Oh, it's Hugh... PV Erin Ryan Closed

The rush of wind, the pound of heels against hardened earth, the thunderous drumming of her heart. Faster, harder, better! Erin had not slowed down in the least those weeks away from Hogwarts in spite of the fact that she was slowly changing. It was a far cry from adolescence, the sunken features of her countenance. Cheekbones more profound, a darkness under her eyes, large eyes that appeared cloudy and dull.

Power meant life. There was no option to cease, to slow, only fight harder or die sooner.

Her long, blonde hair pulled back into a high tail. She wore a dark-green warm-up jacket over white tank and a pair of loose-fitting khaki shorts that seemed to be two sizes too large for her. She looked like a muggle less the warm-up jacket in 35+ degree weather.

She would round the rocky shore of the lake, following a familiar path with a cinderblock she stole last year from Hogsmeade. Her sweat soaked hands would allow the stone to fall in front of her as she identified a threat on the path ahead -- Huge Low. She would jump over the fallen "lifting stone" as she called it and suddenly divert her path. No longer on the worn, dusty trail she would rush for a place to hide. To allow the threat, like Exodus pass her by.

Indeed, the others did not know. They did not realize the truth she knew full well. Hugh Lowe was a cannibal. He consumed her brethren and took their power as his own. He would not take hers also.

So she rushed for a place of safety - the lake. A great, glistening, dark body of water. The wet dock slick, she was unprepared and she would slide rather than run. She would crash rather than make a leaping bound. A near full-rotation spin thereafter she would crash into the water with all of the grace of a drunken rhino.

Live Action Camera:

And then there it was... the event. Hugh never moved a muscle as his head slowly followed the descent of Erin Ryan into the lake. Her slide was almost perfect, he'd give it a nine out of ten, maybe. Ever since their encounter back in the bathroom, their entire connection had been that of adversaries. More so on her part than his, of course. All he remembered to have done back then was the act of mumbling like an idiot. By now, Erin had proven herself to be a full-fledged nutcase in the eyes of many. Not to forget, a dangerous one at that. The way she attacked his fellow part-giant Quinn Healy two balls ago, he wondered what exactly her plans were. Was it all just hatred for their kind? That's awfully discriminating. He asked himself if that prejudice came from her family. Or maybe she had a bad experience with one of them. Maybe it was him?

He shot a rather worrying look at the ripples left behind from where Erin's body had broke the water surface. Was she... alright? "Erin?" He'd loudly ask with a rumbling voice. Slowly he would start getting closer. He half expected her to grab his ankle and pull him down into the water. Like some horror film creep that wanted to drown you and leave your body to the fish. He ended up on the edge of the dock and looked down. "Erin?" He called out again. "Are you okay down there?" Was he going to have to jump in after her?

She would break the water's calm surface with her face. A loud splash and she was underwater. It was dark, there were big-eyed fish gawking at her as if this was the first time they had ever seen someone take a swim. She would defend her honor with the fishes later, for now she needed to evade detection.

She would swim, the water weighing her down as her cotton jacket was burdened with lake water. She would lose the jacket on the shale bottom and seek the shelter of the dock for she could not breathe underwater.

She would breech the surface and take a gulp of air. She would hear the creek of footsteps overhead. Merlin, he was coming! She tried to breathe quietly. Evade detection. Surely he did not see anything. He is just looking at the water, the calm, super-empty water.

"Erin?"

The voice jarring, sounding as if it came from someone as large as Hugh in fact was.

The .light that peered between the boards of the dock were shadowed over as his great clown feet ambled to the edge. Her first impulse was to attack, to use this moment for what it was and take the element of surprise.

"Erin?"

He called out again. Her prey at the very edge of the dock, the fleeing mouse would become the predator. She would try to not disturb the water, but there were ripples made as she tried to move, to inch towards the edge.

"Are you okay down there?"

"...I am not here."

A voice would call back. Oh shoot!

[color="I mean ERIN is not here."

Totally saved it.

This was her chance, now that Hugh has fallen into a false sense of security to STRIKE! With the swiftness of a viper her hand would reach up and blindly attempt to grab (probably failing but your call) Hugh by the ankle and drag him into the murky waters.



Of course there was something she had forgotten or at the very least failed to consider. There was a fence, a barrier of sorts. The very one she ran into and flipped over. It was there. Hugh might not be rotund, but he was not going to fit easily under the railing.

