Hello everyone! So, the update was almost on time...

Blue Luver5000, annalavega, Sunny (thanks for reassuring me!), clove1113 (love the enthusiasm), Cae-Leigh Anne, lizy2000, creelluka (stop the teeth gnashing! :D ), malecftw (yup, I made Moody a red-head, I just imagined him with ginger hair, probably because of the films) and Ash-Caro-Lynn: thank you all so much for your reviews!

Keep them coming, and hopefully you'll enjoy the reading just as much (as from now on it shall get more romantic and darker).

Thanks Ash-Caro-Lynn for Beta-ing!

See you next week!

'I think they're gone,' Rabastan ventured, ten minutes later.

They had been saved in the nick of time by Rodolphus swooping in to duel the Auror, who they now knew to be none other than Alastor Moody, dueller extraordinaire and responsible for most of the Death Eater imprisonments in the past couple of years. He was one of the few dangerous Aurors that was always on high-alert, no matter what the occasion, and could tell the difference between someone who had been Imperiused or not in two seconds flat. All of this was urban legend of course, none of them had had the misfortune to cross him before. Even now, they had never fought him outright.

And I'd like to keep it that way, Emma thought.

Rabastan moved to push the rubble that had fallen on them - it was a miracle the building was still standing - but Regulus quickly stopped him.

'Might I remind you who had training for this sort of thing?'

'Don't need to tell me twice!' Rabastan said in a display of Slytherin self-preservation.

Emma knew that Regulus would have been rolling his eyes if he wasn't scared the dust would blind him. The pressure on her hand was released - she had forgotten about that - and Regulus moved carefully out of their hiding place.

'Coast's clear,' he said in a loud whisper a moment later.

Emma and Rabastan climbed out of the rubble whilst Regulus crept out of the doorway, if it could still be called that, to check out the battlefield. Emma looked around: the place was a mess. The walls and ceiling were filled with holes, mortar and plaster was strewn across the floor, and a wooden beam was spread diagonally across the room, still attached to the wall by a few twigs.

Suddenly, the strangest noise reached her ears.

'Did you hear that?' she asked Rabastan. 'It sounded like a bark.'

'Shh,' he replied, looking fearfully around. 'I'm going to check the other side. Tell me if you hear anything.'

Emma rolled her eyes, it was as if he hadn't even been listening. He's probably right though, she said to herself. Any animal would have fled the area by now. But then she heard it again.

'It's coming from upstairs,' she said, but nobody was there to hear her.

She carefully made her way up the stairs, each creaking step threatening to cave in at any minute. The upper part of the building hadn't fared much better than the ground floor. The attic had fallen through, cobwebs hanging everywhere. Muggle junk was everywhere, from their soft, white parchment to electrical appliances. One corner of the room seemed to be smoking, a couple of sparks lighting up every now and again with a buzzing sound.

'Homenum Revelio,' she muttered, drawing her wand.

Nothing happened.

'Lumos.'

The soft glow cast shadows around the area, making it look even more creepy than it had before. Somehow, the absence of human presence seemed to drown out the sound of the outside world, as if she was in some kind of time lock where the seconds passed more slowly.

Then the wand's light reflected back at her, two little pinpricks of yellow. Out of habit, she touched her face to make sure the smooth material of her mask was still in place, though she knew it couldn't be removed by non-magical means. As she drew closer, she could make out the shaggy fur of a large black dog, covered in dust. It whined, pawing at the floorboards. It was then that she noticed that it was stuck, its bottom half hanging out of a window, but its top half stuck in place by a beam that had wedged itself between its front legs and belly.

Upon seeing her approach, it started panting heavily, panicking. The scratching and whining grew louder, and Emma feared that it would attract attention, though that would have been impossible without either Rabastan or Regulus warning her. She wondered if they had been hit by stunners, as the building was still quiet. She resolved to go back out as soon as she had freed the dog - after all, the poor animal was innocent in all of this.

'Shh,' she hushed it, petting the fur. 'This'll only take a moment.'

The animal went into a wild frenzy, forcing her to stumble backwards as it started snapping.

'Stupid dog,' she muttered, as she tripped backwards over a mop and bucket. 'Diffindo!'

The beam broke on one side, falling to the floor with a crash. The other side immediately tipped over, trapping the dog into a triangular hole. Quickly, Emma used the spell again and the dog fell out of the window with a howl. She rushed over to the opening to see if it was alright, but a resounding crash told her that she had just made the situation worse. It turned out the beam was holding the ceiling in place and a large creak told her that the roof wouldn't hold for long.

Forgetting the dog, she bounded across the room and down the stairs, only to have her foot pass straight through the third step from the bottom.

'N-n-n-no,' she muttered to herself, trying to pull her leg out of the step.

A cabinet fell through the ceiling along with most of the plaster and a few roof tiles straight in front of her, startling her and sending her leg through past the knee. Her wand fell out of her hand, rolling into the side of the cabinet. Emma couldn't help herself. She screamed. Stretching as far as she could, she tried to grab her wand, but to no avail. It was too far down and impossible to bend over to get it.

