Chapter 6 - Aftermath

Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron followed Mr Weasley back to the edge of the forest in silence. Emma and Hermione were just too upset and angry, and simply held hands. It was quite peaceful and scenic at this point. The Dark Mark had scared everyone out of the woods and the five of them were alone, at least until they got to the campsite.

A large crowd of very frightened-looking witches and wizards had congregated at the edge of the woods, blocking the way. They were all very curious and concerned.

'What's going on in there?'

'Who conjured it?'

'Arthur - it's not - him?'

Many more questions were asked but Mr Weasley interrupted them.

'Of course it's not him.' he said, impatiently. 'We don't know who it was, it looks like they disapparated. Now excuse me, please, I want to get to bed.'

The crowd parted for them, put out at Mr Weasley's curt reply, and they continued to the Weasley's tent.

'Dad, what's going on?' asked Charlie, his head sticking out of the boys' tent. 'Fred, George and Ginny got back OK, but the others?'

'I've got them here.' replied Mr Weasley, gesturing a thumb behind him and then ducking inside, following Charlie.

Emma was the last in, and what she saw startled her a little, until her Healer training kicked in. Percy's nose was bleeding quite heavily, and Bill had a very red-stained bedsheet wrapped around his arm. The room was absolutely saturated with the smell of blood, but she'd gotten used to that by now, having spent so long in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts.

While the others started talking about what happened, Emma bustled over to Bill who was sitting at the kitchen table and passed Percy on the way.

'Episkey!' said Emma, clearly, tapping her wand on Percy's nose as she passed, with no attempt at being gentle.

There was an audible crack as his nose fixed and the bleeding stopped. Emma then tapped Bill's hand, incanting a couple of spells. One to determine what might be wrong with him besides a severe cut, and the other to stem the bleeding, so she could look at it without him losing all his blood. Apart from risking his life, it would be annoyingly distracting.

'Let me see.' she told him, in her best Madam Pomfrey impression.

Bill eyed her curiously with a smile, and pulled the bedsheet away, revealing a nasty, deep gash on his arm, and despite the spell to slow the bleeding, it was still dripping onto the table, slowly.

'I'm not going to be able to do a lot without potions.' said Emma, frowning. 'But I can make it better until you can get it seen to properly.'

She then proceeded to use every bit of learning she had to fix up the wound as best she could, as well as making sure it was cleaned.

'How do you know all that?' asked Bill, still smiling at her, intrigued.

'She apprenticed under Madam Pomfrey, last year.' said Hermione, proudly.

Emma blushed and continued her work, but Bill's eyes raised, clearly impressed.

Eventually she'd finished, the wound much better than before, but still in bad shape. He'd obviously been hit by a pretty bad curse or jinx. Bill tried pulling the bedsheet back onto his arm, but Emma stopped him.

'And undo all my nice work?' she asked, shaking her head. 'Ferula!'

When she incanted that spell, magical bandages appeared out of thin air, and as she spun and looped her wand, the bandages wrapped themselves tightly around his arm.

'There.' she said, satisfied. 'Get that seen to properly tomorrow. Whatever caused it was nasty.'

'Thank you.' he said, smirking. 'I will.'

Getting hurt and treated didn't seem to be a new experience for him, he was just so calm. Perhaps it's an all too common occurrence for a Gringotts' Curse-Breaker.

Luckily for Percy, Emma had been too preoccupied with healing Bill that she'd completely missed him trying to justify Barty's treatment of Winky, and the ensuing argument with Hermione. She also missed what they'd said about the Dark Mark.

'But what were Voldemort's supporters-' said Harry, pausing because all the Weasley's flinched at the name. 'Sorry. You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what was the point?'

'The point?' replied Mr Weasley, with a hollow laugh. 'Harry, that's their idea of fun. Half the Muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power were done for fun. I suppose they had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding us all that lots of them are still at large...'

Emma had enough, she didn't like this topic and caught Hermione's attention, nudging her head to the door. Hermione nodded back.

'I'm going to go back to bed now, I think.' interrupted Hermione, yawning for emphasis.

'Yes, you're right, it's very late, and if Molly hears what's happened she'll be worried sick. We'll get a few more hours' sleep and then try to get an early Portkey out of here.'

