A/N: Okay, so here we go. This is my chaptered Emmeline fic. Hopefully it's not rubbish...

Much thanks goes to -EHWIES for the beta. She is amazing. I loves her. Loves her, loves her. In a strictly non-caressing manner, of course.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter? Not mine. Sirius Black? Not mine, either. Sad, sad day...

If there was one thing to be said for Emmeline Vance, it was that she hated, above all else and with the hatred and fury and impressiveness of a million burning suns, arrogance. To be fair, it was with good reason that she hated arrogance, but while Emmeline could appreciate pride—practiced pride, even, was prideful of who she was and who she was becoming—Emmeline Vance had no patience for arrogance, nor for those who characterized it. The reason as to why Emmeline detested arrogance was crystal clear: Emmeline’s father, one Wolfgang Vance, business wizard extraordinaire, Warlocks and Wands Number One Most Successful five years running, was, understandably, arrogant. Yet Wolfgang was not just arrogant but also cold and unfeeling: His loves were for his business (more specifically, the money his business made), vodka, Cuban cigars, and, apparently, not for his family.

It seemed (to Emmeline, her mother, and her younger brother, Adonis) that Wolfgang was of the firm belief that it was by sheer Galleon number that he came by his wife and two children. Considering his wife, this was quite possibly true: Adele was a French witch renowned for her beauty (something Wolfgang was not known for) and was, in fact, nearly twenty years her husband’s junior. However, considering his children, Emmeline and Adonis—named respectively, Emmeline believed, in bouts of drunkenness (the nicknames one could create with the name drove her bonkers) and arrogance (for while Adonis was considered decent-looking by the girls of fifth year and below, he was no tribute to the Greek God he was named for)—Galleons had no hand in either conception or delivery, and the fact that her father was arrogant enough to believe otherwise was irritating to Emmeline.

So it is a mystery, then, as to why Emmeline ended up falling heart over head for one Regulus Black, perhaps the most arrogant young man in her year—and a Slytherin to boot. Not that Emmeline had anything against Slytherin (as a Ravenclaw, she was far too sensible for such nonsense—she left the prejudices up to the ridiculously noble Gryffindors), merely that it seemed Emmeline was destined to fall for one of the aforementioned ridiculously noble Gryffindors, and not an arrogant berk of a Slytherin. Or perhaps not so much a mystery as a puzzlement—Emmeline Vance was not one to be wooed by sweet nothings and flowers and candies, nor was she one to be lured in by sheer Galleon number (Emmeline was nothing if not sensible—she learned that lesson from watching her mother and her father live together for her seventeen years of life). But mystery, puzzlement, or neither, the fact remained that Emmeline Vance fell heart over head for one Regulus Black—and fell hard.

And it is here that our story begins.

Aaaand we're off! A review will encourage me to update faster. Fun fact: Chapter one is already written. It's with -EHWIES right now. Ergo, you review, and I'll post it when I get it back, okay? Okay.