A/N: Chapters 59 and 60 post on April 3rd.

Marlene:

The wind was biting cold as they galloped back towards James' palace. Neither Marlene nor Sirius had realized that the cloud bank had no end to it until it was on top of them and the entire sky was covered in a thick dark blanket.

Then the clouds broke open.

Sirius had told her about winters this far North, but as the snow began falling in thick flakes and the wind howled around them, Marlene determined he'd not been descriptive enough. Within minutes, she couldn't see farther than fifteen feet in front of her.

Lovely.

"Sirius!" She called through the wind but he didn't hear her as they pushed forward.

He knows the way, she reassured herself, he has to.

But the snowfall was increasing and suddenly Marlene was finding it difficult to see the five feet between her horse and Lily's. She couldn't risk losing them, and so she pushed her horse a little harder to fall in beside Lily. It left their back exposed but Marlene gambled that no one could attack them in this freezing nightmare.

The wind whipped at her face and her hands felt frozen in their grip on the reigns. Marlene's body was shivering uncontrollably but she didn't dare try to reach for her wand to warm herself with how fast they were riding. It was everything she could do to keep her eyes open as the snow blew into them, the ice crystals feeling like little knives cutting into her. Marlene grimaced through the pain and focused on keeping Lily to her right and Sirius in front of them.

It was a miracle she heard James yell at all as he went flying forward. Marlene was sure if James hadn't landed ahead of Sirius the man would have left his charge in the snow.

"James!"

Lily reigned her horse in so fast the poor mare's front hooves left the ground. She jumped and ran for him while Marlene scrambled to grab the mare's reigns to keep her from running off.

She looked back and saw James' horse was struggling to stand.

Marlene knew they were finished. They wouldn't go anywhere until this snow stopped and from the stories she'd been hearing that could easily be a couple of days. She slid off her horse and moved to where Sirius and Lily were crouched around James.

"I'm fine!" James shouted through the wind.

Marlene pulled her cloak closer around her, desperate to feel just an ounce of warmth. "Your horse isn't."

Sirius started swearing.

"Did you pack a tent?" Marlene pointed to his pack. She already checked to see if he'd thrown one in hers.

Sirius shook his head.

Marlene bit back her retort. This was as much her fault as his. They'd been selfish, wanting the happiness for their siblings that would, in turn, give them their own. Now they were stuck in a blizzard across open terrain.

"We'll have to build something," James pushed up out of the already accumulating snow.

"The snow isn't hard enough yet," Sirius shouted as he helped James to stand.

"We don't have a choice!"

James looked around a moment before shaking his head and stooping to the snow at his feet and packing it together. It crumbled instantly.

"It's too dry, James," Sirius shouted.

"Then let's add water!" Lily grabbed her wand and knelt next to James.

At first, she sprayed too much, and the snow around them turned to slush. But after a few goes, Lily and James had figured out the perfect amount of water to add to get the snow to stick to itself. Marlene pushed herself to keep moving through the shivering and the painful feeling of the cold pricking at her skin as she and Sirius started on building the other side of their shelter.

They'd finally managed to finish four walls after what had felt like hours, then James and Sirius moved to create a roof. Their little shelter wasn't tall enough for her to stand straight up in, but Sirius assured her that this was better.

"What about the horses?" Lily looked with concern at the four animals huddled around each other nearby.

"It's not cold enough to really bother them, and we feed them well." James packed more snow into their domed roof.

Marlene wished she could stop shaking. Why was she the only one shaking?

"Besides," Sirius wiped his brow and chuckled, "I have an oath to look after James, not his horse."

Her oath right, that was the thing to focus on right now. Marlene struggled with trembling hands to open her pack. She clenched her teeth together to keep them from chattering. Her mind felt fuzzy, but she kept moving as it was the only thing she could think to do.

Finally getting her pack open she looked inside and blinked. What was all this? The items were familiar, but she wasn't sure why.

"Marlene," Sirius looked over at her as they finished the roof. "Would you hand me the blankets in your pack?"

Marlene started down into the pack. Blankets?

"Marlene?"

She couldn't keep her jaw clenched tight enough and her teeth started chattering again. Her body shook and trembled as she tried to think. She knew that word. Blankets. She knew it was…it was... something…

"Marlene?"

She looked up from the pack to see Sirius crouched in front of her.

"S-sorry," her tongue suddenly felt heavy.

Sirius started swearing.