Fourth Year Part One

Shopping for her new year's school supplies was the most difficult it had ever been, with Hanna clutching tightly to Emily's hand they waded through the large crowds of students and parents desperately searching for Ollivander's so that they could find Aria and Spencer who were currently helping Mike- Aria's younger brother- to buy a wand. "This is madness!" Hanna exclaimed as the Gryffindor pulled her through the crowd.

"I know! I think we picked the worst day possible to come shopping!" Emily called back and they burst through a gap in the crowd and found that on the other side of the small clearing Aria and her brother were stood looking for them. Mike's eyes soon found Emily's and he called out;

"Aria, I see your friends! Guys over here!" He waved frantically and Emily smiled at his childish antics and rushed over with Hanna to avoid the rest of the crowd.

"Where's Spencer?" The blonde asked, slightly breathless

"Just buying us some pumpkin pasties, she shouldn't be long though." Aria explained, searching the faces of people for Spencer's familiar furrowed brows.

"Hey Emily look at my new wand!" Mike waved around the wooden object and Emily stood back with her hands raised in surrender.

"Whoa there kid, better put that thing away before you hurt someone." She joked with a slight serious hint to her voice.

"Oh yeah, right…" The brunette boy shoved it back in its box as his face dropped considerably.

"But hey, what type is it?" Emily asked, hoping to lift his spirits.

"Oh! It's a 13 ¼ inch Cedar with Phoenix feather centre." He grinned

"Wow, well mine is 12 ½ inch Rosewood with Ebony swirl handle and dragon heartstring centre."

"Seriously? That's so cool!" The boy grinned again and Emily couldn't help but return his smile. She remembered being that excited to go to Hogwarts her first year, not that she wasn't excited to return- especially with the prospect of seeing Paige again but nothing can beat that First-Year excitement. Suddenly a familiar voice called out:

"Hey guys!" Emily turned to the source of the sound and spotted Spencer weaving and dodging with all the skill of a professional Quidditch player through the last part of the shoppers. "God walking through that's worse than trekking through the Forbidden Forest!" The Ravenclaw handed a pumpkin pasty to each of her friends; Emily wolfed it down hungrily having not eaten since early that morning. Emily breathed in the familiar scent of Diagon Alley and a smile graced her lips; apart from Hogwarts Diagon Alley was Emily's favourite place- the books, the stores and the people all made it a charming and animated street. Although the cobbles hurt the girls' feet after walking on them all day they were still ecstatic to be there because tomorrow they would be boarding the Hogwarts Express to take them back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for their fourth year.

"So all you need now is a familiar." Aria checked off all the items on Mike's list. Emily smiled; she remembered buying her cat- Shadow- her first trip here. Spencer had an owl named Aristotle, Aria also had a cat, a ginger tabby named Othello and Hanna's familiar was a chubby white rat by the name of Snow "And all of us have everything right?" Aria continued and all three girls nodded in unison.

"Excellent!" Exclaimed Spencer "After we get Mike a familiar we can all go back to the Leaky Cauldron and get some rest." They all made noises of hearty agreement, Emily's legs hurt and she felt like her arms were going to give out from the weight of her new text books.

Around half an hour later Mike had purchased himself a new rat and named him Scuffles. 'Cute' Emily thought as the grinning eleven year old scratched between the rat's ears which squeaked happily.

Toppling through the door of The Leaky Cauldron Emily and her friends hurried to get upstairs and curl up in bed. Soon their wishes came true and Emily and Hanna both collapsed onto their large king-size bed that they were sharing. Emily had bid farewell to her parents the previous day, Hanna's mum had left that morning but Spencer's parents had simply dropped her at the station at the beginning of the week. Emily felt sorry for Spencer half the time, her parents never seemed to want to spend time with her, especially now that Melissa was head girl and also a member of Slytherin house- the house which Spencer's father had been in. However it wasn't long before Emily's train of thought turned to Paige; that had been happening more and more recently, Emily put it down to having not seen the girl in almost 6 weeks- the distance was killing her, especially since she had received Paige's letter regarding their current friendship. Emily smiled to herself, thinking over the letter the Slytherin girl had sent her a week ago 'I consider you to be one of my best friends.' Despite their differences and the altercation last year Emily also considered Paige to be one of her own best friends and couldn't wait to meet the girl after the start of year feast to tell her so. Sometimes Emily wondered if she thought about the brunette too much but then pushed such thoughts from her mind- they were best friends they were supposed to think about each other…right? The smile began to slip from her face. Did Emily think of Paige to often? Did Emily think of Paige in an entirely friendly way? No. That was ludicrous. Emily almost laughed at her own stupidity; all of a sudden Emily realised Hanna was staring at her. "You okay, Em?" The blonde asked, concern plastered across her features.

