The trip to the Lowell family's mansion was a long and tense one, no one talked much. Emma's mother would occasionally point at things as they passed the window, but nothing too exciting, there had been a field of cows, a particularly small tree and a cloud that she claimed was a perfect circle. They couldn't even listen to music, they couldn't get any signal for a radio station, the Lowell's home was deep in the countryside, their nearest neighbour was miles away and wasn't visible from the clearing in the woods they inhabited.

Pulling up into their drive made Emma feel like she was in a movie, she had never seen such a huge house. She had compared a few of her friends houses to mansions but this time it was true, there were stone steps that led to the towering double doors made of wood. She stared at the excess of windows that littered the front of the house, as the car came to a gentle stop the front doors swung open. A short skinny creature with a bald head and huge bad-like ears limped out of the house and over to them. Emma stepped out of the car to greet him.

Upon seeing Emma's quick exit from the car, the creature bowed his head and kept his distance from her as he opened the cars boot. He began pulling the family's cases from the car before closing the boot and hoisting up as many as he could using his weedy arms.

'Oh, let me help you with those.' Emma said grabbing one case in each hand.

'OH! NO NO NO! Please miss put those down.' The thing said with a great panic

'Its fine, seriously, I don't expect you to carry four cases on your own.' Emma said mustering up as kind a smile as she could. The creature whined uncomfortably while shaking his head vigorously. Without another word Emma placed the two cases back onto the two the thing was already carrying. Even though the cases were clearly too heavy for the poor thing he looked happy to be doing it, so Emma stopped resisting. However, she did walk alongside him as her parents strolled up to the front door.

'I'm Emma by the way.' Emma said, briefly looking over at what was now practically a walking stack of suitcases.

'I know miss, I've heard of you.' He smiled before his faced dropped and his head snapped away from her direction.

'What's your name?'

'Gadkey, miss.'

'Gadkey.' Emma repeated 'Its very nice to meet you.' She said looking down. She noticed Gadkeys face had gone bright pink.

'You doing okay there Gadkey?'

'Perhaps miss should catch up with her parents? I don't think miss should be talking to a house elf.'

'Woah, you're an elf?' Emma asked, 'That's so cool!'

As Emma said this she bumped into her mothers back, they had reached the front door and her parents were greeting Lucas' parents. Emma had almost forgotten she had met them both very briefly before, as they had been leaving Dumbledore's office. They seemed even more intimidating this time around, the Mans stubble had developed into a small brown beard that was kept trim and tidy. Even though they were at home they were dressed just as formal as they had at the school, as though they had just returned from work.

They eyed Emma up and down with an unreadable look on their faces.

'Miss Blackwell.' The man said, offering his hand to shake. Emma cautiously took his hand and noted how tightly he gripped hers, shaking it roughly before dropping it and turning his attention back to her parents.

The woman's gaze was longer and sterner than her husbands, she didn't utter a word to Emma, but she did order Gadkey to take her to Lucas then drop the cases in the corresponding rooms. Emma followed the house elf as her parents joined Lucas' parents in one of the front rooms.

Emma didn't like how big Lucas' house was, it didn't seem natural. It was far to big to seem homely, if you wanted a glass of water to go to bed with you might have to go through an obstacle course of hallways and staircases before you could come close to finding the kitchen.

'Big place.' Emma stated, looking over to Gadkey for any kind of response but he just nodded.

'It must be really easy to get lost in here.' She said, trying to start any kind of conversation to avoid listening to her footsteps echoing through the halls.

'So where do you live on your days off?' Emma asked, pleading for conversation using her tone.

'I don't get days off.' Gadkey replied rather bluntly

'What, like, ever?'

'I work all day every day.' Gadkey said, maintaining his bluntness

'Do you get payed well?' Emma asked, she knew this was an intrusive question, but she had a conversation and she wasn't willing to let it go.

'I don't get payed, I work for this family and they let me live here.'

'But… that's slavery. That's actually illegal isn't it?' Emma said getting flustered at this sudden revelation about wizard families. Gadkey stopped responding at this comment.

'Surely there's a way for you to get out of here?' Emma asked quietly, feeling less confident in her choice of topics.

'I can go free if my master presents me with a piece of clothing.' He said wistfully

'They don't seem like the type to care about other people.' Emma said under her breath. Gadkey didn't respond, he just pursed his lips and continued guiding Emma to Lucas

'Well Lucas is nice, maybe he'll give you a piece of clothing?' Emma suggested with a small reassuring smile. Gadkey stopped suddenly.

'Master Lucas' room' He announced

'Thanks, Gadkey, do you want me to take my cases off you?' Emma couldn't help but feel guilty since two of the four cases were hers, one full of her school clothes and supplies and one full of her casual clothes that her parents had brought her.

'No Miss, I shall take them to your room now.' Gadkey said limping away leaving Emma at yet another tall wooden door.

Emma tapped on the door and a monotone voice responded.

'Enter.'

