As the Eagle Flies

Chapter One

Ema knew she was different, seemingly from the day she was born. At least it looked that way to her. People she didn't even know would say hello to her on the streets, tell her how much she grew, how much she looked like her father, her mother, her uncle, her aunt, but how did they know?

For a long time she didn't understand, she just lived in a little house called The Hollow, next to her grandparents' house called The Burrow. She played with her many cousins, and her Muggle friend from down the street. So, how did these people know her parents?

Ema was a very skinny girl with shoulder length red hair and big brown eyes. She didn't think she looked all that extraordinary but other people seemed to.

She asked her dad once, when she was five, after an old man who looked like a toad had commented on her nose. "Daddy, did you know that man?"

Her father, who was trying hard not to laugh, said, "No, Ema pie, I didn't know that man."

Ema never minded much: She was not a shy child, nor one that dwelled on things for a long time.

Harry always knew that his little girl would have to live with some of the same annoyances he had lived with being famous. Of course, he reminded himself, she didn't have to defeat a dark wizard accidentally to get it; all she had to do was be born.

During these many conversations with himself, he often wondered if having a child had been a good idea, or maybe he should have sent her to live with Muggles. Harry caught his thoughts. Again. He was kidding himself; she was perfectly sheltered. She had no idea what he was...yet.

~

Arwen DeLingues, usually...always called Ari was ashamed of her name. Her mother, Alexa Parker, was absolutely obsessed with The Lord of the Rings when she had given birth to her only child. So I should suffer? Ari thought angrily. "I didn't ask to be named Arwen!" she shouted at the gang of popular girls striding away from her laughing like hyenas. Why was it such a big deal anyway? Why did they care what her mom named me?

Ari had blue eyes and long, dark brown hair that she wore in a ponytail. She could name only one friend, actually as odd as her, by the name of Ema Potter. Ari had never been to her friend's home; Ema seemed to be as ashamed of it as Ari was of her name. That was fine by her.

~

It was time. Harry knew that. He had to tell his daughter who he was, what he and her aunt and uncle, mother and grandparents all were. Anyone who thinks that Ema knew a thing about Voldemort (other than that he was evil) or her own father's past should think again. Harry was ashamed, he had been so angry, so angry at Dumbledore when he was fifteen for not telling him what he needed to know and now...Ema was nearing eleven, this summer, the note from Hogwarts would come, she would leave and then...She would hear it in the wrong way. Harry kneaded his scar with his knuckles; it was a habit, like it would help him think. There was no other way.

"Ginny? Dear?" he called wearily. "Can we talk?"

Ginny appeared in the doorway, pointing her wand at the soup spoon which continued to prepare their dinner. "Yes?" she said.

"I was thinking...Maybe we should tell Ema soon, you know..."

"Hm, I'm glad you've finally reached that decision. Honestly, the way you think, sometimes I think you don't think and that they all think for you."

Harry shot her a dirty look but didn't comment.

~

"Ema! Come inside! Dinner's ready!"

"Be there in a second!" Ema scowled shouting back. "Bye Ari, see you tomorrow."

Ari nodded to no one in particular while Ema bounced home, "I'm going to Hogwarts! I'm going to Hogwarts!" she chanted as loudly as she possibly could which, for anyone who cares to know, was very loud.

"Ema!" Ginny scolded gently. "My brain would like to hold up a few more years!" She waved her wand and a table cloth fell on the table.

"I'm going to Hogwarts!" Ema whispered. For anyone who cares to know, Ema was not a good whisperer.

"Ema," Ginny warned.

"What?" Ema said indignantly. "Your brain can live with that! It's not like I'm singing very loudly, it's not like I'm going to bloody stop anyway, it's not like..."

"All right already!" Ginny shouted, annoyed. "My brain can handle it, but my tolerance can't so I suggest you stop it right now!"

"Isn't anyone coming over tonight?" Ema asked, changing the subject.

