Emma was grateful that she didn't need to be paraded around the hospital for her appointment with Dr. Wheeler. Rather than going to one of the visiting doctor's rooms, Elara had a room set up down the hall. At least this room had more decorations than the first room they had ever met in.
It felt almost like her first appointment all over again, and she focused on the ticking clock. Emma knew it was entirely pessimistic of her, but it felt as though the clock was mocking her as if it knew time was running out. How much time did she have left before Fenrir got everything he wanted from her? She felt powerless against him.
Remus, who Emma forced to come with her, sat in his chair watching her. The look of concern that she knew all too well was written all over his face. He probably felt the same way she did – two steps forward, one step back.
"Well, the thing we were discussing for months happened," Dr. Wheeler said softly after a while. "Now, let's discuss how to move forward."
Emma watched as Dr. Wheeler went into her overlarge handbag and pulled out a rectangular object and a marker. She looked at it curiously before realizing that it was a whiteboard and dry-erase marker. Her primary school had only just started using them before she started at Hogwarts and Hogwarts used chalkboards exclusively. She would have to start paying more attention to what was actually out in the Muggle world. The last thing Emma wanted to do was admit that Fenrir was right that she relied too much on magic.
Most of Emma's time was spent listening to Dr. Wheeler and sometimes answering her questions using the whiteboard. She sat in her chair with her knees pulled up to her chest. Patches, who she was still trying to remember had a new name, sat on one side of her, Bee on the other. Emma kept the whiteboard propped up on her knees for whenever she needed to answer a question, but mostly she just listened. A lot of what Dr. Wheeler said made sense, and Emma could see the appeal of what the woman was saying, but she didn't like it.
The moment Dr. Wheeler started discussing her being a victim and a survivor, Emma almost immediately tuned out. She didn't want to be either of those things, and it rubbed her the wrong way.
Emma could acknowledge that she was a victim of Fenrir's; there was no doubt about that. One could argue that she survived a werewolf attack, among other things, but Emma didn't like either label. As much as Dr. Wheeler told her that it was okay, Emma didn't think it was good enough. She realized that Remus picked up her mood shift when he shifted his chair closer to hers, and Emma frowned at him. He gave her a soft smile in response, grabbing her foot and stretching her leg out over the top of the armrest so that he could hold her foot in his lap. Emma tried to let her grumpiness be shown, but he looked at her with so much love that she couldn't. She settled on a pout instead.
The moment the conversation shifted towards whether Emma wanted to continue doing what she wanted, she became confused. She couldn't understand why Dr. Wheeler talked to her as if her goals would have ever changed.
'That hasn't changed,' Emma wrote on the whiteboard, her brow furrowing. 'I think what happened to me gives me more of an incentive to do what I decided I wanted to do. A werewolf helping other werewolves makes sense.'
Remus gave Emma's foot a squeeze. "Sweetheart, you're not –"
Emma immediately waved her father off to stop talking to write out her message to Remus, not caring that it took up the entire board in small letters. 'Boris told me that it doesn't matter. Half or full, you all consider me wolf. If you didn't, Soleil wouldn't have a name. If Fenrir didn't, he wouldn't be so obsessed with bringing me to the pack. There's no getting around it – I'm a werewolf. This is what I want to do, and I'm not going to be stopped.'
It was a very resolute choice, and perhaps hastily made, but Emma refused to let Fenrir win. She needed to take power back that Fenrir tried to steal from her and use that for good. If it was assumed that she wouldn't want to continue on her current path, she needed to prove everyone wrong. Perhaps her journey had gotten a little bit harder, but she wanted to help as many as she could. At the end of the day, Fenrir Greyback would learn that she was the last person to mess with.
Seeing her grandfather was surprisingly more emotional than she thought it would be. She could see the guilt written across his face. It was the very same guilt that Remus had initially worn seeing her as if everything could have been prevented. Emma could feel her anger rolling up from her belly, coming up as thick bile that she had to swallow back. She didn't want to be angry with her grandfather, but he knew, and the reality was so much worse than she had thought. She had only one word for Lyall, and that was the word, 'Why?'
