AN: Hello to ALL!!!!! I told you I would update today! And, again, please forgive me for my forgetfullness regarding chapter five. I was at my dad's house Wednesday evening, planning my birthday party! I'm at a complete loss for what to do, I've got to choose between six different things, and each of them involve a different number of people that I can invite, from a range of six to twenty . . . oh, I'll just shut up, I'm sure you don't want to hear my party woes. (My birthday is the same as Amanda's, for anyone who wants to know.)
And, thank you to all my lovely reviewers! (I'm actually putting them in a vertical list this time!)
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Thank you so very much! But I really hope to get a little more than 15 reviews per chapter, and I can't get that if I update everyday. So, folks, your updates WILL be every other day, maybe a bit more.
Disclaimer: NET WT 10 OZ (283 G) {Anyone who knows what the NET means must report to me immediately – it's what's on the side of the Hershey's® Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites™ bag.}
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"MOOOOOOOM!!!!!!! AMANDA IS TEASING MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" came Emily's angry shout throughout the house. However, rather than her mom, Draco was the one who showed up in Emily's bedroom door seconds later.
"Amanda, what were you doing?" he demanded.
"Nothing, dad," answered Amanda, a little too quickly.
"She's lying! She was in here saying all kids of awful stuff! Like how mean the teachers are and that the bigger kids are always pushing around the first years and that . . ."
"Emikae, I hate to break it to you, but Amanda is sort of right," said Draco gently. Him using her special nickname made her feel better. "Emi" was from her name, obviously, and the "kae" was from Amanda's middle name, Katherine. He had given it to her several years ago, and he was the only was that called her that.
"She – she is?" said Emily softly, looking at Draco.
"Yes, the teachers will seem really mean to you, because they are very strict and they give you a lot of homework, and the older kids aren't that nice to first years. Just tell them Draco Malfoy is your step-dad if they ever get mean to you," said Draco. "Remember, your full name is Emily Casey Jenkins-Malfoy."
"What good will that do?" said Emily.
"Malfoy was – and still is – a very feared name in the wizarding community, because the Malfoy family used to be very involved with the Dark Arts, and my own father was a servant of Lord Voldemort," said Draco. Both Emily and Amanda's eyes widened.
"You – you mean that I have Death Eater blood in me? My own grandfather was a Death Eater?!" exclaimed Amanda.
"Sadly to say, yes, you do. Now, I don't think you have much more time to dilly dally with teasing, we have to leave in fifteen minutes, make sure your trunks are packed with everything, and I mean everything, that you two need, by the time we leave," said Draco.
"Dad?" came Emily's voice. Although he wasn't her real dad that what she had called him since she was really little. She just thought of it as she had two dads.
"Yes, Emikae?"
"Um, what name will my teachers call me at Hogwarts?"
"Well, I suppose that's up to you. What do you want to be called?" asked Draco.
"I guess if I'm known as Emily Malfoy, no one would want to tease me anyway, so I guess I'll go with Emily Casey Malfoy."
"Good girl. You're just like your mother, always thinking things out," praised Draco. All of a sudden, Amanda gasped.
"Oh, how could I be so STUPID?!? Dad, dad I NEED you to sign this form, I forgot to give it to you when I got my Hogwarts letter," said Amanda, slapping herself on the forehead and then digging through her trunk.
"Let me guess, it's the Hogsmeade form?" said Draco with a small smile.
"What? I mean, yeah, it is, how did you know?" asked Amanda, emerging from the depths of her trunk, a piece of parchment in hand.
"They haven't changed the Hogwarts rules and traditions for years, Amanda, I got the same form when I was a third year," said Draco, taking the parchment from her. "I'll be right back, I don't have a quill handy."
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An hour later, at 10:40, The Malfoy clan arrived at Kings Cross Station, Emily and Amanda pushing their trunks on trolleys. While Amanda was balancing an owl cage on hers containing an eagle owl, Emily had a wicker basket on her trunk. In it was Mystic. Hermione and Draco had agreed that she should take her to Hogwarts, since she was so attatched to the kitten. The four of them were just about to start running to the Platform barrier when a shout stopped them.
"Wait! Hold up!" came the shout of a male voice. Emily turned around towards the voice, and almost leaped with joy.
"Daddy!" she yelled, running up to him and giving him a hug. A woman came up behind him, beaming.
"Mum!" said Amanda, and she, like Emily, gave her a bone crushing hug.
"What are you guys doing here?" asked Emily curiously.
"Well, do you really think that we'd let our children go off to school for almost a year without us seeing them off?" said Jim.
"We just wanted to see you off," said Julie. She, unlike Jim, had done this twice before with Amanda.
Emily was smiling ear to ear. "Don't worry dad, it's not like you'll never hear from me again! After all, I'll be writing to you and I'm coming home for Christmas and Easter. I'll miss you, though," she said, hugging him again.
After Jim and Julie had said their goodbyes, Draco ran through the barrier, followed by Amanda. When it came time for Emily's turn, however, she just looked at the barrier, a slight sparkle of fear in her eyes. She had always refused to go through the barrier the past two years when she, her mum, and Draco saw Amanda off.
