The Reckoning of Emmie MacKenzie

The New It Couple

Emmie glanced around the Hufflepuff table, noticing that she was getting still getting some looks. It was as though everyone was waiting for news that she and Cedric were officially together after their date that weekend. Truth be told, she had been expecting him to bring it up and nearly did so herself before chickening out. It had been such a lovely time; however she didn't want to rush things.

"Miss anything?" Cedric asked as he slid onto the bench next to her, followed by Kara, Melanie, and Toni.

"Just yer normal lunch," Emmie said with a smile as he started reaching for food.

"Good... ehm... Was wondering... I know you have a free period after Charms. Could you help me out with my Herbology project a bit?" he asked.

"Sure. I can meet ye in the greenhouse after class," Emmie replied nonchalantly as she reached for her pumpkin juice.

She noticed her three friends sharing a look among themselves, though ignored it. They were always reading into things nowadays, especially where Cedric was involved. Nearly every night in the safety of their dorm room, they lamented over the fact that he had yet to ask her to be his girlfriend. To which she always replied with the same thing - no reason to rush.

"Good. And we still good to work on spells tonight?" he then asked. Emmie nodded again, her mouth too full to respond. He grinned in response before starting to eat.

"You get your Charms homework done?" Kara asked.

"Yesterday, though had me up late," Emmie responded. "Merlin, it just keeps getting' harder..."

"Surely wasn't as bad as the Potions essay we had to do last week," Melanie said.

"Thank gods Percy helped with mine," Emmie said. "Otherwise I would have been completely lost."

"Still doing rounds tonight?" Toni asked, her brow furrowed.

Although they all agreed that Emmie had been progressing, it didn't stop any of them from worrying about her while she was out patrolling the castle. And it wasn't just her - they worried about any prefect from Hufflepuff who was out of the common room at night.

"No tonight. They've dropped it to just once a week. The professors have been taking over most of them," Emmie replied. "I'm with Sprout and Michael on Thursday."

"Should be fun. Doing rounds with Professor Sprout," Melanie said dryly.

"Better Sprout than Snape," Emmie replied. "Percy and Penny had to go on rounds with him last week."

She shivered slightly as the rest of the group looked equally as thrilled.

"I honestly can't believe they haven't found anything more on this heir of Slytherin," Kara said. "You'd think we'd know more by now. How many students have to get attacked before they do something?"

"It's no like there's been attacks every week," Emmie replied. "Only two students so far. And the last one was before break."

"Still doesn't mean we shouldn't be worried," Kara pushed.

"And we don't know who this bloody heir is!" Melanie said. "For all we know, it could be Harry Potter."

"I doubt that," Emmie scoffed. "He's just a second year."

"I'm with Em on that," Cedric said. "Potter doesn't seem to be a bad bloke."

"You're only taking Emmie's side because-"

Before Toni could finish, Kara slapped her hand over her mouth as both Emmie and Cedric blushed furiously.

"Don't mind her," Kara said quickly with a smile. "But Emmie and Cedric make a point. We have no reason to think that Potter's this heir of Slytherin. And seriously, like a second year could figure out how to open an ancient, secret chamber that no one's been able to find."