Emma peered out the window with a quiet sigh. The weather had cleared up considerably, the sun shining and bright, but Emma couldn't appreciate it. She stretched at her desk, half paying attention to Miss Sprout's words. Emma's morning had been long, and her day felt even longer. She yawned, resting her head on her desk and letting her eyes fall shut. It would be okay if she closed her eyes for just a moment, wouldn't it?
Emma's stomach chose that exact moment to rumble loudly, and she suppressed the urge to groan to try and stifle the noise. The less obvious it was, the better. She cracked open an eye to peer around the room and closed it again when she decided no one had heard. At least one thing could go unnoticed.
Her morning had truly been terrible. She thought that she had managed to get away with her accident that morning with Petunia's help, but Vernon had woken up and was furious. It didn't take him long to figure out what had happened and why his wife was up so early. Vernon had wanted to send her to school in her pajama bottoms to embarrass her, but Petunia managed to talk him down. Still, he had kicked her out of the house the moment she was out of the shower, and she had arrived at school far too early and without breakfast. Again.
Emma was vaguely aware of Miss Sprout walking around the room collecting their homework. On any other day, Emma would ignore her teacher as she often forgot to do it, but something was niggling in the back of her mind. Emma suddenly sat up with a jolt, realizing exactly why her mind was so loud – she had the essay!
"Miss Sprout!" Emma shouted, cringing slightly at just how loud her voice was. Why could she never remember to control her volume when she got excited? Emma pulled her backpack from the floor and dug through it, muttering to herself as she pushed around the mess of her bag. "Where is it, where is it, where is it?" she whispered to herself, sticking her tongue out between her teeth as she tried to find her essay.
Emma watched as Miss Sprout walked by her out of habit, and Emma swore under her breath. She stopped her frantic search for a moment, trying to remember where she put her essay, and out of desperation, she unzipped the front compartment of her bag to take a look. Emma let out a near jubilant shout – she had made sure to put it in a safe spot so she couldn't lose it.
"Miss Sprout!" Emma shouted again, twisting herself in her seat and smiling broadly.
"Yes, Emma?" Miss Sprout answered in bemusement. She turned around to look at the practically vibrating girl, a small smile crossing her face. It was evident that Emma was proud of something. "What is it?"
"I finished it!" Emma replied brightly. "I finally did it!" As Emma whipped her essay out of her bag, she let go of her backpack and blanched as the still open bag fell to the floor. Nearly her entire bag's contents spilled out with a clatter, and Emma heard the sound of her pill bottle rolling away.
"Oh, fuck," Emma swore, dropping her essay onto her desk and scrambling from her chair and onto the floor. She quickly crawled across the floor to grab her things and let out another groan when she realized that she didn't close her pill bottle completely. The lid had fully separated from the bottle, and as Emma grabbed the bottle to close it, three pills fell out. Rather than putting them back into the bottle, Emma decided to take them. It didn't matter that she had taken two that morning already.
When Emma straightened up from the floor and started putting her things away, she looked up to see that Miss Sprout's entire demeanor had changed. Emma froze slightly, eyes growing wide as she looked at her teacher, who was giving her a skeptical look.
"Emma," Miss Sprout said slowly, her eyes narrowing, "should you be taking so many?"
"Yeah, it's fine," Emma said with a nervous giggle. She felt her cheeks heat up, and she looked away from Miss Sprout as she finished putting her things away. "I forgot to take them this morning. I'll just skip the dose that I take at lunch instead. It's all right." Emma stood up from the floor and sat back down at her desk feeling slightly shaky.
"Anyway, I finished the essay," Emma said, lifting her essay and holding it out towards Miss Sprout. "I finally finished it."
Miss Sprout smiled kindly at Emma. She couldn't help but notice that Emma looked a little worse than the day before, but Emma had done what she was supposed to. Miss Sprout was starting to feel that with some help and a little extra attention, Emma could get back on top of things again. At the very least, she hoped that Emma would start to see her true potential again and work a little harder.
"Yes, I see that," Miss Sprout said, taking the essay from Emma's hands. "Excellent job, dear. I'll grade it as soon as possible and let you know how you did. I'm proud of you for finishing it."
