Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 1

It was a dark, windy day on Privet Drive and the only sign of life, other than the swaying of the trees, was a small red-headed girl that sat against the brick wall around house number four. That girl was me, Emily Potter. It was there that I found myself at peace from the world around me, somewhere that I couldn't be distracted from the people around me.

Normally I found comfort around my twin brother Harry, but he hadn't been very helpful this summer. Usually he just sat in our room staring out of the window like some sort of zombie and I found it more depressing to be around him than anything. I know it had been hard on him losing Sirius, but he wasn't going through it alone. He had me, but he was only pushing me away.

It all started about two weeks into the break. I wanted to talk to him about our meeting with Lord Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic. While we were there, we not only found that we both had a strong possibility of dying at the hands of our parents' murderer, but we had also lost our godfather Sirius Black. Harry wasn't interested in talking about it then, so I figured that he needed more time to absorb everything that had happened to us. But that wasn't it - he never wanted to talk about it and I needed to. We had to get this behind us and figure out what we were going to do about facing Voldemort. We had nothing - no plan to go through when time came around for us to fulfill the prophecy that we had been given.

"Emily - is that you?"

I nearly jumped a foot when I heard the voice next to me. When I finally got over the initial shock of it, I looked over and saw my cousin standing next to me with a curious look on his face. For a moment I could have sworn that he looked concerned, but I had never seen that look on his face before so I couldn't be sure of it.

"Is there something you need?" I asked shortly.

"I was just wondering where you were..." Dudley murmured. "You've been out for a while now."

I raised an eyebrow at him and wondered if this was some sort of trick he was pulling on me. But then I suddenly thought of something - this was the first time that Dudley had spoken directly to me all summer. He hadn't even bothered to make a small insult on how I was a freak. Was there something wrong with him?

"I've just been sitting out here the whole time," I shrugged. "Have you seen Harry?"

"No, I think he's still in his room," he said as he went to go sit next to me. "Do you mind if I sit here or...?"

"Sure," I said awkwardly.

He sat down and we both went quiet. This felt weird and unnatural. We hated each other - it was almost like Harry having a decent conversation with Snape. It was very rare occasion that I had a conversation with Dudley that didn't end with my head in a bin.

"Is there something that you needed from me?" I asked slowly and without looking at him directly.

"How did you get that scar on your face?" he asked forwardly. "You're always showing up at the house with a new scar on yourself and I've never known why."

It took every ounce of my self control to not have my jaw drop to my feet. How long had he wanted to know about this? Was that why he was always staring strangely at me from across the dinner table? To think that I just thought I had food on my face at the time...

"Oh, I almost forgot it was there," I finally said. "It's a long, unpleasant story really..."

All he did was stare at me expectantly and I suddenly became self-conscious about the scar that was going across my face. It had faded a lot since I had gotten it last, but it was definitely noticeable - now it remained a thin, faded pink cut that stretched from above my right eye and across my chin.

"Do you really want to know?" I asked in surprise.

When he nodded, I looked back at the house and thought about Harry. Maybe this would be good for me - I did want to talk to someone about this and if Harry wouldn't talk, then maybe I could talk to Dudley to get some things off my chest. Wait a second - was I turning to Dudley for support? I couldn't believe that it had come to this.

"Okay, fine," I said. "But I'll give you the shortened version because there's really a lot. So you know about the man that killed our parents?"

"Well...not really," Dudley said honestly. "I mean, I know that he was dead or something...but you said that he came back?"

"Yes," I said, surprised that he had even gathered that much. "Well, he went looking for this record of a prophecy that was made before Harry and I were born - "

"Prophecy?" he asked in confusion. "There are real prophecies?"

"Well...er...yes," I said. "And Voldemort was trying to get to it so he could hear the full thing."

"Why would he want a prophecy about you two?" he asked.

"It involved him as well," I explained. "But he didn't get to hear it because it smashed before he got a hold of it. Anyway - he got mad at us afterwards and sort of...possessed us - "

"Possessed you?" he asked in shock. "How did he - "

"It's dark magic," I said. "I'm not entirely sure how it's done myself, but he was using us against Dumbledore - our headmaster - in attempt to get us to kill us and it didn't work. So he decided to try and rip my body apart before he moved on to Harry."

Dudley's face drained of all color and he looked horror-struck. It dawned on my then that I had said it in a very nonchalant way that made it seem like it was an ever day occurrence. I wasn't entirely sure why I had said it in such a dry manner, but now I began to feel that numb feeling again as memories flashed through my mind.

