Till the End of the Road.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Erin fallowed Tonks down a tunnel that was hidden by a portrait of a girl, Tonks pushed open another picture and there was a room full of hammocks and Hogwarts House colors, there was only one person in the room, a redheaded girl who stared at another door, Ginny Weasley looked perplexed, like she was arguing with herself.

“Ginny” shouted Tonks as she hurried over to her. “Where’s Remus?”

“I have no idea,” answered Ginny, slightly shocked to see them standing there. Suddenly there was a load bang from behind them, all three of them turned around and saw an old woman came bustling out of the tunnel.

“What’s going on, where’s my grandson?”

“Er, who are you?” Erin asked, confused. But before the old lady could respond the other door in the room burst open and in walked Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

“Ah, Potter” then said the old lady crisply, as if she were waiting for him to arrive. “You can tell us what’s going on.”

“Is everyone ok?” asked Ginny and Tonks together, both looked rather worried, Erin knew Tonks was though and half of Ginny’s family was surely fighting.

“’S far as we know,” said Harry, quick. “Are there still people in the passage to the Hog’s Head?”

“I was the last to come through,” said the old lady. “I sealed it, I think it’s unwise to leave it open now, Alberforth has left his pub. Have you seen my grandson?”

“He’s fighting,” said Harry.

“Naturally” said the old women, proudly. “Excuse me, I must go and assist him.”

And the old lady rushed off, out of the door and to the stone steps beyond it, Harry then turned to Tonks.

“I thought you were supposed to be with Teddy at your mother’s?” asked Harry.

“I couldn’t stand not knowing… she’ll look after him, have you seen Remus?”

“He was planning on leading a group of fighters into the grounds” sad Harry, without another word Tonks rushed out of the door just as the old women had. Erin stood there confused; she wished Tonks wouldn’t have left her there. Erin knew she was worried but Erin was worried about him too, she gave Harry a look that was supposed to mean good luck but he gave her a weird look in return and then Erin rushed out, she didn’t know where she was going but she hoped it was to wherever Remus was. There were crashes, bangs, and people screaming all around. Erin held her wand out, clutching it tight as she went down the halls of the school. She felt extremely alone once again, yet she always did in cases like these, though she had been lucky every time, would she be lucky once more?

There was a yell from ahead, she slowed down and crept to the corner she looked down the hall to see a boy wearing dark clothes and smirking proudly as he blasted some girl into the wall, Erin knew who this was right away, she did not feel scared of him, she did not care if the last time she had seen him she was when she was heaving a drunk Remus from a pub.

“Why, look who it is….” Hector trailed off, smirking wildly. “I told you I was impressive.”

“No, what you are is a low life, scum bag” Erin shouted, as she stare down at the girl, she couldn’t be even out of Hogwarts yet.

“I’d mind myself if I were you, my father is high up.”

“Oh, I am so damn scared, guess what, you and your daddies boss doesn’t like Mudbloods, I am a Mudblood and proud of it!”

“They don’t have to know that.”

“Why not?” Erin asked, smirking now. “I want them to know… I want everyone to know because you and your father and the rest of his army are a bunch of damn nutters and you all will never win.”

Hector looked confused for a moment before his face turned red and he pointed his wand at her.

“If that’s the way you want it fine, Mudblood.”

“Oh, go suck it” Erin barked and kneed him hard in the groin. Hector’s eyes widened as he fell to his knees, Erin smirked on and trotted down the hall leaving a moaning Hector to cry. Erin then ran down many floors, she thought she was on the third floor but she wasn’t for sure, all she knew is that there were giants outside hitting the castle with bats and that was not good, Erin stopped and looked out the window a rather huge spider was trying to climb up the side of the castle. Erin screamed and backed away from the window, all of a sudden there was a bang and a giants club smashed right through were Erin had once been standing, she no longer wasted anymore time, she went full force up another level of stairs, , she heard voices ahead and stopped dead in her tracks, were they Death Eaters? Order Members? She had no idea, so she held her wand tight and waited for them to arrive, but once they did she did not see hooded black figures, but two red heads.

