November 1990 (10 years old)
Ever since Mary had lectured her about controlling her magic, especially when surround by Muggles, Emily had been extremely careful in controlling her magic, only letting it loose when she was home and no one could see her. But that day, her anger got the better of her, and her control slipped.
Emily sat fuming in her desk. She absolutely loathed school. Her teacher, Ms. Ellerd, was the most insensitive, critical, vindictive woman on Earth. Just because she couldn't always see Emily, didn't mean the redhead was skipping class! Just because Emily never raised her hand in class, didn't mean she was an idiot! And it certainly didn't mean she wanted to be called on to answer every other question. Ellerd didn't like Emily, and Emily didn't like Ellerd. Emily wasn't sure who would be happier when Emily transferred next year.
"Ms. Freeman," Ellerd called.
Emily looked up and glared at her. What now, she wondered.
"Would you kindly do us all the favor of paying attention in class, Ms. Freeman?" Ellerd continued. "Just because you do not know the answers to the questions I ask, doesn't mean you should give up on the entire class. Pay attention, and with any luck, you'll learn something."
Emily was seething. "I do know the answers," she said through gritted teeth.
Ellerd raised her eyebrows. "You never volunteer any information in class. Obviously, you know nothing."
Emily glared at her but said nothing. She knew it wasn't worth it to start a row with Ms. Ellerd, but her control was slipping away. Her insides burned; she felt as if she were on fire. Steam began slowly streaming from her pores. Her vision blurred, and the classroom turned shades of red, orange, and gold. Her hair stood on end crackling with energy. Everyone was staring at her.
Emily groaned and closed her eyes. Calm down! she thought desperately trying to suppress the magic. She squeezed her eyes shut and thrust her anger and frustration deep inside her where it lay smoldering. She could feel herself cooling down, her hair settling around her, and when she opened her eyes, her vision was again normal. Emily bit her lip and tried to ignore her staring classmates.
"Did you see her?"
"It looked like she was on fire. . ."
"And her hair, did you see her hair?"
To her left, Emily could feel Charlotte's and Sara's eyes boring holes into her, but she refused to look at them. What were they going to think of her now? First what happened at the beginning of the year and now this. Either they would think she was a freak, or they would start asking questions she couldn't answer, honing in on the truth. Ms. Ellerd was also staring at her. "Ms. Freeman," she said quietly. "please, stay after class." Emily nodded mutely, worry gnawing at her stomach. What on earth was she going to say to explain what happened?
Emily knew it was no longer just an issue of the enmity between her and Ellerd but protecting her family's secret and keeping her friends. Oh Merlin, she thought to herself, wanting to beat her head on her desk. Mary was going to be so mad! Mary had already warned her about keeping her cool, and Emily had tried to listen to her, but sometimes. . .
The bell rang, and Emily remained in her desk as the rest of the class filed out of the room after the bell sounded. Charlotte and Sara were the last out, glancing back at Emily who stared straight ahead, steadfastly avoiding their gaze. She didn't want to think about what her friends thought just yet. She had a bigger problem at the moment. What in Merlin's name was she going to say?
Ms. Ellerd had her back to Emily, erasing the day's lessons from the whiteboard. Emily waited, her anxiety mounting. Finally, Ms. Ellerd set the eraser down and turned to face Emily. "Come here, Emily," she said sitting down at her desk. Emily slowly got to her feet and walked to the front, stopping in front of the desk. Ms. Ellerd looked at Emily without saying a word. Emily stared back defiantly, her fear and anxiety fading, replaced by her earlier anger and a strong desire to pull the wool of Ms. Ellerd's little blue eyes. She was determined to fool Ellerd into believing whatever ridiculous lie she came up with. Finally, Ms. Ellerd sighed and opened her mouth.
"Can you explain what happened earlier, Emily?"
She waited expectantly as Emily racked her brains for an excuse and found nothing, but then Emily opened her mouth, and the words tumbled out: "You see, I've not been feeling well lately, Ms. Ellerd. I feel too hot all the time, and my friends have been telling me that my face is always pink. This started a few days ago, but I didn't want to miss school even though I felt so sick. Then yesterday, mum took me to see a doctor, and he told me it was a thermo-electro imbalance, nothing contagious, so I could still go to school. He gave me some medicine which is supposed to fix the imbalance, but he said that 'the expelling of excess heat and electricity,'" she continued, using her fingers to trace invisible quotations in the air around the phrase, "would be rather strange. The heat would leave my body through my skin, and the electricity would leave through my hair. He told my mum and me that with my red hair, it would literally look like I was on fire."
Ms. Ellerd was nodding, completely believing the story that Emily was making up as she went. "The good thing," continued Emily, "is that I should be better really soon though it is possible that this imbalance might come back, so I shouldn't be surprised if it does, but the chances of that, he says, are very slim." She was prattling now, realized Emily. Time to quit talking and hope that Ms. Ellerd believed this impossible explanation.
"Well, I'm very sorry to hear you haven't been feeling well, Emily," said a bewildered Ms. Ellerd, completely trusting the fictitious doctor's diagnosis. "And of course, I'm very glad to hear that you're getting better, but I trust that we won't have any more of these episodes during class. They are quite disruptive, and you do need to concentrate so that you can learn something."
"Of course, Ms. Ellerd," simpered Emily, giving the teacher her fakest smile. "Can I go now? I need to find my brother."
She nodded, and Emily left the classroom, practically running until she was outside and on the road home. At that point, Emily could no longer contain it. She burst out laughing. She couldn't believe Ellerd swallowed the story. Even Emily wouldn't have believed herself. But then again, Muggles were known to go to extreme lengths to ignore the extraordinary, even when it was right in front of their noses. She'd give the same story to her friends tomorrow, decided Emily. They were bound to be anxiously waiting to hear what happened and coming up with crazy theories until they saw her tomorrow, but she was fairly confident they would believe her as well. Just so long as they didn't connect what happened that afternoon in the park when her magic leaked with the incident today.