Chapter Eight: Essays and Walls

The entire school is abuzz as they sit down for their dinner in the Great Hall that evening. No one has ever seen a seeker catch the snitch so quickly at Hogwarts in over a century. Students who Emma has never spoken to before are coming up to her and shaking her hand in an excited manner, before walking off whilst squealing with delight.

"I don't think I have ever seen someone this excited about a Quidditch match win since we've been here." Ruby comments as she plops herself down next to Emma in front of the Gryffindor common room fire.

"Emma here did catch the snitch in the shortest amount of time for a hundred years." David smirks, as he high-fives Emma again, before sitting next to Mary Margaret and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"You know Emma I've even heard some of the Slytherin's talking about it. You are going to be famous here. People will talk about it for years to come." Mary Margaret says her tone very excited for seven thirty at night.

Emma chuckles and shuts her Potions textbook before glancing over at the large grandfather clock. She sighs, not even a two hour patrol with Killian will dampen her mood tonight. She's been congratulated by the majority of the students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, and not even the Slytherin Prince's bad attitude would ruin her night.

Like always, Killian is leaning against the stone wall at their usual meeting point, before they would move off through the castle. He looks tired, but offers her a rather smug grin when his blue eyes land on her. Emma ignores him just like she always does and half-wonders whether he will actually congratulate her.

Since she had saved him from his near-death incident, they had managed to do their patrols and even finish them with a comfortable atmosphere around them, and only three times uttered any snarky comments, but other than that they don't speak much.

"Good catch today." He says after a few moments which causes Emma jump slightly.

"Uh, thanks." She replies giving him a puzzled look.

"I'm actually being genuine. It was a better catch than what I have seen in the World Cup."

Emma rolls her eyes. "It was lucky."

He chuckles which surprises her. "It was bloody amazing, and you know it was."

Emma smiles to herself but doesn't reply.

…

Emma wakes on October the 22nd to see Mary Margaret, Ruby, Mulan and Ana leaning over her.

"Happy 17th birthday Emma!" Mary Margaret half shouts and half whispers.

"Oh god, I forgot." Emma groans as she rubs her eyes, jumping when she feels Mary Margaret tackle her onto the bed, before the others begin to form a pile up on her.

"I can't believe you are finally seventeen. You can use magic outside of school!" Ruby squeals as they all finally start to slowly climb off Emma.

"We're lucky it's Hogsmeade day because we are going to celebrate with butterbeer and sweets from Honeydukes." Ruby exclaims as she throws open Emma's wooden wardrobe. "So hurry up and get dressed birthday girl; David, Robin, Graham and Will are down in the common room waiting for you."

"Five more minutes." Emma mumbles re-shutting her eyes.

…

Hogsmeade is cramped with Hogwarts students as usual. With it being winter everyone is mainly inside shops trying to keep warm and The Three Broomsticks had never looked so crowded. Luckily for Emma and that, Ruby's grandmother had managed to reserve them a table with it being Emma's birthday.

They are currently walking down the main street of Hogsmeade. With it being so cold, Emma finds herself with Graham's arm wrapped around her shoulder, and her arm around his waist. Mary Margaret and David have bumped into David's twin brother a few meters back, and surprising to everyone, the two brother's are managing a civil conversation.

"So are we getting lunch as well?" Robin asks as he shivers slightly.

Mulan nods. "I guess we are. I mean it's not like we eat here all the time so I think we should treat ourselves and with it being Emma's birthday, I think it's a good day to."

The seven enter the small pub, Mary Margaret and David still with James. Ana and Will are with them for a change. Emma takes a seat next to Robin whilst Graham, Will, Ana and Mulan sit opposite. Five minutes later, Mary Margaret and David finally enter and make their way over. Despite thinking his and James's conversation had looked civil; one look at David tells Emma that he is irritated.

"We thought we'd get something to eat…" Emma says, deciding it best not to question David on what had happened.

"Good idea." Mary Margaret mumbles before taking a deep breath, and giving Emma a smile. "Anyway happy birthday."

