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 EIGHTY-ONE
Turning Japanese
"Are you all alright?"
I glared at Bob whats-his-name, from where I was sitting on the couch in the music room at the Cullens. Two days had passed since the full moon. We hadn't heard from the Ministry in forty-eight hours but, it didn't matter, because we were all too preoccupied with getting better, and cooing over Emma-Lily. The newborn was already starting to show some signs of magic – when she cried, the lights would flicker and, if we didn't get her bottle to her in time, then there would be a power outage. That happened three times. But, for the most part, she was a good baby. My friends and I were learning more about babies than we could've cared to but, really, not one of us minded. Lily, especially, seemed to want to have a lot to do with the newborn and, if I'd been James, then I would've been slightly worried.
And now, as we all sat in the living room, listening to James play the piano, as Remus read a book, Lily cuddled Emma-Lily, and the rest of us just sat, Bob had arrived. At least he didn't bring Umbridge with him.
"I heard about what happened with the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback," Bob continued, walking forward from the spot where he had just Apparated quietly. He didn't seem to care if we were okay. "We haven't been able to catch him, so we'll need you five," He looked at us English wizards – Lily with the baby, me and Sirius sitting on the floor near the couch where Remus was lying, and James sitting on the piano stool with his fingers still hovering over the keys. "To head to Hokkaido as soon as possible."
"Hokkaido!?" I exclaimed softly, so as not wake the sleeping baby. "But…but that's in Japan! What the…I thought we were going to Paris!" I'd been counting on it – Lily had been there before, she could've shown us around.
"There's been a change of plans," Bob said stiffly. "Apparently there is someone working for the Dark Side who had infiltrated the Ministry, and we need to revise our plans to keep the element of surprise. Here's your new itinerary." He said, stepping forward and holding out a sheet of parchment.
I rose, and took it from him. Then I knelt back down beside Sirius, and he and Remus and I read the words silently, with James hovering over our shoulders.
"What does it say?" Asked Lily, who still had Emma-Lily in her arms. Janet and Scott were talking in hushed tones to Bob, whom I wished would disappear off the face of the planet. "Where are we going, guys?"
"After Hokkaido, Japan," Sirius muttered, keeping one hand on my shoulder. "We're going to Egypt…and Hawaii…New Zeland…then Perth…hey," He said, looking up at Bob. "How come none of these are European places?"
"We're trying to lure the Death Eaters out of their natural habitat." Bob said wryly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and like the Death Eaters were dangerous magical creatures or something (oh, wait, they were).
"Oh, yeah right," Sirius said sarcastically. "Like we can really predict what Voldemort's up to."
Janet and Scott gasped, and Bob visibly winced. "Do not say that name!" He hissed angrily.
Sirius and I glared at him. "Fear of a name only increases fear of a thing itself." I said scathingly. "Well, at least we won't have to worry about…hang on…" I glanced at the list. "Hawaii's tropical! There are Lethifolds in Hawaii! I'm not going!" I said, anxiety pressing in at my heart. A Lethifold had almost eaten Remus before, and I was not going to go through that again!
"You'll do as you're told! Or else…" Bob said angrily, and Sirius rose quickly, crossing the room in an instant.
"Don't threaten my girlfriend!" He said, just as angrily, and an ominous wind blew through the house. The rain outside seemed to beat twice as hard. Emma-Lily stirred in Lily's arms.
"Sirius, calm down…" I said nervously, alarmed by Sirius' tone of voice and stance. If he attacked a Ministry official, we'd all be in trouble. Him most of all. 'And they say MY temper's bad…'.
There was a very tense silence, which was broken by Scott saying: "I'll make some tea…can you help me, Emma?"
I jumped about three feet in the air, and then stood up. "Huh? Oh, tea yes, I'll help, sure…chamomile, Lils?"
"Yes." She nodded, as Scott and I hurried from the room
I grabbed Sirius on the way out. "Come on – you're helping!" I said, dragging him out of the room as Bob glared after us. "You can get Emma-Lily her bottle." Once out of earshot from everyone else, however, I took his face in my hands. "Calm down." I ordered him.
We couldn't afford to have the Ministry after us.
The sooner this was all over, the better.
***
We left Forks the next morning, Disapperating right on the Cullens' driveway.
