(1)

"Emma."

Emma Payne looked up from her textbook to see Professor Nilsson stood over her, holding a crumpled square of paper which Emma knew to be a MI, the almost instant messaging system used by staff and students alike at Hogwarts.

"Professor Longbottom would like to see you in his office upstairs," Professor Nilsson said.

"N...now?" Emma stammered – it was almost unheard of for someone to get called out in the middle of a lesson. This must be about the trouble she and her friends had got into at the weekend.

"Us too?" Matilda asked, getting to her feet, and pointing to JJ Jordan, the third member of their quartet.

"Sit down, Matilda," Professor Nilsson said firmly. "Off you go, Emma."

Emma got to her feet slowly. She wanted to ask for someone to go with her, but she didn't dare. Why would Professor Longbottom just want to see her, and not the others? Of course, he could've summoned Archie too – Archie MacMillan, the final member of the first year quartet, was a Ravenclaw, and therefore not in Modern History of Magic with the Gryffindors.

Emma was so deep in thought that when she rounded the last corner on the seventh floor corridor where Professor Longbottom's Head of House Office was, she almost walked into Professor Longbottom himself.

"S... sorry," she stammered, but her Head of House was smiling.

"Ahh, Emma," he said. "Don't look so worried, you're not in any trouble."

Emma thought this was a strange thing for him to say, since she and her friends were in a lot of trouble.

"There's someone here to see you," Professor Longbottom continued. "His name's Draco Malfoy, and he's your father."

"M...my... father?" Emma stammered. Since she was little, she'd imagined meeting her father, who'd often resembled a knight or a superhero, who would swoop in and sort Steve out. Once she'd found out she was a witch, she'd started imagining that her dad was a wizard and that he'd come and curse Steven into a million pieces. "Is... is he a wizard?" was all she could think to ask now.

"Yes," Professor Longbottom smiled. "And he's really keen to meet you."

Then, before Emma had any chance to collect her thoughts about her father, or consider whether or not she wanted to meet him, Professor Longbottom pushed open his office door and ushered Emma inside.

At the sight of the man sat by the window, Emma's heart gave a little leap, as if she recognised him, although she was certain she'd never seen him before. Emma knew that, visually, she took after her mum very little, and now she could see that she took after her father instead. He had the same blonde hair she did; the same pointed face and pale grey eyes. He looked at her, and she looked at him, and nobody spoke until Professor Longbottom said,

"I'll leave you to it."

He left the room, shutting the door behind him, and Emma was left alone with Draco Malfoy, the stranger who was also her father.

"Emma, come and sit down," her father said quietly, and it suddenly struck Emma that he was nervous too. He'd seated himself on the sofa in the window instead of at Professor Longbottom's desk, and, tentatively, Emma sat down at the other end of the sofa. "I suppose I ought to explain why I've taken so long to meet you," he said, once she'd sat down.

Emma nodded, wordlessly, still taking it all in. She was actually meeting her father!

"I must confess I knew nothing about you until this time last year, when Lo- Professor Longbottom wrote to me," Emma's father said. "And, since then, I've been waiting, watching from a distance, for the right time to meet you."

The right time was twelve years ago, Emma thought, but she didn't say it- if her dad had only known she existed for a year, she guess he couldn't've been expected to get involved in her life years ago.

"I don't know what you're mum's told you about me-" her father began.

"She had a one night stand with you," Emma told him, and she was unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice. She's spent years imagining how her life would be different if her parents had been more than a one night stand. Maybe Steve wouldn't be on the scene, or at least Emma would've had a chance to meet her father, and been able to spend some of her childhood with him rather than her mum and Steve. "She said she couldn't remember your name, but she thought maybe it had something to do with a duck."

Her father smiled, betraying the merest hint of a personality beneath the emotionless exterior. "I was very drunk that night," he confessed. "My father had just told me he wanted nothing to do with me, and cut me out of his will – disowned me completely. So I went into a Muggle bar, where I knew no one would recognise me... and got very drunk, and..."

