Emma awoke with a gasping breath, almost as if she had come up from being underwater for far too long. She stared up at her darkened ceiling, trying to make sense of where she was like she had for the past week and a half. With a frown, she realized she was once again still at her grandfather's in Wales. She was 312.5 miles away and five and a half hours by car from Upper Helmsley. It was a three and a half-day walk if she moved fast and didn't take breaks. Somewhere amongst the parchment littering her floor, there were papers with complicated math she hadn't done since primary school.
She turned her head towards her nightstand, trying to make out the face of her clock in the waning moonlight. Emma took a deep breath, running her hands over her face in aggravation. It was only two in the morning, but something had pulled her from her miserable slumber.
An audible screech made her jump and set her heart racing. It was the noise that had woken her up. What could make such an awful sound? Emma pulled herself out of bed and walked slowly to her window to look into the backyard. Was there something there? She was almost afraid to look, but she forced herself to push aside her curtain to look outside.
Emma didn't consider that 312.5 miles could be covered in four hours by a hippogriff.
Her heart was suddenly set to burst out of her chest in excitement as she ran from her room and down the stairs. She could care less about her dressing gown or slippers. All she cared about was getting downstairs to find the current owner of the hippogriff currently in the backyard.
She spotted the faint light coming from the kitchen as she made it to the ground floor landing. The sound of voices traveled from the kitchen, and she froze, listening carefully for the voice she wanted desperately to hear. Emma sighed sadly when she only recognized two voices and not three, but at least one was very welcome.
Emma bolted across the sitting room to the kitchen and met Sirius's gaze as he stood near the door.
"I think you would put a herd of Erumpent to shame."
Emma laughed, practically tackling Sirius into a tight hug. He looked much better than when she had seen him last, finally cleaned up and wearing the all too familiar clothes of her father. His hair was shorter, cut to around his chin, and surprisingly curly, his face finally shaved and smooth. He looked like an entirely different man, still skinny, but color had finally made its way into his cheeks. She couldn't stop herself from touching Sirius's face, running her hands over his light stubble.
"I didn't know you had a face underneath all that hair," Emma said.
"Yes, well that makes two of us," Sirius's said, running a hand along his jaw. "Feels so much better. Might go clean-shaven for a while, but we'll see."
"Is it safe for you to be here?"
"They spotted me back up by Scotland. They won't think to come down this way for a while," Sirius said, pulling Emma back into his arms at the first sign of tears.
"And Daddy?"
"He's fine," Sirius said, kissing the top of Emma's head and hugging her tighter. "That was from Moony, by the way," he added, making Emma make an ugly snort through her tears. He kissed the top of her head again. "And that one's from me."
"W-what are you doing here?" she managed to squeak out, burying her face in the jumper Sirius wore just to inhale the familiar scent.
"Coming to see you, of course."
"Y-you sh-should be with Daddy. N-not with me."
Sirius squeezed her impossibly tighter. "Sunshine, I am right where I need to be. Elle's with him right now. He'll be all right without me for a few days. Moony's strong – he always has been."
"He has to be if he has to deal with us two," Emma said with a watery giggle. She leaned back slightly, peering up at Sirius. "I want to go home…"
"I know," Sirius said gently. "We want you back home where you belong. Unfortunately, my dear, you are not an Animagus, and we can't sneak you back there."
"I can't become an Animagus anyway," Emma grumbled.
"And it's a good thing, too," Lyall said quietly. "I don't even want to know what trouble you would get into."
Emma grimaced as she slowly let go of Sirius. She took a deep breath, turning to her grandfather with a slight smile. "No more than I usually get into, I'm sure," she said.
"Considering you've sent the gnomes all running from the garden, I reckon that's a strong possibility."
An awkward silence fell in the kitchen, and Emma started to become self-conscious of how she looked. Her hair had to be an absolute mess from not touching it days, and she admittedly hadn't taken a shower in a few days. To make matters worse, her stomach decided it would be an appropriate time to growl loudly.