We'd all said goodbye to Janet, Scott and Emma-Lily, promising to meet up again someday, when we could. But…when that would be, none of us knew.
We stood in a line on the driveway, I took Sirius' arm, and we all turned on the spot in unison, disappearing into space.
***
"So this is what Japan looks like." Despite my misgivings before, I had been very excited to visit Japan, since I had been a fan of Japanese anime for a very long time, and my favourite song was a Japanese one. "It's too bad we couldn't get here last month, when the cherry blossoms were blooming…"
"Isn't that one over there?" Lily asked, pointing.
We all looked.
"It's pink." Sirius said.
"That's sakura." I nodded. "That's the Japanese word for cherry blossoms. Uh…mochiron."
"What does that mean?" Lily asked.
"Of course."
"Oh. Where'd you learn that from?" Sirius wanted to know.
"Cardcaptor Sakura."
"Who?"
"It's a show."
"Oh."
We were standing in the middle of a park, which looked to be a national monument because there was a shrine there. There were tall buildings around the park, because Hokkaido is a big city. The entrance to the park had a Japanese Shinto-style archway (you know, the ones you see in movies, or the Samurai Night Fever level of the Gex game?).
I glanced at Remus, who was looking pale and tired. His eyes were weary and his arms, which he held close to his sides, sported horribly long white scars. His most recent transformation had really taken a toll on him.
I winced. "Come on guys, we need to find the people we're looking for…Lily, who are they again?"
A group of Japanese school children entered the park. They looked to be in about year three. The girls wore white tops with blue collars, red bows and blue skirts. They looked like miniature Sailor Moons. The boys had white tops with red tie-like things and blue shorts. They all carried notebooks, and were following their teacher.
Lily consulted the sheet of parchment given to us by Bob. "Taichi and Liu Jia Tsukamoto…hmm, Liu Jia sounds like a Chinese name…anyway, they have a daughter named Sasakura and a son named Itachi, and someone was supposed to be around here somewhere…" She looked around. "Hmm…" She said again.
"Not here, are they?" I guessed.
"Apparently not."
"We can look for them." James nodded, glancing around. "I mean, how hard can it be?"
"Yeah, we can ask someone." Sirius added.
"Okay then," I said, narrowing my eyes slightly. "Who here can speak Japanese?"
Lily, James and Sirius all pointed at me.
"I only know what I learnt from watching anime!" I exclaimed. "I'm not fluent!"
"So do you know how to say 'can you tell me where to find Taichi and Liu Jia Tsukamoto'?" James asked.
"Iie!!" I yelled so loudly that people turned to look at me. Lowering my voice I hissed: "No, I don't! I can't speak Japanese fluently, I only know a few things! I quit my Japanese class in school. I bailed out because it got too hard, there, I said it. Sensei had had enough of me, besides." I shrugged. "Writing all those little Chinese Kanji characters was hard work. You have no idea…" I trailed off, because Remus was halfway across the park, talking to the teacher of the school children.
We hurried over to him.
Remus was nodding, and the teacher was saying something in Japanese. As we neared them she raised her voice. "Sasakura-Chan? Itachi-Kun?"
A young boy and a younger girl detached themselves from the crowd. The boy had dark brown hair and was carrying a camera. The girl had black pigtails, and held onto the boy's hand as they came over to us.
"Hai, Takenouchi-Sensei?" The boy asked.
The teacher knelt down, and spoke quickly and quietly in Japanese to the boy and girl, and who nodded occasionally.
As this was happening, Remus turned to us. "Those two children are Sasakura and Itachi, daughter and son of Taichi and Liu Jia Tsukamoto."
"How did you find that out?" Lily gaped. She looked really impressed.
Remus shrugged. "I studied my Japanese last night."
"But how did you know what to say to the teacher to find out if she had the kids with her or not?" Sirius wanted to know, at the same time James asked: "What if she'd been a Death Eater?"
Remus shrugged again. He looked calm. "She's not. Trust me."
"You took a pretty big risk, though." Sirius said, frowning at Remus.
Remus replied, coolly: "I knew what I was doing."
"Well," Was all I could say. "Well…it's a good thing we have Moony around…"
Remus smiled at me.
Sirius frowned.
***
On the train to the outskirts of Hokkaido, where the Tsukamoto house was, I sat next to Lily. "Lily, how long?" I asked her. "How long have you been an Animagus for?" I'd been dying to ask her this for days now.