Emma pushed the door open slowly, peering inside to see if Lucas was alone. Lucas was standing on a small raised cylinder just off the centre of the room, half surrounded by full length mirrors as he inspected his outfit. He was wearing a pair of men's black dress shoes with black formal trousers with a white long-sleeved shirt and a black tie, he tightened the tie then brushed off his waistcoat before taking his blazer off a mannequin just to his left and turning to see Emma. His face broke into a smile.

'Em! How are you?' he rushed over and embraced her, he took a step back and looked her over.

'You're still in your school uniform?' He questioned. Emma looked down, she hadn't really thought about what she was wearing, she was more concerned with the situation she had found herself in.

'Uh, yeah I guess so.'

'Hmm, that won't do. Let's go to your room.' Lucas insisted walking past Emma, pulling his blazer on. Emma's designated room was right next to Lucas' bedroom. Upon entering her room, she realised it was almost identical to Lucas' room. A double bed with mountains of pillows and a particularly comfortable looking duvet in the centre of the right wall. A large cupboard in the far-left corner, with a raised cylinder half surrounded by mirrors to the left of it and a large set of drawers next to that. A small chandelier hung from the centre of the ceiling but for now the light in the room was completely natural, the far wall was make almost entirely of windows, with curtains tied up at either side of it.

Lucas headed straight to the cupboard and swung it open wading through the masses of clothes hung up. After sorting through the many gowns, he turned to her, passing her a black dress he had pulled from a hanger.

'Put that on.' Lucas said walking over to the window, untying and closing the curtains.

'Do you need to close them? We're in the middle of nowhere.' Emma joked

'Yeah, but the gardener is out and I'm sure you don't want him to see you.' He said with a small smile, wandering back over to her.

'I'll wait outside the door, call me in when you're changed.' Lucas said heading to the door. Before he closed it, Emma called out to him

'Thank you, Lucas.' He didn't turn to look at her, but he stopped in his path for just a moment before closing the door behind him.

Emma fiddled with the dress trying to figure out how to put it on, she wandered over to the bed and threw the dress down. She pulled off her large clunky school shoes and began to undress, first her robe then her tie, her shirt and her trousers. Only her pants, bra and socks were left. She picked the dress up and pulled it on, it was a little bit big for her but not by much. She tried her best to pull up the zip on the back, but it was hard, she wasn't used to wearing formal dresses or many dresses at all. Her parents had always dressed her appropriately to play, in trousers and any old top.

'Lucas, you can come in now.' Emma called, raising her voice so he could hear her through the door.

Lucas walked in and looked her up and down.

'Give us a spin.' Lucas requested

'Uh, do you think you could zip me up before I do that?'

Lucas nodded, he walked over to her, lead her to the raised cylinder and zipped her up. She admired herself in the mirror, she couldn't remember a time she had ever felt so pretty. The thin black fabric was surprisingly warm, the dress was knee length, and had long sleeves with a scoop neck. The fact it was a little too big wasn't obvious just from looking.

Lucas caught Emma's eye in the mirror and she remembered his request, she span around and waited for his response. He looked her up and down once again, stopping when he looked at her feet.

'Take off your socks.' Lucas half suggested half commanded 'What's your shoe size?' He added. 'Size 6.' Emma pulled off her socks and watched as Lucas pulled a pair of black kitten heel pumps out of the cupboard. He placed them on the floor and gestured for her to try them on, as she walked towards them Lucas began pulling back the curtains.

'They're a little tight.' Emma pointed out to Lucas, he looked disappointed.

'They will have to do for now I'm afraid. Supper is in ten minutes, so we should head down.' Lucas took Emma by the hand and let her through the maze of his house.

When they arrived at the dining room doors Lucas checked Emma's dress and hair for any imperfections then did the same for himself. Upon touching his hair, he froze, he slowly brought his hands into his pockets and searched them frantically.

'What?'

'I don't have a hair tie.' Lucas said looking around as though he could find one lying on the floor

'Does it matter?' Emma asked in an attempt to calm him down

'YES! It does matter. I need to find one now, my mum will kill me!'

'Its just your hair calm down.'

'Go in now and keep them distracted, ill be back as fast as I can!' Lucas said running away and up the stairs.

A nearby clock informed Emma that Lucas had five minutes to run to his room, find a hair tie, do his hair and get back to the dining room. She took a deep breath, she didn't have to distract them for long she just needed to make small talk for five minutes.

Pushing open the doors revealed a huge dining room with a long table, a lace tablecloth running down the centre of it. Lucas' father sat at the head of the table, his mother was to his right, her back facing the doors. She didn't turn to see who had entered and neither of them greeted her, she closed the door trying to make as little noise as possible and sheepishly made her way to a seat. She took the seat directly to the left of Mr Lowell, Mrs Lowell watched as she sat down then gave her a small smile, it was the first time Emma had seen her face make any positive expression, it made her a little uncomfortable.

'You have a lovely home Mr and Mrs Lowell.' Emma said, remembering that she had to keep them distracted for Lucas.

