Part Fourteen
Erin was in the Great Hall the next morning sprawled over the bench with a cheesecake on her stomach. "I've died and gone to heaven." She said as Harry sat down beside her head.
"Where'd you get that?" he asked helping himself to some fruit salad.
"I looooove house elves." The girl said sighing contentedly. "And I definitely looooove cheesecake."
"Erin, you are acting like a cat on catnip." Ron said taking a seat on the other side of Harry.
"Is she really like that?" Fred and George asked standing up suddenly and leaning across the table. Fred and George looked at little different today. Maybe it was because they kept looking at her clothes…what on earth were they up to?
"Not enough to go out with one of you." Erin said taking another bite. "Ambrosia…"
"Only Erin would get like that over cheesecake." Hermione said taking a seat opposite.
"I have chocolate, Hermione." The girl said.
"Chocolate?" Half of the girls at the table jumped up at that.
"Big slabs." Erin murmured. "Wonderful slabs…"
"Erin," Hermione began. "Isn't it about time for your…"
"Yup." She said. "Can't help it…I am always like this." Hermione did seem to remember Erin acting weird on other occasions.
Erin finished the cheesecake. "Erin? Did you just eat a whole cheesecake?"
"Yes, I did." She told Ron as she sat up. "So which one of you wants to learn how to dance?"
Harry and Ron both turned and looked at the girl like she was crazy. Fred and George, however, fought each other as they sprang over the table. Erin rolled my eyes. "Erin…how long are you going to be like this?" Harry asked.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine by tomorrow." She said reaching for toast and eggs.
"Where does she put it?" Ron whispered.
"I wish I knew." Hermione said. "She might let me in on the secret."
"Oh, it's quite simple." Erin said pulling down the shorts she was wearing underneath her skirt. "I am just so active that nothing stays on for long. I do have a nice figure though, don't you think?"
"YES!" Fred and George said still fighting each other.
Harry laughed and continued to eat his fruit salad, but Ron turned bright red again. "Wait a minute." Ron said. "I thought you said you were…I'll never understand girls." He threw up his hands.
"Should I explain, Hermione?"
She looked at Erin. "They either wouldn't understand or if they did they wouldn't look at us for a month."
"You're right." Erin said and then stopped. "Malfoy, what the heck are you doing?"
Everyone turned to see Malfoy had his hand in Ron's robes. He quickly drew away. "Nothing." He sneered.
"Ron, did you have anything in your pocket?" Hermione asked leaning forward.
"I don't think so." He said. "Nothing is there…I don't know what Malfoy was doing."
Erin shrugged. "He's been acting weird."
That afternoon they told Hagrid about what Charlie had said and he seemed to agree with them. Erin had to feel sorry for him, although she was worried about what they were planning on doing.
It was a dark and cloudy night…Erin felt like writing a mystery instead of accompanying Harry and Ron out to Hagrid's hut and up to the astronomy tower with a dragon. They were a little late getting to Hagrid's, that was because Hermione was no where to be seen when they wanted to leave. The girl just wasn't in the tower.
When they got to the hut Hagrid had Norbert ready along with brandy and rats for the journey. He had also packed Norbert's teddy bear, which judging from the sounds in the crate, the teddy was having his head ripped off. "Bye-bye, Norbert!" Hagrid said tearfully. "Mommy will never forget you…" Ok, Erin's sympathy stopped right there.
The three of them were having a hard time getting the crate back to the castle and then through the school. By the time they got to the castle they were exhausted. Even one of Harry's shortcuts hadn't made it any easier. "Nearly there!" Harry whispered when they reached the corridor below the tower. A sudden movement caused them to shrink back into the shadows. Professor McGonagall was in front of us with a lamp. She was wearing a tartan bathrobe and a hair net and she held Malfoy by the ear.
"Detention! And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you!"
"You don't understand, Professor!" Malfoy was squealing. "Potter's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Cone on—we shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!"
With renewed heart they got the crate up the stairs. When they got out into the cool night air Harry threw off the cloak and Erin made myself visible.
"Malfoy got detention!" Erin said twirling around. "I could sing."
"Don't." Harry advised.
It was only about 10 minutes later that four brooms came sweeping out of the darkness. Charlie's friends weren't just nice they were also pretty cute. Erin had fun flirting while they rigged Norbert to a harness that they had suspended between their brooms. They shook hands and one of them even gave Erin a kiss on the cheek. "If only you were a couple years older." He laughed.
They took flight and Norbert was gone. The three slipped back down the stairs. Erin stopped suddenly, Harry and Ron slamming into her. "Erin, what the—oh, boy."
Filch stood there. Erin felt my stomach sink. Harry and Ron had left the cloak at the top of the tower. "Well, well, well, we are in trouble."
Harry, Ron and Erin were sitting in chairs in front of McGonagall's desk in her study. All three of them were thinking of ways to get out of this. Every wild cover-up story in the history of the world was running through their heads. Not that it was doing any good. They were dead.
When McGonagall arrived it was leading a teary-eyed Hermione. Erin's mouth dropped. Hermione looked at them and then sat down next to Ron. "I would never have believed it of any of you! Mr. Filch says you were up in the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. Explain yourselves." Erin's mouth opened and then closed again. Erin looked guiltier than a jaybird. "I think I've got an idea what's been going on." She said. "It doesn't take a genius to work it out. Two boys and two girls up in the astronomy tower at midnight." Erin looked at Harry and he was glancing at her. Hermione and Ron were also glancing at each other. "I caught Draco Malfoy with some cock-and-bull story about a dragon. Let me guess 'dragon' is a code word for couples sneaking off to be together, right?"
Luckily Hermione had enough sense to nod and then Harry cleared his throat. "Yes, Professor."
"You three were up there waiting for Miss Granger, when she was late you went looking for her, correct?"
Erin nodded. "Yes, Professor." Better this than knowing about Norbert.
"I'm disgusted. Five students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger and you, Miss Lyancomp, I thought you had more sense!"
Erin shrugged. "In our defense, Professor, you know how, uh, hormones can affect you."
"Be that as it may." She said giving Erin a look. "As for you, Mr. Potter I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All four of you will receive detentions, nothing gives a student the right to walk around the school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous—and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
"Fifty?" Harry gasped out. "But, Professor—"
"Fifty points each," McGonagall looked all of them in the eye before continuing. "Now get to bed, all of you. And no detours! I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."
Two hundred points lost. That put Gryffindor in last place. What was going to happen when the rest of Gryffindor found out what they'd done? Hermione and Erin couldn't sleep. They knew this because the entire night they were lying in bed looking at each other, not able to speak. Why had Hermione been out of Gryffindor Tower?
They were at breakfast when the looks started. The story spread even faster. Harry Potter, Erin Lyancomp and two other stupid first years had gone to make-out on the astronomy tower and lost the points. Hermione explained to them that she had been trying to stop Malfoy, she heard him say he knew what they were up to. She had hoped she could stop him, but he had been one step ahead of her all evening.