The first month went by faster than expected, but was as eventful as everyone knew it would be. As for partnering up in classes, Lee, Fred and George had managed to stick together as so did Katie and Angelina. Alicia was 'stuck', as Fred put it, with Emmeline. He was put in his place, though; one night after Alicia came back from the library with Emmeline deep in conversation about the essay they had been assigned by Professor Snape. Sleeping potions and all the possible side-effects, which was far too easy for both. Fred and George, who were lying on the couch in front of the fireplace, looked up to Alicia shocked. Katie was emerged in parchment while Angelina and Lee finished their essays. All three completely clueless of what was going on.
''I find it all useless, to be completely honest with you'' laughed Emmeline.
''I agree'' said Alicia.
''We could find this essay some use, George. Slipping some sleeping potions into someone's drink sounds perfect, don't you think?'' Fred sat up looking at Emmeline with a smirk on his lips.
''Sounds like something we should try soon, Fred'' George had sat up too.
Emmeline shook her head at them and mumbled, ''Pathetic'' she then turned to Alicia and said, ''Goodnight, Ali''. Emmeline walked up the stairs and into the Girls' Dormitories without saying more.
''You know, she's not that bad'' sighed Alicia as she sat down next to Katie, placing books next to her. ''Read them. It'll help you finish'' She said to her. Angelina sprang up and snatched the book from Katie.
''Oi!'' shouted Katie, snatching it back from Angelina's grasp.
''Ali?'' said Fred.
''I'll correct my mistake, boys. She's not bad at all''
Fred and George didn't push it any further. The next few days were enjoyed perfectly by all first years. Angelina's birthday arrived sooner than even she expected, but was welcomed gladly. Fred and George had somehow managed to get some food out of the kitchens while Emmeline and Alicia decorated the Common Room along with Charlie and Katie. Lee, on the other hand, spent all day writing in a long roll of parchment, which he didn't let a soul stare at. When Angelina came back from an unnecessary birthday tour around the castle with Elizabeth, all Gryffindors held a little party for her. Lee's parchment turned out to be lots of doodles and a birthday letter which Angelina didn't share with anyone but him. Fred and George almost fell off their chairs laughing when Angelina hugged Lee, thanking him. His cheeks had turned into the brightest of reds.
Two days later, another first year's birthday party was held, but this time it was Cedric Diggory's, a Hufflepuff. Tonks had invited both Charlie and Emmeline. Fred and George questioned Charlie the second he stepped inside the Common Room when they were back.
''Why would you go with her?'' Fred asked repulsed.
''Because we were invited, and it was a good opportunity for her to make friends since both of you have taken care of her having none so far'' chuckled Charlie.
''She's the enemy!'' George whispered loudly.
''She hates our guts!''
''Mm-Hm?'' He raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms, '' And what is it that makes you think she hates you?''
''Well-''
''Has she ever said it?''
They didn't exactly have the answer right there, but they sure did the days before Halloween. Whatever hatred they felt was transmitted to her. Emmeline couldn't stand either of them. Lee, she could manage, but Fred and George just made her want to explode right then and there. They would take advantage of any chance they had to insult each other. Fred had fired a new hex he had learned from Roger Davis, a Ravenclaw, and got into a mini duel with Emmeline down at the Dungeons. Both regretted it immediately when Professor Snape walked out of his classroom. His lesson had been interrupted by a purple jet of light that pushed a third year's cauldron to the floor. They earned detention for Halloween.
''This is all your fault, Weasley'' she mumbled to him as they walked to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which was the school joke. Professor Quirrell was just... a very unusual man.
''If your annoying self didn't exist, none of this would've happened,'' he blurted out before he could stop himself. Fred automatically stopped walking and was just about to take it back.
''I'm glad we agree in one thing,'' Emmeline had whispered, not bothering to even stop.
Fred was amazed at how easily she could act like nothing had happened the next day. He did dislike her, but even Fred was aware that his heart wasn't stone.
It was days near Halloween and the only lesson that day was Charms. They were finally going to make objects fly. Fred, Lee, and George were separated for the first time. Lee sat with Emmeline while Alicia, who by accident came to the class rather late, sat with Luke Wimborne. Lee and Emmeline were civil, unlike the twins and her. So things were... alright. Professor Flitwick perched on top of his usual pile of books and cleared his throat. ''Remember the nice and neat wrist movement we've been practicing! Swish and flick, don't forget it, swish and flick. Saying the magic words are just as important, of course''
''This is going to be fun,'' Emmeline mumbled to herself. She was looking paler than usual; there were bags under her eyes and she looked really ill. Lee hadn't noticed it until now, but didn't mention it either.
