Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter! If I did, Draco dearest and Snapey would be seventh years and share a dorm room with me at Hogwarts ;P So what? I have a thing for evil, batty, gits, who are too pale to be human.

Previously from Chapter 15:

"Thanks, Draco. We should get going before Harry freaks," Erica gave a slight smile to her long lost cousin. Family. It's a great feeling to have family. Both of her adoptive parents did not have any brothers and sisters and their parents had died when they were young. She hadn't any family before and in the matter of hours; she had two cousins, a mother and father, and aunts and uncles! Feeling slightly overwhelmed and happy as she looked at Draco, she turned to walk out the door.

"Yea, it's probably best." He paused a moment and grabbed Erica's arm. Their eyes met and she could see a flash of sincerity in his steel gray orbs. "Welcome to the family, Erica. I have no doubt that my father and mother will welcome you too, that is if my father doesn't disown me for my actions. My mother, your aunt, is a great person. You're going to love her." He flashed her a true smile.

Erica gave him a big smile and pulled him into a big hug, "Thank you so much Draco. You have no idea just what you have done for me. I have a family, a real family. I'm so happy. Thank you." Before she pulled back, she placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "Now lets go before Harry starts to suspect you of killing me," she said with a laugh.

Chapter 16-

"Harry?" Erica and Harry were alone cuddling on a couch in the Gryffindor common room. Harry hadn't said a thing to her since they parted with Draco. Needless to say, she was worried. He had said he was fine with their new revelations, she couldn't tell if he was lying. Damn Occlumency. She would have to wait for a moment when he wasn't guarding himself.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're ok?"

"I'm fine."

"Fine?"

"Yes."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?" he said with a cold far away look. He mind surely wasn't in the present.

"Stop tormenting yourself Harry. It wasn't your fault," tears came to her eyes and Harry seemed to come back from the dead. "Thinking and wishing will not bring him back, Harry. You were too far to stop him from falling; you never had a chance, love. It was never your fault. He wouldn't blame you. He loved you with all his heart. Sirius died to save you. How dare you contemplate death when he died for you? How dare you contemplate death when your friends need you? How dare you contemplate death when I need you?" Tears were streaming down her face freely now.

Harry gave her a shocked and confused look, "Yet again, Harry Potter forgets I'm an empath," she rolled her eyes in mock amusement, "I love you Harry. That makes all the feelings that much more stronger. I'm linked to you in a way I have been to no one else, and I believe I never will be. It hurts so much to see you hurting. I don't want to bring you painful memories. I would leave you, if you think that would help you. I would do it against my better judgment, but if you wished it..."

"No! How dare you think of leaving me? You're the only thing that matters. I told you before, who your parents are don't matter damn it! I love you for you, not the blood that runs in your veins. You are not your mother. You didn't... you didn't kill Sirius." He choked out, "I know, I have to get over it sooner or later."

"No Harry, you don't have to 'get over it'. You just have to let it heal a bit. You have to give it time. It has only been a few months, Harry. You haven't had time to deal with your feelings. You have to mourn him. My guess is you didn't get a chance to cry at the Dursley's. You can cry with me Harry, you don't have to be strong, I understand, love."

Harry had tears flowing down his sun-tinted face. He was struggling to stay composed. Erica pulled him down into a hug and said nothing. He didn't need her to speak all he needed was a loving shoulder and a pair of ears to listen. It wasn't too long before a soft sob was heard. He was in such pain.

This was the first time since he had wrecked Dumbledore's office last year that he had broken down in front of anyone and let it happen. This was the first time he had let someone comfort him in a long time. With Erica it was different though, he didn't have to be the strong one all of the time. He could break down and lament, and everything would be the same as before except they would be closer.

"Thank you, Erica."

"Don't thank me, Harry. It makes it seem like this is something like a job to me. It isn't a job Harry. This will never be a job for me. I love you, I'll always be there for you, love."

"Okay. God, Erica, I feel like there's nothing. Now that Siri is gone... there's just nothing!"

"Only from nothing can something arise, Harry." He nodded and continued to confide in her while she listened only commenting when what he said warranted it.

A month later, Harry and Erica had mastered Occlumency and were trying to teach it to the rest of the D.A. Erica had learned it quicker and, to the surprise of both Harry and Erica, she had gotten a half complement from Snape. Harry had been doing much better emotionally and, whenever he needed her, Erica was always there. They were the model couple in the school. Voula and Chris had broken up.

Draco had talked to his father, who was supposed to drop by soon with his wife and meet her. She wasn't sure that Draco had told his father about him refusing to help the Dark Lord yet or about how enthusiastic his parents were upon hearing about her. Would Mr. Malfoy blame her when he found out? She didn't want to think about it. Harry had sent an owl to Tonks for her. She had heard much about all of them from both Harry and Draco. Anna had been told, of course, and she went off the deep end yelling about how they were 'all crazy' and that they had 'lost their marbles' and had gone 'off their rocker'. She confronted Draco a bit after that through owl and broke up with him.

