Author's Note: I figured that I had strayed from the other Marauders and Emma for a while. So they're back. Enjoy chapter 12!

Disclaimer: Anything familiar doesn't belong to me.

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Chapter Twelve: The Complication

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"Remmy," Emma sighed as she sat next to the boy at breakfast that same morning she woke up to find Lily's bed empty and made.

"What is it, Emma?" Remus asked, barely looking up from his book as he drank from his pumpkin juice.

"What I want to say won't work unless you look at me, Remmy," Emma replied, releasing a deep sigh.

"You know, you're the only one that I'm not strangling for calling me—,"Remus said, looking up. He was interrupted in the middle of his sentence when Emma put her lips on his. "Remmy," he muttered quietly once they pulled away.

"Yeah, I kind of noticed," Emma whispered sheepishly, turning beet red as she stared down at her breakfast.

"Em," Remus muttered, making a move to turn her head around, but Sirius suddenly burst through the doors.

"Guys, you won't believe what I saw," Sirius said excitedly and the two turned red before Remus finally asked, "What?" Sirius' only reply was looking down to the doors, where a certain fiery red-head and a bespectacled Chaser were walking through.

"Are they—not yelling at each other?" Emma asked, coming out of her nervous state and entering shock.

"Mm-hmm," Remus said in a shocked tone. "I don't think I can believe it," he chuckled, leaning back a little, his arm bumping into Emma's, making her blush a little.

"Hey, guys," Lily said simply, slipping into the seat next to Emma. "What's up?" she asked, glancing at Emma, who blushed.

"Oh, um, nothing much," Emma stammered, fiddling with a lock of hair as James sidled into the seat next to Sirius.

"Yeah, what she said," Remus replied, turning a slight pink as he returned to his book.

"Sure, I'll believe that," Lily chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Want to confirm their 'nothing much,' Black?" she asked, turning to Sirius.

"You pain me, Evans. But if anything happened, I wasn't here. I got here a few seconds before you two did," Sirius shrugged, digging into his breakfast.

"Lily, are you sick?" Emma asked a few minutes later when she realized that her friend hadn't touched her breakfast.

"What? No, I'm not," Lily said absently as she looked up at her best friend. "What am I not again?"

"Sick," Emma asked, laughing heartily at her friend's confusion. "What's wrong? I've never known you not to eat at any meal," she added, putting a hand on Lily's forehead. "You don't have a fever," she sighed, putting down her hand.

"Maybe it's some sort of virus," Remus suggested and Emma nodded.

"Well, whatever it is, I think Prongsie here caught it too," Sirius said loudly, trying to get James' attention, although it was given undivided to the cereal in front of him.

"Potter, wake up," Emma said in her best imitation of Lily.

"I do not sound like that," Lily told her angrily, shoving her towards Remus.

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do—ouch!" Emma cried as an owl clasped itself onto her hand as it held out a later. "That bloody hurt!" she yelled as she shook her arm.

"Oh, calm down, Em. Let me—owe! Bloody hell what was that—?" Lily shouted as an owl clasped onto her arm as well. "Someone should cut these owls' nails or something," she muttered angrily as she caressed her hand.

"Well, wouldn't you know? They're both from your dad," Emma said quietly, her stomach sinking. She had only learned yesterday that her mum, her last parent, was—no, it couldn't be. The blond had thought that everyone was just joking. Especially when nothing had happened after McGonagall had told her and—no, no, no. She bit her lip, trying to keep from crying.

"Em?" the whole group asked, even Peter, who had fallen asleep on his oatmeal earlier. The girl looked up at them with tears welling up in her eyes.

"I thought they were joking—just so I would be, you know, braver and stuff, but they weren't—were they?" the blond asked the group, silent tears flowing down her face.

"Come on, Em," Lily whispered, standing up and pulling her friend up with her.

"I'll come with you," Remus said solemnly, taking Emma's other side and following quietly. The Great Hall had quieted down when the two girls had screamed, and now they watched with interest for something to happen.

