AN: Sorry, I forgot to update the last chapter before posting. I don't think there's much of a difference, except from the fact that Lou actually has a last name now. It's Antoinette if anyone was wondering.

Ash-Caro-Lynn, unlucky with the dead soulmates... Then again, not many people actually survive in the HP series. Yes, I have been keeping Regulus away! Not on purpose though, he's not in this chap, but he'll make a definite reappearance next time! Actually, I really like Sirius in the books, but I've turned him into such a jerk here that I can't help but make Emma make snide remarks about him... Oh well.

Nik1804: Knowing the perfectionnist that is Voldemort, he thought about the symbolisation for a very long time! Aha! You'll just have to wait and see...

Creelluka, I'll post another one then!

Winterlover6: hahaha! Too true!

rainyleafxoxo: Thanks! I think Emma's just a confused teenager like all the rest of them. Who knows if Harry would hate Voldemort so much if he hadn't murdered his family and tried to kill him on multiple occasions? PS If you find a place, call me :D

Thanks everyone who followed/favourited/reviewed!

Several hours later, silence reigned supreme in the stuffy little room outside the infirmary. After the nurse had gone, they had fallen into an uncomfortable pause, but neither Sirius nor Emma continued the argument, and James didn't offer any extra words. Now, each was wrapped in their own thoughts in their own corner of the room. Emma mulled over Sirius's words, which had hit harder than she would have cared to admit. It was true that she hadn't really been communicating with her family recently, but she didn't think that James had been either - their writing had gotten sparser and sparser over the years. Spending so much time apart made their Hogwarts friends feel almost more like family than their actual parents, horrible as it might sound. She wished that Regulus was here so that she could talk to him. He would have an answer to everything. Being basically in the same position with his own family, he alone would be able to assuage the guilt she was feeling.

I should have known, she thought. I should have picked up on it at Christmas, forced her to see a doctor sooner. Then she thought about what her mother would have wanted. She could almost imagine her now, telling her that there was no point in worrying about something she had no control over. It wasn't as if she could have done something even if she knew, or was in the room with her mother. Natalie Potter was with the best of the Healers, that much was true.

But it was also true that Emma could have stopped focusing so much on who was right and who was wrong with her father and instead tried to find some way to peacefully resolve this. She could have lied to her parents and told them that she was going to the Gryffindor party at New Year's, saving them from another fight. She knew that that was what Regulus would have done. If he was fine being his father's second-favourite, then why couldn't she accept that Charles would have preferred her to be in Gryffindor? She resolved to mend their relationship as soon as she could, before it was too late. After all, as Lou had told her, she only had one mother, one father. If only it hadn't taken this to remind her of that fact.

However, that didn't mean that she was okay with her current situation, namely being within five feet of Sirius Black. She had no wish to talk to her brother if it meant that the idiot would butt in, and besides, James looked as though he needed the silence. She had never seen her twin in such a state. Though he was no longer in the state of shock that he had been in earlier, he still looked different. His brow was furrowed, half deep in thought and half upset. Emma sent him a mental apology. Though she would have taken the Avada Kadavra curse for him in a heartbeat, she didn't think she could handle making up with Sirius Black. Even if he was his best friend.

Besides, it wasn't as if Sirius was making things easier on her. At first, she thought that she could have forgiven him for acting the way he did around her, though she would never admit it to Regulus. At Christmas, she thought that she had seen a side of him that was strangely human, just a kid who was trying to find happiness and to do the right thing. He hadn't seen the side of her family that she had, the biased side. She thought that he had understood the problems she had with her father. But to throw it in her face like that, throwing salt on the wound.

James's words he had just dealt her… he was certainly vindictive. Whether it was intentional or not, Sirius would never be able to give up being a Black. He, Bellatrix and Walburga were too similar for that.

Madame Pomfrey cut through her musings by bustling back into the room.

'Thank Merlin, I thought I was going to go mad with boredom!' James exclaimed, stretching.

