Later during the night, Erica decided to go and find Padfoot. Or shall we say, Sirius Black. She came up to the same secret passage, entered it and as expected, there he was. In the exact same spot.

"Welcome back, Erica. Here to set Malfoy's sheets on fire again?" 'Padfoot' asked.

"No, he got his arm slashed so he gets a pass for a while." Erica stated, leaning against the wall.

"How'd that happen?" 'Padfoot' tilted his head.

"We were at Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid. He showed us hippogriffs and Malfoy thought it was smart to ignore Hagrid's warning about them being very proud creatures." Erica explained,"He didn't bow and he told me to shut up after I warned him again and then Buckbeak slashed him. At least I tried."

"Malfoys find it hard to listen to others. They only care about themselves." Sirius nodded.

"We also had a cool new DADA professor. He's called Professor Lupin." Erica told him.

"Lupin?" 'Padfoot' asked.

Erica nodded,"I've had three professors so far and he's definitely the best. We fought bogarts today and something nearly went wrong."

"May I ask what nearly went wrong?' 'Padfoot' tilted his head.

"Well, everything was going fine. Neville's was Snape and Ron's was a spider but Harry's was a dementor. It tried to kiss him but Lupin went in front. Then it changed into what I think was a moon. Nobody really understood but everyone has different fears for a reason." Erica finished.

Erica saw that Sirius almost had an understanding look for when she mentioned what Lupin's bogart was.

"And you're right. Everyone has a fear, some, silly to others.. But meaningful to them." Sirius nodded.

"So Sirius, how was your day?" Erica asked, using his real name.

Sirius looked up at Erica, beginning to back up.

"It's ok, I trust you. I won't tell anyone, I swear." Erica told him, not moving from where she was.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Sirius stopped.

"I mean, I found out earlier. I could've said you were in the passages but I didn't. I enjoy your company." Erica stated, choosing to sit down.

"But I'm a murderer." Sirius crossed his arms.

"Are you sure?" Erica asked, almost jokingly.

"Well, that's what I was in Azkaban for." Sirius leant against the wall.

"Were you given a fair trial? Were there witnesses? Were people being paid off?" Erica questioned before stopping herself,"Sorry, I'd been looking more into law stuff over summer with Percy."

"Percy?" Sirius questioned.

"Older brother." Erica answered.

"Ah." Sirius nodded, "So who else does know about these passages?"

"Well there's me, Fred, George, Percy and Parker. Parker just knows though, she doesn't know how to use them." Erica informed him.

"Parker? Sirius questioned, he remembered Erica telling him about Fred and George, but not Parker.

"Mhm, Parker Malfoy." Erica confirmed her previous statement,"She's seen me use them but she doesn't know where most of them are."

"And is this.. Parker, like the rest of them?" Sirius asked.

Erica shook her head,"She was my first friend and she's awesome."

Just as Erica said what she did, they heard Parkers voice from the room beside them. It was the Slytherin common room.

"Pansy, I'm going to kill you! You think you can just do that?" Parker asked, annoyed.

"That her?" Sirius questioned Sirius.

"Yeah, can we eavesdrop?" Erica asked Sirius.

"She's your friend." Sirius shrugged, "Theres a little spy hole aswell."

Erica stood up and peeked through the little spy holes which were the eye holes of the painting on the wall. Erica could see Parker lifting out a book from the fireplace, patting it down so the fire would stop.

"What's happening?" Sirius asked from behind her.

"I think Pansy threw her book in the fire." Erica told him before clearing her throat and putting on a ghostly voice,"Pansy~"

Pansy looked up and around, trying to find the voice before she looked at Parker, "Stop being weird."

"It wasn't me." Parker told her.

"I am the ghost of the Slytherin fireplace and I am very angry." Erica replied in her ghostly voice.

"Theres no ghost of the Slytherin fire place, so cut out the act." Pansy told her.

"Pansy, I'm literally getting soot out of my book." Parker rolled her eyes.

Erica used her wand from behind the painting to make the fire move to spell,'Both of you, get to bed!'

"I'm out of here." Pansy muttered before she went to bed.

"Yeah, ghosty. I'm fixing my book first." Parker spoke.

"Whatever." Erica finished with her ghostly voice before stepping back to Sirius,"Did I do good?"

Sirius nodded with a small chuckle, "You did good kid."

Erica smiled,"We should do this every night."

"Not every night. I don't want to get too careful." Sirius sighed, "But yes, we should see each other every now and again."

