Piling onto the Hogwarts Express on the crisp Saturday morning, the day after term officially ended, was heavenly. Ruby, Emma and Minnie found a compartment quickly and sat with their feet up so that no one could join them and to allow room for Teddy and Victoire to join them after their Prefect rounds.
"I hope I don't get selected as Prefect," Minnie said after she finished lugging Victoire's case onto the suitcase rack above them after her own. "It seems so inconvenient."
Emma laughed. "Don't let your grandmother hear you saying that. I'm pretty sure she wants to set a record and have as many Weasleys as Prefects as she can. I think only the Twins and Ginny managed to escape it the last go around."
Minnie sighed. "I suppose. I mean, I'd do it for Grandma, but for no one else."
"I think you might be lucky," Ruby said. "You're far too mischievous to be selected, like your Aunt Ginny, Em's right, she was never a prefect. I heard about the Bat-Bogey hex you placed on Jack Kowalski last week."
At this, Emma raised her eyebrow; she hadn't heard of the event which was unusual. Most of the time, Emma was fully aware of Minnie's pranks. However, that was either because she was in on the joke or was the victim herself. The fact she didn't know about it worried her.
"What happened?" She asked.
Minnie rolled her eyes. "That was nothing. Kowalski had it coming."
The way that Minnie was trying to get out talking about it, which was completely unlike her, made the situation seem strange to Emma. Minnie would usually laugh and flick her silverly blonde hair over her shoulder as she filled her friends in.
"Min?" Emma urged, knowing there was more to the story than her friend was telling.
Finally, Minnie sighed and conceded. "He was giving me grief for going to the Ball with you. I don't know how he even found out in the first place. He called me a dirty lesbo and said I was tarnished so no boy would want to go out with me ever again, so I hexed him."
"Oh," Emma murmured, her go to when she wasn't sure how to respond to something.
"He's a dick, Emma," Minnie assured her friend. "And I'm fine about it. If I didn't know the consequences, I'd have never accepted it. I'm Dominique Molly Weasley. I literally have the scariest woman as a namesake, even if it is for a middle name. It really doesn't bother me and it shouldn't bother you either, Em."
Emma released a deep breath. "I didn't even think about any of that. I just didn't want to go with August and you wouldn't have been able to go otherwise."
"Exactly," Minnie agreed. "I can't think of anyone better to go with. If you want a laugh, I did get asked by Jeff Jefferson last week. Apparently, he doesn't have a date so he started asking lower years. I think everyone has said no so he's not going."
Ruby physically shivered. "Ugh, that creep."
Minnie chuckled at Ruby's comment but continued speaking to Emma. "I'd have though he'd have wanted to go with you."
Emma's eyes widened and Ruby snickered. "Oh, he tried," the brunette said. "Four times in fact but Emma just said no or cut him off. Last week he asked again and she threatened to curse his dick off and he finally got the point."
"And you said a Bat-Bogey hex was bad," Minnie scoffed.
"I didn't say anything," Emma defended holding her hands up. "Plus, I didn't actually hex him like you did." She raised her eyebrow at the younger blonde who laughed nervously until Emma smiled reassuringly. "I just wanted to know what happened to make you react like that. I don't want you in a situation where you need to defend yourself. It's Vicki's job, and mine to protect you."
"And mine," Ruby added who also saw Minnie as a little sister after spending so much time with her over the past four years on and off the Quidditch pitch.
"I know," Minnie replied, rolling her eyes slightly, she knew they did it for love, but she could take care of herself. "But I'm all good and Kowalski now runs away when he seems me even when I'm not holding my wand. Worth it."
Finally, Emma chuckled. "Good but next time, you let me deal with them. They'll get much worse than the Bat-Bogey hex."
Just then, the door open and Teddy and Victoire walked in and flopped down beside Minnie who had a seat to herself.
