Emma found herself in a pleasant dream, brought back to the previous week and her unexpected and very much needed day with Greyson. They were sitting out next to the lake, bundled up in warm clothes to stay safe from the slight chill in the air. As an added bonus, Emma retrieved one of her blankets to cover themselves with. Greyson was leaning back against Emma's favorite beech tree, and she was sitting between his legs, leaning back against his chest.

His knees were propped up, and Emma had one of her arms resting on his leg while he held a book up against the other. One of his arms was snaked around her waist, holding her close as she laid her head back against his shoulder. They found a book of poetry in the library written by a warlock and giggled over the comparisons. Emma had no idea that someone could compare a woman to a unicorn so many times in her life.

"These are absolutely awful," Greyson snorted, scanning through another poem and shaking his head. "I can't believe that this even exists."

"Oh, it's not that bad," Emma said, snickering as she looked at the poem in question. "You don't want to read me a seventh consecutive poem on the purity of a unicorn and a woman's love?"

"My God, no," Greyson said, kissing the shell of her ear. "Pure, yes, but it makes one begin to question who the author was in love with."

Emma thought about it for a moment and turned her head to look back at Greyson, her nose scrunching up. "You think?" she asked. "You think these poems are more about the unicorn?"

"I think yes," Greyson admitted, chuckling when Emma groaned. He closed the book and set it off to the side, wrapping his other arm around her waist and resting his cheek against hers. "I'm partial to Shakespeare."

"I'm not even surprised to hear that," Emma said, the hint of a smile in her voice. She found Greyson's hand to lace her fingers with his. "Any man who can find enjoyment in poetry is absolutely a romantic. They try to hide it, but it's a bit impossible."

"Speaking from experience?"

"I'd say so," Emma giggled. "My Dad adores poetry. He will deny it at all costs, but he's absolutely a romantic."

"He scares me a bit, but I can see it," Greyson said. "You can see it in the way that he cares for you and in the small things he does for you."

Emma nodded with a soft hum. "He's only scary because he's scared, too. But he taught me how I should be treated," Emma said quietly. She looked back at Greyson with a mischievous grin on her face. "I've got impossibly high standards because of him. I hope you plan to meet them, Grey."

"I had a feeling that you did," Greyson said with a huffed-out laugh. "And I certainly plan on trying. It's a good thing that I have an entire lifetime to prove myself to you."

"I look forward to it," Emma said, reaching up to pull Greyson's face down to hers to kiss him. "What's your favorite poem of Shakespeare's?"

"It's not a poem, actually," Greyson said. "It's from Hamlet."

"Hamlet? Really? A bit dark, no?"

Greyson nodded, straightening up and wrapping his arms a little tighter around her. "It is, admittedly…but do you want to hear it?"

"Of course, I do," Emma said, reaching for the ends of her blanket to pull it tighter around them. Greyson was quiet for a long moment, resting his cheek on top of her head, seemingly just as content as she was to just be together.

They were hidden away by the lake, and with everyone else in class, they could be themselves. Even if Greyson never spoke, Emma was more than content to be with him. There were no expectations and no worries, and he accepted her exactly as she was, flaws and all. If he would have run, Emma was sure he would've left after Hogsmeade, but he stayed. He didn't care that she often struggled with herself, didn't care about the constant threat of danger, and didn't care about the multiple scars that lined her body. Greyson saw her as so much more, as someone worthy of being loved and cared for.

Greyson pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head and nuzzled her hair. He was quiet for one more breath before finally speaking softly, "Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love."

Emma swore her heart stopped, and her breathing was practically non-existent. He didn't outright say it, but he had to love her. But could he truly love her already? She supposed it was possible since she couldn't deny that she felt something towards him. Emma tried to wrack her brain to think of something to say back, and she –

"Emma, Cedric, wake up!"

Emma groaned, snapping her eyes open to look at an overexcited and Justin, already dressed for the day, practically nose to nose with her. She could kill him. She enjoyed being caught up in her dream that was more of a memory than anything – and a very good one, at that.

