MAELSTROM

CHAPTER NINE-ANOTHER MURDER

Alex went down. He quickly regained his stance and drew back his arm, preparing to punch me. Remus caught his fist before Alex's it connected with my face.

"You don't hit girls," Remus snarled, his eyes flashing.

Remus' grip tightened around Alex's fist before he let go. Alex in turn punched me after his fist was free. I went down, landing on top of a first years lap. I felt my lower lip. It was cut and bleeding.

"You bastard," I heard Arthur hiss.

Remus lashed out and kicked Alex in the groin. Alex dropped to his knees, with his hands over his groin.

Sirius punched Alex in the face.

"You never, EVER hit a girl," Sirius shouted angrily.

I got up, apologizing to the first year and I headed over to Molly, Lily and Arthur.

"God," Lily said as she pulled out a tissue and pressed it against my lip. "You really must hate Alex huh?"

Her lip twitched.

"He had no right," I said heatedly. "No one makes fun of my friends...no one."

Remus and Sirius were still eyeing Alex as if challenging him to start more.

Alex obviously didn't know when to quit because he tackled Remus to the floor and started punching him. That caused James and Sirius to join in on the action because they were defending Remus.

"Stop!" Lily screamed.

The boys didn't listen to her.

"Please stop!" Molly screamed next.

Still nothing.

Several of the 7th year boys began pulling James and Sirius off of Remus and Alex.

James and Sirius were struggling to break free of their captors grips, but had no luck.

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?" a voice cried angrily.

Professor McGonagall stood in the portrait entrance looking really angry.

Alex stopped punching Remus.

They all froze.

Professor McGonagall pulled Alex off of Remus. Remus shakily got to his feet. His lip was cut and bleeding and his nose was bleeding. Alex had a cut lip as well.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Professor McGonagall repeated harshly.

"She started it," Alex said, pointing to me. "She punched me."

He wiped his cut lip with the sleeve of his robe.

"She did not," Arthur said angrily.

"Yes I did," I said. "Don't lie."

Arthur looked upset now.

"Miss Owens," Professor McGonagall asked in a firm tone. "Why on earth would you punch Mr. Winters?"

"Because I was defending Arthur," I said. "Alex was making fun of him. I asked him why he was doing it. He said some rather rude things."

"That's no excuse to punch him," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "I shall have to escort you to the Headmaster."

"Not again!" I heard James wail.

"Mr. Potter," McGonagall said angrily. "That's enough."

James yanked his arms out of his captors grip and stalked over to the window, very angry. Sirius also yanked his arm out of his captors grip and sat down huffily on the couch.

"If she gets expelled, then expel me too," Arthur said.

"Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said in a voice of forced calm. "You have done nothing. Miss Owens was the one who instigated it."

"And Mr. Winters," she added turning to Alex. "You will also be escorted to the Headmaster."

I saw Sirius throw Alex a smirk.

"But..."

"You were hitting Mr. Lupin," she continued. "You too could've controlled your anger. Let's go."

The common room was silent as Alex and I followed McGonagall out of the common room.

ARTHUR.

I sadly watched as Carrie left. She glanced back at me and gave me a wan smile before they disappeared.

"That's so unfair!" James yelled after they left. "Why is it always Carrie who gets into trouble?"

"She did start it, James," Lily said quietly and reasonably.

"Because she was defending someone! Since when is defending someone a crime?" Sirius snarled punching the arm of the couch.

"She'll probably get suspended and all Alex will get is a slap on the wrist. We all know Headmaster Weston favors Alex," James snapped as he began pacing the common room.

It was now midnight. From inside the castle, we could hear the other houses singing and blowing their horns.

But the Gryffindor common room was silent as everyone headed to bed, leaving James, Sirius, Remus, Molly and I alone.

Remus was nursing his bloody nose.

Molly came over to me.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"No," I said miserably. "I'm going to talk with the Headmaster. Anyone want to join me?"

