Before Emma had a chance to see Fred, she was informed of the full story of Sirius Black's innocence, helped Mrs. Weasley with the baking, and was about to be dragged into helping Sirius, as he asked her to call him, put up decorations. Finally, her boyfriend appeared.

"Mum!" Fred cried. "Are you telling me Emma got here when Hermione did and nobody told me? What sort of a mother are you?"

"A busy one," Mrs. Weasley chided. "And if you wanted to fix that, you'd be helping me with dinner, now get in here and chop!"

Fred smirked a little, but he paused to kiss Emma on the cheek sweetly.

"I'm sorry I didn't write," he said from across the room and Sirius and Emma hung mistletoe and holly. "I didn't want you getting in trouble with Umbridge or something."

"No, it's all right," she laughed. "Professor McGonagall explained roughly what happened and then she and Professor Dumbledore worked it out so I could come here, I guess. I'm not sure why, maybe they felt sorry for me."

"No," Fred said as he helped his mother make dinner. "It's because they knew they could trust you. That's high praise from Dumbledore, love."

They went about readying dinner and decorating the house, which, Emma learned, was quite vast.

"I'm afraid there's not enough room for the three of you in the room I have set up for Hermione and Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said anxiously. "I suppose we'll have to find a room to put you in…"

"You could put her in my room," Sirius said amicably. "I'll sleep on the couch in the sitting room."

"Sirius, we're not going to put you out of your own house!" Mrs. Weasley cried.

"Nonsense," Sirius insisted. "After all, it's my own fault there aren't enough inhabitable rooms in the house for all our guests. Besides, it's not like I've never slept on a couch before."

Emma knew the Weasleys were full of generous hospitality, having visited them before, but the generous kindness of Sirius Black was more than a little surprising. She was constantly reminding herself that he was an innocent man, a framed man, but the idea took more than a little getting used to.

If there was one thing Emma quickly learned about Sirius Black, though, it's that the man loved Christmas. He wandered through the house singing carols at the top of his lungs, shoving mistletoe at every turn, and even wearing a Santa hat.

Christmas morning, Emma took her gifts down to the kitchen to open them, knowing the twins would find her and open them together. What she hadn't been counting on was Sirius Black joining in on their gift-opening time. It wouldn't have been bad, except for the racy lingerie the twins (yes, both twins) bought her… Sirius's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"That is… wow," he gasped. "That's all I can say. Black and blue, huh? No red?"

"Too much," George said with a shrug. "Besides, Emma's a bombshell in blue."

Emma blushed and tried to pretend she didn't notice the smirk Sirius directed at her as he muttered, "I'll bet she is."

Angelina and Katie had gotten Emma some more lingerie (though nothing quite as scandalous as the pieces the boys had bought her) and a hefty amount of chocolate. Tien sent her hand-written transcripts of her latest work on Loony Lovegood, chocolate, and a book of sex positions that Fred and Emma discreetly flipped through. There were things in there (almost all of which were starred and commented on by Tien) which made even Fred blush.

Mrs. Weasley had given her a tin of homemade cookies and a hand-knit blue sweater with a stately eagle on the breast. Hermione and Ginny gave her a joint gift of a box of deluxe sugar quills and a detailed anthology of Transfiguration. The present she hadn't been expecting, however, was a small gift from Sirius Black.

She frowned down at the parcel, wondering what it was as she opened it. His expression as he watched her carefully rip away the wrapping was unreadable. Inside a very nice box was a thin silver bracelet, very basic, with a small, delicate blue stone on the face. It was absolutely perfect, something that suited her so well she had to wonder how he had found it, especially having met her only quite recently. Unsure of how to express her gratitude for the gift, she blushed and thanked him softly, and he merely winked at her and muttered as he passed her on his way out of the kitchen, "George's right, you really do look delicious in blue."

Emma tried to hide the fact that she turned about six shades of red by busying herself with making some hot chocolate for her and the twins.

Was Sirius Black flirting with her, or had her increase in confidence from her relations with Fred deluded her into believing that she was more desirable than she actually was? And even if he was flirting with her, surely it was just for the entertainment value of watching her blush. He was, after all, far too old for her, and she was taken.

But when she turned back around with the chocolate and found he was still watching her with a strange, unreadable expression, Emma couldn't help but wonder if there wasn't something more behind that glance. Even if there was, though, what would she do about it? Tell him to stop looking at her?

Thankfully, they got all of the lingerie put safely away by the time Mrs. Weasley came down for breakfast.

"Good morning, dears," Mrs. Weasley said brightly. "I hope you've gotten what you've wanted?"

"Yes, it's all been very lovely," Emma said eagerly. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Weasley, for the sweater and the cookies."

"You picked the perfect shade of blue," Fred said lovingly, pulling the sweater in question over her head, kissing her on the cheek.

