The Wish
Hermione still remembered Cho’s anger when they were both part of Dumbledore’s army the previous year. They had never talked again of the jinx that had hit Marietta Edgecombe, as they had both blamed two different ends. For Cho, the culprit was Hermione, and for Hermione, it was Marietta’s cowardice that had punished her. Hermione had also noticed a certain jealousy coming from Cho while she had dated Harry, as she found their friendship suspicious. But water had run under the bridge, and though they had never been able to solve their differences, they had ended up leaving them behind.
“It’s good to see you Cho! I’ve been looking for you for a while now.’
“Oh really? Well you have me flattered and intrigued. What can I do for you?” Cho answered, ready to help.
“It’s about Cedric.” The girl’s smile dropped. She was still listening, but her face had tensed. Cedric had died years ago now, but it was obvious that the subject was still a sensitive matter. “Before he passed, he left a magical object to get fixed at Dervish and Banges. He was never able to get it back, and it’s only by pure luck that I bought it a year later. I had no idea it was his until I went back to see the vendor the other day.”
“Are you talking about the mirror?” Cho asked immediately. Hermione’s eyes opened wide.
“Y-yes. I am. Apparently the mirror has a twin. Did Cedric ever tell you about it?” Hermione made sure to leave out the fact that the copy had already found a new owner.
Cho sat by her side under the windowsill. “I’m really sorry Hermione. I wish you would’ve come to find me sooner.” Her face plagued with guilt, she continued, “Cedric gave me the other mirror to celebrate our two months together. We always kept it with us wherever we went so that we could talk easily. The vendor may have told you, but you’re supposed to be able to see and hear the other person.” Hermione nodded along to Cho’s words.
“Well, one day, as we were doing our homework in the library, someone knocked into our table and the mirrors that were resting on its edge fell to the floor and broke. He really tried to fix them, but they never worked as well as they did before. He managed to reestablish the voice connection, but we couldn’t see each other through the glass anymore. He had decided to bring his copy to Dervish and Banges for more answers and well… you know the rest, he was never able to get it back. On my side, I kept my copy. I didn’t know what to do with it. It reminded me of Cedric so much. I really didn’t want to forget him, you know, it’s not like we ever intended to break up, he just, well you know.” Cho was dancing around the word. “But when I got the strength, I decided to hide my mirror away. I’m sorry Hermione. I hid it in the room of requirements back in the days where we trained there for Dumbledore’s army. You won’t be able to find it. If you want, I can pay you back for the mirror you bought. I am really really sorry Hermione.” Cho insisted
“No no don’t worry. Since it came alone, the vendor sold it to me for really cheap.” Hermione was afraid her quest had come to an end. “Did Cedric tell you anything about how he got his hands on these mirrors? The vendor told me they were 200 years old” She tried as a shot in the dark.
Cho smiled weakly. “You’re breaking a myth. Cedric had guaranteed me that they were at least 600 years old. It was passed down from generation to generation in his family. The Diggorys had always used them as means to communicate with their lovers. They were the mysterious double sided mirrors that had once belonged to a noble ancestor. That family was full of flirts!”
Hermione laughed “Well, no we know that Diggory had a 200 year old mythomaniac ancestor!”
“Had I known that was all a lie, I may have been able to give you the second mirror today.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well I think I would’ve been much less romantic when conjuring the room of requirements, and we may have been able to find it again.” Cho paused, for a second, her eyes meeting Hermione’s. “Since Cedric died leaving behind no descendants of the Diggory family, I asked for a room where the mirror would wait until it was able to fulfil its role again:
“To unite future cursed lovers against all trials and tribulations, forever and ever.”
Cho chanted in a theatrical manner.
“Well,” Hermione gulped, struggling to process the information that had just been offered to her. “Thank you for your time Cho. I think I’m going to go.”
“Alright! I’m glad I could be of any help. Please don’t hesitate to come to me again if you need anything.” The Ravenclaw girl walked back to her common room, leaving Hermione alone once again.
Hermione could not stop replaying Cho’s words in her mind for the remainder of the day
To unite future cursed lovers against all trials and tribulations, forever and ever.
