Hello dear internet friends! I've missed you (and I hope you've missed me). Last chapter was quite long, so I hope it tided you over the chapterless week which is now over! First of all, thanks for being patient, favouriting, following and reviewing. I got all of it at once and was really happy!

Nai, I'm sorry to say that while there might be Rabastan/Emma fluff, there will not really be a genuine Rab/Emma (though you will get to see little moments that I hope you enjoy).xXRosexScorpiusXx and creelluka, you got me! You'll have to wait and see to find out what happens to the Potter story, but a lot will happen in little time, so we won't see much of it for now. Reg and Emma's Xmas presents are coming soon!

Hi Ash-Caro-Lynn! Long reviews are awesome, don't worry. I'm glad you don't think Emma's a Mary Sue and that she's pretty believable! Your review was really nice and informative, I hope you continue reading (and enjoying) the chaps!iwantsprezzatura, after my missed week I can't say anything about your late review, which is as usual much appreciated. I'm glad you see things from Emma's point of view! I always thought JK was a little too white and black, but it is a children's story (even though I love it!).

Welcome to Rabastan's house, everybody!

'Have fun guys!' Natalie Potter yelled down the stairs.

James, Sirius and Lou were going to Marlene McKinnon's New Year's party, and Emma was stuck doing the dishes.

'Bye Cinderella,' Sirius grinned on their way out.

'Who the hell is Cinderella?' Emma asked crossly. Sirius's guilt seemed to have dissipated over the holidays, much to Emma's disgust. And I was all prepared to forgive him after that snowball fight...Well, pretend to forgive him at least.

'Muggle fairy tale: Cinderella gets stuck cleaning the house while her stepsisters go to the ball,' Sirius explained. 'She's called Cinderella because of the ash and soot that gets stuck all over her.'

'Don't worry Ems, she has a fairy godmother that helps her get to the ball in the end,' Lou called. 'Stop it, Sirius.'

'Don't forget to clean the fireplace Cindy,' Sirius smirked, waving his wand and knocking over the fireplace. 'Oops.'

'Now would be a good time for that fairy godmother to kick Sirius's smug ass,' Emma muttered as James side-along Apparated with Lou.

'You called?' Avery appeared at the kitchen window.

Emma grinned. The ex-Slytherin was a sight for sore eyes. She rose a finger to her lips, and snuck out of the back door.

'What are you doing here? I thought Rabastan was coming.'

Avery wasn't exactly what she had pegged for a party type and he didn't have Rabastan's humour that could lift anyone's spirit, but right now any non-Sirius who could get her out of the house was an angel in Emma's eyes.

'Just can't seem to keep away from you,' he said cockily. He seemed to be in good spirits. 'Besides, Rabastan can't Apparate, he failed the test. Nice house, by the way. Why the need for Apparation and not Floo then?'

'I didn't get Sirius a birthday present, so they locked me up,' she said in a deadpan voice.

'Nice,' he smirked, then went serious. 'Wait, why are they punishing you? He's a blood traitor. Besides, aren't they your family, not his?'

'Good question,' Emma said. 'I'll be right back.'

'What?' he asked, but she had already disappeared inside.

'Screw it,' she mumbled, taking out her wand and waving the dishes and fireplace clean. Then she ran up the stairs to her parents' room, where they were reading.

'I've done the last of my chores,' she said breathlessly.

Her mother lay down her magazine. 'Oh?'

'I've done everything you've asked me to for the past week and a half. Can I pleeeaase go out to the New Year's party now?' she asked.

'Well you have been very good,' her father smiled. 'But I thought you weren't even friends with Marlene? You've never mentioned her before.'

'No, I'm talking about Rabastan's.'

'Rabastan…The Lestrange boy?' Charles's expression darkened. 'I've heard a lot about that kid, and none of it good.'

'And I bet you've heard it all from Sirius,' she rejoined. 'What did he say?'

