MAELSTROM

CHAPTER EIGHT-NO PROOF?

CARRIE.

Madam Elkin checked Sirius over.

"I'm not familiar with dog wounds," she said. "But I should be able to patch him up."

I nodded. Sirius was lying on his side with all four paws stretched out. Madam Elkin put a salve on a large, long bandage and wound it around his neck.

"That'll stop the bleeding. Tomorrow, I'll have to apply a new bandage to start the healing process."

Molly was clutching James' arm. She looked pale and upset.

"You know Muggle pets aren't allowed inside Hogwarts," she continued. "I'll have to contact the Headmaster and Professor Dumbledore."

I nodded meekly.

Molly pressed her face into James' arm now.

Sure enough, Headmaster Weston arrived later on, followed by Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.

"What's going on here? A dog inside Hogwarts?" Headmaster Weston asked frowning.

He was in his late 50's with graying dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing dark red robes and a matching hat.

Dumbledore was surveying me with his blue eyes behind half moon spectacles. His beard and hair reached a little past his shoulders. He was wearing dark green robes and Professor McGonagall was wearing a blue robe over her nightdress.

She was chewing on her bottom lip and her eyes were locked on the dog. She had glasses on.

"He's mine, sir," I said swallowing. "I had forgotten to tell someone about him."

"This is against school rules," Headmaster Weston said sternly.

"Yes, sir," I said quietly.

"I'm afraid you will be expelled," he said sadly.

Molly let out a sob. James put his arms around her and comforted her.

"Now, Mike," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "The dog really hasn't bothered anyone."

"That's not the point," Headmaster Weston said. "Muggle animals aren't allowed here at Hogwarts."

"Yet," Dumbledore continued. "You allow owls, rats, or toads...those are Muggle animals...am I right?"

Professor Dumbledore was sticking up for me! I couldn't believe it. Professor McGonagall came over to me and put an arm around my shoulders. I felt tears forming in my eyes. If I left, whoever was trying to kill or hurt us would succeed. My friends would have no chance.

I wouldn't be able to warn them.

Professor Weston looked flabbergasted.

"But," he began. "Those animals are regulation. They're written down."

"So," Professor Dumbledore said, a touch of anger in his voice now. "Why can't dogs be added? It's not too late."

"DON'T EXPEL HER!" a voice yelled from the hospital wing entrance.

Lily, Arthur and Remus came charging in.

They came to a full stop beside Dumbledore.

"What is the meaning of this?" Headmaster Weston demanded angrily.

"Don't expel her!" Arthur said angrily.

"You'll have to expel us too," Lily said firmly.

Lily, Remus and Arthur folded their arms over their chest.

"We knew about the dog too," Remus said. "So expel us too."

"We knew too," James said as Molly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and suddenly became firm. "Expel us too."

"I'm sure the Ministry would love to hear why you expelled six Gryffindors only and so would their parents," Dumbledore said with a touch of coolness to his voice.

"In fact," McGonagall stiffly. "I could have Arimus bring their belongings right up."

"Fine," Headmaster Weston said. "You lot can stay...but no more shenanigans."

He left.

Everyone hugged one another in relief.

I turned to Dumbledore.

His blue eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. He leaned close to me.

"Make sure Sirius is okay," he whispered.

I looked at him completely startled.

How'd he know?

He gave me a little wink before he and McGonagall left the hospital wing.

"Whew," Lily breathed. "That was close!"

"You were really going to do that for me? Get expelled?" I asked in awe.

"Sure," James said shrugging.

Arthur, Molly, Remus and Lily nodded too.

I felt happy tears forming, but then they vanished.

"I almost forgot," I said my voice dropping. "I had another dream."

James' face drained of all color.

I proceeded to tell them about the dream.

"That sounds like the same figure I saw behind me on the stairs," Molly said wide-eyed.

"It probably was," James replied. "But we've got to find out who this person is and stop him or her."

Madam Elkin gave the dog a pat.

"He'll be alright," she said softly. "I gave him a Nitor Potion on his tongue. It's like a Muggle sedative. By tomorrow, he'll be as good as new."

