ROTRUFIN

CHAPTER SIX-THE STRAY

REMUS.

Sirius and I headed to Professor Dumbledore's office.

He looked up when we entered.

"Oh good," he said as he stood up from behind his desk. "I've got some news on the person that might've taken Ellie."

Sirius and I looked at each other before returning our eyes onto Professor Dumbledore again.

"Apparently, someone resembling Peter Pettigrew passed the portraits that hung over the staircase. Naturally, no one could positively identify him, but there's a sketch about the possibility," Dumbledore said.

"Peter? Why would Peter want a baby?" Sirius asked tilting his head.

"And how would he know?" I added gravely. "He went missing before we even found out about Emma."

"I'm not sure," Dumbledore said quietly. "But might I suggest keeping an eye on Emma. No one knows if this person might try and harm her as well."

"Is there going to be a search?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore sighed.

"We don't really know where to begin," he said. "The person could be anywhere by now…in any part of England."

"What about searching when we've changed?" I suggested.

Dumbledore shook his head.

"Too dangerous, plus, once you found the person, he might get suspicious after seeing you two again. He'd know you were sent for him and he might harm Ellie."

"Are we just supposed to sit here and do nothing?" I demanded angrily.

Dumbledore put his hands on each of Sirius and I's shoulders.

"Unfortunately, because there's not much information on the kidnaper. We'd best sit and see if anything else happens. But I will inform the Ministry of Magic about the kidnapping. They'll alert witches and wizards around England and the surrounding area to be on the look out for someone resembling Peter. It's all we've got at this point. Something is better than nothing," he said quietly. "Keep Emma calm and keep reassuring her. We will find Ellie."

Sirius and I nodded and left the office.

I angrily punched the wall, causing my knuckles to bleed.

"Moony, mate," Sirius said alarmed. "Calm down."

"I made a promise and now have to go back on it?"

"No," Sirius said putting a hand on my shoulder. "But what Dumbledore said is true. We really don't have much information on the kidnaper. We can't act until we have facts and evidence."

I sighed as we continued to head back to Emma in the hospital wing.

Emma looked up.

"What did Dumbledore say?" James asked immediately.

Sirius relayed to him what he said. I sat down on a cot next to Emma's bed and cringed. My knuckles were badly bleeding and they were cut. I reached into my robe and pulled out a handkerchief. I wrapped it around my knuckles and hand.

"What happened?" Emma asked alarmed.

"He fought with the wall and lost," Sirius said deadpan.

"What?" Lily said alarmed.

"I punched the wall," I muttered.

"Why on earth would you do that?" James asked.

"Because he feels angry that he can't do anything for Emma," Sirius said softly and quietly.

"Remus," Emma said looking at me. "I know you guys are doing everything you can to find Ellie. That's all I can hope for."

Tears formed in her brown eyes. "And I hope Ellie is okay."

"I'm sure she is," James said earnestly.

Lily put an arm around Ellie and gave her a squeeze.

In the morning, Madam Elkin said Ellie was fit to leave but she was to take it easy for a few days.

Emma kept her arm around my waist and leaned against me for support. Sirius was on her other side.

We headed back to the common room. We sat Emma down on the couch. James and Lily plopped down on the two chairs and Sirius sat on the floor.

"We still don't know where Peter is," Lily said suddenly. "He went missing during Herbology remember? But no one saw anything out of the ordinary. That's a bit strange don't you think?"

"It is," James agreed.

"How could someone just vanish into thin air?" Sirius mused.

Emma tucked her legs out sideways. They were resting against my thigh.

Emma closed her eyes.

"Wait a moment," she said suddenly.

We all looked at her.

"While you five were yapping and goofing off as usual," she said her eyes still closed. "I was concentrating on the Marimon Plant. I remember Peter wrapping some kind of cloak around him but at that point I turned to you, Sirius."

James snapped his fingers.

"I bet it was an Invisibility cloak!" James cried. "But that would mean mine…"

His face drained of all color. He leapt up from his seat and tore into the boys' dorm.

We heard banging and cursing coming from the dorm.

Shortly, James came back into the common room.

"It's gone," he said breathlessly. "I bet Peter stole it."

"But why? And why didn't you realize this before?" Lily scolded.

"Well Duh! Emma just remembered something now. It never dawned on me to look plus I haven't had the need to use it," James said rolling his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Emma apologized. "I should've said something earlier."

"No, forget it," Lily said soothingly.

Just then, a first year Gryffindor came in, followed by a dog.

"Is he yours?" the first year asked staring down at the dog. "I was outside and he just appeared and followed me inside."

The dog was a black and white border collie. There was a white stripe of fur down the nose and between they eyes. The dogs brown eyes immediately locked onto me.

"No," James said shaking his head. "I think you should go and tell Dumbledore. That's strange that a stray dog just came onto Hogwarts' grounds."

"Maybe not," Emma said. "It might've just wandered away from its owner. Come here boy."

She slapped her thigh and the dog came over to her.

She felt around the dogs' neck.

"No tags," she murmured.

The dog sat on his haunches and panted.

"I still have an uneasy feeling about this," Sirius said slowly.

"It's just a dog, Sirius!" Emma scolded. "Why would you feel uneasy about a dog?"

"I don't know okay?" Sirius argued. "I just have a feeling. Keep it away from me."

With that, he got up and left the common room.

"All the same, I think we should tell Dumbledore," I said quietly.

"But…" Emma protested.

"As a precaution," Lily said.

"Fine," Emma muttered. "I'm coming."

"Are you sure? Are you up to it?" I asked concerned.

"Yes," Emma said. "I'm not glass, Remus."

She got up slowly and then I did.

The dog trotted in-between Emma and I as we left the common room.

