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Chapter Five

Erin once again walked down into the basement kitchen, Sirius must not been up yet for there was no smell of burnt food, she had been there for two whole weeks and not had a good meal one time. She stopped in mid walk seeing a closet door slowly open, who stepped out was the rude house-elf, Kreacher.

“Good morning” said Erin, she hoped if she was nice to the evil little jerk he would make her some food that was eatable, but instead of saying good morning back his eyes widen.

“Filthy mudblood, speaking to Kreacher; what would my mistress say....”

“What are you doing in here?” spat a voice from behind Erin, she didn't need to turn around, she knew who it was and who he was talking to.

“Keacher was cleaning” said the house-elf. Sirius was now by Erin's side, sneering at the house-elf. After rude comments to the house-elf made by Sirius Kreacher slumped out of the room, calling Sirius a 'blood traitor' as he did. Sirius made his way to the counter, pulling out his wand; Erin flinched at the thought of more brunt toast for breakfast.

“Er, Sirius... maybe I could cook breakfast this s'moring...”

“Do you know how to cook?” he asked, turning around to look at her questioningly.

“I can cook the muggle way” said Erin, hoping she could cook like a muggle in a magical house.

“Is that so?” Sirius smirked. “Alright, have a go.”

She heaved a sigh of relief as he took a seat at the table, watching her intensely as she moved around the room, what should she make? Half an hour later she placed two plates of pancakes on the table for them. Sirius looked at his food oddly, before hesitantly picking up his fork.

“It can't be any worse than that burnt toast of yours...” Erin trailed off, with a smirk. His eyes flashed over her before taking a bite, his expression changed right away.

“I think we've found our new cook... you could almost compare to Molly.”

“Who's Molly?” Erin asked, she had never heard of anyone named Molly before, yet most of the people Sirius talked about she had never heard of before.

“Molly Weasley, she's Ron; Harry's friend's mother.”

“Oh, is she a good cook?”

“One of the best, but she cooks with her wand.”

Erin began to eat too, the talking had stopped and Sirius was now staring down at a piece of parchment, he seemed to be rereading it over and over again, his eyes flashing

“What's that?” she asked, finally.

“It's from Harry” he stated, simply.

“What's it say?” she asked, she had never met Harry but now has come to know a lot about his life, yet he didn't know she even existed.

“Nothing.... “ Sirius trailed off, yet she was sure he had said something, why else would he be 'owling' Sirius? More silence filled the room, Sirius still behind his parchment letter from Harry. Erin could hear bangs coming from the floors above, she was sure that the noises were Kreacher doing something, maybe stealing more things to hide, she had found him doing such things two days before; he was in her room, going through her dressers.

As the day went on Erin sat in the drawing room; drawing, she had been working on one picture for at least three days now, she hadn't drawn in years and she found now-a-days being stuck in a house with an ex-prisoner made her creative side come back. At dinner Sirius let her cook again, she made pasta and chocolate pudding for desert; Sirius was acting a bit off though, he seemed to be thinking about something, he went up to his room early that night. Erin didn't feel like staying in the drawing room all alone so she packed up her drawing equipment and went up to her room as well, thankfully it was Kreacher free and she locked herself inside. She must have fallen asleep because she jerked her eyes open in a fright; she had, had a bad dream, yet couldn't remember what it was about. Erin looked over at the clock to see it was one am, she decided that getting a drink of water was the best way to tire herself out again, she slumped out of her room and down the stars; she almost went through the door that leads to the kitchen, but something stopped her, something that looked like lights in the drawing room, she slowly made her way to the door, she looked into the room to see Sirius on his knees at the fireplace, his head in the fire, she was a bit taken aback by this scene.

”this must be a weird wizard thing” she thought as she watched him, he was moving, so he was alright, yet his head was in a fire? Suddenly he pulled his head from the flames. He turned around with a hurt and slightly annoyed look on his face. She expected to see his face full of burns and ashes, yet his face was just as perfectly normal as always.