Emma practically lit up at the praise. She was incredibly proud of herself for finishing the essay, even if it was three weeks late. Someone made an aggravated noise from across the room, and Emma deflated when she saw who was staring at her. Emma curled in on herself and ducked her head as she fidgeted with the things sitting out on her desk.
"Miss Sprout, how come you're angry with me when I'm two days late but happy when she's three weeks late?" Draco asked with a sneer.
Miss Sprout turned around to level Draco with an unamused stare. "Well, Draco, you could have asked for an extension the last time your essay was late. The wet rag you turned in could hardly be described as an essay, and if you had asked for more time, I would have given it to you. I understand that soccer takes up a lot of your time, but you had every opportunity to do things correctly." With homework collected and all grievances responded to, Miss Sprout started to teach their lesson for the day.
Halfway through Miss Sprout's lesson, Emma started to feel warm and sweaty. She felt her head begin to spin and her stomach twist with nausea, but she decided to try and ignore it. Emma didn't want to disappoint Miss Sprout again, so she started to doodle on the corner of her worksheet. As long as she didn't think about how she felt, she could make it through to the end of class, and it would be fine. Miss Sprout was in the middle of explaining something about proper grammar usage while writing a formal letter when she was interrupted by a firm knock at the door.
"Yes?" Miss Sprout said from where she stood, turning to face the door. "Come in."
"Sorry to interrupt, ma'am," Hagrid said as he walked through the doors. Emma sat up a little straighter when she noticed the police officers that followed him into the room. "These two officers are looking to speak to someone."
"For who, Hagrid?" Miss Sprout asked sharply. She was annoyed at the interruption, already having a sneaking suspicion of what was going on, but she didn't expect the police to show up.
"Well, you see –" Miss Sprout lifted a hand swiftly to silence Hagrid. The man had a habit of launching into long stories before answering the actual question, and Miss Sprout didn't have the time or the patience for it. If she didn't stop him in his tracks, he would have gone through at least three different stories to answer a straightforward question.
"A name, please, Hagrid," Miss Sprout said, gesturing to the whiteboard next to her. "As you can see, I have a busy schedule today, and I would like to keep going." Hagrid looked unsure what to do as Miss Sprout continued to stare at him and ignore the officers.
The female officer decided to step forward, and Miss Sprout turned her attention to her, eyebrows raised.
"Well, Miss –"
"It's Sprout."
"Well, Miss Sprout," the female officer continued. "We were looking for an Emma Nickels. We were told that she's in your class this period."
There was a collective "Oooh" from the class at the mention of Emma's name. Draco turned around to look at Emma with a wicked smile.
"Looks like the human squirrel has been bad," Draco said, pulling laughter from the other students. Emma looked at Draco and then over at Miss Sprout in horror. She quickly ducked her head and tried to make herself as small as possible as everyone turned to look at her.
"We're only here to ask some questions," the officer said, lifting her hands to try and silence the giggling room. With Emma's location given up by the other students, the officer turned her attention to Emma, leaning down slightly to try and get in Emma's vision. "Miss Nickels, if you wouldn't mind joining us, please? Make sure to take your things with you."
"Emma, please?" Miss Sprout asked, frowning slightly at the terrified look on Emma's face. She sighed, setting her marker down and crossing the room to where Emma sat. "Come on, it'll be all right," she said softly, careful to keep her tone as soft as possible. She rested a hand on Emma's shoulder and tried to push back her own nerves as she felt how much Emma trembled beneath her touch.
Emma very slowly lifted her watery gaze to meet Miss Sprout's eyes, took a shuddering breath, and nodded. She quickly packed her things away and rose up from her seat, shaking like a leaf. Emma slowly made her way towards the officers, practically tripping over herself on the way up. The officers stepped aside as Emma approached and motioned towards the door that Hagrid held open.
"After you, Miss Nickels," the male officer said.
"No, don't!" Miss Sprout said quickly, realizing precisely what Emma was about to do before she did it. Miss Sprout wanted to warn the officers what was about to happen, but they turned their attention to her instead of Emma, and she lifted her shoulders in defeat. "Oh, never mind," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Seeing an easy opportunity to escape, Emma took the opening and tried to make a run for it. Unfortunately for Emma, Hagrid had seen other students try to escape the same way she tried to and seized her by the straps of her backpack. Emma let out an "oof!" as she was tugged backward sharply.
