"I can't believe you still keep hot chocolate mixes in your room." Emily marvelled, taking the warm mug from her foster mother, settling herself on the carpeted floor next to the fireplace as Minerva clutched her own drink, sitting down in her armchair. It felt like Emily was a student once more, finding comfort in her head of house's immaculate chambers after a fitful nightmare.

   "You won't be staying in that guest room anymore, you can stay in the spare room connected to mine like you used to," Minerva told her firmly.

   "Thanks, mum." She smiled, taking a sip of her hot chocolate, secretly delighted that Minerva had put in some marshmallows like she used to do.

   The place hadn't changed a bit, from the rouge curtains hung at the windows, elegantly embroidered with golden borders to the soft, clean carpet that she was sitting on, to the surprisingly still sturdy grey armchair by the fireplace.

   With a deep breath after another sip of her drink, Emily spoke hesitantly, "That night... I was all over the place. I'd gone to Godrics Hollow to check up on Lily and James as usual, and by the look of things, Sirius had gotten there before me, his motorcycle was there and Hagrid was outside the house, staring at Sirius's motorcycle."

   "At first, I didn't think anything was wrong, the house seemed so peaceful, the lights were on and I thought maybe Hagrid had come to visit. But then I noticed the quiet, that awful lack of noise. Hagrid tried to tell me but I didn't wait to listen. I ran in and there was James-" her voice caught, the image of the lifeless body of the man she called her brother flashing before her eyes. "He was near the stairs, like he'd tried to stop Voldemort from going up. He didn't have a wand, he never stood a chance."

   She looked down at James' body, splayed against the staircase like he'd been thrown back, his eyes vacant and his glasses missing. She heard screaming then. Hagrid later told her that it was she  who had been screaming. The usually messy living room scattered with Harry's toys was destroyed. The walls were scorched with curse marks, the pictures all broken and the mantlepiece crumbling. At the very least, James had gone down fighting till his last breath.

   She heard Harry's crying, then, and ran up into their bedroom. When she saw Lily, her sweet, brave Lily... she fell to her knees. Hagrid says she let out a wail that would have scared even banshees. She just sat there, on her knees, staring at the body of the once vibrant woman who had stormed into her life, pushed her way into her heart, refusing to accept that she was gone. That two of the only people who truly knew her, who had saved her time and time again, were dead. That she hadn't saved them.

   It was Severus who had gently pulled her up to her feet, bringing her attention to Harry. She hurriedly picked up the baby, cradling him in her arms as she took him out of the house and away from the bodies of his parents. She gave Harry to Severus, making Hagrid help her carry out Lily and James' bodies, away from the half destroyed house, placing them in the garden Lily had grown with such care and covering them with white sheets that she transfigured out of roses and periwinkles.

   "You know the rest," She sighed. "I fought with Dumbledore to keep Harry. Then I noticed Petunia trying to secretly attend the funeral. I asked her to meet me. I never expected her to show up, but she did. She and I got to talking and I realised that her hatred of magic wasn't really unjustified. Magic had separated her and Lily, and while her pettiness also paid a huge part, she couldn't reach out to Lily because of Vernon. He kept insulting Lily and James, kept reinforcing the thought that they were dangerous and wrong that Petunia... she found it easier to leave her connection to her sister severed than to try and mend it. It's something she regrets a lot, so much that she came to me to try and find a way out of her marriage. It wasn't hard to find a way to get a law degree and license quickly and winning the case was a piece of cake... but neither of us had time to mourn properly. Not when we had four children to raise, what with one being a divorcee and my husband getting thrown into Azkaban."

   "I thought the boys were helping," Minerva said softly.

   "There's only so much they can do. Remus is struggling to keep a job, Regulus has his own demons and guilt to work with and Severus... well, he doesn't look it, but he's come a long way since our fifth year. He's actually pretty good with the children, I could hardly believe it." She chuckled. "He can get them to behave with barely any effort, even the twins."

   "It's not healthy to keep going like this, Emily," Minerva sighed. "You will exhaust yourself, it is a miracle you're still standing and functioning."

   "I'll be fine." I waved off her concern. Minerva knew better than to argue with her, feeling relieved that she at least confided in her this much. After the spotting of Peter on the map, Minerva had done patrolling of her own, but came up with nothing. She hadn't told Dumbledore like Emily had asked, because no matter how different her opinion might be from Emily's, she would never betray her trust.