Lee frowned at her, ''What will?''
She chuckled silently and shook her head. ''You got to love Charms...''
''Go on, now, give it a try!'' Professor Flitwick said, encouraging shy Hufflepuffs. Josh Nobbs' feather actually melted right in front of him, sending a disgusting smell throughout the room. Emmeline had to hold back her laughter, not wanting to be rude. Not that she had any energy to do so, anyway.
''How come you don't try it instead of laughing at the rest?'' Lee raised an eyebrow at her. Her sudden arrogance surprised him.
'I'm not laughing at anyone. Why don't you try?'' She challenged him, raising an eyebrow herself.
Lee shifted on his chair and turned to face his own feather. He cleared his throat and lifted his wand. With a gentle swish, he said, ''Wingardium Leviosa!'' But the feather didn't move. He frowned and sighed frustrated.
''You're forgetting the flick,'' observed Emmeline. ''Try it again''. Lee glanced sideways at her and questioned her encouragement and intentions. Without wondering any longer, he turned back to his feather and swished gently.
''Wingardium Leviosa'' And he flicked. His feather rose about an inch, floated for a moment, but fell back down. ''Blimey, this is hard''
''But you did it, anyway'' Emmeline grinned at him weakly.
''It's your turn'' Lee said, turning to look at her. She hesitated, but sighed, giving in.
''Fine,'' She mumbled, turning to look at her feather.
She raised her hand up and was about to swish, ''Where's your wand?'' Lee interrupted.
''Right...'' Emmeline said nervously and took her wand out from her robes. She swished lazily, whispered the spell low under her breath, and barely flicked her wand. The white feather started floating slowly but high in the air. Emmeline wasn't even looking up at it. Instead, she stared directly at Professor Flitwick, who smiled proudly at her. Lee stared at her surprised.
''How did you-''
''It's nothing, really,'' she mumbled, her feather came back down and landing smoothly in front of her. Emmeline sat back against her chair and closed her eyes, sleeping the rest of the lesson through.
She left quick enough to avoid Alicia, who was almost green of envy and pulled Lee aside after the lesson was over.
''It was her first try!''
''So? I managed to do it on my second try!''
''But- did you even look at her? For what we know, she probably didn't even say the spell correctly! Her wand was slipping and- she wasn't even paying much attention to it- she was half-asleep!''
''What's the big deal? Just because she did it faster than you did doesn't mean something's up'' He snapped unintentionally.
Neither of them brought the subject up after that. Still, Alicia couldn't get it out of her mind. The next few days, they were all drowning in potion essays, some sick of not being able to turn their match into a needle in Transfiguration, others tired of the charms that never went so well for them, all of them hating Professor Snape's guts for taking points off for no reason at all. And his detentions were something that almost all Gryffindors had. To Katie Bell's surprise, Emmeline was the one that had most detentions of all so far. She got one a day, and still had that one pending with Fred. ''I thought you said he was the best'' she had commented to her one afternoon making Emmeline look away and ignore her looking almost hollow. Katie hadn't done anything like it since then and even tried to apologize but saw her nowhere or was avoided. The only time she did see her and had the chance to speak with her was one Saturday morning that Emmeline was going back to the castle after a visit to Hagrid's and Katie had been looking at the Whomping Willow curiously.
''Emmeline Warmsley! I have been looking all over for you!'' panted Katie when she caught up with her.
''And you know my full name how?'' Emmeline raised her eyebrow but kept her gaze up to the castle.
''Professor McGonagall during the Sorting, but I like Emmy better- Anyway, that wasn't why I've been looking for you all over''
''You have?'' asked Emmeline in a sarcastic tone.
''Yes!'' insisted Katie. They walked in silence and Katie suddenly sighed exasperatedly and rounded Emmeline, saying ''I'm sorry for what I said the other day- well, not really what I said, more like how I said it. I guess Fred and George have been getting to my head quite a lot about what a bad person you are-''
''I'm not surprised-''
''And the many pranks they've been planning for you!'' Katie continued like there hadn't been an interruption. Emmeline started thinking it was probably something she did very often. ''They think of you as their nemesis, it's ridiculous!''