"No, thank God!" Ginny said irritably while her daughter scowled.

"Thank God yourself, you grew up in a bloody family of nine, I'm all alone, and I like people."

"I'd have had more children, but then I saw what you were like!" Ginny retorted. "It's like having your Uncles Fred and George put together!"

"I'm not that bad!" Ema protested.

"I win," said Ginny looking at her daughter fondly.

"You do not!" Ema said. "That's not fair; you know what Fred and George are like! You know I'm not like them, you know I wouldn't cause any trouble just for the fun of it, you know..."

"All right already!" Ginny shouted again, laughing, "We'll call it a tie, you little rascal. And no, I do not know that you wouldn't cause trouble just for the fun of it. In fact, it seems the very thing you would do." Ema grinned and pranced into the hallway just in time to meet her father, who was coming in from weeding the garden; a pastime that he had grown fond of.

"Daddy!" she shrieked, running to him and singing, "I'm going to Hogwarts! I'm going to Hogwarts! I'm going..."

"Oh, no you're not!" Harry said, grinning.

Ema looked up at him, "Yes I am! Daddy!" She had seen the grin.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere before dinner!" Harry's eyebrows were raised as though this were obvious.

"Daddy!" Ema said again in a reproving tone, "It's not funny."

Harry adopted a mock serious face and scowled down at her, "You're absolutely right. It's not funny at all."

Ema hit him, "Dad, I'm not bloody four years old anymore," and scampered off singing.

"FOR GOD SAKES EMA! SHUT UP!" Ginny yelled from the kitchen. Harry grinned and went in to join her. Ginny looked fondly at her husband who looked worried now that the night had come. "Don't worry, Harry. She'll take it fine."

Harry shook his head. "I was so angry at Dumbledore for not telling me the things I needed to know, so angry. I don't know the words to describe it. I can't stand thinking if that's the way Ema will feel about me."

"She won't. You were fifteen and had an immense build-up of hormones, hadn't you?" Ginny said giving him a sly look.

Harry looked downright shocked. "Hormones? I? Certainly not."

Ginny snickered. "Not, eh? Don't remember how touchy you were at that time? You were blowing up at Ron and Hermione over everything."

Harry shook his head. "But I was distressed that year! I just had trouble controlling my anger over everything. Mood swings, you know, it was just trauma."

Ginny rolled her eyes and made a noise of extreme frustration. "YOU BOYS ARE SO BLOODY NAÏVE!" she shouted. "You will do anything other than admit you changed at one point. You had a build-up of hormones, it's completely normal, end of story."

Harry smiled weakly. Ginny had hardly changed since their school days. Then he frowned again. "But still, what if she..."

Ginny let out another noise of annoyance.

"She won't. Whatever you were about to say, it won't happen. EMA! DINNER!"

There was a sound of pattering footsteps and Ema ambled in, sat down at the table and attacked her potatoes.

Harry's heart was beating hard in his chest: It was time. He had to tell her, but he couldn't. He cleared his throat, "Erm, Ema?"

His daughter looked up at him, still shoveling potato into her very full mouth. "Erm, there's something I think you should probably know before you go...to school, I mean...erm, well, you see, people will know you there."

Ema laughed. "Of course they will Dad! I've got about ten thousand cousins!"

"Erm, no, I mean," Harry was uncomfortable. He looked at Ginny, but it was made perfectly clear to him by the look on her face that he had to deal with this on his own. "Erm, I mean, a lot of people will know you. In fact," he continued, at an encouraging stare from his wife, "Um, well, pretty much everyone will know you."

Ema looked up, bewildered, What is Dad getting at? she wondered. Why will everyone know me?

"I only know my cousins...and some Muggles," Her eyes widened, "Are there no more witches and wizards?! Are we going to be the only ones!?"

Ginny laughed out loud and Harry smiled. "No, Ema, it's nothing to worry about but, well, I'm pretty well-known...I can't believe I've never told you this before, please forgive me, Ema..."

