Chapter 27: - Where there's smoke...
Lily wasn't sleeping, she couldn't, she lay in her bed eyes wide awake replaying over and over again what Miriam had discovered that night. The thought that someone that Lily knew was a werewolf was very disturbing, despite all the strange and wonderful things that she had discovered and learned over the past few months she still couldn't believe that Werewolves were real or that Remus John Lupin was one!!! This thought was very unsettling for Lily mainly because besides Frank, Remus was one of the very few Gryffindor boys that Lily actually liked.
Lily coughed loudly, she had to sleep and she knew she had too, she was even beginning to imagine things, her eyes were getting misty through lack of sleep and she was even imagining that in the dead silence of the room that the small pot bellied stove in the corner was raging like an inferno. Coughing again Lily sighed loudly as she rubbed her eyes, she could hear MacMikelmouse, Miriam's pet Kneazle, whining. The small kitten had been whining for the past twenty minuets and he was now starting to get on Lily's nerves.
This and the fact that she was beginning to worry about her mixed and very confusing feelings about Remus' situation, was making Lily feel like she actually hated Miriam.
Lily had always thought that Remus was a very nice, friendly and intelligent boy who had been nothing but friendly to Lily since their first day at Hogwarts. But because of the way that Miriam had reacted to their recent discovery, Lily knew that Remus' problem was a very serious one. Miriam had made her feelings on Remus and his werewolf condition very clear that night, Miriam was strictly against the fact that Dumbledore had allowed Remus to attend Hogwarts, Miriam believed that the headmaster was putting the other students into a lot of danger.
Lily herself didn't know exactly what to believe, in the short period of time that Lily had known Miriam Lily had grown to love Miriam like the sister that she had always wanted to have, but Lily also knew that Remus was a good person despite his problems. Also Lily couldn't understand why Miriam was so set against Remus, she out all the students in the school should be able to understand what it was like to have a problem that limited you and made you different form everyone else!
Lily coughed again as she chastised herself, at this moment she was feeling a lot of anger and hatred towards Miriam, Lily couldn't understand how the girl that she classed as her best friend at Hogwarts was being so bigotry!
"No" Lily mumbled to herself as she rolled one to her side coughing once more as her chest now began to hurt, she tried to put all the consuming thoughts of Remus and Miriam out of her mind,
'It's stupid!' Lily told herself as she rolled back onto her back 'Stupid' she thought to lose yet more sleep! At home Lily was never weak or indecisive, and even at her primary school she had been the clever and popular one in her class, at Hogwarts she wasn't anything besides that redhead Muggle from Gryffindor. Lily felt even worse now but mostly for herself. Sighing heavily Lily rolled onto her other side as she closed her eyes once again she tried to force herself to fall asleep. Moments later Lily was awoken by a blood curdling scream,
"WHAT WAS THAT!?!?" Lily heard Dymphna exclaim at the same time as she heard Miriam making a strange noise from her bed. The wildest scenario's suddenly flooded through Lily's mind scenes of blood crazed wolves, half man half beast that she had seen in late night horror movies her father had always told her not to watch. Frantically Lily and the rest of her dorm mates clambered out of their beds to investigate, Lily raced to Miriam's bed and threw back the hangings fully expecting to see a full grown werewolf tearing Miriam's throat out, instead she saw only Miriam in her nightdress shushing MacMikelmouse to be quiet,
"It's your stupid cat!" Lily said angrily to Miriam more in relief then anything else as Mac hollered the same shrieking cry again as he nudged Miriam's face frantically,
"What's wrong with him?" Alice asked sleepily as she rubbed her eyes, "is he ok?"
"Who cares?" Lily heard herself saying before she could stop herself,
"I don't know!" Miriam said choosing to ignore Lily's comment as she climbed out of bed and Mac let out another cry as he rushed towards the dormitory door and began scratching at it frantically
"What ever it is he's pretty insistent about?" Miriam said her voice full of alarm "He wouldn't stop nudging me till I woke up!"
"Do you think he's trying to tell us something?" Dymphna asked a look of concern spreading across her face, as both Lily and Amy scoffed,
"He's isn't Lassie! He's just a cat!" Lily said smiling as she rubbed her misty eyes trying to clear them
"Who's Lassie?" Alice asked as she sat down on her bed
"Nothing" Amy replied sniggering as she and Lily sheared a mischievous smile, being the only two Muggle born in the dormitory did sometimes prove to be very fun.
