him.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screams, rising from the ground. "You and him!" she points at Black. "I didn't tell anyone! I've been covering upfor you..."

I stand up afterwards, forgetting the pain and swelling of my face and looking disgustedly at Lupin.

"Our lessons..." I start to say. "I was finally happy that I wanted to meet you because you were my parents' friend... because you are my godfather..."

"I trusted you," Harry shouts. "and all the time you've been his friend!"

"I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now—Let me explain..."

"Don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too, Harry—he's a werewolf!" interrupts Hermione.

There is silence in the room.

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione.  I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead... But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

More silence.

"How long have you known?" asks Lupin.

"Ages," whispers Hermione. 

"You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione." he says, forcing a laugh.

"YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!" Harry shouts, pointing at Black.

"I have not been helping Sirius. If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look..."

Lupin returns our wands and puts his own in his pocket.

"If you weren't helping Black, how did you know he was here?" I ask. 

"The map. The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it..."

"You know how to work it?" Harry asks.

"Of course I know how to work it," he says. "I helped write it. I'm Moony. The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I? You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry..."

"How do you know..." I start to say.

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it... The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by somebody else."

"What?" I say.

"I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be with you?"

"No one was with us!" says Harry.

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled Sirius Black... I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow..."

"One of us!" Ron corrects him.

"Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" asks Lupin. 

"What's Scabbers got to do with it?" says Ron.

"Everything. Could I see him, please?"

Ron then reaches into his pocket and pulls out Scabbers, who is struggling desperately.

"That's not a rat," says Black, his voice hoarse. "He's a wizard. An Animagus, by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

"Peter Pettigrew's dead!" shouts Harry. "He killed him twelve years ago!" he points at Black.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter," Lupin nods. "I believed it myself—until I saw the map tonight. Because the Marauder's map never lies... Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry."

My godfather begins to tell us a story. He was a child when he was bitten by a werewolf. The potion that Harry and I saw Snape give him makes him remain conscious when he transforms. The Whomping Willow was planted the year he went to Hogwarts, as was the house that was built and the tunnel that connects the two. All this was Dumbledore's idea so that he could study here, so that he could transform away from the students. His friends from Hogwarts: Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and my father, James Potter, on discovering that Lupin was a werewolf, transformed themselves into Animagi to keep him company on the full moon. They created the Marauder's Map to make it easier to escape from the castle every month. Lupin was Moony, Pettigrew was Wormtail, Black was Padfoot, and my father was Prongs. He ends by saying that Snape was, in a way, right about him.

"What's Snape got to do with it?" asks Black.

"He's here, Sirius. He's teaching here as well." then he turns to us. "Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons... you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me..."

Then Lupin tells us that Snape had been spying on him, my father and the other two, and Black had the idea of playing a trick on Snape to find Lupin in his werewolf form. My father, on discovering this, saved Snape.

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," Harry says. "because he thought you were in on the joke?"

"That's right," a voice other than Lupin's speaks. Snape removes Harry's Invisibility Cloak and points his wand at Lupin. "I found this on the way here," he throws the cloak aside. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here? I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a goblet full along. And very lucky I did... Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus..." says Lupin. 

"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof."

"You haven't heard everything—I can explain—Sirius is not here to kill Harry..."

"Two more for Azkaban tonight," says Snape. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin..."

"Professor... we could at least listen to what they have to say, couldn't we?" I intrude.

"Miss Potter, you're already facing suspension..." Snape starts to say.

"You—you've got to hear me out," says Black, interrupting him. "The rat—look at the rat..."

"Come on, all of you," says Snape.

Before Snape can do anything, my brother blocks the door.

"Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already," says Snape.

Suddenly Harry points his wand at the professor and shouts, "Expelliarmus!"

The teacher is lifted up and thrown against the wall, falling to the floor unconscious.

"You shouldn't have done that," says Black. "You should have left him to me..."

Black turns to Ron and reaches for the rat.

"Come off it," says Ron. "How do you know that Scabbers is Pettigrew?"

Black reaches inside his robes and pulls out a crumpled piece of newspaper. It's a picture of Ron and the Weasleys in the Daily Prophet, Scabbers on Ron's shoulder. Lupin analyses the picture. "His front paw..." 

"What about it?" says Ron.

"He's got a toe missing," says Black.

"Of course," murmurs Lupin. "so brilliant... he cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed. When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself—and sped down into the sewer with the other rats..."

"Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages..." says Ron.

"Twelve years, in fact," says Lupin. "Didn't you ever wonder why he was living so long?"

My brother still doesn't seem convinced.

"HE WAS THEIR SECRET KEEPER!" he shouts angrily, pointing at Black. "HE SAID HE KILLED THEM!"

Things are starting to click in my head.

"Harry..." I start to say, feeling everyone turn to me. "He wasn't their secret keeper, don't you understand? It was Pettigrew, Pettigrew was the one who betrayed our parents."

Black nods slowly. "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret Keeper instead of me... I'm to blame, I know it..."

 "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, give me that rat." says Lupin.

I see Ron hesitate, not wanting to give him the rat.

"Give him the bloody rat, Ron!" I practically shout, which makes Ron obey and give the rat to Lupin.

Black takes Snape's wand and approaches Lupin, who is now holding the rat. 

"On the count of three. One—two—THREE!" says Lupin, both of them with their wands pointed at the rat. 

We watch the rat gradually transform into a man. 

"S—Sirius... R—Remus..." the man says, turning to Black and Lupin. "My friends... my old friends..." 

Black points his wand at him, but Lupin grabs him by the arm.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about what happened the night Lily and James died." says Lupin.

The three of them, Lupin, Black and Pettigrew, start arguing, Pettigrew still trying to play the victim. I zone out of the conversation again, trying to take in everything that's going on and all the new information, until I come back to reality when Black turns to me and Harry. "Believe me. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them." 

Harry and I slowly nod, finally believing him. Pettigrew gets down on his knees and walks over to Ron.

"Ron... haven't I been a good friend... a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you... you're on my side, aren't you?"

"I let you sleep in my bed!" says Ron, moving away from him.

The man, on his knees, approaches Hermione. "Sweet girl... clever girl... you—you won't let them... Help me..."

She backs up against the wall. Pettigrew turns to me and Harry, looking at me and then at my brother. "Harry... you look just like your father... And you... Emma... Identical to Lily..."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO THEM?" roars Black. "HOW DARE YOU FACE THEM? HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT JAMES AND LILY IN FRONT OF THEM?"

Black and Lupin advance and grab Pettigrew by the shoulders, throwing him to the ground.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort," says Black. "Do you deny it?"

"The Dark Lord...  he has weapons you can't imagine... I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. He would have killed me, Sirius!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roars Black. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Harry puts himself between the man and our godfathers before they kill him.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you and your sister have no parents," says Black.

"I know," says Harry. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors."

"Harry!" Pettigrew says, throwing his arms round Harry's knees. "You—thank you—it's more than I deserve..."

"Get off me," spits Harry. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it because—I don't reckon my dad would've wanted them to become killers."

Lupin then ties Pettigrew up with a spell. After that, he goes to Ron to immobilise his leg and help him up. I remember one detail, "What are we going to do about Professor Snape?"

"There's nothing seriously wrong with him. Perhaps it will be best if we don't revive him until we're safely back in the castle. We can take him like this... Mobilicorpus!"

With that, Snape's unconscious body begins to float. Lupin takes the Invisibility Cloak and puts it away.

"And two of us should be chained to this," Black says, nudging Pettigrew.

"I'll do it," says Lupin.

"And me," says Ron, limping over to the man.

Black conjures handcuffs and locks them on the arms of Ron, Lupin and Pettigrew. Crookshanks jumps out of bed and makes his way out of the room. On the way through the tunnel, Harry walks behind Black, while I walk behind Harry and Hermione behind me last. 

"You know what this means?" Black asks Harry and me. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free," says Harry.

"Yes, but I'm also—I don't know if anyone ever told you two—I'm your godfather, Harry."

"We know," I reply.

"I'll understand, of course, if you two want to stay with your aunt and uncle. But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

"You mean live with you?" I ask, not believing it.

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to. I understand, I just thought I'd..."

Harry and I look at each other quickly.

"Are you insane?" says Harry. "Of course we want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can we move in?"

Black flashes the biggest smile I've ever seen. The rest of the journey is silent. Seconds after we leave the tunnel, a cloud moves and gives way to the moon. Lupin stiffens.

"He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!" gasps Hermione.

Slowly (and seemingly painfully) Lupin transforms into a werewolf. The handcuff that bound him to Pettigrew breaks. Sirius turns into a dog and leaps towards Lupin. Just in time, I see Pettigrew bending down to pick up Lupin's wand.

"Expelliarmus!" I shout, causing the wand to fly out of his hand, but it's too late, he turns into a rat and runs away.

The dog and the werewolf disappear from sight, leaving us alone with Snape's unconscious body. Soon we hear dog whimpers. Sirius. My brother runs off in the direction of his godfather, Hermione following him. Before I can think of doing anything, Ron grabs my arm. 

"No way!" he says. "I'm not going to be alone here." 

I roll my eyes, well, eye, as one of them is too swollen for me to move. Soon we hear a noise behind us. Snape has woken up. Ron and I look at each other before slowly turning to Snape, who has a deadly look on his face. He takes a deep breath before speaking, "Weasley, Potter, both of you to the Hospital Wing before I expel you myself."

"But, Professor..." Ron starts to say.

"Quiet!"

"Hermione and my brother have gone after Sirius and Lupin!" I say desperately. "Lupin's turned into a werewolf, Professor!"

I see that for a second he seems to be considering what to do.

"You two, straight to the Hospital Wing. I'll know if you don't obey me." Snape says, before turning and heading in the direction Hermione and Harry have gone.

I let Ron put an arm round my neck so that he can lean on me, and so we walk to the Hospital Wing. On the way, it's so dark that we bump into someone. I squint to see who it is.

"Carina?" I say, confused. "Why are you up walking round the school at night?"

She seems slightly flustered by my question.

"Well, I realised that Hermione didn't... I mean, Harry, Ron and Hermione didn't come back to the common room at any point, so I... Wait a minute," she says, looking at me. "What are you doing out of the common room at this hour?"

Ron and I look at each other.

"Uh..." says Ron.

"It's a long story. " I say after sighing. "Can you help me get him to the Hospital Wing? He's broken his leg."

Carina quickly wraps Ron's other arm around her so that we can get to the Hospital Wing more quickly. On the way there, we end up telling her everything. Madam Pomfrey, with the help of spells, promptly puts Ron in one of the beds and then gives him a potion that makes him black out. 

"I bet you have a very good explanation for getting here in this state, don't you?" she looks at me.

I'm so tired that I just take a deep breath, which seems to make her take pity and not press any further. 

"Lie down on one of the beds, dear. I'll give you a potion soon so you can sleep and rest."

I walk over to one of the beds and lie down.

"I promise I won't say anything, okay?" Carina reassures me before I drink the potion and black out too.  

Chapter Text

I wake up feeling as if several hours have passed, but seeing Hermione and Harry arrive in the hospital wing in the same clothes they had on when everything happened, I imagine that I haven't been out for that long. My eye is much less swollen than when I first arrived here.

Harry and Hermione don't say anything when they arrive, they throw themselves on a bed as soon as they hear Madam Pomfrey move. "Did I hear the headmaster leaving? Am I allowed to look after my patients now?" she says. 

I'm confused when Madam Pomfrey brings pieces of chocolate to Hermione and my brother as if they hadn't just walked through the door. Seconds later we begin to hear voices approaching from the hospital wing. The door suddenly bursts open and in walks Fudge, Snape and Dumbledore. The only one with a calm expression is the headmaster.

"OUT WITH IT, POTTER!" Snape practically shouts, taking heavy steps towards the bed where my brother is lying. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Professor Snape!" shrieks Madam Pomfrey. "Control yourself!"

"See here, Snape, be reasonable," says Fudge. "This door's been locked, we just saw..."

"THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!" Snape shouts, pointing at Hermione and Harry, spittle flying from his mouth. 

I'm completely confused, I don't understand anything. How did my brother and Hermione manage to save Sirius? 

"Calm down, man!" says Fudge. "You're talking nonsense!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW POTTER!" shrieks Snape. "HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT..."

"That will do, Severus," says Dumbledore calmly. "Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?"

"Of course not!" she says. "I would have heard them!"

"Well, there you have it, Severus," says Dumbledore. "Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I'm afraid I don't see any point in troubling them further."

I may have just woken up after taking a potion that wiped me out, but I couldn't help noticing Dumbledore's words. Somehow, yes, Harry and Hermione were in two places at once. Snape looks from Dumbledore to Fudge, then turns round and leaves the hospital wing.

"Fellow seems quite unbalanced," says Fudge. "I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore."

I have to stop myself from laughing at Fudge's remark about Snape at that moment. Shortly afterwards, Dumbledore and Fudge leave the hospital wing together, and Madam Pomfrey promptly walks to the door to lock it and then retreats to a deeper part of the hospital wing. I turn to my brother and Hermione.

"Can you two explain to me what happened?" I ask.

Harry opens his mouth to speak, but at the same moment we hear a low moan, Ron has just woken up.

"What—what happened?" he groans. "Harry? Why are we in here? Where's Sirius? Where's Lupin? What's going on?"

That's when the two of them explain everything to us. Hermione has something called the Time-Turner, which she got from McGonagall at the beginning of the school year so that she could take all her elective classes and be in two places at once. They, along with Carina, used the Time-Turner to go back in time far enough to save Buckbeak and Sirius, who fled with Buckbeak far away from here.

At midday the next day, the four of us are released. Carina joins us to spend the day chatting about yesterday's events. With most of the students visiting Hogsmeade to enjoy the summer heat and the end of exams, the five of us sit by the lake.

A large shadow suddenly looms over us and, as we turn round, we see Hagrid with red eyes, wiping tears from his face with a giant handkerchief. 

"Know I shouldn' feel happy, after wha' happened las' night," says Hagrid. "I mean, Black escapin' again, an' everythin'—but guess what?"

"What?" the five of us feign curiosity, as if we don't know what Hagrid has to say.

"Beaky! He escaped! He's free! Bin celebratin' all night!"

"That's wonderful!" says Hermione.

I nudge Ron aggressively, who almost bursts out laughing when he hears Hagrid. 

"Yeah... can't've tied him up properly," says Hagrid. "I was worried this mornin', mind... thought he mighta met Professor Lupin on the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin' las' night..."

The five of us look at each other, not understanding what Hagrid means.

"What?" Harry asks.

"Blimey, haven' yeh heard?" the smile on Hagrid's face disappears. "Er—Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin'... Thought everyone'd know by now... Professor Lupin's a werewolf, see. An' he was loose on the grounds las' night... He's packin' now, o' course."

"Is he leaving?" I ask sadly.

"Resigned firs' thing this mornin'. Says he can't risk it happenin' again." says Hagrid.

It seems that Harry and I have the same idea, it must be a sibling connection... We both stand up suddenly, ready to go and see Lupin, my godfather.

"What are you going to do?" Carina asks.

"We're going to see the professor," Harry replies.

"But if he's resigned..." says Hermione. 

"... doesn't sound like there's anything we can do..." says Ron.

But we still decide to go to Lupin. When we get to his office, the door is already open. His suitcase is almost full. Lupin raises his head when he sees Harry and me enter.

"I saw you two coming," he says with a smile, pointing to the Marauder's Map.

"Is it true that you resigned?" I ask, even though deep down I know it is.

"I'm afraid it is," he replies, emptying the drawers of his desk.

"Why?" my brother asks. "The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?"

Lupin goes to the door and closes it.

"No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives." he sighs. "That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he—er—accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."

"You're not leaving just because of that!" says Harry.

"This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents... They will not want a werewolf teaching their children. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you... That must never happen again."

"You were certainly one of the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers this school has ever had." I say to him.

He gives me a shy smile. I don't care that he's my teacher (well, technically he isn't any more), I quickly approach him and hug him tightly, after all he is my godfather. He hugs me back. 

"From what the headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Harry. If I'm proud of anything I've done this year, it's how much you and your sister have learned... Tell me about your Patronus, Harry."

Oh yes, my brother had managed to conjure a corporeal Patronus for the first time last night, when he went back in time with Hermione and Carina. From what Harry told me, his Patronus is a stag.

"How d'you know about that?" Harry asks in amazement.

"What else could have driven the dementors back?" asks Lupin.

According to Carina, my brother even thought it was our father who had conjured the Patronus... What a crazy idea. Harry then tells Lupin his hypothesis.

"Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed. You guessed right... that's why we called him Prongs."

So Harry's Patronus is the same as our father's, while mine is the same as our mother's. Lupin throws his books into a box and then turns to us.

"Here—I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night," he says, handing Harry his Invisibility Cloak. "And..." he hesitates, but hands me the Marauder's Map. "I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving you back this as well. It's no use tome, and I dare say you two will find uses for it."

"You told me Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs would've wanted to lure me out of school... you said they'd have thought it was funny." says Harry.

"And so we would have," says Lupin. "I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his children had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle."

Soon afterwards, Lupin finishes packing his things and leaves us.

On the last day of the school year, the exam results are out. I obviously knew I'd pass everything, which is exactly what happened. What's more, my grades are some of the best of my year, competing with other students like Stella, Carina and Luna.

Harry and I are upset that we won't be returning from school to live with Sirius. We haven't really heard anything from him since he ran off with Buckbeak, which in a way means that he's probably fine. To make my mood worse, Gryffindor wins the House Cup for the third year running. 

We return together in the same compartment, all five of us who know about the events of the night Sirius and Buckbeak escaped. My head is on Carina's lap as she strokes my hair, trying to comfort me for the fact that I'm going back to my aunt and uncle's house. 

"Harry," says Hermione. "What's that thing outside your window?"

I don't even try to look, I just lie there, occasionally closing my eyes, almost falling asleep. When I hear the sound of an animal entering our compartment through the window and dropping something in my brother's lap, I get up, now paying attention. The animal is a small owl, and it drops a letter into Harry's lap.

"It's from Sirius!" says Harry.

This makes me widen my eyes, very curious to know what Sirius has written. My brother reads the letter aloud.

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝐻𝒶𝓇𝓇𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐸𝓂𝓂𝒶,

𝐼 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒸𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝓊𝓃𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓊𝓃𝒸𝓁𝑒. 𝐼 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎'𝓇𝑒 𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝑜𝓌𝓁 𝓅𝑜𝓈𝓉.

𝐵𝓊𝒸𝓀𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓀 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝒽𝒾𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒, 𝒾𝓃 𝒸𝒶𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝑜𝓌𝓁 𝒻𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓈. 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓊𝒷𝓉 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓇𝑒𝓁𝒾𝒶𝒷𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓎, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝐼 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓂 𝑒𝒶𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒿𝑜𝒷.

𝐼 𝒷𝑒𝓁𝒾𝑒𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓈𝑒𝒶𝓇𝒸𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃'𝓉 𝒶 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒. 𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓃𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝑜 𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑜𝓌 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑀𝓊𝑔𝑔𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝓁𝒾𝓂𝓅𝓈𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝑜𝓃, 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝐻𝑜𝑔𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈, 𝓈𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓉𝓎 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓈𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒷𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝓉𝑒𝒹.

𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝐼 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝒹𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒷𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒻 𝓂𝑒𝑒𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝐼 𝓌𝒽𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐹𝒾𝓇𝑒𝒷𝑜𝓁𝓉, 𝐻𝒶𝓇𝓇𝓎, 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝐼 𝑔𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝑜𝓍 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝒵𝑜𝓃𝓀𝑜'𝓈, 𝐸𝓂𝓂𝒶...

"I told you, didn't I?" I look at Carina, with an air of pride, putting my hands on my waist.

𝒞𝓇𝑜𝑜𝓀𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓇𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒪𝓌𝓁 𝒪𝒻𝒻𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓂𝑒. 𝐼 𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓃𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓈 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒢𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔𝑜𝓉𝓉𝓈 𝓋𝒶𝓊𝓁𝓉. 𝒫𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓈𝑒, 𝐻𝒶𝓇𝓇𝓎, 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓇𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒷𝒾𝓇𝓉𝒽𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈' 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒽 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑔𝑜𝒹𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇.

𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒶𝓁𝓈𝑜 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝒶𝓅𝑜𝓁𝑜𝑔𝒾𝓏𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝐼 𝑔𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝓁𝑒𝒻𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓊𝓃𝒸𝓁𝑒'𝓈 𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓈𝑒. 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝒶 𝑔𝓁𝒾𝓂𝓅𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝓎 𝒿𝑜𝓊𝓇𝓃𝑒𝓎 𝓃𝑜𝓇𝓉𝒽, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝒶𝓇𝓂𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝑜𝓉𝒽.

𝐼 𝒶𝓂 𝑒𝓃𝒸𝓁𝑜𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑒𝓁𝓈𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝓌𝒽𝒾𝒸𝒽 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝒶𝓉 𝐻𝑜𝑔𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓉𝓈 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒿𝑜𝓎𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒. 𝒲𝑒𝓁𝓁, 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝑅𝑒𝓂𝓊𝓈.

𝐼𝒻 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑒, 𝓈𝑒𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹. 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑜𝓌𝓁𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝑒.

𝐼'𝓁𝓁 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝓈𝑜𝑜𝓃.

𝒮𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓊𝓈

My brother takes back the envelope the letter came in and pulls out two parchments. The one with my name on it, Harry hands it to me. Carina moves her face closer to see what's written. 

ι, яємυѕ ℓυριη, єммα ρσттєя'ѕ gσ∂ƒαтнєя, нєяєву gινє нєя ρєямιѕѕιση тσ νιѕιт нσgѕмєα∂є ση ωєєкєη∂ѕ.

Chapter Text

The summer break is boring, but at least it's less boring than the last one. The highlight of my and my brother's break has been exchanging letters with our godparents, Sirius and Remus. Well, that's not counting when I got to use the Dungbombs that Sirius gave me as a present - Dudley's room was infested with the smell for about three days. Harry and I were invited to the Quidditch World Cup by the Weasley family, and so it is that I find myself sharing Ginny's room with her and Hermione.

I'm woken up by someone shaking my shoulder. At first I just turn the other way and mumble something, but the person trying to wake me is very insistent. "Come on, Emma, wake up." I hear Hermione's voice.

I open my eyes slowly, blinking several times to see better, when I turn round again and see Hermione standing next to my bed. "Mrs. Weasley came to wake me up." Hermione says. "She asked me to wake Ginny and you."

I sit up in bed and turn towards Ginny's bed, who is still asleep. When she sees that I'm awake and won't go back to sleep, Hermione walks over to Ginny's bed and tries to wake her up. "Frankly, you're both very heavy sleepers..." complains Hermione.

"And are you that annoying with your roommates at Hogwarts?" Ginny says, still with her eyes closed. 

I hold back my laughter. "We're lucky we don't share a dorm with you, Mione." I say.  

She just rolls her eyes and leaves the room. Ginny and I get ready before going downstairs to where the others are.

"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny asks, rubbing her eyes. 

"We've got a bit of a walk," says Mr. Weasley. 

"Walk?" says Harry. "What, are we walking to the World Cup?"

I understand why the Sorting Hat didn't consider Ravenclaw for my brother.

"We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup..."

We quickly have breakfast before setting off.

"Well, have a lovely time," says Mrs. Weasley.

Percy, Bill and Charlie will meet us later, as the three of them can Apparate. We start to cross the green lawn near The Burrow. We walk for a while before climbing a hill and then apparently arriving at the desired location.

"Now we just need the Portkey," says Mr. Weasley.

We start looking for the object that is the Portkey before we hear someone shout. Three people appear, approaching us. 

"Amos!" says Mr. Weasley, approaching the man. We follow him.

When the Weasleys' father shakes the man's hand, I notice his two kids: Cedric and Aster! At least one more of my friends will be at the World Cup. 

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone," says Mr. Weasley. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his children, Cedric and Aster?"

Aster immediately hugs me, then goes to say hello to Ginny.

"Hi," Cedric says, looking at the boys. 

Everyone says hello, except Fred and George, who just nod. 

"Long walk, Arthur?" asks the Diggory's father.

"Not too bad. We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two, didn't we?" he looks at Cedric and Aster, who nod. "Not complaining... Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons — and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy..." Amos looks at us. "All these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh no, only the redheads," replies Mr. Weasley. "I mean... All the redheads except Emma, my daughter Ginny's friend." he says, pointing at me. He turns to the others. "This is Hermione, friend of Ron's, and Harry, another friend..."

"Merlin's beard," says Amos, his eyes widening. "Harry? Harry Potter?"

I roll my eyes, sadly used to all the attention my brother gets. After the shock over my brother, Amos and Arthur go back to chatting normally.

"Must be nearly time," says Mr. Weasley quickly. "Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?"

"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets," says Mr. Diggory. "There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"

Then I'll have a chance to meet Luna!

"Not that I know of. Yes, it's a minute off... We'd better get ready..." Mr. Weasley turns to me, Harry and Hermione. "You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do..."

We all gather round the old boot that the Diggory's father is holding. Mr. Weasley does the count and we're all taken to another place. As soon as we arrive, we all follow Mr. Weasley (everyone except the Diggorys) to the place where we'll be camped until match day.

If I didn't know how magic does unimaginable things, I'd laugh when I was told that we'd all be staying in one measly tent. When we finish storing our belongings in the tent, we all go out to explore the place.

Many familiar people are scattered around here. Two of my brother's roommates meet us, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. In addition, Oliver Wood and the pretty girl Seeker from Ravenclaw, Cho Chang, also pass us by. 

The day of the match finally arrives. All the Weasleys plus Harry, Hermione and I are wearing green because we're rooting for Ireland. We walk through the forest for about twenty minutes until we see the gigantic stadium where the match will take place.

"Seats a hundred thousand," says Mr. Weasley. "Ministry task force of five hundred have been working on it all year. Muggle Repelling Charms on every inch of it. Every time Muggles have got anywhere near here all year, they've suddenly remembered urgent appointments and had to dash away again... bless them,"

We head for one of the entrances.

"Prime seats!" exclaims the witch from the Ministry at the entrance, after having checked our tickets. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."

And then we start climbing the access stairs until we reach the highest point of the staircase and then we enter the cabin. We'll stay in the minister's box.

"Dobby?" I hear my brother ask in front of me. I turn round to see who he's asking, and I see another house elf. 

"Did sir just call me Dobby?" the elf asks curiously.

"Sorry," my brother says. "I just thought you were someone I knew."

"But I knows Dobby too, sir!" the elf says. "My name is Winky, sir — and you, sir is surely Harry Potter!" it's a female elf then.

I roll my eyes for the thousandth time when I hear the same shocked tone at the mention of my brother's name. Winky is the Crouch family's house elf. I join Ginny and Hermione and sit down with them. I start to pay attention again when I hear Fudge say, "Here's Lucius!"

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I turn round quickly. I see Malfoy Senior enter the box and head towards the empty seats behind Mr. Weasley. Right behind him I see Draco, Carina, Stella and finally a woman with half-blonde, half-black hair who I assume is Narcissa Malfoy, Draco and Carina's mother. I can't help but notice how beautiful she is...

"Ah, Fudge," says Lucius Malfoy. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

He doesn't even mention Carina, it's as if he doesn't even have a daughter.

"How do you do, how do you do?" says Fudge, smiling and bowing to Mrs. Malfoy.

 With a charming, polite smile, Carina and Draco's mum speaks, "This is our daughter Carina," she says, pointing slightly with her head at her daughter. "and this is Stella, my niece."

Mrs. Malfoy has already made a better impression than her husband, since she, as well as being pretty and polite, makes a point of introducing her Carina and Stella, seeing that Malfoy Senior deliberately forgot to introduce the two of them.

"And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk, well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else — you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

The mood turns tense when Fudge mentions Mr. Weasley. I ignore the three of them (Fudge, Lucius and Arthur) and greet my friends who I haven't seen since the last day of school. Draco is more restrained when he greets me, perhaps because he's in front of his parents and because my brother and his friends are nearby, but at least he gives me a smile. Carina and Stella promptly come and hug me warmly. When Carina hugs me, I can't help but whisper jokingly in her ear, "Why didn't you tell me that your mum is so hot..."

Stella, who is close enough to hear, holds back her laughter. Carina turns red and slaps me lightly on the shoulder. "Emma!"

As we break away from the embrace, Carina turns to her mum, Narcissa. "Mum, this is Emma Potter. Emma, this is my mum, Narcissa." she introduces us.

Slightly intimidated by meeting the famous Aunt Cissy, I feel my cheeks blush a little. I promptly put out my hand to greet her. I can see her gaze analysing me from top to bottom, she doesn't seem arrogant, but rather curious. I don't know if I'm hallucinating, but I can be sure that, no matter how hard she tries to hide it, I see some emotion in her gaze before she quickly pulls herself together and extends her hand back to me in greeting.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy." I say politely. "And I'd like to thank you again for the sweets you sent me as a Christmas present."

She gives me a restrained but genuine smile. "The pleasure is all mine, Miss Potter." she says. "And no need to thank me, it was nothing. Besides, the sweets were a way of thanking you for the friendship you have with my children," she says, and then keeps her voice down. "With all three of them." she winks. 

As soon as we talk for a while, I settle into my seat between Ginny and Hermione. 

Ludo Bagman, head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, uses his wand as if it were a powerful microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen... welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup! And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce... the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

"I wonder what they've brought," comments Mr. Weasley, leaning forward in his seat. "Veelas!"

"What are Veel...?"

A hundred Veelas glide across the field. Apparently Veelas are... women, VERY beautiful women, perhaps the most beautiful I've ever seen in my life. They possess an inhuman beauty. When they start dancing I feel like I'm going into a trance. This feeling is broken when I hear Hermione practically scream next to me. "Harry, what are you doing?"

I shake my head to free myself from the trance. I see Harry, who blinks several times, as if he had just come out of his trance. Ron, who is next to him, is equally paralysed. When I turn to the other side, where Ginny is sitting, I curiously see that she too seems to have come out of her trance. I start to put the pieces together in my head; the boys all seem to have been affected by the Veelas, but not only boys can be affected by them, since I have been too. What's the similarity between me and them? I like girls too, but if everyone who's attracted to women has been affected, that means... Ginny! 

"What?" Ginny asks me, a little defensive. I only realise now that I should be staring at her. 

"You too...?" I say quietly. 

She doesn't say anything, but her flushed face answers my question.

"And now," says Ludo Bagman. "kindly put your wands in the air... for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

Something like a green comet invades the stadium and then explodes like fireworks, causing what looks like golden rain to fall. Then I see several little men, Leprechauns.

After these presentations, the players from the national teams take to the field, and lastly Victor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker.

"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" screams Ludo Bagman.

The game ends with Krum catching the Snitch and Ireland winning anyway, due to the large difference in points. A few minutes after the game is over, we all walk slowly down the stairs and back to our tent.  

I soon lie down on one of the bunks, Ginny occupies the bottom bed while Hermione takes the single bed in our room. I think I'm out for a few minutes, as I'm soon woken up by Mr. Weasley's shouts. "Get up! Emma — Ginny — Hermione — come on now, get up, this is urgent!"

The noise outside the camp, which had previously been shouts of celebration, was replaced by cries of fear and despair. Ginny, Hermione and I run out of the tent, the three of us holding hands so as not to get separated in the face of all the commotion. Looking to one side, I see a group of hooded wizards walking through the camp. Their faces are covered by masks. Mr. Weasley is right behind us.

"We're going to help the Ministry!" shouts Mr. Weasley to his older children. He turns to us (who are now also with the other Weasleys) for a moment. "You lot — get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"

Fred quickly grabs Ginny's hand and, since Hermione and I are also holding hands with her, the three of us are dragged into the forest. The others follow us, at least for a moment... I see that Harry and Ron are no further away, trying to catch up with us. Hermione, impulsive as a true Gryffindor, lets go of my hand and runs towards my brother and Ron, not wanting to leave them behind. 

When we reach the forest, I notice that things aren't as busy as they used to be, at least not in the camp, since the forest ends up full of people trying to escape. In the dark of the night, in the middle of the forest, it's very noticeable how bright the sky is lighting up. The five of us, Ginny, me, Fred and George, walk around a bit to try to see what is lighting up the sky with a greenish colour.

"Oh, no..." I hear George say.

"The Dark Mark." says Fred, slack-jawed. 

Chapter Text

Needless to say, the mood after the final of the Quidditch World Cup, which was supposed to be one of celebration and joy, ends up being one of fear. At least until the first day of school arrives.

This year, none of us had to go to Diagon Alley to buy our school supplies, since Mrs. Weasley took advantage of the days we were away for the World Cup to buy her children's supplies, as well as mine, Harry's and Hermione's. In the days leading up to our departure for King's Cross, I look forward to a moment alone with Ginny to talk to her about the Veelas situation, but as Hermione shares a room with us, and when you're in the Burrow, you rarely get any time alone, I don't get the chance.

We go to King's Cross by taxi. Considering we're with the Weasleys, who, despite being fascinated by Muggles and their inventions, have no idea how transport works in the Muggle world. Obviously we need more than one taxi to get there. In one goes Harry, Ron, Hermione and Bill, in the second goes Fred, George, Charlie and Percy, and in the third Ginny, Mrs. Weasley and me.

As soon as we arrive, we cross the passage that leads to platform 9 3/4. Even among the hundreds of students, family and friends present, it's impossible not to see Draco and Carina's platinum blonde hair, as well as Narcissa Malfoy's bi-coloured hair. Next to them is Stella, who stands out among the four with her very dark hair. The four of them see me too, as Draco, Carina and Stella give me excited smiles as soon as our gazes meet. Mrs. Malfoy gives me a restrained smile, just like at the Quidditch World Cup. I think about going over to them, but Charlie Weasley's voice pulls my attention back to the family of redheads.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," he says, just after hugging Ginny.

