Erin stirred lazily, and then she winced. As comfortable and warm as she felt, she also felt oddly stiff. Why was she so sore? And why was it so hard to open her eyes? What had she done yesterday?

She furrowed her brow and tried to remember yesterday. She had-what had she done? She couldn't remember. Anything! Suddenly frightened, Erin became agitated. She couldn't open her eyes. Oh, God! What was the matter with her.

Suddenly Erin screamed. A gentle hand had touched her shoulder. With the greatest effort, she wrenched her eyelids apart at the same time as she cringed away from that hand.

"Do not be frightened, my dear. You are perfectly safe."

Frantically, Erin looked around. There were three people standing around the bed she was lying in. She knew it wasn't her bed, and she had never before seen the huge room she was in. It looked like a dormitory. She could see other beds in the dim light.

She screamed again, but to her utter amazement, no sound emerged. She clapped both hands to her mouth, why, she did not know as there was no noise to muffle. Her eyes were wide with terror and she could feel her heart trying to escape her chest. She knew she had screamed because her mouth had been wide open and her throat hurt. If she had made a noise, Erin knew it would have been piercing.

A man-an old, old man dressed in what looked like an elaborate midnight blue dressing gown, an old fashioned bed cap, and sporting the longest silver hair and beard she had ever seen outside of a children's book of fairytales was leaning over her. On his right was a woman. She too looked to be dressed in a dressing gown, but this one was of dark green. Her hat looked like a witches hat for heaven's sake.

The third person stood at the end of the bed and all she could see of him was a pale face surrounded by long black hair. His arms were crossed and he was clothed in...a black dressing gown? Though he was staring directly at her, Erin couldn't see his face in any detail because his long hair fell in curtains either side, hiding much of his features, but she had the impression that they were set in very sombre lines indeed. Also, the light was very dim, and it had a yellowish quality to it, and it seemed to be...flickering?

But of course it wasn't really flickering, and none of these people were here; this was a dream. She remembered the hand touching her, and the voice speaking to her-and her scream that made no noise. Not a dream then-a nightmare! If she let herself go back to sleep...

"If you can promise that you will not scream again, my dear, I will lift the charm that has temporarily deprived you of your voice,..."

Erin's eyes snapped back to the most spectacular figment of her imagination, the one with the magnificent silver hair and beard, the one who had spoken to her a minute ago. Now, he was smiling at her, and his incredible deep blue eyes were actually twinkling at her through a pair of half moon spectacles that looked like the ones Geppetto wore in the illustrations in her old book of Pinocchio.

The woman wasn't smiling; she was looking quite severe. Perhaps she was the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. And the man with the black hair and  the unrelenting black dressing gown... he could be The Black Prince. After all, this was her dream...no, nightmare. The characters could be whomever she wanted them to be.

Erin closed her eyes again, but the gentle, soothing voice continued.

"...though I can understand your fear and confusion, I am afraid I had to silence you as our other patients would awaken and Harry has..."

Erin's eyes snapped open again. Harry! Oh, my God, Harry! She shot up in the bed, frantic and fully awake.

But her dream characters didn't disappear. Geppetto touched her arm again and the Wicked Witch of the West put a hand on her knee through the bedcovers. The Black Prince still stood, dark and forbidding at the foot of the bed. All he did in response to her sudden movement was uncross his arms, but that simple movement turned him from seemingly indolently relaxed to fully alert.

This was not a dream. Of course it's a dream, just an amazingly realistic one. These dream people seemed so real; this place she was in seemed so real. This lovely, comfortable dream bed felt real. If this was real, as strange and ridiculous as that may seem, then these people must have just come from a fancy dress party. Damn good costumes, though.

Erin shook her head in an effort to dispel this nonsensical illusion as she slapped at the hands that were touching her, trying to sooth her. But she wasn't being soothed; she was becoming more and more hysterical, flailing wildly. If she could have made a noise, she would have been screaming at the top of her lungs for them to leave her alone, to tell her where Harry was, and ask where the hell she was? She was screaming at the top of her lungs, she just wasn't making any noise.