Lyall looked at her curiously, unsure of what Emma could be talking about until Remus explained that she remembered everything. His face fell, and he settled himself into the chair next to Emma's bed. He pulled his glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes with one hand before lifting his shoulders in defeat.
"I'm going to tell you what I told your father," Lyall said quietly, putting his glasses back on slowly, "I thought I was doing the right thing."
Emma fell asleep halfway through Lyall's visit, sitting up in bed, curled up with her head on Remus's chest. She was woken up gently by her father hours later, pulling her out of her nightmare, this time of Jude poisoning her. She was surprised that Remus didn't bother getting himself comfortable and stayed exactly where he was. The ward's lights were dimmed again, and Emma latched onto Remus's wrist to look at the time as her watch was tucked in her bag with all of her things. At least she didn't sleep twenty hours again.
Unease swept through her veins as if there was something significant about her dream, something about Jude. The more she tried to think about it, the quicker the dream faded from her mind. Remus stroked her hair, looking as concerned as always.
She gave Remus a sleepy smile and moved so that he could finally get himself comfortable. She curled back into his side to snuggle with a sigh; he never left her side and was more than content to share the same space as her. Emma loved that he was willing to sacrifice his comfort for her, but he still hadn't had a real moment to rest. He had come out of his transformation and went right to her, and it was starting to show. His exhaustion showed in every part of his face, and though he denied it, he was walking around stiffly. She would have to tell him to just take the bed next to hers since no one dared to ask him to leave. For now, she would take advantage of his calming presence, gentle warmth, and his soft humming that lulled her quickly back to sleep.
Morning brought forth a very exhausting day. Remus managed to get the emergency hearing, which surprised them all but was an exciting turn of events. There were no guarantees that anything would happen, but he was determined. During that time, Elara decided that it was worth looking into Fenrir's claim that Emma could have had her memory altered. Neither of them was happy to find out that he had been correct. The procedure that followed was amongst one of the few Emma never wanted to go through again because it became overcomplicated with Soleil involved. Having someone in her mind so invasively was not a comfortable feeling at all.
Elara was meant to be elsewhere in the hospital but instead had to help Emma communicate with Soleil better. Emma stared at Elara in alarm when she realized that she was talking so freely about being a werewolf in front of the Healer they were with. The Healer, Francisco, waved off Emma's concerns.
"Sweetheart, I've known for a very long time," he assured her. "I knew a few months into Ellie Bear working here. I don't care because she's good at what she does. Plus, she's a riot when we go out for drinks."
Emma wanted to make a comment about Elara being called Ellie Bear, but she had to focus. Soleil wasn't fond of someone being in her head, and trying to keep her secondary thoughts at bay was difficult. The wolfish side of her mind was a lot stronger than she thought it was, and Emma couldn't recall being so aware of Soleil before. Soleil was a constant presence, but not to the extremes she was currently invading her mind. Emma wondered if it was due to how much stress she was going through or if Fenrir brought it out of her by biting her. Emma chose to believe the former instead of the latter.
Emma didn't entirely understand the process of what Francisco was doing. It felt almost like he was trying to unwrap a badly knotted cord each time he found a fuzzy bit of her memory, except he had a rabid dog to contend with. The process would have gone a lot quicker if there weren't so many different forces pulling at her. It certainly would have been less headache-inducing. It was even worse when Francisco discovered memories that were altered. Whenever he came across those memories, it was like putting together a puzzle and very uncomfortable.
"Emma, do you have frequent nightmares?" Francisco asked during one of the breaks Emma needed. She was resting against Elara, desperately needing support from how exhausted she was becoming. A small frown crossed Emma's face as she cracked open her eyes, and she nodded.
"I'm not surprised," he replied. "Whoever cast the charms wanted to make sure that you had them. Nearly all of the charms cast were from when you were very young, but there are quite a few that are within the past five years."
