Chapter 21: Kitchens and Towers

The statue of the house elf sprang to life just as the gargoyle had in front of Dumbledore's office and the noises of the kitchen and smells burst fully upon the two first years, as Sirius tossed a grin at her baffled expression before towing her into the kitchen behind him. House elves were scrambling around in a strangely orderly fashion, some acknowledging the students with a quick bob seeming unsurprised to see them there.

"The guys and I have come down here a couple times," he explained as he walked further in, finally releasing her wrist but she followed just as closely behind him as he pulled out two stools for them to sit at a counter on. In all the clamor, Emilia exclaimed.

"Toddles!" The house elf stopped and looking at her grinned sheepishly before tottering over to them and giving a slightly unsure look to Sirius, addressed the Veela.

"Miss Emilia, what can you be doing here? Toddles is much surprised!" he squeaked.

"You and I both, Toddles," she said with a shrug before looking to her left at the boy who had drug her halfway across the castle. "What are we doing here Sirius?" The boy blinked a few times after looking at the two apparent friends before shaking it off and smiling again.

"If you ask really nice, the house elves will give you hot chocolate and I thought we could do with a mug each," he proposed, giving Toddles a look of expectation. The house elf caught the drift and disappeared for a few moments before returning with two mugs of cocoa while also balancing a plate of cinnamon rolls on his head.

"Toddles thought you might want some fresh snacks as well!" he piped putting the mugs down carefully before lifting the plate from his head and sliding it to them. Gesturing, two forks appeared out of thin air and he handed them to Emilia with a smile.

Emilia could feel the tears she had been holding back prick at the corners of her brown eyes once more at the thoughtfulness of her two friends as she took the forks from the house elf who was suddenly looking very concerned.

"Did Toddles do something wrong? Is the mistress upset?!" he squeaked, pulling himself up onto the counter and putting a long fingered hand to her shoulder.

"No, no," she managed a teary smile, engulfing the house elf into a hug, which emitted a squeak of surprise from him. "You did nothing wrong. Just... the two of you, both being so thoughtful... I just couldn't hold my feelings in, I guess," Emilia explained, placing the elf back on his feet on the counter before wiping the back of her hands under her eyes.

"Give us some time?" Sirius prompted the house elf who nodded energetically.

"Yes, of course, but if you need anything else just ask Toddles." The house elf disappeared into the insanity leaving behind a hiccuping witch and a thoughtful wizard. Sirius pushed the cocoa closer to her hand as he took up his own and drank it slowly.

He waited until they were both halfway through their first cinnamon roll before nudging his friend with his elbow. "So, want to tell me what's really going on between you and Lily?"

Emilia put another bite of cinnamon roll in her mouth to buy time although she was pretty sure the topic was bound to be brought up at some point. She carefully set down the fork before lacing her fingers in her lap and allowing her gaze to wander among the elves (who had calmed seeing as their preparations for lunch were mostly completed) and she noted absently that Toddles was nowhere to be seen.

"She isn't exactly happy with me," she said slowly feeling Sirius' eyes on her. He didn't say anything however, apparently not wanting to push her too hard. Taking in a shaky breath, she said rather quickly, "She doesn't approve of you guys." His gaze stayed on her a moment more before she felt the sensation vanish.

"She'll come around." At Emilia's look he continued, "Really. The two of you have been inseparable since the day we started. If being sorted into 'enemy' Houses didn't prevent your friendship, I hardly think your being friends with Remus and me and, yes, even James, will keep her away from you forever. Just give her a bit. You'll see," he encouraged mussing her mostly dry hair. Emilia shook him off but she felt better, lighter, than she had all morning.

"Thanks, Sirius," she mumbled before eating more of her cinnamon roll.

Just before they left the kitchens, Toddles reappeared with something wrapped in a pillowcase and offered it to Emilia. "Miss Emilia! I thought I might give it to you sooner-perhaps to help the mistress to cheer up," he said happily and remembering that she had told him to bring the other mirror to her, she did brighten and squeezed the house elf's hand warmly.

"Thank you, Toddles!" He blushed, made a shooing gesture and left them to it and Emilia, looking up to see that Sirius was looking at her curiously she made a snap decision. "Can I show you something now?" His curiosity gave way to a smile and it was her turn to drag him by the wrist.

Quicker than she had ever managed it before, they arrived at her secret room and she let him explore it as she had the first time she happened upon it. He didn't look too closely at the books but he fingered the box with the bud, walked about the circumference of the room and then laid a hesitant hand on the mirror.

"Pick it up," she encouraged.