Seven of us racing into the Ministry of Magic...running throughout the Department of Mysteries in a mad scramble to find my godfather...meeting up with the Death Eaters who wanted to destroy us for their master's sake...seeing Sirius's face as he fell through the veil and out of my world - no.

Suddenly everything shut down and my mind went blank. I wasn't going to do this to myself again. Ever since we had been sent back to this house I had found myself hiding from everyone so I could sob about the things I had seen - especially losing my godfather. The last time I had lost control, I found that I had been doing more harm to myself because of the constant breaking of glass and beating on wood to the point my hands and arms were bleeding. I wouldn't do this to myself anymore - Sirius wouldn't have wanted me to do this and I needed to be healthy enough to make sure Harry would be safe.

"Is this why I hear you two screaming at night?" he asked softly.

All I could do was nod and look at the pavement in front of me. Dudley wasn't going to understand what was going on with us, but I respected him enough to actually care enough to try to help.

"What else happened there?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I heard Harry yelling something," he said while looking at his hands. "Something about that man that you told us about last year...um..."

"Sirius Black?" I suggested.

"Yeah - him," he said.

"One of Voldemort's followers killed him," I said with a hollow voice.

Dudley went silent and I looked down at my feet so I wouldn't have to see his face. I had no idea what was running through my cousin's mind, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to know. I needed to talk about this, but I just wasn't sure how to talk about it with someone that doesn't fully understand what Sirius meant to me.

"I'm sorry," he said in a tone that was barely audible. "I didn't realize that you had lost someone…"

"Yeah," I said softly. "He was our godfather…and now he's gone and I feel like I'm all alone…"

"What about Harry?" Dudley asked. "He was there with you, wasn't he?"

"He won't talk about it," I sighed. "I think that he's afraid to because he doesn't want to remember any of it…I guess it's just his way of getting through it."

"Well…you could always come to me if you need someone," he said sounding genuine.

I looked up at Dudley and I suddenly felt like I was in some sort of alternate universe. Last year it wouldn't have surprised me if he had been planning my murder, but now he was suddenly being civil and I just couldn't seem to get over it. Was it something that he ate or was he actually becoming decent?

"Why are you trying to help me?" I asked quietly.

"Well...maybe it's because - " he started.

We were suddenly silenced when we saw a black town car rolling down the street. When it came into view, we immediately jumped up from where we were sitting. From the driver's side of the car, I could clearly see my uncle glaring at me as he pulled into the parking space in front of 4 Privet Drive. When he stepped out of his car, my eyes flickered over to Dudley who was staring quietly at his father, but the slam of the car door made my eyes quickly dart back over to the enormous man that had stepped out of it.

"What are you doing?" Uncle Vernon asked us both, but stared directly at me.

Neither of us spoke. All I could bring myself to do was narrow my eyes at Dudley's father. We hadn't done anything wrong in my eyes, but the mere fact that I was talking to Dudley seemed to be worse than murder in his eyes.

"Nothing really - now was your day?" Dudley asked simply.

"Horrible - I didn't sell a damn thing at the office," he grunted irritably. "Now get inside - both of you. Now."

Dudley nodded and walked on towards the front door. I followed suit a moment later and attempted to ignore my uncle's existence as I walked past him, but he wouldn't allow that. Just as I stepped towards the door, he grabbed my arm and pulled me backward so I was staring right into his gargantuan face.

"What are you up to girl?" he snarled.

"Nothing at all," I said bluntly.

"Don't lie to me," he spat. "You were speaking to my son - what nonsense did you tell him?"

"Only what he asked from me," I said.

"Why would he want to know anything about you?" he asked in disgust.

"Have you never thought that your son would become curious about his cousins at one point or another?" I asked.

"I don't want you speaking to him," he snarled. "Dudley's mind doesn't need to be corrupted by your abnormal ways."

"By my corrupt ways?" I said with a laugh. "Have you ever looked at yourself and what you've been cramming into your son's head? You've been teaching him from day one to hate anyone who is remotely different than you - "

"Enough!" he shouted. "Go to your room - I don't need to listen to you."

"Because you can't deal with the truth," I said. "You thought that you could corrupt your son to the point that he would be just like you, but something must have gone wrong - it seems like your son is starting to give a damn about other people."

He threw my arm from his grip and walked into the house without another word. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if Dudley's sudden change of heart was a permanent thing, but it was enough to strike a nerve in his father and that was good enough for me. With a smirk on my face from winning this battle, I stepped into the house and closed the door behind me. From where I was standing in the entranceway, I could hear Uncle Vernon yelling about wanting to kick me out of the house to his wife from the kitchen. To be honest, I really didn't care that much that he hated me - I only had a limited amount of summer breaks left to deal with him before I was off on my own anyway.

