Author's Note- Hey, guys. This is chapter 31! Yay! Sorry it took so long,
I've been so unbelievably busy! I promise I will try to get the next chap
up sooner (I actually have quite a bit of it written). So, I think that is
all. Thanks for the reviews. You guys are awesome. Keep reviewing!
Disclaimer- I own nothing, it all belongs to the great Harry Potter People, sadly, of which I am not a member. So don't sue me.
Erika – The Legacy of Lily and James
I found Meg in one of the hallways leading towards the tower. She looked tired, but stopped when I called her.
"Where were you? What happened?" I asked.
"I was talking with Dumbledore, then he sent me to the Hospital Wing. I just left," Meg replied.
I waited, silently, for more.
"I saved someone's life," Meg whispered, "Tonks. Remember her? Dumbledore talked to her rigt after he talked to me. She went into hiding. I think she's safe, for now at least."
"Well, that's good," I said.
Meg nodded, "Yes. Dumbledore's happy. Tonks is a good ally because she can change her appearance."
"So you're happy now?" I asked.
Meg nodded, "Yeah."
"Good," I said.
* * *
A few days later
A dark castle
Glass shattered against the stone wall. The people in the room - two of the grandchildren of Voldemort and three Death Eaters - flinched. A third grandchild of Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lady, Ruth, let out an enraged scream. She picked up another glass goblet and threw it against the castle wall.
"I hate my sister!" she shouted, "Megan must die!"
"Ruth," one of her brothers said.
"What?" Ruth screamed.
"Megan is at Hogwarts," the brother reminded her.
Ruth nodded, and started to say something. Then she grinned as the realization hit her.
"Wormtail," she shouted, "Bring in my Hogwarts connection. I have something I want them to do."
* * *
A few days later
As told by Erika Rose Potter
Meg and I walked into the Great Hall for breakfast just as the mail arrived. Hedwig swooped down at me. I untied the letter and she flew away.
"Letter from Harry," I said as we sat down.
I quickly read and summarized it for Meg.
"Mrs. J and Becky left. Mrs. J's coming back often to help with the wdding plans. Hope I'm doing well, don't slack off, don't get into trouble, blah, blah, blah. I think that's Sarah talking. Honestly, Harry got in more troulbe thatn I ever did," I said.
I folded the letter and took out my wand. Meg did the same.
"First one done wins," I told her.
Meg nodded.
We cast our spells and began to rapidly search our food and drink. While we did so Avery, Jewel, and Lucy slipped into their seats across from us.
"Who's winning?" Lucy asked.
I looked up, "Me. I'm done. Come on, Meg, you nearly always beat me lately."
But Meg was staring intently at her food. I looked over. Part of the meal glowed with the tell-tale sign.
"What is it?" Lucy asked.
"Poison," I whispered.
The word acted as a catalyst. Avery, Jewel, and Lucy jumped up from the table, shaking it. The plates and goblets clattered to the floor, including Meg's plate. We all jumped away from the food.
Our screams had drawn eyes. Everyone was watching. Anya, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and several other professors came rushing over.
"What is it?" Anya asked.
"Poison," Meg hissed.
"Severus, Anya, poison is your area," Dumbledore said, "What is it?"
Snape knelt beside Meg's dish. Anya sat beside him. Snape put his finger in the food, drew it out, and sniffed it.
He made a noise, and then looked up at Dumbledore, "Coroner's Potion. The entire meal's drenched with it. Enough to kill four people, at least."
"Nobody touch your food!" McGonagall shouted, turning to face the rest of the Hall.
Forks dropped, making a clatter.
"Miss Riddle, you didn't eat any, did you?" Dumbledore asked.
Meg shook her head, "No."
"What's the Coroner's Potion, Anya?" I asked, turning to face her.
"It's a poison. 'Coroner's Potion' is it's nickname, because it kills so many. It's real name's 'Carterlyn Potion', after the inventor. It's very powerful, just below the level of the Slauter Potion, which Erika is quite fimiliar with. But it's very difficult. I don't think anyone here could make it," Anya explained.
