I apologize to all my reviewers for the inexcusable delay. After the last chapter I felt blocked so I worked on other stories, but It's finally starting to come out. Hope you all keep reading and reviewing. Thanks.

New People

Chapter 10

Their arrival at the "ball" had been pretty embarrassing considering they had been introduced by a loud toot of trumpets closely followed by stunned and curious silence. With every person she was hastily introduced to, Emily felt the gaze of a million gawkers openly staring at her with a mixture of fear and wonderment; as if she was a two headed dog due to spontaneously combust at any given moment. She was glad when when the eldest Diggory brother, Adam Diggory, whom she met that night, offered to give the Potter children a tour of his family manor. The opportunity offered them a chance to catch their breath and escape the crowd.

The manor was spacious albeit pretentiously fancy to the point of being tacky. It was bigger than the Potter house they were currently inhabiting but smaller compared to Aunt Kate's place.

"The Potter Manor is much bigger but Dad never wanted to live there. He grew up there and always felt it was too big, even with our family so he got the apartment we live in now." Harry whispered to her as if he knew what she had been thinking about. That happened a lot with him so Emily was not surprised.

"I hope he hired a better decorator than these people." Emily mumbled back.

"What's a decorator?" was Harry's only response.

Emily stifled a laugh and then Adam Diggory showed them a nicely shaped library that, upon closer inspection, proved to be equipped mostly with self-help books. As the siblings took a chance to look around Emily found the only non self-help section in the room. It was a small but impressive selection that ranged from muggle poets like Edgar Allan Poe to witch novelist like Baniarda Lincoln.

"Lincoln has plots that wind on too long for my taste but I really enjoy her characters. Poe is just brilliant. Sometimes I can't believe he's a muggle." a voice behind Emily stated. She turned around to come face to face with Adam Diggory.

"Your collection I take it?" She asked pointing at the cluster of books behind her.

He nodded and gave a laugh "Yes."

"Edgar Allan Poe was brilliant but what does that have to do with being a muggle? I find muggles to be smarter than wizards in most manners since they don't have magic to occupy their time and hinder at their talents." Emily said.

He got flustered at her words and said "Well I didn't mean it that way. My family is pro-muggle, always has been."

"Ok." Was all Emily said as she put the book down and walked away resisting the urge to tell Diggory that the very fact that he was 'pro-muggle' meant that he thought of muggles as inferiors, brilliant he might find them or not; like a dog you were impressed with because it could walk on it's hind legs.

"That was harsh." Harry smiled when she approached implying that, even though he had been on the other side of the room, he had overheard the short conversation.

"Whatever." Emily scoffed "Shouldn't we get back to your fan girls?"

Emily had been beyond surprised to learn that Harry James Potter, her twin brother, had a ridiculous following of girls who very nearly groped him publicly for his attention. To her disdain, he cockily responded with sickeningly cliche and sometimes perverted suggestions.

"Is it my fault I'm so popular?" Harry waved his hands defensively.

"You're a pig." Emily said simply and Harry laughed. They followed their siblings and prepared to head back to the main party. The Gathering Hall had been just as they left it but now with a bunch of new red heads to color up the crowd.

"Ron!" Harry called out and a tall, gangly but cute red headed boy walked over to him.

"Harry!" he said in a gruffer voice than Emily would've thought. Both boys embraced in 'pat-on-the-back' hug as a greeting. Behind Ron another girl had followed with a cute skirt and messy brown hair. She gave Harry a more exuberant hug and for a second, Emily thought she was another lusty girl.

Harry turned to her beaming and said "Em, these are my best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger."

Emily greeted them both excitedly; she had heard of them from Harry. Ron gave her a swift handshake and although he blushed somewhat in the ears when she looked him in the eyes, he held her gaze. Hermione on the other hand squealed slightly and with watery eyes gave Emily a hug as big as she'd given Harry. When she released a surprised Emily she apologized and explained how happy she was to meet her. Emily thanked her and decided immediately that she liked these people.

Together the four of them grabbed some plates and filled them up with food from the buffet (Ron's plate was more full than the others) and sat down at a nearby table where they were quickly joined by a pair of red headed twins that immediately reminded Emily of her younger brothers Darren and Danny.

"This is Fred and George Weasley. They are Ron's brothers." Hermione Granger introduced them since Ron couldn't talk with his mouth full.

"Nice to meet you." the one Hermione had called Fred said while the other one, George, offered a smile. They turned to Harry and revealed the reason for their visit.

"We're going back to Hogwarts' this year. We're thinking Major Prank War. Would you Potters be interested?" George said.

Before Harry could respond however, Hermione cut in "What do you mean your going back to Hogwarts? You graduated last year!"

"Didn't pass the NEWTS." Fred shrugged.

"Mom wants us to go back." George added like it was no big deal.