Emma, Hermione and Ginny returned to the girls' tent. Ginny shrugged off her jacket and shoes and fell into the lower bunk of her bed, instead of returning to the top. She was asleep right-away.

Hermione, meanwhile, methodically removed her shoes and her jeans, slowly, as if preoccupied.

'Emma?' she asked, tentatively. 'Can you - can - can you stay... stay nearby while I fall asleep... please?'

She looked upset, scared, embarrassed, all things Emma was feeling too, and throwing caution to the wind, too upset to care, Emma pulled Hermione into a tight hug, and together they cried again for a little while. It wasn't long before Hermione practically fell asleep in Emma's arms.

It felt like no time at all when, after putting Hermione in bed, Emma was being called by Mr Weasley from outside the tent. She got up from the floor beside Hermione's bed and gingerly separated their entwined hands, and went outside.

'Ah, Emma.' he said, his face furrowed seriously. 'I wanted to let you know that I understand why you behaved the way you did today. It couldn't have been easy for you to see that, given...'

He gestured his hands toward her, trying to avoid saying the word vampire.

'However, I do not appreciate the way you threatened my son, Ron-'

'Believe me, sir, I don't like being that angry any more than you do.' said Emma, interrupting him. 'But I will try not to do that again.'

Mr Weasley nodded, his mood lightening. He was a really kind man, considering he was a Magical, and a Ministry employee.

'I also wanted to thank you for warning me about the Death Eaters. I dread to think what might have happened had we delayed any longer.'

'Uhm... that's all right.' said Emma, shrugging, embarrassed.

'And I appreciate you taking the time to heal Bill and Percy. That was very good of you.' he added. 'I'll make sure Molly knows, I know she hasn't been as welcoming as she could be.'

'I was just doing what I was trained to.' said Emma, ducking her head and stepping back, the praise making her very uncomfortable.

'Yes, well...' said Mr Weasley, after an awkward pause. 'We'll be leaving soon, so could you kindly wake Ginny and Hermione again, please.'

'Yes, sir.'

It took a little while to wake the girls, for the three of them to get dressed, or in Emma's case, to get changed, and finally to pack everything away. When the tents were vacated, Mr Weasley didn't waste any time and packed them up with magic in an instant. Evidently, he was in a rush, and they followed him in despondent silence to the Portkeys.

On the way, they passed Mr Roberts' cottage again. The man himself had no injuries, at least not physically, but he was obviously confused, wishing them a 'Merry Christmas'. He'd been Obliviated again, but much more extensively than the last time. Mr Weasley insisted he'd be fine, that it was a big event they'd had to make him forget. Emma couldn't help but hope that Mr Roberts never meets another magical in his life. They'd been nothing but trouble for him.

Emma was distracted a moment later by raised voices coming from a crowd of people of the same mind as Mr Weasley, all having decided to leave as early as possible, and they were clambering to get their Portkey. Mr Weasley joined them and quickly managed to get his. Being a Ministry official must have its perks.

They took the Portkey back to Stoatshead Hill and walked through Ottery St. Catchpole again.

'Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness!' cried Mrs Weasley, from the Burrow's front yard, when they came into view.

She ran toward the group, her face pale and strained, with a newspaper clutched in her hand.

'Arthur - I've been so worried - so worried-' she said, flinging her arms around him. 'You're all right... you're alive... oh, boys...'

She surprised everyone when she released Mr Weasley and pulled the twins into such a tight embrace, she knocked their heads together. Emma just shook her head and followed Mr Weasley into the house.

They all gathered around the kitchen table, cramming themselves in wherever there was space, some nursing strong tea, others a bit of Firewhiskey. They were all quiet as Mr Weasley read the newspaper.

'I knew it.' he said, with a hint of anger. 'Ministry blunders... culprit not apprehended... lax security... Dark wizards running unchecked... national disgrace... Who wrote this? Ah... of course... Rita Skeeter.'

'That woman's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!' said Percy, furiously. 'Last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it wasn't specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans-'

When he said vampires, over half the room looked to Emma, and curiously, Bill was one of them. The only ones who didn't look were Ginny, Fred, George, Percy and Charlie. Emma couldn't stand the looks of pity from the humans, or the reminder of how few rights she had, and simply left the room without a single word.

