X.
When Erin awoke, she as in a very comfortable bed; however, she could not remember how she had gotten there. The very first thing she saw was a blonde head, and then her brother Ernie's face swam into focus. When he saw that she was awake, he gave a screech and yelled, "Mom! Mrs. Stirman! Holly! She's awake!"
Erin blinked in confusion. "Where am I?"
"Well, you're at Jamie's house of course! What happened to you? You've been out nearly a week now – I just got home from school!"
"Where's Jamie? And Brett? And Patrick?"
"Jamie's in the next room…what do you mean Brett and Patrick? What do they have to do with anything?" and seeing the look on Erin's face, he said, "What's…?" but before he could finish the door swung open, and in stepped her mother, Mrs. Stirman, and an old lady Erin had never seen in her life.
"Oh, Erin!" her mother cried, flinging herself onto the edge of her bed. "We all thought you weren't going to make it!"
"For a while I did too," Erin replied, gazing around her. She was in the Stirman's guest bedroom. She supposed that Jamie must have been brought to his own room.
"What's wrong with me?" she asked suddenly, noticing, for the first time, her splitting headache.
"Well, see, that's the question; we don't know," said the old lady. To Erin's questioning stare, she continued, "I'm Holly. When Jamie came to my house a little over a week ago in the dead of night, carrying you, I took him in, but he insisted on leaving to bring you home. Apparently, nobody was home, so he proceeded to his house, collapsing upon arrival. That was a week ago; he must have been traveling at least a full day through town,"
Wait…carrying me? From where?" Erin asked, confused, "I don't remember anything except Voldemort…"
Everyone's face turned white. "You-Know-Who?" said her mother, "it can't be…"
"It is," Erin continued, "And Harry Potter, and some Wormtail person…"
"You can't be serious," her mother said, "Harry Potter…he's supposed to be at Hogwarts…" she looked questioningly at Ernie.
"When did this happen, Erin?" he asked her.
"The twenty-fourth, I think…"
Ernie had a look of realization on his face. "Do you remember that write-up, beginning of November, how Potter got into the Triwizard Tournament?" Ernie asked. Everyone but Mrs. Stirman nodded. She simply looked confused.
"Vanessa, why don't you watch over Jamie? I'm sure he'll want to see you if he wakes." Maira instructed.
Vanessa nodded and left the room, and Ernie continued, "The third task for the Triwizard Tournament was on the twenty-fourth of June…it was in this huge maze. Nothing happened for about two and a half hours. The Durmstrang and Beauxbatons champions, Krum and Delacour, were both disqualified. It was between Potter and Cedric Diggory.
Suddenly Potter and Cedric appeared in the middle of the lawn with the cup. Everyone was cheering but when neither of them moved Dumbledore and Fudge went running down – Potter was alive, but Cedric – Cedric – he was dead," Ernie choked, "Moody brought Potter up to the castle, and Dumbledore was trying to hold everyone back from Cedric's body, you know, and then a couple of minutes later Dumbledore got this terrified look on his face and sprinted up to the castle with McGonagall and Snape."
"It wasn't in the Daily Prophet…" Holly began.
"Fudge wanted to keep it quiet. Apparently Potter told Dumbledore that You-Know-Who's back; at least that's what Dumbledore told us at breakfast the next morning. I didn't believe him entirely, but Potter had no reason to lie…I mean, it fit…but Fudge doesn't believe a word of it. Dumbledore told us that too. Fudge told Dumbledore and Potter that they just wanted to make trouble."
"Dumbledore would never…" Holly began angrily.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. That's when I completely believed Potter, I think,"
"Erin," said her mother softly, "does that fit with what you remember?"
"Well I remember Potter and Cedric appearing, Cedric dying, Voldemort returning, the Death Eaters, Potter getting away, but…I don't remember anything after that," Erin replied.
A shriek came from the next room, and then a groan. Everyone left quickly but Erin, who stayed in bed.
"Where's Erin?" came Jamie's panicked voice, "Where is she?"
"Jamie, calm down, she's in the next room!" Ernie's voice said, "She's all right!"
"She's ok? She's alive?" Jamie said quickly.
"Of course she's alive!" her mother's voice said, slightly impatient. "No, don't get up! You're in no fit state to walk!"
Footsteps came into her room and she saw Ernie walking in. "Can you get up?" he asked quietly, "Jamie's nearly hysterical; he seems to think you're dead..." but Erin was already out of bed and to the door before he could finish his sentence. Head still pounding, she walked into Jamie's room.
Jamie looked up at her and smiled widely. "Erin!" he cried, "are you all right?"
"Just a headache, nothing else. How are you?"
"I'm fine if you are," Jamie replied, "I thought you were dead!" Before Erin could reply, the phone rang and Vanessa excused herself to answer it.
"Jamie what do you remember about…that night?"
"I remember Potter and Voldemort, and Wormtail, and Diggory. And then I remember that Voldemort was furious when Potter got away and took it out on the Death Eaters. Then I think he found us – " Erin got the impression that Patrick and Brett were not in this explanation, " – and then tied Erin up, and…er… 'Crucio-ed' us until we passed out."
Near the end of this Maira turned pasty white with shock. "Crucio?" she whispered, "Erin, the Cruciatus Curse?
"That's what Ernie called it, right?" Everything Jamie said, and more, she remembered now. It was like reliving a nightmare.
Ernie, too, was deathly pale. "Yeah, the torturing curse…one of the Unforgivable Curses…and here I was thinking that Moody was just paranoid and I'd never have to worry about it being used on anyone I know…sometimes I wondered about Potter, but not my little sister and best friend."
Before anyone could reply, Vanessa walked in, tears in her eyes. "They still don't know where Patrick and Brett are, they've looked everywhere…"
Jamie sat straight up in his bed. "Mum, I know where they are! And so does Erin! C'mon, let me go!"
"I don't think so," his mother said, "Just tell us where they are."
"Oh, c'mon!" Jamie cried. When the adults were unrelenting, he said, "Oh, fine. They're down in the cemetery somewhere."