Emma stared into the mirror in the girls' bathroom, pausing to wash her hands. Her eyes swept over her face, and she looked closely into her own eyes, before she shook her head and turned on the tap. She switched it off and looked up again, wondering if she could do something about her appearance. What if the reason her mother was missing, or what Emma believed - taken, was because Voldemort was searching for her, and his Death Eaters were helping him. What if they were looking for parents who had a daughter Emma's age, born on the same day as Harry, with the slightest resemblance?
This was crazy. If Dumbledore had really separated them as babies, even changed Emma's last name, why couldn't he have changed her birthday as well? Maybe made it a couple months earlier than her actual birthday? For a smart man, he was really silly to have allowed Emma's birthday to have been kept the same. He probably believed it would have allowed the connection to stay between her and Harry as twins, but that didn't really matter as much as she believed it did just two Christmases ago.
She quickly finished washing up and then stepped out into the empty corridor, where she saw a figure with white-blond hair just passing by.
"Emma," he said quickly, surprised. "I was just looking for you."
"You were?" Emma beamed, ignoring the confusion that was clouding her mind. "It's been a fortnight, why would you have been looking - in fact, why are you talking to me again?"
Draco pursed his lips for a moment before walking a little closer to her.
"Are you OK?" she asked.
"Yeah...er...no," he replied slowly, slow enough to know that he was telling the truth. "No, actually...I..."
Emma furrowed her eyebrows as Draco tried to speak, but it seemed as though his tongue was caught in his throat. Perhaps he was finally giving in and was going to tell her what he had been up to.
"Hey, look, I'm really sorry about what I said in Potions that time," Emma interrupted him. "I shouldn't have said what I did, it really wasn't any of my business -"
"No, it was your business. As your boyfriend I should have told you what I was up to," Draco said quickly before she could get any further. "But that isn't..." he paused to look away and scratch his head, "that isn't why I came looking for you."
"It's not...?" she said, confused. She really thought he had come to explain to her what he'd been doing in the Room of Requirement while keeping Crabbe and Goyle as lookouts, only he didn't know that she knew that much. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Hey...what's wrong?"
"Nothing," he muttered, blinking quickly. "Nothing...I just...we need to talk..."
Those were the words that had made Emma think the worst, think of what she had been fearing to hear for the last two weeks. It felt like hands were grabbing at her stomach, pulling it, until a hole tore threw it and all she could feel was the wind. She stared at him for a moment, as he stared back, plainly to see what her reaction would be.
"OK..." she said slowly. "Hit me."
"Why would I -"
" - it's an expression," Emma said. "What d'you want to talk about?"
"Right...well...you see, I don't really...er..." he stammered, avoiding her eyes. "You see...you and me..." he pointed between the two of them, "...it's not really - um - it isn't really...working. And I think we should just take a break for a little while. It's not you, don't worry," he quickly assured her. "It isn't you at all. And it has nothing to do with what you asked me in Potions, I just...I think we should wait till this whole thing blows over."
Emma stared at him for ages, completely shocked. She never thought that Draco would be the one to break it off, he had evidently been crazy about her for the last two years, and he had always tried to fix it between the two of them whenever they argued, yet here he was breaking up with her. Draco was breaking up with her...
"Till what blows over..." Emma mumbled stupidly, her mind completely absent. It didn't even feel real.
"You know," he murmured back, flickering his eyes up to hers. "This whole war thing...people getting hurt and disappearing...You-Know-Who..."
Emma didn't know how long she stood there, staring at him in disbelief, until the tears brimming her eyes snapped her out of it and she quickly looked away.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I really want to be with you, I do...but I don't think it's a good idea what with everything that's going on."
"I get it," she nodded, surprised by how calm she was about it, simply for the fact that it still did not seem real, that he was actually breaking up with her. She wasn't even mad at him...
"OK," he said, forcing a small smile. "I'm going to get going, then...I have somewhere to be..."
She nodded again.
"Unless you want me to stay for a bit?"
She shook her head. "Is this why you avoided me for the last two weeks? It wasn't really because of the question, was it?"
"I'm not sure," he frowned. "I think I avoided you 'cause you made me realise...certain things...certain similarities between them...and I waited this long to tell you 'cause I thought it'd hurt a little less. Truth is, I thought wrong."
Emma said nothing, only stood there, frozen, as Draco slowly backed away, and began to turn for the end of the corridor from which he had come. Now it felt real.
"Draco..." she called out to him, causing him to stop and whirl around questioningly. She shrugged as carelessly as she could. "I love you."
He froze between turning around fully or turning back the way he had come, but he clearly couldn't control the way his lips had twitched. "I love you, too, Freckles."
It was strange, saying these words after they had split up, but she couldn't help it. She smiled, and waited for him to disappear down the end of the corridor.
Draco didn't want to have done that, and all he thought about was the way her eyes immediately filled with tears the moment he had said it. He stayed in the common room while the rest of the school was out in the Great Hall eating dinner. He had lost his appetite a long time ago, only eating when he absolutely needed to thus his weight loss.
He strayed alone the next day, disappearing in and out of the Room of Requirement at certain times, but showing up to his Charms class by the end of the day. He barely paid any attention to Professor Flitwick, and flicked his wand carelessly, not quite caring about passing. He hadn't cared for a while now, which was why he had multiple detentions with Professor McGonagall.
Draco's eyes would often stray over to where Emma was sitting, quite naturally, as natural as it was when they were still together. He'd often have to remind himself of their conversation yesterday. Potter would occasionally glance over at him, he noticed, and he wasn't quite sure if he knew about him and his sister, as he would often cast him suspicious glances in every other class.
Professor Dumbledore showed up at the door of the classroom a couple minutes later, apologising for the interruption and asking to speak with Emma. Potter had looked up hopefully the moment the Headmaster was at the door. Emma, confused, exited the classroom, and Draco craned his neck to watch Dumbledore speaking with Emma through the window.
He saw Emma smiling for a moment, and then it faltered, and she burst into tears. Professor Dumbledore laid a hand on her shoulder, leaned in close to talk to her as she had just bowed her head, and gave her a pat on the head. Draco had a thought as to why she was crying, but he didn't want to think of it. Emma burst into the classroom, interrupting Flitwick, and many people stared at her crying face as she grabbed her bag and stormed out of the classroom again.
She had heard two bad things within twenty-four hours.