"S'fine with us since we haven't raised enough money for a joke shop anyway." Fred finished.

Hermione looked scandalized and Emily just stared open-mouthed at their nonchalance.

"We have more Potters now. Things could get ugly." Harry stated.

"True but we've already recruited Lee and the Gryffindor quidditch team. We'll let you have Ron though."

"Gee thanks." Ron mumbled.

Harry laughed, "Fine then. Lets do it." before shaking hands with both twins.

"A Prank War?" Emily looked questioningly at Harry who shrugged in response.

"It'll help them promote their future joke shop. Plus, Prank Wars are loads of fun. There hasn't been a good one since Charlie's seventh year."

"You shouldn't do it you know." Hermione reprimanded.

"We know." Both Harry and Ron said at the same time before they continued eating, making Emily laugh and Hermione scowl.

They ate uninterrupted for a few minutes and made some jokes and Ron and Hermione asked Emily a few question about her old school and how she grew up with muggle women. They all stayed out of uncomfortable subjects like how she was supposed to be dead and such. When they were munching on dessert, a curvy and beautiful girl with raven black hair and violet eyes sat at their table.

"What's this I hear about a Prank War?" she smiled at Harry.

"No way. They're recruiting already?" Harry stopped eating and looked in the direction of Fred and George who were laughing at something Sirius was saying.

"Naw." the girl said "They were just telling Lee about it and I overheard. What do you say though? Want to start early and give me your pitch?"

"Our pitch is simple. Want to win the Prank War? Join us." Harry told her making her laugh.

She looked at Emily and smiled "I'm Andrea Stone. We met that day at the Ministry but I'm not sure you remember me."

The only time Emily had been at the Ministry was the day she met her brothers and she did not remember this girl. Then again, she had a lot going on that day.

"Sorry." Emily said offering her a hand "I really don't remember you. I'm Emily Evans." Emily said as she shook the girls hand. The tabled filled with a slight silence leaving Emily to wonder what she'd said. Before she could ask however, it was over and a pretty red headed girl walked past their table prompting a "Ginny! Date me!" from Harry. The girl, who Emily later learned was Ron's sister, looked annoyed as she told Harry where he could stick his broomstick, making the whole table minus Harry laugh.

Emily met very many people that night. Most she would not be able to remember, many she did not care too. She remembered some friendly people like Neville and Natalie Longbottom, resident Gryffindor sixth years. She met Camille and Cedric Diggory again and Adam Diggory stopped by a few times to talk. The Gryffindor girls, Purple and Patardi or something were nice enough, but there were other people Emily did not appreciate. Like the Ravenclaw captain Drew Morningside, who kept looking at her breast instead of her face or Draco Malfoy who decided to stop by and prove to be one of the most annoying little gits Emily had ever laid eyes upon. She met Andrea's brother Andrew again (according to them) but he didn't seem to like Emily much for some reason. And finally, the one Emily liked the least (they were a bit of a tie with Malfoy but still...): a group of fifth year girls that came over to say hello. They were all from different houses and their group included Ginny Weasley. Their obvious leader Kimberly Clayton from Hufflepuff greeted her and complimented her clothes in the plastic and totally fake way Emily recognized from the girls at her old school. Whatever this girl said now would be the exact opposite of what she would say to Emily's back. Once they left, Hermione confirmed them to be what was considered the 'popular girls' of Hogwarts.

Emily noticed that most of them, even the boys treated Harry with a sort of hero worship attitude. She'd even heard someone refer to her as the famous Harry Potter's sister. She wondered if Harry's Casanova exploits had made him that famous and asked him.

"Oh that." Harry told her half embarrassed, half annoyed "It's just because of a stupid scar."

"What scar?" Emily asked as they walked to the buffet table for the second time that evening. Like Emily, Harry loved to eat.

"A lightning shaped scar in the forehead." He shrugged.

"You mean this one?" Emily asked pulling her bangs up and showing Harry her forehead "How did you even know about it and what does it have to do with anything?"

Harry didn't answer her and instead stared shocked at the lightning scar on the left side of her forehead. It took him thirty seconds to react but it was already too late. Emily had stood in the middle of the party with her forehead exposed to Harry for too long. A reporter for the Daily Prophet who had been covering the ball saw and snapped a picture of her scarred head. After that, chaos ensued. The reporter was not the only one who had seen and people began shouting and asking how it was possible. Emily and Harry were almost throttled by the mass of people surrounding them and blinded by the flashing cameras. It felt like forever but finally, Emily felt a pair of hands pull her from the crowd. Charlie had pulled her out of there and next to him, Sirius was carrying Harry. Remus, James, Jane, Adam, Jess and her mom were all busy rounding up the rest of her siblings from what she could see. It seemed the 'Ball' was over.