Mirror, Mirror

“Are you insane?” Terence was looking at him like he knew the answer.

“I need Tom Riddle’s diary before Lucius has a chance to give it to Ginny.”

“You lost me at sneaking into Malfoy Manor.”

“I can’t ask anyone else to do this.”

They were sitting out by the Black Lake; the sun was setting and soon they would be in the dark. No one was around and he liked that.

“You can’t even use magic yet. How do you plan to get in?”

“I’m going to be invited in,” he said smirking at the Slytherin.

“How?”

“Draco.”

“Listen, I know I promised to watch the four lost Gryffindors, but I’ve seen you around Draco, he doesn’t trust you and he doesn’t like you.”

Percy smiled. “Only because he is officially a disciple of George and Fred. I think he’s rebelling, good for him, he waited too long last time.”

“You never rebelled until too late either.” Terence grabbed his hand, surprising him. “This is dangerous. If Lucius or Narcissa discover you, it can only be bad. Do you…do you still have feelings for him?”

Percy looked down at their intertwined hands. Did he still love Lucius? No. Being this far away from him he knew now that he had just been a means to an end. Lucius hadn’t been the changed man he had envisioned. He was still cruel, proving it over and over again to Percy. But at the time he thought that’s all he deserved. Now that he’s free, he realized how abusive the relationship was.

“No. He wasn’t good for me. The only good thing that came from that was Lucy. But that doesn’t matter. The only way we get home is if we take care of the Horcruxes ourselves. Harry and the others know what’s in my diary, but I realized I didn’t put some of my more insane guesses and conversations I had with the adult them in it. I think I know what two other Horcruxes are…maybe.”

“Right, what? I’ll look into them; I need to feel like I’m doing something to get us home.”

“Well…I don’t know exactly what they are but where they are, at least in six years.”

“Right. Go on.”

Percy noticed they were still holding hands. It was something so youthful that he hadn’t realized how nice it was. He remembered when he and Penny were at that stage, then snogging in the corridors. He loved Penny and missed her every day. She had heard about the battle at Hogwarts and came to fight. She fell at the hands of Crabbe Sr., and he hadn’t known until after it was all done and sorted. One of the reasons he was staying away from her this time, he wouldn’t risk her life. Not when he had hurt her so much by telling her that he didn’t love her the way she needed.

“Harry, Ron, and Hermione broke into Gringotts, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Why would they take that big of a risk if it wasn’t to find a Horcrux?”

“But we don’t know what vault they broke into.”

“I do. Lucius talked loads after sex.” Terence eyes darkened and Percy could read the anger in them. “Anyway, it’s in Bellatrix’s vault.”

“She’s still in Azkaban for four more years.”

“We can actually get the object pretty easy without stepping foot in Gringotts.”

“How?”

“Narcissa has access to the Lestrange vault, so she can take care of Bellatrix, her husband and brother-in-law’s affairs.”

“I’m not following.”

“We make Lucius so paranoid that someone is after something that Voldemort gave to Bellatrix. Something that he only trusted her with, his most loyal follower. I know Lucius, he probably knows what it is, and his jealousy will make him get Narcissa to get it out. After that, all we have to do is get in Malfoy Manor and take both the diary and whatever the new one is.”

“He’ll still have it hidden.”

“I know what spells he uses and where he hides the things, he doesn’t want ANYONE finding.”

“Alright, so the diary, the locket, whatever that’s in Bella’s vault, Harry…what else?”

“I think it’s that snake that he always had with him. There was something about it. When Neville killed it, that’s when everything seemed to happen at once.”

“That makes sense. So, we have two that we have no clue about. Sounds like we’ve got it almost done and dusted.”

Percy laughed at Terence’s sarcasm. The Percy before everything went wrong didn’t really get sarcasm, didn’t get jokes. Until watching his brother die before his eyes, which changed him in good and bad ways. Killing Death Eaters before they could kill him, that changed him too. No one walked away from that battle unchanged.

“Do you regret not fighting?” he asked Terence unexpectedly.

“No. If I fought against the Death Eaters, I would run the risk of killing my family. I hated what they had done, but I still loved them.”

“You think your biological parents were Slytherin?”

“I think the hat gave me a hint towards my parents my first year.”

“Yeah?”

“It said my parents were from different houses, one from Slytherin and one from Gryffindor.”

“You sure you don’t want to find out your biological parents? I know the spell.”

“Would they know that I know?”

“Not this spell, you prick your finger on parchment that I’ve bespelled and it will put your mother and father’s names there. They’ll never have to know. I know your mother has passed away, but you still have a chance to meet your father.”

The sky started darkening, they would have to go in soon. Terence seemed to lose himself as he looked into the nights sky. “How long will it take to bespell the parchment?”

“An hour at most, I already have what I needed. I wanted to be ready if you changed your mind.”

“Meet me in Snape’s quarters. He’s got rounds tonight.”

