TOY SOLDIERS

CHAPTER NINE-RETURN

I moaned. My head felt like a firecracker had gone off in it. I opened my eyes. I was in the Shrieking Shack. I recognized it from when James, Sirius, Peter and I used it for the transformations once a month.

My hands were tied behind my back and my ankles were tied. I was sitting on the floor.

Ice cold blasts of air blew in from the windows that had a plastic covering them because the glass was gone. Flurries of snow blew in and scattered across the floor making the dust blow.

I shivered violently. I only had my school robe and uniform on. It wasn't warm enough to be outside with just the robe on.

The whole back of my head was in total pain.

"At last, with you out of the way, I can complete my task," a voice said from the side of me.

I turned my head and saw white stars appear before my eyes and the pain shot up through my skull like a live wire.

A dark hooded figure appeared in the entranceway. I was in what used to be the living room.

The hood was pulled over the eyes so I couldn't see who it was.

"Who are you?" I asked cringing.

The hooded figure came closer and crouched down in front of me.

The figure lifted the hood. I stared in disbelief.

Emmeline

"Emmeline?" I asked shocked.

"I'm not Emmeline," she smirked. "And I am going to kill Hillary."

"LEAVER HER ALONE," I shouted but the pain shot through my skull again.

"Why? After all, she's the reason why I was suspended," Emmeline said her face growing into an ugly sneer.

"But you started with her," I said.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Emmeline snapped. "Try two years ago. Does the name Eric Fisher ring a bell?"

I frowned.

"Hillary's old boyfriend? The one who abused her?"

"Yes," Emmeline sneered. "I AM ERIC FISHER."

I stared in horror. "That's impossible…"

"Oh is it?" Emmeline said. "Listen to this. After I was suspended, I was sent to Azkaban for 1 year for beating Hillary up. The Ministry frowns on things like that and they don't tolerate it. But see, I enjoyed beating her up. Then, I figured out how to escape. I died trying to escape and vowed to get even with Hillary."

"But you did hurt her!" I said.

"Yeah so? The point is because of her I died trying to escape Azkaban. And once I found Emmeline and heard how much she hated Hillary because of her pretty looks and grades, I figured I'd help Emmeline out," Emmeline grinned, but there was something sinister about her grin.

I was still confused.

"Are you saying that you're Eric's spirit in Emmeline's body?"

"Wow, you are smart for a werewolf," Eric snickered. "See, I can also change my appearance."

With that, Emmeline's face and body disappeared and my own face and body appeared. It was like I was looking into a mirror.

"See? Now I can kill her and you'd get the blame," Eric smiled.

I could see the evilness in the blue eyes that were supposed to be mine and the whole face seemed evil and cruel. It totally did not look like me at all.

Then, the expression softened so it did resemble me.

"This is going to be fun," Eric grinned.

"You killed Chloe and James and sent those horrible letters," I said growing angrier by the minute.

"Give this guy a medal!" Eric cried. "You won't be able to save your precious Hillary."

"NO!" I cried struggling to break free of the ropes.

He punched me in the stomach and I fell to the side in pain. I watched him/me leave the shack.

I prayed Hillary or Sirius would sense it wasn't me.

HILLARY.

I ate in silence worried about Lily. I didn't want to hurt her incase this sicko was still after me.

Remus came back into the Hall shortly and sat down beside me.

He began eating his breakfast hungrily.

"Did you talk to Lily? Is she okay?" I demanded turning to him.

"Huh?" he asked startled. "Oh. Yeah she is."

Sirius' eyes narrowed at Remus suspiciously.

"What did she say?" I prodded.

"That she didn't mean what she said and that she was sorry," Remus said wolfing down a crumpet.

I looked at Sirius who shrugged and continued to watch Remus carefully.

I grabbed Remus' arm and snuggled up against him.

"I miss James," I said quietly pressing my face into his shoulder.

"Yeah. We all do," Remus replied.

The bell rang and we were free to do whatever we wanted since classes were suspended for the day. Sirius, Remus and I headed out to the oak tree where we would all spend the hot summer days and we just stood in the snow, which was up to our ankles. I hugged my hooded cloak tighter around me. Now I was nice and warm.

