MAELSTROM

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN-SNAPPED

"Please tell me you're mistaking," Arthur said in a shaky voice.

I shakily put the same two fingers against Molly's neck. There was no pulse.

"I'm afraid not," I said as tears began forming in my eyes.

Lily burst into tears and pressed her face into James' neck.

I just sat back on my heels and felt the cold tears stream down my cheeks.

"YOU SIX! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?" a voice yelled from the double doors leading into the castle.

We turned and looked. Professor Powers was hugging her robe around her.

"Molly's dead," Arthur choked out.

All the color drained from Professor Powers' face.

"I'll get the headmaster,"

We were all sitting inside the hospital wing wearing layers of clothing and blankets a short while later.

Molly was lying on her back on a cot. Arthur was sitting in a chair beside the cot with his head buried in his hands.

I couldn't stop shivering despite the Pepper Up potion and the Wyse Potion, which gradually warmed our body temperature up. If the temperature rose too fast it would cause our body shock from the sudden change so fast. Gradually warming the body up is safest.

Professor Dumbledore stood in the center of the hospital wing. Remus was sitting next to me on a cot. James and Lily were sitting across from us side by side.

"So you could not get into the castle at all?" Dumbledore mused quietly.

We shook our heads.

"Sounds like a Seal Placement Charm to me," Dumbledore continued. "I will have to check who placed the charm."

"How?" Lily choked out.

"With an Illius Charm," Dumbledore said. "It's sort of like the Prior Incantatum Charm, but a bit more specific."

We nodded.

Arthur hadn't raised his head.

"I'm so sorry," Professor Dumbledore said to him quietly.

He placed a hand on his shoulder.

Arthur raised his head and looked around at us.

"I want the person who did this to be taken care of," he growled in a tone I've never heard him use before.

There were angry tears in his eyes now.

"Believe me," Remus said angrily. "They will be."

"Listen you five," Professor Dumbledore said warmly but firmly. "We're going to have to take this step by step. Going out and doing something rash might tip them off. We want to gather enough proof."

"Enough proof?" James exclaimed. "Molly's dead and so is Sirius! There's someone out there that wants to snuff us! How much proof do we need? Those two are the only ones that are capable!"

"Actually," I said reasonably and quietly. "Anyone in the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff house could've done it. But those two are certainly first on my suspect list."

"Is there a way you can get them to confess?" Arthur demanded.

"The Veritaserum is the only way," Professor Dumbledore said. "I think it's a good idea Remus? Can you please go and fetch Professor Anicks for me?"

Remus nodded and pulled off the blanket that was covering him. He got up and hurried out of the hospital wing, giving me a quick wink before disappearing.

A few moments later, Remus returned with Professor Anicks. Dumbledore filled her in on everything and she agreed to make the Veritaserum.

Professor Anicks came back with a smoking goblet.

"Call Sam and Holly," Professor Dumbledore said gravely.

"I'll go," Remus offered.

He left the hospital wing.

A short while, later, Sam and Holly entered the hospital wing. Both looked bewildered and confused.

"Can I ask you two to please take a sip of this? It's pumpkin juice," Professor Anicks said.

Shrugging they both took a sip.

"Alright," Professor Dumbledore said. "Did you two cause James' accident or use the Seal Placement charm on Hogwarts so the six of them could not get back into the castle?"

"No," they chorused in unison.

We looked at each other.

"Do you know who did?"

"No," Sam replied.

"Do you have anymore information?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"No," Sam replied.

"Then you may go,"

Sam and Holly left.

"Wow," James replied wide-eyed.

"So it wasn't them all along," I said slowly. "But they certainly seemed suspicious."

"I agree," Remus said nodding. "But why did they tell us that they were transferring here instead of telling us that they were visiting here to see how the school ran?"

"Because Holly has some medical issues. She wanted to see how the school would react to her medical needs," Dumbledore said calmly.

"What's wrong?" James asked looking concerned.

"She has a kidney disease," Dumbledore explained. "She can't have certain foods and Madam Elkin has to take blood, and then contact her doctor in London with the results."

We all looked at each other.

I began feeling guilty now for suspecting Holly and Sam.

I could tell by everyone's faces that they were thinking the same thing.

"I'm sorry about Molly," Dumbledore said gently turning to Arthur. "We still don't know who it is but we're going to stop him from hurting more students."

Arthur just narrowed his eyes and got up from the cot. He left the hospital wing.

"Make sure he doesn't do anything rash," Dumbledore instructed looking concerned.

We nodded.

James' leg was mended and he was able to leave, but walked with a slight limp.

We entered the common room.

Holly and Sam were playing a game of Wizards chess at the table.

"Hi," Remus said softly as he sat down on the couch.

"Hey," Sam said.

"We know about Holly," I said quietly as I sat down beside Remus. "I'm so sorry."

"Dumbledore told us," James replied.

"Yeah," Sam said quietly looking at Holly. "We're sorry if we acted suspiciously or anything. It's just that I was worried that you'd find out and start making fun of her. I guess we were just being a bit over protective."

"That's fine," James beamed. "At least we get a chance to start over again huh?"

"Yep," Holly beamed. "So far Hogwarts is working out good. I'm going to transfer here. We're really in our 5th year."

We nodded and began talking.

Dinner time rolled around. We began getting worried about Arthur as he hadn't appeared.

"Where is he?" Remus mused helping himself to some pot roast.

"I'm not sure," James replied scanning the Great Hall. "But I'm getting a bit worried since he was so devastated over Molly."

"I'm hoping that he doesn't do anything rash," I said sighing.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Remus said looking at me.

"Might I suggest we go and look for him?" James asked slowly.

