Note: Sirius and Emma's swimming lesson is partially based off of my own experience at the beach one time, when I nearly got dragged away by a non-existent undercurrent.
And the horses in this chapter are named after real horses I once rode. Except Scottie, who's not as jumpy as this Scottie…
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-TWO
Great Southern Land
"Naturally we arrive on the sunniest winter day of the year," I muttered, picking myself up and dusting sand off of my yukata. "Is everyone alright?" I asked.
James, Lily, Remus and Sirius all nodded.
Sirius was standing next to me, and holding onto my hand like he might not let go. I didn't mind.
"Where are we?" James asked, looking around, at the same time Lily asked: "What is this place?"
I sighed. "This is Perth city, in Australia. This is where I grew up."
***
We were walking along the beach, talking about what we were going to do, keeping a look out for Death Eaters and wondering why it was so hot in the middle of winter here.
It made absolutely no sense to me, but it didn't matter because Sirius suddenly said: "Let's go swimming."
We all looked at him. "Uh, what?" Lily tilted her head to one side. "Padfoot, are you insane? This is hardly the time for…"
"I could go for a swim…" Remus mused.
"We're all wearing our bathers underneath our clothes anyway." James added, shrugging.
Lily glanced at me.
"Siri promised to teach me how to swim once we got here." I said quietly.
Lily threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, alright then, I'm outnumbered! Let's go swimming."
***
I stood on the shore ten minutes later, wearing my blue bathers and staring out at the water with a growing sense of dread. Who was I kidding? I couldn't swim! I was crazy for even going anywhere near the water!
And where was James?
I looked around.
Lily was sitting on the beach with Remus, minding our gear whilst they both read different books – him a book of complex spells, and her what could only be described as a trashy romance novel. Both of them were completely absorbed in their literature.
Sirius was standing in the shallow waves, hands held out to me, and waiting for me.
With a deep sigh of long suffering, I walked into the waves, feeling the cool water lapping at my feet as I waded in until I was waist deep.
I took Sirius' hands.
"I changed my mind," I told him. "I don't want to swim. I'll go back up onto the sand and play tic-tac-toe with Remus."
A strange look crossed Sirius' face. "You'll do no such thing, my love." He told me, and started to pull me out into deeper water.
My hands tightened around his as my feet left the sand, and I immediately began to struggle.
"First rule of swimming is not to panic," Sirius said, transferring his grip from my wrists to my waist. I froze. "And try not to freeze either, love," He added, smirking. "Or else you'll sink. Now – relax." He commanded me.
I attempted to relax, and Sirius helped me to stay afloat in the water. The bobbing of the ocean's waves made me feel a tiny bit queasy at first, but presently I grew used to it, and it became calming. I practised floating on my stomach and on my back, and even managed to dog-paddle with Sirius holding onto my wrists.
"I'm swimming!" I exclaimed. "Not drowning, actually swimming!" True, it was hardly an Olympic performance in Butterfly, and a fair few times I got a face-full of salty sea water but, for the most part, I wasn't sinking. A few times, the ocean attempted to drag me away, but Sirius always took my wrists and pulled me back to him.
Sirius said: "Now, for the scene from Dirty Dancing." And grabbed me by the waist, lifting me up and twirling me around.
I had to laugh – this was fun. Sirius was very strong, and I liked the way he was holding me…
That's when I saw the shark fin.
It was cutting through the water near us and, without thinking, I leapt into Sirius' arms, wrapping my own arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.
I like sharks, and I'm not terribly afraid of them – but I didn't want to be eaten by one, either.
Sirius held onto me as the shark cruised by some ten feet away from us and, when it was gone, I breathed a sigh of relief. "He must not have been hungry." I said.
"Yeah…" Sirius said, and suddenly I realised how I was holding onto him.
I blushed, and shifted my weight a little. He held me in his arms around my waist, transferring me so that we were face-to-face.
Sirius was smirking.
Have you ever kissed in an ocean before? It's incredibly fun…
***
"That was you!?" I yelled, as James grinned. He was holding a realistic shark fin in his hand. I clenched my fists. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, James Potter! If Lily weren't standing right here then I would hit you!"
"Be my guest," The red-head said calmly. "Don't let me stop you."
"Thank you." I said to her, before whacking James upside the head. "Sharks eat people, you git!" But even as I glared at him, I couldn't help but smile. James was interfering in mine and Sirius love life as much as I interfered in his and Lily's. It was kind of a best friend thing, I guessed.