“FRED!” she shouted as she ran towards him, he looked a bit startled as he saw her but then his annoyed face changed to a slightly less annoyed one.

“Erin, what the bloody hell… Lupin said you were with Tonks” he said, as he latched onto her arm.

“I know but….”

“You stupid, love sick, git!” he shouted at her.

“Shut up, wanker, just because nobody loves you!”

“This is not the time for….” Trailed off the other red head, Erin looked over at him, he wore glasses and had curly head hair.

“Erin, this is my brother, Percy.”

Erin couldn’t hide the smile, Fred had talked badly about Percy for as long as Erin had known him.

“Pleasure to meet you” said Percy, businessman like.

“Erm, same here” said Erin as she looked over to Fred and he gave her a dirty look. “So…where…where’s George?”

“I don’t know…: Fred trailed off, looking suddenly upset.

“He’s fine, I’m sure,” said Erin, touching Fred’s right forearm, he looked down at her with a sort of smirk before looking at Percy again.

“I reckon he’s still with dad and Bill… think that’s what you said, Perce, right?”

“When I left them, yes.”

“Well, anyway, have you seen Remus?” Erin then asked, both of the red heads shook their heads no, Erin looked down and sighed, feeling very worried now.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” said Fred, much like she had when speaking about George. But before she could reply screams were heard and bangs and suddenly two masked and hooded figures came into view.

“Bloody hell, run for it!” shouted Fred, grabbing Erin’s hand and running down the corridor, she struggled to keep up with him as did Percy as they went into a side corridor and Fred looked a painting.

“What are you doing, Fred?” shouted, Percy. “Their coming…”

“I know a short cut,” he said and with one slide of the hand, the panting pushed aside and he went through the hole, dragging Erin with him.

“I never knew this was here,” said Percy as they made it to another side, this side of the castle was a lot quitter.

“You never had to outwit Professor McGonagall before, either,” said Fred with a proud smirk. They climbed the stairs and landed on the floor in witch Erin had arrived.

“Where are you going, anyway?” she asked Fred as he still pulled her along.

“Taking you to stay with Ginny,” he answered plainly. “The last thing I need is your death on my hands.”

“Let me go find Remus… it won’t be on your hands then.”

“I cannot let you do that, you mental git, you’ll get hurt” he told her.

“What do you care?” she spat at him.

“What do you mean ‘what do I care’?” he barked back, stopping his walking to yell at her.

“We’ve never liked each other, so why would you care if I die?”

He looked shocked for a second before opening his mouth only to close it again, he looked as if he was searching for words, but words would never come to him because just then the same two hooded men came from another stair case. Percy shot a stunning spell over Fred and Erin’s heads and that seemed to make the Death Eaters angry, Fred then joined Percy, stepping in front of Erin and firing off red sparks from his wand. They dueled back and forth; Erin had since been pushed out of the way by Fred and told to stay out of the way, as the two red heads battled the two Death Eaters out of sight. But of course Erin was not going to listen to what Fred Weasley had to say, so she fallowed them, holding her wand tight in her hand. When she had finally turned the corner to find them, again she saw that Harry, Ron and Hermione were battling alongside them.

“Hello Minister” shouted Percy to the Death Eater he had been dueling. “Did I mention I am resigning?”

Fred on the other hand watched his Death Eater fall to the floor, whilst smirking.

“Your joking Perce” shouted Fred, looking at Percy with glee. “You actually are joking.. I don’t think I’ve heard you joke since you were…”

Suddenly there was a loud bang, Erin realized right away something bad was going to happen in just seconds and with no time at all to think about it she ran like she had never run before, and just as yellow and red lights of an explosion filled the air she tackled Fred to the floor. Heavy debris fell over her, rocks and ceiling fell onto her, she lay over Fred attempting to shield them both from the explosion, for someone who didn’t like Fred very much she had surely just risked her life for him. Erin had held her eyes closed as she heard screams and bangs but suddenly everything was calm, when she opened her eyes it was nearly dark. She didn’t really want to move, it took her several seconds to realize what was going on. It wasn’t till she felt two hands on her waist that she really came back into her head.

