You are viewing a story from harrypotterfanfiction.com View Online Chapter One A/N Hello humans! Thanks for reading. I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to the amazing JK Rowling. I would like to dedicate this story to a few people. To the guys who are like my brothers, thanks for the inspiration. To the friend who also loves writing, thanks for the encouragment. To the people who are taking time out of their day to read, thanks for giving me a chance. And to all the people who aren't happy with themselves, someone out there loves you no matter what you may think. Never give up. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "You have to get out of my bed you tit!" I'm so polite. Really. My patience is worth a medal. "I caaaaannnn'ttttt. It's too briiiiiiiiiiiighhhht!" the lump on my bed moaned. "What have I told you about underaged drinking, young man?" I said strictly. "Your voice is too loooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuudddddddd..." "I'm not even shouting! But you are! Goddammit, keep it down! Do you know what will happen if my brother finds you in my bed? Bad things will happen, Danny. Bad, bad things." "Oh relax. It's not like that." "He doesn't know that? Are you willing to risk it?" "I'm up!" I grinned as he got to his feet and wobbled around a bit. "Ok, sit on the bed," I sighed. "I think Scorp would be more pissed if he saw you on top of me," I pushed him down before he could fall on me. "What happened last night?" he mumbled. "Guess," I said drily, going over to my cauldron and starting to make a potion for his hangover. "Um, I think I'm gonna go with I got wasted and you didn't cause you're an old ninny." I put down the ladel I had been using to stir the liquid, sauntered over and clapped my hands twice next to Danny's ears. He yelped in protest and fell off the bed. Then he lay on the floor moaning for a while. "Will you shut the fuck up?" I hissed. "Will you?" he shot back. "You are hurting me!" "Do you honestly want to know what pain feels like? Keep being loud, get Scorpious's attention and you will see what happens when a boy come within a mile radious of me. Except it will be worse. Because you quite obviously slept in... that," I gestured half-heartedly to his crumpled clothing. "-and I am wearing pajamas! And there's a giant you-shaped dint in the bed!" "Oh, calm down Emmy!" "You have a peanus and you're in my bedroom. How thick can you get?" "I think you're ignoring a pretty factoring detail." "I'm not sure if that sentence made any sence, but anyway, what would that be?" "Hmm... I don't know. Maybe... I'm, um... Oh yeah! Gay. Gosh, Emmy, your memory really astonishes me sometimes." "I know that, you dipshit!" I snapped. "Scorpious doesn't because maybe... you're, um... Oh yeah! In the feckin closet." He pondered this for a second. "I'll be quiet." I smiled. "Good boy," I said returning to the potion. "Now, are you gonna tell me why I had to get Louis to help me apparate you here? Because you passed out on the curb? It's a fuckin good job he saw you there!" Danny made a noise of disgust. "I hate that kid." "First of all, I don't care. He's one of my best friends. Second of all, if he hadn't have called me you could've stayed all night on the pavement. He did you a favour. So please tell me what the hell you were doing at that club, that drunk." He sent me a cheeky grin. "You say it like I don't get pissed all the time." "I know you do. But you don't normally pass out until you get here - I'd just like to say lucky me, by the way - And what were you doing in that club? Merlin, Dan. You normally have better taste." "Hey, hey, hey. Louis was there too, was he not?" "Oh, believe me. He shall be lectured. But at least he knew his name still when I found you guys. Now answer the fuckin question." "I broke up with Amy." "Good. Finally!" He grimaced. "What?" I asked, my tone less harsh as I poured him a vile of the potion and handed it to him. "It's just... harder," he said, before quickly downing the potion. "Thanks," he added, handing me the empty vile. I began to fill more viles with it for if he came back to mine tipsy again. Or Louis. Or very occasionally Dom... Geez, I need more stable friends. "What do you mean harder? At least Amy's a slut. Doesn't really matter. She probably would've dumped you for not having sex with her anyway. Unless you did. Which is kinda gross. And really low." He grimaced again. "Please tell me you didn't." "Not with her!" he said quickly. "Just, you know..." "Oh yes. I know." I sighed. Danny has been my best friend since well before Hogwarts. I used to meet him in the park and we would play to our hearts contents. I wasn't allowed to go to muggle primary school. I probably knew he was gay longer than he did. We never thought about it - it didn't matter. We were only in first year when he told me. I had just shrugged and said "glad you're not confused about it anymore." But despite a couple of creeping suspiciouns, he had been in the closet all his life. I was still the only one that knew, though he was contemplating telling Dom because we were all pretty close. Except he didn't really want Louis to know about it. Because they kind of hate each other. Despite the fact that they're both like brothers to me and they do have a fair ammount in common (apart from the dudes). To keep rumours away, Danny started dating girls occasionally when we were fifteen. He went out with a really nice girl at first. Laura, a fifth year Ravenclaw. Luckily she was a bit of a slut, and she lost her virginity when she was fourteen. He wanted to... experiment that he might actually be bisexual. No such luck. She was pretty upset about their break up but they managed to stay on good terms. After that he thought he had an excuse not to date for a while, but someone had spread a rumour that the reason he broke up with her was, well, the reason be broke up with her... After that he made a promise to himself to only date sluts. Charming, I know. And I am best friends with this boy. Oh, me? Who am I? You didn't ask? I'll tell you anyway! Of course you want to kn- That's very rude. Yeah bu- Fine. Read another story. Nice people will keep reading. Greetings, nice people. I am... dun dun DUN... Emerald Malfoy! Mwa ha ha ha ha!!! ...Anyway... I am Emerald Malfoy, (don't call me Emerald and we'll get along fine) daughter of the ever famous Draco and Astoria Malfoy. Younger sister of the ever famous Scorpious Malfoy. I wish we weren't famous. So does Scorp. So did my mum and dad. Now I know what you're thinking - all Malfoy ever wanted was fame - to be the best, to be the favourite, the one in the spotlight. Not since the war. All he and my grandparents did was hide. But what not a lot of people know is that he never stopped hiding. People don't know that he's hiding right now. That me and my brother are hiding our secret from the press. We have lived here alone since Scorp was fourteen and I was thirteen, provding for ourselves. Only Danny (apart from Alice, obviously) knows that me and my brother live in Malfoy Manor with no parents, just each other. He, that is, and Albus Potter, my brother's best friend. Who I am, by the way, in love with. No biggy. No one needs to know that.It's just another secret. Another thing to hide. Really, by now, hiding secrets is just a part of my life. Because everything is a secret. But who knows how long it can stay that way? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hello people! It's nice to meet you! I would really like to thank you for reading and ask you to pretty please leave a review. You will find out more about where Scorp and Emmy's parents are, who the hell Alice is, and why Dan and Amy broke up if you read more! Thank you! P.s - this is my first fanfiction and I know it's not very good but hopefully it will get better as time goes on! So thanks! Chapter Two A/N: I do not anything. Harry Potter is JK Rowling's, as is anything or anyone you recognise EXCEPT PARAMORE because Paramore belong to Paramore (who are, by the way, brilliant, and if you agree, then you are amazing. But you are amazing anyway if you are reading my story.) And I don't think JK Rowling owns London, but I'm not sure who does... Point is - I don't own anything. Which is a shame. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Danny was hangover free, showered and dressed in clean clothes (I always kept clothes for him, just in case. It was necessary) as was I. I bounced onto the bed where Danny was sat staring off into space (what else is new?) "So," I said casually, pulling him out of his daydream. "What actually happened?" He sighed. "We got into a fight. She said I didn't pay enough attention to her. Said I was lucky to be going out with a girl who could have anyone and she picked me and I was wasting her time. Not that it matters anyway - she was cheating on me." My jaw dropped. "What? The little fuck!" "Don't abuse the rules of life, Em - you know your not suppose to put Amy Hoster, fuck and little in the same sentence. The first two sure, but..." I rolled my eyes. "Not the point Danny. The point is she's a twat." He shrugged. "Not like it really matters to me," he said, shooting me a shy grin. I hesitated slightly, before sighing and beginning slowly and softly. "Why don't you just start going out with guys, love? You don't have to come out. If you find someone nice enough, who understands what it's like to be in the closet, you can keep it between you. And me, of course, but that's not the point." He made a noise of sort of hopeless nervousness and frustraton. "I don't know if I could do that, Em..." He dropped his head slightly, looking down at the bed with his shoulders slumped. "Of course you could. You're gorgous, Danny. You're so special and if you can ask out girls and score them the way you do, of course you can do it with a boy. You just get to be yourself more. And that, in my opinion, is a hell of a lot better," I said softly, ducking slightly so I could look up at his face. It was apsolutely true. With perfectly messy brown hair that fell into his brown eyes and a handsome face, he was the desire of many. Especially since he's so fuckin tall. And I am not. Which I am reminded of everyday. And I make the bastard anti-hangover potions. The cheek of it... Anyway. "I don't know how to... be like that. I mean, I knew what high school was gonna be like if people found out I was gay. I... put up a... shield, if you like. I don't act like me. I act on knowing what people want to see from me. I just don't how to put me out there," he sighed. "You act like you around me. I know what you is like. He's sweet and clever, if a bit slow. He's funnier than he thinks he is. He's capable of a lot. The person you're hiding behind is just you to extremes. But not all of you. Sometimes, maybe, not the best parts of you." He sighed. "I'll think about it." "Good. So, you packed yet?" He snorted. "Yeah, right. We're not leaving for Hoggies till tomorrow." "Of course," I nodded, going back to my wardrobe and getting out the things I had missed, folding them and putting them into my trunk. "You?" "What does it look to you like I am doing, huh?" "Right." "Emmy?" a voice called from outside the door. "One sec!" I gestured for Danny to climb into the wardrobe. He rolled his eyes, but obliged. He knew me well enough to know I would've just tackled him if he hadn't. I locked it behind him. "Come in!" I called. Scorpious opened the door. "Hey," he said. "Ready for tomorrow yet?" "Almost." "Great. Alright, listen. Same rules. I know you know but I thought I should remind you. I'm of age. But the press still can't find out about this situation. So don't tell anyone, right? Only people you could trust with your life. No one you meet this year or met last year, ok? No matter how close you get," he rambled firmly. "You know, you sure are pissy for a seventeen year old boy." He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Has to be done. You don't get to see me when I'm having most fun." "Glad to know you love me so much. "Not exactly the kind of love I want to even think about sharing with my little sister." "...No one needed to know that." "Fair point. So, what are you up to today? Any last minute plans?" "I think I might go shopping in London with Danny." "Awesome, can I tag along? I won't hang around - I'm meeting Al in London." No. No no no no no. No. Not if you're meeting Al there. Nope. "Sure." Why do I do it? There was a pause whilst I stared off into space, mentally kicking myself. I can barely look at Al without blushing. "...You gonna... you know, call Danny then?" "I don't need to. He's in the closet." SHIT I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL HIM THAT! Oh well. Screw it. What can you do? "I kinda worked that out, Em. It's the only reason I never beat him up for staying here. But it's a bit random to tell me now, and also, it doesn't make him telepathic." Well that's new. "No - He's in the closet. As in my closet." "Are you trying to tell me that you're-" "DANNY COME OUT OF THE FUCKIN WARDROBE!!!" There was a bang, a muffled shout of "SHIT YOU BASTARD" and then Danny fell out of my closet. And faceplanted the floor. "Ooooowwwwwwww..." he moaned. "Well," I said, in a chipper voice. "It seems you have about... no dignity left." "Mate," Scorp began slowly. "What were you doing in my sister's closet?" "I don't know!" he said indignantly. "Ask her! She's mental!" He turned a wary gaze to me. I shrugged. "I didn't know if you knew he was gay." At this Danny's face bloomed red. "Ah. Fair enough. Well, I'm setting off in half an hour, so... get ready, or summet..." "Bye!" I sang. He smiled a slightly scared smile. "Later, Emmy. Dan." He closed the door behind him, but I still managed to catch some mumbling about "How'd I manage to raise such a creepy midget?". Because my brother is such a charmer. "So... your brother knows I'm gay, huh?" I shrugged. "Guess so." "Ah, well. He was bound to find out sometime." "That's the spirit! Now, I need to find my bag." ------------------------ Half an hour later, we were walking down the streets of muggle London, me and Dan looking out for Dommie, and Scorp looking for the love of my life. "Emmy! Danny!" We whipped round to see Dom waving her arms like a crazy chicken. Some things never change. "Scorp! Over here, mate!" And that would be Albus Potter, speculating his cousin's amazing new dance. We wove through the crowd to where they were waiting. I was immediately pulled into an entusiastic hug by Dom. Then I was thrown out of it so she could envelope Dan in her death grip. Scorp caught me before I landed on my arse. I love my brother so much. "Nice to see you to, Dom," Danny squeaked, brushing himself off as she released him. "Hi Danny! Hi Emmy! Hi Scorpious! Hi Al!" she greeted us all. "...Love, I came here with you," Al told her slowly. "I know, but I didn't want you to feel left out!" "Well... thanks. Hi to you too." We all mumbled hi's to Dom. "Hey Emmy, Daniel," Al greeted us. "Hi," we replied. ...This is getting awkward. "Um... are we waiting for something?" Dan started. "Yeah!" Dom exclaimed. "We're waiting for Louis to come out of that shop," she said, pointing at the shop behind her. "Wait, what?" Dan shouted. Me and Al grinned at him. Then we grinned at each other. I gave him a last polite smile before looking away so I didn't started grinning like an idiot because merlin is he adorable. He has the most amazing shaggy black hair, piercing green eyes, and don't even get me started on his body... Dammit. "Lu's in that shop," Dom repeated slowly. As if on cue, Louis ambled out of the shop, grinning at Dom and Al. The grin became wider when he saw me... and then slid right off his face when he saw Dan. Dan glared right back at him. Dom and I rolled our eyes. Scorp eyed the two knowingly, and slightly catiously. Al remained oblivious, staring at a poster in the window of the shop. "SO..." Dom said loudly. "I wanted to go to that new shop around the corner..." "I need to go get a new poster." Dom scoffed. "You are such a geek." "Fuck off," I sang, letting my dyed red hair fall to cover my warm, pink cheeks. "Don't you have like a gazilliongillian posters already?" "That isn't a number," I pointed out. "Maybe it is a number, you just can't count to it." I shot her a dirty look. She smirked back, the smug look on her pretty face making nearby men drewl. "DUDE, STAY IN YOUR PANTS WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING AT MY BABY COUSIN, MAN! WHAT ARE YOU, FORTY?" Al shouted at a gaping passerby. Dom is preeeeeeeeeeettttttyyyy. Seriously though, her blonde hair shines so bright that it almost looks like it's got it's own glow. It falls in perfest waves down her back. Her figure is, and I quoate the 60 year old that just checked my best mate out, "Fine," and she has a beautiful, mature face. Her blue eyes are bright, playful and mysterious, just like her personality. She's childish and fun, but has a shyer, deeper side that she keeps hidden from most people except her close friends and family. This is why we're such good friends. Our personalities match. "FUCK, MAN, WOULD YOU STOP IT? DUDE, YOUR WIFE'S UP THE DUFF! WHAT THE SHIT?" Louis shouted at a man who had come to a stop, gawking in awe at Dommie, much to the confusion of his very pregnant companion. "She's not my wife," he muttered faintly. "I'm his older sister," she growled at him rather thant Louis. "And he is in deep shit. I apologize," she said briefly to us, before attacking her brother. "BLEEDING - TEENAGER - YOU - PERVE - GROW - UP - TWAT!" Never mess with: Your older sister A pregnant woman Your pregnant older sister Good life lesson, it seems. We chuckled lightly as they walked off into the mass of people after his apology to Dom, his arm slung around her shoulder. "So!" I clapped my hands together. "Music shop?" -------------------------------------------------------------- "Paramore," she said flatly. "Yes. Paramore. Paramore. What don't you get?" "Aren't they that emo band?" "No! They play alternative. Alternative." "WHY DO YOU KEEP REPEATING EVERYTHING?" "Hey Dom!" Danny called enthusiastically, before letting his face fall flat. "I heard you on the other side of the shop." "You were on the other side of this shelf," I scoffed. "Not the point," he said dismissevly. "Why are you being loud?" "Emma's an emo," Dom said simply. Can't tell you how much I love my friends. Yeah. Sure. I turned from Dom to Dan and back again, my brown-green-gold eyes wide. "I'll have you know there is nothing wrong with emos! PREJUDICE!" "Dom!" he scolded. "When we get to Hogwarts, you're sitting on the naughty step for twenty minutes." She groaned and shuffled away miserably, her shoulders slouched. Danny actually makes you sit on the bottom step of a stair case. Which ever one you are closest to, and you have to think about what you have done and then give him a very heartfelt apology. You can save yourself from the naughty step by apologizing profusely and expressing your love for whatever you hated on, and your love for Danny, but you have to do it quickly and heavily. Danny looked at me for approval. I grinned and fist bumped him. "Paramore rocks." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Author's Note: Hey! Thank you a million times if you are reading my story. I hope you are not bored because this story is fun to write. I apologise if you are bored. Could you tell me what I'm doing wrong so I can make this story more interesting? AND PLEASE leave a review, but don't be too mean, coz I'm new to this =( I am giving you a very heartfelt puppy dog stare right now. GIVE IN TO THE PUPPY DOG STARE AND LEAVE ME A REVIEW! DON'T KILL THE PUPPIES. Sorry. I got carried away... Once again, I don't own Harry Potter, London or Paramore, even though all three are apsolumtly amazing, JUST LIKE YOU ARE FOR READING! xx Thank you! xx Chapter Three A/N: Nothing belongs to me =) Thanks for reading! ----------------------------------------------------------------- There was a knock on my door. "COME IN!" I called, my mouth full of foamy toothpaste as I scrubbed my teeth so it sounded like, "CU IIIII!" "WHAT?" I rolled my eyes, spat and rinsed my mouth out quickly, before running back to the door to my bedroom and opened it. "I was brushing my teeth, dipshit." "No need to get feisty. Just checking if you're ready yet," Scorp said, shaking his messy blonde hair out of his face. Girls adored him. He was tall and pretty muscular, with full, shiny, messy blonde hair and beautiful eyes. He had a handsome face and a brilliant personality. "Uh..." I looked around the room. All my pictures, CDs, books (shut up) and my teddy (shut up), were gone. My closet was empty. I looked down. I was wearing pants. SCORE! Sometimes I forget these things. Fortunately, I am reminded before I leave the house. I really love my brother. "Yup," I smiled at him. "You?" "All done," he said, gesturing to his trunk. "Let's go then." "Wait a minute!" I ran out of the room and up the landing to Alice's room. She was tidying her room, her red hair (natural red hair, not almost blood red like mine) tied back in a pony tail so I could see her extremely pretty face. When I burst in, she looked up at me and smiled. "Ready to go?" "I just wanted to say goodbye." She laughed and wrapped her arms around me firmly. "Have fun, Love." "Are you gonna be ok?" "I'll be fine. Love you." "Love you too." She released me and I tiptoed over to the cot in the corner of the room. I looked down at the beautiful sleeping baby. "Bye, sweetie. I love you," I whispered, kissing her head before locking Alice in one last hug. "I'll miss you." "You too. She loves you, you know," Alice said, gesturing to the cot. "How could she not?" I winked. "See you at Christmas!" "You too, baby." I ran back to my room where Scorp was waiting, a small smile on his face. I grabbed my trunk and his arm and we apparated to an alley not far from the station. "So if you're seventeen this year, does that mean we're not breaking the law anymore?" "Yup. But we still need to keep our arrangement on the down low." I bit my lip, pondering whether I should ask him a question as we pulled our trunks along behind us as we headed for the King's Cross station, a couple of streets away. "Em?" he said softly. "What is it?" "Nothing, I-" "What's the rule?" I rolled my eyes. "I can tell you anything." "And?" "You can tell me anything." "And?" "We look out for each other and love each other no matter what." "Because?" "That's what brothers and sisters and best friends are for. That's what family is for. We're all we've got. We have one another through anything and that will never change." "Because?" "I love you. "A-" "And you love me." That's right, my friends. My teenaged, popular, mischevious, sexy (GROSS - THAT IS NOT MY OPINION. IT IS THE OPINION OF THE REST OF THE FEMALES ON THE PLANET AND ENTIRELY NOT MY FAULT!), stupid brother, can be very, very deep. And I have that speech memerized. He's been saying it since before Dad left and Mum... died. You wouldn't believe this if you saw the way he acted. Cocky, self assured, slightly big headed, arrogant, confident, always pulling pranks or hooking up with girls. But family and friends are everything. Well, not as in blood-related family. Family as in the people you love and who love you. Albus, Danny, Alice, Louis and Dom are our family. Our dad was never our real family. Our mum was. She loved us, but she didn't always protect us. She did most of the time, but she wouldn't fight with him, she'd just lock us in a closet or something. My dad went around the bend when I was about six or seven, and Scorp was (obviously) seven or eight. Our dad used to lash out, cry, scream, but no matter what my mum wouldn't take him to get help. She made us fear the press, what they would say if they found out. What they would do to me and Scorp if our parents weren't stable. So we kept it to ourselves. Sometimes, Mum would send us out if things went really bad. Even if it were the middle of the night. She'd send Scorp to the Potters and me to Dan's or Dom's, but mostly Dan's. Dan's Mum isn't really bothered about... anything, really. But if I were really shook up, or Scorp was, then we would demand to stay with whoever was shaken up, because we were the only ones who could calm each other down really. "So what it is?" I sighed. "It's just, don't you think, if we reported it, then they could get Dad some help?" "He doesn't deserve help," Scorp growled. "He ought to be thrown into Azkaban." I winced. "But that won't happen if they don't catch him..." "Emmy?" I looked up guiltily from the ground I had been staring at, into my brother's green eyes with the pretty brown and grey flecks and swirls. His eyes were the same as mine. They were our mother's, for the most part, but the grey hints came from