Disclaimer: see part one.
A/N: Not my best chapter, but I am having a kind of writers block.
Chapter eleven.
After a few minutes the pain and confusion left her and she managed to rise. She stood dazed and the first thing she realized was that her right eye wasn't working. Then she stared down at the alien objected in her body. The loss of blood and the shock of what had happened made her a little intoxicated and she chuckled slightly as she slowly withdrew the stake.
More blood oozed out, but it quickly slowed down and she could feel her body slowly mending its self.
"I'm a werewolf with super-strength and regenerating power," she exclaimed to the room at large and then let out another chocked laugh. "Who would have thunk that…. I would survive that…should be glad I'm a werewolf and…" Laughing brought the pain back, and she clutched her abdomen.
The next thing she registered was that there was blood everywhere, on her hands, on her clothes and gathered in a large pool on the floor. For a moment she excepted the wolf's bloodlust to take over…. but apparently the smell of her own blood kept the monster at bay.
"I need….to rest….somewhere safe" she thought…or was it what her instinct that told her?
Rena staggered out of the room and out into the still black corridor. She was half-blinded and it took her a while to find her way up the stairs and to the hallway. Her immediate concern was to run into somebody. She wasn't sure how she would explain her current state, or the fact that she hadn't died…or why she was holding a stake in her hand.
But, the castle was almost empty and Rena vaguely remembered something about dinner and how she was supposed to meet Luna there. She clambered up the stairs, grateful not to meet any ghosts or teachers. The pictures looked at her horror-struck, but nobody said anything and the blood-drops on the floor were quickly washed up by the house-elves.
Not sure why, she hid the stake behind her bed-board and then she collapsed on her bed. Drawing up her feet and using the wall to keep her balance she managed to lie down on her back. Walking had loosened the wound and blood was no flowing freely from her stomach.
What was she going to say to the others when the found her lying in a bed full of blood, a hole in her stomach and a large burn-scar on her face? Intoxication of loosing blood overtook her again and she said in a singsong voice.
"They thought I was a vampire and tried to stake me…but being a werewolf and all….nothing except silver can kill me." She took a deep breath "lucky me." Her head slumped to one side and she fell unconscious, her arm dropped from her stomach and hung over the bedside.
Luna had tried knocking on Renas door for ten full minutes before she gave up. She hadn't showed up for dinner, and although that wasn't any cause for concern, Rena had promised to be there. What actually worried Luna was the fact that Rena had disappeared down into the dungeons with the Slytherin-boys. They had probably played some foul trick on her, or locked her into the dungeon.
Making sure her wand was firmly fixed behind her ear, Luna made her way out of the common room and down to the main hallway again. Just to be sure, she checked the Great Hall and the Library before making her way down to the dungeons.
She was halfway to the Potion's classroom when somebody behind her cleared his throat. Luna turned around and saw Professor Snape looking at her, his face demanding and an angry glare in his eyes.
"What" he said in a soured voice "are you doing down her Ms….."
"Ms. Lovegood, sir" Luna supplied and tried to smile. Professor Snapes lip curled and Luna suddenly felt scared and uncomfortable at once.
"Well, Ms. Lovegood. Must I repeat my question?" he challenged.
"Um. No sir…I was looking for somebody"
This seemed to startle Snape a little for his eyes flickered anxiously around in the corridor. Then his face sterned again and he said.
"Might this be the same somebody who killed the light and re-arranged my classroom?"
"Sir?" Luna asked puzzled "Um…no. I was looking for Re-Ms. Epans, sir"
Snape paused and his eyes flickered around in the corridor again and he said in a little more strained tone-of-voice.
"And why would she be here."
"Because you told her to, sir"
"What?"
"A tall Slytherin boy told Ms. Epans that you wanted to see her immediately, sir."
"And when was this?" Snape could just about keep his voice calm.
"Just before dinner, sir. She didn't show up, and I can't find her in her room, the library or anywhere. I figured that if you…."
Luna never had the time to finish before Professor Snape dashed away.
Should have….paid more attention to her Snape thought angrily as he walked up the stairs. Its almost full moon…she is always easily agitated and…. . The way Ms. Lovegood had told it, it seemed that some Slytherin students had wanted to play her a prank. He had more than once found a sniveling and scared student locked up in a cupboard or tied up in a caldron filled with some-sort of nasty creatures.
He was aware of his niece's almost desperate fear for small and dark places and had no doubt that even spending only a couple of minutes locked up in cupboard would send her into to shock. Or even worse. Who knew what her fragile condition would drive her to do.
The Ravenclaw students looked at him surprised and slightly frightened as he crossed the common room and walked towards the girls dorm. He had only visited her room a couple of times before, but always during the night. Snape had always known that he wasn't anybody's favorite person on school and shedding Rena from the fact that they were related was just a way of trying to give her a normal life.