"You're famous?" Ema said excitedly. "How did you get famous? What did you do? ... Why didn't you tell me?"

With some help from Ginny, Harry recounted his adventures with Voldemort and Voldemort's rise and fall...

"So Merry Goth was a follower of old Voldy?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Margothten--" she emphasized the real name, "--is gone, sweetie. But yes, he was."

Harry had a glazed look on his face. "He's gone now, yes...but, I can't pretend he won't come back, you know he can only be killed, truly killed, with his own wand and...Dumbledore could not do that..."

"And why does this concern me?" Ema asked irritably, not really caring much about Gothy-poo, she knew the story; knew that Dumbledore had died in the attempt. However, having not known Dumbledore herself, she found Harry's unsettledness irritating. Ema's reputation did not always include selflessness.

"It doesn't. But the fact that your father is well known will make you well known. That means...well, in some ways, it'll be fine, but remember, some people will be jealous of you," Ginny said smiling.

"I can cope," Ema smiled.

"Good," Harry said, slightly annoyed now that he'd been worried over nothing. "Then cope with going to bed now."

~

"Don't you think we should have told her?" Harry persisted, worried once more.

"Too much," Ginny groaned. "Can't you see that? She's in no danger right now. Just calm down, okay?"

"Right," Harry said. "Calm...calm...I'm perfectly calm with letting my daughter going unaware into a school where I nearly died twice...at least!"

"Sh, sh, sh," Ginny soothed. "It's okay. She'll be told. Katkin will tell her. Do you really want to tell her now? Now when she's so excited?"

Harry shook his head, "No honey. All I want is for her to be safe."

~

Ari was lonely. Ema had promised to come over but then said she couldn't because her mother wanted her to clean her room. Ari's room was always clean. To make matters worse, Ari knew for a fact that Ema was not cleaning her room. She had seen her going into The Burrow, where Ema's grandparents lived. Ari sighed heavily. Her mother was at work and she, Ari, was stuck at home...again.

There was a clatter as the mail arrived; Ari heaved herself up from her chair and went to get it. She flipped through without interest...a fashion magazine...three bills...postcard for her mother. She threw these all aside and saw a letter for her: Arwen DeLingues, 124 LittleBee Drive, The Chair in the Living Room, Ottery St. Catchpole.

Ari went into the kitchen, got a green pen, crossed out Arwen and wrote Ari in its place. Then she sat on the couch in the living room and read:

Dear Miss DeLingues,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We appreciate that this may come as a shock as you come from a family of non-magic people (Muggles) but we hope that you will take our offer into consideration. If you or your parents have any doubts it has come to our attention that you know one Ema Potter. Contact her with any questions you may have. Although You might want to talk to her parents. We hope to receive your answer by no later than August first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from platform 9 3/4 at 11:00 at Kings Cross Station on September 1. We look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts.

Yours sincerely,

Professor L. Katkin

Headmistress of Hogwarts

Contact Ema Potter? Ari ran out of the house and down the street, clutching the letter in her hands. Was this a joke? Had Ema sent her a letter like this just to make trouble? It did seem like the thing Ema would do.

Ari ran up the stairs to The Hollow and knocked on the door. Just for background information, when Ari knocks, she pounds and doesn't stop pounding until she gets results. Because Ari's "knocking" is loud enough to wake the demons of hell, it wasn't long before Ema's mother came to the door.

"Well, hello Ari," Ginny said, smiling warmly. "Is there any particular reason you are attempting to break down our door?"

Ari didn't smile back. "I...have...to...talk...to...Ema...now," she panted.

Ginny looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face. "Ema's next door right now, is there anything I can do?"

But Ari was already sprinting to The Burrow.

She began her pounding routine again but this time it was very soon before Ema's grandmother came to the door. "Mrs. Weasley," panted Ari, "I need to talk to Ema."

Mrs. Weasly looked very taken aback but called, "Ema! Arwen's here! Hurry down!"