"Why?" says Fred.

"You'll see," says Charlie. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it... it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," says Bill.

"Why?" says George impatiently.

"You're going to have an interesting year," says Bill. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it..."

"A bit of what?" says Ron.

But we hear the train whistle just then. I quickly turn to Mrs. Weasley. "Thank you so much for inviting us to spend part of the summer with you, Mrs. Weasley." I say, giving her a hug.

She hugs me back warmly. "Oh dear, no need to thank me. I always enjoy having you at The Burrow." she says, pushing me towards the train doors. "Now go, please."

She helps Ginny and me with the trunks and gives her daughter one last hug. As soon as we get on the train and stow our trunks, we walk around looking for an empty compartment or one with our friends. Finally we find an empty one and sit down. Then we close the glass door that separates the compartment from the corridor.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for it to be just the two of us..." I say, sighing with relief. 

"Imagine growing up with six brothers..." she says, rolling her eyes. "I love them, but sometimes they're a pain in the arse."

We both laugh.

"Ginny," I start to say, not knowing exactly where to begin. "about what happened in the final of the Quidditch World Cup..."

She opens her mouth to answer, but is interrupted by knocks on the door: Carina and Stella. They open the door a crack before Stella asks, "May we sit here?" she asks as if we haven't been friends since first year. 

I giggle before answering her. "You don't even have to ask, Stella."

Stella opens the door wider and the two enter, then sit down facing us. Ginny and I quickly exchange glances, as if to say that we'll talk later alone, but the two of them apparently notice.

"I feel like we've interrupted something..." says Stella. 

"We can sit somewhere else, there's really no pro..." Carina starts to say, but Ginny interrupts her.

"No, no, it's fine." she says. "You're our friends, aren't you?"

The two quickly nod without hesitation. 

"Well," I start to say. "We were talking about the final of the Quidditch World Cup and..."

"Emma and I went into a trance because of the Veelas." Ginny rips off the band aid. 

We both watch Carina and Stella's reaction anxiously. Carina flashes a huge smile, making me sigh with relief. 

"Really?" she says enthusiastically. "So that means you too..."

"Like girls?" Ginny says. "Yes... Well, I like boys too..." I see her face blush, probably remembering her crush on my brother.

"I only like girls." I admit.

I'm suddenly hugged by Carina, making me widen my eyes in surprise.

"Me too!" she says, happier than ever. "Wow, I've finally found more people I can talk to about this with..."

"I..." Stella starts to say, looking afraid. "In a way, I'm like you too. I don't really like either, boys nor girls."

I crack a smile. "Wow, I think we can now call this friendship of ours a queer group..." 

We all burst out laughing.

"I think there's only a gay guy left to complete the collection..." says Ginny.

"Don't worry," says Stella. "All Theodore has to do is join us and our group is complete."

"I knew it!" I say.

We all laugh again.

"Wait a minute," says Stella, pointing at me. "If you like girls, then that means..." she covers her mouth, holding back a laugh. "That day at the World Cup... were you really attracted to Aunt Cissa?"

I feel my face on fire, and when I look quickly at Carina, her face is also red. 

"And you," Carina says, turning to Ginny. "Ginny! You turned all red when you saw my mum at Hogwarts that day my parents came to watch my brother play! You liked her like that too, didn't you?" she hides her face with her hands.

Ginny turns as red as her hair. Stella and I burst out laughing again. Stella turns to Carina.

"Come on, Rina, you, Emma and Ginny are more alike than you realise..." Stella says.

Carina slaps her arm. "Stella!"

Stella just chuckles. "Carina once had a huge crush on a mum too... Blaise's mum, you know? Blaise Zabini. I don't judge her, after all, Mrs. Zabini really is quite..."

Carina slaps her arm again, interrupting her. We continue to laugh for a long time, and the room is silent except for our laughter.

"And... Do your families know? About... you know..." asks Carina.

Ginny shakes her head. "It's not that I think they're going to be mad or anything, it's just..."

"You don't know how to approach the subject?" I ask.

"Exactly."

"I understand..." I say. "My aunt and uncle don't care about me in general, so there's no point in talking about it with them, but Harry... I don't know how to broach the subject with him, but I don't think he'll have a negative reaction or anything. What about you?" I lift my head to look at Carina and Stella. 

"My mum has already disowned me, so I doubt that anything I do will make a difference. Is there anything worse than that?" Stella says. "Well, maybe there is, she could kill me..." she mutters. "As for Carina, well..." she looks at Carina, who has tears in her eyes. Stella holds Carina's hand, trying to comfort her. She looks at us. "Aunt Cissa found out about Carina recently. It was actually because of the Veelas, at the Quidditch World Cup final."

"Mum noticed that I went into a trance because of them..." Carina says. 

"She didn't accept you?" Ginny asks, both curious and worried.

Carina blinks, letting a few tears fall, before shaking her head. Stella answers for her. 

"On the contrary," she says. "Aunt Cissa reacted surprisingly well, especially considering... you know... The fact that she comes from a pure-blood family and grew up in such a prejudiced home..."

Carina sniffles slightly before she can speak. "I think I had convinced myself that no one in my family, apart from Stella of course, would ever accept me and... and when Mum reacted the way she did, with so much love and affection for me, it was a shock, but in a good way, you know?"

After this sentimental conversation, we start talking about our break and any news that either of us might have.

"Draco is dating, did you know?" says Stella, with a tone of voice like she's telling a good piece of gossip.

Ginny and I gasp in surprise. "Who?"

"Pansy Parkinson." replies Carina, rolling her eyes.

Ginny gasps in shock again, while I frown for two reasons.

"What is it, Emma?" Stella seems to notice it.  

"Poor Cassia..." I say, and then look at Carina and Stella. "She like Draco a lot. Besides, it's a shame..."

"What?" Carina asks curiously.

"Pansy is kind of cute..." I admit, feeling my cheeks blush slightly.

"Emma!" I hear Ginny scold me. "Are you serious? Pansy Parkinson?"

I roll my eyes. "Oh please, says the girl who likes my brother."

It's Ginny's turn to go red.

"I have to agree with Ginny this time..." says Carina. "Pansy is a prick." 

I look desperately at Stella. "You're not going to defend me, are you?"

She giggles. "If we disregard her whole personality," Stella turns to Carina. "come on, she's actually quite pretty..."

We are welcomed to the school by a thunderstorm. As soon as the carriages stop to drop off the students, the students rush towards the castle, entering and quickly climbing the stairs. Everyone ends up getting at least a little wet because of the heavy rain. Theodore joins us in the carriage, finally the queer group in full formation. We update him on the news. We quickly enter the entrance hall as soon as we get off the carriage.

 "At least we're safe now." says Ginny about the rain we caught on the way.

It seems that, like a curse for Ginny having said that, a balloon full of water falls from the ceiling right onto Stella's head, drenching her.

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" she shouts angrily.

We all look up and see Peeves with a mischievous smile on his face. Stella bumps into Carina just as Peeves throws the second balloon. Instinctively I quickly hide behind Ginny, the balloon almost hitting me. She quickly pulls me out from behind her.

 "PEEVES!" a voice yells before he can throw any more water balloons. "Peeves, come down here at ONCE!"

Professor McGonagall rushes out of the Great Hall. As she approaches us, the teacher slips on the wet floor and grabs hold of Theodore's neck to keep from falling. I have to try not to laugh at the scene.

"Ouch — sorry, Mr. Nott..."

"That's all right, Professor..." Theodore says, rubbing his throat.

"Peeves, get down here NOW!"

We walk together to the Great Hall, where we split up. I walk over to the Slytherin table with Theodore. When we sit down, I see Draco chatting animatedly with the people around him. The second thing I notice is Pansy clinging to him, her head resting on his shoulder.

"This year is going to be amazing," says Draco. "I can't wait for the tournament to start."

"What tournament?" I ask, completely lost.

"The Triwizard Tournament, of course!" replies Draco.

Draco, together with Pansy and Blaise, explains to me that it's a tournament between wizarding schools that will be held again this year here at Hogwarts. 

"I'm surprised you haven't heard by now," says Theodore, sitting down next to me. "Draco spread it to the whole of Slytherin during the holidays."

Draco raises his head to look at Theodore when he hears his name. "I didn't... What's that on your neck?"

Theodore's neck is red because of the professor. I hold back my laughter. Theodore elbows me. 

"What's that on yours?" Theo retorts, making me pay attention to Draco's neck, which is marked by a love bite. 

Draco's face flushes. Pansy rolls her eyes. "Don't mind him, he's just jealous, Draco... I bet he'd like someone to do that to him..."

Theodore grimaces. "I'm not jealous..."

"I definitely am..." I mumble, thinking that only Theodore could hear me.

"What?" says Draco, incredulous, his eyes on me.

I feel my cheeks heat up.

"Take your eyes off him, Potter..." Pansy says possessively. "He's mine."

Theodore and I roll our eyes. Pansy definitely hasn't realised that it's her I've got my eye on...

Soon the Sorting of the new students takes place. I pay attention to very few of the students, only Tennis Creevey, Colin's younger brother, who is sorted into Gryffindor like his older brother, and Melia and Megan's younger brothers, who are both sorted into Slytherin. As soon as the Sorting is over, the headmaster stands up.

"I have only two words to say to you," he says. "Tuck in."

Food appears on the tables. Everyone chats animatedly until dinner is over.

"So!" Dumbledore stands up again. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it."

Of course, nobody will want to read it. Well, maybe Hermione...

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year."

I can finally go to Hogsmeade! At least without breaking the rules, since I'm a third year and have Lupin's permission.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year." 

This leads to an almost generalised protest. At least at the tables of the other Houses, since because of Draco, all Slytherins already know why there won't be a Quidditch Cup this year.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy — but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts..."

Before the headmaster can finish what he's about to say, there's a loud thunderclap, silencing the Great Hall. Seconds later, a man opens the doors of the Hall. He holds a long staff, and on his face is an exotic accessory that seems to hold a fake eye. He limps over to Dumbledore. When he gets a little closer, I can see that his face has several scars. He greets Dumbledore and then sits down in an empty chair. 

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore speaks again. "Professor Moody."

This time only Dumbledore and Hagrid clap.

"He's one of the most famous Aurors today." says Theodore in my ear. 

"As I was saying," says Dumbledore. "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year." 

"You're JOKING!" shouts Fred from the Gryffindor table.

The tension that the new teacher has left behind soon melts away. Most of the students giggle at Fred's shout.

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," says Dumbledore. "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar..."

Professor McGonagall clears her throat loudly.

"Er — but maybe this is not the time... no... where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament... well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities — until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

I don't know what Dumbledore has in mind that it seems like every year we have to have some deadly threat at school.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," he continues. "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger. The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

All the students start shouting and talking animatedly, until Dumbledore interrupts.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," says Dumbledore. "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age — that is to say, seventeen years or older — will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion. I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen. The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"

Chapter Text

We stand up and walk down to the dungeons, to our common room. On the way, I hear several people talking about the tournament, many complaining that they can't sign up because of their age. When we get to the common room, lots of people sit on the sofas and armchairs, not wanting to go up to the dormitories yet.

I find a place to sit while Pansy is chattering about her relationship with Draco, one of the only Slytherins apart from Theodore, who has gone up to his dorm. I share a sofa with Melia and Cassia, while my other two roommates sit at our feet on the floor. 

"My parents are very proud that we're dating, you know?" Pansy says to anyone nearby. "Of course, they always expected me to have a relationship with someone from the Sacred Twenty-Eight, but they were still very surprised and happy."

I roll my eyes listening to all this. 

"Draco is almost royalty, isn't he?" I hear Milicent Bulstrode's voice. "After all, his mother is from the 'The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black'. He may not have the surname Black, but he's certainly still one."

Some people agree. I would have had no idea that Sirius was related to Narcissa, and therefore to Draco and Carina, if my brother hadn't told me. As I'm a curious person, I also ended up looking up the family tree in some books, and it was a shock... It turns out that Sirius is the son of Walburga and Orion Black, as well as his younger brother Regulus (a brother who is still a mystery to me, the only thing I know is that he died). Walburga is the older sister of Cygnus Black III, who was married to Druella Black (formerly Rosier), and the two had three daughters: Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa. Bellatrix married Rodolphus Lestrange, Stella's uncle. Andromeda was disinherited from her family when she married a muggleborn, Ted Tonks. Finally, Narcissa, the youngest, married Lucius Malfoy, and the two had Draco and Carina.

 To make things even more confusing, Melia Rosier, my friend and roommate, is Draco and Carina's distant cousin (but actually, since they're both Black, technically everyone, at least among pure-bloods, is their distant relative). Melia is the daughter of Magnus and Seraphina Rosier (who formerly went by Avery), her father is the son of Alaric Rosier, who is the brother of Druella, Draco and Carina's grandmother. In addition, Melia's mother and Megan's father (another roommate) are brothers, making Megan and Melia first cousins, which is why they are very close.   

Maybe I've become a bit obsessed with pure-blood families lately, but being from Slytherin, many of them are mentioned, and I obviously want to keep up with the gossip.

"The Blacks are the royalty of the wizarding world." Megan explains to me in my ear. 

"And have you two... kissed?" Tracey Davis asks in a low voice. 

Pansy smiles arrogantly. I see Cassia cringe in her seat, not wanting to hear about Pansy and the boy she likes.

"Of course..." she says, before bending forward on the sofa so that we can get closer. "Draco had to lie to his mum once when I visited him at Malfoy Manor. There's no way Mrs. Malfoy will let me go alone without Draco inviting at least one other person along. So he invited Theo and me to go, but he had told his mum that it was Carina who had invited me. Theo spent the time with Carina and Stella while Draco and I had some time alone in his room."

"So you mean you've already..." asks Megan. 

"Not yet. We decided to wait a while, you know? At least until we're fifteen or sixteen." replies Pansy. 

Snape, being the Head of Slytherin, appears a few minutes later and sends us all to our dormitories. As we're getting up to go to our room, the fourth year girls approach us. 

"Don't you want to go up to our room so we can keep talking?" Daphne asks. 

We quickly accept and follow them to their dorm. They all sit on their beds, cross-legged, while we third-years sit on the floor. All the third and fourth year Slytherins are here except for Pansy, who has gone to the fourth year boys' dorm to stay with her boyfriend.

"Apart from Pansy, have any of you ever kissed someone?" Megan asks shyly.

They all shake their heads.

"Maybe with the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang coming I'll get a boyfriend?" says Sophie Roper. "Wouldn't it be great to date a foreigner? Have you thought about it? Maybe a Frenchman or a Bulgarian like Krum..."

I'm more interested in French women...

"But wouldn't it be nice if we at least had some practice before trying to go out with someone from another school?" Cassia asks. 

I see a mischievous smile on Zoe's lips. "I have an idea."

We all turn to her curiously.

"There's a very famous game in the Muggle world, especially among teenagers." she starts to say. "It's called 'Spin the bottle'."

We all have expressions of confusion and curiosity, even me who live with Muggles.

"What is this game?" Melia asks, still a little skeptical.

"With a bottle we spin it and the two people it points to have to kiss, very simple." explains Zoe.

I can't believe she came up with that idea... But it's not bad... 

"We would have to kiss each other? But... but we're girls!" says Megan.

"It's just for practice, isn't it? I don't think it's a big deal." says Cassia, to my surprise. 

Melia shrugs. "Who hasn't thought about kissing a girl, right?"

What?

"I'm in." I say.

The fourth year girls also agree.

"Great!" says Zoe. "Does anyone have an empty bottle?"

Sophie gets up and rummages through her trunk before taking out a bottle of water and reaching for Zoe. 

"Everyone come closer, we'd better sit round the bottle." instructs Zoe.

I'm between Cassia and Zoe. Then all of us (there are nine of us) make a circle on the floor and Zoe sets the bottle in the middle. 

"Are you ready?" Zoe asks, her hand holding the bottle.

My heart races. Everyone nods. As soon as everyone responds, Zoe spins the bottle. Within seconds, it stops spinning, lending on two girls: Tracey and Cassia.

"Let's get this over with," says Tracey, clearly nervous and impatient. 

The two stand up and face each other. Both because of their lack of experience and because they don't know where to touch a girl, the two seem undecided where to put their hands for a moment, until Cassia grabs Tracey by the neck, who gasps in surprise, and brushes her lips against the fourth year's lips. 

I look around and see everyone staring, probably thinking "are we really doing this?". 

As soon as the two of them move away, I see Cassia wipe her lips with her hands, removing the remnants of saliva. She sits down next to me again.

"And...?" Megan asks curiously.

"It was better than I thought it would be..."

I turn my head towards the girl she kissed, whose face is on fire. Zoe turns the bottle round again and... it stops at me and Daphne. My heart feels like it's going to burst out of my mouth. It takes me a few seconds to move, crawling over to where Daphne is, and then we're both facing each other, but both sitting cross-legged. 

Seeing my nervousness (although she's probably pretty nervous too), Daphne holds my face with her hands, looking me straight in the eye. "Are you ready?" she asks.

I nod hesitantly. Before I close my eyes, I see her close her blue eyes and bring her face close to mine. I instinctively put my hands in her blonde hair, and our lips touch. For a moment we just press our lips a few times, until I feel Daphne's tongue invade my mouth, making the kiss intensify. It feels strangely good, her lips are soft and she kisses me gently.

As we drive away, I open my eyes, my brown eyes immediately looking into her blue ones. 

"What do you think?" she asks in a low voice, making me feel her breath on my face, as we are still close to each other.

I feel my face heat up. "Ah... Good... Very good..."

I may not have any experience in kissing (at least not until seconds ago), but Daphne's kiss is definitely not the kiss of a girl who is kissing another girl just for the sake of a game...

The next day classes start. In addition to the ones I was already in (Potions, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Astronomy, DADA, Herbology and Charms), as I needed to enroll in at least two electives, I choose Care of Magical Creatures and Study of Ancient Runes. 

 On the way to the Care of Magical Creatures class, I catch up with Carina, who is with Stella.

"I have some news." I say.

They both look at me with eyes wide with curiosity.

"Spit it out, girl!" Stella says impatiently.

"Well, first I found out that Draco apparently used the two of you to have some time alone with Pansy..." I start to say.

Stella gasps in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Carina asks.

"Wasn't there a day during the summer when Draco invited Pansy and Theodore?" I ask.

'Yes..." replies Stella for her.

"And your mum forbade your brother to invite only Pansy, didn't she?" I say. 

Carina nods slowly, trying to understand what I'm getting at.

"Draco lied to your mother saying that Pansy was actually invited by you. I learnt that while Theodore was with you two doing who knows what, Pansy and Draco took advantage of that moment to be alone in his room."

"That blondie bastard..." says Stella, with her hand over her mouth.

"Hey!" Carina says jokingly. "I'm a blondie too."

"But not a bastard..." says Stella. "But your brother is very clever... And do you know if anything's happened, Emma?" she turns to me.

"I know that the two of them have already kissed, but Pansy says that nothing more than that has happened, that the two of them are waiting."

Carina rolls her eyes.  

"She wants to play the prude now..." says Stella. 

"How disgusting to hear things like that involving my brother..." says Carina, shivering with disgust. "And what's the other news?"

"Last night the third and fourth year Slytherin girls decided to play a famous Muggle game, 'Spin the Bottle'... anyway... so I ended up kissing Daphne." I say, feeling a huge sense of relief at being able to tell my friends.

"WHAT?" Stella shouts without meaning to.

I elbow her. "Shh! Don't shout..."

"I'm sorry..." she says.

Carina is stunned, I don't know if it's because I kissed or because of who I kissed.

"She..." Carina starts to say.

"I don't know," I answer truthfully. "But she didn't kiss like it was a game, she seems to have kissed with real desire..." 

Stella is smiling mischievously at me.

"So you liked it then?"

I snort, feeling my cheeks turn pink. "That's not the point..."

"Oh Merlin, you liked it, didn't you?" Carina asks, still in shock.

I sigh and nod in confirmation. 

Chapter Text

I'm heading towards the Great Hall for dinner when Draco, Crabbe and Goyle catch up with me. I immediately realise that Carina's brother is holding a piece of the Daily Prophet in one hand, and I can see a mischievous grin on his face; surely he's up to something.

"What have you got there?" I ask, pointing to the newspaper. 

Draco gives a cynical chuckle before answering.

"Just a little something to pick on Weasley, no big deal..." he says, but even though I'm not looking at him or the other two, I can see the three of them exchanging mischievous smiles. 

I sigh without patience, not wanting to get involved in whatever Draco has planned.

"Where's your little girlfriend?" I ask sarcastically, changing the subject. "I thought you two couldn't keep your mouths off each other, I thought it was impossible for you to be more than half a metre apart."

Without even trying to look at him, I'm sure his face heats up and his cheeks turn red at what I've said. 

"Pansy's with her friends, she'll probably join us for dinner." he says, remaining silent for a few seconds before continuing. "I really wanted to talk to you about it..."

I turn my head slightly to look at him. 

"What's wrong?" I ask, a little unsure of what he wants to talk about.

He pulls me by the arm when we get close to the Great Hall and drags me through the entrance hall so that we're out of the way of the other students. Crabbe and Goyle follow us.

"I'll see you later," Draco says, his eyes on the two imbeciles. 

The two of them look at each other for a moment, as if they're not sure whether they should listen to Draco or remain there, but then they turn and join the students entering the Great Hall. Draco, seeming to struggle a little, looks into my eyes. Looking directly into his eyes, I realise how much it feels like I'm looking into Carina's eyes, and for a moment I catch myself thinking about how, even though their eyes are very similar, Carina's bring me a warmth and comfort that I don't see in her brother's eyes. 

"We're friends, aren't we?" is the first thing he says to me. 

I nod slowly, afraid of what he's getting at. 

"Can you be honest with me, then?" he asks me.

"Alright..." I reply, still apprehensive.

Draco takes a deep breath before asking the question. "Do you fancy me?"

He doesn't need to clarify what he means, I know he's asking if I'm interested in him romantically. I know that the expected reaction from me would be to blush or somehow show embarrassment at him for asking this question, but the only reaction I can manage is to laugh. I laugh so hard that when I pull myself together I end up having to wipe the corners of my eyes dry because of the tears. When I look at him again, I see that he looks completely confused.

"What's so funny?" he asks, sounding offended. 

"Oh, Draco, you really are full of yourself, aren't you?" I say in a light tone. 

"What?" he asks, still confused.

"No, I don't fancy you." I answer his question.

Although I answered him, it doesn't seem to have eased his confusion, in fact it seems to have left him even more lost.

"But..." he begins. "Last night... You... you said you were jealous and..."

I nod. "Yes, I did." I confirm.

"But then if you were jealous of Pansy because she is..."

"I never said it was Pansy I was jealous of." I interrupt him.

Am I really going to come out to Draco Malfoy? Not even Carina came out to him... I so wish I had a video camera to record the change of expression on Draco's face. For a few seconds he's even more confused, lost in thought trying to make sense of what I've said, a moment later his reaction is obvious when he finally connects the dots and understands what I meant, as his face manages to turn even paler than it usually is. 

"You... you're..." he begins to stutter, speechless.

I nod. "That's right, blondie."

He looks me in the eye, and for a second I can swear he looks disgusted, making my heart race.

"You're a dyke!" the tone of his voice is definitely not a good sign.

I think that if it were possible, my eyes would be on fire with rage right now. I slap him so hard on the cheek that the noise echoes through the hall. I point my finger at him. 

"Don't ever call me that!" the tone of my voice is deadly, so much so that it makes him take a step backwards.

He immediately puts a hand to his cheek, covering it. He's in shock, I don't know if more from the information or the slap. I turn my back to him, ready to leave him alone and go into the lounge, when he pulls me by the wrist. 

"Hold on!" he says.

I huff out of patience.

"That's... that's not right! You like girls? That's disgusting!"

I roll my eyes when I hear that.

"Do you think it's disgusting that I like girls?" I ask.

He nods quickly. "Yes! Exactly what I said!"

Despite the anger and hurt, I manage to give him a mocking smile. "So are you gay?"

I'm sure my response leaves him speechless. He tries to argue, but only stammers. I turn round again to go to dinner, but he still hasn't let go of my wrist. Just in time, a group of Gryffindor students arrive, including my brother and Carina.

"What's going on here?" Carina asks, seeing Draco's red cheek. 

When I look into her eyes, that's when I realise I was holding back tears. 

"He knows about me." I say in a whisper, loud enough for Carina to hear. 

She's smart enough to understand what I'm talking about. I see her stare for a second, then cover her mouth with her hand, without reaction.

"Malfoy, let go of my sister!" says Harry, grabbing Draco's hand that was holding me and letting go. 

Everything happens quickly. The three of us turn towards the Great Hall, about to join the Gryffindors, when we hear a noise and Harry steps back, immediately putting a hand to his face. 

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" we hear the voice of a professor, Professor Moody, coming down the stairs with his wand pointed behind us where Draco is.

When we turn round to see what he's done to Draco, the only thing we see on the ground is a small animal, a white ferret. As soon as Moody starts limping towards the animal, he starts running in fear, towards the dungeons. 

"I don't think so!" says Moody, pointing his wand at the animal. 

The ferret, or rather Draco, rises a few metres into the air and falls to the ground. 

"I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned," says the teacher, still bouncing the ferret in the air. "Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do..."

"Professor Moody!" we hear another teacher's voice.

Professor McGonagall comes down the stairs. 

"What — what are you doing?" she asks, looking at the ferret.

"Teaching," he says.

"Teach — Moody, is that a student?" she shrieks.

"Yep,"

"No!" she rushes down the stairs and raises her wand, pointing it at the ferret that seconds later turns back into Draco.

Draco stands up quickly, his face frightened.

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment!" McGonagall says. "Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?"

"He might've mentioned it, yeah," Moody says, scratching his chin. "but I thought a good sharp shock..."

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!"

"I'll do that, then," he says, staring at Draco.

"My father will hear about this," I hear Draco mutter.

Carina, who had been by my side until now, leaves me with an angry expression on her face and approaches her brother. Harry accompanies me to the entrance of the hall, Hermione and Ron joining us.

"What happened? Are you all right?" my brother asks.

"It was no big deal, Harry..." I shake my head, trying to defuse the situation. "I just..."

"You just what?" Harry asks, his tone soft and warm. 

I take a deep breath. "Draco found out that I like girls." 

I know very well that the other two are listening too. I close my eyes, not prepared for another bad reaction. 

"Was that it?" says Harry, making me open my eyes again.

When my brown eyes meet his green ones, I see no disgust, no disappointment, no bad reaction. I nod. Harry hugs me, making me cry. I feel hands on my shoulder that aren't my brother's, comforting me. 

"Great, now you, Harry and I finally have something in common." says Ron.

I giggle, relieved that they've reacted well. As soon as we break the embrace, Ron and Hermione quickly hug me too. Hermione dries my tears. 

"Malfoy's an idiot, don't listen to what he says, okay?" she says. 

I nod, smiling in thanks at her. Hesitantly, I break away from them as we enter the hall, the three of them heading for the Gryffindor table while I make my way to the Slytherin table. I feel several eyes on me, probably noticing my red eyes and swollen face. I sit down next to Theodore, leaning my head on his shoulder. 

"What's wrong?" he asks worriedly.

"Draco found out," I reply, which is enough for him to understand what I mean. 

He looks at me with slightly wide eyes before engulfing me in a tight hug. "I'm sorry he reacted badly."

I realise that many of the Slytherins must be watching us, but at the moment I don't care. I see the worried looks on my friends' faces, but I quickly give them a look as if I'm telling them to ask me later. For a second I thank Draco internally for diverting attention away from me when he arrives in the hall, as everyone turns to him, noticing the red handprint on his face. He walks quickly with his head down to the Slytherin table, and chooses to sit away from all of us. I hear whispers of people asking him what happened, but all he says is "nothing". Throughout dinner I feel Draco's eyes on me from time to time.

It seems to take forever for dinner to finish. As soon as it's over, Draco is the first to get up from the table and quickly leave the room. Everyone looks at each other, curious and confused. 

When we reach the common room, there's no sign of Draco anywhere. Someone touches my shoulder, making me turn round. 

"Why don't we go up to your room? So we can talk more?" I'm surprised to see Daphne.

I nod, and she leads me to my dorm. Seconds after we enter, my roommates join us. They all sit on their beds, except for Daphne, who sits on mine and pulls me to sit next to her. 

"You crying and the mark on Draco's face have something to do with it, don't they?" Cassia asks. 

I nod again, sniffling. We all sit in silence for a few seconds. 

"What happened between you?"

Looking into each of their eyes, I take a deep breath before asking, "Do you promise not to react badly to anything I say?"

They all nod without hesitation.

"Draco found out that I... well... that I... he found out what I am." I say, avoiding looking any of them in the eye.

"And what are you?" asks Megan, genuinely curious.

I take a deep breath before answering her. "I'm... gay." I say. "Well, technically I'm a lesbian, actually..." 

I feel some of them hold their breath as they hear my confession. Daphne affectionately puts a hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention.

"It's okay." she's the first to break the silence. 

"It's... okay?" I say, trying to confirm what I've just heard. "Aren't you disgusted? Upset?"

"Of course not, Emma," another voice makes me quickly turn my head in her direction: Zoe. "After all, this isn't something you can control, is it? It's not a choice."

I nod my head. 

"I..." I hear Daphne's voice, making me turn back to her. "I like girls too."

 I knew it!

"Really?" I play dumb.

Daphne giggles before nodding. "I thought our kiss had answered that question."

Fortunately, none of them react negatively, there is only surprise, shock and curiosity.

"But what happened between you and Draco anyway?" Melia asks.

I turn to her before sighing, my mood worsening a little as I remember what happened hours ago.

"Draco came to talk to me as I was walking towards the Great Hall," I start to say. "when he pulled me into the entrance hall and asked me if I liked him."

"Why would he think that?" Cassia asks.

"That boy's full of himself, isn't he?" says Megan.

We all laugh.

"He thought I was jealous of Pansy for being with him..." I say. "When in fact I was jealous of him for being with Pansy."

Cassia puts a hand to her chest. "I can accept you being gay, Emma, but it's unacceptable for you to have a crush on the pug faced girl."

We all burst out laughing after that.

Chapter Text

The next morning my mood is better. My friends managed to console and comfort me last night after the situation with Draco. Even so, thinking about him, about a person I'd considered my friend until then, and about how he's doing, still hurts, even though I have the support of other friends.

I get ready and leave the Slytherin common room in the direction of the Great Hall, just like any other day. I bump into Carina on the way. I quickly say a quick goodbye to my friends, asking them to take a seat for us at the table. 

"How are you?" she asks me, her voice expressing genuine concern. 

"Better than last night, that's for sure." I reply with a sigh. "The girls surprisingly accepted and comforted me yesterday after dinner."

I see surprise on her face when she raises her eyebrows at me. 

"Even Megan and Melia?" she asks, not believing that the girls, some of whom she has probably known since she was a little girl, would accept me, considering the whole blood purity issue.

I nod. "Even them. To tell you the truth, Daphne revealed that she likes girls too, can you believe it?" I say. 

"Are you serious?" she asks incredulously. "Who knew?" she mumbles to herself. "Anyway, I wanted to apologise to you."

I frown, confused as to why she wants to apologise.

"I really wish I'd been able to console and comfort you yesterday, I know it must have been difficult to hear whatever my brother said."

"Rina," she smiles when, for the first time, I use the nickname that only Draco and Stella usually call her. "there's no need to apologise to me for that. Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to console me very well. Besides, even though it was hard to hear the things he said from someone I consider my friend, he's your brother, so I imagine it must have been even worse for you to see that he reacted badly, considering that you're like me too."

Her eyes fill with tears and she nods. "Yeah, that really got to me..." she says, looking down.  

I hug her, trying to comfort her.

"I came out to him, you know?" she says, her arms still around my waist. "I think it was stupid of me, in the heat of the moment I ended up telling him and... of course... he didn't react well at all... I think deep down I was hoping he'd put aside the prejudices we'd been taught and prioritise his love for me..."

 I quickly pull away from the embrace after hearing that. My arms let go of her neck and I look into her eyes, brown eyes meeting her gray ones, the same eyes as her brother's, but which, unlike Draco's, bring me peace, a warmth in my heart.

"I... I'm so sorry..." I say, taking one of her hands and squeezing it in an attempt to comfort her. "I know you're close and you'd like him to be more understanding, especially when it comes to this..."

"All right... I was the naïve one who thought he'd accept me..." Carina says with a sad smile. "Besides, at least my mum took it well, didn't she? I think that makes me a little happier... I ended up writing to her last night, telling her what had happened."

"You just clung on in the hope that he, even with your family's upbringing, would still accept you, I understand that." I say, tucking a lock of her platinum blonde hair behind her ear. "As for your mum, considering everything I know about her, I think she's going to send your brother a letter scolding him."

She sighs. "I hope so."

We go to the Great Hall together and split up when we arrive, Carina going to the Gryffindor table while I go to the Slytherin table. I see that Draco is already seated and, going against what I usually do, I purposely sit away from him, next to Theo, who surprisingly is also sitting away from Draco.

"Why are you sitting away from him? Aren't you two almost like brothers?" I ask curiously.

