Her brother had told her once that there was panic and then there was panic. To be honest, Emme had thought that Jameson had lost a little bit of his sanity when he was attempting to explain that to her, but now? Oh – without a doubt Emmeline knew that her brother was a whole lot smarter than she had ever given him credit for. Then again, Emmeline was a whole lot stupider than she would have ever said she was too, because apparently Firewhiskey and her should ever even be in the same castle, let along the same room.
Because she sure as hell knew better. She knew that sleeping with Evan Rosier was stupid beyond measure and Emmeline would have said that she knew that mixing drinking and being upset about something she couldn’t control was going to get her in more trouble than anything was worth, because Merlin… this was not going to be fun to face anyone. Emme didn’t even remember why Evan had been pissed off, not that she necessarily thought that he would have told her even if they were that wasted, but Emmeline knew that her mother was just being a ridiculous witch and a half for refusing to even acknowledge that Emme’s dad was gone and not just on some stupid business trip.
If she was honest, Emme didn’t quite know what she was going to do with her mother and Jameson had enough going on given that he’d just got married that worrying about their mom? Well, it shouldn’t even begin to rank right now. It didn’t stop Emme from wishing that she was back at home so it was as easy as picking up the telephone to talk with her older brother and figure all of this out – but instead she was stuck in these walls, an empty room waiting for her back at her dorm and what would eventually have to be a terribly awkward conversation with Evan about what had happened between them and how little it actually had meant.
After all, of anyone that she would have slept with – well, Evan wouldn’t have ranked. Great friend, fun person to be around with and annoyingly snarky as all hell but not anyone that Emme would have pursued something with. Particularly not with his long standing friendship with Mary Macdonald, who Emmeline could say with complete certainty did not remotely like her and the feeling was entirely mutual. Same careers they might be pursuing, but there was no change that Emme ever wanted to work alongside the little blonde Gryffindor. Stepping on that kind of territory though? Well, Emmeline wasn’t exactly willing to create more issues for herself than she already had – at least, sober her wasn’t willing to.
Even leaning against the stone rail in the astronomy tower – Emme couldn’t figure out what she had been thinking, even though it was fairly clear that she hadn’t been. This wasn’t something that she could rewind and change, it wasn’t something that they could pretend hadn’t happened and who knew what their classmates might have seen before they’d apparently disappeared into Evan’s room. It was less than ideal and Emme almost couldn’t stomach the thought of stepping back into her house when curfew would undoubtedly approach sooner rather than later. Not to mention the fact that people would eventually start trying to sneak up here for the night anyways and she’d be force to move locations again.
She should have known that it was only a matter of time before Narcissa found her hiding away from the world – she really should have guessed that the blonde Slytherin would have heard rumblings of something going on. Mostly though Emmeline should have figured that one of her best friends would notice that there was something, even as Narcissa was tugging her over to one of the benches for them to sit down. “So, you got into Lucius’ Firewhiskey stash.”
Emme let out a small huff of annoyance, shaking her head, “Well, that explains where Evan got it, so I guess we did.”
Narcissa nodded her head, crossing her legs and leaning back against the bench. “I also noticed that Evan looked thoroughly smug this morning and you were suspiciously absent.”
“Ding ding ding,” Emmeline said mockingly. “Miss Black, you have won two rounds in a row – are you going to attempt to go for a third?”
Narcissa’s eyebrows furrowed together for a second before shaking her head, “You’re ridiculous, Emme,” she mumbled. “You don’t have to answer, but from what Lucius got out of Evan, I’m guessing the two of you had sex last night.”
“Narcissa…” Emme said softly, closing her eyes before giving her acknowledgement that her friend was right. “Who would have thought that the Hufflepuff was the smarter Vance?”
“McGonagall,” her friend stated matter of fact, causing Emme to nudge her shoulder. “Look, you need to come back to the House sooner rather than later and face the music. It’s just Evan of all people. If you’re going to have a one night stand, mind as well be him since neither of you have any kind of feelings for each other.”
“I suppose you might be right…”
“I’m a Black, of course I’m right about this, Emmeline,” Narcissa said, her exasperation clear. “What are you going to do when Alex finds out? Because they aren’t exactly the most… amicable Housemates and you know that it’ll just be something new to taunt Alex with.”
“Alex is a big boy,” Emme said, shaking her head. “He’s – yeah, he’s my best friend but this kind of family shit isn’t something he deals with. And it’s just – my mother’s getting worse and I’m exhausted and here? Hogwarts? It’s the only safe place that we have right now and even when we finish her – Merlin, Cissa, it’s not okay out there.”
“Emmeline,” Narcissa said, shifting in the seat so she could turn and look at the brunette. “We can’t change what’s going on out there and we shouldn’t have to, so don’t worry about that. But you like Alex and now you’ve got and slept with Evan? It’s going to complicate that friendship whether you like it or not.”
“Yeah,” she said softly, taking a deep breath. “No matter what though, Cissa. It’s just a friendship.”
“Okay…” Narcissa said, leaning back again, her voice hinting at her skepticism with what Emme said before letting the pair of them sit in silence.
