The Mirror of Erised
„We were walking around, looking for potential furniture, when we found a mirror in a vacant classroom with nothing else in it.“
„So we walked up to it, you know, as nosy as usually-“
„And it showed us not only...well...us.“
„On top of it was written: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi-“
„Which means: I show not your face but your heart's desire.“
„So its simply read from the end to the beginning.“
„Shut up Henry.“
„Shut up Henry.“
„Shut up Henry.“ I expected it from twins, but Hermione too? I feel betrayed but the soft couch they stole from somewhere makes it all better.
„So, like we wanted to say before we were so rudely interrupted,“ I rolled my eyes in annoyance, „it was a pretty mirror.“
„So much potential – we knew it would look gorgeous in one of the corners,“ George swept his hand like he was showing us something we never saw.
„It was a big, old-timey, golden thing with claw-like feet, so we needed to use spells – but they didn't work.“
„It must have been what triggered some type of alarm because before we could do anything,“
„Dumbledore scared the shit out of us.“
„He told us about the meaning of the writing on the top of the frame,“
„-and even asked us what we saw.“
„And what did you see?“ Hermione asked.
„I saw us in our own prank business,“ George smiled widely.
„I saw us in a cosy living room, brewing potions and throwing spells right and left,“ Fred mimicked his twins face.
„Us? Like Hermione, me and you two?“
„Yeah!“ came from both of them. Huh, interesting.
„So, where is it now? Can't say I'm not intrigued and curious.“ Hermione nodded – curiosity is one of the few personality traits our group shares.
„That's the worst thing – Dumbledore made us swear we would never try to find it-“
„-because not just one man lost himself in it.“
„And the next day it was gone.“
„The only good thing is that the swear wasn't something like an unbreakable vow.“
„Just plain old muggle ‚no worry sir, we will never try to do that with crossed fingers behind our back.“
„But where could he hide it?“ I asked rhetorically, my mind already whirling with ideas.
„We think it's the thing that is guarded by the dog and such.“
„That so-called toy you found?“ Hermione raised her eyebrow with a small smile. „Are you sure it's not just that you want to try to finish it in a better time?“
„You can go with us this time.“ I was on board in a snap of a finger, I quite enjoyed the challenges. „Then we will have enough time and no distractions when we prepare for the finals.“
„That's true you old liar...“ she mussed. „I know you're just manipulating me but I'm really interested in what it will show me. Think we can do it tonight?“
„Of course, the curfew starts in five hours and the last time we finished it in two hours – now we should be much more successful.“
„I knew you were timing it!“
So we put on our shoes and with a quick stride, we walked into Cerberuse's room. He barked hello to us and after a good belly-rub, he let us in without a problem – just buckets of saliva. The Devil's Snare welcomed us with its ‚tender‘ hug that we dispelled with four fairly over-powered Lumoses. I couldn't help but smile when I saw Hermione looking around with wide chocolate brown eyes. The keys were again the biggest annoyance but it took less time than before – Fred was able to capture it in fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds.
„Good job – next time you could make it under ten minutes.“
„Don't talk to me like Wood, it's scary.“
„Who?“ I asked, bewildered.
„Our Quidditch captain.“
„Good thing he doesn't know Fred is a decent seeker, the one we have now is horrible,“ George snickered and opened the door. The prepared chessboard was waiting for us. „Wanna play, Hermione? That madman killed enough of those poor figures last time.“
„Sure. We played together in train – his playstyle is horrible and genius at the same time. Henry, you will be queen, twins go and fill the knight spots.“
„Sure, my king,“ we answered in unison. I went to the middle of the board and let her win on her own – if she can best me, she can this board. She lost a lot fewer figures but it took her longer to win so tit for tat, in my humble opinion. Twins were happier, as I almost got them killed – Hermione was keeping them safe and even used her Queen less than she would in a normal play.
We dealt with the troll in the same way (the room was reeking with the smell of old piss and shit, so the typical troll smell was almost pleasant) and continued into the riddle room. „Let me!“ she hissed at Fred when he tried to grab the thankfully full potion vial. I wasn't thinking about the possibility there would be no way how we could get to the last room.
‚Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine’s left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.‘
A lovely riddle, that even I needed some time to decipher – personal guess, its the work of the one and only Severus Snape. I also think that the Devil's Snare was Sprouts baby, those fucking keys could only fucking Flitwick think of – but the chess? I have no idea. Twins think it has McGonagall written all over it but why chess and not some cool transfigured animals? Like dragons made out of chairs? That would be really cool.
She figured it out in the end and after I nodded at her guess she lit up and we finally took a swig each and went through the purple fire. There was some happy laughter when the twins' guess was confirmed.
A big mirror stood in the middle of the previously empty room with stone walls. There were two torches, illuminating it. I went in front of it – and puffed out my cheeks in anger because there was nothing more than myself. Not older, not holding a diploma or similar shit. Just me.
„It's broken,“ I told them. „Try it,“ I took Hermione by the elbow and moved aside.
