Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am not J. K. Rowling. I'm just playing around in her world. Emmalee-Grace on the other hand, belongs entirely to my imagination.

Chapter Twenty-One: A Patronus or Two

After the events of the disastrous Quidditch game, Harry had managed to persuade Professor Lupin to teach Emmalee-Grace and himself to defend against dementors. How he had done this, Emmalee-Grace still had no clue. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know. Regardless, she found herself back in Professor Lupin's office, late at night. She stared at the trembling, locked trunk and then at the enormous brick of chocolate nearby.

"Good evening, Harry, Emmalee-Grace," greeted the professor, closing the door behind him. "We can't use a real dementor for this. I'm sure you understand. I have, however, managed to obtain another boggart. Since that's Harry's fear, you'll stand farther back, Emmalee-Grace. Let the boggart focus on Harry."

She nodded. "I understand, Professor."

"Very well. Dementors can be repelled by a specific charm. I want to make it very clear to both of you that this charm is extremely difficult. Even seventh-year students have trouble mastering it. I've known grown wizards who can't use it."

"We understand, professor," declared Harry. "But we can't have a repeat of that last Quidditch match."

He looked over at Emmalee-Grace as he spoke. He had barely let his foster cousin out of his sight since the match. The few times he had, Hermione had appeared to take over watching her. He was the one who'd fallen over fifty feet off his broomstick for crying out loud. She didn't need him to baby her!

"Very well," stated Professor Lupin.

"Remarkable, Harry!"

It had been weeks since the lessons had begun. Harry's Patronus had begun to resemble an actual solid form. On the other hand, Emmalee-Grace couldn't even manage a mist out of the tip of her wand.

"It's alright, Emmalee-Grace." Harry placed a hand on her shoulder. "Professor Lupin did say it's a very difficult spell."

"That isn't it, Harry," she whispered. "I don't want to send the dementor away any more than you do."

He stared at her. At the end of last week's lesson, he had finally confessed why he was having so much trouble. When the dementors came, they allowed him to remember the deaths of his parents. It was the only real memory of them he had, even with all the stories Sev had told them during the summers.

Professor Lupin knelt down next to the two of them. "What do you mean, Emmalee-Grace?"

She reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out the photo she'd stolen from Harry at the end of their first year.

"When the dementors get too close, I remember the last time I saw Mama."

She turned the picture towards them. Lily Potter stood in the middle of the photo, snow in her red hair. On her right stood another woman, with waist-length black hair. Even more snow rested in her wide, wind-tousled curls. Sapphire blue eyes twinkled with mischief in her tanned, thin, heart-shaped face.

But it was the third woman Emmalee-Grace's finger rested on. She could have passed for Lily's sister. Certainly, they looked more alike than Lily and Petunia, at least in Harry's mind. The woman looked up, smiling, with the exact same pale grey eyes as Emmalee-Grace. Her red hair tumbled out of a messy bun at the back of her head. Paler than her friends, she was no less cheerful.

"Selene Reynolds, my mother," whispered Emmalee-Grace. She looked up, straight into Professor Lupin's and Harry's faces. "You really want to know why I refused to face the boggart in class?"

Without waiting for an answer, she walked over to the trunk and flung the lid open.

From out of the trunk emerged a tall man, with large hands and thick arms. He easily could have played Beater for a professional Quidditch team. In one hand, he drug a body, with the same red hair as both Lily Potter and Selene Reynolds.

Blonde hair fell into the man's hazel eyes. Even from several feet away, Harry and Professor Lupin could see the madness lurking there. The boggart threw the body at Emmalee-Grace's feet. Then, he stepped forward, moving towards her. He pulled a wand from his pocket.

Emmalee-Grace stared at him, frozen. She couldn't move her wand, couldn't even utter a sound. Harry leapt forward, pulling her out of the boggart's path as Professor Lupin stepped in front of it. With a flick of his wand, the boggart was sailing back into the trunk in the form of a balloon.

"When the dementors come, I remember the last time I saw him, too," continued Emmalee-Grace, sinking to the floor. "He'd been after Mama for years. He wanted her to marry him, but she refused. Just after I turned five, he tried to kill her. They took him off to Deadwater. It's the American version of Azkaban. Unfortunately, Americans believe in giving second chances, especially to the wealthy."

Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Emmalee-Grace, you don't have to tell us."

"He was released. He got a good lawyer and he was a model prisoner while they had him. Mama and I had moved around to a lot of towns in New York, for years. We never stayed in any one place more than a couple of months. Even while he was in prison, she kept moving us. She didn't want him to get close enough to try again."

"But he did, didn't he?" Professor Lupin inquired, softly.

She nodded.

"That's why you showed up the way you did." Harry's eyes widened. "Your mum managed to get you away from him."

"He found me, first. The bruises, everything, was from him. He was sure I was the reason Mama had refused." Tears shimmered in her eyes and fell down her face. "I couldn't tell Virgil. Mama made me promise, when he left prison, that I wouldn't talk about him. I was so scared he'd follow me to England."

She found both of her hands grasped in Professor Lupin's. He looked directly into her eyes.

"What was his name, Emmalee-Grace?"

"Malcolm. Malcolm Lansford."

After her revelation, Emmalee-Grace and Harry had been sent back to Gryffindor Tower. Professor Lupin had assured Emmalee-Grace that he wouldn't contact Virgil about the information, but he would speak to Dumbledore.

"The headmaster may be able to find out if anything happened to your mother, or what has become of Malcolm Lansford. Especially with their names to use."

"Mama kept changing our last name so he couldn't find us. I don't know what name she'd be using now."

"That's alright, Emmalee-Grace. It'll be just fine."

As they walked back to Gryffindor Tower, Harry watched her out of the corner of his eye.

"When you first arrived, you were going to use a different last name. You were going to use Reynolds, weren't you?"

She stared at the floor. "But Mama made me promise to never use that name. It was for our own protection."

"And so you refused to tell Virgil."

"I didn't want Lansford to hurt him. He hurt anybody who came between him and Mama," she confessed.

The next week, the two of them stood before Harry's dementor boggart.

Instead of focusing on hearing her mother's voice, Emmalee-Grace thought back. Sev's face immediately swam forward. His reaction when they had returned to Spinner's End, last June, had made her feel safe, loved. She had to admit, she had finally felt that she belonged with Harry and Sev, that day. For the first time in her life, she had truly felt safe, that nothing could really hurt her, anymore. Nothing could have made her feel happier, except to see her mother again.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Professor Lupin stood back and watched as both of them cast the charm. He saw the faint form of a stag in Harry's Patronus. But it was the large silver raven that Emmalee-Grace unleashed that really had him smiling.

There's the most recent chapter. Finally, we know what happened to Emmalee-Grace. But what happened to her mother? You'll just have to wait and see! Since I have every thing already written out, I am debating about combining the next two chapters into one, making for a longer update. However, if I do combine them, it may be a little longer for the next one. I've only got three more chapters written after this one. The beginning of fourth year is really giving me some trouble!

Just one question for you people! Who says Emmalee-Grace has to be Sirius's daughter? Just asking! You don't have to answer that.

I'm not sure how often I'm going be updating for a while. My grandfather's coming to visit on Monday, and I don't know how long he's staying with us. So, I may be unable to get to update. I'm not entirely sure. I'll update if I can, but we'll see! Until the next chapter, please review!