"Yeah just thinking." The Gryffindor replied, even though Aria and her were in the same house Emily had become closest to Hanna out of all her friends. There was something about the blonde's bright blue eyes that made Emily feel safe.

"About what?"

"It's nothing." Emily replied curtly, not wanting to explain her current train of thought. However Hanna was never one for taking hints.

"Aw pleeeeeaaasseee?" She begged "Come on please tell me, Em." But Emily kept her mouth shut "Merlin's beard! You have a crush don't you!" Hanna exclaimed suddenly

"What? No I don't that's ridiculous." And it was, Emily didn't have a crush, she had a friend.

"No you totally do, I recognise that look; Spencer gets it whenever she's around Toby." Hanna grinned triumphantly "Come on tell me who it is! I swear I won't tell anyone." The blonde crossed a chubby finger over her heart and grinned expectantly. Instead Emily turned over on the bed away from Hanna to avoid her gaze. "Em?" Hanna laid down next to the dark haired girl and wrapped an arm around her waist, Emily stiffened at the contact "I was just kidding, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She relaxed slightly in Hanna's arms and realized that the sensation was nice. It was warm, and comfortable and right. They laid like that for a little while longer before Emily sat up and declared.

"Come on, I could murder a Butterbeer."

The familiar chugging sound of the scarlet steam engine filled Emily's ears as The Hogwarts Express began pulling out of King's Cross Station. Hanna and Spencer ventured off in search of a compartment while Emily and Aria stayed by the windows to watch as Mike vehemently waved goodbye to Byron and Ella Montgomery who were smiling happily on the platform amongst the other student's parents. He waved and waved until the Muggle and Wizard parents alike were replaced by the soaring offices and apartment buildings of London. A smile slipped onto Emily's face as she looked over at the grinning Montgomery siblings- it was highly unusual to have two wizards come from two Muggle parents but they didn't care; they were both just happy that they were able to spend more time together. A familiar dirty blonde head popped out of a compartment door further down the train and yelled "Hey guys, we found an empty space!" The other three hurried down to the compartment, dragging their luggage behind them.

Not long later they were all settled and Mike's still grinning face was pushed as far up to the window as he could get it, his eyes scanned the scenery hungrily- taking it every detail of the ever changing landscape. Emily was sat next to Hanna while Spencer, Aria and Mike took up the other seat opposite; there was plenty of room however. It sometimes amazed Emily how the whole school managed to fit onto the train but then she reminded herself that magic was clearly involved. "So Mike, what are you most looking forward to this year?" Hanna asked with a warm smile

"Everything!" He exclaimed and the girls let out a chorus of laughter "But definitely being sorted into a house- to be honest I'd be happy being sorted into any of the houses."

"Except Slytherin of course." Spencer joked and Emily couldn't help but furrow her brows.

"Why shouldn't he want to be in Slytherin?" Emily asked pointedly, four sets of eyes all turned to her accusingly

"Why would he want to be in Slytherin?" Spencer replied, her feathers clearly ruffled.

"Well for one, they do exceedingly well at school- it comes with their determination and they're clever."

"Yes but Ravenclaw's can do both of those things so what else is so good about Slytherin? I thought we covered this at the end of last year, Slytherins are just no good, Em." At Spencer's words Emily shot up out of her seat, almost clashing her head on the luggage railings and snapped;

"Fine, whatever- I'm going to the bathroom." And with that she stormed out of the compartment to the shocked looks of all of her friends.

Emily sniffled quietly before pulling off some toilet paper and dabbing her eyes gently; this was ridiculous, why was she crying? Or rather why was she crying so hard? Spencer had insulted the Slytherins before when she and Paige had been friends, why was it affecting her so much now? So many questions that Emily honestly had no answer for. A gentle knock on the door made the Gryffindor jump. "Emily?" A kind voice called; it was Hanna "Em, are you alright? If-if you want to talk about it without the others knowing I'm here." Despite the fact she was currently crying in a toilet Emily smiled. If she had to say who her best friend out of their group was it would definitely be Hanna.