"For the same reason you're here." he says, sighing. "Yesterday when I got to the dorm I could swear he was crying, but he tried to hide it."

"Carina came out to him yesterday just after our fight." I say in his ear in a whisper. 

 His eyes widen. "So it's no wonder he was like that... Poor Carina..." Theo says, scratching his head.

Soon breakfast is served and owls begin to enter the hall, spreading out on the tables and delivering letters and presents. I keep my eye on Draco, waiting anxiously to see if any letters arrive. Theodore seems to realise my attention is on something else, as he shakes my shoulder slightly, drawing my attention. I turn my head towards him quickly.

"I want to see Draco's reaction. Carina sent a letter to their mum yesterday telling her everything that happened, I bet she must have written a letter to him." I whisper. 

Now we're both watching the pale blondie. An owl flies over the Slytherin table and drops a letter in front of Draco. Only one letter. There's no box of homemade sweets made by Narcissa herself or anything like that. It makes my heart race, surely it must mean something.

"Aunt Cissa didn't send anything!" whispers Theo next to me. "She must have been furious..."

Draco opens the letter with an expression of indifference on his face, probably with no idea of what's to come. I watch his eyes slowly move as he reads the letter. He swallows hard at one point, and it's noticeable that his hands are trembling as he holds the piece of parchment. Pansy, who is standing next to him, calls out to him, without noticing the look of... Sadness? Regret? Fear? in her boyfriend's eyes. He doesn't even hear her.

Theo and I look at each other, our eyes wide with curiosity as to what the letter contained. When our gazes return to Draco, I see that he is already looking at us, more precisely at me, with the same reaction to reading his mother's letter. I quickly look away, my eyes going straight to my plate.

At the end of class and after dinner, I get up from the table about to follow my friends back to the common room when Draco grabs my arm, making me turn towards him.

"Can I talk to you?" he asks in a low voice. 

"Fine." I say a little impatiently, not knowing what to expect. 

I see Theo, Daphne and Zoe give me worried looks. I flash a quick smile and try to tell them that they can go, that everything is fine.

We walk slowly out of the Great Hall, letting other students pass us. As Carina, my brother and some other Gryffindor students pass us, I see my brother step forward as if he's about to intervene and defend me, but Carina grabs his wrist and whispers something in his ear before her gaze meets mine and she nods, indicating that everything is fine. Draco and she must have talked at some point after he received the letter. 

"You got scolded by your mummy didn't you?" I ask sarcastically, being the first of us to break the deafening silence between us.

He lifts his head and looks at me for a moment without understanding how I guessed.

"How did you..." he starts to say, but interrupts himself with a huff. "Carina, wasn't it?"

I nod. "She told me about the letter she sent to your mum." I reply.

"And then I'm the noisy one..." he mutters to himself.

"What do you want?" I ask, sighing.

I see that he seems to be in an internal struggle with his thoughts before he answers me. "I... I want to apologise to you."

I'm surprised, arching my eyebrows when I hear that. "Draco Malfoy apologising to me? The scolding must have been serious then..."

He rolls his eyes. "I'm beginning to regret having apologised..." he says. "I realise that... that what you are... you didn't choose..." 

I nod, encouraging him to continue.

"What I want to say is that I regret having said what I said, having called you... you know. Sometimes it's hard for me to unlearn certain things I've been taught, you know what I mean, don't you?"

"I know, Draco." I say, taking a deep breath. "Even though I still think you sometimes use it as an excuse not to reflect on the things you've learnt... Carina and you grew up with the same parents, in the same environment, listening to the same prejudices..."

"What?! I don't..." he starts to say defensively. He sighs before continuing, as if he's trying to calm down and think rationally. "It's not that... It's just that... Carina and I didn't have exactly the same upbringing..."

It makes me curious, trying to understand what he means by that. I look at him as we walk.

"I'm the heir. My father has always put a lot more pressure on me than on my sister. And because of that, he's also been much more involved in my upbringing and education than Carina's." he explains.

I nod my head. "I see. All that pressure must be awful... But at least your mum will make up for it a bit, at least from what Carina says, it seems that way."

"Mum always tried to make up for our father's... tougher ways. Even more so with Carina, I never got round to asking, but I'm pretty sure that Mum's dream has always been to have a girl, at least that's what it seems from the way she treats her."

"Jealous of your little sister?" I tease him.

He chuckles. "Normal between siblings, isn't it?" he says, arching his eyebrows as if I'm going to understand.

"I wouldn't know..." I say.

He clears his throat, forgetting for a brief moment that I don't have parents alive to understand what he means.

"Oh yeah... Anyway, I partly understand Mum being closer to my sister, I think she's trying to make up for the fact that my father clearly prefers me." he turns to me. "I really like you, Emma, and I know I was an idiot. Can we still be friends?" he asks, holding out his hand.

I look at his hand and then at him, putting a finger to my chin and pretending to think.

"All right." I say with a smile before taking his hand and there we make up.

October is fast approaching, and with it, the arrival of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students. We're released early from class to take the supplies back to the common room before welcoming the two schools. As we reach the entrance hall, I see the Heads of Houses organising the students into rows.

"Follow me, please," says Professor McGonagall. "First years in front... no pushing..." 

We're organised by year. Just as the teacher instructed, the first years are at the front, the second years behind them, and all the third years and I are behind the second years, and so on.

"Nearly six," I hear Ron comment from the back row. "How d'you reckon they're coming? The train?"

"I doubt it," says Hermione.

"How, then? Broomsticks?" my brother says. 

"Of course, Harry. Dozens of students from I don't know what country flying around on broomsticks..." I say sarcastically.

I can hear Draco's classic chuckle, also from the back row.

"A Portkey?" says Carina.

"Or they could Apparate — maybe you're allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?" says Stella.

"You can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds." says Hermione impatiently.

We all look around the grounds excitedly, waiting for the students to arrive.

"I wish they'd get here soon, I'm starving..." says Aster.

We stare at nothing for a few minutes, the silence and darkness taking over the grounds.

"Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!" says Dumbledore loudly from the last row, where the teachers are.

"Where?" a lot of students ask.

"There!" shouts a sixth or seventh year student.

I squint my eyes and look up at the sky, trying to recognise what is flying towards the castle.

"It's a dragon!" I hear a first year shriek.

"Don't be stupid... it's a flying house!" says Dennis Creevey.

Incredibly, his guess was closer than the girl's... A gigantic shadow flies over the Forbidden Forest and soon the castle lights illuminate the huge thing: a light blue carriage the size of a house is pulled by a dozen winged horses.

The carriage soon lowers and lands, making me see the Beauxbatons coat of arms on the door. The door soon opens and out of the carriage jumps a boy in light blue robes. He fiddles with something in the carriage and opens a little golden staircase. He soon steps back, leaving room for a gigantic woman to climb down. 

Dumbledore is the first to start applauding, and the students follow soon after. The woman smiles graciously and turns to Dumbledore, holding out her hand for him to kiss. 

"It must be the school headmistress," I whisper to Cassia, who is standing next to me. 

"My dear Madame Maxime," says Dumbledore. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr," she says, with a strong but beautiful French accent. "I 'ope I find you well?"

 "In excellent form, I thank you," answers Dumbledore.

"My pupils," she says, waving behind her.

I turn my attention behind her, where I see about a dozen students in Beauxbatons uniform, all of whom must be about seventeen. Poor things, they're all shivering because of their thin silk robes.

"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" asks Madame Maxime.

"He should be here any moment," says Dumbledore. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"

"Warm up, I think, but ze 'orses..."

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them, the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other — er — charges."

"My steeds require — er — forceful 'andling," she says.

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job," says Dumbledore.

"Very well, will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

"It will be attended to," says Dumbledore.

"Come," Madame Maxime says, turning to the students.

We move aside to make room for them to pass. As soon as they enter the castle, silence overtakes us again. Until we hear a noise.

"Can you hear something?" asks Zoe from my other side.

"The lake!" yells Lee Jordan. "Look at the lake!"

Something happens in the lake that causes it to bubble up in the centre. A whirlpool appears just before a long mast emerges from the lake. A ship slowly rises out of the water.

Minutes later we hear the sound of the anchor being thrown into the water and the sound of what seems to be the ship's door being opened. From the silhouettes of the people getting off the ship, they look like students with a large build. As they get closer, I see that they are all wearing animal-skin cloaks, which gives the impression that they are bigger. They are all wearing the same coloured cloaks, except for one man, who I assume is the headmaster.

"Dumbledore!" he calls. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff,"

He shakes Dumbledore's hand when he reaches him. His accent isn't as strong as Madame Maxime's.

"Dear old Hogwarts," he says, looking at the castle. "How good it is to be here, how good... Viktor, come along, into the warmth... you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold..."

He signals to one of his students, none other than Viktor Krum.

Chapter Text

As soon as Krum and the rest of the Durmstrang delegation go up the stairs and past us, the Hogwarts students come up behind them. I can see Ron up ahead freaking out about the Quidditch player, looking so obsessed that it makes me question his sexuality... Soon we are in the Great Hall, where the Beauxbatons delegation is already sitting at the Ravenclaw table.

Just before I take my place at the Slytherin table, I see the Durmstrang students doing the same. Draco makes a point of sitting next to Krum. I sit next to Daphne, Tracey Davis and my roommates. Curiously, I stretch a little to get a peek at the Ravenclaw table, specifically the girls from Beauxbatons, who are much more interesting than anyone from Durmstrang. Luna is lucky! She's right next to them, even though all the students at the school don't seem very happy to be here... They look at the hall with looks of judgement and arrogance.

Soon all the students from the three schools are settled at the tables in the Houses. The teachers sit down, now next to Karkaroff and Maxime. Dumbledore is the only one standing.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and — most particularly — guests," he says, smiling at the students from the other schools. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable. The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

And then the tables fill up with food. I'm surprised - and delighted - that there seems to be an even greater variety of dishes, many of them unknown to me. After serving my plate, I look around and notice how the hall is more colourful than usual, full of black robes. The blue robes of the Beauxbatons staff and the red robes of the Durmstrang students bring a little more colour.

When everyone has finished eating and the golden plates have been cleared away, the headmaster stands up again.

"The moment has come," says Dumbledore. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket...  But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation."

I realise that there is more applause for Bagman than for Crouch. Blaise, who is sitting relatively close to where I am, bends down a little to explain.

"He was a famous Beater a few years ago."

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," continues the headmaster. "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts." he turns to Filch. "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

He approaches Dumbledore, carrying a wooden chest encrusted with jewels. I see Astoria Greengrass, Daphne's younger sister, trying her best to see.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," says Dumbledore, while Filch leaves the object on the table in front of the headmaster. "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways... their magical prowess — their daring — their powers of deduction — and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

"My brother did all that for free..." I whisper to Zoe, who giggles.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," continues Dumbledore. "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

He takes out his wand and taps the lid of the casket three times. The lid opens and he thrusts his hands inside, pulling out a large goblet. On top of it I can see blue flames. He closes the lid and puts the goblet on top for everyone to see.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," says the headmaster. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete."

A buzz begins among the students.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," continues Dumbledore. "I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line. Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

I get up and walk down to the dungeons with the other Slytherin students.

"Who do you think could sign up for the tournament?" Daphne asks.

"I've heard that Diggory is the biggest name in Hufflepuff." replies Cassia.

"Diggory?" says Blaise. "If he's as good as he is at Quidditch, we're screwed..."

"It would be amazing to see a Slytherin taking part, wouldn't it?" says Melia.

"Does anyone know who from Slytherin is planning to participate?" Megan asks.

"I heard from Draco that Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick want to sign up." says Theo.

"I hope that at least one of the three champions is a girl..." I say with a sigh. Theo puts an arm round my neck and hugs me from the side.

"That's the only way to get you to pay attention to the tournament, isn't it?" he says with a grin.

 I roll my eyes. But he's not entirely wrong...

I go up to the Great Hall the next morning. I'd forgotten that the goblet was in the entrance hall, so for a moment I'm confused to see so many people there. I soon find some Gryffindors, including Carina and Ginny, and join them.

"Has anyone put their name in yet?" I ask as I approach them.

"From what Stella said, only the students from Durmstrang." replies Ginny.

A few seconds later we hear voices running up the stairs that lead to the entrance hall. The three of us turn towards the noise and soon see Fred, George and Lee running and laughing. They say something to Harry and Ron before walking over to the line drawn around the goblet. Everyone in the hall is paying attention to the three of them, knowing that none of them are seventeen. Fred crosses the line and George follows. Fred then places his name on the goblet. The feeling is that everyone in the room has stopped breathing for a moment, waiting for something to happen.

The next moment there is a loud hiss and the twins land outside the golden line drawn around the Goblet of Fire. They fall a few metres away from the goblet, and when I squint my eyes to see them better, I see that they both have matching white beards. I cover my mouth as I laugh, and everyone in the hall starts to burst into laughter. The twins laugh at themselves too, at least until we all hear a voice echoing through the hall.

 "I did warn you," everyone turns round and sees Dumbledore leaving the Great Hall. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."

The twins then go to the hospital wing with Lee. As soon as the three of them leave, I go into the Great Hall to have breakfast.

During the day, even though it's Saturday, you can see how eager everyone is for dinner, when the champions of each school will be announced. When it's time for dinner, I walk down to the Great Hall with my roommates. I see that Draco and the other fourth year boys seem to be chatting excitedly about something, which makes me curious. As soon as I approach the Slytherin table, I ruffle Draco's hair before sitting down next to Theodore.

"What happened to the litres of hair gel you used to use, blondie?" I ask, picking on him. He pushes my hands away from his hair and rolls his eyes, huffing. 

"What were you talking about, boys?" I ask curiously.

"We were talking about who we think is a bad kisser," replies Goyle. While Theo rolls his eyes, Crabbe nudges Goyle, as if the topic were a secret.

"And what are the conclusions?" I ask, sipping some pumpkin juice.

"Draco and Theo didn't want to get involved in the discussion," says Crabbe.

I wonder why Theo didn't want to get involved...

"Pancy and Tracey don't look like bad kissers." says Goyle.

"Wait a minute, what criteria do you use? Simply their faces?" I ask with a grimace.

"Basically." says Crabbe. I roll my eyes. How can boys be such idiots?

"I bet Daphne's a bad kisser." is the first thing Blaise has said since.

Theo comes close to my ear. "Blaise got dumped by Daphne last year, that's why he's hurt and saying that." he says with a chuckle.

I smile mischievously before looking at Blaise. "For your information, Zabini, she's not a bad kisser."

Draco chokes on the water he was drinking, while Goyle spits out the food in his mouth and Crabbe drops a chicken leg down his trousers.

"What?" Blaise says, sounding half annoyed half incredulous.

"You heard what I said." I reply, shrugging. 

Theo is the only one with a smile on his face out of the five.

"And how do you know that?" Draco asks, still coughing. 

Theo puts a hand on Draco's shoulder. "I think you already know the answer to that, Malfoy."

I nod, reaffirming what he said. Before any of them can say anything else, Dumbledore stands up.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," the headmaster says. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber," he indicates the door behind the staff table "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

The headmaster takes out his wand and, with a gesture, most of the candles are extinguished, leaving the hall in almost complete darkness, making the goblet glow even brighter. Everyone stands in tense silence, waiting for the Goblet of Fire's first decision. Moments later, its flames begin to redden, sparking. Seconds later, the sparks release a piece of parchment, the champion's first name. The sensation is that everyone stops breathing. Dumbledore finally takes the paper and puts it at a distance from his eyes so that he can read it.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he reads aloud, his voice echoing in the hall. "will be Viktor Krum."

Everyone in the hall applauds. I turn my neck to see Krum get up from the end of the Slytherin table and walk over to the staff table and disappear through the door. It takes a few minutes before the applause and cheers cease and silence settles in again, attention focussing on the goblet once more. A few seconds later the flames turn red again, and then a second piece of parchment is expelled by the sparks.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

A girl! Fleur gets up from the Ravenclaw table, and it's at that moment that I pay complete attention to her. She's blonde, extremely pretty... When I look away from her, I notice a few disappointed looks from the Beauxbatons students. She soon disappears through the door, just as Krum did a few minutes ago. As soon as the hall falls silent, the tension is palpable. In a few moments, we'll find out who will be the champion representing Hogwarts. The flames redden once more, seconds before it releases the last piece of parchment.

 "The Hogwarts champion," the headmaster calls. "is Cedric Diggory!"

The Hufflepuff table is noisier than ever. I squint and can see Aster hugging her brother tightly, before turning round and hugging Stella, both of them happier than ever.

"At least it wasn't a Gryffindor," I hear Blaise say.

Cedric gets up and walks towards Dumbledore, and then the last champion walks through the door at the back of the staff table. 

"Excellent!" Dumbledore exclaims as soon as the commotion dies down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real..."

But the headmaster stops talking and his attention, like that of everyone else in the hall, focuses on the goblet once again. The flames, for some reason, turn red again before expelling another piece of parchment. The headmaster reaches out and catches the paper in the air. 

"Harry Potter!"

Chapter Text

What?!

My heart races. At first I think about how my brother managed to sign up for the tournament, why on earth would Harry do that! However, my second thought is that he's definitely not smart (or knowledgeable) enough to do something like that.

As soon as my attention returns to reality and my surroundings, I realise the silence in the hall. Nobody clapped for Harry. Instead, people seem to be whispering to each other and trying to spy on my brother.

"Did you know Potter was going to do this?" says Draco, putting a hand on my shoulder to get my attention.

 "You need to find out how your brother managed to put in his name..." says Blaise.

"I had no idea..." I reply. "But I don't think it was him."

"Yeah, me neither. Maybe he asked someone over seventeen to..." Theo starts to say.

"No, I mean that I don't think my brother had any idea his name had been put in either." I cut him off.

"Please, Potter don't miss an opportunity to be the centre of..." Draco starts to say.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore interrupts him, calling for my brother again.

I stretch a little and see my brother standing up hesitantly. He quickly meets my gaze and, even from a distance, I can see him mouth, "It wasn't me," to me. I reply, "I know." He walks between the tables, all eyes fixed on him, the buzz constantly growing.

"Well... through the door, Harry." says the headmaster, without so much as a smile.

As soon as Harry disappears through the door at the back of the staff table like the other three did minutes ago, Dumbledore, Maxime, Karkaroff and the Hogwarts teachers quickly gather round and start chatting quietly. Soon they turn back to the door where all the champions passed and the headmasters, as well as McGonagall and Snape, disappear.

All the remaining students in the hall remain silent for a few moments, until Professor Flitwick decides to take charge in view of the absence of both the headmaster (Dumbledore) and the deputy headmistress (McGonagall).

"Ah... Well..." he begins to speak, seemingly trying to find the words. "Prefects, I ask that you all escort the students from your respective Houses back to your common rooms. As for the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students, I ask that the students responsible in the absence of your Heads escort the rest to your accommodation. Dinner is over."

The Slytherin prefects get up and make way for the rest of us, the prefects from the other Houses do the same. On the way to the door, Carina and Ginny catch up with me.

"You..." says Carina.

"No," I say, without letting her complete the question. 

Carina puts her hand on my shoulder, making me turn round and look her in the eye. "I was going to ask if you also think your brother was set up."

I sigh, trying to calm my nerves. "Ah... Yes, I mean, I don't know." I say sincerely. "It's the only explanation, isn't it?"

"Harry would never do that," says Ginny. 

Carina hugs me from the side. "How are you feeling?" she asks me.

I frown, mentally trying to describe what's going on in my head. "Confused...? Why was my brother enrolled in the tournament? Who signed him up?"

"I think we all have the same questions." says Ginny.

I have a thousand and one thoughts and emotions. Confusion, surprise, worry... Suddenly I feel an immense urge to vent to someone, to an adult who can listen to me, who wants to listen to me, but... who? 

I'm so lost in my own thoughts that I hardly notice the various glances directed at me. Most likely other students wondering if, like Draco, I knew that my brother's name had been put in the goblet, if I had helped him in some way, if I was complicit in this breach of the rule, or simply people with worried looks on their faces.

I'm pulled back into the corridors when I feel Daphne's hand squeeze mine. When my gaze meets hers, she smiles slightly. "I know it's a stupid question, but... are you all right?"  

I sigh again. "I can't answer that for sure, but I don't think so. My brother, who every year at Hogwarts seems to have to deal with a different threat, the Triwizard Tournament is still the same, isn't it? Another threat."

We walk to our common room hand in hand. 

"At least this time it's a controlled threat, isn't it?" she says, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah... I think so..." I say, but without much conviction about what Daphne just said. After all, there's clearly a reason for my brother to be at the tournament, someone wants him to be there for a reason.

On the way to the Slytherin common room, an idea pops into my head: I'm going to send a letter to Lupin! As soon as we cross the entrance, I let go of her hand.

"Thank you, Daphne. For caring." I say quickly, before giving her a kiss on the cheek and heading up the stairs to my dormitory.

I open the door and then open my trunk in search of a piece of parchment and my quill so I can write the letter. As soon as I find them, I sit down in the chair at one of the desks in the room, overlooking the Black Lake, but not literally in the lake. I dip the tip of my quill into the ink and, just as I'm about to write, one of my roommates walks in.

"Who are you writing to? I saw you run in here." says Zoe.

"My godfather. I feel like I need to talk about what happened to my brother with him, you know?" I say, without turning to her.

"Oh, of course. Sometimes it's nice to talk to someone outside of here, isn't it?" she says. I hear her sit down on her bed. When we're silent again, I write the letter. 

Dᥱᥲɾ Lᥙρɩᥒ, (oɾ ɩ⳽ ɩt Rᥱຕᥙ⳽, ᥒoω tᖾᥲt ყoᥙ'ɾᥱ ᥒo Ꙇoᥒɠᥱɾ ຕყ ρɾoƒᥱ⳽⳽oɾ?)

I'ຕ ᥒot ⳽ᥙɾᥱ ᖾoω to ⳽tᥲɾt tᖾɩ⳽ Ꙇᥱttᥱɾ, ᥒot Ꙇᥱᥲ⳽t ᑲᥱᥴᥲᥙ⳽ᥱ I'ʋᥱ ᥒᥱʋᥱɾ ωɾɩttᥱᥒ to ყoᥙ ᑲᥱƒoɾᥱ. Yoᥙ ຕᥲყ ᖾᥲʋᥱ ᖾᥱᥲɾᑯ, ᑲᥙt tᖾɩ⳽ ყᥱᥲɾ tᖾᥱ Tɾɩωɩⱬᥲɾᑯ Toᥙɾᥒᥲຕᥱᥒt ωɩꙆꙆ ᑲᥱ ᖾᥱꙆᑯ ᖾᥱɾᥱ ᥲt Hoɠωᥲɾt⳽, ᥲᥒᑯ tᖾᥱ ᑯᥱꙆᥱɠᥲtɩoᥒ⳽ ƒɾoຕ Bᥱᥲᥙxᑲᥲtoᥒ⳽ ᥲᥒᑯ Dᥙɾຕ⳽tɾᥲᥒɠ ᖾᥲʋᥱ ᥲꙆɾᥱᥲᑯყ ᥲɾɾɩʋᥱᑯ. Tᖾᥱ ᥴᖾᥲຕρɩoᥒ⳽ oƒ ᥱᥲᥴᖾ ⳽ᥴᖾooꙆ ωᥱɾᥱ ᥴᖾo⳽ᥱᥒ toᑯᥲყ ᥲƒtᥱɾ ᑯɩᥒᥒᥱɾ. Vɩƙtoɾ Kɾᥙຕ (Dᥙɾຕ⳽tɾᥲᥒɠ), FꙆᥱᥙɾ DᥱꙆᥲᥴoᥙɾ (Bᥱᥲᥙxᑲᥲtoᥒ⳽) ᥲᥒᑯ Cᥱᑯɾɩᥴ Dɩɠɠoɾყ, ƒɾoຕ HᥙƒƒꙆᥱρᥙƒƒ. It tᥙɾᥒ⳽ oᥙt tᖾᥲt Hᥲɾɾყ ωᥲ⳽ ᥲꙆ⳽o ᥴᖾo⳽ᥱᥒ.

DᥙຕᑲꙆᥱᑯoɾᥱ ຕᥲᑯᥱ tᖾᥱ ɾᥙꙆᥱ⳽ ᥴꙆᥱᥲɾ: ᥒo ⳽tᥙᑯᥱᥒt ᥙᥒᑯᥱɾ tᖾᥱ ᥲɠᥱ oƒ ⳽ᥱʋᥱᥒtᥱᥱᥒ ᥴoᥙꙆᑯ ᥱᥒɾoꙆ. Fɾᥱᑯ ᥲᥒᑯ Gᥱoɾɠᥱ tɾɩᥱᑯ ᥲᥒᑯ ƒᥲɩꙆᥱᑯ, otᖾᥱɾ ⳽tᥙᑯᥱᥒt⳽ ᥲꙆ⳽o tɾɩᥱᑯ ᥲᥒᑯ ƒᥲɩꙆᥱᑯ. I ωᥲ⳽ᥒ't ᥲᑲꙆᥱ to ⳽ρᥱᥲƙ to Hᥲɾɾყ ɩຕຕᥱᑯɩᥲtᥱꙆყ ᥲƒtᥱɾ tᖾᥱ ɠoᑲꙆᥱt ᥴᖾo⳽ᥱ ᖾɩ⳽ ᥒᥲຕᥱ, ᑲᥙt I'ຕ ⳽ᥙɾᥱ ᖾᥱ ᑯɩᑯᥒ't ρᥙt ɩᥒ ᖾɩ⳽ ᥒᥲຕᥱ, ᑲყ ᥲᥒყ ຕᥱᥲᥒ⳽ ρo⳽⳽ɩᑲꙆᥱ.

Soຕᥱoᥒᥱ ⳽ɩɠᥒᥱᑯ ᖾɩຕ ᥙρ, ρɾoᑲᥲᑲꙆყ ⳽oຕᥱ ᥲᑯᥙꙆt ωɩtᥴᖾ oɾ ωɩⱬᥲɾᑯ, I ᑯoᥒ't ƙᥒoω ωᖾo. I ƙᥒoω tᖾᥲt tᖾᥱ toᥙɾᥒᥲຕᥱᥒt ωɩꙆꙆ ᑲᥱ ᖾɩɠᖾꙆყ ᥴoᥒtɾoꙆꙆᥱᑯ ᥲᥒᑯ, tᖾᥱoɾᥱtɩᥴᥲꙆꙆყ, ɩt'⳽ ⳽ᥙρρo⳽ᥱᑯ to ᑲᥱ ⳽ᥲƒᥱ, ᑲᥙt I'ຕ ⳽tɩꙆꙆ ωoɾɾɩᥱᑯ, ᑲᥱᥴᥲᥙ⳽ᥱ tᖾᥱɾᥱ'⳽ ρɾoᑲᥲᑲꙆყ ᥲ ɾᥱᥲ⳽oᥒ ᑲᥱᖾɩᥒᑯ ωᖾყ ຕყ ᑲɾotᖾᥱɾ ɩ⳽ ɩᥒ tᖾɩ⳽ toᥙɾᥒᥲຕᥱᥒt.

I ᖾoρᥱ ᥲꙆꙆ ɩ⳽ ωᥱꙆꙆ ωɩtᖾ ყoᥙ, I ຕɩ⳽⳽ ყoᥙ ᥲᥒᑯ ყoᥙɾ Ꙇᥱ⳽⳽oᥒ⳽.

Yoᥙɾ ɠoᑯᑯᥲᥙɠᖾtᥱɾ, Eຕຕᥲ.

I wake up the next morning and get ready for breakfast. I urgently need (and want) to speak to my brother after last night. I go up to the Great Hall and my eyes immediately find the Gryffindor table, but unfortunately I can't find Harry anywhere.

Although I'm not very hungry, I help myself to some pumpkin juice and buttered bread. I'm nibbling on a piece of bread when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn round and see Draco, who soon sits down next to me. The expression on his face isn't the same arrogant mask he always wears in public, it's one of genuine concern. 

"I may not like your brother," he says, shrugging. "but you're my friend. So, for your sake, I'm sorry that Potter is in the tournament."

I giggle slightly before rolling my eyes. "You're just saying that because you're sorry there's a Gryffindor student in the tournament..."

He chuckles. "Yes, perhaps that too."

When I finish my breakfast, I quickly get up and walk over to the Gryffindor table. A couple of girls from my year are still having breakfast, Lydia and Beatrice. I sit down next to Lydia after smiling at them both.

"Have you heard anything else from my brother?" I ask.

Lydia finishes chewing before answering me. "It seems that Ron and Harry had a fight."

I frown, not understanding. "They had a fight? Why?"

"I don't think Ron believes that your brother had anything to do with his name being put in the goblet." says Beatrice. I bite my lower lip, worried that they won't believe that my brother didn't put in his name either.

"What about you? What do you think?" I ask. 

"Honestly?" says Lydia. "Your brother may be good at a lot of things, but I don't think he would deliberately sign up for the tournament."

I let out a sigh of relief.

After breakfast, I decide to go out in search of Harry. Stella stops me at the door to the Great Hall.

"I know you're going to look for your brother." she says. "Would you like some company? It's Sunday after all, I've got nothing to do."

I smile gratefully at her. "Please."

We pass through the entrance hall and walk towards the grounds. We remain silent until we meet my brother and Hermione by the Black Lake, close to the Durmstrang ship. As they both have their backs to us, Hermione turns her head slightly and sees me first, flashing a smile before nudging Harry, making him look at me too. 

"Hi, Harry." I'm the first to speak. I see Hermione about to leave with Stella to leave us alone.  

"You don't have to, Mione." I say.

"Ah, all right then." she says, giving up on leaving. 

I can see in my brother's eyes the eyes that everyone who knows her says are the same as my mum's, that he's apprehensive. 

"Relax, I know it's not your fault that your name was put in the goblet." I try to reassure him. His shoulders immediately relax.

"How are you feeling?" I ask, brown eyes staring into green eyes. 

"I don't know," Harry says sincerely. "Some Gryffindors came to congratulate me, but I don't feel like it's something to congratulate myself on. Not least because it wasn't my choice..."

I hug him tight, and he hugs back. I feel as if a weight has been lifted from his embrace.

"Ron..." Harry starts to say as soon as we pull away from the embrace. "he..."

"I know," I say. "He doesn't believe you, does he?"

Harry nods. Hermione steps forward.

"It's not that he doesn't believe Harry, I think deep down he does... I think he's just jealous." she says. 

"Jealous?" I ask, not understanding.

"Yeah," says Hermione. "Harry has always gotten all the attention, hasn't he? Besides, Ron already has to compete for attention at home with all his siblings... Not that it's Harry's fault, of course not!"

It makes me think. I understand Ron's feelings more than my brother would like. Stella and I leave Harry and Hermione there and walk back to the castle.

"I recognise that look on your face, you know." Stella breaks the silence.

"What do you mean?" I ask, frowning in confusion.

"That look that hides a certain pain." she tries to explain, without success. "I've always seen that same look, to this day, in Carina, every time Lucius pays attention to Draco, every time he shows he cares about him and not her."

I lower my gaze, looking at my feet. 

"It's not just Ron who's feeling jealous... I'm just better at disguising it." I say, pressing my lips together. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Stella asks, stopping in her tracks to look at me. I sigh before answering her. 

"No, but thank you." I smile lightly at her. "I think I need to talk to someone specific about this, the person who will understand me best."

And it's after that that I find Ron, his brothers and some other Gryffindors under a tree. Stella gives my arm a squeeze, signalling that she's going to leave us so we can talk. As soon as Ron looks at me, he huffs and rolls his eyes. 

"I'm not in the mood to talk to any Potters," he says sulkily. Fred and George look at each other.

"But I want to talk to you." I say, determined. I look at the people around me. "Can you leave us alone?"

People soon leave, I don't know if out of respect or fear that I'm a Slytherin. Fred and George giggle.

"Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" says George, while Fred whistles mischievously. I roll my eyes when I hear that. Ron quickly gets up from where he was sitting, ready to leave with the others.

"I have nothing to talk to you about..."

"But I do." I say, holding his arm tightly and making him sit back down. "You're jealous of him, aren't you?"

"I'm not..."

"Yes, you are. Because I am too." I say, making him look me in the eye. As soon as I let go of his arm, he touches where I had been holding him, grunting in pain.

"What do you mean by that?" he asks. I sit down next to him, letting out a sigh before answering him.

"You feel like his shadow, don't you?" I ask, looking at him. He still doesn't seem to want to give in and simply recognise what he feels. "Come on, you're the penultimate child of seven, and Ginny is not only the youngest, but also the only girl. It must be awful always trying to get your parents' attention with so much competition for it..."

"Wow, you're great at consoling, huh?" he says, looking at the grass.

 I roll my eyes. "I'm not here to console you, I'm here to tell you that I understand."

He stops looking at the grass and his gaze meets mine. "You do?"

"Of course I do. I may not have six siblings or parents to fight over their attention, but I'm the younger sister of the Boy Who Lived, so obviously I know how you feel."

Ron seems to look deep into my eyes to see if I'm really telling the truth. "What's it like for you?"

I take a deep breath. "A pain in the arse... At least since I first came into contact with the wizarding world. Before all that, we were just Harry and Emma, orphaned siblings who lost their parents in a car crash. Since the two of us started attending Hogwarts together, it's just "Harry, the Boy Who Lived". Many people completely ignore the fact that I was also there that night, of course, I wasn't the one Voldemort tried to kill, but I also lost my parents that night. Either that or when I say my surname I'm famous for being the sister of the Boy Who Lived, never for anything uniquely my own."

