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-FOUR

Tojous Pur

No One's P.O.V:

James stormed through the entire house, his face a cloud of anger, searching for his best friend. Lily and Remus had Disapperated, hopefully to where Emma was. They had guessed that she might go back to the Potters' house, but they would try other places if she wasn't there. They were worried – she'd been upset, beyond reason and logic. And they'd seen that the Death Eaters were willing to go to any means to capture her, and that was when she was in a right frame of mind. If the Death Eaters knew she was upset, they'd be ten times likely to try again,

Obviously, she hadn't been thinking about that when the huge crack had resounded, signalling that she'd Disapperated.

And James was hunting for his friend. He had never a day in his life been so angry at Sirius Black, but he was willing to hear Sirius' side of the story. He was not going to jump to conclusions. He trusted Sirius above all his other friends and, therefore, he was going to hear the Black out.

For Sirius' sake, it had better be a damn good reason.

James was angry, and everyone moved out of his way, except for Casey.

"James!" She said, she sounded worried. "Emma…she saw…I think she…Cassie was…"

"Have you seen your cousin?" James asked, somewhat calmly, knowing that he'd find Sirius if he found his admirer. He was remaining calm, because there was no point in getting upset about it – yet.

Casey nodded. She looked miserable. "They're upstairs…James…it's not what you think…I don't think he…" She trailed off, as James had already walked away from her.

James took the stairs three at a time, and came onto the second floor landing, where he saw Sirius standing against a wall, his hands in his pockets, staring at the moonlight seeping in through a window. James had known Sirius well enough to know that when Sirius stood there with his hands in his pockets and that expression on his face, that he was terribly upset.

Carefully, James approached his "almost-brother", his mind still thinking about the tear-strained face of his "almost-sister", and hoping that he could set things right between them.

"Padfoot?"

***

I landed on the ground softly – and immediately began struggling with my attacker. Whoever it was had grabbed onto my arm just before I'd Disapperated, and I was now at his or her mercy, because it was dark, I was confused, upset and slightly disorientated.

"Let. Me. Go." I ordered, and swung out with my right fist, connecting with my attacker's face. I didn't know who they were, but I sure knew why they were here, and I wished they'd let go of my arm, because I was in a lot of pain and I needed to get to my wand if I had any chance of fighting them off.

A hand suddenly clamped down over my mouth, and I knew I'd have to transform to get away from them…

***

No One's P.O.V:

James stared at Sirius, unable to believe what he had just said. Anger whirled in his mind, mixed with worry about the state his two best friends were in. Emma was upset to the point of hysteria, and Sirius was upset to the point of exactly the opposite of that which, for him, was very dangerous.

If what he had said was true – and there was no doubt in James' mind that Sirius was telling the truth – then what everyone had thought had just happened actually hadn't.

"Are you serious, Padfoot?" James murmured, trying not to yell. "She actually forced you to kiss her?"

"I couldn't do anything cause' I was, like, you know…shocked." Sirius mumbled, keeping his eyes glued to the darkness outside. "And I couldn't get her off me without hurting her, because she's stronger than she looks…then I finally managed to, and she got all huffy, slapped me," (His cheek was looking rather red). "And then stormed off, probably telling everyone that it was the other way around…" He trailed off, sounding worried and for good reason, too.

"Yeah, cause' it definitely looked that way." James said.

Sirius finally looked up at him. "What the hell are you talking about Prongs? You didn't see it…did you?" He blinked.

James shook his head. "No, I didn't."

"Then who?" Sirius wanted to know. "Not Moony…oh great, all he needs is more ammunition…I suppose that's better than Lily though, she'd murder me…"

"It was Emma."

Sirius stared at James as if he hadn't understood what his best friend had just told him. Then he whispered: "What?"

"Emma saw you and Cassie kissing," James said quietly, not enjoying the look of horror on Sirius' face. "She jumped to conclusions, as she does, and stormed out of the house in tears. Lily has gone after her…"

"Then what are we waiting for!?" Sirius asked, some of his old self coming back. "Where the hell did she go!?"

"England." James replied, just as there was a commotion from downstairs.

Then a harsh voice yelled: "CRUCIO!!"

And Remus' screams echoed through the house.

**

Lily appeared in the middle of the Potters' living room, scaring Maggie and Reginald and the cat.