“You…you saved my life,” he mumbled into her hair.

“I did, didn’t I?” she smirked. “What the hell did I do that for? And to think I could have been rid of the wanker…”

“Stuff it,” he mumbled while laughing slightly. Erin staggered to her feet, pulling Fred along with her, but suddenly Percy pushed her out of the way and hugged Fred tightly, Fred looked slightly shocked but hugged his older brother nonetheless. Erin looked around to see Harry, Ron and Hermione running off and the two Death Eaters lying on the ground, one looked as though he had spotted gills. Erin turned back to see Percy and Fred still huddled together, but suddenly she heard something… a voice, she ran to the flight of stairs and ran a level down, she could still hear Fred yelling after her to come back, but she didn’t listen. She heard more shouts, but the one voice sounded familiar, could he possibly be there and unhurt? Erin ran down the corridor and over more crumbled sealing she then saw in the near distance a man trying to run through the debris, another man running after him, this man wearing black and throwing green jets of light from his wand.

“Remus!” Erin shouted, he looked up at her and gave her the same kind of look he had given her before he had left just hours ago, as if he was looking through her, but this look was slightly more angry. Remus quickly turned around and shouted something; ropes shot from his wand and tied around the man who had been chasing him. Remus then went on staggering through the crumbled bits of sealing, the man he had hog tied was desperately trying to let loose and was slowly getting there, Erin met Remus mid-way in the mess and grabbed his hand, he held onto her with a death grip as they made it around the corner.

“May I ask what the hell you are doing here?” he barked as he pulled her into a classroom.

“I couldn’t just sit there… neither could Tonks… we.. we…”

“Dora is here too?” he barked on. “She was supposed to stay with Teddy!”

“She wasn’t just going to let you run out and get killed and neither was I… we want to be here, both of us… she’s looking for you now” said Erin, looking at the gash he was sporting on his one hand.

“We best go find her before she gets hurts.”

“She’s not going to get hurt, Remus, she’s smart.”

“You don’t know that” he said, he looked much more worried than Erin had ever seen him before. He wrenched open the classroom door to see no one there, he grabbed Erin’s hand again and pulled her down the corridor. They went down another staircase to the main floor, it was even more chaos then the upper floors, some lay motionless on the floor, Erin clutched Remus’ hand tighter as they walked on, suddenly they heard pounding footsteps, Remus’ grip got even tighter on her hand as they began to walk faster.

“You, Half- Breed” shouted a voice from behind them, they both turned around to see it was the same Death Eater Remus had hog-tied. “To cowardly to finish off the job, are you?”

“Not too cowardly, no, Dolohov, I’m just not like you, I don’t find any joy in killing a person,” shouted Remus.

“So, you’re a coward?” shouted Dolohov.

“If that makes a coward so be it, I personally think it makes me the better man…”

“Your no man at all, Half-Breed” shouted the Death Eater, he began to fire off green lights from his wand again and all of them missed, Remus then pulled Erin down the hall once more, then turned, they could still hear Dolohov fallowing them. “Come back here, Werewolf; take your killing like a man!”

Remus wrenched open a broom cupboard and pushed Erin inside along with himself. Erin stood tariffed as they heard the Death Eater right outside the door.

“I know your still here, Greyback wouldn’t run, come out and play, Lupin!”

Erin watched Remus closely, even in the dark she could see in his eyes that he was scared; someone would be a fool if they weren’t scared, he bit his bottom lip and his brow was forwarded as if he were thinking. They heard loud footsteps and then nothing, Dolohov must have walked away, yet neither of the two were willing to open the door yet.

“We should go find, Tonks,” Erin then suggested after a few minutes, Remus nodded and slowly opened the door, looking out to see if anyone was coming. They cost was clear and they both walked rather quickly down the corridor again, still clenching hands, their wands drawn in the other. They had walked for what felt like forever, there was still no sign of Tonks, they had seen a few other Order member’s, but not Tonks, Erin could tell it was bothering Remus.