Someone came running into the building. Emma had no idea whether it was a fellow Death Eater or an Auror, but before she could properly devise a plan within her chaotic state of mind, Rabastan came into view.

'What are you still doing here?' he shouted, grabbing her arms and pulling as hard as he could.

Instead of replying, Emma pushed against the rest of the stairs and succeeded in pulling up the step with her. The battered staircase shuddered, but didn't give way. Just as they stumbled back into the cabinet, a beam came rolling down the stairs, proving too much to handle. Emma pushed Rabastan's head down as the beam went flying over their heads, the steps that had been hit breaking into splinters.

'We need to get out of here!' Rabastan yelled.

'Wait, my wand!' Emma shouted back, scrabbling on the floor.

'Hurry up!' Rabastan replied, turning and creating a Shield Charm from the tiles now raining down on top of them.

'Found it!' Emma held up the stick of wood just as Rabastan's shield gave way.

He grabbed her by the back of her robes, dragging her out of the collapsing shop, throwing her bodily to the ground several feet away and dropping to the floor with his arms protecting his head. When the debris had finished falling, Emma risked a look behind them. The building looked like it had been hit by a bomb.

'I guess your Beater skills came in handy,' she said to Rabastan, once they had caught their breath.

'Are you crazy?' he replied. 'I found Avery, he told me where the anti-apparition wards end. We need to get there fast, the Aurors are bringing in reinforcements.'

'What about Regulus?' Emma asked, looking around.

'I can't find him anywhere. I thought you had both already left before I heard you scream. What were you doing in there?'

Without waiting for an answer, he set off back towards the graveyard at a run. Emma didn't dare answer him, she knew that Rabastan would think her an idiot. Hell, she would have berated him for the same thing if their roles had been reversed. It was such a Gryffindor act, and yet remembering the fear in the dog's eyes, she couldn't help but feel that it was the right thing to do.

Thirty minutes later, Emma and Rabastan were sneaking down the staircase to the dungeons as quietly as they could. Emma's face had been repaired as best as possible by Narcissa Malfoy, who was in charge of a secret Portkey leading to Malfoy Manor, where they could then access the Floo Network. The newly-wed had frowned at her friend's injuries, but was hurried along by Rabastan's father, who had come to personally insure that all Death Eaters were gone from the village by sunrise, and all underage Death Eaters well before that.

So instead, Emma had a tube of bruise paste in her hand as the two crossed their fingers Filch wasn't on the staircase. There was only one exit per floor and nowhere to hide, but it was also the quickest way back down to the Slytherin dungeons. They had caught a glimpse of Wilkes running down the fifth floor, chased by Peeves, at which they had had a good laugh.

Fortunately, they made it without any incident and bid each other good night with a grin, amazed that they had made it out alive. For once when she got into bed, Emma drifted off to sleep immediately, just glad to be back at Hogwarts at least for a little while longer.

The next morning, Emma was lazily brushing her teeth in the Prefect's bathroom, the middle of her face smudged in bruise cream, when an intense knocking disrupted her peaceful routine.

Usually, Prefects didn't knock if the bathroom was being used. After all, taking a bath wasn't that urgent – and if they needed the toilet, there were plenty more on each floor. A teacher was also unlikely, they would probably be more embarrassed than the student if they caught them half-naked. So Emma could only assume that the person in question was here for Helena, the seventh-year Ravenclaw Prefect, known for wanting to "let off steam" in the evenings in the Prefect bathroom.

Weird that she would be doing this at 11.30am on a Saturday, Emma thought, before yelling. 'Wrong room! Helena's not in today!'

'Emma, you idiot, it's me!' Rabastan's voice surprised Emma even more. 'Open up!'

Emma automatically did as she was told, wondering why Rabastan was still up – he was infamous for needing his beauty sleep on weekends. Probably because he's so hyped up the rest of the time.

'Uh... Nice look, Ems,' Rabastan said stupidly, obviously forgetting what was so urgent.

Emma looked down, she was just wearing a normal jumper and jeans, what was the problem with that? Then she realised that she had tied her hair into a topknot on the top of her head to get it out of the way of the bruise cream. She flushed red, but it was too late now.

'Come on, you saw my bruises,' she sighed. 'What was so important then, huh?'

'Oh, right,' Rabastan said, obviously overcoming a fit of giggles. 'is Regulus here?'

Emma rolled her eyes. 'Why on earth would Regulus be in the Prefect's bathroom with me?'

'Oh right, sorry,' Rabastan grinned for some reason, not sorry at all. 'What I meant to say was, have you seen Regulus today?'

'No, why?' Emma asked. 'When I woke up, Lucinda and everyone had already gone to get breakfast, and since you weren't in the common room or the Great Hall, I just assumed you were still sleeping.'

'I was,' Rabastan said, looking worried now. 'Regulus wasn't. He hasn't come back all night.'

Suddenly, Emma understood the need to knock on the door. 'Just a second, I'll be out soon. You do the school, I'll search the grounds. Don't ask anyone though, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves.'

