20

Back to Hogwarts

The end of the summer holidays had approached quite quickly after the trip to Diagon Alley. Emily was excited to be going back to Hogwarts even though she was going to miss being at the manor. Even with the strained relationship between her and Harry it had been the best summer of her life. For the first time she felt like she had a real home and a family that cared for her.

The night before they caught the train to Hogwarts, Emily and Draco had stayed up late making sure their trunks were well organized and that they had everything they needed. Unlike last year all of Emily's belongings did not fit into one trunk so she had to decide what to take. Narcissa promised that if she had forgotten something that Emily could write home and they would send it to her. It was an amazing feeling for the young witch to have a place to truly call home.

Draco and Emily having woken early on September first decided to play exploding snap as they waited for the rest of the house to wake up.When Emily and Draco were called to breakfast they noticed Severus was there.

"Good morning you two, are you excited to be going back?" Narcissa asked the pair as they took their places at the table. The teens nodded their heads as Mipsy popped in placing Emily's favorite breakfast of Eggs Benedict in front of her. Emily wondered if the elves in the kitchens at Hogwarts would be willing to make it for her if she asked.

Breakfast was a rather quiet affair and when they had all finished Lucius drew the teens' attention to him by clearing his throat. "Severus and I have been talking, we still have not found out who the elf belongs to so you both need to keep taking the warning seriously. If you feel threatened you can always go to Severus."

"My password will be 'veneatorum morsus' for the start of the year," Severus informed them as Mipsy cleared away his plate.

"Venomous bite…" Emily smirked. "Seems fitting."

"You have been studying your Latin," Severus was clearly pleased with the revelation as he turned to look at his Godson. "Have you been studying as well Draco?"

Draco looked down at the table playing with his napkin in an attempt to pretend he hadn't heard his godfather's question while Emily had to cover her mouth to hide her amusement. Severus had been on them to learn Latin since they started brewing with him last fall. Emily had finally ordered a few books on it towards the end of last year so she could begin studying it. Draco wasn't very interested in learning Latin, whenever the topic was brought up he made up various excuses to leave the room or change the subject.

"I need to make sure all my Quidditch gear is packed and that Tippy remembered to put my broom with my trunk," Draco said jumping out of his chair to leave the room. The adults began to chuckle and Emily smiled watching Draco start to run when he thought they could no longer see him.

"Still doesn't see a reason to learn Latin?" Lucius said quirking an eyebrow.

"Nope," Emily replied turning to Lucius. "When do we leave?"

"Be in the Floo room in half an hour and we will apparate to the platform."

"Okay, I'm going to finish getting ready. We spent our morning playing exploding snap," Emily announced getting up from the table.

"You mean to tell me no one had to drag you out of bed?" Severus asked sounding amused.

"See you at school Sev!" Emily called out cheekily to the potions master ignoring his comment. As she was leaving the room she heard Severus mumble, "Exasperating brat," causing her to laugh the whole way back to her room.

Half an hour later Emily and the Malfoys appeared on platform nine and three-quarters. They left the apparation point moving down the train to find Emily and Draco a compartment. They found one not far from the front of the train that Blaise Zabini was already in. Lucius was quick to help them load their trunks into the compartment. Once Apollo's cage was safely on the self above the seats and the trunks were tucked in the corner Emily and Draco jumped off the train to say goodbye to Lucius and Narcissa.

"I want you both to study hard and remember what we said about going to Severus if you need anything," Lucius instructed as he embraced Emily and Draco.

"We will miss both of you," Narcissa said taking her turn hugging the teens.

Emily and Draco waved to them from their compartment window as the train pulled out of the station. The train sped out of London as Emily, Draco and Blaise settled in to catch up on how their summers had ended. About an hour into the ride the compartment door slid open to show two identical grinning red heads.

Emily smiled at the newcomers. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"We just wanted to check in on our favorite little snakes," said Fred.

"Yes and to thank the lovely lady for her help this summer," George added tossing her a vial of a pinkish liquid.

"So it works?" Emily said examining the vial.

"We were able to fix our glaring issues, plus with your additions…"

"It came together nicely."

"What is it?" Blaise asked.

"It is our newest prank our good fellow."

"It will make bubbles come from the drinker's mouth for about 2 hours after ingesting the potion," George explained pretending to straighten his robes.

"Wicked," Blaise said staring at the vial in Emily's hand.

"Very," the twins chorused.

"But alas we should get back dear Gred."

"Right you are dear Forge."

"Hey, before you two go, have you seen Harry?" Emily asked. The twins said they hadn't but told Emily they were sure he was with Ron and Hermione somewhere on the train before leaving the compartment. Shortly after the twins departed the food trolley made its rounds, the three teens bought an assortment of sweets and settled back in for the rest of the journey.

Emily looked out the window noticing they seemed to be passing a lot of farm land now, there were lush green hills just off in the distance and cows mulling around pastures. She decided she was going to try and find Harry, excusing herself as the boys played gobstones.