''To be honest, I don't care what they'll do or think of me. Trust me, nothing they do will get to me''
She hadn't been entirely wrong about that. But in some ways she had been. The following week she spent three days of it locked in the Girls' Dorm's bathroom after the twins had slipped a Laxative Potion in her juice one morning. The week after that she missed a whole day of classes due to the Fungiface potion that had been slipped by them. Fred hadn't been able to stop laughing after she had drank her juice and a Hair-Raising Potion went down her throat one evening. The last potion she had accidently drank had been one night she sneaked into the castle's kitchen and sipped the pumpkin juice left. What she hadn't seen was the twins that had followed her, ordered a house-elf to entertain her, and as the house-elf did so, they slipped a Wideye Potion into her drink. Emmeline stayed all night lying in her bed staring up at the roof not being able to close her eyes to sleep or feeling any exhaustion at all.
It was now Halloween and everyone at Hogwarts during the feast was a cheery and happy as ever.
Everyone except her yet again.
Emmeline's seemed hollow, her eyes were glued to the table, and she sat there motionless. It was also the one night she looked the palest and incredibly tired. Her mouth was dry and her lips were shut in a firm line. Alicia glanced at her once and looked at Katie worriedly. ''What's wrong with her?''
''Oh, I don't know, ask these two!'' Katie glared at Fred and George, who both looked up with their mouths full of food.
''Huh?''
''You're mean to her, that's what!'' said Katie, slamming down her pumpkin juice after taking a sip.
''She deserves that and so much more, Katie'' said Fred after swallowing.
''She offended Charlie-'' started George.
''And so what if she did? Not even he's taking it as personal as you two are! He's even tried to cheer her up! She's stopped drinking everything, goes around paranoid, I even heard her vomit the other night!''
''Probably dehydrated,'' said Alicia. She glanced at Emmeline and looked back at the boys. ''You should stop whatever you're doing or planning right now. She might even die if she doesn't eat or drink anything''
''Let's not exaggerate'' Lee said, clearly in the boys' side.
''You're in it too, Jordan?'' frowned Angelina.
''They're my fr-''
''It's a lesson she has to learn'' interrupted Fred. ''Mess with one Weasley, the rest will make you pay''
''You just made that up'' Katie rolled her eyes.
''What are you now, mobs?'' Alicia said sarcastically.
''A what?'' asked Lee.
''Still counts!'' said George.
The three girls looked at them incredulously and chose to drop it. Anything they said would turn invalid for some sexist reason. Nearly Headless Nick had swarmed by Emmeline and asked her if she were to go to his 497th Deathday Party. She kindly rejected and said she wasn't able to since she felt ill. Sir Nicholas, seeing that she actually did look ill, wished her good health he neither had nor needed and left. Katie, Angelina and Alicia had gone to bed early, all three of them still mad at Fred, George and Lee's inhuman ways to treat Emmeline. The three boys sat in the Common Room, which was practically empty except for Charlie, Elizabeth, and two more sixth years. Emmeline walked down the stairs from the Girls' Dormitories with a grey sweater, jeans, and some sneakers; her long light brown hair falling around her. She looked worse than she had at the feast, if possible. There were bags under her eyes; her pale skin was visible even with the little light the fireplace emitted, and her lips looked as dry as they had downstairs. Fred and George both started feeling suddenly guilty when they saw the worried look in Charlie's eyes as he watched her walk by. Elizabeth tried to go and stop her from going out. It was very late and no one was to be wandering around, but Charlie stopped her. Though he didn't stand up to stop Emmeline himself, Elizabeth did not question it.
It was when she walked out through the portrait hole that Charlie stood up and walked over to his brothers and said, ''Enough, you two. Whatever she said about mum or dad or even me doesn't matter anymore''
''It isn't only because of what she said about you, Charlie'' said George.
''It's how she talks to us-''
''-treats us-''
''-hates of us-''
''-looks at us-''
''-and you just have to look at her to instantly hate her''
''Happened to us, don't know what happened to you''
''Yeah, you all like her, but George, Lee and I see the real her. And she's isn't as nice as you all say she is''
''You bring out the worst of her, of course she isn't going to be nice to you'' Charlie looked at his little brothers and shook his head and sighed exasperatedly. ''What you're doing is not right. It certainly isn't what a Weasley would do'' said Charlie.
