A/N: Sooo, I'm hoping that if I update this soon, I'll get some reviews?
Btw, I know I said there'd be no pairing for now, and there probably won't in this fic, but I will be hinting at one, and probably will put it in in the sequel to this.
Enjoy!
Chapter 3
She had been planning to yell, she really had, but after she'd stormed into his office, she didn't even have a chance to open her mouth before Remus was crushing her in a hug. "I thought you'd died," he whispered in my ear, and with those few words, she'd come undone, and had sobbed like a little girl in her sort-of big brother's arms. She had apologised and had offered an explanation, which Moony gladly listened to.
After another two hours talking to him, Emma had planned to go find Dumbledore and give him a piece of her mind, but Remus had convinced her that three in the morning really wasn't all that decent of an hour for her to be bothering the headmaster. Of course, Emma couldn't let that one go by, so she'd started whining that she didn't bother people, she was 29, after all. And that had just set the both of them off, laughing like crazy people (which, in all honesty, they really were).
She ended up sleeping on his couch, having declined his bed – it had taken physical strength to get Moony to not give up his bed, but he needed it more than her, his last full moon hadn't been that long ago.
Soon, Emma drifted off to sleep, not even bothered by Remus' light snore drifting in through the open bedroom door.
/*/
Emma POV, 1st person
The next morning was a Sunday, so everyone had plans to sleep late. Unfortunately for a certain visitor in the castle, those plans were about to get disturbed.
I started as someone knocked on the door. It took me a mument to remember where I was, and another debating whether or not to ignore the knocking. Eventually, I decided to get up and open the door.
The one doing the knocking had been a small mousy-haired boy, with huge, exciting looking eyes. He'd delivered a message for 'Emma Potter, ma'am, is it really true you're related to Harry Potter?' He'd reminded me a little of a house elf, except that a house elf would never ignore an order. I told him that yes, I was Harry's aunt and then I told him to get back to breakfast. Instead, he kept standing there, staring open-mouted at me, so I just closed the door in his face.
Remus walked in through his bedroom door, looking to me as if he was more asleep than awake. "Who was it?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
"Just some first or second year, he was asked to deliver this," I said, holding up the folded piece of parchment the student had handed me. "It's from Dumbledore," I said, opening it. "He's asking me to meet him in his office after breakfast, and to please do join everyone for breakfast. I think he's hoping to have a big announcement about who I am, but I don't agree. From talking to Harry yesterday, I gathered that he really disliked the limelight."
Remus hummed, looking under the dresser in the living room area to look for something. "Yes, I'd noticed that too. He's very bright, though, and very eager to learn, especially if he respects the professor. I think he's top of his class academically, if not theoretically, that would be Hermione Granger."
I smiled at that. "So he's not a troublemaker like his father?" I asked lightly, finally noticing a slipper sticking out from under the couch, and guessing that's what he was looking for.
"On the contrary, I believe, while he doesn't always watch his mouth when provoked, especially by Draco Malfoy and professor Snape, he is very well mannered, and an excellent student. Though I have reason to believe miss Granger is the only reason he gets all of his homework finished in time," he said with a wry smile.
I took pity on him and handed him the slipper, before claiming the bathroom first. The little sister has privileges after all.
/*/
At breakfast, Harry was still debating whether the events of the previous evening were a dream or not, despite his friend's reassurances. He vaguely noticed Colin Creevey running into the hall and saying something at top speed. He wasn't paying attention until the name Emma Potter fell. He turned to the closest member of Colin's group, which just happened to be Ginny Weasley.
"What is he on about?" he asked, tapping her on the shoulder.
She looked at him and blushed a little, not as much as she would've the previous year, but still. "He had to deliver a message to that woman who was yelling at Dumbledore yesterday, and it turns out her name's Emma Potter, family of yours?" she asked, interrupting herself.
"Yeah, she's my aunt, what about her?"
"Well, it seems she slept in professor Lupin's quarters, and she opened the door wearing men's pyjamas and looking rumpled. If you ask me, they just want something to gossip about," she said, shrugging.
The comment aside, Harry noticed a certain air of sadness hanging around the youngest Weasley, and couldn't help but wonder if she was still bothered by what had happened the previous year. As soon as her words sank in, though, he was mildly disgusted. Though he didn't know either of them very well, it seemed to him he had to be a little disgusted that his aunt was sleeping with his professor. It was just gross.
"I didn't know you had an another aunt," she said so softly, he almost missed it.
"Yeah, me neither until yesterday," he replied and turned back to his breakfast. Hermione was still complaining about Ron's eating habits, so neither of them had noticed his conversation.
For the first time ever, Harry allowed himself to drift into a fantasy, though. He hadn't known he had an aunt, a magical aunt, so surely she had more claim over him than aunt Petunia? What if he never had to return to the Dursleys again? What if he could live with Emma now, and have friends over, and not have to worry about 'freakishness' happening?
Just as he thought about that, two figures entered the hall, and whispered conversation broke out all over the room. As Harry looked up and saw Emma and professor Lupin strolling in talking animatedly, he grimaced again. Professors weren't supposed to have personal lives, that would be like McGonagall being married, or Sprout having a hobby other than gardening, it was just wrong. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he did realize that professors probably weren't the robot-like creatures he hoped they were, but he at least didn't want to see any of it.
They walked straight to the head table, and aside from Emma's wink to him, they showed no interest in disturbing him during breakfast. There was a little commotion when Hagrid spotted her, though, since he got up and enveloped her in a bear hug that would've left a normal person with at least one broken bone. She talked to him for a few seconds, conjuring a tablecloth-sized hankie for him when he started tearing up. She moved down the line of teachers, briefly talking to McGonagall and Flitwick before sitting down on the extra chair next to Lupin.
As Harry watched them, he didn't think they acted like they were any more than what they appeared to be, and he didn't think he'd ever seen the professor smile that much. At one mument, Emma even pushed his head down into his cereal, to the great amusement of anyone in the Great Hall that had witnessed it. A miniature food fight ensued, while the other professors merely erected magical shields to avoid the stray food.
"I like her," the twins said in unison, sitting not too far from Harry. He rolled his eyes and turned back to watch his aunt, only to laugh when he saw that Lupin had tied a white handkerchief around a spoon and was waving it around, signalling his surrender.
Harry had never seen adults act like that, and he idly wondered if living with Emma would be that fun. Then he scolded himself mentally, there was no reason to think she'd want to take him in. Maybe she just wanted to be in his life, but that didn't mean she necessarily wanted to become a parent all of a sudden…
After breakfast was over, Emma stopped by his table and told him she had to talk to Dumbledore some more, but she'd come to the common room to pick him up after that. She'd grinned at him and told him she had a surprise for him.
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