Emma's eyes widen when Mary Margaret reaches into her expendable bag she has brought with her, and pulls out a red velvet wrapped box.

"This is from all of us. We all pitched in."

Emma gives them all a curious look and her eyes widen when she sees what it is. Inside the big box, is a small card, with all their signatures on and a golden ticket. Curiously Emma reaches in and picks it up, beginning to read the writing.

Quidditch World Cup.

"You're not serious?" Emma squeals in pure excitement and delight. "This is the best birthday present ever."

Emma pulls Mary Margaret into a tight hug, and immediately the brunette's arms wrap around the excited blonde.

"We knew you didn't have the money to afford a ticket and because we all have tickets we couldn't imagine what it would be like without you. So we decided to pitch in and buy you one. Our parents helped also and some of your other Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw friends." Mary Margaret explains, as Madam Drizella Tremaine the owner of the pub and their school caretaker's daughter comes over carrying nine butterbeer's.

"Thank you all. It means so much to me." Emma smiles as she raises her glass. "Cheers."

"Cheers." They echo in response.

…

Monday arrives quickly and Emma is still reeling with excitement that she is going to see the Quidditch World Cup, even though two days have already passed. When she arrives in classroom for Defence Against the Dark Arts, it is to see the rest of the class already getting into their pairs, and Killian sitting at their desk waiting for her.

"Ah, Miss Swan." Professor De Vil sighs. "Nice of you to finally join us. You and Mr Jones are going to be working in a spare classroom. Your topic is boggarts and I have managed to find you one. The boggart is in the wardrobe. For obvious reasons I have to give you your own room as a boggart being around so many people will get confused and kill itself. Follow me."

Emma and Killian follow De Vil out of the classroom and down a corridor.

"I have alerted every teacher to keep their eyes out to trap as many boggarts as they can because eventually the two of you are going to defeat this one, and you will need the next one. Now…"

They stop outside an empty classroom and De Vil indicates for Emma and Killian to enter. Like he always does as of recently, Killian allows Emma in first, and follows her inside. Emma's eyes land on the wardrobe and she keeps her distance, as does Killian.

"Now if I were you I wouldn't face it straight away. I'd do the written part of the assignment first. Obviously neither of you has faced a boggart since third year so your fears will be more emotional and mental then simple spiders and snakes. So I'm going to leave you to it and before the end of the lesson come back to my room so I know I have dismissed you at the right time."

De Vil leaves Emma and Killian after that. Emma finds herself sitting down on the ground, crossing her legs. Killian barely has time to sit before Emma speaks.

"I'm not facing that boggart in front of you."

Killian looks taken a back and for a brief moment Emma is convinced he was going to argue with her, but very slowly, he nods his understanding.

"That's good Princess, because I'm not facing it in front of you either."

Even though they both don't say anything, they know that one another has dark fears, and that neither of them has any inclination to show the other what it was.

"So to complete this assignment, we are going to have to meet up in the evenings at the library." Killian says after a few moments.

Emma looks up at him, as she pulls out her ink, quill and unrolling some parchment so it lays flat on the stone floor.

"If we work really hard in class…"

Killian rolls his eyes and interrupts her. "Not going happening, sweetheart. We either meet up in the library or fail. The choice is yours."

Emma sighs. "Fine, next week Wednesday before our patrol."

"Great."

The rest of the class passes in a sort of comfortable silence. Every so often, Emma would peer over at Killian, each time surprised as he appeared to be working really hard and if Emma was right, he was putting his heart and soul into it. Once he caught her looking at him and instead of giving her a snide remark, he gave her a curious smile.

"We should head back." Emma says forty-five minutes later as she glances down at her old Muggle wrist-watch.

"What's that?" Killian asks as they start putting their parchment, quills and inks back in their school bags.

"It's a clock just in Muggle form." Emma stammers.

"Can I see it?" Killian asks genuine curiosity written across his handsome features.

Tentatively Emma holds out her wrist. He doesn't physically touch her, but he leans as close as he can to inspect the "foreign" object. She can feel his hot breath on the back of her hand, and after a few moments, she snatches it back, stands and quickly flees the room, cursing herself for letting him get so close.

