AN: I'm not abandoning, I'm adding. I like having a plethora of things to dabble in when things get a bit boring with the others. It allows for a renewed vigor when I return to the other works. Anyway, this one came to be a while ago and I've been piecing things together about it and writing like mad. After I found the original Gryffindor Nightmare, which I'm refurbishing with a new OC and some new occurances, I decided to give this some well deserved attention and here we are.
IT NEEDS A TITLE, PM OR COMMENT YOUR SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE!!!
Anyway, like I said, this has been bouncing around for a while. Kind of a what if this, what if that, what if he lived, what if she died, what if it happened because of this, kind of story that put its whole being together slowing at first. Then I gave it a bit of attention and it ran with it. Go figure. But like I said, I'm not giving up. On this laptop I have five stories open constantly and I bounce about if I'm feeling ambitions. Most of the time, I'm going through, picking one, and devoting hours and hours to it, when I can get that kind of time. Enough of my babbling, go ahead and read it.
It had been three years since the Great War fought on the grounds of Hogwarts. Witches and wizards everywhere were just coming around to having their lives back in order. The occasional reminder of the terrible happenings of that time still cropped up every so often. A Dark Lord sympathizer showed up now and then, murdering or maiming some in a psychotic and pointless attempt at swearing allegiance to a force nonexistence. Harry Potter was doing his best at repairing and rebuilding his relationship with Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were keeping private with them and were obviously building their own relationship. Remus Lupin had gone into hiding after his wife was killed by her own aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange and hadn't been seen since the one year memorial that Minerva McGonagall had held inside the very walls the war had shaken. The memorial became the annual way for everyone affected to gather and reflect, to prevent such things from occurring again.
The Great Hall was stark and dimly lit this year, as all before it, and in the back, by the very spot she'd nearly been killed, stood the shivering frame of Emmaline Hutchison. Her class was the class of brave and resourceful wizards that had done much to fight the war. She had retrieved the crystal balls that Trelawney had thrown at attackers below and later she had petrified a Death Eater that was about to Avada Molly Weasley, who had her back turned in duel with another masked figure. No sooner had she fired off the hex then she heard Tonks yell a warning and turned to see Bellatrix Lestrange sneering at her. Bellatrix cast Avada at her and Emmaline closed her eyes, curling herself into a ball but nothing happened. As Emmaline slowly uncurled herself, she looked up to see Tonks, lifeless on the floor, and Bellatrix cackling as she turned to aim at Ginny Weasley. Molly caught sight and that was the end of Bellatrix. Emmaline crawled towards Tonks, doing all she could to shake her awake, and had to be dragged away in a fit of tears by two others as Remus Lupin rushed to take her place at the side of his fallen bride.
"That is why, friends, we come here today." Minerva's voice cracked. "We are here to remember not only those we fought along side, or to remember those who saved us or whose lives we saved but also to remember why so that it may never happen again." She finished, bowing her head. Everyone dropped their head and Emmaline was no different. She felt her chest tighten in remembering how someone she had barely known had fallen for her and she had done so little to repay her memory for it.
"Emmaline, hello." Luna Lovegood's soft voice said kindly. "How are you?"
"Same as always, I suppose." Emmaline sighed, not even attempting a weak smile. Luna smiled softly and patted her on the shoulder. "Doing what I can to keep the bookstore in the black."
"I've been meaning to stop by." Luna said, eyes lighting as they always did when she remembered or was interested in something. "Someone mentioned that you actually got a book on nargles."
"I did, indeed." Emmaline smiled weakly. "A few on hyper-intelligent imps, gnomes, and pixies, as well."
"I'll definitely be in sometime this week, then." Luna beamed, patting Emmaline on the shoulder and linking arms with her fiancé. "Bye."
"Bye." Emmaline sighed, waving slightly and remaining seated. She nodded as a few others passed by. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione stopped for a moment to briefly say hello, knowing that Emmaline was still bordering on breaking completely over feeling that it was she that should have died.
