"Who's all got their permission slips?" Ron asked as Parker finally joined the Herd.

"I think everyone aside from.." Hermione looked at Harry

"Me." He shook his head.

"Why not?" Ron sighed.

"My uncle wouldn't sign it, McGonagall can't sign it for me either."

"I can forge signatures." Parker raised her hand.

"No, its fine. Honest."

"We've been wanting to go on this trip since first year." Ron sighed.

"Sorry guys, maybe next year?" Harry looked around.

"Yeah, yeah." Hermione held his shoulder.

"Have fun." Harry gave them a smile.

"Where's Erica?" Ron asked the girls as they walked.

"Erica? I haven't seen her." Hermione shook her head.

"She said she was going to do some school work." Parker sighed.

"Really? I thought she'd love coming here." Hermione nodded.

"That's what I thought." Ron crossed his arms.

"Maybe she just needs to catch up on some stuff?" Hermione shrugged.

"Maybe." Parker sighed.

"It's probably Snape." Ron shook his head,"She's not the best in his class and he just doesn't like us."

"Let's just go." Parker shook her head.

"Right." Hermione nodded.

*********************************

Harry sighed and began walking through the halls of Hogwarts.

"Peekaboo!"

Harry jumped and slapped the person's arm.

"Ow." Erica held her arm.

"Shit- Sorry Erica." Harry sighed.

"You should be." Erica crossed her arms.

"Free slap?" Harry held out his arm.

"Hm... Okay." Erica slapped his arm.

"Merlin, you pack a slap." Harry held his arm.

"Sorry." Erica chuckled,"Now come on, Fred and George have something for you."

"Why would they have something for me?"

"Because they do."

"Fine." Harry nodded and began to walk.

Erica smiled and lead him to a staircase where Fred and George were waiting.

"Finally." Fred sighed.

"Took you long enough." George clapped his hands.

"Well, I'm sorry. Harry walks slowly." Erica pointed.

"I do not. Erica got distracted." Harry chuckled.

"Did not." Erica crossed her arms.

"Look at the shiny coin." Harry copied what she said earlier.

Erica rolled her eyes,"It was pretty!"

"It's alright, Er." Fred smiled.

"Come on, guys. Show him the thing."

George chuckled as he handed Harry a blank sheet of parchment.

"A piece of parchment?" He raised a brow.

"Show him, Freddie." George handed him his wand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Fred pointed his wand at the parchment and it began to change.

"Messers Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present the... Marauders Map?" Harry tilted his head as he read.

"Its a complete map of Hogwarts and look! Look!" Erica pointed

"It shows everybody." Fred began.

"What they're doing." George smirked.

"Of every minute."

"Of every day!" Erica finished.

"This is brilliant." Harry laughed.

"We got in it first year." Fred told him.

"Nicked it from Filch's office." George added.

"So why are you giving it to me?"

"It shows all the passageways, we're getting you into Hogsmeade." Erica told him.

"I'm going to hogsmeade?" Harry smiled.

"You're going to Hogsmeade."

"We're going to Hogsmeade." He pointed.

"Grab your cloak, we're gonna need it." Erica nodded.

"Have fun children. Be safe." Fred waved.

"We will." Erica smiled.

"Buy me something." George pointed.

"Fine." Erica sighed,"But pay me back."

"No." George smiled.

"Go fuck yourself then."

"Language." The twins gasped

Erica rolled her eyes and continued with Harry.

"They're very... Brotherish." Harry joked.

"Very stupid."

"But protective." Harry pointed.

"I know."

"It's good to have siblings." Harry walked to the Gryffindor common room.

"Most of the time." Erica sighed.

"Right. Come on." Harry grabbed his cloak.

Erica nodded and lead him towards a passage that she quickly opened.

"Onwards we go." Harry walked in.

"To Hogsmeade!"

After they went through the passageway, it was about a ten minute walk until they ended up in a cellar.

"Well, we've made it this far with no casualties. We've just got to go up... There." Erica pointed to a trapdoor above them.

"Question, where are we in Hogsmeade?"

"Honeydukes Cellar." Erica hummed.

"Okay, cloak on... And let's go." Harry put the cloak over them as he climbed up.

Honeydukes, it was a small child's dream come true. Shelves stoked high with sweets. Now, they just needed to get out and they were free to explore.

"Oh." Harry stole a lollipop from someone as they left the shop.

"Harry." Erica gave him a look as they walked out,"Stealing from unaware strangers?"

"It's a lollipop." He handed it to her.

"Thank you." Erica smiled,"I wanted to steal from them first."

"Well now you have a lollipop."

"I do, now I'm happy."

Harry chuckled and shook his head.

