the hat | 𝐬.𝐛

𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟱𝟴 || To Come of Age

It was a week after the match that the excitement finally died down.

After all the drama, things seemed a little too quiet for Emery's liking, and she trusted herself to make sure that Hogwarts knew she still existed.

She went all haywire playing pranks, not taking a day's rest.

And boy was everyone sick of it.

The thing was, nobody knew who was going to be the next victim; Emery's choice was completely random.

Her first victim had been Professor Douglas, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Emery had put beetles in his glasses case, and when he opened the case to take out his glasses, the beetles wriggled out and crawled all over him, making him shriek and run out of the class.

Next, she played a prank on the librarian, by rubbing her chair with chalk. When the librarian sat on her chair, and got up moments later, there was a huge white mark on her backside, causing all the students to giggle and point her way.

She also victimized Professor Slughorn, who had lost his hair due to another one of her pranks. She slipped him a potion that made his hair grow back, into a fine mass of tresses, only for them to fall off when he was teaching, causing the class to crack up.

But the prank Emery enjoyed most was the one she played on the Slytherins. She had somehow managed to make all their voices disappear, and whenever they would try speaking, they'd end up burping or making really rude noises.

Aside from the fact that it was a normal atmosphere for Hogwarts, Sirius had stopped hanging around with Emery, and it pained her to see him just smile in her presence, instead of make a joke or hug her.

She missed him now, more than ever.

They hadn't fought or anything; Emery couldn't remember what she did to offend him, but she still guilted herself for not being a better friend.

It was killing her on the inside, when she noticed that he was spending time with Marlene as well. That just confirmed her theory that they had something between them.

Emery tried to show that she was happy, but she was failing miserably on the inside. She didn't want to ruin her friendship with either, so she tried to be happy for them and distanced herself away, in fear that she'd mess things up if she got close.

Marlene and Sirius didn't show their relationship publicly, but Emery saw them whispering to each other in class and passing notes.

She had a feeling they were just friends, but she didn't want to get her hopes up for no reason.

Another thing that Emery was excited for was her birthday, which was in five days time. In those days, she played pranks more than ever, and was evermore so lonely, seeing as even Cecilia was infatuated with Rabastan.

She was all alone.

In this time, she befriended Hagrid, whom she visited every single day, and he'd show her his magical creatures and even let her feed them.

She found solace in his company, and she'd listen to stories of his childhood and his experiences. In return, she too, told him about her life, and he proved to be a good listener.

She enjoyed his company immensely, and even introduced him to Marco, who had by now fully developed into a grown up duck.

His feathers were all white, and had learned to swim in the Black lake and catch worms by himself, a trait which Emery found most adorable.

It was a night before her seventeenth birthday that Emery wanted to show Sirius a new spell she learnt, and she decided to visit him in the Gryffindor common room.

She was still wearing her uniform, and since it was Friday, the curfew had been pushed ahead by half an hour. 

Emery reached the portrait, then asked the fat lady to let her in, after saying the password. When she entered, she was greeted by a smiling James Potter and Remus Lupin, both of who were playing Exploding Snap with the rest of the Marauders and the girls in her year.

It was then that Emery realized that Sirius was missing.

Looking around, she asked, "Where's Sirius?"

The others looked at each other, and then Lily Evans spoke.

"He's with Marlene. They're in his dorm."

And all hell came crashing down.

She didn't hear anything said after that; nor did she want to.

Sirius was with Marlene in his dorm, and they were accompanied by nobody else.

That's what mattered.

Without further ado, Emery froze.

"Oh- oh," she stuttered. "I- I'll- I'll just tell him later then."

And she left the common room in a rush, ignoring the protests that sounded behind her. 

Tears spilling down her cheeks, she realized that she'd never have a chance with Sirius.

It was best to just give up on him for good.

a/n: TWO CHAPTERS LEFT