Author's Note: It's really out of character for me to wake up at five in the morning for an early work day and have to start on a one-shot for A Magical Garden. Especially a non-romance one. I was watching the news with my coffee and cereal, as is my pre-work routine, and the idea struck me and I absolutely had to get it started. I hope you like it!
As with the previous MG One-Shot, Curiosity Blooms, as well as any to follow, this one can stand alone, but unlike it's predecessor, this does not have a specific "place" within the other. There is a bit from Chapter 20 in here, though. As of the time I post this story, MG20 has yet to be updated, but don't worry, the conversation is not a spoiler!
All characters and whatnot are from the depths of JKR's wonderfully creative mind. The rest is mine.
A Magical Garden: No Shrinking Violet
Emmeline Vance prided herself on her upbringing. Her family were well off and respected in the wizarding community, with her mother a celebrated Healer at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and her father holding an advising position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic. The Vance family could trace magic back in their families for several generations, and were not ashamed of the occasional Muggle or Squib who decorated their family tree.
You see, the Vance family were well known for being fair. This was why eleven-year-old Emmeline, affectionately called "Emma" or "Em" by everyone, took Muggle-born Lily Evans under her wing on the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on September 1, 1971. There had been some sort of altercation between Lily, her then-best friend Severus Snape, and James Potter that had distressed her. Then, something made her decide to search out girls to chat with, and that was how Emma found her. Add a dash of blonde bombshell Marlene McKinnon and the exotic looking Dorcas Meadows, and their quartet was complete, and rumors stated that they were the most attractive witches in their year. Emma could hardly bring herself to believe that. Well, it was easy to believe it of Marlene and Dorcas, as they looked like movie stars before properly hitting puberty, and Lily certainly had great beauty in her future with her fiery red hair, charming collection of freckles, and captivating green eyes. She was a pretty little thing at eleven, and Emma did not need to be a Seer (which she wasn't) to know that Lily just needed to grow into herself (which she eventually did) to reach the level of beauty that Dorcas and Marlene already achieved. But, Emma was a fair sort, so she took her peers' words into consideration that she was not the Plain Jane she often assumed she was. Her look was basic enough: Dark, super straight hair that was very shiny and hung to her waist with perfectly straight fringe (she would have it no other way) and usually adorned with an Alice band, large brown eyes with long lashes, and none of the skin troubles her classmates commonly dealt with (Besides, when she did have a blemish, she was skilled enough with those charms to take care of that!).
During her first year at Hogwarts, Emma shared classes with her fellow Gryffindors, which included her new circle of friends, as well as the Marauders. The Marauders consisted of four wizards: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. She and Remus instantly got on well with their studious natures, and had even discussed dating at one point, but that ended up being more uncomfortable than anything, so they simply remained close friends. James and Sirius, on the other hand, were overwhelming to Emma's sensibilities. They often strove to bring a blush to her cheeks and fluster her, which, to Emma's embarrassment, was not particularly difficult to accomplish. Emma was raised in an old-fashioned manner. Young ladies were to be young ladies. No sex, no crude language, and other such "unladylike" things. It took quite a bit of time for her to grow used to her friends' tendency to go against everything she was raised on, for Dorcas and Marlene swore like sailors and snogged boys like it was a recreational sport, and Lily was somewhere in the middle (but leaning more toward the other two than she was Emma). The redhead frequently joked that Emma was an "Old Soul."
Emma had to agree, and she even approved of the sentiment. Each girl played their role in their circle. They were like the four elements. Dorcas was passionate fire, Marlene was free-spirited air, Lily was the serene (yet powerful) water, and Emma was earth: grounded and maternal. They completed each other.
There was still a fourth Marauder. Peter Pettigrew was the surprising member of their little gang. He idolized James and Sirius, and typically went along with everything they did. He was certainly the odd one out. He did not have the bloodlines that James and Sirius could boast of (the Houses of Potter and Black could be traced back centuries), nor could he be compared to Remus in terms of intellect. In fact, if she was more of the betting sort, Emma would throw in a few sickles that Remus was the reason Peter would consistently scrape together passing marks in any of their classes.
