Chapter 5

After finding Jon's address in the school directory, Emily bustled over to his house.

When she rang the doorbell she knew what the reply was going to be.

"Hi, is Jon there?" she asked the hesitant woman looking out at her, who must have been Jon's mother.

"I'm sorry. Are you a friend of his?" the woman asked. Her voice was motherly, but concerned as if she didn't want Emily to come in.

"Yes. I was wondering if he was there. I wanted to say by before he left."

The woman apologetically winced and said, "He's already left."

Her suspicions confirmed, Emily pulled out her wand. "Floo power, I'm guessing."

The woman looked shocked for a second and then breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, yes, floo powder. Come in. I didn't catch you name by the way."

"Oh, it's Emily. Emily Lupin," Emily introduced herself as she stepped into the house.

The woman broke into a sudden coughing fit. "Lupin, huh? Not exactly a common name. Are you by any chance related to Remus Lupin?"

"Well, I didn't know my dad," explained Emily uncomfortably, not sure whether or not to tell this unknown woman who was Jon's mother. She decided that if she was related to Jon she couldn't be all bad. "My mom wouldn't tell me who he was."

The woman waved her hand dismissively, "Probably not then. The Lupin I know never mentioned family. I can't imagine he wouldn't say anything about his family in all the years I knew him."

Emily nodded. That was a good point. "Well, I was just wondering if Jon had gone yet…and if he was a wizard. Bye. Thank you."

"Your welcome, Emily," smiled Mrs. Granger.

Emily began to walk away, but then stopped. "Which school does Jon go to anyway? He told me he was transferring between two schools."

"Hogwarts, dear. Hogwarts. Which school do you go to?"

"My mom home-schools me. I go to the Muggle school for the rest of the time," Emily explained.

Mrs. Granger waved her along, and Emily walked down the sidewalk. When she heard the Granger's door close behind her, she broke into a run.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts…GOSH!" Emily threw the map book of the magical world onto the bed. "Where the heck is it? It can't just not be…." Emily trailed off. It was probably unplottable. She threw her head into her hands.

Unexpectedly, her bedroom door banged open. A short, somewhat stout man stood in the doorway. He had the features of a rat. He stood hunched over, his long, dirty fingers nails causing Emily to feel nacreous. One of his hands had been replaced by a twitching silver replica. He looked dirty and unkempt, like a homeless dog. There was nothing about this man that made Emily think he could be good news.

"Where's Leila? Where is she?" He leered at her, his hoarse, scratchy voice sounding like nails scratching a chalkboard.

Emily was frozen with fear. "She's, she's…gone."

The man approached her, his nose twitching as if he were trying to sniff her out. "Gone? Gone where?"

"I don't know! She didn't tell me! Please, leave me alone!"

The rat-faced man leered closer to her.

There was an unexpected knock on the front door of the house. The man, looking frightened, glanced over his shoulder and scuttled away.

Before her left, he turned to Emily and said, "The Dark Lord shall know of this." Then he scrambled out of Emily's room.

Emily stared for a minute then broke out of her paralysis. She ran down stairs to answer the door.

"That you, Lupin? You okay? Good! Just 'cause your freakin' mom asked me to check on you doesn't mean you should leave me waiting at the door for hours," grumbled Mr. Kopler. It had only been a minute since he had knocked, but Emily knew he had a bad temper.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kopler. It won't happen again. I was in the middle of something and it took me a while to get to the door." It wasn't exactly a lie. She was in the middle of something, but she didn't' know what or why she was in the middle of this mess. Why had the man been in her house?

"Watching TV, I suppose. That's all you youngsters do these days. That and play video games. Why, when I was a kid we used to play respectable games of stickball and…"

Emily knew that Mr. Kopler was rambling now. "Yes, Mr. Kopler. Kids of today aren't as active as they used to be. Thanks for checking on me. Everything's fine."

He grunted. "It better be." He wobbled home, leaning on his cane.

Emily breathed with relief. Little did Mr. Kopler know, but he may have just saved Emily's life.

As she returned to her room, she began to wonder, 'Why was he here? What did he want with Mom?' For the rat-man had been looking for Leila.

This would take a lot of thought. Meanwhile, if the man was going to tell Voldemort that Emily was here, then it probably wasn't safe. So even if Emily didn't know what was going on, it was probably best for her to start packing.