Every horizontal surface in the room was decorated with a thin layer of dust, though the blast of wind generated by opening the door disrupted the peace, causing the dust to whirl through the air, illuminated by the light coming in through the windows towards the back of the room. The mountains of ancient furniture, most of it hidden away under sheets that had faded over time, some of it still visible, cast long shadows over the floor.
"Are you sure we are in the right place?" Mipha whispered, looking around the room.
"Yes," Zelda nodded, "I know for a fact that it is supposed to be stored in an old, unused room here at Hogwarts, and given the descriptions in Hogwarts: A History, this is the only place it could be." However, despite the conviction in her words, Zelda too glanced in search for the object, brows drawn together as she did not see the silhouette of a mirror among the pile of furniture. "We just need to figure out where," she mumbled, more to herself than to Mipha.
They made their way through the room, careful to not touch the piles of old furniture, books, and parchment, the fear of making one of heavier pieces of furniture fall to the floor, alerting the entire castle in the process, making them keep a wide distance between themselves and the clutter.
As Zelda ducked under a desk, the surface of it completely hidden by both books and dust, before turning around to extend a hand towards Mipha to help her follow through, Mipha opened her mouth again, speaking quickly to lower the risk of breathing in too much dust. "But couldn't it have been moved since then? Such a powerful artefact would not be able to stay a secret for very long, don't you think?"
But despite Mipha's doubts about their chances of finding what they were looking for, she nevertheless took Zelda's hand, letting the other girl pull her deeper into the jungle of discarded gadgets.
"Perhaps. But if there is even the slightest chance that it might still be here, that is enough for me to keep searching for it."
They continued along a narrow path between a tall cabinet and a rickety stack of chairs that looked like even the slightest contact with it might send the entire thing crashing to the floor. Between the two sides of equally odd-looking objects, there was hardly enough room for Zelda and Mipha to keep walking next to each other, and Mipha felt how Zelda's arm brushed against hers with every step they took, as the lack of space forced them even closer together. Beneath her foot, Mipha could hear the sound of something breaking, and when she looked down, pushing some of the dust covering the floor aside with the tip of her shoe, she saw that she had stepped on a saucer.
"Don't worry about that," Zelda said, having paused as well the moment she could no longer see Mipha next to her, "everything in here was abandoned—I am sure no one will ever miss that saucer."
Accepting the attempt to assure her that all was well, Mipha stepped over the shards, though she made sure to be more careful with where she placed her feet.
None of them were sure exactly how much time had passed before they made their way past a bookcase filled with a combination of both books on the most horrible curses and potions—everything the vials contained looking like it had been left behind in the room after it had been deemed illegal—and found themselves in a clearing, free from the mess of illegal and dangerous items that seemed to characterise the rest of the room. Even the floor was free from dust, something Mipha was pleased by. The black lines on her tie was beginning to look more grey than anything else, and Mipha had a sinking feeling that it would not be easy to restore it to its original look.
But Zelda did not appear to worry about something as trivial as whether or not she would be able to remove the dust that had settled on her clothes. Instead, she continued through the clearing, the same kind of excited bounce in her step that Mipha would normally only see when Zelda would come to her, carrying a small mountain of books in her arms, before proudly declaring that she had convinced Gaepora that a subject was important enough to warrant more books in the library.
"See!" Zelda said, her voice rising a bit as she stepped over towards a piece of furniture that had been covered by a sheet. The fabric looked like it had once been a brilliant shade of green, but now, it appeared that age had caused the colour to become dull. Zelda gestured towards the cover; her enthusiasm not at all diminished by the effect time had had on it. "I knew it was here, I knew it! The books simply could not all be wrong!" grabbing a corner of the fabric, Zelda took a small step back before pulling, letting the sheet fall to the ground as she went back over to stand next to Mipha as they took in the sight in front of them.
It was a tall mirror, the clawed feet raising it off the floor, and although the faded look of the fabric that had been used to cover it along with the mentions of the mirror in the books Zelda had read would indicate that it had been waiting in the room for years, there was not as much as a single dent in the gold frame, nor was there a scratch in the glass. Mipha looked up towards the top of the mirror. There, engraved in the golden frame right above the glass, was a string of words.
