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Chapter 11: Adjustment Period
The trio walked down to dinner from Dumbledore's office. "What do you have against Emma?" Harry asked.
"She has always achieved top grades without doing any work," Hermione said. "It's a bit suspicious, don't you think?"
Harry shrugged. "My dad was that way."
"Get over it, Hermione. You are just set to dislike her just like Harry is dead set on hating Malfoy," Ron said.
"I don't hate her," Hermione said defensively. " I'm just . . ."
"Jealous?" Ron finished for her. She glared at him and went to sit at the table away from Ron who was pulled onto the bench by Lavender. Not wanting to sit through another mushy meal with the two of them, or a fuming Hermione, he waited for Emma to arrive a few minutes later (without Malfoy, who showed up a few minutes after her, he noticed). He waved her over and sat with her.
"Thanks, for everything," Emma said. Harry looked confused. "For standing up for me against Hermione, and for talking with me. The rest of the school is deciding now that the 'chosen one' is talking to me that I must be alright."
Harry shrugged. "You stuck by me when I was the 'heir of Slytherin' and the fourth champion. . ..hey! That is why you said you knew I wasn't the heir," he said remembering. Emma laughed.
They talked during dinner and walked back to the common room. 'You got what you wanted,' Draco said. 'He finally knows who you are, accepts you, and wants to be friends.'
'You sound so happy for me,'
'What can I say. I don't want to share you with anyone, especially Potter.' Emma decided not to remind him she was a Potter.
The next night at the Society meeting proved to be better than she expected. Whatever Seamus had told people seemed to be working as no one questioned her. The meeting started off edgy as everyone wanted to ask her about it, offer pity, and ask how she was holding up, but when someone started to talk Seamus or one of Emma's guards would glare or change the subject. Emma grinned over the irony of the fact that the most protective of her guards were the guys from Gryffindor and Slytherin. (A/n: We'll see the guards again, so don't worry). Emma walked back with Neville, Ginny, and Seamus to the Gryffindor tower and she did homework while she guarded over Harry.
She finally made it back up to her dorm and changed to go to bed. She turned as she felt a presence outside the window. Pulling on a robe she walked over and opened the window. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Emma asked.
"Just seeing how you are," he said. He was relaxing over the broom handle as he hovered on his broomstick outside her window. "Let's face it, this past week has been pretty hectic and an emotional roller coaster."
Emma sighed. "You don't have to remind me of that." 'We're not alone. Hermione's awake,' Emma warned him.
"You alright? I told mum I was stressed out and she sent me an extra large box of chocolates. I requested some of your favorites. Not as good as the ones you make, but . . ."
Emma did a silent happy dance. "Wow, she must have bought out Honeydukes for this stuff."
"Where did you get that robe?" He asked. It was midnight blue with silver designs streaked through that highlighted her light complexion and blonde hair.
"This one was a gift from Fleur. The other one was from the Diggorys," she said.
"I remembered the Irish one was from them," he teased. "Get to sleep. I didn't want to wake you. I just wanted to see you, make sure you were alright." They kissed and he flew back. Emma went back to bed happy but exhausted. Pippin, who had taken to following her all week, purred as she fell asleep.
The next day proved to be a huge improvement. The 'scandal' was fading, people were not caring about (what was now thought of as) Draco using Emma, but rather about Trewlaney's drunken rant after lunch. Even Hermione had stopped simmering in her jealousy and was no longer overtly ignoring her.
That night (Friday) Emma was crawling into bed. Draco was off at a meeting with Voldemort. Emma could tell it wasn't going well. Draco was nervous and Voldemort was furious.
Emma started to panic. She took deep breaths to try to calm and center herself, hoping it would also help Draco. She got up and put her slippers on thinking looking out the window at the beautiful scenery hoping that it might help. No sooner had she slipped her slippers on then she collapsed to the floor screaming in agony. Don't project! Don't project! She kept reminding herself.
"Emma!" Hermione cried jumping out of bed. Emma was withering on the floor in agony.
"What's going on?" Parvati asked worriedly. "Should we get McGonagall?"
"No!" Hermione said. She had no idea why she said that, but decided to trust her gut. "She'll be fine in a moment." And a few seconds later Emma stopped. Hermione recognized the Cruciatus curse. What to do! I should take her to Pomfrey, but something is telling me no! Hermione thought to herself.
An image of a trunk popped into her head, and she saw the trunk open and a vial of a light orange substance appeared. Hermione rushed to Emma's trunk and found that vial. She cradled Emma's head as Emma drank it.
"She'll be fine. Go back to bed," Hermione said in her prefect tone. The others followed the prefects orders.
Hermione helped Emma back to bed. "Thanks Hermione," Emma said sleepily. "They won't remember this in the morning," she added. She decided, as a gesture of good faith, to tell Hermione she was altering their memories, but not Hermione's. Hermione just nodded and went back to her bed. Emma fell asleep quickly.
Author's Notes: Slightly shorter than normal, but it was a good place to cut off.
Potter Fan Bo Your spokesperson trailers crack me up! Keep them up! (hopefully there is still stuff for you! Native Kitten Thank you! Harry finds out, but not quite yet. He is still adjusting to the fact they are dating : ) AnimeCrazy Thanks! I'm glad it was new (and hopefully interesting). Amarthiel Next year they can't get rid of Draco : ) Hermione and Emma will get better, Emma is just giving Hermione (Ron, Harry too) a chance to adjust). As for Riley, I haven't decided how much he finds out. Professor Epona Thank you! I'm glad you liked the jealousy bit! Iceball I liked seeing Hermione get scolded too : ) Childofthekng Ah, thanks! I thought the spider-venom was also good, so I'm leaving it. I just had Emma reassure Dumbledore that the memory was there for Harry to get. Year1989 Ah, thanks! A shorter chapter, but I wanted to get it up. DaffodilSweetie My laptop is cranky as well, I understand : ) I graduate in 2.5 weeks, though, so I can have a nice long summer break : ) I hope you get your braces off soon! (And Draco happens to be one of my fave characters too: ) Haven't been to Santa Cruz; my aunt lives in Santa Clarita, though. Erica I like writing Hermione as the bitch too, especially when she gets reprimanded : ) I'm glad people are receptive to my take on her!