Disclaimer: Still not mine . . . .(if it was, I would be ecstatic!)
A/N: The third year in my series! (Yay!). And in my humble opinion (and my beta's) a vast improvement over year 2. Hope you enjoy! Italics are thoughts, like usual, and Underline is memories
Recap: Emma is Harry's second cousin (her mom and James were Cousins). She is friends with Draco and Cedric ( and is part of the Irish society. She is a highly skilled leglimens and a powerful empath (hope that covers everything).
Beta's note: Don't forget that she only has two real friends, Draco and Cedric. Poor Emma! Lol. this is an awesome year and I can't wait for you guys to read what I just read. :)
Chapter 1: Shock and Awe
Emma spent her first day back from school sleeping in. It was a great change to be home without the wild and uncontrollable teenage emotions floating around. The first week of break went by fairly quickly and also peacefully. She was surprised to get a letter from Draco at the end of the week.
Emma, How is your summer going? I, as per usual, am forced to keep company with my "friends" (cough, cough) and would give anything to have some enjoyable company. At least write me back to keep me from going insane. Maybe we can meet up during the summer. Draco
Emma could sense his complete boredom when he wrote the letter. She smiled and thought it was best not to mention that to him.
Draco, Summers are generally boring. At least you are forced to spend time with someone. My father works till late (when he is even in the country) and I see no one. Only for the dance competitions this summer will I actually see some people. Oh, I do see my chauffeur about twice a week. And the house elves– by the way, is your father still upset over his house elf? I do hope they are ok (his dinner too). Write me anytime, I like getting mail. It gives me something to do. I'll write a longer letter next time if I am sure you want another letter. Emma
The second week of summer, Emma traveled to Ireland for the weekend to go to a dance competition with some of the other girls in the Irish society. When she arrived back she found a letter from Draco.
Emma, Of course I want you to write me back! The longer the better, it will give me something to do-even if I can't write you a long letter back. It is odd, but I am actually looking forward to school again to be out of Dad's shadow. But then again, I just get into Harry's, so who knows which is worse? Draco
Draco, Hmm, do you really want me to tell you which is worse? I'll let you figure it out for yourself. Let me know if you can make it away from prying eyes sometime so we can meet up and actually talk to each other without our father's being around (or any of the wizarding world for that matter). Emma
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After about a month of being out of school, Emma learned through her father that Sirius Black had escaped.
"Emma, I want you to stay here. Don't leave the house unless I am with you or a ministry official that I will tell you about prior to you going out," Riley told her the night Sirius broke out.
"Why are you so concerned?" Emma asked
"WHY?" Riley bellowed. "He betrayed James and Lily, which resulted in their deaths, and was probably the bastard who betrayed and killed your mother."
"No," Emma said quietly
"Honey, I know that since he was close to all of them, his betrayal was even harder to accept, but that is what makes it all the worse. I just want to protect you in case he tries to eliminate the last of the Potters. It is feared he is going after Harry," Riley said.
"But Da, no one knows I am a Potter. You did a superb job of making sure of that. I am invisible in this world, even to my own cousin! Everyone thinks I died that night with Mum."
"Not if he is the one who killed your mother, he would know then that you didn't die that night," Riley said.
"He didn't betray mum," Emma said with conviction.
"Honey, I know you want to think that, but you are just going to have to trust me."
"Da, how many times have you said that I am a great people person? That I understand people better than most people you have met (he sighed and nodded). Trust me, Sirius didn't betray mum, and I highly doubt it is as it appears with what happened to James and Lily." Emma said. "I KNOW he didn't kill mum. You will have to trust me on this," Emma said.
Riley sighed. "Emma, normally I would trust you– you do have a keen sense about people– but this was before your time." Emma could sense his reluctance at this. Emma was tempted to sway him, but couldn't go against her principles. After all, they are what keeps me from becoming evil like Voldemort, Emma thought.
"All right. You can still go about normally, but I do want you to not go anywhere alone. You will either go with me, or John, is that clear?" He asked
Emma nodded. "Do you trust what I say about Sirius?" She asked.
"Somehow, . . . I want to, but I don't know. I never could have imagined Sirius was the one to betray your Mum until I learned about James and Lily, it is all so strange." Riley said.