Hugh's frown would only grow duller as Erin's voice replied to his inquiry. His shoulders slumped into a sigh as he crossed both arms and looked down to where her voice came from. She was something alright. Part of him was already regretting approaching her. There was always something weird or downright offensive going on with this lass. Either she fell for the prejudice of a part-giant's intelligence, or simply felt this was somehow explanation enough for her running away and colliding with the lake.

Then her hand lashed out, clasping him around his ankle. She usually was pretty strong, and Hugh could feel her tugging along. It was just the position she was at, she'd be unable to topple him over with sheer strength at such a low point. Hugh held onto the fence and leaned forward, trying to catch a glimpse of her struggling body. "Are you okay down there?" He was almost grinning, that's how funny this all seemed for now. Though, things could quickly go south with Erin around.

"How about you get out of the water first? I can help you." A dangerous proposition. On another day, he'd have told himself to be smarter about this. But right now, he figured that maybe she was just another kid in need today. "Here." He said as he reached out with his hand. "Let me lift you out of there." Just to be safe, Hugh held on tight with his other hand and tried to lock his legs in place. He would prefer not to drop in the water along with her.

Erin was many things, smart was not among them. She honestly believed that would work. Kids: stay in drugs, don't do school. She thought her trickery was effective, it was not. She overestimated her strength, indeed from such an awkward angle she would not be able to topple over the part-giant with a blind grab. He was not only significantly heavier than the 45'ish kilogram girl but there was the small matter of a railing that prevented her from pulling him to his watery doom.

He would see her try, her legs on the underside of the dock attempting to use her strength and insignificant weight to her advantage to no avail. A grunt of exertion through gritted teeth and a mouthful of lake water was her only prize.

Heave!

Cough-cough! A lung-full of water, she lost her pose on the underside of the cabin but stubbornly held onto his ankle as a looming shadow would darken the waters.

"Are you okay down there?"

"Stop being so heavy!" She complained. A request he could not, would not and should not comply with.

"How about you get out of the water first? I can help you."

Help her what? Die!

"Here."

Hugh would reach down with his massive hand, it was big enough that he could palm her face. Terrifying. But still, she looked at his ankle and her precarious grip. She would not able to reach her hand fully around his ankle. She was holding on by the power of stubbornness alone,

She could not deny herself the potential advantage.

"Let me lift you out of there."

The plan obvious, likely even to Lowe as she accepted his hand with both of her own. She was not hard to pull from the water, the water bogged clothes added to the burden but the sum total was well below his threshold. Yet Erin was stubborn and was unwilling to become a meal for the titan. As she was pulled from the water, she would stubbornly try again, lake-soaked sneakers pressed against the railing for additional force she would push and try to topple the goliath.

Only, she failed to realize before it was too late that he had preemptively braced himself. A grip on the railing. His massive form barely budged. Red-faced, deeply paranoid she would shout her final threat "I am going to give you so much indigestion!"

Hugh cocked his head in surprise as he furrowed his brow even further. "Indegest- What are you on about? Are you going to poison my food or something?." He grumbled as he shook his head. "Get out, c'mon. You're soaking wet, and though I doubt you'll catch a cold in this weather, I bet it surely isn't too pleasant to have all your clothes sticking to your body." He lifted her up and placed her next to him as softly as he could, depending on how hard she struggled against him.

"You need to get your act together, Erin." He began with a soft tone as he tried to dry the splattering of water on his own T-shirt. "Honestly, you've been acting all crazy around me ever since we met. I know you might not like part-giants much, given our 'impure blood'." A fact that would have been true for many other wizarding families. "But you don't have to go swinging yourself into the water just to avoid us." He leaned back against the fence, no surprises for him. She was dangerous when it came to impulses.

"I'm not out to hurt you, Erin." He held both hands up and shook his head once more. "Maybe we should just chat for once, you know?" An offer that was likely not on the table for the older Slytherin, but it wasn't a bad idea to Hugh. This game of cat and mouse she was playing, it was almost unclear with whom. Everyone just knew her to be crazy and wild. He had seen others try and ally themselves with her, but they only needed her power he figured. Because that was something she was to him: Powerful. Which is why she is regarded for the mad train she is. No control behind those concrete muscles. Once in a Quidditch match, Hugh had expected her to go full out on him when he was keeper in their game. That day, he had been surprised not to have fallen victim to her. But the fear had been real enough. Thinking of Quinn, he knew all too well what happened to people that tried to stop her. It was a collision more than often.

Hugh would fish a soaked, petulant Erin out of the lake. A drowned rat in jogging clothes who Hugh would find that he could easily lift with a single arm out of the water. Considering her reputation, she was more scrappy than brawny it would seem.

