They were walking up the moving staircase talking about Hogsmeade when they noticed that there were a lot of people outside the portrait hole. "What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Probably Neville forgot the password again." Ron said.

"Hey!" Neville said. He had been standing right behind them.

"Oh, you're here." Ron said as if he had known that the entire time.

The staircase stopped moving and they heard Percy's voice. "What's going on? You can't have all forgotten the password. Excuse me, I'm Head Boy."

"Yeah, like we needed any reminding." Erin rolled her eyes.

"Get back," there was a note of panic in Percy's voice. "Stay back all of you, no one is allowed in this tower until it has been searched.

They saw Ginny making her way over to them. "The Fat Lady she's gone."

"No wonder, she was a terrible singer." Ron said.

"It's not funny, Ron." Hermione said not knowing what to think.

"Everyone move!" Dumbledore's voice towered above them and they all got back.

"You heard him, move!" Percy commanded.

Dumbledore stopped and everyone saw the portrait had been slashed viciously. "Argus, gather the ghosts, I want ever portrait in this castle searched to find the Fat Lady."

"No need, Headmaster." Filch said, who had been behind him holding Mrs. Norris, his cat. "The Fat Lady's there." He pointed to a picture filled with hippos.

Everyone ran toward it. "Stop, stop! I'm Head Boy."

Yeah, like anyone was going to listen to Percy. "My dear lady," Dumbledore said when he was in front of the portrait. "Who did this to you?"

The Fat Lady was now seen as she stood behind the hippo, she trembled with fear as she spoke. "Eyes like the devil he's got. And a temper as dark his name! It's him, headmaster! The one they all talk about... he's here! Somewhere in the castle! Sirius Black!" She cried out trembling.

Dumbledore went about ordering instructions to secure the castle and he sent the Gryffindor students back to the Great Hall for the night. To say the least everyone was in an uproar about the sighting. Everyone was chattering except for Harry and his friends, who had suddenly gotten very quiet on the way back. Hermione looked worriedly at Harry. He didn't look scared, but he did look...bothered.

Erin was sitting somewhat apart from her friends, pale and almost rocking back and forth on her sleeping bag. She couldn't believe it...he had been so close...she didn't want to believe that he was after Harry...she didn't know what she could do...she loved Harry, but she also loved her father...could she really hurt her father?

Ron was looking back and forth between the two of them not sure what to do. He looked at Hermione and then tapped her on the shoulder.

Hermione looked at Ron worriedly. "Look at Erin." He said quietly. "She doesn't look good."

"No, she doesn't at all." Hermione agreed, biting her lip. She decided this silence had to stop. She put herself closer to her friend. "Erin... Dumbledore's locked down the castle you know. I'm sure we're perfectly safe here... It's going to be okay, I'm sure." She said not liking how pale with fear she was.

Erin looked at her in complete disbelief and then remembered she didn't know. "Hermione, you don't understand...you can't understand. He's...he's..." Erin couldn't say anything more she just turned away.

This got Harry's attention as Hermione reached for Erin who had since turned away. "What?" The girl asked.

Harry glanced at them. "He's what, Erin?" He asked. "What do you know about him?"

Erin looked at Harry. "Harry, I just can't believe he's after you..." She looked about to cry as Ron snorted. "Because well...he's my...he's..."

"Everyone settle down! No talking!" Percy said walking amongst the students.

They all glanced as Percy went by but then the other three just crowded around Erin and spoke softer. "He's your... what?" Harry asked. What was she trying to say?

"He's my...fa...my fa..." Erin couldn't say it, she was too afraid of what they were going to do after they found out..."If I tell you, you'll hate me!" She sobbed.

"We won't." Hermione said looking concerned. Why would she think they'd hate her? "Just tell us."

Erin took a deep breath. "Sirius Black is my..."

"I told you four to stop talking!" Percy said standing over them.

Ron glowered at Percy. "We're not doing anything."

"And if you even think about sneaking up to the Astronomy Tower again or into a girls' bathroom I'll-"

"Shut up, Percy!" Ron said.

Hermione glanced at Percy slightly annoyed, waiting for him to walk away. Eventually he gave in and left. "What were you saying, Erin?" She asked.

Erin swallowed. "Harry what do you think about him?"

"About Sirius Black?" He asked uncertainly. Hermione looked between them curiously.

"Yes about my-about Sirius Black." Erin said firmly.

"I don't know what to think..." Harry said softly. "All I know of him is that he's dangerous and supposedly after me." He said. "And if that's true, well, I can't exactly say as I look forward to meeting him." Harry said dryly.

