Revelation

REVELATION

CHAPTER NINE-AMY'S TURN

Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape hurried out of the office. Harry, Amy and I followed close behind.

We found Alex outside the Great Hall. He was sitting on the floor in a heap. There was blood around his mouth and on the collar of his robe and uniform shirt.

"He says he doesn't remember how he got there or what happened," Lavender replied looking nervous.

Harry and I exchanged looks again.

There's definitely two suspects now. I thought.

"Okay. Bring him up to Madam Pomfrey to get cleaned up," Professor Dumbledore said.

Seamus and Dean helped Alex to his feet.

"I'm going to make an announcement," Professor Dumbledore said firmly.

We could hear the laughter of everyone in the Great Hall and the tinkling of forks and knives.

We all entered the Great Hall. Harry and I took our seats at the Gryffindor table. It was weird because Ron wasn't there.

I felt a lump of tears forming in my throat. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I burst into tears. Harry hugged me tightly.

"I miss him too," he said his voice wobbly.

Lavender and Parvati looked at us confused. Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape took their places at the Head table. All eyes moved onto them and silence filtered across the room.

"Sometime last night, another student was killed," Professor Dumbledore said solemnly.

Each of the houses looked at each other with solemn and grave expressions wondering which one of them had lost a fellow student.

"Ron Weasley of Gryffindor,"

Ginny burst into tears. Harry and I comforted her as well.

Normally the Slytherins were giving us snickers, but today, they were watching us with solemn and mournful looks. They had already lost four of their fellow Slytherins.

"Now I'm going to issue a curfew. No one is allowed outside of their common room after eight. This will be put into effect immediately," Professor Dumbledore continued.

The food appeared on our plates. Professor Dumbledore leaned close to Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall and whispered something to them.

They suddenly got up from the table and began walking up the aisles to leave the Great Hall.

They stopped by Harry and I.

"Please come with us. We need you to take us to Weasley," Professor McGonagall said quietly.

Ginny looked at Harry and I with shock.

"Explain it to her," I whispered to Amy.

She nodded as Harry and I got up and followed Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape out of the Great Hall.

We led them to the corridor where we had been the night before. Ron's body was still there but it looked like it was in worse shape. There were parts eaten.

"Oh God," I said turning away sharply and pressing my face into Harry's shoulder.

"Okay. That will be enough," Professor McGonagall said as I felt her put a hand on my shoulder.

We headed back to the Great Hall.

We sat back down and slowly began eating. I didn't have much of an appetite yet I knew I had to eat something.

Just then, Ginny jumped up from her seat with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"YOU SAW EVERYTHING AND DID NOTHING TO STOP IT?" she yelled.

Silence came across the Hall again as everyone watched.

"Ginny? We couldn't help him! It was too late!" Harry said looking upset. I could see tears starting to form in his emerald green eyes.

"YOU LET HIM DIE!" Ginny roared.

Over Harry's shoulder, I could see Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall slowly getting to their feet. They began walking up the center aisle in between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

"YOU LET RON DIE!" Ginny screamed as she stepped over to Harry and slapped him.

I bit my bottom lip to keep myself from crying. Harry was fighting an impossible fight also.

He didn't move when Ginny slapped him.

Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore reached Ginny.

Professor McGonagall put her hands on Ginny's shoulders and began steering her away.

"NO! LEAVE ME HERE! I WANT TO HURT HIM LIKE HE HURT ME! HE LET RON DIE!" Ginny screamed as she fought against Professor McGonagall.

Harry looked guilty and upset.

Ginny was pulled from the Great Hall screaming. Finally, her screams died down.

Professor Dumbledore stepped over to us.

"It was not your fault," he said gently.

"I know, Professor," Harry said quietly. "But I did let Ron die."

The Hall resumed talking.

"You had no choice. If you had stepped out there It would've killed you as well as Hermione. I don't think you would've risked her life as well. Am I right?" Professor Dumbledore said gently.

Harry sighed and looked at me.

"Of course not," he said quietly.

Professor Dumbledore put a hand on Harry's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. He winked at me before heading back up to the Head table.

Harry and I returned to Gryffindor table and began slowly eating our food.

We went to our classes but grudgingly.

During our break, we visited the hospital wing to see how Alex was.

"He'll be okay," Madam Pomfrey said.

Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were all gathered around Alex's cot.

"You two again?" Professor Snape barked.

"I'm not going to bother to say anything," Professor McGonagall muttered.

Professor Dumbledore just winked at us.

"What happened?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I was walking down the corridor and all I remember is the full moon, then blackness. I woke up with blood on my robe," Alex said looking upset and confused.

"Alright. If you remember anything else, please don't hesitate to tell Madam Pomfrey to come and get one of us," Professor Dumbledore said.

Alex nodded.

"You will be able to be released probably tomorrow. You need rest," Professor McGonagall said.

Alex nodded again.

We left the hospital wing.

Harry and I headed to the common room again and we sat down in front of the fire.

Harry was sitting next to me, leaning forward slightly, his elbows resting on his thighs.

He clasped his hands.

"Alright. You heard it first hand," I said slowly. "Alex doesn't remember anything except the full moon...and neither did Professor Solaris. The question is, which one of them is the creature?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "You know werewolves well enough. What do you think?"

"Neither of them really gave any solid clues," I admitted. "And secondly, I don't think it's a werewolf."

"What?" Harry asked startled. "What else could it be?"

"I mean it certainly seems like a werewolf and both Alex and Professor Solaris said they didn't remember anything except a full moon. That's werewolf tendencies. I really just don't know. I'm going to have to go to the library to do some research." I said.

