With Confidence {Percy Weasley}

chapter two

Emma falls into classes easier than even she expected. Her parents' homeschooled knowledge has furthered her farther than she and Aurelia believed it would. She's a natural at Charms, even enough to seriously impress Flitwick, and manages to be competent enough at Potions to earn silence from Professor Snape.

She slides easily into the camaraderie present in the sixth-year Gryffindors, making fast friends with the famed and admirable Oliver Wood. While not particularly captivated by Quidditch, she retains enough interest in the sport to gain his instant friendship. What's more of a gratification comes to her surprise: the group regularly includes Ravenclaw prefect Penelope Clearwater, and, by extension and to Emma's delight, Aurelia.

She shouldn't be baffled at her sister's penchant for making fast friends, but she does marvel at the effortlessness put into the matter. Aurelia has the group wrapped around her finger before Emma can more than offer an introduction. She should have expected it, really; it always happens. But she's long gotten used to admiring Aurelia with the rest of them. She's brilliant, in schoolwork and in personal relations, and if Emma had been looking hard enough to truly see who her sister was, she would have known she was Ravenclaw from the start.

So Emma settles in, still hesitant and tripping over her words, but no longer quite the same girl who walked into the castle trailing on the heels of her sister. Perhaps it was learning to stand on her own for the first time. Perhaps it was many things.

She knows there are eyes that mark her progress, not the least belonging to her parents, who sent a congratulatory yet surprised letter at Emma's placement, and which asked for updates on her life and Aurelia's, to hear what the other girl won't tell them. Emma divulges nothing beyond what her sister does, always taking the cues she's given. In a way, it's comforting, to have others make the decisions. But with eyes on her and creeping back to her parents and her heritage, she can't afford a misstep.

Her Gryffindor friends have no idea. Aurelia shoots her uncomfortable glances when some pure-blooded Slytherins begin a dialogue on blood purity, but Emma tunes them out. So Hogwarts unfolds rather peacefully, for as much as Emma dreaded arriving there.

~

Emma's only manner of agitation in regards to schoolwork lies in Transfiguration. Somewhat embarrassing, since her House Head is the best teacher in the school. But the Brookshires never thought that it would be important for her to learn beyond a rudimentary degree, so she's at a fourth year level, and barely passing at that.

When she asks for a tutor, she's eagerly accepted by Percy, who seems to have endless time on his hands to show off his skill at absolutely everything, despite having a million tasks as a prefect. Even Margaret struggles with the management of it all, but Percy never once buckles under the pressure. It's as if he's been preparing for the work his entire life.

But Emma doesn't think he imagined how fully incompetent she could be, given the chance.

"I told you," she says in the courtyard, hissing under her breath. They've been at this for an hour, and she's been able to accomplish absolutely nothing. They're working on a more complex transfiguration.

"It's like science," Percy tells her for what must be the hundredth time.

"I have absolutely nothing to do with science," Emma says. "I spend all my time learning what my parents didn't see fit to teach me."

"Let' s just go through it again," Percy tells her. He has glasses on today, pushing them up the bridge of his nose. "Tell me what you're looking for."

"Weight, viciousness, wand power, and concentration." Emma rattles the words off, clenching her jaw.