Miss Mischief ▶ George Weasley

Chapter Thirty

The day Fred and George sent their family owl to Emerson's home with the news that they would be back in England by noon she was beyond happy. Being home all the time began to feel like house arrest. Just like before she was extremely bored and bothered by the constant pain in her back.

Coralie was making her final preparations for her trip to Italy and when she wasn't doing that, she was at the Ministry, trying to put together articles about Sirius Black's escape. Remus continued to be at their house as though he lived there, being the one to tell Emerson to do her chores or clean her room. Emerson was practically a ticking time bomb of annoyance ready to explode.

When Emerson went downstairs for breakfast shortly after ten, Remus and Coralie stood at the counter chatting. As Coralie saw Emerson enter the kitchen, she wrapped her in an awkward hug. "Good morning, dearest."

"Erm good morning Mother," Emerson said into the shoulder of Coralie's blouse. Ever since Remus began staying over and Coralie became busier than usual, the only show of affection Emerson received was a pat on the back and a kiss on the head.

"Did you sleep well?" Coralie smoothed out the wrinkles of Emerson's shirt and pushed her long hair off of her shoulders. Before Emerson could answer the question, a plate of steaming pancakes was shoved into her hands. "I made blueberry pancakes! You're favorite. The water is ready for tea or I can make you coffee."

Emerson's eyes widened slightly as she took her usual seat at the dining table. "Mum, when I was thirteen you said I wasn't allowed to have coffee until I was older than you."

"Did I?" Coralie brushed off the comment as she poured water and a teabag into a mug and set it down next to Emerson. Emerson tried to suppress a grimace as she began cutting into her breakfast.

"Emery, do you know what time the Weasley's will be back?" Coralie leaned against the counter, taking a long drink of her tea. "Are you meeting time at the Burrow or...?"

Emerson tried to take a drink of her own tea, trying to swallow a gag in her throat at the bitter liquid. She truly hated tea. "They're going to be staying at the Leaky Cauldron until the first. And they'll be there sometime around midday."

Coralie nodded silently, then took a seat next to her daughter. "Dearest, I'm worried about you going over there. I mean with that man wandering about I have no idea whether or not you'll be safe. And of course I trust the Molly and Arthur but–"

"Mum," Emerson cut her off. "Why in Merlin's name would Sirius Back try and hurt me, of all people?"

Glancing at Remus, Coralie sighed and walked to her office, where she emerged holding a black picture frame. Emerson didn't need to see it to remember what it was. "I don't believe that Black would try to hurt you. But the Ministry believes he is after Harry. And you know I was friends with his parents, and Black as well."

She handed Emerson the picture frame. "What does this have to do with you being worried about me?" Emerson asked as she watched the picture. Just like before, Sirius Black was holding Emerson a few feet away from his body. Baby Emery had a grin on her face as she looked at the man.

"Sirius Black and I were close friends," Coralie shook her head as she took the picture back. "He doted on you when you were a baby, and you adored him. Everyone thought that Sirius was a good man. But then he let You-Know-Who straight to Lily and James. He killed his best friends and then killed twelve other Muggles. And then..."

Coralie's eyes filled with tears. Remus came over and rubbed her back.

"And then what?"

Taking a deep breath, Coralie wiped the tears from her eyes. "I tried to keep Everett away from the chaos. Muggles were being hurt left and right, especially those who were close to wizards. And you know, I'm a Muggle born so I was terrified. But shortly towards the end of the war, in August, I came home from work and Everett was..."

Emerson closed her eyes as she realized what Coralie was going to say.

"You dad was dead. In this very house, someone had come in and killed him. There was no sign that anyone had broken in so we figured that it must have been someone we knew."

Emerson looked at her mother, who had tears streaming down her face. "You think it was Black that killed him."

"We never thought that until Sirius Black was arrested," Remus told her sadly. "Even now we still don't want to believe it but...We just want to make sure you're safe."

"I'll be fine," Emerson told them. "Black wouldn't last two minutes walking about anywhere. Besides, he doesn't have a wand anymore so what is he going to do, bite me?"

Coralie and Remus exchanged uneasy glances.

"It's not like he would recognize me after twelve years anyway. And I look nothing like you or Dad, Mum. He wouldn't be able to make the connection anyway."

Shortly after one o'clock, Coralie and Emerson whirled into the Leaky Cauldron with everything needed for the school year. She gave her mother a quick hug goodbye before Emerson immediately sprinted upstairs, Bandit meowing and speeding ahead of her. At this moment it was good to have a cat who was obsessed with Fred Weasley because Emerson didn't even have to knock on a door before Fred opened the one to his room.

"I hear the devil cat."

Emerson threw herself into Fred's arms, so happy to see him after nearly three long months. He hugged her back just as tighter. Bandit climbed up Fred's leg, pulling the two apart as her claws sunk into his pant leg. "Bloody Bandit," Fred muttered as he pulled the cat off of his leg and held her to his face, giving her a quick nuzzle.

Emerson looked over Fred's shoulder, hoping to see George but he wasn't there. Fred saw her confused look and pointed to a door on their left. "He's in the loo."

With a nod, Emerson sat on one of the two beds in the room. Fred sat across from her, Bandit in his arms, a grin pulling at his lips. "Long time no Emery."

She laughed loudly, a real laugh that she hadn't let out in a long time. "Long time no Fred and–"

The bathroom door suddenly burst open, and George stood there staring at Emerson. There was no doubt he was shocked to see her as he quickly looked her up and down and his face grew red. Emerson's post-accelerated-puberty self was very different from the way she looked when they parted at King's Cross in June.

Emerson was also shocked at how George looked. He was very tan, revealing all of the freckles that were on his cheeks. His red hair seemed to be slightly darker, likely from the amount of sun he got in Egypt. Emerson felt her own face grow warm as George just stared at her. She pushed herself off the bed and ran at him, wrapping her arms around his middle and squeezing him tightly. He hugged her back, leaning his face down and nuzzling it into her hair. Even though Emerson had gotten quite taller, the top of her head still just reached the top of George's chest.

"I've missed you so much, Emery," He said into her hair. Emery felt the warmth in her body increase by tenfold.

"Yeah," Fred snickered from behind them. "Seeing you has been the entire focus of the summer."