Eric opened his eyes as the Chamber of Secrets pinged him. He sat up in bed and processed the information that it had sent him. Eric thought that his little rivalry with Harry was over and done with. But that didn’t mean that he was stupid. The Chamber had access to the Hogwarts wards that monitored everyone. It had just told him that one ‘Ginny Weasley’ had left her dormitory and was out after hours.

Time to investigate, Eric would like to not be surprised if she was cooking something up for him.

He quickly snuck out of his common room unseen and walked into an empty room. The wall in front of him rippled and shifted until it formed a tunnel made of greenish stone. Eric walked in and moved quickly as the wall sealed up behind him. The secret tunnel network of the Chamber let him travel around the castle as fast as he liked, compressing space and making the castle blur by as he walked to his destination.

After a minute, Eric reached the end and walked out into the exit halfway across the castle in another empty room. He carefully crept forward. He couldn’t use too much magic or Harry might notice him. Eric was unsure how far Harry could sense, but best to be careful just in case it was a couple feet more than Eric.

He poked his head into the dark hallway and saw two girls going down the hallway. Was that the Ravenclaw Prefect that had supposedly taken Ginny under wing? Olivia was it? What were they doing out here so late?

Eric creeped after them from afar and neither seemed to notice him as they rushed through the castle silently. Olivia was leading while Harry was trailing behind, his pretty face looking confused as Harry stared at Olivia.

No, Ginny. Harry wanted to be called Ginny now. It would be embarrassing if Eric accidentally made a mistake and called him, her the wrong one in public.

They reached the edge of the Hogwarts lawn and Ginny turned back and started running back into the castle all of the sudden. Olivia whirled around and cast a red stunning spell and sent Ginny sprawling to the floor unconscious. Eric raised an eyebrow as Olivia cast another spell to lift Ginny off the ground to float just behind her and kept walking out of the castle.

Oh, the betrayal! Olivia the caring mentor had dark and sinister motives! Eric grinned as he cast a quick spell to cause him to blend into the background like a chameleon. Nothing like true invisibility like the disillusionment charm went. But it was close enough when it was so dark outside. With Ginny unconscious, he should be fine to use his magic and be undetected by Olivia.

Olivia and the floating Ginny rushed towards an old ramshackle building on the edge of the Hogwarts property. The Shrieking shack, many people called it from what Eric had heard.

Eric followed the two up to the entrance of the shack before pausing. How to follow them next? Too much of a risk to go inside, his chameleon spell wasn’t nearly that good.

Eric tried to think of what to do to get a good view, but couldn’t come up with anything that wouldn’t waste too much of his magic. Ah, well. What a shame. He’d have to wait until morning for some answers it seems.

Eric started walking back to the castle, a little put out that he’d have to wait after getting so invested in discovering what was happening. The seventh year prefect was kidnapping the helpless little first year for who knows what! Betrayal among friends! Ginny was the one wrapped up in all of it! Ah, but too risky.

Suddenly there were loud roars and crashes that sounded from inside the shrieking shack after Eric had walked back for a few minutes. He turned around and squinted as he saw an upper window shatter. He watched carefully as the two girls, Olivia and Ginny, each put one leg over the windowsill and then hugged each other.

Oh? They had made up? Ginny had forgiven Olivia rather quickly for her betrayal. The plot thickened. Ginny pulled and the two of them tumbled out of the window.

Oh, perhaps Ginny hadn’t forgiven Olivia? It was a trick to throw her out of the window? But no, Eric saw them slow as they fell until they touched the ground. Hm. Forgiven it was then.

The two girls started running towards Eric at top speed as he stood in between them and the closest entrance to the castle. The two of them looked rather panicked as they ran, and the reason why soon made itself clear. A werewolf appeared to Eric’s shock and leapt after the girls from the third floor! Well, it broke its legs when it hit the ground but those healed quickly under the moonlight. Eric shifted to jog to the side as the two girls to get out of their way to the castle as the two kept getting closer.

The werewolf stood and charged towards the two fleeing girls at speeds matching some muggle cars that Eric had seen. Just when Eric thought the two were done for, the ground shifted under the beast’s feet and it tripped to the ground. Eric watched as Ginny presumably used her telekinesis to shift the ground and throw off the werewolf’s footing even as it kept moving towards them.

