I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

Chapter 14

"Gone? What do you mean, she's gone?" Devyn asked Ginny. The younger girl looked majorly freaked out and Devyn was getting a little worried herself. She knew that the people in the paintings could sometimes vanish from their portraits altogether, but that wouldn't cause such a ruckus…

"I mean, she's just gone. The painting's ripped to shreds. She's just…she's gone," Ginny replied. Devyn and looked at Neville, whose green eyes were wide with confusion and slight panic.

"Serves her right," Ron said. Devyn glared sharply at him and he said, chuckling a little, "She was a terrible singer."

"It's not funny, Ron!" Hermione admonished.

"Keep calm everyone. Ravenclaws, back to your common room. Be quiet -"

Devyn honestly thought the Ravenclaws had no business being here, but she wasn't in charge of them so she couldn't say for certain that they hadn't been told to go there.

"Make way, make way!"

Suddenly Filch's raspy voice could be distinguished from the rest of the panicked din on the staircase and they had to flatten themselves against one side of the staircase and the old caretaker, carrying a lantern, pushed past them, following Dumbledore.

Good, Devyn thought, Dumbledore's here. He'll sort this all out. I hope.

I'm sure he will, Devyn, but keep in mind; he's only a mortal man. He can only do so much, you know?

Yeah, but Snow, its Dumbledore…he's handle far worse than this situation before. And plus, he's usually pretty useful in a crisis.

I know, I'm just saying…

I know, I know…

"The Headmaster's here," Percy said unnecessarily, shaking Devyn from her internal dialogue with Snow.

"Come on, move!" Filch commanded.

"You heard, move!" Percy snapped. Devyn rolled her eyes. She had never liked Percy, but as time wore on, she found herself liking him less and less. He was just so pompous and...obedient. He never questioned anything; he just did what he was told.

It was entirely annoying.

"Mr. Filch," Dumbledore said, running his hand over the shredded canvas of the probably incredibly old painting. "Round up the ghosts. Tell them to search every painting in the castle to find the Fat Lady."

But Filch didn't hobble off immediately like he normally would have done, after being given a direct order from Dumbledore. Instead he turned slightly and said, "There's no need for ghosts, Professor. The Fat Lady's there."

He raised a gnarled finger and pointed at a painting on a higher landing and that caused the entire crowd to start pushing forward with a strength that Percy couldn't control.

"Hey!" Percy said, sounding annoyed. "Mind where you're going! Slow down! You listen, I'm Head Boy!"

"Nobody cares, Percy!" Devyn shouted at him as she and her friends rushed past.

The crowd pushed forward and Dumbledore kept encouraging them until he stood in front of the painting that Filch had indicated. Harry, Devyn, Hermione, Ron and Neville all stood at his side, staring at the terrified Fat Lady with wide eyes.

"Dear lady, who did this to you?" Dumbledore asked kindly, although there was a sense of urgency in his voice.

The Fat Lady poked her head above the hippo she was hiding behind, shaking something awful and said, "Eyes like the devil, he's got, and a soul as dark as his name…it's him Headmaster; the one they all talk about. He's here! Somewhere in the castle – Sirius Black!"

With a terrified sob, the Fat Lady ducked behind the hippo once more and Dumbledore quickly said to Filch, "Secure the castle, Mr. Filch. The rest of you, to the Great Hall!"

The throngs of students started making their way to the Great Hall, but Harry seemed to be in a semblance of shock.

And Devyn could understand why…but she was a little more concerned with two things; one, tonight was a full moon, and that meant that Moony would be locked out of the castle for the night. That, in itself, was not a bad thing, but she hated to think of her godfather all alone out there in the Forbidden Forest. When she heard a wolf howl from somewhere in the distance, it tore through her the same way a bullet would.

The second thing that concerned her was that something did not add up. Why would Black attack the Fat Lady? Perhaps she refused to let him into the Gryffindor Common Room, so he went ballistic, but something was peculiar about this situation.

