Here comes chapter 15! Sorry for the semi-cliff hanger, but I think we all knew what appeared at the Potter's doorstep!

As usual, creelluka and HT188 - I live for your reviews. Also, xXRosexScorpiusXx I'm glad you like the story, and I'll do my best to keep it that way!

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P.S. This story is also on Archive of Our Own if you prefer the formatting (albeit a couple of chapters behind). Enjoy!

A/N Updated thanks to Williukea

'Sirius!'

A bedraggled Sirius was dripping water on the welcome mat. His hair clumped together limply, making a stark contrast to his usual flowing locks. A rather large suitcase was in his left hand and he held a backpack in his right. For the first time since Emma had known him he looked worried, even scared. There was no need to ask what happened.

'Do you mind if I crash here for a while?' he asked hopefully, in the voice of someone who was grasping at his last straws.

James and Emma, much to their shame, just stared, listening to the dripping of Sirius's clothes. The door was still open and they could hear the wind egging the rain on. The spell was broken when the twins' parents rushed in.

'Goodness Sirius what happened?' Natalie Potter asked, and Emma was reminded that her parents lived in some sort of bubble away from Hogwarts. Of course they didn't know about the Black family's predicament. 'Let's get you out of those wet clothes, and then you can tell us all about it.'

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius was nursing a cup of hot tea in the Potter's kitchen. He explained about the situation with his parents: their love of blood purity and his openly defying them, his rebellious action of getting placed in Gryffindor and his hatred of his cousins: Narcissa, getting married to a potential Death Eater, and Bellatrix, a Death Eater herself. That summer, his remaining cousin Andromeda married a Muggleborn and his mother blew her off of the family tree: a tapestry with the whole Black family woven into it. The sarcasm was evident in his voice as he explained his mother's manner of "purging" the family in order to keep it pure. She had pressured Sirius to take a side in the wizarding war and threatened to disown him if he chose wrongly.

'So I told her that nothing would make me happier than to leave that family, so I left,' he concluded. 'It was raining in London though, and this is the only place I could think of to go. I hope you don't mind.'

Emma was suddenly struck with a vision of Sirius climbing aboard the Knight Bus in the dead of the night, not knowing which destination to ask for.

'Don't be silly,' Charles Potter laid a hand on Sirius's shoulder. 'You are always welcome in this house.'

Sirius moving in was a turning point in Emma's summer. It was subtle at first, the change barely perceptible, but as the month went on it was obvious that Charles kept comparing Emma and Sirius's situation. It started when Sirius was talking about how the Hat took into account his fervent wish to be in Gryffindor. Charles remarked that maybe Emma should have done so too. When Sirius joked about pranks he would play on Slytherins in retaliation for their bullying Muggleborns, Charles asked if they were Emma's friends and if so why. It came to a head when their Hogwarts letters arrived and in a true mother-hen fashion, Natalie was making a list of the new books they would buy later that day. She noticed that both Sirius and Emma were continuing Muggle Studies and was curious.

'Why Muggle Studies then?' Natalie asked, surprised.

'Muggles are just fascinating,' breathed Sirius, eyes lighting up at the mention of his favourite subject. 'The things they invent to replace magic are amazing. I'm saving up for a motorcycle to see how they really work. Plus, it would make my parents mad.'

'But Emma you haven't shown an interest in Muggle transport. You even hate travelling by car! I thought you were more interested in spellcraft.'

'It's not the Muggle transport that interests me Mum,' Emma explained. 'I want to know just what divided Muggles and wizards in the first place. Why do we need a Statute of Secrecy? What went wrong? There must have been a reason for Muggles to start hating wizards the way they did.'

'We fear what we do not understand,' Natalie said.

'Exactly,' Emma grinned. It was the perfect moment to pitch her speech. She had planned it carefully, mentioning only the goals and not the methods she would be willing to use. 'What if we showed them? What if Muggles saw the ways wizards could help them? They spend so much time on mundane tasks that we can accomplish in a flick of a wand. I just don't understand. If they accepted magic, we could accept them into our hospitals, stop them from dying of diseases that have nearly been eradicated in the wizarding world. Take broken bones for example: Madame Pomfrey mended James's arm in a couple of hours, and Muggles need months.'

'Careful Emma,' her father warned. 'You're starting to sound like Voldemort and his followers.'