No one had ever really paid much attention to the quiet Ravenclaw girl but they knew that she existed only because she had surpassed Hermione in Muggle Studies and Potions and matched her on all others. Emmaline attributed her good marks to spending absolutely no time with anything or anyone that wasn't bound and filled with pages. The only time she spoke was in class and the only student she spoke to at all was Luna Lovegood, almost always about the next issue of The Quibbler. After the war everyone had watched her turn inward, buy Obscurus Books, and completely ignore the requests that she teach at Hogwarts after a bit of training. Emmaline had closed herself up in her shop, made herself a small living area upstairs, and refused to leave unless there wasn't a bite to eat in the house and she was near starving or to perform some act involving a customer or supplies.
Finally, Emmaline shuffled out of the Great Hall after stopping at the spot Tonks had fallen and she took the path to a spot just off Hogwarts grounds so as to apparate, and then made her way to her store. She was one of the last few to arrive back at Diagon Alley, which like most of the wizarding areas had shut down completely for the memorial. She said the proper charms to unlock her shop and relished in the dark and the dusty scent. She enjoyed her reclusive life. For three years she taught herself that books were all she needed. It wasn't a hard lesson to learn being that it was books that she had clung to so intensely before that, as well.
"Morning, Emmaline." Sybil Trelawney smiled quickly as she bumbled cautiously through the door. Emmaline inconspicuously waved her wand to reinforce all the stacks of books to keep the accident prone woman from taking down her store.
"Morning, Professor Trelawney, what can I do for you?" Emmaline asked, stepping from behind the small counter at the back and walking over to help the woman.
"I was looking for a book on Middle American mystic traditions of crystal ball use." Trelawney said, sifting through her bag for something. She produced a slip of paper with scribbles on its face and made a quiet sound of victory. "Ha, here. Paulo Psimente." She nodded, crudely stuffing the paper back into her purse and following Emmaline into the many stacks. Everyone knew that Emmaline had a firm grasp on where everything was in her store. Similar to the way that Ollivander knew the right wand for everyone, Emmaline could be told a subject, an author, a title, or any combination of the three and would find it for you in less than ten minutes, which was quite a feat with the stacks and piles and shelves of seemingly randomly organized books.
"Ah, here we are, right area." Emmaline said under her breath, climbing up three shelves and blowing dust from the edge. "Psimente, Psimente…" she mumbled as she glanced around. "Hmmm…" She flipped through and her brows furrowed. "Ah, here we are. The Crystalline Orbs of Ancestry?" she asked. Trelawney nodded gratefully, taking the book and hugging it in appreciation.
"Oh, thank you so much. You've no idea how hard this is to find. It's out of print everywhere but Guatemala." Trelawney sighed happily as she flipped through the book. "Oh, it's signed by the author!" she beamed as Emmaline climbed down and headed towards the till.
"That'll be 3 galleons, 5 sickles." Emmaline smiled. Trelawney handed her five galleons, waving off the change. "I can't keep it, Professor." She said, flattered.
"Just never you mind, girl." Trelawney smiled. "Extra for the autograph." She smiled, nodding as she turned to leave and completely engrossed in her book. Emmaline sighed, deciding to tackle the stacks of books and make an attempt to put away the perpetually growing stock before she had another customer. She gave a quick wave of her wand and sent things off to find their places amongst the clutter. After sorting two of about fifteen piles, she heard her door open again.
"Be right up!" she called, shoving a rather large book on top of a shelf rather than finding a place for it and letting herself drop onto the ground. She jogged to the front of the store and stopped abruptly when she saw who'd entered. Remus Lupin had taken to browsing a few of the shelves as he waited. "Hello. What are you doing here?" she asked, body stiff.
"Hello, Emmaline." He smiled softly. "I'm staying with everyone at the Weasley's and since I had to make a trip in for some supplies for my wolfsbane, Hermione asked that I pick up her book order."
"Er, yes, I have it under the counter here." Emmaline mumbled, hefting the large box onto the counter and shrinking it for him. She couldn't help but stare at him as he resumed his glancing around the shelves.
"Could you recommend any good books?" he asked brightly. Emmaline opened her mouth to speak but couldn't think far enough away from the fact that she felt like she should be erupting in apologies every time she looked at him.
"Too many to choose from." She managed to reply. Remus chuckled and nodded.
"I suppose for someone that runs a book store that much is to be expected, yes?" he smiled warmly. His smile faded slightly when he noticed that she was staring at him wide eyed, looking near to uncomfortable explosion. "So was I right to hear that you got a book on nargles?" He persisted, hoping she'd say something other than the bare minimum of replies. He received a short nod and she pointed to an unsorted pile of books.