Minerva had known this would be a bad idea and now the silly girl was getting hysterical. Albus seemed loathe to use more magic but this could not go on. She would be on the floor in a moment. Minerva pulled her wand but before she could take action, the girl fell back on the pillow with a muffled whump and her flailing limbs snapped together. The only things that now moved were her wide, terrified eyes which flitted from Albus, to Minerva and then to Severus standing at the end of the bed with his ebony wand in his hand.

Erin stared at the wand, not knowing what it was, but knowing it was responsible for her inability to move. She could not vocalize, and now, she could not move. The hysteria that a moment ago had had a physical outlet, was now trapped inside and Erin felt as though her brain was going to explode. The only other expression of her horror other than her wild eyes was the agitated movement of air in and out of her nose and the rapid rise and fall of her chest. If  I'm paralysed from head to toe, why can I breathe?

It was too much. Erin thought she was going to have a stroke. She was only twenty-eight for God's sake; she couldn't have a stroke...she was healthy...both physically and mentally. Wasn't she? Surely this had to be a nightmare and she would wake up. She had to wake up! But instead, she felt everything blurring around the edges...

"Severus!"

Erin heard the voice from afar-Geppetto's not happy-and now everything's spinning, spin...wait, what's that?...it feels so nice, sort of soft and warm, like an evening breeze after a beautiful, early summer's day-only it's inside my skull. And now I feel all floaty; but nothing's spinning anymore. Now who's speaking? It's not Geppetto.

Erin found she had control over her eyes now-they were no longer rolling around inside her skull and everything was in focus again. She could now see that it was the Black Prince who was speaking and he sounded angry.

But even angry, Prince has the most beautiful voice. It's like black velvet stroking my senses.

Erin rolled her eyes, deliberately this time (how nice to have control over at least part of her body). Oh, God, she sounded like she was in a romance novel. She focused on Prince again, as best she could when unable to move her head. He was still angry and black velvet was still spilling out of his mouth. That voice might be out of a romance novel, but he was most definitely out of a horror story!

Now Prince was standing with his arms crossed again, and that thin, black stick was dangling from between two fingers of his right hand. She could tell he was still angry, but he stood and listened to Geppetto though it was obvious he did not like what he was hearing.

Geppetto sounded angry-not livid, but far from happy. "...I did not wish her to be subjected to more magic, Severus. Her senses are now overloaded. She will have a hard time coming to terms with anything we tell her."

Magic! Erin's eye's swivelled to the side.  What was Geppetto talking about? Were they magicians? This dream was just getting more and more weird.

"She was not to be appeased, Albus. Her hysteria was mounting." Prince-no, Severus sounded a lot more angry than Gepp-Albus. He had flung out a black clad arm towards her, one long finger pointing. ‘We should just Obliviate her and take her back to Privet Drive.'

Yes, take me back to Privet Drive. And what on earth was Obliviate?

An odd, uneven stumping noise reached Erin's ears even over the altercation. Prince had spun around and that black stick was taut in his hand and it was pointing at...what...she couldn't see. But she could still hear and a gruff, growling voice said, "No-one will be going back to Privet Drive, Snape. There's nothing left."

8888

Who was this new player in her dream? And what exactly did he mean? How could a street disappear? These thoughts wafted gently across Erin's consciousness but the full impact did not impinge on her relaxed mind.

But now there was silence. But it was so loud, it hurt Erin's ears. Severus spun back to face her. He still looked angry but it was different somehow. He was angry about something else, not about her. Perhaps the fact that Privet Drive wasn't there anymore?

That odd stumping was coming closer and two other figures came into her limited field of vision at the end of the bed.

She had become docile ever since she had felt that gloriously soft, warm breeze wafting through her mind earlier. But the people who had just arrived were difficult to remain calm over. They were very different from the three in dressing gowns she was already acquainted with. And from what she could see, there wasn't a dressing gown in sight.

Erin stared at the person who was standing next to Prince. She felt as if her eyes were bugging out of her head. It wasn't his clothes that were so different-no, he wore what looked to be a coat of some sort; it looked like leather, but different somehow. But his face! It didn't really look that much like a human face, it was so battered and scarred. and his eyes...Erin shut her eyes to block out the sight; she could still do that. But when she tried to squeeze them tightly shut, her facial muscles would not allow her to do so, so her upper lids just blocked the man from view.