"Did you eat?" Lyall questioned, his forehead wrinkling as his brows knit together.
Emma looked up at Lyall guiltily and shook her head. "No," she replied, her face flushing.
"Why not?" Sirius asked, folding his arms and giving Emma a surprisingly stern look. Emma had a funny feeling that Remus had already briefed Sirius that she didn't eat much when she was stressed.
"I, uhm…"
"I made steak and kidney pie," Lyall said to Sirius.
Sirius's face softened, understanding immediately. Emma had no doubt that Remus had to have given Sirius a crash course in important information about her. "She won't eat it if there are kidneys," Sirius explained to Lyall. "She'll only have a regular steak pie. You didn't give her mushy peas, did you?"
"Oh, Merlin," Lyall breathed out, running a hand over his face. "Cariad, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot."
"It's all right," Emma said with a small shrug.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to be a bother," Emma answered quietly, staring down at her toes as she brushed them across the tile floor.
"Well, guess I'm going to owe Remus a Galleon for that one," Sirius sighed, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a thick roll of paper. He unrolled the papers dramatically and cleared his throat. "Item one in knowing our daughter – she doesn't tell anyone when something is wrong. Item two, she doesn't eat when she's stressed –" a bright glimmer reached Sirius's eyes as he glanced up at Emma "– and item three, anything can be made better with chocolate."
Emma looked at Sirius curiously as he bent down to pick up a paper bag sitting behind his foot and held it out to her. "What's this?" Emma asked, staring blankly at the bag.
"Gifts from Moony," Sirius shrugged. "Open it."
With a mix of excitement and confusion, Emma opened the bag and swore she would weep from sheer happiness. The scent of freshly baked bread wafted out of the bag, and she was fully prepared to shove her face into the bag to inhale the smell. She peered into the bag, further curious of its contents, and sighed seeing several bars of chocolate. Three bars of Fry's Raspberry Creams because – "Remus took the fourth," Sirius said with a wink. "Keep going; there's more."
Emma pulled the chocolate out, set it aside, and started salivating as she pulled the fresh loaf of bread out of the bag. Her excitement grew when she saw that there were rolls as well, and even better – "How did he know I was desperately craving a bacon butty?" Emma asked Sirius in sheer disbelief. She set the bag down to pull out the gratuitous bacon-filled sandwich with a feigned sob. Emma wasn't sure whether she should eat it or hug it out of happiness.
"Item number four – when Emma decides she doesn't want to eat, you can count on her to never pass up a bacon butty," Sirius said with a smile. He flipped through the pages in his hand with a sigh before rolling them back up to stick in his back pocket. "Well, don't just stare at it. I'm not too sure how much longer the warming charm will hold."
"What even is that you have?" Emma asked, taking a bite of the sandwich with a happy wiggle. "Oh, Merlin, I missed this. Hogwarts food is all right, but Dad's sandwiches are special."
"I suppose I'll be picking up bacon before coming home from work tomorrow," Lyall sighed, clasping Sirius's shoulder. "I should head off to bed. Early shift. You're staying for a few days, Sirius?"
"For as long as I can, if that's all right. Buckbeak shouldn't be any trouble," Sirius said, winking at Emma as her face lit up.
"Stay however long you want. Just make sure the doors are locked tight," Lyall said, bending down to kiss the top of Emma's head. "Nos da cariad."
"Nos da," Emma murmured, worrying her lip between her teeth as she watched Lyall leave. She pulled the closest chair out at the table and sat down heavily, staring miserably at the sandwich in her hand. "I've been terrible to him."
"Emma, he understands," Sirius said, sitting down across from her. "We all do."
"But it doesn't mean I should be…" Emma took another bite of sandwich and chewed it forcefully. "I've been a complete brat."
