It was getting colder by the hour and with the Dementors so close by it only made it queer. Christmas was nearing and many students were using this as an advantage to get away from Snape and the Carrows and were going home to their families. Daphne whined about not being able to go home and that her parents refused to tell her and Astoria why. 

"You will stay with me, won't you?" Daphne repeated for several days, and it wasn't easy for Emma to keep coming up with excuses. She wanted to stay for Daphne but she was too afraid. There would without a doubt be less students which only meant she'd be less invisible. 

She thought about speaking with Ginny about what was going on over Christmas and if they would return to the Burrow together, but it was hard to do so. Snape had restored Umbridge's decree which meant that gatherings of three or more students and any unofficial student societies were forbidden. He was catching on to Dumbledore's Army and Ginny, Neville and Luna had decided to cut down the lessons in the Room of Requirement. Not to mention that it had been weeks since the Carrows decided that speaking with someone outside of your own House was forbidden as well. Nobody really went along with the Carrows' decree, not even Snape. It was just plain stupid. 

Even then, Ginny was now popular with her motormouth and impetuous behaviour and trouble making. Everybody who hadn't before now knew her name and she was banned from Hogsmeade a little while ago by Snape. Emma had started to feel protective over Ginny and worried where the girls actions would get her. 

"I kind of wanted to see my Dad," Emma told Daphne, who looked desperate. 

"I get that, I want to see my parents, too, but I can't and I don't want to be here alone with Astoria and whoever the hell else will be here," Daphne whispered in a hasty voice. 

They were sitting in the back of their Transfiguration class; the class where students hardly dared to speak in fear of being caught by McGonagall. The old woman could fire some very sassy comments and the word detention usually slipped out which was quite shameful. 

"I haven't seen him for a very long time, Daphne, and I'm...I've been worrying sick about him," Emma explained, casting glances at Professor McGonagall who was sitting at her desk marking another classes papers. "You know what he's up to."

The seventh-years were meant to be reading through their Transfiguration textbook and practicing an incantation. Emma would know what that incantation was if she'd open her book to the correct page.

Daphne suddenly narrowed her eyes. "I know, I get that and I get he's upset. He has every right to be. But if he didn't come back all that summer what makes you think he'd just suddenly show up during the two weeks? You and me both know he won't come back until your mothers killer has been caught."

Mothers killer.

Those two words were the worst.

Emma looked over at Daphne and could see the fear swimming in the pale blue of her eyes. Her heart broke for her. She knew for a fact that if she had no choice but to stay that she'd beg Daphne to do so with her. She thought about asking Mrs Weasley if she could bring Daphne and possibly Astoria back to the Burrow, but that sounded absolutely bizarre. The Weasleys' had already done so much for her given she was a stranger to them not very long ago. 

"Please, Emma," Daphne begged quietly. "Please do this for me. You and me could just waste away in the common room together. Don't leave me alone with these people. I need a friend here with me."

Emma cast a quick glance at McGonagall and saw that she was still focused with a quill in hand, and then looked back at Daphne and nodded. "OK."

Daphne sighed, clearly relieved. She leaned back into her chair after having been leaned over Emma's desk just to whisper to her. "Thank you. Oh, god...that's a relief, honestly. I know how much seeing your Dad again means to you, Emma, and I can't even begin to express how grateful I am for this."

Emma shrugged. "You could start by getting me a really good Christmas present." 

Daphne opened her mouth to reply but a wand tapping in between the two girls' desks broke their quiet conversation. 

"Interrupted you, did I?" said McGonagall, adjusting the reading glasses on the bridge of her nose. The motion reminded Emma of Harry, who adjusted his glasses quite a lot. "This conversation couldn't wait until the end of class?"

Emma and Daphne exchanged a look and both shook their heads up at their teacher.

"No," said Daphne. "We were talking about...the transfiguration."

"The transfiguration," the Professor repeated. Emma knew her face was blank with annoyance because she knew what McGonagall was going to say before she said it. "Had Miss Baranov opened her textbook to the correct page you wouldn't need to write another two paragraphs."

Daphne gave Emma a very confused look as though she had not been paying attention at the start of class when McGonagall had stated that the class read and write a paragraph each about Vanishment and Conjuration. Now they had to write two paragraphs on each topic.

