HT188, creelluka, here's to you for your support. Everyone else, thanks for reading!

'Come on Emma!' James encouraged. 'You can do it.'

Emma scrunched her face up in concentration.

'Nope,' she said finally, letting her breath out in one go. 'I'm just not Animagus-material.'

'Nonsense,' her brother replied. 'We'll make one of you yet.'

It was April and they were sunning themselves in their favourite spot by the Great Lake, enjoying the abnormally hot weather. It wasn't often that the twins found some time to themselves, but they tried to enjoy every minute of it. Emma got up and started skipping stones. The Giant Squid started skipping them back. She turned to James to tell him, but he had sat up straight and was staring towards the castle with an expression of disgust.

'Urgh, don't you just hate Snivellus?' he asked.

'What's he done this time?' Emma laughed, following the direction of his look.

Snape was flanked by his usual cronies: Wilkes and Mulciber. Even the spring weather couldn't bring lightness to Mulciber's face. As usual, it looked like Snape hadn't seen a bottle of shampoo in days. It might have been true, since he spent his days locked up with his books. After their initial spat, his anger had turned more towards James and his friends. Emma was impressed despite herself though, he had invented several useful spells that were fast becoming popular. Luckily for her brother, James was also an adept at combining spells - often in hilarious ways (though she was sure it did nothing to improve Lily Evans' opinion of him).

'He called Lily a Mudblood,' James replied darkly. Emma patiently waited for the rest of the story, dropping her stone. 'Ems? A little indignation please?'

'Oh sorry,' she apologised. 'I was waiting for the whole thing.'

He told her about the events leading up to the bad word. 'And then,' he finished. 'When I tried to make him apologise, Evans told me I was as bad as he was! I would NEVER call her something like that, never! Ems, tell me I'm not as bad as he is?'

'You're not,' she replied dutifully, though to her it was just a word. She did understand his annoyance at being put on the same level as Snape though. 'But you know…Evans loves the rules. Maybe if you stopped hexing him then she'd warm up to you.'

'Maybe,' James said doubtfully, taking her stone and throwing it into the lake with a plop. He looked back towards Snape. 'Hey what's up with your friend?' He nodded towards the Great Hall.

Alecto had come running out, and even from this distance they could see that something was wrong. Her head was down and it seemed like she almost tripped with every step.

'I'll talk to you later,' Emma said to her twin, before rushing up to the redhead. 'What's wrong?'

Alecto seemed out of sorts, pulling at her head and mumbling incoherently. Emma took a hold of her hands to calm her down. Her friend's mouth turned down in a grimace as she burst out. 'I'll tell you what's wrong! Amycus found out about William! He's on his way to Hogsmeade right now with Rabastan and Regulus. You have to help me Emma! I don't know what they're going to do to him!'

'Don't worry, I know a shortcut,' Emma swiftly made her way to the Whomping Willow, looking around for stray bystanders before using magic to lift a twig to press on the special knob. 'After you.'

Alecto didn't even stop to ask about the extra passageway, immediately dropping to her knees and crawling through the narrow gap. They arrived at William's house out of breath and puffing thirty minutes later. Maybe "house" is too kind a word. Hovel is more like it. The Muggle outskirts of Hogsmeade was like some kind of shantytown. William's nearest neighbours kept goats and pigs in a pen not far, and on the other side of the shack it seemed like one of the buildings had collapsed in on itself.

'Looks like they haven't come yet,' Emma said, checking the surrounding area. 'Here's your chance: tell him about magic and make him pretend he's a Squib.'

Every time William had come into contact with magic, they had cast a Memory Charm on him straight afterwards: usually when Emma found them and hexed him before taking him home. Merlin knew how the Muggle outskirts of Hogsmeade didn't know about the wizarding community within. Emma was beginning to think that they didn't even know there was a village nearby.

'I can't,' Alecto said. 'I only just made him forget. You can't use a Memory Charm twice in twenty four hours, it's the law: otherwise he'll get brain damage.'

'Then you let him know you're a witch. And you make sure he understands this time, because you're not going to reverse it. Quickly!'

Alecto knocked on the door, and the overjoyed William let her in, exclaiming that she had barely left. Emma stood outside, staring at the peeling paint on the doorframe, until her friend called her in. She thought that it might once have been white, though now it was a faded brown.

'And this is Emma,' Alecto introduced her. Emma gave him a swift smile.

'Is she a witch too?' William asked slowly. He seemed to be taking it well.

'Yes. I've told you all of this before, or at least you've seen it before, but I cast a Memory Charm to make you forget,' Alecto explained.

'Why would you do that?' he asked.