"Alright, break it up! Nothing to see here!" James and Sirius started shouting as they followed the threesome, with Peter scurrying behind them. With their shouts, the Hall went back to talking amongst them. Of course, the teachers all simply looked on after the group—each with their own thoughts on the sudden...friendliness of the group.

The group finally reached the Common Room where Lily and Remus slowly sat Emma down in one of the maroon armchairs. Lily sat down helplessly at the end of the large couch and crossed her arms over the armrest, pressing her cheek against them. Remus placed himself on the armrest of Emma's chair and let her lean on him while James sat down next to Lily and Sirius sat on the armchair across from Emma. Peter placed himself on the floor in front of the fire, leaning on the coffee table, and just staring at the fire.

"I can't believe that they weren't joking," Emma whispered, digging her face into her palms.

"It'll be alright, Em," Remus said encouragingly, putting an arm around her.

"Um, I hate to be a wet blanket, but, um, you two still have letters from the Evans," James whispered, holding out their letters.

"I wonder what it's about," Emma murmured, reaching out for hers.

"Here," Remus said, taking it with his long arms and handing it to Emma, who took it gratefully.

"Maybe they'll tell us that it was all a joke," Lily replied hopefully, staring at her envelope. "I don't know if I can open it," she sighed, shaking her head with closed eyes.

"Yeah, you can. Come on, Evans, I want to know what's up," Sirius said bluntly and the whole group glared at him. "Sorry, I'm just curious," he shrugged, sinking into his chair again. After his outburst, Emma and Lily took deep breaths and slipped their envelopes open. After a few minutes, Emma broke into a small smile.

"What is it?" Remus asked quietly, trying hard not to read over her shoulder

Emma gave a small chuckle and handed him the letter. "He said that if it's okay with Lily, I could live with them," Emma explained, turning to Lily, who seemed to lose some colour in her face.

"What? Of course it's okay for you to stay with me. It's almost like we're sisters anyway," Lily said, giving a small, weak smile. She slowly crumpled up her own letter and stuck it underneath her thigh, hoping that no one had noticed. "Look, I'm going to go for a walk. I'll, um, talk to you guys later," she mumbled hesitantly, getting up and taking the paper with her.

"Oh—okay," Emma muttered unsurely, watching after her best friend. "Something's up—something she's not telling," she continued, biting her lip as she watched her friend worriedly. "I'm going after her," she added, standing up quickly and knocking Remus off balance. He teetered on the chair for a while, but then he could feel himself tumble and grasped around for anything to hold onto. Remus finally grabbed something—Emma's sleeve.

"Oof," he said, getting the breath knocked out of him as he fell backwards and Emma slammed down on top of his chest.

"Sorry, Remmy," she whispered nervously, standing up quickly.

"No—no problem," Remus stuttered.

"Will you two just make out and get over it?" Sirius asked as he conjured up a Wizard's Chess set and board on the coffee table. "That way, Remus can finally concentrate on the game," he added, gesturing to the board.

"We could always do it your way and stick them in a broom closet together," James laughed as the two blushed profusely.

"You two are such...guys," Emma huffed before walking out the Common Room.

"Thanks, Padfoot; thanks Prongs," Remus sighed, sitting himself on the other end of the board.

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"Merlin, Buckle, I don't know why I can't be the Gryffindor that I am," Emma sighed as she ranted to the elf, who continued to place her favourite foods in front of her.

"Buckle wishes he could help Miss Emma," the elf said quietly, placing a mango-pineapple drink in front of the blond. "But Buckle is not allowed to leave the kitchen because it is no Buckle's place, miss," Buckle added as he handed the girl a fork.

"Thanks for that, Buckle. All I need is a good friend right now," Emma sighed and someone cleared their throat behind her. She jumped and turned around to see a certain blond-haired boy behind her. "Remmy, um, hey," she stuttered as the sight registered in her mind.

"Hey, Em, I heard you needed a friend," he replied nervously, rubbing the back of his neck as he sidled into the seat across from her.

"Haha, yeah," she muttered when she realized that he had grown taller and that his knees brushed hers a little, sending tingles down her spine.

