"When using an egg as your ingredient," Erin's Mum started while making some baked goodies, "never ever crack open at the same bowl as the first ones. Always provide a separate bowl for every egg you crack so that whenever one egg was rotten, you won't risk all the eggs you've already cracked. Always keep that in mind, Erin. Okay?" Her mother wasn't well but no one could stop her from what she loved doing and she loved baking, she loved the kitchen in general. Erin, being the eldest of the two daughters, she'd been taught to learn these things.

"Right!" exclaimed Professor Romanos upon hearing Kurumi Hollingberry's answer. "Riddikulus is a boggart-banishing spell. You need to know what you fear the most and then visualize it into something funny or amusing. I will give you all, time to think first. After a few minutes, we'll start."

After about 5 minutes, Professor Romanos demonstrated the wand movement and pronunciation of the incantation.

"Okay! Who wants to go first?" she asked and no one raised a hand or anything. "Well, then. I'll just pick and volunteer you." Her eyes scanned every person until it landed on one particular student. "Miss Heyman?"

WIZARDS...

17. Cauldron

Usually, Erin was at home celebrating the Halloween with her sister Kristina but today she's with her friends at Hogwarts.

The Eagles organized a little party at the common room with foods specifically asked from the house elves. Everyone should come down with his or her best Halloween costume. Wizards are weird. She had notice that most did their costumes with only their wands. She saw Eino Uronen with a cauldron on his head, Vashti Greenwell playing a vampire, Louisa Carter as a white lady, Ellie Stone with thick eyebags and large ears (weirdest) and Enya Mayberry, a fashionista. Eh?

"Who's this guy?" Beezus asked while scanning some of Erin's summer photos.

"He," Erin couldn't find the right words to say.

Before she could even finish her sentence, another statement came right out of Bee's mouth, "And why is he holding you in the shoulder?"

"He's my sister's friend."

"Your sister's or yours'?"

Here comes Beezus again with all those interrogating questions.

"Mine, okay."

"WHAAAAAT? He's yours? And you're his?" Beezus asked surprisingly interested. "And why didn't you tell me that somebody owns your heart?"

"That somebody owns me now?"

"Are we singing?"

"No we aren't. We're chanting."

"Oh, great!"

It was an unusually hot Sunday morning on a supposedly cold January day. With a book clutched in one arm and Alice on the other, Erin was very happy to spend the day with her, almost best friend. They spent too much time together lately because of their similar intentions of ruling an empire, Alice, the world, Erin, the Ministry.

"Erin, do you like boys? I mean in specifics?" Alice asked the Ravenclaw. Didn't she already ask about this but got nothing in return? Erin would never spill the beans either with Tiffany, Alice or Elise. "Not in my vocabulary."

FAMILY HERITAGE

14. Hogwarts, A History

You opened the book and smelled the prominent old age of it. They say it had a lot of memories and information about Hogwarts. You scan each and every chapter to look for your mother's name or your father's or your clan but there was none. They were once here too. You ask yourself maybe they were in Hogwarts yearbook or in a wizarding newspaper. You lived with them but you don't seem to know them at all so you drown yourself with even a little glimpse of their name in print, whether it was in picture or in letter.

"M&Ms?" Erin offered her friend Elise. She had been crying all day about her broken family and she, not having a place to say in summer. Erin already offered Ellie her home; well, not as extravagant as Erin's old one. She's not a Muggle tycoon's daughter anymore but a Pureblooded farmer's daughter. "You should stop crying now or I'll eat all of this Ellie. And you wont like it. Your sister sent it to you and for the record, I've eaten three boxes!"

Elise still crying, her eyes and nose were red, she didn't look any good. "Give me that!"

The tree was not in the mood. It could harm anyone at close vicinity. With the commotion, Erin scooted her way to the Hut as inconspicuous as possible. She was not wearing her spy costume because of Gunter's advice. Why was she even listening to him? If she was caught, she'll be dead instantly. She felt so revealed and peeled off.

"I need to find out something," Erin told herself. Gunter infiltrated the place already but got nothing absurd. Erin would prove to him that he was not paying attention that much. His senses should always be at the ready.