“When did you last see her?”

“When she was taking off to look for you, it was the room we arrived in…”

“The Room of Requirement?”

“If you say so…. But don’t worry; I am sure she is fine.”

“You never know, her aunt Bellatrix is after her” said Remus, looking even more worried.

“Bellatrix?” Erin screeched. “You have not to be kidding me!”

“I’m not, I wish I were.”

“First her cousin then her niece?” Erin asked, sickened. “This woman is mental.”

“You’re not the only one who thinks so,” said Remus.

“Harry said you were taking fighters out on the grounds….” Erin then trailed off, changing the subject quickly. “Why aren’t’ you still doing that?”

“I would be if it wasn’t for Antonin Dolohov, he chased me to the second floor then blew up the wall, still hadn’t hit me though, then you came along.”

“What’s he gunning after you for?” Erin asked, concerned.

“He’s a Death Eater, that’s all the reason he needs to try to kill me.”

“But he won’t kill you, you’re too smart.”

“You’ve always thought too much of me, Erin” Remus laughed lightly.

“You have no idea” Erin stated, Remus stopped and looked at her with one of those looks again, as if he was looking through her.

“Erin” he sighed.

“What?” she asked, rather confused.

“I never got to tell….” But suddenly a loud bang and shouts made Remus stop talking they turned and see Dolohov hurrying after them again. “Oh, not again.”

However, before they could get away this time a red jet of light was shot from the Death Eater’s wand and it hit Erin straight on, she fell to the floor unable to move and Remus growled. He looked mad as he shot back red jets at Dolohov. Erin lay motionless on the floor watching in horror, she did not like this one bit, Remus could get hurt or killed at any moment she would just be laying there, it made her want to cry. Suddenly a man with a long beard passed them, battling his own Death Eater he have a quick nod to Remus before he blasted his Death Eater into the wall and hurrying off. Remus then suddenly disarmed his dueler, stunned him before he turned to Erin, and pointed his wand at her.

As a jet of light hit Erin, she wondered what Remus was thinking but suddenly she felt her body unstiffen and he pulled her to her feet. He dragged her farther down the first floor corridor and to a small courtyard, out there the shouts and bangs of war were even louder.

“You’ve got to get out of here, Dolohov will be after me any minute, go find Tonks, tell her I said to go home to Teddy, I don’t want to have to worry about you two anymore” Remus shouted at her.

“No, I’m not leaving you to fight him.”

“You have no choice, Erin” Remus yelled, his voice was pleading.

“I won’t leave you!” Erin shouted back, tears were burning her eyes now. “I won’t…I…I can’t.”

“Yes you can, I will be fine… just go, please!”

“No…. I will not leave you,” she yelled once more. “I can’t leave you!”

“Why the hell not?” he barked, his face turning red.

“Because, I love you!”

Shock over took her as those words spilled from her lips, though she knew he already knew how she felt she could not help but feel stupid for saying it, she looked up at him and he looked just as shocked to have heard those words coming from Erin, he didn’t say anything in return, just stared at her. But suddenly Antonin Dolohov came running into the courtyard, he smirked as he shot a green light at Erin and it missed her. Remus shot a stunning spell at him but it had also missed.

“Get behind the statue, Erin” Remus shouted as he once again rounded on Dolohov. Erin listened to Remus this time and got behind a statue of a wizard. But she was hardly safe where she was, and she watched scared to death again as the duelers and a full on battle. Red and Green were mixed together; Remus nearly missed several Killing Curses that were shot at him.

“Give up, you Half-Breed, you’ll never win against us!”

“Then I’ll die trying!”

“Have it your way” smirked the Death Eater, Remus ducked as another green jet of light, that went over his head.

“I won’t go without a fight, so I hope you’re ready for a long night,” shouted Remus.

“I was born ready, Werewolf.”

Erin watched more and more of their duel, she couldn’t stand it, watching helplessly as Remus fought some awful Death Eater, but why did she have to be helpless? It was two against one; slowly Erin crept out from behind the statue and pointed her wand at Dolohov who was so concerned with Remus he hadn’t even noticed, but Remus had.

