A few weeks had passed since the orphanage's trip to the aquarium and Emily was lingering on very curious words. "Everything will be explained," she muttered to the small otter plush she had next to her on her bed. "Nothing has been explained. Ever."

Emily belly-flopped onto her bed, grabbing the small otter and pulling it close. "If only that man had made sense." She pressed the nose of the otter to hers and stared into its eyes.

It blinked, Emily thought, moving the otter away and staring at it with a look of confusion. "You can't blink," she said, turning it in her hands to view it from all directions when something else caught her eye – owls outside the window staring in. Emily put the otter down by her side and rubbed her eyes, returning her gaze to the window, which no longer had anything in it. I'm losing it.

"You there."

Startled, Emily sat up and looked up to see Happerty standing in the doorway of the girl's dormitory. "Did I do something?" Emily asked, unsure of what the fiery redheaded woman wanted.

"Pack your things, you're getting out of here."

"But no one has asked to see me-?"

Happerty wore a nasty look on her face at Emily's mention of no one asking to see her in the orphanage.

"This was arranged years ago. Just back your junk and get out of my sight. They're waiting for you out front." Happerty then walked out, slamming the door of the dormitory behind her.

Confused, Emily looked around. For Happerty to insist Emily gather her belongings were a joke. When Emily arrived at the orphanage at four, she came with nothing, but the clothes on her back. Still, she made a show of gathering up items into the backpack that she had; mostly books and her otter went into the bag. With a sigh, Emily put the backpack over her shoulders, holding onto the straps as though they were an extremely heavy burden. She gave the room one quick look, smiled to herself, and walked out to the main hall.

Once out in the main hall, she was surprised to see the man she had met at the aquarium.

"What are you doing here?" Emily asked, her eyes slightly wide.

"Why, picking you up," Remus said with a smile.

Emily's eyes narrowed, "But you've never come to see me before. It takes years to get adopted."

Remus Lapin's smile only grew broader. "Well, it has been years. Since you've been admitted here, in fact."

This piece of information caused Emily to be even more confused than she had just become. "What do you mean by that?"

"Never you mind," Remus said, his smile only growing by the second, "it's time you get to your new home. Here, give me your bag."

Slowly and without taking her eyes off of Remus, Emily took her backpack off and handed it to him. She couldn't understand how a man she had just met several weeks ago also happened to be the person who would be bringing her to an actual home.

Remus slung Emily's backpack over one shoulder. "Do you need to see anyone before you leave?"

Emily shook her head and only crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, then, let's go," Remus, said, putting a hand on Emily's shoulder and steering her to the door. Once at the door, Remus opened it and motioned for Emily to proceed.

For a moment, Emily paused and only looked at Remus, curious as to why she had not known any paper work had been filed on her behalf. With an air of uncertainty, Emily proceeded outside the door and into the world and to her new life.

"You're not eating."

Emily looked up from the plate of pasta in front of her to see Remus looking at her with a concerned look. She took a look at her surroundings again and returned her gaze to her food.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked, setting his fork down and folding his hands in front of him.

"I'm fine," Emily said, shifting nervously in her chair, which felt as though it was on the verge of breaking underneath her.

Remus partly understood what was bothering Emily; his home wasn't exactly the most lavish building in the area. The rooms were fairly bare and the furniture that he did own wasn't in the best shape. For example, the couch had several ripped patches and the kitchen set was made of knotted wood and had large chunks taken out of it in places as though a large animal had ripped its claws into the wood. He took a look around the room himself and sighed.

"I'm sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting when you left that place," Remus said softly.

"No, it's not that," Emily said, "I'm just confused as to how I managed to get here. No one had said that I could be leaving that place." Her stomach growled and she clamped her arms over it to try and muffle the noise.

Remus chuckled at Emily's embarrassment of her apparent hunger. "Please eat, I assure you that I'm not a horrible cook. I've had to cook for myself for years and no one I know has died from it yet. If you eat, I'll attempt to explain things later on."

"You told me I would find things out before!" Emily exclaimed looking at Remus with an extremely confused expression. "None of this makes sense and I still don't know any more than I did weeks ago. All I know is I met you at that aquarium and now I'm here with you in the same house as you've apparently adopted me. How could you have been able to have all of that paper work filled out and processed already? I'm not stupid, I've seen how it works many times as I've watched people come and go."

"Please eat and I assure you I'll explain everything."

Emily's stomach growled again. She finally picked up her fork and began to eat, shoveling the pasta into her mouth as fast as she could. Apparently she hadn't realized how hungry she really was and was truly enjoying the food that Remus had cooked.

Seeing that Emily was finally eating, Remus began to finish what he had left when he was interrupted by a tapping on the window. "Oh, the mail's here!"

Remus stood up and moved to the window, allowing in the owl that appeared to be carrying several letters.

"Why are you letting that owl in?" Emily asked, her confused expression appearing immediately once more. She placed her fork down again and looked at Remus who only looked back at her with an equally confused expression.

"He brought the mail," Remus said. He removed the letters attached to the owls leg and shut the window as it flew back out.

"That owl brought mail?"

The very thought of an owl bringing mail made Emily think she was dreaming. She had heard of carrier pigeons and had even learned of them in her history class, but had never heard of owls carrying mail.

"That's how we get mail in our world. Now, in order to keep up the illusion a perfectly normal person lives here I receive Muggle mail as well, but the more important letters come in by owl."

Emily's jaw dropped. "Muggle? What's a Muggle? What are you talking about? You have to be joking, right?"

"I was afraid this was going to happen," Remus said sighing. He sorted through the small stack of letters and pulled one out. He set the rest of the stack on his counter and brought the one single envelope back with him to the table. "This won't answer nearly everything, but it's just a start."

Remus handed Emily the envelope in his hand. She took it cautiously, reading the address. To her surprise, the letter was in fact addressed to her, with her new surname and with an oddly specific location (the kitchen table). Turning the envelope around, Emily ran her fingers over the candle wax seal and popped it up from the heavy paper. She pulled the contents of the letter out and began to read. Shortly after she finished reading, she fainted.