Dranex

"Dranex."

Chapter four-Chased again

We quickly put the Evex back in the medicine cabinet and left he hospital wing.

Hermione asked me if I would like to go to the library with her for some more research. I agree. Ron and Ian were heading back to the common room. We still had about 45 minutes before our next class. Hermione and I entered the library.

HERMIONE.

Harry and I entered the library. I realized I remembered something else about the TI virus and wanted to be sure that it was correct. I headed for the M section and stood in front of the large shelves of books, scanning each book spine carefully. I found the book I was looking for a pulled it out. Harry and I headed over to an empty table and sat down. I flipped open the book and found the TI virus.

"A ha! Here it is! The TI virus," I said, as I began reading the article.

Harry was standing over me peering over my shoulder as I read the article aloud softly.

"The TI virus was originally founded in Medieval England. It attacks the brain's electrical impulses. It kills the person but then the person is alive again, but will hunt for food. It turns the skin inside out as well as the muscles. If it is found in dogs, it will react the same way, but will give the animal extraordinary strength.

The animal will crave flesh and meat and also hunt for food. Wow. The person is really infected! I think Professor Dumbledore should know about this. If that girl from Ravenclaw is infected, she needs to be quarantined,"

"Quarantined?" Harry asked, tilting his head.

"Kept in seclusion," I said simply. "I say we go to Dumbledore."

Harry nodded. "I agree. But what's the girl's name?"

I frowned. "I think her name is Amy Collins,"

I closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Harry and I headed back out of the library and out into the corridor.

"Hey...let's check out the corridor where you said that thing walked along the wall," Harry said. "There might be something there."

I nodded.

I led Harry along the corridors until we found the one where I was before. We scanned the walls and floor.

"Oh my God...look," I whispered as I pointed to the wall.

Harry stood beside me and we both looked up. There were several holes in the wall that were eerily shaped like paw prints. Half of the pictures were still hanging on the wall. The other half had fallen to the floor.

"What the hell made those?" Harry mused.

"Whatever chased me," I replied hugging myself. "Whatever it was climbed the wall on all four and then galloped on it as if it defied gravity."

Harry looked at me.

"No animal could do that," he said slowly. "None that I know of. What about you? What magical creature could do that?"

I frowned deep in thought.

"Hmm...I can't think of anything. A Wexem has sticky pads on its feet and can climb things, but not like this thing did last night," I said.

"It would be better if we knew what this thing looked like. All we got was a blur of red last night and blood on my vest," Harry said, as he pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"I know. Let's go to Dumbledore now," I suggested.

Nodding, we hurried down the corridor and stood outside Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Shit...what's the password?" Harry said digging the heels of his palms into his eyes as he tried to think.

"Sherbet Lemon?"

The stone gargoyle that stood in front of the entrance didn't budge.

"Cockroach Cluster?"

Still no movement.

"Magic?" I offered.

Again, no movement from the gargoyle.

"Ugh! We really need to see Professor Dumbledore!" Harry cried irritably. "Wompvert? Cauldron Cake?"

Finally, the gargoyle stepped aside.

"Yes!" he cried happily as he and I hurried up the steps that wound up to the office. On top of the steps was a winged Griffin. We finally arrived at Dumbledore's office. He was sitting behind his desk. He looked up as we entered.

"Harry...Hermione...what can I do for you?" he asked, pleasantly.

He was wearing dark blue robes. His blue eyes twinkled behind his half moon spectacles.

"We need to talk to you," Harry said.

"Sit down," Professor Dumbledore said.

We sat down in front of his desks in two leather chairs that he conjured up with a wave of his wand.

"Now, what's the problem?" he asked, kindly.

"Something chased me in the corridor the other night. Whatever it was climbed the wall and then galloped on it breaking through pictures. It had gold eyes and we just caught a glimpse of it...it was red," I said.

"Hmm..." Professor Dumbledore mused.

"That's not all...it attacked a Ravenclaw girl. This morning, I saw her sitting at her table eating as if nothing happened. She had a bandage around her neck," I continued.

"Maybe she wasn't badly hurt?" Dumbledore offered.

I shook my head. "No sir. She had her throat torn open and she had been mauled. There was no way anyone could've survived that kind of attack and this morning all that was on her was a bandage around her neck. No other markings,"

Dumbledore looked concerned now.

"That is most strange. Do you know the girl's name?" he asked, slowly.

