Make Me.

Book 3 - Chapter 24

No one in Gryffindor Tower slept that night. The castle was being searched again and the whole House (plus Ellie) stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether or not Black had been caught. Professor McGonagall came back at dawn, to tell them that he had again escaped. Unfortunately for Ellie, who was now entering hallucination levels of no sleep, she had also brought with her an extremely distraught and tired looking Remus Lupin, who was searching for his daughter.

On their way through the castle, Ellie couldn't tell what was real and what her mind was making appear in her eyes.

She hoped that it was true that the nervous Fat Lady had been restored and replaced back on the wall outside of the Gryffindor common room after last night, but she didn't hope that the very large, surly security trolls standing outside by her canvas, guarding her, were real. They were pacing the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the sizes of their clubs. Filch was suddenly bustling up and down the corridors, appearing and disappearing, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes and Ellie had to rub her eyes when they passed Professor Flitwick, who was holding a very large poster of Sirius Black up to a door, trying to teach it to recognize the criminal.

Ellie's eyes went wide as she entered her father's office and saw a very large bathtub, filled with dark, murky water. Inside sat the kappa from their Dark Arts lesson months ago. It was the one that tried to strangle Neville, but he now looked much bigger and much sadder - like he knew he was confined to the bathtub for the rest of his life.

"Now, I'm going to start out by saying - I'm not angry with you," Remus spoke, his voice rather loud. Ellie threw her head back in pain, trying to get away from the sound, but there was no use. "But, do you care to explain to me why Professor McGongall found in Gryffindor Tower at one-thirty in the morning?"

The kappa made a sort of gurgling sound that drew Ellie's delirium fueled attention. She blinked at it. It blinked back.

"Darling?" Remus spoke again, sounding angry, despite saying he wasn't. Ellie's eyes slid up to his face, like she was trying not to loose site of the water demon sat in the bathtub at the side of the room.

"Why is the kappa in a bathtub?" she whispered, sounding frightened. She wasn't sure if it was real or not.

"Because he needed more space," Remus said, agitated. "I need you to answer me."

The kappa gurgled again.

"I'm sorry - what was the question?" said Ellie, side-eyeing the bathtub still.

"Why were you not in your dormitory last night?" Remus said, crouching down a little and getting into his daughter's face, forcing her attention onto him.

"There was - a party - after the match," Ellie blinked, looking into her father's eyes.

"A - a party. . . right," Remus sighed, nodding his head. "And you didn't think to return back to your room afterwards?" he asked.

Ellie's brain was no where to be found when her mouth opened next. And, without it in her direct view, she had forgotten about the kappa.

"It's not like it was the first time I've slept there," she said, nonchalantly.

Remus's face fell.

"It's not - What do you mean it's not the first time you've slept there? You have your own bed, do you not?" He asked, starting to sound desperate.

"Every where's my bed," Ellie said with a shrug. "Desks, couches, shoulders, broom cupboards -"

"Please - stop. . . Look -" Remus sighed and gripped Ellie forcefully on the shoulders. "What I'm trying to get at is - I need to know where you are. I need to know that you're safe, so when something like last night happens, I'm not running around looking for you, worried sick. You can't just be wherever you please, whenever you please."