Hi my lovely readers! It's time for the next post and I do believe that it is time for Emily to know the truth... I hope you enjoy.

Emily read through the letter twice, but when the twins tried to peek, she folded it back up and ran up the stairs to change. Trying to make the least amount of noise as possible, Emily changed into jeans and a turquoise long sleeve tee. Putting on her black converse, she glanced at her reflection in her mirror. She unknotted her hair and then made her way back down the stairs, her letter in her back pocket and her wand in her front pocket.

Turning the corner, she saw the Room 17 sign plastered on a door. Feeling giddy, she peeked inside and spotted Draco leaning casually on a desk. He looked up when he heard her come in and shut the door.

“Hi,” she said apprehensively.

“Hi,” he replied.

She made her way over to him and he held out his arms. Emily rested her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she laid her hands on his biceps.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked her quietly. She shook her head against his chest.

“Can we just stay like this for a while?” she whispered.

“Of course.”

They stood there for a long while, but Emily’s stomach started grumbling loudly, so they declared it was time to eat their breakfast. Draco led the way to their little buffet. He wasn’t sure what she would be in the mood for and decided better safe than sorry. Emily picked up a buttered bagel and started nibbling on the side. Draco watched her eat. He watched how she gulped down her juice, sighing when her stomach was satisfied. He watched how when she blushed, the red crept from her ears to her pale cheeks. He watched as the blush reformed once again when she peeked at him from the corner of her eyes and saw him staring at her. He watched how her long eyelashes would glide over her skin when she looked down and how when she stopped chewing, her lips looked so full.

“Okay, I can’t take it anymore. What are you staring at? Is something on my face?” she asked him. Her hand automatically went to her face to wipe away what wasn’t there.

“No, no, silly. I’m staring at the most beautiful girl in the world,” he chuckled. Her cheeks went a deeper shade of red.

“So, who is your imaginary friend? Can I meet her?” she chuckled back.

“You are so hilarious. Has anyone told you that before? Total knee-slapper.”

“You know, I believe I have heard that before,” she grinned. He grinned back, glad that she was happier. “If someone had told me that you could be this humorous, sweet, and sappy a year ago, I would have thought they were mental.”

He laughed aloud. “Yes, well you should consider yourself lucky to be the only one to know this side of me.”

“I don’t have to be the only one, you know,” she whispered, taking his hand. “Why can’t others see what I see?”

“Because if my father found out, he would forbid me to see you, take me out of school, and probably get your godfather fired. I don’t think either one of us would want that to happen, now do we?”

“I guess you’re right. I just wish we didn’t have to sneak around and lie to everybody,” Emily sighed.

“I know, and maybe one day, when we’re out of school, we won’t have to,” he suggested. He gently squeezed her hand.

“Yeah, maybe.” Looking back at the table, she grabbed a chocolate glazed doughnut. “Yum. I haven’t had doughnuts in forever.” She smiled to herself and took a bite, sighing at the deliciousness. Draco chuckled and took a bite of his toast.

About half an hour later, they finished their breakfast. Emily checked her watch; it was only nine o’clock.

“I forgot it was still early,” she breathed. “So, what do you want to do?”

“I dunno know; class doesn’t start for another hour. Want to just hang out?” he asked.

“Sure,” she replied looking around the abandoned classroom. “Hmmm.” She pulled her wand out of her front pocket and flicked at the little space beneath a window. She muttered a spell under her breath and cushions and pillows appeared.

“Nice spell,” Draco chuckled.

“Thanks, I’ve had a lot of practice,” she declared.

“Maybe a bit too much practice.”

“What does that mean?”

“Just that you study too much, Miss Goody two-shoes,” he chuckled again.

“That is insulting, Draco. It’s not like I spend every waking minute studying,” she joked, pretending to be offended.

“Which is a good thing, or else I’d be jealous of your books.”

“Well, that is something to be grateful for then.” They both laughed. “Come on, cutie, let’s sit down.”

She took his hand and led the way to the newly conjured cushions. He sat with his back facing the wall and she sat on his left, her head lying upon his chest. She started drawing shapes onto his palm with her fingertips. He kissed her hair, moving his other hand to her waist. She turned around to face him. When she looked at him, he felt as if she were staring right through him, into his soul. He inclined his head towards her and she reciprocated.

His kiss started out slow, tender. His silky lips caressed hers. Emily pulled her fingers through his hair, knotting them there as she let him invade her mouth. Her stomach started fluttering, the butterflies waking up. She turned her body more into him. He grabbed her around the waist and slung her around so she was sitting in his lap, her legs on either side of his waist. He stopped the kiss only for a second to whisper “I love you.” He picked back up where he left off and slowly consumed her again. His right hand went to her cheek while his other glided to the small of her back. He gently pressed her closer to him and she obliged. The kisses started turning more passionate, urgent. She placed one of her hands on his shirt, grabbing the cloth, while the other was still tightly holding his hair. Becoming a bit rambunctious, Draco twirled her around so that she was now lying on the floor, him on top of her. He started kissing her neck and then slowly started lifting up her shirt. Her eyes fluttered open in alarm.

“Whoa, buddy. Draco?” She cleared her throat and loosened her grip on his hair. “Draco? Draco, stop. We can’t. I can’t.” He wasn’t flinching. “Alright, hot stuff, we need to cool it down a bit. Draco, can you even hear me?” She grabbed his wrist that was slowly making its way up her stomach and then lifted his chin with her other hand. “Hi,” she chuckled when he dreamily met her eyes. “Having fun?”

“I was, until you stopped me.” He started inclining his head towards her again, but she held out her hand to his chest to stop him.

