ROTRUFIN

CHAPTER 24-PLEASANT DREAMS

"Could someone inside the museum have access to the Maprovin Virus?" Lily asked tilting her head.

I frowned.

"I don't think so. The Maprovin virus is found in Muggle labs. The Muggle scientists are said to be testing it so unless the person got it on the black market, I seriously doubt anyone working at the museum would be able to get a hold of it,"

"Black market?" Sirius asked confused.

"It's a Muggle way of trading, only with illegal objects," I explained. "Illegal and dangerous objects."

"Do you really think that's what happened?" Remus asked, his blue eyes filled with seriousness and concern.

I sighed. "I'm not sure, but there are two extremely good possibilities,"

"We're heading off to classes," Lily said brightly. "If you'd like to join us you're free to."

I smiled.

"Thanks,"

"I would leave those here," James said gesturing to the crossbow and quiver of arrows.

"Duly noted," I grinned.

James, Lily, Remus and Gillian all headed out of the common room. Sirius came over to me and we walked out of the common room.

"So, you work for the Magical Law Enforcement huh?" Sirius asked brightly.

"Yep," I said as we turned the corner.

I thought Sirius was really cute and handsome.

He had short, wavy, thick black hair and hazel blue eyes. He was dressed in the school uniform and robe with gray slacks.

"May I ask how long?" Sirius asked as we entered one of the classrooms.

"About 3 years," I said as Sirius and I took a seat toward the back of the classroom. In front of us were James and Lily and in front of them were Remus and Gillian, who were quietly talking amongst themselves.

"And you killed all those Mythical creatures in a matter of three years?" Sirius asked awed.

"Yep," I said nodding. "There are more than you know."

"Wow," Lily breathed wide eyed.

"Anyway," I said changing the subject. "I've got to find out if this Agranis wolf is definitely here on Hogwarts' grounds. If so, we're all in more danger than we know."

"But if no one goes outside, how can it kill?" Remus asked.

"Agranis wolves also are intelligent. They manage to find their way into houses, or castles for that matter. They're actually problem solving smart," I said.

"Geeze," Gillian said swallowing.

I nodded.

"We really must look for clues outside,"

"I'm not going out there," James said holding up his hands defensively.

"No one expected you to," Lily said sarcastically. "God help us if you actually did something for others except yourself."

James turned to Lily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"What does it sound like?" Lily retorted putting her hands on her hips.

"Sounds like you're accusing me of being selfish," James snapped.

"We have a winner!" Lily cried.

"I'm not selfish!" James snarled. "You're such a stuck up snot that I don't see you going out there!"

They got into an argument.

Finally, Remus put his hands up in the air.

"STOP!" he cried.

They ignored him.

I put two fingers in my mouth and whistled loudly.

That got their attention.

"Look, I don't care whose playing hero here. I'm going out there and if anyone would like to join me fine," I said.

"I'll go," Sirius offered.

Everyone avoided looking at me as Sirius and I left the common room and headed out onto the grounds.

"You do know we could get caught right?" Sirius asked as we walked around the grounds, searching for anything unusual.

"Yeah," I said. "But if it is the Agranis, getting expelled would be the least of our worries."

Sirius nodded.

"Gotcha,"

After a few moments of snooping, Sirius whistled to me.

"Find anything?" I asked heading over to him.

He was crouched over something imprinted in the dirt near the Forbidden Forest.

I crouched down beside him.

It was a huge paw print.

"Bingo," I said gently outlining the print with my finger.

"This is it?" he asked looking up at me.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "It's definitely the Agranis."

"Let's head back," he suggested.

We headed back inside the castle and into the common room. Everyone looked up.

"Find anything?" Remus asked.

"Oh yeah," I said gravely. "A huge paw print about 5'' wide and 7 inches long. It's definitely the Agranis."

"It was here?" James asked.

"Definitely," I said nodding.

"Oh man," Lily moaned. "We're in deep doo doo aren't we?"

"'Fraid so," I said. "But don't worry. I'm here to kill it."

After that, we headed to the rest of our classes.

That night, I slept in the girls' dorm.

I fell fast asleep easily but I dreamed:

I dreamed that I was out hunting the Agranis. It was stalking me at the same time.

I turned to shoot an arrow and it turned out to be this gray wolf that charged at me. I fired the arrow and the arrow lodged itself right into the gray wolfs heart.

The Agranis appeared shortly behind the gray wolf and I had used my last arrow. The Agranis charged at me. I screamed.

I woke up screaming.

Immediately, lights were turned on.

"Megan?" Lily's voice asked alarmed. "Are you okay?"

"What happened?" Gillian's voice came next.

I was sitting bolt upright in bed, sweating and clinging to the sheets.

I was also breathing rapidly.

"What happened?" Gillian repeated worriedly.

"I had the most horrible nightmare," I said shivering.

Lily put her arm around me.

"What happened?"

"I dreamed that I was hunting the Agranis and when I turned to shoot my arrow, it turned into this gray wolf. The Agranis was behind it. I killed the gray wolf," I said swallowing down a huge lump of nausea.

Gillian and Lily looked at each other.

"It was just a nightmare," Lily said softly. "Don't worry about it."

I nodded and they each gave me a hug before returning to bed. I slid down and stayed awake the rest of the night.

For some reason, in the dream, the gray wolf seemed comforting and non harmful. So why did I shoot it?