"Who's this?" asked the gruff voice.

"And why's she in a Full Body Bind?" Erin lifted her eyelids again when this question was asked because this voice definitely belonged to a female. But before she could focus on the voice's owner, she heard, ‘REMUS!' cried with a great deal of distress and then the sound of rapid footsteps.

A movement beside Dumbledore had Erin's eyes flicking sideways and she saw the Witch move away. Vaguely, from wherever the two women had gone, Erin could here their voices but not what was being said because Geppetto was talking again.

"This Alastor, is a resident of Privet Drive-a neighbour of Harry's, I believe-who went to his rescue and had to be taken from the Dursley home when Severus went to fetch Harry, or else be left to the tender mercies of the Death Eaters."

Erin saw Geppetto brandish a stick like Prince's only this one was a paler wood, and she was suddenly able to move, though when she opened her mouth, still no sound emerged. Her instinct was to scramble off the bed and get away from these people but she still felt calm and relaxed and though she knew that was what she should do, she didn't. She turned her head to Geppetto. He smiled at her and those amazing eyes were kind behind his half-moon spectacles.

"My dear, my name is Albus Dumbledore. I know you must be very frightened and confused, but please believe me when I say that I mean you no harm. Nor does anyone whom you will meet whilst you are here. You are under my protection. Do you understand?'

Erin swallowed but she nodded her head. Albus Dumbledore. Strange name, but she would stick with Geppetto for now. And she would stick with Prince, even though Geppetto had called him Severus earlier. She heard a noise of disgust from the end of the bed and knew it had come from Prince Severus. But it was the gruff voiced individual who said, "Is that wise Albus. Perhaps we should just take her back to Privet Drive and let the Muggle police deal with her."

"No!" was the simple and succinct reply. "I will not take the chance that Death Eaters will be prowling around Number Four..."

"I told you Albus, there is no Number Four..."

Albus held up his hand. "Thank you Alastor. I had perceived as much." He turned back to Erin and the stern look was replaced with that calming smile.

"I know that this must all be very strange to you, and if you promise not to scream, I will release you from the Silencing Charm."

For some reason, Erin's eyes darted back to Prince. His arms were crossed again and he was looking totally forbidding. She was not entirely convinced that she could trust Geppetto's declaration that no-one would hurt her. Prince looked entirely capable of committing murder. It was very obvious that he did not agree with Geppetto but there was also no doubt that Geppetto was very much in charge. She avoided looking at the dark, forbidding man because quite frankly, he scared her more than anything else had so far in this alternate universe that she had somehow stumbled into. The only thing that linked her to reality was the mention of Harry and Privet Drive.

Erin had to find out what was going on and the only way she was going to do that was to communicate with these people. An hysterical giggle would have burst from her lips if she could have made a noise. Communicate...hell, she was pretty sure she was dreaming! What else could this be. And Harry and Privet Drive featured in her dream because Harry had been very much on her mind lately and Privet Drive was-well, it was home to her and Harry.

Erin looked back at Geppetto. She nodded her head and waited for him to raise that stick-but he didn't. This time, he just waved a hand in a gentle movement over her throat and Erin felt a tickle, and she had to cough. For the first time in she did not know how long, she heard a noise issuing from her own throat. Her hand instinctively went to her throat and rubbed, even though it wasn't in the least sore.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly sat up. As soon as her head was off the pillows, Geppetto solicitously put them against the headboard. Erin nodded her thanks and leaned back. Then the old man waved his hand again and a chair zoomed across the aisle and into his hand. Erin stared, amazed, at the chair. Geppetto sat down and focused his whole attention on her. Prince Severus and that other...other man still stood and watched.

She looked to the side, past Geppetto and saw the young woman who had arrived with the very scary man. She was sitting by the bed of another man who was sound asleep. The woman was much younger than anyone else present (though the Prince was not ancient either) and her hair was a startling shade of pink. She looked very modern and was really the only person Erin had seen so far (in her dream?) who looked anywhere close to normal, pink hair and all.

Across the aisle, the Wicked Witch of the West was checking on another person. She was adjusting his bedclothes with one hand whilst running the  fingers of her other hand through a mop of very messy, black hair. Erin sat bolt upright in the bed again and stared. Dumbledore, Severus, and Mad Eye turned to look at what had caught her attention.