'Thank you, but please call me Alistair, and call my beautiful wife Lyra.' Alistair said taking his wife's hand and giving her a warm smile. It was weird seeing such stern people be happy and in love, but it was also quite nice, it made them seem more human. She was so enthralled by seeing this side of them that she forgot she was supposed to be distracting them until Lyra broke the silence.

'Emma. I have a proposition for you.'

'Um, okay.'

'Since you will be staying here with us a while we would like to give you private tutoring.' Lyra said, still holding her husband's hand.

'What exactly would that be?' Emma asked weary of her offer.

'You will be taught how to dress, how to stand, walk, speak, dinner etiquette and we will use the school's curriculum to keep you up to date on school work.'

'Well that's very kind but I don't think my parents plan on staying here that long.' Emma said willing someone to disrupt the conversation, checking a nearby clock she realised Lucas had one minute until he was late.

'Well we will have you tutored for as long as you are here. I'll set it up for tomorrow.' Lyra smiled. Emma hated to say it, but her kindness was almost off putting. Before she could respond her parents walked into the room, they greeted Alistair and Lyra and sat down. A moment after they had sat down, Lucas came into the room, his hair tied back with a black ribbon.

'It is not polite to be late Lucas.' Lyra said sternly without turning to look at her son

'Sorry mother, I had to fix my outfit.' Lucas said not moving from his position by the door.

'Don't let it happen again. Take your seat.'

Lyra scared Emma, one moment she was lovey, being flirtatious with her husband and offering Emma tutoring then her son shows up barely late to supper and it's as if he betrayed her.

Lucas held his head high and placed himself in the seat next to his mother, across the table from Emma's mum.

Everyone was dressed formally, it was like no family dinner Emma had ever seen. Three women dressed in white blouses and black knee length skirts with white aprons covering them brought out six plates, each with a portion of Lasagne on it. Emma waited for everyone else to start eating before she picked up her knife and fork. She spent the whole meal in silence, as did Lucas. They let the adults talk while exchanging occasional glances and nods.

When everyone had cleared their plates Emma and Lucas were sent to their rooms while the adults stayed and talked for a while. Emma had to be led to her room by Lucas as she couldn't remember exactly how to get to her room, once there Lucas followed Emma into her room where they sat on her bed and talked for a while. Lucas took off his blazer and waistcoat, folded them and put them onto the floor.

'How was your first supper at the Lowell house?' Lucas asked laying on his back with his legs dangling off the side of the bed.

'Intense.' Emma said, she though for a second about what else to say about it. 'Your parents are weird.' She added not knowing how else to put it.

'How so?' Lucas said turning onto his side to look at her.

'Your mum was lovely before you came in, she was being all romantic with your dad and she offered me tutoring. Then when you came in and dinner began she was back to being stern and just weird!'

'Yeah, she can be like that. My father too.' He put an odd emphasis on 'father' as though he wasn't actually related to him but rather he was his step-dad, Emma decided not to ask about it.

They sat chatting about nothing specific with long pauses between fragments of conversations until there was a tapping at the Window, at this point the curtains had been closed a while so the two crept over to the window and pulled back the curtains just enough to be able to see outside.

'There's no one there.' Emma whispered. Lucas looked closely before pointing to the windowsill outside.

'Is that Rufus?' Lucas asked squatting down to be closer to the owl's height. The brown and white bird was sitting on the windowsill with a letter hanging from its beak. Lucas opened one of the windows letting the bird hop in and perch on the raised cylinder on the other side of the room. Lucas pulled the window closed while Emma ran to Rufus.

'Its from the guys at school!' Emma said noticing Georges handwriting on the envelope. Lucas looked more concerned than happy.

'Emma,' he said turning her face to look at his 'I left this room before Rufus got here and you never told me about him or this letter, okay?' he said with a quiet tome and a sorrowful face.

'Sure.' Emma said, slightly confused. Lucas let go of her face, and quickly strode towards the door, without turning around he closed the door and walked off. Emma didn't wait long after Lucas had left to open her letter, she changed into a pair of provided pyjamas and tore the letter open as fast as she could. As she had guessed, George had written the letter, most of it anyway.'

'Dear Emma, I thought you would like me to send Rufus to you and so why not add a letter on top? If you can please send me a letter telling me what's going on with your parents. Apart from that I hope you're doing well.

Emma! Its Aggie, what the hell just happened? Have you gone home? Are you coming back? This is important stuff girl you must let me know as soon as you can!

That was Aggie, she stole my letter, Fred's dealing with her now though.

That sounds quite bad, I just made her sit on the sofa I promise I didn't tackle her.

That was Fred, people keep stealing my paper so ill just finish it here, I hope you're okay.

Love you, George xx

And Aggie

And to a lesser extent Fred'

Emma clutched the letter to her chest and flopped onto her bed thinking about her friends. She put the letter under her pillow and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Hey guys! Long-time no upload, I'm going to stop claiming ill update soon, but I will try make sure to not make you wait too long! I hope you enjoy I worked hard on this chapter, I always appreciate a review, let me know how I'm doing! Until next time x