   Emily slept peacefully for the first time in a long while that night, finding comfort in her old room that Minerva had given her to use whenever she wished or dropped by the school, since her fifth year.

   However, that peace was short lived until Harry's first Quidditch match came up. Concerningly enough, everyone in the castle had gotten used to a panther prowling the corridor's, seemingly berating the Black twins and Harry Potter and following McGonagall around. Most first years yelped and scurried away from "Shadowpaws", much to her amusement. Unbeknownst to her, her godson was trying to investigate the cause behind Severus' limp and bad temper.

   "Shadowpaws, can you please ask Uncle Snape to give me back the copy of Quidditch Through the Ages he took from me?" Harry whined to Emily, who was munching on a chicken leg happily. She grunted in acknowledgement.

   "Also, what why was he trying to get past the three headed dog?" Emily froze at his question, head snapping up to look at him with narrowed eyes.

   Her unasked question was clear, How do you know about the dog?

   "We accidentally found it while trying to get away from Filch," Harry said sheepishly.

   "Harry, why are you talking to the panther?" Hermione asked, confused. Ron opened his mouth to respond but Harry kicked him under the table, shutting him up.

   "Shadowpaws is very intelligent," Harry said simply. "She understands everything I say. Look: Shadowpaws, go down to the end of the table and grab some more bacon for me."

   Emily gave him an unimpressed glare. Like hell she was going to let Harry order her around at any point in her life, even if he was trying to get rid of the nervousness of playing a match for the first time in his life.

   By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students had binoculars. The seats might be raised high in the air but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes.

   Ron and Hermione joined Neville, Seamus and Dean the West Ham fan up in the top row. As a surprise for Harry, they had painted a large banner on one of the sheets Scabbers had ruined. It said Potter for President and Dean, who was good at drawing, had done a large Gryffindor lion underneath. Then Hermione had performed a tricky little charm so that the paint flashed different colours.

   Meanwhile, in the changing rooms, Harry and the rest of the team were changing into their scarlet Quidditch robes. Selena and the Weasley twins were bickering, Selena insisting that Fred was wearing hers, until Angelina intervened and handed Selena the robes with a roll of her eyes.

   "You left them in our room, dumbass," Angelina scolded.

   "Sorry," Selena said sheepishly.

   Wood cleared his throat for silence.

   "OK, men," he said.

   "And women," said Angelina.

   "And women," Oliver agreed. "This is it."

   "The big one," said Fred.

   "The one we've all been waiting for," said George.

   "We know Oliver's speech by heart," Selena told Harry.

   "Shut up, you three," said Oliver. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We're going to win. I know it." He glared at them all as if to say, 'Or else.'

   "Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."

   "Don't worry, Harry, you'll do fine," Selena assured him as they stepped out onto the pitch.

   Madam Hooch was refereeing. She stood in the middle of the pitch, waiting for the two teams, her broom in her hand.

   "Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, once they were all gathered around her, glaring in particular at Marcus Flint. Damien and Draco grinned at Harry from behind their Captain.

   'You're going down, Potter,' Draco mouthed.

   Harry grinned back, his competitive nature taking the reins. 'You wish, Malfoy,' he mouthed back.

   "Mount your brooms, please."

   Harry clambered on to his Nimbus Two Thousand. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle.

   Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off.

   "And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too –"

   "JORDAN!"

   "Sorry, Professor."

   The Weasley and Black twins' friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall.

   "And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve – back to Johnson and – no, Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like an eagle up there – he's going to sc – no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and Gryffindor take the Quaffle – that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Black, Damien Black, that is, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by Slytherin – that's Adrian Pucey speeding off towards the goalposts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which – nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Black - Selena Black, that is - in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she's really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goalposts are ahead – come on, now, Lena – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDOR SCORE!'

   Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins.

   Way up above them, Harry was gliding over the game, squinting about for some sign of the Snitch. This was part of his and Wood's game plan.

   "Keep out of the way until you catch sight of the Snitch," Wood had said. "We don't want you attacked before you have to be."