We are silent for a few seconds.

"It's horrible, isn't it? Everything I do or don't do is compared either to my siblings or to Harry." I nod.

"But it's not his fault, is it?" I say, looking into Ron's eyes.

He rolls his eyes before nodding. "No, I guess not."

I stand up, then hold out my hand to help him up.

"We should call ourselves the Shadow Siblings." I say, with a smile. "Understand? Shadow because we're..."

"The shadow of our siblings... Wow, that's so funny." he says, clearly sarcastic.

Chapter Text

I'm having breakfast sitting at the table in the Great Hall when Nimbus flies in with some other owls, flies over the Slytherin table and drops a letter right in front of me, almost hitting my cereal. I immediately drop the spoon I was holding and pick up the letter, turning it over and seeing that it's from Lupin.

"Who is it from?" Draco, who is sitting in front of me, asks.

I take my eyes off the letter and raise my head to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "You're really nosy, aren't you?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "I'm curious. After all, you never get any letters."

"It's from my godfather." I reply, opening the letter.

Ðεαя Σммα,

Nσω тнαт I'м иσ lσиgεя чσυя тεαcнεя, ƒεεl ƒяεε тσ cαll мε Яεмυѕ, ιƒ чσυ lιкε, σƒ cσυяѕε. I dσи'т тнιик тнεяε'ѕ αичσиε ιи тнε Wιzαяdιиg Wσяld (αт lεαѕт ιи Bяιтαιи) ωнσ ιѕи'т αωαяε σƒ тнε Tяιωιzαяd Tσυяиαмεит. Aѕ ƒσя чσυя вяσтнεя, Sιяιυѕ αиd I lεαяит αвσυт нιм ƒяσм Hαgяιd, ωнσ cαмε тσ тεll υѕ αѕ ѕσσи αѕ gσвlεт cнσѕε нιм.

Ðσи'т ωσяяч, αѕ чσυ ѕαιd чσυяѕεlƒ, Ðυмвlεdσяε ιѕ cσитяσllιиg ενεячтнιиg ωιтн тнε нεlρ σƒ тнε Mιиιѕтяч ѕσ тнαт ιт'ѕ α ѕαƒε ενεит. Σνεи ѕσ, Sιяιυѕ αиd I αяε тячιиg συя вεѕт тσ кεερ υρ тσ dαтε ωιтн ενεячтнιиg тнαт'ѕ нαρρεиιиg αт тнε ѕcнσσl, ѕσ тнαт Hαяяч αиd чσυ яεмαιи ѕαƒε.

I αlѕσ мιѕѕ чσυ αиd Hαяяч. I нσρε ωε cαи мεεт αgαιи ιи тнε иεαя ƒυтυяε.

Yσυя gσdƒαтнεя, Яεмυѕ.

"Who is your godfather, anyway? I had no idea you had one..." Draco's voice draws my attention back to my surroundings.

"It's none of your business, blondie." I say, going back to eating my cereal.

"Ugh... All right, carry on with this mystery..." he says, rolling his eyes. 

Walking back to the Slytherin common room with my friends, I see some students wearing some sort of badge on their chests. As we get closer, Pansy sees me and flashes me a mischievous smile. 

"Have you seen the badges my boyfriend made?" she asks, emphasising 'my' as if no one knows who she's dating. I roll my eyes.

"No, Pansy. What did he get up to this time?" I ask, pretending to be disinterested, but I'm actually very curious to find out.

She shows me the badge she's wearing, and when I squint to see it, I can see the bright red letters written on it:

Support CEDRIC DIGGORY - the REAL Hogwarts champion!

"Do you like it, Potter?" she asks, with a smile that makes you want to punch her right in the middle of the face. "And that's not all they do! Look!"

She presses the badge and the letters change, turning green.

POTTER STINKS 

"Come on, Pansy. You don't have to be such an arsehole..." says Melia, in an attempt to defend me. 

"If I were you, I'd keep an eye on your boyfriend..." Cassia says. Pansy, almost foaming with rage, turns to her.

"What do you mean by that? Potter doesn't stand a chance with my blondie, okay?" she turns to me with an arrogant look on her face. "Don't hold your breath, you can carry on being jealous of us, checking out Draco the way you do, but know that I'm the one who's dating him!"

I hold back my laughter as Cassia opens her mouth to speak again.

"I wasn't referring to Emma... But don't you find your boyfriend's obsession with Harry strange?" she says, raising an eyebrow. "Draco has spent his time and money on various badges to not only attack Harry, but to root for Cedric... It seems to me that he's more interested in the two of them than in you..."

Pansy's face turns red, I don't know if from anger or embarrassment.

"Besides, Parkinson," I say, emphasising her surname just as she called me by mine. "you don't have to be jealous of me and Draco, afraid that I'll steal him away from you or whatever..."

"Pff... Please, the other day you admitted you were jealous of me... don't try to lie now, Potter." she looks at me as if she's caught me in a lie. My friends laugh, while I just cross my arms and look at Pansy with a smile.

"What are you laughing at?" she asks irritably.

I approach Pansy, and to deliberately provoke her, my eyes, which had previously been staring into hers, lower to look slightly at her lips before looking her in the eye again. I push back a lock of her hair. "You were so blinded by jealousy of your boyfriend that you didn't realise it wasn't Draco I was checking out... it was you."

It's a pleasure to see up close the moment she finally realises what I mean. Her cheeks turn incredibly red and she instantly avoids my eyes.

"Y-You..." she stutters.

"Yes. If you weren't with Draco, my friend, and you hadn't been such a jerk lately, maybe we could have a chance, you know?" 

I walk away from her and head to my dorm with my roommates, all of us laughing at Pansy, who is paralysed, not knowing what to do.

The long-awaited day of the tournament's first task finally arrives. If I'm anxious, I can't imagine how my brother must be feeling. Right after breakfast, I run to meet my brother, who is alone leaving the Great Hall.

"Nervous?" I ask, obviously already knowing the answer.

"Of course, any sane person would be..." he says. We walk to the grounds. 

"And have you and the other champions been told what the first task is?" I ask curiously. I see Harry looking around, making sure there's anyone nearby.  

"Hagrid told me about the first task." he whispers. "But the champions theoretically weren't supposed to know."

I raise my eyebrows. "What is it?"

"Dragons." he says. "We'll each have to face a different dragon."

"Right." I say. "And really only you know about this of all the champions?"

He shakes his head. "No. I'm pretty sure Fleur and Krum know too, I think Maxime and Karkaroff told them."

"What about Cedric?" 

"I thought it only fair to tell him, since he would be the only one not to know about the first task." says Harry, as we walk.

I roll my eyes. We really are very different. "Typical Gryffindor..."

"Wouldn't you tell if you were me?" he asks confusedly.

"Of course not. If I was in the tournament, I'd only be thinking about winning, and I wouldn't do anything to jeopardise my chances."

"Slytherins..." he mutters, making me roll my eyes again. I push him lightly with my shoulder. 

"And do you have any idea what you're going to do to face it?" I ask.

He takes a deep breath, obviously nervous. "No. I have no idea what I can do..."

I stop walking, causing him to stop. I turn to face him. "What can you take with you?"

"Only my wand."

It doesn't take long for me to think of exactly what my brother can do to get through the first task. 

"Right. Harry, try to think about what you're good at, really good at." He scratches his head. 

"Uh... Quidditch?" he says, as if it were a question.

"And what do you need when you play Quidditch?" I ask, trying to get him to reason with me.

"A broom? But I can only take my wand, how can I..."

"Harry," I put a hand on his shoulder and look into his eyes. "You're a wizard. You're taking a wand to face the dragon. Just use Accio to get your broom."

It seems that my brother takes a few seconds to take in the information. 

"Emma, you're brilliant!" he says, hugging me.

"What would you be without me?" I say, rolling my eyes, but I return the hug.

If it hadn't been a difficult and dangerous task, I don't know if I would have helped my brother, after all our rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin often speaks louder, but this time I felt he needed a little push.

Just after midday, all the students head out to the field where the first task will take place. Carina and Stella soon catch up with me on the way. 

"I wanted to congratulate you, Emma." Stella is the first to speak. I frown, not understanding a word she's saying.

"You really pissed Draco off." she replies, seeing the confusion on my face. 

"And what did I do?" I ask with a smile. 

"Draco told me you hit on Pansy..." says Carina, trying to disguise a laugh.

"He used the exact words 'our dear friend broke my girlfriend.'" says Stella. 

"What a dramatic boy..." I say, resisting rolling my eyes again. "I only hit back at his little girlfriend's provocation... It's all his fault, he's the one who decided to hand out those ridiculous badges attacking Harry." 

"No matter what you've done, girl, you have my full respect!" says Stella, lightly tapping me on the back.

As if he was summoned, Draco soon appears behind us.

"Come on, blondie... Are you really upset with me?" I ask jokingly, putting a hand on his shoulder. He quickly pulls his shoulder away from my touch, with an annoyed expression on his face.

"You've messed with my girlfriend's head!" he says, almost shouting.

"I didn't do anything..." I reply, shrugging. "I just provoked her back, it was your little girlfriend who started it all."

"You hit on her!" he widens his eyes, this time shouting. 

"As a joke, of course! Her reaction was really priceless..." I say. "I'd never try anything real with someone who's dating one of my friends. I wouldn't do that with you."

He seems to be considering whether or not to believe me. He lowers his head and nods shyly. 

"But is this irritation of yours because I've hit on her or because you're afraid I'm going to steal her away from you?" I tease, giving him a smile.

"Shut up." he mutters, walking faster and passing us. 

We soon arrive at the place and grab a seat, eager to watch the tournament. To be honest, I don't really pay attention to any of the three champions when it's their turn to try to face their dragon.

The dragon drawn for Harry to face is first placed in the centre of the field, and then seconds later the cannon is heard announcing the start of the task. My brother walks cautiously onto the pitch, looking at everything around him. The crowd screams, divided between booing and shouts of support for him. I can see him raising his wand.

"Accio Firebolt!" although I can't hear him shout, I'm sure it's the spell he's just used.

In a few seconds I can see his Firebolt approaching, flying over the Forbidden Forest and then stopping in mid-air, waiting for him to mount. He soon gives it a boost and starts flying. As he gets higher, I see him trying to find the golden egg under the dragon's legs. On his first attempt, the Horntail spits fire and misses Harry by a second. He makes a few more attempts before soaring upwards again and swooping from side to side, trying to get the dragon to stand up and distract itself enough for him to get the golden egg. 

The animal spreads its wings, as if it wants to escape and go after Harry, and it's at that moment that my brother dives towards the egg and grabs it. The noise of the crowd is deafening. 

"Look at that!" shouts Ludo Bagman. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!"

Hagrid, Moody and McGonagall quickly run to meet my brother before the judges announce the scores. As I see Hermione and Ron follow Harry into one of the stalls where the champions are staying, I end up doing the same. 

"... whoever put your name in that goblet — I — I reckon they're trying to do you in!" I arrive just in time to hear Ron say that.

The two of them hug, their quarrel that had been going on for days finally over. I seize the opportunity and run to hug my brother as soon as Ron lets go.

"You did very well!" I say.

"It's all thanks to you, thank you, Emma." he says, hugging me back.

"Harry, c'mon, they'll be putting up your scores..." says Ron, interrupting our hug.

As we walk back out onto the pitch, we see the first score being raised into the air. Maxime draws an 8 in the air with her wand. Crouch then throws a 9. Then Dumbledore, 9. Then Ludo Bagman, 10. And lastly, Karkaroff, 4.

"What?" bellows Ron. "Four? You lousy, biased scumbag, you gave Krum ten!"

This leaves Harry and Krum tied for first place.

Chapter Text

December comes round in the blink of an eye. And with that, the Christmas atmosphere immediately sets in around the school. I'm in Potions class, sitting next to Carina, when Professor Snape's voice reverberates through the dungeons, making me take my eyes off my notes and pay attention to him.

"I have a warning for everyone," he starts to say, causing everyone there to instantly turn their attention to him. He passes table after table before continuing. "Unfortunately, the headmaster left it up to me to tell you about the Yule Ball."

Carina and I look at each other, both wide-eyed with surprise and, perhaps a little, excitement. 

"The Yule Ball is a tradition of the Triwizard Tournament so that, theoretically, we can... mingle with people from the other schools. Listen carefully," he says, walking over to his desk and turning to us. "this year the ball will be held for students from the fourth year upwards...

His speech is cut off when we all start complaining about how unfair it is that we can't take part. Snape raises his hand, which instantly causes everyone to fall silent. "As I was saying, before you insolents interrupted me... Although the ball is held for students from the fourth year upwards, any student up to the third year can go if they are invited by a student from the fourth year and above."

Someone lets out a high-pitched laugh, I turn round and see Aster covering her mouth. 

"Dress robes will be worn," Snape continues. "and the ball will start at eight o'clock on Christmas Day, finishing at midnight in the Great Hall." 

When the class is over and we're dismissed, the commotion is obvious. Everyone starts talking about how they're going to try to get invited by someone older so they can attend the ball.

"We have to go to the ball!" says Stella cheerfully, stepping between Carina and me and hugging us both as we leave the dungeons. 

"We just need to find a way to be invited..." says Carina.

"Or we can invite someone, can't we? The criteria is that we need to be accompanied by someone from the fourth year upwards, but nobody will know who invited who." I say. 

Needless to say, the week after the announcement of the Yule Ball, the corridors of Hogwarts are filled with whispers and conversations about ball partners. As people are invited, you can hear shouts of joy and excitement, as well as the sobs and cries of students seeing that they haven't been invited by the people they wanted to. I don't think that ever in the recent history of Hogwarts so many people have decided to stay here for the Christmas holidays.

I'm with Ron and my brother in the school grounds, the two of them talking about how difficult girls are to understand and how complicated it is to ask one of them to the ball because we hang around in packs.

"Emma," Ron's voice catches my attention, making me turn and look at him. "did you know that first, second and third year students can only go to the ball if they're invited by someone from the fourth year onwards?"

I can already see where this conversation is going. I nod my head. "Yes. And...?"

"What if Harry went with Ginny and you went with me? Siblings going together would be weird, but if he goes with my sister and I go with his it wouldn't be bad. That way everyone benefits."

"And what do I benefit from going with you?" I ask, rolling my eyes. I hear Harry miserably hide a laugh.

"You'll be able to go to the ball, isn't that obvious?" Ron says.

I shake my head. "You do know that Ginny has already accepted going with someone to the ball, don't you?" I say, making a point of looking him in the eye to see his reaction. I can clearly see a mixture of surprise, shock and horror on his face. 

 "W... What?! Impossible... Who's she going with?" Ron asks desperately.

"Neville invited her yesterday." I reply.

"Neville?" he says, almost as if he's going to throw up. "Whatever... But you can still go with me, can't you?"

I chuckle. "No."

It's Harry's turn to look at me with an expression similar to Ron's seconds ago. 

"Who are you going with?" my brother asks me, unable to hide the tone of jealousy in his voice. I turn to him.

"Who said anyone invited me? I just don't want to go with Ron." I say, letting out another chuckle before getting up from the grass where I was sitting and messing up Ron's hair.

I leave my brother and his best friend standing there with no response and walk back to school. I pass through the dungeons before entering the common room. As it's quite cold, I try to sit by the fire. The sofas and armchairs are all occupied, so I end up sitting on the floor, on the fluffy rug in front of the fireplace. 

"Who are you going with, Theo?" asks Pansy, who is sharing an armchair with Draco. 

"I invited Stella earlier today." Theodore replies. 

I frown and turn back to where Theo is sitting on one of the sofas. "I thought you were going to invite Carina." I say, surprised.

He runs a hand through his hair and leans back against the sofa. "Yeah, I thought I'd invite her too, but then Blaise and I agreed that I'd invite Stella and then he's going to invite Carina."

I know that going to the ball doesn't automatically mean that something romantic will happen, although many people hope it will. Still, I wonder if Carina will accept, or if she plans to go with a girl. I'm lost in thought staring at the greenish flames in the fireplace, and barely notice when the conversations die down and someone coughs near me. I turn round as soon as Theo's foot kicks me lightly. I arch my eyebrows in surprise when I see Daphne standing next to me, holding a bouquet of green roses. When our eyes meet, I notice a certain shyness in those blue eyes. I stand up and we face each other.  

"Well, I... you..." she clears her throat before continuing. "I mean, Emma, would you like to go to the ball with me?"

She bites her lower lip, probably nervously waiting for my answer. I stare wide-eyed at her, at the flowers, and then at her again. Theo brings me back to reality again by poking my arm.

"Yes, of course!" I say, and immediately see a smile break out on her face. Daphne hands me the flowers before I pull her into a hug. 

The reactions around me are mixed. I notice a few people applauding, with smiles on their faces as they see the scene before them. Astoria, Daphne's sister, smiles shyly at us. Theo smiles too, but he also applauds. My roommates all look happy for me. Pansy looks us up and down with a look of disapproval, but never looks me in the eye - our last meeting must still be fresh in her mind. Draco, on the other hand, smiles slightly and, when our eyes meet, he gives a discreet thumbs-up. I also feel other looks of disapproval and disgust, like Pansy's, but at the moment I don't give a damn. 

As the last week of term approaches, I don't think anyone's mind is focused on their lessons, but everyone seems extremely excited for the upcoming ball. Rumour has it that Dumbledore has hired one of the most famous musical groups in the wizarding world in Great Britain, the Weird Sisters. 

As the ball gets closer and closer, I worry about one thing in particular: what dress am I going to wear? I didn't bring anything neat and elegant to Hogwarts! I can't wear any of the clothes in my trunk! My heart starts racing with despair, just as an owl flies over the Great Hall and carefully drops a box in front of me. For a few seconds I stare at that box, not understanding. 

"Aren't you going to open it?" Cassia asks next to me. I blink several times.

"Oh yes." I say, just before I open that box.

Whatever is inside is wrapped in silk paper. I unwrap it and then come across a long dark green dress, the colour of Slytherin. It's a plain silk dress. My eyes light up at the sight of it.

"How beautiful!" I hear a voice. I turn round and see Astoria, Daphne's little sister. 

"Who gave it to you?" Melia asks curiously. 

Zoe stretches to rummage through the box where the dress came from, and soon finds a letter. She doesn't hesitate to hand it to me.

"Thank you." I say quickly.

𝒟𝑒𝒶𝓇 𝐸𝓂𝓂𝒶,

𝒜 𝓁𝒾𝓉𝓉𝓁𝑒 𝒷𝒾𝓇𝒹 𝓉𝑜𝓁𝒹 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒟𝒶𝓅𝒽𝓃𝑒 𝒢𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓃𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓈𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓈 𝒶𝓈𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒷𝒶𝓁𝓁. 𝒜𝓈 𝓈𝑜𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓈 𝑅𝑒𝓂𝓊𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉, 𝓌𝑒 𝑔𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓎 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓊𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓈𝒾𝓃 (𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝐼 𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒶𝓁𝓀 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈), 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓇𝑜𝓂𝑒𝒹𝒶, 𝓈𝑜 𝓈𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒷𝓊𝓎 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝑒𝓈. 𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓎 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑒'𝓈 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓁𝓁 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒾𝓉. 𝐼 𝒽𝑜𝓅𝑒 𝓈𝒽𝑒'𝓈 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉.

𝒮𝒾𝓇𝒾𝓊𝓈

I automatically crack a smile as I finish reading the letter.

The long-awaited Yule Ball arrives. The Slytherin girls all end up helping each other get ready. With a few tricks involving potions and spells, in a few hours my hair and make-up are done, and I quickly put on my dress and shoes. As soon as I'm ready, I head downstairs to the common room. When I get there, I see a few boys waiting for their partners. My eyes then meet the blue eyes of Daphne, who is apparently already looking at me, her eyes shining with adoration.

"Wow... you look beautiful." she says, swallowing. I feel my cheeks blush and I giggle a little.

"Oh, thank you!" I say, now it's my turn to look her up and down, admiring her sparkly light blue dress. "You look beautiful too."

She holds out her hand and I intertwine my fingers in hers without hesitation. She kisses my cheek affectionately. "Shall we?"

I nod. "Of course."

The two of us soon leave the Slytherin common room and walk hand in hand to the entrance hall. It's not long before I bump into my brother, who is with his partner, Parvati Patil, a fourth year Gryffindor. I nudge his shoulder, making him turn round. He looks at me with a look of admiration, and perhaps a little protection, typical of an older brother.

"You look incredible." Harry says, smiling at me. I smile shyly back, nodding in appreciation of the compliment.

"Green really does suit you!" says Parvati.

"It does, doesn't it?" I hear Daphne next to me, lightly squeezing my hand. 

More students begin to arrive in the entrance hall, all eager for the doors to the Great Hall to open. I see Stella and Theodore, she's wearing a marvellous burgundy dress, while Theodore is wearing an emerald green suit. A few seconds later my eyes stop on Blaise and Carina, actually more on Carina. She's wearing a midnight blue dress, and I can see several sparkles on her dress, making it look like the starry sky. The colour of the dress contrasts perfectly with her porcelain skin and blonde hair. I blink several times when I see her approaching. 

"You look..." I start to say, almost out of breath. 

"Stunning." Daphne says, taking the words out of my mouth. Carina's cheeks redden at the compliment. 

"We all look beautiful!" says Stella, interrupting our moment. 

"Champions over here, please!" shouts Professor McGonagall.

As soon as the doors to the hall open, all of us, with the exception of my brother and Parvati, walk in. When the hall is full of students, teachers and staff, McGonagall sends the champions in with their partners, one after the other. At this point I realise who each champion is with. At the front, Fleur enters with a boy from Ravenclaw, Roger Davies, who seems to be enjoying himself for having managed to invite the French girl. Right behind them are Cedric and Cho Chang, and then behind them Krum and... Hermione? I don't know what shocks me more, whether it's the fact that Hermione is the partner of none other than Viktor Krum, or how beautiful she looks. 

The champions have a special table for themselves and their partners, along with the headmasters of each school. The rest of the students split up at the tables, without assigned seats. Daphne and I sit at the same table as Theo and Stella, Blaise and Carina, Draco and Pansy, and Crabbe and Goyle, who didn't get any partners. Unlike how meals usually take place on ordinary days at Hogwarts, this time each seat has a menu, where you just have to say which dish you want and within seconds it materialises in front of you. 

"What made you decide to go with Blaise to the ball, Carina?" Pansy breaks the silence at our table. I watch my friend swallow the food she was chewing before taking a sip of her drink.  

"Take it easy, Pans..." I see Draco whisper to his girlfriend.

"I'm not... I'm not trying to pick on her..." she says, and, I think for the first time, I feel a tone of truth in her voice. "I'm just trying to make conversation..."

Stella still stares at Pansy in Carina's defence.

"Well, I... Blaise and I have known each other for years." Carina begins to answer, glancing at her date. "I didn't have anyone in mind to ask to the ball, so I... accepted."

As soon as everyone has finished dinner, Dumbledore stands up and asks everyone to do the same. Then he takes out his wand and with a spell, all the tables and chairs are dragged to the corners. of the room. He then conjures up a stage with musical instruments. Apparently the Weird Sisters go up straight away, as many people shout excitedly when they appear. 

Slow, harmonious music begins to play. Then the champions and their partners are the first to dance on the dance floor, along with Dumbledore and Maxime, Moody and Professor Sinistra (Astronomy). When the other students join them on the dance floor, Daphne leads me onto the dance floor. My hands instinctively go to her waist, while hers wrap around the back of my neck. We both smile at each other, and then start moving to the slow rhythm of the music.

Slowly and discreetly the distance between us begins to diminish, until our faces are centimetres apart, to the point where I can feel her breath on my face, making me shiver. I close the distance between us by pulling her into a kiss, in the middle of the Great Hall in front of everyone, without worrying about anyone but her.  

Chapter Text

When Christmas morning arrives, most of the students who went to the ball the night before end up sleeping late, including me. When I wake up, I see that all my roommates have already woken up and got up, as I'm alone in the dormitory. I stretch and scratch my eyes before getting out of bed and getting ready for the day.

In the common room, many are chatting about last night's events, some by the fire warming themselves, others opening presents. I say a quick hello to some of my friends I meet in the room before heading off to the Great Hall for breakfast. 

As soon as I arrive in the hall, I walk towards the Slytherin table. I smile when I see Daphne sitting there, apparently already finishing her breakfast. I sit down opposite her, who is sitting next to Pansy. The two of them seemed to be talking about something serious until they saw me. They immediately stop talking, making me stop smiling. 

"Merry Ch..." I start to say, while pouring myself some pumpkin juice.

"We need to talk, Emma." interrupts Daphne, her tone serious.

My face tightens, worried and nervous about whatever is to come. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Pansy looking at me with pity. That's not good. I lift my head and look Daphne in the eye, waiting for her to speak.

"I... I've just received a letter from my parents." she says, making me pay attention to the letter she's holding in her hands, which are clearly shaking. It's only now that I notice her red nose and eyes, she was crying.

"All right..." I say, in a tone of voice that tells her to continue.

She sniffles and wipes away a few tears, avoiding looking me in the eye. "They... they asked me... no, they basically forced me..."

"What did they force you to do?" I ask anxiously.

"They forced me to end whatever is going on between you and me."

Silence. I lower my head, looking at my still empty plate. I know that Daphne's family is also from the Sacred Twenty-eight, one of the oldest pureblood families in Britain's wizarding world, but I didn't think they were as traditional and strict as some things like Carina's or Stella's, for example. Without saying anything, I help myself to the pancakes and drizzle a little honey on top, at no point looking at Daphne or Pansy, but I can feel their eyes on me.

"Please," Daphne's voice comes out in a whisper. "say something."

I cut a piece of pancake and eat it, chewing slowly before swallowing and taking a sip of the juice. Then I take a deep breath and look at Daphne.

"I really don't know what to say, Daphne." her lower lip trembles as she hears my voice. "I didn't think you and your family were the kind of people who care so much about following silly traditions, who care what other people think."

"We're not that traditional, it's just that..." her voice comes out a little slurred, probably because she's trying her best not to cry again.

"It's just that the fact that you like girls might be too much for them and the wizarding world, isn't it?"

She avoids my gaze, looking down at her empty plate as she nods. 

"I don't think we can even be friends, can we? If you're seen with me, they won't believe you've done what their forced you to do." I say, after eating another piece of pancake.

She nods again as tears form in her eyes.

"So that's it. I really liked you, Greengrass, but I think it will be for the better. After all, I don't need to be with someone who lives only to please others, without ever prioritising their own happiness."

She lets out a sob before raising her head and finally looking me in the eye. "No... don't talk like that... it's not tr..." 

"Yes, it's true. If it wasn't, we wouldn't be here now, would we?" I interrupt her. "You can go now, you don't want to be seen with me anymore, do you?"

She quickly gets up and walks as fast as she can towards the entrance hall. It's at that moment that I sigh and finally let tears form in my eyes.

"Come on, did you have to be so..." Pansy says, but stops as soon as she realises that I'm crying now.

"Go on, defend her, Pansy. It's not as if this really surprises me..." I say, sniffling. "She's been your friend and roommate since your first year at Hogwarts, not to mention the fact that you're also a pureblood, obviously you're going to defend your equal..."

When I lift my head to look at Pansy, I see that she doesn't look angry or irritated, but her gaze carries a certain softness, sympathy. She takes a deep breath. "Look, I don't blame you for having such a distorted view of me, of Daphne, and probably of most purebloods... But know that you're wrong."

I must have a very confused expression on my face, as she immediately tries to explain herself. "I recognise that sometimes the way I act can give the impression that I'm a bitch, but..."

"Sometimes?" I interrupt her.

She chuckles, a genuine chuckle and not the fake one I'm so used to hearing. "It's more common than you might think for many of us in the Sacred Twenty-eight not to really believe in the whole ideology  of pureblood supremacy, or at least to grow up believing in all this, but over time we realise how wrong this view is, but we end up having to wear this mask of... prejudiced... all to maintain the image that our families have created."

"It's not a very good image, is it?" I give a sarcastic smile.

She rolls her eyes. "For outsiders like you, basically any half-blood or muggleborn, it's definitely not, and we're even often frowned upon by people like you. However, it's completely different between us. The vast majority of us care a lot about our image, especially for our family and the Sacred Twenty-eight. It's not everyone like the Weasleys, or even Stella Lestrange, who don't mind not following traditions."

Worst of all, Parkinson is right. I can't imagine what it must be like to grow up with so much expectation and pressure from your family, to grow up in fear of being disowned.

"If it's any consolation," she speaks again. "Daphne really likes you. All this might be a lot harder for her to get over than it is for you."

And with that, Pansy gets up after flashing a smile at me, and leaves, perhaps going after her friend. It's at that moment that I throw everything up in the air and start to cry, letting the tears run freely down my face.

I don't know how much time passes, but I finish eating and drink the rest of the pumpkin juice when I'm surprised by someone sitting in front of me, where minutes ago Pansy and Daphne were. My vision is so blurred by tears that I can't make them out, but I can tell it's two people. 

"Emma?" I instantly recognise Carina's voice.

I wipe away my tears and rub my eyes to see better. When my vision improves, I see Carina and Stella looking at me with worried eyes.

"What happened?" Stella asks in a low voice, reaching across the table to take my hand.

"Daphne broke up with me..." I almost whisper, looking at my now empty plate. Even though I'm not looking at them, I can see that they're looking at each other.

"What do you mean?" the two girls ask.

I shrug. "She received a letter from her parents forbidding her to see me. We can't even be friends anymore, apparently, since any interaction could make them suspect that she hasn't done what they made her do."

"Stupid Sacred Twenty-eight..." murmurs Stella, squeezing my hand. 

It's Carina's turn to reach out and take my other hand, gently stroking the back of my hand with her thumb. "Did you like her? I mean, you know... romantically?" Carina asks.

I sniffle before shrugging again. 

"No... I don't know... maybe..." I say, finally thinking about how I feel, or at least felt, about Daphne. "To be honest, I only really started paying attention to her after that night in the fourth year girls' dorm when we kissed. The kiss was supposed to be something silly, just to get to know what it felt like... But I ended up liking it, and seeing that she didn't care about my sexuality, that she accepted me, I don't know... I ended up seeing her in a different light.

They both nod, as if they understand what I mean. 

"Well, you deserve someone who isn't afraid to be with you like that, who isn't afraid of the judgements, the looks, and someone who doesn't care what their parents think." says Stella, giving a sympathetic smile. 

"Thank you." I say, smiling back.

"If it's going to make you better, you're not alone, you know?" says Stella.

I turn my head slightly, not understanding.

"You're not the only one with a broken heart after last night." she explains.

"What? Who else...?"

Carina squeezes my hand. 

"Hermione was very upset yesterday after fighting with Harry and Ron, actually more with Ron... I, as a good friend, went to console her..." says Carina. "But after the subject of the fight was forgotten and she was feeling a bit better, all she could talk about was Krum..." 

"I'm sorry... I didn't even know you liked Mione..." I say sincerely.

"It's not as if I didn't really know that I didn't have the slightest chance with her..."

"But hearing her talk about someone else hurts all the same." I conclude for her.

"That's right." she replies with a sigh. 

Our moment is interrupted when Theodore arrives and sits down next to me. 

"Someone's happy after last night..." says Stella, with a smirk on her face.

They both let go of my hands, the attention of the three of us now focussing on Theo. 

"What happened last night?" Carina asks curiously.

"I caught him in one of the halls kissing none other than Blaise." says Stella.

"WHAT?" Carina and I say at the same time. His cheeks blush.

"Yeah... apparently we were both into each other for a while, but afraid to admit it." Theo explains.

"At least someone here enjoyed the evening..." says Stella, sighing.

Theodore rolls his eyes.

"You and I stayed on the dance floor for a long time until Blaise and I left the hall. And you, Emma," he turns to me. "from what I saw you had a great time with Daphne last night, didn't you?"

He raises his eyebrow suggestively. Stella, Carina and I exchange glances, and then we end up updating Theo on everything that happened between last night and today, both with Carina and me.

At the end, he says, "You know what's funny?" the three of us look at him and say 'what?'. "Emma," he turns to me again. "you kissed Daphne, a blonde, and you, Rina," he turns to Carina. "told me that last night before the ball you had your first kiss with Ginny, a redhead..."

I had no idea that Carina and Ginny had kissed yesterday! I wasn't expecting that, after all Ginny is obsessed with my brother and Carina, well, apparently obsessed with Hermione. The three of us looked confused, not understanding where he was going with this.

"Apparently you two are each other's type." he says, with a smirk. "Maybe you should consider forgetting about the girls who broke your hearts and date each other."

Stella bursts into laughter, while Carina and I blush and look at each other, a little amused, but then we laugh.

What a silly idea Theodore... Rina is one of my closest friends at school, especially considering that we're both lesbians, and we've become very close because of that, but that doesn't mean we have to date... 

The next few days were a bit strange, at least when I was in the same environment as Daphne. When she wasn't paying attention, I'd end up looking at her, and sometimes I'd feel her gaze on me when I was looking elsewhere. We also sat far away from each other, both in the common room and in the Great Hall. At least everyone seemed to respect this distance and never mentioned her to me.

With the second task of the Triwizard Tournament being tomorrow, this is a great distraction from Daphne, making me focus on helping Harry, along with Ron and Hermione in the library. My brother has managed to discover the secret hidden in the golden egg he picked up in the first task, so he's learnt that the second task will take place in the Black Lake. In other words: we're after any spell, potion or magic that can make Harry stay underwater for an hour. Each of us turns to a different book in search of something that might help him.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to you about this before, Emma," says Harry. "but I'm sorry about whatever happened between you and that girl.

