Footnotes

Entry #3: July 30th

There was a loud commotion in the station when we arrived. Mr. Malfoy was screaming at his son for the humiliation he had caused the family, pertaining to a young girl whose family is high on the enemy list. James and I were laughing at the whole thing, but Emma stayed very steely faced the whole time, and she kept a watchful eye on Baby and on me, (which I didn't mind at all.)

"I can't believe that you would try to do such a thing to a little girl! You can be sent away for things like that, you are of age now! They should have charged you with sexual assault, and that's the least they could have done!" The older Malfoy bellowed. The whole station bristled with tension, and muggles were skirting Lucius at all costs. Emma gazed at me again, her blue yes colder than usual and I smiled. She made a small sound of disgust and kept walking.

"Hurry now, you will all miss the train," David said rushing us a bit. We went through to Platform 9 ¾ and then rushed to get onto the train. The twins put their stuff up and hurried back outside to say their goodbyes. I waited in our compartment with Lily and Remus. Making sure Emma didn't see, I watched as she and her brother bid their father and baby sister goodbye. They way she treated them individually was so different it shocked me. Suddenly I was aware that Remus and Lily were watching too.

"She basically raised Baby on her own. David knows next to nothing about raising a kid, and so Emma writes every morning and night with daily instructions on what to do, because all he does now that Kelly is gone is drink. Emma almost didn't come to Hogwarts this year, just so she could stay home and take on raising her sister full time," Remus said sadly shaking his head. The twins didn't like to talk about their father, who had so much loss running in the family, he took to 'self medicating', because they were ashamed that the man that once was their father is lost among the constant drinking and there is no getting him back. Instead they share memories of their mother who died when they were seven, or even their step mother Kelly. They don't talk about David, unless it's to complain. James came back to the compartment without Emma. The train was leaving and she wasn't on the platform. James just shook his head.

"Stay out of it Zach!" Emma yelled marching into the compartment and slamming the door. She turned to Remus, who got instantly to his feet. We could see she had been crying. Zach still lingered outside. Remus poked his head out the door and told him we were leaving in two seconds so it wasn't worth it to stick around. He left. After he was gone Remus then hugged Emma and the two went to the head of the train together. I watched as Zach wondered back and left again.

"God, I hate the git…" James said under his breath. We all nodded. Emma sure knew how to pick them.

"He's the same as all the others; we have to talk some sense into her."

"More like beat some sense into her," Lucius said as he pushed the door open. Zach filed in behind him, laughing like in imbecile he is. James's hands clenched into fists, as Lucius began to talk.

"Emma has been bad….recently…and we need to…..punish her….," He told us laughing. All of us were lit with rage and I could see it in James and Lily the most. James was three inches away from Lucius in a stare down I was afraid someone was going to get hurt.

"Speaking of punishment, what did you daddy do to you? You see, I was on the other side of the station, and I couldn't quite hear, there was this screaming baby girl…"

"Shut your filthy little mouth you disgusting mublood!"

"If you ever, I mean ever, say that to my best friend again, or I'll castrate you and ship your parts to your daddy so he can die of even more humiliation!" Emma said with an icy tone. Lucius spun around to face her and got a punch straight in the nose. He fell to the floor with a thud. Zach stepped up to fight for Lucius but lost to a few rounds of punching and kicking for Emma.

"By the way…we're over," Emma said before Zach too toppled to the ground on top of Lucius. She stood there, gazing blankly at the crowd that had formed, breathing very heavily. I exchanged worried looks with Lily and James. I could see Remus in the back of the crowd fighting to get toward the front. He wasn't going to make it. I rushed forward as Emma collapsed. Sadly, Remus reached with in moments of Professor McGonagall.

"What in Godric's name is going on here?"

"I'd like to know the same thing," I replied. She took Emma to the front of the train with the help of Remus and the rest of us were sent to our compartments. Remus came back and traded places with James, who stayed with his sister the remainder of the ride. Both Remus and Lily were very upset. Lily and Emma had known each other since their first day of Hogwarts, but the Lupins and the Potters go back even further. Remus and Emma had been best friends since they could talk.

"Emma was saying she didn't fell very well yesterday."

"Yeah, well you wouldn't feel too great after your boyfriend took you to a back alley and beat you for embarrassing his best friend would ya now?" Lily replied almost as icily as Emma had treated Lucius. Suddenly I felt very bad for the little prank we pulled. I swallowed hard. The rest of the train ride was a living hell, and the trip seemed to drag on for hours. Once we finally got to the school I couldn't wait for the Sorting to be over, but that took years. James came back halfway through the feast, Emma-less, and he was whiter than a sheet. Nearly-Headless Nick almost mistook him for a new ghost in the school. None of us had touched our food.

"What's up with Emma, do we know?"

"She had another fit."

"So what do we do about it?"

"Nothing, even in the world of magic we can't cure epilepsy," James said. He got up from the table and walked away, clearly in a bad mood. We all sighed and put our forks down. I stabbed mine violently into my mashed potatoes, getting them all over a first year near by. Lily had to apologize for me.

"So much for a great start to the last year."