Note: In my story, Arthur and Molly Weasley are slightly younger than what they are in the real books. That's how come they were at school with the Marauders.

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 NINETY

Aboard The Hogwarts Express

On our last evening at the Potters', we ate outdoors, amongst the swaying trees and underneath a sky of orange and yellow that turned slowly to star-speckled indigo. Maggie conjured up a sumptuous dinner which included all of my favourite things, ending with mouthwatering home-made ice-cream with chocolate shavings. A sign was hanging up between two oak trees that read: CONGRATULATIONS HEAD BOY JAMES AND HEAD GIRL LILY. And Sirius and I rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they filled the back yard with red and blue stars that bounced from tree to tree for at least half an hour, and were the objects of pursuit of Valencia. Then it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.

It took a long while to get started next morning, even though we were all up before the sun was. There still seemed to be a great deal to do, and I hoped to God that we wouldn't be late again. We all dashed around looking for spare quills and socks, people kept colliding on the stairs, half-dressed with bits of toast in their hands, and Septimus accidentally surprised Sirius when he was in the shower, just like the scene in New York Minute.

Maggie, Reginald, Lily, Remus and James went in the car, with all of our trunks and mine and James' broomsticks, plus Valencia, Haphazard and Septimus.

Sirius and I took the motorcycle.

Strangely enough – or maybe due to the fact that Sirius knew how to weave the motorcycle in and out of traffic in ways a car couldn't – we reached Kings Cross ten minutes before the others did, and stood around in the station waiting for them, after retrieving some trolleys for all our trunks.

"When d'ya suppose they'll get here?" I asked Sirius, glancing first at the big clock overhead – which told me that it was quarter to eleven – and then back at Sirius. Today he was wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans. I was wearing a white blouse, and had borrowed Lily's denim skirt.

Sirius shrugged. "Dunno…anyway, Ems…" He said, suddenly taking my right hand in his left one. His right hand went around my waist.

"What are you-?"

And we were waltzing – why, I knew not. People glanced at us, a few of them smiled. But I didn't care, as I shared my first dance with Sirius, under the big clock at Kings Cross Station. It was…just so right. I knew I would never forget it.

***

We stowed our luggage onto the Hogwarts Express, and then clambered off the train to say goodbye to Maggie and Reginald.

"There's Wormtail," Sirius said, pointing down the platform to a familiar, mousy-haired boy. He raised his voice. "OI, WORMTAIL!!"

Peter shrieked, and dropped his trunk on his foot. Sirius and James howled with laughter, as Lily just shook her head, handed me Valencia and hurried off to help Peter after saying goodbye to James' parents.

"We might be seeing you sooner than you think," Maggie said mysteriously, as she hugged Remus goodbye.

"Why's that?" James asked, interested.

"Can't say," His dad replied, smiling. "It's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it', after all."

The words rang a bell, and alarms began sounding in my head as the train's whistle blew, and Maggie gave James a quick kiss before shepherding us all onboard.

"I'm just glad they've sorted out a few nitches here and there," Maggie added, looking a tiny bit worried as she glanced at her only son. "But, still, I might come and watch some of it…"

"Some of what?" Sirius asked, looking perplexed.

"You'll see," Maggie replied. "Have a good year, my dears."

"They're going to have a very interesting year, Mags." Reginald added.

The pistons hissed loudly, and the train began to move.

"Why?" James yelled, as the train began to gather speed. "What's happening at Hogwarts?"

Maggie and Reginald simply waved, however, as we sped out of sight and away from the platform.

"Well," Lily said, coming toward us with Peter in tow. "That was certainly interesting, wasn't it?"

"I wonder what they were talking about…" James said, as we turned away from the window and the train swayed beneath us.

"Yeah, sounds like something big's happening at Hogwarts this year…" Sirius nodded, his dark eyes shining.

"But what could it be?" Peter wondered.

"I think I know…" I said slowly, and they all turned to look at me. I stared down at Valencia's orange fur, and then glanced out the window where a light rain had begun to pour. "I just hope I'm wrong…"

***

The rain became heavier as the train moved further north, and the sky became so dark that the lanterns were lit by midday. Not one of us minded, though, as we sat in our usual compartment and waited for Lily and James to get back. Sometime after the lunch trolley came around, Remus and I played Wizards Chess whilst Sirius and Peter watched.

I looked at the board. "Hmm…knight to E3." I decided.

The little chess piece moved forward.

Remus contemplated the board, and then he smirked. "Queen to E3." He said.