"Amy Collins I believe,"

"Also, Professor Dumbledore? When we caught a glimpse of that thing last night, it brushed past me and I got some blood on the front of my vest. I wasn't cut or anything. Ian, Hermione, Ron and I did a test on the blood with a Evex and there was some strange things about the blood," Harry said.

"What strange things?"

"Well, there was human DNA in it, along with canine, dog, DNA and the TI virus," Harry continued.

"The TI virus?" Professor Dumbledore asked fully alert now.

We nodded.

"Whatever this thing is it's highly dangerous and it's infected with the TI virus," I said.

"Do either of you have any idea as to what it might be?" Dumbledore asked leaning forward.

Harry and I looked at each other.

"Well, when we went back to the corridor where it chased Hermione, there were large holes in the wall that looked exactly like paw prints," Harry continued.

"Paw prints?"

Harry and I nodded.

Professor Dumbledore sighed and exhaled loudly.

"Alright. I'm going to relay what you told me to the other teachers. We're going to keep a close eye out for whatever this thing is. Don't go sneaking off late at night. Stay in the Gryffindor common room," Professor Dumbledore said.

We nodded again.

"Ok...I'll see you at dinner tonight,"

Harry and I left the office and we walked along the corridor back to the Gryffindor common room. Just then, Amy Collins appeared outside the Charms classroom. I felt my heart beating. The bandage was gone now. She looked at us as we approached.

"Excuse me, is Professor Dumbledore in his office?" Amy asked, smiling.

There was something about her that set me into a terrified mode and something was definitely wrong with her. When she turned her head to look at Harry, I could see closed bite marks on her neck, and the beginning of a long scratch just parallel to her bottom jaw on her chest. My heart was pounding loudly in my chest. Amy turned her eyes back onto me and for a fleeting moment, I could swear she could hear my heart pounding.

"Why are you so nervous?" Amy asked suddenly.

She tilted her head slightly and seemed amused.

"I-I just remembered I forgot to do an essay. Um, no...Professor Dumbledore's not in his office. If I see him, I'll tell him you're looking for him," I lied swallowing.

"Oh...pity. Ok. Thanks anyway," Amy said as she began heading off in the opposite direction.

Harry looked at me shocked.

"Why'd you lie?" he hissed as we continued to the Gryffindor common room.

"Harry, something's wrong with her. She's not right. Did you see her neck?" I whispered as we entered the common room.

"Yeah. But why'd you lie?"

"I told you. There was something truly wrong with her. Why would she be looking for Dumbledore unless somehow she knew we went to talk to him?" I asked, sitting down on a chair.

"That's insane! There's no way she could've known!" Harry said.

Ron and Ian appeared and came into the common room.

"Hey! What's up guys?" Ian asked, as he and Ron sat down across from Harry and I.

"We just came from Dumbledore. We told him everything. When we were coming out of his office, Amy Collins stopped us and asked us if he was in his office. I told her 'no'," I replied.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Hermione seems to think that the reason why Amy wanted to see Dumbledore is because she somehow knew we were there with him talking," Harry said.

"That's bloody impossible!" Ron said.

"I don't know...but something is wrong here. I don't trust her," I said, as I stared at Harry, Ron and Ian. "Please believe me."

They exchanged looks.

"Hermione's never been wrong before. I trust her," Harry said.

"Me too," Ron said.

"Okay, but what do we do about it?" Ian asked.

"Well, Dumbledore knows. He said right now all we can do is keep an eye out for things," I said.

"Well, that's what we'll do,"

That evening at dinner, I ate my food, trying not to look at the Ravenclaw table. Harry leaned close to me.

"Out of the corner of my eye I see Amy. She's eating the roast beef, but the piece looks raw," he whispered.

"Are you sure?" I whispered back, keeping my eyes on my mashed potatoes as I ate.

"Definitely," Harry said. "Why would someone want to eat raw meat?"

Ron leaned forward. He had been sitting across from us.

"What type of person eats raw meat? Isn't that bad for you?" Ron asked.

"Yes. I know of only two types of people that can eat raw meat without problems," I whispered, praying that neither of what I was about to say was true here, but I had a feeling it was one of them. "Werewolves and..."

My voice trailed off.

Ron, Harry and Ian waited patiently.

I swallowed. "The undead,"

"The undead? What like zombies or something?" Ron asked, his lip twitching.

I looked at him gravely.

