Hey there! I just wanted to express how thrilled I am for all the positive feedback I have gotten on this story! I want to thank everyone that has favourited, followed and/or reviewed this story, and I hope that you guys keep enjoying it! Feedback or similar is always welcome! Thanks for bearing with me and my semi-busy life, and I hope that I will get to post a bunch more for you to enjoy in the future as well.

- Marte

She could only imagine what had gone through her family's mind once she revealed her Hogwarts house to them, at last. Instead of the desirable Gryffindor they had all hoped and expected, she was a Slytherin. The evil and dark house. The house that was the unquestionable source of evil, according to her own family. Not long after she had closed the door in her room, an argument erupted from downstairs. It was a very loud one, too. Emerald could almost hear what they were saying through her own sobbing. Almost. This only made her cry harder than she already did since it was so evident that she had upset them so deeply. A million thoughts were racing through her head as she cried, and it made her feel very overwhelmed and confused. A little voice in the back of her head told her to get up, run away before they could formally tell her that they did not want her anymore. Another little voice inside her told her that that idea was absurd. It was hard to truly believe anything in her own mind. She cried uncontrollably for good over an hour, and by then she could not physically cry anymore. It left her face damp, her throat sore and her eyes puffy and swollen.

Her mother came up to try and comfort her eventually, and she thought that that would mean that the argument was over. At least for now. She knocked on the door lightly before she spoke.

"Emerald, sweetheart?" her mother began in a soft voice. When no answer came, she opened the door slightly to peer into the room. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Emerald had curled up in a ball in her bed, hiding under her duvet for comfort. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to stay hidden in bed, where she could not disappoint anyone ever again. Her mother came into the room slowly, sitting down at the very edge of her bed. For a long while, none of them said anything. Emerald imagined that her mother was opening and closing her mouth, unsure what to really say in such a difficult situation. And she felt like she was right about it, too. Her mother just stroked her back with one hand soothingly.

"He didn't mean it. You know that your father loves you no matter what." she all but whispered,

Maybe her mother had expected that to fix the whole situation. For her to pull back the covers, suddenly happy and content again, and head down for more family fun. Despite the words her mother said, Emerald still felt like something had broken inside of her. Like someone had kicked her in the guts repeatedly for the longest time. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted everyone to leave her alone, give her some space. After a while it seemed like her mother finally understood that she would not get any desired response from her, so she got up, and headed downstairs again. It wasn't until she heard her steps all the way down the stairs, that Emerald got up from the bed and locked her bedroom door.

Eventually Emerald fell into a restless sleep, too exhausted and tired from the emotional rollercoaster the day had been to stay awake. She did not find the desired rest in sleep, however, as she had yet another night filled with nightmares.

She snapped her eyes open suddenly. She was lying on the damp grass somewhere in the dark. She could barely make out anything of her surroundings, and it was even hard to see her own hands once she put them up in front of herself. The darkness was very penetrating, it was almost like it sank into the very mind. Emerald sat up, letting her hands roam the area around her carefully. She desperately tried to spot any sources of light nearby, for any indication as to which direction she could go. For she could not stay put, the darkness made her feel uneasy, terrified even. Desperation filled her from head to toe, and it made her feel sick and dizzy. After a few moments, she got to her feet, again looking for any source of light. Suddenly she spotted something far off. It was very faint, so she could just barely make it out at all. She didn't even have time to think before she felt herself sprint in that direction. Although her body looked completely steady, Emerald noticed that her head was spinning. It almost felt like she was on a boat that was rocking constantly.

She ran for a long while. It was almost like she wasn't moving at all because the light did not seem to get any closer or brighter. She begged inside her head over and over for it to not go out, knowing that if it did, she would not be able to find her way at all. Although she felt like she had run in the dark for half an eternity, with a blink of an eye she was there. She was approaching the source of the light and discovered that it came from an old graveyard. The gravestones and statues were towering high above her, creating long and dangerous shadows everywhere. Weeds and mould covered most of the gravestones she could see, making her think that no one had been around to care for the graves for a long while. Like it was mostly abandoned, just filled with old people that no one could remember, and least of all cared about. The first grave she approached was so mouldy that the text on it was unreadable. The only symbol really evident was the cross on the top of every grave. Carefully, Emerald tried to manoeuvre through the graves. In some areas the weed had overgrown the path almost entirely, making it even harder for her to move.

As if out of nowhere, she heard a voice suddenly. It didn't sound at all like a normal voice, however. It was almost like it had been distorted like she was underwater and someone was speaking to her from above. She could make out the distinct voices very clearly, but the words they uttered were hard to fully make out. Her body started to feel heavy like a weight had been placed on her shoulders without her knowledge. It made it much harder to move steadily, so Emerald held onto the gravestones for support. She realised that if she fell over at that point, she would not be able to get up again. With every few feet, the volume of the voices became louder, although not at all clearer.

Finally, she spotted a clearing in the sea of gravestones, and she guessed that that would probably be the centre of the graveyard. As she got closer she noticed that a tall, dark-robed shape was standing there, pacing back and forth impatiently. Almost like it was waiting for something. Emerald felt alarmed to see this unknown figure in front of her, especially since she was alone in the dark. She wanted to stop, hide but found that her feet would not halt even a little bit. Without warning the shape turned to face her. The only thing that met her was a pair of evil, bright, scarlet eyes shining in the shadows of the figure had no visible body, and it was like the cloak was casting a shadow over it to hide it from view. Its eyes met hers, and she wanted to look away desperately. Its dangerous, penetrative gaze made her fall to her knees without warning. She gasped loudly in shock.