Great, being reminded of that again. I sigh. "Thanks, Harry." I say, without giving details of what happened, not wanting to relive it all again.

"It really is a shame," Ron begins to say. "I mean, Greengrass is probably one of the prettiest girls in the fourth year."

I give him a deadly stare. Hermione elbows him hard in the ribs, making him grunt and step back. 

At least after that we all fall silent again and focus on the most important task: helping my brother.

"I don't reckon it can be done," says Ron. "There's nothing. Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."

"If that's the task, surely there's some way for each champion to endure being underwater for an hour." I say. 

"Emma's right, there must be something," mutters Hermione. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."

"They have," says Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."

"I know what I should have done," says Harry. "I should've learned to be an Animagus like Sirius."

"Who's to say that the shape of your Animagus could withstand being underwater?" I ask.

About ten minutes pass, each of us going through book after book.

"Oh this is no use," Hermione says, closing the book violently. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," we suddenly hear Fred's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

The four of us raise our heads. The twins come out from behind one of the shelves.

"What're you two doing here?" asks Ron.

"Looking for you," says George. "McGonagall wants you, Emma. And you, Hermione."

"Why?" we both ask at the same time.

"Dunno... she was looking a bit grim, though," says Fred. 

"We're supposed to take you down to her office," says George. 

We quickly say goodbye to Harry and Ron, and then follow the twins to Professor McGonagall's office. When we get there, after Fred and George close the door behind them and leave us alone with the teacher, she looks at us seriously

"Miss Potter, Miss Granger. I asked both Mr. Weasleys to bring you here to discuss the second task of the tournament."

Hermione and I look at each other anxiously. 

"As you may already know if Mr. Potter has unravelled the golden egg, which I hope he has, the second task will take place in the Black Lake, and each champion will have to retrieve something valuable from the bottom of the lake. Each of them will be responsible for rescuing a specific student, chosen in advance."

I can see where this is going...

"In view of this, Miss Potter, you have been designated as the victim that Mr. Potter will have to rescue. Miss Granger, Mr. Krum will be responsible for your rescue."

"And how is this going to happen?" I ask, a little afraid.

"You two, as well as the others chosen, will be put under the effect of a spell, which will leave you unconscious until the end of the task. Don't worry, Professor Dumbledore and I will make sure it's completely safe for the four of you."

Mione and I look at each other again before nodding.

"All right."

"Okay."

With our consent, the next day while the environment for the second task is being set up, the four victims chosen to be saved by each champion: Hermione by Krum, me by Harry, Cho by Cedric, and Gabrielle Delacour by Fleur, are put under a spell, which causes us to black out at the same moment.

Chapter Text

"You did it!" I say, opening a smile. I don't let him answer, as I've only just noticed a little girl on the other side of my brother, Gabrielle, Fleur's sister. "Why did you save her too?!"

"Fleur didn’t turn up, I couldn’t leave her," Harry replies, panting.

"Do you really think Dumbledore would let any of us die down there?! Of course not!"

"The song said..."

"Whatever the song said, it probably just said to make sure all the champions got back on time! Knowing you, I bet you wasted your time playing the hero... Typical Gryffindor..." I say, rolling my eyes.

"C’mon," Harry says shortly, "help me with her, I don’t think she can swim very well."

I help my brother pull Gabrielle to the edge of the lake, where the judges are standing watching us. As we get closer, I can see Madam Pomfrey tending to Hermione, Krum, Cedric and Cho, all with thick blankets. Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman smile as we get closer.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she ’urt?" says Fleur, who is being restrained by Maxime so that she doesn't go back into the water.

As soon as we reach the shore, Dumbledore helps my brother up, while Bagman helps me. Fleur manages to free herself from Maxime and goes straight to meet her sister.

"It was ze grindylows... zey attacked me... oh Gabrielle, I thought... I thought..." Fleurs starts to say.

Soon Madam Pomfrey approaches and hands me a blanket identical to the one the others are wearing. Then she pushes a potion down my throat, instantly making me feel warmer. Harry and I approach the others.

"Harry, well done! Hermione cries. "You did it, you found out how all by yourself!"

"Well..." my brother starts to reply, but seems to think carefully about what to say when he sees Karkaroff staring at him. "Yeah, that’s right,"

It's definitely not true, but I'm curious to know who helped him.

"You haff a water beetle in your hair, Herm-own-ninny," interrupts Krum.

Surprisingly, Hermione seems irritated by this, quickly shaking her head impatiently to get rid of the insect. "You’re well outside the time limit, though, Harry... Did it take you ages to find us?"

"No... I found you okay..."

"He played the hero again." I reply, looking at Hermione. "He saved Gabrielle because he thought she might drown if Fleur couldn't rescue her."

A few seconds pass before Dumbledore, who was apparently crouching by the lake, gets up and turns to the judges. "A conference before we give the marks, I think."

And then all of them, who were near us, move away and group together to discuss whatever it is that Dumbledore wants to discuss.

"You saved ’er," says Fleur, turning to Harry. "Even though she was not your ’ostage."

"Yeah," says Harry.

And then the girl bends down slightly (since we're sitting down) and holds my brother's face with both hands just before kissing his cheeks. His face instantly turns red, so red that I don't doubt he's stopped feeling cold for an instant. 

Fleur then turns to me. "And you too — you ’elped..."

I widen my eyes, surprised that such a pretty girl is paying attention to me. "Yeah... I think so..." is the only thing I can answer.

She also bends down and holds my face with both hands before kissing my cheeks, making me feel like my face is on fire. I would certainly have been more disorientated if it hadn't been for Ludo Bagman catching everyone's eye seconds later.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchief tainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions, as follows. Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she ap proached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

Applause from the stands.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour." There is a lot of applause, especially among the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. "We therefore award him forty-seven points."

I take a quick glance at my brother and almost feel his spirits drop, probably realising that if Cedric got that score after only a minute's time, surely he'll get a much bigger discount.

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

I see Karkaroff applauding very enthusiastically.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect," continues Bagman. "He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own. Most of the judges feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However... Mr. Potter’s score is forty-five points."

I raise my eyebrows in surprise at the high score, but then join the vast majority of people in applauding my brother for second place. Even Fleur applauds enthusiastically.

 "The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty fourth of June," Bagman speaks again. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

Soon Madam Pomfrey begins to practically force everyone who was in the lake back into the castle to put on dry clothes. When Ron, who was in the stands most likely with other Gryffindors, runs up to us, I leave my brother and his friends to talk, walking off in search of my own.

When I spot Stella, Carina, Ginny, Theo and Luna, I smile and walk faster towards them. But before I can reach them, a hand gently tugs me by the arm to get my attention. I frown at whoever it is. Turning round, I see Daphne. She bites her lower lip when our eyes meet, clearly nervous. I get angry at myself for letting this gesture distract me and make me look at her mouth, for a second wanting to kiss her. 

"What?" I ask dryly.

For half a second I realise that she flinches slightly, as if she hadn't expected this reaction.

"A-Are you all right?" she asks, uncertain. 

I huff, rolling my eyes at her question. "I am, but it's not like you really care, is it? After all, we're nothing anymore, not even friends."

At that moment I see Pansy and Draco approaching, just behind Daphne. Draco seems to look at me with a certain pity, but I don't take much notice of him, as my gaze soon meets Pansy's and I see her giving me a look as if she's silently telling me to take it easy. My eyes return to Daphne, and I see her eyes water. 

"I'm sorry..."

I feel a hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention. I turn my head slightly and see Theo.

"You don't want to be seen with me, do you? Goodbye, Daphne." I say, before turning round and joining my friends.

Theo puts his arm around my shoulder, hugging me.

"Everything okay?" he asks, as I feel the eyes of my other friends on me.  

I just nod, picking up the pace a little more to get away from her.

"What was it like? Did you feel anything while you were underwater?" Carina breaks the silence, changing the subject completely.

I lift my head and look her in the eye, smiling slightly in gratitude that she has purposely changed the subject.  

"McGonagall called Mione and me into her office last night to tell us about the task and explain that we had been chosen to be the hostages to be rescued by Krum and Harry." I begin to tell them. "Then today, when the lake was being prepared for the task, all the hostaged were bewitched."

"Weren't you scared?" Stella asks.

I shake my head. "It felt like a dreamless sleep. I have no memory of anything after I was bewitched, I only woke up when I was already on the surface."

"Cool." says Ginny.

For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm getting as much attention as my brother, all because of the second task. People stop me to chat, ask me how it was, if I was scared, what it felt like, if I was awake down there... People from all the houses, but especially the Slytherins. As soon as I get some time with my brother (which is difficult, especially after the second task), I ask him how he got gillyweed, the plant he used to breathe underwater. He tells me that Dobby got it for him.

March comes and so does a weekend in Hogsmeade. My friends and I make various plans. As soon as we arrive in Hogsmeade, we first go to Honeydukes. I buy Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Pepper Imps, Exploding bonbons and Liquorice Wands. As soon as I've picked up my shopping bag, I turn around and see Carina standing by the shop door, facing inwards, waiting for her friends.

"Aren't you going to buy anything?" I ask, approaching her. 

She shakes her head.

"Mum already sends too many sweets every week." she replies with a giggle. "I'm sure I won't eat it all if I buy it, I don't want to waste money."

I chuckle. "Are you adopted by any chance? Humility and Malfoys don't seem to go together very well." 

Her cheeks blush as she giggles again.

"Don't you want to wait for the others outside? It's too crowded in here." Carina suggests.

"Of course." I say, nodding.

She opens the shop door and gestures for me to go through before her.

"What a gentlewoman!" I say jokingly. 

She gives a less restrained laugh this time. At this point I stop to notice how Carina is always so elegant and graceful in everything she does, even appearing to be quite controlled, which I don't doubt she is, given everything I know about pureblood families like hers.

After the door closes behind her, we start walking through the streets of Hogsmeade, but always near the Honeydukes, close enough to see our friends leaving.

"You know, you remind me a lot of your mum." I say, breaking the silence between us, smiling slightly and looking into her eyes.

Her cheeks are still red. She smiles back.

"Oh, thank you!" she says, sounding genuinely grateful and happy for the compliment. "Everyone says that, actually. While Draco is an almost exact copy of my father, I've always been told, ever since I was very little, that I'm more like my mother, except for my eyes, of course."

"I wasn't talking about her looks." I say, although yes, she does look a lot like her mum. "You seem to have the same way as your mum, all elegant and graceful."

She shakes her head, smiling. "As if you knew my mum very well..."

"Well, I know enough to know that she's..." I say, clearing my throat. "well, very pretty."

 Her cheeks blush again as she rolls her eyes. "I'd forgotten that you were attracted to my mum... That's weird!"

"Come on, it's not my fault if ‘Aunt Cissa’ is an absolute babe!" I say.

We both burst out laughing. I even had to wipe the corners of my eyes, as they were watering from laughing so hard. 

"You... you look a lot like your mum too." Carina tells me, now looking at me with an expression of pity and sympathy on her face.

I smile slightly before frowning, confused. "Yeah... I hear that a lot too, but... How do you know what my mum was like?"

She shrugs. "Mum's quite... nostalgic, so to speak. She keeps a lot of photo albums, and some of them are photos from her time at Hogwarts."

"Wait a minute... did they... know each other? I had no idea they might even have been classmates!" I say, suddenly very curious.

Carina shakes her head. "They knew each other, but probably only from seeing each other in the corridors. They weren't classmates, they didn't study in the same year. As far as I knew, your mum was a year below mine."

"Why does she have photos of my mum, then?" I ask curiously.

"Because they both took part in the Slug Club." she replies, leaving me confused. "It was a club that the old Potions teacher had for his favourite students."

We walk a little further, at least until I hear a shocked gasp from Carina. I lift my head and look at her, concerned. Her gaze seems to be fixed on something else, on someone. I follow her gaze until I see a woman with very white skin, almost as white as Carina's, and brown eyes and hair. She's very pretty, almost as pretty as Mrs. Malfoy.

"Who is it?" I ask softly.

I see her gulp before looking away from the woman and towards me. But before she can answer me, the woman also seems to have recognised Carina, as she looks just as astonished, slowly approaching us.

"Carina?" the woman asks, covering her mouth with one hand as if she couldn't believe it. 

"Aunt... Aunt Andromeda?"

Chapter Text

"Oh, darling..." the woman, Andromeda, says, before opening her arms and embracing Carina.

I feel like an intruder, like I'm getting in the way of this meeting of aunt and niece.

"Well I... I think I'm going to find our friends, let you two talk..." I say, as soon as the two of them break away from the embrace. 

"Nonsense..." says Andromeda, shaking her head. "You're the Potters' daughter, aren't you? Emma, right?"

I smile shyly before nodding. It's nice to be known only as my parents' daughter instead of Harry's sister for a change. 

"How do you know?" I ask with arched eyebrows. 

She chuckles before answering me. "You're a copy of your mum, dear."

I know I hear it a lot, but I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing it.

"Maybe we can go to the Three Broomsticks?" she suggests, looking at me and then at Carina. "That way we can talk better."

I nod, and Carina does the same. Andromeda then gestures with her hand for me to follow, before putting one hand on my back and the other on Carina's, guiding us into the pub. She quickly greets Madam Rosmerta as soon as we enter, before guiding us to an empty table. I take a seat next to Carina, while Andromeda sits in front of us just after she arrives carrying three butterbeers. I feel my friend's hand intertwine with mine under the table before she squeezes it lightly, and I squeeze her hand back. My heart races at the gesture, probably nervous about what's to come. 

Carina's aunt smiles, looking into her niece's eyes.

"I imagined this meeting so much and... now that I'm facing you... I'm simply speechless, I don't know where to start..." Andromeda smiles a little awkwardly. 

Carina smiles shyly back. 

"You look so... so much like...” my friend says, clearing her throat.

"Bella?" her aunt adds with a sad look. 

Carina nods, her cheeks blushing. 

"And you look so much like your mum, but I'm sure you hear that a lot, don't you?" says Andromeda.

"Quite a lot." Carina replies with a giggle. "I'm sorry, it must be a difficult subject for you to talk about, you know? About your sisters... At least, I know it's always been a delicate subject for Mum."

I see Andromeda sigh before nodding, looking down at her glass. I take a sip of my beer, still feeling like an outsider in this conversation, but continue to sit quietly, trying to support Carina. 

"What do you know about me, Carina?" Andromeda asks, looking into her niece's eyes.

"My mum told me that the three of you were close growing up. She said that Bellatrix and you fought a lot, and that she usually separated the fights between the two of you..."

I notice a wistful smile forming on my friend's aunt's face. "Yes, that's all true... Bella and I were always very different from each other, so I think that ended up making us have more disagreements. Your mother always hated it when we fought, and since Cissy was the common weak point between Bella and me, we could never say no to her, we always forgave each other and reconciled, at least until..."

"Until you married a muggleborn." Carina completes for her.

"That's right." says Andromeda, taking a deep breath. A few minutes pass before she speaks again. "You must have more questions, you must be curious to know more than what your mum told you."

I look slightly at Carina and see her biting her lower lip. 

"What were you like at Hogwarts? Were you close too?" she asks.

 Andromeda sighs before answering. "Well, Bella, being the eldest, went to Hogwarts two years before me, four before your mother. When it was my turn to start school, she had already made lots of friends and didn't want her younger sister around. So during our time at Hogwarts we didn't speak to each other as much, but we didn't fight either."

"What about you and Mum?" Carina asks.

"Cissy was a whole different story..." says Andromeda, smiling nostalgically. "Both Bella and I have always been a little protective of Narcissa, because she was younger, because she was the most neglected by our father... anyway. Although Bella spent most of her time with her friends, I know that she was always keeping an eye on what our little sister was doing, just as I was. From Cissy's first day at school, I helped her with everything she needed, whether it was a subject she was struggling with or a shoulder to lean on... Seeing you reminds me so much of her at school... You know, your mum wasn't much older than you when she went through her first heartbreak..."

Carina's eyes widen. "My mum fancied someone other than my father?!"

 I can see on your aunt's face that she's probably said too much. "I don't know if I should be telling you these things... they're not my secrets to reveal, but..., yes, your mum dated someone else before she started dating Lucius."

"And why... why didn't it work out?" Carina asks curiously.

Andromeda takes a sip of her butterbeer before replying. "Because you know how the Sacred Twenty-Eight families work, darling... My parents had already promised Narcissa to Lucius. Actually, well... I was the one who should have married your father."

"What?" I let out, the first time I've spoken since we got here. 

Andromeda looks at me. "It's common among pure-blood families, especially those in the Sacred Twenty-Eight. My parents had made a deal with the Malfoys a few years after I started at Hogwarts, but... but I ran away from home and married Ted."

We stay silent for a few seconds.

"I had... I had no idea..." says Carina.

"It's understandable that your mum never spoke to you about it, after all, I bet she always wanted to convey the image of a perfect pure-blood." I sense that she says the last part with a certain bitterness.

"Haven't you spoken to anyone in your family since you got married?" I ask, seeing that my friend still looks speechless.

"Not personally." Andromeda replies, looking at me. She looks back at her niece. "The only person in the family that I had a shred of hope that, deep down, she wouldn't care who I married was Cissy. I even invited her to my wedding, but never got a reply. The last time I tried to contact her was when my daughter, Ninphadora, was born. I sent her a letter announcing the birth, but I never received a reply."

I feel Carina's hand squeeze mine, which makes me turn my face to look at her. I see that her eyes are red and swollen.  "I... I'm sorry, Aunt Andromeda... But I'm sure Mum misses you very much. She just wears this mask of a perfect woman, but I know that, deep down, she doesn't believe in anything that you, that we were taught..." 

Andromeda shrugs. "I learnt to cope with my family's absence and rejection a long time ago, darling."

Before either of us can say anything else, I see the pub door open and Stella walk in. She looks around, probably searching for us, before spotting us and approaching. Carina lets go of my hand.

"Ah, I found you! We were out of our minds looking for..." she starts to say before paying attention to the person in front of us.

Stella's mouth drops open, speechless. 

"Stella, this is my aunt, Andromeda." Carina introduces the two. "Aunt Andromeda, this is my best friend, Stella Lestrange." 

Her aunt extends her hand to Stella, who, still open-mouthed, shakes it. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, dear." she says, with a smile on her face. "Well, I think it's time for me to go."

Andromeda gets up from the table. "It was marvellous to meet you, Carina, although I would have liked to have met you under different circumstances... You too, Emma, Stella."

"Wait," I say, standing up and taking her arm. 

She turns to me, frowning. 

"I just wanted to thank you." I say, which leaves her confused. "For the ball dress, I mean... Thank you so much, I love it. Sirius told me you picked it out."

Carina's aunt smiles and holds my hand briefly.  "You're welcome, dear. It was fun choosing a dress for you, it reminded me of when I used to do it for Dora, my daughter."

After hugging Carina, she leaves, leaving the three of us alone. Obviously, Carina and I tell Stella everything we talked about with her on the way back to Hogwarts.

Chapter Text

When June arrives, there are definitely mixed emotions among the students. The third - and final - task of the Triwizard Tournament is approaching, making everyone more and more excited. However, the closer we get to the end of the school year, the closer we get to the final exams, which makes everyone (at least the vast majority) more anxious as the days go by. Until the day of the last task, I end up spending most of my free time in the library, studying for the exams with some of my friends.

The long-awaited day arrives: the third task of the tournament. As usual, I'm sitting at the Slytherin table eating breakfast, listening to the conversations of the people around me and occasionally speaking back. My cereal is almost finished when Professor Snape approaches the table, more precisely he approaches me.

"Potter," he says, making the Slytherins' eyes widen.

Even though he favours our house, there's no one who isn't intimidated by him.

"Yes, Professor?" I say, raising my head and looking directly at him, who is standing on the other side of the table, just behind Theodore, who is sitting in front of me.

"The champions are congregating in the room next to the Great Hall after breakfast." he says in a monotone. 

I notice the gazes of the other Slytherins going from Snape to me, watching our interaction with curiosity. I arch my eyebrows. 

"As far as I know, I'm not one of the champions, sir." I say, although my tone is sarcastic, I'm genuinely confused as to why he's come to tell me this.

Being one of the few ones who isn't afraid to speak back to the teacher in this way, I can hear a few gasps of shock at my words, but I continue to maintain my posture. A mocking smile appears on his face as he crosses his arms.

"And I can only imagine that this must hurt your gigantic ego, right?" I hear more gasps from the people nearby following the interaction. "Considering that you, unfortunately, are a Slytherin, I'm not going to take any points away from your house for that smart arse comeback of yours, but don't get used to it, Potter."

"Fortunately, my ego isn't fragile enough to be hurt by something as futile as not taking part in the tournament. After all, I value my safety and not hurting this pretty face." I see some of my friends laugh at my reply. "But what exactly do you want with me, then?" I give him an innocent smile. 

I can see the contempt on his face, making me cheer mentally at this small victory.

"Just like your father and brother..." is the only thing he replies to what I've just said. "As you are unfortunately the sister of one of the champions, Potter, your presence is also expected, as the families of the champions have been invited to attend the last task." 

With that, he turns and walks away, back to the staff table. I immediately frown, confused.

"No offence, Emma, but..." Zoe starts to say. "Who would the school invite from your family? Considering that..." 

"That her parents are dead, and her only family are her muggle uncles?" completes Pansy matter-of-factly.

The atmosphere is heavy after she says that, but she's right. I can see out of the corner of my eye Daphne, who is standing next to Pansy, elbow her in the arm. What a surprise, considering how everything turned out between us...

"Ouch!" she winces. "But it's true, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, Pansy. I reply before sighing. "I honestly have no idea who they could have invited to represent our family."

Sirius? Of course not, he's on the run. Remus? I don't think so either, after all, he's not even Harry's godfather, he's mine, and I don't think many people know about it.

As soon as I finish my cereal, I see Fleur get up and, accompanied by her younger sister Gabrielle, join Cedric and Aster, who are walking towards the door behind the staff table. I stand up and then look towards the Gryffindor table, trying to make eye contact with my brother, who immediately sees me and stands up too. I approach him before we start walking in the direction the other two champions went seconds ago.

"Do you know who...?" I start to ask.

"I have no idea." replies Harry, shrugging.

We walk through the hall, all the time feeling eyes following us to the door. As soon as Harry opens the door, and we enter the room, I see Cedric and Aster with their parents. In one corner are Krum and his parents. On the other side of the room, Fleur is talking to her mother in French, while her little sister is holding their mother's hand. Fleur quickly waves to us, and we immediately reciprocate. When my eyes stop in front of the fireplace, I see Mrs. Weasley and Bill, both smiling at us.

"Surprise!" she says excitedly, as soon as we get closer to the two of them. "Thought we'd come and watch you, Harry!"

She bends down and kisses Harry on the cheek, then does the same to me. Bill shakes my hand, before doing the same to my brother. While Bill is talking to Harry, I can't help but notice Fleur, who is spying on us with a certain interest. Well, Bill specifically.

"This is really nice of you," Harry says quietly to Mrs. Weasley. "I thought for a moment... the Dursleys..."

She only grumbles, pressing her lips together so as not to complain openly about our aunt and uncle.

"It's great being back here," says Bill. "Haven't seen this place for five years. Fancy giving us a tour?"

"Of course." I answer for both of us.

We're walking towards the door when Cedric and Aster's father stops us.

"There you are, are you?" Amos Diggory says, looking at my brother. "Bet you're not feeling quite as full of yourself now Cedric's caught you up on points, are you?"

"What?" says Harry.

"Ignore him," says Cedric to my brother. "He's been angry ever since Rita Skeeter's article about the Triwizard Tournament — you know, when she made out you were the only Hogwarts champion."

Bloody Skeeter... Throughout the tournament, I know she has been giving my brother a hard time by writing absurdities for the Daily Prophet. At times like this I'm glad they don't remember me, because if Avada Kedavra wasn't an Unforgivable Curse...

"Didn't bother to correct her, though, did he?" their father says. "Still... you'll show him, Ced. Beaten him once before, haven't you?"

"Come on, Dad..." says Aster, her face flushed with embarrassment.

"No offence, Aster," I say, glancing at my friend before turning to hers and Cedric's father. "but how does a man with such a limited intellect like you work for the Ministry of Magic?"

"What?" he says, his eyes wide, clearly not expecting anyone to respond him.

"Can't you think for one second that even if my brother 'bothered to correct her', that insufferable Rita Skeeter wouldn't give a damn?!"

Mr. Diggory is dumbfounded, with no reaction.

"And frankly, Mr. Diggory, you should be ashamed of your childish attitude, picking on a fourteen-year-old boy? You only seem to want attention... Come on... your wife doesn't bother with you at home, does she?" I continue.

Harry and Bill press their lips together in an attempt not to laugh. His wife, Cedric and Aster's mum, turns her face completely red and says nothing. She puts a hand on her husband's shoulder, and he cringes before turning round and walking away.

"I'm sorry, Aster, but your father was asking for a comeback like that..." I say, looking at my friend.

She chuckles. "Don't apologise, I thought your comeback was perfect... He really was furious that my brother wasn't getting the spotlight he deserves, but your brother has nothing to do with it."

With that, the four of us; Harry, me, Mrs. Weasley and Bill, leave and go for a walk around the castle. 

The evening comes relatively quickly, and in the blink of an eye I'm back in the Great Hall for the evening banquet. Dumbledore stands up and asks for silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."

As soon as my brother stands up, I see everyone at the Gryffindor table applaud him, which, despite the historical rivalry between our houses, brings a slight smile of pride to my face. 

Exactly five minutes after the champions leave, we are all told to go to the Quidditch pitch. My heart starts racing with anxiety for Harry. I feel a hand suddenly entwine in mine, giving it a comforting squeeze. I lift my head and see Theo.

"Nervous?" he asks sarcastically.

I roll my eyes. "Not at all..."

Soon, along with some Slytherins, I catch up with the rest of my friends; Ginny, Stella, Carina, Luna, and Aster, and we all walk together to the stadium. I can see that the stands are already starting to fill up as soon as we arrive. I'm ready to take a seat next to my friends when Professor McGonagall stops me.

"Miss Potter, Miss Diggory, you two can watch the task closer to where the champions will depart, together with your families. Come with me."

I quickly turn to my friends. 

"Well, I'll talk to you after the tournament, then, right?"I say, looking at each of them.

"Right." reply Theo and Stella.

Carina steps forwards and hugs me. My arms go around her back, and I hug her back.

"I'm rooting for Harry, not just because he's also a Gryffindor, but because he's your brother." she says in my ear. 

 And then we break away from the embrace, me giving her a wide, grateful smile.

"See you later." I say.

"Fingers crossed!" says Ginny, signalling with her fingers before turning and walking away with the others.

I turn to Aster.

"I wish your brother good luck." I say, pulling her into a hug. "And not just because it could be a victory over Gryffindor, okay?" I giggle.

"You bet." she says, giggling back. "I hope Harry does well too."

McGonagall directs us to where our families are, in the first rows of the stands. As I approach Mrs. Weasley, I see that my brother is standing nearby. She smiles at me just before I touch Harry lightly on the shoulder, making him turn around quickly.

"Good luck." I say, hugging him. "Really, leaving aside the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I hope you win."

"Thank you, Emma." Harry says in my ear, just before releasing me, and McGonagall leads him to the centre of the stadium.

As I join Bill and Mrs. Weasley, I see that Mr. Diggory is watching me. I raise my head to look back at him, which immediately makes him lower his head, apparently embarrassed to have been caught staring at me.

I watch the teachers chatting to the four champions, probably passing on some instructions before the third and final task begins. The four then all turn to the same place, all at different distances from the entrance to what appears to be a labyrinth.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin!" says Bagman, with the tip of his wand against his neck, his voice amplified so that everyone in the pitch can hear him. "Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each — Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!" I don't hesitate to applaud, just as you can hear a lot of applause and cheers coming from the stands. "In second place, with eighty points — Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" more applause. "And in third place — Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!"

I see my brother turn his head and look across the stands. When our eyes meet, I wave at him, and he waves back.

"So... on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" says Bagman. "Three, two, one..."

As soon as the whistle sounds, they both run towards the entrance to the labyrinth. My heart races again, beating so uncontrollably that I feel as if it's going to burst out of my mouth.

The whistle sounds again and Krum is authorised to begin his task a few seconds later, with Fleur following soon after. When the four champions find themselves inside the labyrinth, the stadium suddenly becomes very quiet, only a few whispers and murmurs can be heard from the stands. 

About ten minutes later, my heart starts racing again when I see a flash of red light up the sky from the labyrinth. One of the champions has quit. I notice a certain amount of movement from the teachers and staff, who are scattered around the labyrinth, probably ready for any quits or other problems. A few minutes later, I can see, even from a distance, one of the teachers, Flitwick, approaching with Fleur, who looks shocked. She is quickly taken to Madam Pomfrey, and her family, her mother and sister, leave the stands and follow her.

I have no idea how much time has passed when, holding the cup, which was a Portkey, Harry and Cedric reappear in the middle of the pitch. A tie? But... I try to ignore it and join the hundreds of people cheering deafeningly from the stands. I can't contain the huge smile on my face at the fact that my brother has won the tournament.

"Emma!" Aster touches my shoulder, making me turn towards her. "They've won! They both won!" she pulls me into a tight hug.

As we break away from the embrace, I turn my attention to my brother in the centre of everyone. Dumbledore quickly ran over to the two of them. The minister, Fudge, soon joins the headmaster, making it difficult for everyone to see the champions. But that's when the buzz starts. The people who are closest to the headmaster and the minister, and consequently to Harry and Cedric, begin to murmur, and whispers begin to spread to the stands, until they reach me and move on.

"He's dead!"

"Cedric Diggory! Dead!"

My smile immediately fades. I instantly look at Aster, who is teary-eyed, staring into nothingness, seemingly in shock. 

Chapter Text

It's not possible... But... how? It was supposed to be a safe task, the tournament was supposed to be safe, supervised by the headmasters and teachers and the Ministry of Magic itself.

The first thing I see is Cedric's parents, along with Aster, running towards where my brother and Cedric's body are. I feel a hand on my shoulder, look over and see Mrs. Weasley, her eyes watery with shock. She quickly pulls me into a strong, tight hug. When my gaze returns to where my brother was, I no longer see him there. So many people are around me, the commotion is so big that even though I try to stretch out a little and stand on my tiptoes to try to spot him, I can't find Harry anywhere.

"Emma!" I hear the voice of one of my friends calling me. I turn round and see Hermione, Ron right behind her. 

I pull her into a hug, and she doesn't hesitate to hug me back. When we pull away, I can see that her eyes are watering, as most people's are. 

"Harry I... I don't know where he went!" I say, looking at them both. 

"Moody got him out, took him back to the castle, I think." says Ron, scratching his head. Although his eyes aren't filled with tears, his face clearly shows shock mixed with sadness at the situation. 

Mrs. Weasley interrupts our moment, Bill coming up behind her. She opens her arms and wraps Ron in a hug. I turn to where my brother was standing, where Dumbledore, Fudge, the Diggorys and the teachers are now. I don't hesitate to take a step, about to go over to them, when Hermione takes me by the arm.

"Where are you going?" she asks, sounding a little desperate.

"A student has just died suddenly, and my brother has disappeared, being taken away from here by a teacher. I have to tell Dumbledore..." I say, only now feeling the tears run down my face.

Then Mione lets go of me and I run towards the teachers. I hear someone else run up behind me, and seconds later I see Aster turn around and be hugged tightly by Stella, who is accompanied by Carina. The teachers and headmasters are gathered in a circle, discussing something, when I nudge the shoulder of the person closest to me, McGonagall, who turns around, causing all eyes to fall on me. 

"I hope it's something important, Miss Potter, because we have very important matters to be..."

"Harry's gone!" I interrupt her, getting straight to the point. "Professor Moody took him away, Ron said it looks like the two of them have gone back to the castle."

The teacher turns around, probably casting a confused and worried glance at Dumbledore. "To the castle...? But, Albus... nobody's there, why are they...?" 

But it's Snape who seems to realise something. He whispers something in the headmaster's ear before shooting off in the direction of the castle, quickly passing me. Dumbledore does the same, McGonagall following close behind. I turn to follow them, quickly catching up with the teacher.

"Potter, I think you better..."

"No, professor! A student has just died, my brother has just been dragged from the stadium to a seemingly empty place. I'm coming with you!" I say, neither me nor her stopping for even a second.

She seems to accept it, or at least she doesn't have the patience to argue with me at the moment, as she does nothing to stop me from continuing. We enter the castle and climb the marble staircase until we arrive in front of the door to Moody's office. 

"Stupefy!" Dumbledore shouts, causing the door to split in half, splintering the wood.

The headmaster and the two teachers enter first, blocking my view. As soon as Dumbledore walks further into the room, I see Moody lying unconscious on the floor. The headmaster turns the teacher onto his stomach, while Snape scans the room. 

"Come along, Potter," I hear McGonagall whisper to my brother, with a hand on his shoulder. "Come along... hospital wing..." 

"No," says Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore, he ought to — look at him — he's been through enough tonight..."

"He will stay, Minerva, because he needs to understand," says Dumbledore curtly, the first time I've witnessed this. "Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery. He needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why."

The teacher sighs, seemingly accepting the headmaster's explanation.

