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 SEVENTY-FIVE

Everyone Has Questions

Maggie and Reginald hugged us all, about five trillion times. I dunno, I lost count. All I know is that Maggie was really glad to see that we weren't dead – all of us – and I wasn't sure why. I mean, James sure, since he was her only son and only child.

But she was acting the same way with me and Sirius, and even Remus.

She hugged me, and I froze.

"Umm…okay…hi Maggie?" I said tentatively, because she was crying. "Uh…Maggie?"

"You could have died!" She sobbed., hugging me even tighter. "Oh, goodness, Emma!!"

"Whoa!" I gasped. "James…help…" We were back in the Potters living room. This wasn't the kind of welcome I had expected. "James…James, help me, please…"

James finally came and pried his mother away from me. "Okay Mum," He said soothingly. "It's okay, we're fine…"

"Oh, but James!" She was sobbing now. "You could've died!!" She was hugging James now.

Sirius and I exchanged a glance. Maggie was rally emotional for some reason.

Reginald seemed glad to see us all too.

Septimus hissed: "You humansss are ssstrange…"

"Not as strange as you, I'm sure." I hissed back.

Remus was talking to the Ministry representative who had escorted us (I'm really horrible with their names, by the way) and had gotten the time for our 'Questioning' and also sorted some things out for his parent' funerals.

When they got to this part, I moved to hi side and stayed there. Sirius kept on glancing at me, I could feel his eyes on me, but I ignored it. After all, as far as he knew, Remus and I were just friends.

Right?

***

Our 'Questioning' was set for the very next day and, let me tell you I have never been more nervous.

I was terrified of being given Veritaserum and someone asking me where I came from. I couldn't tell anyone about these fears but Haphazard and Septimus, the latter who reminded me not to drink anything if they gave it to me.

"Yeah, state the obvious why don't ya." I mumbled. I ended up writing a loooong letter to Lily, and sending it to her through Haphazard.

Then I lay in bed and tried to sleep.

***

"Calm down," Remus said to me the next morning.

"I can't," I whispered, as Ted Tonks typed 62442 into the payphone.

"Try." Sirius hissed as we descended through the ground into the lobbby.

"I am." I said anxiously. "But it's not working…oh my God, I know that guy…he's an executioner…oh…"

"Do you need me to slap you?" Sirius asked warily.

"No." I said, snapping out of it. "Of course not! Where do we go?" I asked Ted Tonks.

But Ted was silent, for the Minister of Magic had just arrived, and Sirius and Remus had to grab onto me so I wouldn't faint.

***

"Emma Pax," The Ministry representative smiled a kind smile at me, one which I could not return. His name was Bob somebody-or-other, I was too nervous to remember. "Would you like a drink?" He asked me.

I blinked. "N-no thanks."

"But I insist." Bob said, his smile wavering slightly, which caused alarm bells to go off in my head. Obviously, they knew something was weird about me.

I took the drink, which was tea. I hate tea that's not green. "Umm, thank you then…I guess…" I pretended to take a huge gulp of tea. "Oww…it's hot..." I lied. The tea was steaming, so I guessed it would be hot. By now, I knew that it had been drugged with Truth Potion.

"Now to worry," Bob smiled slightly. "Does it hurt?"

"It burns." I lied again. "My tongue hurts."

"You'll be alright in a minute," Said Bob, and I swear I wanted to kill him. What was he playing at? "Now…tell me a bit about yourself?"

I sighed. I should have known. I felt like I wasin a job interview. And, thankful I hadn't drank the potion, I launched into a story of flat-out lies, lying for the first time in my entire life.

I cannot say I enjoyed it, but some of the questions that were asked made me glad that I was lying.

The most important one was: "Where are you from?"

I lied completely for that one.

***

"They gave me a truth potion of sorts," I said, later on, as we ate ice-creams at a Muggle ice-cream parlour. "And asked me a bunch of questions I didn't want to answer. The questions had no relation whatsoever to what happened in Bali…it was like…I dunno, it was weird, like the Ministry wants to know something…about why Voldemort's after me…"

Sirius was clearly annoyed. "They gave you a truth potion? Isn't that illegal!?"

"They're the Mninistry," James said quietly. "They can do whatever they want…" He stabbed at his chocolate sundae. "Gits…" He murmured.

"Hey, guys, listen…" I said softly. "The night we were attacked by Dementors…in February last year…I heard Dumbledore and the Minister saying strange things about me…"

"What?" Remus asked, instantly alert. The other two leaned forward too. We were sitting at our own little table in the back, completely absorbed with each other and that was just fine for us.

"The Minister said that these are dark times," I remembered, closing my eyes in concentration to recall. "He said that if I am truly what Dumbledore says I am…Dumbledore interrupted, and said that the graveness of the situation was not something that I needed to know at that time, he blamed it on exams, but I dunno…he said that I was too young even then to bear the responsibility of such a position. That…when a need arose, there would be plenty of time for me to learn it all…and that I should enjoy myself while I could…"

The others were staring at me, stunned.

"I don't know what I am," I said quietly. "But I bet Dumbledore does, and I want to find out. I'm going to ask him."

"Okay," Remus said slowly, nodding. "Okay Emmsy…then we'll help you. In whatever way we can. That's what friends are for, right?"

I nodded. "Always…" 'But what AM I?'