Lupin stood outside Ginny Weasley's locker, his partner, Max, sniffing the items that were presented to him. Standing behind him was Mcgonagall, handing him bags when he needed them.

"So far we know that it wasn't any drugs," said Lupin. "Unless she had sniffed something before the game, which I highly doubt."

"So do I, Remus," said Mcgonagall. Lupin pulled out Ginny's jacket and had Max sniff it. He began barking and wimpering, and Lupin looked at Mcgonagall.

"It's in here. What do you smell Max?" He reached in the pocket and pulled out her wallet. Max pawed it and wimpered. Lupin reached in, but all he found was a fifty dollarbill. Max reacted to the bill alone now, and not to the wallet or the jacket. Mcgonagall handed Lupin a bag, and he placed both the wallet and the money into it. He dug around some more until he found something strange. Pulling it out with his rubber gloved hand he showed it to Mcgonagall.

"A soda straw?" he muttered. He held it in front of Max, but there was no reaction. He took a bag from Mcgonagall anyway and bagged the straw. "Give these to Tonks. She should be in Snape's classroom. Tell her what Max reacted to, please." Mcgonagall nodded.

"I will," she said and started to leave, when Lupin called her back. He pointed to a marking inside the locker and she stared at it, being able to tell what it was within seconds.

"It's some sort of hex mark," said Lupin. "In the shape of a hanging man. I think Abel's been here."

"So," muttered Hermione to Parvatti as they walked down the hallway. "Where did Abel Frye stretch his neck?"

"In the forbidden wing," said Parvatti. "Be we don't want to go in there."

"Why not?" asked the other girl. "Come on, we'll show you where."

"But we're not going in," repeated Parvatti. They lead Hermione down some halls she had never been to before, and came to a stop in front of a cage wall that was locked.

"People say that Dumbledore had this area locked up so that no one would disrupt the dead. Some good it did us."

Hermione picked the lock while the other girl was talking, and pulled it open. "Hey," she said. "It's open." She pulled out the lock and opened the cage wall. She was the first to step inside, soon followed by Parvatti and the other girl.

"Guys, if you look up 'forbidden' in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of people who died snooping around," said Parvatti.

"The ghost was released when Filch went to clean this place," said the other girl.

"So he's after the caretaker, not us," said Hermione. "C'mon. It's not like he's still in there." They followed her until she came to a set of stairs that she began to walk up alone.

"What is she doing?" muttered Parvatti. "She's insane!" Hermione disappeared at the top as she turned a corner, and secretly she was happy that they hadn't followed he. She pulled out her wand and lit it, looking around curiously. All she found was abandoned classrooms and hallways. Nothing special, but still a bit of an eerie tone in the air.

"You okay girl?" came Parvatti's voice from downstairs.

"Yeah," called Hermione. "You'll know if I'm not." She continued on down a hall, but her light went out within two steps. "Lumos!" she whispered. It flickered on and off. "Lumos!" she said again, stronger and it lit. The light struck something with large yellow eyes and fangs, and she fell backwards with a scream as something hit her on the head.

Madam Pomfrey looked her down one last time and nodded. "You'll be fine, Miss Granger," she said softly. "You've got a nasty bump on your head, but you'll be fine." She nodded, and as if on cue, Tonks, Harry, and Lupin all stepped in.

"I heard some ghost gave you a beatdown," said Harry with a grin. She rolled her eyes at him.

"What did you see before you were knocked out?" asked Lupin.

"Stars," she muttered. Harry snickered.

"She's almost back to normal."

"Before that," said Tonks with a smirk.

"I saw somebody," she muttered painfully.

"From this world... or the next?" said Harry in a fake eerie tone. She elbowed him in the ribs and he stopped immediatly.

"I don't remember who it was," she said softly.

"From now on, nobody enters that wing without clearing it with us," said Tonks. "Is that understood? Both of you?"

"Yes Tonks," said Harry.