"All right then..." she turns to me, gesturing for me to leave. "Miss Potter..."

"She can stay too, Minerva. It's important that they both understand what this is all about." says Dumbledore.

I approach my brother and hug him from the side, my arms going around his waist, while he wraps an arm round my back.

"Moody," Harry says, his voice showing disbelief. "How can it have been Moody?"

"This is not Alastor Moody," says Dumbledore quietly. "You have never known Alastor Moody. The real Moody would not have removed you from my sight after what happened tonight. The moment your sister told me that he had taken you, I knew it."

The headmaster bends over the unconscious body of the fake Moody and rummages through his robes, taking out a vial and several keys. He then turns to McGonagall and Snape.

"Severus, please fetch me the strongest Truth Potion you possess, and then go down to the kitchens and bring up the house-elf called Winky. Minerva, kindly go down to Hagrid's house, where you will find a large black dog sitting in the pumpkin patch. Take the dog up to my office, tell him I will be with him shortly, then come back here."

The two teachers don't even question the headmaster's requests, but turn round and disappear from sight. As soon as they leave the room, Dumbledore approaches a strange trunk with seven locks. With one of the keys in his hand, he unlocks the trunk. There were only several spell books. And so it goes: at the second lock he tries the second key and so on, each time revealing different contents. When he reaches the seventh and final lock, the headmaster unlocks it and the three of us are faced with a kind of pit.

Down at the bottom of the pit, a man seems to be in a deep sleep: it's the real Alastor Moody. Dumbledore enters the trunk and goes to him.

"Stunned — controlled by the Imperius Curse — very weak," he says. "Of course, they would have needed to keep him alive. Madam Pomfrey will need to see him, but he seems in no immediate danger."

Dumbledore then climbs out of the trunk and grabs the vial that was in the fake Moody's pocket, which is now on the desk. He takes off the lid and turns it over, causing a thick, viscous liquid to spill out onto the floor.

"Polyjuice Potion. You see the simplicity of it, and the brilliance. For Moody never does drink except from his hip flask, he's well known for it. The imposter needed, of course, to keep the real Moody close by, so that he could continue making the potion. You see his hair..." the director looks at Moody, inside the trunk. "The imposter has been cutting it off all year, see where it is uneven? But I think, in the excitement of tonight, our fake Moody might have forgotten to take it as frequently as he should have done... on the hour... every hour... We shall see." 

Apparently patient enough to wait for the potion to wear off, Dumbledore takes a chair and sits down. As a precaution, I take a large step backwards, pulling my brother along so that we are a considerable distance from whoever the man is.

A few silent minutes later, the man's face begins to change in front of us. The grey hair has been replaced by brown hair. The wooden leg falls off, replaced by a normal leg. The magical eye jumps off the man's face, replaced by a real eye. As soon as the transformation is over, I try to recognise the man, without success. But when I look at Harry, whose mouth is hanging open, he seems to know very well who it is.

Soon we hear footsteps approaching down the corridor. Snape returns with Winky, Mr. Crouch's house elf. McGonagall seems to be following.

"Crouch!" Snape exclaims, stopping near the entrance to the room. "Barty Crouch!"

"Good heavens," says McGonagall, stopping next to Snape.

I see Winky peek between the teacher's legs. She opens her mouth and lets out a little shriek. "Master Barty, Master Barty, what is you doing here?"

She throws herself on him. "You is killed him! You is killed him! You is killed Master's son!"

"He is simply Stunned, Winky," explains Dumbledore. "Step aside, please. Severus, you have the potion?"

He hands over a bottle containing a clear liquid. The headmaster gets up from his chair and then leans over the man, lifting him up until he's leaning against the wall. I watch Winky tremble, still on her knees, her little hands covering her face. I finally let go of Harry and cautiously approach her, carefully placing a hand on her shoulder, making her jump in fright, but she turns around, her eyes full of tears, and hugs me. I put an arm around her shoulders, letting her hug me. Meanwhile, Dumbledore opens the man's mouth and drips a few drops of the potion. Then he points his wand at the man and says:

"Rennervate."

The man suddenly opens his eyes. Dumbledore kneels in front of him.

"Can you hear me?" the headmaster asks.

"Yes," he mutters.

"I would like you to tell us," says Dumbledore, "how you came to be here. How did you escape from Azkaban?"

"My mother saved me. She knew she was dying. She persuaded my father to rescue me as a last favor to her. He loved her as he had never loved me. He agreed. They came to visit me. They gave me a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother's hairs. She took a draft of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my hairs. We took on each other's appearance."

I feel Winky shake her head. "Say no more, Master Barty, say no more, you is getting your father into trouble!"

"The dementors are blind. They sensed one healthy, one dying person entering Azkaban. They sensed one healthy, one dying person leaving it. My father smuggled me out, disguised as my mother, in case any prisoners were watching through their doors. My mother died a short while afterward in Azkaban. She was careful to drink Polyjuice Potion until the end. She was buried under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me."

"And what did your father do with you, when he had got you home?" asks Dumbledore.

"Staged my mother's death. A quiet, private funeral. That grave is empty. The house-elf nursed me back to health. Then I had to be concealed. I had to be controlled. My father had to use a number of spells to subdue me. When I had recovered my strength, I thought only of finding my master... of returning to his service."

"How did your father subdue you?" asks Dumbledore.

"The Imperius Curse.  I was forced to wear an Invisibility Cloak day and night. I was always with the house-elf. She was my keeper and caretaker. She persuaded my father to give me occasional treats. Rewards for my good behavior."

"Master Barty, Master Barty," Winky says, releasing me.. "You isn't ought to tell them, we is getting in trouble..."

"Tell me about the Quidditch World Cup," orders the headmaster.

"Winky talked my father into it," he says. "She spent months persuading him. I had not left the house for years. I had loved Quidditch. She said my mother would have wanted it. She told my father that my mother had died to give me freedom. He agreed in the end. It was carefully planned. My father led me and Winky up to the Top Box early in the day. Winky was to say that she was saving a seat for my father. I was to sit there, invisible. When everyone had left the box, we would emerge. Nobody would ever know. But Winky didn't know that I was growing stronger. I was starting to fight my father's Imperius Curse. There were times when I was almost myself again. It happened, there, in the Top Box. I found myself out in public, in the middle of the match, and I saw, in front of me, a wand sticking out of a boy's pocket. I had not been allowed a wand since before Azkaban. I stole it. Winky didn't know. Winky is frightened of heights. She had her face hidden."

"Master Barty, you bad boy!" she says, tears flowing between her fingers.

"So you took the wand," says Dumbledore, "and what did you do with it?"

"We went back to the tent. Then we heard them. We heard the Death Eaters. The ones who had never been to Azkaban. The ones who had never suffered for my master. They had turned their backs on him. They were merely making sport of Muggles. My mind was clearer than it had been in years. I was angry. I had the wand. I wanted to attack them for their disloyalty to my master. My father had left the tent; he had gone to free the Muggles. Winky was afraid to see me so angry. She used her own brand of magic to bind me to her. She pulled me from the tent, pulled me into the forest, away from the Death Eaters. I tried to hold her back. I wanted to return to the campsite. I wanted to show those Death Eaters what loyalty to the Dark Lord meant, and to punish them for their lack of it. I used the stolen wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky."

He tells how he escaped, that his father fired Winky, and most importantly: how he met Voldemort again and how he ended up at Hogwarts at his master's behest. It was all part of a grand plan to lure Harry away and get his blood so that Voldemort would have a body again.

As soon as he finishes telling him about everything, Dumbledore stands up.

"Minerva, could I ask you to stand guard here while I take Harry and Emma  upstairs?" he says, facing her.

"Of course," she says, just before pulling out her wand and raising it towards Barty Crouch.

"Severus," Dumbledore turned to Snape. "please tell Madam Pomfrey to come down here; we need to get Alastor Moody into the hospital wing. Then go down into the grounds, find Cornelius Fudge, and bring him up to this office. He will undoubtedly want to question Crouch himself. Tell him I will be in the hospital wing in half an hour's time if he needs me."

Snape simply nods and leaves the room.

"Harry? Emma?" Dumbledore says gently. 

I only realise now that my brother's leg seems to be injured. I take his arm and put it around my neck so that I can help him walk. The two of us then follow Dumbledore out of the room and down the corridor.

"I want you two to come up to my office first," he says quietly. "Sirius is waiting for us there."

We both nod. For a few seconds we follow the headmaster in silence.

"Professor," Harry mumbles, "where are Mr. and Mrs. Diggory?"

"They are with Professor Sprout," he says. "She was Head of Cedric's house, and knew him best."

We finally reach the door to Dumbledore's room, and when it opens, I see Sirius standing inside.

"Harry, are you all right? I knew it — I knew something like this — what happened?" he says, although he's addressing my brother, he hugs us both together.

He helps me carry Harry to a chair. 

After Dumbledore tells Sirius everything, he turns to Harry.

"I need to know what happened after you touched the Portkey in the maze, Harry," the headmaster says.

"We can leave that till morning, can't we, Dumbledore?" says Sirius. "Let him have a sleep. Let him rest."

I see my brother raise his head to Dumbledore unwillingly.

"If I thought I could help you," the headmaster says. "by putting you into an enchanted sleep and allowing you to postpone the moment when you would have to think about what has happened tonight, I would do it. But I know better. Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. You have shown bravery beyond anything I could have expected of you. I ask you to demonstrate your courage one more time. I ask you to tell us what happened."

And then my brother starts telling us everything: the steps for Voldemort to emerge from the cauldron, the Death Eaters, that Voldemort even tried to duel him, but... when the two of them cast their spells, it was as if ghosts came out of his wand. He saw Cedric again, he saw our parents again... I find myself once again feeling negative things towards Harry, envy, jealousy, a certain resentment that he once again had another chance to be with our parents and I didn't...

"The wands connected?" Sirius says. "Why?"

The three of us look at Dumbledore. 

"Priori Incantatem," he mutters. "Harry's wand and Voldemort's wand share cores. Each of them contains a feather from the tail of the same phoenix. This phoenix, in fact," he points at Fawkes. 

"My wand's feather came from Fawkes?" asks Harry.

"Yes," says Dumbledore. "Mr. Ollivander wrote to tell me you had bought the second wand, the moment you left his shop four years ago."

"So what happens when a wand meets its brother?" asks Sirius.

"They will not work properly against each other,. If, however, the owners of the wands force the wands to do battle... a very rare effect will take place. One of the wands will force the other to regurgitate spells it has performed — in reverse. The most recent first... and then those which preceded it..."

The three of them continue talking, discussing this phenomenon, while I'm lost in thought. I only come back to reality when Dumbledore asks if Sirius wants to accompany Harry to the hospital wing. He helps Harry up from his chair just before he turns into a dog, and then, when the two of them reach the doorway to the room, they turn and look at me, as if expecting me to accompany them.

"Let Emma stay, I'd like to have a word with her before I let her go to her dormitory."

The dog, Sirius, nods, while Harry looks at me, as if to ask if everything is all right. I nod and they both leave. I turn to the headmaster, not trying to show my anxiety at knowing that he wants to talk to me specifically.

"First of all, I'd like to apologise to you, Emma." Dumbledore breaks the silence between us.

I raise my head, looking into his eyes with a frown, not understanding what he's apologising for. 

"Ever since your first year at Hogwarts, ever since your first day, when you were sorted into Slytherin, I've wanted to call you to talk to you, only you. However, it seems that I've been busy with other things and, consequently, forgot to do that."

"What do you want to talk to me about, headmaster?" I ask, without showing much curiosity.

"Carrying the Potter last name can't be an easy task, can it?"

I shake my head, but remain silent.

"I imagine that sometimes you might even wish you had another last name."

He's right. I press my lips together before I speak. "I think many other people would want the same thing if they were in my place."

"I'm afraid so, but that's understandable, Emma. Growing up under someone's shadow can have a huge impact on you, perhaps even making you feel resentful."

I nod. "It may come as a surprise to you, and I've never told Harry either, or anyone, really, but... I like being a Slytherin. It's something that makes me stand out from my brother, something that makes the others separate me a little from Harry."

He shakes his head. "I'd be surprised if you told me that you still resented the fact that the hat didn't put you in Gryffindor."

"Maybe it's wrong to think like that, but... on the one hand I'm... glad my parents aren't here, seeing that their daughter is a Slytherin..." I say, taking a deep breath. "Who thinks something like that, right? Finding a positive side to your parents' death... but... I don't like to think too much about how they'd react to their daughter being from the same house as their murderer."

"We should never blame ourselves for what we feel, we have no responsibility for our feelings, only for what we do about them." he says, moving a little closer. "The house of Salazar Slytherin values very important attributes and, although there are several Slytherins who have ended up using them for evil, I can see these characteristics in you, even from afar, and, from what you have shown so far, you use them very wisely."

I can't help but tear up when I hear that.

"But our house doesn't define us, Emma. What defines us are our choices, and you're good-hearted enough not to make the wrong ones."

"Thank you, headmaster," I say, clearing my throat. "but I don't know how you can be sure of that..."

"The way you treated Winky tells me enough, Emma. Few wizards would treat an elf as an equal, as I know your brother has done and as I've witnessed you do today. Not even some of the most respected wizards would do that. It was a very noble thing for you to do."

I let out a slight smile. Then I turn to the door once more, about to leave.

"Just one more thing," Dumbledore says, making me stop walking. "I feel that you're smart enough to realise that things are unfortunately going to get more difficult from now on."

I nod.

"Your brother will certainly need a mind like yours. Perhaps you haven't realised it yet, but the two of you complement each other, Harry and you complete each other."

This is his last... piece of advice? Before I go back to the common room.

Chapter Text

The latest events at Hogwarts are a turning point for many, if not all of us. The change in everyone's mood is not only about mourning Cedric, but also about what it means: the return of Voldemort.

Moving on to a happier subject... After winning the Triwizard Tournament, my brother also won a THOUSAND Galleons. Of course, with Harry's kind heart, he initially offered half the amount to the Diggorys as a way of showing that he wasn't the only winner. Cedric's parents refused my brother's offer and, as Harry felt guilty about taking the money, he ended up giving the whole prize to Fred and George so that they could fulfil their dream of opening their own joke shop.

Now to the present: it's INFERNALLY hot in this city. For a second I'm envious of Stella and Carina, who probably live in a mansion with a swimming pool, but then I remember that the two of them are no longer at Malfoy Manor, since Draco and Carina's mum, for safety reasons (Malfoy Senior being a Death Eater), didn't want the girls to return when the school year ended. From what my friends have told me, they're both spending the summer at Andromeda's house, Carina's aunt who we met in Hogsmeade on one of our visits to the village.

I'm in the living room with my aunt and uncle, something that rarely happens since we usually just ignore each other's presence and rarely stay in the same room. But this is the coolest place in the house, since it's the only place with a fan. The TV is on, the three of us with our eyes on whatever is on, when we hear the doorbell, which makes me take my eyes off the TV and look towards the door.

My aunt and uncle look at each other for a moment before Aunt Petunia gets up and walks to the door. 

"Diddy! About time too, I was getting quite - quite - Diddy, what's the matter!" I hear her voice say.

I don't pay much attention to whatever my arsehole cousin has, but the sound of vomit reverberates through the house.

"DIDDY! Diddy, what's the matter with you? Vernon? VERNON!"

My uncle gets up as quickly as possible (with great difficulty) from the sofa he's sitting on. Curious as I am, I wait for him to leave the room and reach the entrance to the house, so I can get up and see what's going on.

When I reach them, I see the puddle of vomit in front of Dudley and, strangely, my brother behind him. My aunt tries to hold him back, and Uncle Vernon helps her by holding him from the other side.

"What is it, son? What's happened? Did Mrs. Polkiss give you something foreign for tea?"

"Why are you all covered in dirt, darling? Have you been lying on the ground?"

"Hang on - you haven't been mugged, have you, son?"

"Phone the police, Vernon! Phone the police! Diddy, darling, speak to Mummy! What did they do to you?"

I watch as my aunt and uncle carry Dudley into the kitchen, and my brother silently walks past them, before heading for the stairs. I quickly follow Harry, about to ask him what happened, but I'm interrupted.

"Who did it, son? Give us names. We'll get them, don't worry."

"Him."

"Harry..." I whisper.

"BOY! COME HERE!" Uncle Vernon's voice cuts me off.

I make way for my brother to pass and go into the kitchen, where the three of them are, before following him.

"What have you done to my son?" Uncle Vernon asks in a threatening tone.

"Nothing," my brother says.

"What did he do to you, Diddy?" aks Aunt Petunia. "Was it - was it you-know-what, darling? Did he use - his thing?"

I see my cousin nod.

"I didn't! I didn't do anything to him, it wasn't me, it was..."

Whatever happened, Harry can't finish explaining, as an owl swoops in through the kitchen window and drops an envelope at my brother's feet before leaving. Even though I'm shorter than him, I can read the letter perfectly when he opens the envelope to read it, standing on tiptoe.

Dear Mr. Potter,

We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a Muggle.

The seventy of this breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery has resulted in your expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Ministry representatives will be calling at your place of residence shortly to destroy your wand.

As you have already received an official warning for a previous offence under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy, we regret to inform you that your presence is required at a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry of Magic at 9 a.m. on the twelfth of August. 

Hoping you are well, 

Yours sincerely, 

Mafalda Hopkirk 

Improper Use of Magic Office 

Ministry of Magic

My automatic reaction is to open my eyes wide in... surprise? Shock? Hundreds of possibilities run through my head as to what could have motivated my brother to use magic outside of school.

We barely have time to react when a second owl swoops across the kitchen and, once again, a letter is dropped at Harry's feet. This time I bend down to pick it up and then open it.

𝘏𝖺𝙧𝙧𝘆,

𝖣𝗎𝗺𝘣𝗹𝗲𝖽𝗼𝙧𝗲'𝙨 𝗃𝗎𝙨t 𝖺𝙧𝙧𝗂𝘃𝗲𝖽 𝖺t t𝘩𝗲 𝝡𝗂𝗇𝗂𝙨t𝙧𝘆 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝘩𝗲'𝙨 t𝙧𝘆𝗂𝗇𝗴 t𝗼 𝙨𝗼𝙧t 𝗂t 𝖺𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗎t. 𝖣𝝤 𝖭𝝤ꔋ 𝗟𝗘𝖠𝗩𝗘 𝝪𝝤ꓴ𝙍 𝖠ꓴ𝖭ꔋ 𝖠𝖭𝖣 ꓴ𝖭Ⲥ𝗟𝗘'𝗦 𝘏𝝤ꓴ𝗦𝗘. 𝖣𝝤 𝖭𝝤ꔋ 𝖣𝝤 𝖠𝖭𝝪 𝝡𝝤𝙍𝗘 𝝡𝖠𝗚𐌉Ⲥ. 𝖣𝝤 𝖭𝝤ꔋ 𝗦ꓴ𝙍𝙍𝗘𝖭𝖣𝗘𝙍 𝝪𝝤ꓴ𝙍 𝘞𝖠𝖭𝖣. 

𝖠𝙧t𝘩𝗎𝙧 𝘞𝗲𝖺𝙨𝗹𝗲𝘆

Again, I don't have time to ask Harry about what happened, and he sits down on one of the stools in the kitchen.

"Who are all these ruddy owls from?" asks Uncle Vernon.

"The first one was from the Ministry of Magic, expelling me," my brother explains. "The second one was from my friend Ron's dad, who works at the Ministry."

"Ministry of Magic?" bellows Uncle Vernon. "People like you in government! Oh, this explains everything, everything, no wonder the country's going to the dogs. And why have you been expelled?"

"Because I did magic."

"AHA! So you admit it! What did you do to Dudley?"

"Nothing," I can see that Harry seems to be losing patience.

"Was," mutters Dudley.

"Go on, son," says my uncle, "what did he do?"

"Pointed his wand at me,"

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't use..." my brother starts to say.

"SHUT UP!" my uncles shout together.

"Go on, son," says Uncle Vernon.

"All went dark," my cousin says, shuddering. "Everything dark. And then I h-heard... things. Inside m-my head."

"What sort of things did you hear, Popkin?"

Dudley doesn't answer, but continues to tremble.

The incessant enquiry continues until I have my answer to all this: Dementors. Harry performed the Patronus Charm in front of Dudley. Another letter arrives, again from the Ministry, this time revoking the decision to destroy his wand and scheduling a hearing for him to stand trial. Another letter arrives, from Sirius, with a single sentence asking us not to leave the house. We end up having to explain to our aunt and uncle about Voldemort's return, and I can see in my aunt's eyes that she's looking at Harry and me with an expression I've never seen in my life: fear.

All this only seems to make my uncle even more angry, to the point that he starts shouting, scaring all of us, to get Harry and me out of his house. But my brother and I know very well that right now we need to stay here, as much as we don't want to. Then one last owl (I hope) swoops through the kitchen, just like the others. Only, strangely, it doesn't address my brother, but drops the letter it's holding over my aunt's head. The envelope is red, it's an indistinguishable Howler.

"You can open it if you like, but I'll hear what it says anyway. That's a Howler." says Harry.

Her hand trembles as she picks up the letter. Suddenly, the envelope catches fire in her hands, causing her to immediately let go.

"Remember my last, Petunia." is the only thing the voice says.

All of us, Harry, Uncle Vernon and I, look at Aunt Petunia with confused and worried expressions. What the hell does that mean?

"They... they will have to stay, Vernon."

My uncle, stubborn as ever, obviously doesn't accept it. But Harry and I simply leave them in the kitchen to continue their discussion, and the two of us go up to our room. Soon my brother recounts everything that happened with Dudley and him.

We spend three whole days without contact with anyone in the wizarding world. Now we don't even have our owls anymore, since Harry wrote three different letters and used both Hedwig and Nimbus to deliver them, but so far we've had no sign of them.

Our uncle came to tell us that Petunia, Dudley and he were going to leave the house, and ordered us not to leave our room while they were gone and warned us that he would lock the front door.

Without having anything to do, but at least having each other's company, we ended up talking, talking about the most diverse subjects. Quidditch, our friends, our godparents, Daphne (I hadn't thought about her for ages)... Until we hear a bang from downstairs, which make us both stiffen immediately.

We sit in silence for a few seconds, waiting for another noise. Then we hear voices. In synchronisation, my brother and I pick up our respective wands and stand ready, facing the door, wands at the ready.

We exchange quick glances before silently deciding to investigate the source of the noise. We leave the room and are about to go downstairs when we see silhouettes in the entrance hall below. It's hard to see since it's night and all the lights are off.

"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out," a low, husky voice says.

"Professor Moody?" my brother asks hesitantly.

"I don't know so much about 'Professor', never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly."

My brother lowers his wand slightly, but I keep it ready, suspicious.

"It's all right, Emma. We've come to take you away." says a voice that makes my heart race, and I immediately recognise who it is. My godfather.

"Remus?!" I ask, surprised.

"Why are we all standing in the dark?" I hear a third voice, a woman's. "Lumos."

About seven or eight people are huddled at the foot of the stairs, looking at Harry and me. Lupin is the closest to us, with a smile on his face. I overtake my brother, who is still standing on one of the steps, and jump into the arms of my godfather, who hesitantly hugs me back.

"Oooh, he looks just like I thought he would," I hear the voice of the same witch. Seeing her, I realise she's the youngest of the group. "Wotcher, Harry!"

I move away from Remus.

"What's up, Emma!" the woman looks at me with a smile on her face, as if she already knew me.

"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus," another wizard says. "she looks exactly like Lily and he looks exactly like James."

"Except the eyes," I hear the hoarse voice of another wizard. "Her eyes are James', and his are Lily's."

Only now does my brother come downstairs, keeping his wand in his pocket.

"Don't put your wand there, boy!" says Moody. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"

"Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?" says the friendly witch.

I can't help but notice her purple hair. She's also very pretty...

"Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket! Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it any more."

He then limps off to the kitchen. Harry and Lupin quickly greet each other. 

"I'm - you're really lucky the Dursleys are out..." says my brother.

He's sometimes very slow... Seeing all the people here now, it certainly wasn't a coincidence that our uncles left home.

"Lucky, ha!" says the pretty woman with the purple hair. "It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prizegiving right now... or they think they are." 

"Where are you taking us?" I ask curiously. "To The Burrow?"

"Not The Burrow, no," my godfather replies, leading us into the kitchen. "Too risky. We've set up Headquarters somewhere un-detectable. It's taken a while..."

I see Moody sitting on one of the kitchen benches, drinking from his famous hip flask. From the look on Harry's face, he still doesn't seem very convinced that he's the real Mad-Eye.

"This is Alastor Moody, Harry." says Lupin, pointing at the wizard. "And this is Nymphadora..."

"Don't call me Nymphadora," the beautiful witch, Nymphadora, replies. "it's Tonks."

Tonks?!

"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only," says Lupin.

"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora," mutters Tonks. 

"And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt." Remus says, pointing to a wizard in blue robes. "Elphias Doge." the wizard with the hoarse voice. "Dedalus Diggle. Emmeline Vance. Sturgis Podmore. And Hestia Jones."

"How do we get to wherever you want to take us?" I ask after Lupin introduces us to everyone present.

"Brooms," my godfather replies. "Only way. You two are too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's morethan our life's worth to set up an unauthorised Portkey."

"Remus says you're a good flier," says Shacklebolt, obviously addressing Harry, as I've never been keen on flying on broomsticks.

"He's excellent," says Remus, checking his watch. "Anyway, you two would better go and get packed, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes."

"I'll come and help you," says Tonks, quickly following us up the stairs.

I gently nudge her shoulder as we reach the second floor. "Tonks, are you related to Andromeda Tonks?"

She smiles and nods. "My dear mother."

I widen my eyes. "So that means you're Carina's cousin!"

She chuckles. "Yes, I am. Rina moved in with a friend, Stella. But I bet you already know that, don't you? At least my cousin talks about you all the time, so I imagine you're close..."

Inevitably, my heart races when I hear that Rina apparently talks about me a lot. But that's normal, isn't it? We're friends, great friends. I ignore this and the blush I feel on my cheeks and start packing all my things.

"You know, I don't think purple's really my colour," Tonks says, looking at herself in the wardrobe mirror. "D'you think it makes me look a bit peaky?"

I arch my eyebrows. For a moment, I find myself comparing Tonks to Carina. Although the two are cousins, sharing the same blood, they couldn't be more different, both in appearance and personality.

"I really liked your hair, actually." I reply.

"Yeah, it does," says Tonks, ignoring me.

I watch her squeeze her eyes shut for a second and then, out of nowhere, her hair turns pink. 

"Wow! That's so cool!" I say, admiring her new hair colour.

"I'm a Metamorphmagus," she answers. "It means I can change my appearance at will. I was born one. I got top marks in Concealment and Disguise during Auror training without any study at all, it was great."

"You're an Auror?" says Harry.

"Yeah," says Tonks, looking proud. "Kingsley is as well, he's a bit higher up than me, though. I only qualified a year ago. Nearly failed on Stealth and Tracking. I'm dead clumsy, did you hear me break that plate when we arrived downstairs?"

I giggle. So that was the noise we heard earlier... 

"We'll have to get going, it'll be much quicker if I... Pack!"

For a moment everything is a big mess, my clothes and my brother's clothes go flying, along with books and other things, and then our trunks fill up just before they close.

"It's not very neat," she says. "My mums got this knack of getting stuff to fit itself in neatly - she even gets the socks to fold themselves - but I've never mastered how she does it..."

With a spell, she levitates our trunks and the owl cages, making them descend the stairs on their own. Together with Tonks, we go down to where the others are, in the garden.

I had to hitch a ride with Tonks on her broom, since I don't have one. We soon land in a quiet, dark street. 

"Here," Moody mutters, pushing a piece of parchment towards Harry and me. "Read quickly and memorise."

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London 

Chapter Text

"What's the Order of the...?" my brother starts to say out loud.

"Not here, boy!" says Moody. "Wait till we're inside!"

He pulls the parchment from Harry's hand and, pointing his wand, sets fire to it.

As I try my best to memorise what was written on the piece of parchment, a door suddenly materialises between the numbers eleven and thirteen.

"Come on, hurry," says Moody, pushing my brother in the back. 

As we reach the door, Remus pulls out his wand and knocks on the wood. Seconds later, the door creaks open. 

"Get in quick," whispers Lupin. "but don't go far inside and don't touch anything."

As soon as I step through the door, I realise how dark the corridor is. The second thing that catches my eye is the smell of dust and damp. I hear the sound of people behind me entering the house. 

"Now stay still, everyone, while I give us a bit of light in here," whispers Moody.

Within seconds, the lamps are lit, and we can see down the corridor. Then I hear hurried footsteps before a door at the end of the corridor opens and Mrs. Weasley appears. She smiles as soon as she sees us, coming towards us with open arms.

"Oh, Emma, Harry, it's lovely to see you two!" she whispers before hugging us.

When she lets us go, Mrs. Weasley looks at the people behind us before whispering, "He's just arrived, the meeting's started."

The people who brought us here pass us in the corridor and head for the door from which the Weasleys' mum came out. I stand there, watching the other wizards head for the door, not knowing what to do, when I see my brother step forward, about to follow Lupin.

"No, Harry, the meetings only for members of the Order. Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you and Emma can wait with them until the meetings over, then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hall," Mrs. Weasley says.

"Why?" my brother asks.

"I don't want anything to wake up."

"What d'you...?"

"Til explain later, I've got to hurry, I'm supposed to be at the meeting - I'll just show you where you're sleeping."

And then she leads us down the corridor. I notice the walls covered in long curtains, I wonder if they're covering any paintings. The Weasleys' mum leads us to the stairs, and we start to climb. On the way up, I realise that on one part of the wall, there are house elves' heads on display. What is this place?!

When we reach the second floor, the three of us stop.

"Ron and Hermione will explain everything, dears, I've really got to dash," she says. "you're the door on the right. I'll call you two when it's over."

She turns around and walks down the stairs.

Harry and I look at each other for a second before walking to the room where we will apparently be staying for the rest of the summer. The room has two single beds. We don't have any more time to explore it, because soon Hermione enters, pulling Harry and me into a hug.

"HARRY! EMMA! Ron, they're here, Harry and Emma are here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you two all right? Harry, have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless - but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got things to tell us - the Dementors! When we heard and that Ministry hearing - it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, Harry, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations..."

"Let them breathe, Hermione," says Ron, closing the bedroom door as he enters.

She then lets us go. The two of them explain to us what the Order of the Phoenix is, a secret society that fought against Voldemort. With Fred and George's Extendable Ears, Ron and Hermione tell us that they were able to listen in on some parts of the Order's meetings, learnt that some members have been following some known Death Eaters, others are trying to recruit more members, and there are still others who stand guard over someone or something.

"So, what have you two been doing, if you're not allowed in meetings? You said you'd been busy." says Harry.

"We have," says Mione. "We’ve been decontaminating this house, it’s been empty for ages and stuff’s been breeding in here. We’ve managed to clean out the kitchen, most of the bedrooms and I think we’re doing the drawing room tomo— AARGH!"

Out of nowhere, Fred and George materialise in the room.

"Stop doing that!" says Hermione.

"I imagine you both passed the Apparation test then." I say with a smile.

"With distinction," says Fred.

"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs," says Ron.

"Time is Galleons, little brother," says Fred. "Anyway, Harry, you’re interfering with reception. Extendable Ears,"

He shows us a piece of string he's holding, which I imagine is part of the Extendable Ears. The bedroom door opens again and Ginny comes in. She and I run to hug each other. 

"I thought I heard your voices." she says. Ginny then turns to the twins. "It’s no-go with the Extendable Ears, she’s gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"How d’you know?" says George.

"Tonks told me how to find out. You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can’t make contact the door’s been Imperturbed. I’ve been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there’s no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."

Fred lets out a sigh. "Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape’s been up to."

"Snape?!" I say.

"Is he here?" asks Harry.

"Yeah," George confirms, taking a seat on one of the beds. "Giving a report. Top secret."

"Git," says Fred.

"He’s on our side now," says Hermione.

Ron snorts. "Doesn’t stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us."

"Bill doesn’t like him, either," says Ginny.

Harry and I sit on one of the beds, facing the Weasleys and Hermione.

"Is Bill here?" I ask curiously.

"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order," answers Fred. "He says he misses the tombs, but there are compensations." he smirks.

"What d’you mean?" I ask.

"Remember old Fleur Delacour?" says George. "She’s got a job at Gringotts to eempwve ‘er Eeenglish..."

"And Bill’s been giving her a lot of private lessons," sniggers Fred.

We continue chatting, the Weasleys updating us on a few other things, such as Percy and Mr. Weasley's fight, Charlie joining the Order...

Fred and George then disappear, heading off to who knows where. Seconds later, Mrs. Weasley appears at the bedroom door. "The meeting’s over, you can come down and have dinner now. Everyone’s dying to see you two, Harry, Emma."

I quickly get out of bed, following Ginny and Mrs. Weasley out of the room, leaving Harry and the other two alone to talk. We go downstairs, just in time to see Professor Snape walking out of the front door. Then the Weasleys' mum leads us into the dining room. I immediately recognise the first person I see sitting in one of the chairs.

"Sirius!" I say, running up to him and hugging him. He doesn't hesitate to hug me back.

As soon as we let go, I see two very familiar figures sitting next to each other at the table. My heart suddenly races as I meet the gaze of one of them: Carina.