“What are you doing down here?” he asked, a bit of a bark in his voice.

“I was getting some water and...” she had to stop talking for he had walked past her and out of the room without letting her finish. She followed him. “Why was your head in the fire?”

“I was talking to Harry.”

“He's in the fire?” she gasped, she was beginning to think Harry was odd, well, she knew he was odd, but she was beginning to wonder if she even wanted to meet him at all.

“He wasn't in the fire, I used the Floo network to go into the Gryffindor house fire” he told her, a bit bored. She just nodded, there was so much about the wizarding world she didn't know, and at times she felt stupid.

“But he's too busy with his friends and such” Sirius muttered, in an undertone, more to himself. “I could get away with going to Hogsmeade, at least as Padfoot anyway; no one would be the wiser.”

“What are you talking about?” Erin asked him, he didn't say anything and turned around, heading for the stairs. Erin slowly made her way into the basement kitchen for that glass of water. She thinking of what Sirius said the whole time; he must have wanted to go see Harry, had he wanted her to come with him? ”No, Harry can't know I'm here, Remus told me that.” So Sirius must have wanted to go see Harry, but as his dog form, but Harry must have said no, Erin thought that Harry saying no was the best thing for both he and Sirius, if she was in Harry's shoes she would say no too, not because she didn't want to see Sirius, because she would want to keep him safe.

The next morning came and once again Erin was allowed to cook, Sirius sat there looking glum at the table, she had wanted to say something, but didn't know if she should get in the middle of he and Harry's relationship, she didn't even know Harry after all.

She placed a pate down in front of him and took a seat, he just forked at his food, and she had decided she was going to say something, what was the worst that was going to happen? He gets mad at her? At least he would have a real reason to be so glum.

“Erm, Sirius....” this was not going to well, she wanted an award winning speech, but she was fumbling.

“Yes?” he asked, looking up, his eyes bored.

“Are you mad at Harry?” she asked, what kind of question was that?

“I'm not mad at Harry, no.”

“Well, you seem upset.... what exactly happen?”

“Nothing happen” he told her, she thought she had gotten nowhere, but he went on. “I just suggested that I could come up to Hogsmeade to see him, but he didn't seem to want me to, so I'll just stay here.”

“You can't be mad at Harry for...”

“I'm not mad at Harry” he interrupted.

“Ok, fine, you can't get upset because Harry doesn't want you to go to... that hog place, your wanted man, Sirius, he only wants to keep you safe, how do you think he would feel if you came up there and got caught? You'd be right back in prison and he would feel horrible.”

He didn't say anything, just looked down at his food, as if scorn, like a little kid denied more desert.

“I would say the same thing if I were Harry... he did the right thing, it would be quite easy for him to say yes, come see him, but he didn't, and I think that says something.”

“I wouldn't get caught as Padfoot.”

“You never know what will happen, what if someone’s there that knows you’re a... a dog” she said, forgetting the word for what he called it.

“Nobody knows.”

“Still, you can't take these chances, Harry needs you, and not getting chucked back into prison, I'd personally be very upset if I had to stay here all alone with Kreacher.”

He smiled slightly at this, but he still seemed a bit glum. “You'd have Remus.”

“Remus is a busy man, he wouldn't be able to stay here all the time” said Erin, she wondered where Remus is now; she hadn't seen him in a few days.

“Well, if I had my choice I wouldn't be either.”

“Me either, as you will remember, I was brought here with no reasons why, other than Dumbledore said so, I was taken away from my home, taken to a place I've never even seen before, but I think I'm making the best of it.”

“It is a bit better here with some company” said Sirius; he seemed to be less glum now. Suddenly there was a bang from the floors above again, she once again thought it was the house-elf, however Sirius stood up. “Come with me.”