"That's Harry," she said, stupidly. Dumbledore touched her hand where it was resting on the bed.

"Yes, my dear, that's Harry."

And then everything came rushing back into Erin's mind so quickly, it was like a very fast train, roaring through a tunnel. She reeled from the shock as the sequence of events fast forwarded: seeing a man dressed in black and looking very furtive crossing the Dursley's lawn, racing out of her house with a hockey stick in her hand because she knew Harry was home alone, finding the front door of Harry's home unlocked and sneaking inside, and hearing noises from upstairs and tiptoeing upwards.

Erin's hand crept to her mouth and her eyes widened as she remembered the shattered door, the sight of blood on the sheets, Harry on the floor and a black haired man, dressed in some kind of long black coat or cloak that spread out around him as he knelt on the floor next to the unconscious boy. He had been pointing a black stick at Harry.

And then...nothing.

Nothing until she had awoken in this bed surrounded by these strange people. Erin threw the covers off and became aware that she was wearing a pair of striped pyjamas. Fleetingly, she wondered who had changed her and where her own clothes were but she was already trying to slide off the bed.

The floatiness that had perfused her senses for the last fifteen minutes or so was obviously wearing off because Erin was starting to feel very angry. Angry and frustrated. She was so not in control at the moment and she hated not being in control.

Geppetto was standing again and was trying to restrain her with firm, but gentle hands, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Prince pull that stick out of wherever he had stashed it before. It looked as if it just appeared out of nowhere.

"I want to see Harry," she cried, struggling against Geppetto's hold, and then, before Severus could point his wand at her, she looked at him with narrowed eyes that flashed green fire and said between gritted teeth, ‘And don't even think about paralysing me again, pal!"

A feminine bark of laughter from behind Geppetto told Erin that the young woman with the pink hair had appreciated her admonition. Perhaps Prince was not very popular, but if he always looked as bad tempered and forbidding as he did now, that would be no surprise.

Erin would have laughed herself at the stunned looks on the faces of the men around her bed, but she had just come to a startling realisation about the Black Prince, Severus, with his black velvet voice. Her furious gaze travelled over the long black hair, and long black coat, and the black stick in his long fingered hand. Her eyes then flew up and met his. Of course, his eyes were also black.

"It was you I saw!" she spat. "You were hurting Harry." Prince drew himself up with what Erin could only describe as regal disdain and his austere features were overtaken with haughtiness.

Erin had stopped struggling and was grasping Geppetto's forearm where it lay across her upper chest in a restraining hold. Inconsequentially, she marvelled at just how strong the old man was. His arm felt like tempered steel through the silken sleeve of his dressing gown.

Prince was speaking and Erin focused on his mouth, wondering how that thin-lipped cavity could produce such an hypnotic sound. But then she registered the meaning of his bile tainted diatribe and she stiffened with fury.

"I can assure you, my dear woman, if I had wished to hurt Potter, he would not be so far down the road to recovery now."

"Thank you Severus," inserted Geppetto, almost as though the old man was used to censuring the Black Prince. He managed to maintain his air of haughty boredom.

"My Dear..." continued Geppetto in his calm, but authorative voice. "I assure you that Severus did not hurt Harry. He was, in fact, in the process of helping him when you came upon them."

Erin dragged her eyes away from Prince. She released Geppetto's arm and shakily pulled herself back in the bed so she was leaning on the pillows again. She did not want to look at Geppetto. She felt a little ashamed as she had told him that she would remain calm. Erin was not the sort of person who disrespected her elders. Geppetto had been polite and solicitous, right from the moment she had become aware that she was in a very strange place indeed. So, even through her anger and her fear and her confusion, Erin could still be embarrassed at her lack of control.

Also, the Wicked Witch of the West was back at her bedside and Erin could feel the waves of disapproval radiating from her. In fact, Geppetto was the only one here who seemed not to be disapproving of her. No, that was not quite right. The man standing beside Prince was studying her intently but he did not appear to be angry or disapproving. Perhaps suspicious better described him.

