Not Again

"Yeah I know it hurts
Yeah I know you're scared walking down the road that leads to who knows where
Don't you hang your head, don't you give up yet when courage starts to disappear
I'll be right here"

Madam Pomfrey had screamed so loud that she thought she had damaged her throat and burst her lungs. She couldn't believe that one minute Dennis was sitting before her, and in the next, he was gone. Just like that. If only she didn't get distracted...

"Madam Pomfrey, are you alright?" Harry asked, running into the room. He and Ron had heard her scream after their confrontation with Draco, and ran in to see what had happened.

However, she didn't answer him as she was too speechless to say anything. Instead, she raised a trembling finger to point at the one thing that she was upset about: the black rose that laid on Dennis's bed. No words needed to be exchanged to know how each person felt. They were all shocked about the fact that this had happened right under their very noses.

"S-should we tell Dumbledore?" Ron asked, finally breaking the silence.

"No need for that, Mister Weasley," a voice behind them replied. They all turned around and saw the very person they were hoping to receive some explanations from.

"P-professor! How did you get here so fast?" Harry asked in bewilderment.

"I was not that far away when I heard someone screaming. I believe it was you, Poppy?"

"Y-yes," she replied, still pointing at the object on the bed with a trembling finger.

"Oh dear. I don't suppose it was Mister Creevey this time, was it?"

"Y-yes, it was. Albus, what are we to do? Students are disappearing from us and we can't stop it!"

"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for this. For now, I advise you two-"the Headmaster looked at Harry and Ron, "to return to your rooms and stay there while I make sense of this situation."

They both nodded in agreement and headed out of the Hospital Wing.

"I knew it!" Ron exclaimed once they were in a deserted hallway.

"Knew what?" Harry asked, still suffering from shock.

"I know Malfoy did this!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Remember when he bumped into you? It looked like he was running away from something. I think he went into the Hospital Wing, made Dennis disappear and then ran out. That's why he wasn't looking where he was going because he didn't want to be caught by Madam Pomfrey!"

"That actually makes sense."

"See! I told you!"

"But we didn't actually see him do it. All we saw was him running away-"

"From the scene of the crime!" Ron interrupted.

"But we don't have actual proof!" Harry argued.

"That's why we have to follow him!"

"Follow who?" a female voice asked.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron both exclaimed, surprised that she was just behind them.

"What are you two talking about?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, erm... nothing," Ron said quickly.

Hermione eyed him suspiciously. "Then what are you two doing here? I thought both of you would be in the Gryffindor Tower."

"Well actually, we just came back from the Hospital Wing," Harry replied.

"What! Were you hurt?"

"No, we heard someone scream and we ran in there to see what was going on. We saw Madam Pomfrey pointing at this black rose on the bed."

"It wasn't Dennis, was it?"

The two boys nodded sadly to her question. How could this have happened? It was only yesterday that the youngest Creevey brother announced that his brother went missing, and now he's gone as well. What could be causing this?

"Why? How... how..."

"I think that-"Ron got cut off when Harry jabbed in the elbow.

"Think what?"

"Erm... it's just that I think you should be careful, Hermione."

"Why would you say that?"

"No reason. I just wanted to say it."

"Oh. Well, thanks for your concern but I can take care of myself. I've got to go back to my room and I think you should too. I'm starting to get a creepy feeling walking down these hallways since they are so deserted. I'll see you guys later," Hermione said and started to walk away.

"Alright, bye," the other two boys replied.

Once she was out of sight, Ron spoke up again. "We should've went with her, or at least make her come with us so that she wouldn't have to be alone."

"You heard what she said; she can take care of herself."

"But Malfoy-"

"Hermione's a smart girl. I'm sure if he tries one move on her, she could without a doubt, cast any curse she could think of to get him away from her. Let's just go and see if we could try to figure this whole thing out. Hermione was right, you know."

"About what?"

"These hallways. I'm starting to get an eerie feeling too," Harry replied as they both made their way back to the Gryffindor Tower.

Draco was in his own room, lying on his bed and thinking about the events that had occurred in the last few days. What could they all mean? Did they have a connection with his dreams? He had noticed that after every disappearance, one of his nightmares seemed to have followed. Could they reveal some sort of answer to help him solve who's doing this? He remembered what Dumbledore had said about the victims.

A simple background checking will do.