The professors searched the rest of food, but Meg's was the only tainted dish. They talked to the house elves in the kitchens. They were quite disturbed but had no idea how it happened.
After classes Meg and I went up to Anya's office. She made some tea while Meg and I looked at some photos.
"Have you found anything yet?" Meg asked.
Anya shook her head, "No. Dumbledore's making a speech tonight, though. What are you looking at, Erika?"
I looked up and replied, "Some pictures. Is this your sister?"
Anya looked over, "Yes, that's Anra. She's still in hiding."
I flipped to the next picture, and the next.
"I heard Harry and Sarah are coming to talk to Dumbledore sometime soon," Anya said.
I nodded, "That's what their letters said."
"Do they write often?" Anya asked.
"Yeah. Sarah keeps me filled in on the wedding happenings, and Harry on everything else," I siad.
Meg pointed to the clock, "Come on, we should go or we'll miss the start of dinner."
"Meg, why don't you meet us down there. I want to talk to Erika, alone," Anya said.
Meg nodded, "Just don't talk too long."
"We won't," Anya promised.
Meg left. I sat, silent, waiting. Anya stood up nad went to a box.
"I want to give you something. A bit of a, well, early birthday present," Anya said.
She took something out of the box and sat back down.
"Here," she said.
It was a locket, with a silver heart.
"It's beautiful," I told her.
Anya smiled, "It was your mum's. Your dad gave it to her. I found it...in the...rubble. But I want you to have it. It's rightfully yours. Afterall, at least I have memories of Lily, James, and the others."
I clasped the necklace around my neck and smiled.
"Thank you, Anya," I whispered.
Anya smiled, then told me, "You look just like your mum, you know. Everything but that hair of your's, that's your dad's. But your face, your eyes, all your mum's. They'd be very proud of you."
"Do you think so?"
Anya nodded, "Yes. Now, come on, let's not keep Meg waiting."
Meg was waiting at our table when we got to the Great Hall.
"The necklace," she said when I sat down, "Did she give it to you?"
I nodded, then asked, "How did you know?"
"I've seen it. Anya used to have it," Meg told me.
I smiled, then told Meg, "It was my mum's."
Meg smiled, and nodded.
Dumbledore stood up from his seat and everything fell silent, waiting for what Dumbledore had to say.
He cleared his throat, and began, "Hogwarts has expirienced many threats over the years. But, never, in my years as Headmaster here have we faced something such as the thing we face now.
"Two attempts two take the lives of two of our students using poison have been made. Which brings me to the gravest news I have. The thing I fear has come to pass.
"There is a traitor at Hogwarts."
Despite the fact that I was sure everyone else had thought such a thing everyone made quite a fuss, gasping and such. Everyone started glancing around the Hall, trying to pick out whoever was the traitor. Dumbledore rasied his hand for silence.
"I ask that anyone who has anything, any information on this subject to come forward. Put aside your fear or someone could die as a result."
Yes, I thought, come forward now. Come forward against Voldemort. Choose our side. Because we need all the help we can get. With more and more of us dying or going into hiding each day, our numbers are dwindling. Don't be afraid. We need your help.
Dumbledore nodded at the Hall, and sat down. Immediately the talking began, quiet at first, and growing.
"A traitor at Hogwarts?" Jewel asked, shocked.
"Wonder who it is," Avery whispered, with, I noted, heavy sarcasm.
"That must be who poisoned your food, Mega, and your's, Erika. I wonder if they're passing information on us, too," Lucy said, then bit her lip, frightened and pale.
Avery rolled her eyes, "Of course they are, Lucy. Honestly. What else would they be doing here if not passing information to their precious master and doing whatever he wants."
"Oh, careful, Avery," Jewel whispered, "They might be listening!"
"I don't care," Avery said.
Meg, who had been staring at her plate throughout the entire discussion, looked up, looking Avery straight in the eye.
"Lord Voldemort does worse things to his enemies than simply killing them. He tortures them, steals their minds and souls, pushes them to the very edges of sanity before pushing them into the dark cold of insanity. Only then does he deliver them to their cold yet welcome death. If there is, indeed, a traitor at Hogwarts, which I have no doubt there is, I'd be very careful."
