tw: underage drinking, language

November faded nearly imperceptibly into December. Life within the castle went on as if nothing had changed. Lessons continued on, the Heads of Houses took the names of students staying for the holidays, and there was an overall buzz of Christmas spirit. The ghosts floated by singing carols, brilliant green garlands, and trees were placed everywhere, and the castle seemed to glitter with sparkling lights at all times. The closer Hogwarts got to the holiday, the more the stone walls seemed to thrum with spirit, and the excitement was infectious to everyone except Emma.

At the beginning of the month, Emma felt as though she had taken two steps forward and one step back. If it weren't for Remus's incredibly delicate guidance, she was sure she would have slipped even further. For once, Emma didn't intentionally forget to eat, and Remus had to remind her to do simple things. She was becoming withdrawn, and she knew it, but Remus kept up a steady stream of activity for her. He wasn't going to let her slip back into her old habits again.

He took a small step back in their extra lessons in favor of getting Emma out and doing different things. After weeks of trying to convince her to at least look into the art club, Emma reluctantly agreed. To Emma's surprise, she found that she almost enjoyed it, but was far too shy to do anything more than look at everyone else's art. She didn't miss the relieved look on Remus's face when she picked up her sketchbook after that first meeting and started to draw. Emma had no intention of going back, but she could start drawing on her own again.

To Emma's absolute horror, she learned that she actually enjoyed flying. Even worse, she realized that not only did she like watching Quidditch, she liked playing it even more.

Only a week after the incident in Hogsmeade, the Weasley twins and Cedric asked Emma to play Quidditch with them. It was strange to have all three boys standing excitedly in Remus's office, but their request was even more bizarre.

Unbeknownst to her, there was a small group that got together and played Quidditch outside of practices and the school matches. She was surprised that they played even when it was cold, but George gleefully said, "There's never a bad time for Quidditch," and that did it. If George was giving the endorsement, she could find the courage to play. Remus was going to take her out flying but going with George seemed much more appealing. Emma was immediately sold, and with Remus's blessings to "Just have fun," she followed the boys to the Quidditch pitch. She was sure that Remus had a very smug look on his face as they left.

It had been awkward having to explain to the boys that she didn't really like flying, but they took it in stride. It seemed they already knew that fact, which made her explanation that much more embarrassing. Cedric and Fred joined the others to start their match while George stayed behind to give Emma a quick flying lesson. She was grateful for the cold air making her cheeks pink because she blushed the entire time. At least George's lesson was much more relaxed than any of Hooch's, and he promised that he wouldn't let her fall.

"Even if you do – which you won't – I'll come swoop in and save you. Don't you worry about a thing," George said with a wink.

Once George was positive that Emma would be all right, they took to the sky. Emma wasn't entirely thrilled with being so high up in the air, but she took one look in the stands and found a familiar furry face watching. Her stomach did a funny little squirm seeing Sirius in the stands, and she nearly landed on the ground again out of nerves. However, he was watching with such intense curious excitement, that she felt that she couldn't disappoint him. With an incredibly nervous puff of breath, Emma joined in the game, gladly playing as chaser for Cedric's team.

To everyone's surprise, she made a goal. It was because the opposite team's Keeper wasn't paying attention, but she did it. A goal was a goal no matter which way anyone looked at it. Out of curiosity, Emma immediately looked to the stands to see if Sirius was still watching. To her delight, he was and was practically dancing on his paws with joy, and she beamed at him. She wished that Remus had been there to see it, but Sirius was a good close second. Her chest suddenly tightened as she looked at him at the dawning realization of what she should have had, but she powered through. They had a game to play.

The longer they played, the more she found herself enjoying the game and was becoming less afraid of falling. Even though they played on the opposite team, George and Fred shouted their encouragement, and it made things a little easier.

Thoroughly wiped out and after a resounding loss on her team's part, they landed back on the ground. It was hard for Emma to wipe the smile off of her face as everyone pulled her into a tight hug, apparently proud that she'd played decently enough.

"You know, we're always looking for reserve chasers," Cedric said thoughtfully as they made their way back to the castle. "Maybe you should consider trying out when term starts up again next month."