Somehow his words seemed hollow, unlike his usual self. But Emma and Sirius forced smiles onto their faces too. If they acted like everything was normal, maybe normality would follow. Despite the gravity of the situation, when Emma got up she realised just how hungry she was. I guess time doesn't stand still for anyone, she thought, trying to reign in a stomach growl. Eager to leave the not-so-festive atmosphere behind her, she impatiently offered her arm up to the nurse, who muttered a spell that made her wand glow green. After passing it up and down over Emma's skin, she took out a stethoscope to listen to her heart, before casting Lumos.

'Open your mouth. Very wide now.'

She obliged and endured several minutes of poking and prodding before Madame Pomfrey declared her fit to go. Hardly believing her luck, Emma left the room as quickly as possible. She debated on whether to wait for James, see if he was okay, but she knew that he would want to talk with Sirius and - though it pained her to admit it - she didn't think that she could handle any more bad news right now.

So she scurried off into the castle, wondering what time it was, and if she should simply make her way to the kitchens instead of checking in on the Great Hall first. One thought about the plethora of questions that was probably waiting for her at the dinner table - gossip spread like wildfire in Hogwarts - made her choice for her. She sped down to the portrait of the pear, tickling it with unnecessary gusto. As a result, the pear had to be propped up by a couple of apples in order for it to turn into a handle. Yanking on it as soon as it appeared, she threw herself onto one of the benches. A House-elf soon bustled up and asked if she wanted anything.

'Shepherd's pie please, Minky,' she said, trying to smile for the elf.

They were always doubly pleased if they thought they had made you happy. But Emma's smile drooped as soon as the elf was gone, and when her food did arrive she ended up twirling it on her fork, suddenly unable to eat.

The tears were starting to well up in her eyes as she stared at her pie that was steadily growing colder. She couldn't see what was in front of her anymore; memories were rising unbidden and there was no one there to distract her from her thoughts. Maybe the Great Hall would have been the better option, she was thinking to herself, when the portrait opened.

Emma had never moved more quickly in her life. Her fork clanging to the floor, she hurdled the table and ran into the recesses of the kitchen, ignoring the bleeping complaints of the House-elves. They were at a loss as to what to do - defy a human, or keep their kitchen in order? Chaos steadily rose as they frantically tried to follow her and continue cooking at the same time. She barely registered the sound of crashing plates as she ducked to avoid self-cleaning pans. She might have stopped to help, had not the last voice she wanted to hear chosen to speak at that moment.

'What's going on here?'

She groaned. Of course! How stupid could I have been? She knew that James and Sirius liked to come down here as often as she did. Her panic turned to dread. They could not find her here. Not now, not like this. Muttering a quick apology, she sprinted through the kitchens until she found large window open to let out the steam. With only a quick hesitation to see how far down the ground was, she launched herself in a very undignified way out into the air, curling up into a ball as she did so.

She landed with an oof on the soft, wet soil, slightly amazed that she was still intact. The impact seemed to have knocked all the urgency out of her, so with a little more logic, she drew back into the shadows. The riot seemed to have died down though, so James and Sirius must have shrugged it off as usual House-elf nonsense. That, or James was so shaken up that he no longer had his old curiosity. Emma hoped it was the former.

Shakily getting to her feet, she looked around to get her bearings. Almost instinctively, her legs moved in the direction of the Black Lake. She shook her head at her own antics, trying to pull herself together. But when she had thought about it for a second, she continued on her route. The Black Lake had always made her feel calm and once she got to its misty shores, she knew that she had made the right choice. Somehow the massive expanse of water always made her feel insignificant, that she could do no wrong that couldn't be set right again. If the Lake could be so unchanging, then the world could too. Nothing would happen. Her mother would get better, and they would all laugh off the scare they had in the morning. Hopefully, James would come to the same conclusion. He had been the strong one out of the two of them for so long that she could hardly imagine how she could cheer him up. How does one cheer up the most optimistic person in the world?

After sitting for what seemed like hours under one of the trees, she had convinced herself that this illness was nothing but a blip on their radar, made to shock her into making up with her father. Lou would be proud. Her legs felt stiff when she unfolded them, suddenly reminding her that she was still human: cold and hungry. The thought of going back to the kitchens sent a chill down her spine though, so she decided to go back to the dormitory to sleep on it.