'Do us a favour, Perce,' said Bill, forcefully, before Emma had gone far. 'and shut up.'

Emma trudged up to Ginny's room, dumped her bag on her bed and sat down, sulking. It had been a while since she'd heard the words 'Non-Wizard Part-Human'. The ones that made her feel less-than, inferior.

Hermione poked her head in a few minutes later to drop off her bag too, and to let Emma know that Harry wanted to talk upstairs. Together they followed the boys to Ron's room.

'What's up, Harry?' asked Ron when Emma shut his bedroom door behind her.

'There's something I haven't told you.' said Harry. 'On Saturday morning, I woke up with my scar hurting again.'

Hermione gasped and suggested he get it seen by Dumbledore and Pomfrey, when they return to school, and for Emma to take a quick look at it now. Ron just looked dumbstruck.

'But - he wasn't there - was he? You-Know-Who?' he stuttered. 'I mean - last-time your scar kept hurting, he was at Hogwarts, wasn't he?'

'I'm sure he wasn't at Privet Drive.' said Harry. 'But I was dreaming about him... him and Peter - you know, Wormtail. I can't remember all of it now, but they were plotting to kill... someone.'

'What reason does he want you dead for now? Last time it was the stone...' wondered Emma, indicating for Harry to lean down, so she could prod his scar. 'Revenge?'

'I didn't say it was me.' retorted Harry, defensively, pulling away.

'You're a bad liar, Harry.' complained Emma. 'Now, hold still.'

'It was only a dream, though, right?' said Ron, nervously. 'Just a nightmare?'

'Yeah, but was it, though?' replied Harry, frowning at Emma and Ron. 'It's weird, isn't it... my scar hurts, and three days later the Death Eaters are on the march, and Voldemort's sign's up in the sky again.'

'Don't - say - his - name!' hissed Ron.

'Hermione, his scar seems fine.' interrupted Emma, stepping away from Harry in defeat. 'I don't know how I could tell if it wasn't though...'

'And remember what Professor Trelawney said?' added Harry, ignoring Emma, thankful she'd stopped her impromptu exam. 'At the end of last year?'

'Oh, Harry... you aren't going to pay any attention to anything that old fraud says, are you?'

'You weren't there, you didn't hear her.' insisted Harry, quickly. 'This time was different. I told you, she went into a trance, a real one, after my exam with her-'

Emma frowned, she'd never heard this. She racked her brain for a second before remembering.

'You never told us.' said Emma, reminding him. 'You were going to, but we told you we'd just learned Buckbeak was going to be executed.'

'Oh...' said Harry, momentarily confused. 'Oh, well... she said the Dark Lord would rise again... greater and more terrible than ever before... and he'd manage it because his servant was going to go back to him... and that night Wormtail escaped.'

There was a deep silence where Ron fidgeted, Hermione looked to Emma with disbelief, but Emma shrugged. It sounded like typical Trelawney from what little Emma knew of her, but Harry had a point. It was far too coincidental to not have some merit.

'Why were you asking if Hedwig had come, Harry?' asked Hermione, breaking the silence. 'Are you expecting a letter?'

'I told Sirius about my scar.' shrugged Harry. 'I'm waiting for his answer.'

'Good thinking!' said Ron, happily. 'I bet he'd know what to do!'

'I hoped he'd get back to me quickly.' said Harry.

'Good luck with that.' frowned Emma. 'We sent him a letter too, nearly two weeks ago, with Nephy, and she's still not back yet. I'm worried about her.'

'He could be in Africa for all we know.' said Hermione, placing a hand on Emma's shoulder, comfortingly. 'I'm sure Nephy is fine.'

'Yeah, I know...' said Harry, his mood darkening as Emma nodded solemnly.

'Come and have a game of Quidditch in the orchard, Harry.' said Ron, suddenly. 'Come on, three on three. Bill and Charlie and Fred and George will play... you can try out the Wronski Feint...'

'Ron!' snapped Hermione, thinking he was being insensitive. 'Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch right now... he's worried and tired... we all need to go to bed...'

'Yeah, I want to play Quidditch.' said Harry. 'Hang on, I'll get my Firebolt.'