"Not so fast, little one," Hagrid said, his tone far too cheerful for Emma's liking. "They only want to talk. They're not here to arrest you or something like that."
"Okay," Emma mumbled, her face heating up once more. She stared longingly at the exit of the school, wishing she wasn't so small and just a little bit faster so she could have escaped. Emma swallowed hard and accepted that she wasn't going to be able to escape as she was flanked by both officers with Hagrid leading the way. How was her day turning out much worse than the one before?
When they arrived in one of the conference rooms off the main office, Emma couldn't help but notice that there were quite a few people in the room. Miss Hepburn was already sitting at the table with the principal, and another male officer stood close by. As Emma sat down, she grimaced as the female officer sat down on one side. She flinched violently as the male officer that had gone with them sat down next to her, and his arm accidentally brushed hers. Emma leaned unconsciously towards the female officer and, in her desire to keep her head down, missed the shared look of concern from the others.
The conference room was mostly silent except for the buzz and static of the officer's radios and the aggravating ticking of the nearby clock. Emma tapped her foot impatiently, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt and twisting her hair every so often.
"So, what are we waiting for?" Emma finally asked, lifting her gaze as far as a whorl on the faux-wooden table in front of her.
"Not a what," replied the principal, "a who." He shifted slightly in his chair as Emma looked up further to look at him curiously. "We're waiting for your caseworker. A, ah, R.J. Lupin, correct?"
"Remy?" Emma questioned in surprise. "Why would he come here?" Emma was already worried, but her worry intensified at the mention of Remus being involved. If Remus had to step in with whatever was going on, Emma knew it wasn't good. The last time she had seen him was several months prior for a quick check-up, but she knew about that. If he was coming by unannounced, that meant that something was seriously wrong. She already had a foster family, so it had to mean that they had finally given up on her.
Emma felt herself begin to tear up, and her chin quivered as she tried to hold them back. She knew that the Dursleys didn't want her – no one did. They weren't the first family to take her in and clearly wouldn't be the last. Emma wanted to run, desperate to escape and avoid hearing what Remus had to say. As much as she liked "her Re-Re," she didn't want to listen to what he had to say because it meant she had ruined her last chance at a normal family life.
"Miss Hepburn, can I please go to the bathroom?" Emma asked in the tiniest voice she had possibly ever heard from herself.
"No, I'm sorry," Miss Hepburn said sympathetically. "It's probably better that you wait a little while longer."
"But, I –" Emma started to plead, but she was startled from her thoughts by the conference door room flying open and a flash of brown rushing in. Emma stared hard at Remus, wiping at her tear-filled eyes and wishing that he would just look in her direction. Instead, Remus spoke to the officers, the principal, and the nurse in hushed tones.
Emma couldn't take it anymore. She still felt terrible; her entire body felt clammy, and she was even more nauseous than before. They had been sitting in the conference room for so long that the bell rang out to signal the end of class and the hallways filled with noise. Everything was a touch too loud, the clock seemed to be screaming in her ear, and everyone in the room speaking felt like buzzing flies surrounding her. No one was looking at her, no one was telling her what was going on, and Emma hated it.
The more she tried to keep to herself and try to drown out the sounds with her thoughts, the more agitated Emma became. The tears that had welled up in her eyes had started to spill over and roll down her cheeks, leaving fat droplets on her clothes in their wake. She felt her chest tighten considerably, and she clenched her fists tightly in her lap, leaving half-moon indents in her palms. No longer able to fight the storm of emotions that she felt, Emma decided to get everyone's attention the only way she knew how – she yelled.
"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on!" Emma shouted at the top of her lungs. It got her the exact reaction she was hoping for as everyone turned to look at her, and she could only imagine what she looked like. She was practically panting with the effort to hold back the worst of her suppressed emotions, and tears were streaming down her face.
