"ROTRUFIN

CHAPTER SEVEN-PARANOID

I reached into my robe and pulled out my wand. I aimed it at the dogs' eyes and shouted "Vehuan!"

The dog let go of my arm and whimpered, taking off back into the castle.

I shakily got to my feet and clutched my arm against my body. It was badly bitten and bleeding.

I staggered into the castle and right up to the common room. When I entered, the dog was already playing with Lily and Emma.

That's impossible! I just used the Burning Charm on its eyes! Now it seems like nothing had happened! Normally the eyes should have a reddish dust around them…nothing! I thought.

"Remus!" Emma cried alarmed as she looked up.

Her face drained of all color as she got up and came over to me.

"That dog attacked me in the courtyard," I growled.

"What?" Lily cried also looking up.

"That dog attacked me in the courtyard," I repeated staring at it.

Emma was busy checking the wounds over.

"Moony, that's impossible," James said slowly.

"And why would that be?" I asked angrily.

"He was here the whole time, mate,"

"I saw that dog charge me in the courtyard," I repeated becoming angrier. "I wouldn't make it up!"

"Look, we understand that you're a bit paranoid, but blaming it on an innocent dog is low," Lily said.

"Wait," Emma said suddenly. "These are definitely bite wounds, guys. I don't think Remus would intentionally bite himself."

"Fine," James said. "But why would the dog only attack him?"

"Not sure," Emma said.

I felt a rush of gratitude toward her.

"Emma, he's paranoid okay? Naturally he doesn't trust the dog or like him so the dog picked up on it and acted," Lily said.

Emma stared up into my eyes. I silently pleaded with her to believe me.

"That could very well be," Emma said slowly. "But still, the dog shouldn't have attacked him. Let's go to Madam Elkin."

The dog went to follow us but Emma said "Stay" firmly. The dog sat on his haunches and whined as he watched us leave the common room.

"Thanks for believing me," I said sighing gratefully.

She sighed.

"It is a bit weird that the dog just attacked you though. Why is he friendly toward Lily, James and I?"

"Well, I'm not sure about Sirius," I said. "But I don't know."

Madam Elkin wrapped a bandage around my arm with a special salve that would heal the wounds.

After that, we headed back to the common room.

By that time, it was bed time.

Emma and the dog headed off into the girls' dorm. Lily followed shortly. James went to the boys. I stayed awake in the common room.

The entrance opened and Sirius came back in.

"Is that dog gone?" he asked scanning the common room.

"Yeah. He's with the girls," I muttered.

"What happened to your arm?" Sirius demanded worriedly sitting beside me.

"I was sitting outside in the courtyard and the dog charged me and attacked me," I said. "Naturally James and Lily think I made it up."

"What about Emma?"

"She believed me. She told them that there were bite wounds on my arm,"

"Bless her," Sirius said affectionately.

"Why don't you trust the dog?" I asked curiously.

"It's giving off a weird vibe," Sirius said. "I can't put my finger on it though."

"Looks like we're the only ones that don't trust him," I muttered grumpily.

Sirius patted me on the back before getting up and heading into the boys' dorm. I followed shortly.

Around midnight, I woke up to a strange feeling. It felt like I was being watched again.

I sat up and scanned the dark dorm. I saw a pair of amber eyes reflecting the moonlight. It was the collie.

What the hell is going on? I wondered.

The dog was just sitting staring at me.

It pulled back its top lip, exposing the white canines and incisors…but this time, it didn't look normal. It almost had a wolfish appearance to it. Thick saliva dripped from its bottom jaw. It began growling…and it charged me again.

I threw my pillow out in front of me. The dogs' jaws clamped on the pillow and bit down. Feathers exploded from the pillow and fluttered all around me on the bed.

"SIRIUS! JAMES!" I yelled struggling to keep the pillow between me and the dog.

The light was turned on and the dog kept biting at the pillow.

"SHIT!" Sirius yelled scrambling to get out of bed.

Both he and James rushed over and James pulled the dog away, but the dog still had his jaws locked on the pillow.

I began breathing rapidly and I glared at James.

"Oh yeah," I said nastily. "He's a regular cream puff."

"I'm sorry mate," James apologized.

Once next to James, the dog was calm again and released the pillow from its jaws. It sneezed and sent more feathers scattering around.

"What's going on?" a female voice called from the common room.

It was Emma.

"Let's go," I said narrowing my eyes.

James went first with the dog and then Sirius and I followed.

Bits of feathers were sticking to my hair and clothes.

Emma was dressed in a pair of navy jogging pants and a pink tank top. Her arms were folded over her chest.

"What happened?" she asked looking at Sirius and I covered in feathers.

"That fucking dog is what happened," I snapped. "It tried to attack me again during the night!"

"He's right," Sirius and James said nodding.

"But why is he fine around James, Lily, Sirius and I?" Emma protested. "I don't understand why he's signaling you out."

"I don't know but he's got to leave and we're telling Dumbledore," Sirius said.

"But…" Emma protested again.

"He bloody well tried to kill me!" I shouted angrily. "Do you really want him around still?"

Emma bit her bottom lip.

"No," she said quietly.

"Let's go," James said.

He and I left the common room.

Much to our relief, Dumbledore was still awake.

"What are you three doing up at this hour?" he asked staring at us behind his half moon spectacles. He looked from James, to Sirius to me and to the dog.

"This dog tried to kill Remus twice," Sirius said.

"Did you see both attacks?"

"No, just the second one but what was weird was when Remus said how the dog attacked him the first time in the courtyard, he was in the common room the whole time," James said.

"Hmm," Dumbledore said thoughtfully stroking his beard.

"I'm not lying," I said.