"Oh no…" I muttered, as the white queen picked up her throne and demolished my black knight.

"Check mate." Remus said proudly. He held out his hand, waiting.

"How 'bout best two out of three?" I asked him, stubbornly holding onto the box containing the Chocolate Frog, chocolate being the only currency we know how to gamble with.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Do you…want to risk that?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "We are having a very shaky start to this term, Moony."

He and the other two just laughed and, at last, I joined in. I surrendered the Chocolate Frog, but Remus let me keep the card, which turned out to be Roderick Plumpton, a favourite of mine.

The train continued on its journey northwards. Gryffindor friends such as Molly Weasley, and Alice and Frank Longbottom came to visit (we'd missed out on the weddings, but we were assured that it was okay – the entire world seemed to know what we'd been up to on the holidays), and Lily and James rejoined us.

"Did you find out what's happening at Hogwarts this year?" Sirius asked immediately when our two best friends came in.

James shook his head, as he and Lily sat down next to Peter. "Nah, not even we get to find out about it. I 'spect Dumbledore will tell us at the feast, though."

"Oh, I bet he will." I said, a little darkly, as I stared out into the rain. Septimus hissed from his spot on storage rack over my head, and Haphazard hooted softly in his cage.

The train chugged onwards.

***

Lily and I went to the bathroom to change into our school clothes. We pulled off our skirts and t-shirts, and changed into our white shirts, her into her grey jumper (mine was in my trunk), gold and maroon ties, knee socks (grey for her and white for me), and Gryffindor robes – black with a red trim.

As Lily was pinning her head girl badge onto her robes, the bathroom door opened and a girl with short bright pink hair came in.

"Nymphadora!" Lily exclaimed, before I could stop her and, as we watched, the girl's hair lengthened and became orangey-red.

"Don't. Call. Me. Nymphadora." She said, somewhat angrily, as she began changing into her plain black Hogwarts robes.

"I didn't know you were starting at Hogwarts this year, Tonks," I said, conversationally, catching sight of the silver earring at the top of her ear lobe and smiling. "Know what house you wanna be in yet?" I added, as Lily helped her with her black Hogwarts tie.

"Not sure," Tonks smiled, as we all stowed our clothes back into our shoulder bags and left the bathroom. "But I s'pose being in Gryffindor with you lot would be alright. But who knows?" She shrugged. "Not sure I'm smart enough for Ravenclaw, though, and I certainly don't want to be in Slytherin," She shuddered, and both Lily and I exchanged smiles. "So that leaves Hufflepuff…" Tonks went on, eyeing a group of girls with yellow-lined robes who squeezed past us, giggling to themselves.

"There's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff." I said quickly.

Tonks smiled at me. "No, I don't suppose there is." She agreed, just as the train gave a great lurch, and someone coming out of the compartment closest to us stumbled into me.

I fell onto the floor of the train (the carpet was dark red, it felt so plush underneath my skin!) and then stared up into the grey eyes of one Regulus Black.

And I was reminded of the scene in the meadow, when I'd first come face-to-face with Sirius Black, and he'd tackled me, pinning me to the ground as he stared into my eyes.

This was sort of what happened now, as Regulus and I stared at each other.

I don't know how long we lay there for, staring at each other as the train moved on but, presently, Lily's voice brought me crashing back to reality. "Uh, Emma?"

My eyes widened. "Regulus!" I hissed. "Get. Off. Me. Before. Your. Brother. Shows. Up." I had an idea of how Sirius would react to this situation.

Regulus, to his credit, did as he was told, and Lily yanked me to my feet before Regulus could. She, Tonks and I continued to our compartment, where we found the others waiting for us.

Everyone greeted Tonks happily, including Remus, which was a relief to me.

I knew that I'd have to give Remus up eventually, and let Tonks have him. I had…mixed feelings about that.

"Wouldn't fancy going across the lake in this weather," James said casually, and then he glanced at Tonks' stricken face. "Oh, sorry Nymphadora…"

She gasped. "Don't call me that!" She exclaimed, as the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station.

The rain was pouring as we all exited the train. Lily and James had to stay back to oversee everything, and so Lily gave me Valencia, even though I already had two pets to take care of. So I bundled up Valencia in my scarf, threw my cloak over Haphazard's cage which I handed to Remus, and made sure that Septimus was comfortable inside my shoulder bag, before we set off, ducking our heads and shielding our eyes against the rain.

