Disclaimer: All characters taken from the Harry Potter universe are of course Jo Rowling´s. Just borrowing them.

Authors note: I published this story years ago, in another language on this page with another alias under a different Email address. Unfortunately I cannot access that any more, so I am adding a translated version of it here now. This is the English (and slightly revamped) version of a story that was published as "Emily." I am infringing nobody´s copyright but my own ;)

Chapter 1

When Emily entered the church through a side door, a cozy, comfortable warmth met her. It was chilling cold outside, even for this time of the year and the snow that had started to fall about an hour ago, had turned the sleepy city into a winter wonderland within a couple of minutes it seemed. Almost like on one of those Christmas postcards, Emily thought bitterly when she walked through the streets, trying to pull her coat even tighter so use even the last tiny bit of warmth this worn piece of clothing could give her. The streets around the market place had been crowded with people, the Christmas fair was a popular spot and wherever she had gone, happy Christmas songs had met her along with the fantastic smells of roasted almonds, roast sausages and cinnamon, making her hunger worse.

She was used to spending the nights under the stars, but today it was so cold that she had pushed her pride aside and made her way to this little church at the sidelines of the city. At least it was a little warmer here and if she was lucky nobody would notice her presence so she could catch a few hours of sleep before sunrise.

Emily paced the aisle towards the front of the sanctuary where believers could light candles and held her freezing hands over the flames. It took a while for her frozen fingers to even register the heat even when they nearly touched the fire. In the glow of the candles they seemed to be glowing with an almost eery light.

She felt alone, but at least she would not have to freeze herself to death. If she was honest with herself he had to admit that she preferred loneliness to the company of people. All those people with their fake friendliness were no different from those same people that had driven out a girl no older than 14 years…

Emily could not remember her parents, the two of them were not even a distant memory. She had been told they had died when she had been very little and that was all she could recall, together with a life at the orphanage. She had almost found happiness there for a few short years, but when she became older they had noticed that something wasn´t quite right about her and they had started to exclude her, talk behind her back, say things about that strange girl they had once called a friend but that they were then starting to treat like a stranger. They had begun calling her a freak and she had had no idea back then why they did that. Today, seven years later she knew it was not her. It wasn´t her that was the freak, the unnormal, the strange one, it was those that had thrown these names at her. At least she had never felt like a freak and what once had been hurtful, the insults and the namecalling, she saw in a different light today at 22, just saw those thing as what they were: behavior born from envy. They had been envious of what she could do.

Emily didn´t know where her abilities came from, nor could she control them. But whenever she was particularly angry or sad…things happened. Once that girl back at the orphanage had teased her and Emily had been terribly mad at her. They had been sitting at dinner and the girl that had uttered those insulting words had been about to grab for her mug of hot chocolate when the mug had risen from the table on its own, only to pour its entire hot content over the girl´s. She had screamed, jumped to her feet and had called Emily a "witch."

It hadn´t been the first time for thing like that to happen. Sometimes it seemed to her like she really possessed some kind of strange, hidden abilities and powers. In all the years she had been living in the streets now she had never been caught by the authorities. More than once she had found herself I a tight spot, but whenever things became dangerous, something happened that shifted her attention away from her. Emily had not thought much of that. It was nothing special to her. Not any more that was.

Her hands had started to warm up. Funny, she thought to herself, that this place should be the place where I find a little warmth, the same place that gave comfort to some of those that lived in warm and cozy homes with beds and heatings. Emily herself had stopped years ago to seek out people for comfort. She knew there was no comfort to find there. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with someone that was like her.

She gazed up at the big Christmas tree that had been erected next to the Altar. Christmas. Only a few days ahead now, but not for her. She would be happy to find some warm food on that day, that much would be enough to keep her happy there.

She took off her rucksack to take out her blanket. The blanket, just like her old, worn jacket, was years old and shabby. At least tonight she would not freeze she thought as she spread it.