our dad. I was proud to have my mother's eyes. I also was proud of the connection between me and Scorpious. Though his hair was blonde from our father and mine was originally brown, our eyes were definitely the same. "Em," he said softly, stopping us. He put his had lightly on my chin to gently push my face back up. "I'm gonna protect you. I won't let anything touch you. I promise." "What if he comes back?" I whispered. "He won't." "But if he does..." "If he does, then I will lock you, Alice and Maisy somewhere safe, stun him and send a patronus to the Auror Department at The Ministry." I studied him for a moment. "What if he brings them back?" "I'll lock us all somewhere safe, send a patronus to the ministry and make sure no one comes near you." "I get to protect you too, right?" I said quietly, smiling slightly. "Nuh uh," he replied childishly, amusement glinting in his eyes as he straightened out proudly. "Cause I'm your big brother." "And I'm the not stupid one." "Oh, that's it," he growled, as his fingers flew forwards to tickle me. I squealed and darted away, my trunk, which was weightless because of a spell Scorp used, dragging behind of me as I ran up to the station. I wove through the crowds of people on the bustling station, until I found the pillar that seperated me from the train which would take me home. I ran through without hesitation and had to gasp, coming to an abrupt stop, as the magical atmosphere hit me again. I smiled as I breathed in a long breath of air, revelling in the feeling of this station. My sixth time, and this never get's old. That beautiful scarlett engine was gleaming next to the packed platform. People were crying and laughing and embracing, ready to let their family go or ready to leave themselves. "This is the last time I get to do this." The soft voice made me jump. "Are you gonna miss it?" "Merlin yes." "Well," I smiled slightly, turning to the beautiful guy stood next to me. "You get to come back after Christmas. And Easter." "True. But... this vibe. The first day back is different than coming back after the holidays. Coming back after the holidays is like coming back to school. Coming back after summer is like coming back home, you know what I mean?" Al murmured. "Yeah," I said softly. "I really do." Suddenly I cried out as something lightly brushed my waist, making me tickle instantly. DAMN THIS CHILD AND HIS ABILITY TO KNOW EXACTLY WHERE I AM TICKLEISH! I caught sight of the messy brown mop of hair that was so high up it could only be Dan, and ran towards him. "What are doing?" he laughed as I ran at him. I hugged him quickly, before jumping behind him. "Hey, Dan! How are you? Exited? Where's your mum? She said bye to you yet?" I breathed quickly. "Em, what are you doing?" he repeated, glancing over his shoulder at me, his eyebrow raised. "Scorp's trying to kill me!" I said in my most innocent voice. Lucky for me, my voice is pretty innocent. "Did you snog someone? Did you, dare I say it, talk to a non-gay male?" "Oi, clever closet. These people go to our school. Unless you've decided you don't wanna be Clever Closet anymore, and you'd rather be, like... gay giggles, or something..." "Who gave you smarties?" he deadpanned. I rolled my eyes. "Hilarious. Whatever, Danny. It doesn't matter. Just let the whole school find out that you're g-" "Giving you piano lessons? I'm not, Em. You really shouldn't eat smarties. They're no good for your brain," he improvised quickly. "You're the one who said "Were you talking to a non-gay male,"" I did the worst Dan impression ever. "When I am talking to you right now." He looked confused before he seemed to work out what I was talking about and colour flooded his cheeks. I giggled. "It's alright, darlin'. No one was listening." He sighed. I hate seeing that sad tint in his eyes. I'm Danny's protector. Ok, so he's taller than me. A lot taller than me. He's more confident than me. He's quicker to an insult than me. But underneath height, confidence and wit, there's pain, low self esteem, vulnerability, suffering and fear. That's something that only I am allowed to know about. Because he trusts me with it. It's my job to make it ok again, and if I can't it's my job to let him know that I'm here for him, no matter what. The big sister. Yet at the same time, he's done the same for me. If Scorp was really mad about something, and I felt like I couldn't talk to him, I could talk to Dan. He could make it ok the way I could for him and for Scorp and the way Scorp can for me. I hate seeing him sad. It's infectious. It makes me feel broken, destroyed, if I see him that way. So I gave him a hug around the middle. He hugged me back immediately. No one can resist the power of my awesome midget hugs. I released Dan and, turning round, realised that Scorp was stood back, speculating us. "What?" I asked, cocking my head slightly. "How come you haven't attacked me?" Scorpious is very enthusiastic about revenge. I have been pulled out of hugs backwards so that Scorp can pin me on the floor and tickle me. He shrugged. I gave him a suspicious glance, but the train whistle blew before I could ask any questions the whistle blew to signal fifteen minutes before it left and people began to head towards the train. "Have you said goodbye to your mum?" "Yeah. She already left. Told me to give you this." He kissed my cheek. "Woah, bro, Dan just not only touched, but kissed your sister, and you didn't punch him yet." Al was wearing a bewildered expression as he joined us. "It's from his mum," Scorp said simply. "That's what he says..." "They're like brother and sister." "That's what they say..." "Fine," Scorp huffed, and slapped the back of Dan's head. "I refuse to punish him further without multiple cases of valid evidence. Evidence shall be classed as valid or none valid by Emerald Malfoy-" "Don't call me that ever again or I will punch you." "-and her desicion will therefore decide the fate of Daniel Stork." "Don't you think her opinion would be a bit biased?" "WHY DO YOU WANT MY BROTHER TO PUNCH MY BEST FRIEND SO BAD? MERLIN, YOU'RE A VIOLENT BASTARD. IF YOU REALLY WANNA PUNCH DAN, JUST FUCKIN DO IT!" Al and Scorp blinked at me. Dan grinned. "That's my girl," he said lightly, kissing the top of my head. "Right there," Al pointed accusingly. "SILENCE!" Way to go Emmy. Shout at the guy you fancy the pants off. Then he'll want you. Obviously. Whatever, he's being a tit. I mean, why does he care so much anyway? What is with his need for Dan to get beaten up? Or for Scorp to beat someone up? Or for me not to have any physical contact with the male species? Git. As if it has anything to do with him. Wow, I'm being a bitch. You see, this is what happens when you mess with someone I love. I go super phsyco midget. And then you better be scared. Al looks scared. Good. And sexy. He looks sexy too- OH MY GOD FOCUS EMMY - TIME TO GET ON THE TRAIN. I sent Scorp and Al (who both looked close to shitting their pants) an innocent smile, before climbing on the train. Dan was right behind me. He walked by me as we travelled down the train looking for a compartment. "You know I love you, right?" he said suddenly. I sent him a smug look. "How could you not?" "Right. Of course," he said, rolling his eyes. "Dan?" "Uh huh?" I took his hand briefly. "I love you too. More than anything. Except Scorp. And possibly Dom and Lu. They might tie with you." "Really?" "Nah. You're the best. Don't tell anyone." He grinned. "Glad to know we're on the same page." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: I don't own anything. THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH FOR REVIEWS! If you want to know who Alice and this baby are, you have to keep reading =) Please review! Thanks! xx Chapter Four Author's Note: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scorp and Al had gone off to find their mates for a while. Dom and Dan were playing exploding snap on the floor. I was reading a book ('cause I'm so cool like that), and Louis was staring out of the window. I peered up from my book to speculate him. His hand kept flying to his blonde hair and ruffling it. He had a dazed look on his face. He was off in his own world, not paying attention to anything else. This could only mean one thing. I'd known Dom and Louis since first year, when Dom had shown up, slightly gothic in her black and red clothes, seeming friendly and layed back as she rolled her pretty blue eyes whilst her brother, whose arm she was gripping authoritively, rambled about the 'hot chick he could've totally scored' . "Where the hell were you?!" she had cried at Al, who's compartment I was in with Scorp and Danny. "If I hadn't pulled him away from that girl he'd have a detention on the first day! For sexual harrassment!" I'd grinned at her and looked at her brother. He didn't seem all that bad. He was every bit her twin - apsolutely beautiful, perfect blonde hair, light blue eyes, and stood only slightly taller than her at that point. "I didn't touch her! I swear!" "Because I grabbed your arms back," she'd scoffed. "I have to do that with him and pointy things," I'd said, gesturing to Danny. Dan looked offended. "Hey - I do not have an obsession with pointy things!" "You do if they're shiny," I muttered darkly. "I- yeah, you're probably right," he sighed. Dom had grinned at us. Instant friendship - right there. Louis and Dan, however, didn't get along so well. Louis was protective of Dom because the press had printed a couple of stories about them when they were younger, and the pair had been bullied quite a lot, even by the teachers at their primary school (a wizard primary school). The school had been sued and they moved to a better one, but Louis had a bit of a temper, and was still careful because of it. Danny was insanely protective of me, because of every time I had come to his house crying, sometimes bruised, and he'd have to climb into my bed because of fierce nightmares. The two clashed, and then there was a lot of name calling, and they still hate each other. But anyway, the point is, I know Louis. And I know what being off in his own world and constantly ruffling his hair means. A girl. "So, who is she?" Everyone looked at me. Louis mouth dropped open when he realised I was talking to him. Dom and Dan looked between us, their heads cocked to the side in confusion like sweet little puppies. I swung my legs back and forth innocently as I stared encourigingly at Louis. "How did you-" "I know things. I'm a psychic." "Psycho, love. There's a difference." "Shut up, Dom. Who is she?" I repeated. "Amelia Fall," he sighed. "Is she clumsy?" Dom grinned at her amazing joke. We stared blankly at her. "...Guess not." "Anyway," I began, turning back to Louis. "Are you going out with her or is it a crush?" "Um," he said shyly. "We're gonna get together for the first Hogsmeade weekend." "Aw, sweet. She's really pretty." "Yeah," he smiled slightly. See? He's not always a git! "How come you didn't tell me, you twat! I'm your sister!" "I didn't tell anyone!" he said defensively. "You told Emma!" she retorted. "No I didn't! She's just weird!" "Gee, thanks." "Why didn't you tell anyone?" Dom asked. "Because - becau- I-" "Because he's shy," I supplied him, giving him a pitiful look. "He's a bit of a gobshite for a shy person." I shot Dan a look. "So are you. So am I. And don't even get me started on Dom." She shot me the bird. "LOVE YOU DOMMIE!" I shouted, pouncing on her with one of my amazing hugs. She laughed. "You too, you little freak." Dan scoffed. "I'm not shy. Neither is Dom. Or Louis. Just you, love. No one is as shy as you." "Hey! Back off!" Dom exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around me. "I'm only joking, Em," Danny reassured me, smiling. "I know," I smiled. "And I know none of you are shy. But you can be, when you want to be. Like, if you get embarrassed." "Hey, Danny, you're gay. See, he's embarrassed. He's not shy." "Shut the fuck up Louis Weasley or I swear to Merlin I'll hex you till you bleed." I glared at him in that special way of mine. Dom slapped Louis. "What have I told you about pissing off midgets?!" "Does she do that to anyone who insults him?" Lou whispered. "Nope. Must be her period. But if anyone threatens him, they're dead men. Or you, me or Scorp." "You do that for me?" Louis whispered in awe as the atmosphere changed suddenly. I saw my Dad's face in the back of my mind, sneering at Scorpious, as he, only nine years old, quivered in the corner of the living room. I had been crying, shouting for him to leave Scorpious, shouting for my Mum to stop him from hurting him. I remembered how I ran forwards without thinking and jumped on Scorp, holding him tightly, my eyes squeezed shut as my father raised his hand... "No one's allowed to threaten the people I love," I replied quietly, that familiar small feeling creeping through me as I moved closer to Dan and looked down at my hands. I pulled my knees up to my chest protectively. "No one's allowed to hurt them." I felt an arm slip round my shoulder. I looked up at Dan, but he was staring carefully at Dom and Louis as he pulled me to his chest. So I allowed him to protect me whilst I calmed down. It's kind of a touchy subject for me, you see. My dad could get... violent when he lost it. He hurt me and my mum and Scorpious. I guess I brought it on myself, talking about this. I normally do. But when anyone threatens to hurt anyone I love, even as a joke, I get really angry and upset. Livid, in fact. I guess I'm being a hypocrite really. I threaten people all the time. But I would only do that if they had done something to my friends or my brother. If they were being serious, I'd hex them enough to make a grown man cry. If they weren't I would just shout. But then I get upset, and I have to go and hide. If I can't go and hide, then I'll except burying myself in Scorpious or Danny, because they're the only ones who understand what I'm doing. They're the only ones who can fix it. Dan and Scorpious are the best. They're so big and warm. They make me feel safe, no matter what. Louis and Dom are big and warm too. I really love my friends. "Emma, are you ok?" Louis asked worriedly. I didn't reply. "Just leave her," Dan replied softly. "Don't tell me what to do. I'm her friend too." "Don't be a dipshit. I'm just looking out for her. You don't have to be a tit about everything, you know." "You act like you're the boss of everything. Ok, so you've got a fit girlfriend. Maybe you did know Emma longer than me. Doesn't mean you're in charge of her. And it doesn't mean you know her better that I do, or you're closer to her than I am!" "But, the thing is, I do know her better than you. I am closer to her than you are." "You know what-" "SHUT UP!" We all jumped at Dom's shout. "If you keep going, you're only gonna upset her. If you upset her, I'll fucking kill you, right?" I love my Dommie. I pulled out of Dan's arms. "I'm fine," I said mildly. "Sorry." "Em, I wanna go to the bathroom. Would you mind coming with me?" I looked at the two boys. "Can you two not kill each other?" "I'll do my best." "If you insist." I smiled at them, kissed both of their cheeks, before following Dom out of the compartment. "Emma, is everything ok?" "Yeah, Dom," I sighed. "I just get upset when I think about... you know. People getting hurt. I need to stop overthinking things." She nodded. "Right. So what did you get up to?" I shrugged. "Not much. I basically just spent summer with Dan." "How's Maisy? "Cute." "Did you babysit her?" "Yeah, a few times. Dan came with me once. It was hilarious." "Not very good with kids?" "No, he's great with little kids! Just not with ones he doesn't know..." She laughed. "Bless. How's Alice? I haven't seen her in ages." "She's great." Alice is a muggle. She's practically my big sister. She never got on very well with her parents, and we had both escaped our houses when we met in the park. I was seven and she was nine. We hit it off immediately. She lived closer to my house than Dan did and we saw each other every day. I've always looked up to Alice, and she looks out for me. She dated a guy from Hogwarts. Someone in Al's brother's year, but she never told me who he was because something happened. They were in love with each other. But Alice's crazy phsyco parents had some relations who were wizards and witches. They knew about magic and they loathed it and any magical being. Alice slept with this guy. He was creating patterns and pictures in the air for her. Her parents found them that night, curled up together on the couch with him making flowers for her. They banished him. A month later, Alice found out that she was carrying his baby. That was the line for her. She left her parents and came to our house, asking if she could stay for a while whilst she sorted things out. I told her to sod off: she could stay forever. Now her baby, Maisy, is three months old. And Mr Mysery Wizard? Doesn't know he has a daughter. Even though Alice is, uh... still in love with the fucker. Poor guy. He was going out with this crazy women since he was fifteen. I'm forever encouraging her to tell him, but she won't go for it. She will eventually. She doesn't have contact with him, but me and Scorp could easily get in touch with him if we actually knew his goddamn name. Dom and Louis have only met Alice once, and it was very brief. Scorp got them out of the house as quickly as he could. Too many secrets and dangers. Dan obviously knows her pretty damn well, since he almost lives at my house. I can't complain. I did it to him when we were growing up. "What about you? What did you do over the summer?" Dom shrugged. "We went to France. Apart from that, not much. Oh! Teddy finally grew some balls and asked Vicky out!" "What did she say?" "Don't ask stupid questions." "Sorry." We came back from the bathroom slowly, chatting about summer and this year and last year and anything really. When we got back to our compartment, Danny and Louis were both glaring at each other hatefully, their fists clenched. Dom held up a finger to get me to stop before we went in. Then she held it to her lips. "Look, I'm not saying that you're not her friend. I'm saying I know her better than you!" "I know her pretty damn well, too. I've seen you upset her," Louis growled. "You're a right fucking hypocrite, you know. What about you, huh? Are you telling me you've never upset her?" "No, I just-" "No," Danny cut him off. "Exactly. So get a life. 'Cause a lot of the stuff I upset her with is me shouting at you or talking about you and it's because I love her and Dom that I never made you bleed." "Oooh, I thought you weren't supposed to say stuff like that." "You're right. I'm sorry. Are you taking the piss out of her?" Danny demanded. "Nope. I'm taking the piss out of you. 'Cause you're gay," he replied simply. "Interesting, since I've had way more girlfriends than you." "Then why do you hang out with girls?" "Dude. Think about what you just said. Then think about whether you can talk or not." "Dom's my sister!" "So? Emma's mine!" "She's not though. She might be like your sister but she's not your sister." "So what's your excuse, then, huh?" Louis spluttered. "She's my best friend! And Dom's best friend!" "So how come she can be your best friend and not my best friend, then? She's a cool person. And you're a sexist dick." "That's not what I mean, I- I-" "Why don't you think before you open your mouth next time, gobshite?" "You know what?!" Louis demanded, standing up. "What?" Dan jumped up too, taller than Louis. "I ought to-" "You ought to stop!" I shouted, feeling anger course through me. "I am tired of both of you acting like children. You know what? You need to stop making assumptions," I said to Dan, and then rounded on Louis. "And you need to stop being a twat! Pack it in for five minutes! If you have that much of a problem being in the same compartment, walk out. Go sit with your other friends. But can you not do that? It's fairly irritating." They both looked guilty and shocked as they saw us in the doorway. "Sorry, Em," Louis said, before stalking out of the compartment and slamming the door behind him. Me and Dom shared a look. I nodded. She followed Louis down the corridor. I closed the door behind her. I looked at Dan. He kicked out at thin air and punched the cusion on the back of the seat, before sitting on the floor with his knees up, his fists shaking on top of them. "It's getting me no where!" he shouted, his voice loud and full of fierce anger. "NO WHERE! WHAT'S THE POINT? ALL THE EFFORT I PUT INTO THIS, AND IT GETS ME NO WHERE! WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER?!" I knew what he meant. Louis had called him gay. He works so hard to keep this mask up, and he completely freaks out if he thinks someone can see behind it. I winced at the hurt in his voice. He put his head on his still shaking fists as his back began to shake with silent sobs. Cautiously and silently, I knelt down in front of him. I put my hands gently on top of his. He looked up at me slowly, tears streaks on his slightly blotchy pink face. "Who you are," I said quietly, but determindly, "Is who you are. Not everyone is going to like you for it. Why should they're opinion matter? People don't get the chance to love you for who you are. You should be you. You're right. There is no point. There's no point pretending to be this person. I love you for who you are. You need to learn to love who you are. Then pretty soon, other people will get to love you for who you are. And one day, that special person will love you more than anything for who you are. You just need to have a little faith in yourself. You are so beautiful, smart, amazing, funny, sweet, loyal, and just the best person on the planet. I wish you saw what I see. You've gotta stop this, before you get too badly hurt." "Emma- I- He-" "It's ok," I stopped him. "It's ok, love. I get it. It's alright." I wrapped my arms around him and pulled his head into my lap. I stroked his hair as tears streamed down his face. "You're one in a million, you know," I told him. "I'm so lucky that I got to have you as my best friend. One day, a guy is gonna think the exact same thing, except he'll be saying boyfriend." "I hate him, Emma. I can't stand him. I'm sorry, but-" "It's alright. I'll talk to him. What happened though?" "He just kept that up from before. Who knows you better. Who's closer to you. Who loves you more. Who you love more," he mumbled. "I don't love either of you more." "Well. That's insulting." "Fine. I'll love you more so long as Dom promises to love Lou more, so he's not left out." "She does love him more. He's her brother. They grew up together." "Same as me and you," I told him softly. "Yeah," he agreed quietly. "Speaking of people we grew up with-" I smiled as he sat up. He had cheered up a bit. He sat across from me, leaning on the bottom of the opposite seat. "Yeah?" "How's Alice?" I sighed. "Stubborn. She's still not up for telling me who Maisy's dad is. I probably won't know who the fuck guy is anyway. He's two years older than us, for Merlin's sake!" "I know. I feel sorry for him. He might want the kid." I looked at him. "You're a guy-" "Depends what question you're asking." "For this one, you're a guy. If you got a girl pregnant, what would you do?" "I'd look after the baby. She'd still be my daughter. If I got Laura pregnant, I would've kept on good terms with her. I'd look out for her, make sure she was comfortable, but no romance. Eventually, once I got to know her well enough, I'd tell her I'm gay. If I was in this guy's situation, I'd be happy. Not only would I support her, but I'd be with her, if I were in love with her and she was having my baby. So it may be a bit early. Alice has money. If I didn't, I could get a job. I'd marry her and spend my life with her and my baby." "You wouldn't run out on her?" I asked softly. "Never. I'd be scared, but she'd be scared too, wouldn't she? The fact is, she'd be the one carrying the child. She wouldn't be able to back out of it. And I'm not so great with them, but I like kids. I'd be happy to be having a baby. I'd learn what to do eventually." Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Scorp walked in. "Hey. It's Weasley family time. So I thought it should be Malfoy and honorary Malfoy family time. What are we talking about, young ones?" "Alice and Maisy." "Ah. Merlin, that girl can keep a secret. By the way, do you know what's wrong with Louis? He looked pretty pissed. And kind of like he was gonna cry. Or kill someone." "Do we have to talk about that?" I groaned. "Yes. Tell me everything." Dammit. ----------------------------------------------- A/N: So that's Alice. I hope you understand the story a little bit more now, since you know about Alice, and you know a bit more about Louis and Dom. They still have their secrets that you need to keep reading to find out about =) Thank you so much for reading! Please review! xx Also - this is very important - thank you thank you thank you, before I forget, to Voldy_Needs_a_Hug for reviewing, jamessirius and potterfan310 for adding this as one of their favourite stories, but especially to ScorpiusRose17 for reviewing and adding as a favourite. Thank you all! xx Chapter Five A/N: Nothing belongs to me =) xx ------------------------------------------ "Attention, students! We will shortly be arriving at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Please change into your house robes in preperation for the welcome feast! Thank you!" "HELLO, EMMA! IT'S SO GOOD TO BE SEEING YOU NAKED AGAIN!" ...Yay me. "Wow, Dom. Didn't know you swing that way," Dan smirked, one of his eyebrows raised as Dom entered the compartment. "Sweetie, there's a lot you don't know about me," she smirked back, winking. "You guys need to leave now." "I'm gone," Scorp announced. "See you guys later." He kissed my head, waved to the others and left the compartment. Dom turned her glare to Dan. "Do I have to leave?" Dan asked tiredly. "Are you a girl?" "No." "Are you gay?" "Yes." "Then yes, you do have to le- WHAT?" I rolled my eyes as I tried to grab my trunk from rack above my head by standing on the seat. Dan gave me a pitying look as I pulled my tongue at the trunk for being out of my reach, before reaching up and pulling it down. WHAT THE FUCK? HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO STAND ON THE SEAT! Not cool, Merlin. Not cool. He grabbed me by my waist and set me down on the ground. I brushed myself off before beaming up at him. "I love you." I stood up on my tiptoes and pulled him down slightly so I could kiss his cheek. He smiled fondly at me as I turned to get my robes out of my trunk. Dom continued to gape at Dan. I started getting changed from my tights, shorts, jacket and t-shirt into my uniform. He had decided that he was gonna take things in small steps. Just the people he was closest to. But Scorp already knew, and so did Alice, probably. So the only person left to tell was Dom. Dan said he wasn't going to make a big deal out of telling her, so I guess her disturbing feelings for me presented oppurtunity. Whilst she wasn't taking it as well as I had, she could be doing much worse. I personally don't see what the big deal is. Then again, since no one knows about his break up with Amy Hoster, and everyone knew that he had been dating the biggest slut in school, he might have been better off saying he was bi or something to begin with. But then again, he's learning to be himself. I'm encouraging it. "You- What- I- G- Amy- Girlfriend- Virgin-" Where did she get virgin from? "Poster- Gay- Time- Sexy- You- Vegetable- What?!" "I really thought we were making progress from poster. Then she said vegetable. I'm just gonna get changed in here anyway, Em, if that's alright." "Course it is. I've seen you almost naked tons of times," I said, pulling my denim shorts from under my skirt. He nodded and pulled his shirt of to reveal his amazing abs. "If you weren't my gay almost brother, I'd probably be drewling right now. You've got fit abs," I remarked casually. He grinned. "Thanks. If I weren't your gay almost brother, I'd probably be drewling right now too. You've got giant knockers." I gave him a dry look. Yay me for having big boobs. I'm not particularly fit or pretty, but hey, I'm good for when you're simply horny. Woop. "Thanks." "Any time, love." I rolled my eyes as I pulled my shirt on and started doing the buttons up. Dan watched me as he did his. Dom was still opening and closing her mouth repeatedly like a fish. When I got to the buttons covering my boobs, I had to tug on the shirt to get it to meet in the middle. Danny smirked at me. "See what I mean?" "Pervert." "All teenagers are perverts." "Shouldn't you be perving on dudes, instead of your almost sister?" "Good point." I smirked as I watched Dan struggle with his tie. I walked over to him after doing mine and stood on my tiptoes so I could do his. "Are you serious?" Wow. Dom managed to form a sentence in English. "Yeah," Dan shrugged. "Don't tell Louis," he added after a minute. I smiled as I fixed the red and gold tie. We're all Gryffindors. Me, Dan, Dom, Lou, Scorp and Al. You can imagine how thrilled Grandfather was. "But what about your girlfriends?" "Cover ups. I would feel guilty but they were all bitchy sluts." "Ar- are you still with Amy? I mean, whe- when did you... realise? Di- Did anyone else know?" "I've known all my life. So has Em. I was more openly feminine when we were little. I told her in first year. Scorpius knows, apparently, and I'm willing to bet Alice does. Creep," he muttered. I slapped his arm. "She's not a creep. She's just insightful. And you're jealous." "Right. Course," he rolled his eyes. I scowled as I pulled my robes over my uniform. Dan did the same. Dommie was still in her own clothes. "Dom, we're getting off the train in ten minutes. You need to get dressed, for fuck's safe." "Right. Right. Err... right." "Dom, it's not that big of a deal," Danny said, starting to sound slightly upset. "I know. I know - I -" "Dom. Get dressed." She started haphazardly throwing her clothes off and her uniform on. Unfortunately, Louis had chosen this time to revisit us. With his friends. Who were now gaping at Dom's half naked form, the door wide open so people in the corridor had a great view too. She remained oblivious, until Dan cleared his throat. My shoulders shook with silent laughter. I put my hand over my mouth, trying to look solemn, or symapthetic, or at least oblivious. Louis's mouth was hung open in a slightly appalled way. His friend's mouths were open too, but they didn't seem to protest her veela body. As they were drewling. "Err, Dom? We... have... guests," Dan said awkwardly, his hands rubbing down his face as he gave up the effort not to laugh and a grin spread on his face. She looked around and saw the boys standing in the doorway. "PERVERTS!" she screamed. "Except you, 'cause you're kind of cute." Louis turned to the friend she had pointed out, shrugged sympathetically and punched him. "That was rude!" Dom scolded. "COVER YOURSELF!!!" he retorted. "Good point." Louis cleared up his friends. One didn't budge. How rude. Without seeing if it was someone I knew (from where I was stood I could only see his legs), I threw a hex at him. It only made a bang to scare him! He might've shit his pants, but... Yeah. I feel guilty. I levitated a chocolate frog up the corridor he had run down. Unfortunately, the floating treat scared him so much he jumped about a foot in the air, fell forwards and smacked his face off a glass window of one of the compartments, effectively scaring the shit out of some first year girls, judging by the screams that followed, before he collapsed to the ground. "See, Emma? I told you you were too nice. You shouldn't give people treats after you attack them." I shot Dan the bird, before running down the corridor to the guy. I bent down over him. With a jolt I realised it wasn't some guy. For fuck's sake. This would happen to me. Of course I would've just nearly killed Albus Potter. What a fucking riot. Yay. "Hey," I said softly as I knelt down next to him. His left cheek bone was bruised and slightly cut and he was holding his left arm. "Sorry. I didn't recognize you. I thought you were perving on my best friend. People aren't allowed to do that without fearing my midget wrath. It wouldn't have hurt you, that spell," I explained myself softly as I healed his face. He watched me intently. Then he shot me a dazzling smile and I momentarily forgot how to breathe. "Maybe I shoud've moved closer to the door so I didn't come across as a stalker." "You can never be too careful," I smiled, but then frowned. "You've seen the way people look at Dom. I just don't want her to get hurt. But not in that you-can't-have-a-boyfriend-in-case-he-dumps-you way. You've gotta learn these things the hard way sometimes. I just want her not to get too into someone who just wants to get in her pants and then walk away. What's wrong with your arm?" "Nothing. I think I just bruised it. You really care about her, don't you?" he added thoughtfully. "Of course I do. She's my best friend. Let me see it." I pulled up his robes to reveal the bruise on his amazing arms. Now I feel really guilty. I am a horrible person. I muttered a spell and it began fading away. "Did you bang your head?" "A little. I'm fine, though, really. I'm a big boy. I can handle it." I rolled my eyes, grinning a little. "You could have a concussion." "Please," he said, as if the idea were preposterous. I narrowed my eyes, a playful glint in them as I smiled slightly at him. "How many fingers am I holding up?" I asked, swearing at him with two fingers. "Which one of you?" he grinned. I shot him a glare. "I dunno... four?" he tried. "Right. Can you roll onto your side for me?" "I don't need t-" "Do it!" "Okay!" He rolled onto his side. I ran my fingers a gently as I could through his thick, unruly black hair. I found that it may be the softest thing I have ever touched... THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID! I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I carresed his head gently. I think he shuddered at one point. I smirked. SCORE! ...I don't actually know why. Maybe this proves that I have, like, soft hands, or something? And then maybe he'll fall in love with my hands and then the rest of me and we'll live happily ever af- You're supposed to stop me when I do that, you know. I felt the bump on the back of his head. He let out an involentary hiss of pain. "Sorry," I muttered, stroking his arm to calm him down. It doesn't work on everyone. It normally has to be someone you're close too. I'm obviously not a trained healer - that's what I'm studying for after Hogwarts, so I've only healed the people close to me. But I've found that touching or stroking them can calm them down. And not in a pervert way. Oddly enough though, he tensed, before completely relaxing. I tried not to think about it as I put all my concentration into healing his head. In seconds the bump was gone. "You can get up now." He stood up quickly and brushed himself off. "Thanks, Emma." He pulled me to my feet swiftly and effortlessly. "No problem. Sorry for nearly killing you and scaring the shit out of you." "It's alright," he laughed. "Listen, I've gotta go find Scorp, but I'll see you in the Great Hall, if not in the carriage." "Okay," I smiled and walked away, already blushing. When I'm with Al and no one else, it's as natural as breathing. When other people are there it's very hard to talk without blushing, squeaking, or saying something utterly ridiculous. When I reached my friends, I slapped Louis. "Could've told me it was your cousin so I didn't feel obliged to beat the living shit out of him." "You're just a violent person. Nothing could be done." "It's 'cause she's short." Charming. -------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: Nothing is mine. Please lemme know what you think! xx Chapter Six A/N: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE xx Also, nothing belongs to me and please review!!!!!!!!! PLEASE xx --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "CHARGE!!!" "Dom, don't be an id- WOAH WHAT THE FUCK?!" I exclaimed as my (clearly demented) friend grabbed me and pulled me through the mass of people. I cried out as Dom tugged harder (hee hee hee, that's what she said) and brought me through to a small clearing in the crowds of students struggling to get into a carriage. I was momentarily confused, before I saw Al and Scorp. They must've been looking for us over everyone else's heads. I wouldn't know. Midget - remember? "Hey, guys. Shall we get a carriage?" Scorp greeted us. "No, let's just walk to the castle," Lou snapped sarcastically. Well someone's in a grumpy mood... Al shrugged. "Suit yourself mate." "You know, it doesn't sound like such a bad idea..." Dom and Louis gave me a strange look. Al looked momentarily confused before understanding dawned on his face and he looked away. I felt my cheeks go hot as Dan and Scorp fixed me with concerned looks. "It doesn't matter," I muttered. "Really." We continued on. Scorp fell into step with me, falling behind the others. "Stay with me," he whispered, taking my hand and squeezing it. I nodded. We reached a carriage and my breath caught in my throat as I saw the thestral's foot. I felt Scorp tense beside me. I squeezed my eyes shut, but vivid images made me open my eyes widely, hysteria and panic building up inside me. I looked away from the thestral and stumbled towards the carriage. Dan pulled me in and Scorp jumped in behind me, closing the door. I stared at the door for a second, my breathing slightly faster than normal. They all stared intently at me, Al, Scorp and Dan with concern, Louis and Dom with worry and confusion, waiting for what I would do next. So I sat down quietly, and the carriage set off. Dan, who had been stood up still, toppled right over with the sudden lurch. I giggled quietly behind my hand, trying not to let him see my amusement as he moaned in pain. "Are you ok?" I asked him, my voice wavering with contained hysterics as the others laughed shamelessly. He stood up and shot me a look, rubbing his hip. "Just fucking dandy." We managed to move on with that from the previously tense atmosphere, though Scorp kept his arm firmly around me. He hates thestrals just as much as I do. While it's not the creatures fault, they're a reminder of the death you saw. And I'd rather not remember my mother's. I sometimes get flash backs from when I was little. From everything that's happened to me. Things can set them off. Things like thestrals. They make me panic. One time, when I was in third year, not too long after my mother died and my father ran away, Professor Flitwick said something, I'm not sure what it was, but it was something my dad used to say. All of a sudden I got this flashblack of the night he came int- You know what? I'll tell you later. Point is, I got this really vivid flashblack and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital wing with Scorpius standing by me protectively. I 'blacked out due to a panic attack' apparently. Then I had to make up a cover story about what my panic attack was about. Stupid gossping Madamme Pompom. It's a good thing Scorp's a good liar, 'cause my mind went blank. He told her that we got into a car crash that killed our grandfather on our mother's side. This is my excuse for panicing when I see thestrals, and for the scar I have on my arm. Patient's confidentiality said that Pompom couldn't tell anyone anyway, but with what really happened, she might have too. And we couldn't let that happen could we? Imagine what would happen if the press found out that the famous Draco Malfoy had gone insane. He'd run away from home, and left his children behind, his wife having died only nights before he left. That Scorpius and Emerald Malfoy were living alone, and had been since they were thirteen and fourteen. It's not just about what the press would do to us. The Potters and Weasleys get alot of dirt put on them. Everything they do is watched by the press. Conspiracys, gossip, fassion, relationships, anything. It's all out there. But they make up some pretty messed up shit too. As for us, though, all the press want is dirt and scandals. Now it's not just about us, either. These people will come to our house. They would break in, sometimes they're violent, and not only would me and Scorp be in danger, but Maisy and Alice would be too. There is no way I am letting that happen. "Emma, are you ok?" Scorp whispered in my ear. "I'm fine. I just can't look at them..." "I know. It's fine, really. I just wanted to make sure you're ok." "I always freak out when I see them. They're creepy. I should've gotten over them by now." "Hey, don't worry about it. The stuff we saw? People don't get over stuff like that so easily." -------------------------------------- We took our places on the Slytherin table as the chatter of students filled our ears. The Great Hall always has a great buzz, especially on the first day, when people are seeing their mates again for the first time after the summer. After a few minutes, Proffessor Hagrid stood up, tapping his glass (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!! I'll try to stop now...) to get our attention. We all fell silent and looked at him. The glass smashed on the final tap. Typical. "Err, thank you, Proffessor Mcgonergall," he muttered as she cleaned it up. "Err, Professer Longbottom is gonna do 'is speech now. Go on, Sir." "Don't call me Sir, Hagrid," Professor Longbottom smiled, before taking his place in front of the teacher's table. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts. To some of you, welcome to your first year at Hogwarts. The Forbidden Forest is forbidden. The Womping Willow will kill you. There are a lot of dangers here at Hogwarts, but there's a lot more than that here too. There's magic. There's the future of millions of children and the history of millions of people. And there's you. A lot has happened in this school, and a lot more can. We're the only wizarding school in Britain. We have so many sucsessful graduates. And always remember that everyone is someone. Maybe you're not Harry Potter. Maybe you're not Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley. You are you. We believe in you here, and if you don't, then we'll show you what you can do." Professor Longbottom is just the best. He was recently made the headmaster, but he still teaches herbs. He's a brilliant leader and speaker, obviously - after all, he lead the D.A. He's funny and lovely and speaking to him is like speaking to a mate. He understands everything. He does presentations and lectures in History of Magic, which are just brilliant. "I'm sure Mr Filch will be reminding you of the rules all year, so there's not much point going through them all right now. Congratulations to Mark Funtro, who has replaced Thomas Wint as captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Other than that, there's not much to tell you about so, dig in!" We ate our food happily, and dinner passed by quickly. Soon we were settling down it the Gryffindor Common Room. We were sat together, chatting about Summer and the year ahead. Scorp and Al had to study really hard this year because it's seventh year. We've done our OWLs now but that means we've been put into slightly tougher groups. Hopefully studying this year will give us better chances with our N.E.W.Ts. Scorpius and Al are studying to be aurors. Danny's studying to be a healer, but more the kind of curse-fixing sort, whereas I'm going for the kind of emergency bloody accident type. Dom wants to open a bakery someday, whereas Louis wants to work at Gringotts. "How's medicine going for you, Emma?" Dom asked me. I sighed. "Hard. It's a bit disturbing, some of the work. I don't like seeing people in pain." "Then why would you be a healer?" Louis asked, looking slightly amused. I met his face with a solemn expression. "Because I don't like seeing people in pain and not being able to do anything about it," I said seriously. "You're great at healing spells, that's for sure," Al smiled at me. I smiled back. "Thanks." "How would you know?" Scorp asked Al, his brow furrowed. "Oh, did Al not tell you that I tried to kill him?" I asked, surprised. "What?!" "Well not on purpose." "She thought I was perving on Dom-" "-And that wasn't accpetable." "So she through a hex at me-" "And he ran away screaming-" "-Like a little girl." "But then he ran into a door-" "-And bruised myself up-" "-And gave himself a little concussion-" "So she healed me." We explained it together perfectly, finishing each others sentences and taking the words right out of each other's mouths. I was blushing by the end. "...Okay. I don't understand, but I honestly don't want to know." "Fair enough," Al laughed. Danny shook his head. "Emma is really good though. She'll have no problem with the N.E.W.Ts. She's healed me tons of times." I blushed a deeper pink. "Maybe you shouldn't get yourself into situations where I have to heal you," I scolded him. "Besides," I added thoughtfully. "Healers hands run in the family." It's true. Scorpius and I both inherited it from our mother. She healed us and my father countless times. She worked at St Mungo's before she met my father. After she did, she opened up a more private practice and was self employed. She taught me and Scorpius a few things. The thing that made me want to be a healer wasn't just her, though I'll freely admit she was a part of it. Another part of it was that I saw people hurt at my mother's practice, and it made me just want them to stop hurting. But the biggest part was seeing my father, mother, and more so, Scorpius hurt. I had to do something. Straight away when I got to Hogwarts, I threw myself into whatever lessons would help me help people, mostly Potions and Herbs, but extra things I could study from Charms to help people be distracted and things like that. I healed my brother a few times when my father hurt him or no one else could because my mother had to distract my father. There were one or two occasions when I healed my mother. And just one when I healed my father. It was one of the best times I ever had with him. Because he recognised me. "How come we've never met your parents, guys?" Dom asked suddenly. Scorp scoffed. "You're Weasleys. Our father w- is Draco Malfoy. That wouldn't go very well." I tensed before realising I was the only one who had heard Scorp go to say was. "Please," Dom snorted. "If Al's met him, and he's a Potter, I'm sure we'll be fine." "I actually haven't," Al perked up honestly. "We don't hang out at their house. I only met Alice once when I was about thirteen." "Why not?" "Aside from my Dad, Alice and Maisy being a problem," I replied, which was fairly true. "We can't risk press anywhere near the house. And Alice is pretty nervous anyway. Since she got pregnant, she could barely talk to people." "She wouldn't even talk to me for the first one or two months she lived with us," Scorp revealed, thinking back. "It took a month after that to convince her to even get a hospital appointment," I added. "We couldn't bring Danny in the house for a while either." "How did he end up babysitting with you?" Dom asked, puzzled. This is the problem. Me and my brother have a lot of secrets. My friends are his friends and his friends are mine. That's why he and Al hang out with us a lot. If I wasn't in love with Al, I'm fairly confident he would be like my brother by now. Of course, Alice is like Scorpius's sister. So me, Alice, Scorp, Dan, Lou, Dom and Al are immensely close, even though some people in that group aren't close with everyone else in there. Me and Scorp are really close with all of them. We kept this thing about our parents a secret, but Al and Dan already knew something was up. We'd known each other since before high school (Al met Scorp at a youth club for young witches and wizards, which was basically just supervised Quidditch), so in all that time we'd been staying at their houses in emergency. We knew Teddy, too, so a couple of times, only twice probably, because Father's tantrums got more frequent as time went on, so when we were little it didn't happen so much, but anyway, we stayed with him. Which meant staying with the Potters. So we'd already met Al. Throughout the whole thing, we agreed we could tell Danny, Al and Alice anything, unless it was a thing that was specifically a secret between us, like a brother/sister thing. So Danny, Al and Alice know about our crazy, abusive, dangerous, missing father. They're the only ones that know about our mother's death, too. This means that we have to hide a lot of things from Lou and Dom, which is hard in a group as tight as ours. "We talked her into it. She knew him pretty well." "How do your parents feel about Alice and Maisy living with you?" WHAT IS THIS? WHERE THE HELL IS ALL THIS INTERIGATING COMING FROM!? I managed to fake a very weak smile. "They're cool with it." "How can they stand a a muggle and her baby living in their house if Al isn't even allowed in the house?" "It's complicated, ok, Dom?" Scorp sighed, rubbing his temples. I looked at him worriedly. He shot me a sad, tired smile, so I leaned into him and hugged him softly. He hugged me back enthusiastically. "Can we not talk about them right now?" "Who?" "Our parents." "Wh-" "Leave it, Louis," I said sharply. What? Don't look at me like that! He made Dan cry! Granted, Dan probably made him cry too, but... Wow. My friends are soft. Guess I can't talk though - I'm scared of what it basically just a giant lizard. ...Sort of. "Woah, Emma, did I do something?" Merlin, his parents really fucked up. Their children are wackadoodles. Annoying wackadoodles. "No. I'm tired," I repeated in a monotone, my flat face adding to my sarcasm, which I wasn't sure if I intended or not. "Did something happen?" Al asked, looking confused. "You know what, guys? I'm gonna go to bed," Dom announced nervously. "Lou, why don't you come with me?" He cocked his head. "'Cause I'm a dude and I sleep in the boy's dorm." "Oh yeah! Err, Em, you can come with me instead!" "No, that's ok, thanks. I'm just gonna wait until the others go to bed." "Well, um, I-" "What is it? You are annoyed at me, aren't you?" Louis demanded. "Drop it. It doesn't matter." "Oh, here we go." "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, offended. He generally says that when he's annoyed at someone because of something he did. "Are you gonna start on me now? 