   When Angelina had scored, Harry had done a couple of loop-the-loops to let out his feelings. Now he was back to staring around for the Snitch. Once he caught sight of a flash of gold but it was just a reflection from one of the Weasleys' wristwatches, and once a Bludger decided to come pelting his way, more like a cannon ball than anything, but Harry dodged it and Fred Weasley came chasing after it.

   "All right there, Harry?" he had time to yell, as he beat the Bludger furiously towards Marcus Flint.

   "Slytherin in possession," Lee Jordan was saying. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and Chaser Bell and speeds towards the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?"

   A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.

   Harry saw it. In a great rush of excitement he dived downwards after the streak of gold. Draco had seen it, too. Neck and neck they hurtled towards the Snitch – all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in mid-air to watch.

   Harry was faster than Draco – he could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead – he put on an extra spurt of speed –"

   WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors below – Marcus Flint had blocked Harry on purpose and Harry's broom span off course, Harry holding on for dear life.

   "Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors as Damien grabbed Flint by his shirt and murmured something to him with a dark look in his eyes that made the Slytherin captain pale before flying down to Madame Hooch.

   Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goalposts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again. Down in the stands, Dean Thomas was yelling, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"

   "This isn't football, Dean," Ron reminded him. "You can't send people off in Quidditch – and what's a red card?"

   "It's a foul card, meaning that the foul is too severe and so the player has to leave the game," Regulus explained to Ron.

   Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides.

   "So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating –"

   'Jordan!' growled Professor McGonagall.

   "I mean, after that open and revolting foul –"

   "Jordan, I'm warning you –"

   "All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

   "It was as Harry dodged another Bludger which went spinning dangerously past his head that it happened. His broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd never felt anything like that. It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off.

   Harry tried to turn back towards the Gryffindor goalposts; he had half a mind to ask Wood to call time out – and then he realised that his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zig-zagging through the air and every now and then making violent swishing movements which almost unseated him. Selena, noticing his predicament, flew up to him, ignoring Olivers calls to her to stay in her position.

   Lee was still commentating. "Slytherin in possession – Flint with the Quaffle – passes Spinnet – passes Bell – hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor – Slytherin score – oh no ..."

   "Someone is jinxing his broom," Regulus said sharply, but even as he said it, Hermione was on her feet and making a beeline to the professors' stand and lighting Snape's robes on fire. Whether or not she was aiming for Snape in particular or not, the distraction worked and Harry got back control of his broom and got back on it with Selena and Damien's help.

   Within seconds, Harry was speeding towards the ground when the crowd saw him clap his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick – he hit the pitch on all fours – coughed – and something gold fell into his hand.

   "I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.

   "He didn't catch it, he nearly swallowed it," Flint was still howling twenty minutes later, but it made no difference – Harry hadn't broken any rules and Lee Jordan was still happily shouting the result – Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty.

   "Oh, shove it Flint," Damien snapped. "You're lucky I didn't snap your broomstick and arms in half after the stunt you pulled." That shut Flint up effectively.

   Later, in Hagrid's cabin, Hermione explained that it was Snape, but before she could finish, Regulus cut her off, "It's not Severus."

   "But you saw it too, he was muttering under his breath and he wasn't blinking at all-"

   "He was muttering the anti-jinx," Regulus sighed. "There's obviously foul play here, but it's not from Severus. I don't even know why you thought Severus would want to kill Harry, considering he's practically raised him. You'd be in really big trouble if anyone ever found out, young lady," he scolded.

   Hermione flushed, realising that she had forgotten that Snape was Uncle Sev to Harry. She felt utterly foolish as she muttered, "I'm sorry."

   "It's fine, at least the chaos you caused worked. You were only trying to protect Harry, even if it was a completely baseless assumption. Plus, the look on Severus' face was well worth it," Regulus chuckled.

   "But it has to be one of the professors, none of the students can cast such a powerful jinx," Hermione insisted.

   "Now, listen to me, all three of yeh – yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel –" Hagrid said angrily.

   "Aha!" said Harry. "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

   Hagrid looked furious with himself.

   "Hold on, how on earth do you three know about the dog?" Regulus demanded. "And Hagrid, you really need to work on keeping your mouth shut."

   Regulus didn't know whether to laugh, sigh or scold the children as the trio filled him in on how they came across Fluffy.