"Made me," Emma supplemented.

Her father nodded. "And I really had no idea – the possibility never even crossed my mind."

Emma didn't know what to say to that. What did he want her to say? – that it was okay that she'd lived for twelve years without a dad because he couldn't be bothered to find out that his causal encounter had resulted in a child, a child who'd spend the next decade knowing she ranked not even half as highly as her step-father's own children. Emma knew that bitterness wasn't the best way to start off her relationship with her father, but it was hard not to be bitter as she imagined what the last twelve years of her life would've been like with him in it.

"I'm sorry, Emma," Draco said. "I'm sorry I haven't been involved in your life up until now, but I want to change that. I want to learn all about you and get involved in your life."

"I want to know about you first," Emma said, sitting back and folding her arms. She'd always found it better to take more than you gave, early on in any relationship – you were less likely to get hurt that way.

For a split second, however, she'd thought she'd blown it. Then her father nodded and said, "Fair enough. What do you want to know?"

Emma considered. "Do you have any other family?" she asked.

"Apart from you and my father?" her dad asked. "Yeah, there's my mother, my wife, and our son, Scorpius, who's a fifth year here."
"You were married when you slept with my mum?" Emma asked.

"Yes," her father said simply.

"Does your wife know?" Emma asked.

"Yes," her father said. "Astoria knows. I told her at the time, and she's forgiven me. She's looking forward to meeting you."

Emma chose to ignore that last comment. "What house is Scorpius in?"

"Slytherin," her father told her. "The thing is, Emma, I made some bad choices during the War. Sure, I was predisposed toward them, since my whole family supported Voldermort during the last war, but my choices were mind alone."

"What-?" Emma began.

"I was a Death Eater," Draco told her. "I trust you've come across the term in class?" Emma nodded. "I joined up at barely sixteen. I quickly found out that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, and I did a lot of things I regret in the following two years until the war ended. I'm not proud of what I did, and I've spent the time since trying to make up for it. I'm not perfect, Emma, but I'm trying."

Despite everything he'd told her, Emma couldn't help but like her father, and not just because he was her father. He had an air about him – the air of someone who'd made peace with himself and his past. He seemed to be reassuringly sturdy, and promised a stability which had been lacking in Emma's life up until now.

"So... I heard you have brothers and sisters," Emma's father said, after a slight pause.

"From who?" Emma asked.

"Professor Longbottom," her father told her. "He's been helping me keep an eye on you this year. So, you want to tell me about them?"

Emma wondered why her father was interesting in Eddie, Ellie and Evie. Steve had long since made it clear that he wasn't interested in her or anything to do with her. Her father hadn't even met her siblings – why should he care?

"Eddie's eight – nearly nine," Emma told her father. "He likes Moshi Monsters and football and Charlie and Lola... and you don't know what any of that is, do you?"

"No," her father smiled. "I have absolutely no idea. But carry on."

"He makes me laugh, even when I feel like crying," she paused, searching for the words to describe her brother. "I think he's my best friend. Ellie's seven. She likes lego and art, and she hates reading, but she reads bedtime stories to Evie because she knows how much she likes it, and I'm not there to read them. And Evie's four, and she likes jumping on the trampoline and playing in the garden and Peppa Pig, and she's just leaning to swim, and she sends me pictures every week, and she can even write her name on them now."

The weight of how much she missed her younger siblings suddenly hit Emma, and despite the underlying worry about the 'stealing things' incident, she couldn't wait to go home in ten days time and see them all.

"Their father – he's married to your mother, right?" Emma's father asked, and Emma nodded. "How old her you when they go married?"

"Three," Emma told him. "Mum was like pregnant out here with Eddie."

"D'you get on okay with him?"

Emma spent a while considering how to answer that. 'No' would be the truth, but she hadn't been very old when she'd learned that the correct answer was always 'Yes, everything's fine.'

"Emma," her father prompted, and Emma sighed.

"He's not my dad – why should we get on?" she said.

"So... you don't get on?" her father asked. Emma shook her head. "Would you want to get on better with him?"