'Cause you could at least tell me what I did!" "What do you mean, am I gonna start on you? You know what? Take a look around at the damage you cause before you shout at the person who's angry at you for it! You act like nothing is your fault! And sometimes, it is. Grow up. You need to start acting like you're old enough to deal with this stuff before I trust you with anything!" And with that I stormed away. So this is what sixth year's going to be like. Yay. ------------------------------------------------------------- So, people, what do you think? As Emma said, these chapters have all been about character building, so that's why it took so long to get them to Hogwarts. Now you know more about them, who's your favourite character? Where's Draco? Why so much secrecy about Astoria's death? What actually happened to her? What is Louis's problem?! WHO IS MAISY'S DAD?! I bet you'll be able to guess. Don't tell me! Oh, wait a minute... never mind. I already know =) xx Love you for reading =) PLEASE REVIEW! xx OH AND YAY ANOTHER TWO PEOPLE FAVOURITISED MY STORY - THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH ibelieveinmagic and fluffers202 xx It really means so, so much just to get any feedback at all so PLEASE leave reviews guys! xx I had to update this quickly just so I could say how much I appreciate it xx Bye! xx Chapter Seven A/N: I don't own anything. --------------------------------------------------- Me and my sneaky Slytherin behaviour. Curiosity got the best of me as I watched my friends' slightly shocked expressions grow concerned, before everyone seemed to look pretty pissed off as they turned to face each other. I wanted to know what they were saying. I stopped a passing second year. "Hey, sorry, but can you drop this by the couch where those angry people are?" I asked, holding out an extendable ear and pointing to my friends. The kid frowned at me. "I dunno. I don't wanna get in the middle of anyth-" "Have you got a big brother or sister?" I cut him off. He grimaced. "I'll take that as a yes. That's my big brother," I told him, pointing at Scorpious. "Fair enough," he replied immediately. I grinned and thanked him. He dropped the extendable ear right near them without anyone noticing. I grinned again and held the other end to my ear. "You must've done something, Lou," Al said. "Yeah, I argued with Dan! Like always! I don't know why she's stressing!" he replied. "Maybe you ought to think about the fact that she might be going through other stuff!" Scorpious shouted, sounding furious. "Oh, believe me, I have. Because I don't understand why if she's hiding something, she can't tell me. I'm supposed to be one of her best friends!" "That doesn't mean she has to tell you everything!" Dom said hotly. "So she is keeping secrets from me then?" "No, that's not what I mean-" she backtracked. "She is though. Do you know these secrets?" "Everyone has secrets, Lou-" Al started calmly. "You all know whatever the hell's going on here don't you?! That's what she meant when she said she can't trust me with anything! What a load of bullshit!" "Can you blame her?" "You can shut up," Louis snapped at Dan. Danny laughed harshly. "You're one big fuck up, you know. It just goes in through one ear and out the other, doesn't it? She's mad at you because of what you did before. Granted, talking about her parents probably didn't help-" "Dan!" Scorp warned. "You mean 'cause you were having a go at me?" Louis retorted, ignoring Dan's comment about parents. "Don't victamise yourself so much. You were shouting at me too." "Typical," Louis muttered angrily. "I'm sick of you getting on your high horse because she likes you more." "This isn't some kind of competition. If you hate Dan so much, you at least need to think of how that effects Dom and Emmy," Scorp said angrily. "Why? I obviously don't mean enough to Emmy for her to be on my side for once." It felt like I'd been stabbed. Tears pooled in my eyes. I blinked them away rapidly, wiping at my green eyes just in case. "Don't start about her!" Scorpious shouted angrily. "You don't know what she's been through and you don't know what she's been through for you! So don't start getting mad at her when you have no right!" "You would take her side!" "Of course I would! For one thing, you're overreacting. For another thing, she's my little sister!" "You just jump to her defence no matter what!" "It's my job too!" "You're not her mother!" Hey, to be fair, he might as well be. "I'm her protector!" Scorp retorted. "She's sixteen, Scorp!" "She still needs me!" "She needs you to go along with whatever she says and does?" Louis challenged. "No. She needs me to be there for her. Because this is the kind of friend she has to put with," Scorpious said coldly. "Well maybe I would be sympathetic if I knew what was going on," Louis said in the same icy voice. "She doesn't need to tell you." "So I guess it's just some made up drama for funsies then? Just to see what kind of destruction can go on around that?" "You don't know what she's been through," Scorpious repeated. "You don't know what I've been through. Apparently everyone else's drama is more important. I have some serious shit going on, okay?" Ooooohhh... That wasn't a clever thing to say. Scorpious just has this idea in his head that I'm like the most fragile, precious piece of glass in the world and that I'm ready to shatter at any moment. He thinks he has to protect me from everything. And he thinks that everything I've had to put up with makes me weaker. But it doesn't. I was ready for Maisy when Alice told me she was pregnant because me and Scorp had looked after each other all our lives. I was ready for her to go into labour because I'd made it a priority that I learnt how to treat pain because my father had often inflicted it. I'm ready everytime someone gets drunk, because I've seen it before. I've done it before. And okay, seeing your best friend/sister cry and shake and lock herself in her room for a month is devastating. Seeing her scream and cry and panic makes your stomach turn. Seeing your friends falling over and laughing until suddenly they're crying and telling you all these feelings - these painful, lonely, bad feelings that they can't tell you about when they're sober - that make you feel awful is a little bit heartbreaking, but it can make you stronger. Even from where I was in the corner, I could see Scorpious face grow red and knew an explosion was coming. "SO DOES SHE! AND SHE NEVER TOLD ME ANYTHING ABOUT YOURS, OR DANNY'S FOR THAT MATTER, OR WHATEVER MAY OR MAY NOT BE GOING ON WITH DOM BECAUSE SHE PROTECTED YOUR SECRETS!" he shouted, his voice raised way beyond how loud they had previously gotten. The rest of the common room went silent. "She's been protecting all of us all her life, and you think you'd be able to give something back. I'm sorry about your personal problems, but I can say with confidence that they're slightly better that ours. I'm guessing Al's the only one here who knows both, so he can be the judge of that. But leave my sister alone or you'll regret it," he said in a low, dangerous voice. I winced. I hate it when people say stuff like that. But I know Scorpious wouldn't touch him. For me and Al and Dom. There's no way he would actually hurt him. "I don't need to deal with this shit right now!" Louis cried "Neither does she," Scorpious retorted in that same low voice. I crossed the room shakily because the whole common room was staring at them. Scorp and Lou were squaring up to each other menacingly, Dan stood next to Scorp looking livid, Dom and Al looking worried and ready to stop a possible fight. "Leave it you guys," I muttered angrily. "You don't need to get so worked up. Lou, I'm sorry for overreacting. I had a lot of shit on my plate, okay? Night guys. Love you." I walked away quietly but quickly, and up to the girl's dorm, wiping fiercely at my eyes. My dormates Lisa Doogevol, a bubbly, pretty, funny girl with sandy blonde hair, a round face and pretty hazel eyes and Poppy Hook, her sarcastic, feisty, hilarious, beautiful best friend with chocolate brown eyes, matching eyes and pale skin, were both asleep already. I sighed and slipped into the bathroom, showering and dressing in my PJs before jumping into bed and curling up in a ball. I grabbed my teddy, Scorpo, a rather large, soft, brown bear and hugged him tightly. I fell asleep sobbing into his squishy shoulder, wishing a real person was here to comfort me. ---------------------------------------------------------- I woke up because I heard a voice. A voice that was coming from somewhere behind my bed. The voice belonged to Scorpious. He was lying down behind me. He must've come in through the wardrobe. I kept my eyes shut and my breathing steady as he continued to murmur to me, oblivious to the fact that I was awake. "I really wish I didn't lose my temper so much. It makes me mad that I have a temper. I'm worried I might've gotten it from Dad. But Mum could be feisty when she wanted to be. Not you level feisty, but you didn't want to mess with her," Scorpious reminesced quietly, letting out a soft chuckle. "I saw you wiping your eyes and it just felt like a punch in the stomach. I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I just kept thinking about the thestrals and Father and Mother... It's no excuse. I know it isn't. We're a team, me and you. Best friends. Brother and sister. Family. Everything. I can't make you cry. It just isn't fair. And I know that you'd point out that I was trying to stick up for you, but I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I wouldn't have gotten that mad if we hadn't have been talking about our parents before. I'm gonna blow our cover if I'm not careful, and I just can't. I can't lose you. I can't lose what we have. The way that we're safe with each other no matter what. I love you so, so much." His voice was catching by the end. So I did what he would do to me. I moved my hand slowly backwards to where Scorp's was resting on my hip and took his hand into mine, pulling it forward and squeezing it softly. He kissed he back of my head and squeezed my hand back. --------------------------------------------------------- A/N: Okay, so I think this is the shortest chapter I've written yet, and that is because I was okay with the beginning of chapter seven but the rest was terrible, so I had to change it, and I wasn't too sure about chapter eight OR nine either, so I decided that rather than just posting a load of crap so I can post the more exciting parts quicker, I should at least attempt to make it better. I'm still not sure about this though, so let me know what you think if you've got the time PLEASE!!! What do you notice about Lisa's last name? =D Thank you so much ms4aisa for adding to favourites and potterfan310 for reviewing (I cannot tell you quite how happy that made me =D) Please keep reading and PLEASE review - even if you think it sucks! This was kind of a filler and so were 8 and 9 and that's why they're all a bit iffy, so I'm gonna try and fix them and please don't be discouraged!!! xx Chapter Eight Author's Note: I don't own anything =) Thank you a million times over for reading. Please leave a review! P.s - of course I think writers are intelligent (JK FREAKIN ROWLING, FOR EXAMPLE) xx ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Merlin," Dan muttered as we left potions. I glanced up at him. "What?" "I forgot how much potions sucks." "It's really not that bad," I laughed. "Not for you, maybe, Miss Does-Potions-Like-A-Boss," he muttered resentfully. "It's okay. You don't need to be intelligent to be a writer," I smirked. I felt his hand smack the back of my head lightly. I blinked. "Guess I kinda deserved that." "What do we have next?" "HERBIVORES!!!" Several people gave me odd looks. I smiled innocently and pointed at Dom who did look rather guilty as she giggled manically under her breath. I shot her a frightened look and stood on the other side of Danny as we made our way down the hall. Sometimes she does these things. "Fuck," Dan muttered. "What?" "We've got the same class as Louis next." I groaned. "Brilliant." We reached the greenhouses and I bowed my head slightly so my long hair surrounded my face. I don't know why. My hair's red. He would know it was me anyway. We took a seat and I sat deliberately close to Dan. He played with my hair and my hands absently, calming me slightly. "Alright guys!" Proffesor Longbottom announced, clapping his hands together. "Today we're going to help Proffesor Slughorn by collecting some Prafus Herbs. Can anyone tell me what the function of the Prafus Herb is?" Some guy's hand shot straight up. "Er, yes, Mr Thorn?" "The Prafus Herb is a good ingredient to strengthen a lot of medically based potions, but their are some key ones for which it is apsolutely necessary, for example potions which relieve migraines, headaches and hangovers." "Thank you, Mr Thorn. Five points to Ravenclaw. Miss Malfoy, could you name one of the three potions Mr Thorn just reffered to please?" "Um, the Cephalea potion is commonly used to treat migraines, but there are other ones that can be just as effective, sometimes more effective. Minor Cephalea is a spell that can help with migraines too." "Very good," he beamed. "Five more points for Gryffindor. Now, there are plently of Prafus Herbs on the left side right at the back of this greenhouse, so just go and pull them out. They're not much trouble, they only riggle a little bit. Grab a bucket and just pop them in. They're a bit heavy, but you'll be fine. As soon as you fill your bucket bring it up to the front and you can be done for the lesson." So we set to work. It was easy, really. I refused to move away from Dan because I didn't want a confrontation with Louis, but apart from that, everything was normal. We chatted and messed around like we always do. I filled my bucket and stumbled to the front with it, trying not to drop it. A bit heavy? Please. "Need help with that?" I was about to decline, but the person took the bucket out of my hands. I looked up to see Louis holding my bucket and his effortlessly. "Really, it's fine. I got it," I said, forcing myself to sound polite. "Don't worry about it," he said dismissively. "Listen, I need to talk to you." "Can I have my bucket back please?" I said through gritted teeth. "No. I need to speak to you about yesterday." "I want my bucket back," I growled. "Here you go, Sir. This one's mine and this one's Emmy's. She was having a bit of trouble carrying it," Louis told Mr Longbottom as we reached the front. I scowled. "I was not." Mr Longbottom beamed. "Excellent. You have some free time to chat, then." I groaned and trudged back to my desk, closely followed by Louis. "What," I said exasperatedly. "Do you want?" "To apologise." I looked up at his face in shock. Regret was swimming in his eyes as he stared derminedly at me. "I was out of line. I shouldn't be forcing anything on you. I lost my temper and I had no right. I just want you to understand that you can tell me anything. That I know I act like a bastard sometimes, but I am your friend. I want you to be able to trust me. You know I love you." His brilliant blue eyes were wide and pleading as they stared into my green ones. I sighed. "I know you do, and it's not that I don't trust you. Look, I'll tell you when I can. When I'm allowed to and when I feel confident enough. But it's not the time right now. I can't tell you. And you're not the only one - Dom doesn't know either." He blinked. "Really? Dom doesn't know?" "You're just as important," I smiled at him. He smiled back. "Are you accepting my apology, then?" I sighed. "I guess I'm gunna have to, aren't I?" I said grudgingly. He smiled and wrapped his arms around me tightly. I wrapped my arms back around him. "Lou Lou?" a very girly voice inquired from somewhere above my head. The voice sounded hurt. Louis and I released each other and I turned to face Amelia Fall, who was stood behind me, her curly red hair pinned neatly so the curls that fell out all covered her right shoulder. Creases had formed on her forehead because of her confused frown, and her hands were on her hips. I tried to stifle a giggle. I've never had a boyfriend. For me, the most hilarious thing ever, is when any of Louis or Danny's girlfriends freak out about them spending time with me, laughing with me, hugging me, or sometimes even smiling at me. Oh Merlin, there was that one crazy bird of Danny's who hexed him for high fiving me. She then swore at me. A lot. I had to try so hard not to laugh. Like, I was literally biting down on my lip until it was bleeding and shaking because with silent laughter. Louis kept coughing because he was laughing at me. Dom just kept scoffing and rolling her eyes. Danny got back up from the floor (basically, the hex made him fall. Pointless, I know), glared at her, and then came over and hugged me. And then kissed me on the cheek. And then on the forehead. At this point, Louis had become chanting 'on the mouth' quietly, no longer containing his laughter as the lovely whore's face turned from red to purple. Eventually, Dom got bored, silencioed her, turned her face blue ("It's a much more healty colour than the plum shade you were trying out. Honest.") and she ran away, her mouth opened wide with a silent scream. So you can see how excited I am about this situation. "Amelia!" he beamed, though inside I am sure he was completely freaking out. Gryffindors are good liars. The only person in the world who knows I'm in love with Al is Alice. No one else. And all she knows is he's Scorpious's best mate. They met once. She doesn't even remember what he looks like. I, personally, think she's an idiot. How could you not remember Albus Freakin Potter? But maybe my opinion is a tad biased. After all, I am in love with him. "I don't think you two have formally met," he continued, shooting her a charming part-veela smile. "Amelia, this is Emerald-" "Don't call me that!" "Sorry. This is Emmy Malfoy. She hates being called Emerald. Emmy, this is Amelia Fall, my girlfriend." I smiled up at her. "Nice to meet you. You're a Ravenclaw, right?" "Yes," she said primly. I think she's a bit pissed about something. I don't see what. "And you're a Gryffindor. If you don't mind me asking, how do you two know each other?" Awesome! She's one of the crazy ones that things that anyone who looks twice at her boyfriend is sleeping with him! "Me and Emmy? Oh, we go way back. She's been my best friend for years. She's like my sister." "And he's like my brother," I added, giving him a one armed hug, trying to help him out. "You have a real brother, don't you, Emerald? I mean, Emmy?" Sweet Merlin. "Well, you can never have too many brothers. I'm gonna go and talk to my other almost-brother, who is over there..." I trailed off, before leaping off the seat and practically running to Danny. "Hey," he greeted me. "I saw you with Louis. You need me to beat him up?" Dom hit him without looking as she went to hand her herbs to the teacher. I rolled my eyes. "No. He apologised. Would you like me to get him to apologise to you?" "Eh, there's probably no point." He added the last herb to his bucket before walking easily over to Professor Longbottom and handing him the bucket, just as the bell rang. "Well, that's the first day done. Only another three months and a bit to go 'till the next holiday," Dan sighed. "Hey, the start of the year could've gone worse." Believe me, I know. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... reviews? Please? Like I said last chapter, it's all very iffy! So help me out? And my friend Bob (who is, by the way, a girl. -_-) reviewed it as awesomesauce, so, um... I need some reviews (AND NEW FRIENDS.) I'm joking. I love her (him?) really xx Chapter Nine A/N: Nothing belongs to me =) please review! The song is Taylor Swift's Innocent and you should probably check it out if you like her and you don't know it. It might be featured in some other chapters too. Um... SUPER DRAMA. So enjoy, and I hope that this is long enough to make up for the ridiculously short past chapters! Thanks! xx ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I knew it was going happen today. Sometimes you get that... that feeling. A bad feeling. A cold feeling. A wrong feeling. It started a month after we came back to Hogwarts. We'd been walking through the area of the grounds where the thestrals stayed in Care Of Magical Creatures. Whilst the rest of the class carried on obliviously, Professor Hagrid and I stopped and stared at them. He must've seen so much in the war. Innocent, brave children dying all around him. And I bet he tried to stop it and there was some things he was just a second late to prevent from happening. Maybe I was a second late to prevent my mother's death. We both stared wordlessly at them. Little flashes of my mother's pretty face flashed before my eyes. She was laughing, smiling, crying... And suddenly, I began to see little snippets of the more scary times, the dark times. I stumbled slightly, my eyes widening and my pulse quickening. I heard Danny, Dom and Louis laughing somewhere that seemed far off. "You know what I mean right E- Emmy?" Louis asked, confused. I didn't respond, still staring at the innocent thestral. It looked up at me curiously. I gasped and staggered backwards. It seemed to be looking right through me, as if it knew what I was seeing in my mind - knew what it was making me see. "Ah thestrals. Beu'iful creatures. They don't do no 'arm, but the memories they make yer think of..." Hagrid trailed off sadly. Danny cursed, understanding. He rushed over to me and came down to my height. "Emmy, are you okay?" "I-I-I..." I stuttered, still staring past him at the thestral. "Hey," he said, putting his hand on my jaw. "Don't look at them. Look at me. Em stop looking at them," he repeated, his voice slightly urgent with worry. My eyes darted back and forth quickly between him, slowly filling with tears. "C'mere," he said quietly, standing and hugging me. A few tears dribbled out of my eyes, but I managed to stop myself from making a full on scene like I had done when I got into the carriage at the start of the year. "Miss Malfoy? What's wrong? Wait a minute, did you see the thestrals? What did you see?" Professor Hagrid asked, concerned, a slightly authorative note coming into his voice as the realisation that I must've seen death dawned on him. I briefly panicked before I remembered Scorp's cover up story about our Grandpa. "She'll be fine Sir, she just hasn't been feeling well-" Danny began. "None of that nonsense. Miss Malfoy 'ere saw the thestrals, didn't yer?" I felt Danny's heart start to beat faster, but he kept calm. He sighed defeatedly. "Sir, Emerald really doesn't like to talk about it." "I understand that, but as a professor, if there's somethin' goin' on I need to know, so that we know that the pupils are safe, and don't need some 'elp." "No need to worry, Sir. Madamme Pomfrey knows about the situation, and she's confirmed that Emerald should be okay. It's okay for it to get to her sometime," Danny said confidently. "Right," he said, sounding relieved. "Well I need to catch up with the class, if you don't mind. Emerald, you can be excused. You too, Daniel. Make sure she's okay." "Yes sir. Thank you," Danny replied, before taking my hand and walking with me to a point in the grounds about a mile away, before he turned to face me quickly. "Are you okay? Do you need me to go get Scorpious?" "No, it's okay. It's the last period anyway. And I have you." He chuckled and kissed my head. "Yes you do." After that everything was fine. Danny felt possesed to tell Scorpious because he didn't want to be the only worrying and now had someone to ask, "Will she be okay?" over and over again. Scorpious was practically glued to me from the minute Danny told him. I thought that there was no need to worry, that it wouldn't effect me too much, but I know better than that from past experience. Everything was going good until I fell asleep that night. I kept having nightmares about my father and my mother. Nightmares about things that had really happened, and nightmares about the things I was scared would happen in the future. I was shaken awake by Danny, who was looking down at me with concern and worry. He knew a secret passageway into the girl's dorm, and had decided to stay over in case, well, this happened. He'd made a little bed for himself near my bed. "EMMY!" he cried. My eyes shot open and I looked up at him, startled, blinking rapidly as my eyes adjusted. "Love, you were screaming. Were you having a nightmare?" "Yeah," I muttered quietly, sitting up and climbing out from under my cover. Though concern was the main expression on his face, the panic in his eyes was replaced by a sad, knowing look. "Everything okay?" Lisa asked worriedly, her head popping through the curtain. "I thought I heard a scream?" "Oh, yeah, it's fine. Sorry, Lisa. Just a little nightmare." "You okay?" she checked. I nodded. "Alright. I'm gonna take a shower." I forced a smile. "'Kay." Once she left, I turned to Dan questioningly. "There's a silencio on the curtains." "She must've heard you when I opened the curtains," he said, shrugging. "Well how did you know I was having a nightmare?" "I know when something's wrong. Like you do." I thought about it. I guess he was right. I knew when something was wrong, and I didn't even need to be near Dan most of the time. Sometimes I just knew I had to apparate to his house, and sure enough, he'd been crying or drunk on the living room floor. The same as he knew where I would hide when I was upset, and he'd come and find me. Sometimes he could guess what had happened too, which I thought was quite impressive. "I guess it's gonna be one of those days," he said sadly, taking my hands. He knows me so well. "You wanna stay here?" "Nah. There's no point. I'll just be careful." "We've got all our lessons together today on the bright side." "Yeah. Well I'm gonna get ready. Lisa's like superman in the morning - she'll be done with the shower by now." "Alright. I'll meet you in the common room. Or should I stay up here?" I rolled my eyes. "I'm not an invalid, Dan." "I know you're not. I just wanna make sure you're okay." "I'm fine. But before you go, can you jump on Dom? It's the only way to wake her up." "Sure." I headed to the bathroom, and heard and outraged cry before closing the door. I smiled slightly. "Just don't think about it," I told myself. "Don't overthink things and the day'll be over before you know it." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Danny and Scorpious were watching me intently as I came down the girl's staircase, making me blush slightly. I turned my attention to the wailing monstrosity that is Dominique Weasley in the morning. I was dragging her by her hand like you would with a little kid. "-Don't understand why lessons start so soon anyway! I mean, there's no need!" "Shut up, Dom." "No seriously, what's so great about mornings anyway?" Waking up from nightmares? "You love breakfast," I reminded her. She brightened up considerably. I don't understand her obsession with breakfast anyway. It's the worst meal of the day. It's just stupid. I tend to glare at the toast until we head to lessons because it just annoys me. I have an irrational hatred of breakfast, as you can probably guess. "Hey," Scorp said once we reached the bottom of the staircase, staring at me searchingly. "Hey," I replied nonchalantly. There was a thud, and we all turned to see Louis at the bottom of the staircase. On his arse. Well. "What did you do?" Dom sighed. "Stupid bastard tripped me up," he muttered resentfully, sticking up his middle finger at Martin Thomas, who was grinning down at him from the doorway of the sixth year boy's dorm. "Stupid teenager," Dom muttered. We all raised an eyebrow at her. "What? We're Wotters, so we don't count!" "HEY!" Scorp, Dan and I shouted defensively. "Wotters and friends," she corrected herself. "A tad biased, don't you think?" Al remarked. I loved the way his uniform was so laid back. His shirt was crumpled and untucked, his tie undone around his neck. His grey pants were crumpled too. I grinned. It was the way Scorp wore his uniform too. There was something just... friendly about it. I needed friendly right now. "We all ready to go to breakfast?" Al said, clapping his hands together. We agreed and headed out the door. Louis went on ahead with Al, and Dan engaged Dom in conversation. Scorp purposely grabbed my arm gently to hold me back before we started walking behind our friends at a slower pace. "You were having nightmares," Scorp stated. There was no point in lying. "Danny tell you?" I sighed. "Yeah," he said slowly, nodding thoughtfully as he looked intently at me. "And you're paler than normal. Not ill pale - scared pale." I tugged on my hair self concsiously. "Uh, should I be worried about that?" "No. I can tell because I'm your brother. I've seen that specific type of pale. Look, are you sure you don't wanna go back to the dorm? I'll stay with you." "It's fine, Scorp." "Em, what if you collapse? I don't want-" "I'm not gonna stay in my dorm just in case something happens. What are you gonna tell people? If I was ill I'd just heal myself or get you or Lisa to do it." He sighed. "Just be careful, okay? If you start getting upset just leave with Danny or come and find me." "I will." "I really don't wanna find you in the hospital wing, Em." "I can't make any promises," I admitted timidly. A shamed look came into his eyes. He hung his head slightly. "I'm so, so sorry. I should've stopped it before it got to-" Scorp always did this. He thought it was his fault that Father went crazy and his fault that I got hurt and his fault that Mum died and his fault that I was raised by my brother, a guy only a year older than me. But it wasn't his fault. It wasn't anyone's. And if it was, it was our Grandparents. Father was a bully in school, and he was a death eater before he graduated. He will wear a dark tatoo on his arm forever, if he's still alive. But he had a good heart, no matter what anyone says. It wasn't the best. It wasn't the biggest. But he had a heart all the same, and it wasn't made of ice. He loved me and Scorpious, and above all and everything, he loved Mother. Anything he did growing up was due to the way he was raised. As he turned from a young teenager to a young man, anything he did was due to fear. And anything he did to us was due to the guilt in his heart. A man who feels so guilty that he goes mad surely has a heart. I'll admit, I went through the process normal teenagers go through when their parents split up, though we're not normal teenagers, and our parents did not split up. But all the same, I sat in my room for a month, convinced it was all my fault, as did Scorp. After that month, the shock passed and the sadness of what had happened overtook. I sat with a box of photographs and cried floods. I was almost convinced to leave the room when I saw the picture of Danny, and the picture of Alice, and I knew that they were worried sick and really, they needed me to be okay. But the thing that triggered my exit from the room was a picture of me and Scorp, aged two (me) and four (Scorp). I was asleep, my head in his lap. He was stroking my hair and smiling the warmest smile down at me - that special Scorpious smile that melts my heart - as his eyes drooped slightly. We were in the living room, on the floor in front of the fire. Mother was sat on the couch behind us, Father with his arm around her. Father was smiling Scorpious's warm smile. It made him seem beautiful. I could remember that smile clearly, as if it hadn't been nine years since I'd seen it. But the most wonderful thing about the picture was that Mother and Father were singing a song. All these years later, it was still my favourite song, because though it was very sad, Mother and Father sang it together in the warmest memories of them. It was called Innocent. Mother had heard it somewhere and fallen in love with it. She would play it over and over again, and sing it around the house, or when Scorpious and I couldn't sleep. Mother said it was very special to her and Father because of what it was about. Back then, I didn't know what that was. Now I do. Even in memories that didn't involve them, it had come onto my iPod, or onto the radio. Playing somewhere in the background in sad and happy memories, I suppose. But whether the memory was happy or sad, it was always warm. I guess you really did it this time Left yourself in your war path Lost your balance on a tight rope Lost your mind trying to get it back And suddenly, I lept up and I ran from my room. I sped across the first floor until I reached Scorp's room and I forced the door open. He looked up in schock. There were streaks of tears down his face, and I was willing to bet he only started crying recently too. I lifted the picture up and understanding dawned on his face. I stood there, holding the picture tightly, shaking and crying. The hand that wasn't gripping the photograph for dear life was clenched in a fist at my side, shaking violently, as if Scorpious should do something and I was determined to make sure he did whatever the hell I wanted - needed - him to do, but I didn't know what it was. And then he gently walked up to me and pulled the photo out of my hand. I didn't struggle to keep hold of it. I wanted to see what he was doing. He placed it delicately on the desk as if it was the most precious thing in the world. And then he turned to me and grabbed me and pulled me into a tight, firm hug. I sobbed into his shoulder as he did into mine and we fell to the floor like that. We didn't let go of each other all day and all night. And for the next month, we slept in the same bed, and woke one another from nightmares and pulled out the picture of Mother singing and listened until we calmed enough to fall asleep. "EMMY!" I blinked rapidly and looked up at Scorpious's panicked face. It was ironic really, that the same thing had happened with Dan hours before... Or was it hours before? I looked around. I was lay on a bench - the one behind the tapestry of the unicorn. Scorp's face was inches from mine, and he appeared to be knelt next to the bench. Al was stood behind Scorpious. Danny was kneeling next to Scorp and Louis and Dom were stood near my legs. "I'm fine," I mumbled, with a sniffle, wiping tears off my face and sitting up. "Emmy, it's not even first period yet. If that happens again-" Scorp began but I cut him off. "It was just a little one, Scorpious. I'm awake. I'm fine." "Are you sure? Em, you just passed out," Louis said worriedly. "We looked around and Scorp was carrying you in here." "Yeah," I nodded, sending him a reassuring smile. It was pretty weak, but still. "It happens sometimes. Nothing to worry about." Hesitantly, they let me come out from behind the tapestry. The bell rang. Scorp ushered the others to go on ahead. Then he took my hand like he had before, but pulled me to a stop completely. He stared at me determinedly, his eyes looking deeper into mine than anyone else's could, right into my heart and my soul and thoughts, it seemed. "What was it about?" he whispered. "A month after Mum died," I replied in a shaky voice. He nodded and pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me. I began to sob quietly. He kissed my head. "It'll be okay. We're gonna be okay, Emmy. I'll look after you," he whispered. I nodded against his chest, knowing I shouldn't really bother attempting to form a sentence humans could understand in my state. "It's alright," he continued. "We'll keep an eye on you." Danny and Scorp make the nightmares go away. They protect me and keep me safe. But there has to be nightmares for them to chase away. And unfortuanately, I wasn't done when I woke up. I wasn't done when I passed out. You see, when it's 'one of those days', it lasts for the whole day, and you don't know when nightmares will creep up on you, and you don't know what'll trigger them. But if you should flashback to your old life, and you should do it during lessons, it's likely that you'll wake up in the hospital wing. And you won't sleep again for a while. I know this all too well. And yet I still hadn't learnt my lesson, according to what happened later that day... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: How did you like it? This is sort of a To Be Continued DUN DUN DUN kinda thing, so I hope that you want to know what happens next and you'll read it =) People who I need to thank for their awesomesauceness: Galaxy567 reviewed the last chapter, which seriously made my day, so thank you so much! I don't know if I already thanked Bethan and Potterfan310 (you are superduper awesomesauce for leaving MORE THAN ONE review by the way! ^_^) for their reviews on the seventh chapter, which was YAYNESS, so thank you guys! Lunaginny added my story to their favourites so THANK YOU SO MUCH! Um, B.Oreo.B (Bob from the last A/N) for evaluating this chapter before I posted it Krissy Bear for actually being interested. Seriously though, I'll kill you if you ever even think about putting my stuff in dirty puddles again, because that was DEEP. I LOVE YOU ALL xx Kay, I'm done rambling now. Harry Potter = JK Rowling and Innocent = Taylor Swift. All four are completely awesome and not mine. xx Chapter Ten A/N: Nothing belongs to me. Enjoy =) -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Love, what's wrong?" Louis asked desperately. "Did someone do something to her?" he demanded of Dom. "Because I will kill them." I'd tried not to let the nightmares and the flashbacks get to me. It seems I failed miserably. We had free period second, and Danny went to the bathroom. Louis and Dom went to the kitchens and came back to find me hugging my knees to my chest and crying my eyes out in an arm chair in a cozy corner of the Gryffindor Common Room. I just kept thinking back to my nightmares, and I got so wound up and scared and upset so quickly that it came as a shock to even me. The Common Room had been empty apart from me, but I didn't want to talk to anyone who might come in so I went to sit in a faded red armchair snuggled in the far corner of the room behind a book case. There was a sofa opposite of it, and another armchair that had it's back against the bookcase so it faced forwards. We tended to come here if we didn't want to be with anyone else. Louis had practically jumped on me when he found me crying. He was livid at basically anything he could see that wasn't me as if it had made me cry. "How should I know?" Dom asked defensively. "I was with you, dumbshit." "Well is there anyone out there?" he asked. She poked her head out from behind the bookcase. "Just Henry Thornton." "Did he upset you, Emma?" I shook my head rapidly. "I bet Dan knows what's going on. He's probably lost somewhere. I'll go get him-" "NO!" Louis shouted. "She'll be fine. We can't leave her!" "I'll stay with her then. Or you can since you'll probably end up flushing his head down a toilet or- wait a minute! Emma, is it Dan? Is it something about Dan that's upset you?" My eyes grew wide. "N-n-no! He d-d-did-d-dn't do anyth-th-thing!" I tried to get out but my voice was so small I wasn't heard as the cogs in Louis's very small brain turned and he decided that because Danny was his enemy, it must have been his fault, regardless of whether Dan's my best friend or not. He stood up quickly. "I'll sort the fuckin tosser out-" Just at that moment, Danny came around the corner. He stopped in his tracks as he took us in - me crying, Louis fuming and Dom worrying. "What the fuck happened?" "What did you do?" Louis demanded, marching towards Danny. "What did I do? I only just got back! Get out of my way! Emma, what happened?" "Well we came back to find her crying!" Louis cried accusingly. "Came back?" Danny repeated in a low voice. "Where did you go? Where did you go when I specifically said don't leave her alone?!" Danny's voice had slowly raised to a shout. "She passed out this morning! What if that happened again and no one was there to make sure she was okay?! Now get out of my way." Louis did, stunned at the realisation of his mistake. Dan scooped me up into a bear hug. "We don't have to stay here. We can go back to your dorm - just me and you. Or you and Scorp. You know he'll come out of lessons for you-" "Is she sick? Is that why she passed out? But she'd heal herself... Unless it's something serious! Merlin, tell us what's wrong, Emma! You're not dying are you?" I let out a watery chuckle at Dom's frantic question. "No," I sighed lifting my head. "I'm not sick and I'm not dying. I'm just having a bad day." "A bad day is messy hair, missing breakfast and spilling ink on your potions essay. Not passing out before first lesson and crying in your free period," Dom said, frowning. "This has happened before, remember?" "You mean when you blacked out and had to go to the hospital wing?" Louis asked, panicking. "Well I was thinking of more toned down times. Like when I fainted near the lake last year, remember?" "I thought that was because of heat." Dammit. I could've gotten away with that. "...Yes. It was. I'm just saying that... sometimes... I faint! And, you know, cry and stuff..." I trailed off unsurely. Dom opened her mouth, but the bell rang at the same time. "You sure you wanna do this?" Dan murmered. "Yeah. I'll be fine." Of course, I was wrong. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I could feel the panic building up inside me. Every time I blinked I saw little snippets of things. Dad. Mum. Scorp. Blood. Tears. I heard little snippets of things. Shouting. Screaming. Swearing. Crying. Begging. Banging. I was about to tell Proffessor McGonagall that I had to leave when she adressed me. "-You're Father was very good at this spell, Miss Malfoy, though he wasn't the best in the class. But he had this spell mastered." She turned away from where I sat near the back, oblivious to my panicked face. I gasped as visions of my Father completely overtook my sight. I tried to stand, to make an exit from the class, but it was as if my legs were made of jelly. They shook violently and I collapsed to the floor. I heard the crash and felt a pain through my hip as I banged into the table and then another as I fell on my other hip, my equipment falling with me and breaking around me, apart from the books, which hit the side of my face. I winced, but was too disorientated to cry out. I heard gasps and shouts. I heard people calling my name. Danny's voice was the closest and I saw a blurred figure that I assumed to be him very close to my face. I felt someone or something shaking me slightly, but I couldn't focus any longer and I slipped into the blackness that would become a nightmare... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's too dark. I like the dark. I really do. I've seen black outs in the city. I was in Danny's house for one. I think they're magical (ironically, since if it blacked out here the lights would be on with a flick of Mum's wand). But this is wrong. It's eery. Something bad is going to happen. We don't really use electricity much. We have candles and lanterns. If they went out someone would've put them back on by now. I don't understand. I hear footsteps on the landing outside my room and my breath catches in my throat. I really hope it's not Dad. Whoever it is is running. In a panicked moment, I decide to hide and jump under my bed, moving some boxes in front of me as quietly as I can. My door creaks open, and I hear two soft steps. With another creak, the door has closed. I hold my breath. "Emerald?" I hear someone whisper and I sigh in relief. It's Scorpious. I move the boxes out of the way and he bends down in front of me, an expression of confusion turning into a small smile. I can barely see him in the almost blackness. It must be around midnight, and there's no light from the window whatsoever. There are thick, grey clouds covering whatever dim light the moon could provide. The stars that are peeking out between the clouds seem tiny, a million miles further away than the ones that could light up the sky a little. "What're you doing?" he asks. "What's going on?" I ask, crawling out and completely ignoring his question. He frowns, looking worried. "I don't know. Mum should've put the lights back on by now. I wanted to make sure you're okay." "Do you think Dad did it?" I whisper, scared to even utter the words in case my father apparated into my room and attacked me or something. "I dunno," he says, shrugging. "Why hasn't there been any noise yet?" I stop thinking about how it's too dark for a minute and focus on something else entirely - something I can't believe I missed. I hold my breath once again, listening. The only sound in the house is of the quiet thrumming of my heart beat in my ears. Dead. Silence. "This isn't right," I whisper, shaking my head. "Something's wrong. He never does this. I- He- Scorp, what happened?" I ask slightly frantically, my voice still no more than a whisper. "Maybe..." he mutters, looking for an explenation to calm himself as much as me, I guess. "Maybe Mum's already managed to calm Dad down and she doesn't want to disturb him. We should give it some time." "I don't wanna just stay here, Scorp. It doesn't feel safe," I say shakily. "I know," he says, letting fear bleed into his voice, because him pretending to be made out of iron will do nothing to help his nerves or mine. But he hugs me and we sit on my bed together, still embracing tightly. "Just give it... ten minutes. Ten minutes and I'll go and look-" "We'll go and look," I correct him firmly. "Emerald, it might not be safe-" "So you would go and get hurt? What good would that do for anyone?" I cry. "You can't get hurt, Emma. You can't get hurt again. The other week, you- you could've died and I-" his voice caught in his throat and tears quickly swam into his eyes. He blinked and they fell onto my hands, that he was holding as he looked down. "And what if that happened to you?" I say quietly, my voice low and shaking with tears I try not to shed. "It's happened before, Scorpious. If I lost you, I would lose my life, okay? I would die. Because I can't live without you. So you're not going anywhere without me. You're not going to leave me. You promised me. You promised me you wouldn't." He looks up and into my eyes, doing that special Scorpious thing where he can read me. Read what I think. Read what I feel. Finally he nods. "I keep my promises. And you're right. I did promise that I'll never leave you. And I won't." "Me either. Promise," I say in a voice as small as a child's. He smiles slightly and presses a kiss onto my head. "Shall we go then?" "One condition." "What's that?" he asks. "Don't let go of my hand." "I won't. I promise." With that we leave my room together. We are on our tiptoes, going slowly so as to be as quiet as possible. We reach the ground floor, and, squeezing my hand for confidence, Scorp braves a whisper. "Mother?" We listen for any sort of response, but there isn't one. I signal for us to move through the house and we do this just as quietly as before. We get to the lounge just before the dining room and stop suddenly. There are voices in the dining room. We move if possible slower and quieter than before until our ears are pressed against the door. "Draco, you're not thinking straight! It's me! It's me, Draco! Astoria! No one else!" "SILENCE!" he shouts and I jump. "You have corrupted my life, Bellatrix. You've ruined it! You, and my parents and the Dark Lord, and I am not afraid anymore. I am not afraid of you or Voldermort. I am not afraid of pain. I am not afraid of death. Because pain is all there is. And why fear death if what you're living is barely a life? And yet, you fear death, do you not, Bella? You fear it, though you are a sick being, and do not deserve life. Can a life devoted to pain and suffering and torture and prejudice be called a life at all? Can someone who devotes themselves to what you have done be called a human? You're not, after all. You're a meer monstrosity. The way you go around spitting on what you call filth - THAT IS NOT WHAT I CALL FILTH!" he roared suddenly. "THAT IS WHAT I CALL LIFE! AND YOU ARE THE FILTH!" "DRACO, IT'S ME! BELLATRIX LESTRANGE IS DEAD. I AM ASTORIA MALFOY. YOU'RE WIFE! I'M YOUR WIFE, DRACO!" "SILENCE!" There is a loud noise, like a slap to the face, and mother lets out a scream. Suddenly, her voice sounds more terrified than ever. "Draco please," she says quietly, her words stumbling into each other in her frightened state. "Please. I'm your wife. Astoria Malfoy, I love you and you love me. The children - Draco, we have two children, Scorpious and Emerald. You named them. Do you remember? They love you, too, Draco. We all love you here. We're not going to hurt you," she sounds as if she's pleading with him. "Astoria," he