There was a clatter from overhead and a second later, Ema came tumbling down the stairs, "I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT COLIN!" she shouted before coming to the door.

Ari shoved the letter in her face. "Explain that!" she snapped.

Ema, looking bewildered, took the letter and began to read while Mrs. Weasley was reading over her shoulder. After a minute, Ema fell to the floor in fits of hysterical laughter and Mrs. Weasley jumped on Ari, giving her a huge hug. Then she turned to her granddaughter. "Ema, take your friend upstairs and explain what happened."

Ema managed to control herself enough to stand and led Ari up through the strangest house Ari had ever been in.

There was a clock with nine hands and the names of what Ari could only assume were the family members and places where the family might be. Fred seemed to be stuck on 'Mortal Peril'.

"Oh, don't pay any attention to that. It's broken," Ema said. "She's got about fifty new ones because, you know. Her nine children have pretty much all married and had kids and there's no room for all them to fit on one clock." Ema was speaking so quickly that Ari could hardly make out a word she was saying. "I can't believe you got in, this is so exciting. I bet you'll be in Ravenclaw, that's where I want to be, or Gryffindor. But I think I'll let it decide for itself, as long as I'm not in Slytherin, or maybe Slytherin isn't bad...No. Yeah. I think I'd rather be in Slytherin than Hufflepuff, don't you? Well, it's not like Hufflepuff's bad though, I guess I wouldn't mind it. It can be sort of pressurfu..."

Ari didn't think pressurful was a word. In fact, she was almost positive it wasn't. She tuned back in just in time to hear:

"...entire family was Gryffindor, but I think that I'll stick with Ravenclaw for now, don't you? I think you'd be really good...I guess I'd be okay..."

"Wait," Ari said, getting tired of this furious and illiterate talk not to mention that she was still pondering pressurful. "You still haven't told me what the hell is going on."

"OH! Well, I though you got it!" Ari shook her head, raising her eyebrows.

"Well," Ema said. "You're going to Hogwarts!"

"WHAT IS BLOODY HOGWARTS!?" Ari yelled.

"It's a school, of witchcraft and wizardry! You learn how to control your powers and use them in a helpful way," Ema said, as though this were obvious.

"And what are Grey-Fender, Huff-Leefup, Raven-Claw and Sly-There-In?" Ari asked, thinking herself very smart for at least remembering the first letter of each.

"Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," Ema corrected her friend. "And they're houses, school houses. You'll get everything when you come, I can't believe you're coming too! Come meet my cousins." She pulled Ari into a room and yelled, "EVERYONE! THIS IS MY FRIEND ARWEN DELINGUES! IF YOU CALL HER ARWEN, YOU WILL DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH!"

"So what do we call her, DeLingues?" asked the only boy in the room without red hair, his was brown like his eyes and skin.

"Shut up Colin. He's Fred's son," she added to Ari as though this explained him. "You call her Ari. Ari, Colin, is starting his third year at Hogwarts. There's Holly, starting second year and Lisa, who is starting next year, they're George's daughters. Percy's son, Carl, starting fifth year and Bill's Daughter Tilla, starting fifth year also, she's a prefect. Charlie's son Mike, he'll start in two years, and Ron and Hermione's daughter Artemis. If you call her that, you'll be disintegrated, call her Missy. She's starting this year. We're great friends, but she's destined for Gryffindor. Anyone else? Well, she's downstairs, but there's Fred's little girl, Fiona. That's it. Well, any questions?"

"Yes," Ari said. "Who are they?" Everyone laughed and Ari grinned back.

"You've got a funny friend," said Colin, though he was hardly looking at Ema. "For that, I won't push you down the steps until tomorrow."

"Thank you Colin," Ema said sardonically. "I appreciate that." She turned to her friend. "So, anyway, Missy and I are going with my parents and her parents to get school things on Saturday. Why don't you come with us?"

"Well, first I'll have to convince my mother that it's real and not some sort of joke, you know? But then I will, if that's okay with your parents."