"I've one on reserve for Luna so you're more than welcome to that one if you'd like it." Emmaline forced herself to say, still looking frightened and nervous. Remus's smile grew again and he nodded, picking it up and tucking it under his arm. Hermione was right; he thought to himself, this girl desperately needed some kind of closure with what happened to her. He grabbed a book of poetry written entirely by Werewolves and Vampires and made his way to the counter.
"Seven galleons, six sickles, twelve knuts." Emmaline said mechanically. Remus pulled his sack of money out, never losing his smile as he handed the money over.
"Better head back." Remus sighed, nodding his goodbye. "Being voluntarily missing for two years often makes friends angry if they haven't been notified." He added with a bit of defeat in his voice.
"So it would seem." Emmaline nodded, wringing her hands behind her back as she watched with great anticipation as he inched towards the door. "Thanks for stopping by."
Remus nodded once again in defeat and closed the door behind him, causing Emmaline to let out a great sigh of relief. She hated herself even more, knowing he felt bad that she was still so greatly affected by what had happened and that he had tried to make things better for her, despite the fact that it was his wife that had died. Emmaline slapped herself in the forehead and trudged to the back, hoping to the powers that be that a stack of books might just drop from a high shelf and end all this unpleasantness once and for all.
"Three years later, I'm still moping so much that the one that really should be moping feels the need to be nice to me." Emmaline chastised herself as she started to manually put out and shelf the books. "Not as if I deserve any kind of mourning period like this. He lost his wife. I was an immature child that thought I could make any sort of difference and nearly got myself killed. Instead, I got his wife killed. By all merit the man should hate me and I've made him feel bad." She rambled on at herself.
Finally she heard the grandfather clock at the front of the store chime its eight chimes and she climbed down the stacks so as to close everything up. She made her way out to the counter to clear out her till to deposit the money in Gringotts the next morning. Sitting neatly in the center of the counter was Hermione Grangers still shrunken box of ordered books. She had been so nervous that she hadn't given him the box and now she'd have to deliver them herself. She thought for a moment and remembered that Remus said everyone would be at the Weasley's house and with a great sigh she locked up her shop, shoved the box into her pocket and apparated just outside their home. The warm light filtering from the windows made her feel as if she was an intruder only by looking at the ramshackle cottage. With great reluctance, she pushed open the gate and marched up the path, giving a stern knock on the door.
"Emmaline, hello, what brings you out here? Do come in, have a drink, come dear, do." Molly Weasley gushed as she pulled Emmaline in by the arm.
"Really, I'm just here to drop off Hermione's package. Remus stopped by but I must have forgotten to give it to him." She explained as Molly dragged her towards the kitchen which was alive with chattering voices. As soon as she stepped into the doorway the sound dimmed and everyone glanced at her. Once they'd noticed who it was, the sound level raised back to normal and the clinking of silverware on plates commenced.
"Hermione, dear." Molly smiled, nodding her head towards Emmaline and then returning to her seat next to her husband.
"I brought your order. I must have forgotten to give it to Remus when he came in today." Emmaline explained, taking the shrunken package from her pocket and handing it over to the shorter girl before her. Hermione smiled warmly and tucked the box into her pocket, nodding in thanks.
"Oh, I really appreciate it." She beamed. "Won't you come in and have dinner? There is actually plenty of room down between Harry and Remus I think, and you're more than welcome." Hermione baited. Emmaline blushed and hung her head.
"I couldn't impose." She shook her head. "No, I'd best be back to my flat. I've got a kneazle to feed and a few letters to send." She explained quickly. Hermione didn't do much to hide the frown but nodded in acceptance.
"Alright." She said simply. "Some other time, then. You'll have to come over for dinner with Ron and me at our new place." She offered. Emmaline nodded and waved her goodbyes to everyone before getting out as quickly as possible.
So, you've met Emmaline. I hope you get the feel for her that I'm hoping is avaiable for the getting in this chapter. lol Please review. I'd really appreciate knowing how you feel about this one. It's really important to me. Hell, flame it if you want to. lol Anyway. If you don't even want to tell me what you think then just give me a title suggestion. Must appreciated.
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