"You're allowed to be a brat, but none of us think that you are," Sirius said, leaning forward towards Emma. "Honestly, we were all worried that your reaction was, er, going to be more extreme than it is."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, your track record hasn't been the best, Pumpkin," Sirius said slowly.
Emma froze mid-chew and swallowed. "Did you just come here to make sure I wasn't about to –"
"No! No, I'm not here because – oh, bloody hell, I'm not good at this," Sirius groaned, running his hands over his face. "I didn't come here because we thought you were going to try and off yourself again."
"But you all talked about it, didn't you?" Emma asked with a frown.
"Well…"
"I already said I wouldn't do that again," Emma huffed, angrily stuffing more sandwich in her mouth. "The fact…that you lot…would even think…that I would do that…is offensive," Emma said between chews. She swallowed her bite of sandwich, shooting Sirius a glare. "I promised Dad I wouldn't do that again. Or hurt myself again for that matter."
"We know," Sirius said quickly. "I swear, we know. We were worried because you haven't been writing to anyone. Er, that Hermione girl has sent at least five letters to Remus worried that no one's heard from you. Got a collective letter from the Weasleys just this morning. That's not including the two from Augusta since you haven't written to Neville either. From what we've heard from your grandfather, you haven't really left your room."
"So you all panicked?" Emma asked, arching an eyebrow in question.
"To put it simply, yes," Sirius said, reaching back to pull out the rolled papers from his pocket. "Which is precisely why Remus has sent me with practically an entire textbook on how to take care of you. Thought your grandfather could use it, too. Apparently, we've both got to go to school and learn how to take care of you correctly."
"He did not," Emma said in alarm as she snatched the papers from Sirius's hand to look at them. She couldn't believe that Remus would ever do such a thing, but as she flipped through the pages, her heart broke a little bit. "Oh, bloody hell. I didn't know he paid this much attention to me. If it wasn't so endearing, it would be a bit scary."
"Well, that's Remus for you," Sirius said, scratching his head. "So far it's been pretty accurate."
"He's mental."
"He adores you," Sirius corrected. "Honestly, I think writing all of this was what helped keep him sane the moment he got home. This and baking. It's smelled wonderful in the house, honestly, but he won't stop. I don't think I've ever seen him so lost before."
"He's probably thinking about how things were the last time," Emma replied quietly as she finished her sandwich. "I'm sure it feels the same. Maybe worse because he knows exactly where I am."
Sirius only looked up at Emma sadly. "That was my fault. If I had just –"
"It wasn't your fault," Emma said earnestly. She groaned, leaning back into the chair. "I hate when I open my mouth and hear Dad."
"Because he would be telling you the exact same thing?"
"I'm sure we would've had a row or two over it by now."
"Or he would just sit all grumpy in his chair and stare at you until he guilted you into deciding he was right."
A small smile crossed Emma's face, knowing precisely what Sirius was talking about. It was such a level and steady, unyielding stare. If you were lucky, you would get the slight quirk of his brow, and the one corner of his lips would lift. It was impossible to tell whether it was from amusement or annoyance. It was terrifying that a single look from Remus could equate to several different emotions. Either way, it was best not to test him and find out.
"What's with the look?" Sirius suddenly asked.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked in confusion.
"This," Sirius said, gesturing at Emma. "Your hair looks like how mine did."
"Oh," Emma said, her cheeks heating up. "I uhm…wweeellll, I guess I haven't really been taking care of myself," she admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. "I was, in the beginning, but then I realized absolutely nothing I have here fits. These are the only pajamas I have, and I came to the conclusion that if I don't change out of them, then they're not…dirty."
Sirius nodded and took a deep breath. "Well, I can't say much, considering I wore the same thing for a year straight," Sirius sighed. "But that's also why I've got Remus's jumper – got another one underneath this one, actually. Couldn't bring you anything obvious, but he said you'll wear his jumpers to bed?"
"Oh, he's wonderful," Emma said appreciatively. "They're so big they're like a nightie on me." Emma shot up quickly, motioning for Sirius to hand the jumpers to her. "I am taking a shower. I bloody need one."
