A/N: Hello to all you new reviewers and welcome back to all my favourite returners! By the way, I've added a little section at the beginning of chapter 13 to make up for the loss of a chapter. It's nowhere near the original but at least it doesn't leave a gaping hole in the plot.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters you recognise!
TO: ember marieclaire, haha I actually find that American accents can be very sexy and to be honest the guys here aren't too special! Just a lot of cotton wool that has been pulled over to make England seem pretty!
Lily made a disturbing discovery that made her shake uncontrollably. She had never been one to scare easily but horror and fear flooded her at the sight of the extent of destruction on Yoanna's bed. The sheets had been torn off the bed and shredded to pieces, the pillows cases had been turned inside out, the pillow itself ripped open with its feathery innards strewn all over the floor. All of the "get well soon" cards and presents had been torn to pieces nothing that belonged to Yoanna was left intact. Someone had deliberately destroyed every last article seemingly out of spite. She glanced at Yoanna's figure on a new bed and lowered herself onto a chair before her legs gave way.
"James?" Her voice came out hoarse and she had to swallow deeply before she could continue. James who had just lifted Madam Pomfrey to another bed hurried over. He knelt down beside her chair worry creasing his brow. "I think I know who did this-" Remus' head shot up and scooted over to listen.
"You know who did this?" He studied her intently and waited for her to reply. Remus clenched his fist.
"I kind of do, not who he is exactly but he...he..." Lily buried her face in her hands. "I don't even know how to say this!" she said her voice raising shrilly.
"Lily, look up, here at me." James persuaded softly. Reluctantly Lily did so. "You owe it to Yoanna to say whatever it is you have to say."
Remus nodded. "Whoever he is he's dangerous. He's watching us. In the space of minutes that I was away, he attacked her. I came back and I found..." Remus couldn't find the right words to explain what he'd found. "I found Yoanna hiding in the closet and then she started struggling-" He gave up. "You saw what he's done to Madam Pomfrey and to Yoanna."
Lily bit her lip. "I think he's controlling us...by our dreams." Slowly she told them about her sleep walking dreams and how they led her to the grave, the timing of it all, how her dreams stopped just as Yoanna's began. It was all speculation of course but Lily trusted gut feelings and this sure as hell was one of them. "It's as if he's doing it one person at a time, like I've played my part and now he needs Yoanna. There seems to be a motive behind it all but I can't put my finger on it. And the scariest thing of all is that the book says the dream controller has to have close contact with the dreamer in the waking hours."
James looked down at the ruined bed. "Meaning whoever did this is in Hogwarts. In contact and watching us every day..."
Lily swallowed hard.
"It's worth considering that Hogwarts might be watched."
Did Rosie foresee this or did she know that someone was watching them?
Sirius collided heavily into someone just as he turned a corner in the semi-dark corridor. The person he'd hit bounced off him and landed on the floor. He was about to apologise but he recognised the green of the uniform.
"It's you." She said ignoring his offer to help her up and stood up by herself. Her hand clutching her side protectively.
"Rosie! A pleasant but definitely surprising surprise! What are you doing up past the curfew?"
Rosie made a noise of displeasure. "What is it with you Gryffindors? Do you think that it's just you guys that can wander off at night? It's not as if the rest of us don't have legs-"
A high pitched voice cut her off. "Is someone down there?" It was Professor Flitwick. Suddenly remembering his reason to be wandering around with a bite mark on his hand Sirius answered.
"Yeah! Professor! Something's happened at the hospital wing!" Sirius turned to tell Rosie that he had to be off but she was already gone. Sirius was impressed, that was a pretty quick exit.
Professor Flitwick managed to alert McGonagall. Her nostrils had flared as soon as she saw Sirius but her anger died out once he filled her in of what had happened while they rushed to the hospital wing. By the time they arrived there Lily had calmed down considerably and James and Remus looked grimmer than ever.
McGonagall saw to Madam Pomfrey and Yoanna immediately. She quickly determined that she was unable to help either of them and she sent Flitwick off to make arrangements for them to be transported to St. Mungo's. She also sent an owl to Dumbledore who had just left for London.