Running off of the high of playing with everyone, Emma agreed. She wanted to play again. When she told Remus, babbling in a stream of excited chatter, he couldn't have looked prouder.

However, not everything went so smoothly.

Sleep had become such a precious commodity some days that half of the professors pretended to not notice when she would accidentally fall asleep in class. Flitwick and McGonagall would very gently wake her up if one of her classmates didn't, and Binns never noticed. Remus would just let her sleep, often going back over their lessons with her after dinner. Snape, of course, had plenty of choice comments each time she started to doze, but the threat of stopping her Wolfsbane Potion lessons kept her awake.

Emma had to continually be reminded of what she was meant to be doing in class, often getting lost in thought. She couldn't help herself, though. Trying to go through her mother's diary hadn't helped answer any questions like Emma had hoped. Pages near the end of the diary were torn out, and she had no idea where they were. It had been a very unfortunate discovery when she realized that entries skipped, sometimes for days. Her mother wrote in that diary every single day up until she'd been born, it seemed, but then Emma noticed the pages were gone. The pages were removed neatly as if someone had taken great care to cut them out. She had no idea what that meant.

When she wasn't thinking about the missing diary entries, she was trying to figure out what to do about Fenrir. Emma had next to no doubt that she was going to wind up seeing Fenrir more and more, but she needed to know what to do. She didn't want to be afraid of him, and if he was telling her the truth, then at one point, she wasn't. Emma just wished she knew how that was possible and what made her not afraid of the werewolf. Could she ever get back to the point of not being scared of him?

Other times, she was trying to think of the memories she couldn't remember, hoping something would break its way through. She wanted to remember Remus, but mostly she wanted to know if Fenrir was telling the truth about Montgomery. Despite Remus confirming he was real, she had nothing to go off of. She refused to ask Remus what he looked like, not wanting to force the memories she had to have a different face just to have the blame on someone. Unfortunately, nothing ever came to mind.

She had become increasingly jumpy, startling at the smallest of noises and careful to scan everywhere she went. Emma suddenly didn't feel comfortable if she didn't pick out at least two ways she could get out of wherever she was. It wasn't until Elara came to check on her a few days after the full moon that she realized that she had become wary of everything. It had been a behavior she had picked up at Saint Nicholas's to avoid Jocelyn. She had grown out of the action after living with Remus, finally feeling comfortable and safe, but it made a strong resurgence.

After a long walk with Elara through the castle and a lengthy conversation, Emma finally agreed to receiving outside help and seeing the therapist she suggested. She wasn't too thrilled about the idea of having to talk to someone she didn't know at all, but Elara promised they were kind. It was the start of Elara coming by every few days during the week, as a friend, just to give Emma someone else to talk to. Emma found that she really enjoyed talking to Elara about incredibly stupid things, and she liked having an older female to talk to. Elara was almost like a cool older sister, and Emma couldn't have been more thrilled by it. Sometimes it felt too personal to talk to Remus about certain female related things, and Elara was more than willing to talk.

Emma experienced her first real heartbreak and an unexpected glimmer of hope in the span of a weekend. The weekend before term let out, Emma found herself terribly devastated to see Draco walking hand in hand with a fourth year Slytherin girl at breakfast. She had wondered why he kept avoiding her and became closed off, but it all made sense. Emma had hoped that because Draco knew Fenrir because of his father's old alliance with Voldemort that he would understand, but it seemed he didn't. In one fell swoop, not only did their secret relationship end, it appeared their friendship did as well. Draco didn't even bother making stupid comments about her anymore.

As much as it hurt, Emma knew she was better off. She knew that she didn't like having to hide their relationship, but she liked Draco. When he wasn't a complete arse, Emma really loved the way he talked about his mother and his hobbies. She loved the way Draco's face would light up talking about the animals at the manor. He would drop that snotty air around her, and it made her happy to see that he could be nice. Rather than dwell on it too much, Emma tried to let it slide. She didn't want Remus to know how much it bothered her or how much she actually liked Draco and tried to bottle it up. However, Remus knew better – there wasn't much gossip he missed in the castle.

