On Monday, the chocolate bath was still fresh in Emma's mind as she and Fred were practicing the Patronus Charm in the DA meeting. Fred was getting a shield form every time; Emma figured it was because he was too easily distracted and couldn't concentrate on a single memory so long.

It was getting late, though, when Emma decided to focus on her first kiss with Fred, knowing that he loved her like she loved him, and the raw emotion encompassed with that passionate embrace. She said the incantation and closed her eyes, letting herself be filled with the memory.

"Emma!" Katie squealed excitedly, and Emma's eyes flew open to find a silvery vixen playing at her feet. "You did it!"

Emma barely had time to comprehend her victory when a small, oddly-dressed house-elf came whirring into the room, frantic to inform Harry that Umbridge was on her way, that she knew where to find them, and that they had to get out of there.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" Harry said to the DA, who were staring at him and the house-elf in silence. "RUN!"

It was chaos as they ran urgently through the halls, fighting of the Inquisitorial Squad members on their way, and Fred had Emma by the hand, leading her away to some spot she knew he thought would keep them safe.

Fred pulled her into a cupboard and locked it, warded it, and sealed it shut until he decided they were safe.

"It's okay," he whispered, hugging Emma to him tightly, petting her hair and comforting her shaking form as best he could. "It's okay. The house-elf gave us proper warning at great personal risk. We all got out okay, I think. Do you Patronus, love. I didn't get a proper look."

He was asking her to do it because he knew it would comfort her, Emma knew. Patronuses were the very embodiment of happiness and comfort, but they also came from extreme happiness, a memory of unquenchable happiness.

"I can't," Emma whispered against his chest, shaking. "I'm too scared."

Fred sighed.

"Emma, if you come face-to-face with a dementor, you're not going to be any less scared than this, probably a lot more. Just give it a try, okay?"

He kissed her neck gently and she nodded, trying to think of the happiest thing she could, trying to recall the emotions of the memory she'd used before...

But they seemed so much slipperier than before, so much harder to get ahold of, and when she whispered the incantation little more than a silvery wisp came from her wand, and she sighed with disappointment.

"It will come with practice, love," Fred whispered comfortingly, kissing her forehead. "It's all right. We'll just practice together more. Everything's going to be fine."

Except everything was not going to be fine and they both knew it, but in that moment Emma was contented just to wrap her arms around Fred's neck and hold onto him like a child being cradled by her mother.

She had actually fallen asleep with her head on his chest, although she wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep. Fred gently shook her away and whispered, "Emma, I think it's safe to go back to Gryffindor Tower. We need to find out what happened, love."

"Mmm," Emma moaned, trying to make sense of his words with her sleepy mind.

"Sweetheart, come on. Wake up."

"M'awake," she muttered, blinking her eyes open to find that they were still in the darkness of the cupboard he'd hidden them in. "We're going back, then?"

"Yeah, c'mon," he sighed, getting both of them onto their feet. "Up you get."

The pair of them left the cupboard, trying to make their way back to Gryffindor Tower as casually as possible.

"Do the corridors seem... quiet to you?" Emma whispered as they neared the Fat Lady's portrait. Fred nodded.

"It's like the usual patrolling isn't happening," Fred muttered. "Which makes me think they caught somebody."

"Who?" she breathed as they turned the corner.

"Somebody so important that it would make it less worthwhile to go after the rest of us than to interrogate that one person," he whispered.

Harry.

She chewed on her lip anxiously as Fred gave the Fat Lady the password and they climbed into the common room to find their friends, the Creeveys, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sitting around in a circle, staring at a spot on the floor between them.

"Do we know what happened yet?" Fred asked, sitting down in an armchair and pulling Emma into his lap.

"No," Hermione sighed anxiously. "I suppose you two were hiding out?"

"Yeah, and Emma decided to take a nap," Fred said teasingly, kissing Emma's neck as she blushed. "Did anyone get caught but Harry?"

"We don't think so," George assured them. "We know the rest of the Gryffindors got back okay, anyway. Hermione's been trying to get messages back from the others, but Cho Chang and her buddy haven't responded yet, and we're pretty sure Luna's okay, although none of us really understood what she was talking about."

"Oh, Merlin, Tien!" I gasped. "Is Tien okay?"

"Is Tien ever not okay?" George laughed. "She's just fine, trust me, Emma."

He was right, of course, and Emma began to instantly breathe easier, but there was still a layer of uneasiness with the group at large.

"Why do you think they haven't responded yet?" Ginny whispered.

"I can only think of one," Hermione said nervously. "Either one or both of them sold us out, and I can't say I'm too excited to speculate on which one of them did it."

"Probably Cho Chang," Emma muttered in a tone that could have been Tien speaking, and everyone blinked at her in surprise. "What?" she questioned indignantly. "Tien and I are friends for a reason, you know."