Emma just left the room without even a backward glance, shaking her head in dismay, while Hermione muttered 'Boys!' with a sigh.

Emma and Hermione returned to Ginny's bedroom where Hermione caught some much-needed sleep, and Emma sat cross-legged next to her. She was scared. The World Cup was over and Emma had told herself she'd wait until after, to tell Hermione how she felt, but now it was time, she just couldn't pluck up the courage. Not only that, but Hermione had been really nice to her at the World Cup. She'd behaved much like a sister or close friend, comforting her, protecting her, chiding her. The glimmer of hope that Emma felt, that Hermione might feel the same way, had been blown out. No, things were much better as they are. To distract herself, and fulfil a promise, Emma began penning a letter to Richard and Jane, letting them know the two of them were safe, as well as everything that happened. From Emma's perspective, it couldn't have gone much worse, and she knew it would look bad, so she tried to tone her attitude down a little. She left room for Hermione to add her own words at the end after she woke, they then sealed it in an envelope and put a first-class stamp on it. Without Nephthys or Hedwig, and absolutely refusing to use Errol, Muggle post was their only option.

Over the following week, their last before returning to Hogwarts, the two of them visited Ottery St. Catchpole to post their letter, generally explore and look around. They also read the rest of their books in the Weasley's living room. Mrs Weasley's opinion toward Emma improved substantially overnight, clearly having been told about her healing Bill and Percy, but also because she finally received a response from Professor Dumbledore. Ginny continued to make herself scarce, so much so that Emma and Hermione rarely saw her, and neither could figure out why. The twins sequestered themselves away as well, but they were clearly scheming something, and were keen to prevent their mother finding out. Harry and Ron played Quidditch most days, so they were always around the orchard.

Mr Weasley and Percy, however, were now rarely there at all, owing to the chaos at the Ministry caused by the events at the Quidditch World Cup. People complaining about the security, or claiming compensation for lost tents, some fraudulently. Even in the Weasley home there were arguments. When Percy was around, he would often defend Crouch's behaviour toward Winky, but Emma and Hermione were having none of it.

'Crouch is very lucky Rita Skeeter hasn't found out about Winky.' said Mr Weasley, one night, after returning late. 'There'd be a week's worth of headlines in his house-elf being caught holding the wand that conjured the Dark Mark.'

'I thought we were all agreed that that elf-' started Percy, hotly.

'Winky!' interrupted Emma.

'-while irresponsible,' continued Percy, as if he'd heard nothing. 'did not conjure the Mark?'

'If you ask me, Mr Crouch is very lucky no one at the Daily Prophet knows how mean he is to elves!' added Hermione, angrily.

'Now, look here, Hermione!' replied Percy. 'A high-ranking official like Mr Crouch deserves unswerving obedience from his servants-'

'His slaves, you mean!' spat Hermione, her voice going shrill.

'Just because you enjoy being treated like a slave, Weatherby, doesn't mean others should be forced to as well.' retorted Emma, icily.

'I think you'd all better go to bed now.' said Mrs Weasley, hurriedly, as Fred and George sniggered at Percy's stunned and beet-red face. 'Come on, now, all of you...'

A few days before they were due to leave the Burrow, the weather began to improve drastically. Gone was the bright, burning sunshine and in were the thick clouds and pouring rain. Emma could finally enjoy being outside again without having to cover up.

Also an improvement, Nephthys finally returned one afternoon, while Emma and Hermione were reading alone in the Weasley's living room.

'Nephy!' squealed Emma, in delight, as the bird flew in the window. She picked her up and gave her the biggest hug and kisses. 'I missed you, so much! You were gone so long! Where did you go? Did you have fun?'

Emma and Nephthys entered into one of their long conversations that Hermione didn't really understand, with the vampire giving Nephthys lots of treats and more hugs. They were only briefly interrupted by Hermione, asking for the reply from Sirius, which she read while the other two were catching up.

'This is going to be complicated.' sighed Hermione.

They'd retired to Ginny's room after dinner, and Nephthys was asleep in her cage, resting after her long journey.

'Sirius agreed to help?' asked Emma.

'Agreed?' asked Hermione, not sure whether to be cross or pleased with Sirius. 'If anything he seems far too eager. He says Harry's father would be disappointed if his son never learned how to be an Animagus.'

