Erica was sat in the twins' room with them. They were plotting out different inventions and sweets for their shop.

"So I think this would work, right?" Fred turned to his siblings

"Freddie. How are they going to eat that? It's huge!" Erica questioned, pointing at what he was holding.

"They.. Can break it up into pieces?" Fred suggested.

It was a sweet that looked like a rubix cube, when the buyer would try and play with it, it would break into pieces.

"What does it taste like again?" Erica picked up a sheet of paper,"Orange?"

"Every flavour you can think of." George nodded.

Erica jumped slightly. Last time she checked, George had fallen asleep during Fred's explanation of the sweet.

"Sorry Er." George yawned.

"You need to warn me before you do that." Erica shook her head and placed the paper on his head.

"Any other suggestions?" George shook his head, the paper flying away.

"We could have a firework that... Turns into a dragon when it explodes?" Erica suggested.

"You are just like Charlie." Fred poked her.

"It would be cool, th-" Erica was interrupted by the loud slam of a door.

"Who's that?" George got up, walking out the room and looked over the railing.

"Yeah, who?" Erica asked, following him out.

"Dad?" Fred shouted to see if it was him, coming back from work.

No response.

"Maybe it's not d-" Erica was interrupted again, much to her annoyance, this time by shouting.

"He isn't back! You need to listen to Minister, mother." Percy spat.

"I know who that is." George muttered.

"..Erica, why don't we head back into our room-" Fred tried to pull her back inside.

Erica was already halfway down the stairs,"He's not yelling at my mother."

"Erica!" Fred sighed.

"Leave her." George placed a hand on his shoulder,"She won't listen."

"Let's just make sure nothing happens." Fred sighed and walked downstairs.

George nodded and followed his twin brother.

"Percy, just calm down." Molly shook her head.

"I am perfectly calm, mother." Percy assured her,"I'm just asking you to listen to reason."

"Harry saw him. He wouldn't lie about seeing that monster." Molly sighed.

"Potter isn't always a reliable source." Percy pointed out.

"Harry's always very reliable." Erica crossed her arms.

"This doesn't involve you, sister." Percy didn't look at her.

"Oh, we're not on a first name basis anymore?" Erica raised a brow.

Percy sighed and fixed his tie, "Go and be with your friends, who let me remind you, are liars."

"They aren't liars." Erica got closer to him.

"They all say that the Dark Lord is back, when he clearly isn't and they've gotten it into your mind that He's back." Percy turned to her.

"Percy, we saw the Death Eaters, which your so called Ministry said they got rid of, way before He came back." Erica reminded him.

"Hallucinations!" Percy threw his hands up.

"You were there! You saw what they did." Erica raised her voice, she'd never done that to Percy before.

Percy was taken aback yet scoffed, "This family is getting out of hand."

"You say out of hand, I say reasonable. The only one 'out of hand' here, is you." Erica pointed at him as Arthur walked through the door.

"Percy?" Arthur smiled, his son hadn't been here in ages.

"Quiet, Old Man." Percy snapped.

"You don't yell at dad!" Erica shouted.

"Don't yell at me!" Percy turned and slapped Erica.

Erica was silent. She was in shock. Was this real? Did that really just happen?

"Percy!" Molly gasped, running up to Erica and cupping her face.

Erica didn't look up. She didn't want to be there, anywhere but here.

"Erica, hunny. Let me check you." Molly quickly checked her cheek.

"..Percy, get out." Arthur said in shock.

"No." Erica shook her head, pushing her mother away and running out of the house.

"Percy, how could you?" Molly turned to her son.

Percy was in shock himself, he never expected to actually do that. Despite this, he promptly turned on his heel and left the house. While Erica ran, she bumped into.. Someone? Why would someone be out here this late?

"The f*ck?" Erica asked, rubbing her eyes that weren't used to the dark outside.

"Erica, I was just coming to the Burrow. What are you doing out here?" She heard her friends voice; Parker.

"Going to my tree, I need to be... Alone." Erica told her sheepishly.

"What's happened?" Parker got out her wand, "Lumos."

Her wand lit up so she could see her properly.

Erica squinted at the sudden light,"I don't want to talk about it right now."

Parker could tell something was wrong, "..I'd rather not leave you alone when you're like this. Why don't we go to the tree together and just sit? Yeah?"

Erica was hesitant, now she wasn't able to cry out all her feelings in the tree but... She could always do that later so she nodded.

"Come on. Take me to the tree." Parker held her hand.

Erica nodded again and lead Parker along to the large oak tree at the back of their garden.

"It's a lovely tree." Parker nodded, looking up at it.

Erica sat down at the base of the tree, she didn't want to climb too far from Parker. Parker sat down and crossed her legs, looking around.