Erin didn't care two hoots about the wizarding politics before, but upon careful observation and a little knowledge about how a wizards' government works, she wanted reform. She wanted to play her part not only as a member of the community but a leader. She wanted to lead everyone into his or her path on life. She wanted to make a difference and be remembered with legacy. A legacy nothing could be as strong as that of becoming a respected and well-known Minister of Magic. How good would it be to foresee the happenings in the wizarding community first hand.

Jasmine was trying to quell fears of her son from a magical beast that he seemed to see from the forest while he was having a trip with Jasmine's friend, Rick.

"Mum, I swear. I saw something that's moving and it flew up in the air. Rick told me he couldn't see it. Or ever seen something like it in his life."

"Stop it, Ely," snapped Jasmine while doing the dishes. Erin was at the dining table polishing her wand listening to Ely's story.

"Did you say it's a horse with wings? Thin with a skeletal body?"

"Yeah."

Erin laughed.

AN AUTHENTICATED RAVENCLAW

77. Cheerful

The breezy blow of the air-conditioning system was all Erin needed from the excruciating heat of summer. She leaned forward to peek at the window. Erin saw her sister full of happiness playing with her Muggle friends. She really enjoyed playing even if it meant being sweaty and all. She liked those things unlike Erin who preferred to stay indoor and read. She'd been reading the whole day a book written by her recently favorite author. Being a Ravenclaw meant reaching up to the expectations and had something to comment almost about anything under the sun. Superiority was fun, sometimes.

Erin and Kristina were drove by their father to school before he goes to work himself. Their Mum, being a housewife, stayed at home with Nanny Lisa and other housemaids.

Before the two sisters left home, Erin seemed to notice the different behavior of their Mum. She's not as cheery like the other days. She seemed to be going through a difficult time.

And after school, the situation became even weirder for their Dad weren't able to pick them up. Upon their arrival at home, Nanny Lisa was crying.

The message extinguished Erin's hopes to see her mother ever again.

"At the back you two," Mr. Heyman instructed his two daughters while bickering on who would sit up front. They knew that their mother should be the one at the passenger's seat but neither of them wanted to sit at the back with, with their cousin Lorcan. He's the most un-behaved, twisted and prankster person there was. Neither Erin nor Kristina wanted to mess with him or let she be one of his victims without their parents knowing about it.

"Lorcan, you can't be doing anything in front of our Mum and Dad," Erin said, as the Ford Anglia growled.

ERIN'S OBSESSED

62. Amortentia

At the dungeon corridor, she attempted to have a fancy chat with Kimalia from her own common room, but they ended up on a misunderstanding, Erin stopped on her tracks with her hands on her hips for disappointment. She felt like, she needed to push open the door or to destroy it with her karate skills. The smell was inviting, obsessing. Erin smelled something of a guy's shampoo that she seemed to have dealt with before and smell of freshly bloomed flowers. She remembered her very first ballet competition where the audiences gave her a standing ovation on her performance.

Erin was swallowing some chocolates at the Ravenclaw common room, she could eat as much as ten boxes in one sitting but she won't. She'd recently researched that chocolates do tend to make girls fat or people in general. She'd take three to four bites and proceeded at the girl's dormitory. There, she found Beezus chatting with her another best friend about some kind of a guy. Didn't she have a boyfriend?

Moving towards her bed, Erin cupped Posy on her hands and plopped her head down the pillow. How it felt so good to finally sleep after a day.

SUMMER PLANS

80. author's choice

"Every ending is a new beginning. We'll see each other next term. I am sure about that Bee," Erin assured her Ravenclaw best friend. She'd grown very close to her during her first term at Hogwarts. It felt like, Kristina was here with her all along. Beezus was like a sister to Erin. And she would always treasure everything they shared.

"How about you and me at my place this summer!" Beezus suggested. That would be a really great idea but Erin needed to ask permissions first.

"I'll call you if Dad allowed me to go." Erin badly wanted to.

CHOCOLATE-FLAVORED ICE CREAM

94. Allergic

Erin couldn't exactly understand why someone would be allergic to chocolates. How could her best friend be allergic to her most favorite in the world? How?

The one Beezus loved and obsessed herself, was ice cream. Ice cream was her thing.

