Chapter 10:
It was a warm, Tuesday afternoon and Emily was sitting beside Hermione in the great hall where they all had their study block together. Ron was in the process of repairing his own wand by hand. Tape was flying in every direction you could think of.
"Say it, I'm doomed." He said to Harry.
"Yup. You're doomed." Emily laughed.
"Ron, isn't that you're owl?" Dean Thomas asked pointing to the roof. The owl came swooping into the hall and landed in a bowl of chips. It got all over Emily. She looked over at the twins who were laughing their heads off. She sent them a glare and started picking bits of crumbs out of her and Hermione's hair.
"Well, well, well... Ron, you better open that." She said smiling at the red envelope.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"That, Harry, is a howler." She snickered.
"A howler?"
"Yes. It's sort of like a letter, only it reads its self. And this one, is sure to be full of surprises. It's from his mom." She smirked.
"Go on then Ron, open it up." Ron suddenly got really nervous. He picked up the envelope and began to open it, when it sprung from his hands and into the air.
"Ronald Weasley! How dare you steal that car! I am absolutely disgusted! Your father is now facing an inquiry at work, and it is entirely your fault! If you put another toe out of line, we'll send you straight home!" The envelope shouted, sounding like Mrs. Weasley. Ron's face was turning an even deeper red then the colour of his hair. The letter turned to Ginny down the table, "Oh and Ginny dear, congratulations for making Gryffindor. Your father and I are so proud." She said in a completely sweet voice that sounded nothing like it did a moment ago. The letter hissed at Ron and tore its self up, leaving little piece of paper on the table right in front of him. The whole room was silent. You could hear a pin drop from a mile away, like it was right beside your ear. Ron looked more embarrassed then Emily could have ever imagined.
Everyone soon left the hall and went to their next class. Fortunately for Emily, she had Defence Against the Dark Arts...yay... At least the twins would be there to make her laugh. They all walked inside the room and took their seats. There were portraits of Lockhart all over the room.
'Someone's a little obsessed with themselves.' she murmured to herself. Soon everyone was quiet, and the door opened above the staircase. Lockhart came though it and leaned over the railing, smiling.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for this year. Me." He came strolling down the staircase smiling like a complete fraud. Emily couldn't help having a kind of disgusted look on her face. She turned around and looked at the rest of the class. Everyone looked like they were swooning over him, like he was some sort of major celebrity. Fred, who was sitting beside her, leaned in.
"Please tell me you still think he's a bloke and aren't completely obsessed with him like the rest of the girls in here" He said as Lockhart was writing something down on the chalk board.
" don't know... He is quite handsome." She joked. Fred looked at her shocked. "It was a joke Fred. I already told you he's a fraud." She laughed. Fred laughed and they went on with class. The class finally ended and they were all set free.
"Oh finally!" George began, it seemed like he was gasping for air. "He wears WAY too much perfume! I can't believe Dumbledore made him our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." He said angrily. "I never thought I'd say this but-"
"I rather have Snape." Fred finished for his twin. They all laughed and headed back to the common room, for that was their last class of the day, thank god.
It was just after four in the afternoon and Emily was sitting on the couch in the common room reading her potions spell book, when she felt the need to go talk to Dumbledore. She got up and headed out of the common room, towards his office. When she got there she knocked on the door and came in.
"Ah, Emily. What brings you here at this time?" He asked.
"Hi headmaster. I was just wondering, well I-"
"What is it?" He asked again
"I was just wondering, how many times have you searched the castle for the Chamber of Secrets?" She asked.
"A countless number I'm afraid." He said. Emily looked down at her shoes. " have no doubt in my mind that you know where it is." He chuckled. Emily laughed and looked up at him.
"Of course."
"And yes, I know you cannot tell me, I wouldn't have it any other way." He smiled. "Why do you ask anyways?"
"Because it's going to be opened once more." She blurted out.
"That's impossible." He said.
"No, it's not. Not only will it be opened again, but the monster within it will be released, and it will petrify a number of students. The creature is a basilisk."
"There is no such way a basilisk can be hidden in the school for so many years without anyone noticing Emily." He said sternly.
"Well I' telling you the truth!" She said.
"It is impossible." He said in the same voice.
"Are you saying that you don't believe me?" She asked, looking him in the eyes.
Right now is not the time Emily." He said going back to work. Emily let out a long and frustrated sigh, and stormed out of the room. When she opened the door Harry was there, with his hand raised, about to knock. Her eyes were wide, she hoped he didn't hear anything. She looked back at Dumbledore, who hasn't even looked up from his desk, then back to Harry. She quickly left the room and slammed the door, frustrated at him.
She grabbed Harry by the hand down an empty corridor until they got to a broom cupboard and she tried to gather her thoughts. She looked up at him, he didn't seem to know anything.
"How much did you hear?" he asked, clearing her throat.
"When?" He asked, he looked scared.
"Just now, in Dumbledore's office." She cleared up. Harry shook his head.
"Nothing, I heard nothing."
"Nothing?" She repeated.
