MAELSTROM

CHAPTER SIXTEEN-SNOW BOUND

CARRIE.

Lily was reading a book on her bed.

She looked up when I entered the girls' dorm.

"Hey," she said cheerfully, but then her grin faded. "What's wrong?"

I told her what happened.

"Ah," she said wisely. "That's normal. You were about to become intimate with Remus and the last time that happened the guy hurt you…literally."

"I was never 'intimate' with Luke at anytime," I replied. "In fact, I never have been with anyone."

Lily smiled.

"I mean emotionally too," she said. "Besides the sex part, you are still afraid to get really close to him."

"But we kissed," I said. "And we told each other that we loved one another."

"Kissing isn't really a major factor," Lily said. "For the second thing, that's good…but now you've got to face the actual act of becoming intimate. You and Remus are way closer than a normal boyfriend/girlfriend are. There's a connection that is there too. Don't worry, Carrie. Remus will understand. He's not going to rush you into anything."

I smiled.

"I know," I said softly. "I just wish I was able to go through with it."

"Geeze, Carrie," Lily said closing her book and sitting up. "You went through something traumatic and horrible with Luke. No one expects you to just 'jump' right in."

I nodded.

"Relax," Lily said putting a hand on my shoulder. "You'll be fine."

I climbed into my bed also and laid down on my back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Can you believe what Arthur and Molly told us?" Lily whispered as she flipped back onto her stomach, lying down the other end of the bed so we could talk. She had her feet up against the headboard.

"I know," I said still in shock and awe. "Imagine You-know-who wanting to kill James and Lily's child because the kid could be his downfall? That's really something. I had always wondered if there was someone out there that could destroy him. The He-she Barbie doll."

Lily snorted and burst into laughter at my last comment.

"Imagine him in a pink thong and bra?" Lily roared.

We began laughing so hard that Lily ended up rolling right off the bed. She landed on the floor with a thud.

That made me laugh harder. She tried to get back up but was overcome with giggles. She finally managed to pull herself up onto the bed.

"Aw man," she giggled. "We needed a good laugh."

"Yes we did," I admitted finally calming down.

Finally, lunch time rolled around.

Lily and I left the girls' dorm and headed down to the Great Hall. James and Remus were there, as well as Molly, Arthur, Sam and Holly.

We sat down at the table.

"Hey," Sam said. "Why weren't you in class today?"

"We were too tired," James said faking a yawn. "They spent the night with me in the hospital wing. We were up all night talking."

Sam looked at us warily but said nothing more.

"I think I'm hitting the sack early tonight," Molly said.

I remembered what Molly and Arthur said. They began helping themselves to sandwich's and other things.

"Do we have a lot of homework?" I asked casually.

"No," Holly replied.

Neither she nor Sam could look at us.

I looked at Remus.

He raised an eyebrow and I knew he realized this too. The others certainly did.

"Did you guys sleep well last night?" Remus asked brightly.

"Yeah," Sam said shiftily.

Our suspicions were confirmed. They were definitely the ones doing things. They couldn't even look at us correctly.

"That's good, huh?" Lily said cheerily.

"Yeah," Sam replied again. "Listen, we're going to the library. We'll see you later okay?"

With out waiting for a response, both he and Holly got up and left the Great Hall, leaving their food unfinished.

"Okay," Arthur said leaning forward and dropping his voice. "They're definitely the ones doing this. They set the library on fire with a first year still inside. I suggest we go head them off."

We quickly glanced up at Professor Dumbledore. He nodded as we got up from the table and hurried from the Hall.

We entered the library. Sam and Holly thankfully hadn't arrived yet.

"I think they had stopped back in the common room for some reason. The time of the explosion was exactly 1:45 PM," Arthur said looking at his watch. "It's not 1:40…five more minutes."

"Explosion?" James asked alarmed.

Arthur nodded gravely.

"They were trying to make it seem like accidents but really they were aiming to destroy the whole school. Plus, they knew that you guys spend a lot of time here so they were also hoping you'd be in here. They killed an innocent for fun. We've got to get her out of here,"

He gestured to the first year sitting at the table, hovering over a Charms textbook.

We hurried over to her.

"Hey," Molly said softly. "Do you think you can come with us for a moment?"

The first year looked up. It was then that I saw her robes. It was a Slytherin.

She looked at the Gryffindor colors on our robes and scowled.

"Why?" she asked coldly.

"Because Professor Powers wants to talk to you," James said quickly.

"Professor Powers is at lunch," the girl said shrewdly. "Why doesn't she just wait until lunch is over?"

We looked at each other.

Even the first years had attitudes…it was uncanny.

Just then, the library door opened and something was thrown into the library. It was a glass goblet filled with a dark purple liquid.

"Catch it!" Arthur yelled.

Lily went to dive for it, but James grabbed a hold of Lily's waist and yanked her back against him.

The bottle hit the floor, breaking and then the liquid spilled out. A loud roaring sound filled our ears and fire spread out in small waves across the library. Then, a loud explosion erupted. From the force, Remus, James, Lily, Arthur, Molly and I were thrown clear out the window. Our backs slammed through the glass and we landed on our backs outside the castle in a large mound of snow a few feet from the castle. Remus landed on top of me.

A large flame burst through the broken windows where we had flown through.

The cold felt good against my body. I realized my hand had gotten burned. I buried it into the snow and sighed as the ice coldness soothed the burn.

Remus hovered above me.

"Are you okay?" he demanded.

"My hand is burned but yes," I said as he got up off me and I sat up.

