AN: Hey everyone! Sorry about not updating last week, things got a little crazy, but I assure you that I'll make it up to you this week! Y'all can expect a Christmas present from me somewhere between the 24th and 25th! I hope you all enjoy this chapter though, extra long, just for you! ;)

REVIEWERS!:

Acecove: Good. It's vaguely symbolic, Emma's not dead or anything, but she's pretty invisible. Ice Snarks was on purpose, they're Anglerfish creatures, where as the Sharks were just shark skeletons. Yeah, they are of the more corrupt beings from Wonderland, but Carpenter did sacrifice himself to save Emma.

Eris: It's pretty dark, but I'm glad you enjoyed it! And you'll find the next bit of Emma's story this chapter! :)

Guest: No worries! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Being based on anything Alice in Wonderland, it's bound to be confusing, but I'm glad it still seems to be landing well with most people. Excellent! Thank you! Happy Holidays to you as well! :)

Music: "Everything At Once" by Lenka

NOTES: Don't underestimate me. I know more than I say, think more than I speak, and notice more than you realize.

Chapter 14: Everything At Once

Breakfast was a bustling and crowded as ever with three schools sharing the Hall, but Emma was able to find a space at the Ravenclaw table to enjoy some toast with jelly as she looked over some files she'd "borrowed" from the Auror's Office during her shift.

Carpenter's words had stuck with her after waking up washed up on the shore early that morning. After sneaking back into school, relieved to not be sent to the hospital wing which would possibly make Rapunzel more suspicious, Emma really thought about what the twisted man had said. If it wasn't Pitch causing the destruction of Wonderland, then who could it possibly be? Knowing that Wonderland was directly linked to her world, Emma theorized that whatever was happening to Wonderland was also happening to Hogwarts in some way. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of anyone besides Pitch who had anything to gain from attacking Hogwarts.

That being said, she had started to notice some patterns within Pitch's attack strategy and was starting to wonder if it really was random or not. Cross-referencing all of the known Pitch Black sightings and dragon-related incidents had been extremely helpful, though even with her knowledge of Specific Context, some of the reports just weren't adding up; a sighting of Pitch Black at Fort Sinister near Rome had been reported just a few days ago, but the day after there was another report of Black Sand infecting a herd of yak in the Archipelago through the fresh water supply and effectively killing them all. As far as Emma knew, not even Pitch Black and Sandman could travel that fast, to go from one side of the world to the other in a single day. Perhaps it had been one of Pitch's generals, but Magic, especially Dark Magic, is not easily controlled by a person who was not born to it. She wasn't sure if anyone but Pitch could use black sand effectively. And, furthermore, why would Pitch Black care about a fresh water source on some island in the middle of nowhere?

On top of all this was the increasing number of reports about pirates and the Prime Minister signing warrants for the Ministry to begin hunting them. It seemed the Prime Minister wanted all of them to hang. It was all quite bizarre and Emma was still trying to figure out how it all went together.

Deep in thought, Emma hardly noticed Jamie coming up to her and taking the empty seat beside her with a light hello and a curious look at what she was doing. She mumbled a vague noise of greeting, but didn't bother looking up from the papers.

"So... What have you got there?" Jamie asked, sounding as though he was trying to break an awkward silence.

"Just some reports from the office. I'm reviewing them once more before I file them, just in case the senior investigators missed something." She shrugged easily, giving him a half-truth.

"Why?" He asked, his lip curling up in a weird half-smirk that looked a cross between amused and vaguely disgusted. "I mean, they're Senior Investigators for a reason, if they didn't find anything, I seriously doubt that you -uhh, well, what I mean is, uh, haha!" He stumbled and stuttered when Emma looked up at him to stare at him with a narrowed brow.

"Even the most experienced of people can make mistakes sometimes." Emma replied, her tone icy as Jamie's expression quickly morphed into one of panic.

"Oh, come on! Don't be like that! I didn't mean it like how it sounded!" Jamie tried to reason, though Emma didn't think it was a very good argument. "What I meant is; I just don't understand why you're wasting all your time on this. I mean, the Auror's Office apprenticeships are for future Investigators and Warriors, but you don't need to worry about that sort of stuff. You could just take healing classes with all the other girls."