We saw Tonks safely to where Hagrid was standing, a gigantic silhouette at the far end of the platform.

"Hi Hagrid!" I called to him.

"All right Emma? See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!" He called back.

"Oh yeah, that really made them feel better," Sirius said, as we walked past a group of terrified-looking first years.

"Aww, but aren't they cute?" I asked, looking at the cluster of little eleven year old. "With their too-big robes and their…hey, wait a minute, that one's taller than I am!"

Sirius laughed. "Everyone's taller than you are, Em, even Wormtail is. Come on." And he took my hand and we walked down the steps.

Just outside the station were a hundred Thestral-drawn carriage waiting for us, and Remus, Sirius, Peter and I all climbed into one, which set off immediately towards Hogwarts castle.

"I rather fancied my first year arriving the proper way to be a little more, well…clear." I said, frowning at the weather and at the fact that our carriage had a leak in it. "This is, well…it doesn't get much worse than this…"

"It was hailing in our second year." Sirius said simply, and I gaped at him.

"I take it back." I said, almost reverently. "That would have been the worst…ah…" I went on, as we went through the front gates, flanked with statues of winged boars. "And there's Hogwarts…" And so it was, the lights blurring together through the thick veil of rain. I drank in the sight of the many turrets and towers, before the carriage pulled up to the great oak front doors, which stood at the top of a stone staircase.

People from the carriages before us were already clambering, slipping and sliding, up the front steps, and we climbed out of the carriage as well. I handed my bag (with Septimus in it) to a startled Peter, before taking Sirius' hand as he helped me down from the carriage.

Then I turned around, just as Valencia jumped out from the carriage and streaked past me, running toward a large cluster of trees that sits within the school grounds.

"Valencia!" I yelled. Oh God, Lily would kill me! "Wait here!" I added to the boys, as I ran after the orange cat, my feet splashing through the puddles of water and mud as I did. I hit the miniature forest at a run, and could only just make out Valencia's orange form as she bounded through the trees.

I followed her, the rain hitting my face in icy-cold sheets, as I called out for Valencia, feeling my heart pounding at the situation I'd somehow managed to get myself into – and then I heard, over the rumble of thunder, a strangled cat cry.

I sprinted through the trees, and came out onto the edge of the Black Lake, where I could just make out Valencia's struggling form, as the waters tossed and turned around her. She must've been so scared that she just ran straight into the lake, and I made a mental note to myself – Lily's cat does not like storms.

I gasped. "I'm coming!" I shouted, and threw off my robes, not even bothering to get my wand. I kicked off my shoes and ran into the lake, diving into the turbulent waters and beginning a slightly haphazard freestyle toward the drowning cat. 'Lily lost her sister…as if she needs to lose her cat, too!' I thought, as I remembered the way Sirius had shown me how to swim, and then dived under as I reached the spot where Valencia had been.

I couldn't see a thing through the murky black waters, I didn't even know which part of the lake I was in, but I felt my arms close around a familiar furry something, pulled the cat close to me…and then something giant and tentacle-y was wrapping around me – I froze, but then I realised that it was helping me. It – the giant squid, that is – was pushing me up, and back towards the shore, fighting against the giant waves, as I felt my knees brush against the sand and I stood up, my head broke through the surface of the water. I struggled to my feet, and half-turned.

"Thanks!" I called to the squid, who waved a tentacle at me from within the churning black waters, and then I turned back to the shore and stumbled – and somebody caught me by the arms, half-supporting me and half-carrying me back to the shore, where they wrapped a scarf around my neck. And the scarf was not only somehow dry, but it was warm too, and I appreciated it. "V-Valencia…she…is she..?" I stammered, and whoever it was took Valencia from me as I struggled to pick up my Gryffindor robes with shaking fingers. They were muttering something – a spell to clear water from lungs. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and I caught side of someone nodding, as Valencia stood up and shook herself dry, before mewing plaintively. "You're in b-big t-trouble, V-Valencia." I shivered again, as whoever it was looked at me, before coming over and picking me up easily, bridal-style. It was a male. There was something very familiar about him…

"Where are you..?"

"I'm taking you to the hospital wing." Regulus said quietly, before turning and carrying me quickly up toward the castle, with Valencia at his heels.

***

I was lying on a bed in the hospital wing, being made a fuss of by Madam Pomfrey, and wearing Regulus' Slytherin scarf, which he had forgotten to take with him when he'd left me to go to the feast – only because Madam Pomfrey had insisted. The scarf was a lot warmer than it should've been, and I expected that Regulus had placed a charm or enchantment of some sort on it. He'd explained to me, as he'd carried me up to the hospital wing, that he'd followed me after I'd gone after Valencia, but he didn't give a reason and I didn't ask for one.

