Emily: Heya! Sorry if my last chapter confused ya a bit, but I haven't been getting too much sleep recently and I have no beta right now so I have no one to check if I make sense or not…heh… Eva: Yeah, more like you've been clubbing with Laurie a little too much… Emily: " heh….
Eva: Answers to reviewers!
Ashley J Potter: Got you're really getting into this aren't you? Lol, well anyway, I'm gonna say D to your question, I'm never one to stick to one series of events!
The Dark Empress of Eternity: Yes, that is just another one of my "Theories" Lily was a bitch! She and James deserve each other….
UPDATE: Thank you so much to The Dark Empress Of Eternity for pointing out to me that I updated this fic with a chapter from another fanfic by accident. Thank youooo!
Emily trudged back to the castle, her eyes red and sore from crying. She shivered despite the sunshine, and her head throbbed. She considered going up to the hospital wing but then she remembered that Severus would probably be there…in the end she decided to go to the common room, she just couldn't stand having face him after what happened…
She stood outside the entrance to the common room and debated whether to even bother, why not just leave right now?…it wasn't like anyone would miss her-
"I don't see why you're still here," came a voice behind her, "Shouldn't you be off with your new friends having fun?" she turned to see Lunesia leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, raising her eyebrows at her.
"Lunesia! Let me explain-" she began.
"No, lets not." She said sharply, Emily fell silent at the sudden viciousness in Lunesia's voice, "You know Emily, I've been here a long time. I've seen newbie's come and go, they stick around for a while, but then they realise that they can't climb the social ladder with someone like me. So they ditch me and join Evans or Potter. You were the first one I actually started to believe was different-"
"But Lunesia-"
"Don't interrupt me!" she snarled, "I can't believe you did that Emily! He was your friend! And you left me alone to help him after they…" she fell quiet at the end, a pained expression crossing her face, but she frowned and continued "You abandoned us Emily, I hope you enjoy your popularity, I hope it was all worth it!" she spat as she walked past her and entered the common room.
Fresh tears began to well in her eyes, why was this all happening to here? Couldn't she just have something go right for her for once in her life?…
She dashed away the tears and narrowed her eyes in determination, if Lunesia wouldn't even listen; she had to make Severus believe her.
Running along the corridor she passed a seemingly empty classroom, until she went straight passed it did she see that it was already occupied by Lily and a group of other girls-all Gryffindors-that she didn't recognise.
"Oh come on Lily! Its not like she was anything special to begin with!"
"Yeah! And anyway, don't worry, she'll come around, they always do-"
"Yeah, like hell they do," Emily snarled and grabbed the door handle slammed it shut, not wanting to here anymore of their bitchy crap. She carried on down the corridor until she reached the hospital wing, she knocked twice before entering.
Severus was sitting on the edge of a bed having his arm examined by the nurse.
"Hang on a second honey, I'll be there in a minute. Now, Severus we should be able to cure that arm pretty easily if you just take this-" she handed him a small vial of blue potion, "And stay away from mister Potter for the next few days-"
"Yeah, like I go looking for him whenever this happens." He snapped sarcastically.
The nurse stayed silent and turned around to greet Emily, "Hello dear! I'm Sarah-Beth Flatts, how can I help?" she looked Emily up and down, "You don't look ill." She smiled pleasantly.
"Um, no, actually I came to see Severus…" she muttered.
"Well you've seen me now haven't you? Goodbye." He snarled. Sarah-Beth obviously decided not to intervene as she quietly slipped out of the sickbay and into her office.
"Sev, please listen to me, I've already seen Lunesia and she's already given me the abandonment speech-"
"Too right, if she hadn't I'dve set her hair on fire." He smirked slightly.
Emily raised an eyebrow, "Right…I'm gonna ignore that blatant psychotic remark…Please Severus, Lily dragged me away, I couldn't get away until you'd already gone, I went back and you weren't there. I don't want to ditch you two! You're the only real friends I've ever had…"
"So you're saying that you allowed Evans you pull you away because you really care about us? Yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense Adelaine…" he downed the potion, wincing at the bitter taste.
"I didn't let her pull me away! I was worried about you! I was scared that if I didn't go with them they'd hurt you again!" she was on the verge of crying once again.
"Well newsflash drama queen! They're not going to leave me alone whether you go with them or not, so why did you go?"
"Because I didn't know!" she turned and ran from the sick bay and out into the corridor, tears streaming down her face. She ran down four flights of stairs with no idea where she was going until she finally collapsed in a heap, her back against the wall.
She sat there and cried for gods knows how long, until she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Emily…Um, I'm sorry." She looked up at Severus, who was frowning, but still couldn't hide the concern in his eyes.
"I hate Lily Evans…" was all she said, Severus smirked and helped her to her feet.
"C'mon, I'll walk you back your common room."
"Hey… how do you know where our common room is?' she asked suddenly, he smirked and shrugged his shoulders, leading her up the staircase,
"Everyone knows," he was all he said.
'Damn,' she thought, 'They have GOT to change the portrait or something…'
The next few months passed in blur of immense amounts of homework and occasional run-ins with the Marauders.
After finally managing to convince Lunesia that she had no intention of join The Bitch Squadron- a name the three of them had fondly given to Evans and her friends- Emily continued to work with Severus in potions and study in the common room with Lunesia in the evenings.