"Bastard," Elara muttered. "Paco, I hate to give you extra paperwork, but I need you to write up a detailed report for me with your findings." Francisco readily agreed and proceeded to try and convince Emma that it was time to keep going.
"You know, you're lucky in a way," Francisco said when he finally deemed Emma completely clear. "The wolf side of you will protect you from most mind invasions. The things you want to hide, you can keep tucked away with her. It won't help around other werewolves, but to the ordinary witch or wizard, you can use that to your advantage."
That put a thoughtful look on Elara's face. "That's an excellent point," Elara said. "I'll have to talk to your Dad about teaching you Occlumency."
It was just as well that Emma immediately fell asleep the moment she was allowed back into bed, exhausted both mentally and physically. The process was taxing, especially in her already sensitive state. She wouldn't have easily handled hearing that Remus didn't come back with entirely good news.
"What do you mean they said they 'need more time?'" Elara snapped. "For what?"
"Elara, I don't know," Remus said tiredly, sitting down in the chair next to Emma's bed, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He rubbed his temples, his eyes, his face, shaking his head. "I wasn't expecting them to pull the Pensieve in and having to relive those moments all over again."
"I do not understand how they could sit through her memories and say that they need more time to make a decision. She's a child," Elara growled. "Fine, if that's the game they're going to play, then I'm keeping her here all summer if I have to."
A wry smile crossed Remus's face. "Except they're forcing her to leave."
Elara didn't bother to mask her anger, lips curling back as she snarled, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I'm sure there's already an owl here saying she needs to be discharged by Wednesday."
"For what reason?"
"Wasting resources."
"Let me guess, that was Umbridge's decision?"
Remus's laugh was mirthless and bitter as he scrubbed his hands over his face. "That woman is the bane of my existence," he said, sitting up and crossing his arms. "Makes plenty of talk about 'our kind,' but the moment you bring up that Emma could be considered the same, she sings an entirely different tune."
"I just don't understand why she's even a part of any of this," Elara growled. "She needs to be at home. Dr. Wheeler said she needs to be home – there are plenty of medical professionals that say she needs to be home. This isn't just a passing fancy of yours. This is important and medically necessary for her to have any sense of recovery."
A voice spoke up at the other end of the ward. The man who had been Emma's three-bed away neighbor was watching them curiously, his rough face screwed up in confusion. No one had been able to get out of him what bit him, so he remained there as they tried to figure out his treatment. "What do you mean you can't take her home?" he asked.
Remus and Elara looked at each other. They weren't sure where the conversation would go, but they hadn't been quiet about much since arriving. The other occupant of the ward, another man, was listening just as curiously. He was a loud fellow, bit by a poisonous tarantula, but refused to give the breed's name, leading them to believe he was an illegal breeder. If they were going to worry about secrecy, now was the wrong time to do it.
"I imagine you've read the Prophet?" Remus asked, trying to brace himself for whatever could possibly leave the man's mouth.
"Not many who haven't, especially when the news came out about you," the man admitted. "Sorry, I know I've been staring – it's the whole werewolf thing and how they wrote you both to be. I was pissed to find out you had been working at Hogwarts and working around children. I'm not going to lie about that. I thought you would be as savage as Greyback, but then she came in, and it confused me because she was attacked by the bastard. Didn't make any sense to me if the papers said you had already attacked her. Then you came in, and you were just a mess. You didn't care about anything but her."
"She's my entire world, and all I wanted to do was to keep her safe," Remus sighed, reaching out to brush Emma's hair off of her face. "Being arrested wasn't an experience I want to live through again, but not having her with me is much worse. The moment they said she couldn't come home after they finally released me was the worst moment of my life."
"The only time I've seen you get angry is because you've been pissed that something happened to her. You're more mild-mannered than half the wizards I know, polite and the whatnot. Wasn't expecting it."
"I certainly try to be," Remus said sadly. "I know what it's like to be on the other side. I don't want to be the cause of anyone's pain if I can help it."
