She thought her life was over – but fate gave her another chance, in a world of magic. Now, running around Hogwarts with James Potter and his friends, she's about to make choices that will change the future in ways she never thought possible…
Marauder's Phase
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Midnight Snow And Attacked
"Hey, White Fang?" Remus whispered across the room to me late that night.
"Huh? What?"
"Oh, good, you're awake…" Remus' voice was barely above a whisper, but then he raised it slightly. "Padfoot?"
There was no reply. Sirius was asleep, dead to the world, off in the land of dreams somewhere. I, on the other hand, couldn't sleep, and neither could Remus apparently because, without speaking, we both got up quietly and began changing into day clothes.
Moonlight fell across our bodies and, for some reason, we both looked up at each other, halfway through getting dressed.
***
No One's P.O.V:
Remus' breath hitched in his throat, the same way it had when he'd seen Emma standing at the doorway that evening. He had caught the look on her face – she'd been looking but trying to make it look like she wasn't. Remus should've minded but, of course, he didn't.
Because this was his Emma that he was thinking about.
And now, as the blue moonlight fell across her body, bathing it with a soft and eerie powder blue. Her body, which was half into jeans and wearing only her underwear, was slight and thin, as frail-looking as if she, too, was a werewolf. The fact that she wasn't was of a concern to Remus – he was always scared about hurting her, even though she'd proved that she could hold her own against him. But now, looking at her small body, he wondered just how she could do it.
His eyes travelled across the scars on her neck, stomach and face, and to the pocket watch she always wore around her neck.
Emma's hair was messy, since she'd just been lying on it but, Remus knew, it was always the softest thing in the world. And here eyes…they were hazel, neither one colour nor another. They turned yellow when she was a wolf but, for now, they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, bar none (miraculously forgetting Lily Evans' emerald eyes).
Remus spoke, in a voice as soft as a whisper: "White Fang?"
"Hmm?" She looked up at him, her own eyes travelling over the scars on Remus' own body. They were white in the moonlight, as were hers.
"You are…beautiful." He told her.
She didn't blush, but just regarded him with a steady gaze. At last she nodded. "Thank you." She said.
**
Together they strolled, underneath the moonlight, as a soft and powdery snow fell all around them. They were hand-in-hand, walking down the street together, talking with their heads bent close together.
"Padfoot wishes you hadn't run off like that," Remus told her, and she laughed her special, genuine laugh.
"Siri is a shameless exhibitionist," She said, glancing up at the sky, and flakes of snow clung to her long eyelashes. She went on: "If it had've been James and Lily in the situation, then James would've died of happiness."
"And Lily would have died laughing." Remus pointed out, and she laughed again, the sound warming Remus' insides. At the end of the street, he pulled her round to face him, placing a hand to the scar on the side of her face as he leaned towards her. "I love you, Emma." He said, very seriously.
Her face paled ever so slightly underneath the red from the cold, but she nodded. "I know. I just don't know what to do about this all."
He knew to which 'all' she was referring. He stopped, with his lips just over hers. "You'll figure it out." He assured her, and then kissed her so passionately that the streetlight they were standing under suddenly went out.
"Oh damn," She laughed, drawing away from him, but he kept his arms around her. "I thought people stopped doing that when they were kids."
"Hmm, maybe we're just a special case then?" Remus suggested, and she nodded, smiling, just as a sound from the bushes nearby, and a low, fierce growl, made them both jump and draw their wands in a swift, single movement.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised, peering into the darkness, until Emma finally got frustrated.
"Oh, screw the no-magic-outside-of-school-rule! Lumos!" The tip of her wand lit up, allowing them to see, which was just when the thing in the bushes decided to attack them.
***
The thing launched itself at Remus, so fast that I only just managed to catch a glimpse of orange fur and large ears, before the thing knocked Remus over, and stood on his chest, staring at him with large, yellow eyes.
"Is that a cat?" I asked, after a full minute of silence had gone by.
The creature was still on Remus' chest, so he could only answer: "I think so…but it might be part Kneazle…"
"Oh…those smart, 'know-when-someone's-not-to-be-trusted' cats?" I queried.
"Yes." Remus said.
"Do you think it belongs to someone?" I looked at the cat. It wasn't as ugly as Crookshanks (well, it wasn't!), it wasn't as furry, had speckled orange fur, large ears and a lion-like tail.
"Probably not – there aren't too many wizards around here." Remus still could not get up.
"Well, that settles it then." I declared.
"What did you decide?"
"I'm giving the cat to Lily for Christmas."
And so I did.