A/N: So Zayhad had a few good days and made a drawing for last chapter! Find it on her deviantart. In her gallery there's a folder with the name of the fic.

A reply for Sweetleftyrose (since she's posting as a guest): Thank you for your review, and we do appreciate your input. We aknowledge that the story is not entirely realistic - as is the case with most fiction. Some of the choices are made in the name of an entertaining story and character development. I hope you can abstract from the unrealistic elements and enjoy the rest of the story anyway. That said, I'm afraid that not all psych ward personel are as professional as they should be. I have heard of several cases - and experienced one myself. I spent a month in an adolescent ward (for OCD and self-harm) and was shocked, to put it mildly. The staff were mostly indifferent and spent most of their time drinking coffee in the staff room. We had to go find them there if we needed anything. The only person in there who actually helped me and treated me with respect was the physical therapist! Bubblea wrote in an earlier review that her friend had just completed an internship at a psych ward and that the staff had been horrible to the patients and drugged them too much just to make them easier to control. I do hope these examples are not common and that most wards are well managed and the patients treated properly.

Chapter 21 - Get better soon, Mate

The atmosphere was sombre the next morning. In fact, it was unusually quiet. More so that with any of the other deaths. Miles suddenly looked around. "Where's James?"

The others on the couches looked around as well. "Bloody hell," said Peter. "Maybe he's been murdered!"

James only stayed in his room at night when he was forced to be there. He wanted to be where there were people and action, so Peter's suggestion wasn't that far-fetched.

Worried, Miles jumped to his feet, hurrying to James' room. He knocked, but when there was no answer he went inside. James was lying in his bed, facing the wall. Miles sat down next to him and shook him. "Jamie? Mate?" He rolled him onto his back so he could see his face. James was staring blankly at the ceiling. For a horrible second Miles thought he was dead, but then he rolled back on his side, mumbling, "Go away..."

Miles exchanged puzzled looks with Sirius, who had followed him into the room.

"What's the matter with him? Is it Rita? He wasn't this upset yesterday... And he wasn't particularly fond of her," said Sirius.

Miles shook James again, trying to get in contact with him.

"What's going on in here?" sounded Arthur's voice.

Sirius looked up. "Something's seriously wrong with James! He's like paralysed."

Arthur looked at James and sighed. "He's finally having a depressive episode. You haven't seen him like this, because he's been on a very long manic episode. Ever since he got here. But he's bi-polar, and this is how the illness goes. We can only hope this is a short episode."

"Bloody hell, yeah," said Miles. "I forgot he's bi-polar. I was afraid you bastards had given him a lobotomy or something."

Sirius looked down at his friend, who didn't show any signs of having registered that Arthur had come in and that they were talking about him. Sirius put hand on James' back and gave it a soft rub. "Get better soon, mate…"

Miles stayed in James' room and talked about all sorts of things that would normally amuse him, hoping to cheer him up just a bit.

o0o0o

"We need to find James a roommate now that he's depressed," said Arthur to his wife. "Dumbledore is going to put him on suicide watch for certain."

Molly nodded and sighed. "Who would make a good roommate for him? I mean, he has known Sirius the longest but we all know he's got a nasty temper and when James gets back to normal he will get on Sirius' nerves and there will be trouble."

"Maybe Miles is an option as long as James is depressed? He seems to genuine care about him."

"Perhaps... And when he's back to normal we can separate them, or else they aren't going to get any sleep. Ever."

o0o0o

Dumbledore called a staff meeting later that afternoon. Detective Inspector Tyler, who was there as well, took the word. "The coroner has just finished the autopsy of Rita Skeeter and ruled out suicide. So we have a murder on our hands, ladies and gentlemen."

Everyone looked at each other. A few of the nurses gasped, looking shocked.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" asked Antonin, looking rather unaffected.

"Well," said Dumbledore. "For a start we tighten security since we do not yet know if the rest of the patients are in danger."

"The bodies of Dorcas Meadows and Frank Longbottom are being exhumed for autopsy since we suspect they might have been murders as well. Until we get the results you must keep a very close eye on the patients. And yourselves. If we are talking about a serial killing, then who's to say only patients are targets?"

