Erin thought her heart had stopped when she felt Harry in danger and then when she had seen him fall. She hadn't wanted to look when he had reached the ground. She was afraid he was dead, but even more afraid not to know. She had touched his motionless body and for a brief moment she thought he was dead. Then she felt his pulse…when they had taken Harry into the hospital wing she couldn't go in. She sat outside by the clock curled up in a ball. She still wasn't over her fright.

Ron glanced at Hermione and whispered. "Do you think she's ok? And when do you think Harry's going to wake up?"

"I don't know." Hermione said in response to both questions. She looked worriedly from Ron to Erin. Kneeling down next to their friend she touched her shoulder. "Erin, let's going visit Harry. We should be there when he wakes up." She said softly.

Erin shook her head. "No, you go."

Ron pulled Hermione away. "She needs to be alone." He said for once in his life being dead serious.

They went into the Hospital Wing where Fred, George, Neville, Angelina, and Seamus were all watching Harry.

"He looks a bit peaky don't you think?" Ron said.

Fred snorted. "Peaky? He fell over a hundred feet, what do you expect?"

"Yeah, Ron." George said. "Let's walk you off the astronomy tower and see how you look-"

Harry came to slowly hearing the soft banter of his friends through the darkness. "Probably a right bit better than he usually does." Harry hoarsely put in as he slowly opened his eyes to many faces above him.

Everyone laughed. "How are you feeling?" Ron asked.

"I feel like I fell off a broom." Harry said sitting up slowly in bed. "What happened?" He asked.

Hermione looked concerned. "You did fall. We were so worried about you... Dumbledore sent the Dementors away. He was furious." She explained.

"I meant the match...what happened?" He said slowly.

Hermione looked worriedly at him. "... No one blames you Harry..." It was clear that Gryffindor has lost the match.

"There's a something else you should know too, Harry," Ron said. "Your broom, when you fell off it sort of flew into the Whomping Willow and well..." Ron was holding Harry's smashed broomstick in a banner they had made.

Oh great. Harry thought, while looking at the demolished fragments of his broom. Suddenly he glanced around the group of faces, noticing something was off. "Where's Erin?" He asked no one in particular.

Ron gulped and looked at Hermione. He grinned in an awkward way. "Well, Harry, you see Erin got a little ill at the match. She was screaming before we even knew you had fallen and she even tried to get to you…though you were in the air, then when we saw you...well, you can imagine. She was the first one to you, you know. She couldn't come in, she was afraid her...uh...greatest fear was coming true." Ron cleared his throat trying not to make eye contact.

"But I'm okay." Harry insisted, trying to force his way up so he could get out of bed. Though the action proved he wasn't totally okay, at least not just yet. He got a little dizzy. "Harry, stay still." Hermione insisted, gently pushing him back down.

"Has anyone checked on her?" He asked. "She should know everything is alright." Hermione looked at the others. She hadn't even thought to see since Ron had pulled her away to go see Harry.

"Well, she was ok..." Ron said. "At least I think so...we saw her just before you woke up." Everyone looked at him. "Ok, ok, I'll go see..." Ron turned and went out of the hospital wing.

He came back a moment later looking rather unsure. "She's not there...she left this though." He held out a piece of parchment. "It says she needed to do something that would help her control her emotions." Ron looked at Hermione who had gone pink. "Hermione, what is it?"

Harry looked at Hermione wondering what she might know that they didn't. "...Nothing." Hermione said suddenly, avoiding their looks. "She's okay." She said softly, looking at her hands.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked. "You do know something we don't?" Ron sighed knowing Hermione wouldn't tell them anything with the others around.

"I'm sure." Hermione said, glancing up at Ron before her gaze went back to Harry. "She's okay, I promise."

It was late at night when Erin made it back to the Gryffindor Tower. She was calmer now, after being the wolf for a while, as she sat by the fire staring at the dying flames. Harry meant the world to her and she had been so afraid for him. She didn't know what to do...at other times she could put herself between him and danger but now she just didn't know what to do. She couldn't do anything and she had felt so helpless.

A soft noise came from the door to the boy's dormitory. It was Harry sneaking out because he couldn't sleep and he didn't want to wake anyone else, but when he turned around he certainly didn't expect to find anyone in the room. Especially her, but the surprise on his face melted into a somewhat unreadable expression. "Erin..." He said softly as he came towards the fireplace.

Erin, startled, looked up. "Harry...are you all right?" She couldn't think of anything else to say. She just saw him there and felt a new feeling, she was just so happy to see him...she had been seeing him lying there on the ground...as if he were dead.

