Emilia packed up her things and hurried from her Ancient Runes classroom. Her brother had Herbology before lunch and they had agreed to meet with their father in Greenhouse Five. Most students surged towards the Great Hall; Emilia had to fight her way through the crowded corridors just to make it into the courtyard and down to the greenhouses without getting trampled on.

There were still a few students coming out of Greenhouse Five when she got there. Standing outside the door, her head slightly lowered, she hoped no one would spot her.

"Hey, Emilia." No such luck. She raised her head to see Fred smiling at her. "How come you weren't in class?"

"I took Ancient Runes so I'm in the other class."

"Oh right." Danny, one of the other Gryffindor boys, stepped out of the greenhouse, giving Fred a little shove. "I'll see you later."

He left with the rest of the Gryffindor boys, besides Casper, and before they were out of earshot, she could have sworn she heard James mocking laugh of, "What the hell was that?" but they were too far away for her to hear the response.

"Emilia, you're here. Come in." Her father smiled.

Greenhouses reminded her of home. Because of her father's long-term enthusiasm for plants, she knew a fair bit about them, and felt comfortable amongst the leaves. A waving vine flicked her face as she entered the pleasantly warm greenhouse, making her giggle as she walked to where her brother was sitting. Pulling one of the stools out from under the wooden workbench, she swivelled to face her father.

"Your brother seemed pretty concerned when he said you wanted to talk."

"I didn't really give him a lot to go on."

Will reached over and squeezed her hand. "It's okay. He won't be mad."

Taking a deep breath, she began to reel everything off. Emilia told them about what had happened with James, the strange feeling inside of her, even the fact that she hadn't had a dream the night before. All the while, her father looked at her, hanging onto every word with a slight frown on his brow, but never interrupted her. When she'd finished, neither her brother nor her father spoke for a minute or so.

"I think this might be a reaction to you coming off your medication. You've been on them for so long that your body is probably getting used to the changes in the balance of your hormones."

"It does make sense." Emilia dropped her gaze to her fiddling fingers. "But it felt like something more than that, like something far stronger than just imbalanced hormones. And what if it happens again? What do I do?"

"I'll send an owl to St Mungo's and ask about what kind of side-effects you might expect. Your friends in Gryffindor know about what happened on the train, don't they?"

"Yes."

"Well, perhaps you could speak to, maybe Annie, about watching out for any signs of anger and having something to ground you if it happens again."

"I don't know if I could ask that much of her. I only just started talking again."

"I've spoken to Fred," Will said. "He feels really bad about how you've been treated, and I'm sure he'll have his eye on you."

"What's this? What does he mean, how you've been treated?" Neville stood, taking a step closer to them.

Emilia heaved a deep sigh. She should have known that she couldn't have kept it from her parents forever. "The reason I started to feel bad about myself was because of how people viewed me. I'm a teacher's kid, I could snitch on people, and it's not considered cool."

"But that doesn't explain why your brother wasn't treated like that."

"He's friends with James and that, and no one can touch James because he's Harry Potter's son. And I didn't want to tell you because you and Mr Potter are friends."

"So it was James that did this to you?"

"Not just him, the other popular kids too. I'm not pretty like they are. You don't get treated the same."

Neville didn't look frustrated as she had expected, instead wiped away the tears that had begun to fall down her cheeks. He knelt down in front of her so that she couldn't look away from his face. "I know that it feels like the be all and end all right now. I was bullied in my first few years of school because I wasn't the greatest looking guy, and look at me now. I have the best family anyone could ever ask for. You are beautiful, and you will always be in my eyes."

"But you have to say that," Emilia laughed a little through her tears.

"Listen, anyone who tells you that you aren't beautiful, well, they aren't the kind of people you want to associate yourself with because they're liars. It seems like you have some great friends, so stick with them. And as for James, and whoever else has been pushing you around, if they bother you again you're going to have to stand up for yourself. I know it'll be hard, but that is the one thing no one else can help you with."

"Like when you stood up to Voldemort?"

Her father laughed. "Yes, something like that. But let's try and refrain from hitting people, okay? It's highly frowned upon, so even if James gave you good reason to, I wouldn't hit him again."

"Okay, Dad." She smiled, and turned to Will. "Thank you for coming with me."

"It's no problem. And please come to me if you need anything. I don't care if James or anyone tells you to go away. You're always welcome to sit with me."

"Thanks." Getting up, she gave her brother a hug.

As she pulled away, he father put a hand on her head, stroking her hair. "I love you very much, sweetheart. You're amazing and smart, and I am already so proud of you. I know you can do this."

She left the greenhouse with Will, leaving their father to tend to the plants. Neither said anything on the way to the Great Hall, because it felt like everything had already been said. As they entered the Hall, Annie got up from her seat and bounded up to them.

"The Quidditch sign-up sheet is going up tonight, and you're signing up."

"What? I thought Quidditch was cancelled this year. Why are they having trials?"

"I don't know, but Louis said that he's putting the sheet up anyway and your name is going on it."

"Okay," Emilia gave a quiet smile, knowing that she really didn't have any other choice but to submit to Annie's demands.

"I'll see you later, yeah?" Will nodded at her and went to sit with his friends.

"How did it go?" her friend asked.

"It went well. I feel better about things now. I just need to find something to ground me if I ever feel it again."

"We'll figure something out. But for now, let's go eat, and we'll sort out our training schedule."

"For Quidditch? I thought you said you had faith in me." Emilia feigned offence.

"I do, but when was the last time you actually played Quidditch? Last year's try-outs?" Emilia dropped her eyes. "I'm sure you're still great. But with my help, you'll be amazing by the time try-outs come around."

Nodding, Emilia followed Annie to where the other girls from Gryffindor were sitting, feeling that if she could make the Quidditch team this year, she could do anything.