I'd been grateful as ever to the tall, water-soaked black-haired Slytherin boy – he was, possibly, the only Slytherin I didn't despise. The rest of them…I shuddered. But even Regulus had gone over to the Dark Side.

Was he…only saving me because Voldemort wanted me alive for some reason?

Remembering the look in the younger Black's eyes, the way he'd pushed my wet fringe out of my eyes, I seriously doubted that was the case.

"Can I leave now?" I asked Madam Pomfrey. I was starving – the feast would be over by the time I got down there.

"In another ten minutes," She said fussily, and I rolled my eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me, Miss. Pax!"

"Sorry." I said contritely, and busied myself by looking for Regulus name-tag on his scarf.

There wasn't one.

***

The doors to the hospital wing burst open, and Remus, Sirius and Peter came in, each of them wearing an expression that mixed concern and excitement.

As they bounded over to my bed Madam Pomfrey gave them all a disapproving look, which they either didn't notice or chose to ignore.

They also didn't notice the Slytherin scarf I was wearing, as well as my magically dried school robes, as they crowded around my bed – Remus and Peter on one side, and Sirius on the other.

I looked at them. "Where are James and Lily?" Although I had a feeling I knew…

"Overseeing things," Remus replied, smiling. "Everyone's a tad…over-excited…"

"With good reason." Peter nodded.

Sirius took my hand. "Are you okay?" He asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I had to go for a bit of a swim, because Valencia fell into the Black Lake…well, she ran into it, actually, and it was more like an ocean…"

Sirius' eyes widened. "Lucky I taught you how to swim, Em!" He exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "Lucky the giant squid isn't carnivorous." I glanced around at the three sets of shining eyes. "What's going on? What happened at the feast…God, I'm hungry…" I added, pouting.

Remus' smile became sympathetic. "Don't worry, James has sorted that out for when you get up to the common room. Lily took Septimus up there too, by the way. Meanwhile…" He glanced at the other two, who grinned.

I was starting to get suspicious. Obviously they had found out what was going to be going on at Hogwarts this year, and the whole school seemed to have reacted to it.

"What?" I asked. "Guys, don't keep me in the dark – something's going on at Hogwarts this year, and you'd better tell me now!" I demanded.

"Well," Sirius said and, straight away, I could tell that he was going to keep me in suspense. I refrained from rolling my eyes. Let Sirius have his little moment of fun… "Well, first, there was The Sorting. The Hat sung the longest Sorting song yet, and all those little first years looked like drowned rats to me – no offence, Peter. There were a lot of them, mind you. It took forever…" he rolled his eyes.

"No sympathy for the girl who hasn't eaten yet." I reminded him. "Which house is Tonks in?" I wanted to know and then, on an inspiration, I added: "Is she in Hufflepuff?"

Sirius nodded. "Yup. How'd you know that?"

"Intuition." I replied, tapping the side of my head. "So, uh, get to the point…"

Sirius nodded, and continued speaking. "So then, after that, Dumbledore made his usual speech, about how the Forbidden Forest's supposed to be Forbidden," (Remus and I exchanged smirks). "He also remind us – for the four-hundred and forty second time, mind you – that magic is forbidden in the corridors. Like that's ever stopped us before." Sirius grinned.

I tried to put on a straight face. "Well, we're in our seventh year now, we should act like it. We need to set an example for the younger students."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, Ems, you should've seen some of those Ravenclaw first years…" He trailed off, reminding us all of how arrogant some Ravenclaws can be, at least until they figure out that there are other smart people in the school as well. "Anyway, then Dumbledore told us who our new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher is – you'll like Professor Repleh, by the ways Ems – and Argus Filch has just replaced Apollyon Pringle as caretaker, and he also reminded the fifth and seventh year students about our exams (I'm not too worried about them). Anyway, so that was that. Then he happened to mention that Quidditch was cancelled this year…"

"Why?" I interrupted, but I had a feeling I already knew why.

Sirius' eyes were sparkling with excitement. "Because, this year, Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament!"

"WHAT!!??" I shrieked, so loudly that Madam Pomfrey came bustling over angrily, kicked Remus, Sirius and Peter out, checked me over one last time and then said that I was free to go.

