"Em, do it again" I looked at dad and grinned before looking at my little brother, holding my breath, and turning my black hair bubble gum pink. Harry snorted with laughter before clapping and squealing with amusement which caused his newly formed snot bubble to burst.
"YES!" Harry giggled, the only word he really used.
"Ok, ok" mum laughed "that's it. Bed time, both of you."
I picked myself up from the floor and went to wrap my arms around my father's leg. "I want a story, daddy" I begged.
"Em, mum will read you your story." Dad replied as he scratched his nose with his wooden stick. I stared at the stick in wonder, as I always did; there was something special about it. Dad could make things fly around the room when he waved it but I wasn't allowed to touch it.
"No! Mummy read it last night, I want you!"
"You do it" Mum told him "I'll put Harry down."
I watched as he exchanged a look with my mother before sighing and scooping me up in his arms. "Alright, little madam, what do you want?"
"The three brothers!" I cried in excitement, secretly smug that he'd given into me.
"Ok, Princess" he grinned as he flicked his wand and the book came zooming into us from the hall.
Dad stood and as he did, I asked "when I can make things fly, daddy?"
"When you are old enough to get your own wand" he replied.
"What's a wand?"
Dad had opened his mouth and was just about to explain when the front door exploded. The shock froze me in my father's arms but dad didn't hesitate. "Lily, take the kids and go; he's found us! I'll hold him off, just go!"
"But James-" I watched my mother, her eyes wide and her mouth open.
"Go" dad ordered before pressing his lips to hers "please."
I was pushed into my mother's arms and whisked up stairs. "Emily" mum set me down in my room "hide under your bed and don't come out for anyone. Do you understand?" She spoke quickly and the urgency in her tone scared me.
"But mummy, I want to stay with you" I whispered.
"I know, honey, but you need to hide. Please, Emmy, get under your bed!" I nodded, my lower lip trembling. "I love you" she told me fiercely "daddy loves you, now get under there and don't come out." Mum bent down to kiss me and waited until I'd crawled under the bed before I watched her feet hurry from my bedroom.
I heard nothing but silence for a very long time but did as I was told and never left my hiding place. Minutes went by, maybe hours, maybe even days until someone entered my bedroom. I watched leather bound feet cross the thresh hold. "Emily?"
The voice wasn't one I recognised; I curled myself up tightly into a ball and hugged my legs as I watched the person drop to their knees and saw a face appear. It was a man with long black hair and a hooked nose; I realised that I knew him and crawled out and into his waiting arms. "Uncle Severus!" I cried "where's mummy?"
Severus held me tight as he buried his head into my shoulder. He stayed like that for a few minutes and I didn't know what to do so I just patted his head until he stood. "Emily" he held me up before him and looked into his eyes; they were wet and red. I could still see tear tracks running down his cheeks "you're coming home with me, ok, and I want you to close your eyes until I tell you to open them again."
"Why?" I asked in confusion.
"Because I'm asking you to. Please, for me?"
"Ok" I whispered as I took his face in my hands and kissed his cheek before closing my eyes.
He held me tightly to him, pressing a hand to my head and into his shoulder. "Good girl" he whispered.
When I opened them again I was staring at my whitewashed ceiling with fresh tears making tracks down my cheeks. The day that my family had been torn apart often revisited my dreams. It was the only vivid memory that my four year old mind had remembered and I was forced to relive it five nights out of seven.
Sunlight was poking through the gaps in my curtains, lighting up my bedroom, telling me that it was morning so I swiped at the fallen tears and rolled out of bed, stubbing my toe on something hard. Yelping, I hopped on one foot before falling back onto my bed and glared at the offending object. It was my school trunk.
My heart jumped; it was September first, the day that I start my third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the day that Harry, my brother, would start his first year. I hadn't seen my brother since that fateful day but I remembered him and pictured his tiny one year old frame whenever I thought that I was forgetting him. Severus, my uncle, had given me pictures of Harry growing up; I think they were school pictures and I kept them on my bedside table. I found myself staring at the latest one; he was in oversized clothes, his hair was messy and he was wearing round glasses. He looked just like my father, besides the scar on his forehead which had been a 'present' left by a curse on the day that we lost our parents and his green eyes which matched my mothers. I bore the appearance of my mother; the same green eyes, her nose, her smile, even her intellect but I'd inherited my father's black hair which hung past my waist in neat, loose, curls.
Harry Potter, my brother, would be starting Hogwarts today and he has no idea who I am. The thought almost crippled me; he's the only family that I have left in the world and he doesn't even know that I exist. I sighed forlornly as I ran a brush through my hair, absently staring at my school uniform which was hanging from the handles of my wardrobe. My red and gold tie was sticking out of the pocket of my black robe and I wondered whether Harry would be placed in Gryffindor.
"Em?" I looked up, startled, to see that Severus was standing in the doorway of my bedroom. I hadn't even heard him climb the stairs. "Are you ok? I heard a bang."
Severus had taken me in after my parents died; he wouldn't tell me the specifics as to why I was going with him and Harry wasn't but he's been good to me. He promised that I'd never want for nothing and he hadn't lied…not really…no one can bring back the dead, right? "I just stubbed my toe" I replied.
Severus gave me a smile before nodding. "I thought maybe that you'd rolled out of the bed again."
"That happened once!" I protested "when I was six!"
"Well, it happened either way and I didn't want to come in here to find you on the floor with your head cracked open again." He chuckled before gesturing at my uniform "we're leaving in fifteen minutes so I'd hurry up if you don't want to miss the train."
"Is it that late?" I asked in surprise. "Pants!" I cursed.
Severus flicked his wand and walked out of my room with my school trunk "hurry up." He ordered softly as he left.
I had to admit that Severus baffled me. I'm the only person that he has ever shown kindness toward, I'm the only person he smiles at, the only person he laughs with. I have fun with my uncle but everyone else hates him and I honestly don't blame them; around everyone else he's cold and cruel and I've never been able to work out why he's only pleasant to me.
Shaking my head I, once again, pushed the thought to one side and dressed before meeting Severus, fifteen minutes later, in front of the fire which would take me directly to platform 9 ¾. "Hey" he put both of his hands on each of my shoulders and knelt down "have a good journey and remember that I'm only an owl away if you need me."
"I'll see you this evening" I reminded him.
"I know" Severus smiled "just behave yourself; I don't want any bad reports about you."
"Uncle" I sighed "I'm always good. Can I go now?"
"Yes" he chuckled before he kissed my forehead and ruffled my hair as he stood up.
I frowned at him, smoothing my hair back down "I'll see you at dinner." I told him as I took a handful of floo powder before stepping into the fireplace with my trunk. I dumped the floo powder at my feet and yelled "platform 9 and three quarters!"