"It looks lovely, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "and it was–"

But exactly what it was, Emma never found out, because at that moment, an owl Emma recognized as Hermes, Percy's owl, dropped a package on the table in front of Mrs. Weasley… a package addressed to Percy and roughly the same shape as the one Emma had opened that morning.

There was an awkward silence that fell over the room. Percy had sent back his Christmas sweater.

Without thought to where she was and with whom, Mrs. Weasley burst out in tears, clutching the package.

Professor Lupin came in, clearly wanting to make a cup of tea, but stopped short at the scene in front of him.

"What's wrong?" he asked Sirius quietly.

"Don't worry about it, Mum," Fred said earnestly.

"Yeah, Percy's nothing," George insisted.

"Nothing but a humungous pile of rat droppings," Fred added cheerfully, but all they succeeded in doing was causing their mother to sob even more violently and attempt to scold them incoherently.

"I'll take it from here, boys, thank you," Professor Lupin sighed, moving forward to comfort Mrs. Weasley as Fred grabbed Emma's arm and Apparated the three of them upstairs, away from the nasty event.

They found themselves at the foot of Harry's bed in Harry and Ron's room.

"Merry Christmas," said George. "Don't go downstairs for a bit."

"Why not?" asked Ron.

"Mum's crying again," said Fred heavily. "Percy sent back his Christmas jumper."

"Without a note," added George. "Hasn't asked how Dad is or visited him or anything…"

"We tried to comfort her," said Fred, moving around the bed to look at a portrait Harry was holding. "Told her Percy's nothing more than a humongous pile of rat droppings —"

"— didn't work," said George, helping himself to a Chocolate Frog. "So Lupin took over. Best let him cheer her up before we go down for breakfast, I reckon."

"What's that supposed to be anyway?" asked Fred, squinting at Dobby's painting. "Looks like a gibbon with two black eyes."

"It's Harry!" said Emma, pointing at the back of the picture. "Says so on the back!"

"Good likeness," said Fred, grinning. Harry threw a homework diary at him; it hit the wall opposite and fell to the floor where it said happily, "If you've dotted the i's and crossed the t's then you may do whatever you please!"

The trio then escaped, laughing, heading to a study where they found Sirius, casually reading a newspaper.

"Hello, again," he said, equally casually, looking up at the three of them and smiling. "I expect Remus has nearly gotten the waterworks turned off. You'll be visiting your father this afternoon again, yes?"

"Yeah, that's the plan," Fred conceded. "Emma, I forgot to ask, do you want to come, too? I'm sure Dad would love to see you."

Emma considered it. It was Christmas. Mr. Weasley was an invalid. Surely he would rather spend the time with his family, not with a girl he hardly knew but might be aware was dating his son."

"No, thank you, I'll stay here," she said politely. "I think I'll see him when he gets out, and hopefully it will be before term starts, but if not, then maybe at Easter or something."

Fred seemed a bit disappointed, but he nodded, maybe attributing her reluctance to her shy nature. The four of them made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were poking around in the boiler room, according to Hermione, leaving a present for the house-elf, Kreacher, whom Emma had yet to meet. Sirius had told her it was probably for the best.

Once lunch was eaten, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys made their way to St. Mungo's leaving Emma, awkwardly, alone with Sirius Black in the kitchen.

"So, Emma," he said with a little smirk, emphasizing the consonants in her name. "You're a Ravenclaw."

"Yes," she said softly.

"You like books?"

"Yes," she said, wishing he hadn't asked her something so stereotypical.

"You should read to me."

What? He wanted her to read to him while the others were gone? Was he out of his mind?

"What?"

"You're of age, like the twins, I'm guessing?"

"Yes," she said, still not sure what he was getting at.

"Read me this," he said, handing her what she was mortified to find was the book of sexual positions Tien had given her for Christmas, the one that had made Fred blush, the one she thought she had hidden away out of reach of everyone. Apparently, Sirius Black was very good at finding things he wanted. Was he just as good at getting things he wanted? She would have hazarded a guess at yes.

"I'm not sure what you mean," she said flustered. "There aren't many words. Just pictures."

"Exactly," he said, moving a step closer, leaning in to her ear so close that his lips tickled her earlobe. "Read it to me, kitten."

Emma took a step back, realizing she was at the wall. He chuckled, taking another step toward her, still leaning over her intimidatingly.

"Relax, kitten, I'm just teasing you," he said huskily. "You look pretty when you blush."

She blushed deeper.

"I wonder," he breathed in her ear, "how pretty you would look covered in sweat and screaming my name."

She shivered and blushed even deeper, but he did nothing. He simply placed a remarkably chaste kiss on her lips and smirked at her.

"I'm taken," she managed to whisper, as if he had asked and she was simply giving him a polite answer, but he snorted.

"I don't really care," he admitted. "Don't worry, dove, I'm not going to make you do anything. I just like making you squirm. But if you two ever split, you know where to find me."