"Oh, good," Sirius said with a lopsided grin as he pulled off the top jumper. "You said it, so I didn't have to."
Emma gave Sirius a soft punch in his arm with a smile, pulling the jumper up to her nose to smell it. It smelled just like home and the crisp night air. "You're terrible," Emma said, "but I love you."
Even with conditioning her hair several times, Emma's hair was a tangle of knots. She sat on the floor in front of Sirius so that he could try and brush the knots out. Emma gnawed on her lip as she took in the mess in her room and was grateful that Sirius wasn't saying a word about it. She didn't even think of taking a minute to clean up even a little bit, but then again, she wasn't the neatest anyway. Her room back home was always in some form of disarray until Remus would get too bothered that he couldn't cross the floor without stepping on something. Remus would insist she clean but get annoyed and just give her room a quick sweep of his wand. In no time at all, her things would be back where they belonged.
"Your hair is so bloody long," Sirius commented as he delicately combed through a particularly big knot. "I like having long hair, but I certainly couldn't deal with it this long."
Emma hadn't thought about how much her hair had grown. She couldn't remember the last time she had it cut, and it sat just below her shoulder blades. Emma had to admit that it was much longer than she had been used to in a few years.
"It was much longer when Dad took me home," Emma commented. "Down to my lower back."
"Merlin, it was that long? How did you manage?"
"I always wore it up. I was terrified of letting…" she trailed off for a moment, clearing her throat. "Uhm, Persephone cut my hair first year," Emma said, motioning to the spot just over her shoulder. "Around here. Gave me that fringe that I kept until last year. It was a much more manageable length."
"The fringe was cute," Sirius said. "You had one when you were small."
"I know," Emma said. "It was at least adorable then. I think I grew out of it, though. I don't think it looked right anymore."
Sirius stopped brushing Emma's hair for a moment to lean over her shoulder. "Well, I think you look beautiful no matter how you have your hair," he said, kissing the spot near her temple.
Emma smiled at Sirius and laid her head against his knee. "Do you think you could cut my hair for me tomorrow?"
"It is tomorrow," Sirius said with a slight air of glee.
"Sirius!"
"Yes, I am Sirius."
"Do I even want to know how often you use that joke?" Emma groaned.
"Probably far more often than I should, actually. Can't help it – it's too perfect. Your father used to give me a right bollocking over it when we were in school. He absolutely bloody hated it."
"I can see that," Emma giggled. "Sirius, how long are you really going to stay? I know you can't stay here forever."
Sirius continued to comb through Emma's hair quietly. "A few days at least," he said after a while. "I have to keep moving so that they don't know where I am. I might head out of the country for a bit. Somewhere I don't have to hide, but I won't stay long. A week at most."
"Where do you plan on going?"
"Hmm, probably somewhere warm," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Just to get out of the cold. I think I'm permanently frozen right to my bones."
"Bet Dad was nice to sleep next to then. He's like a furnace."
"He's very, very warm."
"I'm sure that's at least nicer without me there," Emma sighed. "I'm sorry that I ruined all of those nights you were with us at Hogwarts."
"Ruined them? You didn't ruin a thing. Did he not tell you that we all used to climb into each other's beds in school?"
"Well, yes, but that was different. You were all mates, and you weren't dealing with an anxious, well, me."
"Emma, some of my favorite moments when you smaller was when the three of us would all nap together," Sirius said, a fondness to his voice. "If Remus wasn't lying on the couch, he would lie on the floor with you. You would be sleeping on your little blanket, Remus would lay on his side next to you and just watch you sleep. I would lay down on the other side of you, and it was like you were in a protective little bubble between us. A part of you always seemed to know that we were all together. You would turn yourself to snuggle up against Remus and whine until I got closer, and we would fall asleep like that. Just the three of us on the floor, just out in the living room here, actually."
"Really?"