"Only a few months," She whispered back, as the train pulled into a tunnel. "When I found out that James was one," She glanced at her boyfriend, who was blinking in bewilderment at the rapid pace in which Sasakura and Remus were talking in Japanese. "I did all that I could to become one too."
"Even though it is illegal?" I asked her, cocking my head to one side.
Lily nodded. "Just so. I wanted to be closer to him." She blushed.
I laughed quietly. "You really did change your mind about him, didn't you Lils?"
She sighed. "I always thought he was just an arrogant toerag, but…" She shrugged. "I dunno, now I come to see that he's not…well, I mean, he can still act like a jerk sometimes," (I laughed). "But there's a lot more to him than meets the eye. You were right, Ems." She added, glancing at me with her green eyes.
I was surprised. "I was right? About what?"
"That I only saw one side of James," Lily paused for a moment, as the train emerged from the tunnel, and into the light. "He's really…I mean…he cares. About you, and the others…and about me. I thought he wouldn't care about me if we started dating, but I guess I was wrong. He can still be arrogant and childish at times, but…I dunno, he can also be really responsible and mature when he wants to be. Plus, he's getting a whole lot better."
"That he is." I agreed, just as an announcement came over the PA, and it was all in Japanese. The only words I understood were 'Ohayou' and 'Arigatou'.
But Remus understood it perfectly. "This is our stop," he said, standing up, and I noticed that Sasakura stood up with him and held his hand as we got off the train, and walked into the crowded station.
Itachi, who was learning English at school, was arguing with James about Quidditch ("Japanese play Quidditch much better than English, that is for sure!"). His English was better than our Japanese, with the obvious exception of Remus, who was looking ahead, to where a Japanese man and a Chinese woman were coming toward us.
"Ohayou," The greeted us, bowing deeply. The woman was beautiful, and the man wore a business suit and dark sunglasses, looking like someone off of Men In Black.
James, Lily, Remus, Sirius and me bowed back, since we knew that the Japanese bow when they greet each other.
This must be Liu Jia and Taichi Tsukamoto.
"Ohayou goziamasu," Remus said respectfully. "Boku wa Remus Lupin desu. Dozo yoroushiku."
Liu Jia said something to him in Japanese that was too fast for me to catch, and Remus replied just as fast, before turning to us.
He began to introduce us. The only reason I knew this was because he said all our names, and we all inclined our heads respectively. He and Taichi began speaking very quickly to each other, and I whispered to Lily: "How are we supposed to communicate if they only speak in Japanese?"
Lily shrugged, and Sirius muttered: "Couldn't they have gotten an English-speaking family?"
Just then, Sasakura said: "Remus-San wa kakkuii desu!"
Liu Jia immediately knelt down and said something stern to the little girl.
Meanwhile, I turned to Remus and asked: "Did she just say you were cool or something?"
Remus turned pink. "What can I say? They seem really happy that I know their language…I think that's it…" He shrugged.
"Lily-San wa kirei desu!" Sasakura added brightly.
"I'm what?" Lily wanted to know.
"What James has always thought you were," I supplied. "In regards to looks…jeez Remus, this kid sure says what's on her mind…" Sasakura was cool. I wished I could just say what I thought, the way she could.
It might save me a lot of trouble – but possibly get me into even more.
***
We ate dinner at a Japanese restaurant, an actual, honest-to-God traditional one where you sat on cushions at very low tables, and didn't wear shoes on the mats inside. Lily, James, Sirius and I relied on Remus a lot, especially when looking at the menus, which were written in Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji and some Romajii – in other words, not in English.
"Keeki?" Sirius said, looking at the dessert page. "What the hell is that!?"
"Cake." Remus said witheringly.
Sirius looked annoyed. "I knew that." He tugged at the neck of his yukata, which was blue and green checks. The rest of us were wearing them too – they were summery robes, like kimonos only lighter. They were cute. James' were dark blue with a red trim, Remus' were white with dark blue swirly patterns on them, Lily's were all the colours of Autumn, and mine were light pink with a blue trim. We'd all been shopping that afternoon, and bought some new clothes, since a lot of our things had been left back in Tucson. "What are you getting, Ems?"