She took a look around and heaved a heavy sigh. She had fallen asleep in the common room again curled up against Cedric. It felt like she spent more time sleeping in the common room than in her dorm half the time. Her nighttime routine officially involved grabbing Justin most nights, who would get Cedric, and the three would bunk in front of the fireplace. Each night they would swear to each other they would head back to their rooms, but often the three wound up in a pile together. She was glad that Greyson wasn't the type of person to get jealous easily and, after explaining things, understood her need to be close to others. Then again, it was just one of the things that was rooted into their very beings, and he was the exact same way.

"Justin, it's too early to be up," Emma grumbled, pulling herself away from Cedric, who was equally as bleary-eyed.

"Yes, but that was before I remembered that they're coming!"

"Who's coming?" Cedric asked, seemingly just as lost as Emma was at 6:30 in the morning.

"The other schools. It's today!"

It seemed like a product of convenience that the Hogwarts rumor mill had immediately been taken over by the announcement that two schools would be joining them. Standing proudly in the entrance hall had been a massive sign stating that students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang would be joining them. The sign had inspired talks of who would be entering and had become the most talked-about subject of the school. Emma was just grateful that everyone had seemed to forget about her for a little while. At least everyone forgot about the rumors of her supposed werewolf supremacist views.

The moment the sign had gone up, Ernie had run back into the common room. Emma was milling around with Cedric and a few of the other sixth years when Ernie burst into the room.

"It's next week, Cedric!" Ernie shouted, red in the face from his run back to the basement. "Are you still going to enter?" All eyes were suddenly on Cedric, one of the few Hogwarts students who had expressed interest in participating.

"What's next week?" Cedric asked, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"The other schools are coming!" Ernie shouted. "So? Are you entering?"

"Oh, I don't know," Cedric had said, rubbing the back of his neck, realizing that everyone was starting to look up at them. "I don't know if it's a good idea."

"Cedric, you have been talking about it since the start of term," said Anthony Otterburn, one of the other sixth years. "It's worth just putting your name in!"

"Come on, Ced, you have to do it!" Caspian shouted from the other side of the room. "Wouldn't it be great if a Hufflepuff was picked?"

"Remember what we said about being stars, Cedric? Now's your chance," Emma said, giving Cedric a playful shove. "I can't have all the glory of being the most talked about student this year for the third year in a row. I think it's time to share the spotlight."

Everyone else who wasn't looking turned their attention to Cedric. A smile broke out on his face, and he shook his head in disbelief.

"Do you all really think I should enter?" he shouted out to the common room.

There was a resounding shout of "Yes!" from everyone, and that was that. It was all the Hufflepuffs could speak of for the entire week, but it seemed the whole castle was abuzz.

The castle seemed to undergo a very thorough cleaning. Portraits would grumpily rub their scrubbed clean faces, and the suits of armor were sparkling and gleaming. Filch was on a rampage, yelling at any student who would forget to wipe their shoes. Filch's ire aggravated Emma to no end when he sent Finley and Raewyn into hysterical tears, and she was grateful to be close enough to both girls to soothe them.

Even the staff was tense, the teachers snapping at even the smallest mistakes. The four heads of houses were absolutely terrifying to deal with all week. Sprout nearly sent Emma into a fit of tears when she almost dropped a pot of bouncing bulbs when she tripped in the greenhouse. Emma was startled by Sprout's sudden outburst, but Justin was quick to make her laugh, much to Ernie's annoyance. Harry and Ron gave her sympathetic looks – apparently, McGonagall had been particularly rough on the Gryffindors.

Emma swore she would strangle Justin if it weren't for the bright smile on his face. Still, it didn't stop her from reaching out and grabbing his tie to pull him closer to glare at him.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley, I should murder you," Emma said. "Are you aware of what time it is?"

"It's time to get up!" he said, clapping his hands in delight and pulling his tie out of Emma's grip. "Get up, you two! We've got a whole school day to get through and some new friends to make!"

"Cedric, can I kill him?" Emma asked as Cedric stretched his arms over his head.

"No," Cedric sighed, leaning over to kiss Emma's cheek. "Because I'm going to kill him first."

Emma snorted and hauled herself up off the couch, deciding she might as well get on with her day. Justin's early wake-up call meant that she wouldn't be going back to sleep, and she wasn't entirely opposed to getting to breakfast early.