"Yes. Ancient cultures, like the Egyptians, mummified their dead. They believed that the after life was real and that the dead live on. The only thing is, modern society took that belief and added a few 'adjustments' to it," I said.

"I don't think Amy is a zombie, Hermione," Ron said, looking at Ian.

I could see his lip twitching. I felt anger rising in my chest. Leave it to Ron to shoot down my idea. I slowly stood up, keeping the palms of my hands flat on the table. I leaned forward, my hair dangling above the chicken casserole. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You haven't seen what I've seen, Ron. You weren't there the other night when that 'thing' or whatever it was chased me. I was terrified for my life and I could feel that it wanted to hurt me. You can laugh and scoff all you want...but it won't change the fact that what I saw was real...Amy was dead and that thing is still in the castle somewhere," I said in a low, angry voice.

I spun away from the table and began storming out of the Great Hall.

A few minutes later, I heard someone behind me. I spun around. It was Harry.

"God! Ron is impossible sometimes!" I cried, angrily digging the heels of my palms into my temples as I paced the corridor.

"I know...Listen, I believe you," Harry said as he came over to me.

"How? I'm not sure I believe myself! I mean what I'm saying is near impossible!" I cried, letting my hands drop to my sides.

"Is it?" Harry asked, standing in front of me. "Is it really? Who knows, Hermione, whatever this... 'thing' is, it definitely isn't human like. It's definitely inhuman and what type of animal it is, I have no idea. But I think everyone's in grave danger here. It killed Amy, and I don't know how she's back, but I believe it has something to do with that TI virus,"

We were standing close together.

I felt myself smiling. Leave it to Harry to always be there for Ron and I. He was always there for us and never backed down.

He then gently put a hand on the side of my face and stroked my cheekbone with his right thumb.

"Well figure this out...don't worry," he said, softly, searching my face.

I smiled again.

"Let's go back into the Great Hall...shall we?"

I nodded and he lowered his hand. We entered the Great Hall again.

Around eight o'clock, Harry said that he wanted to get a better glimpse of whatever this thing was. I reluctantly agreed and I went with him, our wands held out in front of us like swords.

The corridors were quiet and lit by the torches. An orange glow reflected off the floor and walls of the corridor.

"It's too quiet," I whispered, practically clutching Harry's arm.

"I know," Harry agreed.

Just then, someone stepped out of the shadows. Harry and I froze. It was Malfoy.

"What are you two doing up wandering the halls?" Malfoy sneered as he folded his arms over his chest.

"The question is...what are you doing up?" Harry snapped.

"None of your business, Potter," Malfoy snickered.

"S'matter? Your body guards too dumb to find the bathroom? You drawing a detailed map for them?" Harry growled.

Malfoy threateningly took a step toward Harry, but I was too terrified to move. My fingers dug deeper into Harry's arm as I stared past Malfoy. My breathing sped up and sawed in and out. My eyes were wide and I felt myself trembling.

"Hermione, my arm is going to sleep," Harry said, turning to me. "What's wrong?"

I didn't answer. He followed my gaze and he too, froze.

There was something creeping up behind Malfoy. It was a dark shape on all fours, but it was the size that was really shocking. It was the size of a gray wolf and Great Mastiff dog put together. I couldn't see what it looked like just yet.

Malfoy was smug.

"Now you're terrified of me," he smirked.

Harry and I saw the shape getting ready to pounce. It pounced on Malfoy, knocking him forward into the light of the torch. I screamed and almost dropped my wand. Harry and I began backing away.

It was a wolf, but it didn't look like a wolf. The skin was red, like it turned inside out and it was like the flesh was shiny. The eyes were jaundice color. The ears were thin and there was a hole in one ear. It had almost no tail. It pulled back the top lip of its snout exposing white canines. It was standing on Malfoy's back. It clamped its jaws around Malfoy's neck and with a violent tug, tugged it backward. We heard the sickening 'crack'.

It raised its head and stared at us. We could hear it growling. It didn't even sound like a normal wolf growl.

We turned and began running. As we ran, I glanced back. It climbed onto the wall and began galloping on it, knocking down torches and leaping over windows. We finally reached the common room. I ended up tripping and Harry and I fell flat onto the floor on the common room. The portrait hole swung closed. We could hear it outside snarling. I landed on top of Harry.

"I think we found out what that creature is," Harry said, slowly.

"Yeah...but it doesn't explain one thing,"

"Which is?"

"What is it?"