We were sitting side-by-side at the low table, and Sasakura was on the other side of me. I was about to answer Sirius, when Sasakura looked up at me with her big brown eyes, and said: "Nani ga suki desu ka?" She held up her menu.
I blinked. "Uh…Remus? Remus, what did she say? Did she just ask me a question?"
Remus, sitting across from me, nodded. "She wants to know what [food] you like."
I glanced back down at the menu in front of me. "Uh…" I pointed to something written in Chinese Kanji. "Kore…wa…umm…nan…desu ka?" I had no idea what it was, or even if I'd asked what it was right.
I must've said it right, because Sasakura looked at the word underneath my finger, and then said: "Kore wa 'soba' desu."
"Soba noodles?" I asked. What did soba noodles taste like? Why couldn't I just order chips or something?
I was just wondering all of this when Sasakura grabbed my sleeve and pointed to something across the room. I looked, and saw a bowl of steaming noodles at someone else's table. It looked like noodle soup, and the man eating it was using chopsticks.
"Soba?" I asked Sasakura.
She nodded. "Oishi sou desu." She said.
"Hai." I replied, even though I had no idea what she'd just said (I think she said they looked delicious or something). Remus was talking to our hosts in Japanese. I watched Itachi fold an origami bird out of a napkin, and felt incredibly inept.
Anyway, when the waiter came, I just told Remus to order me the soba noddles, and some green tea. Sirius ordered the same thing. There was a lot of Japanese dialect going on. James, Sirius, Lily and I felt completely in the dark. Taichi, who had changed into a yukata but still wore his sunglasses, paid the waiter in yen, and then began talking to Remus in – you guessed it – Japanese.
Sasakura, meanwhile, seemed to have pegged me as a great person to talk to, and I struggled to understand what she was saying. She was very patient with me.
"Nihongo de hana shimashyou." She said brightly.
Why couldn't we speak in English?
"Nihongo wa muzukashi kunai desu."
For her, maybe.
Then: "Hebi wa kawaii doubutsu desu!"
"Eh?" I blinked. "Hebi..?" Didn't that mean snake or something?
Sasakura nodded, and moved her hand in an imitation of a snake. "Hebi wa kawaii doubutsu desu." She repeated.
I nodded in agreement. 'Kawaii' meant cute, didn't it. "Eto…hebi no…umm…oh, hang on, that's not right…umm…boku no hebi wa…uh…kawaii desu. Yeah, that's it." I nodded. My snake was cute. "Boku no hebi wa kawaii desu!" I was pretty proud of myself.
Sasakura was impressed that I owned a real live snake, and wanted to know what kind it was and whether it was poisonous or not. I needed Remus' help to answer those ones.
Just then, our meals arrived.
"Itedakimasu!" Everyone said. I can't remember why, I think it had something to do with honouring the meal or something.
***
By the time we'd arrived back at the Tsukamoto house, Sasakura had learned about Hogwarts, my pets, and why it was never a good idea to mix Furnunculus and jelly-legs. She was fascinated to know about magic, and laughed when I told her about setting fire to Snape's books two years ago.
We were singing the bridge of our favourite song: "Sora ni mukau kiki no you ni anata wo, massugu mitsumete'ru…" When we reached the house – two-storey, what's considered to be a large house in Japan, and there was a car parked out the front. The Tsukamotos don't live in a very suburban area – it's more rural than anything else. Their next-door neighbours had goats. It was well on the outskirts of town.
We went inside, and took our shoes off. Liu Jia had given us all slippers, which we all slipped into, and followed the family into the house.
Lily pulled Remus aside, and asked him about showers. Remus found a tactful way to ask Liu Jia and Taichi.
It turns out the Tsukamotos had a mini hot-spring out the back. Well, not an actual hot spring, but it was close enough.
It seemed like the perfect way to relax and get clean, all at the same time.
***
Ten minutes later, the boys, Lily and I were sinking into the perfectly warm water of the little pool. The boys were wearing board shorts, Lily was wearing a black two-piece bathing suit, and I wore a light blue one-piece. For a few minutes, nobody spoke. The water had a calming effect on us. It was great.
Then Lily said: "The Tsukamotos are really nice, aren't they?"
