Nine
Sirius was frowning completely. Unable to believe what he was hearing, he shook his head a little.
"How can you not like dogs?"
Erin was looking at him as if it were nothing special and shrugged. Sirius let his head rest on the chair he was sitting on and kept talking. They had agreed to work on something that she had come up with a few days ago but it kept being postponed; first it had been her almost falling down the stairs and then the visit of Kingsley a few days before to make sure everything was still in order.
"I don't think I want to know what your patronus is."
The enchantment always took shape from the animal the person had more affinity with but Sirius was not sure which one would be compatible with Erin. He imagined something soft, perhaps a little innocent but equally strong.
"It's not a cat, if that's what you're thinking" She answered. "It's a hedgehog."
A hedgehog? The truth was it seemed an unusual patronus. Sirius wondered for a moment what it might have to do with Erin.
"Yes, I know it's strange." She added before Sirius could say anything. He must have seemed surprised.
"Well, hedgehogs are pretty ... cute."
Erin smiled weakly and Sirius realized he was distracting her from what she really should be doing.
"Thanks?" She said, considering the spell was an extension of herself. "But they mean other things too. They are much more than they seem and they can defend themselves perfectly."
"It seems so." He murmured.
Erin leaned over the table and began sorting her things to work. Sirius sat up too, though he did not feel like doing much on that day. He had promised Erin he would help her. He kept Erin's words in his head and thought he would like to know how she was not exactly what she looked like.
"So what did you have in mind?"
He knew it was about death eaters and ways to locate them because he had watched Erin reading reports and consulting maps for days and days with no rest. Trying to stop them before they could plan something was intelligent but, just as the Order was good at hiding, Voldemort's followers were good at hiding as well.
"I've tried to find out where they can attack. Hogwarts will be mostly occupied by death eaters, although we have McGonagall , but we can't do anything there. We can't go on either if they plan another attack in some muggle town again." Sirius nodded as he listened. "If they took the Ministry we'd obviously find out, same with St Mungo's so I can only think of a place where they could attack and be really harmful."
It was clear she had prepared it well and thought it through, taking into account how Erin talked without stopping or doubting. Such frequented places would already be protected, they were not supposed to worry about them.
"Diagon Alley and its surroundings. I know it sounds a bit stupid, maybe even predictable, but we don't have any Auror in the area, at least that I know of."
Erin looked at him expectantly, seeking approval from Sirius, as if what she had said was truly stupid. Sirius did not think so at all.
"Is there really no surveillance?"
He received a nod as an answer and Sirius crossed his arms. Hundreds of people passed through Diagon Alley every day, to their jobs, to their parallel streets, to Gringotts ... It was a place worth protecting.
"You have a plan, right? Because we can't just spend all the day watching it over alone."
"Yes, although I don't know very well how to carry it out." Erin sighed and Sirius thought she was going to say again that it was something silly. It seemed she did not have a single drop of confidence in herself that day.
He nodded to encourage her to keep talking.
"When I was at Hogwarts, I don't remember exactly in what year or how they got it, the twins took a map of the entire castle. "She explained. "Every floor, every class, every hall of the castle appeared there. Some we didn't even know. All the people that were there were reflected on the map so I was thinking that perhaps with the right spells ..."
Erin was speaking very seriously but Sirius could not stop a smile from bursting into his face. He had to interrupt her. The map he was describing was his map.
"The marauders map?"
He had not touched it in years; he did not even know what had happened with it. Erin crossing paths with it and then telling him about it was a matter of fate more than a coincidence. He was fascinated. However, Erin looked at him strangely nott understanding why he was so excited suddenly.
"Yes. Have you seen it before too?"
Sirius almost laughed and knew he was going to tell her the truth even though he was probably being very impulsive.
"Erin, you know two creators."
"I don't." She answered with her arms crossed. "They had some weird aliases, that I remember, Moony, Wormtail , Badfoot..."
"Padfoot, it's Padfoot". He corrected her. "And you do know them. You have one in front of you".
Taken aback, Erin opened her mouth a little, and to Sirius's surprise, she laughed while shaking her head.
"Seriously? If you are one, then I bet Remus is another one."
"Yes." Sirius replied, also smiling. "Remus is Moony, I'm Padfoot, James was Prongs and Wormtail, you know who."
He did not need to mention it because Erin already knew who he was referring to. She was still looking at him as if he were raving, frowning with a faint smile on her face. She seemed to be entertained with the situation.
"Where did you get those names? I can understand Moony and well, Wormtail for the rat." She was talking and reflecting on it at the same time. "Padfoot and Prongs?
"They came from our patronus" Sirius answered. "And from the shapes we adopted to help Remus during his transformations."
"I didn't know you were an Animagus. "Erin said.
"Very few people know it. I am not registered, neither none of us were."
Erin raised her eyebrows immediately but softened her expression again quickly.
"Remus is lucky to have such good friends."
She did not speak in the past and Sirius almost thanked her for that, because he did not want to remember that now there were only two of them.
"Have you ever seen anyone transforming?" He asked as he rose up.
"Don't tell me you're going to do that in front of me."
He laughed but didn't answer because he wanted her to really believe him. She had covered her face with her hands but was still looking between her fingers, ashamed but curious. Before she could even say a word there was a big black dog in front of her and she understood why Sirius had chosen Padfoot (and why he had been so offended that he did not like dogs). Erin got up slowly. Sirius had just transformed in front of her so easily that it was incredible that the animal in front of her was him. She extended her hand hesitating and the dog moved towards her with grace, almost without making a noise. Erin found herself running her fingers through his fur and caressed him. Then she turned around and from one moment to another Sirius reappeared, then Erin did seem astonished.
"That was awesome "She spoke. "And weird."
Sirius smoothed his hair and sat down again. Erin was still watching him with her face resting on one of her hands.
"How old were you when you made the map? You must've used higly advanced spells."
"We were still at Hogwarts." Sirius thought it had to have been a few years before finishing school, perhaps fourth or fifth grade. He couldn't remember it exactly. "Remus made the drawings, James and I handle the spells and track the areas. It was easier for us."
Erin listened carefully. They had been great wizards since they were very young that could not be denied, nor that they really wanted to help Remus. She was glad to know he had had someone there to help him. Sirius Black had seemed a mystery to her ever since it had been proved he had not been guilty, and at that moment he was only confirming it. Every day that passed she learned something else about him that surprised her.
"If you really believe that a map of Diagon Alley could work then I'm in. I hope that Remus wants to help us, because I am a terrible at drawing." Sirius said.
"It's fine by me." Erin said without thinking, she had a big amount of respect for Remus.
"It's a good idea, Erin." Sirius assured her. He wanted to let her know because it really was, and she had been beating around the bush for too long. "We've done it once, so it won't be that difficult. You just have to trust this old dog, for once."