A/N: Thanks for your reviews guys! No Tom in this chapter I'm afraid. Sad times. =[

The Years that Followed the Morning After.

by Flaignhan.

She frowned, waiting for it to return. Granted, she had thrown it rather hard that time, and it had disappeared between the trees, but it had come back every time so far. Why not now?

The answer presented itself in the form of a man, dressed all in black, his robes screaming the word 'expensive' despite their plain colour and the distance at which Emily was viewing them. He was holding the boomerang in his gloved hand, striding purposefully towards her.

She considered reaching for her wand, but decided that it would be too aggressive a move. Instead she placed her hand on her hip, near the pocket of her trousers, ready to take her wand if she needed it.

His face became clear as he neared her and Emily dropped her hand from her hip, knowing that there was no danger.

"Emily," he said, his lips smirking as he took in the sight of her. "My my, you've hardly changed." Arcturus held out her boomerang and she took it from him, holding it against her body as though she were a toddler with a teddy bear that she wasn't quite ready to let go of just yet.

"I know," Emily replied with a smile. "Everybody else is getting older and I still get asked how old I am when I order a Firewhiskey."

Arcturus narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, bringing his hand up to her chin, tilting her head left and right, inspecting it thoroughly in the sunlight. The leather of his glove was cold against her skin, though she said nothing.

"I saw your sister a few weeks ago, in Gringotts," he said, drawing his hand away.

Emily nodded. "She works there."

"Yes, I realised that when the sour little trollop asked me a thousand and one questions before allowing me access to my own gold."

Emily smiled briefly. "That's Alison for you," she said with a shrug.

"She hasn't aged half as well as you have," Arcturus smirked in a way that only Slytherins knew how, one gloved finger trailing across her cheek.

"Thanks, I think," Emily said, leaning away from him. Her was mouth creased, with her face caught halfway between a smile and a frown. "She's a couple of years older than me though, so –"

"He sent you that?" he nodded towards the boomerang, still hugged against her chest.

Emily paused in confusion. "Yes, why?"

Arcturus chuckled. "That sly old dog..."

"What?" Emily demanded, wrapping her fingers around the end of the boomerang, concerned that he was going to take it off of her.

"Nothing," Arcturus replied, his laughter subsiding. "I guess you really got to him, didn't you?"

Emily frowned and stayed quiet.

"He's coming back, you know. Soon. I got a letter from him a few weeks ago."

Emily's teeth shone through her lips as she smiled widely. "Can I see him? When's he getting back?"

"No," Arcturus replied firmly, tearing her excitement to shreds. "You can't see him."

"So why did you come here then?" Emily asked. "Or was it merely to bring me back my boomerang?"

"Your boomerang nearly took my head off," Arcturus retorted haughtily. "I came here for another reason."

"To tell me that Tom's coming back but he won't let me see him? I could have got on quite well without that information, thank you." She turned away and began to walk back to the house, aware that her mother was watching from the window of her father's study.

"Maybe if you realise you won't get him back then you'll put that boomerang down once and for all," Arcturus said, walking past her and turning on the spot, inspecting the grounds that surrounded Emily's house. "This is a rather respectable estate, what does your father do?"

"He works in the Ministry," Emily said vaguely, a frown settling on her face, with no intention of budging.

"Must be rather high up to have a place like this..." Arcturus replied.

"It was inherited," Emily told him, her fingers gripping her boomerang more tightly, as she pressed it harder against her chest. "What do you want?"

"Hmm?" Arcturus spun around, his eyebrows raised in mild surprise.

"You heard me," Emily said, and Arcturus' expression fell away in seconds.

"You see through me so easily," Arcturus said, moving towards her. "And yet you always believed every word he said. Is he really that much more of a better liar than I am? I'm not even lying, particularly. I just thought I'd inspect your surroundings a little more before we get down to business, just to make sure that I won't be getting into something I might regret."

"What are you talking about? Tom never lied to me."

Arcturus laughed softly. "Oh sweetheart, do you honestly think that's true?"

Emily didn't reply. She knew it was true and she wasn't going to let anybody, let alone Arcturus Black of all people, convince her otherwise. Tom had still sent her the boomerang, even after he'd said he was going to break contact. It was her, not Arcturus or Abraxas, who he had wanted to see before he left. He had chosen her over his best friends. Perhaps Arcturus was jealous and trying to stir up trouble. Tom had sneaked her book after book after book from the restricted section of the library, purely to make her happy, he didn't get anything out of it at all.

"It's all by the by anyhow, you won't be seeing Tom again, and Merlin forbid you stay with that idiotic Hufflepuff," his lip curled for a moment.

"Emily, the reason I have come here today is to offer you an alternative. You were destined to end up with a Slytherin and it's time to accept that that won't be Tom."

Emily closed her eyes and tried to pretend she was somewhere else.

"I think you will find me to be a reasonable husband, once we have an heir I'll leave you to do as you please. You'll be financially secure, you'll have a grand house to live in, and I'll only beat you three times a week."