We were standing on the beach, watching as the sun set.
"I don't much feel up to Apparating back to England until tomorrow," I admitted.
"Me neither." Lily agreed.
"So I guess we're staying then." James nodded, slipping his hand into Lily's. "The question is, where are we staying?"
The others shrugged. Then James and Lily looked at me.
I gasped. "No way! No way, no way no no no NO!!" I said strongly.
Sirius took my hand, the same way James had taken Lily's. "If we go to Emma's house," He said quietly. "I will kill her family."
"So we won't go." Remus said.
"But now we're back to having nowhere else to go." James began, just as a girl's scream pierced through the air.
We all froze, as a second girl shouted: "CASSIE!!"
Halfway up the beach, a girl wearing a bikini was standing at the water's edge, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Out in the water was a catastrophe of the Great White Pointer kind.
Lily gasped. "We have to help her!"
Sirius was already running across the sand toward the water, like someone from a movie, or Baywatch.
We were all frozen for a second, until James cried: "How is Padfoot gonna manage against a shark without his wand!?"
We all realised what needed to be done in that instant.
Remus and I ran to the water's edge in unison, as James and Lily hurried over to the girl who was standing there screaming.
Remus and I raised our wands.
"Don't hit Sirius." I muttered.
"I won't," Remus replied, as we both watched what was happening, and then hit the shark with a stunning spell at exactly the same time – not enough to knock it out, but enough to knock it away, as Sirius grabbed the girl in the water and swam with her to the shore.
We all hurried over as he carried her out of the surf.
She wasn't hurt – the shark hadn't managed to bite her – but she was pale, white and shaking, and sobbing as much as her friend, whom Lily had placed an arm around the shoulders of.
"We should get her back to her house," James said quietly. "Hey, umm…" He looked at the girl's friend.
"W-we're cousins…" She said, taking a deep breath. "M-my name's Casey – she's Cassie," She looked at her cousin again. "Umm…she lives not too f-far away…I'm staying with them, Aunty and Uncle w-will be w-worried…"
"We'll come with you," Lily said soothingly. "It'll be alright, okay?"
Casey nodded. "O-okay…"
We walked up the beach and onto the footpath, Sirius was in the lead carrying the unconscious Cassie, with Lily, Casey and James behind them, leaving me and Remus to follow along.
"Well, that was certainly exciting," I said to Remus, as we walked along the street, attracting quite a few weird stares.
"I'll say," Remus smiled at me. "Good job with your Stunning Spell, I saw it hit the shark right behind the gills."
I shook my head. "No no no, that was yours, Moony."
We smiled at each other.
***
Cassie's parents (Casey's Aunt and Uncle) met us at the doorway to their house. No, wait, house isn't quite the right word for it.
It was a mansion.
They introduced themselves as the McWentworthingtons (what a name) and were quite concerned over their daughter. They were also incredibly grateful to Sirius for saving her, but that was nothing compared to the reaction of Cassie herself.
We were sitting in the living room, nursing cups of tea, when she came into the room with her mother.
All four members of the family had white blonde hair and light blue eyes, and wore expensive clothes and jewellery. They seemed very…upper-class. Like a pure-blood family, only they were pure-blood muggles. Yeah, that worked.
As soon as Cassie – dressed in a pristine cream-coloured dress – spotted Sirius, she glided gracefully over to him with all the grace of a dancer, and smiled beautifully at him.
"Hello," She said softly, batting her eyelashes at him and causing me to choke on my tea. "My name is Cassandra Lydia McWentworthington. I am so grateful for you for saving my life."
Sirius looked surprised. I don't think he actually knew what to say for a moment, and then he nodded. "S'alright…anyone would have done it…"
"But no one else did." She smiled at him, but her gaze drifted around the room, to me, Remus, James and Lily. "May I ask your name?"
"Sirius Orion Black." He replied, and I smiled into my tea cup. Cassie's formality was rubbing off on Sirius, who hated his middle name.
Cassie smiled prettily at him. "And your…ah…lovely friends here?" She gestured to the rest of us. I didn't like the way she said it.
"Remus John Lupin." My werewolf said, standing up and extending his hand, which Cassie took, looking at him in an approving way.
James also shook hands with Cassie. "James Reginald Potter." And then he added: "And my partner, Lily Rosalie Evans."