As soon as Maggie saw Lily, she gasped, and hurried forward, throwing her arms around the red-head and bursting into tears.

"Maggie!?" Lily cried, alarmed. "What's the matter!? Has Emma been back here yet, she..?"

Maggie's sobs grew.

Reginald explained. "We just received word from the Ministry that the Death Eaters," (Maggie and Lily shuddered in unison). "Have pinpointed Emma's location, and were planning to attack her tonight. The Ministry only just found out about it, but…"

"Oh no!" All the colour had drained from Lily's face. "Emma just came back to England, she didn't say where she was going, but she was really upset…I have to go!" Lily broke away from Maggie, turned on the spot and Disapperated.

***

"Emma, calm down, it's me," A soft voice hissed in my ear and, for some reason I couldn't fathom correctly, I froze. "I'm going to take my hand away from your mouth, as long as you promise not to scream, alright?"

"Mmhmm." Was all I was able to mumble.

Then the hand came away from my mouth, and I spun around on the spot to stare at one Regulus Black.

He was standing there, in black robes and his Slytherin scarf, looking at me with an expression I couldn't read. His grey eyes, so like Sirius', were guarded and troubled.

"It was you," I said. "You Apparated to where we were yesterday and scared my horse…" I took an automatic step back, and staggered on my injured ankle.

"Careful!" Regulus said, catching me by the elbows as pain shot through my leg. "What happened to you, anyway?"

"Got thrown from my horse." I replied pointedly.

He didn't say anything.

I sighed. "Why did you follow me, Regulus?" I wanted to know, unnerved by the way he was holding my arms. My ankle throbbed painfully, however, so I was glad for some support.

"To warn you," He said, and began speaking very quickly. "Emma, the Death Eaters placed a Tracker on you, they can locate you when you use magic or when you Apparate – I volunteered to come and find you tonight…"

"I bet you did." I said acidly.

"Not to capture you, but to warn you!" Regulus pleaded. "Emma, you have to get away from here…if you knew what…if you knew why the Dark Lord was after you…"

"How do you know about all this?" I asked him, narrowing my eyes. "Are you one of them?"

Regulus cast his grey eyes down. "My Mother…she and Father raised me to believe in the purification of our world, but it's not like that!" He added, catching the expression on my face. "Emma, please…you have to trust me…" His eyes had turned pleading, and there was a hint of wistfulness in those grey depths too.

They were, in fact, very different from Sirius' eyes.

"You say the Death Eaters knew I would be in Perth, correct?" I asked quietly.

Regulus nodded.

"I believe you," I said softly, and I swear his eyes lit up. "But, if I find out that I regret trusting you, there won't be enough pieces left to identify you, Regulus Black." I started to turn.

"Wait!" He sounded anxious again. "Where are you going!?"

"If what you say is true," I said slowly, noticing that he hadn't let go of my elbows yet. "Then the Death Eaters will arrive at the McWentworthington's house, and they'll be angry that I'm not there. There are innocent people there – and I don't care if they're muggles and that I want to boil one of them in hot oil. And, your brother may be the biggest idiot this side of Manhatten…"

"Wait, what did Sirius do?" Regulus asked, frowning slightly.

"Snogged another woman," I said, hastily freeing my left arm to brush at my tears. "If he has a good excuse for it, then I may let him live. But for now, he needs my help whether he wants it or not. The others do as well."

"You're really going back there, are you?" Regulus asked.

I nodded. "I have to." I shrugged out of my backpack and took out my wand. I handed Regulus the backpack. "Here, you take care of this for me, I don't want anything to happen to these things." It was a mark of how ready I was to trust Regulus Black, as I handed him the bag containing my charms and my pocket watch.

"Emma, wait!" Regulus sounded desperate now.

I was frustrated. "What?" I asked impatiently.

He held something out to me in his hand. "Take this…it will protect you…to an extent…"

I held out my hand, and took the pendant from him.

It was oval-shaped, and just slightly smaller than a chicken's egg. It was silver, and had the Black family crest engraved in black on it. I flipped the locket over in my palm, and discovered the motto Tojous Pur on it.

"Now I know you're a pure-blood." Regulus said, smiling slightly. "Or else that locket would've burned straight through your hand."