Chapter 3 – Worries

'What's wrong?' asked Richard to a very distracted Emma.

The four of them were in the living room again after dinner. Both Jane and Hermione were reading, and it seemed like this was routine for them. Richard, however, had been watching the news, but now he was curious as to why Emma had suddenly looked as if she was terrified. Only moments ago she had been bubbling with anticipation, obviously impatient to get out and explore, but now she was staring at a wall and wrapping her arms around herself, trying to make herself smaller. Hermione had noticed too as she had been trying to persuade Emma that it wasn't rude to go out before they'd all gone to bed, but it hadn't worked.

After Hermione noticed the dark look on Emma's face, she put her book down and sidled closer to Emma to hug her and whispered under her breath so her parents wouldn't hear. She knew exactly what Emma was thinking as that look had been on her own face plenty of times in the past few weeks.

'I'm fine, Emma. I'm right here and safe, thanks to you.'

It took a while for Emma to recover, though she wasn't the same as before, tainted as she was by the memory of Hermione being hit with the Cruciatus Curse, the one where she was writhing on the floor screaming. In reality, the curse had only been active for a few seconds, but to both Hermione and Emma, it had felt a lot longer than that. Hermione was sure that Emma was having a worse time of it than she was, mainly because all she could remember was the pain, but Emma, thanks to her improved senses, could remember every single little detail from the sound of Hermione falling to the floor, to the way her muscles had twitched, and the pitch of her scream. Of course, Emma disagreed. She had gone up to the dormitories at Hogwarts a couple of times, after hearing Hermione have nightmares, and stayed with her until she'd calmed down and fallen back to sleep, so she knew Hermione wasn't coping very well either.

It wasn't something they'd spoken to Richard or Jane about, and instead opted to give the same story that they had told Harry and Ron. Hermione wasn't happy with keeping something from her parents, but these tense moments were the closest she and Emma ever came to talking about it. It was just too sore a subject, and they avoided it as much as they could.

'I was just remembering the time I attacked Hermione.' said Emma, flatly.

She didn't want to tell the truth, but given the reaction she'd just had, she thought she wouldn't be able to avoid a difficult subject, so she gave a different memory instead. The two memories were closely linked in her mind as two of her worst, and that was saying something. The others all included her death, which wasn't something she felt that Richard or Jane were ready to hear, so she went with the least worst option.

Hermione's parents were very shocked when the two of them had to explain what happened, but their worries were mostly assuaged when Emma and Hermione had said that that was the moment the two of them really became close friends. They also started laughing when the two girls started bickering, blaming themselves for what happened and not letting the other claim responsibility.

'So, what are you planning to do tonight?' asked Richard to Emma, trying not-so-subtly to intervene.

'Think I'm going to climb that church down the road, to see if I can get a better view of the area.'

'The church?' wondered Richard.

'Mmhmm.' affirmed Emma, nodding. 'It's the tallest building I could see from the roof.'

'Is that going to be safe for you?' he asked, genuinely concerned.

'Wouldn't worry about her falling off,' said Hermione, smiling again. 'she's like a cat, always landing on her feet.'

'Well, I wasn't worrying about that, though I am now.' muttered Richard. 'I mean, is it safe for you to go to a church as a vampire?'

Emma turned to Richard and blinked in shock. She then turned to Hermione who had lowered her book again, a thoughtful expression on her face.

'I've absolutely no idea.' whispered Emma, losing her voice.

She hoped that vampires turning into a pile of ash upon walking onto holy ground was just another muggle myth, the same way she hoped vampire ageing was, but Hermione took a more sceptical view.

'Dad, I think you've been watching too much TV.'

'So, it's not true?' he asked.

He really was concerned, and again Emma felt that strange feeling, the one that told her she was being cared for.

'I don't know for sure, but nothing we've read in any book at Hogwarts has even mentioned religious buildings being a danger to vampires.' said Hermione. 'And then you have to remember, that Emma's not a normal vampire. We're sure she was born, not turned, and as far as we've been able to tell, she's the only one. So even if it were true, it might not be for her.'

Richard nodded, seemingly put at ease, before smirking, his curiosity again getting the better of him.

'So, if you were born a vampire, does that mean you're a descendant of Dracula?'

Hermione and Emma giggled. The thought had occurred to the both of them, not long after Hermione had found out about Emma's affliction, and they had made an effort to read about the enigmatic Count. His name had actually been Vlad Drakul, but the squib Bram Stoker had changed it in his work to not get caught out by the Statute of Secrecy. The only known child of Drakul had been his son, Vlad the Impaler, but there was no indication on whether the son had become a vampire too, so their research had hit a dead end. That meant that Emma and Hermione weren't able to discount the possibility, but they thought it unlikely, and speculation would get them nowhere.