Chapter Text

I feel my cheeks heat up. Why? I try to cover it up by giving Carina a smile, before approaching her. She quickly gets up from her chair, returning my smile, and takes a step forwards before enveloping me in a hug.

"I've missed you," I say, hugging her back. 

Only now do I notice that her cheeks are slightly pink. When we break the embrace, I see her smile become shy at my words. It's then that I finally pay attention to the person standing next to Carina, Stella, who looks at me with a mischievous smile and a look as if she wants to communicate something to me. I clear my throat before approaching her and hugging her.

"I've missed you both," I say quietly.

"Yeah, yeah..." Stella whispers in my ear. 

We soon let go of the embrace. The two of them quickly greet my brother as I sit down next to where Carina was sitting.

"If you want dinner before midnight I'll need a hand," says Mrs. Weasley. Harry and I are about to get up from our chairs when she continues. "No, you two can staywhere you are, dears, you've had a long journey."

"What can I do, Molly?" Tonks asks excitedly.

I notice Mrs. Weasley hesitate. "Er - no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today."

"We can help, Mrs. Weasley," says Stella, patting Carina on the shoulder, and they both get up from their chairs. 

Only Harry, Sirius, Tonks and I are seated at the table. Everyone else finds something to do so they can help Mrs. Weasley with dinner. I'm startled when Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, suddenly jumps into my lap, his head rubbing against my hand, demanding that I stroke him. 

"Had a good summer so far?" Sirius breaks the silence, asking my brother and me.

"No, it's been lousy," Harry answers for us.

I notice a small grin forming on Sirius's face. "Don't know what you're complaining about, Harry."

"What?" my brother exclaims in disbelief.

"Personally, I'd have welcomed a Dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You two think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights... I've been stuck inside for a month."

"How come?" I ask, as I run my fingers through the soft fur of Crookshanks, who purrs in my lap.

"Because the Ministry of Magic's still after me, and Voldemort will know all about me being an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix... or so Dumbledore feels."

"At least you've known what's been going on," says Harry.

"Oh yeah," Sirius replies sarcastically. "Listening to Snape's reports, having to take all his snide hints that he's out there risking his life while I'm sat on my backside here having a nice comfortable time... asking me how the cleanings going..."

"What cleaning?" I ask.

"Trying to make this place fit for human habitation," he gestures to the kitchen. "No one's lived here for ten years, not since my dear mother died, unless you count her old house-elf, and he's gone round the twist -hasn't cleaned anything in ages."

"Fred - George - NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" says Mrs. Weasley's voice.

Everyone sitting at the table soon moves away. The twins have bewitched a cauldron of stew, an iron flagon filled with butterbeer and a breadboard, making everything levitate towards the table. The cauldron slides to the edge of the table, the flagon falls to the floor, spilling all the liquid, the knife, which was on top of the board, slips and falls pointing down where Sirius was sitting seconds before.

"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" screams Mrs. Weasley. "THERE WAS NO NEED - I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS - JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"

I need to hide the smile forming on my face.

When the food is ready, someone cleans up the spilt butterbeer and the plates and cutlery are put on the table, everyone gathers round and sits down. I sit down again in the same place as before, next to Carina. Ginny sits down on my other side. 

"It looks wonderful, Molly," says Remus, helping himself to the stew. 

Everyone is silent for a few minutes, probably all (at least most of them) starving. People serve themselves and start eating. I take a spoonful of the stew and taste it, it's delicious. The Weasleys' mum's cooking really brings out a feeling of a mother's cooking, not that I know exactly what that is... But I'm sure that if I did, it would be exactly like Mrs. Weasley's. 

I pick up my glass, filled with butterbeer, and reach up to touch my lips when, out of the corner of my eye, I notice Carina, not so discreetly, looking at Hermione, her cheeks flushed. I suddenly lose my thirst, leaving my glass on the table. My attention shifts when Ginny bumps her shoulder into mine, causing me to look at Tonks, who amuses Hermione and Ginny by transforming her nose.

If my humour hadn't been ruined seconds ago, for reasons I can't understand, I would have laughed more. Instead, I force a light giggle.

After everyone has finished eating, including dessert, I look around and see that many are exhausted.

"Nearly time for bed, I think," says Mrs. Weasley, yawning. 

"Not just yet, Molly" says Sirius, before pushing his plate away and looking at Harry. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

"I did!" my brother says indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so..."

"And they're quite right," says Mrs. Weasley. "You're too young."

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asks Sirius. "Emma and Harry have been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. They've got the right to know what's been happen..."

"Hang on!" George interrupts.

"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" says Fred.

"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" says George.

"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," says Sirius, "that's your parents' decision. Harry and Emma, on the other hand..."

"It's not down to you to decide what's good for them!" Mrs. Weasley retorts. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

"Which bit?" Sirius asks politely.

"The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know,"

Everyone watches them in silence.

"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly. But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back, he has more right than most to..."

"He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix! He's only fifteen and..."

"And he's dealt with as much as most in the Order, and more than some."

"No one's denying what he's done!" Mrs. Weasley raises her voice. "But he's still..."

"He's not a child!" says Sirius impatiently.

"He's not an adult either! He's not James, Sirius! Just as Emma is not Lily."

My gaze and Harry's meet.

"I'm perfectly clear who they are, thanks, Molly," Sirius says coldly.

"I'm not sure you are! Sometimes, theway you talk about Harry, it's as though you think you've gotyour best friend back!"

"What's wrong with that?" my brother asks.

We're definitely very different, considering he wouldn't have a problem being seen as our father by Sirius...

"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" says Mrs. Weasley, but without taking her eyes off Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"

"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" Sirius asks, now also raising his voice.

"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and..."

"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" Sirius almost screams.

"Arthur!" she calls. "Arthur, back me up!"

"Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled in, to a certain extent, now that he is staying at Headquarters." says Mr. Weasley.

"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!"

"Personally," says Remus quietly, "I think it better that Harry gets the facts - not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a garbled version from... others."

"Well," Mrs. Weasley starts to say.  "well... I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart... Someone who has Emma's best interests at heart..."

"They're not your children," says Sirius quietly.

"They're as good as," says Mrs. Weasley fiercely. "Who else have they got?"

When I hear this, my eyes immediately fill with tears. I can't remember any adult ever defending me, caring about me and my brother in this way, with this intensity. Certainly, considering that I don't have many female figures in my life, Molly is the closest I'll ever get to a mother.

A hand squeezes my left hand. It's Ginny. I turn my head and look at her, with a slight smile on my face, squeezing her hand back.

"They've got me!" says Sirius.

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley agrees. "the thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after them while you've been locked UP in Azkaban, hasn't it?"

Sirius immediately gets up from his chair.

"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Emma and Harry," says Remus sharply. "Sirius, sit down."

I notice her lip trembling. Sirius sits down again.

"I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this," Lupincontinues, "he's old enough to decide for himself."

"I want to know what's been going on," my brother says at once.

"Very well," said Mrs. Weasley after a few seconds, her voice cracking. "Ginny - Emma - Carina - Stella - Ron - Hermione - Fred - George - I want you out of this kitchen, now."

"We're of age!" the twins say.

"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" shouts Ron.

"Mum, I want to hear!" says Ginny.

Only Carina, Hermione, Stella and I don't complain. I may have great affection for Mrs. Weasley and the way she just defended me, but I still don't think I'm intimate enough to try to challenge her. Not least because I know it wouldn't do any good right now.

"NO!" Mrs. Weasley practically shouts, standing up. "I absolutely forbid..."

"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," says Mr. Weasley. "They are of age."

"They're still at school."

"But they're legally adults now,"

"I - oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron..."

"Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" says Ron hotly. "Won't - won't you?"

He looks at my brother. Harry hesitates. "Course I will,"

"Fine!" says Mrs. Weasley. "Fine! Ginny - Emma - Stella - Carina, BED!"

Only Ginny protests, cursing her mum on the way to the second floor of the house. As soon as the four of us leave, I see that Tonks has followed us into the corridor.

"Rina, Stella, you don't have to sleep here, I don't think there's that much room for two more people... I'll walk you to the fireplace."

They both turn to me. 

"See you when school starts again?" I ask them both.

"Of course," says Stella, before quickly hugging me. 

She then follows Tonks into another room, where I imagine there's a fireplace connected to the Floo Network, leaving Carina and me alone in the corridor. The two of us stand there for a few seconds, both not knowing what to say.

"It was wonderful to see you, Emma," Rina breaks the silence, hugging me. 

I don't hesitate to return the hug and wrap my arms around her waist. "You too, Rina."

She winks at me before disappearing through the same door where Tonks and Stella passed. As soon as I've pulled myself together, I head upstairs to Ginny's room.

What I really need is a cold shower after that encounter.

Chapter Text

I wake up to Hermione shaking my shoulder.

"Let's go. You two need to get dressed and then we'll have breakfast before we go to King's Cross." she says, a little impatiently.

I open one eye and turn to where Ginny's bed is, and see her rubbing her eyes lazily as she mumbles something in a low voice. Hermione then leaves the room and slams the door behind her, causing the painting of Sirius's mum in the corridor to start screaming curses.

Ginny and I get dressed and pack our trunks before leaving the room. We leave the suitcases and Nimbus's cage at the entrance to the house before heading to the kitchen for breakfast.

As soon as everyone is ready to leave (it's no surprise that Harry is the last to get ready), we walk to King's Cross, which is about twenty minutes away. Sirius transforms himself into Padfoot so that he can say goodbye to Harry and me. Tonks disguises herself as an old woman to stand guard to protect my brother on the way. 

When we arrive at the station, one by one we pass through the barrier on platform 9 3/4. 

"Nice dog, Harry!" says Lee Jordan, as soon as we come face to face with the train. 

"Thanks, Lee," says my brother.

I see Padfoot wagging his tail happily.

"Oh good," says Mrs. Weasley. "here's Alastor with the luggage, look..."

I look back and see Moody wearing a cap as he pushes a trolley full of our luggage.

"Well, look after yourselves," says Remus, shaking everyone's hand. When he gets to me, he gives me a hug. "You too. Harry. Be careful."

"Yeah, keep your head down and your eyes peeled," says Moody. "And don't forget, all of you - careful what you put in writing. If in doubt, don't put itin a letter at all."

"It's been great meeting all of you," says Tonks, hugging Hermione, Ginny, and I. "We'll see you soon, I expect."

I stroke Padfoot's head, saying goodbye to Sirius. A whistle sounds, making Molly hurry us along.

"Quick, quick... Write... be good... if you've forgotten anything we'll send it on... on to the train, now, hurry..." 

Ginny takes my hand and leads me to the Hogwarts Express. We get on the train and run to the nearest window to wave to Molly, Tonks, Remus, Moody and Sirius, when the train starts to move. My eyes quickly move away from them, finding first Andromeda, Carina's aunt and Tonks' mum, who seems to be looking with a smile at another part of the train, I imagine where Rina and Stella are. Then my eyes meet bicoloured hair, which catches my eye. I see Narcissa Malfoy, a few metres away from her sister, with a melancholic smile on her face, eyes shining, probably holding back tears, she waves discreetly, I don't know if to Carina and Stella or to Draco, and then our eyes, both brown, meet. I see a smile form at the corner of her mouth, and she gives me a quick wink.

My God... Like mother like daughter, both with the same charm... Wait... what?

The train then finally leaves the platform.

"He shouldn't have come with us," I hear Mione say.

"Oh, lighten up," says Ron. "he hasn't seen daylight for months, poor bloke."

"Well," says Fred, clapping his hands together. "can't stand around chatting all day, we've got business to discuss with Lee. See you later,"

George and he disappear down the corridor.

"Shall we go and find a compartment, then?" Harry invites as soon as the train starts to pick up speed.

I notice Ron and Hermione looking at each other.

"Er," says Ron.

I raise an eyebrow.

"We're - well - Ron and I are supposed to go into the prefect carriage," Hermione says awkwardly.

I see Ron look away from Harry, looking anywhere but at my brother. 

"Oh," says Harry. "Right. Fine."

"I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," says Hermione quickly. "Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."

"Fine," says my brother again. "Well, I - I might see you later, then."

"Yeah, definitely," says Ron, looking anxiously at Harry. "It's a pain having to go down there, I'd rather - but we have to - I mean, I'm not enjoying it, I'm not Percy,"

"I know you're not," says Harry, grinning.

The three of us, my brother, Ginny and I, watch Hermione and Ron walk away, dragging their trunks and cages with them. I put a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Come on," I say, giving him a gentle push. "We need to find a cabin for ourselves. Then the two of them will find us."

"All right," says Harry, a little annoyed.

Honestly? I think it's great that Ron was chosen by McGonagall to be prefect instead of Harry, or any of the other fifth years. I can't even imagine Dean, Neville or Seamus as prefects... Although Ron is also an unlikely choice... But given the options... He deserves a moment in the limelight, and my brother already has enough on his mind to worry about.

We move along the corridor, peering through the glass panes at some vacant space. There's no denying the way people look at my brother as we pass. Of course, the Daily Prophet must have been talking about Harry all summer... We finally arrived at the last carriage, finding Neville standing there holding Trevor.

"Hi, Harry," he panted. "Hi, Emma... Hi, Ginny... everywhere's full... I can't find a seat..."

"What are you talking about?" says Ginny, peering into the last compartment. "There's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here..."

Neville mumbles something about not wanting to bother her.

"Come on," I say. "Luna's cool."

Ginny then opens the door, pulling her trunk along with her.

"Hi, Luna," says Ginny, "is it OK if we take these seats?"

Luna raises her eyes to look at us. She nods.

"Thanks," I say, smiling at her.

We stow our luggage and cages in the luggage rack and then sit down. I see that she can't take her eyes off Harry.

"Had a good summer, Luna?" Ginny asks.

"Yes," says Luna, without taking her eyes offmy brother. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter,"

"I know I am," says Harry.

Neville chuckles, making Luna look at him. "And I don't know who you are."

"I'm nobody," he says hurriedly.

"No you're not," says Ginny sharply. "Neville Longbottom - Luna Love good. Luna's in mine and Emma's year, but in Ravenclaw."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," says Luna.

Then she lifts the magazine she's holding, hides her face and goes back to reading.

Hermione and Ron don't turn up for another hour or so.

"I'm starving," says Ron, taking one of Harry's chocolate frogs and taking a bite before sitting down next to my brother.

"Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house," says Hermione, just after sitting down on the end of the seat, next to Ginny. "Boy and girl from each."

"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" says Ron.

"Draco?" I ask.

"Course," says Ron bitterly.

"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," says Hermione. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll..."

Pansy may have her thousands of faults, but she's never been a bad student as far as I know.

"Who are Hufflepuff's?" asks Harry.

"Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," says Ron.

"And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," adds Hermione.

"You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," Luna says.

Everyone looks at her, who looks at Ron.

"Yeah, I know I did," says Ron, a little surprised.

"She didn't enjoy it very much," says Luna. "She doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded. I don't like dancing very much."

And then she goes back to reading the magazine. Ron looks from me to Ginny, surprised, looking for an explanation, but we both just hide our laughter.

"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," says Ron. "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something..."

"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" says Hermione.

"Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," says Ron sarcastically.

"So you're going to descend to his level?"

"No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine."

"For heaven's sake, Ron..."

"Will make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing. 'I... must... not... look... like... a... baboon's... backside.'"

Everyone starts laughing, but surprisingly Luna laughs the most out of all of us. 

"That was funny!"

Everyone seems to be looking at her, except my brother, who looks at something on the floor. I didn't even realise that Luna had dropped the magazine.

"Can I have a look at this?" Harry asks.

Luna nods. My brother then picks up the magazine from the floor and starts reading.

"Anything good in there?" asks Ron, as Harry closes the magazine.

"Of course not," says Hermione. "The Quibbler's rubbish, everyone knows that."

I try to look at her, trying to give her some silent signal to stop talking, but it's too late.

"Excuse me," says Luna, her voice a little quieter. "My father's the editor."

"I - oh," Hermione's face turns red with embarrassment. "Well... it's got some interesting... I mean, it's quite..."

"I'll have it back, thank you," Luna says coldly, taking the magazine from my brother's hands.

Some time later Hermione and Ron had to leave to do their prefect rounds. We all take advantage of this moment to change and put on our uniforms.

When we arrive at Hogsmeade station, Luna offers to take Piggy, Ron's owl, while I take Crookshanks, since I'm one of the only ones he allows to touch him. Meanwhile, Ginny picks up Nimbus's cage. We walk towards the carriages. 

"Where's Crookshanks?" asks Mione behind me.

"Here," I say, handing her the cat.

"Thanks," says Hermione, taking him. "Comeon, let's get a carriage together before they all fill up..."

"I haven't got Pig yet!" says Ron, catching up with us.

"Luna is with him." I tell him.

"What are those things, d'you reckon?" my brother asks, nodding towards one of the carriages.

"What things?" I ask.

"Those horses..."

 Has he gone mad? Carriages have always been bewitched... Seconds later, Luna catches up with us, bringing Piggy.

"Here you are," she says. "He's a sweet little owl, isn't he?"

"Er... yeah... he's all right," says Ron gruffly. "Well, come on then, let's get in... what were you saying, Harry?"

I pick up the pace and catch up with Mione and Ginny, and then the three of us climb into the carriage. A few seconds later, Ron climbs in. Finally, Harry and Luna join us.

The drive to the castle entrance is silent. When we arrive, my brother is the first to get off, and then the others get off, collecting their luggage before we leave them near the staircase in the entrance hall.

We all enter the Great Hall together, only separating when Luna and I head for the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables respectively. Before I turn to go to the table, my gaze meets Carina's grey eyes, already seated at the Gryffindor table, and I feel my cheeks flush as I realise she's already looking at me. I smile shyly before heading over to the Slytherin table, greeting my friends as I sit down.

The new students are sorted and then the feast is served.

"Who's that?" I hear Theo's voice ask. 

I turn in the direction he's discreetly pointing and see a woman dressed all in pink. I take a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Dolores Umbridge," Draco replies, a little indifferently. "She works at the Ministry, my father knows her."

Only now do I realise something unusual: Pansy, like the rest of the fifth year girls, is sitting very far away from Draco.

"Is the perfect romance over?" I ask the blondie. 

He rolls his eyes. "We broke up over the summer. It's a miracle my sister didn't tell you, Rina was perhaps the happiest about our break-up. Well, her and Stella..."

I cover my mouth with my hands, feigning disbelief.

"Love really isn't real... I no longer believe in soul mates after this break-up." I say sarcastically.

"She's all yours, you had your eye on her from the start, didn't you?" says Draco, feigning indifference. "It doesn't matter anymore..."

I feel sorry for him. I take one of his hands, making him look me in the eye, staring into the same greyish shade as his sister's eyes, but which, for some reason, don't cause me any conflicting feelings.

"You know I would never do that to you, don't you? That's the main bro code, isn't it?"

He can't help but smile a little. 

"Although, when it comes to your mum, I can't make any promises..." I say, trying to improve his mood (which, come to think of it, talking about his mum like that might not have been a good idea).

He rolls his eyes before pushing my hand, which was holding his, away and grimacing in disgust. Blaise and Theo, sitting next to each other, burst into laughter. 

"Can you imagine? Potter being your stepmother?" says Blaise, putting his hand on his stomach with laughter. 

"I don't know about stepmother, but I'd bet more on future sister-in-law..." whispers Theo.

I give him a disapproving look. 

"Disgusting..." Draco says, with an expression like he's about to throw up.

I cross my arms in a joking gesture.

"Homophobe!" I say, pretending to be angry.

Draco looks genuinely sorry for what he said, as I see him startle at my expression, widening his eyes and raising his hands in a gesture of forgiveness. "That's not what I meant! You... know that I have nothing against it... It's just..." 

"It's just...?" says Theo.

"It's fine that you like girls, but... my mum? Come on..."

Zoe, who's sitting next to me, joins in and starts laughing too.

"Anyone with eyes can recognise that your mother is attractive, Draco." says Blaise, giving him a playful slap on the shoulder. 

"Can we stop talking about my mum like that?" Draco almost begs. 

As soon as the feast is over, all the plates, cutlery and glasses disappear from the tables, and then Dumbledore gets up.

"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices. First-years ought to know that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students - and a few of our older students ought to know by now, too. We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

What does it mean? What about Hagrid?

People applaud, but the vast majority are less than enthusiastic.

"Tryouts for the house Quidditch teams will take place on the..." the headmaster continues.

"Hem, hem," the professor in pink, Umbridge, interrupts him, getting up from her chair.

Dumbledore sits down and gives her the floor.

"Thank you, Headmaster," she says. "for those kind words of welcome."

I exchange glances with some of my friends.

"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" she smiles. "And to see such happy little faces looking up at me!"

She must be blind, because there's nobody smiling...

"I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!"

"Why would I want to be friends with an old woman with no fashion sense?" whispers Melia.

I have to hold back a laugh when I hear that.

"The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them tor ever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."

She pauses dramatically.

"Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, because without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation..."

Unlike when Dumbledore speaks, people don't seem to bother keeping quiet. Many continue chatting, whispering and giggling, even during Umbridge's speech.

"Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge, that was most illuminating," says Dumbledore, when she finally finishes speaking. "Now, as I was saying, Quidditch tryouts will be held..."

"Who's going to try out for the team this year?" asks Theo.

"We need Chasers," says Draco. "If you've got your brother's talent, you might as well try out for the team, Flint."

Cassia scratches the back of her head thoughtfully. "Yeah... maybe."

As soon as we're released, I get up from the table and head for the common room, ready to go up to my dormitory, put on my pyjamas and go to sleep.  

Chapter Text

On my first day at Hogwarts, I discover something curious: not only are many students avoiding and/or bad-mouthing Harry, but consequently this also ends up happening to me. Why is that? Because many people, no matter if they're blood supremacists, supporters of the Death Eaters, or whatever, don't believe that Voldemort has really returned, just as my brother told Dumbledore at the end of the last school year. Many people even fear Harry (and therefore me) because they believe that it was actually my brother who killed Cedric. Can you believe such nonsense?

Perhaps at the moment the good thing about being a Slytherin, where many are blood supremacists or have parents who are Death Eaters (or both), is that the people in my house still treat me the same as before. People who didn't like me before still don't like me, and my friends are still my friends.

I can't say the same about the students in the other houses... At least with Harry, as far as I know, one of his roommates, Seamus, has started ignoring him since we got back to school.

At breakfast on our first day of school (officially), we all receive our schedules. And to my misfortune, and that of all the fourth year students, our first lesson of the week is Defence Against the Dark Arts. Not that I don't like the subject, on the contrary, it's one of my favourites, to tell you the truth. The problem is the teacher. I haven't even started class with her and I already know I'm going to hate it. 

When we walk into the room, she's already sitting there waiting for us, wearing the same cardigan as yesterday. I sit a little further back, not wanting to be the centre of this woman's attention. 

"Good morning!" she says as soon as everyone sits down.

Only a few students quietly say 'good morning' back.

"Tut, tut. That won't do, now,will it? I should like you, please, to reply 'Good morning, Professor Umbridge'. One more time, please. Good morning,class!"

I exchange glances with the person sitting closest to me, Stella. 

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge." everyone says, looking like we're at a funeral.

"There, now," she replies, in an extremely irritated tone. "That wasn't too difficult, was it? Wands away and quills out, please."

I was absolutely right: that was the most unbearable lesson I'd ever had in all my years at Hogwarts. Not only is Umbridge as boring as I thought, but we won't be using any magic at all in the very subject we need to learn to defend ourselves. How am I going to defend myself without using magic? 

That evening, during dinner, I pass the Gryffindor table before going to the Slytherin table. Most of the students are already seated, and I can see some clearly avoiding Harry as if he were the plague. My eyes briefly meet Carina's, and I smile, greeting her silently. She smiles back. For some reason, I feel my cheeks heat up again, something that seems to happen quite often since I first saw Carina during the summer. 

Before I turn to my brother, I hear voices coming from the Gryffindor table itself, someone whispering (not so quietly) about Harry.

"I can't believe he saw Diggory murdered and stood up to You-Know-Who..." I recognise the voice of my brother's roommate, Seamus, whispering to a student I can't identify.

Seeing that Harry is on the opposite side of the table from Seamus, I have a quick idea. I approach the table, leaning a little towards my brother and unintentionally (not that unintentionally) elbowing Seamus in the head. 

"HEY!" he almost shouts, and when he turns around to see who elbowed him, he immediately closes his mouth.

"Oops," I say, smiling innocently.

I can see Ron, Ginny, Carina and the twins holding back laughter.

"How was your first day, Harry?" I ask, pretending to be interested.

"Boring..." he replies, suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" asks Ron, with a raised eyebrow.

I roll my eyes before feigning astonishment. "Because I'm a Slytherin, do I necessarily have to want something to be here?"

Ron only raises his eyebrow further. "Do you?"

I sigh and let my shoulders drop a little.

"All right, yes." I say, turning to the twins. "I've heard a rumour about something called Skiving Snackbox."

They both crack huge smiles. Hermione rolls her eyes and huffs. "This is wrong, Emma. If you try to skip class in any way, you know that I, as prefect, will have to hand you in. Isn't that right, Ronald?"

"It's none of my business..." says Ron, shrugging and lowering his head.

"What do you mean?! You're a prefect too! It's your job to make sure everyone respects the rules!" 

"Wait a minute..." Ron looks up, having a mischievous glint on is face. "Does that mean I can take points off Slytherin if I catch Emma skipping class?"

Mione rolls her eyes again. "Technically, yes, but it's not about that! It's not about taking points from another house, it's about being responsible for the other students!"

"Don't even try, Weasley." I say, in a threatening tone.

"Or what?" he asks with a smirk.

"You don't want to test the wrath of a Slytherin."

"She's probably not lying, Ron..." says Carina. "Remember that embarrassing musical letter my brother sent me the other year?"

Ron simply crosses his arms and shakes his head, shrugging and letting out a mocking huff. 

"I want to remind you that I haven't had a chance to use the Zonkos presents I got from Padfoot yet." I look at him in defiance.

"You wouldn't..."

"You don't want to test me." I give an innocent smile before turning to the twins again. "So?"

"The rumours are right." says George.

"But at the moment, we're not in the sales phase." adds Fred.

"I just want to be able skip Toad Face's class." I say sincerely.

I see everyone sitting near me start to laugh at the new nickname I've invented. Some find it so funny that they clutch their bellies with their hands. 

"Well, we're looking for volunteers..." says George.

"Volunteers for what?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"To test our products." adds Fred.

"And you're getting paid." adds George, with a little smile. 

I hold out my hand. "Deal."

The next morning at breakfast, I see Fred and George approaching the Slytherin table. Some of the people sitting near me look at them strangely, of course, it's not at all common for Gryffindor students to purposely head towards our table. I follow them with my gaze and see them stop facing me, on the opposite side from where I'm sitting, just behind Theo and Blaise.

"Ready to test one of our products?" asks Fred, with a mischievous smile on his lips. 

"Anything to get out of Toad Face's class." I reply, sighing.

Draco, who is sitting next to Blaise, turns his head to look at the twins with a judgemental look. 

"The product you're going to test is what we call Puking Pastille." George explains, holding out his hand and handing over a sweet divided equally into two different colours.

I take it hesitantly. Cassia, who is sitting next to me, takes the sweet from my hand and inspects it with a curious expression.

"The orange side will make you vomit. The purple side will make it stop. Remember that well." instructs Fred. 

"Are you selling those?" Zoe, who is sitting next to me, on my other side, asks.

The two of them turned to her, both with big smiles on their lips.

"Unfortunately, we're still in the testing phase." says George.

"But if you're willing to help us, like dear Emma here, there are vacancies for volunteers." adds Fred.

"What's in it for us?" Cassia asks. 

"We're paying the volunteers who want to take part." replies George. "Speaking of which, here's half the payment, Emma."

George takes a galleon out of his pocket. I quickly reach out again and put it in my pocket. Cassia gives me back the sweet.

"Thanks." I say quickly.

"Two galleons for each product tested, Flint." explains Fred, turning to Cassia. "One before and one after each test."

"It was nice doing business with you, Emma." the twins say at the same time, before turning away and walking towards the Gryffindor table.

As I watched them, I notice that Hermione seemed to be subtly looking in my direction, but when our eyes meet, she quickly looks away. Weird...

"Do you need money that badly? I thought the Potters had a family fortune." Draco says, with a curious look on his face. "After all, wasn't it your grandfather or someone in your family who invented that famous hair potion?"

I shrug.

"Yeah, I guess so. At least that's what I've been told." I reply, and then smirk mischievously. "But how do you know? Are you an avid consumer of my grandfather's potion?"

Blondie huffs, indignant at my implication. 

"Of course not, Potter." he purposely uses my last name, which he does whenever he wants to show that he's annoyed (even if he's pretending). "I just don't understand why you seem to be so desperate for money that you put yourself through this..." 

"You're right," I say, shaking my head. "I am desperate, but it's not for the money. In fact, I couldn't care less about money. What I'm desperate for is to get rid of Umbridge's classes."

"If you weren't a Slytherin, I'd have snitched on you by now, you know?" Draco says, raising an eyebrow.

"But you'd never do that to your friend, would you? And you'd never make your house lose points..." I say, winking innocently.

He just sighs and rolls his eyes.

"If it works out with you, I'll definitely want to volunteer too..." says Zoe.

Just before the next Defence Against the Dark Arts class, I test the twins' product. I'm in my dormitory, my roommates all with their materials ready to go to class, but around me (at a certain distance), curious to see my vomiting crisis.

I bite into the orange part of the sweet, despite the sugary taste, as soon as the piece slides down my throat and into my stomach, I feel an insatiable urge to vomit. All the girls take a generous step backwards as soon as I can't contain the grotesque gush of vomit that comes out of my mouth.

"She needs to go to the hospital wing." says Megan.

"Isn't it better if she eats the other part of the sweet before?" Melia asks.

"If she stops vomiting now, it won't do any good, will it? She needs to be sick to be able to skip class." replies Megan.

Cassia is the first to take a hesitant step forwards and take me by the arm. "Come on, I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey."

So that's how I get to the hospital wing. As soon as Madam Pomfrey sees me, she helps me to the nearest bed, and then she dismisses Cassia. While she goes to the back of the room to prepare some tea, I discreetly eat the other piece, the purple part of the sweet. I can feel the incessant feeling of nausea gradually diminishing. 

A few minutes after the end of class bell, the wing doors open and in comes Toad Face, with that smug little smile on her face. She delicately and calculatedly approaches the bed I'm lying on, stopping at the foot of the bed. 

"Nice try, Miss Potter." says Umbridge, never letting the smirk disappear. "I'll see you in my office on Friday at five o'clock."

And with that, she turns and walks arrogantly to the exit.

WHAT?! How did she... My friends would never have snitched on me, would they? Slytherins protect each other, however much we may hate each other.

As I approach the door to the teacher's office, I hear footsteps approaching. When I turn around, I see none other than my own brother. I instantly frown, curious as to why he's here.

"What are you doing here?" we both ask at the same time.

I sigh before answering. "I skipped Umbridge's class with one of the twins' products and she found out. And you?"

"I argued with her in class because we couldn't use magic in class."

"I hate Toad Face..." I say, rolling my eyes.

Harry lets out a light chuckle, a rare occurrence these days.

"Shall we?" I ask, looking from him to the door.

My brother just nods. I take a deep breath and knock on the door.

"Come in," I hear a voice from inside the room.

I cautiously open the door before stepping in front of Harry. It's unavoidable to look around, since every year this room is decorated differently due to the change of teacher. This time, I feel almost blinded by the amount of pink scattered around the room. Another thing that catches my eye are the plates hanging on the walls, plates decorated with different kittens. Cute, but weird.

"Ah, you two arrived together, good." she says, snapping me out of the trance her office has put me in. "Good evening, Mr. and Ms. Potter."

"Good evening, Professor Umbridge." my brother and I answere at the same time, with the same formal, monotonous tone.

"Well, sit down," she says, gesturing to two small tables and chairs, which seem to have been deliberately placed in front of her desk, each with a parchment on it. 

I sit down on one of them, frowning when I notice that Harry is still standing, a little awkwardly.

"Er," he begins, without moving. "Professor Umbridge. Er... before we start, I... I wanted to ask you a... a favour."

 Her eyes narrow.

"Oh, yes?"

"Well, I'm... I'm in the Gryffindor Quidditch team. And I was supposed to be at the tryouts for the new Keeper at fiveo'clock on Friday and I was - was wondering whether I could skip detention that night and do it - do it another night... instead..."

Does he really think she'll let him?

"Oh, no," she says, giving him a gigantic, scary smile. "Oh,no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr. Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience. No, you will come here at five o'clock tomorrow, and the next day, and on Friday too, just like your sister, and you will do your detentions as planned. I think it rather a good thing that you are missing something you really want to do. It ought to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach you two."

My brother hesitantly approaches the other table and sits down in the chair.

"There," Toad Face says, with a false gentleness. "we're getting better at controlling our temper already, aren't we? Now, you two are going to be doing some lines for me. With rather special quills of mine. Here you are."

Harry and I look at each other suspiciously before Umbridge hands each of us a long black quill.

"For Miss Potter, I want you to write: I must not skip class," Toad Face explains. "and for you, I want you to write: I must not tell lies."

"How many times?" we ask at the same time.

"Oh, as long as it takes for the messages to sink in," she says, again with false gentleness. "Off you go."

Umbridge soon gets busy with parchments, homework for her to correct.

"You haven't given us any ink," I break the silence. 