"I've never seen him like this?" Miriam said still ignoring the girls her voice betrayed her concern for her pet as she strode towards Mac
"He's cracked that's what!" Amy said callously as she climbed back into bed. The girls were never this short tempered with other usually but seeing as Lily, Alice and Miriam had only returned back to their dorm half an hour ago and Lily's bedside clock now read 4:30 the girls ill feelings at being woken up for no good reason was fully understandable, Dymphna and Amy was also slightly annoyed due to the fact that they had not been invited on Lily, Alice, Miriam and Frank's midnight walkabout to the library that night which had been the reason that the three other girls had gone to bed so late.
"No," Miriam said getting frustrated "I'm telling you there's something wrong!"
"Yeah with your pet!!!" Lily sneered "Now shut him up so we all can get some sleep! We've still got classes to go to tomorrow!" Lily couldn't believe that she was being so mean to Miriam, but some how it made Lily feel slightly better and she told herself that because of how Miriam had reacted to finding out about Remus that she deserved it.
"Something is seriously wrong I'm telling you!" Miriam said as she knelt down next to her pet who cried and looked up expectantly at his mistress as if saying "About time you came now are you going to do something?!?!"
"What are you dong?" Lily asked as she watched Miriam who instead of picking Mac up lay flat on the floor and sniffed at the crack below the door
"I think I smell smoke?!?!" Miriam said in alarm pulling herself up as she forcibly dragged Mac away from the door and retired back towards the nearest bed, Lily could have sworn that the little kittens face showed a sign of relief as the girls finally understood why the small animal had tried to wake his mistress and her room mates.
"WHAT!?!?!" Dymphna called as she Lily, Amy and Alice all hurried to the door and knelt down,
"I don't smell anything?" Amy said but Lily could and now she understood why she kept thinking that her eyes had been blurry and misty
"What are you doing?" Lily yelled as Amy reached for the bolt on the door
"Opening it to have a look" Amy replied as though it was the most natural thing in the world
"And what if there is a fire on the other side?" Lily said pulling Amy's hand away "There would be nothing to stop it getting in here! And then what would we do?!?!"
"Well what do we do then?" Amy asked her voice quivering with fear. At this every eye including Mac's and Lily's all turned to look at Miriam expectantly as though she would be able to tell them all what they should do. In most cases Miriam was always the one that came up with the ideas and plans, Miriam was the best out of all the first years at magic, charms and potions and was the one that could solve every problem no matter how big or small, but at this moment Miriam just stared wide eyed and open mouthed at the solid dormitory door.
"What?!?!" Miriam said as she hugged Mac closely across her chest, "I don't know what to do?"
"You have to!" Amy and Dymphna practically begged
"W-Well I guess we should check it out first?" Miriam suggested nervously as she eyed the door bolt suspiciously, "To-To make sure that it is actually safe and that there's nothing right outside the door?" Putting her feelings aside Lily nodded it was the best idea that they had, and so she and the other three girls in the dorm gave Miriam the go ahead, Lily wasn't exactly sure how Miriam was going to accomplish this but Lily was thankful that it was Amy that now voiced her concerns,
"But how? We can't open the door just in case...well you know?!?!", Lily saw Miriam grin she dropped Mac onto her bed were he proceeded to jump down and follow Miriam close by her ankles as the Miriam headed towards her bedside table pulling open the top drew and retrieving her wand.
Lily had always been slightly jealous of Miriam's wand, like everything else that Miriam owned it too was unique and very expensive, but unlike the rest of Miriam's belongings Miriam's wand had once belonged to her late grandmother. The wand was made out of jet and was as black as its new owner's hair, its core was solid gold and was always ice cold to the touch, Miriam's wand had obviously not been made by the same creator as every other wand at the school. Now smiling Miriam strode back to the dormitory door with Mac quickly following her
"Penetrate!!!" Miriam yelled as she pointed her wand at the door Lily and Amy both gasped as a large hole appeared in the centre of the solid wooden door,
"What are you doing?" Amy cried "You'll let all the smoke inside!!!"
"Relax" Dymphna said her voice filled with awe as she stared at the hole in the centre of the door "It isn't actually a hole she's just made part of the door transparent"
"That's amazing Mi" Alice said proudly "That's third year magic!"
"How did you learn that?" Amy asked her fear overcome by her wonder at her room mates magical prowess, unlike most witches or wizards who used second hand wands Miriam's magical skills never seemed to be hindered by the fact that she used a wand that hadn't been intended solely for herself.