'We don't think so.' replied Emma.

The conversation lasted a while longer, but Hermione excused herself again, to read upstairs. It was clear she wanted some peace and quiet. Emma knew that feeling well and decided to do the same. She was itching to finally explore, though maybe not as much as earlier. She was apprehensive about the church after what Richard had said, but she was still going.

Emma followed the main roads toward the church, using them as a guide. As with Hogwarts in the first few weeks there, she took many detours along the way, and she didn't even reach the church until nearly three o'clock in the morning, though it turned out to be a big let down in almost every way. She was thankful for the drainpipes on the side of the building that were very easy to scale, as well as not currently being a pile of ash, but that was it. The steeple turned out to be impossible to climb as there was nothing to gain purchase on, and after half an hour, she had to call it a loss and move on. She just went back to following the main roads, spiralling out from the Granger's house.

When the night was over and the sun was threatening to rise, Emma went back fairly pleased with her trip. The church had been a bust, and there hadn't been many interesting places in the dense housing estate, however, she had found a few things of note. Just around a corner from the Granger's was a small field that contained a children's playground with swings, a slide and a roundabout. It seemed to be a popular spot for all those dog walkers. There were also some muggle corner shops a little further away. The most interesting, and useful, thing Emma had found, however, was the Owl Post Office. She had only found it due to the amount of owls that were flying overhead, which made her curious enough to go quite far out of her way to investigate.

The Owl Post Office was just like any muggle Post Office, only they used owls. You had to pay to get anything sent, and the further the owl would have to go, the more expensive, so it wasn't as good as having your own owl, but at least it was there for those that didn't.

Both Emma and Hermione wanted to send a letter to Harry, but they had been expecting Hedwig, Harry's owl, to turn up at any moment so that they could send a reply back with her, but it seemed that Harry wasn't in any rush to talk to them.

The next few days went mostly the same as the previous. Emma and Hermione worked on their homework, trying to finish it off quickly. Jane and Richard had to go to work as Monday had come around. They had no problem leaving the two girls alone in the house as they were mature enough to not get up to any trouble, and they were more than capable of looking after themselves. Jane actually felt more comfortable with it than she had the previous year as she wasn't going to be leaving Hermione all by herself.

The girls occasionally took breaks from doing their homework, to watch a film or play cards or just talk. They also went to the Owl Post Office a couple of times during the week to send letters to Harry. Neither letter had received a reply and the two of them were getting a little worried. They knew what Harry's guardians were like, but Harry had insisted that he would be able to deal with them, as they didn't know he wasn't allowed to use magic. He had also promised to write to them as soon as he got home, and Hedwig wasn't one to get lost.

The worry was getting to the two of them by the end of the first week of the holidays. Emma had spaced out twice more to her worst memory, and Hermione had had a nightmare. Luckily, Emma had been downstairs, half watching a film on the TV and half sketching out plans for her map.

She ran upstairs, as silent as a mouse, and crept into Hermione's room. The nightmare hadn't woken her yet, or gotten far enough for her to start screaming, but she was definitely scared. Emma wondered which part of the memory she was reliving, but quickly put aside her own curiosity and sat down next to Hermione's bed. Wondering how best to help without waking her up, Emma decided to take one of Hermione's hands in her own, trying not to jostle her too much, and interlocked their fingers. The effect was immediate and strong, and Hermione started to relax, which surprised Emma. She stopped writhing, her breathing became less laboured, and her heartbeat slowed too, though it took a little longer to react, thanks, she assumed, to the adrenaline. Emma felt somewhat smug that she'd been able to help Hermione for once. Their friendship really did feel very one sided sometimes, and she wasn't sure why Hermione put up with her.

After a few moments, Hermione actually started smiling, and Emma felt very uncomfortable when she had to release Hermione's hand. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, whether it was loneliness, jealousy, or something else when she watched Hermione sleep peacefully. Emma thought that maybe it was because she missed dreaming, but that didn't seem to fit.

When the weekend rolled over, and the Granger's were back at home all day, their breakfast was interrupted by Errol again. It was another letter from Ron, saying that he hadn't heard from Harry all week and that he thought Errol might be to blame. Obviously he hadn't thought that through, as if it was Errol's fault, then they wouldn't get the letter either.

It did, however, solidify their fears. The post owls weren't getting replies either. Hermione, the more self conscious of the two, thought that maybe Harry didn't want to talk to them any more, but Emma, being the paranoid one, thought that the letters were being intercepted, probably by his oppressive guardians. Whatever the reason, it wasn't good, and so the two of them quickly wrote a letter back to Ron saying that they hadn't heard from Harry either and then made a point of asking how he was getting on with his homework. They weren't holding out much hope in either case.