Please Note:

This story is set in the current day, aka 2010 – NOT in the "proper" Marauders Era in real-life Harry Potter. I should have mentioned it before, and I'm sorry for any confusion it caused. It's not because I don't respect that Ms. Rowling set HP in that time-line, it's just that I wasn't ALIVE then, so I can't relate to it as well as she can. I can relate better to this day and age, down to about 1990. This is why there are laptop computers, DVD's, Emma's favourite song and that thing called Twilight in this fan fic. Emma space-travelled, she didn't TIME-travel... ^^;

Okay…moving on...

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-SIX

Ministry Tactics

"They asked us a lot of really probing questions." Sirius was lying on my bed, and I was sitting at my desk, writing a loooong letter to Lily. Basically, I was telling her everything that had happened, from the moment I'd unpacked my trunk to find Septimus in there, to the end of our little trip to the Ministry of Magic today. The entire ordeal hadn't really taken that long, but it had seemed to drag on for hours, due to the fact that I couldn't answer half their questions without endangering myself. And they'd tried to give me Veritaserum. That just wasn't right. They'd done the same to James, Sirius, Remus and even Tonks but, luckily, all of us were smart enough to get around that. We'd all make good Aurors some day.

"Like what?" I asked, pausing and wondering whether or not I should tell Lily that Sirius, Peter, James and I were unregistered Animagi. On the desk next to me, Septimus was curled up around a hot water bottle. Sneaking him through customs had been easy, since there were wizards working at the airports in Denpasar and Heathrow, and now I was the proud owner of a king cobra. Go figure, the girl who used to be mortified by the very thought of snakes now owned and talked to one. Haphazard was asleep on his perch, and I planned to wake him up to give him Lily's letter.

"Like why we rushed to Bali to warn Remus instead of waiting for the Ministry," I glanced over my shoulder and watched Sirius roll his eyes. He was lying on my bed, wearing only his jeans (no shirt) and looking totally at ease, but I could tell that he was annoyed. "And a bunch of stuff about you, half of which I couldn't answer even if I'd wanted to. They seem to want to know an awful lot about you, Ems."

I shrugged. "Dumbledore knows. I'm sure of it. I'm going to get him to tell me, somehow…" 'Sneaky, manipulative Dumbledore – he's a genius or a con-artist but, either way, he knows…'. Then: "What questions couldn't you answer about me, Siri?"

"Where do you come from?"

I froze. "Are you asking me that?" I asked finally.

"Yeah, I guess I am." He replied.

I sighed, and finished my letter to Lily. Standing up and going over to Haphazard, I began to prod him awake. I could feel Sirius' eyes on me, as I tied the letter to a sleepy Haphazard's leg, then went over to the open window and threw the grey owl out into the night. Turning around, I saw that Sirius was still lying there, with his hands behind his head, and he was looking at me, waiting.

I said: "I'm going to go and brush my teeth." And I did just that, scrubbing at my teeth until my gums screamed for mercy. I spat and rinsed, and then changed into my pink nighty with the 'bedtime ewe' on them.

I stopped my Remus' room to say goodnight.

He was sitting up in bed, reading the book about Bonds.

"What are we going to do about full moons?" I asked him the question that had been concerning me since his mum and dad's deaths. "We've got two to worry about until term starts…"

"That's what we're here for," James said, coming up behind me. He was cleaning his glasses with a cloth, and looked weird without them on. "Mum and Dad won't find out about it," He added, seeing my face. "Don't worry, White Fang."

"I worry," I replied.

"Well don't," Remus said. "Worrying won't do you any good…"

"I can't help it," I said, looking significantly at the book he was reading.

Remus sighed. I went up to him and gave him a hug, noting how pale and tired he looked, and was wracked up with guilt inside again. No matter what, I still blamed myself for his parents' death. We'd found out they'd been killed the wizard way, by use of the Avada Kedavra curse. We just weren't sure which of the Death Eaters had cast the lethal curse. I vowed to find out.