Peter Pettigrew was the unlikely Marauder, and there was something about him that set Emma on edge.
No, nothing like that. Emma was not interested in boys in that manner. There was just something about him that she did not like.
The first time Emmeline Vance met Peter Pettigrew was in Diagon Alley when she was four. They were in the bookstore and Peter had knocked her into a shelf without a passing glance. His mother, an equally plump and plain woman, had given numerous apologies to Emma and Mrs. Vance, forcing the young Peter to do the same. He did, but so obviously lacked sincerity that even the four-year-old Emma could see right through it. However, the adults took it at face value, and all was supposedly made right.
In time, the Flourish and Blotts incident was forgotten and Emma turned eleven and received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts. It was aboard the Hogwarts Express that she had her next experience with Peter. It was not as "dramatic" as getting pushed into a bookshelf, but it still stuck in her mind.
She was walking through the corridor in search of an empty compartment, struggling to drag her trunk and hold her stub-tailed brown tabby kitten, Willow, when a door slid open next to her, revealing Peter.
It was like someone walked over her grave. A chill traveled down her spine and she instantly felt uneasy. Willow had hissed in her arms.
"Emmeline, right?" Peter had said. "Emmeline Vance?"
"Yes," replied Emma quietly. "And you are Peter Pettigrew." It was not a question. Willow hissed again, which was odd, as Willow never hissed at anyone.
"W-Which house do y-you want to be in?" Peter stammered. He was trying his best to sound cordial, but it sounded almost tinny to Emma's ears.
"I do not know. Ravenclaw, perhaps."
"That's groovy. I hope to get into Gryffindor."
"Good luck, then, Peter."
"Yeah. Bye." Before Emma could say anything more, he slid the door closed. It was a polite conversation, and she attributed the discomfort to new-student jitters before finding a compartment that was blessedly empty. After a time, the door was thrown opened and Marlene and Dorcas literally fell inside, giggling about something nonsensical. They asked to stay and, since it was her nature, Emma invited them to sit. Then, Lily came in search of female companionship ("Boys are so stupid!"), and it was as though the pieces had fallen into place.
They were an unlikely crew, but they worked well together. When they arrived at the school, they were sorted into Gryffindor House together (Emma sensing Lily's discomfort when her only pre-Hogwarts friend was sent to the rival Slytherin House), and that night Emma confided her feelings about Peter. The others had waved her worries aside, stating that it was probably a "boys will be boys" situation. Emma conceded that point and decided to wait things out. Then, the conversation drifted to Lily's less-than-impressive first impression with James Potter and a soon-to-be legendary rivalry was born.
Peter had, of course, been granted his wish and was sorted into Gryffindor, so Emma saw him frequently, in class and out. Then, he made friends with her friend, Remus, so she was around him even more. Within a few weeks of their first year, the Marauders were born and, as James and Sirius were friends with Dorcas and Marlene, they were around more and more. And Emma's feeling never wavered. There was something odd with Peter!
The years progressed. Lily and James finally stopped quarreling long enough to realize that they were, in fact, perfect for each other, and Emma hoped that the now near-constant exposure to Peter would change the feeling she had.
One day in their seventh year, they had completed a particularly difficult lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Their teacher, Professor Milder, had brought in a half dozen boggarts to turn into dementors to help them learn the Patronus Charm. It was exhausting, yet it invigorated Emma. For her whole life, she wanted to be a Healer like her mother, and for the first time, she was considering that another path was possible.
Their usual group were eating lunch together, each looking worse for wear. Despite the way her blood was rushing through her veins, Emma was tired. Although, judging by the way Dorcas was quickly approaching total nervous breakdown, she was better off than many of the others. She focused on calming her friend down while the other brunette was ranting about how Professor Milder had to be completely mental.