But what could that possibly mean? It could be a clue but he couldn't believe why the old coot had to give vague answers on such an important matter. What background checking could he have meant? All of the victims so far were Gryffindor males. So did that mean all the recent attacks are suppose to threaten the Gryffindor House? Who could be against the Gryffindors? Draco cursed himself for asking such a stupid question. Of course it was the Slytherins, but he knew that none of them had the ability to do any of the vanishings. He doubted they even had the intelligence for it, and they wouldn't waste their time on such a thing.

"Who else could it be?" he asked himself out loud. He was sure the teachers weren't behind it, so that left... absolutely nobody. This was pathetic; all these questions were leading him to nowhere. But he had remembered he heard Dumbledore say to the other teachers: "They may be in a form of a disguise." He also recalled Dennis explaining that he saw something small and dark when Colin vanished. What could that be?

"This is so stupid!" Draco exclaimed in frustration since he wouldn't be able to solve anything if he kept on asking himself questions. He gathered up all the clues in his head: the victims are Gryffindors, all males, the intruder is in disguise, and he or she would always leave behind a black rose. However, he couldn't think of anything else that could help connect everything together.

Maybe I should just rest for a while, he thought but decided against it. He didn't want to go through any of his nightmares again, especially if he kept on waking up sweating from the whole ordeal. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep his eyes open.

But it won't hurt to simply rest my eyes for a few minutes, he thought to himself before he closed his eyelids. Once he did, scenes from his previous nightmares came into his memory.

His fingers touching blood from the ground – blood from an unknown corpse. Darkness was surrounding him everywhere. A stranger's cold voice, which gave Draco the feeling that he wanted him dead. And of course, the one he cares the most about was in the middle of it all. He can see flashes of green light coming at him, and he can hear Hermione screaming out his name. What was happening? He suddenly realized the answer, but it was too late as he was already falling to the ground. He was dead.

Draco woke up gasping for air, and sweating through his clothes. He really didn't want to go through that again, but how could he not? Everytime he went to sleep, even for a little while, his nightmares come back to haunt him.

"Why me?" he asked himself despairingly as he tried to get up from his bed. His clothes seemed to be all damp from his sweat, so he decided to search through his drawers to search for any clean ones. As he did, he came upon something peculiar and he felt a rush of immense relief.

Father's letter! How could I have forgotten? he thought to himself as he rapidly tore open the envelope to read the letter. However, before he was able to read the first sentence, a knock on his bedroom door startled him. He quickly stuffed the letter back to where he found it and went to open the door to find Hermione standing in the entrance.

"Hey, I was just wondering if you were here," she said.

"Well, you can clearly see that I am," he smirked.

"I know that now," she said, rolling her eyes.

"What's the matter?" he asked when he noticed a bit of concern on her face.

"I found out that Dennis disappeared this morning. Did you know?"

"He d-disappeared?" Draco asked, not quite believing that fact. So that was the reason for his recent dream, if he could call it that. But why was it only a flashback this time, and not a real nightmare like the others?

"Yeah, I heard it from Harry and Ron. Can you believe all of this? I'm so scared to think who will be next."

Dumbledore's words came into Draco's mind, but he didn't want to tell Hermione about the piece of information he found out. "Maybe it'll all be over before we know it. I'm sure someone will find out what's going on and stop it."

He promised himself that, that someone would be him.

----

"My lord."

"Have you done the deed for today?" the dark man asked.

"Yes, but there are still a few more. I will get to them as soon as I can," the other man explained.

"Good, you have done this faster than I expected."

"I was provided with reliable information from excellent sources, my lord."

"Yes, I know," the taller man smiled in satisfaction.

"What do you have in store for the ones I've caught?"

"It's not a matter you should know. However, if you do finish your task, I may reconsider your punishment."

"Oh, thank you, my lord! I know you will be very pleased with my job."

"Yes, well I'll see about that. Now go."

"Yes, my lord," the shorter man obeyed, leaving his master alone.

"Everything is taking place. Soon, everyone will regret the day they doubted me," the dark man said to himself, filling the room with his harsh laughter.

A/N: Ugh...i hate this chapter. It totally killed me to write and personally, i think it sucks. lol. I'm really sorry about that. Anyway, i think i'll be writing things a bit more faster, since there's nothing to say in-between. Well, thank you guys for the reviews and if you think this chapter sucked (like i do), tell me :). Some of you guys are funny..hehehe :D