"Oh, you won't need ink," she says, with a hint of laughter in her voice.

My brother and I look at each other again, both with furrowed brows. And then we turn around, each focussing on our parchment and our sentence. Hesitantly I write mine down, and then suddenly I feel an excruciating pain in my right hand. When I raise my hand, I see that the exact words are stuck on the back of my hand. Looking down at my paper, I see them written in bright red, blood red. The bruise soon begins to close up, and in its place is just a little red spot.

I lift my head and turn it, looking at Harry, who has the same incredulous expression on his face that I must have. I swallow, look at the parchment again and repeat what I've just done.

It goes on like this, every time I finish writing the sentence, it's engraved back into my right hand, always with the same pain, and then it's gone. I don't even notice that I'm crying silently, I only notice it when I see a tear fall onto the parchment.

Neither my brother nor I dare to ask when it's time to stop, I don't even risk asking the time, trying to take my eyes off the parchment. All the time I feel her eyes watching us.

"Come here," Umbridge breaks the silence, after what seems like hours.

My brother and I stand up at the same time. Looking at my hand again, I see that the wound has closed, but the skin is still raw.

"Hands," she says.

 We both hold out our hands. She holds them in each of her hands, inspecting them with a satisfied smile on her face. I feel my skin creep at her touch.

"Tut, tut, I don't seem to have made much of an impression yet. Well, we'll just have to try again tomorrow evening, won't we? You may go."

We immediately turn towards the door, Harry opens it and lets me through first, and when the door closes behind us, we wrap each other in a tight hug. Looking at his wristwatch, I see the time: it's past midnight. Although we've missed dinner and my stomach is rumbling, my mind seems to disagree: I don't feel hungry at all.

Harry leads the way to the Gryffindor common room, while I go down to the Slytherin one. My steps are quick, hurried, and before I know it, I've entered my dorm. As quickly and quietly as possible, I try to change and put on my pyjamas. Apparently I wasn't as discreet as I would have liked, because I hear a voice. 

"Have you been with Toad Face all this time?" I recognise Melia's voice.

I nod, but then I remember we're in the dark.

"Y-Yes." my voice comes out shaky, in a whisper.

"Everyone thought it was weird when you didn't turn up for the banquet." she says, sitting up on her bed.

I sniffle, trying to sound as discreet as possible.

"What happened?" she asks, apparently noticing that I'm trying to hide my crying.

I hear Melia get out of bed, put on her slippers and walk over to me. Her face is more visible now that she's approached, standing by the open window, her blonde hair illuminated by the stars.

I don't say anything, I just show her my injured hand. She can't hide a gasp of shock at the sight of my living flesh, with the phrase stuck in the back of my hand.

Like my brother, Melia says nothing, just pulls me into a tight hug.  

Chapter Text

"You should do something about this." Melia whispers in my ear during breakfast the next day.

I slide my injured hand under the table, hiding it from prying eyes. I shake my head in response to what my roommate said.

"What should I do?" I ask, in the same tone of voice as her. "If we had it any other way, I'd tell Dumbledore, but the Ministry is clearly intervening in the school. I don't think it's going to make any difference now. I just have to keep going to detentions and not give Toad Face the satisfaction that she's affecting me."

Melia nods, apparently understanding me. 

"At least tell the others." she says quietly, giving an empathetic smile. "I'm sure they'd be furious if they knew."

Just as I'm lost in thought, contemplating telling my friends about what happened in detention, a voice brings me back to reality.

"Apparently you've been the talk of the Gryffindors." says Zoe.

I raise my head, looking her in the eye. 

"What? Who did they talk about?" I ask confusedly.

"You." she explains. 

"And how did you find out?" Cassia asks, with raised eyebrows.

"I spoke to Stella earlier, just before entering the Great Hall." says Zoe, shrugging.

"And how did Stella find out?" Megan asks.

"Carina." Zoe replies.

I speak again. "What are the Gryffindors saying about me?"

"Oh, you know..." begins Zoe, a little uncertainly. "I think that since everything happened in the third task of the tournament, many people have refused to believe your brother, and consequently... you."

I raise an eyebrow.

"What are you getting at?" I ask, a little suspiciously. 

Deep down, I wonder if any of them don't believe in me and my brother. But if that were the case, they wouldn't be acting so... normal with me, would they?

"Relax," Zoe says, reaching out and holding my wrist in a way of reassuring me. "I'm just telling you what Stella told me, what Carina told her."

"Which was what?" asks Theo, not hiding his curiosity.

"Some Gryffindor girls, particularly fourth years, have been talking about Harry and Emma. Apparently, their parents have asked them to stay away from them. They're believing everything the Prophet says." explains Zoe.

"Who said that?" Blaise asks, taking a bite of his sandwich. 

"Beatrice Fortescue and Amber Noel."

"Fortescue?" says Cassia, frowning. "The daughter of the owner of the ice-cream parlour in Diagon Alley?"

"That's right." nods Zoe.

Theo makes a sound of disgust. "I'll never buy ice cream there again."

I smile slightly, grateful for his gesture of support for me.

"And what does Emma have to do with what Harry did or didn't do?" asks Melia, before taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

"I think she ended up being just collateral damage to the anger that the two of them apparently have for Harry." Cassia assumes.

"That, and the fact that Emma is a Slytherin." adds Zoe.

I raise my eyebrows. I'm not the only one to be obviously shocked by the revelation, Theo, Blaise, Melia, Cassia and Megan all show their shock in their facial expressions.

"Did they say that?" Theo asks.

"U-huh." replies Zoe, nodding.

"Fucking bit..." says Cassia, before being interrupted by Blaise.

"Hypocrites, aren't they?" he says. "The people there always assume that we're all prejudiced here, when a large part of that thinking comes from their own prejudice towards the Slytherins..."

"And that's basically what Carina said to both of them." says Zoe, before frowning. "Although I think she put it a lot more bluntly than you did..."

"And what happened next?" Melia asks, widening her eyes in curiosity.

"Ginny and Lydia turned up." replies Zoe, turning her head towards Melia. "And they both defended Carina." 

"They basically defended Emma." murmurs Theo.

"And you won't believe it..." continues Zoe.

"What?" everyone asks at the same time. 

"Carina punched Amber right in the nose!"

Everyone bursts out laughing, except me. Has Carina really lost her mind to the point of physically assaulting her roommate? All in my name, to defend myself? It's rare for her to be driven out of her mind to this extent... Especially since we're talking about a Malfoy, raised and trained to be a lady. 

"Carina relying on physical aggression? That's a new one..." says Blaise casually.

"Not really, the only other time she did exactly that was when she hit Draco." says Cassia.

"Why?" Zoe asks.

"Because he called Hermione a Mudblood." she replies.

Theo deliberately gives me a smirk, as if to indicate something with this gesture. I can't help the blush that spreads across my pale cheeks at the look he gives me.

"Wow, that's a real friendship." comments Megan, sighing, wide-eyed as she shakes her head.

"Yeah, ‘friendship’..." I can hear Theo muttering, but, at least for now, I choose to ignore him.

I can't help but feel a warmth in my heart that someone has cared so much about me and defending me that they've attacked someone else. 

The conversation at the table continues, taking a different turn, but I end up eating my breakfast in silence, just listening and occasionally nodding my head at each thing someone says. What catches my attention most is when someone asks Blaise if his mum is about to get married again. A curiosity: Blaise's mother was married seven, yes, SEVEN times, and all her husbands died of mysterious illnesses, leaving the widow with a fortune. But that's not what caught my attention, it's the fact that Blaise tells us (after everyone who was listening was promised secrecy) that Mrs. Zabini is currently in a relationship with... surprise: a muggle. A female muggle. I hope the poor woman doesn't die mysteriously... 

A few more detentions go by and, although Umbridge's special quill doesn't leave the wound open for long, there are so many times, so many days, so many detentions writing the same sentence, that the words end up literally penetrating my skin, leaving a scar. Other people end up finding out exactly what happens in detention when I forget to hide my hand.

It's a Sunday afternoon, and we (my roommates and I) had agreed with some people from other houses to do our homework together, outdoors, in the Hogwarts grounds. We'd already finished all our homework, so our group ended up dispersing. That leaves me, Stella, Ginny and Carina sitting by a tree, enjoying the rare sunny day. 

Instinctively, I start scratching my injured hand, not realising that I'm definitely not alone. I hear a startled gasp.

"What's that on your hand?" Stella asks, pointing to my scar.

I immediately pull up the sleeve of my blouse in a failed attempt to hide my hand. Ginny quickly stops me from hiding it, grabbing my hand and rolling up the sleeve of my blouse, exposing the scar. I hear more gasps of shock from the others who haven't seen it yet. I feel Ginny's thumb gently run over the scar.

"Who did this to you?" she asks, in a not-so-friendly tone, but obviously not directed at me.

I pull my hand back, hiding it again. 

"It doesn't matter..." I look away, not wanting to see the expressions of pity on their faces. 

"It doesn't matter? Of course it matters, Emma!" says Carina, as if she's scolding me. 

I take a deep breath, giving up trying to hide the origin of the scar.

"I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone or do anything about it." I say, looking into each of their eyes. 

The three of them quickly nod, with worried expressions on their faces.

"It's my detention with Umbridge." I say at once.

"What?" says Carina.

"How?" says Ginny.

"That Toad Face..." says Stella.

"Harry and I have been going to her office two days a week. Friday and Saturday nights." I start to explain, looking at the grass. "She makes us use her special quills to write on a piece of parchment. These quills are magical, as soon as you've finished writing the sentence you're supposed to write, it's carved into your hand."

Silence. None of them seems to know what to say. When I raise my head to finally look them in the eye, I see the eyes of all three equally watery. 

"What... what do you have to write?" asks Ginny, breaking the silence.

"I must not skip class."

A few more seconds of silence.

"All this because you tried to skip her class?" Stella asks.

I shrug. "I think she just took the first possible excuse to put me in detention with my brother."

"I know we promised, but... you should tell some other teacher, or even Dumbledore." says Ginny.

I sigh loudly before answering her. "It won't do any good, maybe it'll just make things worse for me... She's not just any teacher hired by Dumbledore, she was sent directly from the Ministry. I don't think Dumbledore has any power of choice in this case."

We are silent again. I think the three of them are trying to absorb it all. And then, breaking the silence, Carina abruptly stands up, in a way that looks like she's angry at something or someone.

Stella, Ginny and I raise our eyebrows, all three of us confused. Then we stand up. I quickly run my hand through my clothes, brushing away any grass that might have stuck to them.

"Where are you going, Rina?" I ask, grabbing her wrist in a successful attempt to get her to turn around.

It's only when my hand touches her wrist that Carina seems to come back to reality. She blinks several times, as if she had been in a trance until then, and then she lowers her head, her eyes stopping where I hold her. Her expression softens, and she lifts her head and gives a small smile, which at the moment seems a little forced, before stepping forward and hugging me tightly.

I stand still for a few seconds without understanding, before hugging her back. Something takes hold of me again, I feel my body heat up and, consequently, my cheeks turn red. When we break the embrace, she gently tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear before turning and walking away, taking hard, heavy steps. 

I turn to Stella and Ginny, both of whom still don't understand what's happened. 

"I'd better go along, I don't know what she might do with a hot head." says Ginny, quickly saying goodbye to us. "I'll see you at dinner."

It's at this point that Stella and I are left alone. After watching Ginny and Carina walk away, both of us looking a little lost and confused, Stella turns to me, this time with a smirk on her face. The same smirk that Theo gave me the other day. Could these two be plotting something?

"What now?" I ask, rolling my eyes and walking towards the castle. "First Theodore, now you..."

"Potter, I thought slowness was just a trait in your brother." she says, giggling before putting a hand on my shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, frowning.

"You have a crush on Rina! What else would I be talking about?" she clarifies, jumping of joy.

"What? I don't... this is absurd! Rina and I are just friends... I don't..." I start to stutter, and inevitably my face heats up again.

"The first stage is denial... Wow, you really haven't realised until now, have you?" she says, widening her eyes and looking at me with a certain pity.

"I don't like her!" I say, in a slightly irritated tone. "She's my friend, one of my closest friends! Whatever you and Theo are plotting, you can bet it's..."

"Emma," she says, stopping walking, which makes me stop walking too. She holds my face in her hands. "Look me in the eye and tell me, honestly, if you really think that since the summer you've felt absolutely no change between you and Rina." 

Her dark eyes, like her hair, stare intensely into mine. I'm speechless, just stammering, not knowing what to say or how to respond. It's at that moment that I stop to reflect on all the moments between me and Carina since we first saw each other in the summer. Since then, for some reason my face always gets hot, my heart always races, I feel a flutter in my stomach, every time I see Carina, every time she shows that she cares about me, that she interacts with me.

Now thinking back, even before this past summer, I strangely always felt as if our friendship was completely different from all my other friendships. My friendship with Malfoy was always different from mine with Ginny, with Hermione, with Stella, any of my roommates. It was as if we had an... inexplicable connection.

I never really took any notice, but I also never allowed myself to think too much about our friendship. Too many things have happened, are happening and will happen to prevent me from seeing what's right in front of me. In first year there was a basilisk attacking muggle-borns, in second year Sirius was on the loose (even if I didn't know at the time that he was never a threat), in third year the Triwizard Tournament and, with it, my brother taking part, my brief relationship with Daphne...

All this time I've given several signs that what I feel for Carina I've never felt for any other girl, any other person. It's not a simple attraction, I really...

"I have a crush on Carina." I catch myself saying out loud, my eyes focussing on Stella's.

Chapter Text

I've never seen Stella smile the way she smiles at me as soon as I admit out loud that I fancy Carina. I have to admit it's even slightly scary... Both her hands let go of my face, and I can tell she has to use all the strength in the world to hold back at this point.

"Finally!" she says, a little louder than she should, making a few people around us look at us.

I simply roll my eyes before walking off again. Stella soon follows, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"We urgently need to do something about this!" she practically announces, this time a little more quietly so as not to attract the attention of other students.

I frown.

"We don't have to do anything about anything!" I say in a low voice, walking faster, aimlessly.

"Of course we do." replies Stella, as if that's the most absurd thing I've ever said. "Operation setting up the lioness and the snake in action!"

I almost snort at how ridiculous the idea sounds. And then I start to think...

"Wait a minute," I say, immediately stopping walking. "Did you happen to talk to anyone else about Carina and me?"

Stella lets out a giggle, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course..." she rolls her eyes, as if it were obvious. "I would have freaked out if I'd gone all this time without venting to someone about how unbearably cute Rina and you would be together. Apart from the fact that sometimes you didn't hide your feelings..."

I raise my arms, putting a hand on each of Stella's shoulders, making us both face each other, looking into each other's eyes.

"Stella," I say seriously. "Who else knows about this? About this operation of yours or whatever..."

She sighs, her gaze mismatching mine, seeming to think for a moment. Then she puts a finger to her chin. "To tell you the truth, I've mentioned my suspicions about you to a few people... But the only people who know about this operation are Ginny, Theo and me."

"Ginny?" I ask, surprised. She's never said anything to me about her suspicions. "Theo, I understand, I honestly expected it... But Ginny?"

She nods, smiling. "We even bet on you and Rina. By the way, thank you so much! I won the bet."

"What bet?"

Stella disentangles herself from my touch and then leads me back through the castle. "Basically, we bet on two things: who among us would be able to open your eyes, at least one of you. And that was me! So thank you again." 

I inevitably roll my eyes.

"And what's the other bet?" I ask indifferently, but deep down I'm very curious.

"Which of you two would be the first to realise that you like the other." Stella replies. "Ginny bet on Carina, I bet on you, of course."

"Why?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "Oh, because, you know. Rina used to have such a crush on Hermione that it would be harder to make her see something that had been in front of her the whole time. You, less hard-headed as many Gryffindors are, and being a Slytherin, I thought you'd be quicker to focus on facts rather than feelings, especially if I tried to talk to you."

I stay silent, just nodding.

"Who knew a Hufflepuff could think like that?" I say, jokingly.

"HEY!" she says, raising an eyebrow.

I chuckle. "I mean that you tend to be more sentimental, think more with your heart, you know?"

Stella shakes her head. "Yeah, I think you're right. And that's exactly why I needed reinforcements about this..."

I frown again, not understanding what she means. "What do you mean?"

"Only a Slytherin could think like a Slytherin..." she replies.

"Theo?" I ask.

She shakes her head, giving a smirk. I'm confused, who else could she...

"Draco?" I ask.

This time Stella nods. "Don't worry, I didn't talk to him about who I was talking about or anything like that, although he did get a bit suspicious..."

We walk around the castle in silence for a few minutes. Until I manage to organise myself mentally and emotionally and find the courage to speak.

"It doesn't matter," I sigh. "Me fancying Carina, I mean. None of that matters."

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Stella tilting her head in confusion.

"What do you mean?" she asks softly.

I take a deep breath.

"I mean, Rina fancies Hermione anyway." I shrug. "You said it yourself, she has a crush on Hermione."

Stella suddenly stops walking, pulling me by the arm to stop too.

"I never said that." she replies, giving a slight smile. "I said she used to have."

My heart starts racing. My mind tries to tell me that my friend is wrong, that so far all the concrete evidence I have is that Carina likes Hermione. But my heart feels a twinge of hope.

"Did she say anything?" I ask, my voice coming out in a whisper.

Stella sighs, her eyes meeting the ground.

"Nothing specific, unfortunately. But I know that things have been different since the Yule Ball. Rina has tried to distance herself emotionally from Hermione, she knows that Mione will never like her back." 

Feeling my lower lip tremble, I bite it nervously.

"But that's not enough, is it?" I ask, hopeless.

She indicates that we should start walking again.

"Look, I know that technically we don't have any concrete evidence of what Carina feels, but..." Stella interrupts herself, takes a deep breath, as if she's thinking about what to say. "Let's face it, Hermione's a pretty girl, isn't she?"

I raise an eyebrow. "What are you getting at?"

"What I'm getting at is that I believe Rina no longer has feelings for Hermione, but simply recognises that Mione is a beautiful girl. Is Carina attracted to Hermione? Probably yes, does she fancy Hermione? I'd say no."

I snort, out of patience with whatever Stella is trying to say. "You know that doesn't help me, right? It doesn't make me feel any better about liking Rina."

"I'm just trying to get to the point that Rina's physical attraction to Hermione doesn't necessarily mean that she likes her."

It kind of makes sense. I nod silently.

"Even so, I don't want to create false expectations, especially considering that Carina is one of my closest friends. I don't want any chance of ruining our friendship."

Stella gives me an understanding smile. "I really do understand. You don't have to worry about any of this, at least not yet."

We finally sit down on a bench in the corridor near the Great Hall.

"Leave Ginny, Theo and me in charge of opening Rina's eyes." Stella says.

I widen my eyes, afraid of what this might mean.

"Don't worry, none of us will tell her how you feel about her. That's something only you can share."

I give her a weak smile, out of the corner of my mouth, before taking her wrist and squeezing it gently. "Thank you."

As well as worrying about not making my feelings for Carina so obvious to her, trying my best to disguise them whenever we interact, I still have to attend Umbridge's detentions. At least I'm not alone...

My brother and I knock on the teacher's door at the same time as always, waiting a few seconds before she let us in. As before, there were the parchments and quills, ready to be used.

"You know what to do, Mr. and Ms. Potter." says Umbridge with a sweet smile.

And then we both sit down, just before we pick up our quills and start writing. Unlike the other times, today I can see how distracted Harry is, I just hope the teacher hasn't noticed.

According to Harry, the Gryffindor team was holding Quidditch try-outs to select new players, and one of those trying out for the team as a keeper was Ron.

I don't know how much time passes when Toad Face breaks the silence of her office. "Let's see if you two have got the message yet, shall we?"

She gets up from the armchair she was sitting in and walks over to us, stopping between the two of us. We each hold out our injured hands to her, who holds them in each of her hands, examining the encrusted phrases. As soon as she releases our hands, we both stand up. Umbridge looks from me to Harry, from Harry to me, with a smile on her face.

"Yes, it hurts, doesn't it?" she says softly.

Neither of us says anything.

"Well, I think I've made my point. You two may go."

We don't hesitate to leave. We each go our separate ways, and I imagine that my brother is heading towards the Gryffindor common room, because I end up in the Slytherin common room. When I get there, I notice Draco talking to some other people.

"What's up?" I ask, approaching them.

"You won't believe who made the Gryffindor quidditch team." he says.

"Ron made it?" I ask, surprised.

"How did you know if you were in detention?" Zoe asks. 

I shrug before answering. "My brother told me that Ron was trying out for the team." 

People go back to chatting about whatever they were talking about before I arrived. I sit down in an armchair further away, I never really feel like interacting with anyone after detentions.

With the sleeve of my blouse, I wipe the blood from the wound and, as I do so, I don't pay attention when Draco approaches me.

"What's that in your hand?" he asks worriedly, just before he sits down in the armchair next to me.

I don't even try to hide the scar, because I know it's useless at this point.

 "It's my detention." I say quietly.

Although my head is down, I can hear him squeezing the armrests of the armchair with his fingers.

"Is she torturing you?" he asks, his voice no more than a whisper.

I just nod. Draco takes a deep breath. I raise my head, curious to see the expression on his face. He's definitely indignant, but he remains silent.

"Oh, shit. I'm so sorry." he says, lowering his head to look at my hand as he loosens his grip on the armchair.

I shrug. 

"It's not your fault." I say softly.

It's funny to see how different the two siblings' reactions were. Of course, Draco and Carina are different people, with different personalities, of different houses. Even so, I find it curious. Although they were both angry, Carina's anger was much more explosive, more open, while Draco was more restrained, disguised his feelings. He didn't even try to persuade me to tell someone higher up, or ask why I hadn't looked for another teacher or even the headmaster. 

"For the record, I may disapprove of you being my stepmother, but I definitely approve of you being my future sister-in-law."

I automatically raise my head and frown. What does he mean by that? Well, my confusion and doubt must be clear on my face, since he quickly answers the question I've asked myself mentally.

"Stella isn't exactly discreet when it comes to secrets..." he says, with a mischievous smirk on his lips.

"That girl will pay for this." I huff, rolling my eyes.

"Hey, you're talking about my little sister," he says, with a false expression of anger on his face. 

This makes me let out a genuine chuckle before we fall silent again for a few more seconds.

"But I'm serious," Draco says, bending forward to touch my shoulder. "I couldn't have a better sister-in-law than you."

I smile, not showing my teeth.

"Thank you, that means a lot." I say. "I hope your sister feels the same." 

Chapter Text

The weekend is finally here. It's relieving to know that I don't have any more detentions with Umbridge, but at the same time, the torture mark on my hand will always be there to remind me of how disgusting this woman is.

I try to follow Stella's advice during the week and not worry about anything to do with Carina, at least not yet. Of course, the two of us continue to see each other and interact almost as before, apart from the fact that it's now much more noticeable to me when my heart races and my cheeks flush, since I know the cause of my body's reactions. Fortunately, Rina doesn't seem to notice any of this, or even notice any possible change in our dynamic. 

As soon as I find out from Theo and Blaise that there's a Gryffindor training session this afternoon, I use the opportunity to distract my mind, even more so when I remember that it will be Ron and Harry's first training session together. It'll be interesting to watch. 

When I wake up in the morning, my routine is the same. I get out of bed, take a shower to wake myself up, put on some clothes and comb my hair. However, as I return to my dormitory, I strangely spot an unknown owl standing on one of the desks, its beak holding a still unopened letter. On seeing me, the creature hoots.

"This letter isn't for any of you, is it?" I ask my roommates, finishing my hair and dropping the comb into my open trunk. 

"No," the four girls reply.

"It must be for you, Emma." adds Megan. "I seemed to be looking for you."

I fold my pyjamas and put them on my bed before approaching the animal. I reach out and take the letter from the owl, which kindly lets me stroke its head and fly out of the open window. I quickly open the letter, full of curiosity to find out who sent it.

ɪ ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟d tℎ𝑎t 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑖n𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜m𝑒 t𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑒n𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎nd 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔n𝑖𝑠𝑒d tℎ𝑎t 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝑜n m𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑖n! 𝑐𝑎n ɪ 𝑠t𝑎𝑟t p𝑙𝑎nn𝑖n𝑔 tℎ𝑒 ɯ𝑒dd𝑖n𝑔 n𝑜ɯ? - ʟ𝑜𝑣𝑒, ɴ.ᴛ.

It's inevitable that I roll my eyes and let out a throaty grumble when I read that. Of course Stella told her, after all, over the summer both she and Carina got so close that I imagine the three of them must have an almost sisterly relationship.

But this letter makes me extremely pensive. Tonks certainly talked a lot with both Stella and Rina over the summer. And I can't forget when I met her at my aunt and uncle's house.  The girl said that her cousin talked about pampering all the time, did she... 

"What's with the face?" Melia's voice interrupts my thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Zoe asks.

"Who sent the letter?" Cassia asks.

I blink several times to reorganise my thoughts before answering them. 

"It's no big deal..." I start to say. "It's just some rubbish a friend of mine sent me."

"Friend?" Zoe frowns.

"Outside Hogwarts?" Melia asks, disbelief in her voice.

I clear my throat before answering.

"Yeah," I say, which makes the four of them look at me even more intensely, all full of curiosity and intrigue. "I met her during the summer, when I had to stay away from my uncle's house for my brother's safety."

I see Cassia raise her eyebrows. Melia and Megan look at each other, still curious. Zoe nods.

"And is she really just your friend or?" Zoe says, without finishing her sentence. 

"Just a friend, I swear!" I say, raising my hands. "Even so, she's in her early 20s, so it's obvious that we're just friends..."

I squeeze my eyes shut, suspicious, when I see expressions of... relief? On everyone's face.

"Wow, that's good..." says Megan. "I was already thinking that something bad had happened between you and Carina..."

"Yeah, for a moment I thought you'd given up on her." Cassia says.

"Wait a minute, what?" I cross my arms, facing the four of them. "What are you talking about?"

Am I that obvious? I thought I was more mysterious, you know? Slytherin and all...

"About you fancying Carina, of course!" Zoe clarifies.

"But-" I begin, but am soon interrupted. 

"Fancy Carina? Megan and I thought the two of you had been together since the summer!" says Melia.

My jaw drops, it's the only reaction I can muster. The eyes of the four of them, who had been focussed on each other without understanding anything about what was going on, all turn to me, waiting for their doubts to be answered.

"I... Carina... we... she... no..." I stammer, not knowing what to say.

"Aren't you together?" Cassia asks.

Zoe seems to think to herself before opening her mouth and saying: 

"You're not going to say that you've not even realised that you like her, are you?" her eyes are wide with bewilderment.

I shake my head.

"No. Rina and I aren't together." I say the first part, looking at Cassia, then Megan, and finally Melia, before meeting Zoe's eyes. "I... yes, I know I like her, I had an enlightening conversation with Stella last Sunday."

"You only realised you fancy her last Sunday?!" Megan almost screams.

"Basically, yes..." I shake my head. "Wait a minute... How do you know that?"

The four of them exchange glances with each other before bursting into laughter, which only makes me even more confused by the whole thing. I even watch Zoe wipe a tear from her eye before she calms down and answers me.

"Emma..." she comes closer, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Perhaps the only person in this school who doesn't know that you like her is herself, and I suppose this because I've seen the interactions between the two of you..."

I raise my head, looking into Zoe's dark eyes. "Am I... am I that obvious?"

I hear a giggle coming from Cassia.

"You can try to hide your emotions as much as possible, Potter." she starts to say. "But we pale white girls have one major flaw: it's simply too hard to hide when we turn red."

"And, to be honest, you've been very red almost every time you've interacted with Carina." adds Megan.

"Yeah, your face is almost the same colour as your hair, it's cute, but funny." says Melia, with a smile on her face.

Zoe takes her hand off my shoulder and takes a step back. "Not to mention the fact that every time Carina appears in your field of vision, or you enter somewhere and she's already there, it's noticeable that she's the first one you look at."

Inevitably, I feel my cheeks heat up when I hear all these things.

"See? Just like a tomato." says Cassia, laughing.

I roll my eyes and take a deep breath, then sit down on the bed. The four of them do the same, each sitting on their own. 

"Does this mean that you haven't confessed to her that you like her?" Melia asks, her voice full of curiosity.

I shrug. 

"Besides being a recent discovery," I begin to explain. "I'm afraid to be honest with her and end up losing our friendship." 

"Why would you lose her friendship?" Megan asks.

"Because she might not like me like that." I say, as if it were obvious.

My eyes pass over all of them, who seem to get a kick out of my answer, as they all start laughing again.

"Are you serious?" Zoe asks.

"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" I say, frowning.

"You're both really clueless..." mutters Cassia, looking at the floor.

"HEY!" I exclaim. "What do you mean?"

"I think what Cassia means," Melia starts to say, explaining for our other roommate. "is that Carina obviously likes you too."

My head turns quickly to Melia. I see Megan nod in agreement.

"That's why Melia and I even thought you were already together." she says.

"How can you be sure of that?" I ask, still unsure.

Zoe shrugs her shoulders. "We can't be sure, not least because we've never spoken to her about it." 

"But if you stopped paying so much attention to your own feelings and trying to hide them every time you're around her, you might notice that she reacts in much the same way as you do." adds Cassia.

The conversation with my friends and roommates makes me slightly hopeful, but at the same time I don't want to get my hopes up.

- 

The hours seem to pass quickly as, in the blink of an eye, I finish lunch and, together with Cassia (the only one of my roommates interested in keeping me company and watching Gryffindor practice), we head down to the Quidditch pitch, a few minutes after the Gryffindors, including Carina.

"You have to confess to her today!" Cassia says, extremely excited.

"I don't know..." I say, a little unsure about possibly losing my friend by doing this.

"Come on... You need to take some of the Gryffindor courage, after all, it's in your blood, isn't it? Aren't you the first Potter in Slytherin or something?"

I grumble, but she's right.

"If you never say anything, you'll never know if there's a possibility that she's falling for you too. But you know what the other girls and I think about that..."

I huff, slightly impatient with this subject. "If I promise yes, will you leave me alone?" 

"YAY! Yes, yes, yes!" says Cassia. "Now come on, let's get you to your girl."

I automatically roll my eyes when I hear that, but I can't help feeling my cheeks heat up a little.

Soon we arrive at the Quidditch pitch. And I quickly spot that unmistakable platinum blonde hair. Rina is standing between Ginny and Hermione, and as soon as I approach, she meets my gaze. She seems to say something to Hermione, just before she pushes her, making Mione stand up. And then the girl walks down the stands towards me.

Cassia and I look at each other discreetly, both confused.

"Cassia, Emma," Hermione says as soon as she's in front of us. "Can I speak to you briefly, Emma?"

She seems nervous about something. Without understanding anything, I just nod. Cassia touches my arm before walking off to join Rina and Gina. Hermione then sighs.

"What's wrong?" I ask, but without looking too closely at her. Difficult considering that Carina is in my field of vision...

"I... I wanted to apologise for turning you in to Umbridge," she says.

My eyes momentarily leave Rina and focus on Mione.

"I want you to know that I regret having done it, especially knowing what was your detention."

Honestly? I was angry with Hermione for snitching on me, but with the whole thing involving Carina, I practically forgot that I was angry with her, my resentment just went away.

"Oh, it's all right, Mione." I say, forcing a smile. "Of course, I was very angry when I learnt that none of it would have happened if you hadn't snitched on me, but I know you didn't mean any harm, did you?"

My eyes return to the most beautiful blonde in the school.

"Really?" she says, still not believing it. Then she steps forward and wraps me in a hug. "Thank you so much."

I just put an arm around her back before releasing her. We walk slowly towards the other girls in the stands.

"You don't hide it, you know that, don't you?" says Hermione, and when I turn my head slightly to face her, she has a knowing smile on her face.

I feel my cheeks heat up before I groan. "You're definitely not the first or second person to say that to me..."

She laughs. "You'd make a great couple, just for the record."

I can't help but smile at that. We soon join our friends, sitting next to each other behind them. And seconds later, my brother and the rest of the team come out of the changing room onto the pitch, ready for training. 

It was a relatively quiet practice, apart from the moment when Draco turned up with some of his friends to pick on Ron, making the boy more nervous and anxious, which caused him to make a few mistakes. 

When my brother and the rest of the team enter the changing room again, we all decide to stand up. At that moment, Cassia looks at me, trying to communicate silently. I just roll my eyes and nod, remembering our agreement. 

I take advantage of the fact that I see Rina being the first to go down the stands and I pick up the pace to catch up with her.

"Hey, Rina, wait up," I say, causing her to turn her face slightly.

I don't need to know that our friends aren't following us into the castle, as our footsteps are the only ones to be heard. 

We walk in silence, apparently none of us suddenly knowing how to strike up a conversation, as if we were strangers.

"Emma,"

"Rina,"

We both speak at the same time. We let out half-hearted laughs, both with flushed cheeks. I then decide to take her hand as we enter the castle, and drag her to a more secluded corridor.

We stand facing each other and when I meet her gaze, those grey eyes, I feel shy, speechless. What do I do? Do I speak first or let her speak?

I don't have time to think about anything, because I'm caught completely off guard when Rina brings her face close to mine and puts her lips to mine. I widen my eyes in shock, but kiss her back.

But someone clears their throat a few metres away from us, causing us both to pull away at the same moment. We both turn our heads to look in the direction of whoever has caught our attention and we come face to face with none other than the Toad Face.