"He didn't do it" Emma said and left the room. Riley looked after his daughter and wondered how she could be so sure. Emma knew it would break his heart if he knew the truth, that his wife continued to live on in their daughter.
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Emma found out about the Aunt Marge incident from her father who heard it from the ministry grapevine. Although it was understandable everyone worrying about him, she found the whole Aunt Marge thing hilarious.
The worse part was that when Emma went shopping for schools supplies at Diagon Alley she didn't get a chance to talk to Draco. Her father kept an eye like a hawk on her, and so she couldn't get a chance to get away even for a moment. She was happy she at least got to see him while he was shopping with his father. Lucius is such a bully. Poor Draco. I hope Draco doesn't continue to look up to his father. Emma thought.
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September first came and Riley wanted to get his daughter on the train safely. Hogwarts was, after all, the safest place for a person to be.
Emma found a carriage, and was joined by a few first years. I suppose it is useless to hope to one day actually get to sit with friends on the train ride. Emma sighed.
The train ride was proving to be uneventful, and just as Emma was getting used to the first years chatter-and telling them not to worry about their arrival at Hogwarts (No, you don't have to fight the Giant Squid), the train stopped.
Great. The first years are nervous enough! Emma thought.
"Emma, what is wrong? I feel cold, . . . and scared, and sad" one of the first years named Ellie said.
"I don't know" Emma said, but she was starting to panic. Something was walking the halls. Something not human.
"Peter? How could you? Why have you done this!" The memory of her mother's death was pressing to the forefront of her memory. As the creatures got closer, she could feel herself become more panicky and fearful.
Breathe, fight, don't give in to the memory . . .Emma tried to remind herself, but as the creatures got closer, she continued to lose herself in the memory.
"Emma, my baby, how is she going to remember me, remember the love I have for her?" Emily O'Neill thought as she was surrounded by Voldemort, his supporters, and her former friend turned traitor. "Peter, what could have made you do this? What have I ever done to you that you could do this to me?" Emily asked.
"Emma! Emma!" The first year girls were yelling. They felt cold and thought they would never be cheerful again, but Emma was yelling out someone's name, and screaming and crying. The first years were frightened. Suddenly, Emma collapsed to the floor as the creatures moved past their carriage.
Draco, like everyone else, felt the dementor's presence. After they had left his carriage, he left his minions to go see if Emma was alright. He was about to give up ever finding her carriage, and stopped ready to head back to his, when he heard a bunch of little girls creating a commotion. He looked, and there was Emma slumped on the floor. He reached for the handle and just as he was about to open the door, Percy walked by (making sure his Head Boy badge was noticeable).
"What are you doing here Malfoy? Only prefects should be monitoring the halls now," he reprimanded.
"Just seeing someone else who can't handle a little bit of the Boogy man." Draco drawled. "Some people can't handle themselves." He finished and walked back towards his carriage. He hated having to act like Emma was a weakling and he got enjoyment out of it.
Percy looked to where Draco was looking in the carriage, and gasped when he saw Emma. He immediately rushed in.
"Emma? Emma? Are you alright?" he asked and got down on the floor next to her. "Emma, wake up!"
Emma opened her eyes, but couldn't seem to get an idea of where she was at first. Percy helped her up, and decided to take her back to his carriage to keep an eye on her. Then he could get her to Madam Pomfrey as soon as they arrived. "Its OK Emma, you're coming with me." He said trying to reassure her.
They arrived back at his carriage where Oliver, Penelope, and some other Gryffindors were. "What on earth happened?" Oliver asked, quickly making room for her on the seat. They put Emma between Oliver and Percy.
"I found her– actually, Draco found her– slumped over in her compartment. I think it was the dementors." Percy said. "Any one have any chocolate?" He asked.
They had all eaten the chocolate frogs they bought of the cart already. Emma still seemed to be slightly dazed and confused which worried everyone.
"I'll find some" Penelope volunteered. She opened the door and ran straight into Cedric.
"Woah, you okay Penelope? The dementors are gone, you can slow down now," he said.
"Do you have chocolate?" She asked quickly.
"Um, yeah, (searches in his pockets) You have a sweet craving? Isn't that what your boyfriend is for?" He teased with a grin.