"Indegest- What are you on about? Are you going to poison my food or something?."

As if he eats normal food, he would bankrupt the school on his appetites surely.

"Get out, c'mon. You're soaking wet, and though I doubt you'll catch a cold in this weather, I bet it surely isn't too pleasant to have all your clothes sticking to your body."

She would drift over the rail and be lowered to the docks. Her shoes would make that squishing sound and have that spongy consistency. Soggy feet. Soggy shoes. Only ones she brought too. She did not fight being placed on the ground but she would scurry away from him, not that there was far to go with the railing. She remained within a Hugh's arm's length.

"You need to get your act together, Erin."

"Me!" She seemed surprised to hear the accusation directed at her. A paragon of good, smart choices unlike her peers. "Coming from you of all people," the toe of her left to her right heel. Her feet would escape the confines of her moist prison.

"Honestly, you've been acting all crazy around me ever since we met. I know you might not like part-giants much, given our 'impure blood'."

"Why the hell would I give a damn about blood, we are not dating," a laughable notion really for her. Not that she was one to talk, despite claims otherwise she was part-Veela herself. She was not a pureblood either but some mixed breeds are less obvious than others and the lack of perfect pedigree was a sore spot she often neglected to correct people regarding. The presumption was pureblood, touted by their father a pureblood and his present wife another pureblood. His extra-marital activities which produced both Erin and her brother Geoffrey. The presumption that they were Naomi's instead was a misconception that proved advantageous.

"But you don't have to go swinging yourself into the water just to avoid us."

"Would rather not get eaten, thank you very much," she crossed her arms over her chest defensively. "And before you give me that song and dance that you never would, I already accused Quinn after you were all weird in the bathroom about eating people and he just ran about like a madman after." Not a single denial, nothing but some exchanged punches and a broken hand earned with her time spent on Quinn.

"I'm not out to hurt you, Erin."

He held both hands up, there was nothing in them but they could have been canons really. The boy was armed with ARMS. "Why?" She frowned, "do I taste bad? Is that why I am alive!" There was that contradictory urge to claim she probably tastes awesome which was opposed to the much more logical, not being eaten I a good thing.

"Maybe we should just chat for once, you know?"

"Well, if you won't eat me..." She moved closer to him as looked up at him, "you promise to not eat me?"

"N-no, I wasn't sug-" Hugh stopped in his tracks. He'd best avoid responding to that matter all together. Before he was able to make it any worse than the way it was already going. His eyes narrowed even further under his heavy set brows as Erin began to explain her beliefs towards giants. It seemed he once again underestimated just how gullible people could prove to be as they fell for fairy tale facts and rumours. He kept his mouth shut, though, up until she was done being offended for not being a giant's delicacy.

Hugh sighed as he gave her a long stare. "Yes. Yes, Erin, I promise not to eat you." Bonkers. That's what she was. But she was one of the special ones around here, after all. He felt sure Miss Ryan was a subject of debate for almost every student that attended Hogwarts. Even back as a prefect, they had the weird encounter in the bathrooms. She was standing too close for his liking already. The same as before, he half expected her to pull out a knife and jab it in his sides.

"What exactly did Healy say to you?" Hugh would ask as her words sank in. "I can also promise you that I haven't eaten any student before." Telling her exactly what she told him not to bother with wasn't much of a plan. But he felt it necessary to clarify still. The last thing he wanted was to add to the rumours she had likely spread about his kind by now. "Is this why you beat Quinn up last ball? I don't know him that well, but surely he hasn't actually tried to take a bite at you? He barely fought back at the event, where I saw you and Kyle go at him."

The part-giant crossed his arms and leaned back a bit, distancing his already high up head with hers. He didn't want to be hit in the face if she raged out. "I can only assume that the superhero shenanigans from a while back was an attempt to get to me?" He recalled the note she gave him. "You think I know more about something. You also believe that I would find other students. Students whose names I haven't heard or seen around the castle. So who were they?"

The Gryffindor tried to think of things to get through to her. The first time they met, he was approached for being a first year prefect. She assumed him to be a prodigy, if he recalled correctly. That's why she tried to measure up his value. As what? And ally? "I am no longer a prefect." He stated with a matter-of-fact tone. "Haven't been for a while. Does that take away my value, then?"

