Emma was awoken the next morning by three loud, sharp knocks on her bedroom door. Waking up, she was dazed and confused, she forgot momentarily that she wasn't in her bedroom in Hogwarts, or even her room at home. The curtains were still drawn, and no sunlight appeared to be shining through the gap between the fabric and the wall. Emma sat up in bed, letting the duvet fall into her lap as she rubbed her eyes and adjusted to being awake yet again.

'Who is it?' Emma called, barely raising her voice.

'Mrs Hallister.' A high-pitched voice responded, enunciating every syllable possible.

Emma paused, scrunching one eye closed and raising one eyebrow, trying to rid her mouth of the morning taste while she thought over if she'd ever heard of a 'Mrs Hallister'. Before she got a chance to realise she didn't know the woman outside, her door opened and in walked a short curvy woman in her mid-60's wearing a formal navy dress with matching cardigan and shoes. She was holding a large handbag, the same navy colour as her outfit. She stopped at the foot of Emma's bed checking a small golden watch on her right wrist and pursing her lips slightly.

'Breakfast starts at eight am sharp, therefore you should get out of bed at six am.'

'Sorry, what? Who are you?' Emma asked, confused and slightly flustered at the woman's unexpected presence

'That's a silly question, and girls your age should only speak when spoken to. Get up and we can plan your outfit for today.' Mrs Hallister said, heading towards the wardrobe in the corner of the room. Emma swung her legs over the side of her bed, stretching her arms and watching Mrs Hallister put down her bag and grab the handle of the wardrobe. She opened the door and gasped dramatically, she covered her mouth with one had and clutched her chest with the other.

'Who allowed THIS!' She cried, pulling out multiple pairs of trousers from the wardrobe.

'All that stuff was here when I arrived.' Emma said, confused as to what was so wrong with the trousers

'I'll make sure whoever was responsible is fired don't you worry dear.' She said folding the pairs of trousers in a pile and putting them out of the way.

'You really don't have to do that.' Emma sighed, wandering over to join the woman by the wardrobe.

Emma was taller than Mrs Hallister, not by much but enough for there to be an obvious difference, and Emma wasn't tall to start with meaning Mrs Hallister must have been the height of an eight-year-old from an adults' perspective.

'I insist dear, its not right for a woman to wear trousers.' She said scanning the content of the wardrobe. Emma went to defend trousers, but Mrs Hallister simply put a finger to her mouth and shushed her into silence, Emma just stood their awkwardly while Mrs Hallister pulled out different items of clothing, held them up to Emma, then put them in various piles. It was only a few minutes before the woman handed Emma a small pile of clothes and told her to put them on while she sorted through the rest of her clothes.

'You aren't going to leave the room while I change?' Emma asked feeling a little embarrassed about getting changed in front of a stranger.

''Are you not' and no, I will not be leaving the room. Just get on with it we have a busy morning and I am only here until noon.'

Although it was weird to get dressed in front of a stranger she didn't seem to be looking over at Emma, and she used the raised platform and surrounding mirrors to cover herself, even if only slightly.

Mrs Hallister had given her a pale blue dress that thinned at the waist then bloomed out slightly, the dresses sleeves were to her wrists and the neckline was high. She also had a pair of black kitten heel pumps to go with it. The dress didn't fit perfectly, a little baggy in the arms but it was comfortable. Mrs Hallister walked over with purpose after finishing organising Emma's mess of clothes. She examined Emma's outfit, giving the occasional gesture for her to spin or turn slightly to either side. After having a wide view, the short woman got closer and noticed the slightly baggy arms, she walked over to her bag that was still placed on the floor and rummaged through it before pulling a long thin wand out of it. She turned to Emma, and with a precise flick of the want Emma's clothing adjusted itself until it fit perfectly, no loose fabric around her arms or waist although the dress maintained its waviness from waist to hem.

