Once she had turned in two more assignments, school was done until the holidays were over. Emily didn't even have another exam.
On the other hand, Theo still had her Muggle Studies exam to sit, a subject, Emily privately thought, she had wasted her time trying to learn through a witch who hardly knew what headphones were when Theo was friends with Emily herself.
"Emily, ask me some Muggle questions?" Theo turns to her, closing her notebook (noticeably muggle - it was one of the required materials) and shuffling the loose papers until they were hidden under the book.
"I dunno, what kind of stuff you studying? Electricity or bikes?" Emily replies, shifting around in the bean bag to catch Theo's eye. They were hidden away in the Hufflepuff common room, red and gold attire replaced with yellow and black. The corner with the two bookshelves was vacant except for them two; Emily had claimed the leather bean bag while Theo had taken the table behind her.
"Children's toys but I highly suspect that the exam will focus on bicycles," Theo said with confidence. "Electricity will be introduced in fourth year." The first 'question' that Emily could think of was why the hell is that a whole unit?
"How do bikes work?"
"Bikes?"
"Slang for bicycles. Haven't you ever cycled before?"
"Cycled?"
Oh, sometimes Emily just loves to throw in vocab ordinary wizards and witches don't know of to mess with them.
Emily sat far enough from the door to where Theo was taking her Muggle Studies that she would be largely unnoticed when other students filtered out but close enough to be spotted by those who were looking.
The hallway wasn't relatively empty, but it wasn't the breakfast rush in the Entrance. People in groups of three or more passing by, a couple enjoying each other's presence in silence in the next alcove from Emily's.
Just as the silence barrier cocooning the room broke, signifying the end of Theo's exam, Emily spots Tiani stalking down the hallway. Slowly, as to not attract attention, Emily retreats further back into the alcove, turning her head to peer out the windows as if something had suddenly caught her attention.
The door opened, chattering students spilling into the hallway, all talking at different volumes. Tiani announced her presence loudly, calling after Shay and shockingly, one of the twins. This was new information (information that Emily had little care for).
Tiani's voice faded as she walked away with her friends; it was not long until Theo joined her looking out the window.
"Hey," Theo suddenly breaks the silence "Isn't that Oh?" she asks, pointing to the sky. It didn't take a lot of effort to spot the incoming owl, catching the brown speak amongst the grey clouds.
"My knight in shining armour," Emily laughs, waiting for Oh to come closer.
Oh the Second didn't stand out among the morning mail delivery; his plumage was suited to the brown countryside of Australia. Seeing as he was a Grass Owl, it was little to no shock that his feathers stood in shadows behind the brilliant white of the British owls.
Nevertheless, Oh was an owl that had been trained to stand the animal-portkeys, another Australian invention seeing as Australia was too far away for a simple owl mail delivery. Oh had quite the exercise for every exam block Emily had to use her family's printer as there was none at Hogwarts.
She had been using this system since First Year, and always prided on the fact that all her teachers liked the fact that her 'handwriting' was so neat. The only reason why Oh didn't arrive with the morning mail delivery most of the time was that of the time difference.
Oh the Second had a large package gripped in his claws, which she had to catch before Oh could land on her arm. They were to hold her assignments, and, if she could trust her eyes, there was something else.
The bag was flying towards the alcove, but Emily still had to reach out to catch the bag, hoping not to crumple the paper. For a horrifying second, she felt the bag slip through her hands, almost falling onto the ground. She had miscalculated the weight the bag held; obviously, her assignments weren't the only ones there.
Then Theo's stick arms flailed around, catching the bag by chance, the little handle at the top catching the tips of her fingers.
"Oh-ho-ho, lucky," they laugh, Emily finally holding out her hand for Oh to land. They both take turns switching the owl and the bag as they walked across the oval to the owl tower, a more scenic route. Emily didn't open the bag until Oh the Second was resting inside the Tower, waiting for her next mail home.
"What's inside?" Theo asks, peering into the opening. At first glance, the white sheets of paper were the only things the two could see, uniform letters marching down the page. Emily stuck her hand into the bag, ferreting around until her hand touched something that was most certainly not paper.
She draws out a little rock, large enough that her fingers, when closed, barely came up to it halfway. Theo doesn't make any noise, casting the rock dubious looks.
"What is that?" she asks, giving it a critical look.
"It's a messenger rock; not many people know of it outside of Australia. They were the work of the local Aboriginals, and back when British wizards were still interested in Australia they didn't trust any magical item from them because they were racist." Emily carefully places the rock back into the back, taking the papers out instead. "Their loss. Messenger rocks are bloody brilliant."
"What subjects?" Theo asks, taking a few pieces of papers that Emily offered out to her.
"The ones you're holding are for Care of Magical Creatures and these ones are Potions. Do you want to go and hand them in now?"
"I don't have anything else to do." Theo smiles, taking the rest of the papers as Emily slings the bag over her back. They turn around, finding the stairs that lead down to Mr Snape's staff room.