Sirius was oddly watching Remus.

"Want to go for a walk?" Remus suggested.

"Sure," I beamed and gave Sirius a big smile before Remus and I began walking away.

Once we were out of ear shot of Sirius, I turned to Remus.

"Are you alright?" I asked. "You seem distant."

"I'm fine," Remus said smiling.

"Last night was amazing," I said softly taking Remus' hand in mine and our fingers interlocked.

"Last night? What happened last night?" Remus asked looking confused.

I stopped walking and faced him.

"You were there! You and I made love in front of the fire. It was really romantic," I said surprised and hurt and angry at the same time.

"We've never made love," Remus replied.

I let go of his hand.

"I don't believe you," I said as angry tears formed. "If it was that horrible and if you didn't love me like you said then why go through with it?"

Without waiting for a reply, I turned and stalked back to where Sirius was.

Sirius saw me coming.

"Hillary? What's wrong?" he demanded.

"He's a total jerk!" I hissed. "I can't believe I fell in love with him."

"What happened?" Sirius demanded again looking concerned. "What did he do to you? Did he hurt you?"

"No, not physically…but he denied we made love," I muttered as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Relax," Sirius said leaning close. "I'm not sure that's our Remus."

I looked at him shocked and wiped the tears away with the back of my hand.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

"There's something about him that doesn't fit," Sirius said quietly keeping an eye out for Remus. "I may be a human but I have my dog senses a bit. I sense there's something not right with him."

Remus began walking toward us.

"Hillary, I'm so sorry," he apologized looking guilty. "I'm just still upset about James."

"It's fine," I said in a flat tone.

Sirius kept his eyes on Remus the whole time.

"Let's go inside now shall we?" Remus suggested.

Sirius and I began walking a head of him. He followed close behind.

THE REAL REMUS.

I still struggled against the ropes. They were tied tightly and cut into my skin.

Eric was going to kill Hillary and I needed to get out of the shack and protect her.

Just then, I saw a familiar rat enter the room.

"Peter!" I cried relieved.

The rat vanished and Peter stood in human form.

"Remus? What are you doing here?" he asked sounding scared.

"Eric Fisher's spirit is inside Emmeline Vance's body. He wants to kill Hillary. He tied me here. Please untie me," I said urgently.

Then, I paused.

"Wait. What are you doing here?" I asked frowning.

Peter began blushing.

"Well, I…I have a girlfriend. We've been meeting here for a few days," he stammered.

So that's what's been going on, I thought.

"That's okay. I won't tell anyone. I promise. But untie me!" I said.

Peter hurried over and be began undoing the ropes.

HILLARY.

That night, Sirius changed into the black dog and sat on his haunches beside the couch where I was. We were going to set a trap for Remus. I had to admit, I felt the same way like this wasn't Remus. Something was definitely wrong.

Remus entered the common room.

"Where'd that dog come from?" he asked sitting beside me on the couch.

"Oh. He's mine. Dumbledore knows," I said reaching over to pet the black dogs head.

Remus nodded but watched the dog warily.

Bingo. If this was Remus, he would know right away that this was Sirius. Since this isn't Remus, who is it and where is the real Remus? I thought.

I decided not to show my fear or suspicions yet incase he tries to do anything to me, Sirius or the real Remus.

I leaned forward and kissed him. He kissed me back and pushed me onto my back on the couch. He hovered above me.

His smile changed. He pinned my wrists up beside my ears.

"Remus? Let me up," I said.

But Remus was too strong and pinned me down. I struggled to get out from under him, but again it was no use.

I heard Sirius growling warningly beside me.

"Shut up dog," Remus snapped to the dog. "I'm going to take good care of her."

I turned my head and saw Sirius' teeth bared and his ears were pinned out sideways. His front paws were parted slightly and his head was lowered.

"LET ME UP!" I screamed.

Remus slapped me. I felt the sting on my left cheek.

"Shut up, Hillary," he snarled. "It's your fault I was suspended and sent to Azkaban for a year."

I looked up at him in fear and terror mixed with surprise and confusion.

"Who are you?" I asked. "And where's the real Remus?"

