Order

Chapter Thirteen

By the time the Order members left it was so late that Sirius bid Erin a goodnight and left her in the drawing room, she half expected him to do that anyway, no matter what time it was. The next morning she went back to cooking the meal’s, it was quite nice having someone cook, but Erin did enjoy cooking herself, and Mrs. Weasley had given her some great recipes she wanted to try. Sirius came staggering into the room, she still hadn’t talked to him about Severus Snape and she still wanted to. She put a plate of pancakes in front of him then sat down, watching him eat.

“Sirius…”

“Yes, Erin?” he asked, not looking up from his food.

“I wanted to ask you....what happen with Snape the other night?”

“Oh, that” Sirius rolled his eyes. “He’s a ruddy old git is all, always was.”

“He called you a coward” said Erin. “I don’t think you’re a coward at all.”

“Thank you” he looked down again.

“Snape seems mean, if you ask me, I’m glad I don’t have to go to Hogwarts… I feel bad for Harry.”

“Don’t feel too badly for him, he has Dumbledore, and Snape is a very skilled in Legilimency, however if he tries anything….”

“What would he do to Harry?” she asked, worried.

“I don’t know…” Sirius shook his head.

“What did you give Harry, yesterday, when he left?”

“Just a way to contact me, if Snape does tries anything.”

“You think Snape would really…do anything to Harry?”

“I don’t know…all I know is he hated James and now he hates Harry for the same reasons.”

“But if Harry has nothing to do with why Snape hated James….”

Sirius shrugged.

“Men… I don’t understand them.”

Sirius chuckled but still looked a bit upset.

“I’m sure we’ll see Harry again soon” Erin patted Sirius on the arm; he said nothing and went on eating. Erin spent the rest of the day in the drawing room, she was a bit bored so she practiced her magic, doing Avis a spell that conjured a flock of birds and if you knew the right spell, it could be used as a defense, she let them fly across the room for awhile, watching them. The next day she went down to the kitchen to see Remus had returned; he and Sirius were sitting at the table, looking at a newspaper. Remus looked somewhere between upset and furious, Erin didn’t like it when he was mad, he was the calm one, Sirius looked also upset, yet slightly amused, as he read the paper.

“Dumbledore tried to tell them” said Remus, standing up, taking a tea cup with him.

“What’s going on?” Erin asked, Sirius looked up at her, like he hadn’t noticed her coming in to the room. “This.”

He slapped the newspaper in front of her and she read off the top; The Daily Prophet. The Newspaper had moving picture’s and she knew right away that this was the wizards newspaper. She scanned over the front page.

‘Mass breakout from Azkaban Ministry fears Black is “Rallying point” for old Death Eaters.’

She stared at this weirdly, “Black…like Sirius Black?”

There were ten black-and-white photos, all moving. Nine wizards and one witch. Each picture had a name and the crime that person did. Then below there was a reporting.

‘The Ministry of Magic announced late last night that there has been a mass breakout from Azkaban. Speaking to reporters in his privet office, Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, confirmed that ten high-security prisoners escaped in the early hours of yesterday evening, and that he has already informed the muggle Prime Minister of the dangerous nature of these individuals.

“We find ourselves, most unfortunately, in the same position we were two and a half years ago when the murderer Sirius Black escaped,” said Fudge, last night. “Nor do we think the two breakouts are unrelated. An escape of this magnitude suggests outside help, and we must remember that Black, as the first person ever to breakout of Azkaban, would be ideally placed to help others fallow in his footsteps. We think it likely that these individuals, who include Black's cousin, Bellatrix Lastrange, have rallied around Black as their leader. We are, however, doing all we can to round up the criminals and beg the magical community to remain alert and cautious. On no account should these individuals be approached.”

“Your cousin?” Erin asked, Sirius nodded and pointed to the only girl in the lineup of criminals. She had long, unkempt hair, heavily lidded eyes and an arrogant smile. It was a horrible smile, evil like, Erin couldn’t see how this women could be related to Sirius, but she was, Erin has seen this women, although a lot younger, on the Black family tree. “Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitates of Frank and Alice Longbottom.”