When they stepped foot into the Great Hall that morning, it seemed as though the room had been transformed overnight. Massive silk banners hung from the walls, each bearing the house crests: yellow with a black badger for Hufflepuff, red with a gold lion for Gryffindor, blue with a bronze eagle for Ravenclaw, and green with a silver snake for Slytherin. Hanging behind the teacher's table was an even larger banner with the Hogwarts coat of arms.

"They're going all out for this," Emma said, sitting down next to Finley chattering away with one of her friends.

"It's a bit mental, yeah?" Megan said from across the table. "I didn't think they were going to do just this much."

"Well, we're the host school, aren't we?" asked Susan. "Not really much of a surprise that everything would look this way."

Emma found herself tuning out the conversation about the upcoming schools arriving later that day. She turned her head slightly to hear Ron questioning Fred and George about what they were doing. Even after they had broken up, George still hadn't been forthcoming over what he was doing with Fred. It was nice to hear that even Ron was equally as clueless to what was going on.

Her curiosity was even more piqued when Hermione started talking about house-elves again. Emma had apparently been unsuccessful in her attempts at getting her to understand that what she was doing was done in pure ignorance. She had seen Hermione still walking around with her box, trying to win people over, but much like Emma, they found S.P.E.W. a joke. To Emma's dismay, a few people had stated that "Lupin's werewolf supremacy at least makes sense" while laughing as she walked by. It wasn't the worst thing that had been said about her that year at all.

The conversation being had behind her at the Gryffindor table was ended abruptly when a sudden whooshing noise overhead signified post owls. Emma watched as one of Gringotts massive owls dropped a letter in front of her along with an unfamiliar-looking long-eared owl that dropped a letter in front of her as well. A soft smile crossed her face as Greyson's tawny owl, Sprinkles, plopped down in front of her just moments later.

"Hi, Sprinkles," Emma said, petting the owl's feathers and grinning when the owl nipped at her fingers. The origin story of Sprinkle's name never ceased to make her giggle, even if Greyson was embarrassed by it. When Emma questioned him about Sprinkles's name in Hogsmeade, Greyson's cheeks turned pink.

"Her feathers reminded me of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sprinkles," Greyson told her. "So, I decided to name her Sprinkles."

It was a fitting name for the tiny owl. Her feathers were white and flecked with dark brown speckles – just like vanilla ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. Emma joked that Sprinkles had a chocolate fudge topping as the top of her head featured a thick line of dark brown feathers. Greyson had told her when he returned to spend the full moon with her that he agreed.

"Why don't you go rest in the owlery?" Emma told Sprinkles, holding up a piece of toast for the owl. "I'll have a letter for you to send back in a bit. I'm sure you're tired after flying all the way from London."

Sprinkles squashed herself down as she blinked hard, making a happy chirping noise at Emma's offer of toast. She stretched out her wings, pulling the toast between her beak, and flew off.

"Whose owl is that anyway?" Hannah asked, watching as Sprinkles flew away.

"That's, uhm…that's my boyfriend's owl," Emma said without thinking, frowning when she recognized Fenrir's writing on the front of the letter from the unfamiliar owl. "Like father, like son," she muttered, setting Fenrir's letter aside to split open the letter from Gringotts. Fenrir always seemed to write to her after every sixth letter from Greyson. Emma read through the letter from Gringotts, frowned at the deposits made to her account, and looked up at the odd silence.

"What?" Emma asked.

"Boyfriend?" Sally questioned. "You have a boyfriend?"

Emma's jaw dropped, and she felt her body grow warm. She didn't even think about what she was saying, and it slipped out far too easily. Emma straightened up with wide eyes as she took in the incredulous looks on everyone's faces. She became acutely aware that eyes were boring into the back of her head, and she couldn't help but wonder if George had heard her.

"I, uhm, yes," Emma said, clearing her throat. "Is that a problem?"

"You have a boyfriend?" Justin asked from her other side, sounding almost disappointed.

"Yes," Emma said slowly.

"Well, who is it, then?" Ernie asked sharply. "Who would go out with someone like you?"

"He doesn't go here!" Emma said, glaring at Ernie. It certainly wasn't a lie in the least – Greyson didn't go there. Not anymore, at least.