'That the Lestranges have a dark sense of humour. Learning Dark Magic, using hexes on poor students in the corridors -'

'Oh please Dad,' Emma said heatedly. 'James and Sirius do that all the time, and you never say a word.'

'But that's different,' Natalie said reasonably. 'James and Sirius are just playing.'

'How is it different? How is Rabastan hexing someone different from Sirius doing it?'

'Because Sirius is a Gryffin-' her father stopped as he realised what he was saying.

'So it's back to this is it?' Emma shook her head. 'I can't believe it. Sirius is a Gryffindor, so he must be good. Rabastan is a Slytherin so he must be evil.' A sudden realisation dawned on her. 'Is that why you punished me and not Sirius this holiday? I'm a Slytherin so I must be a liar?'

'Emma, we've been through this already. You provoked him,' her mother sighed.

'He said the same thing to me before!'

'Don't be childish now, Emma,' Charles warned. 'Listen to me -'

'No you listen, Dad! Sirius hexed me because he thought I was pushing his brother to become a Death Eater. Happy now?' she was shouting now.

'Sirius wouldn't do that,' her father immediately said. There was a second of silence. 'Was it true?'

'The fact that you would even ask!' Emma yelled indignantly, not caring that her sentence didn't make sense. 'Besides, isn't what I said true? Don't you wish that you had Sirius as a son, and not me as a daughter? Answer honestly, Dad.'

There was another silence. 'Of course not,' Charles repeated, but he looked away.

'That's all I needed to know,' Emma choked out, but not what I was expecting. 'Tell me when I'm worthy of this family again.'

She ran into her room and slammed the door, taking deep breaths as she looked around her room. She heard raised voices as she quickly threw off her jeans and socks, replacing them with party clothes. After a moment's thought, she put her old clothes in her trunk, shoving a couple of books in too. Everything else was at Hogwarts, except…She grabbed the photo of James and herself, laughing at the camera in their school robes and broomsticks.

For a second, she sat down, staring at the photo. It was of them after they had made the tryouts. Her hair had been shoulder-length and her brother had also been trying out long hair, after Lily Evans complimenting Sirius on his hair. She traced their smiles with her finger. Everything had been much easier then. There had been no war, no factions, no sides to choose. Just her and James against the world and their parents encouraging them from the background. Even Charles hadn't seemed to mind her green robes that day, though Emma noticed that she was clutching her locket as James bounced up and down. She touched the same locket, heavy around her neck, maybe they've just forgotten for a bit. Maybe they need to be reminded of life without me.

She was just about to climb out of the window when there was a pitiful meowing. Fluffy! She had brought her cat back for the holidays.

'Don't worry Fluffs,' she stroked the cat until she purred. 'James'll bring you back to me soon. I won't leave you. This isn't goodbye.'

Outside, Avery was waiting.

'About time!' he noticed the trunk. 'What the hell?'

"They…uh…they...' Emma realised that Avery was a Death Eater, and that her parents had shown that they were less than receptive to the Dark Lord's methods. 'Oh shit.'

'They're not going to help the cause are they?' he asked in a low voice. He cast his eyes around, obviously thinking. 'Right, any good at Occlumency?'

'Not especially, why?'

'I told you before that my family's arse is on the line if yours turns out to be full of blood traitors. For now, they're neutral, and a respectable pure-blood family. You need to keep it that way,' he explained quickly. 'If the Dark Lord was to find out...'

'Right,' Emma said, transfiguring the trunk so it would fit in her purse. No party goer would notice unless they were rootling around in there. 'No going to the Carrows' then. Shit,' she repeated.

'You can't come and stay with me either, our house is the meeting place for…you know,' he glanced around, but no one was there. Even the house behind them was silent. 'Is there anyone you know whose family aren't Death Eaters, and who knows Occlumency?'

'There's one,' she replied, thanking Merlin that his family would be the polar opposite of her own.

'Emma!' a shout came from indoors. 'Where are you?'

'Better go!'