Emma shrugged. "No. I don't give a damn about him."

Emma's father's face turned serious. "Professor Longbottom wrote to me and told me that you seemed very worried when he mentioned writing home to your mum and step-dad, and part of the reason I've come here today is to check whether everything's okay at home."
"So... you know about the 'stealing things' incident?" Emma asked tentatively, not knowing her father well enough yet to gage how he'd react.

"Yes," her father said simply. "And we can discuss that later, but right now I'm concerned with how things are at home."

"They're not good," "Emma said quietly. "I hate Steve." She felt her hands ball into fists. "He's never seem me as his daughter, and he goes out of his way to remind anyone and everyone that I'm not, and... and he's got a horrible temper, and when he's mad I try and keep Eddie and Ellie and Evie out of his way so he won't hit them, so then he hits me instead, but at least I'm keeping them safe from him... but now I'm at Hogwarts I can't do that... I'm keeping myself safe, but I can't keep them safe."

"It's not your job to keep them safe," Emma's father growled, and Emma glanced up at him nervously. She thought she saw his lips form the angry word 'bastard', but when he spoke again, his voice was relatively calm. "You're just a kid yourself. You shouldn't have to keep anyone safe – other people should keep you safe. None of this is your fault."

"But-" Emma began, but her father cut her off.

"It's not your fault. If your step-dad's got a temper, then that's his problem – there are no circumstances which make it okay for him to take it out on you or your brother or sisters. Perhaps I should pay this Steve a visit and remind him of that..."

"No!" Emma said urgently, desperate to make her father understand how much of a bad idea going to see Steve was. "Please don't!"

"Will things change if I don't?" her father asked.

"No..." "Emma said reluctantly. "But... he won't listen to you – he doesn't listen to anyone."

"Does he listen to your mum?" her father asked.

Emma shook her head. Not that her mum would ever try to stop Steve doing something, or try to change him in any way. As much as Emma loved her mum, she sometimes thought that if she was any more passive, she'd be dead.

"Then let me pay him a visit," Emma's father said. "I can be very persuasive when I need to be, and I'll make it very clear that I won't let him hurt you again."

"Or Eddie, Ellie, or Evie," Emma said quietly, understanding why her father was just focussing on her, but still feeling he was missing the point. She didn't like it when Steve hit her, but it was far better than watching her siblings get hurt.

"Them too," her father nodded. "I promise you I'll fix this, Emma. That's what dads are for."

"Okay..." Emma said tentatively, still not entirely comfortable with her father going to see Steve, but aware that she wasn't going to be able to dissuade him.

Her father removed a watch from the pocket of his robes and checked the time. "I can't say much longer, and I needed to see Scorpius before I go. But, if you like, and if Professor Longbottom agrees, I'd like to take you out for tea for your birthday next week."

"I'd like that," Emma said, smiling shyly. "But... could it maybe not be on my actual birthday? I..."

"Of course – you want to spend your birthday with your friends," her father nodded.

"It's not that I don't want to have tea with you-" Emma said hurriedly, anxious that he understand.

Her father cut her off. "It's okay, Emma," he said reassuringly. "I understand. I'll ask Professor Longbottom which other day would be best."

Emma got to her feet to leave.

"Emma," her father said, reaching out for her hand. Emma let him take it. "I want you to know how sorry I am for not being a part of your life up until now. I'm going to change that. And I also want you to know that, should you ever want it, there will always be a home for you with me."

"I... I couldn't leave Eddie, Ellie and Evie," Emma stammered, quickly dismissing the fleeting leap her heart gave at the thought of never having to see Steve again.

"I know," her father nodded. "But the offer's always there, should you ever change your mind. Now, you'd better get off to dinner. I'll see you next week. And don't worry about Steve – I'm going to fix things."

As Emma walked down to dinner, she couldn't help but think that, despite how unrealistic it sounded, her father really was going to fix things.

A/N: Okay, here's the plan - one of each of the five Emma Shorts posted each Monday in May, provided I get the last three typed up in time...