They sat on a log, staring across the Black Lake. Emma had wrapped her arms around her legs. It lay still, the water barely even rippling. Darkness enshrouded them. It was gone midnight. They weren't supposed to be out here anymore, but with the Hogwarts Express leaving for London for the last time the next morning, neither of them could bring themselves to go back inside.
"This sucks," said Emma eventually, unable to keep a tremor out of her voice.
"Yeah," Severus agreed. "I don't want to go home yet."
"We'll stay friends, though... Won't we?"
"Of course we will!" Severus immediately exclaimed. "I'll visit you every day, until you're so sick of me that you'll kick me out."
She chuckled and nudged him. "I'll never get sick of you."
He lifted one leg over the log to face her and pulled her into a hug. "I'll miss you, Emma."
She swallowed, but the lump in her throat wouldn't budge. Grabbing hold of his robes, she whispered, "I'll miss you too."
"Thank you. For everything," he muttered. "Always being there for me."
She wanted to respond, but couldn't find her voice.
"I know I don't say it enough, but you mean everything to me. You're all I have."
She nodded into his shoulder, the lump in her throat making it impossible to speak. All she could do was sit there and enjoy the feeling of his arms around her back.
For a few moments she considered telling him. In seven years' time she'd never managed to tell him how she really felt about him. Was it finally time?
Before she could find the courage, however, he let go of her. "We should go and find Lily in the morning. Say goodbye to her, too. She'll want to sit with Potter on the train, so..." He trailed off.
"Mhm." The hole deep inside her grew and she knew she couldn't tell him. Even now, with Lily steadily dating Potter, she was still all he could think about.
It would never change. She knew that. But if it ever did, she would be right there by his side.
A wave of adrenaline surged through her as realisation hit. "Go to your dorms," she urged Harry and his friends. "I believe you. Go to your dorms and leave it to me."
Without waiting for an answer, she sprinted up the stairs, racing up to the seventh floor to the headmaster's office. I have to tell Dumbledore! That stone wasn't just priceless. In the wrong hands, it could be incredibly dangerous, giving an evil man power.
She'd just made it to the seventh floor, heaving and panting as she bounded around a corner, when she quite literally bumped into Minerva McGonagall, head of Gryffindor and deputy headmistress of Hogwarts. Both women scantily caught their balance.
"Professor Moore!" Minerva exclaimed. "You know perfectly well that running is not allowed in the hallways. You would do well to set a better example for the students."
"Sorry! No time! Need to find Albus!"
She was already running off, when Minerva called after her, "He's not in!"
She froze to a halt. Eyes wide, she turned back to her older colleague. "What?"
Minerva shot her an annoyed glare. "What is it with everyone trying to get a hold of Albus today? He is a busy man. He had an errand to run, outside of Hogwarts."
"Oh no," Emma muttered. With Dumbledore out, the school wasn't nearly as well protected. Which made tonight the perfect night to strike. "Oh, that's bad."
"I'm sure the school will survive one evening without him, Professor Moore. Just talk to him tomorrow."
"No!" said Emma. "No, tomorrow is going to be too late. Please, send him an urgent message that he needs to get back as soon as he can. Something terrible is happening."
Minerva looked aghast. "And what exactly is the reason for pulling him away from his duties?"
"No time to explain," Emma called, already on her way back to the stairs. "Trust me, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't incredibly important. Life or death, Minerva, please!"
What am I going to do? she asked herself as she dashed down the stairs two steps at a time. What am I going to do?
Stall him, said another voice in the back of her head, one that sounded an awful lot like Aunt April's. Stall him until Dumbledore comes back.
Her heart hammering in her chest, she sprinted down to the ground floor, where his office was situated, praying to whatever higher power would listen that he was still there. When she finally reached his door, she took a quick moment to catch her breath and push her hair behind her ears, hoping she didn't look like she'd just been running all the way up to the highest floor of the castle and back down.
Every knock of her knuckles on his door sent a flash of fear through her bones. She didn't wait for an answer, swinging the door open.
There he was, standing in a corner of the room by the book case, a book lying open in his hands. He looked up in surprise.
"Hi, Quirinus!" Emma plastered a smile on her face.
"Oh, h-hello, Emma. What are you d-d-doing here?"
She gulped. That's a very good question. "Er... I was just... marking the end-of-year exams. Yes, and I got bored." She chuckled, but it sounded nervous in her ears. "Marking exams is just depressing, right?"
"It can be, yes." He tilted his head to the side. "Are you not on s-s-speaking terms with Severus?"
A laugh escaped her, filled with relief at having something to talk about. Just stall. "You caught me," she grinned, stepping further into the room in an attempt to look less awkward. She fingered her wand inside her robes. "You're my go-to guy when I'm not getting along with Severus."
"I'll t-take that as a compliment. Would you close the door, please? It's quite c-cold in those hallways."
