"You'd best let go of me, Draco! What are you going to do? Take me to Umbridge?"

"Of course not. I'm walking you back to the dungeons. Why would I risk giving Slytherin a bad name just because you've teamed up with Potter and his blood-traitor pals! Umbridge suspected from the start that he's been having these...meetings, and all along you were apart of it!" Draco sneered, his fingers tightening around Emma's bicep.

"I was not apart of it all along!" she argued, trying to break free from his grip on her. "I've only just joined, and you best not speak a word of it! And what are you? Umbridge's side kick? Let go of me - I can walk on my own."

Draco's grasp was removed and Emma felt relieved at once, rotating her shoulder. Her face was flushing with anger - she didn't know where the others were, or if anyone else had been caught; Draco wouldn't say a thing. And he wouldn't let her in on how many other side kicks there were, other than Pansy and Millicent. When they reached the common room, Emma sat down on one of the armchairs, folding her arms to warn Draco off that she was furious.

Draco didn't understand or just didn't care, for he sat down opposite her.

"I should be out looking for the rest of you," he informed her, but she would not look at him. Though she could sense the fury and disappointment in his voice, and that his eyes were fiercely set upon her, she remained staring into the fire.

"Go then!" she spat.

"No," he responded simply, his tone completely different to the last he'd used. "The others have got it."

Emma said nothing.

"I get it now," Draco went on in his casual tone. Emma moved her sour glare over to Draco, he didn't react to it. "That knee thing you pulled on me when we were by the tree after Hogsmeade."

Emma still said nothing.

He suddenly let out a humourless laugh, Emma still continued to stare at him in annoyance. His ice-grey eyes remained on Emma's fierce ones, she was determined to force him to look away, but he seemed just as determined as she.

"I have trouble with liking you so much but not being able to show it," he suddenly blurted, and Emma felt her heart skip a beat. But not from excitement, from annoyance. She really didn't want to hear it right now. "I'm no good at words so I couldn't possibly describe to you the way you make me feel - there are one million, thirteen thousand, nine hundred and thirteen words and I don't think I'll ever be able to explain it without you misunderstanding me."

Emma chewed on the inside of her cheek, and, unfortunately, Draco had won and forced her to look away instead. "How do you know how many words there are?"

"I heard Granger saying it."

She suddenly felt self-conscious and didn't like it when Draco looked at her anymore. She wanted him to look away but he wouldn't, and she felt like sinking into the armchair to become part of it. There were no words that came to mind for her to say, and the situation was suddenly all awkward and she found herself staring at Draco's shoes, then at her own untied shoelaces.

"I might be just like you explained me to be: Arrogant, a bully, mean...but I care about you more than I should."

Emma suddenly looked up. "What do you mean, more than you should?"

Draco's cheeks flushed. "Nothing."

"Your arse probably gets jealous by the amount of shit that comes out of your mouth," Emma said angrily, standing up from the armchair. "What do you mean, more than you should?"

"Emma, you're losing it!" Draco stood up as well. "Nothing, it just came out! I don't even know what I meant by that, just calm down."

For a mere moment while Emma and Draco continued to stare at each other, the blue searching the grey for any proof of lies, she thought Draco might have known that Harry was her twin and that her parents were not her actual parents...

"All right, then," Emma said warily. "I'm going to bed."

"Wait," Draco called out to her, and she pursed her lips and forced herself to stop. "If you care about me the way I care about you, then say something. 'Cause I don't know how much longer I'm going to wait around for you."

Draco said nothing else as Emma walked quickly up to her dormitory. 

BY ORDER OF THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

Dolores Jane Umbridge (High Inquisitor) has replaced Albus Dumbledore as Head of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The above is in accordance with Education Decree Number Twenty-eight.

The entire situation had been explained to Emma by Harry the next morning in as much detail as he could put it without her, Ron or Hermione interrupting him, or nearby students leaning in close to listen to their conversation.

"So he just...vanished?" Emma said in a light voice, her eyes distant yet full of confusion. "Like - poof - vanished? How...?"

"Yeah, he's gone," said Harry, before she could finish her sentence.

She wasn't at all disappointed that Dumbledore fled to avoid Azkaban just for taking the blame for the whole 'Dumbledore's Army' thing. She was, however, disappointed that she'd never even got to have a proper conversation with him, question him about her hidden identity and the separation between her and Harry. Sirius had made no sense at all, and Dumbledore was sure to be the only one who was able to explain it all.

"And now we've got a toad for Headmistress," said Ron, scooping up mountains of cereal and shoveling it into his mouth.

Hermione actually nodded her approval, though a sour look was pressed into her features.

"Uh...I'm not hungry any more. I'm going back to my dormitory to think things through," said Emma absently, and she lifted herself away from the Gryffindor table.

Harry looked at her, bewildered. "Think things through?"

It was an excuse; Emma just wanted to get away from people and after visualising hers and Harry's dilemma, she'd lost her appetite.

When she reached her common room, Draco was casually walking down the dorm stairs, fixing something that appeared to be pinned onto his robes. He made it seem like he'd never even tried confessing his feelings to Emma just twelve hours prior to his swift glance. Emma stopped by the black sofa and dropped her bag on it, but never got the chance to sit down for Draco had called upon her attention.

"What do you think?" he asked, puffing out his chest and pointing to a silver badge with the letter 'I' on it, pinned where his Prefect badge usually was.

"What is that?" asked Emma, and the annoyance and slight fury was still audible in her tone, and she knew she was not the only one who'd known it was only from thinking of the night before when Draco had caught her minutes after catching Harry and shoving him right into Umbridge, which therefore led to the departure of Professor Dumbledore.

"Well, since Professor Umbridge is our new Headmistress, she's handpicked a few of us who are supportive of the Ministry of Magic and stuff. We're also helping her with students who are...out of control."

"No crap," Emma uttered under her breath.

"So, what do you think?" he said, dropping his chest and seemingly trying to strike an impressive pose. "How do I look?"

"You look ridiculous."

Draco sighed brightly and scooped up his bag that had fallen from his shoulder and onto the floor. "Always a pleasure, Emma," he grinned, and happily walked to the exit of the common room.