"What you mean is that I'm a girl and I should be more focused on embroidery and dancing and trying to get boys' attention than trying to build a career in investigative and strategic practices." Emma supplied for him in a sickly sweet tone, batting her eyelashes for affect.

"Exactly!" Jamie sighed with relief, but then his eyes widened in shock and confusion. "Wait, what?"

Emma was already grabbing the files and papers strewn across the table before her, shoving them into her bag, but she did spare some of her attention to Jamie as she added on to her previous statement. "But if you knew me at all you would know that I spent half of last year trying to learn healing from Rapunzel and we discovered it incompatible with my magic. If you were perceptive at all, you would have noticed that I was one of the best Duelers in our year during Dueling Club meetings. And if you were the slightest bit tactful you might've realized that you sound like a total Ass!"

Emma slammed her notebook closed with both hands, tucked it under her arm, and then marched out of the Great Hall. She left Jamie gaping like a big stupid fish and ignored his calls for her to stop or come back when he finally managed to break from his stupor. She kept walking with her bag slung over her shoulder and her mood turned foul.

She didn't really know where else to go. Venelope had made it onto the Slytherin Quidditch team as an alternate and was at practice with Jack. Cupcake was busy with an extra curricular project for Herbology, helping Professor Lorax with some of his more delicate plants as she was one of his most promising students of their year. And, sadly, Emma couldn't retreat to the library because it was closed for cleaning and organizing for the day.

She huffed out a heavy sigh. The study lounges were useless as they were more hangout spaces for the students where no actual studying got done, so if she went there she wouldn't get any work done or people would bother her, wanting to know what she was doing. The Room of Requirement was an option, but there were always at least a few older students practicing there, usually under Merida's instruction as she was still heading the Secret Dueling Club.

However, this Saturday was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year. Nearly everyone from her class would be going at some point that day, but the village would be a good place to lose herself in the crowd and avoid prying eyes. Besides, she knew Cupcake and Venelope were extremely excited to see the village and would go later in the day, so perhaps she could meet up with them at some point.

Deciding it was her best option, Emma started towards the courtyard where Mr. and Mrs. Crood were organizing horse-drawn sleigh rides for the students with the Prefects help. Emma managed to slip onto one of the early sleighs, with a couple of fourth-years that didn't pay her much mind other than a polite greeting, which was fine by her. Emma watched the forest go by, remembering a time when she'd traveled to Hogsmeade as a first-year and smiled fondly as warmth swelled up inside her heart. She couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face, or the ache that twinged in her chest.

It was the reason she didn't find this trip to be so exciting. It was much more fun when they were breaking the rules and going on an adventure where few would follow. But it was always nice to get out of the castle.

Upon reaching the drop-off point, Emma jumped out of the sleigh and walked through the snow to peer in at all of the different shops. She decided to get herself some sweet treats from Honeydukes to help her with all the work she had to do. She smiled as she opened the door to the warm shop, the bell above the door jingling to announce her arrival.

During the coldest points of the winter, the kind old couple of Honeydukes set up small tables in the corner by the window so that customers could linger within the warmth of the store while enjoying their goodies. Finding the tables empty, Emma dropped her bag onto the seat and purchased a few Cauldron Cakes before sitting down and pulling out the files she was digging through earlier.

For one gloriously peaceful hour Emma was able to work without any interruptions while also munching on the rich desserts she'd gotten for herself. Unfortunately, the blessed silence did not last. The door swung open with a startled jingle of the bell and three, loud teenage boys along with three teenage girls, fumbled into the store, excitedly taking in their surroundings. Emma tried to shrink behind her book bag, hoping the assortment of Hogwarts students wouldn't notice her, but Gustav spotted her not a moment later and called out, obliviously happy.

Of all the boys, Gustav was probably the sweetest and most well-meaning of the group, but he wasn't exactly the sharpest pencil in the classroom.

With the whole group's attention now on her, Emma straightened a little, offering a small wave in response as Gustav strolled over with the others beside him. They all crowded in the corner as Emma tried to shift her papers a bit to cover the important things without drawing too much attention to herself. Hiro's gaze, however, had gone straight to her work and took in the old case files with a raised eyebrows and surprised expression.

