ROTRUFIN

CHAPTER 21-GILLIAN'S PLAN

We stared at Marybeth with a look of fear, shock and revulsion on our faces.

"How?" Remus demanded narrowing his eyes.

"It was simple," Marybeth said actually sounding pleased. "I pulled on my cloak and snuck into her room with a Muggle knife and just made up that vision."

"No, I mean how could you?" Remus asked looking completely disgusted. "We thought you were so sweet."

"See, that's why I'm in here," Marybeth said smirking. "Not because I am psychic, but because I have a jealousy problem."

Remus got up and was clearly disgusted.

"I love you," Marybeth continued smiling. Her eyes twinkled like nothing was wrong. "I couldn't let Chelsea come between us."

Shaking his head, Remus turned and abruptly left the room. We took that cue and followed.

"PLEASE COME BACK!" Marybeth cried.

Remus marched right up to one of the Healers.

"I know who killed Chelsea," he said swallowing.

"Who?" the Healer asked.

"Marybeth…she just confessed to all of us,"

We all nodded.

"Thanks," the Healer said.

She called for backup and hurried into Marybeth's room. We heard her yelling profanities as the Healers dragged her from the room.

Once outside, we turned to Remus.

"Oh man," James said shaking his head. "We thought she was such a sweet kid too."

"I know," Lily said sadly.

"She wasn't sweet," Remus snapped. "She's evil and vile and killed one of my best friends."

We all looked at him sympathetically.

"I'm so sorry," I said quietly.

"Fine," Remus said shortly. "Let's just head back to school huh?"

I glared at Gillian before following Remus. I linked arms with him.

"I'm really sorry, Moony," I said quietly.

He didn't reply.

We continued to London and then to the park where our brooms were hidden.

Making sure the darkness was our cover we mounted the brooms and took flight.

Once we hit school, I felt completely relaxed for some reason.

We landed on the Quidditch pitch and carried our brooms into the castle.

We entered the Gryffindor common room and sat down. No one was talking much. I think everyone was in more of a state of shock at finding that Marybeth killed Chelsea.

"I'm heading to bed," Remus muttered as he got up and left the common room.

"Me too," James said.

Sirius nodded too. He gave me a wink before following James and Remus into the boys' dorm.

It was just Lily, Gillian and I now.

"Poor Chelsea," Gillian said sadly. "I can't believe Marybeth did that."

"Love is blind and can make you do crazy things," I said meaningfully.

"Yeah," Lily cracked. "There were times I wish I was literally blind seeing Sirius in shorts."

My lip twitched.

Gillian sighed.

"What is your problem with me?" she demanded.

"My problem, Gillian is that you used Remus just for sex," I said angrily.

"No, I didn't," Gillian argued. "I told you I was afraid of losing him because my parents abandoned me! I didn't want that to happen again!"

"Might I suggest talking to Remus?" I shot back. "He probably thinks you used him!"

"I want to!" Gillian cried. "I'm just not sure if he would understand!"

"But I do," I snarled my eyes narrowed. "You think just because your uncle is Dumbledore you can just sleep with whom ever you want and not care about people's feelings!"

There was silence that hung in the air. Those were cruel words, but I couldn't help it. I didn't understand Gillian's logic. To me, that didn't make any sense and truthfully, I was jealous that Remus slept with her.

Gillian's eyes filled with tears. She stood up and stormed back to the girls' dorm.

"Cruel, Emma," Lily said quietly as she too, got up and left the common room.

I stood, still fuming. I folded my arms over my chest and began pacing the common room. I was breathing heavily too.

Letting out an irritable cry, I left the common room to walk on the grounds.

The cool night air seemed almost soothing to me.

I began pacing in front of the greenhouses deep in thought.

Suddenly, I heard a rustling in the bushes behind me.

I stopped pacing and squinted into the darkness. A pair of glowing gold eyes peered back at me before disappearing again.

I began getting frightened now. I began quickly walking back toward the castle. Suddenly, something jumped on me from behind, pinning me to the ground. It weighed almost 300 pounds and smelled horrible. Teeth clamped around my ankle and began dragging me into the bushes.

I screamed and dug my fingernails deep into the dirt, causing gauge marks in the dirt and grass.

I was pulled into the bushes.

It began mauling me. I kept screaming as sharp nails pierced my back. I saw my own blood splatter onto nearby leaves.

Teeth clamped onto my throat and bit down. Blackness swallowed me up.

REMUS.

I heard a scream outside. I woke up abruptly.

"Did you hear that?" Sirius' voice asked from across the dorm.

"Yeah," I said.

I climbed out of bed and hurried over to the window. Sirius was right behind me.

We peered out the window. The grounds were silent and shadows danced.

"There's nothing there," Sirius said yawning.

"No, I sense something," I said firmly. "Come on."

Protesting, Sirius followed me nonetheless.

We grabbed our robes and slippers and left the dorm.

We passed through the common room and left the confines of the castle.

I got a scent…it was familiar.

I slinked around to where the Greenhouses were. I saw splatters of a red liquid shimmering in the moonlight.

I hefted the pant legs up to my pajamas and crouched down. I gently touched the liquid. It was warm…blood.

"This is blood," I said as growing fear crept into my chest.

"Blood?" Sirius asked sounding nervous now.

I saw more of the blood splattered on nearby bushes and shrubs.

"Over here," I said getting up and parting some of the bushes and shrubs that lined the forbidden forest.

"Ooooh," Sirius said sounding sick.

There was Emma's body…badly mauled beyond recognition and parts of her were eaten.

