Emmeline's first year at Hogwarts was fraught with more ups and downs than a typical year at Hogwarts should have, but it definitely started out on a positive note. She made her first-ever friend (not counting her older brother), Derf, at the WWW shop in Diagon Alley. Derf introduced her to the girl who would become her other best friend on the Hogwarts Express, Stasya, as well as more future friends, Jessa and Isa. Emmeline approached the beginning-of-term feast with high hopes that she and Stasya would be Sorted into Hufflepuff House, where they would join Derf and Isa as Housemates. The Sorting Hat had other ideas, however; Stasya and Emmeline were both Sorted into Gryffindor House instead. Emmeline was slightly disconcerted -- not to mention disappointed -- at this development at first, but she quickly learned that she would be able to see her friends in other Houses often and this news made her determined to make the best of being in Gryffindor. She accomplished this by meeting older students in her new House, and becoming determined to show a force of House pride once the IMPS tournament started. Emmeline greatly admired and looked up to both of the Gryffindor champions, Dora and Levi, right from the start of term, and this helped her become proud of being in Gryffindor fairly quickly. She tries her best to remain on good terms with Dora, though the two clashed a little bit towards the end of term. She maintains a sort of hero worship for Levi Kenning to this day, and enjoys telling anyone who will listen that Mr Levi taught her cleaning spells in one of the earlier Potions lessons of the term.

Emmeline quickly settled into life at Hogwarts, and developed mixed feelings about her lessons like any student. She became very into some of Derf's conspiracy theories about Hogwarts staff, particularly the theories that Herbology Professor Myers is a Dark wizard and that Charms Professor Marchand is a werewolf. She went as far as to give Professor Marchand, who is also her Head of House, a box of dog biscuits as a Valentine's Day gift to make his full moon experience more comfortable. Her favorite part of school life, other than spending time with her friends, was the extra credit Care of Magical Creatures assignment that the students were given. She was assigned to look after an infant male crup, who she eventually named Sirius, for the year. Emmeline soon spent most of her free time divided between the main creature barn, where she tried to make friends with as many creatures as possible, and the infant magical creatures nursery where Sirius lived.

Shortly before Christmas, two events took place that shook up Emmeline's life significantly. The first was that she received a scathing letter from her parents informing her that she was not welcome at home for the holidays, and that she should try to stay at Hogwarts over the summer as well. The second was the near-drowning of her date for the Merlin's Pride dance held on a cruise ship. Fellow first year Gryffindor James Summers was thrown overboard by a Ravenclaw first year, Jordan Flint. James came very close to drowning, and this obviously devastated and enraged Emmeline for quite some time. She eventually agreed not to go after Jordan in retaliation at James's request, but she still struggles with that today.

Most of the term after Christmas was dominated by the turmoil caused by yet another letter from Emmeline's parents, where they informed her that they were essentially disowning her. After the staff heard about this situation, Professor Camilla Stewart kindly agreed to try to take Emmeline in. The two went through several court hearings and proceedings before Professor Stewart was finally declared Emmeline's legal guardian!

Another significant event in the first year's life took place when she decided to lead two of her dormmates, Stasya D-V and Tessa Roberts, into the Forbidden Forest to look for unicorns; Stasya had met them during an Ancient Runes lesson shortly before Christmas, and the girls were determined to find them again. They ended up becoming lost in the Forest instead, and Emmeline broke her arm after attempting to climb a tree to see the way out. The girls were rescued by Professor Hirsch shortly afterwards. Later that night in the hospital wing, Emmeline revealed to Professor Stewart and Healer Reed that she had been physically abused by her father for years. This was shortly before the final court hearing to determine if Professor Stewart would be granted guardianship of Emmeline, and made everyone more hopeful for the surety of the hearing's outcome.

Term ended on a positive note for Emmeline as she turned 12 and was able to officially adopt Sirius!