“They were great Order members and Auror’s” said Remus, sitting once more, a full cup of tea in hand.

“We went to school with them, nice people.”

Harry talked about a Longbottom when he was here…” Erin trailed off.

“Neville Longbottom, their son” said Remus. “He’s a bit forgetful; gets abused by Snape a lot… at least in my year.”

“Everyone gets abused by Snape” said Sirius. Remus ignored this and kept on drinking his tea.

“You think she’ll show up here?” Erin then asked, still staring down at the picture of Bellatrix.

“Not if she knows what’s good for her” said Sirius. “She probably is already at Voldemort’s feet; she was practically in love with him in our day.”

“You don’t think the Ministry will find them?”

“Not a chance… they haven’t found me, have they?” Sirius smirked.

“But you’ve got Dumbledore hiding you.”

“You don’t think Voldemort will take the same route?” asked Remus. “Voldemort is a powerful wizard.”

“And the Death Eaters will just kill whoever tries to take them in” said Sirius. “You’d have to be a fool to think that if you even managed to catch them that they wouldn’t escape the next day, the Dementors are on the dark side now, no matter what Fudge says.”

“I can’t believe they blamed you for this” Erin then said, looking at the report again. Shocked and disgusted.

“They’ve got to blame someone, don’t they?” Sirius smirked.

“It’s not fair…”

“Indeed it’s not, but there is nothing we can do about it now” said Remus.

“One day my name will be cleared” Sirius told her, seemingly trying to convince himself more than her. That afternoon Erin and Remus where back in the drawing room for the first time since before Christmas. She was going to try the Patronus again.

“If you don’t think you can manage it…..” Remus trailed off.

“Or if you feel like you’re going to start crying again…” Sirius trailed off; of course he was there; wanting to see her Labrador Patronus.

“I can handle it this time” she told them, determined. Remus nodded and backed away. She pointed her wand and thought once again of the day her sister was born, she breathed in deep and shouted. “Expcto Patronum.”

A dog shape, white mist came from her wand tip, she watched happily as it walked around her, she didn’t feel like she was going to cry this time, she felt happy.

“That was brilliant” said Sirius, just moments later.

“It was quite good” said Remus, smiling. Soon Remus had left again and Erin was eying the Black family tree, there was Bellatrix Lastrange, with the same evil looking smile. And there was the burnt picture that was once Sirius. When he had told her the story she was quite taken aback, he had lived such a horrible life in this house, she couldn’t even imagine what it must have been like, but judging on how his mother’s portrait acted, it was a clear guess. They spent the next few days around the house, bored.

“We could play a game of Wizards chess… Ron said he would teach me but he didn’t” said Erin, one night while sitting in the drawing room.

“I could” said Sirius. “But I was never much for the game, Remus is the one who’s good at it.”

She smiled at the mention of Remus, oh how she wished he was here now; she would be a lot less bored. Sirius was now smirking at her goofy grin.

“Why do you fancy him so much?” he asked.

“I don’t know what you referring to…” she trailed off, sticking up her nose and folding her arms.

“I’m referring to you being in love with Remus” Sirius said, getting a bit closer to her. “And I’d like to know what you see in him.”

“Are you jealous, Sirius?” she smirked at him, of course she knew he wasn’t, but a bit of a change in subject was needed; for she didn’t want to spill her deepest thoughts to him.

“Of what?” he asked, taken aback. “Merlin, I hope you don’t mean of Remus, I rather not have some little girl pinning over me, thanks.”

“Little girl?” she barked.

“Yes, you are a child…”

“I am an adult, thank you very much.”

“You’re not acting like one” Sirius grinned.

“Neither are you” she remarked.

“You know” said Sirius, slowly. “I really don’t think Remus feels the same way about you.”

“And what makes you think that?”

“I don’t think it… I know, he has enough on his mind, he doesn’t need silly girls falling all over him” he told her, she just stared at him, of course she knew Remus didn’t feel the same, but she didn’t want to hear it. She then stood up and looked away from him. “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings, Erin, I just didn’t want you to get hurt later on.”

“Well…thank you, Sirius, for being so damn caring” and with that she stopped out of the room and off to bed.