Emma had been able to keep herself together up until that night. She went through her day, took a very long shower, and made her way to the living room. It was routine to end her night with Remus relaxing on the couch as he worked in his armchair, but he wasn't there.

She settled on the couch to read, unsure of where he had disappeared to. It was odd for him to not be there when she was. She saw him at dinner, but then he had vanished entirely, almost like out of thin air. A part of her was beginning to worry because Remus never said he had to do anything.

With a twinge of uncertainty, Emma allowed herself to get lost in her book. On a whim, Remus had purchased Anne of Green Gables for her, and she had quickly taken to the story. Her father was nothing if not painfully obvious with his motives on occasion, but this time she didn't mind. It was a good story, and she wondered why she avoided picking it up at the children's home.

Emma was so lost in Anne's adventures in Avonlea that she jumped at the sudden crashing noise that came from Remus's office. For a moment, she thought it was the Grindylow, but the noise was too loud. The ugly little creature usually made gross squelching noises as it pressed itself against the glass and not the toppling of items onto the floor. She closed her book and turned herself so that she could try and see what happened but could see nothing from where she sat. Emma held her breath, waiting nervously for something to happen.

"Oh, bugger me sideways!" she heard Remus shout, and she immediately relaxed, letting out the breath she had been holding. She should have known.

Sometimes the man had all of the elegance of a newborn giraffe as if he completely forgot how to use his limbs. It wouldn't be the first time Remus had walked straight into something and knocked it over. Perhaps he had been in the library and had accidentally tossed all of his books onto the floor instead of his desk. It was the rare side of Remus that only she got to see, and it made her lips twitch slightly as she returned to her book.

As collected as Remus often was, he could be a complete mess, and it only made her love him a little bit more. Her father was imperfect and was not without very human flaws, something she took great pride in reminding him of when he got in his own head.

She had started to notice more and more how often he got lost in his thoughts, much like she did. The moments she found Remus lost in thought sitting somewhere were far more frequent than she ever noticed. Emma didn't mind having to pull Remus out of his thoughts, often walking over and standing beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. His hand would come up reflexively to run through her hair, and whatever anxiety they were both feeling was momentarily soothed.

Somehow Fenrir's unexpected visit had pushed Emma and Remus closer together. They were quickly learning to figure out how to take care of each other. It wasn't as though they were particularly argumentative, but they were more willing to talk things through. Things became more logical and less emotionally fueled. Every day was becoming more instinctual as if they were becoming more aware of what the other needed. When Luna commented on it to her one day, Emma knew they were finally on the right track.

Emma had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from giggling from the very long string of Welsh that suddenly left Remus's mouth. He had started to teach her the Welsh she had long since forgotten and could only catch bits and pieces of what he was saying. Whatever it was he had done, he was very annoyed by.

She was briefly startled again when a very haphazardly put together bouquet of flowers was thrust into her vision. Emma stared at it for a moment and turned her head to look at Remus, who looked flustered.

"I know about…well, I know you're probably upset right now," he said softly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand as he stared at the bouquet. "I, er…thought I would try and make you feel better, but I might have gone and accidentally buggered it up anyway. I just thought you could use the reminder that no matter what, I'll always love you."

Rather than being upset that Remus knew about Draco, Emma burst into an absolutely helpless fit of giggles. He was bothered that he had managed to drop what must have been a beautiful bouquet arrangement, but magic only managed to gather the flowers back together. Still frazzled, Remus set the flowers aside to reach into the pocket of his blazer to pull out several bars of chocolate with a sheepish grin. She could see he was starting to doubt that he had done the right thing, and all Emma could do was hold her arms up from her reclined position on the couch for a hug.

Emma immediately dissolved into tears as he bent down to hug her tightly. She didn't even understand why the situation with Draco bothered her so much. It wasn't as though she was ever officially in a relationship with Draco, but he left her confused. Draco never said a word.

Remus held her tightly and let her vent for as long as she needed. He refused to let go until he was sure that she understood that he would always be there for her. Emma felt she had the absolute best dad in the world.