He pulled her next to him before she could protest, and suddenly Emma felt like she was being squeezed from all sides, unable to breathe. Everything swirled black, and when she could see again, everything was different. A wave of nausea overcame her, but she held herself very still, willing the feeling to go away. When she let go of her breath, she saw Avery giving her a calculated look.

'Most people vomit their first time Apparating.'

'Yeah well, I'm not most people,' she replied slightly breathlessly, looking up at the large Victorian country house in front of her.

Now she knew why Rabastan was hosting the party: she didn't think there was a neighbour for miles. The grounds were perfectly well-kept, but no flowers graced the grass like at the Malfoys and it lacked the homeliness of her parents' vegetable plot and huge pond filled with water plants. Instead there were a couple of sleek black cars parked to the side, probably from the Ministry. Maybe there's a garden out back, she thought, staring at the huge wrought-iron double gates and surrounding fence. There were spikes on the top, maybe to deter intruders.

'After you,' Avery opened a side gate she hadn't spotted before with a short bow. Suddenly, she noticed that he was dressed very smartly. Obviously Rabastan's party was not only for Hogwarts students.

'Stop looking up my skirt!' Emma said crossly.

'Well it is very short,' he winked, but Emma was too busy taking a closer look at where her friend lived.

The Malfoy Manor might have been white and airy, but this seemed anything but. The balconies were what drew the eye at first. They seemed to exist for every room in the house. She wondered which was Rabastan's, whether it was in one of the turret-like sides, or one of the shuttered rooms under the chimney.

The path they walked on crunched with flint gravel under the moonlight. She imagined that was supposed to look dark and imposing, especially at night, but she found that it suited her present mood perfectly. It was easier to get angry than the alternative, but now she found herself laced with barely suppressed energy. It felt like it was taking all she had not to float adrift and besides, her parents had already proved that her best behaviour was in vain.

'Ems! You made it!' Rabastan yelled, coming out onto the path and shaking the frown she hadn't realised was forming on her face. When he saw her properly, he whistled. 'Went full out for the party did you? Hey, Reg! You gotta see this.'

He grabbed Emma's hand and pulled her inside. She tried to pull back, but his grip was too tight. The party was in full swing, empty cups and butterbeer bottles lay everywhere, there was confetti on the floor and the stereo was on full blast. Emma glanced back towards Avery, who blew her a kiss and put his finger to his lips. As if I needed reminding, she thought, as Rabastan weaved his way through the mass of dancing people until he found Regulus listening to Rodolphus Lestrange.

'Reg! Emma's here!' Rabastan yelled to make himself heard.

The two boys turned around. Rodolphus looked Emma up and down with a lecherous grin on the side of his face, whereas Regulus just stared at Emma and Rabastan's intertwined hands. Emma quickly pulled away self-consciously, rubbing at her palm.

'Want to dance?' Rodolphus asked.

'I think she'll want a drink before dancing with you,' Regulus said coolly, motioning Emma towards the drinks table.

'What?' Rodolphus cupped a hand around his ear, but Regulus ignored him, expertly weaving his way through the crowd to the other side of the room.

'Thanks Regulus,' Emma said, pouring a cup of firewhisky. 'I want to get drunk,' she announced, downing the cup.

'I can see that,' he said, eyebrows raised, but he didn't ask her anything. The advantage of a friend who valued privacy. 'James let you out dressed like that?' He waved to her clothes.

She had a low-cut, short-skirted red dress on that hugged her figure. She had chosen it just to spite her father - though she knew he wouldn't see it, it gave her great pleasure to think he wouldn't approve.

'It has sleeves,' she pointed out coyly.

Regulus didn't reply, or at least didn't have the time to, because Alecto appeared a minute later.

'Ems! You're here! You'll never guess what I have to tell you,' she gushed. 'Mind if I steal her Regulus? Thanks,' she steered Emma towards the stairway, the latter grabbing the bottle of firewhisky on their way out. 'So I have to tell you about Evan...'

