Chapter 4: Neige

Neige

Cold. So cold. Why is it so cold!? The voice penetrated Fi’s mind, the fear practically palpable. She knew instantly who it was: Neve! Fi threw back her scarlet and gold striped comforter. Her bare feet hit the floor and it felt like ice. Fi stood up, her pajamas rumpled. Fi ran as quietly as possible across the carpeted dorm. Moonlight illuminated the floor and Fi felt an urgency in her heart to find Neve as quickly as possible and help her. She told herself it was nothing, but she was only rationalizing. Fi had felt fear like this before and the situations had never ended prettily. 

Heart pounding, Fi snatched her thin crimson robe off of the hook near the door and pulled it on over her paisley, peach cotton shorts and a gray tee-shirt. With a not-so-graceful grunt, Fi tugged the heavy pine door open. She silently thanked fate when the hinges made no protest. 

Arriving at the door to the Hufflepuff dorms, Fi glimpsed the painting that was the entrance. It was an image of a smug looking boy, about twenty years old. He wore an eighteenth century outfit; a hunter green coat, beige pants, and a white button up shirt. He had rakish blond hair and piercing blue eyes. Fi approached him. 

“What’s the password?” the boy teased playfully in a sassy British accent, so that password sounded like “pawwss-wuhrd.” 

Fi answered in her own British accent, “I don’t know.” She hoped her accent sounded real. Fi had kept the accent up throughout all her time at Hogwarts. None of her friends had questioned it, so Fi figured it sounded real. Neve was the only one who knew it was fake. 

The British boy cocked his head, “nice accent!” he quipped. Fi sighed. Answering in her true voice she growled, with a fire in her voice to match her name, “Let me in.” The boy winked. He nodded understandingly. 

“Alright… I guess for you-” Fi felt a flicker of hope light in the pit of her stomach, “that’s a no.” 

Fi uttered a frustrated noise and said, “It’s an emergency. My friend is in trouble. Let me in or-”

“Or what? And if your friend is in trouble, then why can’t I hear any screaming?”

As if on cue, Neve’s voice shot into Fi’s mind. All it said was, Ice. The voice seemed calmer now, which comforted Fi somewhat, but not much. Fi decided to go for a different angle with the painting boy. She collapsed onto the floor, falling to her knees. Lowering her head and allowing a lock of her golden hair to fall in her face, Fi released an extremely convincing sob. She brought her hands to her eyes. Looking up at the boy, Fi made sure to seem weak, ashamed, and distraught. She forced a tear out of her blue eyes, feeling it run down her cheek. 

“Please.” Fi begged the painting. 

His expression unchanging, the British boy said softly, “Alright.” And the painting swung open, revealing the common room behind it.

“Thank you.” Fi said in an airy voice, staying true to her “helpless” act. 

The boy laughed gently, “Yeah. Nice act, see ya on the way out.” Fi bounded into the dorm. No! Stop it… Neve’s voice cascaded through Fi’s head like a waterfall. Fi moved faster, breath quickening. Fi thought to herself, What if she’s not even here? 

Reaching the door to the girl’s dorms, Fi was relieved to find that it was unlocked. She pushed it open, making a note to herself to thank whoever oiled the doors. It was probably the students themselves, keeping the hinges quiet so they could sneak out whenever they felt like it. 

It was no effort to find Neve. One of the Hufflepuff beds was covered in about three inches of snow and more was floating down onto the bed and floor. Ice coated the floor around the bed. Fi gasped audibly, then clamped a hand over her mouth, hoping she didn’t wake anyone. Approaching the bed, Fi almost slipped on the ice. Nearing the side of the bed, Fi glimpsed Neve. She was laying prostrate, stock-still. Neve’s face was red and her brown hair mussed. Fi saw that a layer of ice was beginning to form over Neve’s hands. Unsure what to do, Fi tried to wake Neve. Her efforts were unsuccessful; it was as if Neve were in a coma. Thoughts raced through Fi’s mind… What to do? What do to… Fi’s urge to use her fire was strong, but it would undoubtedly wake the other students. At last, an idea popped into Fi’s mind. She raced out the dorm’s door.