"Emma's pretty!" Finley said resolutely. "Of course, she has a boyfriend!" Finley turned to Emma with a wide smile. "Is he handsome?" she asked Emma quietly.

Emma couldn't stop the stupid smile on her face. She started to tuck her letters in her bag and bit her lip, finding the edge of her favorite photo of Greyson she had tucked in her notebook.

"He's very handsome," Emma said. "I can show you a photo of him if you promise not to tell." Finley nodded fervently, and Emma motioned for Finley to move closer. She carefully untucked the photo just enough for Finley to look. Emma kept all of her pictures of Greyson with her, just in case, but the one in her notebook was by far her favorite. It was one she had taken without him noticing – or at least she tried for it to be without him seeing. He looked handsome in that particular day's golden hour as the sun started to set, still dressed from teaching. Emma enjoyed watching him read and had sneakily pulled her camera out to take a photo, but then he caught her, and his smile was sweet.

Finley took a look at the photo still hidden in Emma's bag, blinked once, twice, then three times, and then took in a sharp gasp. Emma knew that Finley knew exactly who Greyson was, had nervously come up to her after sitting through one of his classes, full of worry. She knew that Greyson looked like his father and had brought up her fears to Emma. To make things worse, Emma herself had expressed issues with Greyson at the time and had never voiced her very changed opinion on him. Finley was perplexed.

"Emma, that's –"

But Emma didn't dare let Finley finish her sentence and clamped a hand around her mouth with an embarrassed smile.

"Yes, I know who he is," Emma said quietly. "But you are not to say a word to anyone, okay? This has to be our little secret for now because we're not quite ready to tell people just yet."

Finley stared at Emma with wide eyes and nodded as Emma slowly pulled her hand away. She watched as Emma very slowly closed her bag, leaving it on her lap.

"I'm just surprised, is all," Finley said slowly with a slight frown.

"To be fair, so was I," Emma admitted. "But he's sweet. Very sweet. But then again, you should know that already, no?" Finley still didn't look convinced by the idea. "Finn, I assure you that if I didn't think he was kind, I would not be with him. He's nothing like…well, you know."

Emma's last comment was what drew Caspian's attention from a few seats down. While he wasn't actively participating in the new gossip of who her boyfriend was, he was certainly listening in. Justin had looked crestfallen for only a brief moment, but he bounced back quickly and was genuinely happy for her. Emma felt bad knowing Justin's feelings, but she was still of the firm belief they were better friends.

"Em?" Caspian inquired from where he was sitting. "It's not…is it?"

"It's not who?" Emma asked, eating the rest of her breakfast quickly and standing up to head to History of Magic. She had no doubt that Caspian knew who Greyson was as well and wasn't about to tempt fate any further.

The rest of the day seemed to move swiftly, the castle seemingly more excited as the day wore on. Nobody could pay attention during class; everyone was more interested in who was coming from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. In some cases, Emma was questioned who her boyfriend was, but she remained as vague as ever. At first, it annoyed her, but then she started to find it funny and started to make up more and more outlandish rumors. Her favorite comment was saying Greyson was foreign and royalty, and she cringed slightly at the thought. Considering Fenrir's status as alpha of all the packs, Greyson might as well be considered royalty.

When the bell rang early during Transfiguration, the Hufflepuffs quickly made their way downstairs to deposit their things. Emma decided to switch from her normal, everyday uniform into the one she had made of higher quality materials. She had questioned Fenrir's suggestion of just spending a little extra money since she had it, but she was very grateful for following his advice. Emma had a funny feeling she would need to be wearing her nicer sets more often to have a chance at a decent first impression with whoever was visiting the castle. Her reputation was rocky as it was within Hogwarts students, and she wasn't sure how far news of her attack actually traveled.

The Heads of Houses were ordering everyone into lines in front of the castle. It was chilly, and dusk was falling quickly. Emma stood between Justin and Wayne in the fourth row from the front, crossing her arms to try and keep herself warm. She let out a groan when she felt the hat on her head start to slip.

"God, I hate having to wear a bloody hat," Emma grumbled, begrudgingly adjusting her hat. "I hated having to get fitted with one of these in the first place, and I hate wearing it even more. It's too stereotypical."

"It's not that bad," Justin said brightly. "At least you don't look like Draco, who looks like an absolute ponce."

