Chapter 2 - The Burrow
Emma had heard that Floo could be unpleasant, but she hadn't expected it to be as bad as it was, though maybe that was because she was with Hermione. They kept bumping into each other, holding hands tightly for dear life as they sped passed fireplace after fireplace until they were spat out face first onto the Weasley's kitchen floor.
To their surprise, as they were getting up and rubbing their sore shoulders and elbows, they noticed that the only other person in the room was Mrs Weasley, and she bustled over immediately and started brushing dust off them.
'There you are, dears. Fred and George are taking your things upstairs to Ginny's room.' she said.
'Thank you for inviting us to stay, Mrs Weasley.' said Hermione, a little awkwardly.
Emma wasn't really paying attention as she was taking in the room. On the one hand it was nothing like she'd expected, after all, it was only the second house she'd ever been inside, and it was nothing like Hermione's, but on the other it was very expected. It was a very rustic kitchen with odd decorations on the walls including a weird clock that suited the Weasley's perfectly. It actually felt a lot like the Hufflepuff common room in a way.
She didn't get to take in the whole room, however, as Mr Weasley startled her and Hermione by appearing out of nowhere in front of them with a faint popping sound, carrying a cage with an equally distressed Crookshanks. Emma was happy that Nephthys hadn't had to experience that.
There was a short conversation between Hermione and Mr and Mrs Weasley, while Emma was, again, distracted, this time by nerves. She could hear Fred, George, Percy, Ginny and Ron all upstairs and now was the perfect opportunity to talk about a delicate matter, and she had no idea how the adults were going to take it. If she was honest, she hadn't expected to have to do it right away, but as they were alone, she had little choice. She also didn't have a lot of time.
'Mr and Mrs Weasley...' she stuttered, nervous, interrupting one of Mr Weasley's questions on muggle life. 'I need to tell you something important that I feel you need to know, before you let me stay for too long.'
'What's the matter, dear?' asked Mrs Weasley.
'Before I say, I need you to understand that Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, and a few other teachers know this, as well as Hermione, Harry and Ron, and I need you to promise to keep it a secret.'
Her heart was racing because she was scared again. She'd discussed what she was about to do with Hermione beforehand, and they'd both agreed it might not go so well. They knew how prejudiced Ron could be about certain things and clearly he'd learned them from his mother and father. She knew it wasn't really their fault. They were raised magical too, and the magical world seemed to perpetuate discrimination. On top of that, Mr Weasley works for the Ministry, so this was a huge leap of faith. It had to be done though, because they knew questions would arise sooner or later. Mrs Weasley was more canny than Mrs Cole and had already fussed Emma over not eating last year when they stayed in the Leaky Cauldron. In the end, Emma and Hermione decided that telling the adults that Dumbledore knew was probably the best option for softening the blow, given how much they respected him, but it was still terrifying.
'Is this about why you wouldn't eat with us before?' asked Mrs Weasley, her voice soft and warm.
'Yes, miss... it's related.' she stuttered in reply.
'That's alright, dear. You can eat in the other room if it makes you more comfortable?'
'Thank you, miss.' said Emma, a smile faltering on her face. 'But... I'm... a vampire.'
Emma only managed to say the words because Hermione had taken her hand moments before, and even still, she dropped her eyes to the floor, the shame, the embarrassment, and the fear all getting too much.
As expected, Mrs Weasley's reaction was that of alarm, shock and certainly some revulsion, especially at first, while Mr Weasley's was more measured. When he asked questions for clarity, Emma couldn't find her voice and Hermione had to speak for her, stepping in front of her as something of a shield, obviously knowing the answers. Their plan worked though, in the end. Saying that Dumbledore knew did alleviate some of their concerns, particularly when Hermione suggested they owl him for reassurance.
Needless to say, Mrs Weasley became quite chilly towards Emma, though she did promise not to speak of it until she'd heard from Dumbledore. It was a relief, then, when Ginny and Ron came down the stairs and diffused a lot of the tension.
The girls were then shown the way up through the house by a curiously subdued Ginny to her bedroom on the first floor landing. Before Ron was shooed away by Ginny, he said his room was at the top of the house and was where Harry and the twins would be sleeping because Bill and Charlie would be arriving soon.
Ginny's room was bright and small, especially since three beds were squeezed inside, a trunk each on two of them. There were two posters on the wall, one of a group of witches and the other a Quidditch player. Emma recognised neither of them. On the back wall was a tiny desk facing an open window that looked out over an orchard.
They spent a short time in the room, unpacking their trunks, letting Crookshanks out of his cage and chatting animatedly, though not with Ginny. For some reason, she left very shortly after showing the girls her room. Eventually it became all-go, however, when Mrs Weasley called them down to help prepare dinner and to get the tables ready outside, because there wouldn't be enough room for everyone, even excluding Emma.