'Wonderful!' Mrs Hallister exclaimed 'Les go to the dining room, I can start showing you dinner etiquette' She waddled over to her bag, picked it up and put her wand away as she headed to the door clapping her hands slightly as an indicator to Emma to follow.

Emma spent what felt like a lifetime listening to Mrs Hallister babble on about dinner etiquette, she would nod and look at the many utensils in front of her until she was asked to point to a certain fork or pick up a certain knife. The only slightly interesting part of her lesson was finding out that you only have to wait for everybody's food to be served to start eating If the food is cold, if the food is hot you can just start. Unless the queen is present, but Emma doubted she would ever be in the presence of any sort of royalty.

Just after Mrs Hallister finished explaining how to correctly hold her knife and fork Emma decided she couldn't take any more.

'Mrs Hallister, I hope you don't mind me asking but what time is it?' Emma asked trying to hide the boredom she felt so greatly from slipping into her tone of voice.

'One o'clock precisely, why do you ask?'

'Shouldn't I have had lunch by now? And I'm sure you have other students who need your attention in other houses with rich wizarding families… they're… common, right?'

'Supper is at one thirty, and all my students are still at school so no I don't have anyone else to attend to, but I am officially off the clock.'

'Well you surely don't want to be working over time now do you?' Emma said forcing a big smile onto her face. Mrs Hallister frowned at her watch and pursed her lips slightly.

'I suppose you're right, I'll be back tomorrow at nine sharp. Be up and ready in appropriate attire.'

Emma walked Mrs Hallister to the front door and waved her off as she rode away in a carriage, Emma often got confused as to why wizards used arguably primitive things like carriages and quills when things like cars and pens exist, but it felt wrong to question it.

Realising she only had half an hour until 'supper' as Mrs Hallister called it Emma decided to go talk to Lucas, she had just about managed to memorise how to get to her room from the main entrance so off she went.

Before she knocked on Lucas' door she brushed off her dress. *Knock* *knock* *knock*

No answer.

She waited a bit before knocking again. *knock * *knock* *knock*

Still nothing, she didn't know the house well enough to go looking for him, so she retired to her room. She decided to write a response letter to George, she searched through her dresser for paper but there wasn't any paper or pens but there was one A5 piece of paper and a few almost empty pens in the bottom draw of the bedside table. She put the paper on top of the bedside table and wrote a few lines trying to be brief.

'Hey George, I'm doing alright I guess, everything is just weird. My parents and I are staying with Lucas and his parents its intense, I hope you're doing okay and hopefully I can see you again soon. Love, Emma x'

She didn't have an envelope, so she just folded the paper then found Rufus and sent him off with the letter in his mouth. She checked the clock, she had a few minutes to get to supper, so she walked down to the dining room keeping an eye and an ear out for Lucas but to no avail.

She arrived at the dining room at 1:29, one minute to spare. She entered the room to find Lucas and his dad already sitting there, she could feel the tension in the air the second she opened the doors. She walked slowly to her seat and sat opposite Lucas, she tried to smile at him, but he was avoiding her gaze, so instead she glanced at his father, he gave her a small smile before glaring at Lucas. He could clearly feel his father's gaze weighing down on him as his head jerked up to meet his fathers cold look. He swallowed a breath then looked over at Emma and gave her a small smile before staring down at his plate and staying silent. He didn't talk when his mother and Emma's parents walked in the room, he didn't talk when the food came out, pretty much the whole meal he was silent until as he was leaving his mother called him back.

'Lucas,' she said straightening out his clothes 'We're going to talk with Emma's parents, you should go and spend time with Emma.' She looked him straight in the eye as she said the second half of the sentence, but he didn't look away like normal he held her gaze until she nodded to the doorway where Emma was standing. As Lucas passed Emma he grabbed onto her hand,

'Come on.' He said quietly as she began following him. He walked her out of the front door and out down the steps through the front drive and out of the gates she kept trying to ask questions, but he remained silent, head down marching forward always. It was weird walking through the woods in a dress, and Lucas was in his suit, Emma felt oddly lost even though Lucas seemed to know where he was going, and the house was still visible. After about five minutes of silently following Lucas he finally stopped, he let go of Emma's hand just before he turned around, but he didn't look at Emma.