"So, what's on your mind?" Remus asked, holding his hands to mimic that of Dumbledore's whenever he was in a meeting and pondering something.

Emma chuckled at the sight. "Well, Professor Dumbledore, you see, there's this boy," she started, almost forgetting who she was really talking to.

"Oh, go on," Remus replied, leaning in a little and looking a little downcast.

"Yes, well, this boy—I really like him, but I'm a little too shy to tell him myself," Emma whispered as she and Remus were practically nose to nose.

"Really?" he asked her and she nodded slowly.

"Really," she answered quietly as they stared each other in the eye.

"Does this, um, boy have a name?" Remus asked and she gave him a small smile.

"Of course—I just don't feel like telling you," Emma whispered in reply and Remus almost pulled away when Emma grabbed the back of his head and put her lips on his. After a few moments, they pulled away and Remus simply stared at Emma, who wasn't hiding her face this time. "I—I've been trying to say that for the past six years, Remmy, I just—I just didn't know how. At breakfast, I thought I was brave enough to confront it, but I only had half the courage I hoped for, but now, I have all of it and I'm coming out with it," Emma said, taking a deep breath at the end.

"Emma," Remus said quietly, cupping her face in his hands. "I—I like you too, it's just—I, well, I can't. It's complicated, but I can't," he finally whispered, letting go of her warm face and slumping in his seat.

"What are you talking about? Are you already engaged to be married to some girl from some friend of the family's family?" Emma asked, staring at the boy incredulously.

"No," Remus whispered in reply.

"So what's the problem? I don't see how that could be so complicated," Emma cried, standing up.

"Emma, you just don't understand," Remus replied, standing up as well.

"Forgive the cliché, but how could I if you won't even explain it to me?" Emma said, looking torn between anger and sadness.

"I—you would hate me if I told you," Remus whispered dejectedly, looking down at his shoes.

"How do you know that?" she answered angrily, biting back tears. "You know what, Remus? I don't even care anymore—good luck with your complication," she sighed after a moment of silence before storming out of the kitchen.

"What have I done?" Remus asked no one in particular as he buried his face in his palms.

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"Lily, you don't understand—he was just being argh!" Emma cried as she complained to her best friend about her most recent adventure.

"Well, if you calmed down and gave me details, I would understand this faster and we could get to studying for exams," Lily sighed, rolling her eyes as the blond paced the dorm room.

"The exams aren't for another month," Emma replied matter-of-factly, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared incredulously at her friend.

"I know, but—you already know the answer to that. Now tell me about this conflict with Remus," Lily sighed, burying her face in her palms as she did so. She got a little frustrated with her friend when she seemed so out of it, sometimes.

"Okay, so I was muttering to Buckle and he showed up, and I was telling him about a boy, and then I said that I didn't want to tell him the boy's name, because I was too chicken, but then he looked dejected so I told him that I didn't want to tell him. After that, I pulled him into a kiss—," Emma rambled.

"You kissed him?" Lily cried, looking at her friend both happily and incredulously.

"Yeah, I know, I thought it would be awesome too, but he proved me wrong. When we finally pulled away, he told me that he couldn't because it was complicated, and I told him to tell me about it and he said I would hate him if he told me what was the complica—Lily, what do you know?" Emma asked, seeing her friend's face turn from happy to confused to pensive.

"Em, I think I know what the complication is, but—I promised I wouldn't tell," Lily whispered and Emma shouted angrily at the ceiling.

"Why can't this world just be up front with it? Why does it need secrets?" Emma cried, giving Lily a sad look.

"I—I don't know, Em," Lily whispered.

"Please tell me that you have no secrets like that from me, Lils," Emma muttered in reply and her friend looked up at her in silence for a second.

"Well, it's nothing like Remus', but, um," Lily stuttered.

"What? Just tell me, Lily," Emma said firmly.

"I think I don't hate Potter."

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Author's Note: So what did you guys think? And thanks to fanfictionpie and JJ-000-JJ for the reviews. They were very much appreciated.
-imagine everything