That evening Emma has almost forgotten that she and Killian have patrol. She is on the last minute to their meeting point and she is slightly out of breath and ready to face the snarky comments from Killian but instead she stops dead in her tracks. He isn't there, and she is already late.

"Maybe he's already started." She mutters to herself.

Emma decides to wait for a few minutes, before deciding to try and find him. She leans against the window and stares down at the dark grounds below. She can see Granny walking back to her hut with her wand illuminated in front of her, and watches as the older woman disappears inside her small house.

"Bloody hell." She groans another five minutes later.

Killian still hasn't shown. Emma decides to follow their usual patrol route and believes that she might run into him further down the track, only she doesn't. The entire two hours she doesn't see him, and when the time finally comes for her to head back up to the Gryffindor tower, she is seething. He hadn't even sent her a note as to why he hadn't shown. She makes a mental note that tomorrow, she'll kill him.

…

The next day Emma heads into the Great Hall still in a sour mood. Professor Hellar had seen her on her way back to the Gryffindor dormitory last night and had demanded why Killian wasn't with her. Of course Hellar had concluded that Emma had upset the Slytherin and he had deducted five points from her, putting Emma in even a fouler mood than she already had been.

Killian is there in the Great Hall, sitting at the Slytherin table, laughing along to something Tamara and Greg are telling him. Without even thinking it through and ignoring the worried expressions she is getting from her friends, Emma's walks towards the chuckling Killian and the Slytherin table.

"Where were you last night?" She demands stopping in front of him.

Tamara and Greg look a little shocked, as did all the Slytherin's. Killian though, is just looking arrogant and nothing like the politer version she has seen over the past month.

"Why I was busy." Killian replies.

"You can't just ditch patrol without telling the teachers." Emma hisses, narrowing her eyes.

"Why did you miss me Princess? I'm sorry, we can hang out…"

"Fuck off." She whispers, before storming away.

Emma has never been so angry at someone, not since Lily had torn the only picture she had of her parents. Her mood hadn't softened by Saturday. Emma had completely ignored Killian during their lessons even when he asked her questions to do with the work, and on Saturday she skipped the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff.

Killian had won the match in half an hour and Emma was rather smug that it had been a tough match, and that Killian had only just managed to catch the small golden snitch.

…

When Wednesday came the next week, Emma was tempted to not show for their study arrangement in the library, but considering that this was a major assessment, she couldn't afford to let a bitter rival get between her grades. This time Killian was there and he doesn't look to be in a good mood either. Emma sighs and sits down opposite him.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you in the Great Hall the other week." She apologizes after a few minutes, not being able to take the awkward silence any longer.

Killian raises an eye-brow and peers at her. "Say that again, Princess."

"Don't push it." Emma shuffles awkwardly in her seat. "I… obviously something had happened that prevented you from committing to your prefect duties, and it was none of my business demanding why you weren't there."

Killian nods. "You're right. Something did happen, and it is none of your business. I got some books off the shelf and I thought we could take our own notes. One of the questions is to predict what the boggart would turn into."

Emma shifts. "Do you think our prediction will be different from the actual boggart?"

"I guess. Maybe we aren't actually aware of our deepest fear." Killian whispers, seeing Professor French glaring at their loud voices. "I have a feeling what mine is but I could be wrong. What about you?"

"I think I know too." Emma reaches over and grabs a book dedicated to just Boggarts and opens it to the context page.

They work in silence. Every so often they would compare notes but other than that it seemed to be going smoothly.

"What's it like living in the Muggle world?"

Emma stops what she was writing, not expecting to hear a question like that.

"Come again?"

"The Muggle world? What is it like living without magic?" Killian seems genuinely curious about it and is even giving her his un-divided attention.

Emma clears her throat. "It's different. Obviously there are times when I want to use to magic, I can now but I couldn't before because underage wizardry is illegal. But Muggles have developed their own ways to live. They don't need wizards and witches to help them create a better lifestyle for the majority of everyone. Have you never been into a Muggle town of city before?"