They both then heard a howl from outside.

"I've got to go. But it was lovely seeing you again." Sirius nodded before he ran off.

**

The Herd minus Parker were in the great hall eating.

"Have any of you seen Parker this morning?" Ron asked, taking some toast "She's always on time for breakfast."

Erica smirked into her glass as Parker walked over but her book was completely normal again.

"I have a question for everyone." Parker sat down next to them all.

"That would be?" Harry questioned.

"Have you guys ever heard of like your fireplaces being.. haunted?" Parker asked curiously.

"An object can't be haunted." Hermione explained,"It can be possessed though, why?"

"Well, the fireplace spoke to me and Pansy last night." Parker crossed her arms.

Erica spat out her drink as she laughed, almost choking,"What?"

"Pansy threw a book of mine into the fireplace last night and we went to argue but our fireplace stated talking to us." Parker filled her glass up with water.

Erica nodded before turning to everyone,"You guys have your permission slips signed?"

They all nodded, minus Harry.

"Don't worry, I'll stay behind with you. It's cold anyway." Erica assured him.

"Erica, you've been wanting to go to Hogsmeade for ages." Ron looked at her.

"Friendship is more important, there's always next year" Erica shrugged.

"You don't have to, Erica." Harry looked at her.

"I'm doing it and that's final." Erica told them before whispering to Harry,"I have something to tell you later anyway, it's important."

"We'll bring you guys something back." Hermione told them before they left.

Erica and Harry watched as basically everyone else left minus a few people.

"I'm the ghost of the fireplace." Erica stated, sitting down her glass.

"I'm sorry?" Harry raised a brow.

"The ghost Parker was talking about wasn't a ghost. I was talking and moving the fire from the portrait." Erica chuckled before grabbing Harry's shoulder,"Come on."

"Smart. But where are we going?" Harry asked while he got up.

"The twins, they have something for you." Erica explained, leading him to the courtyard where Fred and George were building a snowman.

"Finally." George finished off the snowman.

"We thought you guys weren't coming." Fred added.

"I had to lie about not being a ghost besides, we're here now." Erica told them.

"What did you do in the tunnels now?" Fred asked.

"I pretended I was a fireplace ghost, now give it to Harry." Erica sighed.

"Give what to me?" Harry questioned.

George handed Harry a folded piece of parchment.

"What's this rubbish?" Harry asked, holding the parchment.

"It's not rubbish. Show him Freddie." Erica told him as Fred took out his wand.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Fred stated, pointing his wand at the paper.

"Messers, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present 'The Marauders Map'." Harry read it out.

"Yeah, we nicked that from Filch's office in first year." George told him.

That's when Erica recognized Padfoot. Sirius helped make this?

"So what does this map have to do with us?" Harry asked.

"It shows everybody." Fred started.

"What they're doing." George added.

"Of every minute." Feed added again.

"Of every day." Erica finished.

"Hang on.. Is that.." Harry pointed to Dumbledore who was pacing.

"Dumbledore pacing in his office? Yes." Fred stated,"He does that a lot."

"Brilliant!" Harry smiled, looking up at the siblings.

"It also shows my playground, the hidden tunnels and secret passage ways." Erica informed him.

"Do you think I could use this to get into Hogsmeade?" Harry questioned.

"Why do you think we have it to you?" George asked, leaning against one of the pillars.

"Whats the best way to get there?" Harry asked.

"The one eyed witch passage way, it takes you right underneath Honeydukes." Erica pointing to it.

"Right." Harry nodded, "Let's go then. Thank you."

"No problem." Fred said, starting to pick up snow.

Erica lead Harry all the way up to the fifth floor where the passage was.

"Now Harry, you just say 'Dissendium' and it'll open." Erica explained.

"Dissendium." Harry spoke.

That's when the statue turned around to reveal a staircase down.

"Merlin." Harry muttered, "You first."

Erica shrugged taking the lead and walking down the staircase. Harry soon followed after, the statue going back to normal once they were both in. After a couple minutes they reached the bottom and pushed open an oak door. They were now in the cellar of Honeydukes.

"The coast is clear, come on." Harry climbed up, holding his hand out for Erica when he got up.

Erica climbed up by herself,"Bro, I traverse half the school most nights. I can club up a trap door."

"I'm just trying to be helpful, Erica." Harry told her, getting out his invisibility cloak.

"Right, touch nothing." Eric stated as they both got under the cloak.

Harry and Erica walked up the stairs and they had already knocked down a box.

