"This is the Great Hall," Hermione told Emily as she pushed open the huge wooden doors. "We eat all of our meals here. There are four tables, one for each of the houses. The Slytherins sit over there," she explained a hint of disgust evident in her voice. "Then the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and finally the Gryffindor table is over here."
Emily's eyes scanned the large room as they crossed to the Gryffindor table and immediately rested in the brilliant white-blond head at the opposite side of the room. His head was bent over his plate, hair falling into his eyes, while some brown haired girl yapped incessantly at him.
"Guys, I have someone for you to meet," Hermione addressed her friends and Emily's eyes were torn away. They had reached the Gryffindor table. "This is Emily York. Emily, this is Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Ginny Weasley." Harry looked up at Emily and immediately got an eerie feeling, as if he had seen her before. She caught him staring and he looked back down into his plate sheepishly.
"Hey," she said, trying to sound cheerful.
"You're American!" Ron exclaimed through a mouthful of eggs. "What are you doing here? Don't they have wizard schools in the US?" This earned him a sharp elbow in the side from Hermione.
"I don't know. I just found out I'm a witch," Emily shrugged and at everyone's confused looks she continued to explain everything McGonagall had told her. By the end their expressions were much like Hermione's had been.
"So, obviously Emily has a lot of catching up to do," Hermione broke the awkward silence that was forming. "I've offered to help tutor her and I thought you guys might like to help as well."
"Of course," said Harry quickly. "Anything we can do to help." He looked at Emily sincerely, thinking of his own parents.
"I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll try," Ron said and his cheeks flushed a little. Emily smiled at him and he blushed even more.
"Terrific!" Hermione said. "I was thinking we could start tonight right after dinner."
"But our first quidditch match is tonight!" Ron exclaimed. "You can't miss it – it's against Slytherin!" Hermione sighed audibly.
"What's quidditch?" Emily asked and Ron and Harry launched into an animated speech explaining.
"Yes, but it's one match. Don't you think it's more important that Emily starts to learn to use her powers than see one silly match?" Hermione interjected.
"Silly match? It's against Slytherin!" Ron countered and soon the two were bickering heatedly, giving Emily another chance to search out the white-haired boy. When her eyes found him this time she was surprised to be met with his own steely ones staring back at her. The boy's mouth drew into a tight line and Emily smirked at him. He looked away quickly.
---
"Who's the new girl?" Blaise Zabini had noticed Draco staring and followed his gaze across the room to a girl with black hair and stunning green eyes.
"She's the one I found skulking about the Great Hall last night," Draco answered with a scowl.
"She's gorgeous," Blaise said.
"She's a bloody criminal – breaking in here and hanging about." Blaise shrugged and went back to eating his breakfast.
---
"He's hot, isn't he?" Ginny asked from beside Emily and Emily nodded. The others were still arguing over quidditch.
"Who is he?" she glanced back across the room but there was only an empty space at the table where he had been.
"Draco Malfoy," Ginny told her. "The Slytherin prince. His family is very wealthy, probably the richest in all of London. His father's a Death Eater, and one of the most powerful; closest to Voldemort himself." Emily's eyes widened a little.
"Is Draco a Death Eater, too?"
"We aren't sure. He was slated to be one, trained and everything, but he hasn't said anything since he's been back at Hogwarts." Ginny paused and then said, "He's a bloody git either way. Too bad too, 'cause he is damn hot." Emily laughed.
"Oh, we should go!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly. "We're going to be late for Potions." Ron and Harry groaned and they all got up to leave the Great Hall.
---
By the time they reached the Potions classroom in the dungeons just about all of the other students were already there. Harry and Ron took a table near the back while Hermione led Emily to the front of the room where Professor Peabody was arranging things on his desk. Professor Peabody had taken over for Professor Snape after Snape had murdered Dumbledore the previous year.
"Professor Peabody, this is Emily York," Hermione introduced them. "She'll be staying with us for a while. I'm sure Professor McGonagall has informed you."
"Oh, yes. Welcome Miss York. I've added an extra table so there should be a seat for you," Peabody said.
"Thank you, Professor," Emily replied. Hermione led her to the only remaining table near the front of the room.
"Attention students!" Peabody called. "You'll find your ingredients and instructions on the front board. Please collect your ingredients and begin."
"I'll go get our stuff," Hermione told Emily and went to the storage cupboard. Emily had laid out her parchment to begin to take notes when two hands landed roughly on either side of the scroll.
"You're still here," Draco drawled at her with a look of contempt.
"And you're just as smart as you look," Emily countered with a sneer. Draco's eyes narrowed to slits.
