Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other element of the story. Emily Black and her mother, brother (Zandyr), and Isaac (well . . . He is also Monsoon's) are my creations so don't use without permission :) Sarah (sweets), Rilee, Lily, and Nephiro own themselves.
A/N: Wahoo! :) I (well, we) got another chapter up! dances Once again, meeting word quota, without exceptionally long author notes. Go us! I let Jess type most of it, because I'm lazy. So the whole first three fourths were done by her pretty much. claps This is why she is co-author. Now. . . On with the chapter.
Chapter 19: PosseI stormed out of the hallway, intent on finding Nephiro, ignoring the stupid nurse who was still calling after me. 'Doesn't she get it? I'm not coming back. She should just stop calling me already.' The first place I thought of looking for her was the archery room but I really didn't want to go back there. Not now, anyway. So I continued on my "quest" through the empty halls, not really sure whether or not I wanted to find Nephiro. "Hey Emi!" I heard a voice hail from the opposite direction. 'Oh God…it's scar boy.'
"What do you want, Potter?" I asked, turning around.
"You didn't come back last night! What happened?" He caught up with me and looked at me strangely. "And why are you still wearing the clothes you wore yesterday?"
I smirked. "Oh me? I was just hanging out with Professor Lupin catching up on old times." He looked taken aback.
"What do you mean 'old times'?" he questioned.
"Boy, you're really stupid."
"Black! What took you so long? You weren't that injured!" I heard the taunting voice of Nephiro yell. "And Potter! Don't you have somewhere you should be, oh I don't know, messing around with Ron?"
"Oh Nephiro! I was looking for you!" I replied, my smirk growing at the angry look on Harry's face.
"You weren't looking very hard, talking to Harry over here, now were you?" she responded.
"I really don't know why you bother talking to Nephiro, Emi. You could have better friends than her. And have then Draco, of all people, as your boyfriend. You hang out with the nastiest people. They're in Slytherin, which makes it even worse," Harry said to me harshly, all the while looking at Nephiro disapprovingly. I glared at him, holding back my desire to punch him.
"And I suppose if she hung out with you, she'd be so much happier? Watch it Potter. You may have survived the Dark Lord but that's nothing compared to what I can do to you," Nephiro snarled.
"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks," I sneered. (A/N: Hee hee) I remembered that line from one of Harry's rants about Draco. He says he hates him but I think deep down he really loves him.
"And I don't see you making all the 'right' choices," Nephiro added. Harry stood there, stunned.
"Oh, and the Dark Lord says to tell you hi and he loves you." He went red in the face and I held back a laugh. "Come on, Emi. We have an important meeting to attend. And we still have to round up all our supporters." She turned to Harry. "You know, like our Death Eaters but not because they listen to us, not the Dark Lord. They're our...posse."
Harry just stood there, dumbfounded as we walked away calling a "bye Harry" over our shoulders. "Nice one Nephiro," I whispered, making sure we were out of hearing range.
"He's just lucky I'm in a pleasant mood or I'd have put a hex on him that I'm pretty sure not even Dumbledore could remove," she responded, smiling. I used to worry when Nephiro smiled but now it doesn't bother me. I'm pretty sure whatever she's planning no longer has to do with my death.
"Why did you want to talk to me, anyway?" I asked.
"To tell you that we need to speak to McGonagall," she answered simply.
"About what?"
"It was your idea! Did you like hit your head or something? Man, you're even stupider than usual! Remember, we were going to ask her about the Animagus list? To see if Peter the rat was on it?" She looked at me, waiting to see if it sounded familiar or something.
"Oh yea…"
o.O
(Nephiro's POV)
Sometimes I swear that girl is not worth my time. She can't even remember her own ideas! I mean, if I cared at all, I would say she worries me sometimes but I don't so she doesn't. She's just stupid. We continued on in silence. I really had nothing I wanted to talk to her about and I guess she felt the same. I mean . . . I could say something about the whole hunting of Ron's rat thing, or the letter I got yesterday, or even about the present my dad got me for Christmas but for some reason, I just did not want to tell her. So I have a lot to say, just not to her. Ha ha. Sucks to be her. Anyway, we walked to McGonagall's office. I had no clue where it was, she was the one teacher who hasn't sent me to their office, (Snape did once and I'd rather not go into it…), so I hoped Emi knew where she was going. Though I highly doubt she did but I followed her, nevertheless. She led us to McGonagall's classroom, which was empty.
"Well that was a huge waste of time," I commented. "Don't you know where her office is?"
"Fortunately no, but now I kind of wish I did," she replied.
"You two are just the people I was hoping to run into. I just saw Potter in the hallway and he seemed exceptionally disturbed about something. When I asked him what was wrong, all he could say was 'Dark Lord,' 'Nephiro,' 'curse,' 'Emi,' and 'posse' in ragged, angry breaths. Do you mind explaining that to me?" I heard McGonagall say from behind us. 'Great. Damn Potter. I should have put a curse on him, after all.'
"Actually, I do mind. I have no idea what you're talking about. It sounds like just another one of Potter's cries for attention only this time, he wants to get us in trouble, too," I responded, turning to look her in the eyes.
"Somehow I highly doubt that that is the case but I doubt either one of you is in league with 'He-who-must-not-be-named' so I will not question you further," she said. "So why did you two want to talk to me?"
"We wanted to know if you had a list of registered Animagus', professor," Emi informed her. .
