I was let out on Sunday afternoon, having spent most of my remaining time asleep. After Madam Pomfrey assured me that if I was still having any trouble, I could come back and see her at any time, I made my way up to the tallest tower where the Gryffindor common room was hidden behind the familiar portrait of the fat lady.
"Animus," I said in a bored voice to the lady, allowing her to swing the portrait open so I could hop in.

A cheer so loud hit me when I stepped into the common room that I fumbled backwards, half expecting something to attack me. My expression softened as a long red haired girl flung herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
"Hey, Lils," I mumbled into her flowery scented hair.
"I'm so glad you're out!" Lily leaned back and put on a very stern expression, running her green eyes across my face, "Now. Are you sure you're all better? Anything I can do?"
A shout from the sofas by the fire made us turn. James Potter was drawled over the back of one sofa, grinning at us, "I'm not feeling too good, Evans. I could do with one of those hugs."
She rolled her eyes, repressing a smile and spoke back in a cool voice, "The only thing wrong with you, Potter is your inflated ego." Lily took my hand, "Come on."

She led me towards a group of chairs by the window, away from the boys. As we walked past the fire, I turned my head and stuck my tongue out at Sirius who, in his moment of distraction, managed to get poked in the shoulder by Peter's wand. I grinned at his discomfort before taking my seat opposite another girl from mine and Lily's dorm – Cecelia Noor.

"Hey, Cece," I smiled, digging the nearly finished chocolate bar from the boys out my pocket.
"How you doing Erin?" The brunette girl asked, lifting her head from the essay she was writing.
"Fine," I answered. The less I answer, hopefully the less people will ask. I really don't want to be telling my friends that I almost died by a vicious monster. They'll panic, and ugh, I could do without the smothering.

However, my hopes did not come true.
Cece put down her quill and pushed her thin glasses to the top of her nose.
"What happened hun?" Her tone was kind and she meant no harm – it still took me by surprise.
I remained silent, chocolate melting in my fingers. She widened her eyes and glanced at Lily next to me.
It was Lily who spoke first, "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. We'll understand."
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't-" Cece stumbled out, a dark hand reaching to pat my knee.
I held my chocolate free hand up, "Guys- It's fine. I…" Words failed me. I knew speaking about it would help the paranoia that was lingering over my shoulder, but I had no idea how to go about it.
"I just got into a bit of a situation that took a turn for the worst, that's all…" I feebly mumbled out, feeling guilt weighing me down.

Cece leaned back and picked up her quill again, started to chew the end.
"Weird. We thought it had something to do with the boys. They were out all night, same as you. Remus really didn't look happy when they left. We figured you might have got mixed up in one of their stupid night time 'adventures'. You know how Sirius is always begging us to get involved in their pranks."
As she spoke, my gaze drifted over to the self-titled Marauders, minus their one injured member. James and Sirius were trying to distract Peter from practising his Charms homework. My throat grew a lump as I watched how Sirius's eyes crinkled when he grinned. How he threw his head back to let out a bark of laughter as James levitated Peter's wand. How a tanned hand threw his dark curls out of his eyes and-
"Erin?"
Lily's voice brought me back to the conversation.
"N-No, it had nothing to do with them. I didn't see them."
"Strange…" Cece mused, chewing again on her quill before shrugging and deciding that she had best get on with her essay.

I spent the rest of the day with Lily and Cece finishing homework for the week ahead and stealing glances at Sirius. More than once, James tried to get Lily's attention, but as usual, she pretended he didn't exist. When this happened, Sirius stood behind his friend making smooching noises into his ear and looking pleased with himself when I erupted into a fit of giggles.

At dinner time, we packed away our homework in our dorm and made our way back to the common room. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Remus Lupin had returned from the Hospital Wing and was laughing as James ruffled his hair.
"Hey, Remus!" I called as we passed them, "Glad you're better!"
At the sight of me, Remus paled and immediately looked at the floor, clutching the bottom hem of his jumper. I stopped in my tracks and Lily stumbled into the back of me.
"Hey…" I spoke in a much quieter voice, not sure what I'd done to get this reaction.