"Don't tell me who's getting hexed as I am officially off duty," Victoire said. "We don't have to report anything now even if we see someone misbehaving as we're now past the school boundaries. Have we missed the food?"
Ruby shook her head. "Not yet."
"I hope it comes soon," Teddy murmured. "I'm starving."
The five of them whiled the time away chatting about their Christmas plans with their families. They would be celebrating separately, but there was a big party at the Senior Weasleys on Boxing Day which everyone was invited to.
Aside from the big party, Teddy was planning to spend most of it at the Potters' and his grandmother had been invited to the Weasley New Year's Eve party as well. Emma had confirmed with her parents that they would happily take Granny with them.
Ruby was spending most of it with her grandmother, but she did have a visit to see her father. Azkaban was still a dreadful place to be, but it was much better kept than it had been when the Dementors were in charge and they now allowed visiting for good behaviour. It was difficult but she still didn't hate her father for what he did because it was a genuine accident and he was willingly paying the price for it. That didn't mean it wasn't hard seeing him so thin and aging rapidly from misery.
An hour passed and the food trolley finally pulled up outside their carriage and the five of them queued up to buy their food. When it was Emma's turn, she turned around and smirked at her friends, holding up a familiar box of sweets.
"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans?" She suggested.
"No!" The rest chimed back at once, even Teddy who'd been subjected to Emma's strange enjoyment of the sweets in the past on numerous occasions.
Emma just snickered and replaced the box on the trolley before asking for a pumpkin pasty, a couple of cauldron cakes and a chocolate frog instead. She was still laughing as she bit the frog's head off as the Trolley Lady walked away and the train carried on through the countryside.
As the Hogwarts Express pulled into Kings Cross station a couple of hours later, Emma shot to the window for a sight of her parents. She quickly saw them in their usual spot beside Bill, Fleur and Louis and Ruby's grandmother on the platform. All were grinning at the train, ready to welcome their children, siblings, or granddaughter in Granny's case, back home.
Once the train stopped, Emma grabbed her lightly packed suitcase and Hook's cage, she'd decided to leave her broom at school, she could use her old one at home, and rushed onto the platform. She'd barely put her belongings on the floor before her mother was pulling her in for a tight hug.
"We're so proud of you, darling," Kathryn said.
"Not so tight, Kat," David chuckled. "She'll burst. Welcome back honey."
"I'm good," Emma assured her father as she pulled back before accepting a hug from her dad too. "I just can't wait to go home."
"There's a surprise waiting for you when we get there too," David said.
"What?" Emma asked, her eyes bright with the prospect. "What is it?"
"You'll have to wait and see, otherwise it wouldn't be much of a surprise," Kat replied with a kind smile.
"Congrats Em!" Louis cheered as he rushed over to her after hugging his sisters in return. "Mum and Dad said you did good."
"Well," Fleur corrected. Her English was now so perfect that it put the rest of them to shame, she had become a bit of a grammar police as a consequence. "I heard it went well. I'm glad none of the Triwizard Tasks involved potions as I'd have done even worse than I did in the Second Task." She shook her head in horror as she thought back to the Grindylow attack and failing at saving her sister.
Emma just smiled as the compliment. "I just hope my Second Task isn't as bad!"
Kat then coughed to gather everyone's attention. "We need to be getting home. Merry Christmas all of you and we'll see you at the Burrow on Boxing Day."
Emma and her friends said their goodbyes before wishing Ruby luck when she visited her father the next day. She then walked away with her parents, her father now carrying her case and Hook's cage, towards the Apparation spot.
As usual, Emma took hold of her mother's hand and felt her turn on the spot. Instinctively, she shut her eyes ready for the lurch as her feet flew off the ground. However, seconds later, they returned firmly placed on the ground and she opened her eyes to see that her mother had Apparated them straight into their kitchen.
"Is that my Champion?" Asked a very familiar voice.