"I'll be fine," He whispered reassuringly.

"I told you, I'm dangerous for you." I muttered, before hurrying back to my own room, wondering how many more people would die because of me. First Louis Bickley, killed by the Basalisk set loose in the school because of my being there, and then Remus' parents, because of my rash actions. The Death Eaters had known I'd take the bait; that I was too righteous to let others die because of me. I would Apparate to the spot they had let Septimus overhear them talking about, and then they would track me – how they were doing this, I didn't know. But everything – the Basalisk in the Chamber of Secrets, the two Dementor attacks, Fenrir Greyback's attack on the Tonks family, the attack in the Forbidden Forest, the incident in Diagon Alley, and what had happened in Bali – it was all connected and, somehow, they were tracking me. When I used magic or Apparated, or used Floo Powder…

Didn't leave me with much to do then, did it?

"Stupid Death Eaters," I muttered, as I stalked back to my room. "Stupid Voldemort…" I found Sirius in the exact same place I'd left him, and watched him look at me in my nightgown. "Are you going to go so that I can get to sleep?" I asked him, hands on hips.

"Not until you answer my question, Emmy." He replied, somewhat smugly.

I sighed. "Fine. Have it your way then, Sirius Black." I shut off the lights, and went over to the bed and lay down next to Sirius, with my back to him. We were in complete darkness, except for the moonlight, which made me worry about what was coming up soon.

I felt Sirius' arms wrap around me. "Why won't you tell me where you're from?" He whispered in my ear.

"You wouldn't believe me if I did," I responded truthfully. "I'd rather you just drew your own conclusions on the matter."

"Hmm," He said thoughtfully. "I believe you're an angel, sent from heaven."

"Not even close, Padfoot." I replied, feeling my eyelids close.

"Well, I can dream can't I?" He pressed his lips to my neck.

"If you say so, dear." I responded sleepily. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

***

"Lily is stunned." I announced, reading the letter as I sat in the living room the next day with Sirius, James, Remus, Haphazard and Septimus. "She says she doesn't know what to make of all this, and that she wishes she could help…" I glanced up, to see James looking dreamy. "And, yes, she sends her love to you, Prongs."

"What else did she say?" Sirius asked. He was lying on the couch, feet propped up on the arm. James and Remus were sitting on the other couch – James was reading a Quidditch magazine and Remus was doing his Transfigurations summer homework. I was sitting on the piano stool, with my owl on my shoulder and my snake curled up on my lap. "Anything interesting?" Sirius was looking at me – he'd hardly taken his eyes off me since we'd arrived back in England.

"Umm…" I scanned the rest of Lily's letter, which was three pages long. "Petunia has a boyfriend…ooh, it's Vernon Dursley, here we go…umm…hmm…Valencia's doing well, she caught three mice yesterday and a rat – don't tell Peter, Lils says – and Lily might come and visit, she's not sure…hmm…Molly and Arthur are engaged…and so are Frank and Alice! Engaged!"
"What!?" James and Sirius said in unison. "They're getting married?"

I nodded. "That's what Lily says…they're going to wait until they finish school, but it's definitely happening…" As I read this – they're going to be such lovely occasions, Ems – I glanced quickly at James, and wondered when he and Lily were going to get hitched. I couldn't wait.

"It makes sense," Remus said quietly. "Everyone's getting married at the moment…they're scared…"

"I don't blame them," I muttered. "Who knows if we'll all be alive for much longer, the way the war's going…everyone's getting married, starting families…they don't know how much time we've got left, when we could all be killed by Dark Wizards tomorrow…" The breath hitched in my throat. I was thinking of Lily and James, and Harry…and how Lily and James might be…betrayed and murdered. And that reminded me. "Hey, has anyone told Peter what's going on?" I asked.

The boys exchanged a glance. "Umm…no…" James shrugged.

I sighed. "Haphazard…" I began.