To Erica's surprise, and joy, Harry was becoming increasingly more accepting of Draco. She had seen Draco every day and gone out of her way to get to know him better. They had become close over the past few weeks. She regarded him as one of their group. He needed her after the Slytherins found out what he had done. It was getting so bad that Dumbledore was thinking of making him a Gryffindor. Draco wanted to keep his position on the Slytherin Quidditch team though so he stayed a Slytherin, staying away from Slytherin House as long as he could at night and getting up early in the morning. She could tell this lifestyle was starting to wear on him. There weren't telltale signs, just little changes in his manner. For instance, he didn't tease Ron as much as he used to, not that Ron had a problem with that.

Everyone seemed to think these changes were for the better and that he was best this way, everyone except Erica. She was starting to worry about him. He was more subdued than usual, he was a bit paler, he didn't even tease her, and he was always happy or at least pretending to be. She could tell that he was breaking inside. He was afraid, doubting, and lonely. He needed someone to confide in, to tell his heart to. She wanted to use her empathy to help him, but she needed to get him to trust her wholly first. That would be the hard part. Draco had never really trusted anyone, not even his parents. This led her to confront him near the end of October.

"Hey Draco."

"Hello dear cousin."

Erica smiled at being called his cousin. "How are you?"

"I'm-"

"Don't say 'fine', that would be lying. You can't lie to an empath, dragon. They could read you every time. Please don't lie to me. I want to help you. You haven't told me yet about anything involving your not becoming a death eater and the family."

Draco simply grunted in reply and looked at his feet, seeming to forget she was in the room.

"Draco?"

He looked up at her, "I guess you're not going to let me go unless I tell you?" he said with a raised brow.

Erica nodded, "Without a doubt, I can say that I will not let you go."

The blonde sighed and sat down under a tree, near the lake, "well, if my father comes he will not be coming for me." He said evenly, "My father says that even if you are the byproduct of a Fudge you are still the daughter of one of the Dark Lord's most prominent servants. He may just take you instead. He, that bumbling fool, overlooked the fact that you were the one to turn me. I didn't invite him. I'm hoping my mother will convince him that you aren't worth it."

"Do you really think I would go with him of my own free will?"

"No. But that's what I fear. I f you don't do it of your own free will... well, Malfoys, especially my father, can be ruthless. He isn't in You- Know-Who's inner circle for nothing. He'll force you to join, somehow, most likely through Harry. I think they know you're an empath, Erica. They want that."

"I know. Voldemort found out weeks ago, I'm not going to say how." 'That strange dream I had with Harry,' she thought. 'It must be... unless he has a spy in the school. He's done that twice already. Does he still think it will work or is this different from those times? One thing's for sure. I'm now officially part of the war.' "I think we need to talk to Dumbledore again, Draco. He needs to know what's going on. Of course he probably knows already. We have to tell Harry too. We cannot tell him, or let him believe, that any of this is his fault though. It's not. What do you think?"

"Right, the Headmaster will know what we should do. We'll probably end up disobeying him like Harry and his friends did in past years though. We should tell everyone anyways. What are you going to do about the D.A.? Are you going to tell them?" Draco had joined the D.A. a week or so ago and had proved very valuable. He was able to show many curses, hexes, and defensive moves used by the Deatheaters that even Harry didn't know about.

"Sure. We'll do that all tomorrow, I think we still have a bit of time."

"Right, tomorrow then. Good night... cousin." He smiled. His smile was an experience not encountered too often. It was too impossible to resist not smiling back.

"Good night." He walked out of the room leaving Erica to her thoughts. This was all just... screwy! Ok, not much of an elegant way of explaining it. There just weren't words for it. She had never expected this when she came here. Never expected to be dating the famed Harry Potter, let alone to be friends with him.

Now they were both in danger. She was less than him. Or so she believed. She knew he would blame himself if she were hurt in some way. She wouldn't be another of Harry's self-blame deaths. She had an advantage over Voldemort, and he knew it. This was why he wanted her on his side. He would need this rare empath to win the war. His only problem was that Erica was in love with Harry. The Dark Lord would just have to deal with that. She wouldn't be dying any time soon.

She thought she had more time to explain everything. She just didn't expect the events that followed when she got into bed.

Tell me what you think by reviewing!

Next Chapter? Well, we'll just leave that as a surprise. I have it written. I dont think anyone would have thought of this. What do you think is going to happen?
Ok, I just wanted to reply to the reviews that I received recently so I reposted. Just bear this as a reminder not to send me offensive, useless, tactless, obsene, or just plain cruel reviews. Those that do not try to offend me, but send me reviews that tell me like it is, all the while not being rude, are fine because they help.

Anonymous – Thanks for the thoughts, but one thing? How bloody blond are you that you think YOU are the only one with the name of ERICA? Did you ever stop to think, before you went and sent in the anonymous review, that it might JUST be my name to? It is. So, even if it was a bloody OFFENSE to the name of Erica, I DON'T GIVE A BLOODY DAM. I WILL NOT BACK OFF OF 'YOUR' NAME, BECAUSE IT'S MINE! Thank you for the thoughts. Bye bye. You'll probably never see this though because you hate this story so much. If you hate, why even bother to reply? This wasn't much help, I don't see how I can improve what you hate when you just told me that it was a bloody offense and left it at that. Oh, and calling me teenie? What the hell? Are you like seven years old? Can't think of a better name to call me? Was I supposed to be offended?

Esgal

A.K.A. Erica M. :p