She had tried to ignore the implications of those words, but it had become impossible. She hated not knowing what had happened between the moment Cho had left her mirror in the room of requirements, and Circe had found it in a hallway. Hermione didn’t doubt the room’s powers, and knew what this meant for both her and Circe. Cho’s demand was clear, and the room was to accomplish her wish, no matter how strange, twisted or unfair it may be.
Hypatia realised that she would never be able to fight against her feelings for Circe. Their paths had crossed that of the mirror. Their paths had encountered Cho’s wish, the cursed Lover's wish.
Hermione didn’t know what to tell Circe. She had hated lying, and omitting parts of the story when talking to Cho, and didn’t want to do the same thing to the girl that had become so dear to her.
Night had come around, and she still had no idea on how to approach the subject. What should she do? Tell her the whole story, and allow her to make her own conclusions? Or tell her that she could no longer fight the feelings she had developed for a girl whose identity she didn’t even know. None of that mattered anyway. She knew the way their story would end. It had been written, decided for them before they had even met.
Hermione had never been really good at expressing her feelings. No books had taught her how to say “I love you” to a boy without sounding stupid. Had she known, she’d have confessed her feelings to Ron years ago.
But this wasn’t Ron.
It was a girl. It was her mirror girl. Her Circe.
Her brain had refused to believe what her heart had known from the very first nights, where they had talked about necromancy, and shared their distaste for Quidditch. Hermione had fallen in love with a girl. A girl whose voice she could hear coming from her mirror, and who she could no longer ignore.
“Good Evening.”
“Hey! How did you hunt for Cho go today? Did you finally catch your prey?” Pansy joked.
“Yes actually. I went straight to her.”
“Oh I see! Then what’s the final verdict, am I, or am I not a curse that is desperately trying to manipulate you?”
Hermione told her everything, going as far as to laugh again at the Diggory ancestor that had started the lie centuries ago. She was about to explain to Circe what the room of requirements was when the girl told her that she already knew of it. Indeed, she had known of its existence ever since Umbridge had caught a bunch of delinquent students hanging out in it the previous year.
The way Circe talked about Dumbledore’s army really irked Hermione, but she had decided to say nothing, as she knew that the group had never been every student’s favourite. She still allowed herself to ask one question.
“Circe, are you a Slytherin?”
“Yes. What makes you say that?” Pansy asked, surprised.
“You just don’t really seem like you like that group of students very much. Most people I know that share that opinion are in that House.”
Well, that explains the cursed lovers. I’ve been talking with a Slytherin this entire time.
“I’m assuming you were on the winner’s side last match.” Pansy said, carefully avoiding the word Gryffindor.
“Yes.” Hermione replied in a neutral tone. After hearing that, Pansy could not help but think that the sorting hat truly made stupid choices at times. She knew better than to trash the red and gold house openly in front of Hypatia. Chances were, she was just as attached to her House as Pansy was to hers, and she knew better than to enter that dangerous game.
“You were talking about the Room of Requirements.” Pansy decided to change the subject. “What did Diggory’s girlfriend wish for when entering the room?”
There was a long silence.
“It’s an interesting wish. But I don’t want to tell you like this. I want us to meet.” In just ten seconds, Hermione had had the most intense debate with herself. To tell Circe, or to not tell Circe? Her bravery always left her in situations that required her heart and not her mind.
Pansy grew scared. Now that she knew under what premises their meeting would take place, she wasn’t entirely sure she still wanted it to happen. What could Cho have possibly wished for that had scared Hypatia so much?
“Alright, then when would you like to meet?”
“I don’t know, we’ll discuss it next time. Goodnight!” Hermione said in a hurry before hiding the mirror in her nightstand, slamming the drawer shut a little too harshly.
Pansy was left alone to process what had just happened.
Hypatia was a Gryffindor.
She had wished for her to be a Slytherin so badly that she had even started to accept Daphne Greengass as the answer, her profile fitting almost perfectly what she knew about Hypatia.
She was going to find out who Hypatia was. Pansy had gathered enough information to figure it out. Sooner rather than later, she’d put a face on the girl that she loved.