"I-I'm not sure." Emily called quietly

"About what?" Hanna asked

"Whether or not I want to talk about it." She replied as the train jostled on the tracks

"Well even if you don't want to talk, I'm still here if you want…a hug or something? Sorry I'm not very good at this…" The blonde trailed off as Emily opened the door.

"Hanna; you're amazing at this." The brunette wrapped her arms around the chubby girl as Hanna joined in on the hug. They held on for a while longer before releasing each other. Hanna looked slightly uncomfortable though. "What is it?"

"I was just thinking…is the reason you're so touchy about the subject of Slytherin house because the Sorting Hat considered placing you there?" Emily was slightly taken aback by that, she didn't think of it that way. Not that the Sorting Hat had considered it.

"No, that's not the reason- it did consider me for Hufflepuff though." Emily gave a small smile before releasing a shaky breath and debating over whether or not to continue. She decided it was time to tell someone so she grabbed Hanna's hand and dragged her to a secluded part of the corridor before turning to face her. "No one can know about this okay? Please."

"Of course, whatever the secret is its safe with me." Hanna said quickly and with conviction

"I…" Emily wasn't exactly sure what Paige was…a friend for sure but recently…no. "I have a friend who's in Slytherin House but they're nothing like the others Hanna, really they're not and I just hate it when Spencer talks about them that way." Hanna was quiet for a minute.

"So…is he the crush that I was teasing you about yesterday?" Emily's breath caught in her throat…he…she hadn't said that it was Paige who was her friend…she had said 'they' not 'she'. Why had she done that? There it was again; another question Emily couldn't answer.

"No…he's just a friend." Emily replied. Not telling the whole truth made her sick to the stomach but she had promised Paige that they're friendship would remain a secret…or at least she was going to when she saw her tonight.

"Oh okay." Hanna said happily but then turned serious "You gonna be okay though?"

"Yeah." Emily replied, but she wasn't sure if she was convincing Hanna or convincing herself.

Emily scoured the Great Hall for a glimpse of Paige during the start of year feast but there was no sign of the Slytherin anywhere. This immediately brought Emily's mood down immensely but by the same token she wasn't supposed to meet Paige until after the feast so did not let herself get too disheartened by the lack of the brunette's presence. Despite loving the feast, the time she got to spend with her friends and the proud moment when Mike was sorted into Hufflepuff Emily was distracted. Her feet twitched and her hands were restless; she couldn't wait to see Paige so when they were all finally dismissed Emily almost ran out of the hall with joy however she composed herself so that it was more of a brisk walk rather than a sprint. Emily snuck away from the other Gryffindors and rushed through the familiar corridors of Hogwarts castle. Paintings whizzed by, more blurs of colour rather than actual pictures as Emily hurried down halls and skidded round corners until she made it to the back entrance of the castle. Emily took a deep breath before stepping out into the warm night air. The beaten muddy track hard under her feet as she walked the well-known path down to Hagrid's hut. It wasn't long until the large oak tree came into view- a darker shadow against the starlit night that towered above her like a giant watching over the Gryffindor girl. Then another shape came into sight as Emily drew nearer to the oak; a smaller and more human shape. Paige.

Emily wanted to run towards the girl but instead hung back and observed her. The Slytherin paced backwards and forwards in front of the borderline if the forest- not so close as to enter the trees but not so far that she was visible out from under the leaves' protection of darkness. Emily crept closer in an attempt to get a better look and she did. She finally saw Paige's face as a cloud uncovered some of the brighter stars and the girl's face became clearly visible. She looked...worried. Emily let a small smile grace her lips as she began making the last leg of the joinery to their meeting spot. Emily's heart hammered in her chest as her footfalls became slowly faster. She had to be only 6 metres away now and she had to ask herself; why was she so nervous? It was only Paige. As she got closer to the treeline the moon came out from behind a cloud and cast a ray of shimmering silver light onto the ground on which they stood and illuminated both of the girl's faces in its glow. Paige's hair shone as she turned, looking for a sign of her favourite Gryffindor. Both sets of brown eyes met and mirrored grins spread across their faces. What happened next was unexpected but certainly not unwelcome.

Emily and Paige ran forwards and upon reaching the other and threw their arms around each other's bodies in a tight embrace. They held on for a while longer before Paige murmured into Emily's dark hair "I didn't think you would come." The Slytherin drank in Emily's presence like a well needed drink after a long hike.