Looking up, Emma saw her grandfather leaning against the kitchen counter. Midas Swan had aged well and barely looked over fifty despite being almost two decades older. He opened his arms wide to accept Emma as she ran towards him and hugged him tightly.
"Grandpa! What are you doing here?" She asked as she pulled back.
"I came here to surprise you," Midas replied with a broad grin. "Your grandmother is in the living room, putting her feet up."
Emma ginned when her grandpa rolled his eyes. "I'm so happy you're here. There's so much to tell you both."
"Then we shall let your mum put on some tea before dinner and you can tell me and your Gran everything."
Midas looked up at his daughter and winked. She rolled her eyes, in the exact same manner that her father had not a minute ago, before waving her wand at the kettle to fill it with water and bring it to a boil.
Emma then took hold of her grandpa's arm and walked into the living room where her father was just sitting down after taking her belongings up to her room.
"Emma!" Her grandmother greeted with a bright smile. Emma leant down and hugged her gran tightly before sitting beside her.
"Hi Gran," Emma replied.
Marigold Swan eyed her only granddaughter. "You're too skinny. You're not eating enough at school, I swear."
"She's eating plenty," David said. "She's a Nolan too and we love our food."
Emma grinned. "Exactly. I've just got a fast metabolism."
Her grandmother still didn't look convinced, but Emma was saved as her mother walked in, levitating a tray of teacups before placing it on the table. She then sat beside her husband and everyone picked up their assigned mug before all eyes were back on Emma.
"So, tell us everything that's happened this term," Midas requested.
Emma took a sip of her tea before placing it back down on the table and started from the day she got to school. Despite her parents knowing most of it, they still listened to every detail as Emma spoke.
Always polite, no one interrupted her until she had finished her tale what felt like days later. It was such a while later in fact that her tea had gone stone cold. She picked it up to take a sip and pulled a face as she registered the temperature.
Realising the issue, Midas picked up his wand and waved it over her mug until it was steaming again.
"Thanks," she muttered before taking another sip. "So yeah, that's my year so far."
"I still think it's preposterous," Marigold said shaking her head. "Minerva should know better than entering you all into something so dangerous."
"She knows what she's doing," Midas replied, "and from what Emma has said, she's a contender to win."
Emma rolled her eyes, again in the same manner both her mother and grandfather had. "I wouldn't say that."
"Nonsense," Midas chastised. "You scored the same as the person in first place which means that you're also in first place. The next challenge could be your forte and not Elsa's so you'll win. I know she's your cousin, but she isn't my granddaughter so I can be biased."
"I suppose," Emma said with a chuckle. That was one thing she loved about her mother's parents. She was their only grandchild, so they spoilt her rotten whereas she had to share her father's parents with Elsa. It wasn't a terrible thing, but Midas and Marigold Swan were all hers.
Dinner was a swift affair that evening as her mother and grandmother whipped up a batch of stew and dumplings, one of Emma's favourites. Her grandmother's dumplings were the best she'd ever had, not that she told her mother that, of course. Emma even got out of doing any pots as her father just magicked them clean and into their cupboards.
They then sat back in the living room, her father and grandfather having a small glass of fire whiskey, which Emma had been refused due to her age (not that that had stopped her from being snuck some by Killian every now and then), before they began talking about the Tournament once more.
"So, what happens next?" Her grandfather asked eagerly.
"I need to figure out what the next task is," Emma replied. "I think it's to do with fighting a creature of some kind. I haven't fully looked into it yet, to be honest."
Midas nodded as he thought about what his granddaughter said. "Perhaps you could charm a stick into a sword. It worked for your father, even though it wasn't necessary." The comment was met with a shake of his head.
Confused, Emma turned to where her dad was sitting. He had just taken a sip of his whiskey before choking on it at his father-in-law's comment, not expecting the conversation to turn like it had.
"What?" Emma asked.