"Not for me, for Emma," Penelope snapped and motioned for him to look inside. Cedric almost dropped the chocolate frogs. He quickly moved past Penelope to Emma. "What happened?" He asked worriedly. He broke off a piece of chocolate and put it in her mouth.
"She was slumped over in her carriage, we think it was the dementors" Percy said.
The chocolate seemed to be working, because Emma started to look more alert and less dazed.
"Hey, you feeling better?" Cedric asked.
Emma nodded her head. "Yeah, what were those? Were those dementors?" She asked
"Yeah, pretty nasty, huh?" Oliver said.
"You've heard of them, right?" Percy asked.
"Yes, I've heard of them, just never been any where near any of them. I didn't realize they were so . . . horrid" Emma said.
"Here, eat some more chocolate. A girl can never have too much," Cedric said and handed her the rest of the chocolate frog plus the two left in his pockets.
"I don't need all of this, Cedric. I'm fine. Really, I am" She said looking at all of them when she finished.
"You're still going to see Pomphry when we arrive." Percy said. "I have to make rounds, I'll be back," he said to Emma.
Emma rolled her eyes. "I'll try to be here when you get back" She teased.
"Yup, your better." Oliver said with a grin. Cedric took Percy's spot next to Emma on the seat until he returned and Emma leaned against him as she tried to forget the memory.
When they arrived at the castle, Emma was back to normal, so she refused to see Madam Pomfrey.
The sorting took ages it felt like, and all Emma wanted to do was wrap up in her warm blankets and fall asleep, but at the same time she was afraid to go to sleep because she feared that horrible memory would come back to haunt her.
Why do they have to make you think of your worse memory? It isn't even MY worse memory. What if . . Emma couldn't even finish the thought. The idea of what happened if the memory had played out completely-all the way to the Avada Kedavra- was too horrifying to think about.
Suddenly, Dumbledore stood up for his announcements, and announced the new defense teacher.
"It is my pleasure to present Professor Lupin who will be teaching the post of Defense this year," Dumbledore said.
Immediately Emma's head snapped up and she scanned the teachers table to see him. Lupin. Here. I will finally meet Lupin. Emma thought. She could barely contain her excitement. Her fears of her mother's memory was forgotten for a moment.
I will finally get to meet one of the marauders. One of my mother's marauders. How will he treat me? Like my mother? Probably . . . Emma thought sadly.
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Emma arrived back at the dormitories, and found Hermione had gotten a pet over the summer.
"Hermione, is this your pet?" She asked.
"Oh, this is my cat, Crookshanks. Isn't he adorable? I saw the relationship between you and Pippin, and I couldn't say no when he found me." Hermione said excitedly.
"A cat you say. . ." Emma said. She looked into Hermione and realized she didn't realize about Crookshanks.
"Don't tell me you don't like him either? First Ron and his insensitivity, and now you?" She asked worriedly.
"Of course not! I would never have anything against another fellow like him. Um, when you bought him, did you learn anything special-did you have to sign any papers or did they tell you anything out of the ordinary?" Emma asked.
"No, why?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Do you know what Pippin is?" Emma asked.
"A cat, what does Pippin have to do with this?" She asked.
"Actually, Pippin is a Kneazle. They are similar to cats, most can't tell the difference. They are slightly different, though.
"Oh, I read about them in Fantastic Beasts! So Pippin is a kneazle then. Interesting to finally see one up close."
"Actually, you have seen two." Emma said.
"Where?" Hermione asked confused.
"You're holding the other." Emma said. Emma almost laughed because Hermione was so shocked she almost dropped Crookshanks.
"Crookshanks is a . . . a kneazle?" She asked.
"Not completely. He looks to only be about a quarter, maybe half. Since you didn't sign any papers or get a license for him, than he has to be less than half Kneazle." Emma said.
Emma noticed that the rest of the night, Hermione spent time researching Kneazle's, kneazle breeding in England, and Registration laws for classified beasts.
Just like Hermione. Tomorrow I will get to meet Lupin. I can't believe it. I'm so excited. A marauder . . .
Emma went to bed, looking forward to DADA for once, but also dreading it.