Lily folded her hands in her lap, thinking about the patients. She was very worried about their wellbeing and decided to take more shifts. It would ease her mind to be here with them instead of just sitting at home.

"Do you have any suspects?" asked Alecto.

"No. But we are investigating further, of course. And I must ask you all to keep ears and eyes open, and if you hear, see or think of anything that you think might be of importance, do not hesitate contacting us."

"Is it someone on the ward, you think?" asked Molly.

"That is impossible to say at this point, but of course there is a good chance of that - especially if Meadows and Longbottom were murdered as well."

"I still say it's Black," said Antonin, crossing his arms. "He's dangerous. He should not be here - I have said it many times."

"Just because he has a temper doesn't make him a killer," protested Lily. "Why would he kill anyone - and especially someone who has not wronged him in any way?"

"And what do you know of mental patients? You've only been here a few months and you already think you're an expert!" snarled Antonin.

"I have talked more to Sirius the past few months than you have the last year, as far as I understand," Lily said, trying to restrain herself from telling him straight out that she thought his treatment of Sirius was bordering on abusive.

"Well, I have helped get him under control more times than you can count!"

"Antonin," said Dumbledore. "Let's not throw stones. Leave it to the police to investigate instead of throwing around accusations."

Antonin scowled at him but just sat back in his chair with a grim face.

"But who could the killer be?" asked Horace, looking nervously around as if the killer could pounce on him any moment.

"Impossible to say," said Officer Tyler. "It could be a patient, an employee or an outsider sneaking in. Of course there are some who can be ruled out. Although Rita was not a heavy girl it would still take a certain amount of strength to hang her from the window."

"So it's a man..." said Pomona.

"It could be a strong woman. An adult woman. Or a teenage lad. The girls and the smaller boys, however, can be ruled out."

They all sat quiet for a minute, looking around as if judging each other's size and strength.

"Well, I didn't do it!" Antonin suddenly exclaimed.

"Nobody accused you," said Molly.

"If Detective Tyler is done for now," interrupted Dumbledore, "let's talk of tightened security. Doctor Crouch will be back from holiday Monday and I'm sure he has something to add, but for a start: no one lives alone. Those without roommates must be paired up, and the rules that apply to those on suicide watch now apply to everybody."

"Well," said Molly and turned to Dumbledore. "As you know, James is on a depressive episode so Arthur and I have already discussed giving him a roommate. We were thinking Miles."

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "And it is not many who can handle sharing a room with James when he's manic. We can always change the arrangement if it becomes a problem. Anyway - I will leave these decisions up to you nurses. You are the ones who know the daily routines here best."

Molly took over. "Then there's the problem of Sirius. Who do we pair him up with?"

"Well," Horace said. "There is always Regulus, now that he has forgiven his brother."

"Oh, I do not think that would be wise," said Doctor Dumbledore. "The boys have just begun mending fences. They're not ready for this closeness yet. Besides," he added. "I understand that Remus relies heavily on Regulus."

"And Remus means a lot to Regulus as well," added Lily, when Dumbledore stopped talking. "They shouldn't be separated."

"Then who are we going to put with Sirius? Regulus is about the only one of the boys we can be sure he will not beat up," said Horace.

"I'm sure Pettigrew would be thrilled to be his roommate, even if he had to take a beating or two," said Alecto.

A few badly supressed sniggers sounded.

"Why not just chose someone quiet who likes to keep to himself?" suggested Arthur. "It is not as though Sirius beats up people for fun - he only gets violent with people who provoke him."

"Yes," agreed Pomona. "What about Benji?"

"That's a good idea," nodded Molly and wrote it down on a piece of paper.

"What about Severus? It didn't go so well with his last roommate…" said Arthur.

"He already has Barty, so he should be fine," said Antonin.

"Antonin!" said Molly, sending the other nurse a reproachful look.

"Why not give him Caradoc?" suggested Pomona. He's free now that we're moving Benji in with Sirius. "He's quiet as well and I doubt he will tease Severus."

"Then we put Evan with Avery – he's the only one he sort of likes – And Peter with Gilderoy," said Alecto. "Then all the boys are paired up."

