Blank. No, that would be an understatement. Glazed would be a more appropraiate description of the look on Charlotte Blaire's face. It was a look similarly worn when listening to Professor Binns' monotonous lectures in her History of Magic class. And to Professor Slughorn's weak attempts at humor in Potions. Come to think of it, Charlotte's face seemed to be constantly shifting into a glassy stare in most of her classes- except Transfiguration and Charms. But she was not in class, she was in the Gryffindor corridor, outside the Fat Lady's portrait. And she was fully moving, and she was entirely distracted by herself and a really gorgeous-

"I digress," a voice in the third-floor corridor outside said loudly. To Charlotte, this was signaling that she should leave, now. She tore her eyes away from the familiar boy in the glass, turned sharply so as not to be tempted to look back, and hurried out of the dimly lit room. Tossing on her 'borrowed' [i.e. without permission Invisibility Cloak, Charlotte closed the door as quietly as possible. She held her breath as she scurried past Nearly Headless Nick and the Fat Friar as they floated along in their wispy grey way. When she got to the Gryffindor common room, she whisked off the slippery silver cloak and let out her breath. "Aha!"

Charlotte froze, her breath catching in her throat again. She slowly turned around, cloak in hand, arranging an I'm-way-innocent-I-don't-know-what-this-is-please-don't-kill-me-thank-you look on her round face. "Merlin, it's only you, Charlotte, I thought you were asleep!" Remus Lupin sighed, relieved. He grinned at her. "James was freaking out when he couldn't find it, he thought Severus Snape or someone else took it. Thank goodness it was only you."

"Ah, so you agreed to stay up and wait just in case it was your someone else, hm?" Charlotte teased, untying her hair and tossing him the cloak. "Well, no worries, it was only me. Not Severus Snape or Xeno Lovegood or anyone, pshaw. Like they would ever find it. Those two are much stupider than Peter or James, eh. And Peter and James are pretty stupid to start with," she said bluntly. She spread herself out on the red-and-gold-laden sofa in front of the fire and pulled out her wand. Charlotte pointed her wand towards a blanket. "Accio blanket," she said, summoning it and wrapping herself in it.

"Is that a mahogany wand? How tall are you, about... Oh, that looks like a phoenix feather wandcore, and your wand must be eleven inches, right? From Ollivanders, obviously." Remus blurted, staring fixedly at her wand.

Charlotte nodded. "You could be a wandmaker if the Auror thing didn't work out. You were exactly right- mahogany and phoenix feather, eleven inches. Aah, good for Transfigur-aah-tion," she yawned, her eyes closing sleepily.

Remus smiled, placing his hand on her head. "Good night Charlotte, see you in class tomorrow, it's Transfiguration and Charms with James, Sirius, Lily, and me, then Defense Against the Dark Arts with me and James, and Potions with Sirius." He was at the foot of the stairs clutching the Invisibility Cloak when he tossed out casually, "Oh, Sirius wanted to... erm... talk to you. Just, uh, sit by us at breakfast, okay? He's kind of... um... oh well, you'll see Sirius in the morning. G'night."

Sirius? Sirius Black? Okay... Charlotte slept restlessly, dreaming of words remembered. Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Dreaming of stars and constellations. Orion, Pegasus, Alpha Centauri, the dog star. And dreaming of endless mirrors and all of her friends... Lily, Remus, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius...

"Come on, Charlotte, let's go, get up, there's a love, good girl, wake up," two voices urged- a girl's and a boy's. "Remus, get her up!" the girl's voice whispered.

"I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic," Charlotte mumbled groggily. Someone tugged on her curly hair, and she sat up slowly. "Whaaat?" she hissed unpleasantly, cracking open her eyes. Remus and Lily looked at her expectantly. "What?" Charlotte asked again. Remus ran off as soon as he made sure she was awake, but Lily waited for her to finish getting ready before the two girls dashed out to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Charlotte jumped over the smooth wooden bench between Lily and Remus, landing with a small tmp. She began piling toast and pancakes onto her plate, while Lily preferred eggs on toast. Remus and Sirius liked meats like sausages, bacon, and ham. James would and did eat everything, but Peter had some sort of hippie diet where he would only eat celery staicks and peanut butter. Lily was every parent's dream- smart and beautiful at the same time. Remus had some... problems that usually ensued because of the whole "werewolf" thing, but was still gentlemanly and polite. Peter was the sidekick [and was treated like one sometimes, too but he didn't really mind as long as he was included. James and Sirius were best friends, had side-by-side female entourages, and were the overall Dream Team of the school. Charlotte was rather preoccupied with her breakfast to notice anything, really.

This is why she found herself stuck to the bench at the end of the meal. Alas, she was not alone! Several other people scattered across the room were stuck too- Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black at the Slytherin table and a few unnamed Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs at their respective tables. At the Gryffindor table, though, Charlotte was stuck with Arthur Weasley, Molly Prewett, and Sirius. Something clicked in her brain almost immediately.

"Oh my God," Charlotte hissed to Sirius, who was sitting across from her. "They're trying to set us up! It's not going to work. They are all stupid great prats if they think this is actually going to wo-" Her point fell dead as Arthur and Molly began snogging fiercely several places away.

Sirius smirked. "Still think it's not going to work, Lottie?" he asked, using a nickname for her he just made up.

"Shut up, Padfoot," she snapped. She had license to use that name for him because she was a Marauder [the only female Marauder at that, as well as James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus. Outside, she was crimson. Inside, she was utterly perplexed. Why did they pair her with Sirius, of all people? Exams were coming up, Black and Blaire would be together, right? And what about all of his doting fans?

Most of all, she wondered: why was Sirius in her reflection in the room by the third-floor corridor?