A drowned rat of a girl was fished out of the lake. A displeased expression and rivers of water would stream off of her. Everything seemed small to a part-giant, so the diameter of her arm being smaller than expected would likely go unnoticed. She did not want to stay in the water but she also did not want to get out of the water. She did not want to be eaten but how dare Hugh not want to eat her. A contrarian perhaps by nature. When the ground was firmly underneath her she would shift her weight between her feet, squish-squish-squish. The water goes out but she still had soggy toes.

Rock friend would help she reasoned. She would grab the stone from her pocket, this fist-sized, rather ordinary stone. A fine device, better company than most wizards. She would attempt to bop a leg, likely the most lateral appendage she could reach. "Just a giant," she confirmed if her rock touched him or if she missed as the stone remained unchanged and clutched in her hand.

"What exactly did Healy say to you?"

Exactly? A conversation that happened years ago. He was asking for more than she would be able to muster on demand. "I accused him," she recalled. In truth she did not believe it when she made the accusation, she was just starting a fight. She did not get a fight back then, "he started to laugh like a madman and fled." She claimed. It was an accurate representation of the events that day. She never caught him, his stride was three of her own. Again, she had confirmation from multiple students, former Prefects. Quinn had never clarified the events of that day and she had accused him clearly on multiple occasions. There was no question what she had been allowed believed. There was not a single incident that contributed to her madness, rather a series of misinformation exercises.

"I can also promise you that I haven't eaten any student before."

"Uh huh," she replied. She did not believe him, all she knew was he was not both a death witch and a giant. Just a giant. Unless rock friend ran away she would keep her ally clutched in her hand as she crossed her arms defensively. She had a strange carriage, her shoulders were slightly askew. It was easier to notice in wet attire, in how it clung.

"Is this why you beat Quinn up last ball? I don't know him that well, but surely he hasn't actually tried to take a bite at you? He barely fought back at the event, where I saw you and Kyle go at him."

"Last ball?" Last ball she would have beaten him down but she "never touched him." Not last dance at the very least, she was rather certain. "I was after Percival Gray but I stopped when I sniffed him, then Vladimir Athanatos dragged me to the nurses office." The time before that, sure. Months ago at the Blossom Ball. "Not to say I would not have if given the chance," she admitted. "He broke my hand," she raised her right hand and extended her fingers. Her hand looked normal for the most part, the fingers a bit spindly and long.

"I can only assume that the superhero shenanigans from a while back was an attempt to get to me?"

"Yep." She nodded her head in confirmation. There was no reason to lie. She was definitely after him. "Would have been more successful if your friends were not such big nerds," like super-nerds. It was so terrible she regretted involving them as soon as it started. All this noise. Too many colors. Death would have been kinder. He did not fall for it either. Hugh's friends were idiots.

"You think I know more about something. You also believe that I would find other students. Students whose names I haven't heard or seen around the castle. So who were they?"

That was a question that agitated her. The right side of her jaw would twitch. "People that used to be here, they are not now," she iterated a point she made years ago. "We were many, you were many" how many people from his first year were no more. There were hundreds at the sorting ceremony. How many were left now? "There is only one other girl in my year in Slytherin," she reinforced. She had heard it all over the years, he was not the first person she had urgently reached out to. She had tried only to be ignored, talked down to or given what would have seemed like a reasonable explanation had it been smaller losses. "I know all of them did not just 'go back home' or 'decide wizarding is not for them', but nobody had went looking for them either," she complained. She almost sounded lucid, "I can hardly remember their names anymore... I don't see their faces and all I hear is a gnawing noise," her head hurt. It always hurt as did her bones, her skin felt too tight also. Although the wet felt good, the warm-up jacket that clung to her skin that was hot from the morning sun. It was too hot to be wearing such things.

"I am no longer a prefect."

"I know" she replied simply. She was crazy, not oblivious. He left the team years ago.

"Haven't been for a while. Does that take away my value, then?"

"What value?" She replied instantly. "I tried to get your help," she sounded exasperated because she was. "I tried to get a lot of people to help. Nobody did," but they knew. They knew but never acknowledged. Never looked. Never cared. "So I don't really care if you are eating them or if you are just complicit," she concluded. "I don't care what your title is, who your friends are, or what your blood looks like," she seemed serious. "I just want what is left of them," she believed that they were dead.

"Tell me where they are and I will leave you and Quinn and the rest of you alone," she cringed. She did not like the crunch. She did not care if he was a Prefect now or not, she was always suspicious of why a first year would be granted such exception. A sentiment that continued to this day. She did not trust him by the virtue that he did not make sense to her. That he, like so many others were warned but were indifferent. That they never looked. They never cared. If they were not the culprit, then they were complicit.