Emily searched for her brother becoming worried the more compartments she passed, she had yet to see Harry or his friends. Finally, she came upon a compartment where she saw Hermione Granger sitting alone reading a book. Knocking on the door Emily waited for the girl to motion it was okay for her to enter.

"Emily," Hermione said sounding a little shocked that the Slytherin girl was there.

"Hi, I was wondering if you had seen my brother…"

Hermione frowned at the mention of Harry, she closed her book but held her place with a finger. "I haven't seen him or Ron actually, I'm sorry."

"It's okay I'm just worried about him."

"I'm sure they're fine. Harry has been staying with the Weasleys so hopefully he and Ron haven't gotten themselves into too much trouble."

"Have you met my brother?" Emily sighed, sitting down across from Hermione. "He is like a trouble magnet."

The bushy-haired girl laughed at this while pulling out a bookmark from her bag and placing it where she had been holding her place.

"What are you reading?" Emily asked.

"Oh 'Wanderings with Werewolves', I just can't believe Lockhart is going to be our Defense teacher," she gushed. "He's a bit dreamy don't you think?"

Emily wasn't sure how to respond to that. She didn't really hang out with girls nor did she find Lockhart to be attractive. The man gave her the creeps, who has a smile that unnaturally bright she thought taking in the image of the man on the book? "He's not really my type," she answered the girl.

"Oh? Do you find any of the boys at Hogwarts cute?" Hermione seemed eager to talk to her. She must not talk to many other girls either being the best friend of two boys.

"There was a Hufflepuff I saw in the hallways last year who was cute. I think he is in fifth year now. How about you?" Emily watched as Hermione blushed bright red and looked down at her hands. "Is it my brother?"

Hermione shook her head no, "its George Weasley, Ron's older brother."

"You like Forge?" At the girl's nod Emily smiled at her, "There is no need to be embarrassed the twins are cute. They're actually quite smart too."

Emily could understand why someone like Hermione found one of the Weasley twins cute. She spent a lot of her time with her head in a book, while the twins were intelligent they were also very outgoing and enjoyed having a good laugh, their traits would be very appealing to the girl.

"Promise not to tell anyone?" Hermione asked looking at the other witch nervously.

"Cross my heart," Emily said drawing a cross above the left side of her chest with her finger.

"I haven't heard that one in a while," Hermione laughed.

Emily and Hermione talked for a little while longer until Emily noticed it was getting dark. Emily said goodbye to Hermione before making her way back to the compartment with Blaise and Draco.

"Where have you been?" Draco asked. "Did you find your brother?"

"No, I have actually been with Granger. She hasn't seen Harry either, but we ended up talking about a few books and things, just lost track of time."

Draco nodded, "Well, we need to get changed." The three quickly pulled on their robes just as the conductor sounded through the train announcing their arrival.

Being second years meant they were to take carriages up to the castle instead of the boats from the year before. The carriages had large black buggies and seemed to be pulled by invisible horses wearing harnesses. Draco held the door open for Emily and Blaise as they all climbed in for the short ride. Arriving at the castle the carriage let them out in front of the main doors, the three teens climbed the front steps and made their way into the Great Hall.

Emily noticed Marcus Flint was already seated at the Slytherin table and waved at her motioning them to the open seats across from him. "Hey guys," Marcus greeted. "Good summer?"

"Yeah, the manor was a lot of fun." Emily told him. "How about you?"

"It was good, nothing too exciting. We went to Spain for a few weeks."

It wasn't long before Professor Dumbledore called for quite as the first years were led into the hall to be sorted. Emily noticed the red-headed Weasley girl was with them. As the sorting started Emily looked up to the High Table nudging Draco to get his attention. "Where's Sev?"

Draco followed her gaze and realized that indeed his godfather was not there.

"I don't know…"

Emily turned her attention back to the sorting in time to see Ginny Weasley be called forward. The girl was quickly sorted into Gryffindor which earned loud cheers from her twin brothers.

When the last of the first years took their seats, Dumbledore rose. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" he beamed at the students. "I imagine you are all quite hungry so I will save my long speech as usual for after the magnificent feast that has been prepared for us! Enjoy!" Emily noticed that instead of sitting down to begin his meal Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall left through a side door that the teachers seemed to use from time to time when coming to meals. She turned to look over at the Gryffindor table finding Granger sitting next to Neville Longbottom with her brother and Weasley nowhere in sight.

Draco nudged Emily drawing her attention back to those around her. "Marcus was just asking if we had flown much this summer," Draco told her.

"Oh, yes we have," she said turning her attention to the sixth year. "Draco and I received Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones for our birthdays."

"Oh, I would love a broom like that! I was admiring them in Diagon Alley, much better looking than the Nimbus Two Thousand."

"I agree," Draco nodded as he added some chicken to his plate. "And it handles like a dream."

