MAELSTROM
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE-CARRIE'S TRANSFORMATION
"A stone?" Hermione said tilting her head.
I nodded.
I told them about the vision.
"Weird," Jenna said.
After that, we headed down to the Hall for dinner. Roast turkeys, boiled potatoes, chipolatas, buttered peas, silver boats of gravy and cranberry sauce-and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet were on the table.
Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Up at the Head table Professor Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizards hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.
"He always did have a sense of humor," Remus grinned at the flowered bonnet.
I laughed and shook my head.
After the delicious meal, we spent the afternoon having snow ball fights on the grounds. Remus shoved a snow ball down the back of my cloak. I shrieked and shoved a snow ball down the front of his slacks, making it look like he had wet himself.
That set off Hermione, Harry and Jenna into laughing fits. We ended up having a war…Jenna, Hermione and I against Remus and Harry.
That night we were exhausted. Harry was sitting in the common room staring at the cloak.
"Don't stay up late okay?" I said softly. "Night everyone."
"'Night," they chorused.
Jenna and Hermione followed me into the girls' dorm.
REMUS.
Harry was still staring at the cloak.
"I gather you're itching to use it," I said softly.
He looked up at me.
"Well, come on," I said.
I took the cloak from him and threw it around the two of us. We vanished from sight.
We climbed through the portrait hole.
"Who's there?" squawked the Fat Lady.
We said nothing as we walked quickly down the corridor.
"I know where there might be information on Flamel," I said. "The library in the Restricted Section."
The library was pitch-black and very eerie. We lit a lamp to see our way along the rows of books. The lamp looked as though it was floating in mid air and even though I could feel my arm supporting it, the sight still creeped me out a bit.
The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, I held the lamp up to read the tittles on the spines of the books. Harry stood right beside me.
Unfortunately, their peeling faded gold letters spelled the words in languages I couldn't understand. I've never been here before so I didn't know much about these books.
Deciding to start somewhere, I set the lamp down carefully on the floor and scanned the bottom shelf for an interesting looking book. A large black and silver volume caught my eye.
"We can try this," I whispered.
I pulled it out with difficulty, balanced it on my knee and let it fall open.
A piercing bloodcurdling shriek split the silent. Harry cringed.
"Whoops, wrong one," I said sheepishly as panic settled in now.
We stumbled backward, knocking out the lamp which went out at once. Footsteps outside the library told me Filch was probably coming.
"Let's run for it," I whispered.
I stuffed the book back onto the shelf and keeping the cloak around us tightly, we turned and fled. We passed Filch in the doorway; his eyes pale and wide looking straight through us. We slipped under his outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor. The books shrieks still ringing in our ears.
We came to a halt in front of a tall suit of armor. We'd been so busy getting away from the library that we hadn't paid attention to where we were going. I didn't recognize where we were at all.
"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around the school at night, and somebody's been in the library—Restricted Section."
Harry's face drained of all color.
Wherever Filch was, he must've known a shortcut because the next voice we heard was Snape's.
"The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them,"
"In here," I whispered as we ducked into a room. I softly closed the door and listened. Their footsteps echoing right passed the door.
I slipped the cloak off of us. It was an unused classroom. But Harry's eyes were locked on something propped against the wall facing us.
A mirror.
It was as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top:
Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
"What on earth…?" Harry mused.
"The Mirror of Erised," I said quietly.
Our reflections were in the mirror…but then, there were others…Lily, James and Sirius.
I felt a lump rising in the back of my throat.
"These are your parents," I said quietly. "And Sirius Black…your Godfather."
Seeing them again brought back so many memories. I knew Carrie would like to see them again.
Harry was silent. He couldn't take his eyes off of his parents and Sirius.
"They were good people," I said even quieter. "Carrie and I miss them so much."
We stood there for a while until a noise snapped us out of the stupor.
Harry tore his eyes away from Lily's face.
"I'll come back," he whispered.
I threw the cloak over us again and we slipped out of the room.
CARRIE.
The next morning, Jenna, Hermione and I sat at the Gryffindor table. Snape had given me the potion last week but I needed one this week. There would be a full moon tomorrow night.
I knew Remus would need it too.
I looked up Remus and Harry entered the Great Hall. They had the strangest expressions on their faces.
They sat down at the table.
Remus across from me and Harry sat in between Jenna and Hermione.
"What's wrong?" I asked looking from Harry to Remus.
Remus explained to me about the mirror.
"Remus," I said slowly. "I've heard of that mirror. People have wasted away before it."
"I have too," Hermione added. "It causes you to dwell on things."
"We saw James, Lily and Sirius again," Remus whispered leaning forward. His eyes pierced mine. "Don't you want to see them again?"
"Of course! But Remus, I doubt very much they'd want us to dwell on things,"
Harry couldn't eat. I guess the thought of seeing his parents caused him to forget about Flamel and it didn't seem important anymore.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked turning to Harry. "You look odd."