The next morning, I got up and got dressed. I was dressed in a navy straight skirt and a pink poplin shirt. I had pulled my hair into a braid.

I headed down to the Great Hall. Everyone was already sitting at the table.

"Morning!" Remus said cheerfully. "Sleep well?"

"Not really," I admitted.

"What's wrong?" Sirius demanded.

I told them about my nightmare.

"It was just a horrible dream," James said softly. "Don't pay any attention to it."

I sighed and helped myself to some porridge.

"I can't help but get a bad feeling," I admitted as I began eating the porridge.

"It's probably all the stress," Lily said. "Don't forget…you hunt creatures. There's bound to be some sort of stress there."

"Yeah," Remus said nodding. "Stress of making sure that the world is a safe place."

I sighed again, but said no more.

I went to their classes with them.

That night, it was a full moon out.

"Erm, we'd best take a walk," Sirius said meaningfully to Remus and James.

"Yep," Remus said. "We'll be back shortly."

"Sure," I said brightly as I curled up on the couch in the Gryffindor common room.

I had decided to read one of the books from the library.

They headed out of the common room and it was just us girls now.

"So," Lily said in a teasing tone. "You think Sirius is cute don't you?"

I looked up at her startled.

"Meh? Come again?" I asked confused.

"You think Sirius is hot," Gillian grinned.

"What are you two getting at?" I asked raising an eyebrow playfully.

"We see the way Sirius looks at you! We're not blind!" Lily grinned back.

"Really?" I asked sitting upright now, intrigued.

"Yes!" Gillian grinned.

"Well, he is cute yeah," I admitted.

"I knew it!" Lily cried laughing.

"Well what about you? Who are you with?" I demanded playfully tucking my legs underneath me.

"James," Lily said promptly.

"And you?" I asked turning my eyes onto Gillian.

"Well," her voice trailed off. She seemed to hesitate.

"It's okay," I said quickly. "You don't have to tell me."

"Naw it's okay," Gillian said finally smiling. "See, I slept with Remus and everyone thought I used him just for sex but I explained everything to him and we're still friends now. But I'm kind of hoping to become more."

I nodded.

"I understand," I said. "Does he know you want to become more?"

Gillian shook her head.

"No,"

"Then I think it's time you told him no?" Lily said. "Why don't you tell him in the morning?"

"Good idea," I agreed. "Or when he comes back from the walk with James and Sirius."

Gillian nodded and smiled.

So we got to talking about guys and were laughing so much and having a good time that we didn't even realize it was getting late. I checked my watch. It was almost midnight.

"Oh man," I said yawning. "It's almost midnight! Where are they?"

"Erm," Lily said looking at Gillian. "Don't worry about them. They always come back. They've done this before."

I shrugged.

"Goodnight everyone," I said.

"'Night," Lily said.

I headed off to the girls' dorm and climbed into bed eagerly. Shortly Lily and Gillian came in too. I ended up dozing off immediately.

Again I dreamed.

I dreamed that the Agranis wolf had entered the castle. It was stalking one of the students along the corridor. I came up behind it and pulled an arrow from my quiver and fitted it to the bow. I went to draw it back and release it when a girl stepped into the line of fire. My fingers slipped and the arrow was released. It struck her right in the head…I lowered the bow and screamed again.

I woke up screaming again.

"Again?" Lily's voice asked concerned.

Lights were turned on and Lily and Gillian rushed to my side again.

"Another nightmare?" Gillian asked worriedly.

I nodded and shakily told her about this one.

"Weird," Lily said. "But they're just nightmares…nothing to worry about."

"I'm not so sure about that," Gillian said slowly.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked turning her emerald green eyes onto Gillian.

"What if she's having premonitions?" Gillian asked looking back at Lily.

"Premonitions? You mean like Muggle psychic visions?" I asked tilting my head.

"Exactly," Gillian said nodding. "There's no rule stating that a witch or anyone outside the Muggle realm couldn't get them."

"But why?" Lily asked curiously.

"Not sure about that," Gillian said tiling her head too. "But I think the best thing we should do is see what happens and if these dreams come true. If they do, then we know."

"Yeah," Lily said nodding.

"I'm hoping that it doesn't come true," I said shivering. "The girl had your color hair, Lily."

Lily put a sympathetic hand on my shoulder.

"Relax," she said softly. "If you'd like, I could get Madam Elkin to give you a Dreamless Sleep Potion?"

"No," I said shaking my head. "I think I'll be alright."

She nodded.

They went back over to their beds and climbed in. I laid back down and finally managed to doze off again.

The next morning, I awoke and got dressed. Lily, Gillian and I went down to the Great Hall. Remus, James and Sirius were already at the table.

"Morning!" Sirius cried grinning at me broadly.

"Morning," I muttered plopping down beside him and letting my forehead hit the table with a thunk.

"What's wrong?" Remus demanded.

"Another nightmare," Gillian explained.

She began telling them about the nightmare I had last night.

"Sheesh," Sirius said looking at me. "Are you okay? That must've been a horrible one."

"Yeah," I muttered still not raising my head. "I just want to forget it."

"I know," Remus said. "I agree with Gillian though. We should just wait and see what happens."

"Do you really think that they would come true?" Sirius asked.

I felt an arm around my shoulders.

"We don't know. I've got an opened mind about these things," he said.

I slowly raised my forehead now.

"We won't let anything happen to you or anyone," Sirius said putting his face close to mine. "Trust me."

They nodded furiously.

I smiled.