MAELSTROM

CHAPTER ONE-THE DREAM

"Remus? Have you done Professor Anicks essay on Pelons?" asked my best friend James Potter as he plopped down beside Remus Lupin on the couch.

"Why?" Remus asked looking up from a book he was reading and raising an eyebrow.

"Need to borrow it," James said grinning sheepishly.

"Honestly," I said rolling my eyes. Remus and James looked at me. "Are you ever going to do your own homework?"

"No," James replied. "It's easier to copy...saves a lot of time."

I shook my head.

"See," Remus said looking at me with an amused expression. "James figures he'll get smarter by reading...but the truth is, he's hoping I drew pictures along with it."

I burst out laughing.

"Nice...turn Carrie into one of your kind," James said rolling his eyes without thinking.

For a moment, Remus' blue eyes flashed dangerously.

"I mean a homework lover," James said quickly.

Remus sighed and reached into his bag. He pulled out the parchment and handed it to James.

"Thanks mate," he said and hurried out of the Gryffindor common room.

I got up and went over to Remus. We were all dressed in the Gryffindor uniforms and robes. Except the girls wore gray semi-pleated skirts and the guys wore gray slacks.

I plopped down beside Remus. He has short, thick light brown hair and blue eyes.

"One of these days he's going to mess up and the teachers are going to catch him," I said sighing.

"Both he and Sirius," Remus exhaled loudly and closed his book.. He slipped the book into his bag and then turned to face me. "Cross the borders sometimes if you know what I mean."

I nodded.

"I'm actually surprised they haven't been expelled yet,"

Remus snorted. "Give it time,"

I grinned and shook my head.

My name is Carrie Owens. I'm 16 years old with shoulder length curly blond hair and blue eyes. My hair was in tight banana curls. I was best friends with James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. James had short, untidy thick black hair and hazel eyes; Lily had shoulder length wavy light auburn hair and green eyes; Sirius had short, wavy thick black hair and hazel blue eyes and Peter was a bit chubby with short light brown hair and beady eyes. James, Sirius and Peter were Animagus'. They changed into animals because Remus was a werewolf. They changed to keep him company. Lily and I didn't change though, but we kept their secret.

We were in our 6th year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. We only had one year left to go. It was going to be sad, but exciting.

The next thing I knew, I heard the portrait entrance opening and then something wet was thrown at me.

I cried out and jumped up from the couch. Some of the water had splashed onto Remus.

Sirius and James stood laughing. They were holding inflated balloons...water balloons. My hair was soaked and so was my uniform.

"YOU TWO!" Remus cried angrily.

Remus was also a Prefect. He kept James and Sirius in line most of the time when he doesn't change into the wolf.

"Did we wet ourselves?" Sirius asked doubled over laughing.

I was too angry to speak, but Remus certainly had no trouble.

"That was really UNCALLED FOR!" Remus yelled.

The front of his robe was soaked as well as his hair.

"Just wanted to have some fun," James said as the laughter died from his face. He was looking upset now.

Sirius was still laughing though.

"Fun? You call soaking someone with water balloons fun?" I growled, finally finding my voice.

Don't get me wrong. I have a sense of humor and some of the things James and Sirius do are funny...but getting soaked with a water balloon isn't on the top of my list. Especially when it's nearly below freezing outside.

"I'm sorry," James apologized automatically.

He angrily jabbed Sirius in the ribs too. That stopped Sirius from laughing.

"Yeah," he said as both of them had solemn expressions on their faces.

Remus pulled out his wand aimed it at me and then a blast of hot air erupted from the tip. After a few minutes, I was completely dry again. Then Remus turned the wand onto himself.

Once we were dry, Remus got up from the couch and headed out of the common room without even speaking to us.

"We really are sorry, Carrie," Sirius said as he took Remus' seat next to me.

"I know," I said softly. "It's just that its freezing outside. What on earth made you think of throwing water balloons inside the castle in the wintertime?"