"So, you don't eat chocolate flavored ice cream?" Erin asked out of curiosity. They'd known each other for a year, and still, she had not seen her eat one. Perhaps, she really was allergic to chocolates, though Erin hadn't seen her face bulged personally upon eating them. She knew it from a letter from Beezus during term break.

"No."

"Stop it, okay?" Erin snapped. She couldn't bear any of Lily's bashing any longer. Erin didn't want to disclose any details of her conversation with Henry and she wanted Lily to understand that Henry was just trying to make everything the way it was before between the both of them. Lily was manipulative, Erin was sure about that. She knew Lily too well to even believe all the things she was saying when she's at high peak of temper. Hogwarts clearly changed a lot of things. Erin's absence from her Muggle friends' side made them grow apart.

"I hate you!"

"Jonathan Kim?" Erin asked Cassandra Prewett, one she met at the kitchen level corridor in her first year. Though, they haven't go deep into becoming good friends, Erin always finds herself having a nice little chat with the older Slytherin. After all, they had a meaningful conversation at the kitchen corridor that day or term when it was closed.

What did she say? That Jonathan Kim gave her bouquet of flowers one time in her life? How? Why? When? "I was in second year then. He just suddenly burst into me and gave me flowers."

"Did you kiss?"

"We dated."

Erin was dragging her mother away from the living room for Jasmine had a suitor in there. Liam was the name as she heard. Ely and Father weren't at home so Jasmine had nothing to worry about.

"Who is that?" her mother whispered.

"Liam."

"Who? Liam?"

"Jasmine's suitor, Mother."

"What? If your father came and he saw that guy in here, he'll be mad like a lion."

"He's a leprechaun," Erin uttered while tilting her head for a better view. "He's just too, SMALL. Just because Jasmine's too short doesn't mean she'll also have a short partner."

"Yeah, I agree."

DEAR VINE

86. Daring

Dear Vine,

Do you really think I was that conservative? I wanted boys in my life. I want you to find me one, okay? I want anyone, that He-Snake boy or that Badger guy. I don't care how you get them, just get them if you can. And my life was starting to become a bore, I want another RP with Alice Fisher, that bubbly best friend of mine. And Beezus Castell, really? Stop that plot, okay? I wanted to be with my best friend for Merlin's sake. I wanted more of her. I don't want to fight anymore, please?

"Have you heard of Schirmer?" Beezus asked Erin while passing at the Defense Against the Dark Arts room.

"Why?"

"She made it to the Ministry of Magic."

"Really? Good for her and for me," Erin smiled. She wanted to hum at the instant.

"Why are so happy about this? Hogwarts lost a great Professor."

"Why?" Erin raised a brow. "She's the only Professor who took points from me. You can't blame your friend," Erin stuck her tongue out.

"I've never experienced losing a point." Beezus spoke. These are one of those topics that Erin doesn't want to talk with Beezus.

For the purpose of experimentation and to witness it herself, Erin went to do something with her new dragonhide gloves from the Diagon Alley before she starts her first year in Hogwarts. Based from her researches, it protects the wearer from many kinds of things.

She lit the scented candle in her bedroom. She did it at night so as not to invite her sister from poking her nose. She's a little annoying about Erin's magical talent.

She inserted her hands inside the dragonhide gloves.

Slowly, Erin held her palms above the yellow light. Cool! She didn't feel a thing.

THE!KISS

54. Dare

That awkward feeling when you wanted him to do that thing but your personality just doesn't seem to know how to react and you just burst into something that will make him stop and do something else and regret what he just did.

But the truth is you truly hoped for that KISS.

"How dare he?!"

Louie clearly violated her. Erin touched her lips where his lips had touched earlier. That sweet taste of cinnamon and the smell of his vanilla flavored shampoo.

What exactly happened earlier was something she wanted to try with him ever since. Fireworks were everywhere.

AIM HIGH

91. Future

'Go for the gold, baby!'

They say, little children didn't know the meaning of anxiety but it does strikes everyone. There were no exceptions. Erin, as a five year old, would be doing the biggest step in her life, her first ballet recital. She'd be a junior if she passed the test or she'll stay at the bottom while her classmates advance. In the near future, whether she pass the test or not, she would be a ballerina.

She tiptoed her feet and raised her arms up above her head. She swayed in the air and danced her heart out.