A/N Wheee, chapter thirty-seven :D

Warning: Intense kissing-session contained within. If you are offended by making out in random classrooms and teenagers discussing sex, skip section four.

Chapter 37

"Miss Riddle, am I correct in presuming that your relationship with Mr. Malfoy is still in tact?" Snape interrupted Erin in the middle of a thought one morning in early October. Erin started and blinked at him from her seat on the couch, thoroughly confused.

"Yes," Erin said truthfully. Snape didn't look up from his papers, but he continued this line of questioning.

"Am I also correct in thinking that the two of you are happy together? Content with each other?" He said, making Erin want to giggle at the oddity of her professor asking her these questions. "That you would much rather be with him on the first Hogsmead trip of the school year than with me, grading useless papers in my office?"

"Of course, sir," Erin rolled her eyes. "No disrespect meant."

"Then why are you here?" Snape sighed, using the ink blotter Erin had given him last Christmas to clean up a paper.

"Because Hogsmead isn't until the fifth," Erin said, holding up one hand and wiggling five fingers at the professor. "Today is the…" She counted off fingers, her eyes suddenly widening. "The fifth!"

Leaving her things where they were spread across the couch, Erin said a hasty goodbye to Snape and bolted out of the room.

The road to Hogsmead was cold and wet, a light layer of snow already covering the ground. There were hardly any people around since it was already so late in the day, but as Erin hurried up to the village, she heard footsteps behind her, and a familiar voice calling her name.

"Erin! Wait up!" She turned and saw Neville a little ways behind her, hurrying to catch her. She felt a pang in her heart, looking at his bright eyes and happy smile. She didn't want to have to do this, but it was necessary. Start early, start fast, and do what Dumbledore had told her.

Merlin, this was going to kill her, wasn't it?

"Hey," Erin said flatly as Neville reached her, breathing heavily after running to meet her. He gave her a one-armed hug that she felt incredibly guilty about. She didn't deserve his affection. He didn't know what she was going to do.

"Listen, I meant to catch you earlier," Neville said brightly, "There's something I wanted to talk to you about. Hermione, she's putting together this group-"

"Wait," Erin said, holding up her hand. Neville stopped, looking at her expectantly. "I don't want to know. I joined S.P.E.W. against my will, I won't get up in another one of her weird fancies."

"No, no!" Neville protested with a wide grin, "This isn't anything like that. You know how Umbridge won't let us use spells in her class, won't let us learn how to defend ourselves? Well, Hermione's got this idea, that Harry could-"

"I don't want to know, Neville," Erin said, her voice shaking. "I really, really don't want to hear a word of it, alright?"

"Why?" Neville asked innocently, "I thought you'd be interested, that's all. I mean, you can use spells none of us even know yet. I thought, maybe, you could help Harry teach us-"

"I don't want to know anymore, Neville," Erin said, closing her eyes and trying very hard not to cry. "Look, I… I don't want anything to do with it." Her voice was a whisper. "More to the point, I don't want anything to do with you anymore, either."

"W-what?" Neville asked quietly, his face falling. "What do you mean?"

"I don't want to talk to you anymore," Erin sniffled, opening her eyes and allowing her tears to spill over. "I don't want to see you anymore."

"I don't understand," Neville said in a very confused voice. "We're friends," His brow furrowed in concern. "Aren't we?"

"I-" Erin closed her mouth quickly, holding back a sob. It was awful to see Neville- sweet, kind, accepting Neville- so hurt, to know that she was the one hurting him. "No, Neville. I don't want to be friends with you anymore."

"But… I don't understand," Neville repeated, and it looked as if he were about to cry now, too. "Why are you being like this? What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, L-Longbottom," Erin tripped over the words, taking a deep breath. Tears were pouring down her face, but she didn't wipe them away, mostly because she felt as if she couldn't move her arms. "I just- I can't stand the sight of you. I want you to stay away from me."

