A Riddle Full of Trouble.

Chapter 13: Tears of ice

Tom and I were sitting at the edge of the lake, he was laughing, I was crying.

I had actually been having this dream for a few months now, so I though nothing of it, just watched his face contort into a maniacal smirk. I was broken, I could tell, even his eyes that shone with pure evil could suppress my tears of pure despair.

Evil is weaker than pain.

But suddenly the image wavered and changed, and I was watching Tom, on his own. He was wearing the same clothes as he had worn on our Hogsmeade trip. And I soon realised that it was the same day, only by a look in the sky, it was hours after I had fallen.

He was stood in front of the lake, but still in the shadows of the forest. His posture was stiff, as though he were a muggle soldier standing to attention.

He turned towards me, and I worried that he had noticed my presence, but no, it was just a rabbit fumbling in the trees behind me.

What worried me even more was the look on his face. The stoic expression that usually occupied his features was gone, and instead there was a look of...Mourning?

I drifted closer to him, his gaze now back on the water.

As I drew closer, he took a deep shuddering breathe, and I noticed a glitter in his eye. First, I thought, the bastard, he is laughing at my 'demise' but I shook the thought, he was too tense for that. 

It was then that I realised that it was a tear, a single tear, that threatened to over spill from the confines of his eye, and I would have stumbled, but this was a vision, I realised, and I could only float.

He took out his wand  and walked slowly across the frosty grass. bending down by the edge of the water, he caught his tear with his wand, using the tip to transport it until it was hovering over the murky shallows. 

And he let it fall. 

I was expecting a ripple or to, to spread and peter out, but no, what happened was far weirder than that.

The tear made contact with the water, as I expected, and made a ripple effect, as I expected.

But what I didn't anticipate was the spread of ice rather than water, and boy, did it spread. It made it to the other end of the lake in moments, and soon the whole expanse of water wasjúst a solid, smooth block of clear ice.

And that's when I woke up.

 For a moment I was stuck wandering where I was, but then I remembered, the bridge, the kiss, the push. I swore, how was I going to get out of this?

I looked around and realised that I was under water, well, you did fall into the river, dumb ass, I almost heard Tom's voice in my head. 

"Aerwyn! Aerwyn!" Vera swam in through the door of the room. "Oh, good, you're awake!" 

"Hey Vera! How are you?"

"Never mind that, I'm just glad that you're awake!"

"How so?"

"Well, you were out for a couple of moons, Aerwyn, we seriously thought that you were dead!"

"A couple of -" I sprang off the matting that substituted as a bed "Oh Vera! I'll be missing school!"

"No, you cannot go to school, it's my coming of age ceremony tomorrow!"

"Could you at least contact Dumbledore?"

She didn't say a word, and dragged me out of the room. And I soon realised why no contact had been made. 

"The ice" I breathed, in English.

"It appeared a few human days ago, Aerwyn, we cannot breach it. We are unsure of what it actually is, but it is unwavering, and making the lake colder by the day!"

I looked up at the ceiling of solid water that covered the lake, and sighed. Of course Tom had to create an unmelting ice barrier.

"Aerwyn, can't you use your magic stick?"

My wand! I must have dropped it somewhere! Oh no! My mother payed a lot for that stupid peice of wood.

Suddenly I heard giggles, and I turned to see Vera laughing at me. Well, not quite laughing, more like a screech of mirth. "It's strapped to your tail, silly!" Oops, I blushed green and ducked my head. When I had fought of my embarrassment I grabbed my wand from it's bindings and started to swim towards the barrier. I could hear Vera calling to the other merpeople to come see the 'strange magic girl do her work'.

I felt my exhaustion as I swam upwards, and as I reached the slab, I shook it off. I raised my wand and muttered a few spells to prevent the ice from falling on the others if I had to smash it. 

One of the kinder elders of the village swam to  me.

"Our main problem is heat and light," He said, "You are not at full strength, so the ice will not break at your command, yet."

I resigned to his comment, slowly lowering my wand, which i had been trying to melt the unyeilding ice with. 

The merpeiople around me sighed as a collective and I felt bad, until I had a thought.

"Lumos maxima!" I yelled, and a gigantic ball of light formed, making a miniature sun for the lake, and I immediately felt the warming effects, as well as being able to see the full area of the town quite clearly.

The people cheered and my aunt Edwana rushed to me, grabbed my hand with her webbed one, and pulled me back down to the town.

She chattered and chattered, and then Vera joined too, and I just zoned out, and only noticed where we were when a rather short, muddy looking merman started taking measurements of my tail.

"Um, why are we in a tailors?"

"For your outfit for Vera's party of course!"

Oh, okay.

This was going to be a long day.