The man studied Remus closely as if he were under a microscope, blue eyes squinting hard, his lips pursing. "I'm still not sure what to think," the man said slowly before gesturing to Emma's sleeping form, "but that sort of love can't be manufactured. How old is she again?"
"She'll, uh…she'll be fifteen in just over a month, actually," Remus said thickly. He hated to be reminded of how old Emma really was sometimes. Every time Remus thought he went through a lot, he had to remind himself that Emma had gone through so much more in half the time.
"If she's nearly fifteen and loves you that much, well…can't say my sons were the same way at her age. My daughter was, though. These girls, they're just incredible."
"Oh, I know," Remus agreed. "Beyond incredible."
The man gave a great grunt as he adjusted himself on his bed. "Now, about this other fellow, this Jude guy, what's the deal with him?"
Remus frowned, looking over at Elara for assistance. They really didn't keep their conversations quiet at all, and they still weren't sure who was working with Greyback. They had a fair amount of wariness to anyone and everyone, careful of what they said outside the ward. It was careless of them, but the damage was already done.
"Might as well, Remus," Elara whispered. "It's not like it matters now. We need all the possible friends we can get."
Emma woke up in the late afternoon to find she had visitors again, and even more than before. She was groggy, but she agreed. When she realized that it was the Weasley's again, Emma was happy to see them. Her happiness only grew when she realized Luna and Cedric were with them. Being surrounded by everyone made her want to be somewhere else and made her restless. They could all be doing so much, but instead, she was stuck in the hospital.
Emma was tickled that Molly had made Patches and Bee jumpers like she said she would. She wasn't expecting them to be made so quickly. Emma immediately put the jumpers on her stuffed animals with a brilliant smile, happily showing Remus their new additions. Patches looked sharp in his new olive-green jumper, and the blue jumper for Bee went well with his fur. She loved that George suggested that Bee's jumper have little elbow patches like one of her favorite jumpers from Remus.
"Thought you might like that little addition," George said with a blush when his parents finally left the ward. "I know it's a bit on the nose to give the wolf a similar jumper, but I know how much you love your dad and –"
With a giggle, Emma leaned over to kiss George's cheek to make him stop talking. It was funny, and she found the humor in it. It was such a simple little thing that was so personal for her that it was impossible to not delight in it.
Cedric and Luna had already gotten the rundown on what had happened before arriving at St. Mungo's, which spared Emma from the questions. Luna made Emma move up on the bed so she could sit behind her and braid her hair.
"You know, they're not bad, your scars," Luna said airily. Everyone was hanging onto Luna's words, wondering what exactly she was about to say. No one acknowledged Emma's healing wounds if they didn't have to, but Luna was different. Remus looked nervous, Ginny and George looked horrified, Fred and Ron were stunned, and Cedric wasn't sure of what to think.
Emma turned her head slightly to look back at Luna, who ran her fingers back through Emma's hair to pull it out of her braid. Even Emma was curious to know what Luna would say.
"You look as though you've gone on a grand adventure," Luna said with a smile. "As if you've conquered the greatest mountains and traveled through the wildest trees. Perhaps you were on a quest to find something rare and important that would help an entire village, but you had to return home. Your scars just prove that you were on the right track." Luna leaned forward to kiss Emma's cheek, and she began to restart the braid she started. "You have proof that you're resilient. Even though you sometimes get set back, you always find it in yourself to move forward."
There was a collective release of breath as a smile broke out on Emma's face at Luna's words. Emma had no idea how Luna could be so perceptive, and she was glad that Remus introduced them, as sneaky as it was. She loved Luna's company and loved the things she said even more.
"When we go back to school, I want to take your picture," Luna suddenly said. "I think it would be wonderful to paint your scars and take your photo with the Thestrals."
Whatever relief had been felt by the others quickly went to horror. Remus immediately looked up from the book he was trying to read to look at the two with comically large eyes. Emma had to cover her mouth to keep herself from laughing and picked up her pen and paper that Remus brought her.