That evening, Harry and Remus snuck off to find the mirror again.
Hermione sighed.
"I really wish they wouldn't do that," she said. "It shows people nothing but their deepest, most desperate desire in their hearts. Naturally, knowing Harry has never seen his parents would see them and Remus probably wants to see them again because he cared so much about them. Men have wasted away before it. Am I right, Mrs. Lupin?"
"Yes," I said quietly. "I think I'm going to tell Dumbledore."
"Good idea," Jenna agreed.
I left the common room and headed to Dumbledore's office. He was in and I told him about the mirror and Harry. He knew exactly what to do.
I returned to the common room.
"He's going to do something about it," I relayed to Hermione and Jenna.
They nodded.
Remus and Harry returned shortly.
"Had enough?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
"Carrie, how could you not want to see Lily, James and Sirius again?" Remus asked scandalized.
"Because dwelling on the past isn't healthy okay? And I know damn well neither of them would want that. They are here with us now, but we just can't see them. They're here," I pointed to my heart. "They're keeping an eye on us."
Harry headed off to bed.
"Besides," I muttered. "Dumbledore's going to move it and he asked me to tell you guys not to go looking for it again."
Sure enough, that seemed to have convinced Remus and Harry not to go looking for it and the cloak stayed folded up at the bottom of his trunk.
But poor Harry began having nightmares. He told us about it at breakfast the next morning.
"You see? Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad," Jenna replied firmly.
Hermione had stayed for the holidays although I'm not sure why. We still hadn't any idea who Nicholas Flamel was.
We had almost given up hope finding him in a library book.
There was going to be another Quidditch match and Snape would be refereeing.
Harry moaned at that, but I assured him that Snape would be fair and if he wasn't he'd be speaking to Remus and I.
Someone had put a Leg-Locker Curse on poor Neville. He bunny hopped into the common room. Everyone started laughing except Hermione. Remus quickly did the counter jinx and Neville's legs sprang apart. He fell over momentarily and got up trembling.
"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly.
"Malfoy," Neville choked out. "I met him outside the library. "Said he needed someone to practice on and that I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor."
"That kid needs a good enema," Remus muttered.
Neville chuckled.
"You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Jenna said. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's the lovely woman? In Slytherin."
We laughed at Jenna's comment. Even Neville seemed to be cheering up.
"Thanks," he said weakly.
Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate frog. He handed it to Neville.
"Do you want the card, you collect them right?"
He handed Harry the card and walked off.
"Dumbledore again," he said scanning the back. "He's the first one I ever…"
Suddenly, his eyes widened and he looked up at us.
"What?" Jenna asked.
He began reading something on the back of the card:
"I've found Flamel!" he whispered. "Listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel!"
We all stood around him.
"Stay there!" Hermione said as she tore into the girls' dorm and came back with a book. "I never thought to look in here. I borrowed it for some light reading."
"Light?" Jenna asked.
The book was at least 8 inches thick.
She flipped through it and finally she found something.
"Nicholas Flamel," she whispered dramatically. "is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"
"Eh?" Harry asked confused.
"Honestly," Hermione sighed. "Read that there."
She pointed to a passage.
Harry began reading:
"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.
There have been many reports of the Sorcerer's Stone over the centuries, but the only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle six hundred and fifty eight"
"Bingo," I said. "That's what the dog is guarding."
"And that's why Dumbledore knew someone was after at Gringotts," Remus added. "That's why the stone is here."
"No wonder someone would want it badly," Jenna said. "It keeps you immortal."
"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry…he's not exactly recent if he's 665," I added.
That night, Remus and I waited for Snape to come with the potion. Oddly, he didn't.
"Oh crap," I said. "We're going to change!"
Sure enough, I felt a pain shoot across my abdomen. I dropped to my hands and knees and stared at the carpet. Remus was changing as well.
My hands changed into paws; my nose and mouth pulled forward into snout and white canines and incisors slid down; my ears grew and tapered into points. White fur grew all over my body.
My eyes changed into an ice blue color.
My back lengthened and narrowed; my legs bent into haunches; a tail grew. I was now a wolf.
JENNA.
I had decided to see if Mum and Dad had gone to bed. I left the girls' dorm.
"Mum? Dad?" I asked as I entered the common room.
And something white and fury jumped on me, knocking me onto my back.
It was a white wolf.
I recognized Dad as the gray wolf…but then horror began creeping into me…this white wolf was more than likely Mum.
"Mum?" I whispered. "Is that you?"
The wolf stood over me, its snout inches from my face.
To my horror, the wolf began snarling. The top lip pulled back exposing its white canines and incisors.
"Mum," I choked out terrified.
The gray wolf charged the white wolf.
"What's going on here?" a voice said from the girls' dorm.
Hermione.
She screamed.
The white wolf was knocked off me and landed on its side a few inches away from me.
The white wolf sat on her haunches and panted. The gray wolf watched her warily.
Then, she went for Hermione.