[CHAPTER 2]
DUMBLEDORE'S WARNING
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"EMILY, HAVE YOU SEEN HARRY?"
The sounds of the great hall made it difficult for Emily to hear Hermione, but nevertheless, she shook her head.
"Last I saw he was with Luna and Neville," she said, and Hermione's frown of concern deepened, "Are you sure he didn't get off the train with you?"
"I think we'd notice," Ron said pointedly, before stuffing a spoonful of pudding into his mouth.
Hermione gave him a disgusted look.
There was a smack as she whacked Ron with her 'Charms on a N.E.W.T level' hardcover book.
"Will you stop eating?" she scolded, throwing the book down on the table, "Your best friend is missing,"
"Oi!" Ron looked slightly affronted, and then motioned to something behind Hermione, "Look around you lunatic,"
Indeed, Harry had just come strolling into the Great Hall, holding a soaked tissue to a bruised and bloody nose.
He sat down between Emily and Ginny.
"You're going to need some ice for that, it looks bad," Emily noted, and Hermione and Ron leaned in towards Harry.
"Where have you been?" Hermione whispered furiously, "And what happened to your face?"
Emily grabbed one of the napkins from the table and pointed her wand at her water goblet. She muttered a spell and turned the goblet over, a solid block of ice falling onto the table and startling Ron.
"Later," said Harry in a hushed tone, seemingly aware that Dean, Seamus, and Ginny were craning their necks to listen in.
"Here," Emily said, and she gingerly held the napkin with the ice to his nose.
Harry seemed a little surprised but took the ice thankfully with a small smile.
"What did I miss?" he asked her, but Ron butted in, not catching on that the question hadn't been meant for him.
"The Sorting Hat says we ought to be brave and strong in these troubled times," Ron snorted, "Easy for it to say, though. It's a hat, isn't it?"
Harry nodded in agreement, just as Dumbledore stood before his lectern, the wings of the silver owl extending for silence.
"Very best of evenings to you all," he greeted, and the hall fell completely silent, "First off, let me introduce the newest member of our staff : Horace Slughorn. Professor Slughorn will be resuming his old post as potions master, while Professor Snape will take the Defence against The Dark Arts position,"
A murmur of shock rippled through the crowd as Professor Snape gave a malicious smile, and Emily caught sight of Kate sitting at the Hufflepuff table, mouthing something that looked an awful lot like "slimy git"
"As you know, each and every one of you was searched upon your arrival here tonight, you have the right to know why," Dumbledore went on, his voice carrying almost unnaturally across the vast hall, "Once, there was a young man like you, sat in this very hall. Walked this castle's corridors and slept under its roof. You see, to all the world, a student like any other. His name: Tom Riddle,"
All around Emily, students whispered the name softly, other gasped inaudibly.
"Today, of course, he is known all over the world by another name. Which is why as I stand, looking out upon you all tonight, I'm reminded of a sobering fact:
Every day, every hour, this very minute, perhaps... dark forces attempt to penetrate this castle's walls. But in the end, you must remember that their greatest weapon....is you,"
A murmur of unease passed over the crowd of students, and it was almost as if, with his last words, Dumbledore had looked straight at Emily. She looked down at her plate, feeling her stomach twist into an uncomfortable knot as she refused to meet Dumbledore's piercing eyes.
Emily felt as though somebody had turned off the volume in her head, and all she could hear was Dumbledore's voice resonating in her mind.
Her mind flashed back to a grey day at St. Mungo's, when she had been visited by the same dark forces Dumbledore had warned against.
"Just something to think about. Now off to bed," he finished, and it was as if somebody had turned the volume back on.
Benches grated as students stood, Prefect's calls being drowned out by the animated chatter.
"You coming Em?" asked Hermione, pulling Emily out of her daydream.
"Uh...yeah," she said, unease still clear in her voice.
Hermione seemed to notice and tried to catch Emily's eye as she stood up from the table.
"All right?" she asked, as they walked out of the Great Hall with the rest of the crowd, occasionally being pushed or shoved by an eager student.
Emily covered the anguish she was feeling with a smile.
"Fine,"