Dear Emily,

I'm glad to hear you've had fun with your mum. I wish I could have been with you at the beach. I'm sure I would have loved to see you in your bathing suit. I would like to see you in any event.

Potter and I have gotten some great pranks going. Can't wait until the first of September.

Love,
Sirius

Her study partner sent a different sort of letter.

Emily,

Got your letter. Saw Lily the other day. Think she saw me, but she looked the other way. Somehow I need to make her love me.

Severus

The ride back to school was different from her previous experiences. When she arrived at platform 9 ¾ alone, since her mother had to work, Emily tried to catch Severus's eye. He turned his back on her and wandered off with the scariest of the Slytherin students. Sirius caught her hand and pulled her into a compartment he had already picked out.

“This way, Em. Potter and Lupin have to go to the prefects' meeting, so it's just Pettigrew and us for now, hey, Wormtail?”

“Yes, that's right,” said Peter Pettigrew. “Happy to meet you for real, Emily. Sirius has told us a lot about you.”

“Pleased to meet you, Peter,” said Emily. “So, Sirius? Is James a prefect this year?”

“You could say that. He's Head Boy.”

“How did that happen?”

“Haven't the foggiest. But he's up in the prefects' compartment, with whatever prissy miss got picked as Head Girl, giving directions to the prefects about how to keep the lot of us in line.”

“He should know, being one of the ones who needs most to be kept in line,” sniggered Peter.

“Very good, Peter. You'll be a proper Marauder, yet.”

Emily was getting a bit self conscious about the way the two boys were looking at her t-shirt, so she pulled out her school robes and put them on.

“Hey, I was enjoying the view!” said Sirius.

“You are so busted,” Emily retorted. Secretly she didn't know what to think. She rather thought she filled out the t-shirt well, and it was nice to know that the boys seemed to think so. Hopefully that's why they kept staring at the shirt instead of her face. She would hate to think there was a stain or something on the shirt.

The food trolley came by and the boys were arguing over who could eat the most cauldron cakes, when Emily thought she heard bickering down the corridor of the train. The sound of the bickering grew louder and louder until the compartment door opened and Lupin and Potter came in, accompanied by Evans.

“Ah, Emily is here, too! Wonderful! Gentlemen, and lady,” bowing to Emily, “I give you...the Head Girl. Please take her off my hands. She's already given me an earful.”

“I was just saying that I think we need to be consistent, that we need to set a good example. Jumping out of dark corners and scaring first years half to death should be wrong for everyone, even the people in this compartment.” Lily was speaking to James, still trying to carry her point.

“What if I agree with you?”

“What?” Lily looked taken aback.

“What if I said I agree and we'll do it your way?” Emily thought that if James Potter had looked at her that way, she would faint. Lily seemed to take it as her due.

“That would be very nice, James.”

“Would you go out with me?”

“Well, after I saw if you really did it, I might.”

Three of the other four people in the compartment just stared as they saw James smile brightly.

“Then I'll do it, Lily, for you.”

She'd been taken in and she knew it. “Well, you should do it because it's right,” she said, tartly.

---

Emily went to the library the first night with trepidation. Based on the look Severus gave her at the train station, she couldn't tell if he still wanted to study together or how he would act if he did. As it happened, he was at their table before she was. Although he wasn't exactly smiling, he didn't greet her with the scowl he had been wearing the day before.

Emily put her books down and asked, “What are we studying today?”

He handed her his Charms book. “Could you quiz me on the summary table of last year's charms? I want to make sure I know them cold for tomorrow.”

She acquiesced and tested him until it was clear that he knew everything. He held out his hand for his book, but she was looking in the margins.

“So, are these counter charms and spells for the dark curses you were working on?”

He looked the slightest bit embarrassed. “Give me that.”

“Hold on,” she said while looking at some of them and reading his notes. “You must have worked all summer on this. It's fantastic.”

“They don't work that well, yet.”

“Is this a counter hex for Crucio?”

“That one doesn't work.”

“Not at all?”

He sighed and showed her the notes for it. “See? This should make it stop, but it only reduces the effect.”

“How do you know?”

“I just know. When I cast it—by myself you know—it doesn't feel right.”

Emily looked up at him. “This is really excellent work. You should be proud of yourself. Even reducing the effect is better. Did you show any of this to Lily?”

“She won't even look at me. The one time I tried to say hi, she set her sister's new boyfriend on me.” He made a face. “Big, ugly brute. I'd rather go to the Yule Ball with Potter or your dog of a boyfriend.”

Emily smiled. “Is he really such a dog?”

“Who in our class has he not... dated, for lack of a word I can use in the presence of a lady?”

“Well, that's true... but back to this work of yours. Have you shown any of it to your friends in that group?”

“They're not interested.”

“I see.” She thought for a minute and was about to speak when Severus jumped in.

“Don't start on me and the dark arts any more. It just seemed like I needed to get a better sense of control over it.” His face was caught between what was becoming his normal scowl and a look of pride.

“Well, I think it's a marvelous direction and if I can find a way to bring it to the attention of a certain Head Girl for you, I will.”

---

The new friendship between the Head Boy and the Head Girl took the school by storm. Even first years, who had no idea of their previous animosity, were clued in so that they, too, could be amazed at Evans's new cordiality toward Potter. After a few weeks it even became clear that this friendship was headed toward romance. Lily made good on her promise that she would date James if he worked harder to reduce pranking at school. To the surprise of many, she seemed to enjoy dating James and continued much longer than expected.

Severus still studied with Emily most evenings in the library. He said as little as possible to her and instead looked angry when they weren't looking at each other's essays. As always, his suggestions were spot on, so she took them meekly and avoided saying anything that might anger him further. He finished whatever they were working on during any given session and ran off, to those meetings that worried her.

Sirius resumed his habit of meeting her on the staircase and leading her into the fifth floor classroom. They spent several breathless minutes on those evenings snogging and then he walked her to her house. To date he had been very gentlemanly with her, if what Emily had heard in the dorms was true. It seemed that boys used their hands to grope a girl half to death. So far, Sirius ran his hands through her hair or touched her face. Occasionally he crushed her body into his, but that was as far as it went.

Although he was one of the most sought after guys at school, Emily was starting to find her interest flagging. Beyond the initial thrill of kissing a boy, and the secondary thrill of that boy being one of the coolest at school, she was wondering if there was something she was missing. Still, she saw him. Their makeout sessions were pleasant enough.

Author's note: I haven't wanted to be excessive with notes, but I do want to add a note of thanks to the people who have reviewed; you are most kind! I also want to give thanks to Trickie Woo, who has been an insightful beta-reader.