"He still could have started off a bit smaller and worked up to six. And I never want to eat chocolate again," Peter whined, his voice making Emma think of a disgruntled first year. She mentally scolded herself. That was not fair to Peter. He did poorly in the lesson, only managing the faintest corporal patronus (a rat) at the last possible moment when he was up against the boggart-dementors. Of course he was upset!
Emma straightened in her seat. "Regardless, we all need to eat some lunch to get our strength back up or we will never make it through the rest of our lessons today." Not to mention that all of her friends were significantly more pleasant with full bellies.
Dorcas raised her hand and announced, "I make a motion to skive."
"I second that," motioned Marlene.
Oh, no, that will never do. They were N.E.W.T. students, for Merlin's sake! Emma could not bear to see her friends fall behind from one Defense lesson.
She felt her maternal instincts take over. "No. When we get into the real world, this is the sort of thing we are going to have to deal with." She thought about all of the attacks on Muggles and Muggleborns that she was reading about in the Daily Prophet. She thought of Lily, who she was closest to out of anyone at Hogwarts, and of Mary MacDonald, a sweet sixth year who was attacked not too long after the new year. "We are going to be training for our careers, working part-time to pay for all of that, and who knows what state our society is going to be in, so we have to toughen up."
Emma knew she was acting out of character. She was always the sort who spoke her mind, but not so loudly. Her seven companions were staring at her as though she had sprouted a second head. She was impassioned. Was this how Dorcas usually felt?
Emma could not say she disliked it.
Lily found her voice first. "Why are you not applying to the Auror Academy, again? I think even Voldemort would be frightened of you if you glared at him in the way you are glaring at us right now."
Emma was surprised that the mention of the name of the darkest wizard of their time did not strike it's usual fear in her. Perhaps she would make a good Auror. Feeding off of this newfound strength, she tossed her hair behind her shoulder. "Maybe I will. Things are not getting better out there, and they will need all the Aurors they can get."
"Hear, hear," said Marlene, her goblet of pumpkin juice raised. Everyone toasted Emma's words, and she made eye contact with Peter. His toast was less enthused than the others, and this brought her typically ignored feelings of unease where he was concerned to the surface.
His eyes, frankly, frightened her to an extent. Nothing like the idea of fighting Voldemort frightened her, but a familiar chill ran down her spine, nonetheless. There was no fire in his eyes like there was in the others. Nothing that hinted that he was going to be fighting alongside them if it came to that. Nothing indicated that he was even on their side, anymore.
Where did he stand?
Would he betray them? Would he betray the other Marauders?
Emma noticed Lily looked contemplative while they chatted about career hypotheticals of their futures. She kept glancing at Peter out of the corner of her eye. Lily did not realize that Emma saw her actions, but the redhead had to have felt something in Peter, too. After a moment, Lily blinked and the dazed look vanished from her green eyes. She must have dismissed what she thought she had sensed in Peter.
Emma, however, could not dismiss it. They were losing Peter. He was no longer as irrevocably on their side as the rest were.
She just knew it. She did not know how she knew, but she did.
The thing was, if he betrayed them, was there anything she would be able to do to help?
Author's Note #2: As you know, Emmeline Vance is one of the Order of the Phoenix members who go to Number Four Privet Drive to guide a fifteen-year-old Harry Potter to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place in 1995. So, where I stand with the A Magical Garden version of Emmeline, she is forever suspicious of Peter for a reason that is unknown to her. We all know what Peter is destined to do, so she returns to the Order when it is reformed to try to fix what he had done to her best friend. I just wanted to give some more depth to Emma, who I have always enjoyed writing. I feel she deserves something a little extra. The way I write her, she is so different that the other girls that I sometimes wonder why I write her that way (and how Dorcas and Marlene can stand it). When the four element analogy popped into my head forever ago, so I just had to share it!