Emma frowned as Sirius turned, heading upstairs. She would be locking the door at night, no matter what he said. She wasn't good enough at deciphering jokes to know what he actually was up to. But one thing she decided not to do was mention it to anyone else, especially Fred. Somehow, she didn't think Fred attempting to battle Sirius Black for her honor would ever turn out well for anyone, particularly for Fred.

All the same, Emma tried to avoid Sirius while the others were gone. The last thing she wanted was for him to corner her in some dark part of the house… There was no telling what could happen if she managed to convince herself it was his fault, because despite Emma's conscience, Sirius was very attractive and intriguing, and had something about him Fred would take years to acquire, she knew.

When they came back from the hospital, Emma was hiding in the study, where Fred found her, kissing temple gently as he sat on the desk in front of her, clearly attempting to distract her from the book in her hands.

"How was the hospital?" she said.

"It was all right," he said with a shrug. "Dad and some Trainee tried some Muggle thing where they sew your skin–"

"Stitches."

"Yeah."

"Did it work?"

"No, the venom dissolved it," Fred said with a smirk. "Mum was furious."

Emma sighed.

"I'll bet she was. Stitches are great for Muggle wounds, but I never would have dreamed of using them on wounds inflicted by a magical creature. Whoever this Trainee was, they're an idiot."

Fred laughed.

"Now, now, love, we can't all be as brilliant as you. Anyway, what did you get up to while I was gone?"

She casually lifted the book to indicate that she'd been reading.

"What, the whole time?" he asked, and she nodded. "Want to do something different?"

Emma looked up at him, eyebrows raised.

"What did you have in mind, Fred?"

He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Emma couldn't help but notice how silly and childish he looked compared with the hot, sensual way Sirius Black had tried to seduce her earlier that day. She couldn't help but think that this was what she loved about Fred, his youthful exuberance, his absolute silly nature. It was refreshing, and after all, they were just kids. Sure, You-Know-Who was back and terrible, horrible things were happening all of the time, but they ought to have been behaving like silly, wanton teenagers without a care in the world, not planning for battle and acting like serious adults.

She leaned forward and kissed his lips gently.

"I'm sort of tired," she whispered as he rested his forehead against hers. "And your mother is in the same building."

Fred groaned.

"It's almost January," she whispered, chuckling a bit. "It won't be long until we're back at school and then…"

"Then I go back to taking you in all sorts of awkward places that aren't what you deserve," he groaned. "I wanted us to have a bed for once, where all my friends wouldn't be listening to see if you're a screamer."

Emma groaned, but he said, "Besides, Sirius said we could use his bed, and it's got the most privacy in the whole house."

For Emma, that sealed it. There was no way that lecher was going to have any knowledge of or bearing over her sex life, period. She told Fred she just wasn't going to be able to manage relaxing in that house, that it was creepy, that his mother would surely walk in on them, and finally he relented, although it was obvious that he was very frustrated. She felt bad, but she kissed his forehead and whispered, "It's not that I don't want to. As soon as we get back, I promise."

What she wasn't going to tell him was her plans for the train ride back, but she knew he wouldn't complain. Fred didn't have enough happy surprises in his life.

When he grew tired and went off to bed, Emma stayed in the study continuing to read in silence, barely noticing when the door opened and someone joined her realm of solitude. She looked up when she felt someone reading over her shoulder and found Sirius Black's face remarkably close to hers. She jumped.

"I see you didn't take up the offer to sleep in my bed," he said in his rich, seductive voice. "Poor Freddie."

"Fred's a big boy," she said. "And I don't know what your ulterior motive is, but I don't appreciate it."

To her great surprise, Sirius sighed, laying down on a divan in the corner and staring up at the ceiling.

"If you must know, you remind me of someone I used to know," he said softly. "She was pretty, a Muggleborn, probably could have been a Ravenclaw. I didn't see her in blue much, but she was stunning in green. She married my best friend."

"I'm sorry," Emma said softly.

Sirius barked with laughter.

"Don't be," he said. "We weren't in love. I didn't ever really think of her that way. We flirted a bit. She was the only person who could match my wit, once she got over her embarrassment. James thought it was funny, too, and it wasn't too long after they got together that she and I would flirt back and forth. It was a way to pass the time, and it confused people. Sometimes, when James was on a mission and I kept her company, she would read to me."

"James?" she said softly. "James Potter?"

"Yeah," Sirius sighed. "Yeah, Harry's parents. They were my best friends. You make me think so much of her."

Emma wasn't sure for a moment what to say to that, but finally she said, "I'm honored."

Sirius smiled up at her from the divan and she felt bad about her fear of him, both before and after she knew of his innocence. He looked so much like a child in that moment that she wanted to pet him and tell him what a good boy he was.

All of a sudden, he got up and grabbed a book from the shelf, one on antidotes to common poisons. He turned it over in his hands for a moment, then held it out to Emma.

"Read to me?" he said in a small sort of voice and she took it from him, smiling, opening up the book and beginning to read as he settled back onto the divan, a boyish grin on his face.