David coughed and swallowed the liquid. "Years ago, before you were even born, I thought there was a burglar in the house late at night and panicked. The first thought that came to my head was the sword transfiguration spell so I turned the broom into a sword and headed downstairs only to find out that it was just your grandfather getting a glass of water. I'd momentarily forgotten they were over."
Emma chuckled. "At least you were well prepared in case it was a burglar."
"He could have just jinxed me," Midas said, also chuckling at the memory, "but no, he had to go down brandishing a sword of all things thinking he was the great Gryffindor himself."
David blushed at the comment. He hardly thought himself as brave as Godric Gryffindor, but he had kept the sword afterwards. Although, that was more because he was impressed with his transfiguration skills, apparently, they were better when he was half asleep.
"I'll keep that idea in mind," Emma said, still giggling at her father's previous antics.
As she sat in the living room, surrounded by her parents and grandparents, she felt content. She hadn't realised until now, how much she had needed to come home and spend time with her family, just chatting, even if it was about the Tournament. Her Christmas break was going to be brilliant.
oOoOo
A couple of days passed and Emma got used to spending time with her parents again, but she had to put in one rule in their house: no talking about the Tournament. She didn't mind speaking about it to her grandparents because they hadn't heard the full story, only bits passed on from their daughter, but she didn't want to keep going on about it and her parents kept sneaking in questions every few hours. It was Christmas time, so she wanted to concentrate on that.
As she only lived a mile away from Victoire and her family, Emma was found at their house one afternoon and was relieved to find that Victoire had inflicted the same rule there so that Emma wasn't bombarded with questions from the Weasleys as soon as she walked through the front door. Louis was the only one who got away with asking some questions because he was only ten and had bright blue eyes and a sweet face that Emma could never refuse. He seemed to have inherited the most Veela charm out of the three children although Minnie could really amp it up if she needed to, mostly to get out of trouble.
Three days after Emma returned from school and two days before Christmas, Mal came over to the cottage and the ban on talking about the Tournament was lifted momentarily.
As soon as her godmother stepped out of the fireplace, her preferred way to travel, Emma was instantly there, pulling her in for a tight hug that Mal accepted, embracing her goddaughter fiercely.
"I'm so proud of you, Emmy!" She said instead of greeting her traditionally and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Penny said you were fantastic, even when you were under pressure. She even awarded you ten but the Hufflepuff only gave you eight, so you got nine on average. Not that I told you that though," she added with a wink.
"To say you're an Unspeakable, you do blab sometimes, Mally," Kat teased as she took her best friend's coat from her.
"I know what information I can pass on slyly," she replied and stuck her tongue out at Emma to make her laugh. "Besides, it's information you should know."
Emma grinned before tilting her head to the side. "How do you know, exactly? Penelope isn't even in your office."
Mal's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, so quickly that if you didn't know her as well as Emma and her mother, you'd have missed it, before she recovered. "We worked on a couple of projects together and get on well. Plus, I was going to be the judge, remember, she wanted to let me know what I missed out on."
Neither of the Swans looked entirely convinced but shrugged it off. Despite blabbing sometimes, Mal could also keep information to take to the grave should she wish to, Kat's joke had been a jest, not a truth. If she wasn't willingly revealing what was going on, asking her would be futile. Something both Kat and her daughter had learnt over the years.
"So, how are you faring for the next Task?" Mal asked quickly, trying to get the subject away from her.
Emma shrugged. "I know it's about battling a creature, I'm just not sure what the creatures are yet, but," she added when she saw Mal going to offer to help, "I don't want to think about it over Christmas. I have until February."
At the tone of her goddaughter's voice, Mal knew not to push her and just nodded. "That's fair enough. So, how have classes been this year so far?"
That also wasn't a topic Emma wanted to talk about but Mal knew about her ambition to follow her footsteps and become an Unspeakable. Having done the training herself, she knew how difficult it was to join and knew Emma would need the top grades. If she was falling behind because of the Tournament and ended up getting low OWLs, she would struggle getting on the training course, even if her NEWTs were good, she needed the OWLs to get the NEWTs. Not to mention the fact that even top grades didn't guarantee a spot, the Unspeakables were an elite group, top grades wasn't all they were looking for.
