Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter stories. I do not own Lily Evans or James Potter. I do not own Dumbledore. I do not own Hogwarts or any of the things that can be found in Hogwarts.
The only thing that is mine, is this exact combination of words in this exact order.
She was staring.
She had been for quite some time now, so long she couldn't quite tell you exactly how long. The image in front of her, although constantly moving, was etched into her brain as if it was a carving on a wall.
She didn't want to look away.
She'd found this place quite by accident. She'd been trying to escape the noisy, raucous busyness of the common room, only to find the library was full. And searching for an empty classroom that she could study in had led her here.
It was a fairly bare room, only one desk and chair and a single board and desk for a professor. However, directly in the centre of the room stood a relatively large mirror. It stood as high as the ceiling, surrounded entirely with an ornate gold frame. Two clawed feet were at the base holding it upright. Around the edge of this mirror there was an inscription, Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
It was this mirror that she was staring at so intently.
Her books and study notes lay forgotten behind her in her bag as she examined the mirror's image. Because the image was no reflection.
She did indeed see herself. But she was not alone. Beside her figure there stood a beaming, fidgeting boy. Well, a beaming, fidgeting man these days.
And she wasn't acting at all like herself in the image. She was beaming back at him, reaching out, holding his hand, caressing the back of his hand reassuringly, as he looked down at her with love in his eyes.
His right hand ran quickly through his hair, although she knew he hadn't had that mannerism for almost a year now.
The hand that had previously been in his hair had only a short distance to go before he stroked her cheek lightly with it. The image her closed her eyes and leaned into his touch.
She, however, was trembling with repressed emotions.
She looked away for a moment, picking up a piece of note paper from her notebook and grabbing a quill. She sat down to ease her feet and wrote out the inscription.
Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
She wrote it out again, trying to make sense of it. Then, with a stroke of inspiration, she wrote it out backwards.
I show not your face but your hearts desire.
A startled gasp escaped her lips.
She looked back at the mirror. The figures were now seated on the ground, to match her height. The mirror her was leaning up against the male figure, her head resting on his shoulder.
She bit her lip tightly, wanting to look away from the image, but not having the mental strength to do so.
"Miss Evans." A voice interrupted her reverie. "I see you have found the Mirror of Erised."
She looked up abruptly, finding herself looking at the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore. She stood immediately.
"Sorry sir, I just found this place by accident, I wanted a quiet place to study. I -" she stood speaking abruptly as he raised his hand to silence her.
"No apologies are needed, my dear child. You have done nothing wrong." He responded calmly and kindly. "I assume, by now, that you've worked out what it does?"
She nodded. "It shows you, your deepest desire. The one thing that you want above all else."
"Very good, Miss Evans. Yes, the mirror is a powerful and dangerous object. It provides us with neither truth or knowledge, yet men who see it can consumed by it."
She nodded her head intently. "Yes. Yes, of course. It could drive you mad, wondering if what you see could come true. Worse even, than mere dreams, at least when you wake from dreams you know that they weren't real."
"That is exactly right. Although, the other night, I had a craving for pasties and I was wandering around the castle, and I found a whole room filled with them. In the morning, I tried to find that room again only to discover that the entire thing had been nothing but a dream. It was quite a disappointment." He shook his head sadly.
She smiled widely. "Alas, Professor! No pasties for you then."
His left eye winked at her. "Fortunately, I happened to remember the way to the kitchen. The house elves are quite helpful to a poor starving old man in the early hours of the morning."
She continued grinning, then paused for a moment, considering. "Professor, what do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"I see myself with a generous pile of woolly socks beside me" he answered easily.
She raised her eyebrow, delicately. "Professor" she commented in an almost scolding tone.
His left eye seemed to wink from behind his half-moon sun glasses. "One can never have too many socks, Miss Evans."
A smile graced her lips. "I'll be sure to send you a pair for Christmas then, Professor."
He half-smiled back, "That is incredibly gracious of you." He took a look at his pocket-watch, continuing with "Alas, I must be heading back to the offices, it appears to be almost curfew and I have a meeting." He paused for a moment to peer down at her, his glasses resting unbalanced but stable on his crooked nose. "I would advise that you do not stay here much longer, Miss Evans, you never know who could be wandering the halls at night" A small smile. "You do however, have a few moments in which to gather you thoughts. Goodnight, Miss Evans."