Lily also shook Cassie's hand. "How do you do?" She asked politely.
I could tell that, despite her earlier misgivings, Cassie approved of us. She reminded me of Sirius' Mum.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp jab in my side, and looked to see Sirius looking pointedly at me, and Cassie raising an eyebrow.
"Oh!" I got quickly to my feet. "Uh…I'm Emma. Emma Lacy Pax."
Cassie and I shook hands, but our smiles seemed rather forced.
"Umm…I need to use the bathroom…" I said quickly. "To, umm…wash my face and all…yeah, that's it…umm, where is it?"
Cassie said: "Out the hall and third door on the left."
I nodded. "Okay."
"I need to wash my face too." Sirius said, jumping up, grabbing my arm and nearly dragging me out of the room.
"Yeah, me too!" Lily added, and we were followed by her, James and Remus, all of us eager to get out of the room where we felt like we were being analysed.
"She makes me feel weird," James said, as we leaned against the walls in the bathroom, which was big enough to fit an army.
"She was checking you out, Padfoot," Remus added quietly, and Sirius let out his short, bark-like laugh.
"What's so funny?" I asked him.
"She only likes me because I saved her life," Sirius was grinning. "People like that are always infatuated with someone who's saved their little lives, you get it all the time with pure-blood wizards."
"It doesn't have anything to do with your amazing good looks?" I wanted to know, checking my face in the mirror. There was dirt streaked across my forehead, and I frowned at it. Why did I have to look so unkempt next to Cassie? And why was a feeling jealous of her?
Why should I be jealous!? I knew, beyond a doubt, that Sirius liked me. He'd even said that he loved me, which had freaked me out then but now I was okay with it.
I had no worries.
***
Or did I?
Cassie seemed to have decided that leaving Sirius alone from now on was out of the question, and what guy can ignore that kind of devotion? When a girl's going to do anything you ask her to do, get you whatever you need, be like your personal servant…I watched, feeling slightly nauseous.
The McWentworthingtons had invited us to stay with them for awhile, and we'd readily accepted, not willing to go back to England and confront the Ministry. We were stalling, and we knew it but, on the other hand, life at the McWentworthington's was great, aside from the little Cassie-Sirius problem.
Keeping the fact that we were wizards a secret was fairly easy. We just kept our magic to a minimum, and didn't talk about our world unless we were absolutely certain that nobody was listening.
"Red shirt or blue shirt?" Lily asked, holding up the two almost identical blouses.
I laughed. "Lily, you sound like a snob!"
She laughed too. "I know. I'm just trying to fit in."
"Well, fit in in the blue top," I said, just as Casey knocked on the door.
"Hi you two," She said. She was a really nice person, even if her cousin wasn't really. "We've decided to go horseback riding today. Do you guy like that idea?"
Lily and I exchanged a glance.
"Sounds okay to me." The red-head smiled.
"Cool." I agreed.
***
"Really?" Cassie was sitting in the station wagon next to Sirius and, if she'd been sitting any closer to him, then she would've been in his lap. "You went riding in Tucson? How exciting!"
I rolled my eyes. "He forgot the part where he almost fell off. I had to ride up beside him and yank him back into the saddle." I was sitting on the other side of Sirius, and had been staring out the window, but now I turned my head to find Cassie glaring at me.
"Sirius is probably a better rider than you are," Cassie said, narrowing her eyes at me.
"How would you know?" I shot back.
Remus suddenly leaned forward from the seat behind me, handing me a book about horses. "Here Ems, read this." He said.
'Nice save Moony'. I thought.
Sirius and Cassie, meanwhile, continued chattering away.
***
I was worried. The place where the horse riding school was happened to be in my old neighbourhood. Of course, I hadn't mentioned this but, still, as I looked out at my surroundings (whilst the riding instructor was getting the horses ready for us) I recognised things.
'There's Armadale Road…and the house that's sinking into the ground…hey…what if there's a parallel ME here!?' The thought panicked me, so that I jumped when Remus put his hand on my shoulder.
"Come on Ems," He said quietly, and then he noticed the look on my face. "What's wrong?" I must've been pale, because his hand tightened on my shoulder.
We were standing smack bang in the middle of a riding school, surrounded by horses, paddock fences and people wearing jodhpurs, and I was about to start crying.