"You should know," Avery hissed.
Lucy gasped, and exclaimed, "Avery! Megan's not the traitor! Why would she poison her own food?"
"To cover for herself," Avery whispered.
Meg stared at her for a moment. We all remained silent, waiting anxiously for the next move to be played.
Meg played it. Sh stood up and walked away, right out of the Great Hall. I jumped up and followed her.
As I was leaving I heard Lucy say, "Now look what you've done, Avery!"
I managed to catch up with Meg, after calling her name several times. She was walking rather fast, so I had to run to catch up.
"I'm sick of Avery calling me a traitor. I'm sick of her thinking she's so brave and isn't scared. She's never faced it, Erika!" Meg told me.
I nodded, and said, "Maybe she's only saying that to keep herself from being so scared. If she can register the enemy in you, she doesn't feel so scared because she knows you. She wants you to be the enemy because she knows you wouldn't hurt her. She'd feel safer."
"But I'm not the enemy, and the real enemy is horrible, knows no mercy, comapassion," Meg said.
"Everyone's afraid, Meg, some people just have different ways of showing it," I whispered.
Meg nodded, "Yeah, I guess."
Three days before my birthday Jewel came running into our dorm. I was laying on my bed, alternating between a Potions essay and writing a letter to Harry and Sarah. I watched as Jewel flung herself on her bed and started crying.
"Jewel?" I asked, "Are you okay?"
We were the only ones in the room, so I felt compelled to try and comfort her.
"I got a letter from my parents. They're taking me out of Hogwarts! They want to move me to Beauxbatons! They think it's too dangerous here!" Jewel cried.
I sat up, shocked. Certainly, plenty of students had been moved from Hogwarts, but never anyone I knew particularly well, like a dorm-mate.
"Erika, I don't want to die, but I don't want to leave. I love it here!" Jewel protested.
I sighed, and suggested, "Tell your parents."
"They won't listen. They're set on it. They won't even let me stay for the rest of the year," Jewel told me, "They're coming to get me on November 1st."
"Maybe you'll be able to come back soon. Maybe it won't last very long," I said, trying to offer some comfort.
Jewel sat up, and said, "Erika, we both know it's only getting worse, not better."
"It could all end any time," I whispered.
"It didn't end last time. It could keep going on and on," Jewel reminded me.
I wanted to tell her that it would end. That Harry was alive to see to its end. But I couldn't.
"Jewel, you have to believe it will end. There is always light at the end of the darkness," I said.
Jewel looked at me with her tear-streaked eyes, and asked in a whisper, "Yes, but will I be alive to see the light?"
"That's why your parents are sending you to Beauxbatons, so you will be alive to see the light at the end," I told her.
Jewel was silent for a while, then whispered, "You know, the other night Avery said that you and Megan don't want this to end. But she's wrong. I think you want this a lot. Maybe more than we do."
"I'm scared of the end, Jewel," I confessed quietly.
What I left unsaid was that, in the end, I might lose Harry. I might lose the only family I have.
"We all are, Erika. But think about the light. Think about all the good that will follow," Jewel said, then smiled, "When I come back from Beauxbatons, I'll make sure you're one of the first people I see."
"I'll look forward to seeing you again, then," I told her.
I had Quidditch practice on my birthday. It was a hard practice, and I returned to the tower exhausted. Everyone had been really nice to me that morning (well, Avery was civil). Lucy, who couldn't keep secrets really well, had let it slip at breakfast that they had something special planned for me that evening. So I was a little excited despite my exhaustion when I climbed into the tower.
Meg, Jewel, and a grumpy and unwilling Avery were waiting in our dorm room.
"Get dressed, quickly. Jewel and I went down to the kitchens and got you a cake, but if you don't get dressed quick we're going to eat it without you," Lucy said, grinning.
"How'd you know where the kitchens are?" I asked.
Meg grinned, then replied, "I owled Harry and Ron. They were only too happy to tell me."
"Go on, Erika, get dressed," Jewel said.