"That doesn't count." Harry whispered.

"Just keep walking." Erica muttered,"We're nearly at the door."

"Where are we even going?" Harry whispered while they walked and opened the door.

"I don't know, I've never been here before." Erica whispered back once they'd left the shop.

"Find the others?" Harry suggested.

"Let's do that." Erica agreed before spotting them and Draco's friends on a hill,"There!"

"You filthy little Mudblood!" They heard Draco say.

"What do you say? Should we have some fun?" Harry asked.

Still under the cloak, Erica and Harry ran up the hill and Erica put on her ghostly voice and nabbed Draco's hat.

"The ghost of Slytherin common room is back to steal your hat!" Erica teased in her ghost voice.

"What the-" Draco looked around.

"Catch!" Erica yelled, still in the ghost voice as she chucked the hat.

After a bit, Draco and his friends ran off.

The others were laughing before Harry threw a snowball at them.

"Hey! I thought you liked us." Ron stated, wiping snow off his face.

"Debatable." Erica said in her ghost voice.

Harry took off the cloak and held it down to his side.

"You're the ghost!" Parker pointed at Erica.

"How did you not guess? Did you not see the portrait blinking?" Erica asked, standing with her arms crossed.

"I wasn't looking at the portrait." Parker crossed her own arms.

"We're glad you're here. Ron started going on, talking about Scabbers." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"How is he not dead yet? Field rats aren't meant to live twelve plus years." Erica sighed.

"Scabbers is special." Ron shrugged.

"Come on, we've got to get back." Parker nodded her head to the village.

"Yeah, special." Erica rolled her eyes as they started walking back.

"There's the Minister of Magic, whats he doing here?" Hermione asked.

"Should we do some eavsedropping?" Erica questioned.

Before any of them could answer, Harry had already ran into the pub.

"We can ask him later." Erica stated, leaning against the wall.

"I heard his name, maybe that's why he ran in." Ron shrugged, sitting down on a bench.

"Well, we're going to look suspicious if we keep standing here." Hermione told them.

"Well, where else are we meant to go?" Ron crossed his arms.

"A shop?" Erica asked.

"Dibs not picking." Parker told them.

"I want to go back to Honeydukes, I couldn't get anything." Erica told them.

"We haven't been there. We can go." Parker nodded and fixed her hat.

"Yes!" Erica cheered, running towards the sweet shop.

"We'll wait here for Harry!" Hermione called out while Parker ran after Erica.

"Erica~" Parker sang from behind Erica.

"Do you want the ghost to haunt you tonight?" Erica asked, still running.

"Haunt Pansy! She's the bitch." Parker told her before she threw a snowball at Erica.

Erica stopped where she was and turned around. Parker swore she could hear the noise of her neck as it twisted.

"Mind telling me what that was for?" Erica asked.

"Fun?.." Parker said slowly.

"You have absolutely nothing to worry about tonight." Erica told her, walking into the shop and closing the door.

"Oh, I'm screwed." Parker muttered before she went into the shop.

Erica easily picked some things she liked and paid, walking out before Parker could find her and skipped back to Hermione.

"What happened with you and Parker?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, where's Ron?" Erica asked, looking around and not seeing him.

"Trying to find a way into the pub." Hermione answered.

"Sometimes he's smart, he'll be fine." Erica stated, leaning against the wall again and putting a lollipop in her mouth.

Parker came over to the girls.

"Please don't kill me tonight?" She asked Erica.

"I'll think about it." Erica replied, the lollipop still in her mouth.

The next thing they seen, was footsteps, and Ron chasing after them.

"Come on!" Ron told them.

They all ran after Ron and the footsteps, they lead back up the hill before stopping. That's when they could hear crying. Harry, crying.

"I'm not good at emotions." Parker whispered.

Erica nodded before stepping forward, taking the cloak off of the crying boy. She knelt down and just hugged him. After a few seconds, Harry hugged Erica back slightly.

"It's ok, we're all here." Erica told him softly, not letting go.

"Harry.. What happened?" Hermione asked once Harry pulled away from the hug.

"He was their friend, and he betrayed them." Harry sighed.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"My parents. Sirius Black betrayed my parents." Harry told them.

Erica bit her lip as they all stood there in silence. She'd need to ask for Sirius' side of the story tonight.

"He's my godfather, I heard them." Harry shook his head, "And he has a cousin at Hogwarts."

"Any names?" Hermione asked, wanting to know.

"No." Harry shook his head, wiping his tears, "They're in our year though."