Emma immediately fell into a fit of hysterical giggles as she looked down the row at Draco. Much like the other pure-bloods, he was wearing one of his nicer uniforms as well, his hat sitting primly on top of his head. Emma had to agree that he looked like a ponce, and even though her uniform was nicer, it was nowhere near the quality of Draco's. His robes were made of what looked like an almost silky material, and he was shivering fiercely. Emma couldn't help but wonder how Draco's hat stayed on his head with how much he was shaking.

Everything was silent for seemingly ages until Dumbledore called out from the back row – "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" everyone seemed to ask, looking around for their first arrival. Emma frowned when she didn't see anything, but then suddenly, a sixth year near Cedric pointed out towards the forest with a shout of, "There!"

Students started to make wild guesses of what was quickly approaching them. One student suggested a dragon, but someone else at the front suggested flying horses. The suggestion of flying horses was closest as a dozen massive-winged horses soared towards the castle pulling along a carriage. The carriage hurtled towards them, forcing the first three rows to move backward in fear as the horses landed. With a crash, the horse's hooves touched the ground, the carriage following shortly after. Emma had never seen anything like it.

Very shortly after the carriage landed, a boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage. He fiddled with something for a moment, and a set of golden steps unfurled from the carriage floor. Emma couldn't stop her gasp when the largest woman she had ever seen stepped out of the carriage. She tried not to stare at the woman, but she couldn't stop herself, even as Dumbledore began to clap.

Not wanting to stare any longer than necessary, Emma looked past the woman – Madame Maxime, Dumbledore had said – to look at the Beauxbatons students. They were all shivering in robes that seemed more like Draco's – fine silk and light fabrics. A few students had shawls and scarves wrapped around their heads.

If they thought the horses were impressive, Durmstrang's entrance seemed even more impressive. A few minutes after Beauxbatons' arrival, there was a rumbling, almost sucking sound like a vacuum cleaner along water.

"The lake!" Lee Jordan yelled out. "Look at the lake!"

Everyone's attention was quickly turned to the lake where they watched as a massive boat broke through the surface of the water. Emma didn't think that anything could be possibly stranger than the horses, and seeing the ship rise up from the water made her wonder about wizarding pirates. The ship's occupants slowly began to disembark, their forms stocky and tall as they approached. The closer they came, the more obvious their size was due to the heavy, furred cloaks they wore. While most of them looked to be boys, there was someone that Emma was sure was a girl who looked directly at her.

"Look, Emma," Justin snickered, "you already made a friend."

Emma shot him a glare, and then suddenly, there was a buzzing noise as one name was said repeatedly amongst the Hogwarts students in pure awe – Viktor Krum.

Even Emma had to admit that she was sucked in by the idea of a celebrity being at Hogwarts. A part of her couldn't wait to be able to write to Remus and tell him – he wasn't going to believe her.

What followed that night was the longest weekend in the world. After an incredibly filling feast with dozens of international dishes, The Goblet Fire was given a special place in the entrance hall. Emma joined most of the students who milled about the cup where prospective students could enter the tournament. She watched and laughed with the others as students far too young tried to enter their names into the cup and be blasted away by Dumbledore's age line.

All of Durmstrang entered their names into the cup very early on Saturday morning. The lone girl once again found Emma sitting off to the side of the entrance hall. She hid her face in her book in embarrassment as the girl turned to the boy next to her and pointed her out. Emma tried to pretend that she didn't notice when everyone from Durmstrang looked at her, including Viktor Krum. The headmaster, Karkaroff, took one good look at her, practically bearing his yellowed teeth in her direction. That wasn't a good sign in the least.

"Seems you've caught the attention of all of Durmstrang," Justin said, stretching out next to Emma.

"Lucky me," Emma muttered. "It's definitely the whole werewolf thing."

"The werewolf thing? Why does that matter?"

"Justin, half of Durmstrang's classes are on the Dark Arts," Emma huffed. "I can't figure if they want to kill me or if they're fascinated by me. It's not like I can hide the bites…or the scars."

Justin sighed and put his arm around Emma's shoulders. "It'll be fine. It's not like they're always going to be here." Emma honestly couldn't wait for them to leave already.