But then, a sudden noise made her whirl around on her heels. A door! Emily dropped the blanket, grabbed her rucksack and started running. Tossing a glance across her shoulder she noticed that an elderly man had stepped out of a back room at the altar, probably the priest or a helper. The blanket! The man called out after her but she just ran and didn´t take any notice of him. She dashed over to the side door, threw it open and would nearly have slipped on the icy steps. She kept running, across the church yard, into the darkening streets. Only when he felt safe, she slowed down, her breath ragged. She uttered a curse under her breath, anger against herself. She had left the blanket and now she couldn´t go back or rather, she didn´t want to. She didn´t want to face that man again because, she knew his kind. All charity and goodwill he would try and talk her into spending the night at some place that his church supported, some place for the homeless. She didn´t need that protection, she was strong and stubborn enough, she told herself. Strong enough to brave the cold. And on top of that, she had made some experiences in such shelters…things happened when she had no complete control of herself… better to avoid that.

The streets had emptied while she had been in that church, some of the stalls that had been selling ginger bread and hot wine had already been closed down for the night and the crowd around the market place had dissolved. Here and there, couples strolled along hand in hand, some of them tossing Emily judging or pitiful glance. Emily kept walking, by now really furious at herself for leaving the blanket. She would go back for it tomorrow … if the priest had not thrown it away by then.

By and by Emily became tired but she held little hope to find a good spot to sleep right now. Nothing to eat and not for the first time she wished to have better control over her strange powers. She remembered once when she had managed to create a small fire from a spark, but she knew very well this had been a once in a lifetime thing, it had never happened again and the other time she had tried she had nearly caused a disaster. Plus, she could not really experiment around like that, here, in the middle of London, without risking to be seen doing it.

Without noticing she had left the still rather lively area around the marketplace, entering a less known side street. Not all the lights were on here, the street was calm, deserted almost. Every few minutes a car passed her by. But that loneliness served her well. She wasn´t afraid of the dark, she had hardly ever been afraid of anything, or at least she didn´t fear anything any more. She had never been caught before and tonight would be no different.

She was lost in her own thoughts when a sudden strange feeling made her slow down her step. She turned and let her gaze travel along the sidewalk behind her. It was deserted. The whole street was, yet suddenly she couldn't fight the feeling, the almost knowledge that she had heard steps . Steps following her. Without wanting to, her heart started to beat faster and when she walked on, her pace had quickened. After only a few metres, she heard it again. The faint but still present sound of footstep on the snowy tarmac. "Hello?" she called out into the night and noticed that her voice was quivering slightly. She tried to tell herself this was only ebcause of the cold. She stopped. Should she go back? Back to the city centre? At least there were some people there. What kind of thoughts are those, Emily, she scolded herself. Since when are you afraid of the dark? She did not continue on her way, turned to look carefully into each direction, gazed carefully into each shadow around her. Was there a movement? She must have been mistaken.

Slowly she took another step and screamed. The shape of a man suddenly jumped out of the darkness. Emily could have sworn that he had not been there a moment ago, that he had appeared from nowhere, the threatening shadow of a lanky, grim man in black clothes. She barely had time to have a proper look at him before her instincts kicked in, she turned and ran once more. Then she heard him laugh behind her, but apparently he did have no interest in a pursuit. "Wait, girl!" His voice sounded hoarse, creepy. She didn´t even consider following his request and quickened her steps once more. "Wait!" Now he sounded more serious, menacing. "I told you to wait! IMPERIO!" Abruptly she stopped, gasped in horrified surprise. Suddenly, Emily had the feeling that she could not control her own body any more, her limbs had stopped obeying her. She wanted to get away, wanted to run as fast as she could because all of a sudden she was more scared than she had ever been in her life. Everything, every fibre of her being demanded her to run, to bolt, to disobey the man´s command! But she couldn´t. She had stopped. Just because he had told her to. "Turn around." His voice echoed dully in the dark. What was going on here, she wondered, her heart beating in a frantic, panicky staccato when she slowly turned to look at the stranger´s face. "Who are you?" Her words and voice sounded strangely void. The man was barely taller than herself, his hair was mouse grey and he had already started to go bald. For some strange reason, he reminded her of a rat. In his right hand, he held a short stick that he was pointing at her. "Come here." She noticed her feet starting to move, but then her resolve was back, her own willpower returned. She stopped in her tracks and noticed that the expression in the man´s eyes started to flicker with surprise and uncertainty. What she was doing cost all her power of will. "I told you, come here!" His voice sounded shrill. Again she tried to fight him, but then he yelled something, something she couldn't comprehend, another language maybe, and she was thrown to the ground by an invisible, brutal force.

