Listen To Your Heart

Chapter 7-Bad Condition

Back in the common room, we all sat around the fire staring into the orange flames. We were all deep in thought and very worried about Remus and if he was okay.

Professor Dumbledore had contacted Eleanor's parents to assure them she was just fine. They came up with a plan to tell the press that Eleanor had managed to wander away from her captors and headed home. I was on the couch, with my legs tucked out to the side on it and my arms were crossed on top of the arm of it. I rested my chin on top of my arm and briefly closed my eyes.

I felt someone sitting beside me. It was Remus.

"Gillian," Remus said in a grave voice. "The war is beginning."

"Huh?" I asked shocked. "Remus what's going on? I thought you were missing!"

"The war is beginning, Gillian," Remus repeated. "He's gathering followers. They're going to meet."

With that, a group of people burst into the common room. They were wearing half skeleton masks on their faces as well as black robes. They began 'open firing' on everyone in the common room. One of them pointed his or her wand at Sam. A jet of green light shot out from the tip of it and hit Sam directly in the chest.

They seemed completely oblivious to Remus and I…until one of them turned his wand onto me. I saw the jet of green light coming toward me. I screamed.

"Gillian!" a voice cried anxiously as I felt my body being shaken.

My eyes snapped open. I was still in the common room. Sirius' concerned face appeared in front of mine. I quickly glanced to my left where Remus had been. There was no one there.

Sirius had his hands on my shoulder.

"You dozed off," Sirius said carefully scrutinizing me. "I think you were dreaming."

I raised a hand to my forehead. I still felt my body shaking after that dream.

"What did you dream about?" Lily asked concerned. "From your scream it sounded like you were being murdered."

I gave her a look that said 'bingo'.

"Oh God," Lily said raising a hand to her mouth. "Want to tell us about it?"

I told them about the dream and Remus.

"I wouldn't worry about it," James said gently. "It was just a dream. And if I know Remus, he's perfectly fine."

Sam was still watching me curiously.

"I have a bad feeling," I insisted quickly turning my eyes off of Sam and onto Lily, James and Sirius. "I can't shake it."

"Dumbledore will find Remus," James insisted. "Don't worry about it."

He seemed so sure about it that I actually started feeling a bit better myself.

"Time for bed," Lily said yawning.

We headed off to bed.

REMUS.

In the morning, I was still a wolf. He must've cast a charm on me so that I wouldn't change back into a human. I wasn't allowed to maneuver much and all I could do was pace back and forth. I was starving and thirsty. I scanned the dungeon and couldn't find any means of getting out. The steel chains around my neck were heavy. After fifteen minutes of pacing, I was exhausted and just collapsed. My hind legs were tucked underneath me and my front legs were stretched out into the hay. I lowered my head and rested them between my front legs in the hay.

My ears were flat sideways.

I knew Lily, James, Sirius, Peter and Gillian were panicking right now. And I also knew that Dumbledore would find me.

That made me feel a little bit better, but not by much.

I whined.

I suddenly heard voices coming toward me.

"Yes Wormtail, he is here," the cold voice said.

Wormtail! He's here?

At that I raised my head off the hay. Sure enough, Peter stepped into the dungeon.

Relief spread through me. I pulled myself up into a standing position and felt my tail slowly wagging at the sight of him.

Peter had a look of utmost guiltiness on his face that caused me to worry a bit. I tucked my hindquarters into a sitting position and stared at Peter.

The same man dressed in black robes and had the hood pulled up so it covered his face appeared beside Peter.

"Look at that," he sneered. "He thinks you're here to save him."

"M-Master," Peter squeaked. "I know for a fact that one of them loves him."

"Who?" the man snarled.

"A witch named Gillian Ross,"

Gillian!

At the sound of her name, I let out a whine and felt my head drooping.

"And he loves her," Peter squeaked out.

"Like I care?" the man sneered. "Do it Wormtail or I shall curse you into oblivion."