I walked up the steps and went directly in my room where I found Harry sitting on his bed and staring towards the window with a blank look on his face. With a sigh, I stepped over and sat on my bed without even saying anything to him. It took him a moment to acknowledge my existence, but when he did I just wish that he would stare back at the window. The emptiness in his eyes made me ill and I just didn't want to see him like that anymore.

"Oh, hi..." he murmured absentmindedly.

"Have you been in here all day?" I asked with concern.

"No," he said slowly. "I went to the bathroom earlier..."

"Right," I nodded pathetically.

It was hard to be angry with him when I knew that he was hurting, but at the same time I couldn't shake off the urge to knock some sense into him. He was doing this to himself and there was nothing that I could do about it if he refused to talk about what was on his mind.

"What's Uncle Vernon yelling about?" he asked without even bothering to act interested.

"I was talking to Dudley and it made him mad," I said as I sat back against the wall behind my bed.

"Why we're you talking to him?" he asked irritably.

"He wanted to know how I got the scar," I said indicating the one on my face. "So I told him."

"You told him what exactly?" he asked as he sat up straight and looked me directly in the eyes.

"Just some things that happened at the Ministry," I said.

"Why would you talk to him about that?" he asked.

All I could do was look at him in disbelief. Was he seriously getting angry about this? What did it matter to him anyway - it wasn't like he was willing to do anything, so why should it matter if I went off and told our cousin?

"How is that any of Dudley's business?" he snapped.

"Why do you even care?" I asked angrily. "He was just trying to help me - that's more than you can say!"

"Oh, so now you're defending Dudley over me?" Harry said with his voice getting louder as he spoke. "Suddenly you two are great pals - isn't that wonderful!"

"You know what, I don't have to listen to you," I spat and jumped up from where I was sitting. "I'll leave you to sulk in peace, okay? Talk to me when you decide not to be a complete asshole."

Feeling like my world was collapsing around me, I stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind me. When I got downstairs, I suddenly began to question where it was that I was going. Who could I turn to now that Harry was angry with me? He was normally my safe haven - my life line. What was happening?

When I turned into the sitting room, I found Aunt Petunia setting the phone down in its usual spot and she had a stern look on her bony face.

"What's going on up there?" she asked me. "I heard yelling - where's Dudley?"

"I don't know," I shrugged.

She started to say something else, but I just walked into the kitchen so I wouldn't have to talk to her. She didn't need an explanation - this didn't concern her and I would bet all the money that Harry and I had in Gringotts that she wouldn't care as long as Dudley wasn't the one being yelled at.

When I got into the kitchen, I rolled my eyes when I saw Uncle Vernon reading the paper at the table. Where could you go in this house when you wanted to escape someone? It was already getting dark outside, so I couldn't exactly run off like I usually did. The fear of finding myself in the same predicament as Harry and Dudley with the dementors last year had me behaving a little more cautiously around the neighborhood - and the fact that Voldemort was on the loose kept me confined to the house when the sun went down.

"What do you want girl?" Uncle Vernon asked irritably from behind his newspaper.

"You know, I do have a name," I muttered.

"Don't get a smart mouth with me," he said.

"I'm sorry, I'll try and dumb myself down next time I speak to you," I retorted.

Before he had a chance to answer, I was already walking out of the back door. No one came chasing after me when I walked out into the backyard and took a seat on the bench that sat against the fence at the edge of the yard. When I sat down, all I did was let out a deep sigh as I looked up at the clear sky above me. Was I ever going to be able to escape this madness?

It wasn't until Friday night that Harry finally decided to say something to me. It had been two full days since I spoke to him last and I refused to be the one that broke the silence because, as far as I was concerned, I hadn't done a single thing wrong. Sure it was slightly immature of me, but I didn't care - the only thing I did was reach out to Dudley when Harry refused to speak.

The sun was starting to go down and I was flipping through some of the school work I was given for the summer break. I had just finished an essay for a very rare species of flowers for Herbology and I silently wished that Neville was here to help me because I was sure that I didn't have the correct temperature for the plant to grow at. Harry was sitting on his bed like usual and was flipping through the Daily Prophet when he suddenly pushed it down after an hour of silence and just looked at me for a minute. When I raised an eyebrow, he finally spoke up.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"Hmmm...I don't know," I said sarcastically. "What do you think?"

"You haven't been talking to me," he said. "Actually, you've been avoiding me for a while now."

"Wait a minute - I haven't been talking to you?" I asked in disbelief. "You've practically been a recluse all summer because you refuse to talk about anything that happened at the Ministry and you just expect me to sit back and be okay with that?"