"Now... Where to?" Erica looked around.

"Find the others?" He raised a brow.

Where could they be though?

"You filthy little mudblood!" They heard Draco shout.

"I think we should head that way." Erica pointed towards the noise.

"Towards Draco." Harry nodded

Erica nodded as they began to walk.

"Should we have some fun?" Harry smirked.

"Now you're talking." Erica smirked back as they arrived.

Harry leaned down, grabbing a snowball before he threw it at Draco who was currently shouting at the rest of the Herd.

Draco turned after being hit, seeing no one,"Who threw that?"

"Not me." Crabbe held his hands up.

"Or me-" Goyle began.

Erica smirked as she threw another snowball at Draco.

"Which one of you-" Draco turned.

Erica gave Harry a look before she pushed Draco over.

"Get away!" Draco screamed like a little girl before he quickly ran away

Erica burst out laughing, nearly falling over.

"Erica!" Parker laughed

"It's us!" Erica lifted up the cloak.

The Herd laughed and clapped their hands.

"How did you get here?" Ron chuckled.

"Magic." Erica smiled.

"We missed you." Hermione smiled back.

"I missed me too."

"Draco was being a dick." Ron chuckled.

"Well, we sorted him out for you." Harry patted Erica's shoulder.

"Thanks guys." Hermione folded her arms.

"Erica?" Parker walked over.

"Hm?"

"I bought you these... I know you liked them." Parker handed her some pumpkin pasties.

"Oh, thanks."

"And... I'm making some strawberry puffs later."

"That's nice."

"Erica please... You're mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you, why would I be mad at you?"

"You're not your usual self." Parker sighed.

"I have no reason to be mad at you, do i?" Erica crossed her arms

"No." She shook her head.

"Exactly."

"Love you, Er." Parker smiled

"Love you too." Erica smiled back.

"Come on, we have to be back by a certain time." Ron sighed.

"We've had our fun." Harry shrugged.

"What did you do?" Parker asked.

"Well, not much."

"Not much?" Ron smirked before he threw a snowball at Erica.

"You- Ron!" Erica wiped snow off of her.

Ron laughed as Hermione threw a snowball at him. Erica began balling up snow beneath her and threw it at him as well.

"Why me?!" Ron fell to the ground as Harry and Parker began throwing snowballs too.

"You started it!"

"Now I'm getting attacked by everyone!"

"That's not my fault." Erica shrugged.

Parker laughed before she threw a snowball at the two. Erica threw one back at Parker.

"You wanna go?" Parker smiled as she threw another.

"Yeah, I wanna go!" Erica started making more snowballs.

Parker threw another snowball as she ran behind a Bush. Erica grabbed her snowballs and ran towards the bush.

"Erica no!" Parker yelped as she began to make her own snowballs.

"Erica yes!" Erica threw her snowballs at Parker.

Parker laughed and lay on the snow. Erica sighed and brushed the snow off of herself.

"Come make a snow angel." Parker began moving her arms and legs.

"No, I'm cold." Erica chuckled, shaking her head.

"Take my scarf." Parker held it up.

"It's fine-"

"Guys, where did Harry go?" Ron asked.

Parker sat her head up, "Harry?"

"Harry? Are you under the cloak again?" Ron looked around.

"Footsteps." Hermione pointed.

"Why is he always running off?" Parker groaned and got up.

"Because he's Harry." Erica sighed.

"Let's follow him." Hermione began to follow the footsteps.

"He could've at least mentioned that he was leaving." Ron rolled his eyes as they walked.

"He might've found something interesting. Erica does it a lot." Parker shrugged.

"Harry gets himself in trouble, I find fun things." Erica shook her head.

"You find fun shiny things." Parker hummed.

"The footprints lead here." Hermione stopped outside The Hog's Head.

"Why is he in the pub?"

"Oh! The teachers are in there." Erica peered through the window.

"Getting drunk." Ron muttered.

"Wait- shh." Erica put her hand on Ron's shoulder.

"What?" He asked.

"Shh." She hushed him,"Listen."

"What am I listening to?" Ron asked loudly.

"How about you look?" Hermione pointed to the ground.

Ron mimicked Hermione and looked down.

"What's going on?" Parker tried to listen.

"Parker. Ground. Footprints." Erica moved Parker to show her footpronts walking away.

"Oh shit- Right." Parker began to chase the footsteps.

"I thought I was meant to be bkind." Erica mumbled.

"Harry?" Ron pulled the cloak off of him.

He was crying, trying to rub his eyes.

"Harry... What happened?" Hermione asked.

"He was their friend... And he betrayed them!"

"Who did?" Parker raised a brow.

"Sirius Black." Harry shook his head.