'Where the hell have you been and why are you covered in filth?' Alecto angry-whispered as Emma tried to sneak back into their room.

Emma closed her eyes for half a second and inwardly groaned. She should have guessed that it was too good to be true. She had lost all track of time, but luckily no one noticed her enter the common room - it had mostly been filled with third years. That meant that either all the fourth to seventh years were still enjoying the time before their curfew, or that they had been so exhausted from their work that they had gone up for an early night. Unfortunately for Emma, it was the latter.

Helen snored softly from her bunk, whereas Sophie was out. Emma was hard-pressed to remember when Sophie had last slept in their dorm. She remembered her first year at Hogwarts: Sophie had been Sorted a week later in Dumbledore's study, since she had been home with the flu. A bed had magically appeared in the dorm, but Emma was now secretly glad that Sophie had missed the drama of Emma's Sorting. The attention had been focused on Sirius by then. She hadn't been so lucky with Alecto and Lucinda though, who had been whispering between their bunks when she had entered. The chink of light had been all they needed to pounce on her with Lumos-tipped wands.

'Just out,' she shrugged in what she hoped was a nonchalant way.

'If you think that that is going to satisfy us, then you have become seriously delirious,' Lucinda added, eying the mucky bottom of the raven-haired girl's robes.

Emma was starting to wish that she had taken the time to clean up her appearance before coming up. She had just been so tired though…

Her friends were looking at her expectantly as she tried to figure out a valid excuse. When Alecto decided to wordlessly clean her robes though, she felt a rush of gratitude towards them. After all, they had always been there for her. Why try to lie about this? Lucinda had been clear with her feelings on the train ride in January. Maybe it was time that Emma returned the favour and started trusting them once in a while, letting them in on this small secret that was soon to become common knowledge.

'I found out that my Mum has Dragon Pox,' she admitted, slumping against the back of the door.

Immediately Alecto and Lucinda were on either side of her, each hugging one arm, warming her up more than she could ever have possibly tried herself. Something touched her turbulent heart, and she felt her eyes fill up with tears once more. Turns out I didn't have my feelings under control after all, she thought, angrily wiping them away.

'I know it's stupid to cry. It's not like she's dead or anything...'

'Nonsense,' Lucinda told her. 'You should feel upset. I know we're supposed to be adults and all, but I don't think I could handle my Mum even getting a cold! Nothing works around the house without her, you know.'

Emma nodded glumly, letting a couple of tears slip before she gathered her wits. They stayed like that for a few silent minutes in the semi-dark room, three girls huddled in the doorway. If Helen or Sophie had woken up at that very moment, they might have laughed at the sight of it. But Emma felt like she was cocooned in a bubble of comfort and support and she realised that this was what she had been missing for so long. Regulus might have been able to empathise with her and take her mind off it, but Alecto and Lucinda helped her in a simpler way that reminded her of how easy it had been to be comforted when she was a child.

'We're here for you Ems,' Alecto said comfortingly. 'But we should really get to bed.'

Lucinda gave her hand one final squeeze and went back to bed, pulling her curtains around her for privacy. Alecto lingered for a second, smoothing the sheets around Emma as she climbed into bed, as though she were her mother and Emma was a child again. 'Don't blame yourself,' she said quietly, almost inaudibly, touching her lightly on the shoulder before leaving Emma to her thoughts.

Those three words were something anyone could have said, just a passing pleasantry that Emma wouldn't have given a second thought to if it had been anyone but Alecto. But it had been Alecto and there had been an uncharacteristic weight to her words. They told Emma that she hadn't been so cunning, hadn't been so good at hiding her feelings than she had thought. They told her that Alecto knew about her turbulent relationship with her parents, something Emma had thought to be a well-kept secret between Regulus, Avery and herself. They told her that Alecto was the only person in the world who knew how much Emma's locket meant to her. They told her that she was not alone. And Emma wasn't sure whether to be afraid or relieved.