The Unlikely Rose

Going Back

Emra woke up on the 30th of December. She smiled a little bit, because she was excited to find out what her friends did for the holidays. She pulled on her robes and descended the stairs. She very much enjoyed wearing the red and gold colors of Gryffindor and Emra assumed her parents liked seeing her confident, because they smiled at Emra's beaming face.

Lilith must've already eaten breakfast, because she was sitting in the middle of the floor; nurturing a baby Fwooper. Lilith was very slowly, giving the bird pieces of a worm; breaking the worm in fourths, so the baby wouldn't choke.

Lilith must've had a bit of a disagreement with their parents, because her face was red and she refused to make eye contact with either of them. 'I don't see the reason I can't bring him with me!' Emra was chuckled to herself at this. She was facing her father now 'I just want to keep an eye on Topper!'

Emra was now fully laughing to herself at the reason Lilith wasn't looking their parents.  Her parents must've seen her trying to hide it, because next thing she knew her mother was asking her "Emra, are you alright? Your face is purple."

Emra took a deep breath, but that didn't help, because she just burst out in laughter. She could barely see, she felt that she was crying, and she couldn't feel her gut. 

But she nodded and said, barely audible "Yeah! I'm fine! But Lilith is hilariously dim!" Lilith had stood up and sat at the kitchen table. She kicked Emra under the table, making Emra yelp through her laughs "Ouch! Wha-?!" she started, but stopped to breath "What was that for?!"

Emra looked at Lilith and took a deep breath, but when she saw her sister's red hot face, she burst out laughing again. Their parents, though confused what Emra meant, laughed with her. Lilith was left the only one not laughing. When they had calmed down, Alex stood at the base of the stairs, his hair sticking up every which way.

Groggily, he said "What is so funny down here?"

Emra giggled a little bit "Alex. Your hair!"

Alex looked at Emra "What? Is it dirty?" he seemed more awake than before.

Emra shook her head and forced back a laugh "It's crazy!"

Alex looked at Emra "Ha ha ha! Very funny! I know that it's sticking up everywhere!" he snapped his fingers and his comb came zooming into his hands "I hadn't gotten that far yet!" he said as he ran the comb through his hair.

 Alex and Emra sat and ate breakfast in silence. When they were finished, they grabbed a few last minute items to throw in their trunks. Emra threw Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into her trunk. But she threw both her copies in. She couldn't let go of her mother's. Emra walked over to Henry, who got so excited, his rattled his cage so much he almost broke it.

Emra smiled and picked up his Owl Treats and slipped them through the bars of his cage. Henry craned his head down to scoop the treats up in his beak. Emra smiled as she pulled on her boots and hat. When she was done, she met her parents and siblings downstairs again. They took floo powder to King's Cross, where they hurried along the platform to get to the train on time. Emra managed to slip on the lone patch of ice in the platform as they rushed in from the door.

Tina caught her and helped her along. Walking fast, Emra glanced up at the clock on the wall. It read 10:45. They had fifteen minutes to get on the Hogwarts Express. They reached the platform and hurriedly set their luggage on top of the piles by the doors. Emra looked at the clock again. 10:53.

Emra turned to her parents and gave each of them hugs "See you again at the end of the year. I love you."

They hugged her back and she hopped on the train. Like when she got on the train in September, she stayed at the door. She felt the train give a lurch and she walked away to go find Adilyn and Bobbie. When she found them, they were in the midst of a conversation. Bobbie was holding a new deck of Exploding Snap. Adilyn was clutching tightly to a chessboard; the bag of pieces in her other hand.

Emra sat down in the compartment; her new books in her arms "Hey, guys!"

Bobbie smiled at her "Morning, Emra! How was your Christmas holiday?"

Emra seemed quite certain his voice sounded a little sarcastic. She read his mind "What do you mean I went to a Christmas party? I was with my family!"

Adilyn looked at Bobbie "See, I told you there was nothing to worry about! Emra would never except an invitation from Carson!"

Emra's eyes went wide "Carson's been saying I went to a Christmas party with him?!"

Adilyn looked at Emra "Well, sort of. He convinced his dad to send a letter to Bobbie, saying that you were at a Christmas party with Carson all night."

Emra couldn't believe what she was hearing "But, I would never! I don't do parties, Bobbie! I wake up early in the morning to read!"

Bobbie frowned and looked out the window, flipping through his Exploding Snap deck. Emra tried to talk to him, but every time she did, he pulled away from her. The ride back to Hogwarts was silent from Bobbie's end and Emra was starting to think Carson wasn't a person to be around. But she didn't want to stop her friendship with him, like how she wanted to keep being friends with Bobbie. But her thoughts were that it was either Carson or Bobbie, and she couldn't have both.

They felt the train come to a stop and the three of them walked to the carriages. They passed Eleanor on the way. She looked at Emra "I see you became more hideous over the holidays, troll!"

Emra looked down and pulled her hair in front of her face. Adilyn grabbed Emra's hand in support and smiled. Emra, Adilyn, and Bobbie sat down in a carriage and it was about to leave when a certain someone climbed into the carriage.

"Carson? Can I have a word in the common room later?" Emra asked. She felt her cheeks flush red.

She saw Bobbie out of the corner of her eye give her look 'Oh. Too polite to talk to your boyfriend in front of us now, are you?' Emra was shocked at this "Fine!" she turned to Carson "Why did you lie to Bobbie about me?!"

Carson, who was a little shocked at the sudden change in tone, stumbled back into the seat "I don't know what you're talking about?"

Emra scrunched her eyes as she stood up "Liar! You know, there's something I haven't told you yet, and that's the fact that I can read minds! You're lying and it's impossible for me not to know!"

Carson looked at Emra, then at Bobbie "Fine! It's because I found you pretty and you were ignoring me, so I wanted to make sure that he-" Carson jerked his head at Bobbie "-didn't get in the way!"

Emra stood up quickly,  cracked her neck down to one side "I would never do any--"

Carson interrupted her, by pressing his lips to hers. Emra's eyes went wide and she brought her knee up and slammed it in the most uncomfortable place she could think of. Carson keeled over and Emra pushed him away.

"What the hell, Carson?!" Emra yelled "Why would you do that?!"

Carson laughed at her "Just what I thought. Scared of what he'll think."

'Emra, please. It's okay. Just breathe.' she heard from Adilyn's direction. From Bobbie's direction, she heard 'You don't have to care what I think. Carson is pretty good-looking.'

Emra looked back at Carson and pushed him back down into his seat. After plopping down on her seat, she crossed her arms and stared at Carson with red-hot eyes "Don't talk to me for a long while."