The students from Beauxbatons were a little less obvious about looking at each other in surprise around Emma, but she didn't miss their curious looks. One of the girls, one with dark hair, had seen her, let out a sharp gasp, and promptly moved away. If Emma hadn't experienced it several times that year already, she would have been more offended, but so far, she wasn't making any friends.

It was a big deal when Cedric went to enter his name into the cup. He waited until it was late Sunday night, only bringing a few people with him in support, Emma included.

"Do I really do this?" Cedric asked as they all stood at the edge of the golden age line in their pajamas.

"Yes! You've been talking about it for weeks!" said one of the other sixth years. "Just do it, Cedric!"

"You did say we were going to be stars, Ced," Emma pointed out for seemingly the hundredth time that weekend. "At least with this, you don't have to be Cedrica, and you can just be Cedric." Emma grabbed onto his arm and stood on her tippy toes to kiss his cheek. "A kiss for good luck! From one star to another."

Cedric sighed, looking between everyone and finally stepping over the line. He looked back at everyone once more and closed his eyes as he dropped his name into the flaming goblet. The flames seemed to sputter for just a moment as it took in the parchment with Cedric's name, but nothing seemed to happen. Deeming it safe, Cedric made his way back to the group. Emma found herself staring back at the cup for one brief moment as they returned to the dorms. Even though she wasn't seventeen, would she technically be allowed to enter the tournament?

Emma mulled it over the entire walk back, wondering if the cup would recognize her status as an adult amongst the werewolves. She thought about it for a few moments longer as she made her way to her bed and then started to laugh at herself. Fenrir was dangerous enough for her to deal with – she didn't need to tempt fate any further.

When Emma awoke on Halloween morning, everything felt off. Emma laid in her bed, staring hard at the ceiling, trying to figure out what was wrong, and she was confused. Everything felt normal for once, but she was filled with an incredible amount of dread. She was sure that she was okay. Everything certainly felt fine. She reached out to find Figaro still sleeping on her pillow and then her notebook, which was cool to the touch. A moment of panic flooded her system when she worried that something might have happened to Elara, Sirius, or Greyson. She pressed her palms into her eye sockets, trying to think rationally and not let her worry take over. Everyone was fine – they had to be.

Emma's stomach twisted and knotted itself and sank all at the same time when it suddenly hit her what day it was. It wasn't just because it was Halloween that she was bothered; it was because she nearly…

She immediately sat up, startling Figaro out of her sleep, and pulled her notebook close. She plucked up the quill sitting next to it, twisting it between her fingers. Emma activated it with a frown, knowing right away her father would think something was wrong, but she couldn't not say something. If he hadn't gone to find her that night, didn't tell her everything she desperately needed to hear…she didn't want to know what could have been.

Emma tried to force herself to focus on the fact that she was happy, loved, and mostly safe. The truth had come out in the end, and she had not one but two incredibly wonderful fathers (even though she loved Remus best). She had moved forward, accomplished things she never thought she would, and even had a boyfriend she adored, despite the challenges they faced. She had persevered and worked through every challenge that came her way, but it didn't stop her from feeling guilty.

'Just wanted to say that I love you,' she scrawled out as quickly as possible, cringing the moment she wrote it. Remus was going to worry.

'I love you, too,' came Remus's reply, with a, 'Is everything all right?' shortly after.

Emma sighed, staring at the words on the page.

'I remembered what today was.'

Remus's reply took a few minutes to come, 'Do you need me to come to the castle to see you?'

'I want a hug, but take me out the castle this weekend instead? Do something with just you and me?'

'How about I do both? I'll see you at lunch.'

True to his word, McGonagall pulled Emma aside when she made it to breakfast to tell her to head to her office at lunch. It was slightly embarrassing how often she was taken out of the castle or spent time with her father, acting more like a first year than a fourth, but she didn't care. She had long since accepted that the closeness she had with her father wasn't typical. However, none of her classmates were werewolves or even half like she was, so it didn't matter.

Her bond with Remus went into the deepest roots of whatever magic created werewolves, and it was special. It was convoluted, of course – lycanthropy was bizarre – but Emma didn't mind that it made them closer. Sometimes the idea of being half magical creature wasn't so bad.