"I don't even understand why it bothers me so much," Emma said, snuggling into Remus's side as he sat down next to her. "It's not like we were actually together."

"It's okay to be sad about it," Remus said softly, gently wiping the fresh tear tracks off her face with his sleeve. "You two have gotten close over the past few months."

"It's stupid, though," Emma muttered. "I shouldn't care." A grumpy little huff left Emma's nose. "He's stupid. If he thinks he's too good for me, he's wrong. I'm too good for him."

Remus had to agree, but he kept his opinions to himself. He sighed and reached out for one of the bars of chocolate. He carefully unwrapped the top half of the foil and broke off a piece and handed it to Emma. "Eat – it'll help," he said, a slight smile in his voice. "I fear you haven't had been meeting your chocolate quota lately."

With a skeptical look, Emma took the chocolate and took a bite with an appreciative hum. He was right – it helped.

The next day was a little easier but seeing Draco with the nameless girl still hurt. The girl was very pretty, so Emma didn't blame Draco at all, but a part of her still wished it was her he was doting on. But Emma should have known; their upbringing was too different for that to ever happen, and Fenrir, of all people, had been the one to point it out. Fenrir just seemed to ruin everything.

Emma was in the middle of having a conversation with Persephone at lunch when Luna came up to her, looking absolutely delighted.

"You don't have Wrackspurts when you see Draco anymore," Luna said to Emma, sitting down next to her cheerily. "How wonderful!" she added with a happy clap, before frowning and batting at the air around her head. "I think I have one, though. I'll have to write to my dad and see if he can send me something for them."

Without another word, Luna stood up, skipping the length of the Great Hall to head off wherever she was going. A blush crept into Emma's cheeks as she watched Luna leave. Did Luna like her? Emma covered her mouth to try and hide her smile – maybe she could like Luna, too.

"What is a Wrackspurt?" Persephone asked, looking over at Emma with confusion.

"Absolutely no idea," Emma said with a snort.

Persephone stared at Emma for a moment before a knowing smile crossed her face. "I know that look," she said. "You've got a crush on her, don't you?"

"Absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Emma blushed, standing up quickly to avoid further questioning. As she turned to leave, she found herself looking over at the Gryffindor table and freezing. She wasn't sure if George had just so happened to be looking in her direction or if he'd been looking at her, but their gazes suddenly met. They stared at each other in surprise and quickly looked away, both red-faced.

"Uh, oh," Persephone snickered. "Someone's also got it bad for one of the Weasley twins, doesn't she? Perhaps both? Look at you, Emma Lupin. You've got options."

"Oh, shut up," Emma said grumpily to Persephone. "And if you're wondering, it's only one twin, thank you very much," she added before making her hasty retreat to avoid further scrutinization.

It shouldn't have come to anyone's surprise that with the month Emma had been having, she was more than willing to do something she usually wouldn't. After three very long weeks, the final day of the term had arrived, and Emma finally felt the same excitement as the rest of the castle.

Emma just so happened to overhear Pansy discussing the idea that they should have a send-off party to celebrate the end of term, and Emma felt inspired. She knew that Remus kept a bottle of Ogden's in his room that sat untouched. It sat in his drawer next to where he kept his now steady stockpile of Sleeping Draughts. She was sure that he wouldn't miss it, and if she was correct, she could get someone to replace it before he ever noticed. Emma had needed them less and less, and as long as she didn't need one anytime soon, she was sure she could get someone to get a bottle from Hogsmeade to replace it.

"Emma, you wouldn't," Persephone said with an amused grin. "You absolutely wouldn't steal from your dad."

"It wouldn't be the first time I've stolen something. I used to do it all the time at the children's home," Emma said with a small shrug. The statement came out so naturally that it gave her pause. An errant memory came to mind involving her younger self at one of the convenience stores nearby, and it made her a little nauseous. How could she ever forget something like that so easily? She wasn't proud of doing it, but it had been one of the ways she managed to survive living in the children's home, and she'd done it frequently, too. It was always small things, easy candies that no one would miss. Sometimes cheap, funny little toys that Jocelyn would always take days later. It almost made her wonder how she wound up in Hufflepuff when she was sure none of her housemates would consider doing such a thing.