Relieved, we left the hospital wing.

Arthur kept his arm around my shoulders. Remus was talking with Molly. James and Lily were on our right.

"This is getting really violent now," Lily whispered. "How on earth did a dart get into the common room? There was no one in there except us!"

"And why did it make Remus act violently as well?" James added.

"Hey," Arthur said suddenly. "James, do you still have the dart?"

James reached into his robe pocket and pulled out the dart.

It was about 3 inches long with a red and yellow feather on the other end of the dart. The tip was sharp as a needle, but was covered in a yellow gel-like substance.

Arthur carefully took it from James and studied it.

Molly and Remus stopped walking a head of us and turned around, walking back.

"That's the dart that was sticking out of your hindquarters," Molly said looking scared.

"I've seen this before," Arthur said excitedly. "It's a tranquilizer dart."

"Tranquilizer?" Lily said frowning. "But Remus wasn't sleeping or anything. He was wide awake."

"I know," Arthur said. "That's probably because who ever owned this dart, dipped it into a potion or serum. Meaning he or she wasn't going to use this for a tranquilizer."

"You mean it was deliberate?" James asked shocked.

"I'm afraid so," Arthur said. "And it's probably the same person who's been doing all of those lovely 'accidents'."

"Can you find out what type of potion or serum it was dipped into?" I asked excitedly.

Arthur nodded.

"We should head down to the Potions dungeon though,"

"Let's go," Remus said firmly.

We headed down to the dungeon. Arthur began setting up different potions and bottles. He began testing the dart.

We watched him amazed. Studying a lot of the Muggle lifestyle really paid off.

I looked at him proudly.

"Ah ha!" he cried about 30 minutes later. "Whoever had this dart dipped it into a Jarimut serum."

"Jarimut? That's an Aggression Inducer," Remus said sounding stunned.

We looked at each other with grave expressions.

"It's also illegal," James replied. "The Ministry of Magic banned it after several wizards and witches tried to train guard dogs that weren't meant to be aggressive."

"Geeze," Molly said putting a hand to her mouth.

"I think we should tell Professor Dumbledore," Lily said seriously.

"We'll do it tomorrow," James said. "In a few days it will be New Years Eve."

We headed back to the common room.

The next day, we told Professor Dumbledore everything. He admitted that we should definitely keep our eyes peeled and take precautions.

He also whispered to me that he knew the dog was Sirius because Sirius had come to him a while ago and told him what he was going to do. In fact, he knew about Remus and James as well.

We knew that Dumbledore would never tell on them. We knew we could trust him.

We went to our classes. Sirius was okay. Madam Elkin didn't know that it was Sirius so when we went to pick him up, he was still in dog form. He trotted happily in between Remus and I. The others were in class.

Remus turned to me.

"So you really like Arthur huh?" he asked smiling.

I looked at him.

"Yeah," I said softly. "And you really like Molly huh?"

He nodded.

Then, an uncomfortable silence fell.

I could see he wasn't comfortable so I decided to change the subject.

"I really wonder who's doing all of these horrible things to us?" I mused as Sirius nudged my hand with his nose.

I grinned and reached down to scratch an ear.

"I'm not sure," Remus said gravely.

Sirius nudged Remus' hand too.

Remus absentmindedly began scratching Sirius' ear. Suddenly, he froze with a look of realization on his face.

I heard Sirius growling and realized Remus was scratching his ear too hard. Remus quickly stopped.

"What is it?" I asked.

"No one ever saw Peter's body...did they?" he asked looking at me.

I realized it too.

"No," I said.

"I think we should tell the others," Remus said seriously.

We hurried back to the common room.

Everyone was talking amongst themselves when we entered the common room. Sirius immediately changed back into his human self.

"Feels good to be back," he said stretching. "Without the urge to lick myself."

"You do that anyway," Lily teased him.

Sirius scowled at her before plopping down on a chair.

"Listen," I said lowering my voice.

They all looked at Remus and I attentively.

"Has anyone seen Peter's body?"