Sirius appeared at my side and threw his arm across my shoulders, causing all my attention to be drawn to him. He prodded my cheek with a finger and all I could notice was how close his face was to mine. But this was normal Sirius: Always majorly affectionate with no concept of personal space. I'm not special to get this treatment, remember Erin.
"Don't mind ol' moody Moony there, he's just sulking because he missed out on a whole day of doing homework," Sirius barked and I had to force a smile.
"I think we need to get some food in him," Peter spoke up, putting his hands on Remus's back and gently guiding him towards the door.

All four Marauders, Lily, Cece and I started down the stairs towards the Great Hall. Sirius didn't take his arm from across my shoulders – I wanted so badly to wrap my own arm around his waist and pull him closer. Instead I clasped my hands in front of me and glanced at his face only when I knew he couldn't see me blush.
"Why did Remus look like he was going to throw up when he saw me?" I asked Sirius nervously when the other boys were a few paces ahead.
A frown appeared on his face and I regretted asking. A few moments vaguely alone and I already screw up.
"Moony, he's… he's not very well at the moment. He'll just have been having a woozy moment. Nothing personal, I'm sure," came his reply. Right, of course.
"Can I ask you something else as well?"
"Anything for you, my dear," Sirius grinned and moved his arm off me. I missed the warmth, but had to laugh when he stooped into a deep bow.
"Stop that! You're being an embarrassment," I laughed, hitting his shoulder lightly, "I'm trying to be serio- No. Don't you dare make that joke." I pointed a finger at him when I saw his mouth open.
"Ahhh, Erin. Gone are the days where I was able to fool you," Sirius nudged me with his elbow. "Come on, be 'serious' then."

I kept my eyes on the back of Lily's swaying hair in front of me as I spoke.
"Well…"
He waited patiently for me to mull over my words. I hadn't breathed a word to anyone about this- I wasn't sure how stable the territory was.
"Before… Okay. This is going to sound really bizarre. But, before I got injured, I ran into Snape. And he said something about you guys."
"The day you start listening to Snivellus Snape, is the day I know something is wrong with the world," Sirius says, a slight snarl in his voice. I'm unsure whether to go on or not, but when Sirius smiles at me, I decide I can trust him.
"Well I was threatening him…"
"There's my girl- sorry, go on."
"And he said along the lines of 'I'm going to make you suffer the same way your Marauders made me suffer.' He said that instead of saving me, you'd be doing the exact opposite…"
Sirius started to pick at his lip, his brows furrowed before muttering, "Right… Then what happened?"
"Well… I don't really want to tell anyone…" I screwed my eyes shut, willing the memories of the wolf out of my mind. "Let's just say, then I had an extremely close call with something pretty dangerous."
Sirius stared at the floor ahead of him, still picking at his lip. I felt nervous as I glanced at him. Worry is not an emotion that Sirius usually shows.
"I just… I don't know what it has to do with you guys. Unless you put Snape in the same exact position he put me in… But…" I trailed off, not daring to go into more detail.

A cold chill took hold in my chest. Would the Marauders do that? Would they put Snape in that house? I knew them so well; surely they weren't capable of murder. Even Snape, who we all hated so much… They wouldn't try to kill him, right? I mean, a prank gone wrong could have… No. If I don't trust the people in my house, I can't trust anyone. Snape must have been trying to get in my mind.

As we turned the corner to make our way down the main stairs in the Entrance Hall, Sirius's hand touched the back of mine gently before he wormed his fingers in between my own. Unable to speak, I tilted my head to the side to find his silver eyes surveying me.
"Erin, I'm so sorry… For whatever happened to you, I really am. You have to know that we would never put you in danger intentionally, you know that, right?"
I nodded, stuttering out a, "Y-yeah." All I could concentrate on was the pressure of his warm hand in mine and his thumb moving slowly across my skin. It was surprising that I was still able to put one foot in front of the other.
"If Snape is using you as revenge for some meaningless prank we played, then that's on him, right? Not you. Not us." Sirius spoke firmly, but I got the impression that he was speaking for his benefit as well as mine.
"He was probably just trying to make me doubt my friends and get in my head or something…" I managed to whisper out.
"Hey," Sirius stopped on the bottom step and squeezed my hand.
I faced him and almost rolled my eyes as the familiar heat stretched across my cheeks.
"You gonna be alright?"

I opened my mouth to reply that, yes of course, I'd get over it because I was a rough, tough Gryffindor, but my retort never came. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement of black and green exiting the route to the dungeons. And it was too fucking perfect.

I was going to kill him.