The doors and windows were all barred and spelled, but Erin spent the night in sleeplessness pacing from room to room watching and waiting in fear that they would come to break through the defenses and come in to drag them away. Near dawn she heard something outside and looked out of an upstairs window, expecting wands and torches, but seeing it was just Mira, she hurried down to let her inside. "What is it? What's happened?" She asked fearfully.
Mira just shook her head fighting back tears. "They took him in the night and none of us knows where! All we found was his grave blown apart!" Erin just went white and pushed passed her. "Erin! You can't! You can't!"
Erin was heedless to her cries as she ran disapparating to appear again in Godric's Hollow and rushing to the cemetery seeing the gate hanging there and she had to see for herself. The sun was just coming up and the light fell on the gaping hole in the ground. It was empty, just as Mira had said. The coffin just bits of wood and metal. Erin fell to her knees in gripping sorrow and the rage building in her stomach. She looked up at the marker cracked like a lightning bolt. The words on the stone read 'Harry James Potter'.
Erin woke up screaming and sobbing. She felt arms on her holding her down. The scarring on her shoulder burned and the sharp pain coursing through it. She couldn't see anything. Her vision was black with bright lights flashing through it. She heard voices all around her shrieking and pleading, but all she could feel was the rage and pain spreading throughout her entire body. She threw off on the people holding her down vaguely hearing someone yelling to get McGonagall. It barely registered, her mind couldn't process anything except getting away and knowing something happened to Harry.
Parvati was running through the corridors to McGonagall's rooms when she ran right into Professor Snape patrolling the corridors. "It's Erin Black, sir!" She said when he caught her by the arms just as surprised to see her as she was to see him. "She started screaming in her sleep! We tried to wake her, but she started thrashing and attacking us! She threw Hermione Granger right into the wall!"
The man's eyes went wide, "Get McGonagall, hurry! And Dumbledore! If he's not in his office bring the Phoenix! The password is lemon drops! Hurry!" he pushed her towards McGonagall's and hurried to Gryffindor Tower himself not exactly sure what he would find there and afraid of what was happening.
The entire House was in an uproar. Students were screaming and running out of the tower as fast as they could. Snape waded through them to get inside, marching into the girl's dormitory like he owned the place. The stairs stayed stairs under his feet as he moved passed the girls rushing down. He could see spells and lights and fire coming from the sixth year girls' room. He was cautious as he went inside. He found several 7th year girls trying hard to form a spell circle around Lavender Brown and some other girls holding down the black haired girl. He knew immediately what this was. She was in the throes of a violent vision. He'd seen it happen only once and that had also happened at Hogwarts to a 6th year girl…the girl's very own mother. Taking a quick look around the room he saw Miss Granger on the floor knocked out and the stone on the wall cracked and broken in. They would need Pomfrey in here as soon as possible.
Snape dove into the fray to try and bring the girl out of it. There was no time to waste. The longer this went on the stronger she became. The rage, fear, or power would build and build until it was extinguished…and that extinguishing would come at too great a cost.
He didn't know when McGonagall got there or when the phoenix appeared above them. It wasn't until Tonks arrived from her rounds out in the forest that things took a turn. "Erin!" She transformed as much as she could into a wolf howling low right in her face. It was then that Erin's eyes seemed to snap to her cousin. There was an explosion and they were all thrown back.
When Snape came to he found Aurors in the room along with other teachers trying to see who was hurt and how bad. "Severus, what happened?" Flitwick asked. He seemed to be in charge for the moment.
He cleared his throat looking around, "A vision."
"A vision?" he looked surprised at the amount of damage from a simple vision.
"It wasn't a normal vision…or prophecy…it was a Dark Vision…if I had to guess, I would assume it had something to do with Mr. Potter." His entire body felt broken, he could move, so that was something, but he didn't know how bad everyone else was. Flitwick helped him to sit up and he saw Erin Black lying in a circle. The girls had managed to contain the blast. "They did a protective circle…" he breathed out. "You should be proud of those girls…if they hadn't we could all be dead now."
Louisa was rushing around seeing how everyone was. Classes hadn't even started yet and already everything was in chaos. Scrimgeour arrived because the initial report was that it had been an attack of some kind. He was relieved to find out it wasn't, but worried when he found out it was. "Dark Visions are not normal in our world from what I understand." He said sitting in McGonagall's office. "Where is Dumbledore?"
"He wasn't here, but he's been contacted and will be here soon. There was no warning, but then there isn't with Dark Visions." The older woman said. She was sitting in an arm chair. Her arm in a sling and cleaned up, but sporting massive bruising and cuts. "We contained it, though, that is the best possible outcome you can hope for. The last time this happened at Hogwarts…well things weren't so good."
"What happened the last time?"
"The last time a student had a vision about her own death." Minerva dabbed at her eyes.
"I was told that seers do not have visions of their own deaths."