Amy appeared in the common room shortly after that.

"Hi!" she said brightly plopping down opposite us.

"Hey," Harry said softly.

"Are you ready for Potions next?" Amy asked cheerfully.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "Ron hated that class."

At that, I burst into tears. Harry threw his arms around me and pulled me against him. I shut my eyes against the gentle darkness of his robe as I sobbed.

"I miss him so much," I sobbed.

"I know," Harry said as I heard his voice breaking. "I miss him too. Ginny was right. I just let him die."

"No! Professor Dumbledore was right! It would've killed me and you in the process!" I sobbed pulling back from the embrace.

Harry had tears in his emerald green eyes as we hugged again.

After a few moments, we pulled back and I wiped my eyes with the back of my hands.

"Okay. Let's head to the library after class," Harry said quickly wiping his eyes as well.

Once classes were over, Amy, Harry and I headed to the library using Harry's invisibility cloak.

We reached the library and entered it cautiously. We began searching the books for anything that might explain what this 'thing' was.

About a half an hour into searching, Amy suddenly whispered, "Hey! I think I've found something!"

We crowded around her.

"This is exactly what this thing looked like," I said eagerly.

"A Voweklin," Harry read the title above the picture.

"According to this, the Voweklin stemmed from werewolf legends. It was thought to be like the 'sister' to the werewolf, only this creature transforms every night and not just on the full moon. Also, silver has no effect on it. Only gold can kill it. The person or persons would have no recollection of changing as with the werewolf. But this legend is older than werewolves," I read.

"What else?" Harry asked.

"Well, you know if a werewolf bites or scratches you, you then in turn change right?"

Harry and Amy nodded.

"With the Voweklin, if it bites or scratches you it is said to kill the person slowly and madness sets in,"

"Harsh," Amy said looking solemn.

Just then, there was a noise in the library.

"Shh," Harry said putting a finger to his lips.

We quickly hid under the invisibility cloak.

"My wand!" Amy whispered terrified. "If that's Filch walking around he'll know a student was in here!"

"Hurry!" Harry whispered back.

Amy scurried out from under the cloak and over to the table. She just extended her hand when another hand appeared over hers, but it was hairy and had long claws where the fingernails should be.

Amy slowly raised her head. She was shaking badly.

It was the Voweklin.

"Amy!" I squealed.

The Voweklin's ears flicked forward and its eyes scanned the library but of course didn't see anything. It could smell us though.

It returned its eyes onto Amy.

I didn't care. I wasn't about to let it kill another person we cared about. I tossed off the cloak.

The Voweklin backhanded Amy. She flew and crashed into one of the bookcases and fell to her side, not moving. Books toppled onto her and then the bookcase itself.

I had tears in my eyes.

"COME ON! KILL ME!" I screamed taking a challenging position.

It snarled and flattened its ears out sideways.

It took several steps toward me and lashed out and grabbed me by my throat.

"Hermione!" Harry cried looking scared.

It lifted me several inches off the floor.

I managed to reach into my robes and pull out my wand. I pointed the tip of it at the creatures' heart.

"Avada Kedavra!" I yelled.

The jet of green light hit the creature and the fur seemed to have absorbed it.

With its other hand, the creature grabbed my hand with my wand and snapped it in half.

It snarled again. Thick saliva dripped from its bottom jaw. Its eyes were fixed on me.

Its hand tightened around my throat. I began gasping for breath.

"Hermione!" I heard Harry cry again.

The next thing I knew, he lunged for the creature.

The creature snarled and dropped me to the floor. I landed on my rear end and scooted back against one of the tables.

It had dropped to all fours now and shook its body, trying to shake Harry off.

Harry managed to hang on for a bit until one violet shake caused him to lose his grip on the creatures' neck. He went flying into one of the tables and hit the back of his head on the edge of it. He landed on his back and didn't move.

The creature turned toward me.

I scooted back further and the creature took several steps toward me.

I began sobbing. This was it. It was going to kill me.

It got into a pouncing position. I shut my eyes.

It never came. I slowly opened my eyes. Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape were standing in the library with their wands out and aimed at the creature.

Ropes were entangled around its legs and arms. It was snarling, but could not go anywhere.

"Are you alright, Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked worriedly rushing over to me.

"Yeah. But I think Harry's out cold," I said sobbing. "And Amy's dead under the bookcase."

Professor Snape went over to Harry.

"He's coming to," Professor Snape said.

Then, moved several books off of Amy.

"Miss Davis is alive too, barely,"

Relief spread over me.

Later on, when the creature was contained in a room, tied very tightly, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall questioned Harry and I as to why we were in the library. Amy was also put in the hospital wing to be cared for.

"Because we were looking for something in the text books that might help us identify what this thing was!" I said.

"Why didn't you go earlier in the day?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Harry and I fell silent.

"You were lucky Filch heard something in the library and decided to get one of us," Professor McGonagall said.

"As long as they are alright," Professor Dumbledore said, smiling. "I think they have been punished enough for tonight."

"The thing I want to know is who is the Voweklin?" Professor McGonagall mused.

The sun began coming up. Triangles of sunlight streamed across Professor Dumbledore's office walls and floor.

The next thing we knew, Madam Pomfrey came bursting into the office. She looked scared and stunned.

"Poppy? What is it?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"The creature! I-I think you should come and look at it!" she exclaimed.

We all looked at each other and ran from the office.

"I took a look as you asked, Professor," Madam Pomfrey said breathless as we came across the room. "And I found this."

We opened the door.

I gasped.

Lying on the floor, naked, was Professor Solaris.