Note: Sorry for such a long wait - I've been banned!! I still am, yet...here I am. . This is weird, I'm allowed on my sister's computer for a little while...anyways, on with the story!!

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-TWO

Reprecussions

I emerged from the broom closet, totally covered in dust and feeling very ashamed, especially as it was evening and I'd just missed an entire day of classes - NOT good. I was sure that everyone was now looking for me, and five people in particular...

I had fallen asleep uncomfortably.

The early evening light was streaming in golden yellow through the windows of the corridor I was now walking along, and the colour setting made me think of Remus Lupin...

And, lo and behold, who should I run into, but the man himself?

"There you are!" He said, holding out his arms which I walked straight into. He held me, hugging me hard, and went on: "We've been looking for you all day...Tonks said a few things...well, she said a lot of stuff actually...and then she said that a third year in her house saw you running this way in tears...what happened?"

"I've done a terrible thing, Remus..." I whispered, a hot feeling of shame washing over me like lava. "This morning, when Bellatrix was saying some things about you...I...I punched her in the face..." Just saying it made me remember the girl's sneering face, her dark and evil eyes, how much I hated her...

"Hey, careful..." Remus drew back from me, and I realised that I had tightened my fists around the front of his robes, painfully tight. I released my hands instantly. "Yeah, Ems, Tonks mentioned that...don't tell me that's what you're upset about..." He looked wary.

Despite myself, I smiled. "No, that's not it...I enjoyed that, and I'd do it again..." I sighed, and my smile faded. "No, what upset me was what happened when I was talking to Professor Slughorn..."

Remus looked concerned. "What happened, Ems? You're not in trouble, are you?"

I paused. "I...I don't know," I said at last. I couldn't meet his gaze. "I thought I was, but then...I was tired, and angry, and I kind of said some things...things I shouldn't have said to anyone, let alone to Professor Slughorn..." The memory of the horrible event came crashing back to me painfully.

Why, Tom was a favourite student of yours now, wasn't he? And look at how he turned out – the most dangerous Dark Wizard of all time, complete with an army of followers, a deadly snake and five of those bloody Horcrux things you told him about…

Remus' hands found my shoulders. "What things?" He asked quietly.

I couldn't bring myself to meet his gaze. Remus couldn't know about...about the Horcruxes, and Horace Slughorn's part in all of this. He just couldn't. Nobody could. Heck, even I wasn't supposed to know, and Slughorn certainly was supposed to!

I sighed again. "Oh...never mind. But I think I really upset him, I need to find him and apologize, before he..."

My sentence was cut off, however, by the arrival of a beautiful red-haired girl. Lily stopped dead in front of us and grabbed my arm, half wrenching me away from Remus. "Emma, thank goodness you're alright!" She sounded breathless, and her face was slightly pale. "But do you know what Professor McGonagall just told me?" Both Remus and I shook our heads. I had a dead, hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Professor Slughorn has resigned!"

I turned back to Remus, unsurprised to find him staring at me in shock. "Leaves the school." I finished numbly, putting my face in my hands and shaking my head in disbelief. What had I done? I may have just caused a whole lot of trouble.

Both Lily and Remus put their arms around my shoulders.

***

I spent the rest of the evening going around to all of my teachers and finding out what I had missed in my classes, as well as apologizing profusely for playing truant. Remus and Lily came with me, and we were joined soon by the others. I made a point of avoiding other students for the rest of the evening since, according to Lily, the entire student body could talk about nothing but my punching Bellatrix and the Potions Master/head of Slytherin house resigning. Apparently, he'd just up and left without so much of a whisper, and Dumbledore had only just found out about it.

Peter and James were both sorry to hear that I may have been the reason Professor Slughorn had resigned, but Sirius naturally had other things on his mind.

"You punched Bellatrix," He said, somewhat happily, as we sat together in the Gryffindor common room whilst everyone else was at dinner (I had sensibly decided to skip that, too). "She has two black eyes and her nose was broken before Madam Promfrey mended it." He chuckled under his breath.

"It's not funny, Padfoot," Lily admonished him, from behind her Transfigurations book. "Honestly, Emma's lucky not to be expelled."

"I still think it was brilliant." Sirius grinned.

Despite myself, I grinned too. "She deserved it." I said. Anyone who insults MY werewolf gets punished...but only if they REALLY get on my nerves...I need to work on that...

"Still," Remus said quietly. "Ems, you need to learn to control your temper. It won't get you anywhere good..."

Even though Sirius glared at Remus, I found myself nodding. "Yeah, you read my mind, Moony...imagine if I was a werewolf. I'd need to work twice as hard to stay calm..." I could only imagine the diasters that would unfold if I was infected with Lycanthropy. I'd be a female version of Fenrir Greyback if I continued to treat people the way I'd treated the ex-Professor Slughorn today, and the thought made me blink.

"Well, lucky for you," Remus said dryly, although there was a glint in his eyes. "You're not a werewolf, White Fang..."

"Maybe..." I replied, a small smile on my face as my insides tingled, making me feel happy for the first time that day.

"Who's a werewolf?" Alice Longbottom was coming through the portrait hole, along with Molly Weasley and Serilda Roans.

"Nobody," Remus lied smoothly, as the rest of us exchanged glances. "Anything the matter, Molly?" He added, glancing at the red-head, who seemed more than a little preoccupied and kept glancing at a letter in her hands.

"Molly's worried about her family," Alice informed us. "Baby Bill's just come down with a virus..."

"Bill!?" I cut her off, standing up so suddenly that I startled everyone. "Bill as in...your...your son!?"

Molly looked at me, surprised. "Yes, Bill, my son...surely I told you about him before?" Peter, Remus, Sirius, James and I shook our heads. "Oh well, now you know..." She, Alice and Serilda headed up the staircase toward our dorm room, and I turned to Lily.

"All this time...and you never told us that Molly and Arthur had a son!?" I exclaimed. How come Molly had never told us before? How could she be here and her son at home? Was she really that determined to finish her education? But...what about the rest of the Weasley clan? Charlie, Percy (the Prefect), Fred and George (Gred and Forge), Ron and Ginny were supposed to follow...did this mean that she'd be having another kid soon? I knew that she was supposed to have Ron around the same time Lily had Harry (and Narcisaa had Draco, Alice had Neville and Mrs. Granger had Hermione) so...how long did that leave us between now and then? I supposed all these kids might be born when the Marauders, Lily and I were twenty-three, or there abouts, so...

...

I had only five years left with my very best friends before our lives changed forever...

Five years...