"Can we please concentrate on the problem at hand?" Lily urged bring her friends attention back to the current situation and the possibility that the stairwell could be filed with flames. All the girls edged towards the door peering through the now transparent hole in its centre, by twisting her wand between her figures Miriam was able to increase the size of the hole, but in every direction that Miriam turn her wand all the girls could see was thick black smoke.
"Why hasn't it got in here by now?" Dymphna asked but even Lily knew the answer to that,
"The everlasting seal charm" Lily replied "I'm assuming that it's keeping the smoke at bay as well as making sure no unwanted visitors surprise us during the night" Dymphna nodded her understanding as Miriam placed her hand on the huge bolt,
"I think we should risk it?" she said as she released her transparent spell, "We obviously aren't going to be able to find anything out by waiting in here and what about Hug-and-Kiss and the older girls below us?" Lily and the others knew exactly what Miriam was thinking, no matter how thick the smoke was in front of the first years door it was bound to be twice as thick for the older fifth, sixth and final years who's dormitories where directly below them.
"And none of them have seals on their doors" Alice said needlessly reminding them all of the dangers that the older girls were now unknowingly facing in their sleeps.
Miriam looked towards the others for conformation. Reluctantly Lily and the others nodded, It was useless trying to stop Miriam when her mind was made up and she had decided to do something, and so before her four dorm mates had even raised their heads from their acceptant nods Miriam had already removed the door's sealing charm and was now drawing back the heavy bolt with a loud clunk. Mac Meowed loudly as his mistress moved her hand towards the door handle,
"Stay here then!" Miriam said irritably to the small kitten as Lily shook her head, Miriam always talked to the little Kneazle as though it was a person,
'maybe' Lily thought 'Miriam had lost too much blood when she had been injured?' Lily made a mental note that she should ask Madam Pomfrey about it when she next saw the nurse, if she next saw the nurse! At the moment Miriam pulled the dormitory door wide the thick black smoke that had been kept out of the room by the sealing charm rushed into the room,
"Stay back" Miriam warned the others as she coughed loudly and the little Kneazle sneezed as he stood by his mistresses' ankles refusing to move from her side
"Keep well back!" Lily choked to Alice, Dymphna and Amy as her lungs filled with the smoke. Alice, Dymphna and Amy quickly obey as they hurried to the back of the dormitory as Alice flung the small window wide as Lily and Miriam stepped out onto their dormitories large stone doorstep as Mac quickly followed Miriam as though he was attached to her ankles. The entire stairwell was thick with smoke Lily could barely see her hand in front of her face as both girls and the small Kneazle coughed again,
"I can't see a thing!!!" Lily said squinting has she tried to see what was causing the smoke, she hoped that it was some sort of a practical joke that was being played on them by Sirius and James but that hope swiftly left Lily as Miriam choked out a short incantation pointing her wand dead ahead as it immediately issued a short blast of air forcing the thick smoke away from the two girls and Mac.
"Merlin help us!" Lily heard Miriam gasp, Lily didn't have to turn to look at Miriam to know what her expression was like, both girls faces had paled instantly with shock, their jaws had dropped and their eyes were wide in both disbelief and fear. In the few seconds that the thick smoke had cleared its source was immediately apparent, Lily prayed that it was still some sort of sick joke but her gut was telling her that it wasn't. The common room was a roaring inferno, or at least the portion of the common room nearest the entrance to the girls dormitories that was!
"Quickly get back inside!" Lily yelled as she tried to grab hold of Miriam's arm to pull her back inside the dormitory but Miriam had other ideas,
"We've got help the others!" Miriam called as she jumped off the doorstep and was quickly engulfed by the smoke as ran down the stone stairs and towards the fire still closely followed by Mac.
"MI!!!!" Lily called frantically as she too chased after Miriam, "This is insane Mi!"
"Lily we have to help them don't you understand that?!?!" Miriam called over her shoulder as Lily finally caught up with her
"But it's too dangerous!!!" Miriam called as she heard the fire roaring louder and louder as the two girls moved closer to the fire "We could head back up to our dormitory and the-"
"And then what Lily?!" Miriam demanded as she pulled Lily closer to the safer side of the stairs as they still continued to move towards the lower level dormitories "We don't have time to wait for someone else to help!" Lily knew that Miriam was right, she felt sickened by the fact that in the face of danger her instincts had switched automatically to self-preservation mode whilst Miriam's instincts had immediately told her to swallow her fear and to do what had needed to be done. Despite the smoke the two girls quickly made their way towards the sixth formers dorms as these were the most in danger of being engulfed by the flames. Lily gasped as another blast of air from Miriam's wand revealed that the fire was already creeping closer to the stone dormitory stairs.