The officers and the principal looked irritated at Emma's outburst, annoyed that she had decided to yell so loud in the small room. The nurse looked sympathetic, sharing a knowing look with Remus, and Remus just looked sad. He sighed, giving the group a slight nod before crossing the room to approach Emma.
Remus turned Emma's chair, frowning at just how much easier it was to move it with her sitting down. It was as if she weighed nothing at all, but he would ignore that for the moment. He crouched down in front of Emma, making sure to keep her attention on him.
"Emma, please don't yell so loud," Remus said gently. "Remember what we discussed last time; we have to use our inside voices," he said, reaching out to take her hands in his.
"Don't touch me!" Emma heard herself shriek as Remus touched her hands. She shrunk back, pulling her legs and feet onto the chair with her as she tried to keep herself as far away as possible.
"Okay," Remus said quickly, raising his hands and backing up quickly. "Relax, darling, I won't touch you." Emma stared at Remus, breathing hard as she kept her eyes locked on his. When she decided that he wasn't going to do anything, Emma relaxed ever so slightly but remained tense.
"So, Emma," Remus continued, straightening up and shoving his hands into his pockets. "This kind officer here –" he was careful to gesture specifically to the female officer "– needs to ask you a few questions. I will be here with you the entire time, but I need you to answer her questions as truthfully and honestly as you can. Do you understand, darling?"
"Yes," Emma managed weakly, eyes darting to the two male officers, to the female who was slowly approaching once more, and then back to Remus. "But Remus, what's going on?"
"Not yet, Sweet Bean," Remus said lightly, motioning for the officer to move a little closer when Emma relaxed further at the use of his name for her. "I'll explain after. Do you think you can do this for me?"
"Yeah, I think so," Emma said with a nod.
"Wonderful," Remus said with a soft smile. He reached into the front pocket of his suit slowly and pulled out a handkerchief, handing it to Emma. "You're doing perfect already."
Emma brightened up a little further at Remus's praise and sat in the chair correctly. She eyed the female officer warily, but with Remus standing guard, it should be okay. The officer looked at Remus with a silent question, and he gave a small nod in response.
"All right," the officer said, spinning the chair next to Emma around so that she could sit in front of her. "Before we begin, I need you to understand that you're not in trouble. You understand that, yes?"
"Yes," Emma whispered, glancing over the officer's shoulder at Remus and returning his soft smile with a shy one of her own. She looked down at Remus's handkerchief in her hands for a moment before deciding to try and dry her eyes with it. Emma had lost count of how many of Remus's handkerchief's she had taken over the years and swore that she would buy him an entire store's worth of the strange fabric squares when she could.
"Perfect," the officer said. "So, I just have a few questions for you. We had a very concerning claim come in on your behalf, and, like Remus said, I need you to answer me truthfully."
"Okay," Emma said, shifting anxiously in her seat. She didn't really know what was going on or what sort of claim could be made but felt it was better to get it over with. The sooner the questions were done, the sooner she could leave.
"Perfect. So, Miss Hepburn raised some concerns of her own. She mentioned that you have a rather large bruise on your back. Would you mind telling us how you received that?"
"Oh, yeah," Emma said, laughing nervously. She already didn't like where things were going, and she was only asked one question. Emma cast Miss Hepburn a look, and though the woman was talking to the other two officers with the principal, she felt as though she was listening. "I, uhm, I tripped down the stairs and tumbled all the way down. It's fine, though. It happens to me sometimes – I don't even feel it."
"Do you often trip like that?"
"Oh, yes, I do. I'm pretty clumsy, and sometimes Mr. Dursley likes to play jokes and trip me up while I'm walking. It's all in good fun." Something flashed across the officer's face, but it was quickly replaced with a smile.
"Hmm, all right," she said with a chuckle. "Well, I'm glad it's not hurting you too terribly."
The fact the officer laughed made Emma feel a little better. If she laughed, perhaps she could fool her further – the woman seemed a bit clueless. The men seemed a little less so, their expressions stern and grumpy, but they didn't seem like people who laughed. Perhaps they were always irritable, annoyed at the world, and having to deal with cases such as hers. She felt that they were annoyed because they could be doing more important things than dealing with teenagers and their non-existent troubles.
"Right, so you fell down the stairs, correct?" the officer asked Emma again.
