ROTRUFIN

CHAPTER 22-AGRANIS LYCANMIS

Sighing, I stood up.

"Fine," I muttered. "Let me go tell Uncle Albus we are going on another 'field' trip."

With that I turned and left the office.

REMUS.

"Guys," I said slowly. "We can just keep leaving school like this. We've got exams coming up as well."

"Do you want to just sit here and let that…thing…get away with killing Emma?" Sirius demanded turning his hazel eyes onto me.

"No," I said even quieter. "But this really isn't a job for students. This should be handled by the Ministry of Magic."

"And do you know how long they're going to fester on it?" James demanded shortly. "Weeks…probably months…even years. I don't feel like waiting years to find out what killed Emma."

Again I sighed.

Gillian came back into the library.

"Uncle Albus said only two people can go this time. It's looking odd that only a certain group of Gryffindors is leaving again," she replied.

Lily shook her head.

"I'm staying this time," she replied. "I'm exhausted as I didn't get much sleep last night and I'm heading to bed."

With that, she got up and left the library.

"I think you and Remus should go," James said looking at Gillian and I.

"Why us?" I asked.

"Well, you're a werewolf right? You have some knowledge on wolves' behavior. It makes sense," Sirius said.

I nodded.

"Make sure you tell us everything when you come back," James said.

"We will," Gillian said earnestly.

James and Sirius left the library.

Gillian turned to me.

"Uncle Albus is meeting us out on the grounds," she said.

We headed onto the grounds. Sure enough Dumbledore was standing there.

"This time, you'll be taking the train to Kings Cross station. I'm afraid you'll be on your own after that," he said giving Gillian's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Thanks, Uncle," Gillian smiled.

We climbed on board the Hogwarts express and entered a compartment. It was odd how quiet the train was now without the students.

Shortly, the train began pulling out of the Hogwarts station and we began our journey back to Kings Cross.

Gillian was sprawled out on the seat across from me, lying on her back with her hands behind her head staring up at the ceiling.

"Do you really think it is an Agranis wolf?" she asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," I said quietly. "But something huge definitely did attack Emma. Not even the largest werewolf could've done that much damage."

"But here's the thing…if it is an Agranis wolf, where did it come from? How'd it get here?" she asked turning her eyes onto me.

"That's something we're going to have to find out," I said gravely.

The train rattled on. I could see and sense Gillian was preoccupied with something on her mind.

I leaned forward with my elbows resting on my thighs.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly.

"Nothing's wrong," Gillian said quickly. "What makes you think there's something wrong?"

"Because I can sense your emotions remember? I can pick up the slightest change in your body chemicals," I said raising an eyebrow. "That, and you seem really quiet now."

Gillian sighed.

"I'm really sorry if I came across as 'using' you before," she said. "I feel really bad."

I shook my head.

"Listen," I said gently putting a hand on her knee. "I understand how you feel. It's behind us okay? Just forget it."

"But that's the problem," Gillian said leaning her head against the window and staring out it. "I can't. I feel like I've broken your trust or something. I feel like it's changed something between us."

I sighed.

"Well, on one hand, it did…but I completely understand,"

Gillian's eyes filled with tears.

"You're so good," she whispered. "Too good for me."

I shook my head again.

"Stop okay? Let it go,"

We rode the rest of the way in silence.

Once we hit Kings Cross station, we disembarked and headed into the heart of London.

It was early afternoon, so the museum was open.

We had changed into Muggle clothing on the train. I was wearing jeans and a red shirt. Gillian was wearing a red plaid skirt and white sweater. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail.

We entered the museum. For this time of day, it was pretty crowded.

We stopped in front of a sign. I quickly read it. It gave a listing of what was on exhibit in the museum:

First Floor-Mammals

Second Floor-Marine Life

Third Floor-Dinosaurs (New Tyrannosaurus Rex exhibit!)

Fourth Floor-Mythological Creatures

"We need the fourth floor," I said.

We made our way through crowds that had gathered in front of a tiger display behind a glass window.

We headed over to the elevators and I pressed the UP arrow on the panel.

A few minutes later, the elevator came. The doors whiffed open and Gillian and I stepped onto the elevator.

I pressed 4 on the panel and the car began ascending.

"Do you really think it's here?" Gillian whispered to me leaning close.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "But we have to find someone that would know about it and its behavior more that what we've read in the text book."

"Remus, if it's Mythical, how would the person know the behavior? There's none alive!" Gillian said.

"I meant 'behavior in theory'," I said.

Gillian nodded.

Once we hit the floor, the doors whiffed open again and we got off.

There was a large circular display with the specimens behind glass. Immediately, I spied something.

"Over here," I said.

Gillian followed me over to one of the displays.

She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand in pure fear and terror.

There, standing on all fours in an attack mode, was the Agranis wolf. It was huge. I read the sign in front of it.

This Skeleton was found in 1333 7 miles from London. It took 10 men to move it. The estimated weight of this creature is thought to be around 400 pounds. The skull is approximately 18'' long and 5'' inches wide. The jaws held knife life teeth. The canines reached about 2'' in length. It basically was about the size of a modern rhinoceros…or smaller.