"Whoa, that's some pretty heavy work you have there. Never would have pegged you for the Auror type." Hiro said, but upon seeing her blank stare it turned into a bit of a nervous chuckle. "Not that you're not smart, it's just that you're always so quiet, and I always kinda thought you more on the art side of things, not that that's a bad thing..." He quickly added, scratching the back of his neck and pulling at the Ravenclaw scarf wrapped around his neck that matched Emma's.

"Well, Lady Tremaine is always giving Emma detention for drawing in etiquette class." Riley Anderson remarked with a shrug, and Emma wasn't going to argue that. She was a bit more artistic than technical focused, however that didn't mean she wasn't smart. She was a Ravenclaw in her own right, through her art and her street smart mind thanks to a great mentor.

She rolled her eyes at the group, but when she opened her mouth to set the record straight, Gustav jumped into the conversation. "Well, I think art is great! You know, I could talk about art all day!" Gustav wiggled his eyebrows at her, and Emma sighed.

His intention of defending her was sweet. The flirting was awkward. And she was annoyed that everyone kept feeling the need to direct her life. She didn't need protection, and she didn't need people to make decisions for her.

"I don't know, you might want to consider getting your head out of the clouds and back down on earth, Emma. Think about the opportunities right in front of you." Pippa suggested in what Emma assumed was good-intentions.

"What 'opportunities'?" Emma wanted to know.

"Well, Jamie of course! He's obviously interested in you, and his family is of a good stature with connections within the Ministry. He'd be a smart choice for you!" Riley piped up again with a smile.

"Smart choice for what? And what do you mean 'for me'?" Emma asked, even more confused and a little afraid she already knew the answers to those questions.

"It's just that your family is a bit lower in class and you've been given this amazing opportunity to jump to a new level with your brother being a Guardian and all. Jamie will inherit his parents fortune and be able to provide for you really well. It would be an obvious and smart engagement." Margo explained a little more thoroughly and Emma wanted to gag as Gustav and Hiro looked confused and then realized what they were talking about.

"Marriage?!" Emma sputtered, thrown for a loop by the three girls obvious interest in the topic. Of course Emma knew that the girls, and even most of the boys, in her year were particularly interested in such a topic, due to Lady Tremaine and the Ministry trying to implement the old ways of courting and marriage into the school system through the etiquette classes, but it was still jarring to hear her classmates telling her she should be focusing on trying to find herself a husband.

"Hey! What about me?! I'm a good catch too, you know!" Gustav lifted his chin proudly and the girls simply shook their heads at him as Hiro rolled his eyes, but Emma was too stunned by the topic of conversation to really find her voice for any sort of rebuttal. She decided then would be an excellent time to make her escape and started shoving papers and folders into her bag.

"Oh, would you look at the time! I have to go meet someone back at the castle, so I should really be going. Bye!" She blurted out as she hurried passed all of her year-mates towards the door, but as she was rushing away, her ears caught the murmured exchange between the girls.

"Is it just me, or is she really weird?" Margo asked in a low tone.

"It's like she's always off in her own world, it's creepy sometimes." Riley agreed with a sympathetic look.

"Come on, just ignore her. Let's get some chocolate frogs!" Pippa told them, but Emma let the door slam shut behind her on it's own as she stalked off into the snow.

Why was her entire generation so obsessed with marriage and dating? Such a stupid thing to be focused on, in her opinion. Especially when they could be going to war within the year! She supposed it wasn't entirely their fault as it was taught to them by Lady Tremaine, but how easily the society of Hogwarts had adopted such priorities was a bit concerning. They were like a flock of sheep, willing to go wherever everyone else was going.

"Only the foolish believe suffering is just wages for being different. Only the Savage regards the endurance of pain as the measure of worth. Only the Insane equate Pain with Success." Emma's head snapped up in surprise from where she'd been glaring at the ground and she found Cat grinning down at her from his perch on top the sign for the Joke Shop.

"Cat!" She gasped, shocked to see him roaming about so freely. "What are you doing here?"