Sitting on the winding stairwell, Emma listened to her friend gossip about her boyfriend, occasionally adding a comment or taking a swig of firewhisky here or there, until Rodolphus appeared again.

'Care to dance?' he asked Emma.

'Why not,' Emma said, even though he was at least six years her elder and had a wife.

She got up slightly unsteadily and followed him into the ballroom, vaguely impressed that the Lestranges had a ballroom in their house, though the manner of dancing was far from ball-like. She frowned slightly as he put his hands on her back. She took them off her. Obviously being drunk didn't remove her qualms about what Bellatrix Lestrange would think if she learnt about this.

'Don't you have a wife?' she asked.

'She's not here,' he replied, hands falling even lower.

'But her cousin is,' Regulus said, appearing out of nowhere as usual and pulling Emma away. 'Come on Ems.'

Emma registered the use of a nickname instead of her full name, and deduced that Regulus must be drunk too. He led her into the kitchen, where the music wasn't as loud.

'There's something I have to tell you,' she remembered, sliding onto the kitchen countertop. Maybe she should ask Regulus if she could crash at his house instead of just appearing.

'There's something I need to tell you too,' Regulus said nervously. Is Regulus - Regulus Black nervous? she asked herself. Merlin, I must be more drunk than I thought. 'But you go first.'

'I had a fight with my parents,' she began, absently taking out her locket and fiddling with it.

Regulus just looked at her, waiting.

'I don't want to get into it, but basically they said that all Slytherins are basically Death Eaters (which for them is not a good thing) and they'd rather have Sirius as their child instead of me…So…I was wondering if you wouldn't mind…if it's okay with your parents…well, I'm not exactly welcome back there...'

'Emma!' Regulus said, putting a hand on her wrist. She flinched and stopped fiddling with her locket. Last year, when somebody held my wrist... Shooting her a concerned look, he gently untwisted the locket's chain, making sure he didn't touch her skin. 'Of course you can stay. My parents love you. And,' he took a deep breath. 'I think I -'

'There you are!' Rabastan burst through the door. 'Come on, we're playing "never have I ever", it'll be fun! Who knows what freaky things people get up to. And everyone's drunk, so they won't even lie!'

Regulus glanced at Emma before backing out of the room. 'Sure.'

'Seriously dude, maybe we'll get more info out of you than a couple of sentences.'

'Maybe,' he smirked, and they went into the living room. Yet another room in this endless house. 'But not likely.'

'Whew, some game huh?' Alecto grinned up at Emma. She could barely hold herself steady as Emma held her hair for her in one of the house's six bathrooms. Impressive, Rab, Emma had thought upon hearing that.

'Come on, let's get you some fresh air,' she replied, casting Scourgify on her best friend. She had drunk for almost every question.

'Yeah!' Alecto punched a first in the air, and opened the toilet door.

'Sorry,' Emma told the girl who had been waiting for the past ten minutes. She rushed past pulling a boy into the loo after her and locked it. 'Number 53: Never have I ever had sex in a toilet: check,' she added sarcastically, but they didn't hear.

'The stars are so pretty!' Alecto said once they got outside. She span around, her dress flying up around her.

Emma opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. Wasn't she supposed to get drunk tonight? Somehow it seemed that she had sobered up. She sat on the patio steps where there were a couple of unfinished firewhisky bottles. Why not? She took a swig. It was quiet outside. Though there was a table outside, everyone seemed to be enjoying the music. It had started to give her a headache. She breathed in the fresh night air and tried to look at the stars Alecto was so happy about. They seemed cold and distant to her, though.

'Hey Potter,' Avery sat down next to her. 'What are you doing?'

'Babysitting,' Emma replied flatly, motioning towards the dancing Alecto.

'Want to be doing something more interesting?'

'Go on,' she said, anything to stop feeling so bored. What was the worst Alecto could do to herself, eat grass?