They all shook their heads.

I let those words linger in the air for a bit before James stood up.

"Are you saying Peter's the one doing all of this?" he asked.

"I'm not saying that," I said. "But isn't it odd that we haven't seen his body yet? We were in the hospital wing no? We would've surely seen it there."

"She's right," Arthur said nodding.

"So what does that mean? He faked his own death?" Molly asked tilting her head sideways.

"It certainly sounds like that," Remus said. "Because there's no body in the hospital wing."

"Where did they say they found the body?" Lily asked.

"Actually, Dumbledore didn't say," Molly said slowly. "He just said that Peter had been killed using the Killing Curse."

"Exactly...which means it wasn't Dumbledore who found Peter," Arthur said. "Knowing Dumbledore he would've told us exactly where Peter was found. It had to be someone that told him Peter was found dead, but there's no real proof."

"That makes perfect sense," I said eagerly. "So someone is lying in this school."

New Years Eve rolled around.

Gryffindor was having another party to celebrate the New Year.

"2005," I sighed. "Wow."

"I know," Arthur said nodding.

We were standing by the window, looking out at the beautiful night sky. A crescent moon hung in the midnight blue sky. Stars twinkled merrily. The moon was hidden behind clouds briefly before it poked out again.

Remus and Molly were sitting close together on the couch. Lily and James were making out in a corner.

Sirius was having some fun with some first years. The common room was buzzing. Most of the other houses were having parties as well. We were aloud to stay up past midnight just this once.

I put my hands on the window sill. Arthur matched my position. I gently moved my hand over his, our fingers intertwining.

We looked at each other and beamed before returning our eyes onto the moon.

I checked my watch.

"11:50 P.M," I said. "Ten minutes till midnight!"

I heard everyone cheer.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked, turning to face Arthur.

"Sure," he said. "Anything."

"Why are you so interested in Muggles?" I asked grinning. "Not that I mind. I like Muggles too."

"Oh," Arthur said blushing. "I just think its fantastic how they learned to get through life without magic. Magic's been such a huge part for us. I just love all the inventions that they have...electricity...cars...doctors."

"Doctors are people," I said laughing. "Not inventions."

"Oh yeah," he said turning scarlet even more. "I mean like medical instruments and technology."

"Ah," I said nodding.

"You probably think I'm stupid,"

"I could never think that!" I said stunned. "Why on earth would you think that?"

"Because some of the students here make fun of me," he said looking down at his feet. "They think I'm weird because I love Muggles."

"Like who?" I demanded. "I might have to have a talk with them."

"The Slytherins mostly," he said. "And a Gryffindor named Alex Winters."

Immediately, my anger began rising.

I scanned the common room. Alex was talking flirtatiously with a pretty seventh year Gryffindor named Elizabeth Shirley.

"Don't worry about it," Arthur said quickly.

"If someone is making fun of my best friend," I growled. "I'm going to say something. Plus, he called me a 'freak' so he has it coming."

"Hey Alex!" I called loudly. "Can I have a wee chat with you?"

Immediately, Lily and James stopped kissing; Remus and Molly looked up and watched me intently. Sirius stopped fooling around with the first years and looked up also.

"Carrie, really," Arthur protested. "It's no big deal."

James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Molly headed over to me.

"What's wrong?" Remus demanded.

"I just found out that our lovely friend Alex has been ragging on Arthur because of his fondness for Muggles," I said angrily.

"What a scuzzbag," Sirius said rounding on Alex.

"Really," Arthur said in a shaky voice. "It's no problem."

"But it is," Remus said. "He's got a problem with people who in his eyes are different."

Molly and Lily went to stand beside Arthur while Sirius, James and Remus stood behind me.

"What is it?" Alex asked annoyed.

"Leave Arthur alone," I snarled.

"I mean really," Alex said. "He's a Muggle loving fool...can't you see it? Oh wait...you'd rather fuck him."

The common room fell completely silent now. I walked right up to Alex's face, clenched my fist at my side, and raised my arm, drawing it back. I punched him right in the face.