The day she had to leave her family so they would remain as safe as possible couldn't have been better.
"Because who doesn't want to leave their life behind when it's raining and utterly cold outside and just bloody miserable?" Emmeline stomped through the open gates into the park. "And now I'm talking to myself in public. That's perfect."
Anger was much easier to deal with than sadness, so she continued muttering to herself. She had to keep the rest of her emotions at bay.
The rain stopped a minute later, but Emmeline kept her umbrella up. There was a lot of cold water still dripping from the bare branches of the trees that reached over the path, but mostly she just needed something to hold onto, something else to concentrate on. If she had enough thoughts in her head, she could ignore her fear.
She had a bag slung under her shoulder, and inside of this bag was another bag that held all of her possessions. Bottomless bags were expensive, but healers knew the value of having one, especially if they were called out to catastrophe scenes. The bag had been handy when she'd moved from her small flat where all the training Healers lived back home, but now that she had packed up her life into the bag and was heading off in the way of complete uncertainty, not knowing where she was going to end up or what would happen when she got there, the bag seemed to have an odd weight on her shoulder. It was a weight that kept trying to tug at her thoughts, trying to tell her she was out of her mind.
Emmeline reached the bench Eric had designated near the fountain, but she couldn't see him or anyone else around. She may have started to worry, but then a large black dog trotted up to her, looking utterly and irresistibly friendly, and planted himself right in front of her, wagging his tail happily. He had a letter in his mouth, and he offered it to her.
Emmeline regarded this dog quizzically but took the letter anyway. "You're no owl, but you seem to think you know what you're doing." Her name was scrawled across it, and she broke the seal and unfolded the piece of parchment.
Emmeline,
I'm sorry I can't meet you as planned, but it could be too dangerous for us to be seen together in public. The dog's name is Snuffles. You have no need to feel unsafe with him - he's more magical than you'd think. Go with him to the Ministry and take one of their public Floos to The Wandering Goat. The dog knows his way home from there.
I trust I'll see you soon east of the sun, west of the moon.
-E. Knight
Emmeline gaped at the letter, looked at the dog, read the letter again, closed her mouth, opened it again, and then collapsed in a heap on the bench, not caring about the lingering water there. She let her hands fall helplessly into her lap. "You've got to be kidding me. I'm now trusting a dog?" Emmeline scoffed. "I'm an idiot, but I can't reverse any of this. For all I know Knight could be a Death Eater luring me into danger, but I can't risk the chance of him being right and going back to my family."
The dog stepped forward, putting his head on her knee and whimpering in a sympathetic way. His eyes pleaded with her, almost asking her to trust him it seemed.
The corner of Emmeline's mouth lifted a fraction. "At least you seem to be a good listener."
Snuffles gave a little yelp, wagging his tail again and trotting back to the pathway, urging her to come along.
Emmeline squared her shoulders and then stood up, tucking the letter away into her bag. "No more doubts."
An hour later, Emmeline and her canine companion stepped out of The Wandering Goat and onto the bustling street of a small town. True to what Eric Knight had written in his letter, Snuffles seemed entirely sure of where they needed to go, guiding her while still walking along close beside her. In this part of the country, wherever she was because she didn't rightly know, it was a mildly pleasant day. It was chilly, but the sun was sending a few merciful rays down to brighten and warm this little town and the people bustling about on the streets. Emmeline saw maybe half a dozen people she thought could be wizards, but for the most part this seemed to be a muggle town.
Snuffles led her down a street a couple of blocks down from the pub. There was a turn a couple of blocks later, and then another turn, and then they were ambling on down a country lane. The walk was easy, and they took it at a leisurely enough pace. In the back of her mind, Emmeline might still have been wondering whether she wanted to reach her destination or not, but she repeated, her earlier words, "No more doubts," quietly in her mind, and maybe once or twice mumbled it aloud.
On this quiet country road they passed a few post boxes, but they were well spread out from each other. Finally the dog stopped in front of a small, green wooden gate and looked up at Emmeline. She looked back, smirking. "You've gotten us this far, what's stopping you now, you clever thing?"
Then he barked at her and leapt over the fence. Emmeline laughed, but the sound died as he trotted off without her toward the house that she could only just see part of through the trees.
"Well, thanks for waiting, Snuffles."
