Well, that was quick. This is also a fave of mine, enjoy!

Thirteen

As usual, Erin was one of the first people to wake up the next morning. It happened to her since she was little without aiming to do it, but now that she was an adult she was almost looking for waking up early. She did not feel as calm at any other time of the day as when night fell, or day began. She had had a strange feeling when she woke up and found herself in the Burrow. When she had opened her eyes for a moment, she thought she was at Grimmauld Place, it seemed that she had almost gotten used to that old house that was becoming less and less creepy. Then she had seen Hermione and Ginny sleeping peacefully in the same room and the memories of last night came upon her. It must have been around eight or nine o'clock, so Erin removed the sheets trying to make as little noise as possible, got dressed quickly, did a quick bun and left the room. Nothing else could be heard from where she was on the stairs although she was almost certain that Arthur and Molly were already taking care of something in the house or outside, or perhaps watching George. She went downstairs and headed for the kitchen while yawning. It didn't matter if she was in the Burrow or in Grimmauld Place, there were things that didn't change. Sirius was already in the kitchen, with his back turned and a cup in his hand as he looked out the window.

"Good morning." Erin said softly. She didn't want to startle him or bother anyone else.

Sirius turned around, looking unsurprised.

"Good Morning." He said also quietly. "Do you want coffee?"

Erin nodded and stood beside the counter.

"Have you slept well? " She asked.

"Yes. " He replied as he sipped his coffee. "And you?"

"Actually, I did."

Erin doubted that Sirius had really rested, unlike her, because he had huge dark circles under his eyes and messier hair than usual. Apparently, Sirius was a light sleeper, even more so than her. Maybe he was having nightmares again, she thought. Sirius poured her a cup of coffee and also gave her a couple of biscuits. Erin thanked him and moved closer to him, their arms brushing, to see what he was watching through the window. Arthur was outside along with other people that Erin did not know, setting up a big tent with their wands. They had already begun making preparations for the wedding. Erin was glad that, at least, they had something good to celebrate, something that encouraged and distracted them a little. Then, she turned away from the window and sat at the table, while Sirius remained standing but turned around so as not to turn his back on Erin.

"Do you know who I saw last night?" Sirius asked.

"No."

They were talking almost in whispers but still Erin could notice some joy in his tone of voice.

"Harry and Ginny." A cocked smile had made its way into Sirius's face.

"Where? " She asked, wanting to know more.

"On the landing on the stairs in front of Ginny's room."

Erin could swear the girl was in the room when she had gone to sleep although she could have slipped away while she slept.

"They were talking, and they kissed, nothing strange." He continued. "I was only surprised because I didn't know Ginny really liked Harry."

"Ginny has liked Harry for a long time." Erin added.

"So you know more than I do."

"Probably." She answered. "But I didn't know they were dating right now."

Ginny told her practically everything and she knew she had dated Dean Thomas even though she liked Harry. Then he had told her they couldn't be together because he did not want to put her in danger, which sounded like something very typical of Harry.

"Should I talk to him about it?"

"No offense, Sirius, but if he hasn't told you anything yet, maybe he's ashamed." She answered while chewing a biscuit. She thought about asking him if he had talked to his parents about girls when he was young, but it was a bad example. "The last time I dated someone, it took me months to tell my parents. I would rather die than face it, to be honest. "

" That's a bit dramatic, isn't it?"

Erin nodded and felt her cheeks flush.

"I guess I've never been very brave, not even for that."

It was quite obvious it had also taken months for her to dare date her last boyfriend. At that moment, she understood Harry.

"If you talk to him, I'd drop it subtly. I'm sure he'll eventually tell you."

"I can try." He said with a shrug. "I guess there are things worrying him more than this."

Erin was certain too. She ended up eating more biscuits while Sirius had breakfast in silence, as if he were thinking about approaching Harry and she didn't want to push him anymore. She was already on her fourth cookie when Sirius left to help Arthur and Erin was left alone. Most likely, everyone would spend the day there and the next night they would celebrate Harry's birthday at Grimmauld Place and return to the Burrow for the wedding. Erin didn't do much that day, apart from hanging out with the Weasleys and trying to help around. She did have time to talk to Bill and his future wife, Fleur Delacour. Erin had not seen him in for a long time even though he was now in England with Fleur and they had both found a job at Gringotts. If she was not mistaken, they had only been at one meeting of the Order without counting the previous day. She had never been as close to Bill as she was to the rest of his brothers, although she was closer to him than to Charlie or Percy. Besides, she knew that Molly had not liked Fleur at first, so she wasn't surprised she didn't spend so much time with his family.

