"Those finals were so easy," Rosie said, sitting down on the grass in front of the lake. She dropped her bag with a thud.
"No, my pincushion still walked!" Kelly replied sadly.
"Well mine still had quills in it," Grant said.
"That's nothing! Mine still curled up whenever I tried to put a pin in it!" Andrew said. Rosie, Emily and Parker were roaring with laughter. They were the only one's out of their little group whose pincushions had come out perfectly.
"I'm just glad finals are over and now we have a few days until we find out what we received and then school's over!" Parker said happily.
"But won't you miss Hogwarts while we're home for the summer?" Emily asked.
"We'll be back next year," Parker replied.
"I guess so," Emily sighed.
"Don't you want to go home?" Rosie asked.
"Yeah, but then I have so many apologies to make. I don't know. I broke my father's heart, I probably disappointed my Grandma, I have to live with Josh, and I don't like Gina," Emily replied.
"I think you should get to know her, she could be nice," Kelly said.
"She is nice," Josh said, behind them.
"Do you like ease dropping or something?" Emily asked turning around.
"Actually I do. It's a great job to have," Josh said sarcastically. Emily rolled her eyes.
"Maybe we should leave you two to talk?" Andre w suggested.
"Don't bother," Josh said walking away.
"You should really get to know him, you'll have to live with him for every summer until you leave Hogwarts," Rosie said.
"Well maybe I don't want to get to know him. Maybe I don't want to tell him about my past," Emily said.
"Why not?" Kelly asked.
"You never told us about your past, just about your brother," Emily said.
"Well you never told us about your mother," Kelly replied.
"I have an idea! Let's go get something to eat!" Parker suggested.
"But I'm not hungry," Grant replied. Parker glared at him. "Now that I think about it, I am getting kind of hungry."
The six friends slowly walked back up to the school in silence. They entered the Great Hall where a few people were eating fruit or playing games of Wizard's Chess or Exploding Snap. Andrew and Parker sat down to start a game of chess, while Grant watched. Emily grabbed an apple and took a bite out of it.
"You know why I didn't tell you guys about my brother," Kelly said, breaking the silence.
"I don't remember you saying anything about it," Emily replied, putting her apple down on her plate.
"Ok, so maybe I didn't explain it, but I just never wanted to talk about it, just like you don't want to talk about your Mon," Kelly explained.
"Where do you think your brother is?" Rosie asked.
"Well he couldn't have been with You know who, since he isn't around anymore and no one found my brother and they found He-who-must-not-be-named hide out. So I think he's either with Dumbledore or Fudge," Kelly said.
"Dumbledore and Fudge are in the school together," Emily said.
"How do you know?" Rosie asked.
"Because I had a dream about it a few months ago or maybe weeks ago, sometime ago," Emily replied.
"And you didn't tell anyone?" Kelly demanded.
"No, I don't think I was. Oh wait! It was when I had the heart attack," Emily said.
"Do you think everything will be quiet over the summer?" Rosie asked.
"I don't know, maybe, it just depends. Should I tell McGonagall and they could search the castle?" Emily questioned.
"Yeah, you should do that," Kelly agreed. Rosie nodded.
"Ok, I'll go find her," Emily said. Emily left the table and returned about ten minutes later. Her apple had turned brown and was starting to get mushy.
"Well, what did she say?" Kelly demanded.
"She said she'll have a thorough search of the castle," Emily replied, waving her wand so her apple would disappear.
"Are you looking forward to the upcoming feast? Gryffindor won! It's been Gryffindor's I dunno, but Gryffindor's won every time since your parents came here," Rosie explained.
"It'll just be like another feast, with tons of food," Emily replied, deciding to eat a banana this time.
"Are the 7th years still testing?" Kelly asked.
"Yeah, they have the NEWTs this year, and the 5th years just finished their OWLs," Emily said.
"Hi Emily!" Penny said, running across the Great Hall towards Emily and her friends.
"Hi Penny," Emily said, turning around to face Penny.
"You'll never believe what happened!" Penny exclaimed.
"What?" Rosie, Kelly, and Emily asked at the same moment.
"Aaron asked me out! He likes me! Can you believe it! And I owe it all to you! He said he talked to you, but you didn't let on, just told him to follow his heart! And Aaron followed his heart! Thank you so much Emily! I'm not so afraid to go home anymore!" Penny said, throwing her arms around Emily. Emily hugged her back.
"That's great, when is the Minister of Magic elections?" Emily asked.
"They were today, and my Dad will find out if he is the new Minister by the end of the week. If he doesn't' make it, I'm sure he'll blame it one me," Penny said sadly.
"I don't think he'll blame you. If he does, then he's a horrible father," Emily said, trying to comfort Penny.
"But, I don't want him to be disappointed in me," Penny said.
"Don't worry, he probably won't be," Rosie said comfortingly.
"I guess I'll find out at the end of the week," Penny said.
"I'm sure everything will be ok," Kelly said.
"Thanks guys, well I better go meet Aaron out by the lake! See you guys later!" Penny said, starting to walk away. "Oh Parker, Pig gave this to me instead of you." Penny took a letter out from her robes and handed it to her cousin.