His curiosity turned to confusion as he saw the fuzzy reflection of material draped over the reflection. "What...?" She smiled softly when he looked at her then back to the mirror and she took that opportunity to withdraw the second mirror from the pillowcase and turned it toward Sirius and he called out in shock before looking over to her to see the second mirror in her hand and the reflection of himself but not from the direction he expected. "Where did you find these?" he asked impressed.

"Well, the one you're holding was here along with all the other things, and this one," she hefted the mirror and turned it to her face, seeing the side of Sirius' face and smiling, "was in some other cluttered room—I happened to see Toddles' reflection in it and asked him to bring it to me."

"You know how handy these could be?" Sirius asked, his eyes bright as he looked back in the mirror.

She only grinned before setting the mirror on the desk and wandering over to the bookshelves to trace the spines with a finger.

"So how did you find this place, anyhow?" Sirius asked.

"Remember the second time I ran into you and James? I lost myself in the castle on purpose that day but when I bumped into you two... I was having a hard time finding my way back from it," she said with a blushing shrug as she continued to look at the books, coming again to the book about lunar eclipses. She tilted her head, momentarily forgetting she wasn't alone in the tower as she looked more closely at the other titles next to it. She made out a number about magical creatures (a curiously high focus on werewolves) when Sirius called her attention back to his presence.

"Do you spend a lot of time up here?"

"No...but that'll probably change as I get sicker of Slytherin Commons," she laughed. He just smiled, looking about the room once more before suggesting they head back to the main section of the castle. She nodded and they headed down the spiraling stairs.

"I wonder who left all that up there anyway," Sirius mused once they reached the bottom, looking back up briefly before they started to walk down the hall.

"No idea, but I suppose there is probably something up there that will give a hint or something. I haven't explored a lot of it because of class and then the cleaning that had to be done before I could explore comfortably..." He hummed in response and they fell into a companionable silence as they thought their private thoughts. A glance out the first window they passed showed that it was beginning to snow once more. Emilia wondered, as they descended the main staircase together why no one was giving them second looks but looking down at her and Sirius' attire, she remembered that neither wore anything signifying their house and probably looked to be just two regular friends. Mentally she shook her head at the difference the colors one wore made while walking together with others.

Emilia was in the middle of these thoughts when Sirius stopped walking and, catching her attention, smiled slightly. "Well, it's been fun but Remus promised to help James and I finish our homework before the beginning of the week, so I should probably get going."

"Oh," and there was the House distinction again, "yeah, no problem. Thanks for spending time with me," she said with a half smile before turning and walking to the stairs that would take her down to the common room. She was suddenly extremely tired and thought she might take a nap before dinner. However, she felt a gaze on her back and, upon reaching the top stair, she looked behind her to see Sirius watching after her looking uncomfortable. She felt her cheeks flush for some reason as she waved at him and he seemed to brighten, giving a cheesy grin and a wave back before turning and heading back up the main staircase.

After blinking a few times she shook her head and turned back down the staircase. "Pureblood," she said with her customary shiver at the word when she got to the hidden door and walked into the common room. There were a few knots of people chattering comprised mostly of those who had returned from home that morning. A few people looked over at her curious about who had entered but when they saw it was just the first year, they mostly returned to their conversations. One of the curious, however, she realized with a shock was the Beater she had blinded and his gaze remained on her. It wasn't unfriendly, per se, but it still made her self-conscious and she walked as calmly as possible to the girls' dormitories feeling his eyes on her the whole way.

Letting go of the breath she'd been holding once she got to her room, she noted that her roommates trunks were back though none of them had stayed in the room. Shrugging out of the coat she had worn almost all day, her attention was brought back to the small, scarlet, leather-bound book she'd taken from the tower room. Tossing it onto her pillow, she put her coat away and pulled her boots off. Running a brush through her hair, she pulled it back and braided it swiftly before finally crawling onto her bed, drawing the curtains closed about her.

"Lumos."

She investigated the outside cover again but aside from the heart at the top of the spine, there wasn't anything else to draw attention to and so, Emilia opened the small book to its first page.

May 23, 1953

I do so love the start of a new journal.

All the blank pages that await for memories to be preserved on them... anyway, today marks the first day of my truly taking possession of the East Tower. I stumbled across it, as you know, around Christmas last year but I have finally been able to get some bookcases as well as a desk and good chair up here with little notice (the Fat Friar caught me at it while moving the chair... he merely congratulated my charm work and floated on to his next destination). But I must state how thankful I am to the Room of Requirement for having so many odds and ends to add to the tower to make it somewhere one would actually spend time. I have moved quite a few of my light reading books up here, as well, seeing as there was nowhere in my dormitory to display them and I feel as though they have a better chance of being read up here in my solitude.