The skeletal feline climbed down into the snow and curled about her legs, his muscles coiled and his eyes focused as if he was hunting prey. His tail flicked back and forth lazily as he jumped onto a bench outside the shop and met Emma's gaze.

"You know that I am just as capable of traversing this world as I am Wonderland, just as you do." Cat purred, amused. Emma huffed, crossing her arms.

"But your change in forms is more drastic than mine. I didn't know you could take your Cheshire form in this world." Emma told him, giving him a pointed look as they both know he'd never done this before.

"Well, you're half right." Cat waved his paw in a circle motion as if to help the words find their way. "Think of it as me projecting myself through you. I am but an image of myself, which makes it easy for me to choose any form. When I speak, only you will hear."

"But others can see you? And if you're only an image, how are you solid?" Emma questioned, her curiosity growing with the complexity of such a spell.

"Yes, others will see me, but I am only solid to you." Cat purred, his eyes fixating on her own. "Your imagination is powerful magic, and this spell is of my own workings. You could say I'm testing the limits of our connection through Wonderland."

"This isn't going to make my brain explode, is it? I have too much trouble with it already." Emma quipped and Cat chuckled deep in his throat.

"In that case, it may solve some of your problems, but that won't be a concern with this spell. It is only a modified telepathy spell." Cat explained.

"So this is all in my head?" Emma asked, not sure if she should be relieved or concerned about everything happening in there.

"For the most part, yes." Cat nodded. "I will be here to guide and assist you when I can, but there are other matters that demand my attention."

"I understand." Emma nodded in return, and then smiled softly. "I'm glad you're here."

"Ah, but will you still be thinking that when I've gotten you into trouble?" Cat grinned wickedly, leaning his head forward before sitting up straight again.

"It seems whether you're here or not, I'm in trouble, so may as well make the trouble fun and useful." Emma waved her hand dismissively. "So, what should I do?"

"Do I really look like I know? Your judgement must be severely impaired." Cat said, his attention more focused on licking his paw then on Emma who pursed her lips.

Sometimes Cat was helpful.

"Steps to enlightenment brighten the way; but the steps are steps. Take them one at a time." Cat advised, his expression morphing into something a little more sincere. "Enjoy the time outside the castle, such freedom may be hard to come by in the future."

"I suppose..." Emma muttered, but before she could continue with another question, there was a loud shout and something, or rather, someone slammed into her and they fell into the snow in a tangle of limbs and winter robes and scarves.

"Oww," Emma groaned as she slowly pushed herself up after the larger form had finally managed to roll off of her.

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean to -Oh, Emma!" Jim's blue eyes stared slightly down at her from where he sat right beside her in the snow, and Toby ran up to them, panting and gasping for breath.

"Are you guys... Okay?..." He wheezed, bending over with his hands on his knees.

"I think so. What are you two doing?" Emma looked at the pair, her head tilting to one side and they both seemed to get a little nervous.

"Uhh... Well, you see, it's just -Well," Jim said, clearing his throat. "T-Toby's scarf blew away in the wind, and I, uh, was running to catch it, but I guess since I was so focused on the scarf I didn't see you. Sorry about that." Jim smiled sheepishly as he stood and offered her both his hands to help her up.

Emma accepted them with a smile, shaking her head slightly. "That's alright. Are you okay?"

"Who? Jimbo? Of course he's fine! He's way more durable than any normal human!" Toby scoffed only to receive a sharp look from Jim and immediately start backtracking. "Not that, you know, Jim isn't totally a normal human! Haha! I mean, look at him! So skinny! Just your average, completely normal, completely not magical in any non-wizard way!" Toby forced a smile and Jim slapped his hand against his face.

Emma looked at Cat and shrugged. Cat just chuckled through a soft purr.

"Whoa, that is one ugly cat," Toby grimaced, finally spotting Cat sitting on top of the bench.

"Tobes, that's rude!" Jim reminded him, and Toby started as if realizing what he'd just said.