"How could I stay away?" Paige stepped back and her worried expression turned to one of relief; tears welled in the Slytherin girl's eyes.

"So…y-you still want to be friends with me?" She asked, still uncertain.

"Of course I do, why else would I be here?" Emily's smile grew wider as Paige's eyes lit up with joy. How had she not noticed what a beautiful shade of brown Paige's eyes were before? Her unshed tears glistened like the stars above them, but Paige's radiance shone brighter than any of the constellations in the sky. "I get what you said now." Emily admitted, Paige cocked her head in confusion reminding Emily of a young puppy.

"About what?"

"About how people might not want us to be friends." Emily looked at the ground; Spencer's words on the train earlier that day still stung her.

"Was it Spencer?" Paige asked and Emily's eyes snapped back up to hers immediately it was almost like she had read her mind. Paige just shrugged. "We used to have Care of Magical Creatures together, she never much liked me- especially when I beat her in the final exam."

"Yeah it was…I understand not all Slytherins are good but neither are all Ravenclaws…or even Gryffindors. Your house shouldn't define who you are or what's expected of you." Emily said with conviction.

"I know, but I guess that's just the way it is." Paige replied sombrely

"But I'm not gonna let it define our friendship- we may have to be keep it a secret for a while but in the end I'm sure we can tell people." Emily smiled. It was infectious to Paige; whenever Emily smiled she just had to return the gesture.

"Okay." She agreed "That's what we'll have to do."

"I guess Trelawney was right then." Emily said, suddenly changing the subject

"Right about what?"

"When she first put us in pairs. She said I have paired you up with someone whose path will cross yours in the future." The Gryffindor explained

"Yeah, I guess she was."

Things changed after that, Emily and Paige had only one class together: Care of Magical Creatures and by chance alone Hagrid had paired them up for the year. Neither one could complain because not only did it mean that they would spend more time together without people being suspicious it also meant that Emily could improve in the lesson because Paige was top of the class of.

Outside of lessons however they had to be careful, if they met in the corridors they had to be flippant and could only meet deep in the stacks of the Library to talk in hushed tones. However there were moments, just moments where none of it mattered and they could both be themselves and that was on the Island. Paige showed it to Emily about a month into their first term. In the middle of the black lake was an island that Paige had discovered at the end of her second year when following some lake creatures on her broomstick.

The Gryffindor and the Slytherin made it their mission to meet there once a week to talk about school and friends and just about everything. The brief hour she would spend on the island with Paige was her favourite time of the week and if either of them had to miss their meeting it left both with a feeling of residual disappointment and emptiness.

Soon Hallowe'en rolled around and the feast was magnificent; giant pumpkins grown by Hagrid littered the hall and castle, the candles that floated above the students were enchanted so the usual warm yellow flames glowed bright orange, black and green, all of the teachers (except Snape) were in fancy dress and even more excitable than usual chatter filled the Great Hall. Emily's face wore a permanent grin as her and her friends tucked into the huge Halloween themed feast, but the food and festivities were not the only reason for her grin. From where Emily was sat, she had a perfect view of Paige who sat at the Slytherin table. After the feast almost all of the fourth years were set to go to Noel Kahn's infamous Halloween party- it was the first time the girls had been invited and Emily was fairly certain it was to do with the fact that Noel had a crush on Aria. All of the girls seemed to like someone, Spencer was heavily crushing on a Hufflepuff prefect in the year above, Hanna had a crush on another Hufflepuff; Sean Ackard and Aria seemed to like Noel back. And then there was Emily who couldn't tell the difference between weather a guy had Geek-Chic or was just a Geek. Boys weren't important to the Gryffindor; she only cared about schoolwork and meeting Paige without the girls noticing. However she was certainly looking forward to the party.

It wasn't long before the feast was over and all of the Fourth Years were sneaking out to a cabin on the edges of Hogwarts' grounds for the party. Everyone had dressed up, Aria was a witch- well a cliché one- although only Emily (who had been brought up as a Muggle) knew the reason behind it. Hanna was Brittenya Speares a huge pop icon in the Wizarding world, Spencer was some Queen from the past that no one had any idea about and Emily was Pocahontas. Many other students were going and the hope was that none of them would get caught. The group of friends huddled close together as they hurried across the grounds in search of the cabin luckily it wasn't long until they found it and joined in on the festivities.