He got up, and proffered a hand. She took it, since her high heels were starting to ache, and they walked around to the side of the house. She was more drunk than she thought, the world started spinning as she got up. She blinked several times and wished for the high she had earlier in the evening.

'So -' she started before his hand appeared on her cheek. She ground her teeth, I should take that off. She still couldn't stand physical contact from anyone but James. Alecto understood, but she was still off mumbling to herself.

'You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this,' he said, and kissed her, sliding the other hand behind her back, pulling him towards him.

Why not? she thought, though it initially repulsed her and deepened the kiss against her body's wishes. Avery was the epitome of everything her parents hated. He was the stereotype of a Slytherin that she had fought so hard to be rid of. But what's the point? May as well live up to their expectations. It wasn't so bad, later, and they had been snogging for a couple of minutes when somebody cleared their throat.

'Rabastan's got the champagne out,' Regulus said, his expression cold. Emma wondered if he still disliked Avery from the whole Malfoy Manor escapade, though it wasn't the older boy's fault. In fact, he had helped Emma, just as he was doing now. I need to explain things to him, she thought, but Regulus continued. 'It's almost midnight.'

'Okay cool,' Emma said, disentangling herself from Avery. Maybe later. 'Oi, Alecto!' she called, and her friend came skipping back. 'Feel better?'

'Oh yeah, thanks,' Alecto smiled, looking less dizzy.

Inside, Rabastan and Rodolphus had popped the corks, champagne spraying out all over the room. They made their way around the room, filling goblets everywhere.

'Sonorus!' Rodolphus yelled, getting on top of a table. 'Let's start the countdown!' Everyone cheered.

'10...9...8...' Emma looked around for Regulus. It was tradition for them to wish each other Happy New Year first, ever since that first year in the tent, when James had held out two red straws and two blue, saying that matching straws should kiss. Both pairs of siblings had ended up pulling the same straws, and the whole business was quietly forgotten.

'7...6...5...' She spotted him, locking lips with Lucinda Rosier. Good for her, she thought, but felt a twinge of jealousy at her stealing her best friend. They could hook up after midnight, couldn't they?

'4...3...2...' 'Got no one to kiss, Ems?' Rabastan asked, and since she couldn't spot Avery, Emma shrugged. He told her she was too pretty tonight to be stood up, and told her he'd be glad to do the honours. She laughed, but permitted him to draw nearer, closing her eyes.

'1…' Suddenly Rabastan was pushed aside. 'Happy New Year,' Regulus said, and without thinking Emma threw her arms around him and kissed him. For a second, he returned it, but then gently drew back.

'You're drunk Ems,' Regulus said softly.

'Happy New Year! I'm not drunk. Well maybe a little. And besides, you're just as drunk as I am. But don't worry, it was a thank you kiss,' she smiled at him a bit wildly, wanting to tell him just how much she owed him for taking her in. 'For being the best friend. Like James. Just like James.' She frowned, thinking of her brother. What would he think of me now? The thought was sobering, and she remembered their kitchen conversation from earlier that night. 'What did you want to tell me, before?'

'Oh, nothing,' he brushed her off. Emma opened her mouth to insist, but Lucinda appeared next to him.

'Regulus,' she said in a meaningful tone.

'Make sure she doesn't do anything she'll regret, or James will kill me,' Regulus told Rabastan, who saluted.

Regulus followed Lucinda up the stairs with Emma and Rabastan staring at them until they were out of sight. He had never been so... blatant... before.

'Well,' Rabastan said. 'I don't really fancy being impaled on the train-ride back, so I'll just go and talk to Lucy Vane. She's making those eyes at me, know what I mean?' Emma laughed. Trust Rabastan to be Rabastan.

'Oi, Ems!' Alecto yelled. She looked around and the red-head patted the sofa, and Emma flopped down next to her, shaking thoughts of boys out of her mind. 'What a night, hey? Want to start drinking and dancing all over again? What time do you have to get back?'

'Oh you know,' Emma replied, taking her locket out. 'No time soon.'