I did as told, and changed out of my Quidditch robes into my normal robes. When I came back the others had taken out the cake. It was chocolate with "Happy Birthday" written in white frosting.
"While you were at practice Hedwig brought these," Meg said.
While we ate I opened my gifts. Harry and Sarah had sent me a wand cleaning kit, a jumbo pack of Chocolate Frogs (which I eagerly shared with the others), and a long letter. Mrs. J and Becky had sent me a card with some money. I also received cards from the Weasleys, Anya, Jewel, Lucy, and Avery. Meg gave me a card and a promise to buy me anything at Hogsmeade, so long as it didn't cost to much.
"Oh, I can't wait until Hogsmeade. Only two days away," Lucy said, "I heard they have so much. I can't wait to visit all the shops."
"Me either," I agreed.
"My parents are actually letting me go to Hogsmeade," Jewel told us, "They only gave in once I begged them."
"It's safe. They have like half of the Hogwarts professors acting as chaperones, and I doubt any of them will give us a moment's peace," I said.
Everyone nodded, it was pretty much true. But even if we had professors following us around we were going to Hogsmeade.
The day of our Hogsmeade trip was a sunny day, a few clouds in the sky (but none looked threatening), and slightly chilly. After breakfast we all grabbed our cloaks and set off.
Filch was checking of names at the gate, and growled as we walked past. We ran in and out of shops, our arms full or purchases. Meg bought me my birthday present, a book of Quidditch strategies that I was sure Harry would use as well (if not steal from me).
Finally we all made it back to the Three Broomsticks, and the five of us sat down to some Butterbeers.
"Good day," I said, "Very good day, don't you think?"
Everyone nodded, and sipped their butterbeers.
It had been quite relaxing, and, after all that had happened and was going to happen, we need some time to relax, even if it was only for a fleeting moment.
Author's Note- Kay, now that you've read, a few additional notes. Special thanks to Oliverwoodschic, who I accidentally sent this chapter to instead of my beta-reader, so thanks for them being so nice and understanding and editing it anyways. Thanks and sorry to my beta-reader. Galagirl, I think I have your email wrong, so could you email me? Thanks!! And I think that is all. REVIEW!!!!
Disclaimer- I own nothing, it all belongs to the great Harry Potter People, sadly, of which I am not a member. So don't sue me.
Erika – The Legacy of Lily and James
I found Meg in one of the hallways leading towards the tower. She looked tired, but stopped when I called her.
"Where were you? What happened?" I asked.
"I was talking with Dumbledore, then he sent me to the Hospital Wing. I just left," Meg replied.
I waited, silently, for more.
"I saved someone's life," Meg whispered, "Tonks. Remember her? Dumbledore talked to her rigt after he talked to me. She went into hiding. I think she's safe, for now at least."
"Well, that's good," I said.
Meg nodded, "Yes. Dumbledore's happy. Tonks is a good ally because she can change her appearance."
"So you're happy now?" I asked.
Meg nodded, "Yeah."
"Good," I said.
* * *
A few days later
A dark castle
Glass shattered against the stone wall. The people in the room - two of the grandchildren of Voldemort and three Death Eaters - flinched. A third grandchild of Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lady, Ruth, let out an enraged scream. She picked up another glass goblet and threw it against the castle wall.
"I hate my sister!" she shouted, "Megan must die!"
"Ruth," one of her brothers said.
"What?" Ruth screamed.
"Megan is at Hogwarts," the brother reminded her.
Ruth nodded, and started to say something. Then she grinned as the realization hit her.
"Wormtail," she shouted, "Bring in my Hogwarts connection. I have something I want them to do."
* * *
A few days later
As told by Erika Rose Potter
Meg and I walked into the Great Hall for breakfast just as the mail arrived. Hedwig swooped down at me. I untied the letter and she flew away.
"Letter from Harry," I said as we sat down.
I quickly read and summarized it for Meg.
"Mrs. J and Becky left. Mrs. J's coming back often to help with the wdding plans. Hope I'm doing well, don't slack off, don't get into trouble, blah, blah, blah. I think that's Sarah talking. Honestly, Harry got in more troulbe thatn I ever did," I said.