"It is so rare that they only happen once every few hundred years, if that. It is always a Dark Vision. The last we had almost the entire student body hurt in some way. We were lucky there were no deaths…but it was a near miss."
"Who was the seer?"
Minerva just looked at him sadly. "It was Erin's mother, Xenia Lyancomp."
It took a few moments to process that. "Will the girl be all right?"
"It's hard to say. Madam Pomfrey is coming from St. Mungo's. They've needed her there desperately over Christmas and all we have at Hogwarts is our apprentice healer, Louisa McCormack. She has the talent and will to become a first class healer."
"Has Erin Black shown signs of being a seer?"
"She is a Legilimens." McGonagall told him. "She has a very strong mind and her mother was a seer…it runs in her family. Xenia and Dorcas were among the most powerful despite their young ages when they were killed by You-Know-Who. Their mother, Selena, was also a seer of repute. He was afraid of those women. He managed to draw the other two sisters, Serena and Xena to his side. They were also killed young, though. By our side. The family was torn about, Minister," she shook her head. "Will what they had to deal with and with what Miss Black deals with on a daily basis it's no wonder she's had a Dark Vision."
"What can be done with her?"
"Firenze is with her. He's a teacher at the school, a centaur. Apparently Dark Visions are more common among centaurs. He will help her all he can. There is no one I trust more, except Dumbledore, to help the girl."
"Is there a chance she could have another Dark Vision?"
"I don't know…" Minerva sighed. "In our history all who had Dark Visions died young…there is no way to say if they could have more since all died within a few years. She is powerful. There is no doubt about that."
"Tell me about the others that have had Dark Visions."
"It is predominantly witches that have Dark Visions, no one knows why. Perhaps there are more, but from the ones that have been recorded…witches."
"And the one before Xenia Black?"
"Rowena Ravenclaw, the one who saw the prophecy of the Woman Child."
"You aren't saying that it's true that Miss Black is—"
"She has been named more than once, Scrimgeour. She is the Woman Child. Everything Rowena has written of her so far has come true. We are beginning to guess who the others are."
The man looked into the fire with a long face.
"Would you stop the prophecy, Minister?" She asked him.
He looked up at her. "No, even if I could, I would not. All I want is for our people to be safe and protected. I did not yearn for this position, but it was asked of me and I did not decline. I don't approve of everything your Headmaster does, Professor, but I know very well without him we would be in even more trouble than we are now. Fudge was a fool to think we were safe."
"I don't wish to speak ill of your predecessor, Minister, but he was in more ways than one."
"I will do what I can to protect these children. I don't want to assign more Aurors to guard these grounds, but I will if you need it. I can make it mandatory for them all to take a shift here to make sure you're safe."
"You will have to discuss that with Dumbledore."
"I must go. The Daily Prophet will want to know what's going on. What should I tell them?"
"Tell them there was no attack and leave it at that."
He nodded. "Tell Dumbledore I will send an owl to him tomorrow to make an appointment when I can see him."
"Thank you for coming, Minister." She moved to get up.
"I can show myself out." He told her standing and pulling on his cloak. "Thank you for your time." He strode out his mind going over everything that he had heard tonight. It seemed to be never ending in the surprises and things he learned as Minister that he would never have guessed.
When Madam Pomfrey got there she found everything in hand. Louisa was getting to everyone and patching them up. Most didn't need more than quick and simple potions or bandaging. The critical cases were in the smaller ward. Pomfrey took a quick peek inside there and found mostly older girls in the beds in various states. Most were bandaged heavily. She saw a 5th year Slytherin girl, Mira she thought her name was. helping a few of them drink potions and a 6th year Slytherin boy carrying one of the girls back from the toilet and helping her back into bed.
Louisa came by. "We have all the 7th year Gryffindor girls in here and some 6th years. They were in the room with Erin when she had the Dark Vision." Louisa explained to her. "Most of the Gryffindors have some bumps and scrapes from getting out of the tower. Most of them are already taken care of. Flitwick has them in the Great Hall for the rest of the night until the Tower can be cleaned up. The house elves are already on it. Professor Snape is in one of the private rooms. He had some crushed ribs and a lot of broken bones that will require time to heal. He'll be laid up for a few days while that is going on. Erin Black is in her own room too. We're keeping her sedated while she heals. Her father, godfather, and Harry Potter are in there with her. We put Hermione Granger in there with her. She was hurt badly as well being thrown into a wall, but she insisted as soon as she came to. They're all comfortable and waiting for you to go over their injuries to see if there's anything I missed."
"I am very glad we have you here, Louisa. I couldn't in good conscious leave Hogwarts if you weren't here. It seems though that I am needed in both places. You are learning well and getting more experience than most apprentices ever get before they go into their studies at St. Mungo's. I'll check on everyone, but you've done exemplary work in my absence." She said with a smile before hurrying off.