A moment later, Fi had crossed the Hufflepuff common room and was approaching the door to the boy’s dorm. Arriving, she found it unlocked as well. She had a fleeting worry about Hogwart’s lack of security, but pushed the door open all the same. Tip-toeing past the beds, Fi found Kael. She walked up to the side of his bed. Lightning fast, Fi placed a hand over his mouth. Kael instantly shot awake, eyes flitting all around the room. They landed on Fi and his eyebrows drew together into a quizzical expression. Fi brought her other hand to her mouth, shhhing him. 

“I need your help.” she mouthed, “It’s Neve.” Fi took her hand away and walked towards the door. Kael got up and followed her. 

Arriving at Neve’s bedside, with Kael looking all around as if the girl’s dorm was a new dimension, Fi motioned for Kael to help her lift Neve’s almost frozen body. Kael grabbed Neve’s feet and Fi went to hook her hands under Neve’s armpits, but Neve’s arms were frozen to her side. Awkwardly, Fi managed to carry Neve’s upper body. Together Fi and Kael carried Neve’s frozen body through the hallways, walking through the puddles of moonlight. 

“What are we doing here!? And what’s wrong with Neve?” Kael exclaimed when they reached the West Tower. 

Fi sighed, “Neve never told you then?”

“No! Told me what?” Fi extended her hand, letting her amber flames flicker in the dim light. Kael gasped, which was rare. He reached his hand forward and touched the flames. Hissing, he pulled back. Fi closed her hand, extinguishing the flames, “What did you think, it wasn’t gonna burn you?” Kael mumbled an excuse. “Your fire’s cool… I guess. But what does that have to do with… Frozen Neve?” 

“It’s rare, the ability to do magic without a wand. If someone does have the ability, then usually it’s related to an element. I have, er, fire magic, and Neve has ice and snow magic. Put simply.” 

Kael nodded, “I still don’t get it. Why is she frozen? Did she freeze herself?”

“Not on purpose. I don’t know what happened… It must have been like a magic surge or something.”

“So what are we gonna do? She’s breathing, but she probably has frostbite and hypothermia could follow soon…”

“I’m going to try and melt her.” Fi’s plan came out wrong, but Kael got the gist of it. 

Fi knelt next to Neve and let her flames kindle. Slowly, the ice coating Neve’s skin began to dissipate. It left no water- the ice just disappeared. Yet, when all the ice was gone and Neve’s skin was warm to the touch, despite the healthy blush on her cheeks; Neve’s eyes remained closed. Kael and Fi sat, one on either side of Neve’s prone body, for many minutes. At last, Neve’s eyelids raised with a start. No other part of her moved. 

Neve yelled, “It’s him! The voice… He’s taking me.” Her eyes snapped shut again, and Fi was drowned by a tidal wave of panic. 

She grabbed Neve’s shoulders and shook them, saying, “Neve! Wake up! Who? Who's taking you? Where is he taking you?!” Neve offered not even the slightest response. Kael, whom was usually one hundred percent calm, showed fear and franticness in his eyes. 

“What do we do?” he asked Fi, staring at Neve as if willing her awake. 

After several minutes of careful, if worried, consideration, Fi and Kael decided the best course would be to take Neve to the infirmary. However, it was bit hard to explain that Fi had telepathically sensed Neve was in trouble, broken into the Hufflepuff dorms, observed that Neve’s raw snow magic was out of control, and melted her. So they went with the story that Kael had been awoken by a scream in the Hufflepuff common room and gone to investigate. Finding an unconscious Neve and not knowing what to do, he went and got Fi. Together, they carried Neve straight to the infirmary, where it is well known that any infirm person should go immediately. 

- Three days later, Fi visited the infirmary for the umpteenth time. Her candle of hope was temporarily ignited, until she glimpsed Neve: still comatose.The worst part, Fi believed, is that life went on. She, Kael, and especially Dimitri visited the hospital wing often, but still had to attend classes and quidditch practice and they still had homework. They brushed their teeth and did normal, everyday things. People asked about Neve, but no one seemed as consumed by her absence as they were. Meanwhile, Fi slipped into the restricted section of the library every spare moment she had, looking for the mysterious “him” Neve had mentioned. Despite the circumstances, and the fact that Madame Pomfrey had no idea what was wrong with Neve, Fi’s little fire of optimism, though flickering and dim, remained lit.