However, an hour later, when Emma had gone into depth about her classes, a much deeper level than she had wanted to, Mal seem satisfied. She nodded her head. "You'll be fine."
The next day, Killian arrived but when Emma said she didn't want to talk about the Tournament, he dropped it completely. Unlike Mal, he didn't ask her about the grades, instead, he asked about the Quidditch Cup. Like her father, Killian hadn't made it onto the team as he had a slight defect in his left hand which meant it was difficult to grip the broom, so he struggled to fly. However, he still had a great interest in the sport, although, he wasn't a huge fan of Puddlemere United solely because of James Nolan.
"We won our first match," Emma said happily as she sat on the sofa opposite where her father and godfather were sitting. Despite the closeness to Christmas, Kat still had to work up until Christmas Eve and wasn't there. "The only issue we had was that Robin wouldn't aim at the newbie on the Hufflepuff team. No one gets why."
"Who was it?" Killian asked.
"Marian Maiden," Emma replied. "Just joined the team this year."
Killian and David shot each other a look.
"What?" Emma asked as the look wasn't subtle and they didn't look too happy.
"The Maidens and the Locksleys are, umm, very close families," her father said slowly.
"That's one way to phrase it," Killian replied before turning to Emma. "Look, the main story isn't important, but I'd just keep an eye on Locksley. From what you've said about him in the past, he's a slimy bastard just like Robin Locksley Snr."
"He's the best Beater in the school, but if he continues, I might have to get rid of him," Emma said with a sigh, deciding now wasn't the time to dig deeper in the Maiden and Locksley saga. "There was a girl from the year above who was good, but I didn't think Robin would have stepped back to allow her to play. I'd have got abuse from him all year for letting a girl do his job."
Her father chuckled. "People think women can't be Beaters because they're too weak when they're anything but. I mean, look at your mother, best Beater in Hogwarts for years, never missed and was the reason Ravenclaw took the Cup home one year. Although James likes to think it was because of him. She was asked to play for the Harpies you know, once she finished school, but she chose the Ministry instead."
Emma's eyes widened at the information. "I never knew that."
"There are always going to be things that you don't know, Em," David shrugged, "but it doesn't mean that you can't find things out."
At that, Emma raised her eyebrow. "Is that you trying to help with the Tournament without explicitly saying something?"
David winked at his daughter. "Nothing gets past you, does it?"
"Nope," Emma agreed with a small grin, but then she sighed. "But I really don't want to talk about it while I'm on break. I just hope that Granny and Granddad don't hound me and Elsa tomorrow."
Unfortunately, that was exactly the case.
As soon as Emma and her family walked out of the fireplace into the home of Robert and Ruth Nolan, Emma was dragged by her grandmother to where Elsa was sitting with their grandfather and both were drilled for information on the Tournament.
However, after they finished their tales, it was Ruth and Robert who got into a deep conversation about who technically won, not because they were favouring a granddaughter, but because Ruth was a fierce Ravenclaw and Robert a proud Gryffindor and both wanted their House to win. At least with Emma's other grandparents, who were both Ravenclaws, had left their House allegiance behind and just supported their granddaughter.
Emma glanced at Elsa and whispered, "should we just walk away?"
Elsa nodded and the two quickly backed away, leaving their grandparents in their argument, one which was exceedingly familiar. The ongoing saga of what had happened when they were both at school and a Quidditch match they had both competed in, having both been Chasers on their own teams, where Robert was still convinced Ravenclaw had cheated despite the match taking place almost fifty years ago.
"Will they ever get over that Quidditch match?" Emma asked with a laugh as they headed into the kitchen.
"I don't think so," Elsa replied, also laughing. "Granddad is still very bitter."