I turned around blindly and tore back into the castle with Sirius behind me.

I made it as far as the Great Hall before I vomited.

"I'm getting Professor Dumbledore," Sirius said as he tore up the stairs.

I just slumped against the wall and sank to the floor in a heap.

A short while later, Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Anicks came down.

Sirius must've told Professor Anicks that I vomited because she came down with a Gratis Potion to settle the stomach.

I drank it but I was still sick to my stomach.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor Anicks headed outside to where Emma's body was.

Gillian, Lily and James had been woken up as well. They stood hugging themselves in the corridor.

Lily was sobbing into James' chest. Gillian looked pale and ashen. Sirius was comforting her.

"Did anyone hear anything?" Professor Dumbledore asked quietly when he came back in.

Professor Anicks had magicked Emma's body onto a stretcher and covered her body with a white sheet. Some of the blood had come through and stained it.

As they passed us, Gillian fainted.

"No," I said swallowing. "All I heard was a scream…that was it."

"Me too," Sirius said helping Gillian up. He had her leaning against him.

Gillian weakly stood leaning against Sirius.

"Did anything happen before bedtime that would cause Emma to go for a walk? Was she nervous about something?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"They had a sort of fight," Lily said quietly.

"A fight?" Dumbledore asked tilting his head. "About what?"

Lily glanced at me and then at Gillian.

"I think its best if Gillian tells you," she said quietly.

I shakily got to my feet as well.

Gillian managed to come around.

"Let's head to my office," Dumbledore said.

We all headed up to his office and he conjured up several comfortable chairs. Lily fell asleep in hers…so did James and Sirius. It was only me and Gillian now.

GILLIAN.

I felt awful….had I not fought with Emma, she wouldn't have gone for a walk nor been attacked by…whatever it was.

Plus, it was embarrassing explaining what happened to Uncle Albus.

Uncle Albus sat behind his desk and gently folded his hands on top of the surface.

"What happened before Emma left the common room?" he asked patiently.

Avoiding Remus' eyes, I told him everything.

When I was done, Uncle Albus was staring thoughtfully at his hands.

"I have to ask you this," he said quietly. "Did you use Remus?"

"No!" I cried earnestly.

"Okay," Dumbledore said finally raising his blue eyes to mine. I knew he believed me. "Remus, I'm thinking that Emma was jealous of Gillian because I'm sure she still had feelings for you on some level."

Remus tilted his head.

"Really? And that's why she blew up at Gillian?"

"Yeah," Dumbledore said nodding. "However, Gillian please tell Remus the real reason. I'm going to step out."

He got up and put a hand on my shoulder before leaving his office momentarily.

Over Sirius' snoring, I began explaining to him my reaction.

"You see, my parents abandoned me if you will. You were the first person to actually care about me besides my Uncle…I guess I felt if I slept with you, I wouldn't lose you. I didn't want to hurt you at all. I care about you a lot. I guess I was afraid I would get abandoned again,"

Remus stared at me.

"I understand…I just wish you would've explained this to me earlier instead of letting me think God Knows What," he said softly.

"Can we start over?" I asked.

"Sure," he grinned. "I'm Remus."

He extended his hand. I shook it.

"I'm Gillian,"

"I'm going to barf," Sirius spoke groggily.

Lily had woken up and smacked Sirius in the head before falling back asleep.

Dumbledore came back into the office.

"Everything okay now?" he asked.

"Yeah Uncle," I said brightly.

"Fine," he said softly. "I'm not going to ask you guys to move. Sleep here for the night. Those three already look comfortable."

So we fell asleep in Uncle Albus' office.

The next morning, we awoke and then realized what had happened the night before. Lily sobbed again and I broke down too.

Remus comforted me.

Uncle Albus told us that Emma had been attacked by a wolf. But it wasn't Remus.

Now the question remained: How did a wolf get on Hogwarts property?

And it wasn't a full moon last night so he doubted it was a werewolf.

We all went to classes in a kind of stupor thinking about the wolf.

The marks on Emma's body resembled that of a wolf…the bites radius was large and could not have been made by a werewolf of any kind.

When break came, we headed to the library.

"I want to find out what this thing is," Sirius demanded angrily.

"Me too," James said pouring over some textbooks about wolves and mythical creatures.

"You think it was something mythical?" I asked curiously.

"It could've been anything," James replied shortly. "For something to do that to Emma, not even a werewolf could've done that much damage…not even a Lycantor werewolf."

"What about a Meizule?" Remus asked. "They're extremely large and aggressive."

James shook his head.

"No,"

"Oh yeah," Sirius said suddenly snapping his fingers. "I've read about this mythical wolf called the Agranis. It's supposed to be over 300 pounds, black with gold eyes."

"Agranis?" Remus said tilting his head.

Sirius nodded.

He flipped through a textbook called "Mythical Creatures of the 13th Century".

"Ah ha!" he cried.

He turned the book around so we were able to read it:

Agranis Wolves were thought to exist around 1332. They were large, weighing up to 400 pounds. The exact weight is unknown. They were black in color with gold eyes, a large powerful snout with extremely muscular jaws that were capable of snapping an elephants bone in half. They attack women only for some reason. Some even were thought to mate with human females. Of course, the only known skeleton of an Agranis wolf, was found in England's London Museum of Natural History. No other bones have been reported or even found. So belief that these wolves exist have been the center of controversy for ages.

"Let's pay the museum a little visit," James said raising an eyebrow.

"We can't leave school again," I moaned.

"Fine. Stay here," James said slamming the book shut. "But I want to see for myself what this Agranis wolf looks like."