As the evening passed into night and the students broke into their houses, Eric's depression returned. He was in Slytherin now, and that meant spending every evening in a room with people he really didn't like. He really wished that the reason he couldn't sleep was made of more than frustration, but that was the way things ended up. Eric needed a break, and he needed to relax: Eric needed to fly.

Escaping the tower was simple enough for someone who virtually lived the back corridors of the school. His locked room wouldn't be a challenge, either. He made sure to build in not less than three other routes in besides the main door. With luck, there would be only one challenge that could stop him.

As he moved the access panel behind his wardrobe aside, he found that Willy was waiting for him. "Oh, Master Eric! You must not do this! You will lose points for your house on the first night, and the others will be so upset with you! Willy knows that you are unhappy, but this is rash. Couldn't Willy fix dear Eric a nice cup of tea instead?"

Eric really did appreciate what Willy was trying to do, but he was far to upset to have his plans foiled. As a result, he came across far harsher than he intended. "Willy – if you know what I'm planning to do, then you know that I've thought it out. There's only one way I'll get in trouble, and that's if a certain house elf tells the faculty where I've been. That would get me into trouble, and we wouldn't want that, WOULD WE?"

Willy's startled face was far more than Eric was hoping for, and he wished that he could've taken back what he did; but if he backed down now, Willy would've stopped him from taking his broom out. Eric grabbed his flying garb, his broom and a small vial, and went back to the access panel. "If you really want to help me, make sure nobody gets in here while I'm gone. I just need a little air."

Taking to the night sky was indeed the tonic Eric needed. He couldn't help but enjoy how the air felt, and how his flying clothes made him look. Soaring through the night, he was a dark hooded spectre blotting out the stars. As he passed around and between the various towers, another student caught his eye – a young boy in the Gryffindor tower who apparently couldn't sleep, either. As Eric drew closer, he could tell it was Harry Potter.

If it was any earlier in the evening, he would've just left. However, the flight had the desired effect of mellowing his temper, and he really felt like talking to someone. He buzzed up under the window then slowly rose into view, hoping not to startle Harry. However, the expression on his face suggested that Eric was not entirely successful. Eric was, however, undeterred. "Hello. You're Harry Potter, right?"

"Um, yes." Harry's cracking voice clearly indicated that Eric's attempts at being polite weren't working. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"

Eric suddenly felt uncomfortably dumb, realizing that Harry was staring into an empty black hood. "Oh, I'm sorry. I drank an invisibility potion before I went out tonight. I guess I should have explained that first."

Harry's features relaxed in a spasm of relief. "Oh. Not to be rude, but it's not really working, is it?"

"Actually, it's working fine. You're looking straight at me, yet you can't see me, right?"

Harry chuckled at the thought. "Well, yes, but couldn't you still get caught?"

"Only if somebody gets ahold of me. If they just see me, they don't know who I am. It's a bit safer than other methods of disappearing, and it earns less detention. Take a lesson from this, though: a potion only works on the one drinking it. Not their clothes, not anything they're holding – just them."

Harry seemed to relax as the two of them began talking. Harry was an orphan, too, and seemed to understand a lot that Eric was feeling. Although Eric made sure not to tell Harry everything about him, it was nice to be able to talk to someone who had been through a life similar to his own, although Eric had to admit that, given the Dursleys, Harry had it worse.

Eric began to understand why Hagrid liked Harry; it was hard not to. He decided he wanted to give Harry something for the nice talk they had. "Say, you want to take a spin around the castle?"

Harry looked uncertainly at Eric's absent form. "Uh, I don't think that's such a good idea."

Eric tried to encourage him further, but Harry seemed reasonably determined to remain grounded. "Well, you're going to have flying lessons coming up. Care for some suggestions, at least?"

"Sure." It seemed that taking the risk of running into something out of the lesson improved Harry's interest immensely.

Eric was flushed with pride that he could be the first to teach Harry Potter something about wizarding. "Ok, here's the deal about flying: nothing could be simpler. These brooms are enchanted to move where they're directed to. All you have to do is to hang on firmly and think about where you want the broom to go. For your first time, it helps if you guide and direct using your hands and shifting your weight. The broom won't care, but it'll feel more natural for you. Got that?"

"Got it."

"Now: watch carefully." Eric drew away from Harry's window and sprinted through a series of spiraling knots and figure eights, speeding back and forth before ending up back by the window. "As long as you keep your head about what you're doing and don't get nervous, you can be flying like this your first day."

"Thanks!" Harry seemed extremely grateful for the lesson. "It was nice talking to you, but I have to get to bed. Oh, what's your name?"

Eric paused for a moment. "I'd like to tell you, but it might get us both in more trouble than either of us would probably prefer."

Harry seemed to like the mystery. "All right. Good night, and be careful getting back home."

Eric's heart soared as he snuck back to his room and the Slytherin dorm. The invisibility potion had long since worn off, so he was just someone sneaking back to the room after curfew. He had talked with Harry Potter. They even seemed to hit it off. Maybe, once he was settled, he could try to strike up a friendship dispite the problems that inevitably cropped up between Gryffindors and Slytherins. Maybe this could all work out.

Eric was desperate to have something go his way, and soon. The snores coming from Malfoy and his friends made his current situation far more clear than he would have preferred.