Note: Here's a picture of Emma, Apolline and Brunilda from the last chapter.

http: // dark-anmut. deviantart. com /art /The- Three-Champions -1577 80748

***

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 ONE HUNDRED AND TWO

The Two-Timer

The entire school seemed to want to stay over the Christmas break, and there was a very good reason for it too. Despite the fact that they could all get out while they could, and I was stuck here to fulfil my duty as host school Champion, they all seemed to want to stay and watch.

I'd faced a dragon before. I'd almost drowned twice. I'd gone up against Death Eaters, Dementors and Sirius Black's Mum. I'd duelled a deadly duel with an Imperiused person, and I'd sufferred the Cruciatus Curse more than once. I hung out with a werewolf once a month, I'd battled against a more bloodthirsty werewolf before, and been 'killed' by a wolf to save my childhood best friend. Two more deadly tasks loomed nearer, and then there was the impending Wizarding War...

But none of those came even close to matching the terror, the horror, the sheer chaos that was sure to ensue with this new, unexpected task.

The Yule Ball.

I had actually, in all honesty, forgotten about the Yule Ball, having been focused on my own tragic life and all the worry surrounding that.

But now...

I didn't like these sorts of things. School balls, dances, parties (except for the ones I'd had here) and generally social gatherings involving pretty dresses and dates were a big no-no with me. I was being forced into doing something like this, which was a big deal for me, and I didn't like it one little bit. I felt cornered.

Of course, I probably could have bailed out of it somehow - I haven't been Sirius Black's girlfriend for three years without learning anything - and the prospect of having the entire school, plus students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrung staring at me, was a daunting idea. And then there was the fact that I didn't know how to dance...it's not like ice-skating or gymnastics, I was sure of it...and they wanted me (and five others) to lead the opening dance!? And who was I supposed to go with, anyway - Sirius or Remus!? I had to choose!

"I CAN'T DO IT!!" I yelled in the middle of one of Umbridge's DADA lessons.

"Detention, Pax." She sang sweetly.

I sighed.

"Sighs can earn you detentions too, Pax."

***

"She has it in for me, Reg," I said one morning, as I glided around on the ice. "I mean, she's singling me out way more than any of the other students, with the possible exception of Remus." Just saying it made me feel angry - Umbridge was taking great pleasure in teaching us exactly how to kill werewolves.

"She does seem to hate you a bit, Ems," Regulus agreed, from his place on the shore where he was watching me. Regulus had insisted on becoming a part of my little morning skating trips and, if I was to continue them, then I had no choice but to let him come along. Sometimes we even skated together, which was fun, but mostly he watched the area around the lake.

Had Bellatrix really been trying to kill me?

"None of this makes sense," I said, at Regulus and I walked up the steps into the castle. "I mean, why has..." I stopped talking and walking abruptly.

Regulus stopped too.

We both stared.

A girl was standing there, talking to someone we couldn't see as they were obscured by a stone wall. But, from the looks of it, and the tone of her voice, it was apparently a Confession.

Regulus and I exchanged a glance, and then began to move back slowly, but then suddenly the girl shouted: "I can't take it anymore, I want to be with you!" She sounded close to tears, and like she was in some anime about high school or something. I was about to roll my eyes, when she added: "Please, dump Emma and be MY boyfriend, Sirius! I'm a much better girl for you!" And, with that, she flung her arms up, dragged my boyfriend into view, and kissed him.

What!!??

My hand flew up to my own mouth as I witnessed the scene, and I waited for Sirius to push the girl away from him, but Sirius seemed to be frozen there and whether it was with shock or with something else, I knew not.

Tears filled my eyes and, my mind reeling, I turned and sprinted back down the steps, heedless of the slippery patches of ice beneath me, or the fact that Regulus was calling my name.

I only became aware of time and space when I slipped, and fell to the icy ground, scraping my hands and hurting my ankle.

Shaking, I got to my knees, and then buried my face in my grazed hands, sobbing silently until I felt someone come up behind me, and place his arms across my shoulders.

"Emma?" Regulus said quietly, and I looked up at him with a tear-strained face and puffy eyes.

"Regulus," I stood up carefully, wincing as my ankle hurt, and Regulus tightened his grip on me. "Thank you, but...I have to be alone right now..." I moved away from him, limping toward the Forbidden Forest.

"Wait Emma, it's dangerous in there!" Regulus warned me.

I half turned, smiling through my tears. "Don't worry Regulus - I'm more dnagerous than anything you're gonna encounter in this forest - OH MY GOD, WHAT'S THAT!!??" I screamed, pointing behind Regulus and, of course, he turned to look.

There was nothing there but, by the time he'd turned around to find me, I was gone. Transformed into the white wolf that made the snow look grey, and loping through the trees, ignoring my throbbing ankle.

Sirius...how...how could you? Why didn't you push that girl away from you!? You...you two-timer!!

Ah,

I heard a soft voice say in the back of my mind.

But isn't that what you're doing?

I gasped, and stopped in the middle of the forest, my yellow eyes wide with shock as I realised that the voice was exactly right. I was two-timing. With Remus. And I had been doing so for quite some time now. It wasn't right, and I knew it. It wasn't right at all! And...what I'd been doing was worse than what Sirius had just done (or what he hadn't done). The image of the girl kissing Sirius burned into my mind.

This isn't...I didn't WANT this...I just wanted...to be with BOTH of them...to be with people that care about me and sometimes even worry about me...a lot. I just wanted to...this isn't...it's not fair!

I turned to the sky then and howled a long, mournful cry to the snowy grey sky.

***

I limped out of the woods in my human form that evening, feeling very ashamed again and cold.

And there was Remus, waiting for me.

"Are you okay?" He asked me, coming toward me.

I nodded, wishing I wasn't limping, but at least I wasn't crying anymore.

"Did you fall because of the ice?" Remus asked patiently, holding out his arms.

I nodded again, just standing there.

He sighed, came up to me and picked me up. "I'll take you to see Madam Pomfrey then..."

"Hang on wait, R-Remus," I said, looking at him. He waited. "About the ball..."

"Yes?" He asked, his expression changing slightly.

My heart thudded painfully. "I...I think you should go with...with Tonks...just so that she can come and all..." My heart was breaking into a million pieces as I said this, because I knew that wasn't the entire reason that I wanted those two to go together. "Okay?"