"Poor Peter," sighed Horace.

"Well, it's better that to get beat up," said Pomona. "We will just have to talk to him about how to handle Gandalf."

o0o0o

The patients went dead silent for a moment when Molly gave them the news that Rita had indeed been murdered. Then the talk broke out.

"Is it a serial killer? Do they think Frank and Dorcas were murdered too?" asked Marlene.

"They can't say yet. They are going to perform an abduction on them as soon as possible. But the officers told us not to be scared. As long as you stick to the new safety rules of never being alone, all should be well. All three were alone when they died, and all three had single rooms."

Regulus and Remus sat in the back, glad they had not been switched around with anyone. Remus rubbed his hands nervously as a few people looked at him.

"So we have to have eyes on us constantly? That sucks!" Sirius moped.

"That's nothing new," said Miles. They're watching us constantly already. They just have to do this in order to keep up the charade because they don't want us to know about the cameras"

"You and your freaking cameras!" Sirius spat, getting rather annoyed.

"Miles, if there were cameras, don't you think they would be able to see who killed Rita?" asked a girl named Ivy.

"Maybe the killer knows where they are so he can avoid them," Miles pointed out.

"Didn't you say they had cameras in every room?"

Miles chewed on his lip, going quiet, apparently unable to come up with an explanation for that one. "Of course..." he said a moment later. "They do know who the murderer is because they're the ones behind it! Perhaps not the staff, but the MI5 or the government. Rita must have known too much. She must have found out something and then they had to silence her."

"Miles," said Molly in a strict tone. "You know what I have told you about forcing your theories on the other patients."

"So what? You're either one of them or you're brainwashed like everybody else."

Molly sighed and placed her hands on her hips. "Miles, I am only giving you one warning."

"Or what?" said Miles, challenging her with his gaze.

"I will escort you to your room."

Sirius wolf whistled and a few of the others laughed. "Think you can handle that much woman?" he grinned at Miles.

"Sirius!" Molly barked.

"I think Arthur is going to get mad," sniggered Peter, but when Molly sent him a look, his grin faltered.

"Miles - are you going to behave or not?" asked Molly.

"I'll behave," said Miles. "But I think the fact that someone has been murdered is more important than how I behave."

"That's right," said Lucinda, her eyes boring into Molly. "There's a killer on the loose! Why do you let us sit here like sitting ducks locked up with some madman?"

Molly fetched Kingsley and asked him to please help her reassure the patients.

"There is nothing to fear as long as you stick to the new safety rules. We have added one more night watch and most of the staff have agreed to do extra hours," explained Kingsley in his deep calm voice. He had the gift of sounding authoritative and reassuring at the same time so usually nobody questioned what he said. "We are keeping a close eye on you."

The discussion of who was the culprit proceeded once Molly and Kingsley had moved away.

"But who is it?"

"When I find out, I'm going to smash his face in!" said Evan, slamming a fist into his palm.

"It could be a woman," pointed out Ivy.

"No way," said Evan, eying the girl in disbelief. "Girls can't pull of a stunt like this."

"Why not? Because they're not strong enough or not mean enough?"

"They aren't smart enough."

"Fuck you, Evan," said Ivy while several other girls voiced their resentment as well.

"If anything, girls are smarter than boys," said Natalie. "They get better grades in school, for one."

"And that makes them serial killers?" Even laughed.

"No – it makes them smart!" said Natalie, rolling her eyes.

"Statistically, the chances are slim. Only 15 % of serial killers are women," informed Miles. "Although, of course, the correct number is probably higher, because women are better at not getting caught."

"See? Because they're smarter than men!" crowed Natalie.

"It's just because no one suspects them," pointed out Benji. "No one wants to believe that women are capable of something so horrific."

"Well, both," said Miles.

"Women aren't smarter than men!" protested Evan.

"No, but they're less likely to commit murder on impulse. When you do it on impulse - that's when you make mistakes and leave evidence," said Miles.

"The only woman in here mean enough to be a murderer is Alecto," said Peter, after taking a quick look around to check that said woman wasn't within earshot.