"Why? What do you need with that? I'm certain neither one of you are on it," she replied. I held back a laugh with a great amount of self-control. 'Is she now?'
"We wish to see if someone is on it," I told her, smiling.
"Who?"
"Well, that's just it. We don't know who, exactly. We do know that his first name is Peter and that his Animagus form is a rat," Emi explained. "We were hoping to learn his last name."
"I suppose I can check the list. No harm can come by just doing that," she decided. 'Ha. Speak for yourself. You have nothing at stake here.' She went into her classroom and we followed hesitantly. I looked over her shoulder as she scanned the list, looking at the names, until she gave me a look that clearly said, "stop it" so I did, reluctantly. It was up to chance now. She looked through the list a few times before glancing at us. "There is no registered Animagus by the name of Peter whose form is a rat. You must have the name wrong."
"Or maybe he just isn't registered…" I mumbled. "Thanks anyway, professor. Come on, Emi. We've detained her enough already." I grabbed her arm and led her from the classroom.
o.O
(Emi's POV)
Nephiro's grasp on my arm was semi-tight, and was starting to cut off the circulation a bit. We exited the classroom and I yanked free from her. "Now that just sucks," I said, rubbing my arm where she was holding. She just shrugged.
"Depends on how you look at it," she responded.
"On what? That was our only lead!" I reminded her. I felt kind of angry. Now I might never find that bastard. I twirled around and pounded the wall out of frustration.
"Well, now we have another," she told me calmly. I turned and looked at her with my eyebrows raised.
"And that would be?"
"That he isn't registered," she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He still could be an Animagus, just not registered."
"It could also mean that he just isn't an Animagus too."
"Then, that would mean you're wrong."
"Wouldn't be the first time," I whispered. "I'm going to go back to my dorm. I have a Potty to yell at." I brushed past her and continued down the hallway.
I laid down on my four-poster and sighed. Now everything was screwed up. We might just be confused. Maybe it isn't the same guy; maybe I am stupid. Nevertheless, Nephiro might be right, he could be an unregistered Animagus.
The next day came quickly and I hurried to get ready in the morning. Draco was coming back today and I didn't want to look like a Muggle car had hit me. I put my hair into pigtails and threw on my uniform, followed by my robe. Looking myself up and down in the mirror I smiled. At least I look better today than yesterday. The common room was buzzing again with all the kids back from break. I got some stares as I descended the staircase, some meaner than others. Harry approached me at the bottom.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday afternoon," he stated.
"Apology not accepted. I'm not going to forgive you easily for judging my decisions. It's not your job to." I pushed him aside and traveled over to the portrait. The hallways weren't half as bad as the common room, but still too crowed for my liking. Everyone seemed to be on his or her way to breakfast like I was.
I walked into the Great Hall, expecting to see Rilee sitting at the Slytherin table with Nephiro, Zandyr and Draco, like they usually are but instead saw the space that normally would have Riddle in it empty. I walked towards my table but stopped. I saw, Rilee sitting at the Ravenclaw table with the mysterious Isaac. She seemed to be pretty pissed off, and he looked like he was trying to calm her down or something. It wasn't working. I sat down and Lily smiled at me from across the table.
"How was your holiday?" she questioned. I glanced up at her from buttering my toast and smirked. I wanted to tell her I flew a couple of stories out of the chamber window, but remembered that Dumbledore told me not to say anything about it.
"It was . . . motivating." My smile grew wider with my answer. Motivating my butt.
"Glad to hear that."
"Hey, thanks for the book. I'm sure it'll come in handy one way or another." Ha. A book of charms will come in handy for anyone. She just nodded and went back to chatting with Lavender. I finished my "meal" soon after that and got to my feet. I glanced over the tops of the other student's heads to the Slytherin table. Draco was there, sitting in between Crabbe and Goyle, talking with Pansy Parkinson. Pansy? Grrr her. I walked gracefully over to him and hugged him from behind. He jumped a little and tilted his head back some.
"Oh, Emi! I didn't see you coming!" he said, rather cheerfully. I eyed Pansy and made a face.
"No, of course not. You were . . . "involved" in conversation. I'll just talk to Nephiro then." He rose his eyebrows.
"Nephiro?" He looked down where Nep was sitting and watched. She had her head on Zandyr and seemed to be talking to him lazily.
"You two are friends now?" I replied with a smile. "Sit." I felt like a dog obeying his order, but I hadn't seen him in two weeks, so I gave him a break. I glanced about and noticed there was nowhere to sit. Pansy grinned. I stuck my tongue out at her. So, I settled for Draco's lap instead. It was more comfy anyway. He gave a startled grunt and then eyed me funny. "Sure you can sit on me."
"It was this or sit on Crabbe. He is sitting where I normally do." He just laughed. I leaned in close to his face. "I missed you." He spit out his orange juice and smirked. Scaring him is so much fun.
"Hey Emi! Come sit with us!" Nephiro yelled from her spot a couple people down from us. I slid off of Draco, told him I'd talk to him later and wandered down to see Nep.
A/N: I worry about my characters and their "decisions" sometimes. But, it would be exactly what I would have done. Sitting on Draco's lap. Mmmm. . . I can deal with that. :) Umm. . . I only got two reviews. goes to internet explorer, and clicks on the link to listed in her favorites Oh yeah. drools Haha. I'm still waiting for predictions.