"In case you're thinking of backing out, I dare you to steal your dad's Firewhiskey," Pansy said with a smirk.

"Don't need to dare me when I was already planning on doing it," Emma said smugly. "I'm just going to need a little help."

With some well-placed distractions, Emma was able to act on their plan. It was highly convenient that their final class of the term was Remus's as it made things much easier. Emma purposely worked slowly on her test to keep pace with Persephone. Pansy, Tracey, and Daphne did the same. Persephone handed in her test first and immediately got Remus into a conversation. Emma waited a moment, pretending to go through her test answers, and turned in her test next. She gave Remus a quick kiss on the cheek and made her way upstairs to get changed, but not before snagging the bottle of Firewhiskey first.

Emma carefully wrapped the bottle in her coat and grabbed a book for extra coverage. When she stepped back into the class to meet Persephone, Remus eyed her suspiciously.

"Eff and I were going to go on a walk," Emma said quietly to Remus, putting on an innocent grin. "We're going to stop at the kitchens for dinner. We just wanted to spend some time together before she goes home for the holiday."

"You know we're going home for a few days next week, right?" Remus said, an eyebrow quirking. "You'll see Persephone for Christmas Eve."

"I know, but that's at home and not here. It's different," Emma said, giving Remus a pointed look. "I'll see you tonight!" The look Remus was giving her made her nervous, and she wanted to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

Emma grabbed Persephone's arm and pulled her out of the classroom so that they could wait outside the door. After what felt like forever, Pansy and Daphne came out, followed by Tracey shortly after. They walked down the hallway for a bit before Pansy turned to Emma with a grin.

"Did you get it, Lupin?" Pansy asked in a hushed voice.

With a drawn-out sigh, Emma pulled aside her coat to reveal the bottle. "I can't believe you would even doubt me."

"Looks like we're having a party, ladies!"

The group of girls immediately took off at a run and giggling. Emma made the stop to the kitchens to gather a basket of food while the other girls got changed. When the Slytherin girls made their way up to the basement floor, Emma was surprised to find that more had joined their little group. Mandy and Alice decided to join from Ravenclaw, and Alice convinced Fay Dunbar and her friend Charlotte from Gryffindor to join them.

Their strange little group made their way outside and down to the lake. They decided it would be their best bet to be as it offered a better vantage point so they could see if someone was coming. With carefully placed warming charms, blankets, and a cleared-out spot of land, they gathered in a circle. It didn't take long for the basket of food to be dug into and the bottle of Firewhiskey to be passed around. It took even less time for them all to feel a nice, pleasant buzz despite the rough cinnamon aftertaste.

Mandy and Alice, who hadn't gotten changed, had their ties wrapped around their heads as if they were warriors preparing for battle. Fay had her cloak pulled up high on her face so that only her eyes could be seen and had Charlotte's head sitting on her lap as she sprawled out. Tracey was lying, face down on the ground, with her head propped up on her hand, looking almost bored. Emma was leaning on Persephone, and Pansy and Daphne were snuggled up with each other.

At some point, Persephone had snatched Charlotte's glasses and insisted on wearing them. She peered around at the other girls in absolute, unfocused awe. "Char, you can't see shit," she declared vehemently after another drink of Ogden's.

Charlotte shrugged, grabbing the bottle and passing it to Fay. "I know, it's tragic," she sniffed. "We have all this magic, and I still can't see a damn thing. You're all a bunch of Flobberworms."

Emma's mouth fell open at the sheer audacity – how dare there not be magic to fix the need for glasses. She held her hand out towards Persephone. "Hand 'em over. I wanna give them a try."

Persephone very carefully put the glasses on Emma's face, snickering at Emma's gasp. Persephone rubbed her eyes and watched Emma looking around. "My eyes burn," Persephone said. "It's miserable."

"Merlin's saggy tits," Emma said in awe. "You all look like you've melted!" Emma accepted the bottle of Firewhiskey from whoever passed it to her. She took a long swig, and her face twisted. "This is absolutely dreadful."