The Ravenclaw pulled out her wand and pointed it to the jug of orange juice on the side and made it pour out two glasses that floated towards both her and Emma. The younger blonde looked on enviously as she wouldn't be able to, legally, perform magic outside of school for another year and a half, given that her birthday was in August and she was still closer to fifteen than she was sixteen.
They leant back against the counter, drinking their juice quietly, until Elsa broke the silence.
"I consider us even, you know."
Emma turned to her cousin. "Really?"
Elsa nodded as she placed her now empty glass on the side. "Definitely. We got the same score, I just finished quicker."
"Yeah, but that proves why you got the higher score, you're more efficient," Emma said. She held her hand up before Elsa could speak. "I'm happy with joint second which is the position I'm in. I mean, there's no point pretending otherwise because that's the official score. I just need to make sure I'm quickest in the next challenge."
"I hardly see how it's fair getting us to fight a different creature each," Elsa said. "I mean, I'd rather take on the Yeti than any of the others."
"Yeti?" Emma repeated. "I hadn't worked any out yet."
Elsa's eyes widened as she realised that she'd given away information before she shrugged. "Well think of it as a favour." She laughed. "I won't tell you the rest. Well, I'm not sure on one anyway. We've got time to think about it."
She paused for a moment, listening into the living room to hear that their fathers had now gotten involved in the argument between their parents, trying to get them to stop. It didn't seem to be going well.
The kitchen door then opened to reveal Kat and Daphne.
"There you two are," Daphne said.
"Sorry, Mum, had to get away from Granny and Granddad," Elsa said, rolling her eyes.
"Married so long but they still have the same argument every year," Daphne said with a shake of her head. "I don't know how they do it."
"I don't think they had it last year actually," Emma piped up. "I think it's the Tournament that's brought it up again. The whole Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor again."
"Well, I can honestly say, I can stay out of it," Daphne said with a chuckle, "as the only Slytherin invited to family events."
"And even then, only reluctantly," Kat teased as she nudged her sister-in-law.
"So rude," Daphne laughed good-naturedly, she was more than used to the friendly ribbing in the Nolan family by now.
They were interrupted, not by noise, but by a sudden silence in the living room. The Elder Nolans had finally stopped their arguments and both David and James had stopped yelling at their parents.
"So, the fight is either over or your fathers have petrified their parents," Kat said with a slightly worried chuckle in her voice. It was Christmas Eve and she wasn't really in the mood to arrest her husband and brother-in-law for hexing an elderly couple despite having a just cause.
"Only one way to find out," Daphne said tentatively before the four of them headed into the living room to see that both Ruth and Robert were sitting in their chairs, both of their mouths moving rapidly but no sound coming out.
James had his wand out and pointed at his parents.
Daphne raised her eyebrow at her husband. "You silenced them?"
"It seemed like the best solution," James said, his cheeks blushing at being caught. Clearly, he had thought he would be able to get away with it but forgot that his wife could find anything out, being the clever, cunning Slytherin she was.
"You boys," Kat added with a shake of her head. She pulled out her own wand. "I don't want to arrest either of you so you can't just silence your parents! I know I can't arrest you for that, but it's just a slippery slope, before you know it it'll be more drastic and then I will have to arrest you both." She turned to the Elder Nolans. "Rob, Ruthie, I apologise for your sons, but you have got to stop this argument. Ravenclaw won fair and square, I've seen it in the history books, but Gryffindor still took home the Cup that year. It was over fifty years ago! It's time to let it go. Now, if I promise to remove the spell, do you promise you won't mention it again?"
Robert and Ruth looked at each other before turning back to the Auror and nodded, albeit reluctantly.
"Good," Kat said. She waved her wand and removed the spell.
Everyone stopped and waited to see if they would continue their argument and held their breath as Ruth went to speak. Fortunately, they were fine with what she asked.
"So, who's up for some food?"