Classes moved far too slowly for her liking, and Emma was overly anxious when lunch came around. The moment Ancient Runes was completed, Emma dashed back downstairs to McGonagall's office, practically tripping over herself. She knocked hard on the door, bouncing on her toes and squeaking happily when the door opened. Emma quickly opened the door the rest of the way and closed it, whipping around to find her father. She let out a breath of sheer relief, feeling much better than she did that morning. McGonagall smiled at the two of them and excused herself with the reminder she would return later.

Emma practically launched herself into Remus's arms, feeling a bit stupid at being happy that he was there. She had just seen him a few weeks prior, but it didn't matter. What mattered was being with him just to prove to herself in a weird little way that she had moved forward. She was a bit broken, definitely not all in the same shape as before, but she was very much alive.

"What is it, baby girl?" he asked her softly when she started to cry.

"I'm still sorry," Emma cried. "For everything from the past year, especially last year. I was absolutely miserable all of last October."

"Oh, fy nghariad bach," Remus soothed, holding Emma a little tighter and rubbing her back. "You don't need to apologize. Ever. I know we have gone over it time and time again, but everything was figured out. You came out stronger than ever."

Emma huffed out a breath, burying her face into the crook of Remus's neck. She wanted to comment on how she didn't feel stronger, but she would be lying to herself. There were still plenty of days where she didn't feel that was true, but she was at a point where she had more good days than bad.

"Did you just come to the realization that I'm right?" Remus asked lightly, chuckling when Emma made a noise to express her displeasure at being proven wrong. "I know I don't say it enough, but I truly am proud of you. You are truly growing up to be an extraordinary young woman. I will forever be in awe of how you handle yourself and how you take on every difficult thing that comes your way." Remus pulled away, holding Emma at arms-length and giving her a soft smile. "Why don't we try and turn today around and make this the first year where it's a good Halloween, yeah? Minerva had a house-elf bring lunch for us, and you can tell me all about the other students."

Spending time with Remus was exactly what she needed. Their conversation seemed to slip back into discussing the previous October, but they were finally talking about it. They had let the moment go by without too much thought, accepting that it happened and moving on. It was almost relieving for Emma to hear what her father had to say a year later, even though it broke her heart to find out just how much she scared him. She knew that he was terrified, but for him to admit it was painful.

Their time together was going reasonably well until she mentioned Karkaroff and a concerned look crossed Remus's face.

"Did you just say Karkaroff?" Remus questioned. "Igor Karkaroff?"

"Yes?" Emma replied, setting down her cup that she had just picked up. "What's wrong?"

"Well…Karkaroff was a Death Eater," Remus said slowly. "He was cleared of his charges, but…"

"He's someone else to worry about?" Emma asked.

"Just approach everything you do with caution," Remus replied after a long pause. "I'll just have to speak to Dumbledore about this, as well. You just worry about yourself – let me handle this one." Remus peered down at his watch with a sigh and glanced over at McGonagall's fireplace.

"You have to go already?" Emma frowned.

"Unfortunately," Remus sighed. "But think about what you want to do this weekend."

Emma reluctantly left Remus to head to Divination. Luckily the class seemed to go by quickly, and Charms went even faster. The excitement of the announcement of the tournament's champions was starting to finally take over, and Emma found herself joining in the conversations more.

When she entered the Great Hall for the feast with Justin, the room was just starting to fill up. The Goblet of Fire had been moved from the entrance hall and sat proudly in front of Dumbledore's seat at the staff table. Nearly everyone was trying to crowd around Cedric, one of the few lone entrants from Hufflepuff. Emma was silently pleased when Cedric made everyone move so that she could take a seat next to him.

The feast seemed to take ages, even with the Hufflepuffs chattering loudly in excitement. It was hard for Emma to focus on any single conversation going on. Everyone was excitedly talking about the possibility of Cedric being one of the champions. Having a Hufflepuff champion would be incredibly exciting when most of the school made fun of their house. When the plates were returned to their pristine state, the room grew louder and then immediately fell silent as Dumbledore stood.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate that it requires one more minute," Dumbledore said, addressing the room. Emma smiled at Cedric as he reached for her hand and squeezed tightly with his nervousness. He quickly reached over on his other side to grab Heidi from their Quidditch team's hand as well. "Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions."