'Won't the Thestrals be invisible in the photo?' Emma wrote, lifting the paper to show Luna.
"Yes, probably," Luna said thoughtfully. "But we'll know that they're there, and that's what matters, no?"
Luna had a point.
The Weasleys, Luna, and Cedric left earlier than they wanted when Emma had even more visitors. The Healers on duty had finally insisted people start leaving, and even Remus had to agree. Remus wasn't sure that Emma could handle more visitors, but when the Healer said there were only two, he found himself curious. When the Healer mentioned, "some girl named Hermione and a boy named Justin," Emma immediately agreed. She wouldn't ever pass up a chance of seeing Justin, and seeing Hermione would be all right.
Hermione, who managed to keep her shock reasonably well hidden at seeing Emma, brought a small pile of books for Emma to read. Justin, on the other hand, openly stared at Emma. If it were anyone else, she would have been offended. Luna made her feel a million times better about her new scars, and Justin wasn't always known for his subtlety.
'Word travels fast,' Emma wrote. 'I didn't think so many people would want to see me.'
"Why not?" Justin asked, shaking himself out of his stunned surprise. "You're still you, you're just…here." He helped himself to a piece of fudge that Mrs. Weasley had brought with her; the woman insisted that the fudge from the previous day wasn't enough.
"Because she was attacked by a werewolf," Hermione said in disgust, looking at Justin as if he was stupid. She looked over at Remus with wide eyes and cringed. "I'm so sorry, Professor Lupin."
"It's Remus, Hermione. I'm no longer your professor," Remus said with a slight sigh. "Don't apologize. That's exactly what happened to Emma, and I say it with the same amount of disgust."
"But you're not like –"
"It's fine," Remus said tightly. He pressed a kiss to the top of Emma's head. "I think I'm going to head to the tearoom to get something to eat if that's all right," he said to Emma. "Would you like anything, love?"
Emma shook her head and waved him off. She would be fine for a little bit. Hermione looked absolutely humiliated as Remus left, and Justin looked less than impressed.
"Good going, Granger," Justin said, lifting an eyebrow at Hermione.
"Gods, I didn't mean it like that," Hermione said, covering her face. "I went and found as much information as I could about Greyback after I heard from Ron, and the things he's done –"
It was a very Hermione thing to do – research anything and everything she possibly could on a topic to understand. She had done it with werewolves in the same way Emma did, but not to the same extent. Emma wasn't at all surprised that it was one of the first things Hermione did at all.
"I'm so sorry," Hermione said, apologizing profusely. "I hope he understands what I was trying to say."
'I think Dad takes things a little harder than I do sometimes.' Emma gave a small shrug and leaned back against her pillows. She knew that Remus took things much harder than she did, even if he was careful to mask it. 'He understands. You have to realize that Greyback was the one who turned my dad, so that makes things that much harder.'
"Greyback was the one who turned Professor Lupin?" Justin asked, climbing into the bed next to Emma.
Emma nodded, leaning her head on Justin's shoulder. 'Dad was four when he was turned.'
"He's been a werewolf for that long?"
Emma nodded again, sighing as Justin went to put his arm around her. She winced as his arm dropped right on her shoulder where Fenrir bit her, and she very gingerly moved his arm over. Justin looked at her curiously and turned bright red with understanding.
"I'm so sorry, Emma," he said with wide eyes. "Is that where you were bitten?"
With a grimace, Emma nodded and lifted her sleeve to show her other bite. She held up two fingers to tell Hermione and Justin that it was twice.
"Merlin's beard," Hermione breathed out. "The Prophet didn't mention that part."
"Well, they didn't mention anything about who did it either, so is that really surprising?" Justin said.
'Where's Ernie?' Emma wrote, looking at Justin curiously.