"Yeah, that's what I said, didn't I?" Emma asked, giggling and looking at Remus. His expression was unreadable, and whatever he was thinking was lost on Emma entirely. She wished that he didn't have such a good poker face because it made her nervous sometimes. As much as Emma adored the man, she didn't like not knowing what he was thinking.
"Right, of course," the officer said, reaching into her pocket for a notepad. "I apologize. I just wanted to make sure that I heard you correctly." The officer made a show of writing down Emma's response before continuing to ask more questions. There were a lot of questions asking Emma about her bruise, asking about how Vernon would trip her up, and how Emma said it was just a game they would play. She fidgeted with Remus's handkerchief between her hands, twisting and untwisting the fabric as she talked. The more questions she was asked, the more tired she became, and to her embarrassment, her stomach growled loudly.
"Oh," Miss Hepburn said, turning her attention their way at the audible noise of Emma's stomach rumbling. "Emma, would you like something to eat?"
"Yes, please," Emma added eagerly. "I'm kinda hungry, and I didn't get a chance to eat this morning."
"Of course," Miss Hepburn said, casting another look at Remus before making her way towards the staff room.
Remus shared a look with the officer who switched places with him after she thanked Emma for her time. He sat down next to Emma, studying her closely and putting a smile on his face. Remus remained silent, his expression kind as Miss Hepburn sat down a sandwich and chips in front of Emma. She grabbed the sandwich quickly, biting into it with an appreciative hum, and completely missed the look of concern on Remus's face.
"Emma, you said that you missed breakfast this morning," Remus finally said after letting Emma get through a few bites of her sandwich. She looked up at him curiously as she drank from the glass of water beside her. "When was the last time you ate?"
A small crease appeared between Emma's brows as she considered the question. She knew that she could tell Remus anything, but the others seemed to still be listening. Emma cast one of the male officers a sidewise glance – every time she answered a question, he seemed to make some sort of noise, which annoyed her.
"I, uhm, I had an apple," Emma offered in response.
"When did you have it?"
"Last night," Emma answered. She popped a chip into her mouth, chewing slowly. "Petunia gave it to me because I didn't have dinner."
"You didn't have dinner?"
"Uhm," Emma froze, realizing that she had said something wrong. She didn't mean to say that she didn't have dinner, especially not in front of Remus, but that was normal, wasn't it? Plenty of people had to skip dinner sometimes. "I forgot," she said with a giggle. "I really wanted to make Miss Sprout proud and got really focused on my homework."
"I see," Remus said lightly. "When was the last time you had something other than a snack?"
"Hmm," Emma thought about it for a moment. "Yesterday for lunch. Miss Hepburn gave me two sandwiches."
"And before then?"
Emma wasn't sure how to answer that question and shrugged in response. Remus hummed to himself, falling silent as Emma continued to eat. He studied her closely, a frown crossing his face as he took in her pale appearance and the beads of sweat lining her forehead.
"Are you all right, Emma?" he asked. "You're looking a bit peaky."
"Oh," Emma said with a weak smile. "Just a bit anxious."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure," Emma nodded. "You know I get nervous with these things."
"I do," Remus agreed. He continued to let Emma eat a little bit longer. "And you said you hit your back when you fell on the trampoline, right?"
"Yeah," Emma said, only half paying attention to Remus. "I got launched by Dudley. I'm not heavy like he is, so I flew. I just hit my back a little harder than usual, but it's fine now, I swear."
Remus nodded and gave Emma another smile. "All right," he said. "I'll let you eat for now while I go talk to the others, okay?"
Emma nodded in response. She felt a bit funny; the conversation seemed to have gone by in a blur. A part of her mind told her that she might have overshared a little at a few points, but it was okay. She breathed out a small sigh of relief as everyone stepped out of the room and left her in silence. Even though the room was quiet, her thoughts still felt very loud, and with her glass of water still in front of her, Emma thought it was okay to take her medication.
She reached down to the floor for her backpack and hauled it up on her lap, and began to dig through for her pill bottle. Sometimes she wished that it glowed in the dark so that she could see it at all times, and she muttered quietly to herself as she fished around for the cylindrical bottle. It felt like she was losing focus again despite eating, and she wanted her thoughts to return to normal and quickly.