Ron snorted. "Erin, what is he supposed to think? Sirius Black is a murderer! He killed 13 people with one curse! He's insane!"

"That's a lie!" Erin almost shouted at Ron. "It's a lie! I'll never believe he did the things they accused him of! Never! Understand me, Ron? I'll never believe it!"

Ron suddenly remembered something Erin had said in first year. "Erin, you said your father was in Azkaban! Your father knows Sirius Black, doesn't he?"

Hermione looked at Erin, drawing two and two together. "Erin... is Sirius Black your..." She was afraid to finish even when asking quietly. Harry got it now too with Ron's oblivious suggestion and Hermione's partial questions. Erin had tried to explain to them that Sirius Black was her father... Erin was the murderer's daughter!

Erin opened her mouth and just looked at them in total horror. "Please..." She turned paler than she had been which they didn't think possible. "It's just...no please...my father...my father..." Erin couldn't say anything. She couldn't explain this away...she didn't know what to do.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She was shocked. Harry sat quietly for a minute, but eventually he broke the uneasy barrier. "It's okay." He said softly. "You're not your father. You can't help what his current situation is..." Harry said wondering about the man that supposedly wanted his death.

"He's innocent." Erin whispered. "I'll never believe that he'd want to kill you...never, Harry."

Ron was staring open mouthed at them and had no idea what to say.

Harry nodded slowly, believing that she believed, but not knowing for sure if he believed the same of the escaped prisoner. He knew nothing, only what the insane images in papers and wanted posters told him. That and the other evidence, like the violation of the Fat Lady's painting and the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione looked almost as disturbed as Ron, but not quite. "Erin, when was the last time you saw him?" She asked.

Erin swallowed. "When I was 5...Mrs. Peabroom took me to see him...she had too...she didn't want to, but it's required of all parents to see their children and sign the papers so they can be adopted. He wouldn't sign. He smiled at me and told me to be a good girl..." Erin grew quiet as if lost in her own thoughts.

They three of them looked at her quietly looking like they were hovering between sympathy and confusion. But how could any of them change their opinion of Erin simply based on who her family was? They had spent so much time together. She was there friend. "And…" Hermione broke the silence again. "You don't think he's after Harry?" She asked. "Then why would he have slashed that painting? It just seems like a threat..." She said. "Maybe I'm looking at it incorrectly?" She guessed, not knowing what to think.

Erin sighed and looked at them. "I don't know what to think, Hermione. I love my father, how couldn't I? I don't want to think that he did any of the things they accused him of. I've hated it enough growing up with the snide remarks and even coming here and having all the Slytherins know who my father is...I don't know why he tried to get into Gryffindor Tower! I don't know why he's here. I know everything points to Harry as being his target. But we've been wrong before. The wizarding world has been wrong before! And now I feel like I am going to have to choose between my father and the boy I love!" Erin didn't even realize what she had said until she saw the looks on Harry, Ron and Hermione's faces. She groaned and put her face in her hands. "This isn't going well..."

Harry definitely had trouble concealing the look of surprise over the last words she uttered. But noticing, not her slight blush, but how the conversation seemed to be getting to her he couldn't help deciding they'd all had enough for the night. "Come on, why don't we just drop it for now. Everyone's tired, nerves are frazzled..." He said softly, noticing some of the others were getting ready to bed down for the night. Sleeping in the Great Hall... who would've ever thought?

Ron couldn't hold himself back anymore as he laid down on his sleeping bag next to Harry. "Psst…Harry...are you and Erin a couple now?"

"Go to sleep, Ron." Harry said over his shoulder as he lay down on his side. Hermione suppressed a giggle.

A moment later Dumbledore entered the Great Hall with Professor Snape. Snape told him that everything had been searched. "I didn't expect him to linger." Dumbledore said. "The students can stay here the rest of the night and then they can go back to their dormitories."

Snape wasn't bothering to whisper as he said, "Headmaster, if you will remember the conversation before term started. I find it very hard to believe the Black entered on his own free will. One of the Professor's-"

"Severus, I do not believe any teacher helped Black into the castle."

"And what about a student, Headmaster?" Snape said maliciously.

Erin tensed as she heard his words knowing exactly what he was referring to.

"No, Severus I do not believe a student helped him inside either."

"What about Potter? Should he be told?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Let him sleep. For in dreams we can fly to the highest cloud or swim in the deepest oceans. No, he doesn't need to be told...let him sleep."