Erin had to get up the nerve to really look at the man; Alastor, she thought Geppetto had called him. He was truly the stuff of nightmares. He had a weathered face that looked as though nearly every inch of it had been slashed with a razor blade, and one sweep of the blade had actually taken a huge slice out of his nose. But it was his eyes that drew ones attention because they did not match. One was an uninteresting flat, muddy brown but the other was a bright, electric blue that didn't even look like a human eye. It did not work like a human eye either. The thing whizzed around very fast in its socket-up, down, side to side. And if that wasn't sickening enough, it spun around so that the electric blue iris disappeared entirely before reappearing after seemingly having done a 360 degree revolution. In fact, the only thing that really made you think it was an eye was the fact that it was where an eye would be in a human face.

Dumbledore was still talking. "You will be able to talk to Harry when he wakes up. But I think the first order of business should be introductions. We know that you are a neighbour of Harry's. Is it correct that your name is Erin?" Erin nodded and Dumbledore smiled. "A lovely name for, might I say, a very attractive young woman. A very brave young woman to go to the assistance of a young friend whom she thought was in trouble.'

Erin flushed to the roots of her red hair-and she knew that that was not a good look. She could also tell that her hair looked like a birch broom in a fit, and she was dressed in a pair of unattractive, A-sexual, stripped pyjamas. When she saw the Prince roll his eyes, her blush intensified.

Lovely?...I think not. Prince obviously thinks not also. Brave?...Mum would say foolhardy. Prince, I suppose would say idiotic.

"Well, Erin, as I said earlier, my name is Albus Dumbledore. This..." he gestured towards the Wicked Witch of the West, ‘...is Minerva McGonagall...'

Minerva gave a curt nod and a stiff smile. Erin tried to smile back but she was too tense and the effort was half-hearted at best.

"The gentleman in the black robes is Severus Snape, and the one next to him is Alastor Moody." Dumbledore stepped to the side and indicated Tonks. "And this young lady is Nymphadora Tonks..."

Tonks dragged her eyes away from Remus' face when she heard her name. She twiddled her fingers at Erin and the smile she threw her way was friendly enough, just distracted. "Nymphadora prefers to be known as Tonks," continued Dumbledore. "The gentleman she is hovering over is Remus Lupin."

Erin had not really looked at the occupant of that bed earlier, but now she saw a man whose face looked exhausted, even in repose. He had greying, light brown hair that was slightly too long, though not as long as Prince Severus. Erin though he was quite nice looking despite several scars that marred his visage. But unlike Alastor Moody, these scars did not make Remus Lupin sinister. Even though he was asleep, Erin thought this man looked kind and gentle. Ms Tonks obviously thought he had something going for him.

"Perhaps Erin, we might get further, faster, if you asked us questions. That way, you will learn everything you feel it imperative to know as quickly as possible, and later, we can fill in any gaps. If we cannot answer a question, we will tell you. However we will not lie. Does that sound reasonable?"

Erin nodded  and Dumbledore crossed his legs and stacked his hands on his uppermost knee. He looked politely expectant. Before Erin could open her mouth though, Mr. Moody grunted, "Might as well get comfortable," and he performed the same trick as Geppetto had earlier, making a chair zoom into his hand. He however, used his stick-his stick was a browny colour.

Erin stared at the stick as Mr. Moody tucked it away somewhere inside his coat. Her brow furrowed and her eyes flicked from one person to another where they surrounded her bed.

She had just had the most bizarre thought. Of course, if she was dreaming, then her reasoning would be perfectly acceptable, after all, anything was possible in a dream. But if this was real...

Don't be stupid!

She focused on Geppetto. She felt most comfortable talking to him. "Why would you not be able to answer some of my questions?"

Geppetto chuckled and Mr. Moody let out a bark. The noise in no way resembled a sound of mirth but Erin was sure it was an indication of amusement. Tonks had definitely laughed though. She might not want to leave her man's side, but she was listening very carefully.

The Wick...no, I'm going to have to stop calling her that. Ms McGonagall sniffed and Prince Severus shifted his feet. He did not want to sit down. He wanted to continue to look forbidding and that was more effectively done when he was upright and uptight.

"Very astute question my dear. It would not be a case of not being able to answer any question, it would be a case of deciding not to answer if I think the answer would upset you unduly."