The werewolf’s eyes were glowing with a golden light. How strange…

Eventually Ginny lost the battle and the werewolf captured Olivia only twenty meters away from where Eric stood watching. There were some brief threats that the werewolf gave in a gravelly voice. Eric hadn’t thought that werewolves could even talk when they were transformed. You learn something new every day. A necklace shimmered into existence around Ginny’s neck and she reached up to take it off even as she stood there exhausted.

Eric sighed. Ah, well. It seems that she was defeated. Nice necklace though, he wondered if it was a Weasley heirloom? They were an old family even if they didn’t have much in the way of wealth at the moment. Surely they had some hidden artifacts they gave out to protect their precious daughter after she was so viciously attacked in the Chamber of Secrets last year?

Eric cracked his knuckles and started jogging forward. Time to be the hero in shining armor, fighting off the big bad beast. Eric smiled as his magic churned and roiled inside of him. Now this would be fun!

— — —

Ginny’s trembling hands touched the necklace that she knew was the only thing protecting her from being possessed by Fate. But if she let Fate possess her for a while, then what if that made her leave Olivia alone? Ginny held the necklace, but didn’t take it off, frozen by indecision as the werewolf had its jaws threateningly clenched on nearly half of Olivia’s body. The other girl was frozen, not even looking like she wanted to breathe in case it would cause the werewolf to bite down.

“HEY UGLY!” A voice suddenly called from behind them. Ginny released her hand from the necklace and turned. There Eric stood there appearing from seemingly nowhere forty meters away from them.

“Get away from those fair maidens!” Eric continued, “For I, Eric Potter, am here to save them!”

The werewolf opened its mouth and lifted its jaws off of Olivia who was shuddering even as half of her body was covered in the beast’s slobber.

“Harry/Eric Harrrrrrrry/Eric?” The werewolf said as it stared at Eric in confusion. “Whooooo are… You are wrong. You, you, you, Beyonder. I’ve found you. It must be you. You’ve replaced my CHOSEN! HOW DARE YOU! I can sense my strings in you. I’ve got you now.”

Ginny’s heart raced when Eric’s eyes suddenly flashed and lit up with a golden light and he stood stock still. Then the golden light went away and Eric’s face twisted into a vicious snarl. He looked enraged and clenched his fists, his ever present smile nowhere to be found. Ginny sensed his magic swirling within him as he stared down the werewolf.

“You? Try to control me? Like I haven’t learned to defend my mind before? I was just playing before. But now I’ll show you don’t…”

Eric’s voice deepened and his swirling magic began roiling as his feet left the ground and he started floating a few feet off the ground.

“...Know who you’re DEALING WITH!”

A massive dull red ball of flame sprouted into existence above his head as he raised his arms to the sky. He shifted his hands and mimed throwing the orb of flame bigger than he was towards the werewolf.

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The creature’s golden eyes widened and it dodged to the side, carrying Olivia with it as it did so. The flame exploded on the ground like napalm, spreading like a liquid wave of flame that spread from the point of impact. The werewolf ran from the site of impact, running parallel as it tried to move towards Eric who was floating in the air.

Ginny fell backwards, thrown back by the force of the explosion towards Eric.

Eric stretched out his arms towards the circle of spreading flame and with a pulse of his magic dragged his arms violently to the side towards the fleeing werewolf. The whole mass of flame rolled and swirled as if a massive wind rapidly pushed it to the side towards the werewolf.

The werewolf held the captive Olivia behind it threateningly towards the oncoming wave of flame. Olivia had started thrashing and screaming as they moved, but the werewolf had her firmly gripped in its claws. But Eric didn’t pause, barely even seeming to register that Olivia was there. He only pulsed his magic faster to drag the reddish flames towards the werewolf and captive girl both. The first tongue of flame touched Olivia’s arm, searing it and causing her screams to reach a higher pitch.

Ginny stood from the ground and watched in horror as more tongues of flame washed over Olivia and started burning her and werewolf both.