Why, if Black was after Harry, would he attack on Halloween? He had to know that all the students would be down at the Halloween Feast, right?

Unless, and it was possible, he didn't realize what day it actually was? But that didn't add up either. Regardless of whether Black cared about James and Lily Potter or not, October 31st was still the day they died and something told Devyn that evil or not, Black wouldn't forget a date as important as that, which means that in his mind, he would have also connected the fact that October 31st was Halloween.

It seemed like Black timed his attack perfectly, to ensure that no one would be in the Common Room when he was, if he had actually gotten in there in the first place – which he didn't.

A mad mass murderer would not plan his attack to a time when he knew nobody would be around to see him. A mad mass murderer wouldn't care if someone was around because he would just kill them and be done with it.

And furthermore, a mad mass murderer would want to cause as many casualties as possible, so why would Black, a supposed mad mass murderer, time his attack so that no one would be around to see him and therefore no one would be around to get hurt or killed.

Something wasn't adding up and it was driving Devyn insane. A part of her wondered if Black was as really vicious and violent and soulless as everyone seemed to believe he was.

The thoughts plagued Devyn for hours as she lay on the floor of the Great Hall in one of the soft purple sleeping bags that Dumbledore had conjured for them. Her mind would not allow her to rest and that was making everything much worse because she was entirely exhausted.

"Devyn?"

Devyn heard her name whispered very quietly and she turned her head to see Neville staring at her, his eyes wide open.

"Yeah, Neville?" she replied in a whisper. Strictly speaking, they weren't supposed be talking because Percy had announced 'lights out' about an hour ago.

"Do you really think Sirius Black was in the castle?"

Devyn thought for a couple seconds and nodded. Neville inhaled sharply and he reached out for her hand. Their hands interlocked with each other's and they held on as though they were each other's only lifeline as they were drifting out to sea.

"I've searched the Astronomy Tower and the Owlery, sir, but there's nothing there," Filch's voice was heard suddenly.

Devyn and Neville grew extremely still but continued to look into each other's eyes. Devyn knew that they were not the only ones awake, but she could only say for sure that Harry was also awake. The entire situation was probably driving him crazy as well.

"Thank you," Dumbledore replied.

"The third floor's clear, too, sir," said Percy.

"Very good," Dumbledore replied, sounding distracted.

"I've done the dungeons, Headmaster," Snape told him. "No sign of Black. Nor anywhere else in the castle."

"Thank you. I didn't really expect him to linger," Dumbledore said.

Nor did I, Professor, nor did I, Devyn thought. From what Devyn knew already about Black, she could tell he was extremely intelligent and therefore would have been smart enough to know that once his attack failed, he would need to high tail it out of there as soon as possible, or he would risk getting captured.

"Remarkable feat, don't you think?" Snape said. "To enter Hogwarts on one's own, completely undetected…"

"Quite remarkable, yes," Dumbledore said, sounding as though he was only humoring Snape now.

"Any theories about how he might have managed it?"

"Many," Dumbledore replied, "each as unlikely as the next."

"You may recall that prior to the start of term; I did express concerns about your appointment of Professor -"

Dumbledore cut Snape off before he could finish the sentence, but Devyn was already shaking with barely contained fury. Snape was implying that Moony,of all people, would help Black into the castle! Black was responsible for the deaths of three of Moony's closest friends! Why on earth would Moony ever help Black get into the castle, where he could easily kill Devyn, Harry, Neville, Ron, Hermione, and thousands of other children?

"Not a single Professor inside this castle would help Sirius Black to enter it," Dumbledore told him sharply.

Thank you, Dumbledore. You tell him. Moony would never – not even in a million years would he ever – help Black into this castle! Devyn thought angrily.

"No, I'm quite convinced the castle is safe. And I'm more than willing to send the students back to the houses," Dumbledore said.

"What about Potter?" Snape asked. Devyn's ears perked up. What about Harry? "Should he be warned?"