The next day was a busy one. Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place sooner than ever, with an immense smile that didn't even falter when Sirius pulled his ears so hard that they later turned red. Erin had not seen many of his birthdays, but she was sure he would not forget it for many reasons. The first was the amount of people who had gathered at Sirius' house. For once it was for a good reason. Half of them were the Weasleys, by the way, and the other half were members of the Order. Even Kingsley had managed to escape and congratulate Harry in person. The same scenes of hugs, kisses on the cheek and more ear pulls were repeated during the afternoon. Erin had tried to greet everyone, stop to talk to her boss and help prepare dinner with such effort that she almost forgot she also had to finish the Alley map issue with Remus. It took her only a second to tell Remus the nickname she had thought and he went to the other side of the room where Sirius was sitting and whispered in his ear. Sirius looked at Erin, gestured with his thumb up and she kept talking to Ginny as if nothing had happened. No one asked about it.

After dinner, Harry opened his presents while Arthur kept taking pictures of everything. He had made the boy sit at the head of the dining room table and every time someone gave him a gift, Arthur ordered the person to sit next to Harry and pose to immortalize the moment.

"After today and tomorrow my father will have enough pictures to fill an entire album." Ron said laughing.

Erin, who was standing around the table with the others, considered it funny but at the same time, it was also very kind of him.

"Let him be, he's so happy."

"That's because I know how to have a party. " Sirius said to her right. "And without a drop of alcohol."

"We'll see if you say the same thing tomorrow." Remus said with a smile.

"I doubt it. A wedding is a wedding. "Sirius answered. "But always with moderation, my friend."

Remus continued speaking to Erin.

"The last time Sirius got drunk at a party was last summer. He started singing a Christmas carol about a hippogriff at the top of his lungs but making up every word."

Sirius started laughing out loud, followed by Remus and Erin let a grin escape.

"Well, I'd have liked to see it." She added.

She had never heard Sirius sing and although it must have been disaster, she was sure he had done it because he was happy. The gifts were followed by the most important thing above all, the chocolate cakes Erin had helped to make and also the coffees, teas or whatever they wanted to have the cake with. Harry was sitting in the living room surrounded by his friends, with Sirius sitting next to him and Erin was at the dining room table, near Remus and Tonks, eating her piece of cake and thinking about having another portion. In that moment, Hermione got up from the living room and sat in an empty place to Erin's left, putting her steaming cup of tea on the table.

"Hello."

"Hi. Do you want another piece of cake?" Erin offered.

"No, thanks. I wanted to talk with you. " Hermione had lowered her voice.

"Is everything okay?" Erin turned and brought her chair a little closer to Hermione's.

The girl was staring at her cup of tea, surrounded with both her hands.

"It's Harry. Last night he wanted to leave."

"Leave?" Erin didn't know what she was referring to. "Where?"

"Ron and I convinced him to wait or Molly would get upset. He wanted to leave alone. "Hermione continued.

"Hermione, I don't know what you're talking about." Erin said, feeling utterly confused.

The girl began to make a very quick summary of what had happened, starting with Dumbledore who had entrusted Harry with a task of vital importance to end the Dark Lord. It had to do with very dark magic, so dark Erin had barely heard of it. Lord Voldemort had made seven Horcruxes and to it six lives had been lost and six pieces of his soul had been chained to them. Suddenly, Erin did no longer felt like eating a second piece of cake.

"Why would he go look for them alone? "She asked. Hermione still had her head down and looked distraught. "It's the worst idea I've ever heard."

"You know how Harry gets when something gets in his head. We're not going to let him do it, we need help, of course. We don't even know where to start looking. "

Erin was silent for a moment and looked sideways at Remus who seemed too absorbed with Tonks to realize what the two were talking about.

"Harry told Sirius about the Horcruxes but he didn't say anything about the search." Hermione sighted. "And I don't know how to tell him, to be honest."

Erin didn't remember having ever got mad at Harry, but at that moment she really felt hurt even if it had not to do with her. She did not think Sirius would to react well.

"Can you talk to him?" Hermione asked. Erin had already expected it. "You spend much more time with Sirius, he'll listen to you. I'm afraid to go see Harry one of these days and find him gone Merlin knows where without saying a word."

From where they both were, Harry could be seen with Sirius with Ron, Fred and George, laughing while looking at some photos that Arthur had surely taken before.

"It's going to hurt him a lot "Erin said without looking away from the two of them.

Why wouldn't Harry tell his godfather? Could it be guilt what he was be feeling so perhaps he did not want to involve anyone else? Erin did not understand it. The previous morning Sirius had already had the impression that Harry did not tell him enough, so she did not know how he would react then.

"I know. Harry-I don't know what he's thinking."

