ROTRUFIN

F

CHAPTER EIGHT-ELLIE'S BACK

Lily came back into the Hall cleaner but still visibly sick and shaken.

She didn't have much of an appetite either.

We went to our classes.

During Potions, Professor Dumbledore called us out of the classroom and into the hallway.

"I've got some good news on Ellie," he said softly. "Someone fitting Peter's description was seen in London. The Ministry managed to nab him and they're holding him and Ellie. An official is going to come here to the castle this afternoon with Ellie."

Emma happily began hugging us.

Relief spread over me as well.

Dumbledore put a hand on Emma's shoulder before heading down the corridor.

"Listen," James whispered. "Let's head to the library to read up on Freznorix's okay?"

We nodded, not really worrying about class.

We entered the library and Sirius searched for the book. Emma, Lily, James and I sat down at the table. Lily was sitting beside me. Emma and James were sitting across from us.

Sirius returned with the book. He opened it up to the page:

We leaned forward and began reading:

Freznorix's are very rare and extremely hard to come by. Should you come across one, they are easily trained to do one specific task…destroy the victim.

They can be taught to attack one single person and not another. They have their own power, to manipulate, but that power can be easily strengthened. They can be taught to turn one person against the other.

"So that's it," Lily whispered. "It was trying to turn Remus against us…but why?"

We didn't reply but kept reading:

Freznorix's can take the shape of any animal…dogs, wolves, cats, horses etc. they can splinch their bodies and then two separate but identical animals will appear. One is harmless, the other evil. The evil half is normally encouraged to do the damage.

"Bloody hell," James said looking up at us. "That explains it! Someone got a hold of a Freznorix and taught it to attack Remus and turn him against us."

"We know what you're going to say," Sirius said to Lily. "And the answer is 'we don't know'".

Sighing, I shut the book closed.

"Someone obviously hates us," I said slowly. "So I would let you guys know to keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual."

They nodded.

"Let's get back to class," Emma said. "I can't wait to hold my baby!"

Sure enough, around 2PM, we were once again called from our classes. A female witch dressed in emerald green robes stood holding the baby wrapped in a pink blanket.

Immediately, Emma rushed forward with her arms opened wide.

The witch handed Emma the baby. Emma squealed happily and hugged it.

We all looked at each other grinning.

"Why on earth did Peter Pettigrew have the baby?" Professor Dumbledore asked the witch.

"He says he doesn't know but we think he's lying," the witch said. "We know he had a motive but we're not sure about what that would be. He's being held now and he won't get out again."

Dumbledore nodded.

The witch gave Emma a big grin before Apparating.

Dumbledore turned to us.

"I'd like for you guys to keep a close eye on Ellie. Peter may very well have been working for someone and the person might turn around and try and take Ellie again because Peter failed," he said eyeing me, Sirius, James and Lily.

We nodded.

He gently gave Ellie a pat on her little arm before heading off down the corridor.

We headed back to the common room. All the Gryffindors squealed when they saw Ellie.

"Ooh she's so cute!"

"…Ellie's a pretty name…"

"You must use Agatha Mordens baby diapers…they're wonderful!"

Finally, James and Sirius ushered everyone away to give Emma and Ellie some peace.

"I'm just glad she's okay," Lily said putting her face close to Ellie's.

Ellie began crying.

Lily sat back looking bemused.

I was sitting next to Emma and Ellie.

"Listen," Emma said handing me Ellie. "I need to use the little witch's room. Can you hold her for a moment?"

Reluctantly, I took the baby.

Immediately, the baby stopped crying.

"Look at that," James said grinning. "She likes Uncle Remus!"
We laughed.

The baby yawned in my arms and Sirius and James laughed again.

"Just as long as she doesn't poo on me it's fine," I said grinning good-naturedly.

"That's when you get to change the diapers," Emma teased.

We laughed again.

Ellie was clearly content in my arms.

"She probably likes you," Lily said grinning.

I smiled down at the baby.

"I'm still confused," James said frowning. "The dog was making Emma calm and cool about the fact that Ellie was taken because it was trying to turn Remus against us? How is that possible?"

"Probably because it wanted us to think Remus was paranoid and he would start to hate us," Sirius said slowly. "That makes sense…as for keeping Emma calm it was aiming to turn Remus against us too. It wanted to make us believe that Emma didn't care about the baby as much as we really knew she did."

"Ah that's much clearer," James said nodding.

"It basically wanted to tear us apart," I said bluntly.

"Even more clearer," James said.

"That's not going to happen," I said firmly. "I would never turn against you…any of you."

Lily gave me a hug…then James and Sirius.

Sirius turned toward me.

"You do know that tonight's a full moon right? We're heading to the Shrieking Shack around 11:30,"

"How could I not know?" I said rolling my eyes. "I'll be there trust me."

He nodded as he and James headed off to bed to get a nap in before we headed to the shack.

Lily was hungry and headed off to the kitchens. Emma and were left alone.

She turned to me.

"I know you would never turn against us," she said quietly. "But what if you can't help it?"

"What do you mean? What's bothering you?" I asked turning toward her. She had my rapt attention.

"That dog has me worried," she said biting her lip. "If it was sent here on purpose, someone obviously wants to turn you against us. What if the next time the person succeeds? We'd lose you."

I gently handed Emma back Ellie and put my face close to hers.

"I would never hurt you," I said quietly. "I promise."

