The next morning was Saturday and, as the dark clouds had warned, a storm was upon them.
Emmy and Dirk headed down to Hogsmeade at eleven o'clock and it took them almost forty-five minutes to reach The Three Broomsticks. The howling wind and pouring rain had blocked out any attempts at talking but they were finally able to speak when they ordered a couple of butterbeers and huddled together by the fire.
The conversation flowed easily for a couple of hours and when Emmy finished the last dregs of her butterbeer, they took advantage of a break in the torrential rain to go for a walk.
The path to the old haunted house started opposite the pub so they were well into the forest within ten minutes. The trees thankfully gave them shelter from the storm and they managed to reach the viewpoint within half an hour.
While the woods had been a hive of activity with rustling squirrels and twittering birds, the area around the house was eerily quiet in the thick fog and thunder clouds that swirled overhead. They stayed at the edge of the forest to avoid getting soaked but looked at it across the half-mile stretch of moorland.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she murmured.
"I guess. Bit creepy though."
Sensing he wasn't enjoying himself as much as she was, Emmy checked the time. She was supposed to be meeting her friends in Honeydukes soon and whilst she could have stayed there content for the rest of her life, she knew she had to leave. Something just drew her to the wildness and energy of the landscape, it was like nothing she'd ever felt before.
"Come on, let's head back," she replied, disheartened.
The storm began to pick up once again as they reached Hogsmeade and snow swirled around their heads.
Dirk dropped her off at the door of the shop and headed back to the castle hurriedly, not wanting to get caught out in the blizzard alone.
Emmy was practically dragged into the shop by her frantic friends.
"We thought you were dead!" yelped Marlene dramatically.
"I was only ten minutes late, guys."
"Yeah but this storm is supposed to be the worst this decade, look at it already!"
"You could've gotten hypothermia, or a tree could've fallen on you, or you could've got lost and had to seek refuge in some dodgy old witch's house and been eaten alive," rambled Lily clutching her tightly.
"Hey, look I'm alright, Lils," she squeezed her arm comfortingly. "I'm sorry for worrying you."
Alice coughed, "Well now we know Emmy's not dead, can we go and get some sweets?"
Emmy laughed, "That sounds like a great idea."
Half an hour later, they'd all bought their things but as the hailstones ricocheted off the glass and the wind whistled through the tiny cracks in the floorboards, they peered out of the window, trying to work out how to get back to the castle.
With a bang, the door smacked open and the four Marauders hurtled inside before collapsing in a heap on the floor.
The shop went completely quiet; the only noise was the sound of the rain dripping off the boys and their heaving breaths before the girls began to snigger. With one look from Remus, they went silent but the grins remained on their faces.
James and Sirius groaned before hauling themselves up and helping Peter and Remus to their feet.
"Alright there, Potter?" asked Lily.
"Yes thank you," he grumbled in embarrassment.
Sirius stumbled over to a display with a mirror to try to fix his hair. As he hurriedly smoothed down his long dark locks, he caught Emmy's gleaming eyes. He grinned and winked at her shamelessly.
Peter was still staggering around and held onto a sideboard piled high with towers of liquorice wands to keep steady. It was just unfortunate that when a frazzled Professor McGonagall rushed in, he jumped and somehow managed to knock down every last one of them.
"Oh for heavens' sake, Pettigrew!" she exclaimed in exasperation. But as he and Sirius bent down to pick them back up, she cast a drying spell over them with a roll of her eyes.
He looked over his shoulder shyly and muttered a thanks. She gave him a small smile.
All things considered, Emmy really did feel sorry for Peter. He very noticeably lacked the good looks of his friends and his awkward manner and clumsiness did him no favours.
"Well what I was going to say, was that the portkey I have here," she held out a copy of Transfiguration for Trolls, "Leaves in two minutes to take you back up to Hogwarts.
She handed it to Lily, "Can I entrust you with this, Miss Evans, whilst I seek out other students taking refuge in nearby shops?"
"Of course, professor," she replied gratefully.
As McGonagall whisked out of the shop, Emmy and Alice peered out after her, the professor pointing her wand at the sky and created an umbrella from the rain drops as her neat high heels clicked along the cobblestones.
"What a badass," Alice murmured quietly .
"I think I just want to be her," Emmy agreed.
About moment later, everyone began crowding around the portkey. The excitement in everyone's eyes sparkled, and with the rain hammering against the windows, the beautiful colours of the sweet shop and baited breath, the wait for the portkey wasn't long enough.
A sudden blinding light shone from the book and, with a creak of the floorboards, they were gone.
—————
They arrived back at the Gryffindor tower just before dinner. They threw their bags into the common room before running down to the Great Hall to make it in time for Dippet's speech.
The headteacher was just standing up as all ten of them hurtled down the middle of the room and hurdled the benches, Emmy landing on top of Marlene with a short yelp of laughter. She felt McGonagall's eyes on her back and looked over to wince a quiet apology.
Professor Dippet's speech only lasted a merciful three minutes before they dove into the food.