"I bet! Are you two going to try out for the team? We are holding try outs in two days. I want to get the team started early this year. We lucked out Em's brother couldn't fly in the last game. I want to beat them by playing against them with their best players out there."

"I'm trying out," Draco said. "Em still refuses to play."

"I don't refuse, it's just more trouble than it's worth right now. Tension between Harry and I is bad enough already, can you imagine if we played against each other and I won? Not to mention it would take up a lot of my revision time."

"I think you are worried about nothing. In the end it's a game and he's family. I also doubt the study time it takes from you would even come close to effecting your grades" Marcus pointed out to her. "If you change your mind we could always use a flier like you."

Emily shrugged and the boys carried on their talks about Quidditch. As she finished her dinner Emily noticed Severus and Professor Dumbledore finally join the high table. They were soon followed by a stern looking Professor McGonagall who was slightly shaking her head. Emily looked over to the Gryffindor table only to find her brother was still absent. She hoped he was okay.

"Why do you keep looking at the Gryff table?" Draco asked her.

"Harry isn't there and I couldn't find him on the train so I'm a little worried."

"We can go ask Uncle Sev when the feast is over. He was gone at the beginning so maybe he knows something." Emily nodded her head in agreement as she reached for her favorite Swiss roll for dessert. When everyone had eaten their fill Dumbledore rose to give his yearly speech.

"What a wonderful feast! Before we all head to bed I would like to make a few announcements. For all of our first years please take note that the forest on the grounds is called forbidden for a reason. Some of our older years can always do with a reminder as well." Dumbledore's eyes went to Fred and George before returning his focus forward. "For dates on Quidditch tryouts for your House team contact Madam Hooch. This year we welcome Professor Lockhart who will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts." Most of the female population broke into roars of applause as said man stood and gave a grand bow, winking at them all before sitting back down. Emily could only roll her eyes, how could so many people be smitten over an obvious fraud?

"Aren't you going to swoon too Em?" Marcus teased her.

Emily gave him an incredulous look which made Marcus laugh forcing him to try to cover it up as not to draw attention their way.

"Now I believe it is time for bed. First years, prefects will lead you to your dorms. Goodnight!"

Emily turned to Marcus, "Hey what's the password?"

"It's 'Magniticus anguis'," he said getting up to help the other prefects with the first years.

"What does the password mean, you know you want to tell me," Draco sung as they made their way out of the hall.

"Maybe you should just learn Latin," she told him knowing that was his way of telling her he was curious.

"I know but as much as I love studying with you I am not as quick or as enthused with it as you are."

"Indeed," Emily smirked at her friend.

"You spend too much time with Uncle Sev," Draco said shaking his head. "So… what does it mean?"

"It means 'magnificent snake'."

The two stopped at the portrait outside of Severus' private chambers. They let themselves in using the password Severus had given them that morning after giving a warning knock. Severus' living quarters were a comfortable size. When you entered through the portrait to your left was a small hallway that led to a guest bedroom, bathroom and his personal potions lab. In the sitting room there was a large black leather couch and two wingback chairs on top of a green rug in front of the stone fireplace. To the left of the fireplace was a door that led to his personal bedroom and bath.

Severus looked up from where he was sitting by his fire as Emily and Draco walked over and settled into the couch. "What are you two doing here?"

"We noticed you missed the start of the feast and my brother was nowhere in sight."

"That would be because he decided to fly an enchanted car to Hogwarts with his friend Weasley."

Emily groaned, "Did he say why they had this brilliant idea to fly here instead of take the train?"

"They said that the barrier refused to let them onto the platform and Weasley claims they had no other option."

"Harry had Hedwig, and couldn't they have just waited for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to come back through the barrier?"

"They worried if they couldn't get onto the platform that in turn, Weasley's parents would be unable to get to them. Personally, I think they wanted another adventure."

"Lovely because we all need another one," Emily scoffed. Severus smirked tossing the Evening Prophet to her. The headline was about a flying car being spotted by various muggles around London. As she continued to read she kept wondering what her brother had been thinking. They had been seen by at least 7 muggles.

Draco who had been reading with Emily spoke up, "Doesn't Weasley's father work in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office? Couldn't this be a huge setback to his career since it was his son and he obviously charmed the car himself?"

"He will most likely just be fined, but it won't look good for him for a while since he is the one that passed the laws that prohibit a lot of these kinds of things."

Emily shook her head she could feel a headache coming on. "Is Harry at least okay? He never came to the feast."

"He is perfectly fine, but you two should head back to your dorms to get settled for the evening," Severus instructed them. Emily and Draco rose bidding Severus goodnight as they left his quarters and headed to their dorm.

The common room was mostly empty as Emily and Draco made their way to find their second year rooms. "Night," Emily told Draco giving him a hug. "Night Em," he called heading off down the opposite hall. Emily opened the door to her room noticing it looked the same as it had the year before. She quickly went about unpacking everything before changing into her pajamas and climbing into bed with a book to read before falling asleep.