Rabastan nodded, setting off immediately.

Emma closed the door with no hint of her previous calm. She raced around the room collecting her things, stopping only to remove the bruise cream and untie her hair from its ridiculous position. The area between her eyes and nose were still yellow with a tinge of purple, but she didn't want to waste any time applying a second round of paste.

She had thought Regulus had already arrived at the Portkey, since he was used to the battles, but what if he hadn't made it? What if the Order had found him, questioned him, sent him to Azkaban? He was of age, even if he hadn't left school.

Still, she couldn't go out looking like she had been punched in the face, so she wasted five minutes modifying a Concealment Charm until she had hidden the bruise, without looking like a chunk of her nose had been ripped off. Thank Merlin I can do Charms, she thought, remembering all the times the skill had gotten her out of a sticky situation. There was nothing a well-placed Charm couldn't smooth over. With the exception of the Patronus Charm, of course.

Passing through the Great Hall, she grabbed some sandwiches to eat during her search – on Saturdays there was always a mix of breakfast and lunch until two in the afternoon – and set out to scour the grounds.

'Emma!' Alecto waved from behind Hagrid's hut four hours later. 'I've been looking all over for you.'

She jogged over to where Emma was contemplating entering the Forbidden Forest, pausing so that the other girl could react. When she didn't, Alecto continued.

'I just wanted to let you know... it's done. And before James or Sirius could get to him either,' her voice dropped conspiratorially.

Emma started. The Regulus situation had driven her father clean out of her mind. She turned to Alecto, who was looking at her with sorrowful eyes.

'Thanks Alecto,' she said, trying to relieve her friend of the guilt that wasn't hers in the first place. 'I really mean it. I'm sure it wasn't an easy thing to do.'

'Well, what's done is done,' replied Alecto, giving a weak smile. 'I suppose I've had a lot of practice recently.' She changed the subject. 'So, what are you doing out here? When I asked where you were, Lucinda just shrugged and pointed outside.'

'I was looking for Regulus,' Emma said, a frown creasing her brow. 'I don't think he's come back from last night's raid.'

'Well, I don't think he would be in the Forbidden Forest,' the redhead steered Emma towards the castle. 'I mean, why would he go there? We're better off gathering up everyone and checking all of the usual haunts at the same time. Maybe he just took last night harder than the rest of you and is holed up somewhere, brooding in his usual manner.'

'You're probably right,' Emma conceded.

But after having found Lucinda and Barty in the common room, Rabastan guiltily eating chocolate cake in the kitchens, and convincing Cassandra that Regulus was needed to brush up on his Quidditch skills, Regulus was nowhere to be found. The hope that he would pop up that evening in time for dinner was also a false one, so Emma gathered her strength and decided to ask the one person that she knew would be tracking Regulus's presence, even if he pretended not to: Sirius Black.

Emma wasn't stupid. She knew that she would need Sirius alone, to prevent the worried face of her brother, who was happily singing and skipping down the corridor, but also to prevent Remus's inquisitive nature, who would surely see the loophole in her plot – namely to be so worried after one day's disappearance. But Sirius would always believe the worst of his brother, so if he came to the conclusion that Regulus was a Death Eater – one he had long believed to be true – then no one would pay the accusation much attention.

'Diffindo,' she whispered, pointing her wand at Sirius's bag.

It split along the seams, revealing a number of odd objects that would surely be used in their next pranks. To name but a few: Odd Onyx's smoke powder, Fizzing Whizzbees, a Frog Spawn Soap, and several Witch Weekly magazines complete with free test products.

'Go on without me,' Sirius waved off the other boys, as Emma had guessed he would.

What she hadn't counted on, was the fangirls.

They swarmed as soon as the other boys left, no longer intimidated by the group effect. Thinking quickly, Emma cast another spell, this one less harmless.

'Titillando.'

The Tickling Hex burst forth, though she hadn't aimed at one girl in particular. It latched onto one of them, who immediately started squirming and accidentally elbowed another. Soon all of the girls were fighting among each other, and Sirius escaped unnoticed by all.

All except Emma, that was.

She finally cornered him at the end of the hallway.

'Sirius,' she said, coming up to him. 'I need to talk to you.'

'What for?' he snarled. 'What could you possibly have to say to me?'

Emma fell silent, her question dying on her lips. What did I do to deserve such a reaction?

'Look, if you've come to gloat...'

'Why would I have come to gloat?' Emma asked, nonplussed.

'Everyone says that we've switched families,' Sirius said slowly, the words seemingly forced out of him. 'That either you stole mine or I stole yours. That only James is left. Well, congratulations, you chose the winning side.'

'I don't understand...' Emma trailed off, frowning at the emotional boy in front of her.

'Didn't you hear? Charles Potter's dead. I chose the wrong family, because I chose the dead one.'

He stifled what sounded suspiciously like a sob, and ran out of the hallway in a very inelegant, un-Sirius-like manner, leaving Emma to soak in his words.