"Dunno," James said shrugging. "We just thought it would be hilarious."

A few minutes later, Lily entered the common room. She was followed by Remus.

His Prefects badge caught the light. The hem of his gray vest was tucked into his slacks. A black belt was around his waist with a silver buckle. He had left his robe open and he folded his arms over his chest, glaring at Sirius and James.

"Did I hear right?" Lily asked in an angry tone. "You two threw water balloons at Carrie and Remus?"

She stood in front of us.

"Yeah. Did Moony squeal on us?" Sirius asked.

He wasn't angry though.

"He explained to me what happened," Lily snapped. "Plus, I saw him in the library and asked him what was wrong. Nice going."

"We apologized to Carrie," Sirius said pouting. "And we're sorry Moony."

Remus nodded, forgiving Sirius and James. Lily however was still angry.

"One of these days you two are going to meet someone who won't take your shenanigans and then watch out," she snarled her green eyes flashing. "I'll be in the library again if you need me."

She turned and stalked out of the common room.

Remus sat down across from us.

"You're a squealer," Sirius teased him playfully.

Remus raised an eyebrow.

"You're a troublemaker," he teased him back.

"That's the truth," I joked back.

Sirius playfully smacked me with a pillow right in the face.

"Oh boy," James said deadpan. "This calls for a pillow fight!"

We all grabbed pillows and began smacking each other with them. I smacked James so hard he fell over the back of the couch.

We burst out laughing.

Around dinnertime, Lily came back in.

We were in the midst of the fight. We stopped and looked at her.

"I'm not going to even ask," she said throwing her hands in the air. "Dinner time."

We dropped the pillows and followed her out of the common room.

We headed downstairs to the Great Hall.

The Hall was noisy with chatter and the tinkling of silverware. We took our seats at the Gryffindor table.

Remus and I sat across from each other. On my left was Lily and across from us was Sirius and James on Remus' right.

"Has anyone seen Peter?" James asked suddenly, scanning the Hall.

"No," Remus said frowning. "I'm getting a bit worried though."

"He might just be talking with one of the teachers?" Lily mused.

"Probably," Sirius said ladling tuna casserole onto his plate. "He's not exactly good in Charms."

"Neither are you," I retorted. "If I'm not mistaken, didn't you accidentally put Katie Patterson into the Vanishing Cabinet just last week?"

Remus turned his head and I heard him laugh but that was quickly turned into a cough.

Sirius smirked at me.

"That wasn't accidental,"

I just rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my dinner.

"She's got a point," Remus said turning to Sirius. "And the week before that you gave James a tail when we were supposed to be working on the Chanus Charm."

"I thought that was an improvement," Sirius grinned at James, who grinned back. "But I see what you're getting at. Sorry."

Remus turned his attention back onto me.

"I hope Peter is alright though,"

"I'm sure he is," I said reassuringly.

I went back to my dinner. I felt Remus' eyes linger on me for a moment before returning back to his dinner as well.

Peter was indeed talking to Professor Baxter who taught Charms. He met up with us in the common room that night.

"We had gotten worried about you," Lily said.

"Oh," Peter said blushing. "Sorry. I was talking with Professor Baxter."

"Having trouble?" Sirius asked with a deadpan expression.

Remus smacked him upside the back of the head.

"What?" Sirius asked innocently.

"A little," Peter admitted shyly.

"You'll be fine," I said firmly glaring at Sirius.

"Exactly," Lily said.

"Thanks. I'm heading to bed," Peter said as he hurried into the boys dorm.

"Me too," James said.

Before long, Sirius and James had disappeared.

Lily did too, leaving Remus and I alone in the common room.

"Sirius needs a battery change," Remus muttered.

I giggled. "Yeah,"

There was silence.

"I'm beat too," I admitted. "I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

Remus nodded. I got up and headed into the girls' dorm.