"Erin…" Neville said brokenly, reaching out to touch her arm. She flinched away and his hand dropped, his face crumpling. "I'm sorry." He said miserably, and her heart broke just a little. "Did I do something wrong? Whatever it is, I'll fix it, okay? I'll-"

"Oh, sweet, you didn't do anything," Oh, she shouldn't have said that. "I can't… we can't be friends anymore. That's it." Erin whispered, the water in her eyes blurring her vision. She was thankful for it, thankful that she couldn't see the pain she was inflicting.

"I don't understand." Neville said again, so softly that Erin almost didn't hear him.

"Please," Her voice broke, and she had to close her eyes so she didn't have to look at him anymore. "Please, just don't talk to me anymore, Neville."

Erin didn't see him walk away, but she heard his footsteps as he left, and the slowly fading quiet whimpers as he cried. She sat down where she was, and remained there until some time later, when Draco and Blaise found her and led her back to the castle.

"Hey!"

Erin looked up from her breakfast, and was greeted by the sight of a very angry looking Ron and a rather cross Harry and Hermione. She stared boredly at them for a few moments, and when none of them said it, she returned to her food. Ron thwacked the top of her head with a rolled up napkin, and she scowled up at him, rubbing her head.

"What the hell was that?" Erin snapped, snatching the napkin out of her brother's hand. He turned red, frowned at her.

"We wanted to ask you about what you said to Neville," Hermione said gently. Erin rolled her eyes for dramatic effect.

"That little pansy?" Erin said, making Harry raise his eyebrows in shock. "I told him not to talk to me anymore."

"Why?" Hermione asked, "You've been such a good friend to him, and he was so upset when he got to the Hog's Head the other day-"

"The Hog's Head?" Erin snorted, "You know you all could get in huge trouble for being in a pub, right?"

"That's not the point," Ron snapped. "Why were you such a bitch to Neville?"

"Watch your tongue, Ronald Weasley," Erin hissed, flushing. "What would your mother say if she knew you were calling me names?"

"Just answer," Ron said through gritted teeth. Erin sighed, pushing her hair back from her face.

"I told Neville to stay away from me," Erin said slowly, "Because I'd really rather not associate with Gryffindor losers." At this, the anger left Ron's face, replaced by a blank look, as if he didn't really know what to make of his so-called sister's words. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

Erin stood up, taking her bag and walking to meet Draco at the entrance to the hall. For good measure, she pushed him up against the door frame and shoved her tongue into his mouth. When she pulled away, he wore a goofy grin on his face, and Erin knew it would be the exact opposite of Ron's look of hatred directed at the Slytherin boy. Ron would be blaming Draco for Erin's sudden change in behavior, she knew, and maybe that was best for now.

He would find out soon enough.

"He's angry," Erin abruptly said one afternoon as she and Draco were walking down the corridor that led to the charms classroom. "I can feel it. Like he's in my head." Draco stopped in his tracks, the hand that was holding firmly onto Erin's jerking her back so that she came to a standstill as well. She frowned at him. "What? We're going to be late."

"Do you not realize what you just said?" Draco hissed, looking shiftily from side to side before dragging her into an empty classroom. She stood with her arms crossed over her chest as he pushed the door closed behind them and put a silencing charm over the room. When he turned back to her, he looked concerned, but she was still irritated, mostly because of her father's moods merging with her own. Draco walked over to where she was and lightly ran his thumb over her cheek. "I thought you were doing alright at keeping him out."

"I am," Erin said crossly. "But it's not always that easy. Whenever he feels something strong- mostly really sudden anger, or happiness- I get flashes of it."

"And that doesn't concern you?" Draco asked incredulously. Erin shrugged delicately.

"I figure that it's not really that bad," Erin said unconcernedly. "Now that he's back, it's not as big of a deal as it was."