"Emily, it's all right, you just saw Draco and Amanda go through, I know you can do it, just run at it and you'll be fine," comforted Hermione, sensing her fear.
Emily nodded, screwed up her courage, and started pushing her trolley towards the barrier between platforms nine and ten. She was slow at first, but she picked up speed as the barrier got closer and closer until finally, just when she thought she was going to crash . . .
She kept on going. There, in front of her, was a scarlet steam train with the words "Hogwarts Express" printed on the front in gold.
"Wow . . ." she said. It was beautiful. Amanda's descriptions of it didn't even come close. Speaking of Amanda . . . where is she? She could ponder anymore, because her mother appeared behind her.
"Come on, let's go find Draco and Amanda," she said, pushing Emily along. It didn't take them long to find them, Draco was helping Amanda get her trunk on the train.
"Hey Amanda," said Emily once she had pushed her trolley up to her.
"Hi Em," came Amanda's reply. She was too busy trying to lift her trunk with her dad's help to pay attention to Emily at the moment.
Once both trunks were in separate compartments (Amanda had complained that she didn't want Emily bugging her and her friends), Draco and Hermione said their farewells.
"We'll miss you both terribly, I don't know what I'll do without you around the house," said Hermione, hugging Emily and then Amanda.
"Don't worry, Hermione, you'll be fine and so will they," said Draco, giving his two little girls (that weren't so little anymore) hugs. "But I'll miss you all the same," he said to them with a small smile. Just then the train whistle blew and the conductors started slamming the train doors shut.
"Have fun!"
"Be good!" (Yeah, sure.)
"We love you!" said Draco and Hermione together. Emily and Amanda just had time to reciprocate the phrase before their door was shut. Then, a moment later, the train started moving, and Emily and Amanda rushed into their compartments to wave out of the windows until the train rounded the corner and they could no longer see their parents. Emily sighed, then sat down on one of the seats and pulled a book out of her trunk. Her mom had given it to her; it was called Hogwarts, a History. Apparently, it talked about how Hogwarts was formed and about all the cool stuff the founders did to the school, like the how the Great Hall ceiling reflected that day's weather, plus some old legends. She had barely started reading when there was a knock on her closed compartment door. She got up and slid it open. On the other side was a boy, who looked about her age, only a little taller, and he had dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was fairly skinny, too, like Emily. Amanda had always teased her by calling her "stick girl."
"Hey, is it all right if I sit here? I haven't been able to find any empty compartments," he said.
"Sure, I don't mind," said Emily motioning to the seat across from her. When they were both seated, she said, "I'm Emily, by the way. Emily Malfoy."
The boy's eyes widened. "You're related to the Malfoys?" he asked, with a note of fear in his voice.
"Yeah, but I don't like the Dark Arts. My dad stopped the tradition, though. He even married a muggle born witch," said Emily. "I told you my name, what's yours?" she said, changing the subject.
"Oh, sorry, I'm Orlando Byres," he said.
"Cool name, I like it," said Emily.
"Thanks."
"Did your parents go to Hogwarts?" she asked him.
"Oh, no, they didn't. They're muggles," he said.
"So you're a muggle born, then?" said Emily.
"Uh, yeah."
"Don't worry, I'm not like the other Malfoys. My mom is muggle born, remember?" said Emily.
"Oh yeah. Who are your parents, anyway? Did they go to Hogwarts?" asked Orlando.
"They're probably the most remembered people from there besides Harry Potter. My dad is Draco Malfoy, and my mum is Hermione Granger. My dad is known because he was just, well, a Malfoy. He may not have worshipped the Dark Arts like his dad, but, according to my mum, he was really mean to muggleborns, even her, calling them mudbloods and stuff. He's infamous at Hogwarts, I guess you could say. My mum, though, is remembered because she was the Hogwarts bookworm. She was top in every single class she took, and, to top it off, she was – and still is - the best friend of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," said Emily.
"Wow. The only reason I know what your talking about, by the way, is because I looked up a bunch of information about the wizarding world when I got my Hogwarts letter, so I wouldn't look like a total dolt," said Orlando.
"That was probably a smart thing," said Emily with a smile.
"You know, it's kind of ironic that your parents got together. I mean, they hated each other in school, right?"
"Yeah. It's kind of an interesting story, actually. It's like a perfect romance book," said Emily. "But, I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear it, most guys feel sick at the mention of romance," she hastily added.
"Well, I wouldn't mind hearing it if you cut out the mushy parts. I'm interested to see how two enemies could end up loving each other," said Orlando, much to Emily's surprise.
"Okay then. Well, first of all, you have to know that, originally, my mum wasn't married to Draco Malfoy . . ."
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AN: Good place to end, huh? I thought so. Now, you peeps know what to do: REVIEW!!! And, MAYBE I'll give you an update on Sunday, but I have a party to go to that's out of state, so you might not get one until Monday or even Tuesday. I'm not sure, so keep checking!