"The whiskey? Or Char's eyesight?" Daphne asked sagely.

"Both," Emma said, taking another quick drink and passing Charlotte back her glasses.

Alice suddenly flopped backward onto the ground, folding her arms under her head with a sigh. "Oi, what do you all think of Professor Lupin? He's absolutely fit," she said with a giggle.

Emma, who had been in the process of having yet another sip of Firewhiskey, gagged and the mouthful she had dribbled out. "You did not just say that."

"He is rather sexy," Pansy said with a shrug. "I don't even like men, but he is really fit. It's that whole dark and mysterious thing."

"Nah, mate – he's got that sexy professor look down," Fay said, looking at Mandy, who immediately started giggling.

Emma made a retching noise and passed the bottle off to someone else. "Are you all forgetting that's my dad?"

"Oh, come off it, Lupin. He's not your real dad, right?" Pansy asked, looking to Persephone for confirmation.

"Oh my God, please stop. He basically is," Emma groaned, pulling her legs up and dropping her head on her knees.

Emma looked up as she noticed a shadow over by the reeds and frowned at the black dog staring at her. She hadn't been able to talk to Sirius all month, and her stomach lurched at the thought. Then again, that could have been from the alcohol. With a groan, Emma felt her head begin to spin, but she couldn't figure out if it was from the alcohol or her thoughts.

"Urgh," Emma moaned, rubbing her temples. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Persephone's hand went to Emma's back and began to rub soothing circles. "Let it out, Little Lupin. You're in the circle of trust."

"Trust? I think the bloody circle of trust is trying to kill me."

"That would be your fault," Tracey said, the bottle of Firewhiskey in hand. "You're the one who knicked this from Daddy Lupin."

"Remind me to never take a dare from Pansy again," Emma grumbled, leaning on Persephone.

"Didn't think you had it in you," Daphne admitted.

"Neither did I," Tracey said in agreement.

The Slytherin girls all burst into laughter. "He's going to have an absolute fit when he notices," Pansy cackled. "If only the rest of you could see Professor Lupin when he gets mad at Emma. It doesn't happen often, but it's hysterical."

"It's only hysterical because it's not you," Emma said, changing positions again and laying out on her stomach, resting her head on her folded arms.

"You know what we should do?" Pansy asked, waggling her eyebrows. "We should play Truth or Dare."

"I'll go first," Tracey chirped. "Ask me, Pansy!"

Pansy grinned and turned to Tracey. "Trace, truth or dare?"

"Dare," Tracy said, narrowing her eyes. "Give me your worst."

"I dare you to ask Daddy Lupin to tell you all about sex after our next class when term starts back up."

"That's it?" Tracy laughed. "Done."

"I swear, if one of you calls him Daddy Lupin again, I will not only vomit right here, but I will be hexing everyone's tits off."

"The only person with tits here is you and Pansy," Persephone laughed. Persephone reached up and grabbed at her chest. "I've got nothing. What about you lot?"

The other girls reached up to their chests as well.

"Well, I've got a bit of something," Fay said. "Shame that the shortest one out of all of us is the one with the biggest tits."

"They're not even that big," Emma grumbled. "It's a handful if that. That's not a lot. Also, I'm the oldest in our year. Hermione's got 'em too, you know."

Persephone looked down at her chest as if she was trying to convince her breasts to grow right at that exact moment. "Well, maybe I'm next, then. My birthday's in two weeks. Maybe I'll blossom like you lot."

"Fat chance with how skinny you are," Daphne snickered.

"And Em isn't skinny?" Persephone asked, offended.

"I'm fat!" Emma wailed.

"You are not fat, Emma, shut it."

"Someone ask another question!" Mandy shouted.

"Fine, someone ask me," Persephone said, snatching the bottle back from Daphne.

"Truth or dare?" Fay asked.

Persephone thought about it before passing the bottle over to Alice. "Truth."

"Did you shag Grant Page in the Quidditch changing room after one of Ravenclaw's practices?"

"You shagged a boy?" Emma asked in alarm.

