Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the gang are owned by J.K. Rowling, I own Billy-Bob the Scottish pirate, and Merlin and Arthur and Lancelot are owned by…someone over the rainbow…
A/N: I hope you like the REVISED EDITION! Because the REVISED EDITION is REVISED with much better writing, plot development, and much more things. Enjoy the REVISED EDITION. That's fun to say.
Chapter One: Through the Mirror We Go"And that," Professor Flitwick squeaked, "is the end of our lesson on traveling mirrors! I want a three-page essay on them by next Monday! Enjoy your lunch period!"
Harry jerked awake and reached dazedly for his bag. He shoved his Charms book into it and trudged wearily out of Charms class, Ron and Hermione following behind. Hermione gave him a look of concern.
"Are you okay Harry? Is it your scar?" Hermione asked, lowering her voice.
"Uh…no…I'm just a little tired, I guess," Harry muttered. Ron nodded at Harry as he yawned loudly.
"That class was dead boring, wasn't it, Harry?" he asked with a lopsided grin. Hermione gave Ron a disapproving look.
"Ron! Traveling mirrors are very important in the wizard world! It's important that you know how they work!" she said exasperatedly.
Ron just yawned and said, "Why do we have to know when you're right there? We could just ask you."
Hermione snorted. "I'm not going to be here forever, you know."
Ron shrugged. "Well," he said, "with all the spell books you read, I'm surprised you haven't found the secret to eternal youth yet."
Hermione blushed scarlet and folded her arms across her chest.
They all entered the Great Hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor table. Hermione, as usual, began to wolf down her lunch.
"Off to the library again, Hermione?" Ron asked, innocently.
Hermione shot him a glare as she picked up her bags and said, "Actually, I want to get that essay finished. You should, too. After all, we do have our O.W.L.S. coming up. We all have to put all our energy into studying!" She then scampered off to the library.
Ron watched her go with a disgusted expression on his face. "You know Harry," he said, after a few minutes' pause. "I think Hermione's finally lost it." Harry chuckled a bit and began to pick at his food with his fork.
Later that evening, when classes were over, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting around the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry and Ron were playing chess (which Harry was losing horribly at) and Hermione was, of course, studying.
"Checkmate," Ron said lazily as he moved one his pawns so that Harry's king had no place to go. Harry sighed, muttered something about always losing, leaned back in his chair and stared into the crackling fire.
"I'm hungry," blurted Ron all of the sudden, breaking the peaceful silence in the common room.
"You should've eaten your dinner, then," Hermione said as she flipped to page 232 in her Arithmancy textbook.
Ron ignored her and said to Harry, "Do you want to go down to the kitchen and get something? Or visit Dobby? We haven't seen him in ages…"
Harry looked up thoughtfully and said, "Yeah… I think I will…" He turned to Hermione. "You coming?"
Hermione gave them both a 'you're-going-to-get-in-trouble' look, but Ron interrupted her before she could actually say anything about it.
"C'mon Hermione! The O.W.L.S. are ages away! And besides, maybe you can start a house-elf rebellion…"
Hermione gave him a resentful look, crossed her arms, and said, "You know I've given up on that, Ron." And then she added, more to herself then anyone else, "I suppose I could do with a little break…but it is after hours. Filch will be roaming around…"
Harry sighed and lowered his voice to say, "Fine. I'll bring the invisibility cloak. But you have to open the portrait hole for me, or otherwise…" His eyes fell on a group of giggling sixth year girls standing together at the other end of the common room.
"Alright, alright," Ron murmured.
Harry went upstairs, snatched the invisibility cloak from the bottom of his trunk, and swung it around him. After catching ~ or rather, not catching ~ a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he hurried back downstairs. Ron and Hermione were waiting patiently by the door, talking in formal voices about stuff like the weather, classes, and things to do if a giant squid grabbed you by your ankles and started banging you against the castle walls. Harry went up to Ron and kicked him in the shins.
"Psst! Ron! I'm here! Open it!" Harry hissed at him.
Ron winced, rubbing his legs painfully, and opened the portrait hole. Harry climbed out first, then Ron, then Hermione, who shut the portrait hole behind her. Harry lifted the hood of the cloak so that they could see his head.
"Over here!" Harry whispered to them. They walked casually over to his floating head and covered themselves with the cloak.
"Oh, dear, where are you lot off to this time?" the Fat Lady asked, giving Harry's head a disapproving look.
Harry ignored her, pulled the hood back on, and the three of them began to walk silently towards the kitchens.
All was going well, and they were almost at the portrait of the fruit bowl, when Mrs. Norris appeared in front of them.
She licked her paw delicately, as if to say that she was almost unnaturally good at this job, and the three of them wondered yet again, Could cats see through Invisibility Cloaks?
Mrs. Norris stared up at them with her slit pupils and mewed loudly. Filch, never too far from his cat, came around the corner almost instantly.
