A/N: I Lied. I know...I know... please don't get mad at me. This is the second to last chapter. I tried to put this on the last chapter and make it all one, but it just got far too long, and it made more sense to sort of split it up...again my apologies. I will get the last chapter up very soon!

(Unless ofcourse you don't review. I just love holding that over your heads!);)

Chapter twenty-one: A Heroine's job is never done

Emily walked briskly to the hospital wing with an extra bounce in her step. It was difficult to imagine that less than twenty four hours ago, she had been worried about having to leave the castle before summer.

Now, with the knowledge that she would be back next year, somehow things had changed dramatically. They had changed for the better certainly, but that did not stop the fact that they had changed.

In fact, in novelesque terms, this had worked out to be a perfect happy ending. Though for some reason it seemed more like the beginning of something than the end...

It was a strange sensation, she decided, having things turn out the way they were supposed to. Still, she couldn't help thinking that this was the happiest day of her life thus far.

Needless to say, she reached the door of the hospital wing with more than an extra bounce in your step. Hastily she began to turn the knob.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you." Emily whipped around to find James Potter casually leaning on the stair railings across from the hospital door. In her haste to see Remus, Emily decided, she must not have noticed him.

"Why not?" Emily asked with slight disappointment.

"Because Madame Pompfrey'll throw you out of there the minuet you step foot inside. Believe me I've tried it. Says he needs to be sedated. Whatever that means."

"Are you sure it wasn't just you?" Emily asked facisiously.

"Hilarious." James said dryly. Emily took one extra look at the door and decided not to risk it. Instead she joined James on the stair railings.

She had wanted Remus to be the first to hear the news that she would be staying their last year. That would be the perfect time to let loose the news. After all, a hospital bed side revelation was very dramatic.

"So what did Dumbledore want to see you about?"

Neither the mood nor the timing seemed right for such a revelation. The scene was too relaxed. So, Emily thought quickly of what her Mother would do:

"That's my business" She said in a dignified tone. "You'll see soon enough."

James looked skeptically at her.

"Well that's rather snobbish of you, don't you think? Seeing as I did save you're life."

Emily rolled her eyes.

"And I suppose you wouldn't be in the hospital wing right now if I hadn't kept Snape from blasting you're head off?"

Obviously James still had a few lessons to learn in humility. Oh, well. A heroine's work never seemed to be done

"I could've handeled it." James muttered.

While Emily gave him a supirior look, she did not press the matter further.

"And didn't Dumbledore want to talk to you too?" Emily asked, hoping to evade more questions about what had transpired in Dumbledore's office.

"Oh, yeah. Peter and Sirius are still in there." James said. "But he let me go early. Said something about me having more important things to worry about."

"James?"

Ironically enough the 'more important things' Dumbledore had spoken of came walking up directly behind James, causing him to turn around very quickly.

"Hi Lilly." He said, sounding very comical as he had tried all too quickly to put on his deep, suave, voice.

Both Lilly and Emily tried very hard not to laugh.

"I...uh...came to see Remus." Lilly said. For some reason, she seemed rather flustered.

"How is he?" She asked after a brief pause.

"Don't know." James answered lamely. Emily had the urge to kick him. She had told him to always answer a lady in complete sentences.

"Madame Pompfrey won't let anyone in yet." He continued. All right. Decent save.

"We've been waiting." James finished indicating Emily.

And he was doing so well. He should have simply left her out of it.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I was interrupting anything." Lilly said looking at Emily surprised and slightly disappointed. That was a good sign. It meant that she cared, at least somewhat, about James's interaction with girls.

"No, you weren't interrupting." Emily said politely, trying to give James (who was sitting stupidly in silence), an indication to say something.

Thankfully he took the prompt.

"No. No. Lilly, this is Remus's friend. Emily Gardner." James took care to place a special emphasis on Remus.

"Oh," Lilly said, her face lifting slightly, another good sign. "Well, it's nice to meet you." She said smiling politely.

"Likewise." Emily said in a tone that would have made her mother proud.

There was another awkward pause as the three of them leaned against the railing.

"I...er...heard about Snape and the whomping willow."

Allready? Emily thought. How did news travel so quickly in such a large castle?

"Oh!" Said James apparently very pleased. "Well then you know that I-"But Emily poked him hard in the ribs.

"humility" She hissed through her teeth before he could give himself further praise.

"...I mean you know that he's all right." James corrected slowly. And Emily breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes." Lilly said quietly. "And I think that it was really quite...brave...of you saving him like that." Lilly said this as if it took all the strength that she possessed.

After thinking you hate a boy for at least five years, and then learning that you've fancied him all along, was, after all, a big step.

"You do?" James asked with a rather cute amount of nervous energy that made Lilly smile.

"Yeah, I do."

At that moment the hospital door opened.

"He's been calmed down now." The nurse said poking out through the door. The three of them stepped off of the stair railing and began to make their way through the door. But Madame Pompfrey stopped them with her hand.

"I can only allow one at a time. His condition is still rather delicate." She explained.

Then to Emily's astonishment, the nurse beckoned her forward.

"He's been asking after you dear." She said leading Emily toward the door.

Oh and P.S: I'm contemplating making a sequel to this if I get enough reveiws on these last two chapters. So I'll stress out. If you like it REVIEW!