"Really. Remus used to love just running his finger up and down your nose. Thought it was the cutest little thing in the world."
"My nose?"
"It was rather cute," Sirius admitted. "Just like a little button. Still cute now."
Emma touched her nose, scrunching up her face. "It's not cute," she said, turning her head to look at Sirius over her shoulder.
"It is absolutely adorable," Sirius said, running his finger down the bridge of her nose with a smile. "And I believe your hair is finally tangle free."
Emma ran her hands through her hair with a content sigh. "Thank you," she said. "But will you cut it for me tomorrow?"
"You still want me to cut it after I put in all that work?"
"Please?"
"I suppose," Sirius said with a dramatic sigh. "Now, let's get you into bed. I think I know how to tuck you in, at least."
"You don't have to," Emma said quickly.
"I am here, and I would like to," Sirius said gently. "I imagine that you'll sleep much better if you have some of your bedtime routine."
Even though everyone told her it was okay to like being tucked in, Emma felt embarrassed by it. The fact that Sirius was so willing to take over the job made her heart hurt. It only made her miss being home even more.
"I know it won't be the same way as Remus does it, but maybe we can come up with our own little routine," Sirius said, stroking Emma's hair. "If you don't want me to, that's fine. I just want you to be happy. We all do."
Emma considered it for a moment and nodded. "I think I would like that," she whispered.
Sirius trying to figure out Emma's bedtime routine was surprisingly fun. He struggled through it, torn between just talking to her and telling her a story, and wound up doing a mixture of the two. She wound up in a fit of giggles that forced Sirius to transform into Padfoot just so he could try to settle her down. It worked wonders. For the first time in nearly two weeks, Emma fell asleep quickly, happily curled around the dog.
Waking up, however, was disorienting as always. Every time she opened her eyes, Emma expected to find herself in her real room back home and not at her grandfather's. This time she expected to at least have a sleeping dog next to her.
Emma sat up, rubbing her eyes to find Sirius, who was absolutely not Padfoot, sitting at the end of her bed. He held something in his hands, and Emma's stomach sank when she realized what it was.
"You looked through my letters?" Emma squeaked out. She took a look around in a panic and realized that her room was far cleaner than it was before. It was possibly cleaner than when she even arrived, having not touched the room since Christmas. Either Sirius had let her sleep in, or he couldn't sleep; she couldn't figure out which option was most likely.
"No," Sirius said, shaking his head, "I didn't until I saw these. And realized that you had tried to respond. Are these from Greyback?"
Emma studied Sirius closely, eyes narrowed, not quite sure if whether she should believe him. She sighed, shoulders slumping forward, and she nodded.
"When?" Sirius asked sharply.
"The first one was the night I got home. At King's Cross."
"He was in King's Cross?"
"He didn't stay. I literally walked into him while I was looking for Dad. Gave me that first note and left. More like he shoved it in my hand, really."
"And the second?"
"Last night," Emma replied after a beat.
Sirius's eyes grew wide. "Last night?" he asked, his tone urgent. "You didn't go, did you?"
"No. I went right to bed after actually. It's –"
"Right up the road. I know." Sirius frowned, looking down at the notes. "You never told Lyall, did you?"
"No," Emma said, shaking her head. "I didn't think Greyback would show up out of nowhere. I thought it was going to be his cryptic message, and that was it."
"This is a problem," Sirius muttered. "He doesn't care if he's seen."
"Why is that a problem if it's public –"
"It's so he can make a statement. I think you're the message."
Emma swallowed hard, running her hands through her hair. "Well, that's one way to wake up, I guess," Emma said, hugging herself tightly.
"We don't want you to be in the dark about what is going on," Sirius said quietly, guilt crossing his face. "We're worried that Greyback is going to take advantage of the situation. He'll take advantage of you being vulnerable. I certainly don't like that he's so close."
"I'm not vulnerable," Emma huffed.