"Thought I'd give it a shot," Persephone shrugged. "Definitely don't like boys, though. I don't really get the fuss at all. He was in, and that was it. No idea why I even bothered, really. It's absolutely not like that with girls," Persephone said with a giggle as she turned to Emma with a wink. "Em, truth or dare?"

"Ugh," Emma grumbled. "Truth. I do not want to know what sort of dare you would give me."

"What's going on with you and Draco?"

"Nothing," Emma said, feeling her chest tighten painfully. "Thought maybe we were going to be a thing, but then he got with that fourth year."

"I fucking knew it!" Pansy shrieked with laughter. "Professor Lupin was giving Draco a death stare that one class!"

Emma glanced up to see Padfoot leaving, and she frowned. She had already forgotten he was there, but why was he leaving? Perhaps it was better if he left. She'd already said too many things with him around that she would never say around Remus, but he was a dog, and that was okay.

"Em, truth or dare," Charlotte said, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"What the fuck," Emma said. "Aren't I supposed to be asking someone else something?"

"You were too slow. Plus, your answer was boring," Charlotte shrugged. "Truth or dare?"

Emma groaned, switching to lying on her back. The world felt like it was suddenly spinning much faster than she was, and she was incredibly dizzy. She closed her eyes, relishing in the cold as her body was beginning to heat up. "Truth." She wasn't about to agree to a dare while drunk, and she was most definitely drunk. How many drinks of Firewhiskey did she even have? She had no idea.

There was a resounding groan from the circle, and a shouted, "Boring!" from Pansy.

"If you could fuck anyone in the castle, who would it be?" Charlotte asked.

Emma had to genuinely think about that question. "Anyone?" Emma clarified.

"Literally anyone."

"You'd better not say a ghost," Alice said, almost alarmed.

"Ew, no," Emma said, thinking about it for a moment. If she had to pick, there were a few people that she wouldn't mind getting with, but there was absolutely one person in particular. A small grin crossed her face as she thought about it. "If I had my choice, I wouldn't mind fu–"

Emma couldn't finish her question because Persephone's hand suddenly clamped down on her mouth. Her eyes shot open to see what the issue was, and her eyes grew huge in her head. Remus was crouched down just behind her head, looking angrier than she'd seen in months. She could curse Sirius for not giving her any warning that Remus was approaching, but it at least explained why he left.

"That was a wise decision, Miss Moon," he said dryly as he stared down at Emma. He lifted his gaze to look at the rest of the group, schooling his expression to be somewhat impassive.

"Ah, Miss Greengrass, I see you've found my Firewhiskey," he said with a tight-lipped smile. "If you could just leave it right there, that would be wonderful."

Daphne let out an almost choked noise, and Emma sat up the moment Persephone removed her hand from her mouth. The girls all looked at each other in panic, trying to cast blame on one another with their eyes for not paying attention. They were sobered up very quickly.

"I think it would be best if you all went back up to the castle," Remus said mildly. "I won't tell your heads, but I will be writing to each of your parents over the holiday. That'll be 20 points from each person present - 40 from Hufflepuff." When no one moved, Remus added a low, "Now." Everyone except for Emma shot up, gathering their things, and ran without a second look.

Emma made to get up and join the others, wanting to escape to the dorms and hide, but Remus's hand was locked around her wrist before she could even stand up fully. She whimpered, watching the others running off, wishing that she had been able to go with them.

With a gulp, Emma turned to look at Remus as he straightened up. She attempted to give Remus her most innocent smile that she could manage, but he gave her a scowl in return. Emma immediately cowed under his gaze, quickly casting her eyes downward with a mix of shame and embarrassment. Her eyes flicked to the near-empty bottle of Firewhiskey, and she grimaced. She never should have taken it – this was just as much her fault as it was Pansy's for suggesting their little celebration.

"You have absolutely no idea how in trouble you are, young lady," Remus said, every other word punctuated with a growl. His hand went from her wrist to the back of her coat as he pulled her back towards the castle, only stopping long enough to retrieve the bottle.

Emma let out another groan. If the expression on Remus's face was any indication, it was going to be a very long break.