After that, things started to happen very quickly. Her fall had been so hard that for a moment she saw stars dancing before her eyes. The next moment she heard the stranger scream, a dull sound like through a layer of cotton wool, followed by a blinding blaze of light. Then he was no longer alone. She sat up painfully and saw two figures that had appeared on the other side of the street, hurrying towards her. She could see no more than dim shapes and once more she felt the urge to jump up and run, but her aching muscles had stopped taking commands and when she even tried, she found herself groaning in pain, failing to move her right leg. Then the new arrivals were upon her and she could see they were both wearing cloaks. More she couldn´t make out in the twilight, because the next street light was a good way off. Jerking her head fearfully she saw that the stranger was still standing there but when the two others moved closer, he skillfully dodged a shot of lightning one of the new two must have tossed his way. Emily´s head was spinning. What was gong on here. And then, when she had decided it couldn´t get any crazier she saw the shape of the first stranger shrink. She could barely see how it was happening but it looked as if the next moment he was gone before the shadow of something roughly the size of a small rodent fled into the dark. That´s all crazy, Emily thought with an ease that kind of surprised her. Probably he had hit her head really hard she thought. Surely she was sitting in some corner on a dark street, her mind making up crazy stuff after she had sunken down and was now fantasizing on a first stage of dying from the cold. Surely nothing of this was real.

Quick steps were approaching her and the two peope that had hurried over from the other side of the street bent over her an turned out to be a middle aged man and a woman that might have been around her own age. She was wearing the same funny outfit as her companion and their faces looked tense, but Emily had the impression that she was usually a happy kind of character. Her hair, as much as she could tell in the twilight, were a dark shade of blue, sticking from her head in a wild hairdo.

She took out a stick similar to the one Emily had seen on the stranger and spoke one single word. At once, the stick´s tip illuminated in a pale light. She smiled. The man had carefully taken Emily by the shoulder, trying to sit her up. "Are you all right, Miss?" Emily forced a smile. He had to be around his lade 30s, his face was pale, but still he had likable, friendly looks that was emphasized by his kind brown eyes. His hair was a light shade of brown, streaked by some grey already, but still he had some kind of a boyish charme to him. "It…I´m all right." Emily said. "What…who…?" "We should get away from here first," the young woman interrupted apologetically, but Emily ignored that. "Who are you?" She had never seen those two before, yet they apparently had saved her from..someone. "My name is Remu Lupin", the man said "And this is Nymphadora Tonk." "Remus!" "All right then, just Tonks," he added when she gave him a friendly nudge. "And now we have to leave. Do you think you can walk, Miss….?" "I am Emily." she heard herself say. "Good. Emily", Lupin said and reached into his pocket, taking something out of it that looked like a big chunk of chocolate. "Eat that. You´ll feel better." She hesitated for a moment, then followed his suggestion, out of mere hunger. At once, a nice warmth began to spread in her toes and fingertips. "What in the world is that?" she asked surprised and Lupin gave a low chuckle. "Later." He said and him and the girl named Tonks helped her get to her feet. "You must be so frozen" he then added.

Emily let them help her, allowed them to take her between them. Somehow these two seemed all rigth, no danger coming from them. Her mistrust in people was rooted deep, but those two…they were kind. It had been a while since anyone had been kidn to her. Tonight, it occurred to her, maybe she would not freeze for a change. Maybe she would just sleep. And when she woke, she told herself, these two weirdos would have a number of questions two answer.