'But Dad,' Emma said, seeing her opening to make them come around. 'They do have a point on some things. If Muggles weren't blinded by their jealousy of magic, giants and werewolves wouldn't be forced into hiding. And they need us: their technology, though as impressive as Sirius says, doesn't come close to what can be accomplished by magic. I think the world would be a better place if we make them understand. It might be hard for them at first, but like Mum says, that's the problem at the moment. Do you know how many Muggle-born children have been sent to St Mungo's because Muggles have tried to force magic out of them?'

'I can't believe I'm hearing this! From my own daughter!' A horrified look came across Charles' face. 'Don't tell me… Are those Death Eaters brain washing you?'

'What?' Emma asked, taken aback. And here I was, thinking I was making reasonable points. Her father had even complained at having to go to a Muggle hospital when they were on holiday, causing his arm to be put in a splint for the remainder of their stay. But he hadn't finished speaking

'It makes sense now. Those letters that were sealed with the Black family crest... After what Sirius has told me of his family, I decided to burn them. Who knew if there were curses in them? I thought they were for Sirius, but now I know otherwise.'

'Oh and the fact that they probably had Emma Potter written on the front didn't occur to you?' Emma asked snarkily, her anger bubbling to the surface.

'It could have been a ruse,' Charles didn't look regretful at all.

'Charles!' Natalie reprimanded, but it was James who surprised them the most.

'How could you do that Dad? Emma's your daughter, my twin! If we can't trust the people we love, then we're just as bad as them,' he said furiously, getting up from the table, his breakfast untouched. 'Why don't you rip up my letters too Dad? Did you know Remus is a werewolf? Are you going to suspect him because of something he can't control too? Are you going to forbid my friendship with him? Come on Ems, we should get to Diagon Alley before the shops close.'

He stormed back into the house. Emma and Sirius exchanged a look and hurried after him, both fearing what the Potters would say after James's outburst.

'I didn't mean to -' Sirius began.

'I know you didn't mean to. But you did anyway: your own family wasn't enough for you, so you had to take mine too.' She threw the words he said to her in first year back into his face

Sirius's face whitened. Emma immediately regretted her rashness: it wasn't his fault that she was hurt. But it was too late to take it back now, so she just followed James into the Floo network. She squeezed her brother's arm to show her thanks and hoped that it wouldn't affect his relationship with their dad. Her own might have been damaged beyond repair, but there was no need to bring James down with her.

'Look, there is no way I can thank you enough for what you did. But now that we're here, dad's kind of right. I want to see how Regulus is doing now Sirius is gone, and you're known for being pro-Muggleborn. I don't want to give his parents and the Slytherins reason to think he's like his brother; who knows what could happen?'

'But you're in Slytherin and you're with me,' James pointed out.

'Yeah but you're my brother: family counts with that lot. I'll be fine. And besides…I don't really want to spend the day with Sirius.'

James wasn't pleased, but nodded. It wasn't Sirius's fault that Charles was mad, but he represented what would happen if the problems at home continued. And anyway, I have to apologise for leaking Mooney's secret, he thought guiltily.

She wandered through various shops, buying quills and parchment here and potions ingredients there. By the time Emma finally found Regulus in Flourish and Blotts with Rabastan, her anger had dissipated somewhat.

'Hey, look who's back from the dead!' Rabastan said joyfully, but reigned in his hug at a look from Emma. She felt too raw for any kind of physical contact. Plus, ever since that Christmas... 'Why haven't you replied to any of our letters?'

So dad got rid of the Lestranges' letters too, she thought. Makes sense, considering Bellatrix is famous for her "Muggle hunts" and her husband is Rabastan's brother. I wonder who else tried to contact me.

'My dad's been playing the interceptor,' she laughed humourlessly. 'He's scared of you becoming a bad influence on me.'

'Ouch,' Rabastan winced, before a thought occurred to him. 'Hey isn't Sirius Black staying with you now that he's been disowned?'

'Don't even mention his name in front of me,' Regulus hissed at his friend, suddenly venomous. Emma turned to him in surprise.

'Okay, okay,' Rabastan backed away with his hands in the air, not wishing to receive any more of the brunt of Regulus's anger against his brother. 'I'm off to get Potions supplies, but Alecto told me she'd be at Fortescue's with Rosier later on if you're still here.'

'Rosier?' Emma asked Regulus, opting for a safe topic of conversation. 'Since when does Rabastan call Lucinda Rosier?'

'He's talking about Evan,' Regulus replied shortly. 'They started dating during the summer. Since when are you best buddies with my brother?'

Emma bit the inside of her cheek. 'We're not "best buddies" and you know it. It's James who's friends with him.'

'Yeah well, it seems like you're pretty okay with it considering,' Regulus retorted.