"'Erised stra ehru oy tube cafru oyt on wohsi'," Zelda read aloud, her voice barely more than a whisper, and Mipha could see how Zelda had to force herself not to reach out to touch the mirror, "I show not your face but your heart's desire. The Mirror of Erised."
"Is this really it?" Mipha asked. Around them, it seemed that the rest of the clutter in the room had ceased to exist, leaving only the two of them and the mirror in front of them as the only things still left in the world. "Can we be sure that this is not a replica of the real thing?"
"No," Zelda breathed, reaching out to take Mipha's hand before walking up closer to the fabled mirror, Mipha following along, "this is not a replica, no one would be able to make such a convincing imitation of the real Mirror of Erised." finally tearing her gaze away from the artefact, Zelda turned around to face Mipha. There was something strange in Zelda's eyes, a shimmer of elation, although it did not resemble anything Mipha was used to seeing in her friend, as Zelda motioned for her to step in front of the mirror. "You should get to be the first of us to look in it."
"But you were the one who found out that it was even here at Hogwarts in the first place," Mipha tried. But her protests were weak, and without any real attempt from her side to add weight to them. Even from where she was standing behind Zelda, Mipha could feel the pull of the mirror and every promise that came with looking into it.
Perhaps Zelda knew that, for she just sent Mipha a soft smile as she stepped aside, not once letting go of Mipha's hand as Mipha went to stand in front of the mirror.
For a moment, she saw nothing, nothing but grey nothingness. But then there was a ripple, almost like when Zelda would resurface after they had dared each other to jump into the lake last winter, laughing at Mipha while shaking her head, causing her hair to whip around her and droplets of water to fly in every direction. The picture in front of her shifted, no longer showing only a grey surface. Instead, figures began to take form, sprouting from tiny dots of colour, growing and twisting until they were as tall as her real reflection would have been.
Mipha's heart skipped a beat as she recognised them. That hair, the curve of her smile, the way her eyes would shine as she laughed, and how Mipha saw herself looked at her, head slightly tilted as she laughed at something her friend had said.
She saw herself and Zelda in the mirror.
There was practically no difference between what the mirror showed her and what was real, a realisation that made Mipha feel like her heart should have stopped a long time ago. The mirror should show her hearts deepest desire, so how could it show what Mipha already knew to be true? But as she inspected the reflection more closely, Mipha began to notice the small differences. They both looked slightly older, maybe in their early twenties, Mipha being slightly taller than Zelda, and the look in Zelda's eyes revealing how she had used the years to gain more knowledge about the world—magical and non-magical alike— just like they were no longer wearing their Hogwarts uniform. Instead, Mipha was dressed the way she would do when out in the Muggle world, just like how Zelda's blue and bronze tie had been exchanged in favour of a thin, silvery necklace on top of a blue summer dress.
The more Mipha looked at the scene the mirror showed her, the more she began to see how the mirror's version of them differed from reality, until the only thing she could still recognise was the way Zelda wrapped her arm around Mipha's waist as she burst out laughing at something Mipha had said, her entire body shaking as she tried to get her voice under control again.
"What did you see?" Zelda asked, reminding Mipha that the reflection was, in fact, only that: a reflection.
"I saw you and me together," Mipha said and tried to ignore the way it did not feel like she told the entirety of the truth when she added, "we looked a bit older, and I think we had just moved to live in the Muggle world—we were not wearing capes or anything like that."
"So the mirror showed that we were still friends—well, I am happy to know that you at least were not considering leaving me behind the first chance you would get." Zelda laughed, though the joke fell flat the moment it left her mouth, causing Zelda to wince slightly. "Sorry, that was not the right time."
"No, you are right, I would never leave you behind, not ever. In fact, if I could spend the rest of my life with you, I don't think I could ask for more—that must also be why the mirror would show me how we still would be friends even long after we had left Hogwarts."
When Mipha saw the tips of Zelda's ears turn red, the girl looking down at the floor, she wished she could travel back to before she had decided to open her mouth and stop herself from saying anything.