"Oh! Not like ugly as in, you know, Ugly. No, no, no! It's one of those new things, like how when people say something's bad, they mean that it's good, you know? Hahahaha... I'm just gonna stop talking now." Toby straightened up, locking his arms behind his back and pressing his lips together. Emma laughed.

"Don't worry, Cat isn't exactly your typical feline." Emma waved it off, but Cat sniffed at the boy and jumped off the bench, wandering over to wind around her legs. Every bone visible underneath his skin and matted fur.

"So, he is yours?" Jim asked, looking down at Cat.

"Mmm, I wouldn't say he's mine. I think it's more along the lines of he adopted me." Emma smiled, meeting Cat's gaze as they looked at each other knowingly.

"Cats can be like that. My Nana has a whole bunch of them." Toby told her.

"Where are you heading?" Jim asked.

"Oh, uh..." Emma glanced off to the side, feeling a bit self-conscious about being weird, but finding nothing to say. "Well, I was just standing here talking to Cat. I was at Honeydukes, but things got a little... Loud. So I left, and I thought I would head back to the castle, but Cat thinks I should enjoy the freedom outside while I have it."

"Cat sounds pretty smart to me." Jim smiled, which made the knot in Emma's chest loosen a little. Maybe not everyone thought she was weird. "We heard there was a bookshop here, and we were gonna go see if there's anything that will help us figure out this clue for the Second Challenge." Jim confided to her, pulling the little rolled up slip of paper from his pocket to show to her. "You wanna come?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea! You're one of those Falcon-paws, right? The really smart ones? I bet you can figure this out in no time!" Toby beamed brightly at her in his excitement.

"It's Ravenclaw," Emma giggled, feeling her face get a little warm at the praise, but feeling happy that they had such faith in her. "But I'd be happy to help. Besides, you're going the wrong way; the bookstore is that way." She pointed diagonally in the opposite direction. "Just don't tell anyone. Some of my classmates may not like me helping another school's champion." She teased lightly, and they all laughed together.

Emma lead the two Durmstrang boys through the town to the bookstore as they filled her in by allowing her to read the clue for herself: Travel down into the deep, to find what it is you seek. But beware the stranger sounds, else you'll find yourself bound. An hour long you have to look so tarry not, Lest what you want stays here to rot.

"So it's pretty obvious that we'll only have an hour for the challenge, and I was thinking that maybe it'll be underground since they were talking about 'the deep'. But we still don't have a clue what the warning is for." Jim said, pointing to different parts of the poem.

"I think I know what it means, but I'll need to double check to make sure. How are you at swimming?" Emma asked.

"Uhh..." He said, and Emma tilted her head at his hesitation.

"Jimbo can swim, but he Hates the water. Why?" Toby answered instead, and rather than looking either boy in the face, Emma just looked forward with a shrug.

"Most likely the next challenge is going to happen underwater." She said, pushing open the door to the bookstore and then holding it open for the two boys.

"Oh, come on!" Jim said.

"Hey, wait! The sign says no pets -Wait, where did Cat go?" Toby asked, looking around to see if he could spot Cat.

"Oh, he comes and goes. Don't worry about him. Let's see what we can figure out for Jim." Emma said as Jim walked passed her with a grateful smile and Toby followed close behind.

The halls around the Auror's Office were dark and empty during the dinner feast, which made Emma's sneaking around a lot easier. She quietly slipped into the office and started towards the back of the room where the back storage closet was. She tried turning the knob on the door, but it was locked and Emma cursed under her breath.

"Remember, Emma, don't curse the darkness or the cold when you're in the library at night."

Emma turned, glaring blandly at Cat who was sitting atop one of the desks closest to her. His green eyes glowed brightly through the darkness of the office, but Emma just rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand.

"Alohomora," She said and the door unlocked, swinging open for her without any trouble. "Are you going to be useful, or just keep pestering me about manners?"

"'Seek and ye shall find' they say, but they don't say What you'll find." Cat said as he jumped down from the desk and followed her into the storage room. "Keep your ears and eyes open, even to things you may not want to know. It's the only way you'll find the truth."

"Quite." Emma said, pulling out a drawer from the bottom of the file cabinet.