"What were they saying?" Ron asked.

"Talking about him, him and Pettigrew.."

"So what? He's here to finish the job... Kill you too?" Hermione suggested.

"No! Nobody's killing Harry." Erica crossed her arms.

"Of course not. We won't let that happen." Parker assured him.

"Yeah, we'll always be here." Ron patted his shoulder.

"They did mention something else... He could be there for another reason." Harry wiped his face.

"Another reason?" Hermione asked.

"He has a family member, at Hogwarts. A student."

"A kid? A nephew? Cousin?" Erica tried.

"Cousin- I think." He held his head.

"Huh... Weird." Ron nodded slowly.

"Do you think they're nasty? The cousin?" Parker raised a brow.

"Well, he's a mass murderer, isn't he? What if they're like him?" Ron bit his cheek.

"Hopefully not. I cannot handle another year like our first two." Hermione held up her hand.

"I'm sure it'll be okay." Erica shook her head.

*********************************

After hearing the information from Harry about Sirius Black, Erica needed to figure out what was true and what was not. There were always rumors, lies and she wanted to hear what was what from his mouth.

Soon enough, she found Sirius at the same spot again.

"I have news and questions." Erica announced.

"Do share."

"The teachers were talking about you at the pub, about how you betrayed your friends and killed Pettigrew." Erica told him.

"Oh.." Sirius sighed.

"And I need to know what's true... Because you seem nice enough to me."

"Well it's not true." Sirius simply said and held up his hands,"I was framed."

"Well, if you didn't do it... Who did?" Erica asked.

"Pettigrew."

Erica gasped,"How dare he?"

"He betrayed our friends to Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters."

"He's horrible."

"He used to be our friend... I don't know what changed." He sighed.

"The thought of power does things to people." Erica shook her head.

"Yeah... Wormtail just switched." Sirius snapped his fingers.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"Well, I believe you."

Sirius looked at her,"You do?"

"Mhm." Erica nodded.

"You might be one of the only ones." Sirius shook his head.

"I'm gonna make them all believe me."

"It's been twelve years, Erica." Sirius sighed.

"So? It's never too late to exonerate an innocent man."

Sirius rubbed the back of his neck,"Enough about me." He waved his hand.

"Well, what else are we supposed to talk about?" Erica asked.

"How was your trip to Hogsmeade?"

"Harry and I had to sneak in because he didn't have his form signed."

"His aunt and uncle not sign it?" Sirius leaned back.

"Nope."

"I always hated them two. James always spoke about how much he didn't like them." Sirius patted the floor.

"Do you wanna talk about them?" Erica asked, sitting down next to him.

"Lily and James?"

"Yeah, to make yourself feel better by thinking about the good times."

"Hm, what would you like to know?"

"What did you used to do at Hogwarts together?"

"I used to play pranks." Sirius chuckled.

"Oh, on who?"

"Serverus Snape."

Erica snickered,"Snape?"

"Oh yeah." Sirius clapped his hands

"I don't think he likes me very much."

"He didn't like anyone. He was a little loner. Only talked to one person... Lily."

"Huh, I see." Erica nodded slowly.

"He fancied her. Which- Who wouldn't? Harry's mum was gorgeous." He pointed.

"Did you fancy her?" Erica questioned.

"No." Sirius shook his head.

"Well, who did you like?"

"No one really." Sirius looked out the window.

"Are you sure?"

"I liked someone I couldn't have."

"Aw, that's sad." Erica looked up at him.

"But that's a while ago. Can't get them back now." Sirius shrugged.

"You never know, I'm a good matchmaker."

"You are now, hm?" He chuckled.

"Mhm, I set up my brother and his crush." Erica nodded proudly.

"I'm glad you did that. I'm sure they're very appreciative."

"They better be, it took a lot of effort because getting Percy to admit his feelings is like trying to have a conversation with Draco Malfoy."

"I can't stand his parents." Sirius shivered.

"I can't stand him or his dad- He gave my sister an evil book and she nearly died." Erica crossed her arms,"Is he in trouble? No. Because he has money."

"Rich bastards." Sirius smiled at her.

"Exactly, and Draco's got stupid hair." Erica agreed.

"You should dye it." He pointed.

"That's Parker's thing." Erica shook her head,"I usually set his room on fire."

"So... Parker dyes his hair and you set him on fire."

"Exactly."

"Sounds like a plan." Sirius held out his hand.

Erica smiled and happily shook his hand.

"You best be going now." He looked at the moon.

"I suppose so." Erica sighed.

"We'll meet another day."

"Yeah, I'll see you then, Sirius!"

"Goodbye Erica." Sirius waved.

Erica smiled and hurried off.