Just as Emma wrapped her hand around the bottle, everyone started to walk back into the room. Emma froze with the pill bottle half tipped over and prepared to drop a pill or two into her hand.
"Emma, what are you doing?" Miss Hepburn asked, her tone sharp and more abrasive than Emma expected.
"I was just…." Emma looked at the pill bottle in her hand with a pathetic whine. "I'm just due for my afternoon dose, I think. I can't really focus, and everything is really loud again." She knew that she should set the pill bottle down for a moment, but her breath caught in her throat, and her thoughts came at her like a tornado. Everything felt like too much, she was overwhelmed, and there were too many people in the room, and –
"Emma," Remus said softly, crouching back down in front of her and taking the pill bottle from her hands. "Emma, focus on me. Relax, sweetheart." He very carefully tipped one of the pills out into Emma's hand and passed her the glass of water. "Here, you go."
Emma nodded, quickly downing the pill and surprising everyone by bursting into tears. She was tired, and she was still hungry, and she just wanted everyone to leave. When Remus knelt in front of her and pulled her into his arms, she let him. There weren't many moments that she fought Remus's small moments of affection, and she appreciated being held close. It wasn't something that happened often, and she held tight to him, fingers searching out the funny places in his tweed suit jacket she liked to touch at his back.
"You're all right, Emma," he murmured, rubbing soft circles on her back. "It's all right."
After what felt like far too long, Emma felt her head finally begin to clear. It took her a few moments longer to realize that Remus was still holding her close, and she lifted her head to find that everyone was watching. Her cheeks turned bright red, and her entire body grew hot.
"I'm sorry," Emma sniffled, pulling herself away from Remus and unable to meet his eyes. "I didn't mean for that to happen."
"It's all right, darling," Remus said, taking the seat next to Emma once more. "We don't blame you at all, but we need to talk."
Emma rubbed her eyes hard and nodded. "About what?" she asked.
"Well, the reason we're all here today is that an anonymous report came in claiming that you were residing in a hostile living environment. The nurse had concerns and filed a report herself, and due to the nature of your current condition, we felt it was time that we had to step in," Remus explained.
"So, why are the police here?" Emma questioned, looking at the officers curiously. She still wasn't understanding what was going on.
"We had to get some information for your case," one of the male officers replied for Remus. "There's an even larger investigation that needs to be done."
"I don't…I don't understand," Emma said, bouncing her knee anxiously. "This can't be right. There's nothing going on. It's fine," Emma stuttered out, wringing Remus's handkerchief between her hands again.
"Unfortunately, that's not the case, Emma," Remus said lightly. "Based on what you've told us and what we've seen, we believe that the claims are plausible."
"Who reported?" Emma blurted out.
"We're not allowed to release that information," the other male officer said.
"Then what's happening now?"
"Well," Remus said, clearing his throat. "An investigation has been started into your care at the Dursleys. The questions you answered for us was the start of that." Remus reached out and took his handkerchief from Emma's hands and set it to the side so that he could take her hands in his. He bent down lower to catch her eye, and she gave him a hurt look, feeling betrayed. "You can't stay there, Sweet Bean. We're making other arrangements for you, but there's another issue that we need to get taken care of for you." Remus looked over at Miss Hepburn, who kept her gaze locked on Emma, a frown on her face. "I imagine this is where you would like to step in, Eirwyn?"
"Yes," she said, her lips pursing.
Emma looked over at Miss Hepburn with absolute terror. What else was going on?
"Well, Emma, during your little fainting spell, I noticed the bruise on your back when we moved you to the bed," Miss Hepburn said, crossing her arms. "Whenever we notice something concerning, we're required to do a superficial exam. Not only did I find the bruising on your back, but I found others. Most notably, there was one that you appeared to try and keep well-hidden on your shoulder that looked like a handprint –"
"Vernon just has a strong grip," Emma said quickly. "It was an accident." Emma knew she was defeated already based off of the looks she was given. She knew where this conversation was going to go, and she knew where it was going fast. If Remus said that arrangements were being made, it meant they hadn't found a suitable place for her to be moved. Emma didn't want to go back to the children's home, but that was the next logical place for her to be. She looked over at Remus almost pleadingly, but Miss Hepburn hadn't finished speaking.