Warned? Warned about what? That Black's after him? Too late, he already knows. But no…from the sound of Snape's voice, it's much more than that. The question is, how much more?

"Perhaps," Dumbledore acquiesced. "But for now, let him sleep…for in dreams, we enter a world that's entirely our own. Let them swim in the deepest ocean, or glide over the highest cloud."

Neville snapped his eyes shut and Devyn did the same, considering Dumbledore and Snape were only feet away from them, standing over Harry. Eventually, Snape and Dumbledore went off and Devyn fell into a fitful sleep.

Huh? Where am I?

She looked around and saw nothing but large trees and a glowing moon – a full moon. Was she in the Forbidden Forest?

But that was impossible! She had just been in the Great Hall, lying next to Neville…she had been holding his hand. She looked down at her own hand and felt an odd pressure on it…she was still holding Neville's hand, so she was still in the Great Hall…so this was a dream!

She looked around curiously and jumped violently when a voice screamed out, "DEVYN! HELP!"

She started running towards where she thought the voice came from and came upon a horrible sight. A dark figure was looming over the prone figures of two people. As she drew closer, she realized that the two people were not entirely still and that they weren't just any two people.

One had glasses and messy black hair…and emerald green eyes. Harry!

The other had dark brown hair and darker green eyes… Neville!

And they were being strangled by the dark figure. She shouted out and fell to her knees near their heads. Their eyes looked up at her helplessly and she tried with all her might to wrench the hands away from their necks but it was to no avail.

The dark figure was just too strong. She screamed and she cried as she watched helplessly as her boyfriend and best friend and another of her closest friends struggled and finally went still.

"No…" she moaned. "No, please, God, no….Neville, Harry…please, no…"

As Devyn looked into their lifeless eye, the dark figure that had murdered them began to laugh. The deep chuckle grew into a maniacal cackle and Devyn saw red.

She stood up and tackled the figure to the ground, and closed her own hands around the figure's thin neck. It was then, by the light of the moon, that she saw his face.

The sound rushed out of the air, but that face kept on laughing. She had seen that face before, on the front cover of the Daily Prophet. It was the same face that had been plaguing her thoughts for months on end; the same face that came with a name that brought a heart-wrenching sadness to her godfather's eyes – Sirius Black.

"You!" Devyn growled. "You killed them!"

He just kept laughing silently. "You murdered them! I LOVED THEM!"

A sudden rush of superhuman strength swarmed through her blood and she felt the snap of his windpipe beneath her hands as she crushed it and put an end to his infuriating, albeit silent, laughing.

She stood up and suddenly became aware of the tears that had been running down her face. She looked up and stared at the bright white moon. The full moon…

Awooooooo!

She heard the howl and a paralyzing fear made her blood run cold. She couldn't speak, she couldn't think, she couldn't even scream.

She turned slowly and her blue eyes met a pair of glowing yellow eyes surrounded by coarse grey fur. Her breathing came in short spurts and she could do nothing but stare into those glowing eyes…but those eyes held a shine of recognition in them.

She was staring into the eyes of a werewolf. But not just any werewolf…"Moony?"

Just for a second – hardly longer than a blink of an eye – those eyes changed from the frightening yellow into a dark blue she had looked into many times. But quicker than she thought possible, the eyes went right back to the fluorescent yellow.

"Moony," she breathed. "It is you…"

Moony stared at her and then moved past her and looked down at the bodies of Neville and Harry. He sniffed at them and looked at her questioningly.

"I tried to save them, Moony, I swear I did. He was too strong…I couldn't save them. I couldn't…"

Moony cocked his head at her and she said, "He did it, Moony. It was him."

She pointed and Moony's eyes followed her finger to where Black lay on the ground, his glittering eyes open and lifeless.

The werewolf crept over to Black and sniffed at him as well – but this time, the wolf looked up at her with a cold fury in his eyes. He howled, and the sound pierced her ears and she could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage.