'Well, to protect you of course,' she replied. 'And I'm not supposed to tell anyone.'

'So why are you telling me now?'

'My brother doesn't like Muggles - non-magic-users - and so you have to pretend you're a Squib.'

'What's that?'

'A non-magic-user born into a wizarding family.'

'I see,' William said, but Emma could tell he didn't really. His eyes were as glassy as Lucinda's in History of Magic lessons. Thank Merlin we were able to drop that. I can't believe Regulus actually enjoys the lesson.

'Well, this is the best joke I've had played on me in a long while,' Alecto's boyfriend was saying. 'For a minute I actually believed you, but Squibs is just taking it a little too far. As if anyone would call their child a "Squib".'

'It's true!' Alecto said, pulling out her wand. William's laugh grew louder. 'I'll prove it to you.'

And she tidied the room with a wave of her wand. William's laugh stopped in its tracks, to be replaced by a look of awe.

'Whoa,' he said. There was a moment of silence. 'How come you can't tell anyone?'

'Because Muggles are so xenophobic,' Alecto explained.

'Seems like an excuse to me,' William replied. 'I bet you could cure loads of diseases with magic.'

'We would if you let us,' Emma said, annoyed. 'But last time we tried, your lot tried to burn us at the stake.'

'I would never!' William cried. 'I think magic is great.' Alecto smiled. 'Teach me it! I swear I'll be ready to learn. Then we don't have to worry about your brother.'

'It doesn't work like that William,' Alecto said gently. 'You're either born with it or you're not.'

'That's what they said about loads of things! And now you have Paralympics, people with mental disabilities overcoming them and becoming doctors...'

'Don't you think we'd teach our Squibs if we could?'

'They're just not trying hard enough,' William said stubbornly. 'Why won't you even try? Do you not want me to learn magic?'

'It's not that!' Alecto was becoming frustrated.

'Then what is it? Are you so selfish as to want to keep it to yourself? I bet that's why it's a secret, so you get to keep all the power to yourself. There must be some way to harness it. There's something you're not telling me.'

The door opened with a bang to reveal Rabastan, Regulus and Amycus. Emma shot a look at Regulus, who just shrugged. So he hadn't been able to keep them away. Or he didn't want to. Emma might bend the rules for her friends, but Regulus had his moral code. He didn't like the idea of Alecto with a Muggle at all - though she wasn't planning on marrying him, there was a greater risk of Squib children, which he hated above everything else.

'Step aside, sister,' Amycus said, sending William flying into the wall, sending plaster everywhere. The door fell off its hinges from the impact. Emma started to wonder whether the hut would cave in on them.

'Wait, Amycus! He's magical, he's not a Muggle, I swear!'

Emma hated seeing her friend, usually so confident - almost cocky - reduced to a pleading mess by this Muggle. The desperate look on Alecto's face was not one you saw often, and it was doing nothing to convince their classmates of the veracity of her words. Emma hoped he was worth it. She stepped forwards, wanting to help. 'He's a Squib. How else do you think he could live in the magical village of Hogsmeade?'

Amycus, who was not known for his great intelligence, seemed to accept this logic. Rabastan, however, did not. 'Get him to prove it then. Everyone knows that there's a Muggle community living on the outskirts. Besides, only Muggles could stand to live in a place like this.'

He waved a hand towards the room. It was true that next to Hogwarts, it was rather pitiful. A dirty towel lay in a corner next to a cracked sink. Though he's probably just fallen on hard times, Emma reminded herself. Even wizards can't fix everything with magic.

Alecto ran over to where William lay, but he flinched at her touch. 'Get away from me, witch!'

She flinched as if she had been slapped.

'I'm not a squid.'

'Squib,' corrected Regulus. Not helping, Emma thought. She wasn't sure, but she thought that he looked faintly amused.

'Whatever. Just leave me alone. I don't want anything to do with you. You're unnatural. You're freaks!'

'I guess that solves the question then. Time for a painful lesson, I think. You can't treat one of our own like that and get away,' Rabastan rolled up his sleeves, but Alecto stopped him.

'Let me. Crucio!'

It was the first time Emma had seen the Cruciatus Curse put properly to use - her own spell didn't count, since it fizzled out - and it was both horrifying and fascinating to watch. The more Alecto used it, the more William cursed her with his words, and the more he insulted her, the more furious she became. In the end Rabastan wiped his memory, worried that his screams would attract attention. Alecto didn't protest, in fact she seemed overjoyed when they left William a drooling mess in the farmhouse.

'I'm never trusting another Muggle again,' she said to Emma. 'Never. I thought he was different. Now I hate them all.'