However, as Zelda looked at her again, Mipha could not see any embarrassment written in her features. Instead, she saw how the smile Zelda sent her would be enough to light up any night, complete with the way Zelda's eyes shone.
"So would I," Zelda said, and although her voice was barely audible, even in the otherwise quiet room, Mipha was sure that she would never forget the softness to her words, "I really would like living with you for the rest of my life as well." for a moment, they were both silent, gazing into each other's eyes. Then Zelda coughed and turned her attention back to the reason they had gone to the room. "I should probably also go look at the mirror."
Mipha swallowed. Right then, she could not have cared less for the mirror; she only wanted Zelda to stay with her. But she still stepped aside to allow Zelda to look into the mirror, trying to ignore the way her stomach felt like she was making a great mistake.
Zelda stood there, staring into the reflection only she could see, completely silent for such a long time that Mipha began to wonder if there was anything wrong. Maybe the mirror had stopped working, not showing Zelda her heart's deepest desire. The explanations for the way Zelda stepped closer to the glass, a thin line appearing between her brows as she reached out, almost like she wanted to continue into the future she was shown were many, and the moment Mipha had decided to ask Zelda what she saw, her friend twirled around, reaching out to place a hand on Mipha's shoulder to bring herself to a halt.
"I saw the two of us as well," Zelda said, leaning closer to Mipha. There was something about the way she said it combined with the way she kept looking at Mipha, almost like she could not believe she was there, that made Mipha instinctively mirror the movement, also taking a step closer to Zelda to support her.
"Yeah?" Mipha asked. Her heart was beating faster, even faster than it had done when Zelda had asked her to make sure that the teachers would not see her while Zelda would go into the Restricted Section of the library to search for books on the different ancient, magical artefacts, trying to learn more about the Mirror of Erised.
"Yes, we looked older as well—maybe twenty-five—and like we had just moved to live in the Muggle world." Zelda breathed out, looking up at Mipha who was right then overly aware of how that Zelda was barely standing on her own, the fact that Mipha had reached out to wrap her right arm around her waist the sole reason Zelda was still standing up.
"So we should probably move in together when we are done with school," Mipha suggested.
"Yes, we should," Zelda agreed, still not doing anything to regain her balance, seemingly content with leaning against Mipha, "I could work for the Ministry, and you—"
"Could get work at St Mungo's the way I have always dreamed about," Mipha finished for her.
Zelda beamed at her. "Exactly! And we can just relax when we are home," she let out a soft sigh, "that would really be all I could ever dream of."
"Well, if you want to get a change to become Minister for Magic," Mipha teased her, poking Zelda in the side, "then we should probably head back to get started on that essay on Veritaserum, right?"
"We probably should." but everything about the way Zelda looked back to send the mirror a wistful glance contradicted her words, the intensity Mipha could sense in the way Zelda was drawn to the version of the future the mirror showed her frightening her a little.
"Zelda," Mipha said, trying to pull Zelda away from the antique, "we have to go, you can come back another day, but right now, we have to get back before anyone begins to wonder where we have been."
That made Zelda turn around to look at her, and Mipha could see how the fact that people might begin to ask questions if they were gone for too long got through to her, though the dreamy look was still present in Zelda's eyes.
"Yes, we can get back later," Zelda repeated, and with each word that left her mouth, she started to resemble the Zelda Mipha had come to know over the years more and more. As Zelda took her hand and began to lead the two of them back towards the door leading out into the hallway, Mipha might not have thought more about the mirror and what it had shown her, had it not been for the way her heart fluttered in her chest at the thought that they would stay together even after school.
However, even as they made their way back out of the piles of discarded furniture, books, and objects, Mipha already knew that they could not return to look into the mirror another time. Though Mipha had just barely been able to tear herself away before it would have become impossible for her to do so, the way Zelda had looked up at her, almost like she did not truly see Mipha had terrified her.
As long as there was a chance of something like that happening ever again, Mipha would do her best to persuade Zelda not to risk it.
But if Mipha had turned around to get a chance to study the vision the mirror showed her more closely, perhaps she would have noticed the way the wedding bands that decorated both her and her best friend's left hand reflected the sparse lighting in the room. As it was now, Mipha would only have to find out in time what the reflection had really shown.