"I'm just concerned about you that's all," I said as we walked down the corridor.

"I know…and I appreciate it," Emma said. "But I'm not going to fall apart either. I just want Ellie."

Her voice began unsteady again and the dog nudged her hand. She had tears streaming down her cheeks as she patted the dog on the head.

I went to comfortingly put a hand on her shoulder, but the dog growled, showing the canines and incisors.

"Tell me that's not normal behavior," I said keeping my arms at my sides.

"He probably senses that I'm upset…nothing personal," Emma said shrugging.

We entered Dumbledore's office.

"Miss Gibson," he said kindly as he got up and came over to us. "How are you feeling? Sit, please. Would you like something cold to drink?"

He immediately conjured a comfortable looking chair and Emma sat down.

"Actually, yes please," Emma said. "Maybe some iced tea?"

"Done," Dumbledore winked.

He waved his wand and a nice cold glass of iced tea appeared. Emma thirstily drank some.

"What do we have here?" he asked his blue eyes moved onto the Border collie.

"Not sure. It followed some first year into the castle," I said eyeing the dog suspiciously.

"Hmm," Dumbledore mused as he pulled out his wand and aimed it at the dog.

"What are you going to do?" Emma demanded alarmed.

"Just some precautionary charms to make sure it's not an Animagi or harboring any kind of evil charms," Dumbledore said patiently.

He waved the wand at the dog. A jet of light pink shot out from the tip of his wand and hit the dog. Nothing.

"Not an Animagi," Dumbledore said.

He did several more tests. Once again, the dog remained.

"He appears to be harmless," Dumbledore concluded. "All the same, be careful around him."

We left and the dog once again, walked between us.

We returned to the common room in silence.

"Dogs fine," Emma said brightly.

She sat down and began playing with him. I sat on the couch and folded my arms over my vest.

"Something tells me that you're not satisfied," Lily said slowly looking at me.

"I'm not," I grumbled. "A stray dog just happens to wander onto Hogwarts grounds? Dogs are more Muggle related. Muggles aren't supposed to be able to see Hogwarts right? Suppose the dog is some kind of spy or something?"

Sirius burst out laughing and so did James.

"Moony, mate," Sirius choked. "You're losing your marbles!"

"I think you've been eating too many rabbits," James chuckled.

That only made me even more irritated.

"A spy? Come on…where would the little video camera be? Or microphone?" Emma asked looking up at me with a huge grin. "There's nothing on this dog."

She was searching over the entire dog.

She lifted a paw up and gently bent it backward, exposing the pads. Suddenly her face froze in a look of horror.

"Oh. My. God," she said slowly.

"What? What is it?" Lily asked alarmed.

"This dog killed a Smurf!" Emma cried then burst out laughing.

James, Lily and Sirius thought that was absolutely hilarious.

I sat, seething.

"Maybe the microphone's in the but?" Emma mused as she went to pull the dogs tail aside.

I angrily got up and left the common room.

EMMA.

Remus got up and left the common room angrily. I began feeling a bit guilty for teasing him like that.

The dog just happily licked me on the face.

"I'll be right back," I said as I stood up.

The dog ran over to Lily next. She laughed and continued to play with him.

I left the common room and walked down the corridor. I found Remus standing on one of the connecting bridges, staring out at the grounds. A cold wind howled outside. Snow was coming. We could smell it in the air.

I stood next to him and crossed my arms on the window sill.

"Remus…" I began but he turned to me.

Anger filled his blue eyes.

"I'm sorry if I care about you," he growled. "But something doesn't sit right with me with that dog."

"Dumbledore did all the tests on him though," I said reasonably. "He's obviously fine."

"And what if there's one test he didn't do?" Remus argued.

"And what one would that be?"

"I'm not sure but I have a feeling that there's one test missing," Remus grumbled returning his eyes onto the Quidditch pitch that was visible from here.

"Look," I said angrily. "This dog is helping me okay? I just want my baby back…that's all. You've got to stop being so paranoid and chill out."

Remus muttered something but I couldn't hear him.

"What was that?" I asked leaning close to hear him better.

He was silent.

"I understand that you care about me," I continued. "But becoming over protective is smothering me too. Learn to trust me and the others around you. We all care about you as well."

With that, I headed back to the common room.

REMUS.

I didn't say anything. I just stared out at the pitch.

She was right of course.

Sighing, I continued down the bridge and when I reached the end, I had this odd feeling that someone was watching me. I turned and looked. No one.

Shrugging, I continued.

I headed out into the courtyard. Being in the cold always helps me think.

I sat down on one of the stone benches in front of the fountain. The water was frozen now and bits of dead leaves stuck to the surface.

I leaned forward, my elbows resting on my thighs. I clasped my hands and stared at the ground.

Why couldn't I shake that feeling that something was with that dog? It kept gnawing at my gut and no matter how many times I tried to dismiss it, it kept coming back.

Could I really be paranoid? I mean, I do have a bit of a hard time trusting new situations. I seem to second guess myself.

It probably was nothing more than a normal stray dog that wandered from the nearest Muggle town.

But why'd it growl when I went to put a hand on Emma's shoulder? Was it just being protective?

I sighed and that feeling that someone was watching me came over me again. I looked up.

Standing on all fours was the Border collie.

"Hey boy," I called. "Come here."

I slapped my thigh.

The dog remained. It was staring at me with such a strange expression I actually began to get fearful.

"Here boy," I called and whistled.

The dogs' ears flattened out sideways and it charged at me. I froze and protectively threw my arm up over my face. I felt the dogs' jaws clamp onto my arm, between my wrist and elbow. Blood began flowing and the dog was snarling viciously.

From the force, I was knocked backward off the bench. It stood over me, snarling and biting at my arm.

It wanted to kill me.