"What is it my sweet? Have you found something?" Filch said sweetly to his cat, picking her up and stroking her sleek, gray fur.
Harry heard Ron mutter, "Oh, no…"
Unfortunately, Filch heard him, too.
Filch dropped Mrs. Norris and turned around wildly. "Who's there?"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all nodded underneath the cloak to the same shared idea. Then they ran in the opposite direction. Mrs. Norris hissed and ran after them.
"Don't worry precious, we'll catch them!" Filch yelled at Mrs. Norris.
Harry spotted a door off the side of the corridor.
"There!" he gasped. They hurried over to it, and Ron pulled the door open. They all ran in and Hermione turned around and locked it with her wand.
They all stood there, trying to catch their breath as quietly as possible, when they heard Filch run by whooping something that sounded an awful lot like, "Haha! We have them now, my sweet!"
Harry threw off the cloak and they all stood up straight, having been hunched so that they could all fit underneath of it.
Ron leaned against the door and breathed a sigh of relief. "That…" he panted, "was close."
"Too close," Harry nodded in agreement.
Hermione gave them both a look that said plainly, 'I told you so.'
Ron rolled his eyes and looked around the room. "Where are we?" he asked, curiously.
Hermione's expression changed from irritated to thoughtful as she gazed at the room. There were old desks piled against the walls, and dusty covers over some of the larger things. "It looks like an old classroom to me," she said, finally.
Harry saw something glint out of the corner of his eye. He pulled out his wand and muttered, "Lumos." His wand lit up, filling the room with an eerie, white glow and making the shadows of the desks look like monstrous giants. He saw the glint again, this time coming from the left corner."Good idea, Harry," Ron said as he too pulled out his wand and muttered, "Lumos."
Harry held his wand in front of him and looked over the corner carefully. He saw nothing. He shrugged and turned around to check out something else, but then he saw the glint again. He shook his head groggily, thinking that this was some type of illusion or something, and that this would make it go away.
Then, as if he was being magnetized to it, he found himself in front of something that was covered by a large, dusty white blanket. He pulled it off and saw himself standing in front of a large golden mirror.
Harry's first thought was that it was the Mirror of Erised, but no, it couldn't be that. Most mirrors reflect light, while this one seemed to produce it. Not even the Mirror of Erised could do that. The warm, golden glow it was giving off seemed to draw Ron and Hermione to it.
"W-what is it?" Ron asked in an awed voice as he gazed up at its intricate gold carvings.
"Look…" Hermione said feebly a she pointed at the mirror.
Harry looked into it, and instead of seeing his reflection, he saw rolling hills and endless forests. Upon closer inspection he could almost make out a figure in the distance…Someone on a horse.
While Harry and Ron were gazing, hypnotized, at the mirror, Hermione seemed to be putting two and two together…
Her face lit up with sudden understanding.
"It's a traveling mirror!" she said excitedly. Ron and Harry jerked out of their trance and gave her nonplussed looks. Hermione rolled her eyes at them and said exasperatedly, "You know, you can travel to different places, times, even different dimensions! I told you to listen during Charms class!"
Ron looked at the mirror again and gingerly touched it with his hand. When he did, the mirror's surface rippled like water and Ron quickly pulled his hand back.
"Whoa," he muttered, turning his hand over and looking at it in surprise.
Harry was hit with sudden inspiration. "Let's say we go. Through the mirror, I mean," he said excitedly.
Ron was all for it, but Hermione crossed her arms and shook her head stubbornly.
"We might not be able to get back! We really should tell a teacher!"
Ron rolled his eyes and said, "C'mon Hermione! Where's your sense of adventure?"
"Hidden underneath my common sense."
Ron shrugged and said, "Well, fine, Hermione. We'll just go. And I'm sure we'll learn so much…" Ron winked at Harry.
"Yeah," said Harry, catching on, "I'm sure we'll get top grades in History of Magic when we get back…"
Hermione looked at the mirror, and then at the door, then back at the mirror again. She dropped her arms to her side and let out a small sigh.
"Oh, all right then…"she muttered. She appeared to be trying to look as if she was only doing this for their sake, but Harry knew that she really wanted to go, with or without a teacher knowing.
Ron gestured at the mirror.
"Ladies first," he said with a lop-sided grin.
Hermione shot a playful glare at him.
"Redheads first," she challenged.
Ron turned to Harry. "Midgets first."
"How about we all just jump together?" Harry asked, sarcastically.
"Alright."
"Sure."
So they all linked arms and Ron said, "On the count of three…one…two…THREE!"
They all jumped into the mirror, causing it to once again ripple like water.
They landed with a soft 'flump' on a grassy hill, and Harry looked up to see a man in shining, metal armor gazing down at them from atop a brown horse.
A/N: Heh heh, not that much has changed in this one…but there will be change my friends. Oh yes. There will be change. Wheeee…too much Wayne's World…
toodles,
Ron Weasley's Cutie