Snow clung to my hair and robe. It was still snowing out. It was odd weather for October, but then again, it wasn't.

I pulled my hand out of the snow.

"James? Lily? Arthur? Molly?" Remus called.

He extended his hand out and I reached up to take it. He pulled me to my feet. I didn't bother dusting the snow off of me because more would just cling to the robe. I pulled my robe tighter around me.

"Here!" Lily called as I saw her come hurrying through the snow bank. It was up to our knees.

"I'm okay!" We heard Arthur call.

Both he and Molly appeared next.

"James?" Lily called.

"I'm okay but wounded!" James' voice called.

We followed the sound of his voice. He was lying on his back, propped up on his elbows. A large shard of glass pierced his thigh. Blood stained the snow next to his leg.

"Oh God!" Lily cried dropping to her knees beside him.

"Why did you stop Lily from catching the glass goblet?" Molly asked.

"Because I remember what that is," James said glaring up at her. "It's a Synex. Even the liquid burns the skin through the glass. It's like a homemade bomb, but first it sets fire then it explodes! I wasn't about to have Lily hold that while it ate at her skin. Why would you even suggest to catch it?"

"I wasn't sure how the explosion happened. I didn't know what it was," Arthur said.

"That poor first year," Molly said sadly.

"Let's head back to the castle," Lily suggested.

"Sure," James scoffed. "Let me just stand up."

He irritably gestured to his leg.

"Oh, right," Lily said embarrassed.

"One of us can head back and get Professor Dumbledore," Remus said.

"I'll go," Arthur said.

He gave me a sideways glance before he carefully made his way back to the castle.

We stood close to each other, trying to keep warm.

A few moments later, Arthur came back with a shocked and horrified expression.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked concerned.

"We're locked out," he said disbelievingly.

"WHAT?" James cried.

"How on earth could we be locked out?" Remus asked.

"Dunno," Arthur said shrugging. "But the double doors are locked."

"I don't believe this," I said putting my hands on my hips.

"Do you think this is all part of the plan?" Lily asked.

"Plan? Probably," Arthur said. "We don't really know all the exact details of what happened. Remember, we went to Hogwarts before you guys. This could all be a part of it."

"Then what good are you?" James demanded. "I thought you were supposed to know every move!"

"James!" Lily scolded.

James muttered something and then fell silent.

"He only knows what he's been exposed to," Molly said. "Same with me."

"The problem is how do we get back into the castle? Lord knows that Sam and Holly are planning," Remus said firmly.

"Exactly," I said nodding. "Is there anyway to get into the castle without anyone knowing?"

"Well," James said, "Sirius, Remus, Peter and I used tunnels beneath Hogwarts to get into the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmead. But there's no way to access them now."

"So are we supposed to just stay out here and freeze to death?" Molly asked, hugging her robe tighter around her.

A gust of wind blew our hair around our faces and blew the falling snow into a whirlwind.

"Let's try the Greenhouses," Lily suggested. "Then, we'll come back for James when we find an entrance."

"I'll stay with him," Molly suggested.

So, Lily, Remus, Arthur and I walked around the castle to the greenhouse. We kept glancing up at the classroom windows to see if anyone would look out and then we could get their attention to let us in.

I really couldn't believe that there was no way to get back in…there had to be.

But no…no way into the greenhouse. Even the door leading out onto the grounds was locked.

"Shit!" Lily hissed shivering.

"Let's go back to James and Molly," Arthur replied.

So we trudged back through the snow and back to James and Molly.

"Well?" James asked.

"No such luck," Remus muttered.

I sat down beside James in the snow and tried to keep myself warm.

Remus sat down beside too. We all sat down and tried to think.

But none of us could come up with anything.

"We could try building a fire," Arthur suggested. "Like the Muggles do when they camp."

"Sure," Lily said. "First find us twigs and things. THEY'RE BURIED UNDER SNOW."

"I'm sure someone will find us," I said reassuringly.

But secretly, I was beginning to doubt it.

We all stayed close together. Remus kept his arms around me; James kept his arms around Lily and Arthur kept his around Molly.

The snow had stopped falling thankfully.

Now, it was just cold out.

I don't know how long we were sitting out there. It seemed like hours but the sun had started to go down. Darkness began rolling in.

"We're going to die out here," Lily said shivering.

"No," Remus said firmly. "We aren't."

But secretly, I was beginning to think the same thing.

It was pitch black out. We used our wands as light…the only other light came from the castle.

I pressed my face deeper into Remus' chest. Our breaths were coming out in puffs of steam every time we exhaled.

The coldness was getting to me now. Even with the warmth from Remus' body, it wasn't enough. It felt like it was below freezing outside.

I ended up dozing off.

In the morning, I felt the heat from the sun rolling over me.

"Morning," Remus said softly.

I opened my eyes and blinked.

"Morning," I said and sat upright.

I looked around.

James was awake and so was Lily. Arthur was waking up but Molly was still asleep.

"Molly! Time to get up!" Arthur said shaking her.

She didn't stir.

"Molly!" Arthur said as he shook her again.

Again, she didn't stir.

"Molly!" I shouted.

Nothing still.

Clutching my robe around me, I got up and went over to her.

I pressed my fingers against her neck, feeling for a pulse.

There wasn't one.

"Good God no," I said quietly, pulling my hand back.

"What is it?" Arthur demanded anxiously. "Why isn't she waking up?"

I slowly turned to face everyone.

Remus, James and Lily could tell by my expression. Lily had tears in her eyes.

"Because she had froze to death," I said quietly.