I folded the letter and took out my wand. Meg did the same.
"First one done wins," I told her.
Meg nodded.
We cast our spells and began to rapidly search our food and drink. While we did so Avery, Jewel, and Lucy slipped into their seats across from us.
"Who's winning?" Lucy asked.
I looked up, "Me. I'm done. Come on, Meg, you nearly always beat me lately."
But Meg was staring intently at her food. I looked over. Part of the meal glowed with the tell-tale sign.
"What is it?" Lucy asked.
"Poison," I whispered.
The word acted as a catalyst. Avery, Jewel, and Lucy jumped up from the table, shaking it. The plates and goblets clattered to the floor, including Meg's plate. We all jumped away from the food.
Our screams had drawn eyes. Everyone was watching. Anya, McGonagall, Dumbledore, and several other professors came rushing over.
"What is it?" Anya asked.
"Poison," Meg hissed.
"Severus, Anya, poison is your area," Dumbledore said, "What is it?"
Snape knelt beside Meg's dish. Anya sat beside him. Snape put his finger in the food, drew it out, and sniffed it.
He made a noise, and then looked up at Dumbledore, "Coroner's Potion. The entire meal's drenched with it. Enough to kill four people, at least."
"Nobody touch your food!" McGonagall shouted, turning to face the rest of the Hall.
Forks dropped, making a clatter.
"Miss Riddle, you didn't eat any, did you?" Dumbledore asked.
Meg shook her head, "No."
"What's the Coroner's Potion, Anya?" I asked, turning to face her.
"It's a poison. 'Coroner's Potion' is it's nickname, because it kills so many. It's real name's 'Carterlyn Potion', after the inventor. It's very powerful, just below the level of the Slauter Potion, which Erika is quite fimiliar with. But it's very difficult. I don't think anyone here could make it," Anya explained.
The professors searched the rest of food, but Meg's was the only tainted dish. They talked to the house elves in the kitchens. They were quite disturbed but had no idea how it happened.
After classes Meg and I went up to Anya's office. She made some tea while Meg and I looked at some photos.
"Have you found anything yet?" Meg asked.
Anya shook her head, "No. Dumbledore's making a speech tonight, though. What are you looking at, Erika?"
I looked up and replied, "Some pictures. Is this your sister?"
Anya looked over, "Yes, that's Anra. She's still in hiding."
I flipped to the next picture, and the next.
"I heard Harry and Sarah are coming to talk to Dumbledore sometime soon," Anya said.
I nodded, "That's what their letters said."
"Do they write often?" Anya asked.
"Yeah. Sarah keeps me filled in on the wedding happenings, and Harry on everything else," I siad.
Meg pointed to the clock, "Come on, we should go or we'll miss the start of dinner."
"Meg, why don't you meet us down there. I want to talk to Erika, alone," Anya said.
Meg nodded, "Just don't talk too long."
"We won't," Anya promised.
Meg left. I sat, silent, waiting. Anya stood up nad went to a box.
"I want to give you something. A bit of a, well, early birthday present," Anya said.
She took something out of the box and sat back down.
"Here," she said.
It was a locket, with a silver heart.
"It's beautiful," I told her.
Anya smiled, "It was your mum's. Your dad gave it to her. I found it...in the...rubble. But I want you to have it. It's rightfully yours. Afterall, at least I have memories of Lily, James, and the others."
I clasped the necklace around my neck and smiled.
"Thank you, Anya," I whispered.
Anya smiled, then told me, "You look just like your mum, you know. Everything but that hair of your's, that's your dad's. But your face, your eyes, all your mum's. They'd be very proud of you."
"Do you think so?"
Anya nodded, "Yes. Now, come on, let's not keep Meg waiting."
Meg was waiting at our table when we got to the Great Hall.
"The necklace," she said when I sat down, "Did she give it to you?"
I nodded, then asked, "How did you know?"
"I've seen it. Anya used to have it," Meg told me.
I smiled, then told Meg, "It was my mum's."
Meg smiled, and nodded.
