A/N: So here is my second attempt at this story. I previously posted it as Softly Lost, Silently Found but frankly it was utter crap so after months of writers block and a complete rewrite (which I'm still in the process of doing) I present my new(ish) HP FanFic!*insert trumpets announcing my return* As always reviews and ConCrit are very welcome. Flames will be used to make some tasty s'mores.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize from the HP world all OC's are mine though!
Erin groaned when she saw the bright green numbers of her alarm clock.
Three a.m. is too damn late to be up the night before a test. Reluctantly she set the latest Harry Potter on her night stand and turned out her reading light. Even though she needed the sleep Erin couldn't get settled. There were too many thoughts running through her head. Earlier that day she had caught her parents fighting about her. This wasn't the first time she'd caught them mid fight but all she'd ever been able to gather was that her mom wanted to tell her something and her dad didn't. She sighed as she stared up at the ceiling "God I need to sleep!" She muttered to herself and rolled over yanking the blankets up around her and turned her ipod on. Soon enough her mind was wandering through the music rather than her distorted thoughts.
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"Erin look at mommy!" Three year old Erin looked up at her mother with bleary eyes, it was very late and she was far too tired to be able to focus.
"Good girl. Now I want you to listen very carefully. Mommy has to do some very important work and it's not safe for you to be here, so you are going to stay with some friends. While you're there you won't be able to use your magic but I promise you will be able to as soon as I come back to get you." Erin didn't understand and started to cry in confusion.
"But mommy I want to stay with you." She watched her mothers deep green eyes fill with tears.
"I know sweetie it's only for a little while I promise." With one final kiss and a fierce hug she felt herself being pulled away from her mother by some unseen force. And then she was falling but not down, up into the inky night sky.
"NO! Mommy!" Erin screamed; her vision tunneling faster as she fell until all she could see was her mothers tear streaked face, eyes filled with terror as a pale white hand closed over her mouth.
Erin sat bolt up right face wet with tears, heart pounding a mile a minute. She took a few deep breaths reassuring herself that it was all just a dream. She shakily got out of bed and went about her usual morning routine, the familiar actions calming her down. "It was just a dream. A very scary dream but a dream never the less." She muttered to herself as she pulled on her clothes and double checked her bag. After all the women looked nothing like her mom.
Ahh yes, but she looked and awful lot like you now didn't she?
Erin whipped around looking for the deep male voice that had just filled her room. She laid a had over her racing heart yet again founding herself alone. She shook her head "I'm just over tired. I was up way too late last night. And now I'm hearing things." But as she wandered down the hall to the bathroom she couldn't help but agree with the voice. The woman had looked a lot like her. She watched her reflection as she brushed her teeth. She had the same green eyes as dark as an evergreen tree, the soft heart shaped face with a naturally pale skin and rosy cheeks, and though they had the same curly hair Erin's was jet black while the woman's had been deep auburn. She shook her head yet again. "My imagination is far too active for my own good."
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Erin wiggled her way into her seat around the crowded dinner table smiling at Patrick; her youngest brother. He was excitedly telling of how his first grade class went on a field trip to the Gray Animal Farm.
"And then we got to see the wolves! They were so huge!" His big blue eyes got impossibly larger as he told of his adventure.
"Shannon can you pass the salad?" She nudged her only sister pulling her out of her moody revere. Shannon sighed and rudely shoved the salad bowl at her and missed the look the passed between their parents. Erin didn't however and she grinned to herself knowing her parents were at their wits end with Shannon. The eleven year old had hit the moody teen stage early and was apparently determined to be the best stereotypical pre-teen/teenage girl that ever lived. While she was certainly annoyed with her sister she was just grateful she wasn't in the position of parent and put up with the mood swings to help keep the drama to minimum. Sean, her oldest younger brother, however loved egging Shannon on as he was always guarantied a big reaction. Dinner carried on in the normal manner full on warm conversation discussing the day's events.
"So, Erin I hear you managed to hit yourself in the head today in gym class?" Sean asked full of innocence. Erin blushed bright red and ducked her head a little.
"Yeah maybe I did." Her family laughed and Erin laughed with them. Her klutziness was notorious and she had learned long ago to simply laugh it off. Sean grinned and prodded for more details.
"What exactly happened?"
"Well we were playing Wiffle Ball and I swung the bat, hit the ball, and somehow the ball hit me in the forehead." The table roared with laughter as every person there could envision Erin in such a predicament.
"Coach Peterson made a deal with me that if I promised to sit on the side a do my best not to get hurt he would pass me."
"Well I hope you agreed. I love you but you are a bit of a klutz." Erin smiled at her mom.
"Coach said he couldn't believe that two people as athletic as you guys produced someone as big a klutz as I am." Erin and her siblings laughed yet a gain but she didn't miss the quick panicked glance the washed over her mothers face. Patrick jumped in with another adventure from his day and the conversation moved on and Erin forgot about the panicked look on her mothers face.
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Erin felt herself falling, as she stared into the eyes of her mother "Erin it's time for you to come home. He needs you!" The inky blackness surrounded her. It was the same setting as before but now instead of falling away from her mother she was rapidly falling down, toward a tall, dark, figure.
"Who needs me mommy? Where are you? I need you mommy!" Erin flailed in panic, as she landed on the hard cold ground.
Erin was quickly wide-awake. She shook her head to clear her thoughts before untangling herself from her blanket. "Stupid dreams." She muttered as she fell over yet again. "Damn it, stupid blanket too!" She wandered sleepily into the bathroom and managed to stub her toe on the baseboard. "OW, OW, OW!" She hopped around on one foot as she turned on the shower. While the water was warming up she inspected her toe. Well no bleeding, at least that was a good sign. She sighed as she stripped and stepped into the shower. Days that started like this were always disasters.