Dumbledore took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave, extinguishing all of the candles except for the ones in the carved pumpkins. The room was bathed in a semidarkness, and the goblet seemed to shine even brighter. Its blue-white flames sparkled brightly at the front of the room, and everyone watched as impatiently as ever.

"Are you excited, Cedric?" Emma asked quietly.

"Excited, nervous, scared," Cedric said, his leg bouncing anxiously. "I'm not sure which I feel more of."

"You? Scared? Never," Emma said with a smile. "Anyone who can fly on a bloody broom can't be scared of anything."

"Says the one who was absolutely terrified of it," Cedric teased. "Now look at you."

"Shush," Emma said, knocking Cedric with her shoulder. "This is about you tonight."

Suddenly, the goblet's flames turned red, sparking almost angrily. A lick of bright flame erupted into the air, and a charred piece of parchment fluttered from it. Dumbledore caught the parchment and held it out in front of him to read it by the flames' light that turned blue once more.

"The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum," Dumbledore said in a clear voice.

The Great Hall erupted into applause and loud cheering as Viktor stood from the Slytherin table, slinking towards Dumbledore. He followed along the staff table as instructed and disappeared into the next chamber.

As the clapping and cheering died down, everyone returned their attention back to the goblet, once again waiting impatiently. Only seconds later, the flames turned red once more, and a second piece of parchment shot out.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!" Dumbledore said.

Emma watched as the girl with silvery blonde hair stood up from the Ravenclaw table and followed the same path as Viktor. Emma couldn't stop herself from looking curiously at the two girls from Beauxbatons who had burst into near hysterical tears.

"Think they're a bit disappointed?" Emma muttered to Cedric, who had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.

"Don't laugh," Cedric said as seriously as he could. "That might be me if I'm not chosen."

The excitement in the room was nearly tangible, thick with anticipation of who the Hogwarts champion would be. Cedric's hold on Emma's hand was near painful as they waited, but she didn't mind. It felt like hours before the goblet's flames finally turned red once more, and a third piece of parchment fluttered from the fire.

"The Hogwarts champion," Dumbledore said slowly, "is Cedric Diggory!"

It took the Hufflepuffs a moment to process what exactly Dumbledore had said, and the entire table was up on their feet. None of them could quite believe it, but they were excited and beyond thrilled that a member of their house was chosen. After debating which Gryffindor or Ravenclaw or Slytherin would be selected, it felt like the highest honor that one of their own would be competing.

Cedric pulled Emma into a bone-crushing hug after nearly breaking Heidi in two with his embrace.

"Stars – just like you said," Emma said to Cedric when he let go of her. He shook his head, his smile bright and beaming as he made his way up to the front of the room. Cedric cast one final look at everyone before disappearing through to the next chamber. Even though he had already vanished, his applause was the longest by far.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore said when the room started to grow silent again. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real –"

Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was evident what distracted him. The fire in the goblet had turned red again, and a fourth piece of parchment fluttered out. Dumbledore's hand shot out immediately to seize the parchment. He held it out and stared for a long moment, and everyone stared back at him. Dumbledore cleared his throat, barely lifting his gaze to the rest of the room, and read out the name on the parchment –

"Harry Potter."

Finally finally finally made it to this point. Little bit of Gremma fluff, little bit of Remus moments, a fair amount of Hufflepuff fun, and a whole lot of chaos beginning. Anyway, can't wait to see where things go.

Obligatory mention of passages pulled directly from the book. Was difficult to not completely rehash certain bits, but obviously near the end, well...All the same, expect it to be the same glossing over type bits like the end of Daughter of the Moon. Luckily I can infuse more of Emma's story into the tournament versus the Shrieking Shack scenes which were absolutely brutal to write in the last book. All the same - yay.

To all of my late night readers - please go to sleep. I love you very much, sleep well and good night. To all of my afternoon and morning readers - I love you dearly and have a wonderful day (and also sleep well when you do go to sleep!)

Maricate - you crack me up hahaha! I promise that there is spicy Gremma moments that will go in separate one shots! I want to focus more on them getting to know each other in this book, but believe me - the spicy will exist! :P

Shard - Ahaha I love you. :D ALL OF THE THINGSSSS!