Erin was relieved that at least Hermione was on the ball and had told her the truth.

"Thank you for telling me, Hermione. I'll do it."

"I'm going back with them." She said.

Erin nodded and Hermione left. Erin also got up but left for the kitchen, taking her dish and a few more to the kitchen. She thought that as soon as she found Sirius alone, she would tell him, though it would ruin the night for him. She did not want him to be mad at Harry, but he had the right to know. She felt proud of herself seeing that others could entrust her their problems but on the other hand, she would have liked to remain ignorant and not have to upset anyone else. When she returned to the living room, she found Sirius joking with Tonks and Sirius sitting at the table where she had been with Hermione before; the girl, Harry and Ron were still with the others on the sofas. Erin took it as an opportunity and approached Sirius.

"Does anyone want to have a coffee?" She asked. "I'm going to prepare one for me."

"I do." Sirius answered." Erin was surprised to see how well it had worked. "Tonks?"

"Yes, with milk."

Sirius nodded and Remus passed with a discreet no thanks.

In the kitchen, Erin watched Sirius prepare the coffee as she had seen him do a thousand times before, without even knowing how to start explaining herself.

"You might want to drink something else. There's something I want you to know, but maybe it's not the right time." Shee said trying not to seem too blunt.

Erin turned around leaning her arm on the kitchen counter and turned to talk to him.

"Is it bad?" He asked.

"You are not going to like it." She admitted. "But it would be better if you didn't get angry."

"I think you are just making it worse saying that, Erin."

She searched for his hands and squeezed them in an attempt to comfort him.

"They can see the kitchen from your living room."

"And what does it have to do with anything?" Sirius said almost irritated, but did not let go.

"That you can start laughing like I'm telling you something funny. They may be watching us." She didn't know because she was facing the other direction. "It's about Harry."

Sirius laughed a little and Erin did not notice any gesture of concern on his face.

"Why isn't it surprising?"

"Hermione just talked to me, she is worried about Harry. She thinks she is going to escape to look for, I don't know what, Horcruxes or whatever. I did not get it." Erin said. "You know something about it, she said. Yesterday, Ron and she stopped him from leaving alone."

Sirius released his grip immediately and stood there for a moment. He looked around the room and smiled to himself as if he had seen someone watching them. Erin was sure of it, because at that moment, he would not want to smile at all.

"He hasn't said a thing to me."

Sirius had spoken quietly, so much that Erin had hardly heard him.

"I don't think he meant to hurt anyone." She told him sincerely.

"I hope so too."

Sirius continued with what he was doing without saying a word and Erin waited in silence for him to finish. She could easily see how he pressed his lips, he only needed to say one or two swear words for his annoyance to be totally visible.

"Does he think he cannot count on anyone?" He said, without waiting for an answer." Because he can, and he knows it well. He's as stubborn as James."

Erin regretted not having waited for the next day to talk to him. Sirius was angry, as expected.

"I know I'm not his father."

"Alright, that's it." She interrupted him and they both looked at each other. "I shouldn't have told you."

Sirius stopped, biting his lip as if he were holding back and shook his head.

"He wouldn't have told me anything."

"Don't talk to him about this now." She pleaded. "Hermione and Ron are with him and tomorrow he won't have time to try."

He nodded and Erin began to take out some cups, some spoons and sugar.

"It's one headache after another with Harry." He groaned. Erin knew that he didn't mean it, he was just angry. "What is he thinking?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"He is too young for everything happening to him." She knew Sirius knew it well, but she still had to say it.

"Do you think he'd have really left without telling me?"

Looking into his eyes, Erin realised she couldn't lie to him, especially when he was feeling like that, no matter how much the truth might hurt.

"I don't think so. And if he did, he would leave without telling anyone anything."

"Everything I've done has been for Harry. I would do anything for him."

Erin could only nod. It was more than clear that the person who mattered most in the world to Sirius was his godson. Everyone who was there that night cared about him, it had been more than proved the day before they were willing to risk their lives.

"I know. He knows it too, Sirius. I'm sorry I told you so bluntly."

"It's fine. If it weren't for you and Hermione I'd be completely in the dark."

He served the three coffees and stared at Erin. She thought he would take his coffee and her cousin's and leave but to her surprise, Sirius approached her and leaning a little, put his hand on Erin's cheek and gave her a quick kiss on the other. Erin only had time to see a fleeting smile on Sirius's lips as he turned and picked up the coffees. Her cheeks flushed with the unexpected affection and Erin picked up her coffee too, still shocked. From there she could hear Tonks complaining to Sirius loudly.

"What's up with you, have you gone all the way to America for that coffee?"