Chapter 19

Everyone was laughing and hugging when Emily told them the first sentence of the letter.

"What else does it say?" asked Harry after a minute.

Emily looked down. "It says:

Dear Mrs. Leila Lupin,

I know your secret and you won't escape me this time! You may have fled, but now I that know about your daughter you and your husband will succumb to me. I know that you're no longer here and as I just arrived I found her for myself. You will never see her again unless I command. You and your husband are under my control now, so unless I am given the information you have received your daughter will soon be dead.

The Dark Lord Voldemort."

Underneath was the Death-Eater symbol, the snake coming out of the skull's mouth.

Emily chuckled, "Empty threat. He didn't even know where I was." She looked up expecting to see everyone else smiling, but no one was.

"What?" she asked.

"Emily, if your mom has seen this letter, which she probably has by now, she'll have given in or come looking for one of us," explained Ron. Emily almost smacked herself. Even Ron had figured that out before her.

"Well, it's not like she's gone straight to Voldemort or anything," shrugged Jon. "So what should we do now? Look more or go back to school?"

"She could be anywhere!" cried Hermione.

"Hmmmm….well, I think-" Lupin cut himself off. "What was that?"

Emily listened and she heard it too. There was a soft rustle in the bushes. She amrched over and parted them. "Genny?" she was shocked. Had genny followed her here?

Genny guiltily shouted, "Wait! I can explain! Really, I can…"

"Go on," ordered Emily. "After all, we all know you really followed us halfway across the country to ask for a cup of tea and a biscuit. Is that right, Miss Genevieve the Stalking?"

Genny huffed, "I did not stalk you."

"Then why are you here?" taunted Emily.

"Well,…I…" Genny seemed really hesitant to admit anything. "It's sort of complicated…"

"I thought you said you could explain!" laughed Harry with a huge grin. "I can explain! Really!" he imitated her in a high-pitched voice. Laughing, he and Ron high-fived.

Genny made a face at them, "Well, if you must know, I followed you so I could help you look."

"Sure you did, Genny. And that's why you hid in the bushes, right?" Emily rolled her eyes. "You thought my mom was hiding in there? What a great place to look! It's a wonder you haven't graduated Hogwarts yet for being so amazingly brilliant!"

"Your mum probably couldn't have hid behind there for long anyway. You know how impatient she is," chuckled Lupin.

"Why do you call your mum 'mom'?" asked Hermione as they mounted their brooms. They had decided to return to Hogwarts. They'd figure out what to do later. Genny had borrowed a school broom which had fallen apart after the hard trip so she was sharing a broom with Emily.

"Well, my Mom was raised in Canada. She moved to England when she was older. I was born here so I have a British accent, but I still grew up with the North American version of mum."

"Oh, and how did you meet Jon then? It's such a huge coincidence from what he told me. There has to be more to it."

Emily shrugged. "What fate wants, fate gets."

Genny laughed. "You sound as loony as Trelawny."

Emily remembered the sadness in Trelawny's eyes when she had talked to her. "She's not really all that loony. She's actually quite nice. You shouldn't have judged her like that."

Hermioen snorted. "Please! On our first day of class she insulted almost everyone and repeatedly told Harry he was gonna die. That's not the best first impression and considering how mad she was the rest of the year didn't help much."

"I heard," Genny giggled, "That she doesn't even have the Inner Eye."

Hermione shot a look towards Emily and Genny's broom. "That, I can tell you for certain, is a lie. She made some absolutely," Hermione shivered, "Absolutely dreadful prophecies. I've seen them come true. Just ask Harry. He can tell you how much he's heard her prophecies and how often they've been right."

Emily kept quiet. She had learned from the other students the rumour about the Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. She had heard that it basically listed Harry as a marked man from the beginning. Of course, it was a Hogwarts rumour and probably only half true.

"Oh, my god! There's someone flying behind us! Did we leave anybody?" asked genny suddenly.

Emily looked around. "Nope, everyone's here. Who can that be?"

The wizard behind them looked up and saw the three girls looking at him. He swooped behind a tree as if he didn't want to be seen.

"I could've sworn that was…" Genny started quietly. She shook her head, "Nah!"

"Who did you think it was?" asked Emily, a cold feeling growing in her stomach.

"Well, it sort of looked like Seamus, but that's impossible, right? Why would he wanted to have follow us?"