"Yeah but, then again," I said, stretching my legs out in front of me. "So were the Marrons and the Cullens." I sighed. "Everybody is so nice to us, and here we are putting them all in danger. The Ministry is…just so…" I struggled to find the words to describe them.
"A bunch of right gits?" Sirius supplied.
"You took the words right out of my mouth." I replied.
Sirius was sitting next to me, and edged over so that our arms were touching. He snaked his arm around my waist and drew me closer to him. "We could just go home, you know," He muttered to me.
"Yeah, but then we'd be in trouble," I muttered. 'Plus, they still wanna know where I come from'. "I'll be back in a tic, okay?" I hoisted myself up, out of the hot springs, and padded across the ground toward the small changing rooms and bathroom. I wondered if we really could go home – if it would be alright for us to do so, or if we were already in too deep?
I was halfway across the yard when someone appeared in front of me, blocking my path.
"Huh-…oh, it's just you Taichi," I said, breathing a sigh of relief as I recognised the Japanese man. "For a moment I thought that you were a Death Eater or something…maybe I'm just paranoid…" But, as I made to walk past him, he suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm, turning on the spot. I realised what was happening instantly – I was being forced into Side-Along Apparation! "Hel-!!" I shouted, just before the blackness pressed in on me.
***
No One's P.O.V:
"Did you hear that?" Remus said sharply, standing up and climbing out of the hot springs.
"Emma!" Sirius said, at the same time as Lily exclaimed: "Someone just Disapperated!"
The four of them hurried back toward the house, just as Liu Jia came running out of it, visibly distressed.
She broke down crying as they stared at her in shock, speaking in very rapid Japanese, and Remus listened, paling and then grabbing Liu Jia's hand, asking her questions, and she replied. The two of them were clearly panicked now.
"Moony!" Sirius shouted finally. "What!?"
Remus turned to them, his golden eyes troubled beyond belief. He kept one hand on a sobbing Liu Jia's shoulder as he spoke to his friends in a low, grave voice. "They've just found Taichi Tsukamoto lying dead at the bottom of a well about twenty miles down the road," Lily gasped. "He's been dead for about a day now. That man who we met this afternoon was not the real Taichi – he was an impostor."
"A Death Eater." James said grimly, as Lily moved to Liu Jia's side to comfort her.
"But where is Emma..?" Sirius began, just as the two Tsukamoto children stepped out of the house.
"Remus-Kun," Itachi said. "The man who not Otousan took Emma-San."
Sasakura was crying. "Disapperated." She sobbed, running into her mother's arms. She was holding a wand – a ten and a half inch mahogany wand with a wolf-hair core. "Emma-Chama's wand!" She said tearfully, her voice muffled against her mother's side.
Sirius, Remus, James and Lily looked stricken.
***
I opened my eyes, to find myself tied to a chair in the middle of an unfamiliar room. It gave off the impression of being underground and, when I glanced to my right, I saw a pipe leading out of the room and water in a ditch – a drain pipe.
A door was directly in front of me, and I could hear voices speaking outside of it – whether in Japanese or English I couldn't tell. But I caught a few familiar words like 'Polyjuice Potion' and 'Avada Kedvra', the sound of someone hitting the floor (I cringed), and then a loud, English-speaking voice said: "The Dark Lord's on his way!"
I froze. There was no way in hell I was staying around for that – I had been kidnapped by Death Eaters, and now Voldemort was coming to retrieve me. I had to get out of here. I was wandless – which was not a good thing – and not up to Apparating without one, but it didn't matter.
I had one last method of escape.
I transformed into the white wolf, feeling the ropes slide away from me and, once the transformation was complete, I hurried over to the drain pipe. One end was barred off with wire mesh, but the other led into blackness.
Taking a deep breath, I scrambled into the ankle-deep water, and made my way into the darkness.
***
A Death Eater had been posing as Taichi, using a Polyjuice Potion. Perhaps he was the one who had been killed. Where was the real Taichi? How had they known we were coming?
Where was I? Would this tunnel ever end?
All these questions – and more – raced through my mind as I kept my nose low to the water and tried to maintain a fast pace.
I knew that, by now, my friends would have realised I was gone, and be worried about me – especially Remus and Sirius.
I also knew that the Death Eaters would've realised I was gone, and come after me. They'd be angry.
But they really shouldn't have left me alone. Well, they didn't know any better then, did they?