Killian chuckles and shakes his head. "Definitely not, and if you met my father you'd understand why. He doesn't particularly like non-magical folk. My mum doesn't mind, but as long as she lives under my father's roof and bears his surname she is to keep away from that. When Liam was sorted into Gryffindor my father only accepted it because he loved Liam more than me. Despite Liam putting on a cold act with our father towards Muggles in person he was friendly and would never say a bad word to one. I on the other hand, tried everything to get dear old dad to love me as much as he loved Liam. It didn't work. He ignored me and was convinced I would end up in Hufflepuff. He was shocked when I was sorted into Slytherin."

Emma's eyes widen and she can't believe that Killian is actually talking about this with her.

"Look I don't want to sound rude, Jones, but why is this any concern to me?"

Killian laughs quietly and shrugs. "Sometimes you just need to let it out and I can't talk to my friends about it as they seem to think everything in my life is great. They choose to ignore the obvious tension between my parents and always ignore the fact that I hate my dad. I'm not stupid sweetheart; I know you and your friends have picked up on the obvious tension. I saw you talking about it at Platform Nine and Three Quarters."

Emma looks away in a slightly embarrassed manner, but she can't lie. If he has seen her then she doesn't want to make herself any lower in his standards by lying.

"We might have been curious as to why you seemed tense." Emma replies, as gently as she can, scared that she would trigger another storm off.

"I'm not going to get annoyed. I knew it wouldn't be long before someone finally realized that things weren't all smooth sailing with my family, like a lot of people believe to be."

Emma doesn't reply and looks back down at her parchment where she has managed to write a few notes.

"Your boggart…" She prods softly. "You're scared it will turn into your father?"

Killian gives her a glance and Emma feels as though he can see right through her. She shifts as he finally looks away.

"No actually. My father isn't the thing I fear the most. And whatever that thing is, it's none of your concern." Killian says his tone rather calm.

Emma nods. "I know. That's why I didn't ask after my first guess failed."

Killian rolls his eyes. "You are quite smart, princess."

"Stop calling me, Princess." She mumbles before returning to her notes.

Killian glances back down at his and they go back to working in comfortable silence.

Ten minutes go by before Emma begins to pack up her things. Killian gives her a curious look.

"We have patrol if you don't remember." Emma says swinging her bag over her shoulders.

"Aye." Killian quickly places his things back in his bag and they leave the library together.

They get half way down to the main entrance when they are stopped by Professor Hellar.

"You're patrol is cancelled tonight. The school's poltergeist is in a frenzy and will more than likely terrorize you. So head back to your dorms."

Emma or Killian don't get a chance to respond before Hellar is already rushing off.

"What do you think your boggart would turn into?" Killian asks out of the blue.

"None of your business." Emma snaps. "Plus if I told you then you'd know what my boggart would be."

Before Killian can stop himself, he had has out the words. "It'd be your dead parents, wouldn't it?"

Emma feels a few tears form in her eyes and without even giving him a second glance, she runs up the stairs ignoring the calls of her name.

When Emma enters the Gryffindor tower it is too see everyone cramped around Mary Margaret and David as they play exploding snap. It is no secret that the two of them are the best players at Hogwarts and it is always interesting to witness the golden couple getting competitive.

Emma sneaks past before anyone can see her and enters the sixth year dormitory. She kicks off her shoes and changes into her pyjamas. After brushing her teeth, she climbs into bed not even caring that it is only eight pm. The tears gently cascade down her cheeks. Any mention of her parents is upsetting to Emma and the fact that Killian had been the one to mention them makes it ten times worse, but her parent's death is not her greatest fear.

It is being alone.

The next day the form comes out for students staying at Hogwarts over Christmas to sign. Emma like always signs up without even a hesitation. Mary Margaret would be going back to David's for the holidays and everyone else home to their families. Little does Emma know that when the raven-haired and blue-eyed Slytherin finds out she is staying, he to puts his name down.