Ginny was almost out of her magic, but she’d have to dig deep again. She had to save Olivia. She outstretched her hands and sent as many magic tendrils as she could towards Olivia. They latched on, to her robes, to her skin. Legs, arms, face, Ginny didn’t have time to be picky. The flame was only getting stronger as Eric pushed more and more of the mass of flame on both Olivia and the werewolf.

Ginny began to pull hard with all of her power to bring Olivia towards her. The older girl’s body was jerked hard under the force and the werewolf almost lost its grip on her, stumbling as it ran and its body twisting as Ginny moved Olivia’s body. Ginny could see the werewolf was only holding her robes by the edge of its claws now even as the majority of the red flames began to burn it now that it couldn’t use Olivia as a human shield.

Ginny groaned, but pulled again for another burst of force. The werewolf lost its grip and for a second Ginny’s heart raced and she almost smiled. But just when she thought that Olivia was safe, the werewolf lunged forward. It ignored the flame around it, instead putting all of its energy to leaping forward to bite down on Olivia’s leg, taking out a chunk of her calf with the edge of its snapping jaws. Olivia hovered in the air caught between Ginny’s force and the little section of muscle the werewolf’s jaws had managed to just barely bite into with its leap.

Ginny groaned and tugged again even harder, and with a ripping sound Olivia’s leg ripped free from the werewolf’s jaws with a spray of blood. The girl came flying at Ginny at high speed and slammed into her and sent the both of them tumbling to the grassy ground below in a pile of tangled limbs.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN IGNORE ME BEAST?!” Eric shouted, “I’ll SHOW YOU WHY YOU SHOULD BE… PAYING ATTENTION!”

Through Olivia’s armpit, Ginny saw Eric extend his hands towards where she knew the werewolf would be charging at the two of them. There was a heavy impact and a yelp from the werewolf as it was sent flying back to be plunged into the center of the original ring of flame that Eric had formed with his first attack.

Eric brought his hands together and with a whoosh of flames all the reddish flames in the area all compressed to a point around the howling and thrashing werewolf.

Despite Eric’s rage, he was panting now and sweat beaded on his brow even as Ginny sensed him using his magic to stoke the flames even higher and compress them onto the thrashing form of the werewolf.

The ball of flame looked like a miniature reddish sun. Only a clawed arm lashing out or a snapping werewolf snout briefly emerging from its form betrayed the creature that remained inside. As the werewolf moved around, Eric shifted his arms to keep the miniature sun centered on the werewolf, the whole thing spinning like a top as the flames swirled inside of it.

“Wand,” Olivia murmured from above Ginny as the older girl recovered from the impact of them hitting the ground. Ginny shifted and reached into her robes and withdrew her wand. She pressed it into Olivia’s hand firmly. It took a second, but the other girl’s hand closed around it. Ginny’s magic was spent, Olivia would use it better than Ginny could right now.

Olivia rolled over off of Ginny and sat up while still looking a little out of it. Ginny saw that Olivia’s right leg was mangled, with a large chunk bitten out of her calf that was bleeding heavily.

Olivia pointed Ginny’s wand at the wand, “Episky,” She chanted. A spell burst out of her wand and hit the wound and it healed slightly.

“Episky.”

The wound stopped bleeding as much, now only leaking a little blood. “Petrificus segmentum,” Olivia cast after blinking a few times and staring at her leg dumbly. Her leg instantly froze in place and stopped bleeding, looking like it was frozen in time.

While Ginny was distracted, Eric had lowered back to the ground and the werewolf limbs and head had stopped emerging from the ball of red flame. Eric walked forward towards the red ball of flame, keeping his arms extended even as the flame remained stationary.

Eric walked up to the edge of the ball of flame and after a moment, let his arms fall to his sides. In seconds, the red flames evaporated into nothing as Eric’s magic stopped sustaining them. In a scorched divot in the dirt lay a black humanoid lump that was motionless.

“That’ll teach you to ignore me, dog,” Eric growled as he looked down at the body of the werewolf. Ginny froze as Eric turned to look towards them, his enraged expression quickly slipping into annoyance. He walked over and drew his wand from his robes aggressively.

Olivia raised Ginny’s wand, “Hey! What are you-”

“Expelliarmus!” Eric called and flicked his wand and Ginny’s wand flew out of Olivia’s hand and went flying to Eric, who caught it with his left hand.