He knocked on her door several times, but when she didn't answer he brought out his wand and ordered "Alohomora"
He didn't know what he had expected to find, but not even his wildest nightmare would prepare him from the scene that greeted him as he entered her room. He couldn't move, he just stared at her sloped form, halfway on the bed. He couldn't remember seeing so much blood ever before in his life. Her bed sheets were mattered with it, her clothes were drenched in it, and a red handprint stained the wall.
Then his common sense took over and he rushed into the room. He placed two fingers on her neck and found a surprisingly strong and steady pulse. He tried to find the source of her wound and gently touched her stomach. He didn't dare to do anything with it, instead he looked at her face, half-hidden in her hair.
"What did you do?" he asked her "why did you do it?"
The next person to arrive was Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclawhouse. He to stopped in the doorway and let out a upset "Oh my." He stepped halfway into her room, not sure what to do.
"Is…she..?" he trailed off and studied Snapes bent form. The potion master rose slowly and half-turned.
"No….not yet"
"Ill get Madam Pomfrey"
The older students, who could easily see over tiny-professor Flitwick let out startled sobs and screams. A couple of the students were openly crying and Flitwick gently pushed them away and ordered everybody back to their dorms.
The next day, hundreds of different stories about what had happened filled the conversation at the breakfast table. Some said that she was dead; some said she had tried to do some advanced magic that had backfired and was now in a coma. Some even said she had tried to take her own life.
But most people believed that she had been attacked and killed by Sirius Black. This theory was the one strongest supported since the Ravenclaw students, who had seen her room, told that blood had been splattered on the walls and that they had found a huge knife in her room.
Surprisingly, the Slytherin students also supported this theory and added that many of them had seen a mysterious shadow stalk the corridors. The fact that Rena had last been seen walking towards the dungeons with a fifth-year Slytherin wasn't a part of the stories told.
Harry and Ron were also supporting this theory, especially Ron. Hermione on the other was a little uncertain.
"I mean….we know he wants to kill Harry….so why would he go after a Ravenclaw girl"
"Maybe he made a mistake…like last time?" Ron suggested.
"But…he knows where Harry sleeps…. and besides why take the huge risk of entering the castle and then attack somebody?"
"We know he's mad…he doesn't need any reason for anything that he does" Ron said simply "and he managed to get unseen into the castle and attack me."
Harry had to agree to this but on the other hand, what Hermione said also made a lot of sense. If Black had mistaken the rooms, why not just leave unseen and make a new move later. He had to know that if he were spotted the security would only be tightened even more.
"It just seems…. wrong somehow" Hermione said and then sighed. "There isn't anything we can do about it anyway. You should focus on winning the Quidditch final."
Harry gave his toast a vicious poke with his fork. The upcoming match weighed heavily on his shoulders and he was very nervous.
"At least the Slytherin seems to behave….maybe Malfoy is just as nervous as you Harry, I don't think I've ever seen him look so pale." Said Ron.
Harry half-turned in his chair and stared at Malfoy. Indeed his cockiness and the constant air of arrogance he always surrounded him self with had somewhat vanished.
"I bet it won't last" Harry muttered.
"You mustn't blame yourself, Serverus" Professor Dumbledore said quietly and put a hand on his shoulder. Snape shook it irritatingly away and said in a low and tight voice. "I'm not."
Madam Pomfrey looked at the two men a little uncertainly. She wanted to order both of them out of the room, but the tension that radiated off Snape made him unapproachable. Instead she made her self busy, fiddling with bottles and looking for the right herbs.
She has lost so much blood….and I dont know….I mean…will my medicine work on a werewolf? she thought. She cleared her throat and said.
"I can't replace the blood in her body…. Since it's…werewolf blood. What I can do is to give her some medicine that will speed up the body's process of replacing the lost blood cells"
"Very good" Dumbledore replied and smiled warmly.
"It will however…make her immobile for several days…maybe even weeks since she needs to reserve her strength. I….do not…I mean….tomorrow is…." She paused, summoned her strength, but before she could speak Snape said slowly.
"Tomorrow is a full moon. The blood that will be replaced in her body may be mostly werewolf blood, which will immediately drive her into the last stage of the Purge."
Madam Pomfrey nodded solemnly. " I can of course wait…. but I am not sure if she is strong enough to survive the changing process….I am surprised that she has survived this long at all" she added the last few words silently.
"Then, let her die a human. That was what she tried to achieve" and without another word, Snape walked out and closed the door behind him.
Dumbeldore let out a deep and troubled sigh. He placed a hand on Renas forehead and quietly stroked some hair away from her face. Madam Pomfrey stood anxiously by the medicine, still fumbling with the bottles and herbs.
"How about her eye?" he asked.
"I do not know yet. Had she come here immediately I might have been able to save it…. but this…looks like a burn wound…we will just have to wait and see."
Dumbledore removed his hand from her forehead and muttered quietly
"Who did this to you?"
Thank you for reading and please review.