The figure spoke something to her. She couldn't make out what it said, but it sounded almost melodically. She wanted to run away, hide. Anything to get away from the figure in front of her. It started to speak again, but this time it sounded almost mocking. Suddenly the figure in front of her held a wand in a pale, slender hand, toying with it between its fingers. Without warning, the wand was raised at her. He was going to kill her. The figure started to laugh, and a bright green light flew at her -

Emerald snapped her eyes open, nearly jumping up in bed from the shock of her nightmare. Her body was shaking uncontrollably, and it felt clammy and nasty with cold-sweat. With a shaky hand, she turned on the bedside lamp, finally illuminating the room. From the moment the light filled the room, it made her feel a thousand times better. The warmth of the light made her mind feel more at ease, and definitely safer. She leant back against the wall behind her, curling her knees up to her chin, resting her head there, hugging her feet with her arms. The house was still very quiet, so she assumed that it was still somewhere in the middle of the night. It was really hard to tell. Her bedside clock had stopped working at some point while she had been at Hogwarts, so it still said 10:21. She let out a long, shaky breath while staring off into space. Still so tired.

After what felt like a really long time, Emerald swung her feet over the edge of the bed and quietly left the bedroom. She did not want to accidentally wake anyone in the house, so she all but tiptoes as quickly as she could to the upstairs bathroom. It was only a few doors down from her room, but she realised that Remus would probably be sleeping in the guest room, from what little she had heard from the conversation from the day before. She didn't even dare to breathe at all until she had closed the bathroom door shut behind her. The family cat looked up at her sleepily from where she was lying under the sink. Emerald crouched down to pet it, smiling at it as she did. The cat purred half-heartedly in content, although it was clear that it would much rather be sleeping peacefully.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to bother you." she whispered to it, before standing again.

She turned on the cold water tap on the sink, splashing the icy cold water lightly onto her face. Eventually, she took a handful of water as well and used it to wash her face properly. She embraced the coldness against her skin, at least it made it clear to her that she was awake. The nightmare was still very fresh in her mind, and she almost felt like she was back there every time she closed her eyes, even for a fraction of a second. Like it had been imprinted on the back of her eyelids. It had become so hard for her to tell the difference between what was real, and what was not over the past year or so, and that worried her greatly. The cold water was one of the few methods she had discovered would work on confirming reality.

She met her own eyes in the mirror. It didn't really come as a shock that she looked horrible. Almost as horrible as she felt. Her skin was pale, like always, but the heavy bags and the dark circles under her eyes made it look even worse. It almost made her look sick. A long, tired sigh escaped her before she slowly turned the water off again. She had felt so good about going home. She had looked forwards to being in a warm, comfortable and loving environment again. Instead, it turned out like this…

After a while, Emerald decided it was time to leave the bathroom. She was starting to get really tired again and did not want to accidentally fall asleep in the bathroom. She also did not want to end up still being there once the rest of the house woke up and wanted to use the bathroom. Her heart almost skipped a beat as she opened the door.

"Couldn't sleep?" Remus asked calmly, his voice barely more than a whisper. He was leaning against the hallway wall adjacent to the bathroom. He looked somewhat better than he had the evening before, but only somewhat.

Emerald shook her head in response, closing the bathroom door behind her carefully, before stepping into the hallway a little as to not face him directly. She couldn't.

"Because of what happened?"

"Partially."

He fell silent, looking at her with warm, but tired eyes. Emerald let her eyes rest on the ground, not wanting to meet his gaze. She almost felt like he might leave, give up this scheme of getting something out of her when he suddenly spoke again.

"Don't worry, your father will come around. He'll understand his mistake." he began, scratching his arm carefully for a moment. "He would never have acted the way he did if he had known."

"So it's my fault?"

"No! Not at all, Emerald." he sighed deeply, before continuing: "Your father has always been a bit prejudiced, especially towards the Slytherin house. But he cares very deeply of you, and his ability to care is one of his strongest virtues."

"He really wanted me to be a Gryffindor, though. Since we were young, he has always talked about that one day when both Harry and I were Gryffindors like you guys..."

"Just give it time. He will apologise to you, but he, like you, is very stubborn."

Emerald nodded slowly. She really hoped that he was right. Imagining a life without her father actively in it was very hard. He was her father, after all, and she loved him with all her heart. Maybe he just needed some time to process the idea of her being a Slytherin first before he could truly accept her for what she had become. Or else it would be a very, very long 7 years at Hogwarts.

"On a whole other topic, how are you experiencing Hogwarts so far?" Remus asked, smiling.

"Well, there are a lot of fellow students that are very unhappy with me being sorted into Slytherin. Especially since I am not pure-blooded." she began, unsure what to really mention to him. She did not want him to worry about her, but she also did not want to lie. "And the fact that there are people in my house who are related to Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters does not really help. But I enjoy all my classes a lot!"

Remus nodded, furrowing his brows slightly. It looked almost like he was considering several options to what to say next. And maybe he was. Emerald just thought it was slightly absurd that they were discussing this in the hallway in the middle of the night. It didn't really feel like the time, nor the place for that kind of chitchat. She yawned, and he smiled understandingly.

"I hope they are not giving you too hard of a time, and that you have friends there to support you. "

She just smiled. "I'll be fine."

He nodded again, before looking around the hallway. It looked as if he was thinking hard about something again. "You better head to bed now. We can talk more in the morning."

Emerald agreed half-heartedly, already feeling her body growing heavy with tiredness once more. She bid Remus goodnight before returning to her room. Luckily she was so exhausted that what was left of her night was spent in a completely dreamless sleep.