"Oh," Justin said, "he, uhm…he didn't want to come, so I just Floo-ed over." Emma's face fell slightly, though she expected it after Justin's letter. "Emma, don't. You know how Ernie gets. He means well, he's just…it's the whole pure-blood thing. You know how they get when it comes to anything less than what they are. It's one of those things that's just there. It's a miracle that I'm even friends with him, even if he is a Hufflepuff."
Emma knew that, and she knew that well, but it didn't stop her from feeling like she would be an outcast from her own house again. She hated how she felt her second year when everyone decided she wasn't worthy of being a Hufflepuff.
"Oi, don't start now," Justin said firmly. "Where's the Emma Lupin I know? The one that was about ready to kick some arse during Easter hols and secured a wicked win for us Hufflepuffs?" He gave Emma a gentle shake to try and pull her out of her thoughts, and Emma smiled. If she didn't see Justin as her younger brother, she could've seen herself with him, but they were really good friends.
"There she is," Justin said brightly at Emma's smile. "Now, I know you've been completely out of the loop, so let me update you on the Muggle world. Hermione, you better help me with this one."
Half-way through Justin and Hermione telling Emma what movies had been released in the cinema, the ward doors flew open. All three looked up, and Emma frowned when she saw it was Elara looking very much flustered. She had left earlier with her shift ending, and it made Emma worried that she was back.
Elara scanned the room for Remus and frowned when she didn't see him. She made her way to Emma's bed with a tight smile. "Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but where's your dad, Emma?" Elara asked quickly, adjusting what looked like the evening edition of the Daily Prophet under her arm.
Emma didn't even have to answer because Remus returned, looking slightly less flustered but bothered all the same. She noticed that Remus appeared to be holding a newspaper under his arm as well. Emma looked between her father and Elara as they locked eyes, passing a silent message to each other. Whatever was in the paper clearly wasn't good, and while Justin was oblivious, Hermione certainly wasn't. Hermione also knew, just like Emma, that both adults' guarded silence meant they weren't going to talk about what was in the paper in front of them.
Remus met Elara at Emma's bedside, schooling his face into something more relaxed as he smiled at the three teenagers. "Enjoying yourselves?" he asked.
"Actually," Hermione said, sitting up straight in her chair, "we were wondering if Emma could come out to the cinema. I know she's in the hospital, but she would be all right for a few hours, wouldn't she?"
Remus looked quick to protest, but Elara was faster. "I think that's a wonderful idea if Emma's up to it," she said, forcing a smile on her face. "I think a few hours out of the hospital and into the…somewhat fresh air would be good. She's been in bed almost the entire time, and right now, she doesn't necessarily need to be here right at this exact moment…"
"Elara, I don't know –" Remus started to say, only stopping when Emma gripped firmly to his shirt sleeve with a pointed look. He regarded Emma for a moment before sighing and giving a half-hearted shrug. "Perhaps it would be a good idea."
"I think that means Emma has given a resounding yes," Elara said, reaching into her robe pocket to pull out her change purse. She handed Emma some money and nodded. "Get dressed and go have fun. Just be back by curfew. There should be just enough to see a film."
Remus looked very unsure of the entire situation and frowned. "Absolutely no wandering into Diagon Alley or anywhere else magical," Remus said pointedly. He pulled out his wand to hand it to Emma, but Elara held her hand up.
"She can use mine for right now," Elara said, passing Emma her wand. "It wouldn't do well to let her out and immediately give her your wand, Remus. Just do a quick Lumos for me, so I know that it works."
Emma hated to admit how much she enjoyed having a wand in her hand again. The magic from Elara's wand was familiar enough that it didn't feel too strange to hold, though the shape was a little awkward for her. She was glad that Lumos was one of the spells that she could cast non-verbally, and she lit the end of Elara's wand with a grin and extinguished it just as fast.
"Good," Elara said. "Now, get ready and go have fun."
It took nearly no time at all for Emma to get ready, but she hesitated as she started to get changed in the bathroom. She frowned at the jeans she grabbed, not realizing her brain automatically went to her favorite pair. As tempted as she was to grab a different pair of jeans, she didn't bother. If she wasn't going to let Fenrir win, she needed to take deliberate steps to move forward, and this was how she was going to do it.