says quietly. "Yes, Draco! Yes, it's me!" "Astoria, you knew this was going to happen. You knew," he whispers softly. "I have to die, Astoria." An icy feeling spreads through me. His voice is so disturbed. What he is saying is disturbed too. And I don't understand. My knees go weak so I sit down quietly, hoping not to fall. Scorpious does the same thing. "Yes," she eventually, sounding reproachful, and I hold back a gasp. "But you got better, Draco-" "But you knew I would kill myself. You knew it would happen one day." "We have a happy life, Draco." "It's not safe, Astoria! IT'S NOT SAFE, GODDAMMIT! THERE ARE CHILDREN IN THIS HOUSE! THE BOY - THE FRIEND OF SCORPIOUS, HE'S HARRY POTTER'S SON! HIS AUNT WAS TORTURED IN THIS HOUSE! DOES HE KNOW?!" "YES! HE KNOWS! I HAVE SPOKEN WITH HARRY POTTER! NO ONE CARES, DRACO! NO ONE HAS FORGOTTEN THE WAR, BUT WE HAVE ALL FORGOTTEN THE HATE! WHAT GOOD IS IT TO MOPE IN THE TRAGEDIES AND SORROW OF A WAR THAT IS IN THE PAST?!" "I tried to kill Albus Potter's father, and uncle, and aunt. I watched my aunt torture Hermione Granger. I attempted to kill the man the boy is named after! I am sick, and I always will be." "We're talking, Darling," Mother says in a low voice. "We are talking as husband and wife right now! You're better!" "I'm leaving, Astoria. I know what I did. I saw it last night. I know what I did to Emerald." "You can't leave Draco. It's not safe. I need to watch you. You need to be protected from yourself!" "You can not care for me in a house with children, Astoria. I'm leaving." "Draco, you don't understand. If you go, the children, they'll die." My heart stops pumping in my chest. It was as if someone had grabbed my throat but I felt no pain. As if I were being suffocated by nothing at all. "You know that I'm not strong enough to stay sane, Draco. Not without you. I go back too. I go back to the past when I hurt people and when I did the most sickening, evil things. And there are times when I must walk away from the children to stop myself from hurting them and remind myself that the past is the past and I could do none of it if it weren't for you." "Exactly. You live off my insanity. You mustn't do that anymore." "You can't leave me, Draco!" "I hurt you, Astoria." "I can't live without you." "I can't live. I'm sorry, Astoria. I love you, but this is goodbye." There is silence. My heart beat hammers in my ears. Suddenly, it sounds like there is a sturggle. Father yelps as does Mother, and she begins to shriek. "NO, DRACO! I WON'T STAND HERE AND LET YOU! I'LL SHOOT MYSELF! I'LL SHOOT MYSELF TOO!" "There's only one bullet," he says softly. There is an almighty bang and my hands fly to my ears. Mother screams and on instinct we run into the room to see her on the floor. There is blood seeping through her top. She's been shot in the stomach. Father is staring down at her in horror. We run to her just as he disapparates. What happened? Did he shoot her? Did she shoot herself? Will she live? "Mother, tell us the spell! I'm sure we can do it!" Scorpious begs. "No," she says weakly. "I'm sorry, children. I didn't want it to come to this. But this is what it is. If you're father comes back, stay away from him until he leaves again. Then you should be safe. You'll have to take care of one another from now on." "No, Mother," I cry, tears falling down my face. "We can heal you!" "You mustn't! You might have a chance at a life from now on! Your father and I weren't stable enough. You can live now, and not fear coming home. It's safer with the both of us dead." "Mother-" "You don't need me or your father. We could've killed you so many times. Now you'll be safer and everything will be less complicated. You two have always been inseperable and I know you always will be, and that's all you need. Each other." She touches her wound and lets out a cry of pain before her eyes flicker shut. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With that, my eyes flew open and immediately I saw Scorpious's worried face. The ceiling above him was white. We were in the hospital wing. This is why I don't like passing out in class. People totally spas. If I fainted in the Common Room someone'd just take me to my dorm. "Oh, thank Merlin," sighed Scorpious, though his voice still sounded panicked. "Emma? Emma, darling, can you hear me?" I sat up slowly but was pushed back down gently. "Don't do that," he said softly, smiling sadly at me. "You might be a bit dizzy. What happened, Em?" I sighed. "I don't know. I- I got dizzy, and I tried t- to walk out and then-" He reached over and wiped something wet off my face, and I realised I was crying. I looked down at my arm, where the charm had worn off, and a long scar was visible all the way down my upper arm. I looked away, almost sickened and up at Scorpious. "Why did she die?" I asked him quietly, though I knew he didn't know the answer. He sat on my bed and pulled me into his arms, cradling me in his lap. I curled up to his chest. "Because if she didn't that could've happened again," he said, stroking the scar, and looking away quickly, a violent flash in his eyes. In all honesty, I was better off with Scorpious, and I loved him more than my parents. More than anyone. But when my parents went away, the memories didn't. They'll never go away. Like scars. And all scars, physical and mental, stay forever. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: NOTHING BELONGS TO ME! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and added Secrets Can't Be Secrets Forever to their favourites. It means a LOT. I am going to write a chapter to explain how Emerald got her scar, but that may not be for a while. There's a lot more to come in this story, so please stay interested! Please review to let me know what you think and add to your favourites, or y'know, don't, if you don't like it... ANYWAY thanks for reading! xx Chapter Eleven A/N: Hey guys! I’ve missed you! BRACE YOURSELF FOR A LONG AND FAIRLY FLUFFY CHAPTER AND THEN THE WORLD’S MOST RAMBLY AUTHOR’S NOTE AT THE END. NOTHING belongs to me. Hope you enjoy this. Please leave a review! -------------------------------- “Scorpius, I’m serious. Stop it.” “Bu-” “No,” I cut him off, turning to face him with a stern expression. “Stop it. You are having this party,” I commanded. “Emma I don’t want a party,” he insisted. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the book shelf. “Well that’s just tough then, isn’t it? Because everyone else in the school wants you to have this party, and I know that you do. So you’re having it. Now would you stop stalking me?” I begged, glancing over my shoulder at him. He gasped, clutching his chest, a look of horrified offense on his face. “Stalking?! This is the verbal abuse I receive for wanting to spend quality time with my sister?” “Yes,” I replied simply. I spotted the spine of the book I needed on the top shelf. I huffed and stretched onto my tiptoes, trying to reach it and failing miserably. Life is hard. Scorpius easily extended his arm over my head and pulled down the book, handing it to me. He smirked down at me. “Go away,” I whined, pouting. He laughed and passed me the book. His face turned serious and I sighed, knowing I couldn’t put this off any longer. “Scorpius, I swear, I’m fine. It’s your eighteenth birthday! For Merlin’s sake, celebrate it!” “Emerald,” he said seriously, authority taking over. “You had to sleep in the hospital wing and you screamed until I woke you in the middle of the night. Dom and Louis are constantly asking questions and if I get completely wasted who knows what’s gonna slip out?” “You’ve never let anything slip before,” I pointed out. “They’ve never asked so many questions before! I mean, we’ve not been back for very long and you’ve already collapsed. I feel like… like there’s something wrong. Like something bad is going on.” I wanted to argue, and tell him he was being stupid, but if I was being honest, I agreed. Something wasn’t right. I’d never struggled so much at the beginning of a year, and neither had Scorp. But it would do no good to dwell on any of this. It was Scorp’s last year, and I would ensure he got drunk and had fun whenever the opportunity presented itself. Like his birthday for example. I wasn’t going to let him waste it worrying about my… ‘little episode’. “Scorp. We’re at Hogwarts. We’re okay. I’m fine, you’re fine. It’s your birthday tomorrow. Be happy, okay? Smile. Laugh. Drink. Etcetera.” “Emma you can’t pretend like this isn’t important,” he told me. “Scorp, I know I upset you, but-” “No, Emma. It’s my job to look after you and keep you safe.” “I don’t need to be looked after Scorp, I’m turning seventeen this year. And I’m twice as responsible as you. No offence.” “You are my sister. When you are twenty you will be my sister. When you are thirty you will be my sister. When you are forty you will be my sister. You will always be my little sister, and it will always be my job to protect you.” “You can’t protect me from the past, Scorp,” I told him softly. He looked so devastated, and I hated it. So I smiled. “Hey. I’m fine now anyway.” “You’re never fine.” “Then I guess I might as well always be fine,” I argued with a playful smile. The hint of a smile snuck onto his face. “Make sure you buy plenty of alcohol. Should be entertaining.” “The big brother who calls himself protective and then supplies his baby sister with alcohol. That guy must be a bit of a twat.” “He’s the best big brother anyone could ever ask for I countered fiercely. He looked down on me with a soft smile, before taking the books out of my hands and placing them on the edge of the closest shelf. He pulled me into his arms and rested his head on mine. “Happy birthday Scorp,” I murmured. “And… thank you, for everything.” “I love you.” “I love you too.” -------- It was six o’clock, and I’d positioned myself outside the bathroom door, my wand raised in front of me. Dom got in the bath at 4 o’clock. Something was seriously wrong. I tried to mentally prepare myself for whatever was on the other side of the door. In case she could hear me, I announced, “Dom, I’m coming in.” And that was when she shoved the door open, right in my face. I cried out and stumbled backwards. Oblivious to the fact that she had just assaulted me, she started to rant. “Excuse me, Emma, for wanting to look beautiful for your brother’s birthday party. It’s not my fault if I want to look good, and that takes effort.” “You always look beautiful, Dom,” I sighed, shaking off my (VERY SERIOUS) face injury and wondering back to my bed, fixing a poster on the wall behind it before turning and sitting cross legged facing Dom. She pranced through the room gracefully. She seemed to… almost… glow. Even with a towel wrapped around her head and another around her body, she looked beautiful. “Merlin, Dom, if I were a guy I would be involuntarily displaying how pretty I think you are,” Poppy announced. Lisa came in behind her, laughing. “Calm yourself. It’s just a towel. Wait ‘till you see her dress.” “Ugh, dresses! Do we have to wear dresses?!” Poppy cried, disgusted. “It is a cross we all must bear,” I replied solemnly. Poppy’s dark brown eyes widened with fear. “No.” She shook her head frantically. “No I refuse.” “Oh come on!” Lisa teased. “Don’t you want to look pretty?” “Don’t you already know the answer to that?” I interjected. Lisa rolled her eyes and fell onto my bed before me. “Oh,” I said. “Hello.” She grinned up at me angelically. “I don’t need to wear a dress. Jeans and an… unmanly top? Please?” Poppy begged. “I fully support this,” I voted. “Absolutely not!” Dom argued. “I say we tie her to a chair and force her into a pink dress, cake on the makeup and shove on six inch heels.” Poppy looked mortified. “It’s down to you, Lisa.” Lisa thought for a little while. “Oh what the hell. Let her have the night. Just make sure the top is very unmanly!” she commanded. “Oh thank you!” Poppy gushed dramatically. “NO!” Dom shrieked. She grabbed a pink dress and proceeded to chase Poppy around the dorm before Poppy broke out onto the staircase. Dom was quick on her heels. It took all of thirty-one seconds for Dom to realise she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Instead of retreating to the dorm, she decided the best solution would be to pin Poppy to the ground and strip her as surrounding twelve year old boys entered paradise. Lisa and I looked at each other and with silent agreement, we backed into the dorm and locked the door. ----- I sighed and shook my head as another dance song started, blasting loudly in my ears. I sipped my butterbeer and chuckled as I watched boys follow Dom, who was dancing around in a tiny pink dress, happy and carefree. The boys were oblivious to Al following them with a baseball bat in his hands. Merlin knows where he got that from. Louis was dancing with Amelia Fall. Their first date had been earlier today and by the looks of it, everything had gone really well. Scorpius was lost in the crowd of excitable, drunk teenagers dancing and having a good time. And I? I was sat in my hidden faded red corner chair, drinking butterbeer and listening to Danny ramble. Drunk Danny, that is. Even better. “-And I just think… I mean, I LOVE dancing! But what if?! What if I told Martin I had a sex dream about him?” he slurred, looking up at me with wide eyes. “Then everyone would know I like men,” he whispered. “You had a sex dream about Martin?” I asked, amused. He nodded his head eagerly. “But shh! Don’t tell anyone. Not even Emma.” “Not even Emma?” I repeated sadly. He hesitated. “Well okay, you can tell Emma.” “Good,” I nodded. “I’ll be sure to.” “I don’t like alcohol,” Danny sighed sadly. “I know darling,” I comforted him, stroking his hair and kissing his head as he snuggled into me. He turned over and put his head in my lap so he was facing me. “It makes me say silly things and my head will hurt yesterday morning and everything.” “Tomorrow,” I interjected. “That’s what I said. And then you have to take care of me too!” “Well that’s okay by me. I mean, you look after me when I get drunk, don’t you?” “Only if I’m not drunk too. And you hardly ever get drunk. And when you do I only look after you until I give you to Scorpius,” he confessed, before bursting into tears. “I’m such a bad friend,” he sobbed. “I’m so, so sorry, Emma.” He sat up and covered his face with his hands, hunching over. “Hey, hey,” I argued softly. “Don’t ever call yourself a bad friend. You’ve been my best friend since I was tiny. Remember when we used to meet in the park and see who could swing the highest and you always won because you have the longest legs? And then you’d get off the swing and you’d push me and make me fly into the air. And when I started to like different music and different clothes you didn’t get creeped out even though your friends at school were scared of me? And you always kept my secrets and whenever I had to come to you without Scorp you made me feel better. You’re my best friend for a reason Danny. I love you.” “I love you too,” he murmured, smiling up at me with teary brown eyes. “And now, because Scorpius is scared of killing his sister, and because most of you are too drunk to tell the difference, we’re gonna play the alternative take on dance music,” the DJ announced, and Good Charlotte began to blare from the stereo. I laughed and shook my head. Dan smiled contently and put his head back in my lap, closing his eyes and beginning to snore softly. I rolled my eyes and shifted him onto his side with my wand. I absently stroked his hair and listened to the music. I looked up as I heard someone sneaking into our corner. It was Al. “Hey,” I smiled. “How drunk are you right now?” “Well, I know who you are, and there’s only one of you, and I’m upright, so not very. Or maybe I’m just used to being worse,” he observed, sitting down in the armchair opposite me and Danny. “Looks that way. How come you stopped dancing? Did I ruin your fun with good music?” “The opposite actually. I haven’t heard this song in years. I didn’t know you were into this kind of stuff.” “Are you into this kind of stuff?” I asked, surprised. “I love this kind of music,” he replied enthusiastically, his beautiful emerald eyes sparkling. “Anything from alternative to metal.” “Really?” I couldn’t believe it. Music was the most important thing in the world to me behind the people I loved, and I had it in common with the boy I was in love with. And I wasn’t used to having music in common with… well anyone. I felt really happy all of a sudden. I beamed at him. “Absolutely. Oh God, I love this song,” he gasped. “I’m gonna go get so drunk that I can’t tell if I’m still dancing or not. But me and you, Emerald Malfoy, will definitely be talking about music very, very soon,” he promised. I laughed. “Of course. Don’t vomit on anyone pretty.” “They’ll get over it.” He flashed me a winning grin and left me with my own grin that I just couldn’t pull off my face. ---------- “So get out, get out, get out of my head, and fall into my arms instead...” Oh. My. God. I froze in the doorway, mouth wide open with shock, eyes larger than saucers. It’s truly a beautiful day when you walk in on your sixteen year old male close friend singing songs by One Direction and dancing to their CD in his dorm room. Thank you, Merlin. Thank you oh so very much. Louis caught sight of me in the doorway and a pink blush threatened to spread across his pretty face, but he shook it off and replaced it with a confident grin. “Dance with me Emma!” he demanded. I laughed as he twirled me around, still singing, before prancing back towards the CD player happily, singing and dancing all the way. He knew every single word. “I need that one thing, you've got that one- OH!” I gasped and covered my mouth, my eyes travelling back in the direction the burst of light came from. Danny was holding the wand he used to shock Louis in one hand, sat with a disgruntled look on his face as he glared at him. “Too early. Quiet time.” He clutched his head and groaned. “For forever.” Louis stood up and looked over at Danny with anger burning in his eyes. Trying to avoid a shouting match, I closed the door and sat on the edge of Danny’s bed, looking up at Louis. “I’m sorry, but when did you get so into One Direction?” “You bought me the CD for my thirteenth birthday, remember?!” “Yeah… as a joke, Lou,” I replied steadily, feeling slightly frightened. “I didn’t think you actually listened to it.” “Well. The truth is... I'm... I'm a directioner." "I was afraid of this." “Yeah,” he sighed, his cheeks pink, but a childlike glimmer in his eyes and a bright smile on his face. “I was afraid to admit it before, but now… it doesn’t matter anymore, because these songs understand perfectly. They say it all.” “Understand what?” I asked, grinning. “My feelings! Emma, Amelia is… she’s just… incredible. She’s funny and smart and beautiful. She makes me laugh, she makes me smile, she makes me feel…” he trailed off, shaking his head with a dazed look on his face. “My little Louis is all grown up,” I sighed, wiping away fake tears. “Emma?” Danny groaned. “Will you make the ouching in my head go away?” “Of course love, but you have to get up and go clean up whilst I go get it, okay?” “Fine,” he grumbled, and begrudgingly rose from his bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Louis’s eyes followed him. He shook his head disapprovingly and turned back to me. “Why do you look after him like that?” “Because he’s my best friend. That’s what you do. You take care of Dom, right?” “That’s different. Dom’s my sister,” he stressed. “Louis. Let’s just not, okay?” I begged. “Let’s talk about your date. Clearly it went well?” His face lit up all over again. “Oh my God yes. She’s really funny, and she’s so nice. She’s really sweet. I mean, we don’t have that much in common but… I just… I really like her, and I think she likes me too.” I smiled gently. “Well that’s good enough, as long as you’re happy.” “I am,” he grinned. “I’m glad. But now I have to go get some anti-hangover potion for Danny and your sister. Did you see how wasted she was?” He winced. “We all saw how wasted she was, Emma. Way, way too many boys did.” I laughed. “Well. I’m going to go and take all the banging out of her head and churning out of her stomach so she’s set to do it all over again next weekend.” And with that I left the room and wandered back to my own dorm room. As soon as I closed the door behind me. “Emma – potion – please – now,” Poppy managed to get out, while Dom moaned into her pillow. I shook my head, amused and went into the bathroom, reaching up to the top shelf and grabbing three vials of potion. I handed one to both of the girls and left to leave one in Danny’s room, before heading down to the great hall. I took a seat on the end of the pretty empty Gryffindor table. No one normally woke up until well after noon, but the day after a party there was no chance. I waited patiently until a beautiful grey owl landed in front of me and dropped a letter. “Thank you,” I murmured politely, offering her a cracker (well I’m sorry if I don’t carry around dead mice, people) which she took hesitantly, but seemed to be satisfied with, before she flew off. I’d been writing letters to Alice once a week, every week. I did every year. It was really hard being away for so long. Last year Scorp and I were granted permission to go home at weekends towards the end of her pregnancy because Alice had no one else and she needed to be looked after, but this year it was back to normal, and I missed her a lot. I opened my letter. Dear Emma, Scorp told me about you collapsing. Is everything okay? What happened? Are you alright? He says you are but I just want to make sure. You know if you want to talk, I know it’s not the same as talking, but you can write about it and I’ll reply as soon as I possibly can. Did Scorp have a good birthday? Did you get drunk? What did he get up to whilst he was undoubtedly intoxicated? I miss you a lot. But hey! I made a friend! Well… that is, I got speaking to my friend Louise. I haven’t seen her for a year, but me and Maisy are going to see her tomorrow. It’ll be good to speak to someone who isn’t five months old (apart from Linda, obviously). Maisy’s growing so quickly, I wish you were here to see her. I even miss Scorp. Write me back really soon, Emma. I want to make sure you’re definitely alright. I love you, Alice x I sighed. Of course Scorp would tell Alice. Let’s just get more people to worry! Can’t understand why people think my brother is intelligent. I folded the letter and put it in my pocket, before getting up and wandering off to the lake. It was almost Christmas, and it was freezing outside, but with a few long-lasting heating spells, I was good. Besides, no one else was outside and the icy lake looked really pretty. I spent the next couple of hours listening to music on my wizpod (that’s right muggles. We’re just that cool) and finishing homework. I wrote a letter assuring Alice that I was perfectly fine and talking about how much I missed her. I’d just finished my last essay when someone sat down next to me. I recognised the mop of messy black hair and then the bright emerald eyes. My heart fluttered pleasantly in my chest. “Hey,” he smiled. “What are you listening to?” I delighted smile spread all over my face. “Here,” I offered, passing him an earphone. “No way! How did you let me go so long without listening to your music?!” “I don’t think we’ve ever talked about music. I mean people don’t normally share my taste. I’m sure a lot of people do, I’m just not close with them.” “Well there’s me,” he responded with a friendly smile. I met his with one I could only hope wasn’t too shy. “So I take it you like Green Day.” “Green Day are quite possibly my favourite band of all time.” “Serious devotion,” I commented. “Absolutely. But there are a lot to choose from.” “For example?” “Well, to start with… Iron Maiden.” “And Slipknot?” He grinned. “Foo Fighters.” “Nirvana.” “Black Veil Brides.” “The Pretty Reckless.” “Bullet For My Valentine.” “A Day To Remember.” “By God I could kiss you Miss Malfoy,” Al exclaimed, laughing a beautiful, happy, free laugh. And despite the fact that I was hiding how my heart lifted, I laughed with him, because I could. “I would really appreciate it if you didn’t,” a strangled voice begged. We looked up to see Scorp, Danny, Dom and the source of the squeaky pleading, Louis as they joined us on the frosty grass. “Don’t be silly, Louis. Albus doesn’t want me to punch him in the face,” Scorp declared cheerfully. I rolled my eyes. “Can I just ask why we’re outside in the middle of winter? I mean yeah, heating spells, but… why?” Danny pondered. “Isn’t it obvious, Daniel?” Dom replied brightly. “We’re friends with Emma, and she’s a freak!” “HEY!” “COMPLIMENT!” “STILL!” And Dom and I proceeded to begin what was the greatest tickling battle of all