"Nothing. I swear." He repeated. Emily stood back a bit to make Harry feel a little more relaxed. She calmed down a bit.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." She said more sincere.
"It's alright." He said, fixing his robe. Emily looked at him, searching his eyes to see if he was lying. She found no such trace of any lie. She walked away, making her way back to the common room.
When she got there she saw Fred, George, Angelina, Wood, Katie, and Alicia all in their Quidditch gear. She came further into the room, when Wood spotted her.
"Ah Emily, Haven't seen Harry have you?" He asked. Emily shook her head.
"No, sorry Wood." She mumbled. He nodded and moved on. She walked around them, heading for the staircase to go to her dorm room.
"Em." She turned around and saw Fred.
"hey." She put on a smile. "Where are all of you going? there's no game today is there?" She asked.
"Oh no, of course not. Wood's just booked us a huge amount of training time this year. He's convinced that the more we practice, the more ready we'll be against Slytherin." He smiled.
"More Quidditch practices? That's a shame." She said.
"How so?" Emily hopped down the first stair and came closer to him, and whispered in his ear.
"It's a shame because it means we'll have less time to spend with each other." She smiled. Fred's smile faded, and turned to look at her with a curious look on his face. He was about to say something, when Wood called out that it was time to go. "Go, they need their beater." She smiled.
"Why don't you come watch?" He suggested in a hurry.
"Can't. I promised Hermione I would hang out with her in the courtyard today." She said.
"Weasley, let's go." Wood called.
"Yeah, just a second alright." He said to Wood. "Why don't you rearrange it and hang out with her another day?"
"Because it's been almost three months since we've spent any time together." She said.
"Weasley!" Wood called again.
"I know Wood! I'm coming!" He yelled.
"Just go, we can do something later." With that, Emily continued up the stairs and Fred ran off through the portrait hole.
She met up with Hermione in the Courtyard, where she was sitting under the tree with Ron, talking about his broken wand.
"They were made for each other." She smiled to herself. She walked over and joined them. "Hi guys." she said.
"Emily!" Hermione hugged her.
"Hey!" She hugged back. "Hi Ron." She said. "Feeling any better?" She was referring to the howler he got earlier that day.
"I guess. Mum can be a bit intimidating at times." He said.
"She's your mom, of course she's intimidating." Emily laughed. they went on talking about a bunch of stuff. Emily got to know Ron more too. They were looking in one of Hermione's spell books, pointing out some really interesting spells, then testing them out, when they saw the Gryffindor Quidditch team approaching, while the Slytherin one was walking across the courtyard towards them.
"I smell trouble." Ron said.
"Let's go see what's going on." The three of them got up and headed towards the group of students huddled around together.
"You have a new Seeker? Who?" Wood asked as the three of them came up. Malfoy came through the crowd and smirked.
"Malfoy?" Harry asked.
"Ha. Now that's funny." Emily laughed. Draco sent Emily a glare, which made her laugh even more.
"That's not all that's new this year Potter." He was referring to the Nimbus 2001's that his father had bought for the Slytherin Quidditch team.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor had to buy their way in, they got in on pure talent." Hermione shot back.
"No one asked for your opinion, you filthy little mudblood." Draco said.
"You'll pay for that one Malfoy.'"Ron said, raising his wand.
"No don't!" Emily warned, but it was too late, the damage was done. Ron casted the spell, which backfired. He landed on the grass, with slugs coming out his mouth. "Wow, it was grosser then I imagined." She said to herself.
"Are you okay Ron?" Hermione asked as she ran to his side, followed by the Gryffindor team, who mostly just watched. Harry and Hermione helped him up and made their way through the crowd.
"Let's take him to Hagrid's, he'll know what to do." Harry suggested. Emily watched as they left the courtyard.
"That was disgusting." George said, breaking the silence. Emily heard laughter coming from the Slytherin team. She turned around and walked towards Malfoy. She quickly smacked him across the face. The sound was so loud, only a fraction of a second.
"How dare you." she said completely disgusted. she pushed past him and walked away from the crowd.
She was in the corridor when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around, and to her surprise it was Fred, again.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Well, if it wasn't obvious, Quidditch was cancelled and it doesn't look like Hermione is going to be needing someone to hang out with..." He smiled. Emily smiled at his 'subtle' hint. Fred shook his head and laughed. "I can't believe you did that."
"Yeah, me either."
"You know, you're not going to hear the end of it. Malfoy's father is probably going to call the school, demanding your expulsion." He said.
"Nah, Dumbledore wouldn't expel me." She smiled.
"What makes you so sure?" He asked coming closer to her. She so desperately wanted to tell him.
"Well, he just wouldn't, believe me." She said smiling.
"That's good." Emily smiled at him.
"We should probably head back to the common room. It's getting late." She suggested.
"Yeah, you're probably right." He said. They headed down the corridor side by side in silence. "Or, we could head back down to the kitchen?"
"We can't do that every night Fred!" She laughed. "But, two nights in a row isn't so bad." She smiled as they turned around and ran in the direction of the kitchen.
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