"P-please Master," Peter pleaded. "I can't do it."

"DO IT!" the man barked. "TAKE OUT YOUR WAND AND DO IT!"

Peter reached into his robe with a shaky hand and pulled out his wand.

Immediately, I knew what he was going to do.

I pinned my ears out and retracted the top lip of my snout, exposing white canines and incisors. I began snarling at Peter.

His wand was aimed at me but his hand shook violently.

I continued to snarl. I couldn't believe he turned to Lord Voldemort and here he was going to kill me.

"P-please sir," Peter pleaded again.

I continued to snarl and I tried to get at him, straining the chains.

"DAMN IT WORMTAIL!" Lord Voldemort shouted. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

Peter cringed as Voldemort roughly shoved Peter to the floor. He landed on his rear end on a batch of hay.

I snarled at Voldemort who took out his own wand and aimed it at me.

"See," Voldemort said coldly. "It's done so easily like this. Crucio!"

My legs felt as though they were on fire. I let out a whelp and felt all four legs twitching.

After a few minutes, it stopped.

"Next time," Voldemort snapped to Peter. "Do what I tell you."

He kicked at Peter before leaving.

I collapsed again on the hay.

"I'm so sorry Remus," Peter squeaked to me.

He reached out to touch my head but I snapped my jaws at him causing him to retract his hand. He scurried out of the dungeon.

GILLIAN.

I woke up the next morning and still felt this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I showered and got dressed, heading down to the Great Hall. I took a seat beside Sirius. Across from me were Sam and Lily and on Lily's right, James and Peter.

"Where were you last night?" James asked Peter curiously. "You got up in the middle of the night and left the dorm."

"Oh," Peter said quickly. "I needed a walk…couldn't sleep."

"Worried about Remus eh?" Sirius asked gently.

"Yeah," Peter said. "But he's okay for now."

"For now?" Sam asked. "What does that mean?"

Peter became flustered and shifty.

"If You-Know-Who has him, he might very well torture him to death," Peter said helping himself to some rolls.

"Who says You-Know-Who has him?" James asked shrewdly raising an eyebrow at Peter.

"Who else would want him?" I asked. "He would have the perfect plan. Get the werewolves to join him."

James looked grave when I said this.

"If that's the case, we may never see Moony again," Sirius said quietly.

"Don't say that!" I said shrilly as I threw down a roll I was eating. "YOU CAN'T SAY THAT! HE'S GOING TO BE FINE!"

Sam looked up at this.

I abruptly got to my feet and stormed from the Great Hall.

I stepped outside onto the grounds. The weather picked up a real chill so I pulled my robe tighter around me. My breath came out in puffs of steam and rose to the sky when I exhaled.

A few minutes later, I sensed someone behind me. It was Sam.

"What do you want?" I asked stiffly. "Come to tell me that I'm lying about Moony being alright?"

Sam cringed when I said this.

"Or ask me if I'm upset and what I'm saying is all lies as well?"

Sam looked even worse.

"I'm really sorry, Gillian," Sam said quietly staring at the ground. He moved a dead leaf aside with the toe of his shoe. "That was really selfish of me and uncalled for."

I snorted.

"Please," Sam pleaded. "I'm really sorry. I really didn't mean what I said. I was just angry with myself. I shouldn't have taken it out on you like that."

I felt my anger ebbing away.

"Fine," I exhaled loudly. "I accept your apology."

Sam looked relieved and came to stand next to me.

"You really think Moony's in trouble?" he asked curiously.

I stared at the Forbidden Forest.

"I have a feeling in my gut that isn't going away," I said as my voice trembled. "And I'm praying that it's wrong."

Sam stood closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"He'll be fine," he whispered softly. "He's Moony…he can handle himself."

I felt a smile creeping onto my lips.

"Come on back inside," he said.

We headed back into the castle.

REMUS.

Weeks went by. Every day, Voldemort came to Crucio me. My whole body felt weak and from not eating or drinking, it was even weaker.