“I think we should maybe cool it for now. I don’t know how much restraint I’ll have next time.”

“Which is exactly why I’m trying to kiss you,” he replied seriously.

“I said no, Draco. Can you please just respect that?” she asked back, starting to get ticked off. Is sex all guys want? He finally took the hint, huffed, and untangled her legs from his waist, sliding over so he was lying next to her instead of on top of her. “Thank you.”

“Mmmhmm,” he replied.

“Don’t be upset, Draco. I’m just not ready for that yet.”

“I’m not upset, really. I just need to calm down a bit, maybe slow my heart rate a little.”

They were both breathing heavily. She didn’t interrupt his calming process, giving him a chance to catch his breath. After a couple of minutes of complete silence, Emily reached over and placed her hand around his own.

“I love you, too,” she whispered. He gently squeezed her hand, bringing it up to his lips where he planted a few kisses on her palm. She closed her eyes, sighing, glad to know he wasn’t completely mad at her. She rolled over, putting her head on his shoulder. A few moments later, she glanced at her watch. It was now nine forty-five. Sighing, she lifted her head up.

“I’d better get going. I can’t be late. Maybe we can get together soon though,” Emily suggested.

“How about tonight?”

“Hmm. I don’t know if you really want to listen to me complain about your favorite teacher,” Emily replied sourly. Draco moved a stray strand of her hair behind her ear and laughed quietly to himself.

“Exactly why would you be complaining about him?”

“Because he gave me a detention and I know it’s not going to go well.”

“Already, Ems? Really? It is the first week back, you know?”

“Hardy har, har. Aren’t you so funny? Yes, I am aware. I went out after curfew last night to get some food. Snape caught me and gave me detention.”

“Well, I guess we will have to take, what is it that muggles call it? A rain check? Whatever that means.” Now it was Emily’s turn to laugh silently.

“Yes, it is called a rain check, oh brilliant one. It means we’ll have to wait until some other time, which, unfortunately, is what we’re gonna do.” Emily stood up, pulling him with her. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her lightly on her forehead.

“So, I was thinking. Maybe we should have code names for when we need to write each other.”

“Hmm, what did you have in mind?”

“I was kinda hoping you had something. You are more creative than me,” he chuckled.

“How about you can be DaMien with a capital D and M. I can be EBony with a capital E and B. That way, it has our initials. What do you think?” she asked.

“Sounds perfect, Miss EBony.”

“I guess I’ll see you around, Mr. DaMien,” she said playfully. She kissed him lightly on the lips while the butterflies erupted again. She pulled away to look at him.

“See you soon then,” he whispered dreamily. He leaned in for another kiss. Emily reached up on her toes and kissed him back. They finally pulled away from each other and with a flick of her wand, Emily made all of the cushions disappear.

Emily left the room first, heading for the dungeons. Draco left ten minutes after her, heading in the opposite direction.

Emily felt a draft as she descended the sloping corridor. She hugged herself, trying to feel warmth. Her cheeks were still a bit flushed from her kiss with Draco. Trying to hold onto the happiness that she felt when she was with him, she knocked on her Potion Master’s door.

“Enter,” drawled a voice from the other side of the door.

Emily twisted the knob and slid inside. “Hi, Professor. I’m here for my detention,” she stated hesitantly.

“I am well aware of why you are here, Miss Black,” he said with a sneer upon his face. He seemed to be enjoying this. “You will be ever so lucky today. Today you are going to go through these buckets of flobberworms and ticks. The ticks have been feeding on them, so you need to detach them. The ticks will go in this jar for later use and you can put the flobberworms into this bucket. I’m sure Hagrid can get a use out of him, that is, if he isn’t fired.” Snape finished with a smirk on his pale face. He waited for her outburst.

Emily’s temper flared, but she kept it under control so she didn’t get further detentions. “Yes, Professor. Er... I didn’t bring my gloves, would you happen to have any I could borrow?”

“Didn’t come prepared? Twenty points from Gryffindor.” Emily’s cheeks flushed, her anger growing. “I’m afraid I don’t have any to spare. Looks like you’ll be doing it bare handed.”

Emily grimaced, nodding her head instead of speaking her mind. She sat down on one of the stools, dragging the bucket with her. Looking in the basket, she frowned. She’s never really liked bugs, but she could deal with them. Spiders were a different matter completely. There was no way possible somebody could get her to go near a spider. They gave her the creeps.

For the next hour Emily separated the worms and ticks. One tick actually got away from her grasp and bit her wrist. She was finally able to get the bloodsucker off of her and threw it rather roughly into the jar. Snape came over every ten minutes to tell her she was doing something wrong. She kept her comments to herself and waited for him to leave before muttering under her breath. It was eleven thirty when he came back over for the umpteenth time.

“If only I could have made your father do this. He deserves far worse of course, after all of what he had done to me,” came his voice from behind her. Emily jumped, not hearing his approach. He’s like a bloody ghost, she thought to herself.

Finally realizing what he said, she blurted out, “You knew my father?”

“Yes I knew that idiotic, cocky prat. You didn’t know? We were in school together,” Snape stated, a little annoyance evident in his voice.

“Who...who is he?” she asked. She had waited for this answer for as long as she could remember. She had looked in numerous books and newspapers to find the answer and never thought of asking her teachers.

“You don’t know who he is?” he asked incredulously. She shook her head and a twisted smile appeared on his thin face. “Well, well, this is better than I could have thought. Lupin never mentioned him?” She shook her head again and his smile, if possible, became even more twisted. “Your father is the criminal every dementor is searching for. He is the one who turned his back on his friends. He is Sirius Black,” he popped the name from his mouth, speaking deliberately clear.


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