"All right," Sirius said, holding his hands up in surrender. "You're not vulnerable mentally, but you are vulnerable physically. You don't even have a wand to protect yourself with. That doesn't even factor in the fact that you're very petite, Emma. You know how strong Remus is…you're not going to have any chance around Greyback."
A slight pout crossed Emma's face, and she flopped back down onto her mattress. "I hate Jude," she muttered.
"Don't we all?" Sirius said with a bitter, mirthless chuckle. "Come on, get up, and let's have breakfast."
It should have been evident to Emma that Sirius would be just as terrible at cooking as she was. Twelve years in Azkaban had left Sirius entirely out of practice cooking, and Emma only succeeded in making messes. After completely covering the counters in every possible food they tried to make, they settled on toast and jam. At least that they could handle with ease.
"Grandpa's going to kill us," Emma said when she looked around at the mess they had created. Broken eggshells littered the counter, the frying pan held very burnt and blackened eggs. Milk had someone managed to find its way on the floor, and neither of them knew who was responsible for that mess. Buckbeak made a loud squawk from outside while Sirius was adding jam to his toast, and he had flung jam onto the wall. Emma, startled by both Buckbeak and Sirius, had dropped her toast on the floor.
That didn't even include the disaster that was Sirius suggesting they make American style pancakes. Neither of them had prowess with a flour bag.
"And this is why Remus is the cook of the family," Sirius said slowly as he took in the damage that they had done. He scratched his nose, humming quietly in thought. "We can clean up in a bit. Lyall said he would be working until three, and we've got five hours. What do you say we cut your hair?"
While Sirius was not a good cook in the least, he had a surprisingly steady hand for cutting hair. After searching both bathrooms, they finally found a pair of hair cutting scissors to use. Since the kitchen was already a mess, they decided that would be the best place to cut her hair. Emma sat facing the front door so that they wouldn't be startled if Lyall somehow came home earlier than he was supposed to.
Emma was initially in a panic at the idea of letting him anywhere near her hair, but she let him do a few test cuts, and it seemed all right.
"Are you sure you just want me to just cut it straight across?" Sirius asked as he brushed Emma's hair out.
"Yes, I promise – that's fine," Emma insisted. "I just want it to be shorter."
"Why didn't you cut your hair yourself if you just want it straight across?" Sirius asked conversationally as he started to cut Emma's hair.
"Oh, I, er…did I ever tell you how my second year went?"
"Yeah," Sirius said slowly, before adding an, "Oh."
"Needless to say, I haven't touched scissors since," Emma whispered. "I can't."
An awkward silence fell between them as Sirius continued to cut her hair, concentrating on keeping Emma's hair straight. "Are you afraid that you'll fall back into that habit again?" he asked after a while.
"Not anymore," Emma admitted. "I think if I were going to hurt myself again, I would have already, to be honest. Elara suggesting I have a much more intensive therapy helped a lot. It was hard to get through, but it helped."
"Remus told me all about the family sessions you two had when Elara had Dr. Wheeler came by. Had me join in it, actually," Sirius said, clearing his throat. "I'm not sure that it's for me."
"I didn't think it was for me either in the beginning," Emma responded after a moment. "I didn't think I had any real problems. I didn't think that the things Dad showed me affected me as much as they did."
Emma jumped as Sirius dropped the scissors with a clatter. He sucked in a sharp breath and threw his arms tightly around Emma from behind.
"I'm so sorry," Sirius whispered, pressing multiple kisses to her hair. "I am so incredibly sorry. Had I known…"
"I don't think it would have changed a thing," Emma whispered back, leaning back into Sirius's embrace. "You and Daddy did what you could with what you knew. Mum didn't tell either of you, so you can't…none of us can change the past."
"You kids did," Sirius pointed out. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here. I'm incredibly grateful for that."
"That was different," Emma muttered, gripping tight to Sirius's arms. "It was only for three hours. We would have to go back to when I was born. As nice as it sounds, I don't know that we would have gotten to this point."
