Metaphysical Discussions
“WHY WHY WHY!!!!” Pansy yelled in despair. She had hated Draco’s plan from the beginning. The Opal necklace plan had worked almost too well, with Rosmerta under the imperius curse giving the necklace to a Gryffindor girl. No one would suspect her, and no one would suspect them. But now, Katie Bell’s life was in danger, and tears wouldn’t stop rolling down Pansy’s face. She just wanted everything to stop.
She had kicked all the girls out of the dormitory, in order to cry in peace, but it had not occurred to her that the girl on the other side of the mirror could be listening to her pathetic sobs. Pansy fearfully approached the mirror that was still sitting on her nightstand
“Hey, curse, are you there?”
Nothing.
Pansy sighed in relief and laid in her bed, her eyes swollen, her head pounding. She got to keep her pride for one more day. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but her consciousness had started drifting when the familiar voice nearly made her jump out of her bed
“Are you around, mirror girl?”
“Hi!” pansy exclaimed. If the girl knew what Pansy had just been an accomplice to, she’d hate her.
“Did you have a good sleep?”
“Haha. Trick question, curses don’t sleep.”
“Well, if I am a curse, and not a girl, I have to try to get more information out of you so that I can corrupt your soul and weaken you day after day!” Pansy smiled at the over exaggerated conspiracy voice the girl undertook. “Here, let’s start with your house. Let me guess… Ravenclaw!”
“Wrong! And I am not going to tell you the right answer. What else, the first letter of my name, the colour of my eyes and my Hat size?” Pansy laughed.
“Alright, then let’s talk quidditch. You’ll end up betraying yourself sooner or later.”
“Oh God please no, not Quidditch, everyone talks about it to me all the time, and believe me, I have other things to worry about.” Pansy made sure to exclude the fact that she was a chaser for one of the four teams of the school.
“Wow, a wizard that doesn’t love Quidditch? I’ve never heard of that before. It’s the only thing my friends talk about, day and night. Of course, right now they’re more worried about Bell, because what happened to her is absolutely horrendous, but I can guarantee you that by supper, they’ll have gone back to arguing whether the Chudley Cannons or the Holyhead Harpies will dominate this season.”
“Alright, then let’s not talk about sports.” Concluded Pansy
“Yes, and also, please, let’s not talk about Bell, the thought of what happened alone makes me sick.”
“Sounds good.” Pansy hoped the shake in her voice had been lost through the mirror. The knot in her stomach tightened. This was all her fault.
“I suppose you also wouldn’t want to talk about the necromantic spells from 12th century Scotland? None of my friends take me seriously when I try to tackle the subject.”
“You know what, that sounds like the perfect subject to me, it will help me think about something else other than the crazy person that almost killed Belle.”
It will help me forget about what I just did
“Oh okay then!” The mirror girl sounded happily surprised that someone would listen to her. “Personally, what left me shocked was the linkage made between animate and inanimate, it was truly groundbreaking. I mean, we know that necromancy is truly not the best, but imagine the impact it had on spells for next centuries to come.”
“Wait but don’t forget that necromancy is what saved the Fourth Dynasty of Scotland from the spoiling of their lands in 1478. Hadn’t it been for necromancy, none of us would be here. I am not saying that we should dig out our dead for nothing, but still.”
Pansy wondered for a second if she was talking to one of those witches that claimed to have the purest of hearts and would never ever consider the good aspects of dark magic because ‘dark magic is bad’.
“I see what you mean, but it’s also what erased from the map village after village during the beginning of You Know Who’s first terror. I still believe that necromancy gets to be pretty close to dark magic, and I don’t really like that” The girl had just confirmed Pansy’s guess.
“Well, the sacrifice of a person to awaken an army is reserved for the most powerful spells, and that’s just not always the case for necromancy. Plus, the fact that You Know Who used necromancy is not a good argument for what is good and what is bad. I mean, as far as I know, everyone brushes their teeth and goes to the bathroom, even him, and that doesn’t make it a bad thing!”
“Touche mirror girl.” The girl laughed. Pansy smiled. She enjoyed their playful debates. It was nice to talk to someone who knew about the same topics as her, challenging each other to think differently.
Their debate turned more and more into teasing, jumping from one historical theme in the world of wizardry to the other. Had Pansy not been reading Batilda Bagshot’s books as a pastime for the last several years, she would’ve been intimidated by the amount of knowledge the other girl had to offer. It seemed that they both had finally found someone of their level.
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Professor McGonagall closed her book with force and said “For next time, I want you all to come up with a new spell that merges two existing cleaning spells that you believe would work better as one. I want to remind you that this assignment is also an argumentative short essay. In addition to the spell, you will submit two rolls of parchment paper justifying your choice. And Miss Patil, Mr Finnegan, it goes without saying that if you don’t submit this assignment on time, you will receive a detention as you never submitted my previous assignment.” On that word, Professor McGonagall hurried out of the classroom without waiting for the students to pack up their quills.
“Look at how fast McGonagall just left. Do you think she has a date?” Ron asked, laughing.
“With who? I mean I can see why someone may think her green eyes are pretty, but other than that…” Harry giggled at the thought.
“Are you done?” Hermione asked, exasperated, rolling her eyes.
“What? Do you know something about McGonagall’s date that you’re hiding from us?” Ron teased her.
“No. No, I know nothing.” She had woken up tense, with an exceptionally low tolerance for Ron’s stupid jokes. “I mean do you not get tired of making the same remarks every time? This is our third transfiguration class where you can’t help but talk about McGonagall’s imaginary boyfriend. Grow up Ronald!”