Emmeline reached for the latch on the gate, but she couldn't touch it. The gate repelled her hand like magnets repelling a matching polarization. "This is just fabulous. Thanks for waiting for me!" she called after the dog she could no longer see. She kicked the gate, but her foot was repelled, too, almost throwing her off balance. She stomped her foot angrily on the ground instead, balling up her hands in fists and putting them firmly on her hips. She spun around and kicked a few of the small rocks around.
The pop of Apparition sounded behind her, and she spun back around to see Eric Knight standing just on the other side of the gate. He had a welcoming smile on his face, and she returned the smile. "Do you know where you are?" he asked.
She regarded him for a moment, and then her mind clicked. "I'm east of the sun and west of the moon, if I'm not mistaken."
Eric nodded. "I'm so sorry you had to wait," he apologized, quickly opening the gate for her. "The gate won't let strangers to the house inside without the master of the house opening it up for them. It's a small inconvenience for you now, but we'll be glad of it hereafter. No intruders."
"What about the Muggles? Do they ever try to come by?"
"You know there are dozens of charms and protections to ward off unwanted visitors, Muggle and wizard alike," he explained as they strolled quickly through a small grove of trees toward the house. "I trust Snuffles was a good companion?"
Emmeline frowned slightly. "Not the traveling companion I was expecting, but a good companion, yes. I got here all right."
"Yes, you did. Now let's get you inside. I have a stew I've been brewing all morning, and you look like you could do with some good food and a warm house."
Emmeline didn't object to that. The trees opened up suddenly and only a few meters away was a modest house, which had a green door to match the green gate. The small house looked inviting, trustworthy, and safe, just like Eric Knight, just like Snuffles. It was made of brick, with green shutters framing the windows, and there was smoke streaming out of the chimney.
"It's not much, but I hope you'll find it comfortable enough while you stay here," Eric said.
Emmeline was more tired and hungry than she had realized. It felt good to be sitting down to the table, and she had two bowls of stew and a couple of the warm wheat rolls Eric had put on a plate in the middle of the small table. The stew was very good, and she was disinclined to talk initially, more focused on filling her stomach with the rich goodness of it. Eric didn't seem to mind at all.
But when she had pushed the bowl away from her finally, Eric gave a flick of his wand, and the dishes washed themselves, and he guided them into the cupboard. Then he folded his hands and let them rest on the table. "I've got to go soon, but I'm sure you want some questions answered, Emmeline."
Emmeline nodded.
"What do you want to know?" he asked.
"What can you tell me?"
"I can tell you anything you want to know. I don't believe that information should be kept from those that want it," he said seriously.
Emmeline nodded, feeling very comforted at his conviction. "Tell me what you think I need to know then."
"You already know there's a war going on, even if you've been out of touch with the wizarding world," he started. "He's gathered a large number of Death Eaters as well as a large network of witches and wizards who serve him out of fear or out of force."
"You mean the Imperius?"
"Of course. It's not just a rumor they talk about in Defense Class. Your Healer training was a fairly sheltered world, but in the short time since you've left that even, things have changed there, as well. Many of the people you probably knew are dead or not themselves. The Death Eaters don't actively pursue the medical community, but it's not far from the central focus now. After all, if the hospital is out of commission, that's just another thing to scare the society being attacked by an enemy.
"The Healers have been banding together, and they were looking for you. They needed you to come back, but they hadn't found you yet."
Emmeline opened her mouth, but Eric held up his hand, silently asking for her to wait while he continued. "It got out that they needed you, and that's when the Death Eaters started to idly pursue hunting you down as well. We found you first, and we tried to watch over your family's home for a while, but it was getting too risky."
"Who's we?"
"The Order of the Phoenix."
"Right."
"Hopefully the bane of the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who. We're a secret society, outside of the Ministry, though some of our members do work for them."
Emmeline nodded. "So they were looking... for me?" she asked, finding it a little hard to believe.
"Of course they were. They don't want another brilliant Healer around to fix the trouble they cause. Sort of defeats the purpose of it, doesn't it?"
Emmeline blushed slightly at his insinuated compliment.
Eric looked at his watch and sighed. "There's more I want to tell you, but I'm afraid our time is nearly up. I have some Order business I'm needed for. The only other important thing you need to know for now though is that you may be here for a long time. I don't know how long, even. Also, there are people watching over your family."
