magnolia ~ h. potter

one

"Funny," said Ginny, crossing her arms, and Emily snickered.

"You ought to be careful, I could've sworn I saw Ron coming this way a minute ago," she said innocently, and Dean paled considerably.

"Nice summer?" she asked him casually, as she went to put her trunk down.

"Yeah...Quite nice," Dean replied, and Ginny caught Emily's eye, looking unimpressed, making Emily smile,

"I..uh- I'll see you later Gin, gotta sort some things out," Dean stammered, before hastily stepping out of the room and speed-walking down the corridor.

"What'd you do that for?" Ginny asked, arms crossed over her Holyhead Harpies sweater.

"Don't know what you mean," Emily smirked, and Ginny gave her a playful shove.

"You know he's terrified of my brothers already," she chided, and Emily laughed.

"He should be, you've got 6," she said, and they both laughed as they stepped into the corridor.

"Nice summer?" Ginny asked Emily, and she grimaced.

"Pretty dreadful actually," she muttered, "But thanks for your letters and the candy,"

Ginny smiled. She was quite beautiful, Emily thought.

"Reckon you needed a little something else than what they'd give in St. Mungo's. Dad said the food was dreadful when he was there," she said, and Emily nodded.

"You're a good friend," she smiled, giving her a hug.

"Well, I'd better go and find Dean before he pitches himself off the train," Ginny said, before saying goodbye and taking off.

Emily made her way down the corridor, peering into the compartments in an effort to find an empty one.

She knew most of her friends were sitting in the last carriage of the train, where there were no compartments and it was usually very noisy, but Emily had no desire to sit for 5 hours in a stuffy train carriage usually crowded with rowdy 4-5th years.

Finally, she stumbled across a compartment with only two people in it. She slid the door open, smiling at the round-faced boy and blonde girl.

"Do you mind terribly if I sit? Most other compartments are full," she said, and Neville Longbottom smiled at her.

"Course," he said, and she hoisted her backpack above her head onto the rack as the train started to move out of the station. She noticed there was a third backpack there as well, but had no time to read the initials on the front before the door slid open again.

"Em?" asked the stunned voice of Harry Potter, and Emily winced as she turned to face him.

"Uh.....Hi," she said, and he frowned.

"I thought you ought to still be at St. Mungo's?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"All better," she said feebly, "Surprise...."

When she saw the concern in his eyes, she let out a sigh.

"Harry," she said, "I'm fine, honest, don't worry so much,"

Harry looked down at his feet.

"How could you tell me not to worry?" he asked quietly, "If you hadn't taken that spell..."

Last year, Emily had stood alongside him when he formed Dumbledore's Army, and had joined him in the Department of Mysteries for the battle against the Death Eaters of You-Know-Who. Ultimately, she had taken a curse that would otherwise have hit Harry, a curse she spent the entirety of her summer recovering from at St. Mungo's.