I glanced down briefly at her lips before moving my eyes back onto hers.

"Trust me okay? I would never, ever turn against you,"

She still seemed upset.

I gently put a hand on the side of her face. She just smiled at me.

"'Night," I said softly.

"'Night," she whispered.

I got up and headed off to the boys' dorm.

EMMA.

Remus got up and headed into the dorm. I was so relieved to have Ellie back in my arms. I gently hugged the baby tightly. Professor McGonagall moved the crib into the girls' dorm next to my bed. I put Ellie down for a nap.

I too, decided to take one.

We all headed down to dinner next. We all laughed and ate happily.

After that, James, Sirius and Remus headed to the shack. Lily and I headed to the girls' dorm.

I decided to read for a bit while Lily and the others slept.

Ellie was sound asleep in the crib beside my bed.

I heard the dorm entrance door creaking open. I looked up. It was a gray wolf…Remus.

"What are you doing?" I whispered more to myself than anyone. "You're going to get into trouble."

The wolf continued to walk toward me. I saw the moonlight reflecting in the amber eyes. The wolf came around to the side of my bed and stuck his nose into the crib.

He licked the baby's face affectionately before turning and leaving the girls' dorm without so much as a look at me.

I fell asleep.

In the morning, James, Sirius and Remus were already sitting at the table.

"Morning!" I said brightly.

"Morning! Sleep well?" Lily asked.

"Yep," I said sitting down beside Sirius.

"Where'd you go last night mate?" James asked Remus. "You disappeared for a moment."

"He came in to check on Ellie," I said keeping my eyes on the sausage and eggs and began helping myself to them.

"I remember," Remus said nodding. "Then I went back outside."

"Yep," Sirius said.

"Has anyone figured out what's been killing the students?" Lily asked.

"No," James said. "Dumbledore's still stumped. Now that has me worried."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because Dumbledore's never stumped," James replied gravely. "So whatever this thing is is very, very smart and cunning to keep itself unknown."

Sirius nodded.

We ate our breakfast and headed to classes. Madam Pomfrey offered to keep a look after Ellie while I went to classes. Sort of like a baby-sitter.

I sat down beside Remus in Charms.

"You didn't come over to me last night," I whispered.

"I'm not a pooch, Emma," Remus whispered. "I'm not a normal 'dog'."

I looked at him, hurt.

"I know that," I said. "But that never stopped you before."

"I heard you scream and went into protective mode," Remus said. "I was being protective."

"That's fine," I said with a touch of coldness to my voice.

I continued to work on my Charms notes.

I avoided Remus for the rest of the day. I told Lily what happened.

"That's odd," she mused. "He might've just wanted to check on Ellie because of what had happened. He would never intentionally do that. Plus, he probably sensed that you were okay."

I nodded.

Several weeks went by and Dumbledore finally found out what was killing the students. It was indeed another wolf, but this was ten times bigger than a normal one. He had no idea how it had gotten into the castle but he told us that it was a werewolf.

This wolf weighed about 300 pounds. Dumbledore went to trap it but it managed to get out and it tore from the castle grounds disappearing into the darkness.

Remus was fine. I began realizing that Lily was probably right about him checking on Ellie that night. I also began realizing I was falling in love with him.

I had no idea that things would get worse…much worse.

About a month later the snow settled in and a blizzard swept in dumping 6 feet of snow on the grounds.

The castle was nice and warm inside. The fire crackled in the fire place and emitted a warm glow over us.

Remus and Lily had decided to take a walk outside even though it was like nearly below zero but he didn't feel the cold. Lily bundled tightly with her warm cloak.

"So," James said turning to me. "Have you told Remus how you feel?"

That question took me completely off guard.

"Excuse me?"

"We know how you feel about him," Sirius said. "We're not blind woman."

"Not yet," I grumbled as Ellie happily sat on Sirius' lap and played with his tie.

"He cares about you deeply," James continued.

"He's just shy," Sirius said putting his face close to Ellie's.

Ellie giggled and rested her head against Sirius' chest. She's pretty much taken with all of them.

"I'll say," James grinned. "Every time we mention sleeping with Emma he turns scarlet."

"And why would you say such a thing?" I demanded putting my hands on my hips.

I wasn't angry with them.

"Just teasing him," Sirius said grinning.

Suddenly, his grin faded and he sniffed at Ellie.

"OH MAN! THIS KID JUST LEFT AN IGLOO IN HER DIAPER!"

We roared with laughter.

"Change her," James said.

"You honestly want me to change this toxic diaper?" Sirius asked scandalized.

"Please," I said pleadingly. "You guys have been so good taking turns changing and feeding her. I really appreciate it."

"Fine," Sirius muttered as he picked up Ellie and I tossed him a small bag with her diapers, powders and other things. He headed off into the boys' dorm.

While he was changing her, we heard him yelling obscenities and moaning at how gross it was.

We giggled.

"Um, won't the baby pick up on that language?" Lily asked concerned.

"Oh yeah," James said nodding.

"We'll warn him," I grinned laughing.

Just then, Lily burst into the common room. Snow covered her hood and she was bleeding from her leg.

"Lily!" James cried jumping to his feet.

"It g-got Remus!" Lily stammered. "S-something attacked me and grabbed Remus!"

Immediately, I jumped to my feet.

"What?" I demanded worriedly.

"Remus is missing! Something grabbed him! I don't know where he is!"