The following morning everyone set up Christmas decorations, excluding Harry who spent it hiding from everyone. Fred and George pestered Emma with the whole 'twin' thing, for they used their Extendible Ears until Mrs Weasley caught them, so they knew about her and Harry speaking with Sirius about being related.

They even went as far as scaring her and almost killing her. She'd been putting tinsel along the wall upstairs. There were several Christmas trees, and there was one by the hallway upstairs. Emma covered the entire thing in silver tinsel, until she heard loud yells and she jumped backwards. Had Fred and George not jumped out from behind the tree and yanked on one arm each, Emma would have fallen over the railing to her death.

Hermione turned up later that evening, and she, Ron, Ginny and Harry went into Harry's bedroom to talk about his 'possessed' issues. Ron had told Hermione all about Emma and Harry being twins, so it was hard for Hermione not to gawk at Emma in awe each time she got the chance to.

Emma's thoughts were whisked back to just a few nights ago, and her hands naturally clenched the tinsel in her hands. She'd been having a much better time than she thought she would have, too. To others, McGonagall and Snape showing up was a nightmare, but to her it was like seeing God for the first time.

"You OK?" George said, amused, gesturing toward the crushed tinsel in Emma's hands.

"Huh?" she jumped, completely forgetting that Fred and George were still pestering her into giving details. "Oh," she unclenched her fists, "yeah..."

"Tell you what," Fred started, appearing on her left side, "you tell us about the conversation with Sirius, and you'll get permanent discounts from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Emma snorted, dropping the tinsel to the floor and whirling around to move toward the stairs. "Is that even a thing?"

Fred and George both bounced toward either side of her, cornering her every step. "Ah, it's a work in progress."

"And you won't regret it," added Fred, jumping right in front of her in the middle of the stairs. Emma moved to step past him, but Fred blocked her. She turned around to try and run back upstairs but George blocked her escape.

She sighed, defeated. "Will the two of you ever let it go?"

"Nope," they both said brightly simultaneously. They grinned at her frown.

"It'll take me ages to get through everything."

"So?" said George, wrapping his arm around Emma's shoulder to guide her back upstairs to where she assumed the twins' bedroom was. "We've got all morning."

And so Emma dived into the story she'd heard from Sirius just twelve hours ago. The twins hung onto Emma's every word, growing more and more fascinated by the second. When she finished, Fred and George leaned back, seemingly pondering the whole story.

"That doesn't make any sense, but OK," said George,"we've still got a deal."

"I wonder why you aren't a Potter," Fred said, clearly amazed. "Interesting."

"At least they had the decency to let me keep my first name," Emma mumbled.

Fred and George continued to comment on the story, but Emma wasn't paying attention. She could feel the bubbles in her stomach growing larger, and as though miniature demons were using her lungs for drums. She tried to keep them held back but the tears still glossed over her eyes, making the twins fall silent. Emma wasn't sad, though - she was furious. Her mind kept pulling back to the night she was forced into doing something she did not want to do...

"Er..." said George awkwardly, looking to his twin for help. Fred was still staring at Emma, though, confused as ever. "You shouldn't cry. Having a twin isn't that bad, right Fred? What I mean to say is Fred and I should be the ones crying because no one can tell the difference between us, not even Mum sometimes. You and Harry are different genders...I hope...because Fred -"

"What's wrong?" asked Fred, standing from his kneeling position and sitting beside her on George's bed. George did the same on her other side.

Wiping at her tears furiously, Emma coughed and said, "Can you two do me a favour?"

"I sense a prank in this," George grinned.

"Yes, but I don't want it to be a 'ha ha that was funny' kind of prank, I want it to be a 'scared to the point he pooped his pants' kind of prank."

Fred raised his eyebrows. "Him?"

"I came here all dressed up 'cause there was a party in the Slytherin common room," Emma explained. "I was playing Truth or Dare and there must have been some spell on it or something, I don't know. I was playing against Malfoy and he dared me to snog him. Had McGonagall not arrived to whisk me away, I would have."

"Malfoy?" gritted Fred.

"Eww," George shuddered, literally to add further effect. "Worry not, our dearest Emma, we'll get him back for you."

Emma sniffed, continuing to wipe her wet cheeks with the palm of her hands. "I want a donut."

"Right...girls eat when they're sad..."

"Fred!" Emma snapped, swatting him on the shoulder.

"What?" Fred said defensively. "Ginny does - we're not judging."

"I just feel like a donut, it doesn't mean I'm sad," Emma said, folding her arms. She looked around sheepishly. "Donuts are great."

"We should turn Malfoy into a donut," George suggested. "You could eat him and never have to worry about him hitting on you again."

Fred nodded eagerly, a grin forming on his face.

"I don't think I'd like to eat a cologne flavoured donut," Emma joked, thinking back to how much cologne Draco usually wore.

"I think you mean a gel flavoured donut."

The children were all called down by Mrs. Weasley who announced lunch was ready, and Emma got up immediately and ran for the door.

"Race ya!" she yelled, and she darted for the stairs when she heard Fred and George's footsteps.

She was surprised to see Fred and George already at the bottom of the stairs, leaning against the wall with smug looks on their faces.

"Did I say apparate?" she said loudly, walking toward the kitchen with the twins right behind her.

"You didn't say not to apparate, either."

"You still cheated."

Emma was slightly happier to see that Harry had joined them for lunch - clearly Hermione pulled him up. Luckily, though, Hermione had stopped staring at Emma, and she could eat Mrs. Weasley's sandwiches in peace and non-gawkiness. Apart from Fred, who seemed to find Emma quite interesting when she ate.

Emma awoke on Christmas morning happier than usual, and tore her blankets off and screamed loudly for Ginny and Hermione to wake up. She was so excited that she'd tripped over the pile of presents at the foot of her bed, not realising they were actually there; she'd expected them to be under one of the trees. It would have been fun if Sirius and Mrs. Weasley tucked everybodies presents underneath one of the trees and mixed them all around and made them search for it.

But then again, Emma was sure Sirius and Mrs. Weasley wouldn't have wanted a war on their hands.

Emma opened Hermione's present first, and she was not surprised to find it was a homework planner.

"Do it today or later you'll pay!" it said when she flipped through it.

"Um...thanks Hermione," Emma smiled.

She was quite glad and grateful that Mrs. Weasley had let them all go shopping in Diagon Alley, or she'd have felt quite bad to have received all these presents with nothing in exchange.

Hermione returned the smile and started tearing through her presents.

"Of course," said Ginny. "The usual box of Every-Flavour beans from Ron. I'm sure you two will have a box from him as well."

Emma also received a warm hand-knitted jumper from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley with a giant 'E' knitted on the front of it. It was grey and the letter 'E' was green. Her parents sent her a snow globe that showed the actual weather that was going on outside, with a note signed 'Love Mum and Dad.'

Sirius' present was the smallest of them all, and she carefully tore off the wrapping paper for it looked as though nothing was wrapped on the inside. There was a note on the back telling her to 'tear open with caution.'

It was a picture. And this time Emma was in it. Her actual mother was holding her, and her actual father was holding Harry.

On the inside there was a note from Sirius wishing her a happy Christmas and letting her know how much trouble he'd gone through just to find this picture. In Emma's opinion it was the best present so far, and all the trouble was worth it.