Suddenly, up ahead, I saw light coming from between holes in the ceiling. I stopped, and looked up at it, realising that there was a ladder leading to a grate.
I quickly transformed and felt my way up the ladder, climbing quickly and reaching the grate, but I couldn't push it away from me – it was stuck.
Sighing in frustration and fear – did I hear something from the direction that I'd just come from? – I stuck my hand up in desperation, and then heard a voice say: "Wingardium Leviosa!"
I watched as the grate was lifted up into the air, and then someone grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the hole.
I stood there, blinking in the moonlight at my rescuer.
It was Sasakura's and Itachi's teacher, Takenouchi-Sensei.
***
"You are alright?" She asked me, as we hurried through the quiet Hokkaido streets.
I nodded. I was embarrassed about being out here in a bathing suit though.
My feet were killing me, I was sure I had walked on glass back there, but Takenouchi kept me moving at a fast walk, disallowing me to stop until, finally, we reached a small house which had the front porch lights on.
Takenouchi led me up the front walk, and up a flight of six stairs, to the front door which was unlocked.
She turned to me as we stood in the front hall, and asked me something in Japanese.
I shook my head. "Uh…what?" I blinked.
She smiled at me. She was really pretty. "No mind," She said, patting my shoulder and handing me a yukata and a pair of slippers. "You no speak Japan?" He English was badly fractured, but I could understand it, for the most part.
I shook my head. "Iie – not a lot."
She laughed.
I slipped into the dark blue yukata gratefully, and then sat on the steps in the front hall, gingerly checking my feet for any signs of sharp things, whilst Takenouchi went into the kitchen.
I went in there after her, and she handed me a cup of green tea.
"Arigatou." I said, taking the cup from her.
She smiled. "I show room." She led me down the hall, and into a small, western-style guest bedroom.
I thanked her again, and then climbed into the bed, nestling down into the warm covers, feeling very sleepy all of a sudden. In the morning, Takenouchi and I would go back to the Tsukamotos', and I'd be able to ensure Sirius and Remus that I was alright. The tea was very good but I couldn't finish it all because I was so tired, so I tipped most of it into the Bonsai tree on the dressing table – I didn't want Takenouchi to think that I was rude or anything. The tea was really good, but I was just so tired.
I guess being kidnapped, navigating ones way through a pitch dark drain pipe and then running at seventy kilometres an hour could do that.
Something was troubling my mind, but I didn't really pay any attention to it as I drifted off to sleep to deep to be plagued with nightmares.
***
The next morning, I awoke to birds chirping and other appropriate morning sounds. I smiled, thinking about how nice Japan was and how pretty the cherry blossom tree was outside my bedroom window, and then I realised why I had woken up.
"Oh great," I muttered, getting out of bed and tiptoeing into the hall. "Where's the bathroom in this joint?" I crept down the hallway so as not to wake up Takenouchi, and succeeded in finding the bathroom.
On my way back to the room, I heard voices coming from the kitchen, and so I paused, because I wondered who Takenouchi had invited over.
"Dareka no kitai ni zutto kotae homerarerunoga suki nano desuka?" Asked a man's voice, a taunting one.
Was he talking to Takenouchi like that? He was, but her answer surprised me. "Tatakai kata nara kono mi ga satoru. Mou tashou no risuku wa kakugo desho?" It wasn't what she said, but how she said it – angrily, practically spitting out the words.
What were they saying, and why were they so angry?
I was wondering whether or not to interrupt them, and I wished Remus were here so he could tell me what was going on. Or even Itachi, who spoke Japanese and was learning English at school, could be my translator…
I stopped breathing suddenly, and my heart turned to ice. Itachi learnt English at school from his teacher, Takenouchi-Sensei. He'd told us that last night.
And yet…last night, when she'd been talking to me in English, it had been as bad as my Japanese was.
How come?
Unless…she wasn't the real Takenouchi.
"Genkai no nai kanousei ga koko ni aru kono te ni," She was saying, as I backed quietly up toward the front door. And, I recognised the words from my favourite song. Why were their limitless possibilities right here in her grasp? "Faito maido I'm proud. Nanikarananima de mada ucchi yanai zo. Dark Lord…"
She was a Death Eater.