"I would," Sirius said.

"Sirius, you were close to being expelled before," Lily said.

"Like I care? This is Carrie we're talking about...our best friend," Sirius snapped.

"I'd love to come too," James said firmly.

"Let's go," I said as we headed to the portrait entrance.

"I'm coming too," Remus said as he joined us.

We left the girls speechless.

We hurried up to the Headmaster's office.

We knocked on his door.

"Come in," a strange voice said, yet it was familiar.

As we entered, we found Professor Dumbledore sitting behind the Headmaster's desk.

"Ah," he said his blue eyes twinkling. "I expected more company."

Carrie and Alex were standing in front of his desk.

We crowded behind them and stood silently.

"Where's Headmaster Weston?" Carrie asked.

"He's been feeling rather ill today. So I've offered to fill in for him," Professor Dumbledore said. "What happened?"

"She punched me," Alex said angrily. "For no reason."

"For no reason?" Carrie exclaimed. "You were making fun of Arthur! I was just defending him. I asked Alex why he was making fun of Arthur and he said something rather rude!"

"What did he say?" Professor Dumbledore asked, looking from Carrie to Alex.

Carrie suddenly became embarrassed.

"Can I whisper it?" she asked meekly.

"Of course,"

She went over to Dumbledore, leaned in close and I saw her whisper something.

She pulled back after a few seconds and took her place beside Alex.

"That really was uncalled for, Mr. Winters," Dumbledore said, looking angry now. "I can see why she punched you."

Alex's jaw dropped.

"However," Dumbledore said holding up a hand. "Alex? You will get a weeks worth of detention with me. You're lucky I don't expel you for that kind of slander. Go back to the common room."

Alex nodded. He knew enough not to start with Dumbledore. Alex turned and left without so much as a glance back.

"Don't expel Carrie," I said. "If you have to, expel me too."

Dumbledore stood up and walked around his desk.. He put a hand on Carrie's shoulder.

"I'm not going to expel anyone here," he said. "I don't think losing Carrie would be such a good idea now."

We all looked at each other quizzically.

"I know she's been getting visions," he explained calmly. "Has anything else happened? Aside from the dart?"

We shook our heads.

"Okay," Dumbledore said quietly rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "No one saw anyone else in the common room?"

Again, we shook our heads.

"Then that means that someone had to have an Invisibility Cloak," Dumbledore said looking grave. "And they could still very well be inside Hogwarts right now."

We looked at each other fearfully.

"But who would do those kinds of things?" Sirius mused.

"Someone who obviously has it in for you guys," Dumbledore said. "But why I have no idea."

Silence fell.

"If anything more happens," Dumbledore said. "I want to know about it."

"Right, Professor," James said nodding.

We left the Headmasters office and began heading back to the common room.

"I swear I'm going to light a candle in a church after this," Sirius muttered. "God must really like us not to get expelled."

Carrie smiled.

"That and I think Dumbledore likes us,"

She turned to me.

"Were you really going to get expelled with me?"

I nodded, blushing scarlet.

"We all would've," James replied as we entered the common room.

Molly and Lily jumped up from their seats with worried and anxious looks on their faces.

"Relax," Remus said. "She's not expelled."

He began explaining to them about Professor Dumbledore.

They let out relieved breaths and flopped down on the couch.

"So Headmaster Weston wasn't feeling well huh?" Molly asked.

"Yeah," Sirius said. "Maybe he ate too many prunes and decided to spend the day on the bowl."

James and Remus chuckled.

"Guys," Lily scolded lightly, but her lip twitched.

We all headed off to bed.

The next morning at breakfast, we all headed down to the Great Hall. As we took our seats at the Gryffindor table, we noticed Headmaster Weston wasn't sitting at his usual spot.

"Hey," Sirius whispered leaning across the table. "Headmaster Weston isn't at the Head table."

"We can see that, yup," James said rolling his eyes.