She pulled her face when Daphne opened her mouth to argue with McGonagall but closed it and watched the woman drift around the class and look over the shoulders of other students. 

"What was she on about? What paragraphs - wha-?"

"Shh!" Emma hissed.

They passed notes for the rest of the lesson and gave each other answers for equations. 

After Transfiguration, Emma started to head for the library with Daphne rather than to the Slytherin common room where it was freezing. As she was putting her books away, a running figure purposely bumped into her and her books went flying everywhere. She was glad she didn't write using a quill because the ink would be everywhere rather than her pens. Struck with bewilderment for a moment as she had not been expecting the impact, Emma looked up to see Zacharias Smith look over his shoulder and sneer at her. 

Emma rolled her eyes and picked up her things with Daphne's help. Zacharias clearly hadn't forgiven her for getting him into detention with McGonagall a year ago. She had let her grudge against him go, and that was something seeing as he had called her a very foul name, implied foul things about her, and accidentally punched her in the face. She wouldn't have minded if during their Defence lessons in the Room of Requirement they could sit down for a moment and laugh the incident off, but apparently he was still offended. He hardly looked at her when they were in the Room of Requirement and if he did all he did was sneer or scoff. 

She didn't know what his problem was. She had ranted to Ginny many times after their lessons in the Room of Requirement but all Ginny did was laugh and say that he probably had a creepy crush on her and took it to heart when he realised that Emma chose Draco over him. Ginny had had a few boyfriends here and there and many other boys claiming to have liked her, so apparently she 'knew what she was talking about.' Emma knew the Hufflepuff probably never liked her like that. If he did why would he have been so mean to her? 

"He tried impressing you with his dance moves -"

"- karate -"

"- approached you, tried speaking with you when you were at the Slytherin table but was at a loss for words to continue on with what he was going to say -"

"- he was betting on me with his friends! -"

"- said you were pretty -"

" - correction: he said he thought I was hot. I take that to offence because I am a person, not a temperature -"

"- and was frightened when he accidentally punched you -"

"- he was scared of the consequences, actually."

"- will you stop interrupting me?"

"And he called me -"

"Interrupt me again and I'll jam you in the throat with my wand," Ginny had threatened. At the time Emma knew the conversation wasn't going anywhere, but she knew that what Ginny was saying was wrong. "I know he called you things but don't you see? He was jealous."

"I don't care, he had no right!"

Emma didn't go any further into their conversation in her head; her arm was suddenly grabbed. 

She screamed for a split second and launched her fist up in the direction of her adversary. 

Nearby students all paused in the corridor and looked over at her. She was utterly embarrassed and would have done anything to hide her face but her hand was hurting - it felt as though she'd hammered a nail into each of her knuckles. 

"Emma, what the hell?" Draco hissed at her. He'd let go of her arm to press his hand against his cheek.

Emma waited, gripping her hand in pain, until the students continued to walk out of the corridor to speak.

"Don't do that!" she seethed back at him. Daphne gently unlatched Emma's unhurt hand and took her aching one to look at. Emma looked down at it. It was red. "Ow...ow..." she winced. "Why is your face so hard?"

Daphne suddenly choked on her laughter. "Oh, my god - I can't believe this! This is the second time, Malfoy."

Draco glared at Daphne as tears threatened to spill from Emma's eyes. Her hand was in so much pain. Was it this bad when Hermione punched him? Probably not. The girl had probably been waiting years to punch him. 

"We should probably get you to the hospital, though," Daphne went on, ignoring Draco's glower and gently pressing her fingers into Emma's hand. "That was one hard punch. You must have really shit yourself."

Draco grabbed onto Emma's arm again and pulled her away from Daphne. "I need to talk to her in private, Pomfrey can wait."

Daphne scoffed and narrowed her eyes and yanked her friend back. Emma made odd noises when her hand shook at an odd angle. "How about you think about her health for once, Malfoy? No wonder it didn't work out between you two. All you can think about is yourself!"