“Obviously she doesn’t have a boyfriend, that’s the funny bit. I’ll think about that scenario if I ever cross paths with a boggart again. However, if I need to conjure a Patronus charm, I’ll think of Rosmerta instead…” Ron raised his eyes to the ceiling, smiling. His Crush on Rosmerta still just as strong as when he had first seen her at thirteen.
“That’s not a happy memory, that’s in your dreams!” Harry teased him
“No no! It is a happy memory! Remember the other day how nice she looked wearing that corset?”
Hermione rolled her eyes again. That was the day Katie bell had been cursed, and all Ron could think about was Rosmerta’s corset?
They had finally reached the library.
“I have to go see Dumbledore, I’ll meet you guys for dinner.” Said Harry.
“We’ll save you a seat if you're late, don’t skip dinner.”
Harry nodded, and left Hermione alone with Ron. There was only one table that was still free. It was too close to the librarian for anyone to dare sit there. They accepted their fate and started their homework.
“Hermione look, another happy memory just passed by” Ron whispered, breaking the silence. A beautiful Seventh year girl had walked into the library.
Hermione closed her book so harshly it echoed throughout the entire room.
“Actually, I finished all of my homework for the week yesterday. Good luck starting yours, Ron.”
“Oh cmon ‘Mione, I promise I’ll change my set of jokes soon!” The librarian shushed them loudly enough to earn a chuckle from a couple of other students.
Hermione nodded, and walked back to her dormitory. Pretending Ron’s comments didn’t hurt her feelings would be a lie. She hated the way he talked about other girls, but she also hated the way he would never think of her that way either. It was a truth she wasn’t ready to confront yet. Why couldn’t he see her as a fully fledged girl?
She was bored, but really didn’t want to go back to the library. She grabbed a spell book, having already read the first volume, she was hoping that the second one would have at least a couple of pages that she hadn’t analysed yet. She was always surprised to see just how little of the school books were used in class. So many spells, so much knowledge that the average student would never learn. To her great dismay, she had read, or at least skimmed through that entire book already. She knew that the girl on the other side of the mirror was usually not there at this time of the day. She tried to contact her nonetheless, but received no answer.
The little mirror she had bought a year ago in Hogsmeade had held her company these past few weeks. Both of them had been really careful not to divulge their identities, but Hermione had two hints: The girl was not a Ravenclaw, and she had an extensive knowledge in Wizard History. She had been enjoying their conversations even more than the ones she had with Harry and Ron. It felt good to not have to apologise for talking about a subject that interested her. She wished her friends wouldn’t look bored out of their minds when she tried to do that with them. Hermione realised just how much Ron’s behaviour was affecting her judgement. No, him and Harry were precious friends she wouldn’t trade for the world. It was just that she couldn’t stand him lately.
The other day, Ron had spent the entire botany class criticising her and Harry heavily for being part of the Slughorn Club. He had even tried to make fun of her by telling her to “just go with McLaggen” when she had been building up the courage to ask him to go with her.
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Pansy was slowly losing her mind, guilt swallowing her hole. Katie Bell had been transferred to St Mungos, and Draco wouldn’t even look her in the eyes. She knew that he felt just as bad as her, but not having to bear this burden on their own would’ve been nice. Hearing the other students gossip about what Katie’s experience had been like was torture. She had heard from some Hufflepuffs that Katie had convulsed on the ground, tainting the ground with crimson as she shook in an unnatural manner the way someone under the cruciatus curse would’ve. A slytherin fourth year swore by the fact that she had been flung into the air, screaming for her life, while his friend was adamant that she had held her throat, gasping for air as her eyes became bloodshot.
Pansy shuddered. Perhaps her insomnia would stop once she knew Bell’s life was no longer in danger. Perhaps it wouldn’t, taunting her for the rest of her life. Deep in thought, her legs had dragged her to the third floor of the Castle, four floors above her dormitory. She started walking fast, trying to find a way down other than the capricious stairs she had just climbed. Pansy turned around the corner and bumped into Blaise.
“Hey Pansy, you look really well.” He smiled at her with gentle eyes.
“Sorry Blaise, I don’t have time. I need to finish my arithmancy homework.”
“Oh okay. What are you doing on the third floor then?”
“I’m having a jolly time getting flown around by these stupid stairs. Any other questions?”
“Okay… I imagine you’ll be in a better mood after dinner. Can I save you a seat?” Blaise asked, trying to mask the hurt visible on his face.
“No, I'm not hungry tonight.” An awkward silence installed itself between them.”Look, I’m sorry. You just were at the wrong place at the wrong time and I was unnecessarily harsh with you. I’m truly sorry Blaise.”
“Yeah, these stairs are so annoying! I’m sure it was Godric Gryffindor’s idea!”
They chuckled for a bit, and parted ways. She felt bad for Blaise, who was becoming more obvious with her feelings for her. Pansy had only ever told Draco that she was a lesbian, and had made him promise not to tell anyone else. One other person knew, and it already felt like too much. She would never act on it, and never acknowledge it. It was only in moments like these where she wished other people knew. That way Blaise would save his generous heart for another girl who truly deserved it, and who could return his feelings. She rushed that thought out of her brain. Pansy had disappointed her parents in many ways already, and was not eager to add ‘discontinuing the pure blood lineage’ to the list.
She eventually found another way down to the common room, and pulled out her arithmancy homework. Aside from history, Pansy’s grades had been mediocre. Having always been a top student, it was a harsh reality for her to know that Draco’s mission, their mission, had taken so much of her time. She couldn’t handle another failure. Determined to get a good grade, she grabbed her quill and started on some practice problems. Soon enough, Pansy’s thoughts drifted to the melodious voice that came from her newly found mirror. She smiled. Once she’d be done with her homework, she’d go see if the girl was up for another conversation.