"Dead," Remus smirked. "And don't you remember me, babe? Eric your sweetheart."

"Noo!" I screamed. "That's impossible!"

"Not really," Remus cooed as his form vanished, and then Emmeline Vance's form appeared then finally Eric's.

"I died trying to leave Azkaban and vowed to get even with you," Eric said. "Now its your turn to die!"

I screamed again. Sirius jumped on Eric and clamped his jaws on Eric's arm digging his teeth deeply into the skin. No blood began flowing.

"I'm a spirit you mutt," Eric said. "No flesh wounds will stop me."

But Sirius kept snarling and biting at Eric.

Eric flung the dog to the side.

The dogs skidded on the carpet before regaining traction before he lunged at Eric again.

Sirius jumped on Eric's back. Eric flung the dog off again and Sirius' back crashed into the bookcase. I heard a sickening crack. It sounded like Sirius' back was broken. I screamed again and struggled to get Eric off of me. Eric pulled out a silver knife.

"You may be a witch, but you can still die in a Muggle way," Eric smiled sinisterly.

He held the blade over my chest. I was still screaming. I didn't know where Lily was. I prayed someone would burst in and help me.

Just then, I heard the portrait hole open and Remus and Peter stood with their wands aimed at Eric.

"Too late," Eric smirked at Remus.

"NOO!" Remus yelled.

Eric plunged the blade into my chest.

REMUS.

"YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH!" I yelled. "SPIRTOMUS!"

A jet of white shot out from the tip of my wand and hit Eric right in the chest.

"Nooo!" he howled as a fast wind picked up.

Soon, Eric vanished in a puff of red smoke. I tucked my wand quickly back into my robe and rushed over to Hillary.

Peter rushed over to Sirius. The black dog got up on all fours and shook his body. He was okay. Blood stained the gray vest on Hillary's chest. The knife handle still protruding. Her eyes were closed. A thin ribbon of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth. Suddenly, her eyes opened.

"Remus?" she asked groggily.

"Ssh…I'm going to take you to Madam Elkin," I said as tears formed in my eyes.

Hillary's eyes closed again.

Sirius licked her face furiously. I carefully picked her up in my arms. I had one arm under her back and the other under her legs. Her hair dangled over my arm. Sirius changed back and we all hurried to Madam Elkin.

"I NEED HELP!" I cried entering the hospital wing.

Madam Elkin was tending to Lily and they looked up.

"HILLARY!" Lily screamed.

I gently placed Hillary on a cot beside Lily.

"YOU'VE GOT TO HELP HER!" I cried to Madam Elkin.

"What happened?" Lily sobbed as she got up off her cot and kneeled down beside the cot where Hillary was and began stroking her curly hair.

"Calm down, Mr. Lupin," Madam Elkin. "What exactly happened?"

She began examining Hillary as Sirius and I launched into the whole story. She cut the uniform vest off and just left the white button up shirt on. She unbuttoned a few buttons and exposed the wound with the blade. It was just above her left breast. I cringed and looked away fighting down tears.

Some of Hillary's blood got on the front of my uniform, robe and collar but I didn't care.

"Mr. Black, go and get the Headmaster," Madam Elkin said.

Sirius nodded and took off.

"Will you be able to help her?" I demanded.

Madam Elkin raised her eyes to mine.

"We'll try," she said quietly.

Within minutes, or second, Professor Dumbledore arrived. We explained everything to him again.

"Please save her," I said swallowing as tears formed in my eyes. "I love her so much."

Professor Dumbledore put a hand on my shoulder.

He then went over to Hillary. Lily was still sobbing stroking Hillary's curly hair.

Sirius gently pulled Lily to her feet, but she wanted to stay with her and struggled against Sirius' grip. Professor Dumbledore pulled out his wand and placed the tip of it on the handle of the knife.

In a flash of blue, the knife itself vanished from Hillary's chest. All that remained was the puncture wound. Lily was clutching onto Sirius now, sobbing hysterically. Then, both Dumbledore and Madam Elkin held the tips of their wands over the wound.

Two sets of lights, one green and one red touched the wound and it began magically healing itself.

The wound vanished completely and the skin was smooth.

After a few moments, Hillary still didn't move.