"We could have all been a family right at the beginning."
"And what if things went wrong? Papa, what if you or Daddy got hurt? We wouldn't have each other now if that happened. It was scary enough during those three hours, not knowing that we would actually succeed in saving you or Buckbeak. How things are right now is bad enough. I can't imagine not having either of you at all."
"Papa," Sirius breathed out, leaning forward to kiss Emma's cheek. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to that."
"Took Daddy some time to get used to, too," Emma said, turning her head so she could look at Sirius. "Like I said, we'll ease into that one. It'll take me some time to get used to saying it…unless you hate it, of course."
"No, I love it," Sirius said quickly. "Do you want to know a secret, though?"
"What is it?"
"I always thought it would be the other way around. I always thought I would be Daddy, and Remus would be Papa."
Emma considered it for a moment and gave a slight shrug. "I can see it," she said. "Not sure I could switch now, though, sorry. Besides, Papa Padfoot sounds nice."
Sirius chuckled softly. "I suppose it does."
Emma and Sirius were content to stay exactly how they were for a while. They both startled when they heard the back door open. They turned around quickly, checking the time in confusion that Lyall was home three hours early.
Lyall stood in the doorway, his jaw dropping as he took in the state of the kitchen. "What did you two do?" Lyall questioned as he did another scan of the kitchen. He looked over at Emma, his eyes widening. "And why does your hair look that way?"
Emma reached back to check her hair and immediately burst into laughter when she found a much longer section of hair than the rest. "Papa! You didn't even finish cutting my hair?"
"Oh, shit," Sirius said, running his hands through Emma's hair with a bark of laughter. "I didn't finish!"
A soft laugh of disbelief left Lyall's lips, and he smiled. "You know what? I'll clean up, it's fine. It's nice to see you smiling, Emma," he said, looking at Emma and Sirius fondly. He pointed a finger at Sirius. "Just, please finish cutting my granddaughter's hair. I don't think she would appreciate going around like that. I know teenagers have funny ideas of fashion now, but I think that's a bit out there."
"I absolutely would not like going out like this," Emma giggled, leaning sideways to pick up the scissors. She felt funny having them in her hand, and she handed them to Sirius. "Can't always be afraid, can I?" she whispered to him quietly.
Sirius kissed the top of her head. "No, you can't, baby girl. Let's get this finished," he said, taking the scissors from Emma's hand and working on finishing cutting her hair. He glanced up at the clock and frowned at Lyall as he started to clean up the mess they had made. "You're home early. Did something happen?"
Lyall froze as he started adding their dishes to the sink. "We'll talk about it tonight," he said, turning to Sirius with a tight smile. "Everything's all right."
a/n: Aahhh! This is the quickest people have responded to one of my fics - thank you, thank you, thank you. :D If you're new here, hello! If you've been a part of this journey, welcome back~
I'll take a moment to plug the fact that I can be found everywhere else online (Twitter, Tumblr, etc) as mymoonyandstars. We've got a Discord that's super complicated to get through from this site, but we exist! I've also started a Spotify/Apple Music playlist for this fic. It might take me a few days to update, but it'll have a song per chapter. I have no idea how to link to them, though. D:
Lu - I'm responding to both your last review on Daughter of the Moon and this one here: I absolutely adored writing the Emma and Moony moment. The whole being half-werewolf thing definitely was in her favor, otherwise he would have attacked her. As to what Greyback means? Hmmmm...we'll find out in this book! Unfortunately the Big Bad Wolf will be here a lot (and very soon). Alllllll of the mystery that's been building up will be solved by the end of this one and then the action will start. :O I'm pretty excited for it, actually. I'm glad you liked the introduction for year four! I had been going back and forth on how to open up this year and it just made sense when I started writing. I appreciate every review you leave, but don't feel any pressure whatsoever! I know that you're reading and that makes me happy! I'm glad that people want to follow Emma's journey as well. :) Thank you as always!