Around and hour later Emily was still sober whereas the other girls had managed to get roaring drunk. She shook her head as they stumbled around laughing at nothing, as she rolled her eyes she looked away and across the clearing, stood on the cabin steps, was Paige. Emily grinned and began to make her way over. Once she got there she realised Spencer, Aria and Hanna weren't her only friends that were drunk. Paige had a glass of Firewhisky in her hand and by the smell of things about 15 more in her stomach. "Emily!" The girl exclaimed happily upon seeing the Gryffindor. She swung her arms up in some form of greeting and ended up sloshing her drink on her leg. She looked down at the darker patch on her robes forlornly before looking up into the bemused eyes of Emily. "Come sit with me." Paige reached out and took hold of Emily's hand. Her palm instantly tingled with the Slytherin's touch and a shiver ran down her spine unexpectedly, Paige dragged her down to the step beside her.

"Paige you're drunk." Emily said stupidly, she didn't know what else to say.

"Yes, I do believe I am." The brunette replied with a lopsided grin "Loving the costume by the way, super scary." Paige grinned

"Yeah, well what about yours? Or rather lack of one." Emily replied with a smug and superior grin.

"To me being a Slytherin is terrifying." Paige replied and wiped the grin from Emily's face. Of course. Paige was terrified of becoming her father and, in her opinion, she was already on the path to becoming him- he had been in Slytherin house too. Emily placed a comforting hand on Paige's knee, she looked up in response.

"Hey." Emily began gently "You're not gonna become him Paige, you're too kind."

"I'm a Slytherin though aren't I? I'm already half way there."

"No, you're not." Emily tried again "You're amazing Paige, you're good and caring and amazing. You couldn't possibly turn into him." Paige looked up from staring at the dirt specks on the step below them. Her eyes met Emily's and she placed her pale hand on top of Emily's tanned one.

"Thank you…for everything. These past few months and the time I've spent with you, they've been the best of my life. I just thought you should know that." Emily smiled but did not reply, Paige averted her gaze quickly and Emily realised she had been waiting for her to answer; or at least say something.

"They've been the best of my life too." And she wasn't lying, her weekly meetings with Paige were what kept Emily going throughout the week. The Slytherin looked up again and chocolate eyes met forest brown. However their locked gaze did not last long, instead Emily found herself staring at Paige's lips, she felt herself lean forward. Wait, what was she doing? Emily's hand found its way into Paige's as the other girl leaned forward as well, their noses were almost touching but just before they could make contact both girls jumped back and dropped their hands before smiling awkwardly at each other. Emily quickly changed the subject to more trivial things. "Great party though right?"

It was a month after Noel's party and winter was closing in fast. The grounds were covered in a light dusting of snow, much like that of a sprinkling of icing sugar on a cake but the snowfall was becoming heavier and the warm autumn days were replaced by cold winter nights. Care of Magical Creatures was becoming harder and harder to participate in- even their large winter jackets couldn't keep out the biting cold so in the last week of November Hagrid finally relented and let the students have their lessons inside.

In no time at all Christmas arrived and gifts were once again exchanged, Spencer even got a new quill from Toby. Safe to say she was overjoyed and so was Hanna because she had also received a gift from an admirer- Sean. The Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw were giddy all throughout the day and Emily couldn't be happier for them.

Later that day Emily managed to run into Paige, however being with her friends she could not speak so instead as she brushed past the Slytherin girl she pressed a small box into the palm of her hand. Paige turned to look after the receding shape of Emily but saw only the back of her head- she looked down into her hand and opened the small box and gasped at its contents. Inside the velvet lining was a small pendant embellished with a Slytherin emblem and-upon closer inspection- the three other house crests surrounding it. Paige plucked the necklace from the box and turned it over, on the back was a message engraved in the silver metal;

Paige, the most loyal, brave and smart Slytherin I know~ E

Tears pricked Paige's eyes and a smile spread across her features. She held the pendant to her chest as she leant against the wall and tilted her head up to the ceiling, her smile turned to a grin as she looked back at the present. "What are you smiling about McCullers?" Melissa Hastings inquired as she rounded the corner.

"Nothing at all, Melissa, nothing at all." She replied as the 7th year passed by, sneering. The brunette girl disappeared from sight around another corner. As soon as she was gone Paige placed the necklace around her neck and tucked the pendant underneath her collar so that the cool metal pressed against her skin, a constant physical reminder of Emily's presence.