Emmeline nodded. Her family.
"The house is bigger than it looks, and you're free to explore downstairs. You know where your room is. Mine is upstairs, and there's nothing else of interest up there. I'm afraid I won't be back tonight, so I'm sorry to be such a terrible host. I don't know that I'll be around much at all. The Order's work is very important."
"I'll manage."
"I already told you the house has numerous protections, but Snuffles will always be around, and he can take care of you."
The way he said it made Emmeline curious. "Is he a magical dog?"
"More than you could imagine."
There was a small collection of books above the mantle in the cozy living room. Emmeline sat snuggled up on the couch reading for most of the evening, Snuffles curled up at the other end of the couch. She wasn't bored, but after a while, she could no longer focus on the book of fairy tales she had chosen and decided she would just give up and go to bed. There had been so much that had happened to strain her emotionally that day that she felt she could easily drift off.
Snuffles followed her down the hall and then sat down next to her door. She smiled and bid him a fond goodnight, kissing her fingers and touching it to his nose, then scratching him behind the ears before retreating into her room.
She had unpacked a few things earlier, and she arranged them now, pulling a few more of her belongings out of her bottomless bag, too. She didn't delve too deep into the bag. It started to push and tug at memories of where she had just come from. Her home, where her family was. The family she'd had to give painful goodbyes to just that morning. She had tried to be nothing but strong for them as she left, but it had been the hardest thing she'd ever done, especially not knowing when she would see them again.
She should write a note to her parents, assuring them that she was safe, even though they didn't know the extent of why she had left and what a big risk she had taken.
Hopefully this truly was all going to be all right.
She changed into her nightclothes and finally slipped into bed.
And then everything was quiet.
And then her mind began to race even more, and her emotions could no longer be ignored, and she cried into her pillow.
Sirius had a deep frown on his face. He could hear Emmeline crying, and it tore at him. She cried for a long time. Sirius wondered what it would be like to miss his family that much. But he supposed he felt that way about his friends. He never knew when or if he'd see them again with everything that was going on with this bloody war, but they never said goodbye in the I-can't-see-you-anytime-soon way. But maybe it wasn't so different anyway. Sirius was only twenty, and though he was a strong, rebellious, brave, daring young man, at the end of the day, he was still only twenty, and he had his own fears that he wouldn't admit to. And maybe a small corner did know exactly the kind of fear and anguish that Emmeline was feeling right now, even though he pushed those emotions continually out of his mind. It was a different situation, but the same feelings.
When he heard her breathing even out into sleep, Sirius stood up and quietly opened the door to her room. He stepped in, closing the door noiselessly behind him and walked over to the bed. Very carefully, he brushed the hair off of her face. She stirred slightly, and Sirius stepped quickly back into the shadows of the room. She hadn't awoken though, which was good. She didn't need to know who he was. Sirius studied her for a minute or two, then he sighed. He transformed back into his animagus form and curled up at the foot of her bed. He didn't want her to feel alone. He knew all too well what that felt like.
What he didn't know, couldn't figure out, was why he was doing all of this, opening up his small home, watching over her day and night. Yes, that was the task Dumbledore had given him, but he should've resisted it. There were a million other things he could be doing. So many more useful things he should be doing. There were other people he could've been protecting, even.
He hated this, didn't he? He didn't like being stuck here.
What James had said the day before was wrong, too.
"So how goes the stalking? Any new developments?" James asked with a large grin on his face.
"Well, as you know, I'm about to bring the girl to my secret lair for my own evil purposes," Sirius responded, rolling his eyes.
"I knew it!"
Sirius shook his head and then continued. "Eric will go to her house tonight and explain some things, let her know why she has to leave. I think he'll be successful, seeing as there are Death Eaters getting closer to tracking her and her family down every day."
"And have you admitted to yourself why you're doing this yet?"
Sirius sighed. "James, please. Just drop it, for once. I will never lie to you, and I've told you there's no reason already. Dumbledore gave me the task, I accepted. You would do the same; she was your friend, too."
Forfeit Your Whole Kingdom by electronicquillster
Chapter Notes: Thanks to my dear Roommate of the Quillster/Marnae again for the help she gave me with this chapter, refusing to let me write lame stuff. And for helping me figure out quite a few conversations between James and Sirius. -wink wink-