Author's Notes: This story contains a Mary Sue. Flames will be accepted, constructive criticism will be worshiped. As my bio states, all stories are un-beta'd.
Mirror, Mirror
Chapter I
by Sailor Scissors
Hermione could feel it once again and it made her nervous. She didn't want to lift her head. What would be the use of confirming what she already knew? It was clear it was happening again because the prickling on the back of her neck wouldn't stop.
Ignoring the sensations that were slowly, but surely, driving her up the wall, Hermione continued with her meal. Not that she was eating much, but cutting the same piece of meat for the last fifteen minutes seemed to have a calming effect on her. What would have calmed her even more would have been talking, like he always did, with Ron and Harry. Having been friends for so long, she could have confessed her worries. Unfortunately, they were both elsewhere at that moment. Harry has suffered a minor injury during his Quidditch practice a few days before and had to stay in the hospital wing. Ron was even worse off. Every evening, just before supper, he had to be in detention with McGonagall.
All that left her alone to eat by herself. The other members of her house were too busy discussing N.E.W.T.s and how they regretted not having studied adequately for their first six years of Hogwarts. Hermione would have joined in and scolded them before offering them a bit of help, but she was feeling way too nervous.
There it was, that sensation of being watched intensely. It wasn't her imagination by no means. She'd often looked into those eyes that were now studying her. She'd seen those eyes on that unmoving face, never blinding, just staring at her. She had considered telling McGonagall, but there wasn't much a teacher could do if a student decided he or she liked looking at another student. As long as lessons carried on normally and nobody was hurt there was nothing anybody could do.
Taking a chance, Hermione lifted her head and their eyes locked. She knew those eyes all too well. They were green, but looked more like ice than anything else. Ice and green had never had much of a connection in Hermione's mind, but now they did. Harry's eyes were warm. This pair of eyes was cold. It almost scared her.
Deciding she had no business staying in the Great Hall more than was strictly necessary, Hermione got up from her seat. She bit a fast goodbye to her housemates. claming she was very tired. She also mumbled something about Hogsmeade. They would have gotten suspicious otherwise, since the next day was Saturday.
With quick steps, she got to Gryffindor tower. She told the password to The Fat Lady and got permission to enter the common room. Climbing the stairs in a hurry she almost tripped on the doorstep. With uneasy steps, Hermione got to her bed. She would have loved having a room of her own. She was Head Girl, after all, but, unfortunately, Hogwarts tradition didn't mean that Head Boy and Girl got their own rooms. It wasn't troublesome to share a room with the rest of the Gryffindor girls, but sometimes she wanted to have her own room like she did back home.
Now that she was alone, at least for a short period of time, she could think things through. In fact, thinking things through had been her occupation for the past two weeks.
It had all started on an evening similar to the present one, when she was merrily laughing with Harry and Ron. It was during dinner, when even Snape couldn't tell them not to laugh because they would be disturbing the class. Well, he could, but then he would have to yell at the whole mass of students and even some teachers for not being quite. During one extraordinarily peaceful moment her neck had started prickling as if someone was staring at her. Looking about the room she thought she saw a Ravenclaw girl being the possessor of the eyes that were boring into her. If that look had been there or not, Hermione couldn't say at that instant because the girl was in the blink of an eye already talking with her friends. Hermione had dismissed the incident as a figment of her imagination.
The same thing started happening in the days following that one and not only at dinner. During breakfast, lunch, in the hallways, even while most of the school was attending the Quidditch match. It was always the same girl from Ravenclaw. The time she kept her eyes on Hermione also seemed to vary and lately it has been increasing exponentially.
Now that she thought about it, why wasn't anybody else noticing that weird happenings? Stalking someone in Hogwarts wasn't as easy as it sounded. There were always people in hallways and if your housemate spends all her lunchtime looking straight at another person, it might get suspicious. Well, that's what she thought. Maybe people really were clueless about what everybody else was doing. Even so, she had the dire need to know why all of this was happening.
She had considered asking someone from Ravenclaw about the girl's name, but then they would ask questions. Hermione had decided she wasn't going to say anything to anyone until she was sure it was just her wayward imagination acting up.
Well, she couldn't do anything about it since it was already past dinner time. Soon, the other Gryffindor girls would be coming back from The Great Hall. She wasn't in the mood to talk to them because, since Ron and Harry were absent, she might accidentally let something slip. She wasn't much for sharing her private life with someone that wasn't one of her close friends, but in her current state of mind it could happen. She could, of course, go for a walk until she regained her composure, but the only place possible was the library.
After Voldemort's demise in her sixth year, Hogwarts seemed to be more peaceful from that point of view. The rules were still strict, but there was no hidden terror in the back of everybody's mind. You weren't afraid to walk the hallways after sundown and the grounds were a safer place except for Hagrid's 'pets.' Life was normal, but not the silence before the storm type.
Getting a quill and some parchment, Hermione left the girls' dormitory and headed to the common room. Some of the students were already back from supper. She greeted Neville and Parvati Patil, who were talking secretively by the fire. Neville was infatuated with the other Patil twin and was trying to get as much information as possible. He was too shy to approach his crush by himself.
Hurrying as to not get caught by Peeves or get a detention from Snape, she reached the library in no time. She had one hour before it closed, according to the new library schedule. In her sixth year the strict rules said the library had to close at eight o'clock, which meant everybody had to do their homework before dinner. It had been Hell to everyone. Lazy students used to leave everything for after dinner and the ones that were interested in learning more had to resume themselves to what was strictly asked in the classroom.
Hermione entered the library and signed in with Mrs. Pince. She moved to a section of the library that was in the back, behind some rafters. It was her favourite part since she wasn't easy to spot. She was quick to find a table there since nobody was there at that hour. Actually, there were hardly any students in the library. Most didn't concern themselves with homework on Friday nights. It was only the middle of October anyway, so projects were out of the question as well. Hermione laid her parchment and quill on the table and moved through the rafters in search of some enjoyable book. Maybe something about medieval magic would get her mind off of her problems.
Upon touching the cover of one very shabby and very old book she felt the same prickling in her neck again. She was being watched. Her mind screamed that it was not possibly for anyone other than that girl. Nobody would be observing Hermione Granger, much less in a library where there were less than five people in total. Mrs. Pince couldn't see her from her spot. She wasn't doing anything wrong. Hermione decided she had to act natural. Unfortunately, dropping her book wasn't all that natural. It made a small thud as it hit the floor. Bending to pick it up, she thought she saw something through the lower part of the shelf where there were fewer books. Green eyes, was the first thing she thought. Walk away, was the second.
Her mind went on with messages like 'leave the book,' 'got back to Gryffindor tower,' but also 'go see who is doing this to you.' The last thought won.
Standing up, she acted like she was browsing for more books. She picked up another random one after checking its cover. She had the two books in one hand and with another she was gingerly extracting her wand from her uniform. Hermione turned the corned in the opposite direction of her table. There were more book shelves. She walked along them until she reached another turn. She took that one as well and came to another row of shelves, only this time there was someone there.
The girl on the floor was the same that had been practically stalking her for two weeks. She was holding her knees to her chest and she looked like maybe she had been crying. her head lowered. For a moment Hermione had the unpleasant feeling she had been paranoid all along. That thought soon disappeared when the girl lifted her head. She had not been crying, but was already drawing her wand and mumbling a spell.
The apprehension caused by thinking she might have been wrong about the whole thing made Hermione slower than she usually was when drawing her wand. It didn't matter though, because soon her eyes were closing and her body was flying backwards into one of the rafters. The last thing she was before losing consciousness was the girl getting up and walking towards her.
19/11/2004 - Chapter I