"In addition to the bruising, I was concerned that you didn't appear to be eating enough, and you're sleeping far more than you should be. Your drug test concluded that you have much higher levels of your medicine than you should. I think it's safe to say that you're self-medicating and quite heavily."
Emma looked back at Remus in a panic. They said they weren't going to arrest her, but would they throw her in jail for accidentally having too much of her medication? It wasn't like she meant to have too much of it, it just made her thoughts quiet, and she sometimes forgot when she took it. Was that so wrong?
"What this means is that you need a little extra help," Remus explained gently. "It's obvious that you weren't being taken care of correctly, and while it's not okay, we're going to make sure you get the care that you need."
"But I don't…I'm fine," Emma said quietly, looking elsewhere in the room so that she didn't have to look at Remus. How could he do this to her?
"You're not, Emma," Remus said. "The Dursleys were meant to be taking care of you, and they weren't. We've decided to escalate your case, and due to the nature of your condition, we're moving you into special needs. I know that's not what you want to hear, but you deserve to be cared for properly." Remus cupped Emma's chin to turn her face to look at him. "I am not letting you down again, Emma. It might take a little more time to get you where you need to be, but I'm not giving up on you. In the meantime, I'm sorry, but we have to bring you back to Saint Nicholas's."
Emma couldn't help but start to cry once more. She didn't want to go back to Saint Nicholas's again. The children were awful, the staff not very kind, and she didn't want to feel like a burden anymore. She just wanted a home, wanted to feel safe and loved.
"R-Remy, can I please go to the bathroom?" Emma hiccoughed. "I'll be quick, I promise."
Remus's lips pressed into a thin line, and he looked over at Miss Hepburn. "Yes," he said, standing from his chair and ruffling Emma's hair affectionately. "But she's going to go with you, okay?"
"T-that's fine," Emma sniffled. She could feel her thoughts starting to take over, the voices in her head starting to talk to her much louder. Emma watched everyone carefully and stood only when everyone seemed to not be paying attention to her. As she turned to follow Miss Hepburn out of the room, Emma swiped her unattended pill bottle from the table and stuffed it in her pocket. No one would ever know.
"Are you all right, Emma?" Miss Hepburn asked as they stepped into the closest girl's bathroom. "Feeling any better?"
"I'll be fine," Emma said, not daring to explain herself further as she stepped into a stall and locked the door behind her. She pulled her pill bottle out of her pocket, grimacing at the loud Pop! as she twisted off the cap. Emma startled as the door to the bathroom stall began to rattle with Miss Hepburn's heavy hits.
"Emma, what are you doing?" Miss Hepburn asked, her voice frantic. "Emma, whatever it is you're doing – stop it right now!"
Emma started to panic as Miss Hepburn's knocking grew more feverish. She quickly shook the pills out into her hands. All she wanted to do was think clearly and not be a problem.
"Emma Nickels! You open this door right now!" Miss Hepburn shouted.
A whine escaped Emma's lips as she peered down at the pills in her hand. There were quite a few in her hand already, and the moment Miss Hepburn started knocking on the door again, Emma jumped. There had to be at least six or seven pills in her hand, but did it matter? She tossed them in her mouth, tipping her head back and swallowing hard to get them all down. Miss Hepburn continued to knock hard on the door, her shouts growing angrier as time went on.
When Emma finally felt her thoughts begin to calm, she unlocked the stall door and sat down on the toilet. She still felt nauseous, but now she felt extremely lightheaded as well.
"Emma!" Miss Hepburn said sharply, practically whipping the stall door open. "What did you do?"
"Nothing," was what Emma wanted to say, but her stomach cramped painfully. She tried to apologize next, but Emma felt herself grow sick, and the little bit of food she had eaten forced its way up. Emma wasn't sure why, but she started giggling stupidly, idly wondering why her vision had begun to blur. She made to stand up, gripping hard to the wall for support in her sluggish haze, but before she could, the entire world around her turned black.