He gave a dramatically plaintive hoot. Clearly, he was not up to delivering another letter anytime soon.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Maggie went to answer it from the kitchen.

She came into the living room two minutes later, followed by my new best friend, Bob-somebody-or-other.

Sirius, James and Remus all tensed and me, sitting on a piano stool with a letter, an owl, and a deadly snake, hissed: "What do you want?"

Bob didn't mice on words. "To offer you a deal."

***

Ten minutes later, I thought I was going to have to stun Sirius. He was seeing red, I could tell. "There is no way in hell…" He said angrily, and James' parents exchanged worried looks.

"Surely you can't expect us to let this happen." I had to admire my friends' courage. James, Sirius and Remus seemed dead set on letting Bob's plan play out, and despite the fact that they were still in school (and Sirius was still underage) they were arguing my case very strongly.

"She's not bait that you can use to just lure the Death Eaters in," James said angrily. He glanced at his parents. "Mum, Dad – back me up on this one."

"My son is right," Reginald said firmly. "We have adopted Emma into this family, and the idea of her being used in this way is absolutely out of the question."

Bob sighed. It was a sigh of a man who's about to drop a bombshell. "You see, Miss. Pax's record isn't a very good one. We can't find her family, and no one seems to know where she comes from. She just…seemed to appear."

"Why don't you just ask Dumbledore," I said angrily. "He seems to know, and so does your Minister!"

"The Minister doesn't know as much as we need to prove who you are!" Bob snapped, and Septimus hissed angrily. "The point is, she could be shipped of to Azkaban for being a suspected Death Eater!"
Three things happened then. I froze. Maggie gasped and said: "Not Azkaban! Not our Emma!" And James, Sirius and Remus stood up as one, wands raised and pointed directly at Bob.

"You can't use your authority to bully people that way," Sirius said, in a voice that sounded as ominous and dark as mine did when I was beyond anger. "Not here."

"The Ministry is supposed to protect wizards," Remus agreed, his eyes trained directly on Bob. "Not act like undercover Death Eaters."

"Unless that's what you really are." James added.

There was a very tense silence, in which I sat and stared at my three best friends – Sirius and Remus whom I loved, and my surrogate-brother James.

The silence was broken by Maggie saying: "Now really boys, please…what a thing to accuse someone of!"

The boys did not lower their wands.

"James, please…" Maggie said, and her son turned to her. "Calm down…" She begged.

James sighed, and he and his friends lowered their wands, returning to their seats. But all of them were glaring at Bob, who seemed quite unperturbed by this all.

"If I wanted to, I could have all three of you arrested for threatening to attack a Ministry representative." Bob said, narrowing his eyes.

"But you're not going to." I said quickly.

He looked at me.

"I will go to these places, and draw out Death Eaters," I said, ignoring Sirius' protests. "During the school holidays only. I want to return to school and try to have an uneventful last year. But I want some promises – I want some certainties. I want to do things my way."

"You are in no position to be making negotiations, Miss. Pax." Bob said angrily. "As I said before, we know nothing about you but what little information Albus Dumbledore has divulged on you. For all we know, you could be a Dark Witch…"

"Do you think he'd have let her live if she was!?" Sirius cried angrily, as I stood up quickly and raised my wand.

Everybody tensed, but I simply muttered: "Expecto Patronum."

The silvery stag burst forth from my wand, standing in full, shimmering glory in the Potters' living room.

"If I was a Dark Witch, would I be able to produce a Patronus?" I asked, in an icy voice, one that made even Bob flinch. "I can assure you that, was I a Death Eater, then you'd all be quite dead by now. I have had multiple opportunities to kill my friends," I gestured to them, sitting on the couch in a row. "When I've been alone with them for two years, and yet here they are. If you're still in any doubt, we can sit here all day and discuss it. But, in the middle of a war, there's really no time for that, is there?"

My Patronus flickered and died.

Bob was at a loss for words.