„Why do you say that, it works!“ She furrowed her brows in surprise. „I can see myself holding perfect N.E.W.T. results, you three and my family around me, congratulating me. Wasn't it just subtle?“
I tried it again, scowling on my own reflection like a madman. Still, nothing. When it moved without me doing so I straightened my back and looked myself in the eyes. He held his finger to his lips and put something in his pocket – but I felt my own jean pocket get heavy. I pulled out a red stone and raised an eyebrow on him. He just winked and grinned before he turned back to a normal reflection – no cool stuff around me. „Guys, it gave me a rock,“ I turned around and showed them. „And it's still broken.“
„I think we have the answer, baby-prankster.“
„Dumbles said that only a happy and satisfied person can use it as a normal mirror.“
„I'm not a happy person,“ I dead-paned.
„Maybe happy with your current situation?“ Hermione tried to rationalise.
„I personally think you take your ambitions already as a hundred percent things,“
„– almost like you already reached them-“
„-so you don't really long for them.“
„It's called confidence.“
„I think it's called arrogance, Henry.“ Hermione jabbed me between the ribs with her surprisingly sharp finger.
„Or ego too big for a young boy,“ added one of the gingers, the other one ruffling my hair.
„Go fuck yourselves,“ I mumbled and put the rock back into my pocket. „Let's go out, I want to find a book about magical rocks.“
I actually found a book about Magical rocks, but I couldn’t find that particular one in it. I tried another one, this one much slimmer, and exactly like I guessed when I picked the thicc boy instead of it, nada. I tried to cut it, break it, but nothing worked – but when I put the knife on it, my precious steel blade turned to gold.
„THE FUCK?!“ I exclaimed in shock and threw it into the wall. It tinkled but that was all it did. When I touched the stone with a metal stick the same thing happened. So I looked for a stone that can change metal into gold but could find nothing. Twins were clueless too, even though they are born and raised wizards. It’s not surprising Hermione was as angry as I that we couldn’t figure it out.
When I got really angry they needed to reason with me (and physically stop me) that asking a teacher would mean that they would take it away. So I put it in a paper box with runes turning the paper almost fully black – thanks to that it was hard as steel, could be opened only by me and then I hid it on the bottom of my suitcase. Done. Never want to see it again.
At that point, it was the fucking end of February (I must say, my patience was immense) and Hermione started to panic about the exams. I helped her when she got burned out with sleeping potions and twins often carried her from the library or our room to their dorms. The fact that they are two years our senior didn't mean they were left out of this – she made them study as hard as she was and when they got really annoyed, she made me tutor them in runes, transfiguration, herbology... and when she got really nasty, potions. I know I'm a bad tutor, worse than Snape in my snarling (after all, that's why we like each other so much) – however, twins took it with patience and I think I made better brewers out of them in the end (and more importantly, I made them into better inventors).
***
„Calm down Hermione,“ I caught her after our last exam by the elbow and manhandled her away from the library.
„But I'm sure I answered the thirteenth question incorrectly!“
„What did you write?“
„That if you transform anything into food it can't be eaten – but what if you change food into different food? I totally forgot about that possibility!“
„It was asking only about changing inedible objects, stupid,“ I tried to calm her down with words but I had chocolate prepared in my pocket. And Calming Draught. „I answered similarly to you.“
„You for sure added something above our level, don't lie to me!“
„I wrote a short summary of experiments done on people in the eighteenth century – some dark wizards made muggles eat meals transfigured from wood and then monitored how they reacted and if they survived. Most of those ‚lab rats‘ died of internal bleeding or malnutrition. So the simple answer without a history lesson is alright, I just wanted to share my knowledge with her.“
„You just wanted to make her sick,“ she rolled her eyes, calmer than before. I offered her the chocolate nonetheless and she ate it in seconds. Usually, she would crinkle her nose and say she likes her teeth nice and healthy but today was a different day.
We relaxed in our room, shoes off and minds blank when we talked about our plans for summer.
„My parents and I were planning another trip to France, I wanted to look into their magical community. But the rest of the holidays... you could visit me?“
„I guess, I already have a stay at Weasley residence agreed on – I do not mind some travelling. Well, if your parents won't try to make me behave or are against some of my tendencies.“
„I warned them before Christmas break and they took it well when they met you, I think. However, they will work most of the days. I think I could make them agree to twins arriving too... they are just not as happy about them.“
„Why?“
„Because they are boys entering puberty? And three boys with one girl sounds kind of bad.“ I raised my head from the rug and looked at her surprised. „Don't look at me like that, you know how parents sometimes think. Like the girlfriend boyfriend comment.“
„That's true. If they are not ok with so much testosterone, you can visit me instead – my mother is a stay-at-home mother so there would be less stay alone time.“
„I'll try to ask. But besides that, would will you do?“
„For sure brew a lot, read books, catch up with muggle science papers, work on my garden, terrorise my family... and I want to try out embroidery – I read that runes can be stitched into clothes and I would like to try that.“
„I only know how to croche, sorry.“
„I looked at some classes and found one that I will probably attend.“
„I would love to be a fly on a wall when you walk there for the first time,“ she started to giggle.
„Why?“
„I doubt there will be some other male or someone younger than thirty.“
„I can deal with old hags.“
„But can they deal with you?“