“Right.”

He could tell Terence was nervous but was trying to be nonchalant about it. “It’s normal to feel out of your depth.”

“You know who your father is. I’ve always felt like I was never good enough. Like there was something wrong with me. My mum said that my mother was young and couldn’t care for me. Did she ever think about me afterwards?”

“Yes, I don’t even have to know her to say that. If I had really been a fourteen-year-old when Lucy was born, I might have considered adoption. It’s terrifying even when you have a job and steady income.”

“If you hadn’t of gone through the mirror and had her there, seeing she was Malfoy’s, would you have gone back to him?”

“I’d like to say no but probably, he made me feel wanted. I’ve always been the proper one, the responsible one, the one without a sense of humor, the one left out. Bill and Charlie had each other, Fred and George had each other, Ron and Ginny had each other. I was always the one left out. I didn’t like flying, so I couldn’t play Quidditch with the rest. I had to make them see me, so I had to be perfect. They loved Bill, so I tried to emulate him, but I was always just a weak imitation.”

“Stop. You were annoying, Merlin, the times I wanted to hex your pompous arse.”

“You did, several times.”

“You did too. Your stinging hex was on point, every time.”

Percy smiled, it felt good to be complimented. He was great at jinxes too. He still remembered the sea urchin jinx on Thicknesse before everything went sideways in the battle.

“Are you ready?” He knew Terence was putting off the test.

“Now or never, I guess.” Percy pointed his wand at Terence’s finger, piercing it. A drop of blood fell on the parchment. “How long?”

“Now.”

They both looked down as two names formed from the blood on the parchment.

“It can’t be,” Terence denied. “You’ve done it wrong.”

“If I’d have done it wrong, nothing would happen. It’s not wrong.”

“But how can Professor Snape and Sirius Black be my parents?”

“I can answer that, Mr. Higgs. Mr. Weasley, please show yourself back to your house common room,” Professor Snape said, startling them both. Was it just Percy or did he look paler than normal?

Percy looked at Terence, not wanting to leave him. The older boy/man nodded, and Percy left.

Sirius was tired of Severus not replying to his owls. Now that his memory was back, he wanted to speak with him. He still remembered the horrible things he did to Severus after that night. Severus was hardly innocent, but they did gang up on him time and time again. The only one who never took part was Remus, but he turned a blind eye. The worst memory was what he had done to Severus their sixth year. Severus could have died, and it would have been his fault. He would have died if it weren’t for James, Remus would have never forgiven him. In fact, it took months for him to speak to him afterwards.

When they had sex Severus thought he was so much more experienced. He was to an extent, but Severus had been his first. Then he treated him like rubbish afterwards, even going so far to threaten him. If it were him, he would never forgive him. He remembered how in love he was with the git. Severus loved to prove he was smarter than everyone in the room. The thing that annoyed him the most was James and him weren’t idiots, they probably would have given him a run for his money on head of the class if they cared. While Severus and Remus were always studying, him and James got by without ever opening a book if they could help it.

Severus was no doubt better at potions than them or anyone else, but he wasn’t as better as he thought he was then the two. The mir fact that they created the map and became Animagus at such young ages. Of course, becoming Animagus was nothing compared to walking Peter through the process, he almost died doing it. Now Sirius wished he had, James and Lily would be alive if he had died as a teenager.

Going to the floo he debated going to see Severus, making him listen. Soon, he decided just to do it. Grabbing a handful of floo powder, he went.

The sight that greeted him was surprising to say the least. Severus was sitting awkwardly in a chair while Terence paced, ranting about something.

Severus looked right at him, and Sirius couldn’t tell if it was fear or hatred.

“What is happening?” he asked.

“Oh, look who it is. Daddy dearest,” Terence said bitterly.

“Don’t blame him, he didn’t know I was pregnant,” Severus said, voice breaking.

“What?”

Percy looked for Terence the next morning, wanting to see what happened. Finding out that Snape and Sirius were his parents looked to have devastated him. Looking at the Slytherin table he noticed Terence wasn’t there. The ex-Gryffindors were whispering about something. He would have to keep an eye on them.

He needed to start work on Lucius, but he would have to use Bill for that. After breakfast he would send him a letter about dropping hints that someone was after something in the Lestrange vault. Something that was given to her from Voldemort that was very important and only given to his most loyal. He didn’t know how Bill would do it, but he was a brilliant man.

Terence never did show up for breakfast. They didn’t have any classes together because they weren’t in the same year. He only hoped that he could see him sometime before dinner.

Later he found Terence, he was pacing in front of the Fat Lady.

“Were you waiting for me?” Percy asked, not wanting to hope.

“Can we go for a walk?”

“It’s almost curfew,” Percy hedged, some habits die hard.

“Be bad for once in your life,” Terence told him.

Percy smiled. It wouldn’t kill him to go off with Terence. He knew all the Prefects routes anyway.