I hurried out of the hospital wing, to where the others stood waiting for me and, forgetting that I was wearing somebody else's scarf and that he'd probably want it back sometime, began walking with them, trying to come to grips with what Sirius had just told me.

"The Triwizard Tournament?" I repeated, as we started up a stone staircase, our voices echoing about the empty corridor. "As in, the one that was started sometime in the 1200's, and has one champion each from Hogwarts, Durmstrung and Beauxbatons," I tried to pronounce the French name of the school as best I could. "Competing in three extremely dangerous tasks for eternal glory, about a thousand Galleons and a nice shiny cup?" Not that I needed one – I already had a cup with my name on it, for services to the school. "The one people have died in?" I added, my voice rising.

Sirius patted my shoulder. "Okay, calm down Ems, it's actually not that bad, really."

"The committee in charge of all this has fixed a few things," Remus added, as we stepped onto a staircase that immediately began to move. "They've made it safer this year, so that the chance of someone dying will be, umm…" I glared at him. "Minimal." He said hastily.

I sighed, and looked around. This was the place where I had fought against Carmichael Ackerly at the end of last term. I'd had to do a lot of things I hadn't done since I'd been a little kid taking gymnastics – I'd been hell scared. Places where our spells had hit had been patched up, and many of the portraits called cheerfully to me, although a few pointedly turned their backs on me like it had been my fault.

To distract myself from the memories, I asked the boys: "What kind of safety measures have they imposed this year?"

"Well, for one," Sirius said, as we started off down the corridor that led to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "No one under the age of seventeen can put forward their names – but I'm in luck, because I'll be turning seventeen just before the representatives from the other two schools arrive. I'm so going for it." He added, as we approached the portrait.

"Well, not me." I said firmly, shaking my head vehemently. "There's no way in hell you're gonna catch me risking my neck for money."

"Oh, I'm not in it for the money," Sirius assured me. "I'm in it for the glory." I rolled my eyes. "So, you can cheer for me, hey babe?" He asked me, and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Don't. Call. Me. Babe." I said firmly.

"Okay." Sirius said contritely.

"Password?" Asked the Fat Lady.

Remus stepped forward. "Bottlebrush." He said clearly, and the portrait swung open.

We entered the Gryffindor common room to find its occupants talking excitedly about the tournament, and even a few people who were discussing ways to hoodwink the impartial judge, but all I could wonder was: 'How come they're doing this NOW? They weren't supposed to try this thing again until Harry's year…'.

Lily and James were waiting for me – James had bought a tray of food up from the kitchens, and I dug in hungrily as I listened to the rest of them talk about the tournament. Between worrying about it, and looking forward to watching it, I completely forgot that I was wearing Regulus' scarf. That is, until I was upstairs in the old dormitory with Lily, Molly, Alice and a very subdued Serilda (nobody could forget that her boyfriend, Louis, had been killed rather graphically by the Basilisk, and she was probably looking at the gold bands glittering on Molly and Alice's fingers and listening to them talk about their husbands and feeling rather upset, and I felt bad because I had a boyfriend and whatever Remus was to me, plus Lily had James), and about to change into my nighty that I remembered.

"Oh!" I said, holding the green and silver scarf up in front of me. Then: "Oh..."

The others stopped talking and looked at me. Lily spoke. "Why are you wearing a Slytherin scarf, Em?" She came up to me and touched the material. "And why's it so warm?"

"Hey, wow, it is too…" Alice said, coming up to us and touching the material also. "Who'd've thought a Slytherin scarf could be so warm?"

"Maybe an enchantment of sorts?" Molly guessed, also running her hand along the length of the scarf.

Even Serilda touched the warm material and then stepped back. She said, rather sadly: "It is an enchantment – Louis used to enchant my scarf like that for me…" Tears had filled her eyes.

Molly and Alice exchanged a glance, and then went over to comfort Serilda.

Lily stayed behind with me, however, and whispered to me: "Regulus?"

I nodded. "He brought me back up to the castle, because I was freezing and couldn't walk properly."

Lily's green eyes pierced into me. "Don't tell Sirius." She suggested, going over to her bed and getting ready for sleep.

"Do I look like an idiot, Lils?" I asked her, changing into my nighty.

Lily smiled. "Only a little one, Ems." She assured me, and I grinned too.

I also sat up for an extra hour after everyone had gone to bed, sewing a nametag onto Regulus' scarf for him. And, when I gave it back to him the next day, neither of us spoke, but we just smiled at each other.