I wondered whether or not I should tell him what I was feeling, my heart was pounding, and I suddenly regretted ever bringing us here. I loved Perth, but it was home to horrible memories and possible terrors.
A voice suddenly cut through the moment when I might have told Remus something. "Isn't that horse a bit too big for her?"
It was Cassie. The 'her' she was referring to was me, and the horse she was referring to was about my shoulder height at the shoulders.
My face turned red. I'm not that short, I'm only about five foot (at the best) but, I guess, compared to Sirius I am short. Heck, even Peter's taller than I am!
Sirius didn't say anything, because he was climbing into the saddle of a big dark brown Standardbred gelding named Spud. Lily was using a mounting block to get onto the strawberry roan mare named Suzie, and James was already astride a Palouse gelding named Rico.
Remus looked at Cassie. "Is there a problem?" He asked mildly, but I could sense some kind of anger beneath his words.
Cassie smiled sweetly. "Not at all, I was just expressing concerns."
"Well save it!" We both snapped.
Cassie stepped back in surprise at the looks on mine and Remus' faces, and then frowned slightly. "Hmm…" She said.
***
Ten minutes later, we were riding out onto the trail. Cassie on her white Arabian mare, Zahara, was in the lead, followed by Sirius, then Lily, then James, then Casey on a bay mare called Dolly, followed by Remus on a chestnut gelding called Leo and, finally, me, bringing up the rear on the little black pony Scottie.
His short legs made trotting…very bouncy, to say the least. I clung onto the monkey-strap of the saddle. Plus, with his short legs, Scottie couldn't keep up, and we were soon lagging behind.
My face was probably either red or white as the others waited for us to catch up, with Cassie smirking smugly.
"Are you alright?" Remus asked me.
I looked up at him, nodding, although I was a little out of breath. Scottie required very hard kicks to get him trotting, unlike Cassie's horse, who only required a single word and she'd do it.
"Why don't we keep riding until we reach the stream?" Cassie said brightly. "I'm sure you'll just love it there, Sirius." She added.
He looked startled. He apparently hadn't been paying any attention. "Huh, what? Umm…yeah, sure…"
There was a slight diversion then, as a kookaburra laughed loudly in a tree nearby, and everyone's horses stayed still except for Scottie, who nearly jumped out of his skin. He leapt sideways, and I grabbed onto the saddle with one hand, whilst my other hand pulled back on the reins to get him to stand still. One of my feet was out of its stirrup, and I gulped because I was more out of the saddle then in it.
"Are you alright!?" Remus exclaimed, jumping off of Leo's back and hurrying over to me.
"Y-yeah…" I stammered, as he helped me back into the saddle. "That was embarrassing…"
"Don't worry," He said quietly, as I took up the reins again. "It's ok…"
"I thought Scottie was a beginners horse," I looked over at Cassie, who was smirking.
"Oh, did I say that?" She shrugged carelessly. "My mistake…"
Remus looked angry. "Cassie…" He began, but I cut him off.
"Don't bother," I said, taking my feet out of the stirrups. "I'll walk back to the stables. You guys go on ahead and have a nice ride, and I hope Zahara throws you off, Cassie." I probably should not have said that.
There was suddenly a loud bang from somewhere in the woods, the clear sound of someone Apparating. Well, that was just too much for Scottie, who reared onto his hind legs, and then galloped off into the trees with me only just managing to stay on.
"Reeemuuus!!!" I yelled. But whether I was more scared about who had just Apparated, or that I was being run away with, I knew not.
***
I hit the ground with a thud, and for a moment all I could see was blackness. I couldn't believe it. Then I opened my eyes and stared at the sky above me.
I took deep breaths, trying to figure out where I was – Scottie had run a very long way before I'd fallen off – and if anything was broken. There was something sharp sticking into the back of my neck – it hurt and, when I reached behind my head, I felt a sharp rock and blood.
That made me feel sick, but I attempted to sit up anyway. My left hand was grazed badly, and my wrist felt sore and swollen. My left ankle hurt too, which was bad news. If it was broken, I wouldn't be able to mount Scottie again – wherever he was.
I looked around as I pulled myself into a sitting position, keeping my right hand pressed to the back of my head after I'd pulled the rock out (oh, eww…).
I heard approaching horse hooves, but it wasn't Scottie.
Leo cantered out of the trees, with Remus aboard. His face was dead white and, though he looked relived at the sight of me sitting there, the relief instantly turned to anxiety as he jumped off of Leo, and hurried over to me.
