"Where's Leo?" Harry asked one of the lab technicians as he made his way out of the cutting room
"Professor Dalton had to take an urgent phone call" the technician informed him
"Do you know who from?" Harry questioned
The lab technician paused for a moment, deep in through before answering "I think it was Park Lane School"
Harry frown as he recognised the name of Erin's school but he knew his curiosity would have to wait until Leo got back to the lab. Harry busied himself in completing some reports that he'd be meaning to do for a while and was just about to call Nikki, to see how she was bearing up at home with their newborn daughter Alice, when Leo burst through the door followed by a very despondent looking Erin
"What hap…?" Harry began but his sentence was left hanging when he saw the state of Erin.
Her shirt was ripped and at one of the seams and Harry could see some nasty red scratches down her arms where the shirt seam was open. Her hair was ruffled and Harry could see a nasty gouge across her cheek which was still wet with blood. There was some bruising begging to form around her eye and when Harry looked at the young girl closer he saw her eyes were sparkling with tears
"She got into a fight" Leo said answering Harry's unfinished question "She's been suspended for a week"
Harry turned to Erin who said nothing but she dropped her head, clearly ashamed at what had happened
"Needless to say I am so disappointed in you Erin" Leo said in a stern voice but still Erin did not say anything
Leo was about to launch into a lecture on her behaviour when one of the lab technicians called for him to take an urgent phone call
"I'll deal with you when I get back" Leo told Erin and briskly walked off towards his office leaving a stunned Harry and a very quiet Erin behind.
Harry walked over to the young girl and gently touched her arm to get her attention as her gaze was still levelled at the floor. When Erin finally looked up at him, he saw that she had streams of silent tears rolling down her face
"Oh Erin…" Harry sighed "What have you done this time…"
Erin took a shaky breath and just shrugged as she sniffed back a few stray tears. Harry gently led her over to his desk and pulled up a chair for her to sit down on
"Where's Nikki when you need her?" he joked "I'm afraid I'm not good at this touchy-feely stuff"
Erin let out a watery chuckle and wiped her tears away with a bruised looking hand which didn't go unnoticed by Harry
"Who did you punch?" he asked
"Stacey" Erin said flicking a stand of hair out of the way of her bruised face
"Why?"
"She said some bad stuff" Erin informed him
"Enough to deserve a punch?"
"Probably not…" Erin said quietly
"What did she say?"
"She told Nate that he shouldn't hang around with a slut like me who was so easy she'd let anyone sleep with her" Erin said in a monotonous tone of voice
Harry sighed "And you hit her to get her to shut up?"
Erin nodded "I know it was wrong…but now everyone knows" she sobbed
"And she beat you up because you hit her?"
Erin nodded "Her and her cronies" she batted another stray tear from her face which was soon replaced by anothe
"It okay" Harry soothed and he looked up in time to see Leo re-enter the room
"That was your head teacher…" Leo told Erin who jumped at his sudden entrance
"Oh…" was all she said
"Why didn't you tell me you were being bullied?" Leo said pulling Erin into a tender hug which made her wince slightly when Leo touched her bruised body
"Because you said I should try and sort things out for myself…" Erin said
"I didn't mean things like this" Leo sighed "Erin please promise me that next time something like this happens you'll tell one of us"
Erin nodded and she turned to Harry who gave her an encouraging nod
"I'm sorry" she blurted out "I know it was wrong of me to hit someone and you shouldn't ever hit anyone but she wouldn't shut up"
"Is this the same girl you've been having problems with before?"
Erin nodded
"I'm going to talk to your head teacher about this girl" Leo told her
"No!" Erin protested "It'll make things worse"
"Something has o be done Erin…you can't let her go on like this…"
"What about…" Harry said suddenly "If Leo did it subtly so no one knew he'd gone into the school"
Erin nodded and Harry stood up "I think I should get the first aid box" he said reaching up to one of the shelves
Leo leant over Erin and wrapped her into another hug resembling a rather protective stance
"It'll be alright" he whispered in her ear as he tucked a stray stand of her hair away
A short while later and Harry and Leo had finished cleaning Erin up. She had calmed down and was looking a great deal happier. She was sitting in the corner of the lab with Harry watching over her whilst Leo was busy in the cutting room, an area which Erin was barred from. She was absorbed in her book when Harry heard a phone bleep, he checked his own but he had no new messages but when he looked over back at Erin, he saw she was fiddling with her mobile with a coy smile on her face, an expression that didn't go unnoticed by Harry.
"Erin?" Leo called to her as he walked out of the cutting room "Can you go and grab the yellow folder on my desk?"
She nodded and uncurled herself from her position and leaving her belongings behind, scampered off to Leo's office. Harry subtly moved over to where Erin had been sitting pretending he was looking for something. He pressed a few buttons on her phone and couldn't help but smile when he saw what she had been reading. It was at that point, he knew that Erin would be alright
"I don't care what happened to you. You'll always be my best friend no matter what. Nate xxxx"