𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒-ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣❥

𝐇𝐁𝐏 𝟔

Emily ran through the corridors wearing her nightgown, her hair flowing behind her as she sprinted, crying and panting.

She sprinted around the corridors, trying to find an exit and she sobbed loudly, feeling her legs slowly beginning to collapse.

"You did this, Emily." Sirius' voice rang through her ears like alarm bells, "You've killed me. You killed you father. And soon enough, you'll kill Remus, then you'll kill Eric, then Ethan and then Draco. Because you. . .you are a killer!"

"No!" Emily screamed, "No! I am not!"

Hermione leant over the girl who squirmed in her bed, screaming out Sirius' name. "Emily! Emily! Emily! Wake up! Oh, please wake up!"

Just then, Emily gasped awake but her screaming and pleading hadn't stopped, she was stuck in the nightmare still.

Hermione grabbed her shoulders firmly and twisted her body so Emily was forced to look in her eyes, "It was a nightmare, Emily! Nothing but a silly nightmare! You're fine, I promise. I'm here! I am here!"

An hour later, the two girls met Harry and Ron m in the common room before breakfast.

To Harry's surprise, Emily had stood right next to him, holding her hand in his as tight as she possible could, using his shoulder as a head rest.

Despite this feeling, Harry lost no time in telling Hermione and Emily what he had overheard Malfoy saying on the Hogwarts Express.

"But he was obviously showing off for Parkinson, wasn't he?" interjected Ron quickly, before Hermione could say anything.

"Well," she said uncertainly, "I don't know ... it would be like Malfoy to make himself seem more important than he is ... but that's a big lie to tell ..."

"Exactly," said Harry, but he could not press the point, because so many people were trying to listen in to his conversation, not to mention staring at him and Emily and whispering behind their hands.

"It's rude to point," Ron snapped at a particularly minuscule first-year as they joined the queue to climb out of the portrait hole.

The boy, who had been muttering something about Emily behind his hand to his friend, promptly turned scarlet and toppled out of the hole in alarm.

Ron sniggered.

"I love being a sixth-year. And we're going to be getting free time this year. Whole periods when we can just sit up here and relax."

"We're going to need that time for studying, Ron!" said Hermione, as they set off down the corridor.

"Yeah, but not today," said Ron, "today's going to be a real doss, I reckon."

"Hold it!" said Hermione, throwing out an arm and halting a passing fourth-year, who was attempting to push past her with a lime-green disc clutched tightly in his hand. "Fanged Frisbees are banned, hand it over," she told him sternly.

The scowling boy handed over the snarling Frisbee, ducked under Hermione's arm and took off after his friends.

Ron waited for him to vanish, then tugged the Frisbee from Hermione's grip.

"Excellent, I've always wanted one of these."

Hermione's remonstration was drowned by a loud giggle; Lavender Brown had apparently found Ron's remark highly amusing. She continued to laugh as she passed them, glancing back at Ron over her shoulder. Ron looked rather pleased with himself.

The ceiling of the Great Hall was serenely blue and streaked with frail, wispy clouds, just like the squares of sky visible through the high mullioned windows.