'Are you going to tell me what's going on?' Emma asked slightly nervous

'You need to go Emma.' Lucas said still looking at the floor

'What are you talking about?' Emma said smiling nervously

'You don't belong here, you never have.' He said, something was wrong with his voice, but she couldn't tell what it was.

'Look, this wasn't my idea. I never wanted to leave Hogwarts.'

'That's not what I meant! You should never have been a witch, I wish you were a muggle.'

'I might not be a pureblood, but I have every right to be here, just like you!'

'You're not a-' Lucas began, finally looking Emma in the face

'Another thing, what's so bad about being a muggle? Muggles do amazing things without magic!'

'If you were supposed to be magic why were you pulled off your broom!' Lucas raised his voice, Emma was taken aback for a moment not sure what he meant.

'Did you, make me fall of my broom?'

'No!' Lucas looked hurt 'But maybe I should have been the one to do it.' Tears started pooling in his eyes.

'Do you- do you know who did it?'

'GAH! I CAN'T DO IT!' Lucas yelled throwing his arms in the air

'What can't you do?'

'I CAN'T I CAN'T I CAN'T' Lucas repeated over and over while punching a tree. Emma could see blood coming from his knuckles, so she instinctively grabbed his hands. He fell to his knees and she lowered herself with him, he began sobbing as Emma held his hands in hers.

'Tell me what's wrong and we can fix it together.' Emma reassured

'You need to run away.' Lucas said through hitched, unsteady breaths, holding Emma's hands a little tighter

'If your house isn't safe we need to tell my parents, I can't leave them there.'

'No, you can't tell them.' Lucas looked up at Emma, but he didn't look panicked he just looked sad

'What am I supposed to do then?'

Lucas put his hand on Emma's cheek, and she put her hand on his. She could feel the blood that had ran down his fingers transfer onto her face, but she didn't really care, he stroked her cheek with his thumb as he looked at her face as if for the first time.

'Let's run away together.' He said staring Emma dead in the eye

'What are you talking about?'

'Go grab anything you need, we can go on the run. It's the only way I can protect you.' Lucas spoke in a hushed serious tone that only scared Emma more. Lucas sheepishly took his hand away from Emma's face and waited for her to respond.

'Okay,' Emma said getting onto her feet, 'Lets do it.' She reached out her hand to help Lucas up and he took it with a huge smile on his face.

'You should go clean yourself up before we leave.' Emma commented gesturing to Lucas' still bloody hands, they were still bleeding but only ever so slightly most of the blood there was dried onto his skin.

'Yeah of course let's go!' Lucas got to his feet, rubbing away tracks his tears had left on his face.

The two made their way back to the house, they were walking far slower than they had as they had been heading into the woods, Emma couldn't help but wonder what was so dangerous in the Lowell family house or why is posed a threat to her specifically.

'What are we running from Lucas?' Emma asked turning her head slightly, so she could see him in her peripheral vision.

'What aren't we running from! I just want you to be safe, I don't want you to have to go through-' He paused, almost stopping himself from continuing 'I just want you to have a happy life.' The atmosphere was immediately awkward, but they were close to the house, so Emma didn't have to bare it much longer.

As they approached the door Emma could see Lucas tense up, she offered her hand, he smiled and took it. They walked through the door together only to be immediately greeted by Lyra and Alistair Lowell blocking their path.

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter in case you can't tell things are close to the stories climax! I hope to get this story don't within the next few chapters, but we'll see how it goes. Exam season is growing closer so unless I write to procrastinate revising I wont upload for a while, you'll just have to wait and see. As always, I appreciate reviews, thanks for reading, until next time!