I found the front door handle behind me, wrenched open the door and bolted out into the sunlight, transforming and hitting the ground at a run on all fours. I headed straight into the woods, hardly daring to believe how close I had come to being captured.
***
I was wandless and alone, wandering around in the woods that lined the roads on the outskirts of the city. I was tired, hungry and worried beyond belief, limping through the undergrowth and wishing that I was with Remus or Sirius. Where were they? They must be worried about me…Lily would be going out of her mind with worry, and James would be doing all he could to find me.
I just hoped that they'd find me before the Death Eaters did.
I came to a small stream, and stopped to take a drink. I was reminded of the green tea last night – the Death Eater must've drugged it, but I hadn't gotten the full effects of it because I hadn't drank it all.
Vowing never to drink anything a stranger gave me again, I looked up from my reflection in the slow-running stream – and came face-to-face with another me.
Well, not really, it was just a Patronus – a silvery wolf with a crescent-shaped tail.
My yellow eyes widened. Remus's Patronus…
"Emma," The Patronus said in Remus' voice. "Follow the Patronus…"
I didn't need telling twice.
***
No One's P.O.V:
Sirius, Remus, Lily and James stood huddled on a road side, next to a sign that said something in Japanese.
They were looking all around them, tense and nervous, wands out.
Sirius had Emma's wand in his left hand, and he was holding it so tightly that it seemed to burn him in response – it was worried about Emma too, longing to be reunited with its owner.
'Soon,' Sirius thought, staring into the forest. 'Soon…'.
Suddenly, without warning, two shapes burst out of the forest – one a silvery wolf Patronus that vanished instantly, and the other a purer than white she-wolf, which transformed instantly.
"Remus!" Emma cried, causing Sirius to freeze as he watched his girlfriend rush into his best friend's arms, her face as pale as it had been when she was a wolf. "Takenouchi…she wasn't Takenouchi she was a Death Eater! What does faito maido I'm proud, nanikarananima de mada ucchi yanai zo mean?" She sounded close to tears.
Remus' face was pale. "That with each fight she's proud, from start to finish she hasn't lost anything yet…sounds like whoever the Death Eater pretending to be Takenouchi was one of Voldemort's stronger warriors…who would've guessed they had Death Eaters here in Japan, though?" He muttered, pressing his lips to the top of Emma's head. She was shaking. "It's okay, you're okay now…" He soothed.
"What happened to Taichi?" She asked, her voice muffled because she had her face buried in Remus' chest.
Lily and James exchanged a glance. "He's dead, Emma." Lily said quietly.
"Oh," Emma said, in a low voice. "Poor Liu Jia…the kids…" She wiped her eyes quickly. "Well, if it's any consolation to you, so's his impostor…" She drew back from Remus, and looked around at the others. "Guys…there are people going around pretending to be Aurors, when they're really Death Eaters. I trust you guys to the depths of Deep Six and beyond…but what about everyone else?" She looked troubled.
"We'll deal with it if it arises," James said, taking her hand. "But I'm glad to hear that you trust us, White Fang."
Emma smiled. "I know you consider it to be dishonourable to mistrust your friends, Prongs."
He smiled back at her.
Sirius said: "Ems?"
She smiled up at him. "Miss me?" She asked.
He nodded, handing her her wand, which she took happily, before standing up on tip-toe to kiss her boyfriend, who relaxed. He knew she'd just been panicked before, and run straight to Remus to find out what faito maido I'm proud, nanikarananima de mada ucchi yanai zo meant. It didn't mean anything else. Nothing else at all.
"Where are we going now?" Lily said quietly. "I think we should go back home," She went on, sounding firm. "This is way too much for us, we can't handle it – and I mean it this time."
James, surprisingly, nodded. "Lily is right, we're way in over our heads now. The most important thing to do is to," His eyes suddenly widened, and he raised his wand. "PROTEGO!!" He shouted, and a red beam of light bounced off the blue shield.
A group of people wearing black robes were moving swiftly toward them.
Emma didn't even need to think, she just raised her wand and shouted: "FIRA!!"
Gold and silver fire streamed toward the Death Eaters, as Emma grabbed the arms of Lily and James and Disapperated, before returning almost instantly for Remus and Sirius.
She grabbed their arms as spells streaked toward them, turning swiftly on the spot and Disapperating once more, to land with a thud on the unnaturally sunny winter shores of Perth city.