"That doesn't really narrow it down." Parker crossed her arms.

"Right, so the mass murderer betrayed your parents and now one of his relatives is at the school?" Erica asked.

Harry nodded.

"Marvelous. Just what we need." Parker sighed.

"You guys wanna head back to Hogwarts?" Erica asked them.

They all nodded.

"I need to go to Professor Lupin anyway." Harry sighed.

"Right then, let's go." Ron said as they all made their way back to school.

**

That same night, Erica went back to her and Sirius' spot, wanting to know more about what she learned.

She walked in with her notebook and sat down,"Hello Mr Black."

"Back again, Miss Weasley?" Sirius asked.

"What can I say? Once people befriend me, they're stuck with me forever." Erica replied, taking out her pencil.

"Well, I don't think we could be friends forever. It would be too dangerous." Sirius told her.

"Danger is my middle name." Erica joked,"I do have a question though."

"Ask away." Sirius did a small bow.

"Can you tell me your side of the story?" Erica asked him.

"My side of the story?" Sirius raised a brow.

"Yeah, they were talking about how you betrayed James and Lily. I don't think that's the whole story though." Erica explained.

Sirius chuckled, "Smart girl, smart girl."

"It's because nothing is that simple. A coin has to faces and there are always two sides of the story." Erica stated.

"You're right. Now, do you believe i'd betray my only friends?" Sirius asked.

"No, you seem like a nice guy. If you weren't in the prison get up you'd look completely normal." Erica answered.

"Well no, I didn't betray them. My other friend did, but he was quick to tell everyone that I betrayed them." Sirius informed her.

"Who's that?" Erica questioned, ready to write.

"We'll call him Wormtail." Sirius crossed his arms.

Erica wrote it down before remembering something.

"He was on the map, his name!" Erica exclaimed.

"The map? You have our map?" Sirius questioned.

"Well, I don't. Harry does. My brothers gave it to him because they found it in their first year." Erica explained.

"Is it still good?" Sirius asked, "Still working?"

"Yeah, I helped Harry sneak into Hogsmeade with it." Erica told him.

"I have a question for you, Miss Weasley." Sirius looked at her.

"Yes Sirius?" Erica asked, ready to answer.

"Why do you, think I'm here? At Hogwarts." Sirius tilted his head.

"Something to do with your cousin? They also mentioned that in the pub." Erica replied, setting down her notebook.

"My cousin?" Sirius raised a brow, "What do you know about them?"

"Literally nothing. I just know that families like the Blacks have lots of extended family." Erica told him.

"Well, my cousin does go here." Sirius sighed, "But I'm pretty sure they know nothing about me."

"Even if they do, they'd know you as someone you aren't." Erica stated before wondering something,"So, why'd they put you in jail for murder?"

"Wormtail also framed me for murdering twelve muggles and killing him." Sirius sighed.

"What a little rat!" Erica yelled, writing it down.

"But before I could prove myself innocent, I was thrown into Azkaban." Sirius leant against the wall.

"So there were no other witnesses?" Erica questioned.

"No." Sirius answered.

"Then again, he did kill them all so that makes sense. Despite that, they should've at least given you a trial." Erica stated, writing something down.

"What are you writing?" Sirius questioned.

"My case for why you shouldn't go back to jail. I'm going to hide it somewhere." Erica told him, sitting down her pencil.

She then heard voices and moved to the other end and looking through the painting.

"Is that.. Severus?" Sirius smirked and looked through another painting.

"Yeah, he teaches potions. Wait, why's Harry out with the map?" Erica wondered.

Snape put his wand on the map before Harry read it out.

"Messers, Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Offer their compliments to Professor Snape and.. and request that he keeps his abnormally large nose out of other people's business."

Sirius held back a laugh, he had remembered writing that.

"I mean, it's not the smallest nose I've seen." Erica joked still watching.

Snape went to say something but Lupin came out from the shadows.

"Professor." Lupin spoke.

"Ah, Lupin. Out for a walk, in the moonlight." Snape said, putting an emphasis on moon.

Lupin ignored Snape, just walking over to Harry, "Harry, are you alright?"

"He is fine but I did confiscate a strange artifact off him." Snape handed the map to Lupin before walking off.

Lupin looked at the map before he grabbed Harry's shoulder and brought him with him.

"Too many people are awake, we'll have to end tonight early, Miss Weasley." Sirius told her.

"Agreed, see you tommorow." Erica told him, taking her notebook and running out of the passage.