"Harry would be so upset if it were," Ginny said softly.

It wasn't exactly a secret that Harry Potter had gone on a date with Cho Chang on Valentine's Day, and even less of a secret that it had ended rather disastrously.

By the morning, all of the DA members knew what had happened: Marietta Edgecombe had told on them to Umbridge (as evidenced by Hermione's curse that put the word 'sneak' across her face in boils which Tien thought was absolutely brilliant). Harry had been caught and very nearly expelled, but for some reason Dumbledore took the blame for the group, Fudge attempted to arrest him, and he escaped and was on the run... somewhere. Emma wondered where Dumbledore might go as a fugitive, but she really couldn't think of anywhere too spectacular.

"Where do you think he is?" she asked Fred, careful not to be loud enough to be overheard by someone who would report to Umbridge.

Toad-Face had become the new headmistress, although the gargoyle wasn't letting her into Dumbledore's office, much to the amusement of everyone. Still, she was far from powerless, and she had Inquisitorial Squad members everywhere, being her eyes and ears, not to mention the already-formidable force of Filch and Mrs. Norris.

"I don't know," Fred said with a shrug. "You can bet he's not wasting time hiding, though."

He was probably right about that, Emma thought. Dumbledore would be out doing things important for the Order, essential to the war. While I was supposed to be glad, pleased that Dumbledore would be going on, doing things that needed to be done, that only he could do. He would have more time for the war effort.

But what would come of Hogwarts? They still had McGonagall, and she was an Order member. And... well, so was Snape, although he didn't make Emma feel particularly safe. Even though many of the other professors, such as Flitwick, weren't in the Order, she knew they would do what they could for the safety and well-being of the students. That was something.

The rule changes were swift and many, though, and more and more students were finding themselves in detention, Emma, Fred, George, and all their friends, because their names were on the list of students who had been a part of Dumbledore's Army. When she'd first introduced the group to the blood quills, Emma thought she was trying to scare them into giving up more information, into selling Harry out, but they actually did cut words into their skin, and Emma nearly fainted.

"This can't go on like this," Fred growled after their afternoon detention, holding Emma's hand and dabbing a paste Hermione had made onto the wound. "I'm not letting it keep on this way. I'm not letting her hurt you."

Not that he had much say, Emma thought as she accepted the attempts at healing her hand, enjoying the way his fingertips brought the healing paste to her skin, the way it made the throbbing dull and then disappear, at least temporarily.

She curled up against him during their free time, wishing she didn't have to leave him, but knowing that they had to go on as always.

Later that day, the twins set off their new Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, extravagant fireworks that were sure to put Filibuster out of business because Harry was being 'interrogated' by Umbridge, probably because of Dumbledore. Emma watched the fireworks, watched Filch and Umbridge try to get rid of them, and while they were beautiful and she was proud of Fred and George, she couldn't help but feel a bit sad as she watched the struggle to get rid of the fireworks that raged on.

Soon, she knew, the twins would be leaving.

Several days later marked the beginning of the Easter Holiday, and they stayed at Hogwarts, Emma studying for her N.E.W.T.s and the twins plotting various things for the joke shop. Emma couldn't help but frown as she sat at Fred's feet in the library, books spread around her, trying to focus on her Herbology charts while she knew Fred was plotting the things that would take him from her. There wasn't a doubt in her mind anymore: they were leaving. They had to. Even if Fred asked her, Emma would have to tell him to go, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"Emma?" he asked, gently massaging her scalp with his finger tips and looking down at her with an amused smile on his face. "You okay down there? You've been rather quiet."

"Of course I've been quiet, Fred," she sighed, stretching her arms and leaning back into his leg, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of his fingertips in her hair. "I've only got six weeks left to exams and I'm taking quite a lot of classes."

Perhaps she wasn't really taking a lot of classes, but compared to their three classes and what she was sure would be zero tests, her schedule looked daunting.

He knew she was worried, of course, but he didn't press the issue, not while they were together in the library with George. They were trying to make the most of their time without classes, after all, and that meant him working on his work, her working on her revision, and the two of them meeting up to spend the nights in each other's arms for the whole of the holiday. Even the presence of Umbridge at Hogwarts wasn't going to stop them from going on as they had been with their love life.

So Emma just kissed the leg of Fred's trousers, knowing George couldn't see, knowing that it was a gesture shared just between her and Fred, and trying not to feel too sad as she looked up at him and saw him smile thoughtfully down at her.

Fred being thoughtful never meant anything good for Emma. Not when he was being thoughtful in front of her. It would lead to his leaving, and she didn't want to think about that, not before she had to, so she just looked back down at her Herbology text and tried to not let the tears welling up in her eyes fall to the pages.