Erin hurried into the kitchen running later than usual. Her mom threw her a piece of toast as she ran out the door hoping to catch the bus.
"Here eat something." Erin managed to catch it and smiled, maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Thanks mom I'll be home late I have rehearsal tonight."
"OK Hun. Be careful the stairs are wet from the rain!" Just as her mom warned her not to fall, Erin's feet slid out from under her.
"I'm fine. No big deal!" She scrambled to her feet just in time to catch the bus as it rounded the corner.
"Yep this is gonna be a hell of a day."
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Erin collapsed on her bed, it had indeed, been a long hard day. She had a pop quiz in Math (which she was fairly certain she had bombed), tripped both up and down the stairs in between classes, and at rehearsal for the school musical half the cast hadn't bothered to show up. Erin closed her eyes took a deep breath and fought the urge to cry. Suddenly there was a soft knock on her door. She sighed again before sitting up,
"Come on in!" Her mom poked her head in; Erin noticed right away that something was up. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy, as if she has been crying.
"Are you busy Hun?" Erin shook her head already a little confused as her mom nervously came and sat next to her while followed her in closing the door behind him.
"I don't want to beat around the bush here. There is something your father and I want to talk to you about." Erin glanced at her father and saw him cross his arms over his chest, she knew from experience that was never a good stance to see when dad was talking to you.
"Did I do something wrong? Is my report card here? Did I flunk a class?" Erin's mind was working over time trying to figure out what exactly she did wrong.
"No you didn't do anything wrong!" Erin watched her mom's eyes fill with tears. Now she was really freaked out. It was her dad who spoke next.
"You're fifteen now, and your mother and I feel like it's time for you to know the truth." Her mother jumped to interrupt him while wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"Please know that we love you Erin. We always have and we always will." Erin stared at her mother, she seemed to be on the verge on panic and she had never seen her this way before. Her father cleared his throat and continued.
"Erin I'm just going to come out and say it…Honey your mother and I adopted you when you were a toddler." It took her brain to process what he had said.
"I'm what?" Erin looked back and forth between her mother and father. Her mother was nearly sobbing now and her father looked as though he was holding back tears as well.
"You were adopted." He repeated almost like he was trying to reassure himself of the fact. Erin shook her head,
"But this doesn't make any sense…I…but I look just like mom!"
"That's because your biological mom was actually my cousin. When you were younger we thought it was such a blessing that you looked so much like me." Her mom stopped to brush away her tears, "But as you got older you started looking more and more like her, acting like her, the only real difference is your hair color. I knew we had to tell you soon." Erin felt strangely calm about all this. It was almost as if she was hearing this about someone else. Surly this couldn't be her life that she felt crashing down around her. She stood and walked over to the window taking a few breaths trying to ground herself. So many thoughts were running through her head, so many questions.
"What happened to her? Why did you adopt me?" She didn't turn around it was easier to not have to look at her parents…well apparently her adopted parents.
"She was killed in an accident when you were three. Apparently we were the closest family she had left. At the time we weren't sure if I could have children so we jumped at the chance to raise you." Erin nodded her head trying to talk it all in.
"What was her name?" She nearly whispered. She heard her mom sob for a moment before pulling herself together.
"Catriona. Her name was Catriona Blandichine." Erin finally turned to face the two people that until just moments ago she had thought her parents.
"And what about my…my father where is he? What's his name?" This time her father answered.
"We never found out. His name wasn't on your birth certificate so we can only assume he was someone she knew in Ireland." If possible Erin became even more confused.
"Wait…What? Why Ireland?"
"That's where Cat was from, and it's where you were born." Erin tried to take a deep breath her chest felt tight like she had just run a mile. The face of the woman in her dreams flashed in her minds eye. A sick feeling filled her stomach.
"Do you have any pictures? Can I see her?" Her mom nodded and for the first time Erin noticed the envelope she had in her hand. Slowly and with shaky hands she pulled a picture from the envelope and handed it to Erin.
"I took this about a year before you were born, when she came here to visit." Erin looked down at the picture in her hands and fought the urge to throw up.
"Oh my God!" Staring back at her was the smiling face of the same women she had been dreaming about for two nights. Her chest tightened she couldn't breathe. The picture fluttered to the floor as her whole body went numb.
"No this…no! I can't do this, this isn't real!" Erin ran past her parents and dashed up the stairs. She had no idea where she was going; she just knew she needed to run. If she could run fast enough she may just be able to escape this sick reality. Just as she reached the front door it flew open knocking her off her feet. She felt her head make contact with a dull crack against the mirror behind her. As she floated out of consciousness her world went black. She could hear her family calling to her asking her if she was ok but couldn't find the ability or will to answer. Suddenly a form appeared in front of her, slowly realized it was Catriona, it was her mother. Erin felt a pull deep inside of her, as if her soul recognized the connection with the woman in front of her. All at once Erin felt like her three year old self again and tears filled her eyes.
"Mommy? Mommy you promised you would come get me!" Erin felt herself reach out for Catriona but at the same time she realized that she was not controlling her actions.
"I know sweetie. It took me longer than I expected but I'm here now." Erin felt a warm embrace as tears slid down her cheeks. Catriona's form started to fade and the darkness was taking over.
"No mommy! Please don't leave me again!" Erin could see nothing, feel nothing. She knew she only had moments before she slipped all the way into the darkness.
"I'm here sweetheart. I've always been here, just look for me." She heard the soft whisper surround her as she succumbed once and for all to the recesses of her mind.