time. …Until we were both snatched into the air right before we could fall into the icy black lake and die. At this point we were sternly sent inside and marched to the common room where we were told from now on we weren’t allowed to use heating spells and would have to treat winter like winter so we didn’t forget and somehow die in one of the colourful ways winter provides. But an overall good weekend set me up for a positive week to follow. Then again, you know, lessons. And also, there are times when life just decides: ‘Hey! You suck!’ and proceeds to punish you in the cruellest ways. On this particular Monday, just two weeks before we got to go home for Christmas, it happened like this: Professor McGonagall was rambling on about teapots and ketchup at the front of the room. I didn’t know whether this was relevant to the lesson, or whether it was just one of those things people who are simply too old to be alive like to talk about. I wasn’t listening. I was drawing whiskers on Danny’s face in permanent marker which he had to accept as he’d written ‘I <3 JB’ on my hand. Too far. Just too far. All in all, it was a pretty typical Transfiguration lesson. And that was then the classroom door burst open, and every half conscious teenager’s heads slowly swivelled to face the back of the room, where, with a sudden jolt, I recognised my brother to be standing. His blonde hair was messier than usual, a panic in his eyes. “Sorry Professor, I need Emerald, the head sent me,” he announced urgently. “Very well,” McGonagall “Scorp?” I said carefully. “What is it?” He met my eyes with regret and fear. “It’s Alice.” ----------------- A/N: I’m so sorry I’ve been gone for so long! And I’m sorry for how long this chapter is (I’m not sure if you think that’s a good thing or not) but it was two separate chapters but I wasn’t happy with the first part and I’m not sure if I’m happy with the second part either… but I really do hope you enjoyed it anyway and please let me know what you think! Guys, the reviews have been absolutely amazing, thank you so much to all of you, and I lost where I’m up to, so I’m sorry if I’ve mentioned you before, but I’m just gonna list you all. Thank you ScorpiousRose17, Voldy_Needs_a_Hug, potterfan310, Bethan, Galaxy567, TeddyLupinPotter, Ginger_Lust, BBWotter, Charlene and Megnog_yells_SURPRISE!! for all of your reviews; they all put a smile on my face and really made my day. And thank you so much to everyone who added this story to their favourites, it’s really encouraging, so thank you bananasareamazing, BBWotter, Bobmarley, Faerynn, fluffers202, Harry_and_Ginny, ibelieveinmagic, ines0803, jamessirius, lunaginny, ms4asia, potterfan310, ScorpiusRose17, Skyler315 and Voldys_Moldy. You guys are the best people ever ^_^ Also, if you’re ever feeling depressed/prepared to be depressed, will you please take a look at my other story Stay Warm and tell me how to improve? I know it’s not very good, but I’d love to know how to make it better! I need the constructive criticism guys! It’s super-duper UPER helpful when you review and teach me how to be smart. I LOVE YOU ALL <3 Chapter Twelve A/N: Nothing is mine :) I froze. Oh God. “What do you mean ‘it’s Alice’?” I asked fearfully. “Come on, Professor Longbottom wants to see you, he’ll explain whatever I can’t,” Scorpius replied. I nodded, hastily shoved my textbook into my bag and left without a backwards glance. I could feel ice spreading down my spine, through my blood, reaching every part of my body. “Scorpius, tell me what happened,” I commanded as we began to march quickly through the school, our shoes slapping loudly against the stone ground in the otherwise empty corridors. “Is she okay?” “I got a call in the middle of class from a nurse at a muggle hospital near home. Alice was in a car crash. She’s alive, but she took got roughed up a bit. They think she’ll be okay, but she broke her leg and took a bang to the head.” “But she’ll be okay?” “It’s looking okay right now but they’re not 100% sure. I think Longbottom’s gonna let us see her but this might be a tricky circumstance to dance around if he wants to speak with our parents or something. Or hers.” “What the hell are we going to do then?!” I cried. “Emerald, we’re Malfoys. We’re going to lie like fuck, and do it well,” he reassured me confidently, stopping for a brief moment to fix me with a determined stare. I nodded unsurely, biting my lip. We were just approaching the old stone gargoyle when I suddenly lurched to a stop, feeling so sick I thought I might vomit. “Emma? What is it?” Scorp asked worriedly, stopping and turning to face me. He rested his hands on my shoulders and crouched slightly to see me better. “What is it?” “Scorp. What about Maisy?” I asked hoarsely. “She was in the car-” my heart stopped “-but she’s okay.” It came back to life in my chest, thudding madly. I felt some of the blood that had drained from my face come back. Not all of it. I still had Alice to worry about. But I was quite sure I wouldn’t collapse now at least. “She’s okay?” I repeated. He nodded. “They don’t know how or why, but she is. She’s perfectly fine.” “Oh thank Merlin,” I whispered, my eyes involuntarily squeezing shut as relief flooded through me. I shook my head, opened my eyes, and Scorp offered me a weak encouraging smile, before he turned to the gargoyle. “D.A” he said clearly, and the ugly gargoyle moved out of the way. We stepped onto the steps, which began to spiral upwards until we came to a stop outside the office door. It opened automatically. Professor Longbottom was waiting behind his desk, two chairs in front of him. He gestured for us to sit. “Right. I’ve talked to the hospital. They said Miss Tyler is going to be okay, but she’s a bit shaken up. She’s asking if you can come and see her, which I’m perfectly okay with. But I need to talk to you about Miss Tyler’s daughter. There’s no one to look after her whilst Alice is injured, correct? That’s why you two had to visit home last year.” “Yes sir,” we replied. “Miss Tyler says you are her daughter’s godparents, therefore you have the responsibility of caring for her child should anything happen to Miss Tyler,” he added. “Yes sir,” we confirmed. “Well whilst Miss Tyler is injured, her baby will need to be cared for by someone. If that needs to be you two, that’s fine, I can grant you permission to leave school. But you’re going to need to study and keep up with homework as much as you possibly can, okay?” “Yes sir. Thank you,” I replied, relieved that Maisy wouldn’t be left alone. Professor Longbottom was the most understanding, wonderful headmaster I could imagine. And he didn’t have to be nice to us at all. Our dad was a bit of a prick to him. “I don’t mind if one of you stays and one of you leaves, or you switch roles, just make sure you’re keeping on top of your school work. You two have had a few setbacks and distractions through your school careers but you haven’t let me down yet. I hope you can keep this up.” “We won’t let you down Sir,” Scorp promised. He nodded with a warm smile. “Now, go pack whatever you’re going to need and then Filch will let you out of the grounds so you can apparate. Just make sure you don’t apparate anywhere the muggles will see you. Good luck guys, I hope everything goes well.” We thanked him once again and each shook his hand gratefully, before speedily departing from his office. “What do you want to do?” Scorpius asked as we walked. “I don’t mind Scorp. It’s kind of an important year for you, but… yeah, it doesn’t matter to me,” I reassured him. “Alright,” he nodded. “Well we don’t need an immediate decision. Let’s just think about Alice for now.” “Everything’s gonna be okay,” I told myself as well as Scorp. “It always is.” I took his hand, and he squeezed mine, because that’s how we face everything that comes our way. Hand in hand. Together. Always have, always will. We walked past my transfiguration classroom just as class was dismissed and pupils began to pour enthusiastically out of their classrooms. I came to a stop. “I need to tell them,” I explained. Scorp nodded in understanding. “I better go find Al actually. I’ll meet you outside the main entrance.” “I’ll be quick as I can,” I replied, and he ran off down the corridor. I turned and waited patiently for the guys to come out of the classroom, all looking urgent and confused. “Guys,” I called. They turned around and pounced on me with a group hug, Louis quickly retreating when he recognised that he was hugging Danny. “What’s going on?” Dom asked worriedly, her forehead creasing. “Is everything alright? Is Alice okay?” “She was in a car crash,” I informed them. “She’s in a muggle hospital. They think she’s going to be okay, but we need to go make sure, and then we need to take care of Maisy whilst she’s in hospital so I might not be back for a while. But with any look I’ll be back after the Christmas holidays.” “Really? You know, with muggle treatment, it might take a while for her to get better,” Louis pointed out. “Yes,” I smiled slightly. “But I have a plan. I’m going to find out who Maisy’s dad is. And if he’s as wonderful as Alice made him out to be, he’ll want to be a part of her life again.” Danny and Louis met me with uneasy, uncertain frowns, whilst Dom’s face lit up. “I’m not just gonna dump a kid on him. I’ll be there to help them both, but if they readjust to one another, then the nurse who visits Alice every week, Linda, will be able to teach this guy too. We hired her before Maisy was born and she isn’t going anywhere for at least another two months. This might be Alice’s chance at happiness, and Maisy’s chance at a father. I have to try. I’ll be gentle. I will,” I pleaded as if I needed their permission. Really I was just seeking approval for a confidence boost. Dom squealed and jumped at me, enveloping me in a hug before she bounced backwards, grinning at me excitedly. “Emma this is genius! Alice needs this. This is perfect!” That was all I needed to encourage my decision, and now I was satisfied. I quickly reminded myself that I needed Alice to be okay first, and I needed to worry until I knew she would be. “Thanks. I’ve gotta leave, but I don’t know how often I’ll be coming back, I haven’t worked it out with Scorp yet. I’ll be in the fireplace every night though, okay?” Danny pulled me into a tight hug. “I’m gonna miss you.” “I could be back in two days,” I chuckled. “Even then,” he replied solemnly, so I tightened my arms around him until we let go. I gave Louis a quick hug, and then pulled Dom into one. I stood on my tiptoes and reached up to her ear. “Please look after Danny,” I whispered. She pulled back, a serious look in her eyes and nodded. “Thanks,” I smiled. I waved, and ran back to my dorm to gather some stuff, before I headed out to the gates. Scorp was steadily edging away from Filch, who seemed to be muttering something about killing badgers. He looks relieved to see me. Filch opened the gates, growled at us a little, and then pushed us off the school grounds. Shaking off the encounter, Scorp took my hand and we disapparated, reappearing back home. Everything was just how we left it. It wasn’t as scary as it was before Alice moved in, when we came home to an empty, dusty house, or when our parents were still around and we came home to an ill mother and a confused father. It seemed like it could be a home. We dropped our bags and a taxi took is to the hospital, where we rushed into A&E. “Hey, I’m Emerald Malfoy, this is my brother Scorpius, we’re looking for our friend Alice Tyler?” I gushed at the front desk. She directed me to Alice’s room. I thanked her gratefully and we took off in the right direction. Alice was lying quite still. There were bandages around her wrist and head, a cast around her leg. Her face was cut slightly but clean. She looked up as we entered the room. “Scorp! Emma!” she cried, delighted. We crept up to her and in turn kissed her forehead. “What happened darling?” I asked gently. “I don’t know. We were driving to see Louise and then this car came out of nowhere and just… bang,” she replied, sounding like she was still trying to work it out herself. “Has the doctor given you any news yet?” “Not much news but a decent amount of morphine,” she replied happily. I giggled slightly. Scorpius chuckled before his face turned serious once again. “Alice, do you know where-” I grabbed his arm quickly as the ‘m’ formed on his lips and shook my head. I didn’t want her to panic. He nodded. “Your doctor is?” he finished instead. “That would be me,” a man announced, and we turned around to see a middle-aged man in a white coat holding a clipboard. His forehead was lined and his short, curly hair was dark brown. He wore glasses on the end of his nose. “Hi, I’m Doctor Marks, I’ll be in charge of treating Alice whilst she’s here. I’m guessing you’re Scorpius and Emerald?” “Scorpius Malfoy, this is my sister Emerald,” Scorpius replied, shaking the doctor’s hand. I offered him mine. “What can you tell us?” I asked him. “Well… we can’t be sure yet but everything looks good. Surprising as well because that was some crash. We can’t be sure yet because of the morphine Miss Tyler is on for the pain, but she doesn’t seem to have done any permanent damage. By the looks of things, she should be okay. She didn’t seem to damage her back and only very minor injuries to the neck. All in all we’re very satisfied with her condition as of right now, but we’ll keep running tests and checking things.” “That’s wonderful, thank you,” Scorpius replied gratefully. I lowered my voice slightly. “And what about her daughter?” I inquired. “The baby came out of the crash with no injuries. She’s truly a miracle. Miss Tyler must have had her in the seat incredibly secure. Even then… we don’t understand, but she’s completely fine,” he murmured in awe. “I understand that… Maisy will be left in your custody whilst Alice recovers? Come and collect her whenever you can. Hang on… how old are you?” I panicked, before a suddenly realisation struck me and I realised that we had just made the cut. “I’m eighteen,” Scorpius informed him, a victorious gleam in his eyes. “And you’ll be in charge of caring for the baby?” “Of course.” You can’t say Malfoys are good for nothing. “Very good. I’ll give you some time together.” He left. I looked at my brother. “Scorp, could you give me a minute to talk to Alice?” I requested. I’d explained my plan to Scorpius on the way here, and he approved. “I think I’ll go talk about taking Maisy with the doctors. We might be able to bring her home tonight.” He departed, and I sat down in a chair by Alice’s bed. “Hey,” she smiled at me. “Hey. Alice, can we talk about something?” “Of course,” she replied. “Well… look… we could’ve lost you today. And I can’t help but think… what if we did, and Maisy’s dad didn’t know about it? And what if we lost her too?” Her eyes filled with sorrow. “I saw him.” “What?” I gasped. “No, I didn’t meet him, I just… I thought I was going to die back there, and he just filled my mind. And I realised I love him so much. I miss him so much. I didn’t let myself think of him because I knew this would happen. But I couldn’t help it. And now I miss him so much. And I’ll put him out of my mind as much as I can like I did last time, but having that feeling back inside of me… it’s hard to shake it out.” “Then let me help you,” I begged her desperately. “Please. Let me try. I think I can do this, Alice. You just have to tell me who he is, and I’ll find him, and we can just talk. I can’t make any promises.” “No, that’s okay,” Alice realised, a look I only saw when Maisy was born burning in her eyes. A look that didn’t often appear, but when it did, it spread over her face, lighting it up. “It’s okay if I don’t see him. It’s okay if he doesn’t want me. I just want him to know about Maisy. I want him to know he has a daughter, and that she’s beautiful, and that she has his eyes.” Tears filled my eyes and I kissed her head. “I’m so proud of you,” I whispered, wiping my eyes. She smiled up at me confidently. “Will you find him? And tell him. And let him know… I love him.” “Of course. You just have to tell me who he is.” She took a breath. “You already know him. Maisy’s dad is James Potter.” A/N: So there we have it ^_^ I know some of you already saw that coming but… yeah! This chapter isn’t very well written and I’m sorry about that, but at least it answers some questions :) Thank you so much for the response to the last chapter, you are all so incredible, thank you so much! Thank you RoonilWazlib7, ines0803, BBWotter, Meggnog, potterfan310 and ms4aisa for the lovely reviews, they’re really encouraging :D And thank you to christobel, Lotus, Meggnog and RoonilWazlib7 for adding this story to your favourites, it means a lot :) I hope you enjoyed this, please review! xx Chapter Thirteen A/N: Nothing belongs to me. I hope you enjoy and please review! xx Dear James, Alice told me about your relationship. Something happened. I really need to talk to you about her. It’s severely important. Is there somewhere I could talk to you about this privately? There are some things I’d rather not write in a letter. I hope to hear from you very soon. Sincerely, Emerald Malfoy --- What happened? Is Alice okay? Did something happen to her? What’s going on? James Potter I could tell by the way he replied that he still had feelings for her. The note was scribbled carelessly. He was frantic. He still loved her. My heart lifted. There was a hope that I could bring these two back together, and bring Maisy a family. James, She’s going to be fine. But I have to talk to you, and I’m not going to do it through a letter. There’s something I have to tell you. Alice is okay though. Where would we be able to talk? Emerald --- Emerald, Meet me at Hogwarts on Friday. I’m sure Longbottom won’t have a problem with us speaking in his office. For what it’s worth, why can’t Alice write me if this is so important? James --- James, Alice was in an accident. She’s okay though. She’s going to be fine. I look forward to speaking with you in person. Good night, Emerald Malfoy I walked over to the crib and lifted Maisy. I began to dance carefully around the room, holding close and laughing. “Maisy, we might be able to get you your daddy back!” I told her happily, and even though she had no idea what I was saying, she seemed happy enough. “What’s going on here?” Scorp asked, bemused, from the door of Alice’s bedroom. “Me and Maisy are doing celebratory dancing,” I informed him casually. “And why is that?” he grinned. “James agreed to speak with me at Hogwarts on Friday. And look at this letter here. I’m pretty sure he’s still in love with her.” I pointed out the panicked letter. Scorp read it with a gentle smile. “Sure looks that way. But don’t say anything to Alice okay? Tell her that you’re going to speak to him but don’t get her hopes up. He could just be concerned as a friend or… have really messy handwriting or something.” “Don’t worry. I won’t get her excited. This will be between me, you and Maisy. Right, Maisy? Can you be sworn to secrecy?” I demanded. She made a small tired noise in response and I giggled. “Maybe you can contribute evil genius to my master plot to take over the world tomorrow,” I suggested, placing her gently in her crib. I kissed her head and rearranged her blanket. I gently stroked her nose. Her eyes began to flicker shut. I smiled softly. “Sweet dreams, Maisy.” I looked up and saw that Scorp was still in the room, watching me with an affectionate look on his face. Scorpius would be the best dad in the world one day. I just knew it. “I hope he loves her as much as we do,” I said. “I hope so too, Em. I really do.” This was going to be a challenge. I had thought about it a lot over the past week. And I still wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing. I asked Scorp, but he was just as unsure as me. You see, we had been thinking about introducing James to Maisy as soon as he found out about her. It’s hard not to fall in love with Maisy. We weren’t sure if we should just bring a picture or bring Maisy herself. But then Scorpius found out he had a test on Friday. And the options were to leave Maisy in the hospital or bring her. And leaving her in the hospital was hardly an option, because Alice couldn’t look after her, and I didn’t want to explain the whole ‘I have to go to a castle/boarding school in Scotland where they teach magic that you don’t know exists’ to a doctor because I’d probably end up in the psych ward. So I had to bring Maisy to school. I’d written to Longbottom and explained the situation, and he told me to bring Maisy during lesson time so there’d be no problems in corridors, and she could wait in a room in his office until I had told James about her. It all seemed very complicated and stupid. But hey, I’m a teenager. It’s my job to be complicated and stupid. I apparated with Maisy into Hogsmeade and walked up to the castle where Filch was waiting impatiently. When he lifted his hands ready to do a ‘security’ check, I shot him a demon glare and pointedly told him that I would hardly be carrying a baby if I was also carrying explosives, and that as of yet, no one has managed to disguise a bomb as such a convincing infant. He begrudgingly let me past without any touching, and I set off as fast as I could into the castle. I tried to avoid classrooms altogether, but whenever I had to pass them I was as quick as I could be, hoping no one would notice me. I never checked if they did. When I reached Professor Longbottom’s office, he introduced me to an attached room equipped for young children (he was the father of five children ranging from fourteen to two) and told me he would look after Maisy until I needed her. After he told me this, I had to ask. “Professor, why are you doing this for us? You let us visit Alice last year, you let us take time off this year, I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head in confusion. He turned to me and sighed. He stared directly into my eyes. “There is something in your eyes, and in Scorpius’s eyes, that no one saw in my eyes when I was growing up. It’s something that shows you’ve faced hardships. When I got to a certain age, everyone had that look in their eyes, because we were in the middle of a war. But we fought to try and stop that look from being in future teenagers eyes. But it’s in yours, and it’s in Scorpius’s. I don’t want to force you into giving up your privacy unless I have to, and the day may come when I do have to. But maybe I won’t, because maybe one day you’ll trust me enough to let me help you. Even if you don’t, I’d rather not make whatever is hard for you any harder than it needs to be. That shouldn’t be what a teacher does.” I didn’t know what to say. People just didn’t have this attitude. Especially not teachers. Especially not to Malfoys. I’d never been treated with so much undeserved patience and consideration. “Thank you,” was all I could manage. He smiled gently. “I think I best be disappearing into the next room with Maisy here. Mr Potter has arrived.” On cue, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” Longbottom called. I looked to the door to see James enter, and looked back to see Longbottom and Maisy weren’t here anymore. “Emerald,” James greeted pleasantly. “It’s nice to see you again.” I shook his hand and gestured for him to sit. “Now what’s going on? What happened to Alice?” I took a deep breath. “Alice kept your relationship a close-guarded secret with no exceptions up until Monday. We were contacted by a hospital back home and told Alice was in a car accident.” I couldn’t help but pause for just a second here to take in the way James eyes widened and filled with fear. They were Maisy’s eyes. “We got to the hospital and they told us everything was going to be fine. It’s just… Alice had been keeping a secret. And after what happened she decided it was dangerous to keep that secret to herself. I pulled a picture out of my pocket. James forehead creased in confusion as I handed it over. “James… this is your daughter. Alice’s daughter. She’s five months old. Her name is Maisy.” His eyes were as wide as saucers. His stared hard at the picture for a very long time. I sat patiently in silence, allowing him to take it in. “I don’t… why didn’t she tell me?” he eventually asked. “She was afraid that you didn’t want to come back to her after her parents made you leave.” He looked up and looked me in the eye. “I never stopped loving Alice. Not for a day. Not for a second. I never stopped thinking of her or wondering about her. I wrote to her once. When she didn’t write back, I figured she’d moved on. And then I started thinking her parents might have punished her, and I didn’t try it again.” My heart lifted and I had to fight to wipe the beam off my face. “She moved in with us after she found out she was pregnant,” I explained. “Do you