The Water's Reflection

The Water's Reflection

~ Prelude ~

(You know the deal: I don't own these people (after all, I don't even believe people can be owned. I mean, what kind of world do we live in where people own other people?). I'm just "borrowing" them. (Borrowing is okay, and doesn't affect society at large. Except when you don't return them.))

The cavern was so big, and yet so very dark. In the distance, the fluttering of bat's wings could be heard as they escaped as quickly as they could. A single beam of light shot down into the cavern, giving very limited light.

Though it was so cold, it seemed as though life flourished within the mountain itself. Trees and bushes grew in great numbers, despite the lack of light. A lake fed the outside creek that led to the lake, and fish seemed to almost jump straight out of the water.

Still, even with the serenity that seemed to surround her, the young girl felt as though she were in danger.

"Careful, Lily," the young dark-haired boy standing beside her said. "You think all of this is amazing, wait until you see this." The boy reached up to a small pebble on a ledge and pushed the pebbled down.

The whole cave came to life. The light above shined ever so brighter, illuminating the beauty of the inside forest. The leaves, as though it were suddenly Autumn changed color and glowed with oranges, reds, purples and yellows.

However, the most amazing thing wasn't the light, or the leaves, or the colorful goldfish that began jumping out of the water, or even the sudden carnations that bloomed all over the ground, but the great waterfall that poured out from one of the holes in the side of the mountain.

The water was almost a golden color, and sparkled in the light. When it splashed down into the pool, a blue mist floated up from the water, creating a sensation as though Lily was looking into Heaven, itself.

"Oh, James," Lily said, holding her hands together and staring out at the water, sparkles in her eyes. "It's just sobeautiful."

"I know," James Potter said, a wide smile on his face. He wasn't looking at the scenery before him, but the girl before him. "I come here when I'm sad or when I just want to be alone."

"Doesanyone else?" Lily started to ask, turning to James. James' heart fluttered as she swept her head around and her dark red hair flowed behind.

"Know?" James asked. "I don't think so. I've never seen anyone here before, and I asked the headmaster once what was up in this mountain, and he said he didn't know. I found the place by accident. Oh, but you mustn't tell anyone about this place. We could get into a lot of trouble."

"Oh, I promise, I promise, I won't!" Lily said, looking back to the water.

"Come here!" James yelled, suddenly running past her and into the water. She laughed at his sudden lunacy and darted into the water after him. The two ran around to the back of the waterfall, and stopped, wiping their soaking wet hair back from their faces.

James took her hand and pointed at the water as it fell only inches from their faces. "Look into the water. It's reflection will show you what you will look like when you grow up!"

Lily turned and looked into the water. An older, dark red-haired woman with brilliant green eyes looked back. "Oh my gosh," Lily gasped, her hand covering her mouth. "That's going to beme?"

James smiled. "Yeah. I think so. I can see it."

Lily smiled widely. "Wow, look at you, too!"

James looked into the now familiar face smiling back at him. "Yeah, not too shabby, huh?" he asked, rubbing his hair back. "Had hoped to fix a few of these wild hairs, but at least I'm not balding, huh?"

Lily laughed a deep, hard laugh.

The two ran through the waterfall and started pushing each other in the water before finally running out of energy. They walked back to the shore and collapsed at the water's edge.

The sunlight above had changed from a pale yellow to a deep orange as the sun lowered to the horizon. The effect changed the color of the waterfall from a golden to a light pinkish color.

"Jamesthank you."

"For what?"

"Fortrusting me," she said, looking at him with her large green eyes. "When I first came, I thought you were pompous, arrogant, a rule-breaker, and egotistical."

"I am," James said, laughing. "What do you think, now?"

"I think I'm happy I'm here with you. Hogwarts is so big, and soscary at times."

The two just laid for a few minutes, looking up to the sun.