While they were helping, Charlie turned up. Emma knew it was him as he had numerous burns, but he looked nothing like she expected. He was shorter and stockier than Percy, more like the twins, and he was also covered in freckles, so much so that he looked tanned. He was very nice and kindly, introducing himself and shaking Emma and Hermione's hands. He then immediately got to work levitating the tables outside to save the girls the job. Bill arrived next, and he was even more interesting, with his long hair in a ponytail, a single fanged earring and clothes that looked just like Emma imagined those at a rock concert would wear, all the way down to his dragon leather boots. Comparing the eldest Weasley brothers' laid-back attitudes with Percy, who she hadn't actually seen yet since arriving, considering he was hiding away in his room working, Emma wondered why they were so different from his pompous, uptight and bossy behaviour.
Once the food started being brought out, Emma retreated to the living room to read. She still had a couple of her school books left to get through. She was about a quarter of the way through the one for History of Magic when she was thankfully saved by Hermione and some of the other Weasley's returning. They had a lively conversation, though, curiously, despite knowing that Ginny really liked her eldest brothers, she seemed conspicuously absent, again, and that only became more apparent the following day.
Emma and Hermione wandered around the gardens of the Burrow, taking in the sights, when they weren't needed for other things. They asked Ginny if she would join them and maybe show them around, but she looked really conflicted and refused, claiming she had work to do. Disappointed, Emma and Hermione went out alone, and wondered what was wrong with her. They seemed to get their answer that evening though when Harry turned up. She went bright red and made herself scarcer than before.
That wasn't the only drama around Harry's arrival either. The twins got in quite a bit of trouble with Mrs Weasley for something she called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and a Ton-Tongue Toffee. Emma wanted to avoid the argument and Hermione seemed to as well.
'Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?' she said.
'He knows where he's sleeping.' replied Ron. 'In my room, he slept there last-'
'You can show us too.' said Emma, glaring pointedly.
'Oh.' said Ron, the penny dropping. 'Right.'
Quickly escaping the drama, Ron led them up the stairs. What awaited them was another fairly small room with numerous Quidditch posters on the wall and a fish tank by the window which held a single large frog. The room was very messy too, with clothes strewn about the floor and clutter everywhere. It was also noisy, given how the little owl, Pig, was hopping up and down in his cage and twittering madly.
'Shut up, Pig.' barked Ron.
'Ron!' growled Emma, glaring.
'Where's Crookshanks?' asked Harry, interrupting before someone got hurt, turning to the girls. 'And Nephthys?'
'Out in the garden, I expect.' said Hermione. 'Crookshanks likes chasing gnomes. He's never seen any before.'
'And Nephthys is out delivering a letter at the moment.' added Emma.
The four of them then spent a little while catching up before they had to help prepare the dinner table again.
That night, after a lot of talk about the Quidditch Cup among the Weasleys and Harry, all the children were told to go to bed early, because the next morning they would be leaving before dawn to get to the World Cup on time. Conflicted, Emma joined Hermione and Ginny in the room they shared. She was glad for the relative quiet and to be away from Mrs Weasley. Her attitude toward Emma had improved only a little, mostly due to there still being no word from Dumbledore yet. On the other hand, she was unhappy to be stuck in the tiny room again. Because of Mrs Weasley's opinion of her, Emma felt wrong even considering exploring at night. Instead she passed the time with a book.
It wasn't until shortly after 3 o'clock in the morning when Emma remembered it was her feeding time. With all the chaos from being at the Burrow, it had totally slipped her mind. She took the bottle, which always seemed to magically appear in her trunk, no matter where it was, and drank it quickly, not even noticing that it should have long been cold by then, but wasn't. It was a good thing she'd remembered in time because she could hear Mrs Weasley getting up and going to wake the boys upstairs, which is when Hermione started stirring, probably sensing the noise too.
'Morning, Mia.' whispered Emma, smiling, and closing the lid on her bottle.
'Mor... ning, Em.' replied Hermione, yawning wide and turning to Emma as she sat up in bed.
Their beds were side-by-side and Emma had been sitting cross-legged on hers, so the two of them were very close, allowing Hermione to reach over to Emma and put her fingertip to the side of Emma's mouth.
'You've got a bit...' she said, wiping a little blood away.
What followed was a very awkward minute or two as the both of them blushed at the gesture, and looked away, both extremely aware of how close they were, and trying their best not to let the other see how they felt.
They got their relief when Ginny woke up and Hermione quickly took that opportunity to leave the room and brush her teeth. Emma tried to smile at Ginny, but she was very self-conscious and embarrassed, but Ginny just had a frown on her face as she looked between Emma and the door Hermione had left through. Confused, Emma felt that Ginny looked remorseful, or guilty. She couldn't tell which.
Of course, neither of them had time to dwell on it as Mrs Weasley knocked and made sure they were up, and everything was rushed after that. They got dressed and ready, which took a little while, prompting another impatient call from Mrs Weasley.
'Why do we have to be up so early?' asked Ginny, rubbing her eyes and sitting at the table to get some breakfast.
'We've got a bit of a walk.' said Mr Weasley.
'Walk?' asked Harry, alarmed. 'What, we're walking to the World Cup?'
'No, no, that's miles away.' said Mr Weasley, smiling. 'We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of witches and wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup-'
He didn't get to finish his sentence because Mrs Weasley had noticed something in George's pocket, and what followed was a horrible scene of her summoning a lot of those joke-sweets of the twins from them, complaining she'd told them to destroy them all.