Emma stared at herself in the mirror, taking in her appearance. She still avoided looking at herself when she could, but Luna's words stuck out to her. As much as she liked the loose, French braid Luna put her hair in, she pulled the elastic out and shook her hair out. Emma combed her hair out with her fingers and tilted her head from side to side. Maybe Luna had a point – she did look like she had been on an adventure. If she put on a bit of mascara and eyeliner, she could pull the focus away from her scars, but she would worry about that later.
When the three teenagers set foot outside the hospital, Emma immediately realized two things about their excursion. The first thing was that Hermione was heading in the direction of Diagon Alley. The second was that they weren't alone.
There was one issue with knowing they weren't alone, and it was that Emma wasn't entirely sure who it was. Soleil was on edge, which immediately made her nervous. Maybe she was just paranoid about being out in the world again, but Emma felt unsettled. Could it be Jude? Was it Ellis? Even worse – was it Fenrir himself? She had no idea.
She stopped right in the middle of the busy sidewalk, nearly toppling Justin over as he stopped short. Justin tried to get Emma to move, tugging her hand gently, but she shook her head. Emma's eyes darted around, trying to figure out who was there but seeing nothing in the crowds of people walking by.
"Oi, Hermione!" Justin shouted, forcing Hermione to turn back with an aggravated huff.
"What is it? Don't you want to know what's in the paper?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot as people walked around them.
Emma frowned, looking around again, and then shook her head. She didn't see anything, so perhaps she just imagined things. It was just the fear of being outside of the hospital and away from Remus. Emma waved Hermione on, and they continued on their way to Diagon Alley.
As tempting as it was to head into the Leaky Cauldron, Emma forced Justin to stay outside the pub with her. Everyone would know who she was if she stepped foot into the wizarding establishment, and she felt safer outside. She planted herself up against the wall, still feeling as though they were followed. Justin prattled on about something Emma was only half paying attention to, and she cast furtive glances around the area. She was determined to figure out who was there, and the less she saw, the more she felt it was Fenrir. He did an excellent job of hiding in the shadows, but then a more pleasant thought crossed her mind. Maybe it was Boris – she did enjoy Boris's company a lot. He wasn't like Fenrir, and despite his bravado, he was shy but very outspoken and had no filter.
Justin commented on how long Hermione was taking to come back when she burst through the pub's front door, looking pale. Emma wondered just how many more people were going to have that reaction.
"It was another werewolf attack," Hermione said quickly, shoving the paper towards Emma to read. "They think it happened the same night as yours, but they only found out about it this morning."
Emma scanned the article quickly, trying to figure out exactly how she felt after her first read. Fenrir smelled so strongly of blood before he bit her, but it never occurred to her that there was a specific reason why. She read the article twice, three times, four times before she handed the paper back to Hermione, feeling numb. Unable to process, Emma pressed her back to the wall and slid down to the ground. This was only going to be the start of what was to come, and she knew it.
Broderick Ward and his entire family were dead, and Emma had no doubt that it was Fenrir's doing.
Whatever presence Emma had been feeling had disappeared while Hermione and Justin tried to figure out what to do. They were arguing with each other, unsure of whether to just go back to the hospital or still go to the cinema. Justin wanted to head back, Hermione insisted that they needed to go just to say they went. Emma, sick of their bickering, found it in herself to speak.
"Just shut up!" Emma shouted, making Hermione and Justin fall silent in surprise. She stood up and brushed off her pants, not thrilled by how painful it was just to say those three words. Deciding it wasn't worth breaking her silence, Emma pulled her pen and paper out of her pocket. 'Let's just find a coffee shop to go to. My dad's going to know that we were here.'
"How is he going to know we were here?" Hermione huffed.
Emma just shot Hermione a dark look and shook her head. It would take her far too long to write out the story of Remus finally telling her how he knew she was doing magic outside of school before her second year. It was one of the few times that Remus genuinely got mad at her, and she did not look forward to potentially reliving that same anger.