"You know," James said, laughing. He had a nervous air to his voice, as though he wanted to say something, but was afraid to. "There's a legend that says when two people look into the water's reflection with each other in the mountains, they're destined to be together."

He looked over at her, nervous to see how she responded. She didn't. She just looked up at the sunlight.

"Yeah, well, it's a stupid legend, of course," James muttered, trailing off.

"James?" Lily asked.

"Umyeah?"

"Can we come here again soon?" Lily asked.

"Of course," James answered. "Why?"
"I justwant to look into the water's reflection with you, again."

James let out a laugh. His nervous stomach untwisting some.

"We should get back, now," James said after a few more minutes of calm quiet.

"Yeah, I know," Lily said solemnly. "Let's go back."

***

"It's been almost forty minutes, now and I haven't seen a single sign of the stupid snitch!" Harry yelled. "Have any of you guys seen it, yet?"

"I only saw it for a brief few seconds!" Fred Weasley yelled. "It was headed away from the stadium towards the woods. Maybe it got caught in one of the branches. It can do that sometimes."

"I guess I'll go look," Harry yelled down. "The sun's getting low, and I don't want to go looking after dark or wait until tomorrow."

"Okay. We have about a dozen things to work on, here, too," Ron Weasley, the new keeper for the Gryffindor house team yelled. "Fred, you need to get a higher angle so you'll force the bludger back down towards the other side."

Harry turned and sped off on his Firebolt towards the woods. Madam Hooch, who was watching over the team to make sure they stayed out of trouble, was still fast asleep, and he'd be back before she woke up.

Harry swept down low and went into the path of the forest, sweeping around the branches and leaves. After a few minutes of searching, he caught a quick glimmer of gold out the corner of his eye. He stopped suddenly, dismounted and walked over to it. Sure enough, the snitch was caught up in a vine that hung down from one of the willows. It was fluttering about wildly, trying everything to get away.

"There you are," Harry said, his fists on his hips. "Been missing you for a while now. If you hold still, I'll set you free."

As Harry began pulling on the vine, a slight breeze kicked up from behind him. Harry turned around, looking around the now dimming forest. "Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone there?"

Harry quickly pulled out his wand and readied it. It was unlikely that anyone would attack him here, but Harry had so many enemies, now, that he had to be careful.

"If someone's there, call out!" Harry yelled. "I don't want anyone to get hurt."

The young Wizard slowly walked forward through the path, pushing several Willow branches aside. The snitch, still hung up began going wild, trying to get away as fast as it could from the tree.

Harry pushed a few more branches out of the way and looked down a very faded path. A small creek trickled by, looking almost golden in the fading sunlight. It seemed so peaceful, so calming.

Harry smiled. "Must be what's making the noise." He let out the air that had been held up inside him and lowered his wand.

Almost instantly, before Harry could react, a huge hand, completely made of water formed from the water, reaching up into the air. Harry's eyes went wide, and he fell a few steps back.

The watery hand reached out and slammed into Harry, sending him flying into the nearby Willow.

The motion of the attack caused the snitch to break free, and it shot out like a rocket. However, before it made it more than ten yards into the air, the water changed into a formless mass and shot into the air, snapping the snitch before it got away.

Harry rubbed his eyes and looked at the mass, now standing in front of him in the shape of a human woman. The snitch was shooting around inside her, bouncing off the edges of the watery shape.

Harry gritted his teeth, pointed his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"

The spell shot right through the water, causing it to splash down to the ground, and at once disappear. The snitch fell to the ground and began flipping around like a fish out of water.

Harry pulled himself up, breathing heavily. "What was that?" he asked, picking up the snitch.

A mist began to appear on the ground at his feet. It was a deep gray mist, and it flowed from the stream.

Harry quickly ran to his broom and shot into the air, ripping through the trees. As he soared into the sky, he looked down at the mist and watched as it quickly retreated to the creek and back into one of the mountains where the creek seemed to originate from.