The wolf advanced on her and she backed up slowly, sobbing. "I had to, Moony. I had to. He killed them. He killed them…I had to…"

But the wolf wouldn't listen to her. All hope crumbled away from her heart as Moony growled and lunged at her. She closed her eyes and felt a searing pain in her neck –

"Devyn!"

Devyn's eyes snapped open and she found herself looking into the green eyes of her boyfriend. His eyes were shining with terror and she took one look at them before she broke down completely.

"Oh, Devyn, come here. Shhh, come here," Neville said softly, pulling her into his arms.

"Neville…I thought…you were dead…and Harry…it was Black…"

"It was just a nightmare…that's all…a nightmare," Neville said, stroking her hair, trying to calm her down. "I heard you crying in your sleep. You kept whispering 'no, please, god, no'…I didn't know what to do. I'd been trying to wake you up for about five minutes before you finally came around."

Devyn just cried and clung to Neville like he was the only real thing in the world anymore. He just kept holding her and stroking her hair and whispering sweet, comforting nothings into her ear.

"I'm here. I'm here, and I'm not gonna leave you…Black won't get me, I promise you. I won't let him take me from you. And Harry's just fine…look, he's right there, okay? It's alright, it was only a nightmare. You're safe. I won't let anything happen to you."

Eventually she stopped crying but Neville refused to let her go. She looked up at him and kissed him, just to reassure herself that he was actually there. She turned her head and saw Harry lying feet away from her, fast asleep.

"We're both safe," Neville said as she turned back to him and hugged him tightly. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Devyn just needed someone to listen, so she nodded her head and said, "I was in the Forbidden Forest...I think…and I was alone, but then I heard someone scream my name so I started running and that's when I saw…" she took a deep breath and Neville's arms tightened around her waist to reassure her. "I saw you and Harry being strangled by someone… I couldn't see his face. I tried to get him off, I tried to save you, but I couldn't…I c-couldn't…"

"It's alright. I'm alright. Not going anywhere, love," Neville whispered and Devyn steadied her breath and continued quietly.

"You stopped moving…both of you…he killed you and then…he just…he started laughing and I was so angry. I tackled him and started strangling him…that's when I saw his face…it was Black, Neville. He killed you and Harry…and I killed him. I killed him and then I heard a wolf howl…I turned around and there was this werewolf right behind me. He went over and sniffed at your bodies and then went over to Black's body. I tried to tell him that Black killed you and I killed Black, but he…he wouldn't listen and he attacked me…but I guess I woke up right when he bit me because I felt this pain in my neck and then I was back in the Great Hall…"

Devyn left out the part about the werewolf being Moony because Neville didn't know about Moony's condition and she wasn't about to reveal it. She trusted Neville implicitly but she had to protect Moony.

Neville nodded and said, "Well, you're safe now. I promise I won't let anything happen to you. I promise…you're safe. You're here, you're safe…I'm safe, Harry's safe…we're all…we're all okay."

Truth be told, Neville was just as freaked out by Devyn's nightmare as she was. He had been asleep, but his dream was interrupted when he heard Devyn crying and begging…

When he woke up and saw his girlfriend, tears streaming down her face, whimpering like a small child, it terrified him and it broke his heart. He had to wake her up, but when he couldn't right away, he was forced to sit there and watch the terror fly across her face and tears leaking out from under her eyelids.

He had been relieved when she finally woke up, but she was still terrified, so Neville just held her and comforted her. Whatever her nightmare was about really unnerved her – he had never seen her so broken or so scared…and it terrified him.

And when she told him what had happened in her nightmare, it scared the hell out of him. Black's break-in had scared them all, but it must have affected Devyn more than they realized – probably more than she even realized.

Luckily, Neville calmed her down enough that she was able to go back to sleep, but she asked Neville to keep holding her, a request that Neville was only too happy to indulge. Devyn desperately needed him there right now, and Neville said it himself; he was here, and he wasn't going to leave her.

Not now…not ever.