As it turned out, Emma didn't have long before she had to face reality.

It was the first Monday after Easter when Fred pulled her aside, a serious expression on his face, and she knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Emma," he said gently, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, "I need to talk with you."

She nodded. She wasn't sure why they needed to drag this out. She knew what he was going to say. She knew he was going to leave her. What more was there to it?

"Harry needs a distraction," he whispered. "He needs to see Sirius, so the time is right for us to enact our big finale. But... if... if you don't want me to go, Emma, I'll stay here. George doesn't need me to do it, and he'll take off and start the shop up in Diagon Alley and I can keep running things here and-"

Emma pressed her finger to his lips, silencing him. He looked at her, surprised, curious.

"Fred," she sighed, "you need to go. She would make your life absolute hell if you stayed, and George needs you. I'll be fine. I'll be studying. Just... do me a favor?"

"Anything," he said eagerly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him.

She smiled, leaning her head against his chest and whispered, "Tell Sirius hey for me."

Fred laughed, swore he would, and then they sat down and he quizzed her on her Charms notes. Finally, he tossed the notes aside and said, "Emma, you've got this. You're going to get Outstanding on everything, darling. I don't know why you're driving yourself so hard."

"Because," Emma sighed. "I don't know what I want to do and I'm afraid of closing doors."

"You're going to be fine," Fred assured her. "I know you'll do brilliantly at whatever you want to do, and since you want your Outstandings so badly, I'm sure you'll get them."

Emma knew it didn't work that way, but Fred's confidence in her abilities did make her feel a little bit less frantic about her need to study night and day. After all, she needed to be relaxed to do well on her tests, and it wouldn't do Fred any good to leave her in a state of panic over her exams.

She kissed him gently, whispered, "I'm sure you're right, love," and smiled in spite of herself as he ignored her words and pulled her in for another, hotter kiss.

It was a goodbye kiss, in its way, she knew, and it was all she could do to screw up her eyes tightly so as not to let the tears leek onto her cheeks. She would not let Fred know how much she didn't want him to go. Emma Norwick would not let Fred see her break down, because she knew he would stay if he knew how knowing he was leaving was breaking her heart. And he couldn't stay, she knew that much.

Fred had asked her not to be there when they made their escape. They had already said their goodbyes. It wouldn't be good for her if he did some dramatic declaration of his love for her while flying away. As he had pointed out, Umbridge was bound to take out her anger on Emma if she thought to, and so they wouldn't give her any reminders. The girls had already sworn to the twins to keep an eye out for Emma, just in case.

While her friends were all out watching Fred and George make their fantastic escape, she was sitting on her dormitory floor, staring at the foot of Tien's bed, frowning.

She would not be seeing Fred until school was over. She could not write to him. She could not contact him at all, and contacting anyone else about him would be just as dangerous for everyone involved. Emma could feel the teardrops sliding down her face and she wanted to scream and throw things but she just sat there, staring at the foot of Tien's bed.

"Emma!" Tien shrieked, heading into the dormitory. "You'll never guess what just happened!"

"Fred and George unleashed a portable swamp in the Charms corridor, Umbridge was outraged, and they flew away from the school in a blaze of glory."

Tien's face fell as she sat down beside Emma.

"Oh, well, I guess you knew already, then. You okay?"

Emma forced a smile and nodded.

"Was it spectacular?"

"Yeah," Tien said slowly, still frowning. "But you're definitely not okay. You look like you're going to be sick. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Emma lied.

"Oh, Merlin!" Tien shrieked suddenly. "You're pregnant!"

"No," Emma groaned, hitting her head on the footboard of her bed. "No, I'm just scared and lonely."

"Oh," Tien said, sighing with relief. "Well, if that's all."

Emma rolled her eyes, getting to her feet and tossing a pillow at her best friend's head.

"Well, I just mean that it's a good thing you're not pregnant, you know, considering the fact that your boyfriend just left you at the mercy of the crazy Toad-Leech!"

The latest nickname (which Tien had apparently spent all of their detention pondering) was rather fitting, Emma had to admit, but she was too depressed to fully appreciate it.

"You don't understand," Emma pouted petulantly.

"No, I do," Tien said softly, in a serious voice Emma couldn't recall ever hearing her use. "It was like after our first year at Hogwarts, and you said goodbye for the summer, and I didn't have an owl and I was so afraid that it would all be a dream, or something would happen and you'd move to a different school the next year, or that you wouldn't write to me because I couldn't write to you first. I mean... you're really the only friend I've ever had, so I'd say I care about you about as much as you care about Fred. Just in a different way."

Emma looked up at Tien and realized that her friend really did understand. And then she cried into Tien's shoulder for hours.