Harry scratched his head curiously and looked down at the snitch. It was no longer gold, and the wings no longer had feathers on them. Instead, the ball was very rusted, and the wings were skeletons.

"Doesn't make any sense" Harry whispered.

***

"What a foggy night, eh, Ron?" Liza asked.

Ron Potter turned and looked out the window. "Yeah. Weird. It doesn't usually get so foggy this early at night."

"It's a dark gray mist, like the under-side of a cloud or something," Sara whispered. "Where's it coming from?"

"Can't tell," Ron said. He adjusted the round glasses that sat on his face and tried to look out at the mountains beyond the lake. "I hope it clears up, only two more days until we play Slytherin."

The three sat in the Gryffindor Common Room, snaking on a few chocolate frogs, and studying their potions work.

Liza Crane turned and flopped back down in the thick chair, sighing in annoyance. Her raven-black hair swooped around her, some of it covering her face. She blew some air out of her mouth to blow it back out of the way. "I hate Potions. Old Man Snape, all he wants to do is torture us, because we're Gryffindors."

Sara Weasley turned and sat back down in her chair. Her wild red hair and bright blue eyes shimmered in the firelight. "Well, we get off easy. All he seems to do is harass Ron. Just because he hated Ron's dad and grandfather."

"Dad says it's a family tradition. You're not fully initiated into Hogwarts unless you have a professor who wants to make life hard on you."

"Is it weird?" Sara asked. "I mean, having a famous dad, and all?"

Ron brushed some of his wild hair out of his eyes and leaned forward. "No, not really. I mean, he's just dad. I do get annoyed when we go out, and everyone starts pointing and asking to see his scar. He says it used to annoy him, too, but he eventually got used to it.

"Mom always tells me stories about when he was at school. He was always getting into trouble, finding his way through every rule in the book. Mom used to always–"

"What is that!" Liza asked, pointing towards the fire. Several other people in the room also seemed to notice, and began to move away from the fire, all noisily pointing and running.

A bucket laid on the ground not far from the fire. Within it was magical water that should be used if the fire got out of control or anything. It never ran out of water. However, now, the water was beginning to rise up out of the bucket, and take the shape of a human woman, standing not far from the fire.

Ron, Sara, and Liza all darted forward to the front of the room fighting the influx of people running the other way.

Ron ran forward and pulled out his wand. "WhatWhat is it?" he yelled, looking at Sara.

"I don't know!" Sara yelled. "Some sort of Water creature?"

The water, in the shape of a woman, raised its hand and pointed at Ron. Slowly, it began to walk forward.

Ron raised his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"

The spell shot straight towards the watery figure, but it quickly melted, and reformed a foot to the right, avoiding the attack.

Sara raised her wand and yelled, "Firos!"

Flames shot out from her wand, surrounding the watery creature, causing it to scream out. As it screamed all of the kids in the room covered their ears and lowered their heads in pain.

The creature splashed to the ground, and evaporated into a mist, matching the fog outside the castle. The fog flowed between the cowering students to the window and out of the room to the ground below.

Ron quickly ran to the window and looked outside. The fog was completely gone from outside. Ron wasn't sure, but he could swear he saw it go inside of a mountain in the distance.

"What is going on in here!" a voice barked, and a tall Wizard came running through the portrait hole.

"Professor Longbottom! There was an attack!" several of the students began yelling at once.

"All right, all right!" Longbottom yelled. "Quiet down, and one of you tell me what's happening."

As the prefect began explaining what happened, Ron turned to Sara. "Am I crazy, or did it seem to want me?"

Sara nodded. "It pointed at you, specifically. I wonder what it wanted?"

"I don't know. Don't tell Longbottom it was pointing at me, though. We should find out something about these creatures for ourselves, first."

"Maybe we should tell Headmaster Black?" Sara asked.

"No, not right now. I don't think it would be wise at the moment. Let's just see what we can find out ourselves."

***