"But that would only be your opinion. How can you possibly know how upset an answer would make me?"

"I am afraid my opinion will have to hold sway for the moment, Erin. However, I can promise not to underestimate you. I know you are brave, and I can now see that you are also very intelligent and perceptive, so I am sure that you are also very astute"

"OK." Erin dragged out the ‘K' in an effort to stem her annoyance. Best get on with things and see where she ended up or she might wake up before she got all the answers.

"Where am I?"

"You are at Hogwarts, my dear."

"Hogwarts? What's Hogwarts?'

"Hogwarts is a castle in Scotland that houses a very old school." And now Geppetto asked his own questions. ‘How well do you know Harry, Erin? Do you know for instance that he attends a boarding school?

The people around the bed watched in surprise as the young woman's lips thinned and her hands clenched on top of the blankets. She looked past Ms McGonagall and saw the mop of black hair above the blankets in the bed diagonally opposite hers. As she watched, Harry turned over, dragging the covers with him as he did so and burying himself further under them.

"Erin?"

Erin took a deep breath. "I've only known Harry for three days," she said. "But I had heard about him from several of the neighbours over the time I had been at my parents home." She glared at Severus and he could not figure out what he had done to deserve that particular look of censure. He found out when she continued.

"Like you, Mr Snape, none of my neighbours had anything nice to say about Harry. They had been told by his family that he attended a school for delinquent boys." Erin was gratified to see the looks of shock on everyone's faces. Even the sneer that had appeared on Prince Severus' face when she had accused him of not having anything nice to say about Harry, slipped slightly.

"What on Earth do you mean?" Ms McGonagall had spoken to her directly for the first time. She sounded highly affronted. "How could anyone think Harry is a delinquent?"

"I gather no-one ever tried to get to know Harry himself. They believed those relatives of his when they said he was away all year at ‘St Brutus' Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys'."

Minerva turned on Dumbledore. "I tried to tell you fifteen years ago that you shouldn't leave that dear little baby with those people, Albus," she said in distressed tones. "Now look what's happened. This appears to be the culmination of years of systematic abuse."

For the first time since Erin had seen him, Geppetto looked anything but gentle and calm. He looked very angry indeed and he was suddenly a little scary. "If there had been any other way Minerva, I would have taken it. It was not a choice, it was a necessity. Harry survived until he got to Hogwarts. You know they were still out there, looking for him."

Dumbledore bowed his head and sighed deeply. The elderly lady next to him looked close to tears. Their attitudes of distress and anger showed Erin clearly that these two at least cared for Harry. It was hard to tell what Mr. Moody was thinking but Prince Severus' face was blank, his black eyes expressionless as he stared back at Erin. She bristled at his seeming lack of feeling. He was the one who had gone to help Harry and he looked entirely uninterested in his horrible history.

But as she dragged her eyes away, anger coursing through her, she noticed a nerve jumping near the corner of his jaw. What did that mean? Was he perhaps not quite as indifferent as he wanted to appear? Erin could not imagine how he could be indifferent when he had seen and actually tended the injured boy. Her quick glimpse of the blood stains on Harry's sheets had horrified her even as she had been readying herself to attack, and that sight alone had shown her just how badly hurt he must have been. In those few seconds, her fear for Harry had leant her the strength and resolve to attack another human being. So she could not believe that Prince Severus had been unmoved by young Harry Potter's plight.

"Well..." said Geppetto. "We certainly didn't advance very far with the questions. So, I think explanations would be best. But first, Erin, let me assure you that you are not dreaming."

Erin's mouth fell open. "H-how did you kn...?"

"It is obvious from the looks of confusion and disbelief that compete for space on your very lovely, but highly expressive face. Everything..." Dumbledore encompassed all the people and the dormitory style room with a wave of his hand, "...that you see is real. We are real, in our ancient style of dress. This room is just one of two hundred odd in a castle that is over a thousand years old. The castle is called Hogwarts as is the school Harry attends here.

"I am the headmaster and Severus and Minerva are both teachers here. Severus is also a healer."

"A healer. You mean a doctor?"

"A healer is the equivalent of a doctor. But in our world, we call them healers."

Erin licked her lips. "Your world?"

"Yes, my dear. The magical world. The world of witches and wizards."