"Why are you still here?" His patience was growing thin.
"Professor McGonagall asked me to stay," Emily replied simply.
"Bloody idiot. She's just as bad Dumbledore."
"Well, seeing as how my parents were murdered by Death Eaters, who are probably looking for me as well, she couldn't just let me go home," she retorted, putting emphasis on the term 'Death Eaters' to see Draco's reaction. There was the tiniest hint of one, and had she not been looking for it she probably would have missed it. Something flashed just beneath the surface of his eyes but Draco caught himself and covered it expertly.
"So let the Death Eaters come searching for you here? That's a brilliant idea. Now she's putting us all in danger," Draco replied coolly.
"Is there a problem, Mister Malfoy?" Peabody asked. Malfoy shook his head and returned to his seat, throwing one last glare over his shoulder to Emily. She thought about their exchange after Draco left and she realized mentioning Death Eaters may not have been the smartest idea, especially if it turned out Draco was one. However, he already knew her name so even if he was she figured he already would have known what happened to her parents.
---
The rest of the day went by relatively uneventfully. Emily had accompanied Hermione to all of her classes (and there were a lot), been introduced to Professors, and had taken so many notes that she had filled nearly five feet of parchment and her hand was incredibly sore. They just had one class left, Arithmancy, before they were to head back to the Great Hall to meet up with Harry and Ron for dinner.
On the way to the sixth floor classroom, though, something peculiar happened. The two of them were approaching the staircase outside of the Great Hall when the front doors flew open and two serious-looking wizards strode in. Both wore traveling cloaks and were walking at a brisk pace through the entrance hall and up the stairs.
Hermione recognized the first, a tall dark-skinned man, but had never seen the other before. She pulled Emily to the side of the hall as not to be noticed and they watched as the wizards disappeared at the top of the stairs.
"Who were they?" Emily asked in a whisper.
"One was Kingsley Shacklebolt; the other, I have no idea. They're both members of the Order though, that much is clear." She then went on to give a brief description of the Order of the Phoenix, to which she, Harry, and Ron now belonged since they had come of age. It was certainly odd to see members of the Order at Hogwarts unexpectedly, but with Voldemort growing more powerful by the day she didn't give it much thought and she led Emily to the sixth floor.
---
By dinner Emily was starved and exhausted. She couldn't see how Hermione kept such a demanding schedule everyday. She had just dropped onto the bench next to Harry when Professor McGonagall approached her.
"Miss York, may I have a word?" McGonagall asked and Emily grudgingly rose from her seat.
"I know that we discussed you staying with us for a short time, however, in light of some recent developments we believe it would be wise to make your stay more permanent," McGonagall told Emily with a small smile while leading her to the front of the hall. "We would like to extend you an invitation to become a student here at Hogwarts."
"I, well, that would be wonderful!" Emily smiled widely. She had to admit that she had never felt more comfortable and at-home than she had in her day at the school. Everything about the place intrigued her and even though she thought her mind couldn't possibly hold any more information, she couldn't wait to learn more.
"Fantastic," McGonagall relaxed visibly. She had worried that Emily would want to return to her old life, and there was nothing she could do to keep Emily here had she declined the invitation. However, even Emily realized that there was no going back to the way things had been.
"Your parents have left you a considerable inheritance which we have transferred to Gringott's, the wizard bank, for your use. This will help pay your tuition and buy your books and supplies. Since tomorrow is Saturday I have arranged for you to take a trip to Diagon Alley to obtain everything you'll need."
"Thank you so much, for everything," Emily told McGonagall sincerely and resisted the urge to hug her; she didn't quite seem the affectionate type.
"You're more than welcome, dear," McGonagall replied. "There is just one matter left to attend to." They had reached the front of the room where a stool sat bearing a ratty, old hat. McGonagall picked up the hat and motioned for Emily to sit down. The whole student body was now watching her intently. "You must be sorted."
The McGonagall rose her voice to address the students. "Some of you may have noticed that we have had a visitor with us today. It turns out that she will be joining us here at Hogwarts for the current school year." Hushed murmurs spread through the hall. Indeed, many of the students had heard of the new girl from the United States and many rumors had started as to exactly why she was there.
"As you know, all students must be sorted into a house when they begin school, so without further ado…" McGonagall trailed off and placed the Sorting Hat on Emily's head. Emily had assumed that she would continue to go to classes with Hermione and the others, and the idea that she might not had hardly sunk in when a voice began whispering in her ear. Her eyes grew wide and her heartbeat quickened as the Sorting Hat sang to her and she was still trying to make sense of the words when the it shouted it's decision, "Slytherin!"