With all that done she sat and listened to them, her expression grave as James carefully retold her all that they had learnt and suspected. Her eyes widened slightly at the mention of the possibility of someone Dream Breaking but said nothing. James would have hesitated in sharing the information had it been any other teacher but McGonagall's loyalty to Dumbledore was absolute.
Even when he had finished McGonagall made no comments what so ever and shooed them off to bed. If only she had portrayed some surprise or had given an indication that she had also suspected something was wrong, anything! Her silence told them nothing nor did it offer any of the relief that they sought after. It did however effectively show them that they themselves were young adults now and could no longer benefit from the luxury of thinking that adults knew everything and could solve every problem. Whether they liked it or not she was likely to be as much in the dark as they were.
The group trudged back to the Gryffindor tower each lost in their own thoughts. Sirius hardly reacted to Lily's information at all. He pressed his lips in a thin line but he hadn't been all that surprised. James wondered just how much he had heard back during his brief stay at his home before he had moved in with him and made a note to ask later.
"So he wants it back?" Sirius rubbed his head recalling Yoanna's hysterical screams about a certain him that was trying to get to her two nights ago. "The hand or whatever it was that you threw away. So he could very well be using Yoanna to get it back. But the hand is back in the forest...why hasn't he made Yoanna sleep walk into the forest yet then?" he said voicing his thought process.
Lily hung her head low. "I guess because each person has a different mind capacity, some are just more resistent than others." If possible she felt even worse than before. If someone was indeed Dream Breaking she must have been a breeze to get into because she hadn't even known she was being controlled. The thought her mind had been...violated repulsed and sickened her. At least Yoanna was trying to fight whoever it was that was committing this heinous act.
"What is so bloody important about this hand?" Sirius pondered.
"Wouldn't we all like to know." James rubbed his temples and rumpled his hair as if it would aid his thinking. "Why waste so much energy controlling someone else to go get something?"
Sirius looked at James as if he had just walked past a very obvious point. "Why not, when you can save yourself some leg work and can get some other lackey to do your dirty work? I wouldn't exactly call going into the forest a picnic trip."
James ignored Sirius's light sarcasm. "Isn't Dream Breaking a lot like Legilimency? That's some powerful stuff, it's not exactly a walk in the park doing that either."
Sirius agreed. Being able to extract emotions and thoughts from a mind is a difficult enough task but being able to take control was a whole different level. "How many students do you think can do that?"
"No one said that it had to be a student." Remus brooded. They all shifted uncomfortably at the possibility and no one spoke again until they were safe inside the Common Room.
Sirius stretched. "Oh well, one thing is for sure." They all turned and looked at him as he inspected his arm. "Looks like we're going back in." He didn't need to elaborate on "in" all questions pointed to the object that lay in a clearing somewhere in the Forbidden Forest.
No one said anything, he was right; they couldn't leave things just as they were. They needed to get back in there and find that hand. Whatever it's purpose they would find out once they had it. If whomever it was that wanted it then they were going to get it first. There was still the possibility that it might not even be the hand that he was after but that was the only lead they had and with Yoanna gone who next would fall victim to the Dream Breaker?
"How's you arm?" Remus asked, finally changing the subject after they stood awhile longer immersed in thought.
In all honesty it had stopped bleeding and Sirius had all but forgotten about it but sighed with exaggerated relief anyway. "Lucky it was Yoanna that bit me and not you. Imagine the number of injections I would have needed. You having a rabid bite and all."
"Not to mention the curse." Remus reminded, he was drained but not yet humourless.
"Yeah, and that too! That would make things stink that much more: injections on my ass and an incurable curse. Yeah, today could have turned out much worse." He decided and sauntered up to their room.
A/N: Wow, sure was a cannon full of thick plot there! Phew! Made my brain sweat while writing it! A hell of a lot of questions yet to be answered and remember, these guys are still doing a lot of guesswork and inevitably guess work isn't always right. If I've confused or lost anyone while I've thickened the plot then do let me know and I'll try to clear it up further in the coming up chapters. There will be more explanations later anyway. Don't you guys just feel sorry for the characters? I mean they're engaged in childish but incredibly fun stuff one minute and then thrust into dark bad world the next!
Anyways, enough of my eccentric babbling and on with the next chapter. I hope you've all enjoyed this so far! xXx
