Hogwarts with the Marauders (II) [OLD]

CHAPTER TWELVE - The Hooded Figure

The Marauders and the girls spread out in the castle, each Summoning or creating things to decorate Hogwarts as it had been when they attended, with Peter and Remus there for extra help. Sirius was in the Great Hall with James, Alessia was doing the common rooms and dormitories while Remus, Peter and Lily all did the classrooms.

"Okay, lunch break!" Sirius said, two hours later. He sent red sparks into the air to get everyone's attention and he, James, Peter, Remus and Lily settled down at the Gryffindor table. "Where's Alessia?"

They all looked around. She was no where in sight. They tried calling her name, but got no answer.

"I'll go check in the dormitories; I think I saw her last heading for the Hufflepuff common room near the kitchens." Lily stood up and ran out of the Great Hall. She returned ten minutes later with a worried look on her face. "No sign of her anywhere. I also checked the Slytherin common room."

"How about Ravenclaw and Gryffindor?" Remus asked.

"Those were the ones she did first." James replied.

"So where is she?" Peter said the question on everyone's mind: where was Alessia De Luca?

Sirius had stopped eating and was looking at the door, as if waiting for her to just walk in.

"You know what, I can't just sit here and eat. I'm gonna go find her. We've already lost Godric Gryffindor and his gang of founding princesses." he said, grumpily.

"We didn't lose anyone." Remus called after him.

"Especially not a gang of founding princesses." James snorted, stifling his laughter. Lily smacked him in the back of the head.

Sirius searched every hiding spot and secret passage way in the castle for his girlfriend, but didn't find her. It's like she just disappeared...

A high-pitched scream attracted James, Remus, Peter and Lily to Sirius.

"What was that?!" Sirius yelled.

"That sounded a lot like Alessia..." Lily said, uncertainly.

The scream pierced the air again, but this time, the gang ran in that direction. They knew they were running in the right direction because the screaming was getting louder and louder, killing their ear drums. Finally, they came upon her.

Alessia was lying in the middle of the Charms hallway, her hands held tightly over her ears and she was tucked into a ball, her hair all over the place.

"Alessia!" Sirius cried. He ran to her side and repeated her name, over and over again but she didn't show any signs of regestration. As if she didn't even know he was there.

"She can't hear you." A voice drawled behind them as Alessia's screams of pain and horror died down a little, but she was shaking now.

"What are you doing to her?!" Lily screamed to the hooded figure. It sent off a cold presence, as if it were a Dementor, but it was nowhere near as powerful as that.

"I am not doing anything." The figure showed it's chalky white hands, as if to prove he wasn't controling Alessia, but it was an obvious lie.

"Why can't she hear me?" Sirius asked, his voice shaking.

"Because she's cursed." The figure replied, simply.

Remus growled, menacingly.

"Ooh, werewolf. Interesting... I wonder..." The man lifted his hand again and showed it, palm forward, to Remus. He howled like a lost puppy.

"But you don't have a wand!" Lily cried as Remus crashed to the floor on all-fours, breathing heavily, though it was obvious he was still conscious, not like Alessia.

"No, I don't." The man stated. 

"Why did you curse her?" Sirius demanded, ignoring the fact that one of his best friends was also on the floor.

"Because," The figure replied. "She knows something I cannot permit anyone else to know."

"So she's just going to stay like that - in pain?!" Peter screamed, motioning to Alessia's crumpled body.

"You have no right to do that to people." James told him.

"And you have no right to be here; this is my castle." The man smiled under the hood. "And the girl won't stay like that forever; I'm just waiting for her to die."

"You're insane!" Remus cried, shakily standing up again.

Alessia screamed a blood-curling scream.

"No, no, I'm quite sane." The man assured him. "I just have different principles then you do."