Emma glanced over her shoulder. "Er..." Her brain refused to come up with a valid excuse to leave the door open, so she conceded in the end. "Right. Of course," she said as she pulled it shut, the sound echoing across the room.
"So," she continued, "how far did you get with the exams?"
Quirinus smiled. "I'm right on schedule. I do need to get b-back to it soon, though. Was there anything you needed?"
"No, no," she said vaguely. "Just a chat."
He snapped his book shut and placed it on the desk beside him. "Forgive me for saying this, but you've never come in here for just a chat. What is it you really came for, E-Emma?"
She forced a laugh through her tightened throat, one hand in her pocket gripping her wand. Her heart pounded in her chest. "You're right. I should stop by more often."
"She knows." A high-pitched, whispered voice boomed across the room.
Emma jumped, flicking the wand out of her pocket. "What the hell was that?"
Quirinus frowned, muttering, "Yes. Yes, I believe she does." His voice had changed completely. It was lower now, angrier, every shred of nervousness had disappeared without a trace.
"Kill her."
Emma's eyes widened, and she raised the wand with a trembling hand. Kill? What is that voice?!
"Quirinus," she uttered. "What are you doing? We're friends, aren't we?"
A dark chuckle left his lips. "We could have been, if things were different."
You can do this, she told herself, gulping as Quirinus aimed his wand at her. Just do what Severus taught you.
He stepped forward and she took an equal step back. "What did you do to my aunt?" she demanded, still hoping to stall him. Every minute counted. Any second, Dumbledore could come back.
"Your aunt?" Quirinus laughed. "Your aunt was a meddling witch. I don't know how she caught my trail, but she should have left it well alone. I enjoyed killing her. Wasn't it poetic, how I used your boyfriend's spell to kill the woman who raised you?"
Emma paled. It really was him... Aunt April's killer had been right here at Hogwarts with her the whole time. Much worse, she'd considered him a friend. "You won't get away with that."
"Oh, really? And what are you going to do about it?" He grinned. "I should've killed you back on that beach. I would've, if Severus hadn't protected you."
The blood drained from her face. "That was you?" Severus had thought it was Death Eaters, and that they were there for him. He'd blamed himself for ruining her birthday, when actually it had been about her all along.
"I didn't know how much your aunt had told you. Better to get rid of loose ends."
His wand-hand twitched and Emma knew what it meant. It was the tell she'd watched out for in her training sessions with Severus. "You're a Death Eater, then?" she called desperately. "If you know Sectumsempra, you must be a Death Eater like Severus, right?"
The smile froze on his face. "What do you think I did all this for? For the glory of the Dark Lord, of course! Once I have my hands on the philosopher's stone, he shall live again."
Oh no... "Are you insane? He's been gone for years!" The stone, the unicorn blood, that voice... How had she not seen it?
"And I am about to bring him back."
You-Know-Who. Her breath caught. It was all to bring You-Know-Who back. It was all so, so much worse than what she'd thought. None of this was about her, or her aunt. They were just in the way. He wanted to get the stone to bring back the darkest, most evil wizard of all time. I can't let that happen... I have to stop him.
"No," Emma snarled. "I won't let you."
Quirinus smirked. "I'm going to kill you now, Emma. I'm going to kill you the same way I killed your aunt."
Before she could respond, a flash of red light shot towards her, and she dove out of the way.
Mind your posture, Emma, Severus' voice rang in her head. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, bending her knees a tad for flexibility.
Go on, then. I'm ready.
When the next spell came, she deflected it, responding with a Body-Bind curse of her own. It missed, but the fact that she could get a spell off at all, encouraged her.
Quirinus fired spell after spell, each of which she deflected and parried, shooting back whenever she got a chance. Curses and jinxes bounced off the walls and cabinets, sending splinters of wood flying through the room.
Protego! she screamed in her head, her wand trained at the skinny man in front of her. Stupefy! Protego! Protego! Incarcerous!
"You think you can win?" Quirinus laughed. "Even your aunt couldn't win from me, and she was a trained auror!"
The spells came quicker, fiercer. It was all she could do to just stay on her feet. I'm going to lose, she thought. He's right. If Aunt April couldn't beat him, neither can I. She gripped her wand tighter. If I'm going to lose, I'd better take him down with me.
In a last-ditched effort, she screamed, "Confringo!"
Two streaks of red crossed each other mid-air. In a reflex, Emma shot off another shield, but it wasn't fully formed when Quirinus' spell hit it. His curse cleaved through the shield like butter. She was knocked off her feet. When her back hit the floor, it knocked the wind out of her, but she barely noticed. All she could feel was the all-encompassing, world-shattering pain that stung her chest, her arms, her legs, even her face.
Sectumsempra.
Everything stung, as if a thousand swords slashed through her skin. She couldn't move. Quirinus screamed somewhere ahead of her, but she couldn't see. She couldn't even breathe. She could only feel, until even that was taken away, and, finally, mercifully, there was nothing.