“Erin, no!” he shouted and Erin looked over at him, quick their eyes locked and his pleaded with hers But suddenly Dolohov found his chance and as Erin watched him mumble words she ran over to Remus and pushed him down to the ground, just as green jets of light came over their heads, he stared at her as she lay on top of him. But she had no time to marvel in saving him from the killing cruse and pushed off of him and held her wand at Dolohov again, who looked madder than ever and with a quick hand movement a gold light shot from his wand and hit Remus right in the chest, his eyes widen as he began to shake violently, he looked to be in a lot of pain as he staggered to his knees, gasping and gripping at the ground, he looked as though he was having a fit as he rolled around.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” Erin screamed, looking over to Dolohov who was smirking proudly, he didn’t respond, so Erin pointed her wand at him once again.

“Don’t be stupid” Dolohov chuckled, pointing his wand lazily at her and shooting the same gold lights at her, all though she dodged them and threw a stunning spell at him, which missed.

“Er-Erin….get your…self out” mumbled Remus as he lay face up twitching on the floor, she gasped looking down at him to see his eyes were closed shut now and he heaved for breath.

“Didn’t you hear what your little boyfriend said?” Dolohov said, cheeky. “Don’t want to stay and watch me kill him, do you?”

“Shut up!” she yelled at him and pointed her wand at him but with a lazy wave of his wand her wand was wrenched from her hand. He laughed at her in an menacing fashion and pointed his wand at Remus once more.

“Well fine, if you really want to stay.”

Dolohov shot another curse at Remus and he withered, he shook and he yelled out in pain, this was making Erin sick, she couldn’t stand seeing him like this, she loved him and if he was hurting like this then so was she.

“Like watching your boyfriend in pain, do you?” Dolohov laughed again and did the same spell once more, causing Remus to yell again, Erin blinked back tears and she backed away from Remus, she just couldn’t take seeing him like that. Suddenly she saw her wand lying on the ground, she looked up to see that Dolohov was focusing in Remus and hadn’t noticed her moving.

“I’m going to kill you, Werewolf!” he shouted. “And soon you will be reunited with your blood-trading and Mudblood friends and the Dark Lord sha…...”

But before he could finish his sentence a jet of red light hit him in the face and he staggered to the floor, Erin heaved a sigh as she looked over at Remus who was still lying there, this time without twitching, he was just lying. She growled, how dare this damn Death Eater hurt him. She stomped over him and pointed her wand at him, if Remus wasn’t alright she didn’t know what she was going to do, she needed Remus.

“You’re a damn fool, and your precious Dark Lord will never win!” Erin shouted before she pointed her want at Dolohov again, but suddenly her wand flew from her hand and she looked up to see Hector walking into the courtyard.

“You have always been more trouble then you are worth, you damn git, but really!” Erin shouted, and with that, he pointed his wand at her and everything went black. She knew she wasn’t completely out of it, she could still hear things, she could hear Hector pulling Dolohov’s stunned body from the courtyard, why he didn’t just take the cruse off of him was a mystery to Erin, though she reckoned he wasn’t smart enough to think of this. Suddenly after much trying her eyes, popped open and she saw the dark sky and the flashes of war. She sat up to see Remus still lying on the ground, much like he was when she has been hit by Hectors curse, she staggered over to him and stared down at him, he lay motionless, his eyes closed, his chest didn’t appear to be moving at all, but she could hardly see, so she touched his face and it felt cold, stings of pain then took her over, he couldn’t be dead, he just couldn’t be.

“Remus” she muttered, shaking him gently. “Remus please… please don’t be dead.”

Tears filled her eyes as he lay there still, not moving, she couldn’t take it, he couldn’t be dead, she needed him alive, he had a son, he had a wife somewhere looking for him, he couldn’t be dead.

“Remus” she cried, throwing herself over him and crying into his chest. “Don’t be dead…please…I ...I need you.”