They all stayed chatting together until they were the last ones left at the tables, exhilarated from their adventures that day. James and Sirius were enthralled in a heated debate on whether it would be better to be an animagus or a metamorphmagus with Marlene and Emmy.
"Yeah, but you can change into anything if you're a metamorphmagus, it's only one animal if you're an animagus. And anyway, what if you turned into something stupid like a chicken?" reasoned Marlene.
Emmy cackled, "Imagine you turned into a chihuahua!"
"But you could turn into like really macho, good-looking dog. That would definitely be worth it," countered an indignant-looking Sirius.
"Dogs, are dogs Sirius. There's not that much difference between a chihuahua and an Irish wolfhound when it comes down to it."
Remus choked on his drink and had to be thumped on the back by a sniggering Peter. Sirius had a particularly sour look on his face. Emmy frowned in confusion but supposed he'd finally realised she'd won and went back to her spaghetti.
They were interrupted by a shriek from Lily. "It's almost ten o'clock, you idiots! We're supposed to be having a sleepover."
"Oh crap," yelped Alice, dragging Emmy up and pulling her over the bench.
"You literally live together," said Remus in amusement.
"Shut up, Remus," snarked Emmy with a laugh as she scrambled for her things.
Marlene and Dory were already at the door by the time they caught up after yelling goodnight to the boys.
The run up to the dormitory was frantic but hilarious as they tripped over each other and dropped jumpers and sweets that they had to scramble back for. They almost crashed into a bemused Professor McGonagall on the staircase and careened around swearing ghosts on their way.
Thankfully by the time they reached their dormitory it had heated up considerably thanks to the fireplaces the house elves had lit for them. They changed into their pyjamas quickly and dove down into all the blankets and duvets they'd gathered together by the hearth.
Living in an ancient castle was amazing most of the time; Emmy would never get tired of the views and the excitement of finding somewhere you'd never been before, but in the harsh winters, the cold nights were painfully long.
They collected all the sweets they'd bought from Honeydukes and dumped them in the middle of the circle, chocolate frogs wriggled around in their packaging and glimmering fizzing whizzbees shone in the light of the flickering flames.
Marlene immediately claimed the Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans while Emmy hoarded as much chocolate as she could find, tucking it under her hoody. Lily couldn't hold back her giggles at the sight of the overflowing sweatshirt
"You're... you're like a bloody niffler!" she wheezed. "How much have you got in there?"
Emmy smiled sheepishly as the others burst out laughing.
"Oh my god, she's right," cackled Dorcas.
"Hey nifflers are cute! I'm taking that as a compliment."
"Man, I want a niffler," sighed Marlene. "Always have, my parents never let us get one."
"Can't imagine why," Mary snorted. "Not like they steal all your valuables or anything..."
"We could have put locks on the doors! Anyway, now that all my brothers have moved out, the house is so quiet."
Marlene had five older brothers; Roger, Anthony, Edward, Fergus and Jamie were all adopted as she way, and even though the youngest was now in his twenties they spent as much of the summer together as they could, wreaking havoc on the family home at every possibility. Emmy heard about them all the time and from the amount of sweets and letters they sent their little sister, she could tell they doted on her.
"I bet Roger would buy you one if you asked," suggested Lily. "Did he not buy you an entire family of pygmy puffs one Christmas?"
"Yeah but Mum made us give them away after Grandma tripped over them on Boxing Day and had to spend a week in St. Mungo's."
They all giggled, imagining the look on Margaret McKinnon's face when she realised what her children had done.
"When I first got Basil," Alice said, nodding to her toad as he pottered through the strewn sweet wrappers. "I almost had to take him to St. Mungo's because he got into Dad's supply of extra ice-cream cones he keeps in the shop basement and managed to eat three times his body weight."
They all gasped in horror, though Emmy looked at the toad with new found respect. He was nothing if not determined.
"That's not even the worst part though," she giggled. "I tried to call for help with my new wand and ended up blasting a whole through to Flourish & Blotts. Mum almost had a heart attack."
They were in tears of laughter now, but Emmy soon leant back against the fire place as a wave of sleepiness over came her, it seemed like weeks ago she'd battle through the storm to Hogsmeade with Dirk.
The sound of the wind battering the roof tiles outside the window and the crackle of the fire was the only sound in the room when Dory spoke.
"When I first got my wand, my dad sent me out to de-gnome the garden. And the genius that was my eleven-year-old self thought that it would be a great idea to just turn them into ornamental gnomes instead of throwing them over the fence. Things is, I didn't quite manage the full transformation and our neighbours had to be persuaded not to call the Abuse of Magical Creatures office at the Ministry."
They were in peals of laughter when she finished, Emmy clutched her ribs at Dory's embarrassment.
Smiling softly, she glanced around the room, leaning her head on Lily's shoulder. She felt so peace, she couldn't remember noticing how close she'd gotten to them before. For the first time in her life she knew that no matter what, someone had her back, that someone would fight for her and she knew without a shadow of a doubt she would do the same for any of them in return.
They were her sisters in all but name and she would defend them with her life without a moments hesitation.
———————
foreshadowing? what's that? never heard of it.
😉