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-SEVEN

Tempers Flare

I woke up in the hospital. There was nobody else in the room.

I didn't know what time it was, what day of the week it was, or even what country I was in, but I suspected that I was back in England, in St. Mungo's.

And where were my friends?

I immediately threw the covers back on my bed, noticing that someone had changed me into a blue nightgown that went down to my knees.

There was a bandage around my left ankle and around my left hand as well, but neither of them hurt at all which gave me a pretty good indication that I was in St. Mungo's.

I sat on my bed, and looked around.

There wasn't much on my bedside table except for a goblet and a water jug, a vase with white roses in it, my wand, the necklace from Lily and the locket from Regulus.

I took up my wand, feeling like a might need it in a minute, but left everything else where it was, save for a pair of crutches, which I used skilfully and wish I'd broken my right ankle not my left one.

I swung myself out of the room and looked up and down the hallway.

Holding out my wand, with some difficulty, I muttered: "Point me."

My wand hovered for a few moments, and then pointed me left, so that is where I went. I swung down the hallway, not passing anybody, which gave me another clear indication, that it might've been night time.

I also had a feeling that my wand had pointed me toward Remus. I hoped it had.

I came to a door then and, feeling somewhat brave, opened it.

Remus was not the only occupant of the room, although he was the first one I looked at, because he was shirtless, and there were scars across his chest and neck that horrified me just by being there.

I came to complete stop in the doorway, however, because there were other people in the room as well, not all of them friendly.

James and Sirius were the occupants of the other two beds, and Lily, Maggie and Reginald were all clustered around one of those two.

In the middle of the room stood Bob whats-his-name and Dolores Umbridge.

Umbridge was wearing her trademark pink everything, whereas Bob had on his usual long dark coat. Both of them were looking very angry, and a nurse who was busy attending to Remus looked angry too.

"If you are not going to be able to control yourselves then you will have to leave!" The nurse said firmly.

"Well really," Umbridge raised her eyebrows. "The Minister has requested that we speak with these youths – and, of course, with Emma Pax – and I…"

"We already told you everything you know!" Sirius said, his famous Black-temper showing through. Whatever Umbridge and Bob had been saying earlier, it had obviously annoyed Sirius thoroughly. He was starting to get that look in his eyes. "It's not our faults if you don't believe us!"

"The possibility of their being Death Eaters in Japan is ludicrous!" Bob said, just as angrily as the last two. "There are more holes in this story then a block of Swiss Cheese, and we intend to get to the bottom of it!"

"Well get to the bottom of it elsewhere!" Sirius stated, wincing slightly as he shifted his weight. Something must've been hurting him. "And don't you dare go in there and start questioning Emma!" He added severely, and none of them had yet noticed me standing there motionless. "As if she needs that…"

"We are under strict orders from the Minister himself to question Miss. Pax about her actions over the last few day!" Bob said angrily. "Which, need I remind you, had caused a great deal of chaos within the Ministry! Thirty-two Muggles dead, a further eighteen in need of sever Memory Charms, and the very existence of our world nearly exposed by her again!"

"IT'S NOT HER FAULT!!!!" Sirius, Remus, James and Lily all shouted in unison – Lily had stood up, her face the colour of her hair, and Sirius was looking as though he too was ready to get to his feet. And he added: "It was me who closed the barrier between platforms nine and ten last year, not Emma! If you want to punish me then go ahead, but don't you dare punish her for something that's beyond her control!"

'That was him?'. I wondered how he could've done it.

"There's also the matter of my arm," Umbridge went on, holding up her hand which had been bandaged recently. "Whatever is in that hideous locket she's carrying with her is clearly dangerous and…"

"That's my family crest you're going on about," Sirius said, in a tone darker than night. "My mother bewitched it so that my brother and me couldn't marry anyone who's not a pure-blood – again, NOT Emma's fault!"

"I would hate to think that she's associated with any Dark Wizards." Umbridge said softly. "The Ministry needs very few more excuses to arrest her, Dumbledore cannot cover for her forever, and sooner or later we're going to find out where she comes from…this pure-blood matter could narrow it down a bit…perhaps if you were to interrogate her about her past, Bob…"

"I hardly think Miss. Pax needs interrogating when she's recovering in the hospital, Dolores!" The nurse stated, in a shocked kind of voice. "And why should she be interrogated, she's done nothing wrong!?"

"That remains to be seen," Umbridge said smoothly. "I shall be informing the Minister of the trouble we have had with this girl, and taking further action...perhaps a little incentive will do the trick…" And she glanced at Remus Lupin. "She seems to be fairly attached to this half-breed, perhaps if we…or maybe you, Mr. Black, I'm sure that would be a key to getting her to cooperate. Perhaps the…"

But she didn't get to finish her sentence, because one of my crutches had hit her firmly in the back of the head, knocking her over.

Everyone turned to the doorway to see me standing there, one arm still raised, and a look of utter fury on my face.

"I'll die a million times before you hurt Remus and Sirius, you disgusting old hag!" I shouted, as a cold wind blew in from down the hall, rustling the blinds on the windows and my nightgown. "I've seen your methods of incentive – that black quill that slices into your hand when you write with it, to say NOTHING of what YOU were about to say! Not my best friends, you bitch!!"