''Yeah, but you also are not dad'' shrugged Fred. ''Sorry, Charlie, but this is between us and Warmsley''
Charlie finally gave up and went upstairs to bed. It was an hour later that the Common Room was completely empty except for Lee and George. Fred had felt sudden exhaustion wash over him and went to bed. Part of the reason Lee and George had stayed behind was because both of them felt somewhat guilty and wanted to see when Emmeline came back. Though neither told the other this and just kept on talking about nonsense. Both boys were a yawning mess when Emmeline finally came back. All tiredness was washed away by just by glancing at her. Her eyes were puffy, her nose was light pink, her lower lip didn't stop trembling, and she held her left wrist tightly against her chest. George was the one that noticed how a necklace she hadn't had when she walked out was now around her neck. The pendant was what had called his attention; it was a teardrop aquamarine stone, but before he had a chance to take a good look at it, Emmeline looked at them alarmed and cleaned the couple of teardrops that still rolled down her cheeks and ran upstairs, closing the door behind her quietly enough not to wake anyone.
The boys downstairs exchanged guilty looks while the three girls upstairs secretly watched and listened intently to sniffs and soft shaky sobs being muffle by a sleeve.
... ...... ...... ...
No one mentioned what had happened the night before.
Emmeline had detention the next day down at the dungeons with Fred. Neither was looking forward to it neither did they try to dissimulate it. Fred followed Emmeline closed behind as they made their way downstairs. He didn't say a word. Not that he thought of anything to talk to her about unless it included an insult somewhere between the lines, anyway. Professor Snape was waiting for them with his usual cold expression. Fred looked up at him and asked impatiently, ''What are we doing, then?'', while Emmeline could hardly look up at him. Instead, she stared intently at his desk.
''Watch your attitude, Mr. Weasley'' Snape said, emphasizing every word. ''Every cauldron must be left spotless. Organize them and put them back into place. No magic'' He turned on his heel and marched to the door. He almost bumped his shoulder against Emmeline's, but avoided the collision and simply glared down at her. ''Leave no funny smells in them, Ms. Warmsley''
''Whatever you say,'' she whispered, walking over the pile of cauldrons. The door neither opened nor closed, making Emmeline turn and see both Fred's and Snape's expressions. ''Oh, er- Yes, sir''
''Are you mad?'' Fred blurted out the second Snape slammed the door closed, leaving them in the poorly dim lighted room.
''What do you care'' Emmeline mumbled, pulling out a cauldron and sitting down on the cold grey stoned floor. Fred had to blink twice when all cleaning supplies she needed flew to her side.
''How did you-''
''Please, stop talking'' She begged, sighing heavily.
''Why?'' She glared up at him. ''Sorry'' he mumbled.
Emmeline sighed and answered, nonetheless, ''I've always believed there's just no reason to explain myself... Ever''
''What if you're misunderstood?''
''I know what I mean when I say something. If I'm misunderstood, that certainly isn't my problem''
Fred looked up from his cauldron and frowned slightly. ''What is it that you hate so much about my family?'' He asked, making her look up suddenly, shocked.
''I don't hate your family''
''Right'' He said looking back down at his cauldron.
She looked at him a while longer, gaping with a frown. ''I'm serious''
''Charlie stood up for you the other night. When George and I started talking about your Christmas surprise, he actually ordered us to stop''
''He's Charlie, what did you expect?''
''That wasn't the first time. Each time he catches us plotting things against you, he makes us stop, and makes sure we actually don't harm you. When he heard I hexed you-''
''Almost hexed me''
''-he wanted to curse me himself'' He carried on as though she hadn't interrupted. ''Why is he acting like this? As if-''
''He cares?'' Emmeline blurted out without thinking, stopping her cleaning immediately and staring down at the dirty cauldron. ''Your parents were really close to mine. I met Bill and Charlie a long time ago. That's why''
Fred didn't ask anything else for the rest of the detention. They went by around fifty cauldrons and left them as clean as Professor Snape had asked them to leave them. The dungeons at night were the scariest thing. Their way up to the Common Room was really silent and tense. Fred watched Emmeline from the corner of his eye as they walked their way up the stairs, and he could've sworn he saw her quickly clean a teardrop that rolled down her cheek with her sleeves. He hesitated for a moment, not knowing if it was wise to ask her. They were reaching the Fat Lady's portrait and he chose to just go for it.
''How come we've never met before?''
Emmeline didn't even turn to look at him and simply whispered, ''Because our parents were really close''. She looked up to the big portrait and took a deep breath. Saying the password low under her breath, the portrait swung open to let them in. Emmeline headed straight up to the Girl's Dorms while Fred sat down in front of the fireplace thinking about what had just happened.