Dumbledore stood up from his seat and everything fell silent, waiting for what Dumbledore had to say.
He cleared his throat, and began, "Hogwarts has expirienced many threats over the years. But, never, in my years as Headmaster here have we faced something such as the thing we face now.
"Two attempts two take the lives of two of our students using poison have been made. Which brings me to the gravest news I have. The thing I fear has come to pass.
"There is a traitor at Hogwarts."
Despite the fact that I was sure everyone else had thought such a thing everyone made quite a fuss, gasping and such. Everyone started glancing around the Hall, trying to pick out whoever was the traitor. Dumbledore rasied his hand for silence.
"I ask that anyone who has anything, any information on this subject to come forward. Put aside your fear or someone could die as a result."
Yes, I thought, come forward now. Come forward against Voldemort. Choose our side. Because we need all the help we can get. With more and more of us dying or going into hiding each day, our numbers are dwindling. Don't be afraid. We need your help.
Dumbledore nodded at the Hall, and sat down. Immediately the talking began, quiet at first, and growing.
"A traitor at Hogwarts?" Jewel asked, shocked.
"Wonder who it is," Avery whispered, with, I noted, heavy sarcasm.
"That must be who poisoned your food, Mega, and your's, Erika. I wonder if they're passing information on us, too," Lucy said, then bit her lip, frightened and pale.
Avery rolled her eyes, "Of course they are, Lucy. Honestly. What else would they be doing here if not passing information to their precious master and doing whatever he wants."
"Oh, careful, Avery," Jewel whispered, "They might be listening!"
"I don't care," Avery said.
Meg, who had been staring at her plate throughout the entire discussion, looked up, looking Avery straight in the eye.
"Lord Voldemort does worse things to his enemies than simply killing them. He tortures them, steals their minds and souls, pushes them to the very edges of sanity before pushing them into the dark cold of insanity. Only then does he deliver them to their cold yet welcome death. If there is, indeed, a traitor at Hogwarts, which I have no doubt there is, I'd be very careful."
"You should know," Avery hissed.
Lucy gasped, and exclaimed, "Avery! Megan's not the traitor! Why would she poison her own food?"
"To cover for herself," Avery whispered.
Meg stared at her for a moment. We all remained silent, waiting anxiously for the next move to be played.
Meg played it. Sh stood up and walked away, right out of the Great Hall. I jumped up and followed her.
As I was leaving I heard Lucy say, "Now look what you've done, Avery!"
I managed to catch up with Meg, after calling her name several times. She was walking rather fast, so I had to run to catch up.
"I'm sick of Avery calling me a traitor. I'm sick of her thinking she's so brave and isn't scared. She's never faced it, Erika!" Meg told me.
I nodded, and said, "Maybe she's only saying that to keep herself from being so scared. If she can register the enemy in you, she doesn't feel so scared because she knows you. She wants you to be the enemy because she knows you wouldn't hurt her. She'd feel safer."
"But I'm not the enemy, and the real enemy is horrible, knows no mercy, comapassion," Meg said.
"Everyone's afraid, Meg, some people just have different ways of showing it," I whispered.
Meg nodded, "Yeah, I guess."
Three days before my birthday Jewel came running into our dorm. I was laying on my bed, alternating between a Potions essay and writing a letter to Harry and Sarah. I watched as Jewel flung herself on her bed and started crying.
"Jewel?" I asked, "Are you okay?"
We were the only ones in the room, so I felt compelled to try and comfort her.
"I got a letter from my parents. They're taking me out of Hogwarts! They want to move me to Beauxbatons! They think it's too dangerous here!" Jewel cried.
I sat up, shocked. Certainly, plenty of students had been moved from Hogwarts, but never anyone I knew particularly well, like a dorm-mate.
"Erika, I don't want to die, but I don't want to leave. I love it here!" Jewel protested.
I sighed, and suggested, "Tell your parents."
"They won't listen. They're set on it. They won't even let me stay for the rest of the year," Jewel told me, "They're coming to get me on November 1st."
"Maybe you'll be able to come back soon. Maybe it won't last very long," I said, trying to offer some comfort.