His mouth lifted in a little bit of a smile. "Yeah, I'm alright." He assured her as came up into the light of the fire's glow. "I guess I should be asking you the same thing..."

Erin unconsciously rubbed her shoulder and neck. "Yeah, I think so. I was really worried about you...I couldn't see you like that...I thought you were dead, Harry, when you landed on the ground...it hurt...I don't think I've ever felt anything like that...before."

Harry blinked curiously at her. "I don't remember." He said oddly, glancing at the fire. "I just remember trying to out run the Dementors and then... one was right there and then... I heard her scream again, but after... " He shrugged and shook his head helplessly. It was all black after that.

"I know..." Erin said before she thought about it. "The Dementors are such nasty things. I hate it when they are near me and hear that screaming..."Erin suddenly realized what she had said. "I mean...oh no…"

Harry's brows knit together wonderingly. "You've heard screaming too?" He asked.

Erin nodded. "Yes, Harry, I hear screaming too." She didn't want to look at him. "I tried to tell you...but I didn't know how."

"But that can't be right..." He said, more to himself then to Erin. He was sure, as painful as the thought was, that the woman screaming was his mother, but... Erin heard screaming too... What could that mean?

Erin stood and wrapped her arms around herself turning away from him. She tried to stop the tears. "Harry...I just couldn't tell you...and then when I tried I just...I just..." She stopped not knowing what to say.

Harry looked up, not getting the point. "Erin." He said moving after her slowly. "It's fine... Just because you heard that... it's no reason to be upset. It just means I was wrong."

"No, Harry..." Erin said unable to stop the tears now. "You were right. The screaming you hear is your mum...protecting you from Voldemort..."

"Then how did you...?" He asked, not knowing what to think.

Erin didn't know how else to tell him...she turned to him and very carefully pulled her shirt away from her neck. There halfway between her neck and shoulder was a scar that mirrored his own.

Harry looked even more perplexed, if that were possible. His hand unconsciously went to his forehead, unable to help touching his scar at the sight of hers. "You were... there?" He asked, not knowing how else to explain something like that.

Erin nodded letting go of her collar. "I was there, Harry...my mother, Xenia, gave me to your mother just before they went into hiding...she knew that Voldemort would kill me if he found me. She was killed by him just hours after..." Erin's tears were flowing freely then.

Harry wasn't sure what he could say to something like this. He didn't remember. How could he? He watched her cry for only a moment before he did the only thing he could do. Harry approached Erin and wrapped her in a tight hug, hoping at the very least to provide some comfort to her and ease her tears.

Erin was surprised when she felt his arms go around her. She was so surprised that she stopped crying and just looked at him.

Harry looked back at her quietly. Feeling a slight awkwardness returning now that she was just staring at him. He smiled weakly and brushed away a few of the tears from her pale cheek.

Erin swallowed. "I'm sorry I never told you..."

He smiled a little; surprised by the way she reacted. "Why should you have any reason to be sorry?" He asked.

"Because you deserved to know...I mean I knew you didn't know the truth and I kept it from you..." She licked her lips, something she realized she did when she was nervous. "I never wanted to keep anything from you and it feels like all I've been doing is lying to you..."

"Erin, I'm not angry. Maybe a little confused, but... I can't be mad at you. There's no reason to be." Harry said softly.

She couldn't look into his eyes, being this close was confusing her. She had no idea how he felt. "Harry...it all happened so fast...I remember though...I can't explain how I do...but I remember I was standing beside you in the crib and all I wanted to do was protect you...that's all I've ever wanted to do..."

Harry smiled wanly. Would she still want to protect him if her father got his hands on him? The thought cause him to drop the embrace though he still stood quite close to her. "Well... I'm alive." He said glancing off. "You don't need to look after me all the time... " He said, then after a pause he spoke again, very softly, almost too soft to be heard. "Do... Do you ever think that maybe you're the one who's going to need protecting?" He asked, giving her a serious look.

Erin looked up at him surprised. "I-I don't know. All I know is I would never let anyone hurt you if I could do something about it."

"I know..." He said. "I know you would... but don't worry about me so much. I just have a knack for attracting trouble..." He said thinking back to his talk with Professor Lupin. "I'm also usually pretty good at getting myself out of it." He touched her shoulder, almost wanting to peel back the neck line to see her scar but... His eyes moved back up to her face. "You should get some sleep."

Erin nodded. "Yeah..." She said. "It's been hurting, you know...lately more than ever. It's probably just my worrying. See you tomorrow, Harry." She turned and made for the girls' dormitory.

"See you tomorrow." Harry said, watching her go, waiting until she was gone before he went back to try and get some sleep of his own.