"Why do we have to talk about it?" he asked as he threw the paper at the ground. "What could we possibly say about what happened that will help either of us?"

"I just wanted to know that you're there for me," I said. "But I feel like I'm going at this by myself - "

"What do you expect me to do?" Harry asked desperately. "Talk about Sirius every day like he's still here and act like I have some grand plan to defeat Voldemort?"

"At least recognize it!" I demanded. "Putting it all off isn't going to make it go away Harry - we need to at least be prepared!"

"And how exactly are we going to prepare for that?" Harry asked. "What could we possibly do to prepare ourselves to take on one of the greatest wizards of all time?"

"You know what, I don't know," I said in defeat. "But we're expected to do something and, end the end, we're going to have to do whatever we can."

"I know…" Harry said. "And so does everyone else…"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Everyone else?"

"Haven't you been reading the newspapers?" Harry asked.

"How do you expect me to do that?" I asked. "You've been keeping them all to yourself."

"Well we're all anyone's talking about," he said. "They're calling us the Chosen Pair."

"But how would they know that?" I asked. "No one else has heard the prophecy, right?"

"They probably just expect us to be the ones because of what happened when we were younger," he shrugged. "Either that or their just looking for someone to help - everyone is going insane with this. I still can't believe that Fudge left - "

"He did what?" I asked in shock.

"Wait, you didn't know that we have a new Minister for Magic?" he asked.

"How did you expect me to find out?" I asked while waving my hands. "I told you - I haven't been reading the papers! Why did he leave?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly his choice," Harry explained. "No one wanted him in office after they found out that Voldemort was back. The people said they couldn't trust him anymore, so now Rufus Scrimgeour stepped up to take his position."

"And how - " I started.

My attention was taken away from my brother and what we had been talking about when I saw that about four lights had suddenly gone out from outside of our window and the entire area seemed to have gone black. Harry jumped up from where he was sitting looking surprised and eager as he walked toward the door. What was going on?

"Er…Harry?" I said.

"I completely forgot that he was coming," he muttered under his breath.

I followed him out of our room and down the hallway towards the entranceway to the house.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked.

There was a gentle, yet profound knock on the front door of the house and I eyed Harry suspiciously as we walked toward the door. Who was waiting for us - obviously not anyone bad if Harry expected them to be coming, but why hadn't he told me that? Oh wait…we weren't talking, I forgot. With a quick turn of the knob after unlocking the deadbolt, I suddenly saw who it was.

"Good evening," Albus Dumbledore said with a smile. "I do hope that I haven't woken you."

My jaw nearly fell open, but my attention was quickly diverted to the three people that were racing down the staircase to see what all the commotion was about. When the Dursleys arrived, all in their nightgowns, their looks of shock nearly matched mine when they caught a glimpse at the old man that was standing at the door.

"You all seem awfully surprised that I'm here tonight," Dumbledore said kindly. "But I do hope that you are kind enough to invite me in."

"Of course, of course," I said as I opened up the door wider and ushered him through. "The sitting room is just over there."

When he began making his way over towards the couches that were sitting vacant in the other room, I grabbed onto Harry's sleeve to stop him in his tracks.

"Why didn't you tell me that Dumbledore was coming?" I asked quickly and quietly.

"I was getting around to it," Harry said sheepishly. "But you weren't talking to me."

"You better be happy that we aren't aloud to use magic right now," I said under my breath.

For the first time in a while I saw an actual smirk on Harry's face, but it was short-lived because we had to deal with the situation at hand. Looking over at my aunt, uncle, and cousin - all with a shocked look on their face - I had to wonder what exactly it was that brought our headmaster to our house. Part of me wondered if Harry knew himself, but judging by the confused look on his face I was going to assume that he didn't really know either.

"Professor, shouldn't we be leaving?" Harry asked.

"Only in a moment's time," Dumbledore said kindly. "I have a few matters to discuss with your aunt and uncle."

"I don't know if it's completely necessary," I said as I looked over at them again. "And where are we going, sir?"

"You'll discover that in due time, Miss Potter," Dumbledore smiled. "In the meantime, I suggest that we all get comfortable."

He motioned for everyone to come over and take a seat in the sitting room. Although all of us were hesitant, we made our way and sat down on the couches that were set up around him.

I had a feeling that this was going to be one of the most uncomfortable meetings of our lives and I didn't even know what it was about.

Thank you for reading! I'm not entirely sure when I'm going to have the next chapter up because I'm also working on rewriting the previous books that I already have up. I'm guessing that chapter 2 should be up sometime around Tuesday.

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