Unfortunately, not much can be said about behavior. From the theory, it was said to only kill females. There has been no proof of an Agranis Lycanmis wolf mating with a human female. Cross species reproduction is not possible.

"So the book was wrong on that count," I said slowly.

I couldn't help staring at the skeleton.

"Remus," Gillian said slowly. "If this is the only known skeleton, how on earth did one get onto Hogwarts' grounds and attack Emma?"

We were so engrossed with staring at the skeleton, that we didn't even realize it was getting late and the museum was closing.

Lights went out except for the ones on the display.

"We're going to be locked in here!" Gillian cried terrified.

But as more lights went out and the museum darkened, my eyes went oddly right to the skeleton.

I grabbed Gillian's arm.

"What?" she asked following my gaze.

We stared in complete horror as the skeleton appeared to come alive.

We backed up and hid behind a solid bench.

The skeleton shook itself. Then, this red liquid and rope began winding itself up the wolf's legs, back, ribs, and skull. It took us only second to realize that it was muscles forming on the skeleton and blood. We watched as the heart, lungs, stomach and intestines formed as if by magic. Gillian swallowed beside me.

After the muscles and everything formed, thick, coarse wiry fur formed. The wolfs' eyes were now in the orbits and ears formed.

Shortly, the skeleton was gone and a live animal appeared.

Gillian began shaking.

The Agranis wolf stretched its new body and then jumped completely out of the glass display.

The sharp teeth gleamed in the dim lighting. It galloped out of the Mythological Creatures section and vanished.

"Oh. My. God," Gillian whispered turning around and sliding onto her rear-end. "What just happened here?"

I also turned around and pressed my back against the bench.

"It was if it came alive…like being reborn or something," I said awed, but terrified.

"So that's how it got out," Gillian said slowly. "But how do you explain it jumping out of the display? Surely the museum would've known it was missing or about right?"

I just shrugged.

"I really don't know. But I do know that we've got to find a way out of here and not bump into the Agranis," I said.

We carefully got up and cautiously walked out of the section. We knew the elevators wouldn't work so we had to take the stairs.

"I feel sick," Gillian said.

She leaned against the railing and leaned over it. Her hair fell over one shoulder. She shut her eyes and tried to catch her breath.

I stood next to her and leaned against the railing also.

She ended up vomiting over the side of the railing.

Suddenly, I heard something over her retching.

"Sssh," I said holding a finger up to my lips. "I heard something."

She finally managed to calm down and listened. She wiped her mouth with the cuff of her sweater.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"I heard something," I said straining my ears to hear.

I heard it again. It was loud, breathing that no human could possibly make.

"Run," I said.

I grabbed her hand and yanked her down the stairs. We flew down the four flights.

I glanced over my shoulder. A large shadow was galloping down the flights of stairs after us.

"Where are we going to go?" Gillian cried.

"We could either break a window and get out or hide," I suggested as we turned a corner sharply into the Mammal displays.

"I'm not hiding in here with that thing," Gillian said.

We reached the main lobby. I scanned around looking for something to break the glass double doors with. One of the metal rope poles that surrounded one of the displays. I unhooked it and picked it up. I threw it at the glass. The glass shattered and broke, but also an alarm went off.

"Come on!" I urged her.

We quickly hurried through the broken door and ran down the street. We dove behind a parked car and glanced back at the museum. The Agranis wolf burst through the door and took off down the street in the opposite direction.

"We've got to tell Dumbledore," I whispered.

We made our way back to Kings Cross, stepped through the barrier and boarded the train again.

Gillian dozed off again En Route back to Hogwarts. I still couldn't get over what we just saw. I couldn't believe that a Mythical creature was now roaming the streets of London. But what I didn't understand was how did it become alive in the first place? What or who had the power?

Loud thunder boomed and lightning streaked across the sky. Then, the rain pounded against the window, streaking down the glass.

I too, ended up dozing off.

We reached Hogwarts and hurried back to the castle. We entered the castle. It was dinner time. James, Lily and Sirius looked up as we entered the Great Hall.

We hurried over to them.

"So, how was the trip?" Sirius asked grinning.

"It's real," Gillian burst out breathlessly.

"What's real?" James asked seriously. "The Agranis Lycanmis?"

Gillian and I nodded.

"Shit," Sirius said awed.

"You saw the skeleton?" Lily asked tilting her head.

"More than that," I said. "It came alive!"

I proceeded to tell them what we saw.

When we were done, all three of them had looks of absolute horror and shock on their faces.

"How is that possible?" James mused. "There's no spell that can bring back a mythical creature…is there?"

I shook my head. "No spell, but there is a charm or a medallion I heard of. It's called the Rotrufin Charm. It's said to give life to whatever has no life. Basically, it is able to bring life to something deceased…no matter how old it is. But the tricky part is, this medallion is said to possess powers beyond comprehension and it is supposed to lie in Egypt."

"Looks like someone may have taken it," James said gravely.

"And found use for it," Sirius added.

"We've got to tell Dumbledore," Lily said.