think… that, with help of course, you could become a part of this family again? I mean… I think Alice wants you to be. But if you can’t do this, then we’ll be her family. Just… you can’t mess her about.” “No, no, I want Alice back. I want my daughter. I want my family,” he protested passionately. I didn’t bother to fight the smile this time. “I’m so, so happy to hear that. I really am. Welcome to the family, James.” He grinned at me. He looked excited. And I could see the love in his eyes. It let them up. I bit my lip. “Maisy is in the room behind us with Professor Longbottom. You don’t have to meet her if you’re not ready, or if you want Alice to be here, but if you do, I can go and get her,” I offered. He thought this over, and then smiled slightly. “I’d like to meet my daughter.” I could barely contain a squeal. My heart felt like it was inflating in my chest. I’d never been so happy, because finally, finally, my best friend Alice was getting what she deserved all along. I ran off into the next room, a huge grin plastered on my face. Longbottom saw it and met it with his own. “He’d like to meet his daughter.” “That’s brilliant!” Longbottom exclaimed. He passed Maisy over and I took a minute to breathe and take it in, before entering the office again. “James, this is Maisy,” I introduced. Maisy had thick, long (for a baby) red hair and beautiful brown eyes. James’s beautiful brown eyes. “Would you like to hold her?” He nodded silently and I passed her over. “Hi,” he murmured. “Hi Maisy. I’m your daddy. I’m sorry I haven’t been around before now. I promise I’m gonna change that so long as your mummy lets me. God you look just like her. You’re beautiful.” Tears began to run down his cheek, but he smiled like crazy. He just didn’t care. Maisy stared up at him, mesmerised. It was so sweet to watch that I had to force back tears from my own eyes. I let them have their moment, before James finally looked up at me. “Thank you, Emerald. Thank you so much.” “Call me Emma. Family call me Emma. Or Emmy. Or Em. Digressing. Just. Welcome to the family. We’re happy to have you.” He grinned at me. “Can I see Alice?” I smiled as bright as possible. “I thought you’d never ask.” “Are you ready?” I asked with a smile I just couldn’t seem to shake. Alice nodded her head, beaming up at me. “Alright.” I turned to leave, but she grabbed my hand. “Emma, thank you,” she said. “Don’t worry about it,” I replied, kissing her cheek. I left her room and found James waiting outside with Maisy. He handed her over to me. “You ready?” I checked. “I’ve been waiting for to see her since the minute I left her house,” he replied. “Well now’s your chance. Go for it.” So he did. He stepped into the room, and I peeked in to see them stare at each other, and him cross the room in seconds. He kissed her head and her cheeks and her nose and her lips and they both cried, and I’m pretty sure I did too. Then I looked away, and let them have the moment for themselves, because it was theirs. I looked down at the sleeping baby in my arms. “You’re gonna have a family. Oh God Maisy you’re gonna have a family. I’m so happy for you,” I cried. Because I really was. And I had a rough time with my family. I hadn’t been raised the best way. But not having a dad didn’t matter to me, because I had a Scorpius, and I truly pitied people who had loving parents and lots of siblings and everything they could possibly want, just because they didn’t have a Scorpius, because to me, that’s all anyone could need. That’s all I could need. And all I wanted for Maisy and Alice was for them to have a family they loved as much as I loved mine. Because I really did. I really did. I left Maisy in James’s care and returned to Hogwarts. He wanted to introduce her to his parents. Scorpius had already informed Albus that Maisy was his nephew with James’s recommendation. I felt on top of the world having put a family back together. And I went the longest time I’ve gone without thinking about my own broken family, my own broken past. With the Christmas holidays so close, the teachers were one by one giving up trying to teach us and just letting us arse about every lesson. We were all tired of working and ready for a break. I thought that this was as good as things could get. It probably was. Because then something happened that brought back bad things from the past, and created new bad things for the future. It was something that had never happened before. It was something that downright haunted me. There was only a week to go before the holidays when I received three letters. One was from Alice and one was from James, and I got so caught up reading them that I basically forgot about the last. I didn’t that it was in my pocket until I was getting ready for bed that night. I put my hand in the pocket of my robe and pulled it out. It was barely a letter. Just a note really. It read: I’m coming back. That was it. And though I spent all night thinking about it instead of sleeping, there was only one person I could think of. But was it an empty threat, or was he really coming back? Was father really coming back? A/N: Hey guys! This took way too long to update because I started writing it and then I decided I hated what I wrote so I re-did it today and I really hope you like it. And I feel like I should explain: I tried to write Emerald reacting and I just couldn’t make it interesting. So I skipped it. I hope you’ll forgive me. THANK YOU TIME: Meggnog, ines0803, potterfan310, BBWotter, Olivia Webster, lilylunalover, RoonilWazlib7 and bananasareamazing, thank you all so much for reviews. And there were some really long ones too so just… thank you! Really a lot! And RoonilWazlib7, I’m sorry about the lack of Al in this chapter, he didn’t really fit, but he should fit perfectly into the next chapter so I will try super hard to make that happen quickly! And also, thank you lilylunalover for adding this story to your favourites. It makes me so happy that you guys seem to be enjoying it! ALSO: I can’t really say this on my other story so I’ll say it here: thank you Kathrynen (who I don’t think reads this but STILL) for the review on Stay Warm and thank you so much Meggnog and RoonilWazlib7 for adding it to your favourites. I really appreciate feedback as long as it’s genuine so thank you so much :) Digressing: Please leave a review and I will try to update soon! xx Chapter Fourteen A/N: MAJOR WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER. SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND STRONG VIOLENCE. Please, please do not read if either of these things will offend or upset you. Nothing belongs to me. Enjoy! x The Hogwarts Express was providing a challenge for me as I travelled home for Christmas. I had successfully attracted the attention of every student I walked past on my way back to my compartment. Dominique raised an unimpressed eyebrow as she watched me fall into the wall and collapse to the ground for the sixth time from a few metres away. “Christ Emma, the train’s barely moving. How wasted are you exactly?” she inquired, sounding slightly impressed. I looked up at her from my place on the ground and considered this, before bluntly stating, “Very.” “Uh huh,” she replied. She thought I was crazy. I could tell. You know you have a problem when the girl who repeatedly leaves home with her pants on backwards thinks that you’re crazy. “Could you just try not to fall from where you are now to me? Because this is our compartment and they’re all staring at me. I can feel their eyes burning into me, Em.” I grinned deviously as I pulled myself to my feet unsteadily. “You’re wasted too aren’t you,” I said smugly. “Not even slightly.” I waited. “Well slightly.” Another pause. “But nowhere near as wasted as you.” I rolled my eyes (or at least I tried to. My face probably just twitched weirdly) and stumbled towards her, eventually managing to walk like a person just in time to reach the door and fail miraculously at opening it. Dom sighed and opened it for me, and I waltzed through proudly to be greeted by the concerned stares of my brother, my best friend, my close friend and my husba- ALBUS. AND ALBUS. And Albus. Jesus I’m glad that didn’t happen out loud. “Hey guys!” I cried cheerily. “What are we talking about?” “Um… well, you,” Louis admitted. “I don’t know if you realise but you’ve been drinking heavily for about a week. You’re almost constantly drunk or asleep.” “It came out of pretty much nowhere and we kind of need to know what triggered it so I can beat him up,” Danny added casually. I scoffed. “THERE’S A ‘HIM’?!” Scorp roared. “There’s no ‘him’,” I insisted. “Lesbian,” Dom sang from the seat she’d taken between Albus and Louis. “Don’t listen to her. She’s very drunk.” “Hypocrite,” she sang. I showed her two special fingers and she shut up, though she was biting her lip hard in an attempt not to laugh. “Would you mind telling us what did trigger this then, Emma? We’re worried about you,” Albus prompted carefully, and my heart did all these funny special things inside my chest. And then the thought of that note came into my head and all I wanted to do was find more alcohol and drink it until I couldn’t remember anymore. Every time it came into my head I had to drink straight away. I spent the last week leading up to the holidays drunk, too scared to confront the situation, too scared to even speak of it to someone. I was confused. I was lost. And I was terrified. All I could really do about it was drink. “Um… no, no trigger. No trigger. I just really like the flavour of firewhiskey,” I explained cheerily. “You hate firewhiskey. You said everything about it ‘screams poisonous’,” Scorpius retorted out flatly. “…Well… yes, but I mixed it with pineapple juice,” I announced proudly. “But why?” Louis pressed. “Not everything has to have a reason behind it,” I pointed out. I felt small under their stares. And even though they were trying to support me, it seemed as if they were completely against me, as if they had raised an army to take me down, and even if it was for my own good, I was too drunk to think rationally. Subconsciously, I started to back towards the door. “But I’m pretty sure there is a reason. This just isn’t like you. You really don’t get drunk that often,” Danny argued. “If you tell us what’s wrong we can help you.” I shook my head. “I don’t need help.” “Emma-” “I’m fine.” “Sweetheart-” I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and then I felt like I was going to be sick, and then I felt like I should run as fast I could, and then my body gave up, and I collapsed to the ground. I groaned as I felt someone carefully shaking me and unwillingly opened my eyes. “What?” I whined in a hoarse voice as I squinted. I was met with a gentle smile from a beautiful man leaning over me. I think my eyes visibly widened. That always looks good. “Sorry to wake you sleepyhead, but we’re pulling into King’s cross,” he told me. I sat up, a confused frown on my face. “What happened?” he guessed from my expression, an amused grin on his face. I nodded, a small blush creeping into my cheeks. “You passed out, and Scorpius did his little panic ritual, and then I convinced him you weren’t dead, and we lay you on here to let you rest. And then everyone wanted to talk about you, but they weren’t being very good at hushed tones and no one wanted to wake you, so they found a mostly empty compartment nearby to shamelessly gossip about you,” he explained. “And by mostly empty you mean at least two random people I go to school with have reason to believe I’m an alcoholic? And quite possibly a raging psychopath?” I replied dryly. “Well… yes, but it’s just two, and I think they’re the most innocent first years I ever laid my eyes on,” he reassured me. “That’s even worse. Extra shocking, extra fascinating, extra talking about it.” “I’m pretty sure I’ve had around 14 articles written about me under that title.” I laughed. “How come you aren’t shamelessly gossiping about me?” I inquired. “I don’t take part in such activities, having been a victim my entire life,” he responded dramatically. “Plus someone had to be here to guard your body.” “You make me sound like a historical figure’s corpse.” “You know what I mean,” he said, rolling his eyes as I stretched. “You could have choked on your own vomit.” How attractive. There’s an image for you. “That didn’t happen did it?” I checked, only partly serious. “No, you didn’t vomit at all. You did almost fall right off your seat at one point but no worries, I caught you with my mad Quidditch skills,” he bragged smugly. I could hardly keep a smile off my face. Wow I would have loved to be conscious for that. But then I probably would’ve stared way too affectionately at his face and made everything uncomfortable. “Fast and strong. You’ll make a great auror,” I commented casually, but from how bright he beamed I could tell I had said something that really meant a lot to him. “You really think so?” he asked. “Of course. You’re smart, brave, strong, fast, willing to put people before you-” (Note to self – maybe you should stop here before you get carried away in listing every reason why Albus Potter is perfect and start talking about his arse) “- and clearly very good at saving people. It’ll just be a shame when I’m asleep on trains in future and you’re not here to catch me because you’re off on super important missions.” He chuckled as the train came to a gentle stop. “I’ll be sure to set aside time to catch you,” he promised. Oh dear Merlin I forgot how to breathe. “I’m pretty sure Scorp called dibs on that when I was born,” I remarked as we waited in silent agreement for the other teenagers to file out of the train. “He sure does jump at the opportunity to save you,” Al observed. “Yeah but I don’t know how much that is what he wants to do or what he feels like he has to do, y’know?” “Yeah, but you can’t really blame him.” “Oh God no, I really don’t know what I would do without him. I really love that about him. People like Scorpius are once in a blue moon, and I really needed that once. I mean if he hadn’t have been there, I…” I trailed off as the conversation got deeper, not wanting to make Al uncomfortable. “I know,” he nodded in considerate understanding. But he didn’t know. Because there is one thing that not even Al or Alice knows, that Danny only found out a year later when I curled up in his arms with a bottle of butterbeer and cried about it, and he cried too, because there are some things in this world that are simply too awful for us to share. But I smiled back all the same, and I didn’t argue, because there are some things we just don’t share. “We need to talk,” Alice announced authoritatively as she hopped into the kitchen on her crutches. James may or may not have convinced his mum to help speed up Alice’s recovery just enough for the doctors to not overthink it and she was released from hospital the day before we came home. James hadn’t officially moved in because they’d only been around each other for a couple of weeks, but he brought her home and stayed with her and planned to stay around for Christmas. You could look at these two and see how much they loved each other. I really do believe they could be together, and never fall apart. They fit together. They bring out this carefree happiness that they both can be very closed off about in each other so that everyone around can be happy with them. If I could get past my feelings for Albus and have a love like Alice and James’s, I think I’d be so happy. But back to the kitchen. “And what is it we need to talk about?” “Your new drinking problem.” I rolled my eyes. “Okay seriously can we drop this? I don’t have a drinking problem. I’m 100% sober.” That’s not to say that I’m happy about it. “Scorpius says you haven’t been sober for more than two hours for about a week. What happened?” she demanded. “Nothing happened,” I responded immediately. “Firewhiskey tastes really good.” “Since when?” “Since about a week ago,” I answered brightly with a satisfied smile on my face. She shot me a very dry look. “Alice, honestly, I’m fine. If something was up you know that Scorp would have got it out of me by now,” I reassured her. She sighed. “I’m watching you carefully Emerald. We small people have to stick together.” “Of course. After all, it is the foundation of our entire friendship. Why, if you had a growth spurt, I would surely have to disown you,” I replied dramatically. “I think it’s safe to say I’m done growing,” she reassured me. “As are you, most probably. Which means that I will be the taller one forever.” I didn’t even consider Alice short. We’d taken turns at being taller than one another by at the most three inches and finally come to a standstill with her being 2 inches taller than me. So when anyone mocked her for her height she showed them pictures of us stood side by side to make her feel better about herself. Don’t judge me for being five foot tall. I DON’T LIKE MILK OKAY? I shrugged it off. “My brother is Scorpius and my best friend is Danny. I’m used to being the smaller one. But this reminds me: CHRISTMAS TREE.” “We’re actually about to set off for it. We’re getting the bus because James drives like an alcoholic and I drive like a person on crutches. Scorpius and Albus are going to meet us there and bring it back but I have to pick it out because you saw what Scorpius brought home last year. And I want to show Maisy and James the Christmas lights we have around here. Would you care to join us?” “I’m good, thanks,” I answered. “I’m going to stay here and not drink all the alcohol.” “Emerald,” Alice said seriously. Alice only calls me Emerald when I’m in trouble. “If you drink whilst we’re gone you know Scorpius is going to hold your hand and never let go. Albus had to drag him out of the house for their Quidditch game if you remember. If he comes back and finds you passed out or counting imaginary stars he’s going to chain you up. If there is something wrong you have to tell someone. Me, or Danny, or Scorp, just someone.” I looked her straight in the eye and lied, “I’m fine Alice. Nothing’s wrong. You have to stop worrying. Now go pick the best Christmas tree you can find. The nearest bus stop is miles away so you better get going.” “That’s good with us. it’s not icy outside and we still have plenty of catching up to do for a year without each other.” At that moment, James walked into the kitchen blowing raspberries into a giggling Maisy’s stomach. His face lit up as he laughed at her, and Alice’s face lit up as she laughed at him, and they were so perfect that I didn’t want to be here because I just wanted them to have this. I wanted them to have this to themselves. When I saw the three of them together, I felt something that I had never been familiar with: hope. Hope that there are still happily ever afters and families who love each other and little boys and girls who are raised nicely and grow up nicely and start their own happily ever afters, and in the midst of all this sadness, there is a chance of happiness, there is a light that never goes out. “Are we good to go?” James asked politely. Alice nodded. “We’ll be back in about two hours, Em. Maybe less if Maisy gets tired.” “I’ll be here.” “Bye, Emma,” James smiled, before they left me alone in the kitchen. I leant against the counter lost in thought for about ten minutes after the front door closed before I reached into my pocket and pulled out the note. I read over it again. Two very dark feelings started to rise up inside of me: one was fear, and one was hate. They were fighting each other inside of me, trying to smother one another, making it impossible to think straight, and everything was fear or hate, and I wasn’t sure quite how to handle it. So of course I reached into the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey. And as my thoughts got darker and darker, I got drunker and drunker, and I knew I was in danger of myself, and I knew I should get a hold of Scorpius right away before I did something stupid. I mean, the alcohol hadn’t quite caught up with me yet, since I could still think clearly enough to know to get Scorp, but I just couldn’t. And then it was too late, my chance was gone. “You reported me to the ministry.” The second bottle, half empty, dropped from my hands and shattered to a million pieces of glass on the cold marble ground. I could hardly breathe as I turned around to see the pale, thin man in the black cloak, looking so like his father with his eyes filled with hate barely masking the fear that drove him. It was eight o’clock at night, roughly, and his face fit the eerie glow of the moonlight through the window behind me. “I’m sorry?” I asked, finally finding my voice. I hadn’t seen this man since I was thirteen. “You reported me to the Ministry. The death eaters heard news that the aurors were searching for me, in the hopes of prosecuting me for my wife’s murder.” “D…death eaters?” I repeated, confused, my brow creasing. I was quite surprised I could remember this in the state I was in. “There are no death eaters anymore. They were forced to make the unbreakable vow. If they start plotting or even associating with one another, they’ll die. There are no death eaters.” “Don’t try to trick me with your stories, girl,” he argued. “You reported me to The Ministry for murdering Astoria.” Here, oh so conveniently, the alcohol really started to kick in. I could feel my fear dying away, my hate strengthening. I was losing my cares. I was losing grip on the severity of my situation, on my vulnerability in the situation. I was losing grip of everything. “Why would I do that?” I asked, muddled. “I don’t even know how she died.” “Then why do I have the aurors searching for me?” he inquired furiously, taking an angry, firm step towards me. “You don’t. Scorpius and I didn’t tell anyone about you,” I lied. “No one is looking for you.” “You’re lying,” he insisted. “Did you kill her?” I asked suddenly. His face curled in disgust. “I beg your pardon?” “I said: did you kill her?” I repeated. My tone was angry. I felt angry. ‘I shouldn’t be taking this risk,’ I told myself. ‘He’s better than you; he’s more dangerous than you.’ “I do not answer to you, filth,” he spat. “This is my house since you left it.” “How dare-” “HOW DARE I? HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU WRECK ME?! HOW DARE YOU LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME?! HOW DARE YOU HURT MY BROTHER?! HOW DARE YOU KILL MY MOTHER?! HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY MY CHILDHOOD JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE BROKEN! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BREAK EVERYONE ELSE?!” I screamed, red hot fury flashing through my veins. Then this look over took his face, and I knew that I had never been so stupid, and I would never ever be so stupid, not ever again. Because he took a moment to stare at me before he stormed towards me. I didn’t try to defend myself. My wand was in the living room. I didn’t try to run. I would have fallen. Everything was already swaying though I was stood in one place. I was familiar with this. Granted, I’d never been drunk for it. I wondered if it would hurt. It did. At first I sobbed and shouted loudly, but soon my voice softened to a whimper, and then just a faint gasp every time his hard boot swung into my rib cage. Everything would go black and silent for only seconds, and then it would be real again and I could see the bottom of his cloak and the marble ground that I was lay on and my own hands trying to protect my face and my head and then it would go black again. He grunted with effort as I feebly begged him to leave me alone. I tried to protect my chest with my arms but he kicked away at them until I was back to screaming again. I pulled them back over my face and he delivered blows to my ribs until I heard cracking sounds, and then everything was black, and it stayed that way. A/N: What. Did I. Just do. To Emerald? :O YOU WILL FIND OUT. Nothing belongs to me. ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ is a song by The Smiths in case any of you recognised it. It doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to The Smiths, and The Smiths don’t belong to me either, they belong to The Smiths. What else, what else, I can’t remember who requested it BUT THERE WAS MORE ALBUS IN THIS CHAPTER SO THERE DREAMS DO COME TRUE and I plan to have more Albus very soon. potterfan310, ines0803 and Meggnog thank you so much for your reviews! They are very important to me and make me have big smiles ^_^ I really do appreciate it. Olivia Webster, I unfortunately can’t make any promises, but I will think about it. AccioPixiex, HarryPotterFan_1 and inkrose thank you SO much for adding this story to your favourites. You guys are AWESOME. Thank you for reading, please leave a review! xx http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com |