I didn't even have the strength to raise my head. Voldemort was gathering followers. They were supposed to meet in a place called Lanjor just outside Oxfordshire. Voldemort had even acquired the werewolves on his side.

I was lying on my side on the hay with all four legs stretched out. My head rested on a large pile of hay.

Voldemort had come again with Peter. I shut my eyes and waited for the searing pain to shoot through my body and my legs to start twitching uncontrollably. Oddly, it never came.

"I think it's time to return this dog to his master," Voldemort said cruelly.

"B-but sir," Peter squeaked. "He is too weak! How are we going to get him onto Hogwarts' grounds? You know how hard that is!"

"I, my dear Wormtail, am not going to do it…YOU are," Voldemort smirked. "You are going to return this wolf and be the hero. But I want you to scope out Hogwarts' weakness so we can infiltrate it at the right time."

Peter swallowed and looked pale.

"Understand?" Voldemort barked.

Peter nodded quickly.

"Then get to it," Voldemort rasped and with a swish of his cloak, he vanished from the dungeon.

Peter came over to me and undid the chain around my neck. I was too weak to even protest or put up a fight.

Peter picked me up.

GILLIAN.

The next morning, James told us something odd.

"Each night, Peter sneaks out for some reason," James was saying. "I have no idea why. The first time I had gotten up to get a drink of water, but the second and third I heard him. So now I know exactly what time he does it and I lye awake, listening."

"Weird," Sirius agreed. "I wonder where the little weirdo goes?"

"Girlfriend?" Lily suggested.

Sirius and James looked at each other before snickering.

"Who'd want to go out with him? He's a blubbering fool sometimes," Sirius cracked.

"He's got a good heart," I argued back.

Just then, the doors opened to the Great Hall and we turned and looked. Peter stood carrying a familiar object.

"My God! He found him!" Lily cried.

We jumped up from our seats and flew over to Peter. The wolf looked horrible…thin, and emaciated.

The amber/jaundice eyes locked on me as I gently stroked Remus on the head. His head dangled over Peter's arm.

Professor Dumbledore saw him and immediately came over as well. The Hall was completely silent as they watched.

"She was missing her dog," Dumbledore called to the rest of the students. "Go on back to eating."

They didn't even ask questions but returned to their breakfast.

"Hospital wing," Dumbledore said automatically.

Remus had a charm put on him so that he couldn't change back into a human. Once he did, he looked in bad condition. He was thin, shabby, and pale.

"What on earth happened to him?" Sirius demanded swallowing.

"From the looks of it, he was starved and deprived of water…and it looks like he was Crucio'd a number of times," Dumbledore said.

Lily pressed her face into James' shoulder.

"Will he be alright?" I asked feeling tears forming in my eyes.

"I don't know," Madam Elkin said quietly. "He's bad…worse than what I've seen. But we'll do our best. First objective is to get fluid into him."

She poured some water and handed it to me.

"Give him some," she said kindly.

I sat on the edge of the cot and gently slipped my arm under his neck, lifting it up slightly. I gently tilted the goblet to Remus' lips and poured the water into his mouth. He choked on it a little, but drank it.

"I swear I'll kill whoever did this," Sirius growled balling his fist up and punching it into his opened palm.

"Voldemort," Remus croaked out.

"I KILL HIM!" Sirius yelled angrily.

"Calm down," Dumbledore said gently putting a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Right now we have to make sure that Remus will be alright. Then we can come up with a plan of action."

Remus fell asleep for a bit.

We stayed with him in the hospital wing. During the night, I heard him calling my name in his sleep. I got up and went over to him. There was no way I was able to sleep at this point. I leaned over him and placed a hand on his forehead. He was burning up with a fever. I got a cool rag and placed it across his forehead. He called out my name again.

"Sssh," I said gently and quietly. "It's me. You're safe now. You're at Hogwarts."

Finally after some tossing and turning, he calmed down and stayed still.

I sat in a chair beside his cot and just watched him