'Considering what? Considering that he had nowhere else to go? That because of him my dad is ready to kick me out? Merlin Regulus, what is your problem all of a sudden?'

'Sorry,' he replied, sighing. He ran a hand through his hair - the only nervous habit he had. 'It's just that what with your silence these past few weeks and my blood-traitor of a brother staying at your house, people are starting to wonder if you're really on our side of the war. I was starting to think that... That you'd taken his side.'

'What? Of course not,' she said, stunned. 'You know that. I told you, my dad burned the letters. I'm only in Diagon Alley today because we had an argument. It's still our side, Reg.'

This was the point where she'd normally put a hand on his arm to make her point, but the look that flashed across her friend's face stopped her in her tracks. She didn't have time to process what she saw before his features smoothed again. But by now she knew better than to think she was imagining it.

'What is it?' she asked resignedly.

'I know that now, but they don't. I'm serious Emma. They've even doubted my family's loyalty, and it's probably more dangerous if you're a turncoat than if you were against them in the first place. Do you know what happens to Death Eaters that defect? The Dark Lord hunts them down personally and tortures them until they beg him to kill them.'

'Good thing we're not turncoats then,' Emma replied.

'Good thing. Oh and, congratulations on making Quidditch captain,' Regulus said, pointing to the silver badge on her robes. 'If you don't put me on the team, you won't even have to worry about Voldemort hunting you down. I'll do it myself.'

She found James and Sirius a couple of hours later to Floo back home, something that she was not looking forward to. She mentally prepared herself, trying to compartmentalise her feelings, separating herself from the ones that hurt too much. She wouldn't let her father see how much his words hurt her - and how close they were to the truth. If she was honest with herself, the thing that really bothered her was that Sirius managed to fit seamlessly within her family, whereas she was becoming a stranger to Charles.

Over the years he and James had bonded more and more closely and the siblings was drifting apart. At least her mother still seemed somewhat understanding: they spent hours discussing different spells and their categories. Like Emma, she was fascinated with how the Dark Arts worked, and why curses were so easy to make and so hard to break, but Emma didn't dare tell her about sometimes putting them into practice. Though she could easily cast a Shield Charm, it wasn't the same as knowing that you could defend yourself, or knowing how the curse worked. The duel prepared by Voldemort had taught her that.

To her surprise though, neither her mother nor father mentioned the fight. In fact, they pretended it hadn't happened at all. But sometimes Emma caught Charles looking at her in a way that seemed to throw a wrench in her heart. Why can't he understand that it isn't all bad? she thought angrily to herself a week later, charming her clothes to fold themselves in her trunk. She and James had figured out long ago that if their parents didn't see them doing under-age magic, then they didn't know about it. And she couldn't be bothered to pack.

Instead she got out her Nimbus 1001 - an early Christmas present from her parents when they found out that both of their children had been made Quidditch captain - and started methodically taking it apart and cleaning it. Why can't everything be as easy as Quidditch? Her father had given her one of his increasingly rare smiles when they found out the news. Quidditch seemed to be the one thing that breached the House differences. If the Gryffindor Seeker performed a Wronski Feint, then the whole Slytherin team would nod approvingly, knowing how hard it was to achieve.

'Knock knock,' Natalie Potter said, entering with a fresh batch of laundry.

Emma hurriedly tried to get her socks to stop packing themselves, but merely succeeded in making them try to stretch from one side of the room to the other. Natalie stopped them with a flick of her wand.

'Sometimes I think we were too lenient with you and James,' she sighed. 'I just found him doing the exact same thing. At least Sirius had the sense to pack yesterday: he even ironed all of his shirts by hand.'

Emma snorted. Sirius really did have an ego problem.

'Don't laugh Emma, I think he's really trying.'

'Yeah, trying to be your second child,' Emma muttered, clipping the uneven twigs at the bottom of her broomstick.

'That's not fair Emma,' her mother chided gently.

'I know,' she replied, but secretly thought that her father would have much preferred Sirius as a son than herself as a daughter.

'You just make it so hard sometimes. You're young and passionate, but I'm scared at how far you would go to make things the way you believe to be right. And then you inherited my interest for spellcraft, and your father can't distinguish the difference between studying curses and practicing them. Together, well...' the older woman trailed off.

'Don't you think we should do anything in our power to make the world better?' Emma asked, looking up at her mother.

'It's exactly when you say things like that. Promise me you'll stay in the theory of these things. It's dangerous, Emma,' her mother pleaded. 'There's a fine line between understanding Dark wizards and seeing the use in their methods.'

'I promise,' Emma lied.