"We should be ok Right?" Miriam asked her voice betraying her concern "Fire doesn't burn on stone right?" Lily nodded that she thought that this was true or at least she hoped it was,
"I think it's the smoke that's the most to worry about!" Lily choked, as hot ash began to burn the back of her throat and nostrils, the fire was really close to the sixth formers doorway that Lily could even feel the heat of the flames on her face. Using another charm Miriam repelled the flames that were licking at the foot of the dormitory stairs so that both girls and Mac could enter the sixth formers dorm unharmed. Lily pushed the heavy oak door open and she, Miriam and Mac rushed into the room. The smoke was thicker in the small dorm then it was in the stairwell and Lily was surprised that none of the girls had woken up already, but then again Lily reflected, the first years wouldn't have been alerted to the dangers if it hadn't been for MacMikelmouse.
"WAKE UP!!!" Lily tried to yell but her voiced choked in her throat as the thick smoke, began to smoother her and she found that the only thing she could do was to gag and choke, she couldn't even breathe properly! Miriam once again cast the charm emitting another blast of air from her wand tip, this one was stronger then the rest and managed to clear some of the smoke that made the room so smothering. Breathing more easily now Lily tried to wake the nearest girl to the door but she couldn't,
"Hug-and-Kiss isn't breathing!" Miriam called in alarm as she knelt next the bed opposite Lily that contained the first years most heated prefect,
"Check her pulse!" Lily cried as she rushed towards Amanda's bed her own heart dropping at the thought that they may have been too late!
"Her what?" Miriam yelled as Lily pushed her aside and place two of her fingers on Amanda's neck
"It's weak but it's there!" Lily declared with relief "It's this smoke! It's too thick it's stopping them from breathing properly" Lily said desperately as she tried her best to help Amanda, "I think she must be unconscious with something like smoke inhalation!"
"What?" Miriam asked looked bewildered
"It's clogging up her lungs stopping her breathing" Lily called
"Stand back!" Miriam ordered as she pointed her wand at Amanda and she yelled "Scourgify!"
"W-What's g-g-going on?!" yelled a very shocked Amanda as she coughed and spluttered and sat up right in bed, Lily breathed easily as Amanda yelled at Miriam and grabbed her saviour by her wand wrist and gave Miriam the worst tongue thrashing Lily had ever heard, as Miriam tried in vain to plead the gravity of what she had done and Lily quickly managed to rouse the remaining members of Amanda's dorm. After almost a minute of angry shouts from Amanda Hugh-Genghis shewas finally willing to listen to reason, It had been almost five minutes since Lily had first been woken by Mac's blood curdling scream and after only a few seconds more the two first years and five sixth formers were now all ready to leave the dorm.
Despite the fact that Lily and Miriam had risked their own lives and health to rescue the sixth formers Amanda, as senior prefect in the group, had now taken charge. The fire outside the sixth years dorm was raging harder then ever before, it now took all of the sixth formers repellent charms to keep the flames at bay as they girls quickly passed. Miriam even scooped Mac up and held the small kitten as far from the flames as possible as she passed, the reason for this was that now the heat from the flames had become so intense that they had started to raise the temperature of the stone steps. Lily winced with every step as she could feel her feet blistering as she hurried passed the flames that seemed to have crept further up the dormitory stairwell, as the girls now quickly hurried to rouse the reaming of the years.
"Head up to the top dorm!" Lily called as the fifth and final years hurried to investigate the noise that the girls were now creating,
"What's going on?!" girls demanded as more and more girls emerged from their dorms and Amanda tried to urge them all to remain in their own dorms,
"NO!!!" Miriam raged grabbing hold of Amanda, "Lily's right we all have to stay together in one place and as far from the fire as possible!" as if to emphasise Miriam's point and with precision timing, as though it was planned (which it obviously wasn't). Alice, Dymphna and Amy emerged from the first years dorm and as the smoke cleared as more and more students used the charm Miriam had used to clear the smoke more of the terror that was befalling the girls became apparent, and as Dymphna stepped out onto the doorstep she screamed,