“Hey! I’m a Ravenclaw prefect-” Olivia blustered as Ginny tried to think of what to do.

“Eric, wait-” Ginny said, but Eric was already only a few steps away and pointed his wand at Olivia.

“Obliviate!” He said and a white light shot out of his wand and hit Olivia in the face. The girl immediately fell backwards into the grass with a blank look on her face.

“Hey! What are you doing-” Ginny shouted.

“Shut up, I’m doing you a favor,” Eric said in an annoyed tone as he stepped closer, “Obliviate,” He cast again as he pointed his wand towards her head again.

“Stop! What are you doing?! You’re hurting-”

“Shut up! I’m erasing her memory. Obliviate. There. Three layers should be enough. She won’t remember anything in the last week or so. Hopefully three is enough to keep the Aurors from retrieving anything. Oh, one more couldn’t hurt.”

Eric’s tone quickly shifted from annoyed to amused as he took in Ginny’s panic and raised his wand again.

“Obliviate,” He cast one more time at Olivia who had started drooling slightly and was staring into nothing.

Eric looked at Ginny.

“I saved your life,” He said, “If you ever think you could defeat me… Just remember how it went for him.”

Eric pointed at the carbonized and blackened body of the werewolf.

“I was never here. Don’t care how you explain it. But I. Was never. Here. Do you understand, Harry?”

“Y-Yeah. I get it,” Ginny said, feeling intimidated after seeing what Eric had just done, “I won’t tell anyone.”

“Good,” Eric said, “I’ll be off then. I suppose I did end up saving the two fair maidens either way…”

His tone was almost wistful at the end as he waved his wand over himself. His body shimmered and then started blending into the background behind him. Ginny could sense him jogging off with her magic sense as soon as he was invisible. Escaping the scene of the crime.

Ginny looked between her drooling and mumbling friend and the charred body of the werewolf in the middle of the devastation. How was she going to explain this to anyone? Olivia started to cough, and Ginny quickly dragged herself over to her. Her legs were weak, her overuse of magic and all the running taking its toll now that her life was no longer in danger.

With a thought, Ginny sent her necklace back to be invisible again. She’d almost taken it off to save Olivia. Ginny glanced down to Olivia’s injured leg that the girl had petrified. Maybe she should have taken it off.

Olivia coughed again as she laid on her back, staring at the sky. Ginny reached her and saw that Olivia’s drool was pooling at the back of her throat. Olivia coughed again, and Ginny realized that the girl was choking and not even doing anything to respond after whatever Eric had done to her.

She quickly grabbed Olivia’s arm and pulled with all of her might to lift the girl so she was resting on her side. The drool started rolling out of the corner of Olivia’s mouth and she stopped coughing. Her breathing grew steadier and her blank gaze gained a little life.

“Giiiiinnnnny? Whaaaaa?” Olivia murmured as if half asleep, “I’m gooonnnnaa sleeeepppp now,” Olivia announced as her eyes slowly began to close, “Wake me up if Preston needs to get hexed again for somethiiiiinnn…”

Olivia’s eyes closed and she began to breathe deeper. She rolled back onto her back, and Ginny quickly grabbed her and rolled her back into position on her side so it would be safe. Ginny shifted back and lay on the grass with one hand on Olivia’s shoulders and the other elbow on the grass propping her up to watch Olivia’s mouth. Her arms trembled, but she remained like that even as her legs screamed at her in exhaustion.

Ginny was so exhausted as it took all her focus to not pass out as she looked over Olivia and made sure that she didn’t roll back onto her back.

She barely even noticed after Professor Snape and subsequently Dumbledore arrived. She only registered their voices after Olivia was lifted into the air away from her with a spell. Ginny grasped weakly as she fell over as Olivia was lifted upwards and her hand lost her grip. On the other girl.

“No…” She protested weakly, “Olivia…” She fell face first to the grass, Olivia leaving breaking the last shred of willpower that she had kept her awake. Ginny was unconscious even before her face hit the ground, one arm outstretched in front of her as Olivia was levitated away from her by the babbling voices standing above her.