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know, I just need to get away and have no one wanting anything from me.”

“I know just the place.”

Percy took him to the Room of Requirement. He noticed how confused Terence looked when the door appeared out of nowhere. “Where did that door come from?”

“We left Hogwarts before this was common knowledge to some kids. This is the Room of Requirement. If you are in desperate need of something, like a hiding place or a room for training, this is it. It’s also how I got into the castle the night of the battle. Come on before anyone sees us.”

Opening the door, they were greeted with what looked like a common room but with both Slytherin and Gryffindor décor.

“Wow, this is amazing. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the dungeons. It’s freezing down there.”

“Not in your common room or dorms, you’ve said,” Percy pointed out.

“It’s more than the temperature, I bet Hufflepuff has got the best common room. I wanted to be in Slytherin because that’s where my family was from. Then when the sorting hat told me that I had one from Slytherin and one from Gryffindor, I hate to admit I felt better about myself. I couldn’t be completely evil if one of my parents were Gryffindor. Professor Snape told me that Harry’s mother, his best friend, was the one to take me to my mother. I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?” They walked over to the comfortable looking sofa and sat down.

“My mother is the biggest pure blood loyalist. She would never take a child she thought was a muggleborn’s. She knew it was a risk that I wouldn’t have magic. I don’t understand.”

“Unless…”

“Unless what?” Terence demanded.

“Unless she told your mother that you were a Black.”

“No. It wasn’t like I was an heir or anything, there would be no reason.”

“What if they didn’t blood adopt you for another reason? What if you were a tool to use?”

“That’s preposterous, if they knew they would have used that information.”

“Because they died. If Harry would have lost and Voldemort won, maybe they were going to use you. This is all just talk, I’m probably wrong. I usually am.”

“No. It makes sense now. It makes me feel a little better. I thought they didn’t blood adopt me because I was bad, and they loved my brother more. Turns out they were just scheming, seems fitting. Does it make me stupid to say I still love them?”

“No, of course not. They raised you. You can’t go your whole like begging to be loved and not still love them. What about Snape and Sirius?”

“I don’t want to talk about them.”

“Fair enough.”

They were sitting next to each other on an overstuffed sofa. It was comfy and Percy could feel the heat of Terence’s leg against his. Terence surprised him by turning and pulling him into a kiss. Percy let the kiss go on, even kissing him back before he pulled away.

“Is that because you wanted to or because you’re using me as a distraction?”

“Can’t it be both?”

“Just as long as we’re on the same page,” Percy said before pulling him into a kiss. He let things go further than he planned. There was something he was forgetting but he didn’t know what.

“Did Lily know?” Sirius asked Severus, his heart already rip to shreds. Last night after finding out about his son, he went back to Grimmauld Place, he couldn’t face them yet.

Finding out that he had been obliviated and forgot the better part of a year and a half. Forgetting that he had actually been in love when he lost his virginity. The memory put in its place was filled with hate, he hated Snape and he showed that to him. But that hadn’t been how it happened, it wasn’t rough, it was gentle. He hadn’t wanted to hurt him; Severus had been so scared.

“Did she know what?” Severus asked, not meeting his eyes.

“Did she know the baby she gave away to that bitch was mine?” He hadn’t liked Professor Higgs; she was one of the few teachers that did believe that pureblood tosh.

“Yes, she knew.”

A new level of betrayal hit him. Severus keeping the baby a secret was one thing, but Lily was another. She knew how much he would have wanted his child in his life. It wasn’t even though he had to worry about his parents. By the time Terence was born he had already been kicked out of his own family and struck off of the Black family tapestry. That would explain why Regulus never told him about the baby.

He had never got to know his son when he was a child. He was a grown wizard now and wanted nothing to do with either of them.

“She couldn’t tell you,” Snape said.

Sirius’s head shot up. “You made her take an Unbreakable Vow?”

“No, you idiot. By the time we stopped being friends I was already being pursued by the Death Eaters. If she told you, you would have gone and tried to get the baby back. She probably told Terence’s mother that the parents were pure bloods. If Voldemort knew I had a baby out there he would have killed it so I wouldn’t be distracted. Knowing you were the father would have probably made him take glee in killing him. She did it to protect Terence.”

Sirius couldn’t disagree with that. He hadn’t made many friends out of the Death Eaters, then he joined the Order. They weren’t above killing an innocent child.

“You were never going to tell me, were you?”

“I thought you sold Lily out to Voldemort. I hated you. I would have killed you myself if I had seen you that night.”

Sirius smirked. “That’s probably the most honest thing you’ve ever said to me. He doesn’t want anything to do with us. I can understand that. If we help him get back to his original time, maybe we will have a chance in the future.”

“Or with him that’s left behind.”

They weren’t sure what would be left of Percy, Terence, and Lucy when they went back to their own time. They risked the chance that nothing would be left of them. That kind of magic in the mirror was wild and unpredictable.