"I'm not saying that," Dumbledore said softly as he got up and came around to the front of his desk. "I'm saying that his dog might very well be a Freznorix."

"What's a Freznorix?" Sirius asked tilting his head.

"It's sort of like a ghost, but is able to manipulate its self to be in two places at the same time," Dumbledore said crouching down in front of the dog.

"But a dog?" I asked frowning.

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Think of it as Splinching gone wrong but with two different personalities. I'm sure the dog in the common room was friendly while the other one was violent. These are very rare and hard to find. I wonder how it got here?" Dumbledore mused.

"It followed some first year into the castle," Sirius said.

"All the same," Dumbledore said. "I don't think this dog was sent here by accident."

"You think someone sent it here?" I asked alarmed. "Who?"

Dumbledore looked at us gravely and I immediately knew who he was thinking of.

"But why?"

"That I can't be too certain of but I would definitely keep your eyes peeled. The other half of this dog isn't with Emma is he?"

"No sir, this is the whole dog," Sirius said shaking his head.

"Good," Dumbledore said nodding. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to destroy it."

"How?" Sirius asked.

"With the Ecomos Charm," Dumbledore said.

He pulled out his wand and aimed it at the dog. I shut my eyes.

"Ecomosi Danori!" Professor Dumbledore whispered.

I heard a crackling sound.

After a few moments, there was silence. I slowly opened my eyes.

The dog vanished.

"I want you two to go back to the common room now and get some sleep…you all need it," Dumbledore said gently.

Nodding, we turned and left his office.

When we arrived back at the common room, we found Emma going ballistic.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BABY!" she screamed as she picked up a heavy ceramic vase and heaved it at James' head.

Luckily, he ducked and it hit the wall and shattered. Lily was terrified but she was trying to calm Emma down.

"Emma…please, calm down," Lily pleaded in a shaky voice.

Emma's eyes were wild as she looked at Lily.

"HE TOOK MY BABY!" Emma screamed as she picked up another vase and heaved it this time toward me. I ducked and it shattered against the wall.

I rushed forward and pinned her arms at her sides. I was standing behind her.

She struggled to break free, but I gently but firmly held on.

"Emma," I said putting my mouth close to her ear. "Please calm down…okay? No one here took Ellie. We're going to find her okay? Trust me."

Emma leaned back against me and was breathing heavily. Finally, she went limp and I slowly loosened my grip around her.

She turned around and wrapped her arms my neck. She rested her chin on my shoulder. I slowly wrapped my arms around her too and drew her close.

"I just want Ellie back," she sobbed.

"I know," I whispered gently pressing my face into her hair.

"Can you handle this?" Sirius asked looking from Emma to me.

I raised my eyes to him and nodded.

They headed off to bed.

Emma wouldn't let go.

"Emma," I said gently. "Please let go okay? We'll sit down and talk."

Finally Emma released me and we sat down on the couch.

"What on earth made you think James took Ellie?" I asked concerned facing her.

Emma raised a hand to her forehead.

"I don't know…all of a sudden I felt really paranoid and like I couldn't trust anyone. Then I seemed to snap out of it. It seemed to happen directly after that dog came around," Emma said.

"The dog was a Freznorix," I explained. "It was able to be in two places at once but the one 'dog' if you will had a completely different temperament."

I explained it to her more what Dumbledore had said.

She was wide eyed.

"Plus, I noticed while the dog was around you were so cool and calm about Ellie. We know that's not you," I continued.

"I know," Emma admitted. "It was like it was forcing me to be like that I would turn against you. That's probably why I remember not believing you about the dog…it was forcing me to be like that."

I looked at her startled.

"Are you saying that the dog was manipulating you into turning against me and turning the others too?" I asked slowly.

She nodded.

"I can't put my finger on it but that's the feeling I got. I say go to the library tomorrow and read more up on Freznorix's,"

"Agreed," I said.

Emma leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes.

"I'm really sorry about this," I said quietly.

She didn't reply.

"Emma?" I asked.

I put my face close to hers and realized that she had fallen asleep. Smiling to myself, I pulled the Gryffindor throw cover off the back of the couch and draped it over her. I too, curled up on a chair across from her and dozed off shortly.

In the morning, I awoke to find James, Lily, Sirius and Emma looking at me gravely. But there was blood on Lily's tee-shirt.

"What's wrong?" I demanded snapping to full alertness. "Are you injured?"

Panic began settling in now as I jumped to my feet and gently took Lily's shoulders.

"There's been another murder," Lily said her voice shaking. "One of the Gryffindor first years right in the girls' dorm. She was literally torn to pieces."

Dumbledore was called immediately.

Lily explained how she woke up early this morning and went to get dressed when she stumbled over something lying at the foot of her bed. She landed right on top of the girls' body. That's how the blood had gotten onto her tee-shirt.

There wasn't much left of the first year.

James wrapped his arm around her comfortingly.

Once the body had been taken away, Lily said she needed a shower. Emma grabbed Lily's robe and uniform and handed it to her. Lily left the common room, heading toward the girls' shower room.

The rest of us headed down to the Great Hall.

Emma was still shaken and I relayed what she told me to James and Sirius.

"Blimey," Sirius said wide-eyed. "I think we definitely should read up on Freznorix's more."

I nodded.

"Okay," James said suddenly. "If the Freznorix was sent here on purpose, why turn us against each other or turn Emma against us?"

"Not sure," Emma said quietly.

Suddenly, fear crept into her eyes.

"What if it wasn't meant for us?" she said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" I asked keeping my eyes on hers.

"Isn't it odd that it only went for Remus?" she asked slowly. "What if it was meant to turn Remus against us?"

We looked at each other. I felt a tingle running up my spine.