A swish of his long robes, and he was gone.
Although tempted to turn back to the mirror, she put her things back into her bag, preparing to leave.
As she slung her bag onto her shoulder, she couldn't resist the temptation to look once more at the mirror.
The figures were kissing softly now, hands buried in each others hair.
She choked back a sob, looking with desperation at the scene she felt could never happen any more.
Not since he had changed so much, and had apparently moved on and left her alone.
She had spent the last 6 months trying to convince herself that she didn't miss him, but it was no use. Because she's just not Lily Evans without James Potter.
She turned abruptly from the scene to come face to face with the object of her thoughts.
She jumped from shock. "James!" She swallowed nervously. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you" he answered, looking at her questioningly. "We have patrol in a few minutes."
Another nervous swallow. "Oh. Yeah, sorry." Her eyes lowered to look at the ground.
He took a step towards her, causing her to miss a breath of air.
"Lily?" He used his hand to raise her chin, to make her look up at him. Her blood pounded in her veins. "Are you ok?"
She swallowed again, looking back down at the floor the moment he moved his hand. "Yeah." She took a strangled breath. "Fine."
"No you're not." He countered. "Why were you looking so depressed at that mirror?"
Her eyes flicked up to his in concern, suddenly worried he'd look at the mirror and figure out what it is. "I wasn't. It's nothing. Lets go patrol."
"It's not nothing. What was so upsetting?"
"NOTHING! It's got nothing to do with the mirror! Or... anything! I'm fine." Her voice was steeped in desperation.
He looked more concerned, moving so that he placed himself in front of the mirror to look at it.
His eyes widened. "What is this Lily?"
"Why?" She asked, her voice raising in octaves in her failed attempt to remain calm. "What do you see?"
He turned back to her suddenly, noticing the piece of parchment in her hands that she'd forgotten was there.
With a swift motion, he'd taken the parchment from her hand and was holding it at reading level.
"I show not your face but your hearts desire." He read out. He looked at her. "I think what's the real question here is what you see. To make you so depressed."
She didn't respond. "Lily?"
"Nothing! It's just – argh! Just leave me alone, Potter! Why do you even care?" She turned away, flustered and embarrassed, tears springing into her eyes.
Unknown to her, a muscle in his jaw clenched as well as his fist clenching around the parchment. "Why do I care?" he asked, loudly, angrily. "Haven't I made that clear enough times in the past? How many times do I have to tell you before you finally get it, Lily?" He made a frustrated noise, and let the parchment fall from his hand.
"Get what?" She asked in a small voice.
"That you are all I care about. Merlin, Lily, how could you not know that by now?"
"I thought you'd gotten over me." she replied in a small voice. "And Sirius even told me so."
He stopped, before walking to be in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "I did try. I won't deny that. And Sirius was just trying to help. But it never worked, Lily. I'm just not myself without you."
She raised her eyes shyly to met his. "So... you're not?"
He smiled warmly at her. "Do you want to know what I saw, Lily?" A nod and he continued, albeit nervously "I saw you. I saw you, and me, and a small cottage." A pause as he examined the expression on her face. Something must have been right as he continued. "And a baby in your arms. Our baby. Does that sound like I'm over you to you?"
She looked at him with wide eyes. "That's what you want?" A tear escaped her left eye.
He nodded. "I'm sorry. I know it's not what you want." He wiped the tear away from her cheek. "That's why I stopped. I didn't want to bother you any more."
She looked at him fiercely. "James Potter! Don't you dare tell me what I want!"
He looked at her in shock. "Wha-" His question was cut off as she placed her lips on his.
He was in shock for a moment before he responded, placing chaste kisses on her lips. "Lily" he murmured into her lips.
"Yes James?" She responded hazily.
"I love you" he said, before placing kisses on her forward, then her left cheek, then her right.
"I love you James." she responded, wrapping her arms around his waist.
He pulled her closer, allowing her to rest her cheek on his chest. He turned his head to the side to look at the mirror, and saw only their position reflected. He smiled. The mirror James smiled too.