Chapter 16

Albus Dumbledore was being awfully quiet. He was being far more quieter than James thought was normal for a man who often had many thoughts running through his brain. He, Peter, Lily, and Brittney had arrived at his office at five am, and now it was almost six. All four had taken turns in telling Dumbledore what had happened over the course of the evening.

James had been awfully frightened when Alaina had run into the boys' room early that morning and begged the boys for help. At first, James' mind had jumped to the worst, and he had thought that Lily had been hurt. When he went downstairs and gladly found that she was alive and well, he was extremely happy.

"Do you believe us, professor?" Lily asked tentatively after several minutes of Dumbledore being silent, drumming the tips of his fingers gently together.

"Yes," Dumbledore said after thinking for several seconds. "I do believe what you speak of us is the truth. However, I feel I must inspect the room also before the morning light wakes other students. So therefore, we must do so quickly." James nodded his head quickly and stood up. The four of them followed Dumbledore who was walking swiftly towards the common room. What they saw when the opened the portrait door shocked all them.

It was worse than James could ever imagine.

Well, worse in an embarrassing kind of way.

Remus and Alyssa were in a far corner of the room, holding hands and speaking in sweet, light tones to one another. They were both unaware of the obvious tense mood between Alaina and Sirius. Sirius was standing in front of her, his arms crossed tightly across his chest. Alaina was still sitting on the couch, but looked poised to spring up. They

were glaring at each other, menacingly.

"I am terribly sorry if I am interrupting anything," Dumbledore said, sounding amused. Remus and Alyssa ran from their corner, and Alaina jumped up. "However, after tonight's doings, I feel that all other activities must stop so I may search your room. Lily, if you please?" Lily nodded her head and lead the way up the stairs. James was very tempted to follow her but Dumbledore just shook his head, distinctly. Dumbledore left the common room, and James and Peter rushed towards Sirius.

"What is going on with you two?" James snarled. Alaina just shot Sirius a glare and walked towards Brittney and Alyssa. Sirius growled and refused to answer. Remus hurried over.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Remus asked, his voice sounding ragged.

"Not much," James whispered. "Just that he believes us. He wanted to inspect the girls' room himself." Remus nodded his head gently, as though he had not been expecting anymore news than that. Sirius, angry as he was already, was a different story.

"What?" He growled, anger etched in every syllable of his words. "How can he not have said anything else? Dumbledore has to know what is causing this!" James had thought the exact same thing, but had been much more sensible about it.

"Dumbledore does not know everything, Padfoot," Remus said, with a scowl. "He may be a genius, but that does not mean he knows every aspect of the Magical world. More than likely, he never will."

"Then what was the point of going to him, then?" Sirius snarled, his bright eyes flaring. James was now seriously wondering what had happened between him and Alaina that had made him so angry. James grabbed his arm tightly.

"What did she say, Padfoot?" James whispered urgently. Remus' eyes widened, and he slowly started to put two and two together. "What happened?" Sirius pulled his arm out of James' grasp. "Nothing, absolutely nothing." Sirius snarled. "Thats the problem." James was tempted to sock him across the face if that would come him down, however James highly doubted that would help.

Sirius turned slowly around and looked at the three girls in the corner. He had a pained expression on his face as he watched Alyssa and Brittney try to coax the information out of her as well.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and Lily came flying down the staircase, her eyes wide. She had a look of genuine fear on her face. James rushed forward and grasped her hands.

"Someone go get Madam Pomfrey! Now!"