"After dinner yes," I said. "I'm starving!"

They chuckled.

So after dinner, we began checking around the castle.

We checked the library…nothing…the dungeons…nothing…the Gryffindor common room…nothing.

We began getting really worried now.

We checked the grounds…still not there.

"The last place he could be is either Astronomy Tower, or the Divination classroom," James replied. "Both of which I'm not climbing up stairs."

"Fine," Remus replied. "We'll go."

Lily, Remus and I headed up to the Astronomy tower. Sure enough, Arthur was there…but he was holding Holly and Sam at bay with his wand.

"Arthur!" Lily cried.

"Back off!" Arthur snarled. "These two are lying!"

"No!" Remus said. "They're telling the truth! You were there!"

"They could've found a way to fight the Veritaserum!" Arthur growled.

"That's what was in the drink?" Sam asked looking at us.

"I'm afraid so," Lily said quietly. "We just had to be sure of something that's all."

"Arthur," Remus said angrily, but in calm tone. "Let them go. They have nothing to do with Molly's death."

At that, Holly's eyes swelled with tears.

"Molly's dead?" she choked out.

"Yes," Remus said moving his eyes onto her. "Someone placed a Seal Placement charm on the school so we couldn't get back in. She froze to death."

Holly began sobbing now.

"Stop crying!" Arthur yelled. "You know you did it."

"Arthur, stop it," I said hoping by some degree he'd listen to me. "They have nothing to do with what happened! We're going to find out who did and make them pay…okay? Please let them go."

Arthur looked at me.

I saw pain, grief and rage in his eyes…something that I've never seen in him before. It was a bit alarming.

"I can't trust anyone," he said. "Whoever is behind it could very well be in this room!"

He brandished the wand in front of Sam and Holly.

Remus looked out the window.

A full moon hung in the darkened sky. A few stars twinkled.

Remus cried out and dropped to his hands and knees.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, as a bit of panic crept into his voice.

"Oh boy," Lily said quietly as she and I backed away from Remus.

Remus' body began changing…his ears grew and tapered into points; his back lengthened and stretched a bit; gray and white fur grew all over his body; his hands and feet grew into paws that held long claws that curled under; and his nose and mouth stretched, pulling into a snout. His eyes changed into the jaundice color. Before long, Remus was gone and a gray wolf appeared.

Sam and Holly were terrified. They huddled against each other. Arthur kept his eyes on the wolf too.

"No good, Remus," Arthur said coldly. "Not going to scare me!"

The wolf turned and looked at us.

"Try something," Lily whispered.

The wolf turned his attention back to Arthur.

He began emitting low warning growls to Arthur.

"Stop it," Arthur snapped.

The wolf took this initiative to jump in front of Holly and Sam. His ears were pinned back and he exposed the white canines and incisors to Arthur.

"Remus," Arthur said stiffly. "You know that they are responsible! They're the only ones weird enough to do it! Who else could be behind it?"

The wolf continued to growl.

"Arthur, you know who's behind it," Lily said reasonably. "You and Molly told us about Luke, Peter and You-Know-Who! Those are the ones behind it! Not Sam and Holly!"

Arthur looked at her.

"There's no one else here! Luke isn't here, Peter's dead…and You-Know-Who isn't around either! These two could be spies!"

The gray wolf continued to growl and lope steadily toward Arthur.

Arthur kept backing up…backing right toward the window.

"Remus stop," I hissed terrified.

Remus obediently stopped and sat on his haunches.

But Arthur kept backing up.

"Arthur stop!" Lily screamed.

Too late, Arthur's back hit the edge of the window and his foot slipped on something and he fell out the window backward.

Lily screamed.

I dropped to my knees. Holly and Sam sank to their knees holding onto each other.

The gray wolf came over to me and sat down on its haunches in front of me.

He put his head against my chest. I just wrapped my arms around the wolf and pressed my face into his fur. I sobbed.

Remus took off down the stairs. Holly and Sam came over to us.

"So, he's a werewolf? Or Animagi?" Holly asked.

"Werewolf," I muttered.

"Cool," Sam said.

I looked at him in surprise.

"You're not terrified or anything?"

"Nope," Sam and Holly shook their heads. "We promise we won't tell anyone okay?"

I nodded.

We shakily headed down out of the tower. James looked up.

"I heard," he said quietly.

Not talking, we headed to Dumbledore's office.

We headed to bed that night.

Both Arthur and Molly had been killed so whoever was doing this was picking us off one by one. I only prayed that we would be able to find out who it is before someone else gets hurt.

The next morning at breakfast, we were all solemn and quiet.

The owl post arrived.

"Um, guys?" Remus said in a tone that we knew there was something on the front page of the Daily Prophet.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Take a look at this,"

I leaned in closer to read and so did Lily.

On the front page was this article:

FORMER HOGWARTS STUDENT BREAKS OUT OF AZKABAN

We all raised our heads to look at one another before we continued to read:

Former Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry student, Luke Warner breaks out of Azkaban. He had transferred out of Hogwarts three years ago after a mysterious incident with another student. He killed 12 Muggles in a Muggle baiting charm. The Muggles had been in a bus when it suddenly began swerving all over the road. They had been driving along Yorkshire Road, which overlooks a small ravine. The bus crashed through the ravine killing all passengers. When the Ministry of Magic's Magical Law Enforcement found out it was Warner, he was arrested and sent to Azkaban. He broke out sometime yesterday around 3:00 PM. Aurors are offering a 4 thousand galleon prize to any information leading to his arrest.

"It's not over," I said quietly raising my eyes to Remus, Lily, James, Holly and Sam. "Luke's out."