~

"Mum?"

"Yes, dear?"

Ari shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Well," she began. "You know how you wanted me to go to Eton? Well, I think I won't be going."

"Oh, honey. If you didn't get accepted, that's fine, perfectly fine. Don't worry about it."

Ari continued to shift. "No, it's not that, it's that. I've been asked to another school." She handed the letter to her mother, who read it over and looked skeptically at Ari.

"Talk to Ema? And? Did you?"

Ari nodded.

"I don't know," Ms. Parker said shiftily, "This seems so...unrealistic."

"So is Lord of the Rings!" Ari retorted, "And you don't mind it much!" As the anger flared up inside her, her eyes began to feel hot, "Anyway, Ema said to bring you over if you decided to be a bloody prat and not believe me!" The vase behind Ari suddenly started to inflate and turned a violent shade of purple.

"No, no, that's fine," Ms. Parker said hastily, though not nearly as surprised as a normal person would be...it was the effect of the long-term Frodo on her brain. "Don't worry, of course you can go. I'm sure if you don't you'll be accidentally blowing up things."

"I can go with Ema and her cousin Missy to get my things," Ari said quickly, slightly ashamed that she had spoken that way to her mother. "And they'll help me get to Platform 9 3/4 so you won't have to worry. Are you okay with this?" she asked, eager to make up. "Of course, dear," Ms. Parker said smiling, trying not to sound upset. "As Tolkien always said..."

"Words are magic," Ari finished smiling.

"After all, I was going to send you to a boarding school, so it doesn't matter much which one, right?" Ms. Parker was more trying to convince herself than her daughter. "Well, today is..."

"Thursday," Ari said. "And we'll go on Saturday. I'm so excited, Mum!"

Mother and daughter exchanged smiles. Though, if Ari had looked more closely she would have seen the tears that were welling up in her mum's eyes. She hid them well, however, saying simply, "Of course you are, dear." And Ari smiled back, happier than she'd been in a long time.

~

"WAKE UP EMA! IT'S TIME TO GO!"

Ema rolled over, mumbling. "I wonder what it's like to have a quiet family."

"Yeah, me too," Ginny said laughing. "But, oh, well. I ended up with you in the house."

Ema sat up and shouted, "Hey! I'm not that loud, I'm not like always shouting, I don't wake people up at the crack of dawn! I don't..."

"ALL RIGHT ALREADY!" shouted Ginny. "And for your information, ten o'clock is generally not considered the crack of dawn, so get your lazy behind out of bed so we don't keep Arwen waiting."

Ema groaned ("Ari, Mom, Ari,") and reached for her jeans.

Ginny left to make her daughter breakfast. "HARRY! WAKE UP! IT'S BEEN HALF AN HOUR!"

"Just ten more minutes..." She heard Harry mumble incoherently from the next room.

"That's what you said half an hour ago. You're not missing your daughter's Hogwarts shopping," Ginny said smirking.

She heard Harry mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, "That's what you think," but a second later he could be heard moving around their room.

~

Ari, unlike her friend, had been up at the crack of dawn. She'd jumped out of bed, gotten dressed, eaten breakfast walked up and down the street until seven, gone inside, eaten breakfast, woken her mother, eaten breakfast again and headed over to Ema's house.

"She's just getting up," Ginny said when Ari had only just barely gotten into her pounding. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Sure," Ari shrugged, failing to mention that she had already had three breakfasts today.

She was just eating the sausages that Ginny handed her when Ema came downstairs, her red hair disheveled, and her face pale.

"Oh, hi Ari," she muttered, "You look awake." Ari raised her eyebrows.

"You look asleep," she observed.

"I'm dead," Ema said, collapsing into a chair and putting her elbow in the butter.

"Hm," Ari said. "I'd have thought you'd have stopped walking around."

"I have," Ema said, yanking her arm out of the butter and wiping it off while Ari laughed.