Jewel sat up, and said, "Erika, we both know it's only getting worse, not better."
"It could all end any time," I whispered.
"It didn't end last time. It could keep going on and on," Jewel reminded me.
I wanted to tell her that it would end. That Harry was alive to see to its end. But I couldn't.
"Jewel, you have to believe it will end. There is always light at the end of the darkness," I said.
Jewel looked at me with her tear-streaked eyes, and asked in a whisper, "Yes, but will I be alive to see the light?"
"That's why your parents are sending you to Beauxbatons, so you will be alive to see the light at the end," I told her.
Jewel was silent for a while, then whispered, "You know, the other night Avery said that you and Megan don't want this to end. But she's wrong. I think you want this a lot. Maybe more than we do."
"I'm scared of the end, Jewel," I confessed quietly.
What I left unsaid was that, in the end, I might lose Harry. I might lose the only family I have.
"We all are, Erika. But think about the light. Think about all the good that will follow," Jewel said, then smiled, "When I come back from Beauxbatons, I'll make sure you're one of the first people I see."
"I'll look forward to seeing you again, then," I told her.
I had Quidditch practice on my birthday. It was a hard practice, and I returned to the tower exhausted. Everyone had been really nice to me that morning (well, Avery was civil). Lucy, who couldn't keep secrets really well, had let it slip at breakfast that they had something special planned for me that evening. So I was a little excited despite my exhaustion when I climbed into the tower.
Meg, Jewel, and a grumpy and unwilling Avery were waiting in our dorm room.
"Get dressed, quickly. Jewel and I went down to the kitchens and got you a cake, but if you don't get dressed quick we're going to eat it without you," Lucy said, grinning.
"How'd you know where the kitchens are?" I asked.
Meg grinned, then replied, "I owled Harry and Ron. They were only too happy to tell me."
"Go on, Erika, get dressed," Jewel said.
I did as told, and changed out of my Quidditch robes into my normal robes. When I came back the others had taken out the cake. It was chocolate with "Happy Birthday" written in white frosting.
"While you were at practice Hedwig brought these," Meg said.
While we ate I opened my gifts. Harry and Sarah had sent me a wand cleaning kit, a jumbo pack of Chocolate Frogs (which I eagerly shared with the others), and a long letter. Mrs. J and Becky had sent me a card with some money. I also received cards from the Weasleys, Anya, Jewel, Lucy, and Avery. Meg gave me a card and a promise to buy me anything at Hogsmeade, so long as it didn't cost to much.
"Oh, I can't wait until Hogsmeade. Only two days away," Lucy said, "I heard they have so much. I can't wait to visit all the shops."
"Me either," I agreed.
"My parents are actually letting me go to Hogsmeade," Jewel told us, "They only gave in once I begged them."
"It's safe. They have like half of the Hogwarts professors acting as chaperones, and I doubt any of them will give us a moment's peace," I said.
Everyone nodded, it was pretty much true. But even if we had professors following us around we were going to Hogsmeade.
The day of our Hogsmeade trip was a sunny day, a few clouds in the sky (but none looked threatening), and slightly chilly. After breakfast we all grabbed our cloaks and set off.
Filch was checking of names at the gate, and growled as we walked past. We ran in and out of shops, our arms full or purchases. Meg bought me my birthday present, a book of Quidditch strategies that I was sure Harry would use as well (if not steal from me).
Finally we all made it back to the Three Broomsticks, and the five of us sat down to some Butterbeers.
"Good day," I said, "Very good day, don't you think?"
Everyone nodded, and sipped their butterbeers.
It had been quite relaxing, and, after all that had happened and was going to happen, we need some time to relax, even if it was only for a fleeting moment.
Author's Note- Kay, now that you've read, a few additional notes. Special thanks to Oliverwoodschic, who I accidentally sent this chapter to instead of my beta-reader, so thanks for them being so nice and understanding and editing it anyways. Thanks and sorry to my beta-reader. Galagirl, I think I have your email wrong, so could you email me? Thanks!! And I think that is all. REVIEW!!!!