Using her wand for light, she picked through the files and scanned over the content of each one for anything that could be useful. She was searching older files, which seemed counter productive for trying to figure out a current string of crimes, but she was starting to think some of the dragon incidents went deeper than any of them thought. From what she had gathered from the files and from Wonderland, they had Pitch to worry about, but they also had someone else. An enemy they didn't know that was causing trouble, and as far as Emma could see, that was much more dangerous than the threat they could see in front of them.

She was determined to figure out both mysteries. She'd have to if she was going to convince the Guardians and the Aurors that Pitch Black and his army weren't their only concern.

Half an hour later, Emma was still sitting in the back room, reading by the light of her wand. She set yet another file to the side, sighing before she turned and looked in at the last few files remaining in the drawer, and she stopped.

There, at the back of the drawer and buried behind all the other files, was a plain case file labeled 'Hiccup' in a messy scrawl that Emma was too familiar with. It was Jack's case file. All of the evidence he'd put together in his search for what really happened to his best friend.

Emma picked up the file, sitting back heavily as she stared at the file, unwilling to open it, but not wanting to let it go.

"Such a heavy burden will only cause you trouble in the future." Cat warned her from somewhere behind her, but Emma shook her head.

"I don't care," She said quietly. "I need to keep this safe. There might be people who want to destroy it to erase evidence, or maybe people who want to make false accusations. Besides, it's my job to protect these secrets, isn't it?" She looked over her shoulder at him, only a little surprised to see the Cheshire Cat wasn't smiling.

"Will you always ignore my warnings?" He asked.

"Probably." Emma answered softly. "But I made you a promise, and I'm going to stick to it."

Voices out in the corridor alerted them to someone approaching the office. Cat vanished into thin air and Emma hurried to shove the files back into the drawer before rushing out of the storage closet and locking the door behind her with one hand as the other grappled with the files she'd selected to take with her.

She pushed her way out of the office, only to bump into someone right outside the door. She stumbled and dropped all of the files cradled in her arm. Dropping to her knees, Emma frantically collected the files, trying to cover them before whoever was standing over could see any connection between the files that might incriminate her; namely, Dragons.

She reached for the last one, Hiccup's file, but stopped when she realized it was underneath a polished, black shoe. Slowly, Emma looked up at the man standing over her and her shoulders tensed a little when she met the unimpressed gaze of Prime Minister Claude Frollo.

The Prime Minister calmly reached down and picked up the file, inspecting it with a sharp eye. "Curious," He said, drawing out the 's' just a little with his quiet tone. It reminded Emma of a rattle snake. "And what is someone so young doing in the Auror's Office during the evening meal?"

"Nothing, Sir. Just some filing. Getting the older cases out of the way to make space for all the newer ones coming in." Emma said, accepting the file when the Prime Minister held it out to her.

"I see." He said. "Perhaps you would do better to join your friends at the feast. A young lady's social life is very important. It would be a shame for such a pretty face to waste away in some Dark, Rotted corner." His spoke slowly, clearly.

"I'll take that into consideration, Sir." She murmured.

"Excellent," The Prime Minister said, folding his hands behind his back and watching Emma as she inched around him and started in the direction of the basement where their expansive storage rooms were.

Once she turned the corner, she breathed a sigh of relief. That man gave her the creeps, and his intense stare her the hairs along her arms sticking up.

"Flattering words often insights their object to rash action. Learn their true meaning." Cat said, appearing beside her, matching her stride as she walked.

"So you heard the threat there too, right? It's not just me being crazy?" Emma asked, wanting to be sure she wasn't just being paranoid due to her dislike of the man.

"The Prime Minister is a powerful and influential man. Be careful around him, Emma." Cat said, his tone leaving no room for arguments or jokes. Emma just nodded.

"So what's next? Will he be watching me now?" She questioned.

"It's possible he already was watching you. This game is a treacherous one, Emma. Do not trust the Prime Minister." Cat told her.

"This game isn't so hard, and I won't stop until I find the truth. It could mean the difference between going to War or sustaining peace." Emma insisted, holding the files closer to her chest.

"You've only just started playing, girl. There's still plenty more for you to learn." Cat said. "But sense you know the moves best play with whites. They go first."