"Doesn't anyone find that a bit odd?"

"No," Lily said simply. "He might still not be feeling well."

We ate breakfast.

After Charms class, we headed outside onto the grounds. It was a beautiful day out. The sun was shining brightly and birds chirped merrily.

Arthur and I sat down under the large oak tree with our legs crossed. In front of us were Remus and Molly and sitting on my left was Lily and on Arthur's right was James. It formed a small circle.

"Imagine if Headmaster Weston snuffed it?" Sirius continued.

"Sirius," Lily said now angry. "He's just sick okay? Stop assuming the worst! Your bringing us all down!"

Sirius threw a scornful look at her before toying with the hem of his robe.

I shook my head and turned to look at Arthur. He gave me a wink and grin.

Suddenly, my eyes slid out of focus and I went rigid.

ARTHUR.

Carrie got the familiar look on her face. When her eyes slid back into focus, she shook her head.

"What happened now?" James demanded keeping his eyes on Carrie.

"It's the same vision I had before," she said quietly. "About us all dying right here under the tree."

"Nothing's going to happen," Remus said firmly. "You can be sure of that. We won't let it."

Carrie just nodded, but she still looked very upset and not convinced.

Carrie looked up at me, and her eyes went wide. I realized she was looking behind me. We all followed her gaze.

Standing right behind me with a wand aimed right at my back, was the figure with the heavily lidded eyes from the hood.

"Don't move," the figure snarled. "Or I will kill him without hesitation."

Molly was terrified and she remained still as a statue.

"What do you want?" Carrie asked angrily.

"To pay you back for what you did to me," the figure growled. "It's time to pay."

"Who are you?" Carrie asked narrowing her eyes.

"Someone who loved you, but you made up lies about me," the figure continued. "Now, who shall I kill first?"

Carrie looked terrified now.

"How about your new boyfriend?" the figure said pressing the tip of the wand deeper into my back..

"No," Carrie said angrily as she jumped to her feet. "Leave my friends alone. It's me you want."

I still had no idea who this was and by the looks on everyone else's faces, they too were completely stunned and confused.

But Carrie seemed to know exactly who it was.

"I can't do that," the figure said. "There's another person who is responsible for getting me into trouble."

The figure moved the wand onto Sirius now.

I began getting an idea who this might be.

"How about I kill him first?" the figure said.

I could hear a touch of joy in his/her voice. The voice wasn't distinguishable though. So I really couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl.

"I said 'leave my friends alone'," Carrie snarled.

She pulled out her wand and aimed it at the figure. Pretty soon, Molly, James, Remus, Sirius and I too, had pulled out our wands.

There was an awful silence that followed. No one moved or made a muscle twitch.

"You really think that you can stop me?" the figure said with a raucous laugh.

"You're certainly outnumbered, yes," James said coldly.

"Numbers are nothing...if I want to kill you. That won't stand in my way," the figure continued snickering.

The face was still covered by the shadow of the hood. It was almost like looking at a dementor.

I stood by ground...so did the others. Carrie had a mixed expression of fear and anger in her face.

"Well, we're going to certainly fight back. Don't thinks we won't make this easy for you," Sirius snarled.

"You won't win," the figure rasped.

"Wanna bet?" James rasped back.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" the figure shouted, pointing the wand at Sirius.

Sirius dove out of the way before the jet of red hit him.

"STUPEFY!" James shouted back at the figure.

The figure dove behind the tree. The jet of blue hit the tree just inches above my shoulder. I ducked quickly.

Luckily it didn't hit me.

"TARANTALLEGRA!" Lily shouted at the figure.

Once again, the figure managed to dodge the spell.

I saw the figure point the wand at Carrie. She raised my her own wand, prepared.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" the figure shouted.

"NOOOO!" Sirius howled.

The next thing I knew, Sirius dove in front of me. The jet of red hit him directly in the chest. He dropped to his knees before falling face down on the grass.