"What hurts?" He asked anxiously, taking out his wand and kneeling beside me.
"Wrist, ankle, hand…" I said numbly, feeling ashamed all of a sudden. Just like Harry on the train when he faints but no one else does, my horse (pony) had run away with me, but no one else's had. And now I'd been thrown (fallen) off and hurt myself. I felt so inept.
Remus examined my injuries. His touch on my injuries was so gentle that I scarcely felt it, and he set to work healing me. He moved his wand over my hand, and healed the grazes on there, before moving on to my wrist and ankle.
"Badly sprained, both of them," He said after a moment. "I'd rather wait until before I attempt to do anything more about it though, because I'm not Madam Pomfrey. Here…Ferula…" And bandages came out of his wand and wrapped around my leg and arm.
"Thanks…" I whispered, and then he noticed the blood dripping from my neck.
"Emma!" He said, alarmed, and pulled my hand back. "Your neck…"
"It was just a sharp rock," I said hurriedly, as he began to mutter a spell and heal the wound.
"It could've killed you." He murmured, keeping his wand arm across my back and his hand at my neck, and his other hand was holding my face still so that I wouldn't move during the healing. "You were lucky you didn't die, thank God you were wearing a helmet…"
"Sirius wouldn't have cared much," I muttered, and felt Remus stiffen slightly. "What's with him anyway? He hasn't even said much to me these past few days, I don't know if it's Cassie or not…but I feel like he's ignoring me…"
"He hasn't said anything to me," Remus said flatly, running his hand over my newly healed skin.
"Ouch…"
"Sorry," He sighed. "I know this isn't what you want to hear Emma…but he doesn't deserve you at the moment." My eyes opened wide. Never in a million years had I thought I'd hear Remus Lupin say something like that. He was almost OOC. He was looking at a spot on the ground just past my left shoulder, not meeting my gaze. "That's just my opinion anyway, and I…I think…I think we're right for each othe…" I cut him off my kissing him. I don't know why but I just did it. I wrapped my arms around his neck, appreciating it when he drew me closer to him, and not even caring how weird it might have looked if a Muggle had stumbled across us at that time.
I only cared about kissing Remus. Remus was right. We were so right for each other.
Me, the protective, somewhat temperamental one who needed to learn lots, lived on chocolate during her time of the month, and knew how to see the beauty in things that didn't seem it at first glance.
And Remus, the friendly, definite calming force within our group, who was willing to teach, was a provider of chocolate, and seemed to need constant reassuring that he wasn't going to turn into a mindless killing machine.
I couldn't believe I hadn't seen it before.
The most reassuring thing was that I knew Remus was here for me. Over the last few days, since we'd been in Perth, I hadn't been sure if Sirius was with me or not. He'd seemed to be on a completely different planet, and I hoped he wasn't falling for Cassie, but…if he was, it would make my life a whole lot easier now.
I wondered…what it would be like becoming Mrs. Emma Lupin?
***
"How are we going to get out of here?" I asked, as Remus lifted me up easily. "And there's no way I'm letting you carry me, Remi."
"Look," Remus pointed over at Leo, who was sinking to the ground. The big red horse looked over at me, and whinnied. "You can ride Leo." He carried me over to the waiting horse, and settled me into the saddle. "Don't put your left foot in the stirrup, that would hurt." He warned me, and I nodded, as Leo got back up, and Remus took the reins over the horse's head.
"We should probably find Scottie," I added, as we started off at a comfortable walk- Leo had very smooth gaits. "It's not his fault he bolted."
Remus nodded silently. His expression was cold, and I knew he was thinking of either Cassie or Sirius.
***
We were on my street, I knew it without a doubt that this was the exact same street as the one in the other world that I had grown up on.
My heart began to pound with trepidation, but then I gasped silently.
Scottie was standing in front of the place where my house should have been – except it wasn't a house, but a lovely monument, a sort of structure built for some reason or other.
My house didn't exist in this world, and it was a fair bet to assume that neither did another me. But, instead of making me feel glad or relieved, I felt an overwhelming sense of despair.
I shouldn't exist in this world either. This strange world which had the foundation of a popular book series – but which I was changing far too drastically to let it take its natural course.
Where did I belong?
And, glancing at Remus, who was walking quietly back to me and Leo with Scottie, I wondered if it was with my werewolf after all…