"Come on you two, or we'll all be late," Hannah called up the stairs to her children. Emilia and Will heaved their suitcases out into the landing. "And exactly how long are you planning on staying?" their mother smiled, pulling out her wand and levitated the cases safely down the stairs.

"Right, into the car," said Neville. Floo Powder had been getting more and more expensive since Ministry fell in 1998, and the economy was still recovering. A car was becoming a more commonly used mode of transport for wizards, as the fuel was so easy to brew at home.

Emilia plugged in her headphones and stared out of the window as the car pulled out of the driveway. Turning up the music, she fiddled with her hair and chewed the inside of her lower lip.

They were going to stay with the Potters for a week, whilst their parents supervised the beginnings of the refurbishment on the Leaky Cauldron; Hannah was planning on quitting her job to train as a doctor and wanted everything to be perfect for the new landlord or landlady. Harry and Ginny Potter had been happy to watch over them, and Emilia's mother had said that it would be a good opportunity for her to make some friends before she started school.

Emilia wasn't so optimistic. It was okay for Will; he had been best friends with the Potter's eldest son, James, for at least three of four years now. She, however, had resorted to hiding in her room or clinging to her mother's leg. Will had tried to introduce her to James, Fred Weasley, and the other Weasley children whenever they visited, but no matter how many times he had told her that they didn't bite, Emilia just forced a polite smile and stuck her nose back into her book. The lives of fictional characters were so exciting, she couldn't imagine any person would have anything quite as interesting to say.

The Potters had a gravelled driveway; the scraping of stones under the tires waking Emilia from her light doze. When the car stopped, she pulled out her headphones and wrapped them around her muggle music player.

"You look nervous," Will said, looking at her sideways.

"What if they don't like me; I don't know if I can go a week with only you to talk to," she grimaced, only half joking.

"And wouldn't that be a tragedy!" Will laughed, perhaps trying to make her feel better. "James is a little bit loud, but I think you'll like Albus. Just give them a chance. You want to have some friends, don't you?"

"I suppose so." Emilia opened the door and got out of the car. Her father had already dragged their cases to the door. Nibbling at her thumbnail, she swallowed hard and tried to calm her heartbeat.

Before they reached the front door, it opened to reveal a woman. Ginny Potter smiled that them. "I'm glad you got here safely. I don't really trust those muggle cars, not after what happened to Dad's." She embraced their mother and father, and stepped back. "Please, come in."

"I'm sorry, but we can't stay for long. The decorators will be arriving at the inn soon," Hannah sighed. "We're in for a stressful week."

"I can't remember the last time I saw you." Harry walked into the hallway, looking down at Emilia. "It must have been Christmas a couple of years ago." Emilia waved shyly, and smiled. Harry winked at her and turned to Will. "James is up in his room." Her brother disappeared, leaving her with no one to hide behind. She stood awkwardly beside her father whilst her parents spoke to the Potters about the refurbishments and how Emilia, Will, and James would be starting at Hogwarts next month.

"Now, you and your brother have got to be on your best behaviour, do you understand?" Neville ruffled his daughter's hair. Emilia raise an eyebrow at him. "Alright, I know you're good. Just make sure your brother doesn't do anything silly."

"I'll do my best," she said, smiling innocently.

"I'm sure you will. We'll be leaving now. Don't worry, Harry and Ginny are going to take good care of you." Emilia's mother knew her too well. After kisses goodbye, Emilia watched until her parents' car disappeared at the end of the driveway.

"Would you like to see your room?" Harry waved his wand, just has her mother had, made their bags float up the stair, him staying close behind.

"Yes, thank you." Emilia followed Harry up the staircase, along the landing and into a room at the end of the hallway. It was bright and airy, had a double bed with blue sheets and white furniture. "This is lovely, thank you."

"You're very welcome. Listen, Ginny and I are just popping out for a bit to get some food. If you need anything, you can ask Albus. He's downstairs in the living room. We won't be long."

Emilia nodded and opened up her bag. She began to hang her clothes up in the wardrobe and placed her other belongings on the chest of draws. Once she'd finished, she sat down on the bed and decided to continue the book she'd been reading.

She didn't know how much time passed before the door to her room creaked open. Her heart gave a little squeeze; no one walked in. Only when a small splash of coloured movement caught her eye did Emilia look up from her book. From behind the half-open door peeped a rag doll, not half a metre tall.

Emilia gulped, having never been very fond of dolls. And, even though she had seen such magic, she was certainly not fond of things that moved when they shouldn't. Putting her book down on the bedside table, Emilia slid off the bed and walked tentatively towards the door. The doll moved its head from side to side, in a manner that made Emilia wish had some sort of weapon or a wand, anything to protect her from any sudden movements.

The doll flew at her.

Letting out an ear-splitting scream, Emilia threw up her arms to stop the doll from hitting her face. The doll dropped to the floor and was still for a moment until, to her horror, it began to get up, turning to face her. Not noticing the other toys that were marching themselves into her bedroom, Emilia kicked the doll as hard as she could, screaming again as the army approached her.

Her entire body shook, and tears began to involuntarily fall from her eyes. Cursing herself for being such a baby, she scrambled under the bed, curling up to contain her sobs. Emilia hoped that once she opened her eyes, the horror film would be over.

The thuds on the ground seemed to move closer and closer. She gripped herself tighter and tighter. There was yelling coming from somewhere, hard to distinguish over the pounding of her own heartbeat.

Something touched her arm, and she screamed again.

"It's alright, it's alright," came a voice. Emilia fell silent, opening her eyes towards the sound. A boy was lying on the floor next to her bed, his hand reaching out to her. "They've gone now, you can come out."

Emilia shifted out from under the bed, standing up shakily and brushing the dust off of her clothes. The boy stood in front of her was almost at her height, looked around ten years old and distinctly like his father, right down to the green of his irises. "Albus?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm just a little shaken." She tried to smile, wiping her tear-stained cheeks. "What was that?"

"James thinks he's being funny. He doesn't know when to stop sometimes."

"Your brother did this?"

"I said it wasn't supposed to turn out like that. It was supposed to be a joke, to make you laugh." Another boy entered to room, followed by Will. He was taller and leaner than his younger brother, with long, messy, black hair. He too looked a lot like his father, but bore the soft brown, Weasley eyes.

"Just leave her alone, James." Albus spat. "Emilia, do you want a drink or something?"

"That would be nice, thank you." She followed Albus out of the room, shooting a quick look at Will as she passed him. She couldn't believe he had just gone along with something like this. He was her only friend, and he knew her. He knew she didn't like things like this.

"He goes along with pretty much everything James does," Albus gave her a sad smile, seeming to have read her mind.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I try to avoid him. He can talk his way out of everything."

At dinner, Emilia sat in between Albus and Lily, a quiet girl who looked a lot like her mother. She didn't look at or speak to her brother or James, who sat across from her at the table. She could feel someone stealing glances her, but when she looked up, she didn't catch anyone.

Wanting to believe that James wouldn't deliberately try to hurt her, and that Will wouldn't let anything bad happen to her on purpose, she decided to let the incident with the dolls slide. But there was still something about James that kept her on edge; with the quiet life Emilia was used to, his lively nature could only cause her trouble.