In the end, they wound up going to see a film anyway. Justin pointed out that the new live-action Flintstones movie came out a few days prior. Though neither girl was really interested, they agreed. It would give them just enough time to make it back to the hospital before curfew, and Emma needed to decompress. At least in the dark theater, people wouldn't be able to look at her.
Like Emma thought, Remus immediately knew that they didn't just go to the cinema and back. Emma expected him to be beyond angry with them, but instead, he was resigned. To her surprise and annoyance, she watched as he held his hand out towards Elara, who deposited a Galleon in his hand. She didn't expect them to make a bet on what she would actually do.
"Sometimes I feel like I need to keep you locked into one room for forever," Remus admitted when Emma got changed back into her pajamas and climbed into bed. "I just want to stick you up in a tower where no one can ever get near you."
'Just like Rapunzel?' Emma wrote to him with a small grin.
"Just like Rapunzel, but less…"
'Dark?'
"Very much so," Remus chuckled, sitting down next to Emma and putting his arm around her shoulders. "So…we have a lot to talk about."
Hearing that Remus still didn't have a concrete answer on whether she could go home was hard for her to hear. While she expected that, she didn't expect to hear that she had to go back to the children's home the next day.
"I know," Remus said gently, trying to soothe the start of Emma's panic attack. "I know, I know, I know. Right now, I'm trying to look at the positives, and one of them is that we get to go to Diagon Alley on Wednesday, so we're not going to be apart for very long. Just one night apart, and then we're together again. You'll be going with Professor McGonagall just like the first time with the others. If we're lucky, then hopefully you'll get to come right home with me, and I'll push to make it the rest of the holiday."
Emma frowned, leaning into Remus and trying to make sense of everything. She didn't want to go back. It scared her more knowing that Ward wasn't going to be there, which seemed like such a silly thought to have. As much as the man disgusted her, at least she knew what she was dealing with. Who would be in charge now, and how much more dangerous would it be for her? She had nothing to protect herself with, and even one night could be an issue. If Fenrir showed up like he had been doing for the past two weeks, she had no idea what to do. The idea was terrifying in itself.
"You are not leaving here without my wand. I don't care," Remus continued, reading her thoughts and holding onto tightly. "I am not leaving you without a way to protect yourself. I'm sick of the games that the Ministry is playing, and I'm sorry that I didn't just give you my wand at the start. I was too afraid they would find another reason to keep us apart, and I'm so sorry about that. I'm not giving up on you, and I never will."
a/n: I have no idea why, but in my brain, Emma and Justin have this really amazing relationship that I have never written about. Once we get to Hogwarts, expect a lot of new interactions especially with the Tri-Wizard Tournament! It's going to be another chaotic year, but not like the past few. Everyone is growing up, some faster than others...so...it's going to be interesting.
Side note of side notes, I started a holiday set of one shots that go along with the series. Lots of holiday related moments that are not going to be in any sort of real order. It's titled A Moonlit Christmas and can be found amongst my other fics, so please - check it out.
The word counts are going to range from drabbles to ficlets, so you never know what you're going to get. It'll include some missing moments that are prequel related, some moments in the "missing years", and probably some Hogwarts moments. I think it'll be fun, plus it'll be interesting to write more characters, especially my own. I have been wanting to write more about Margaret for forever, so this will be an interesting exercise for me. It's a very niche topic, I know, but I wanted to play and if you enjoy the series, I thought it would be fun. I plan to make everything as fluffy as possible. xD
Lu! It's definitely hard to love yourself sometimes, and as teenagers, it's even more difficult because of the judgement. Emma will eventually come to terms with everything, she just needs that time. Remus is going to be a big part of that, but George is definitely going to be instrumental in Emma's acceptance! Yes, Emma will 100% be going to the Quidditch World Cup - but with some twists! I'm very excited to get to that point, and it'll be coming up so soon! :D