Emma would have gladly rolled her eyes but she was yanked away again. "Her health? Punching me in the face affects her health? How about you stay out of what isn't your business, if you even know what's good for you. You bloody Greengrass' and your odd habits - make everything a bigger problem than what it actually is."

He started to walk away with his hand still wrapped around Emma's arm when she was pulled again, only Draco was holding too tightly onto her and it hurt to be pulled away. 

Daphne tagged along and argued. 

"Can you just leave us alone for two minutes?" Draco seethed in the girls face, but she continued to glare at him. 

"No! Now let go of her before I call for a teacher!"

"Daphne," Emma said gently. "It's all right. I'll meet you in the library."

Daphne looked bewildered. "What? Seriously? Emma, don't listen to him!"

She felt as though she had to. Maybe he knew something. Maybe he was told something that nobody else was. But if he decided he was going to talk about getting back together, Emma would have no problem with injuring her other hand. 

Daphne eventually threw her hands up and groaned loudly before heading toward the library, loud profanities leaving her mouth. 

When she was gone, Draco took Emma's injured hand into his own and nearly dropped it when she winced. She took her hand back and held it against her chest. 

"Don't touch it. Just get on with it - what d'you want?"

"I expected you to be a little more gentle with me considering you just punched me in the face," he said airily, as though her punch no longer pained the side of his face. Even the mark was almost invisible. "No, no -" he said loudly when Emma opened her mouth to apologise. "Let me get on with it then."

Emma raised her eyebrows at the anger in his voice and nearly decided she was going to argue with him, put him in his place. "I don't have time for this," she narrowed her eyes at him. "I have an essay to write. Unless you've forgotten. And I kind of want to go and do something to ease the pain in my hand, so if you'll excuse me -"

He grabbed her again when she turned to leave. "There's a price on you, you know?"

"Let me guess, Zacharias and his hormonal friends are making bets again?"

"No, you idiot, there's a real price on you!" he whispered angrily. Emma could see he wanted to take her somewhere away from the middle of the corridor where anybody could have been listening in. He was so close to her that she nearly stumbled back when he got into her face. "Come with me."

Emma flexed her fingers as she followed Draco up to the seventh-floor corridor. A price on her...it wasn't a big deal, anybody who knew who she was wasn't going to give her up that easily. She just hoped that there wasn't an enemy who secretly knew who she was. Draco paced three times in front of the wall and pulled her into a room he had asked for. It wasn't...much. It was literally a small empty room with stone walls and no furniture. 

Draco immediately continued where he left off. 

"I heard Snape talking and the others talking. Something about a big reward to anybody who has information on who you are. There are posters everywhere in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, you name it. Right next to Potters."

Now Emma was feeling scared. She was seriously reconsidering staying over Christmas. "I'm going home," she whispered to herself, her hands suddenly shaking. She opened and closed her eyes over and over again. "I'm going home and I'm not coming back."

"No, you've got to stay," Draco told her. She looked at him as though he was crazy. "They're expecting you to go home. Stay. I'm staying, too." 

"I can't...I can't," she said in a shaky voice. "I really can't."

"You can," he responded immediately. "You've got to. Going home and not returning would only make it worse for you. He'd know."

"I can't," she repeated, she could feel her bottom lip wobbling and she wanted to cry. She wouldn't cry. "I thought I could get through the school year and then leave and go to another country or something, but I can't, and people will do anything for money because they're awful and now I'm scared that there's somebody out there who knows who I am and isn't a friend of mine."

"You really need to breathe when you talk," Draco exhaled. 

"You're sure you heard correctly?" she ignored him. 

"Yes," he responded firmly. "I'm pretty sure the Death Eaters would refer to Potter's sister as Bait. I prefer Freckles, honestly, but it's not like I could just stroll up to them and offer my opinion."

Emma sighed; the pain in her hand was gone. 

"Bloody hell," she whispered, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth. "How much are they offering for the information?"

"A hundred and eighty thousand Galleons."

"I'm so dead," she mumbled hopelessly, sitting on the floor. 

"Don't say that," Draco said in a sharp voice.

She looked up at him with scared eyes. 

"I'm so dead."

____

A/N: Sorry if this chapter's bad or if there are spelling errors, it's 2am and I can't be bothered reading over it.