After a while, she looked over at Erica, "..You know you can tell me anything, right? I'm your best friend, I can tell when somethings wrong."

"It's really bad though." Erica rested her head on her knees.

"I'll tell you whats bothering me if you tell me what's wrong with you." Parker lay her head against the tree.

Erica reluctantly started to speak,"There was a fight... With Percy."

"With Percy?" Parker tilted her head, "What happened?"

"He doesn't believe you guys. About Him." Erica shook her head,"He's sided with the Ministry."

"The Ministry has gotten into his head. We know what's right." Parker nodded.

"But he... He..." Erica couldn't finish her sentence as she felt tears stinging her eyes.

Parker noticed this, so she crawled over to Erica and hugged her side, "Let it out. Sometimes we need to."

That's when she just broke down and began sobbing in Parker's arms.

Parker rubbed Erica's back and whispered, "There you go, I've got you."

Erica held onto Parker tightly, she didn't want to leave or go back to the house because she knew Percy wouldn't be there. Maybe... Maybe she'd sent a letter to Oliver, he might help.

"What did he do? Did he hurt you?" Parker asked while she soothed Erica.

Erica slowly nodded, tears still falling from her eyes.

Parker tutted and shook her head; sighing, "I'm so sorry."

"I-it's alright, I'll get over it." Erica assured her.

"He.. He just doesn't know what to believe I think." Parker lifted Erica's head up gently and wiped her tears, "You're okay."

"You're right." Erica nodded as footsteps approached them.

"We heard what happened." Fred spoke as he and his twin walked to the girls.

George immediately kneeled beside them,"I swear, the next time I see Percy, he's dead."

"I agree. He should've never laid hands on you." Fred pointed.

"H-he didn't mean it." Erica tried to justify his actions.

"He hit you because you defended dad. He had no right." George sighed.

"I-" Erica began.

"No, he should've never done that to you." Fred just wrapped his arms around her.

"..Will you two get her inside? I have to get back home. Make sure she's warm." Parker looked at the twins.

"We won't let anything happen to her." George assured her, picking up his younger sister and placing her on her feet.

"Send me an owl in the morning of how she is." Parker rubbed Erica's arm before she apparated away.

"We will." Fred nodded, patting Erica's head gently.

"Come on Er, let's go." George sighed before they walked inside.

Erica nodded, though she was barely conscious. All that crying took a lot out of her. Once they had gotten her inside, they took her to her and Ron's room, where Ron was still fast asleep.

"He can sleep through anything, can't he?" Fred turned to George.

"Of course he can. Lazy git." George cursed and lay Erica down.

"Oh, can I draw on his face with the marker Erica made?" Fred asked, taking it out of his pocket before George took it.

"Would you like that?" George asked Erica, putting a blanket over her.

Fred leaned in close to Erica, who was definitely sleeping, before standing up straight,"She said yes because it'll be a good test for the product."

"Ah yes, I totally heard." George nodded, handing him back the marker.

Fred giggled and began drawing all over Ron's face, the red ink appearing clearly,"What's the joke to this again?"

"It stains for up till 24 hours." George nodded.

Fred paused,"So he's going to kill me?"

"We can say it was a ghost." George shrugged.

"He'll believe that a ghost drew a p*nis on his face?" Fred raised a brow.

George thought before he shook his head and laughed, "No."

"I'm doomed." Fred sighed as he felt something grab his hand,"Huh?"

"Ghost!" George pointed.

Fred instantly turned his head, only to see Erica gripping his hand in her sleep. That caused him to carefully sit down beside her bed.

"Is she still sleeping?" George whispered.

"Yeah." Fred nodded, rubbing his eyes as he felt tears of his own start to fall.

"Why are you crying now?" George looked at him.

"I-I don't know, I just... Feel really bad." Fred shook his head, trying to stop crying but only making it worse.

"Oh, Freddie." George sighed and sat down next to his twin.

"I'm sorry.." Fred leaned against his brother.

"We didn't know what would happen." George shook his head.

"We could've stopped her seeing it though." Fred looked up at him, guilt etched in his eyes.

"Freddie, let's not get upset. Okay? Come on." George sighed.

"A-alright." Fred nodded, rubbing his eyes.

"We have to stay strong." George rubbed his shoulders.

"We have to protect them now." Fred nodded.

"Yeah, we're the men of this house." George agreed, "..Other than dad."

"We're the young men of the house." Fred corrected him, letting a yawn slip out.

"Oh yes. Now come on, let's head to bed before mum tells us off." George stood up and walked back to their room.

Fred gently let go of Erica's hand and followed George along the hall to their room.

"Goodnight Fred." George yawned and lay down.

"'Night George." Fred smiled and basically collapsed onto his bed.

George turned the lights out before he fell asleep.