"Well, she's certainly strong enough. Gilderoy thinks she's an orc and I'm leaning towards agreeing with him for once," laughed Ivy.

"It's not her. I think it's Thorfinn," said Marlene. "He likes to hurt people. You should have seen the bruises on Sirius' neck the last time."

Peter nodded eagerly. "Yes, he's a right psycho!"

Evan snorted. "He was preventing him from killing Severus! What did you expect him to do? Pet him until he calmed down?"

"You didn't see how he treated me in the cell afterwards!" Sirius said.

"It could also be Antonin," suggested Marlene, steering the conversation in another direction.

"It could," someone mumbled. "He's mean."

"It couldn't. He's a nurse," said Lucinda.

"So what if he's a nurse?" asked Natalie.

"Just... People become nurses because they're caring. They want to help people. Not kill them," said Lucinda.

"Ever heard the term angle of death?" asked Natalie. "It's a serial killer who is a nurse or doctor. Patients are such easy targets, and it makes them high, feeling that power over life and death. They often get away with many murders before people even start to suspect there's foul play involved, because sick people often die and mostly there isn't even performed autopsies. There was this bloke called Doctor Death who got away with over 200 murders."

"Yeah – Harold Shipman," nodded Miles. "But all his victims were old. It's easy to get away with it when you're working with old or ill people. Here in a place like this it gets suspicious after just a few suicides."

"And Rita definitely wasn't suicidal!" said Avery. "That motherfucker who did this…" He clenched his fists.

"Funny you care so much about Rita's death," said Sirius. "Lost your Lolita doll?"

Avery made to get up but stopped himself. He had clearly not forgotten what happened the last time he got into a fight with Sirius so he settled with a snarled "Fuck you, Black!"

"Sirius," sounded Arthur's voice. "I heard that. Go to your room and don't come out until dinner," he said in an uncharacteristic harsh tone. I will join you in a moment so you don't have to sit there alone."

"Why am I always the one being sent away?" Sirius barked. " He said 'fuck you' to me! Why aren't you smacking his fingers as well?"

"A girl has been murdered and you called her a Lolita doll."

"Yes, Sirius, you should be ashamed of yourself," said Marlene, sending her boyfriend a reproachful look.

Several others agreed, now daring since Marlene had said it first.

"I didn't mean it like that! It's horrible what happened to her. I'm just pointing out that the only bloody reason Avery and Evan care about her dying is that they use to screw her! They didn't care about her feelings – they were always slagging her off and calling her a tart. All I'm pointing out."

"If you don't shut the fuck up –" growled Evan and made to get up, but Lucinda pulled him back down.

"I think your brother is in trouble," Remus whispered to Regulus.

"That's his problem," said Regulus, feeling a little sick over his brother's tactless comment.

"I'm not going to discuss this with you, Sirius," said Arthur and sent Evan a quick warning look.

Sirius got up, realising that his comment was probably out of order so he went for the hallway, slamming the door behind him.

"Fucking wanker," growled Evan.

"He... he didn't mean it like it sounded," Peter tried defending his hero.

"He meant every bloody word. He doesn't care about anyone," said Avery.

"He just doesn't think before he speaks," sighed Marlene.

"I'm sick of him getting away with everything," said Evan. If any of us had done the things he had, we would have been out on our arses long ago."

"You're one to talk," said Marlene. "You get into fights as much as he does, and you're mean to people on top of that."

"And he isn't?" spat Evan. He leaned back and then mumbled. "I hope he's next. Unless he isn't in fact the killer himself."

o0o0o

Lily took Remus and Regulus back to their room later, passing James' room on the way. The door was open and James was lying on his bed sobbing while Miles sat beside him, carefully stroking his back.

"Why is he so sad?" Remus asked, looking at Lily. "He's always so happy."

"That's the illness he has," explained Lily. "It's called bipolar disorder and it makes him very happy and excited some of the time and then suddenly very unhappy. It's not as fun being James as you'd think. When he's happy he feels like he's on top of the world, but as you see, this is the price he's paying."

Remus bit his lip. "I see... I'm feel sorry for him."

"No one here has it easy," continued Lily. "People just have different kinds of problems."