'I guess we should be thankful.' said Emma, smiling. 'Him and Remus are probably the only two we could have asked who wouldn't force the three of you to register.'

'Yeah...' nodded Hermione. 'I would have thought he'd think twice about letting us do something that could put us in Azkaban, though.'

'I bet that didn't even cross his mind.' said Emma. 'He doesn't seem the sort to worry about consequences.'

'Just like Harry and Ron.' sighed Hermione, shaking her head, both amused and concerned.

'Regretting asking now?' giggled Emma. 'You could just not tell them.'

'No, that wouldn't be fair.' smiled Hermione. 'But I do wonder if they'll try hard enough to get the transformation to work. It's really convoluted, and it could get very expensive.'

'What will you have to do?' asked Emma.

Hermione passed over the letter and went through it with her. The first things they needed were a Mandrake leaf, each, that they had to keep in their mouth for a month. It had to be placed in their mouth and taken out again during a full moon. If it's taken out before its time, or swallowed, they have to start again. If they don't stand in direct moonlight, the leaf won't work, and they'll have to start again.

During that first month, they'll have to collect fresh dew into vials and store it away from sunlight, and human feet, for at least one week, or the dew won't work. At the end of the month they combine the Mandrake leaf, a strand of their hair, the dew poured out with a silver spoon, and a Death's-Head Hawk Moth Chrysalis into a vial. Once prepared, they then use the contents of that vial as an ingredient in a potion. Thankfully that potion is far less complicated than the one for Polyjuice, and can be made in a few hours, assuming everything else worked.

Finally, once the potion is consumed, they will each have exactly one month to accomplish the transformation, or they will have to start all over again.

'So you need two clear full moon nights in a row, or clear enough to get a few minutes of direct moonlight, and you need to get the right conditions for dew to form a week or so before the second full moon?' asked Emma, bewildered. 'And that's on top of the three Mandrake leaves and Chrysalises?'

'Yeap.' said Hermione, nodding, equally uneasy. 'Sirius said it could have been worse though, if we'd followed the books. Apparently, they write that the potion must be taken during a thunderstorm, within a month of brewing it or it becomes inert. He says that's nonsense, though.'

Emma read further on the letter where Sirius described them waiting for a thunderstorm and not getting one, and instead of starting again, they drank the potion before it became inert, to not waste it, and it still worked. He warns them that wizards are typically a superstitious bunch and sometimes unnecessary things become gospel. This was a particularly difficult idea to swallow for Hermione, that books could be wrong, but after everything that happened to them recently, she saw sense.

Sirius also wrote that the incantation, 'Amato, Animo, Animato, Animagus', only has to be recited while trying to transform, and not at any other time, something else he says the books will disagree with.

'No wonder it took them so long to transform.' said Emma. 'It could take all year just to get the full moons on clear enough nights, let alone the dew.'

'I don't really mind if it takes all year.' smiled Hermione. 'But the cost...'

'Mmhmm.' mumbled Emma. 'The Mandrake leaves are a couple of Galleons each, and the chrysalises... chrysalids? chrysalii? whatever... are six Galleons, from what I remember.'

'You were right the first time, it's chrysalises.' laughed Hermione. 'And the Mandrake leaves will be the worst part. We won't have to use the chrysalises if the full moons aren't clear, but we'll need new leaves and two new full moons.'

'But what if we manage to get the potion made and none of you are able to transform within the month? That's 24 Galleons down the drain.' said Emma, shaking her head.

'We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.' said Hermione, matter of factly. 'Shall I write an order form for them now?'

'Just the leaves first.' replied Emma. 'Imagine what the apothecary will think seeing an order for three leaves and three chrysalises?'

'See, this is why I keep you around.' giggled Hermione, blushing, making Emma smirk.

Hermione was about to pull out some parchment and write the order, but Ginny opened the door then, it being nearly time for bed. She took one look at the girls, seeing them suddenly become embarrassed and shifty, as if she'd interrupted something. Her face went bright red, accompanied by a strange look, and immediately turned and left, to go to the bathroom.

Emma and Hermione stared at each other, perplexed, their suspicions confirmed. Ginny seemed to be avoiding them, and they still had no idea why.