They had planned for the three of them to meet up and study together in the library each evening, but that was quickly abandoned after a particularly nasty attack by the Marauders where Lunesia ended up going to the hospital wing with a large collection of gashes across her face and arms.
Thankfully all four Marauders were going home for the Christmas holidays, Severus was staying the entire time and Lunesia planned to come back on Boxing Day.
In the meantime Emily was starting to see a lot more of the strange punk-type girl with the multiple piercings who she had seen sitting next to Severus at the start of year feast.
Mostly she seemed to hang around the Dungeon Gang –another name courtesy of Lunesia- and on other times Emily had seen her chatting lazily with Severus between classes.
On Christmas Eve Severus walked with her down to the three broomsticks for a drink. She had never been somewhere with such a warm atmosphere, she instantly began to feel better about her situation…sure she was slightly behind with Transfiguration homework, and she was just counting the days until the Marauders next attack, but looking at the other students laughing and discussing what they hoped to get for Christmas made her finally start to feel at home for the first time in her life.
Severus got them a table and sat opposite her, rolling a galleon across his knuckle absentmindedly.
"So, what do ya want me to get ya for Christmas?" Emily asked suddenly, making Sev drop his galleon onto the floor.
"Presents?" he asked with his eyebrows raised, as if he couldn't believe she was asking, "For me?"
"Yeah! 'Course, you're my mate aren't you? I need to get Lunesia something too…any ideas?"
He raised his eyebrows even higher, "It's a bit late isn't it? You do realise it's Christmas Eve?"
Emily grinned sheepishly, "Yeah, it's just like me to leave everything to the last minute!"
He leaned down to pick his galleon up off of the floor, "Well, I have no idea, so just get whatever you can afford, I don't care…"
She sensed once again that he was hiding something from her, 'As much as she could afford?' what was he trying to say to her?…
"Oh, come on! I have to have some idea what to get you!"
"Naw, Sev don' like getting' presents, makes 'im feel guilty that 'e can' give anythin' back." Came a voice behind her, she spun her head round to see the punky girl approaching them with a bottle of firewhisky and a large black shoulder bag that seemed to be stuffed to breaking point with what looked like shreds of variously coloured material.
She's a rebel
She's a saint
She's salt of the earth
And she's dangerous
She's a rebel
Vigilante
Missing link on the brink
Of destruction
From Chicago to Toronto
She's the one that they
Call old whatsername
She's the symbol
Of resistance
And she's holding on my
Heart like a hand grenade
"Hey Mara," greeted Severus reluctantly.
"Yo," she replied, "can ah sit 'ere?" she asked Emily, pointing to the chair next to her. But before she was able to answer she had already sat down and was playing with her large collection of spiked cuffs on her wrists.
"So, you the chick Sev's bin talkin' so much about eh?" she spoke with a distinct Londoner accent, now that Emily was able to look at her more closely, it seemed that there was far more to her than her many piercings.
Up close she seemed exceedingly pale and almost malnourished, her black leather jacket was battered and the leather faded in several places, her kohl rimmed eyes seemed to be shrunken into her head, the pale grey colour only adding to her seemingly dead looking appearance.
This was only heightened by her waist length straggly black hair and the large amounts of black make-up she wore.
Altogether her entire manor seemed to scream, "Look at me! I don't give a shit what you all think!" which under normal circumstances would have been fine in Emily's books, but there was still something about her that she didn't completely trust…
"Um, I dunno," she replied, "Am I?" she asked Severus, who promptly stood up and asked if anyone wanted some drinks.
"Yah, same again Sev," drawled Mara, after draining the last few drops from her last one.
After Severus had left to order at the bar, Mara turned to Emily, fixing her with a contemplative gaze.
"I'm Mara Angelo," she said, holding out one of her blacked nailed hands to her.
Emily shook it nervously, "Emily Adelaine, um…so are you in the same year as Severus?"
"Naw, year above," she replied nonchalantly, rolling her empty firewhisky bottle back and forth across the table.
"So…er, how did you two meet?" she asked unsure of anything else to say, she might as well get to know a little bit more about this strange person.
Mara's face darkened even more at the question, she narrowed her eyes, "We met through a friend," she growled.
Emily was taken aback by this unexpected change, suddenly the nonchalant, uncaring person sitting next to her had morphed into this uptight, snappy individual…and Emily had no idea why…she had only asked…
Severus suddenly appeared in front of them, he put down the drinks and glanced between the two of them, "What's up?" he asked.
"On second thoughts Sev, ah think I'll see ya back at the castle, ah've still got some things ta do." She stood up and put her hand on his shoulder briefly before walking out of the bar without another word.
Severus looked confused, "What happened?" he asked.
"Beats me Sev…" she stared at the place where Mara had been sitting, why had she gotten so jumpy when she had asked about how they had met…had they been involved once?…
'No,' said the voice in the back of her head, 'Even Severus couldn't be THAT desperate…' but she mentally kicked herself after that…she had insulted her best friend and one of his friends both at the same time…it was scary how like Lily Evans the voice in her mind sounded…
But it was still suspicious how Mara had reacted, she made a mental note to find out why…what did she have to hide exactly?…
Emily: ahhh…another bad chapter in my opinion…no sleep…gahhh…
Next chapter: all is revealed about Mara Angelo, and who exactly is Kayden?……oooooooo suspense…