"Ok, step back," Emily gently sets the rock down in the middle of their room, kicking books and stray clothes out of the way to give the messenger rock a little breathing space. She waves her wand, calling out words that Theo could not identify as either English, Latin or the pseudo-language Hogwarts uses for spells.
Theo sits on her bed, peering over the edge of it and her trunk, watching the rock as it shimmers and a releases little specks of light that conglomerate above the rock, forming a smiling woman in muggle clothes; jeans, sand shoes and a thick jumper covering her upper body.
"You are invited to Olma's 150th birthday party! We hope to see you there! The party will be held down in Victoria..." The lady cheerfully announces, voice floating out from the rock. Emily doesn't pay the message any attention, swishing her wand again. The image of the woman vanishes, voice cutting. It is replaced by another woman, who this time Theo could easily detect that she was closely related to Emily.
"Darling dearest baby!" exclaimed the lady, opening her arms as if she wanted to hug somebody. Emily didn't move to accept the imaginary hug. Perhaps she would return it when she replied. "Holly announced her wedding, which is around Olma's birthday party! Be ready for some shopping when you get back!"
The gathered lights shift as if there was a little interference. The lady, quite possibly Emily's mother, immediately falls silent, eyes sharp as she looks around the house, wand abruptly in hand. Her eyes fall on something that isn't shown in the hologram, and the women drop her guard, rolling her eyes as she stuffed her wand to wherever it had been previously.
The lady doesn't speak another word, picking up a sheet of paper and quickly writing out words that she flashes to Emily's direction, words too small and too loopy for Theo to understand, despite her skills in understanding her mother's copperplate handwriting.
Emily simply leans in and nods once and waves her hand once more, the tiny specks of light being released into the air like a small explosion had occurred inside the lady.
Her friend walked over to the rock, planting her feet over the rock, turning around to face the space she had just occupied, waving her wand once again, unknown language spilling from her lips. Much like the last few seconds of her mother's message, Emily refrained from speaking, her hands - literally - doing the talking. It was a form of sign language that Theo was unfamiliar with, so the possibilities of which one it was were endless. Australia? Magical Australia? Britain? Magical Britain? Secret Emily language?
The recording of the message was complete once Emily had once waved her wand, although no strange language to accompany it.
"What was that?" Theo asked.
"Mum had a visitor in the last few seconds of her recording. Just a bubble dragon, nothing to worry about." Emily picks up the rock and sets it down on a stack of books on her desk, drifting over to Theo's bed to lie down next to where she was sitting. Sometime during her trip across her room, Emily had acquired her phone and headphones. "I'm going home during the holidays, sorry. If you want, we could take you."
"Don't be silly," Theo laughs. "I'm fine here."
Emily pouts in reply.
"See you," Emily grins, slipping her arms under Theo's. "Don't expect my Christmas present during the holidays. I have to give it to you in person." Theo gave her a look, and sootily turns up her nose.
"Guess you won't be getting your present straight away." She sniffs, breaking her serious face to smile. "Tell me how the birthday goes. It's not every day a witch turns a hundred and fifty."
"I gotcha, mate, don't worry." Emily drops her bag from her back and rummages through it, picking out a little box. Inside is the shrunken bicycle she had brought at the start of the year; Emily sets it on the ground and spells it back to its original size. Just as she turns away to guide the bicycle out of the gate, a new voice interrupts.
"Hey, what's a bubble dragon?"
Fred and George had been scarily quiet as they crept up behind Theo. Their voices had been loud enough for them to get through the headphones on Emily's head, making her turn at the noise.
"Pardon?" Theo blankly demands.
"Bubble dragons."
"And how would you know about them?" Emily says as she returns. The twins had thankfully not brought along their fans; the little side corridor off the main entrance was secluded enough that most students who were wishing their friends goodbye didn't bother using it.
Neither of the twins reacted when hit with the question, just continuing to stare at Emily. Finally, one of them relented.
"I'm getting interested in Australia after you mentioned you lived there," Fred admits, dropping his eyes for a moment before reconnecting his gaze with Emily's.
"Bubble dragons aren't actual dragons; they exist because of some freak breeding back when Europeans settled in Australia. They look like sky blue frogs that have little knobs on their back, where bubbles form. If you speak in front of them then they steal your voice. You don't get your voice back until they release the bubble and it's popped. It's a defensive act because if they're attacked they can pop the bubble and scare away predators with sudden voices. They aren't very well known outside of Magical Australia, but they are popular pets. One of my old friends in Australia has one named U-Kwon." The barrage of words pours out of Emily. She stops, give one final 'goodbye' to Theo, and began her trip to the train once more.
Theo doesn't say anything to the twins, slipping away while their focus on Emily.
(Personally, Theo high doubts the fact that the twins knew about bubble dragons because they were interested in Australia)