May 27, 1953

I haven't decided on what to tell Marianne about where I disappear to all the time. She figures I can't be spending all my time with Hagrid, no matter how much there is to be done around the grounds...but I don't much like the idea of having just anyone waltz into this room. I didn't learn the concealment charm just to start allowing anyone to come up here. She is my friend, yes, but only just as started a few months ago.

I'll figure something out to tell her I suppose... maybe I should go out for the Quidditch team—Hooper is always telling me I would make a great Chaser.

September 2, 1953

I forgot to take my journal with me for the summer holiday so the memories of the summer are in a journal I decided I would just leave at home.

I have made it to my 4th year here at Hogwarts and I have to say, I have a really good feeling about this year. That boy I mentioned back in February? It seems he hasn't given up on me just yet—and he seems like the sincerest of these so-called admirers that I seem to be harassed by-

The giggles of girls suddenly permeated the room and startled, she held her breath—why? She had no clue. She also wasn't sure why the giggling suddenly stopped—perhaps at the sight of her drawn curtains—but that had never stopped her dorm mates from talking and giggling up a storm before. A nervous swallow occurred before she whispered, "Nox," to her wand and pulled the curtain back just enough to see the entry to her dorm. No one stood there.

Her brow furrowed as she carefully lay her book and wand down on the bed and stood up to investigate. Poking her head out into the hall she couldn't hear anything from the other girls' rooms. She was suddenly reminded of the disembodied footsteps that had led her to Sirius and James. She couldn't suppress a shiver but glancing back into the dorm room she saw the sun was setting so dinner would probably be soon. Her gaze wandered briefly to her bed where the nameless journal lay before she turned and walked down into the common room. Most of the chattering friends had left but the Beater and his friends were still there so she darted as quickly and quietly as she could out the wall and was halfway up the stairs when she heard him call her.

"Pendragon!" She halted and slowly turned to look back down the stairs to see the Beater ascending. She felt herself start to sink into fight or flight mode which he must have realized for he held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Calm down, I learned my lesson the last time, you know." Emilia attempted to ease the tension from her shoulders and, seeing this, the Beater smiled.

"Name's Jonathan Grimsby," he introduced holding a hand out to her. She took it carefully allowing them to shake briefly before bringing her own very small hand back to her side. The evil feeling she had thought she'd felt before wasn't present and she shuffled the thought to her back burners. When she began to turn again to retreat further up the stairs he spoke again, rushing at first, "Dumbledore told me that you were still getting control of your powers and were just riled up from our win. And, besides, my sight is back. No harm, no foul, right?"

Her nod was slow but a little more definite at his relieved smile. "Well, I'll let you get off to wherever you're going. But hey, if you need any practice or help with that power of yours..." he trailed off with a charming smile before turning to retreat back down the stairs and disappearing through the wall.

Not for the first time that day, Emilia felt completely dumbfounded. Turning slowly she walked up the remaining stairs in a daze before coming to just in time to see her favorite prefect looking down at her.

"Hello Miss Pendragon." Her stomach dropped as she looked into the cold eyes of Lucius Malfoy.

UPDATE:

Casidhe here again! So, the edits (as mentioned below) took a LOT less time than I thought they would! Which excites me greatly. But I would REALLY encourage the re-reading of all the previous chapters before this because I have changed a few details here and there so that the timeline would be more aligned with what is on HP Wikia! For example-Narcissa couldn't be a prefect the same year as Lucius seeing as she started Hogwarts a year after him, and also I did a little fixing where the crew's first meeting is concerned.

Thanks for taking the time to read through it seeing as it SHOULD help make more sense in the future. 3 And I will put the shout-outs from the reading of THIS chapter onto Chapter 22 which I plan to attack right now. :) You guys are awesome!

(Previous Note)

Casidhe here!

So, as I was writing this here chapter, I was reading some extra background stuff on Harry Potter Wikia and I have discovered some rather... small, I suppose, but discrepancies just the same between my timeline and the timeline proposed by the actual background of the books and story. I was hoping to just focus on the fic until I got done with Emilia's first year but I feel that if I do that then I will NEVER go back and fix it. So, I'mma do that while working on my other fics and I'll let ya'll know when I'm putting up the updated (hopefully well improved) TGWWD.

Thanks for all of your support and understanding!

Review: Thank you so much, Jamielov3! You're the best!

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CB