Lily was already asleep. I climbed into bed after changing into my pyjamas. I had on a pair of gray jogging pants and a white tank top. My hair fell around my shoulders. I pulled the blankets and sheet up on me and settled in for the night.

Shortly, I was asleep.

I dreamed:

There was a girl practicing Quidditch on the pitch. Suddenly, a loud thunderstorm rolled around and a streak of lightning shot across the sky, catching the back of the girls' broom on. From the force, the girl was hurtled to the ground. She fell off the broom and landed with a hard thud on the grassy, rain soaked ground. She didn't move.

I awoke with a start breathing heavily.

I settled back down again and fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning, I awoke around 8 and headed down to the Great Hall. I met the others already at the table.

I yawned and sat down beside James.

"Sleep okay?" James asked concerned.

"Not really," I admitted. "I had this horrible dream."

I yawned again and let my forehead hit the table with a thud, making the knives and forks rattle.

"Tell us about it," I heard Remus said.

I raised my head off the table and looked at him. He was sitting beside Lily across from us. He too had a concerned expression on his face.

"This girl was practicing Quidditch on the pitch. This thunderstorm came and she was hit by lightning,"

"Wow," Sirius said gravely. "That is a horrible dream."

"It's probably nothing," Lily said reassuringly.

"Yeah," James said nodding in agreement.

Remus continued to watch me.

I helped myself to some eggs and sausage. I began eating then closed my eyes for a moment wondering what kind of lesson we would be learning in Potions class.

"Carrie!" a voice said alarmed.

The next thing I knew, someone threw out an arm in front of me. I snapped awake.

I realized it was James. My face was inches from the eggs and sausage on the plate.

I had dozed off and was about to fall face first into my breakfast.

"Whoa, thanks," I said gratefully.

James nodded. He went back to talking with Lily and Sirius.

Remus continued to watch me.

I ate some more and then I ended up dozing off again.

A few minutes later, I heard someone giggling.

I woke up and looked around at Lily, James and Sirius, who were laughing.

"What?" I asked indignantly.

Lily pulled out a small compact mirror, opened it and put it in front of my face. Pieces of sausage and eggs were stuck to my face.

"Oh. My. God," I said grabbing a napkin and quickly wiped them off.

"This time you fell face first," Sirius said with an amused grin. "We tried to stop it but it was too fast."

Lily, James and Sirius were still chuckling. Remus though had a concerned expression on his face. He scowled at the three of them before returning his eyes onto me.

"Maybe you should take a nap in the common room," he suggested. "We'll tell Professor Anicks that you're not feeling well."

"Thanks," I said gratefully. "I might just do that."

After the bell rang ending breakfast, I headed back to the common room. I curled up on the couch and pretty soon, I had dozed off.

I awoke a few hours later. It was lunch time. I felt more refreshed and I yawned and stretched. I left the common room and headed down to the Hall again. Remus, Sirius, James and Peter were already there.

"Feeling better?" Lily asked.

I nodded. "Much,"

We ate lunch and then headed out onto the grounds. I pulled my cloak around me tighter. Thankfully, it hadn't snowed yet. It was the middle of December...Christmas was coming.

We stood under the oak tree.

"I wonder where Snivellus is?" James muttered scanning the group of students that had come onto the grounds.

"I really wish you would leave him alone," Lily said disdainfully. "He's done nothing to you."

James opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off.

"I don't want to hear it's because he exists," she said sharply. "You know what I mean."

James muttered something but we couldn't hear him.

Remus came over to me.

"That dream must've really bothered you huh?" he asked quietly.

"Big time," I admitted. "It scared me because I'm not sure who the girl was."

Remus nodded sympathetically.

"There's Quidditch practice tomorrow," James said. "We're playing against Slytherin."

"I hope we beat them," Peter said eagerly.

"We will," James said firmly. "Trust me."

Lily sighed. I knew she hated it when James got competitive because he never knew when to quit and let it go.

After lunch, we headed back into the castle to our other classes.