He walked out of the room, she fallowed up the stairs, she had lost him for a moment, he had walked a lot faster than she had. She found him on a floor, in which she had never been on. There was a door he was standing next to; he waited till she was close before he opened the door, pulling her inside quick. The room was huge, but messy, parchment and paper all over the floor, there was a bed that's head bored was cracked and the mattress was torn, but nothing prepared her to see what was in the far corner of the room, a huge beast that had a head of an eagle and a body of a horse.

“What the hell is that?” she almost yelled, he seemed to think this was funny because he began to laugh a bit.

“This is Buckbeak” Sirius stated, the beast was now staring at them, with an eager look, Erin wondered if it was hungry and if it would try to eat her if it was. “He's a Hippogriff.”

“A Hippogriff?” she asked, was he Sirius' pet or something? Why in the world did he have a pet that looked like he wanted to eat someone? “I've been here two weeks and you never told me this... this Hippogriff is here?”

“He hadn't been feeling well, but I think he's coming out of it” said Sirius that hardly helped, she didn't feel any better about suddenly finding herself in front of this thing. “Want to pet him?”

“NO!”

“Come now, he's very gentle, but respectful and proud, you don't want to insult a Hippogriff.”

“Good to know” she said in an undertone, Sirius chuckled.

“Now, how you approach a Hippogrif is bow, if he bows back you can pet him, if he doesn't... get out of the room.”

Her breathing hitched slightly, what if he didn't bow for her? Would he then eat her? Sirius wouldn't let her get eaten, would he?

“You wouldn't let that thing eat me, will you?” she couldn't help it, she had to ask, he laughed once again.

“He won't eat you; he likes ferrets, rats and raw steaks, not girls.”

“That really doesn't make me feel any better...” she trailed off.

“Just try it” he told her, he walked ahead of her a bit and bowed down, the Hippogriff took no time at all in bending its head down into some sort of a bow, and Sirius smiled and went over to pat his beak. “Your turn.”

Erin gulped, she bent down just as Sirius had done, she didn't know if she should look up, she looked through her hair to see that just like for Sirius the Hippogriff was bending down, she felt a little better as she straightened up, Sirius beckoned her over and slowly she walked over to him.

“Go on and pet him.”

She extended her arm and softly patted his hard beak with her hand, the Hippogriff; he seemed like he enjoyed it, moving around his head for her to do it again. But she was still thoroughly terrified.

A few minutes of silence filled the room as both Erin and Sirius patted the beast, she was becoming less frightened, Buckbeak was really quite sweet once you get past the beast factor.

“You know” Sirius suddenly said, breaking the peaceful moment. “Harry saved Buckbeak in his third year, the same year I broke out of Azkaban, that's how he wound up with me...”

“Harry saved him from what?” Erin asked, Harry had done a lot in his life, everyday it seemed she found out something new about Harry, she could tell Sirius and even Remus both were very fond of Harry.

“Well, Draco Molfoy; his father is Lucius Moldfoy, a Death Eater,I’m not sure about his mother, but the whole Molfoy lot are purest, love the pure bloods” she could hear a tone of hate in his voice, he seemed to notice it too and settled down a bit. “So anyway, Molfoy insulted Buckbeak and got himself hurt, so naturally Lucius made it into some big thing and got Buckbeak and Hagrid in trouble, Buckbeak was sentenced to death, but right before the execution he mysteriously disappeared.”

Sirius was now smirking; Erin figured it was when Harry had saved him. Erin went back to petting Buckbeak a little, still slightly unsure, there came a noise from down stairs and Sirius suddenly looked a lot more tense, he slowly made his way over to the door and vanished behind it. Erin didn't know if she could fallow, not sure who it was, but she had made up her mind already, for her feet were already carrying her to the door, she left the room and went back down the stairs, she found Sirius standing in the hall with Remus.

“Good afternoon, Erin” Remus smiled. She smiled brightly at him.

“Hello.”

They all wondered into the kitchen, where Sirius began to eat his cold food and Remus was offered a plate, which he gladly excepted, he also seemed to think she was just as good of a cook as Molly Weasley, this made Erin extremely happy once more.