Emma hated conflict, especially after what happened between her and Hermione in their second year, so she was glad to leave a little while later, crossing the yard eagerly.
Some of the others were shivering a little so it was clearly cold out, and very dark too, the moon and stars still visible. Emma could tell it was nearly dawn though, with a faint glow sprouting ever so slightly on the horizon.
At first, Harry questioned Mr Weasley on how thousands of Wizards get to the Quidditch World Cup without Muggles noticing, but very soon they were all out of breath, walking quickly down the lane toward the nearest village, aiming for the dark silhouette of a hill in the far distance. Emma wasn't paying any attention though. Her mind was mostly hyper-aware of Hermione walking nearby, on the other side of Ginny from her. She couldn't help wonder, and worry, whether Mia had noticed how Emma reacted to the intimate moment that morning and was now avoiding her. The rest of her thoughts were on the unexplored area they were walking through, taking in the sights.
They trudged on for some time, the lightening sky and the passage of the hedgerows being the only thing breaking the monotony. The village was lovely, small and rustic, and a nice change from London. Pretty soon they were at the base of the hill and climbing it, and it was steeper than they'd been expecting.
Once the summit was in sight, Emma used the last of her energy running to the top and promptly let herself fall backwards to the soft ground, arms splayed out and tried to catch her breath. A minute or so later, the rest of the group appeared, all the worse for wear. Hermione in particular was clutching at a stitch in her side.
'Now we just need the Portkey.' said Mr Weasley, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his sweater, before glancing around. 'It won't be big... come on...'
Emma wondered what on Earth he was talking about for a moment, until her subconscious, which had been listening to him talk to Harry earlier, filled in the blanks, reminding her what a Portkey was. She spread out with the rest, keeping an eye out for anything that might look like litter. They'd only been at it for a minute or two when another man called out from the other side of the hill.
'Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!'
They were still silhouetted by the sunrise, but Emma could make them out well enough. She didn't know the man, but the taller boy with him she recognised. She knew he was a Hufflepuff, but little more than that.
'Amos!' cried Mr Weasley, striding over to the man who shouted. 'This is Amos Diggory, everyone. Works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?'
As soon as Emma heard that Amos was another Ministry employee, she began to worry again, just a little bit. She didn't expect this man to be able to recognise her as a vampire, given he worked with Magical Creatures, but she did wonder, considering the whole Quidditch World Cup event was Ministry run, if they were going to run into someone who works in a department for Magical Beings. Sighing, she just made a note to be much more careful once they got to wherever it is they were going.
'Hi.' said Cedric, happily to the group.
Of course, everyone said hi back, except Fred and George, who barely nodded, and Emma who was now too distracted, marvelling at the beautiful view of the sunrise and landscape from the top of the hill.
'Long walk, Arthur?' asked Amos.
'Not too bad,' replied Mr Weasley. 'We live just on the other side of the village there. You?'
'Had to get up at two, didn't we Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparition test. Still... not complaining... Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons, and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy...' said Amos, peering around over the gathering. 'All these yours, Arthur?'
'Oh, no, only the redheads.' replied Mr Weasley, pointing out Ginny, Ron and the twins, before introducing the rest. 'This is Hermione, and Emma, friends of Ginny and Ron's, and Harry, another friend-'
'Merlin's beard...' gasped Amos, eyes widening.
'Here we go again...' muttered Emma to herself, giving her attention back to the view.
'Must be nearly time.' said Mr Weasley a bit later, as Hermione nudged Emma to pay attention. 'Do you know whether we're waiting for any more, Amos?'
'No, the Lovegood's have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets-' said Amos.
'The Lovegood's?' piped up Emma. 'Does that mean Luna is there? Oh, it'd be nice to see her again.'
Hermione and Ginny smiled and nodded at Emma, but Amos looked a little put out that he'd been interrupted.
'Well, if it's just us,' coughed Mr Weasley. 'we'd better get ready. It's only a minute off.'
At Harry, Hermione and Emma's confused looks, Mr Weasley explained that they just need to touch the Portkey for it to work. So, Emma moved forward into the very tight space, surrounded by people and backpacks, to touch the old boot. Hermione and Ginny followed suit with Hermione on Emma's left, and Ginny on her right.
It must have been about twenty seconds where they were all there, leaning in highly uncomfortable positions, just waiting until Mr Weasley started counting down the seconds.
'Three... two... one...' he muttered, keeping an eye on his watch.
Suddenly, Emma felt something strong grasp tightly onto her stomach and pulled, hard. It felt like falling into the Pensieve again, only this went on for much longer, and the world flew by in a blur. In a way, it was also like travelling by Floo, because they all kept bumping into each other as they were jostled around, though their fingers were fixed in place as if glued to the boot.
When Emma's feet slammed into the floor, she very nearly kept her balance, and probably would have done had Ginny not fallen into her and pushed her to the floor on her back. A split-second later, the wind was knocked out of her as Hermione, who had also lost her balance, landed right on top of her, and now their faces were mere millimetres apart.