Emily opened her eyes and looked at Arcturus, trying to work out whether he had been confunded. It was the sort of ridiculous thing Abraxas would do as a prank. She wasn't finding it funny. It was more along the lines of vomit-inducing.

"I was joking about that last bit by the way," Arcturus added in a low voice. "I'll beat you whenever I damn well please."

Emily rolled her eyes and walked past him without saying a word, heading back towards the house. The sun had disappeared behind some clouds and suddenly she wasn't so keen on throwing her boomerang any more.

"I'll leave you to think about it, okay?" he called after her.

She jogged up the stone steps to the patio and as soon as she took her hand away from the boomerang in order to open the French doors, she missed the feeling of the silken wood against her skin.

The bell on the counter rang, short, sharp and impatient. Emily stepped out of the storeroom, her shoulders drooping when she saw the two men at her counter.

"My word, you're right," Abraxas said, his brow creased as he surveyed her. "Not a single day..."

"Ten galleons then, I believe," Arcturus said, holding out his hand.

"Double or nothing, she doesn't know."

"Of course she doesn't know," Arcturus retorted, waggling his gloved fingers, beckoning Abraxas' gold into his hand. "Cough up."

Abraxas sighed and leant his cane (the handle a sculpted silver snake – what else?) against the counter, before he reached into his pocket, eventually pulling out a money bag made from dark shiny dragon hide.

"What do you two want?" Emily asked. "I'm rather busy so if you wouldn't mind hurrying things along a bit, it'd be much appreciated.

"Arcturus was telling me how you hadn't aged a single day in twelve years. Yet your poor sister, who we just saw in Gringotts, looks as weathered and crusty as the hag who hangs about at the entrance of Knockturn Alley."

"Just lucky, I suppose," Emily said, frowning. "And that's what you were betting on? Me looking half decent for my age?"

"No," Abraxas said, "half decent is one thing, not ageing by a single day is quite another."

"Right..."

"There are other matters," Arcturus said, tipping ten golden galleons into his own dragon hide money bag, "such as your answer."

"Answer?"

"Remember how Arcturus requested your hand in marriage? Or did he lie when he told me about that bit?" Abraxas said with a smirk, his hands resting on the top of his cane.

"Oh...that."

"I'm afraid he's always been rather keen on having Tom's seconds," Abraxas continued and Arcturus opened his mouth to argue, but Abraxas continued before he got the chance. "It was bound to happen at some point, though I must say, and understand, I say this from the perspective of somebody who lived with him for seven years, spent four months with him in Paris, and now still puts up with his company."

Emily couldn't help but let out a small breath of laughter, one side of her mouth turned up in amusement.

"So, as you can see, my knowledge of the man standing next to me is probably second only to Tom's."

She didn't react at the sound of his name, though her fingers itched for carved wood. She breathed in, noting the distinct lack of sweet smelling birch wood in the air.

"We are, however, digressing just a little. The fact of the matter is, Arcturus would make a far more suitable husband for you than any Hufflepuff ever could. Did you know when Arcturus was on the Slytherin quidditch team we beat Hufflepuff every single time we played them? I believe the victories were particularly magnificent after Morsewell joined as chaser."

"Oh well," Emily said, "if he's better at quidditch then how could I possibly resist him?"

Arcturus smirked. "You always were a clever girl." He held out his hand. "Come along, let's liberate you from this pig sty."

Emily glanced at his leather clad palm, turned around and went back into the store room, slamming the door behind her.

Arcturus dropped his hand at once.

"Never mind," Abraxas said, whacking him on the back in what was supposed to look like a comforting gesture (but was really just an excuse to hit him), "I suppose you'll just have to get a woman who ages along with the rest of us."

Arcturus recovered quickly. "Her loss," he said breezily. "I wonder how she'll take it when she finds out what he's been up to. What if she sees what he looks like now?"

Abraxas smirked. "Well I suppose the good thing is that I am now the most handsome one. I'll get all the women from here on in, you can just keep chasing his old floozies."

"You're one to talk, I believe your wife had him several times back in the day."

Abraxas shrugged.

"Did you hear Augusta Longbottom got married?" Arcturus said, waving his wand in the direction of the door so it flew open, ready for them to leave. "How comes she can get somebody to marry her but I can't?"

"Have you seen the troll she married though? I heard he's almost a squib. If you're that desperate why don't you marry one of the Midgen girls? They're all single and utterly charming."

"All the charm in the world couldn't make up for waking up next to one of those faces every day for the rest of my life. I think I'll take the bachelor route."

"Good idea," Abraxas agreed, using his cane to whack a path between the crowds of people clogging up Diagon Alley. "I sometimes wish I'd chosen that one myself.

"How is little Lucius?" Arcturus asked with a smirk.

"Personally I think we should have drowned him at birth, but Celeste wouldn't hear of it."