"How can you not take this seriously?" Draco said, and Erin shrugged again in a way that made him angry. "Why are you just shrugging it off like this?"

"He's alive and well again, isn't he?" Erin let some of the irritation creep into her voice, and Draco could tell she was annoyed. "It can't get much worse than that."

Draco was suddenly, irrationally frustrated with her. How dare she be so unconcerned with the current situation? How dare she be irritated with him when he was only trying to help her? How dare she look so maddeningly beautiful standing there in her short skirt and her tight shirt and bright eyes-

"You drive me mad," Draco hissed, taking Erin roughly by the shoulders and pushing her up against the wall she was standing in front of. He put his hands on either side of her head, pinning her against the stone with his body. Erin was thoroughly shocked at his sudden change in demeanor, and she couldn't make herself say anything in response.

"There's this thing you do when you walk," He said from low in his throat, leaning close to her face. His dipped his head and kissed her neck, making blood rush to her face. "That makes me want to put my hands on your hips just so I can see how it feels."

"Why don't you?" Erin breathed heavily, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. There was no part of her that was not screaming for him as he pressed himself against her, nearly every part of them touching except their lips. It was driving her insane to be this close to him and not be kissing, but she knew that it was making him even crazier, so she was willing to let the moment linger.

Draco very slowly lowered his hands and placed them on her waist, to which she responded by wiggling her hips sensually beneath them. He took a sharp breath, wondering if she knew what it was doing to him. From the way she giggled, he guessed she did, and that was when he remembered just how firmly he was pressed against her, and he felt his face go red. He made to pull away but Erin tightened her arms around his neck, effectively keeping him there. She lightly brushed her lips across his, and he shivered, his hips bucking against hers. If possible, his face was even redder, but Erin was still cool and collected, smirking against his mouth. She lightly pecked his mouth, and then deepened the kiss, gliding her tongue along his lower lip and making him groan.

His legs were shaking when, several minutes of kissing later, Erin pulled her lips away from his and put her mouth close to his ear. "Unless you plan on this happening right now," She said in a low voice, "We need to go to class."

"Tempting," He said throatily, sliding his thumbs along her stomach. "You, I mean, not charms. Thought I'm sure you probably wouldn't care for your first time to be on the floor of an empty classroom."

"And who says it'd be my first time?" Erin said mockingly.

"What?" Draco pulled back, looking at her with wide eyes, his voice going up several octaves. Erin laughed and pulled him closer again, pressing her forehead against his.

"It was a joke," She explained, "Just messing with you."

"Oh," Draco breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, then…" Erin cut into his thoughts by kissing him again. When she came up for air, he shrugged. "You know, we could just keep doing this."

Erin evidently agreed with him, as she replied by kissing him again and making his head spin.

When Erin woke up on the couch next to Draco in a cold sweat, she knew something was wrong. She could just feel it, that there was something she was missing, something she ought to remember but didn't. Something was so terribly off, and it was-

The dream that had seemed too real to be a dream suddenly came back to her and she put her hand over her mouth to stifle a scream.

"Wha…?" Draco said sleepily, blinking awake and finding Erin hunched over and clutching her stomach. He leaned forward and put his hand on her back. "What's the matter?"

"Uncle Arthur," Erin gasped, "He was in a hallway, and the snake, the blood,-" She was cut off when a hysterical sob rose in her throat.

"You need to tell Snape," Draco said resolutely, taking her arm and pulling her to her feet. Her legs were shaking so badly she wasn't sure she could walk without Draco's arm around her waist holding her up. As they neared the portrait hole it swung open, revealing just the person they were hoping to see.

"Miss Riddle," Snape said softly, "I believe it would be best if you came with me."

Well, there that is. Make if it what you will.

Sorry if it's kind of confusing, drop me a line if you have questions. The next chapter is pretty much written, so I'll have it up tomorrow evening at the latest.

Thanks for all of your amazing reviews. You are the reason I write. 3

xRachel