"Uh, thanks," Parker said, opening the letter.
"What is it?" Grant asked.
"A picture that my little sister Allison drew for me," Parker said, showing it to his friends. There was a picture of two stick people. One had short red hair and what looked like chicken pox but must have been freckles all over his face. And the other person had long strawberry blonde hair, wearing a pink dress.
Come home soon. I got a new doll. Love Ally"Oh, how sweet," Rosie said, handing the picture back to Parker. "Did she just learn how to write?"
"Yeah, Mom said she learned a few weeks ago. I guess she wanted to show me how well she writes," Parker said, turning back to his chess game.
"Emily, do you think your Dad and Gina will have kids together?" Kelly asked.
"I don't know, maybe, but I hope not, there won't be enough room in the house and I don't want my Dad to have any more kids," Emily replied.
"Why not?" Rosie asked.
"I dunno, I guess it's because I've always been his little girl and I don't want anyone else to take my place," Emily said.
"No one would ever take your place," Rosie said.
"I know, I know, but I don't think they're going to have any kids, at least not yet anyways," Emily said.
***
A few days later the great hall was filled with hundreds of students. The whole school was in complete uniform and enjoying a delicious feast. The Great Hall was decked out with Gryffindor decorations and the Gryffindor's were the cheeriest of the lot. The seventh years were celebrating with their friends and the fifth years were comparing their OWLs marks.
The first years were busy eating until they could eat no more. The house elves had been busy making the feast. The students could smell it wafting up from the kitchens two days before the big day. At that moment Professor McGonagall stood up and the Great Hall grew silent.
"I would like to congratulate the Gryffindor's on yet another victory for the House and the Quidditch Cup. I would like to wish the 7th years all the best for their future. This has been quite an eventful year and I'm glad we all made it safely to the end. Before you start on your desserts I would like to announce that Professor Remus Lupin will be our Transfiguration teacher full time from now on. And since we found out our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was originally a Death Eater and was supporting the Dark Lord, I'd like to announce that Professor Sirius Black will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher next year. Now enjoy the rest of your feast. Remember, please don't leave any of your belongings behind when you pack tonight. You won't be able to see them until next school year. The train will leave by 10 tomorrow morning, so please don't sleep in. Enjoy!" McGonagall said, sitting back down.
"Wow Emily, your Grandpa Sirius and Remus will be teaching next year," Kelly said.
"Well don't forget, Sirius is Rosie's grandfather," Emily replied.
"I almost forgot," Kelly said, scooping some pudding onto her plate.
Once everyone was finished eating, they slowly headed up to their Common Rooms to get some sleep. Emily found Lauren crying on her bed again, with Mallory trying to comfort her.
"Now, what's wrong?" Emily asked, annoyed.
"Are you really that insensitive?" Mallory snapped.
"Lauren, what's wrong?" Rosie asked as Emily glared at Mallory.
"She saw Turner walking with a first year from Ravenclaw. They were walking hand in hand and she saw him kiss her," Mallory explained.
"Who was it?" Kelly asked.
"The blonde one, I don't know her name," Mallory replied.
"You guys are only first years! You're too young to be even kissing each other! And Mallory I saw you making out with Tyler a few weeks ago! You guys are way too young!" Emily yelled.
"Tyler and I are going to get married someday," Mallory said icily.
"You guys are crazy!" Emily retorted. Lauren started crying harder.
"What now?" Emily asked.
"Me and Tuner were going to get married," Lauren sobbed. Emily rolled her eyes.
"It's going to be ok, Lauren," Rosie said.
"Not for me, she's my neighbor," Emily whispered.
"You know I never liked you Emily Potter," Mallory said. Emily smiled.
"Finally! Something we can agree on! I never liked you either!" Emily said. Kelly began to laugh, and Lauren lifted her head up from her arms. She smiled.
"I knew that would get you to stop crying. Now I'm going to bed, see you guys tomorrow," Emily said, heading over to her bed. She closed the curtains around her and changed into plaid pajama shorts and a white t-shirt.
Emily closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep, thinking about her mother again. She was hoping that her father wouldn't hate her for what she had said to him when she had her heart attack. Emily opened her eyes and felt her locket. She opened it and looked at the picture of her mother.
"At least this will help me remember your face," Emily whispered.
Angel started purring and curled up at the edge of Emily's pillow. Emily smiled and gently closed her locket. She tucked it back into her shirt and closed her eyes once more. Emily lifted her arm and petted her kitten and let Angel gently lick her fingers. Emily eventually fell asleep, the picture of her mother fresh in her mind.
A/N: I didn't re-read through this chapter; so if there are a few errors, just ignore them. I guess I'm getting kind of lazy. Well the next chapter is the last chapter. And then Emily's 2nd year will start whenever I finish a few more of my stories. I think I'll finish Meant to Be and Danger in the Forest first and then I'll work on Torn Apart. Then you'll get the next year of Emily. And while your waiting you could read Meant to Be. I'm pretty proud of it, even though it's full of fluff. And if you read Danger in the Forest you have to read the 7th child first. K? Now please tell me what you think of this chapter in a review!