Emilia

Emilia almost gave up her hope to be included in Sams group. Many of the students that followed Sam seemed to ignore her, and she feared they wouldn't want her to join. She understood that they needed to be careful though and didn't bring up the topic again. She was walking towards her place in the dining room as Sam suddenly threw one arm around her shoulder.

“Wanna grab a butterbeer this weekend in Hogsmeade?”, he said and grinned.

“Yeah, I do.”, Emilia answered.

“Nice, See you on Saturday!”.

Emilia smiled. It seemed like they made a decision.

~~

Sam already waited for her at the door when she entered the Inn. Emilia followed Sam to a table that was almost submerged in the crowd. She was greeted by mainly unfamiliar faces, but also Steward and one of his friends Jeremy. Another girl in her class, Kathy, looked at her pretty suspiciously. Sam directed her to a chair in between them and sat down right next to her. The group instantly started talking again, mainly about things such as dates for tests or homework, school projects, weekend plans and other things. All of them were pretty loud. Sam had learned from her strategy to keep them surrounded, which she had to admit was something she learned from Harry’s mistake. Emilia smiled at Sam.

“You do know what you were talking about, do you?” he asked carefully.

“I do.”, Emilia answered. “There's no need for secrets, I also know about the room.”

Sam was stunned. That part he didn't suspect.
“See Sam, I’m not a snitch. I do know where you practice, I do know how the room works, I also know a few people who joined – not all, I have to admit though. If I was a snitch, I would have told everyone already.”

The last part was directed at Steward. He sat across her as the only one listening to her and Sam. He seemed to be most concerned about her joining the group – understandably, since it had been his idea.

“How?”, Sam looked very confused.

“Does it matter?”

“It does!” Steward snapped. “If YOU were able to find out, others -”

“Don't worry”, Emilia interrupted. “As you found out a few years ago, I am very occupied with hiding and finding out interesting things about others doings, plans and whereabouts. Not like you guys gave me a choice back then to act differently...”

Stewards face went bright red as he remembered the spell she redirected at him in the hallway, as well as various things about his family she should have never known about. It had always been a mystery how Emilia got her information, but she was never caught secretly listening.

“There's nothing you did wrong”, Emilia continued. “The opposite exactly. It was quite hard to contact you and know what you are up to discretely.”

That seemed to please them temporarily. Sam breathed deeply.

“Well, I guess its too late now. You know. So you might as well join, although, I have to admit, I do not know about anything WE could teach you”, Sam said carefully.

Emilia’s mood brightened. She could feel her pulse rise. Joining a group of people, having secret meetings and training with them – she hadn't done anything as exciting in a long time. Somehow she knew, they could get in real trouble. But it didn't matter to her. Umbridge’s focus was Harry, not them, and although the situation was serious it felt like a game to her.

“So… I'm in?”, she asked.

Steward and Sam exchanged looks for a second.
“Yes”, Sam said finally, and Emilia almost laughed for joy.

“We will always discuss when to meet again at the end of each lesson. If you couldn't attend we will select one of us to ask you a specific question: ‘Lets meet for studying’ – and then the day and hour. Do not use this specific way to ask if someone has time to meet with you anytime else anymore! Also, it doesn't matter if you don't come at precisely the time we give you, spreading out a little is less suspicious. The room has a password – just think about that word in front of it and it will open”

Sam then leaned down towards her and whispered: “The password is Einstein, next date is tomorrow, 5 o’clock”

Then Sam turned around and started chatting with Steward, as if their conversation never happened. Emilia contemplated staying, but after half a minute she realized she had nothing to say anymore. They talked about various things she didn't understand – parties they had been to, someones parents, relationships, what to gift someone for their birthday… Overall she didn't know these guys. She decided to get up and leave, hoping she could maybe make some friends in that group during the lessons.

~~

When Emilia walked up to the room of requirement the next day she was really excited. She wouldn't have guessed to be invited so early, and also didn't know what to expect. “Einstein”, what a weird password. It made sense when she thought about it. The name of a muggle scientist was probably the last thing anyone would think or say in this hallway. The door appeared before her – simply thinking about the word “Einstein” made the room to accept the password, just like Sam had told her. She entered quickly, pulling the door shut behind her.

The room this time was massive. When Emilia entered, many members already stood in the middle. It must have been around 15. Big chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and the walls were covered in carpets to reduce the echo. The floor wasn't as hard as it looked, it felt more like a worn out gym floor. Back in one corner was a small seating area, probably for those who were tired.

Emilia looked around, mainly to see who she was dealing with. She didn't know most of the students as they were at least one year above her. She recognized Steward, Jeremy wasn't to be seen. Kathy seemed to have calmed down, she wasn't as tense as she had been in Hogsmeade. And then she saw Sally. Emilia couldn't believe her eyes. Innocent little Sally joined a Dark Arts group? Sally shyly waved at her, and Emilia grinned.

“You could have told me you were here, that would have made things way less complicated!”, Emilia said.

“Sorry, if I had known you were interested I would have brought you with me to the first meeting. Sam told me about you joining today morning, I had no idea you knew...”

Just at this moment Sam entered the room.

“I see, you already integrated yourself”, he said with a wide grin.

Then he threw his arm around Emilia’s shoulder and pushed her towards the group. “Your chance to be shy is over, Emilia, you are part of this now”, he said, although Emilia got the feeling that his remark was rather directed towards the group than her.

She was right about Sam coordinating the group. Steward probably had the idea, but couldn't pull it off without Sam.

“So, who can show her what we all practised already?”, Sam asked.

“You mean, on her?”, a girl from the back laughed and the group giggled.

“No Jady, I mean-”

“Good idea!”, Emilia interrupted and already drew out her wand.

Jady, she hadn't recognized her at first glance. Her name was Jade, and she was popular for being especially hard-working, but also being competitive in nature. Emilia felt her blood rush through her in the thought of being challenged by her. It had been quite some time since someone challenged her for a duel, and only now she realized that she had missed it. Overall, she loved magic and working with it. She laughed about this thought internally – who would have guessed the duels were also fun, and not only a way to fight her bullies?

“Ok ok, calm down everyone, we are here to LEARN, not to fight”, Sam tried to intervene.

“Yes, but to learn fighting though! Why not see if the Vampire can actually bite”, Jady teased.

Suddenly Sally was on Emilia’s side.

“Stop it Jady, its her first time here, I think we should start slow! Be nice to her, she didn't do anything.”

“Be careful Jady”, a guy Emilia recognized from yesterday added. “I have seen her skills once, I don't know if you can take that challenge” He was on the smaller side, with brown, curly hair.

“What's that supposed to mean, Robert??”

“That you are an extraordinarily bad looser Jady!”, he grinned mockingly.

Jady’s head went bright red.

“Ok, that's enough! We aren't here to fight EACH OTHER, understood?”, Sam declared.

“We will go through what we already taught ourselves and what goals we still have. Alright? This discussion is over – now!”

Emilia was right, Sam had the entire group under control. They slowly started to list what they had done during their lessons. Emilia was surprised how advanced their magic was already. Apparently Sam was the one to teach the group most of the time, which was not surprising considering his abilities. Emilia was sure she could beat almost everyone in the group unless she had a very bad day, but about Sam she wasn't sure. He seemed to hold back on his skills quite a lot, and somehow Emilia sensed that his abilities were way greater than he showed.

Most of the things they tried to teach themselves followed the lesson Defensive of the Dark Arts, which wasn't surprising since the group existed to replace those lessons. They covered both defence and attack – the main motto seemed to be: If you cant defend your magic, don't cast it.