1. Presenting myself

She looked at me and her green eyes showed a suspicious shine. I've always hated when she looked at me in that silly way because it meant she had an idea…, which only meant more troubles to me.

"What are you thinking about, Lily?" I asked. I blinked several times to make her understand I was not in the mood to listen to one of her jokes.

She laughed in a softly way.

"It is nothing, just wondering…" she looked to a group of people who were sitting next to the lake. We were under the shadows of a tree, with an enormous pile of books from the library. Although the group was quite far, I recognized some of the students.

Immediately, my cheeks became ad red as a tomato, or as red as my hair, while my golden eyes glared at her in a wild way.

"You little…"

She laughed again, her dark red hair on her face. Damn it. I hated when she was so confident and happy.

"Don't get mad at me, Mirage!" she said, opening her Defense Against Dark Arts book. "I'm just kidding! I would never advise you to talk to him again" she glanced at the group once more. "He is just a venomous spider, ready to attack at any moment".

I glared at them too.

"You are wrong" she looked at me again. "He's not a spider… he's just a miserable and hateful snake".

I closed the book abruptly and I threw it to the ground. After it, I took another one and I covered my face with it, trying to read. However, two silent and cold tears bursted from my eyes when I remembered him.

Severus Snape.

We used to be friends since we first met in the Hogwarts express, on our first year.

He entered in Slytherin, the ambitious students' house, while Lily and I were in Gryffindor, the house of bravery.

It was our sixth year in Hogwarts. Two years before, Snape and I had started dating in secret, because the Slytherins and the Gryffindors were mortal enemies.

Although, the day of my birthday (the 7th of December, I mean), he gave a beautiful and elegant magical brooch. And he told me he didn't want to be with me anymore. He dumped me.

Actually, he didn't tell me personally, but he wrote it under a piece of paper and he obliged a first year student of Hufflepuff (damn it, Hufflepuffs are so weak!) to give it to me.

It hurt. It hurt a lot.

But it had its advantages too: I became a close friend of four students that I used to hate and which were the troublemakers of the school (or two of them, at least), and their favorite victim was Severus. Their names were James Potter (the leader), Sirius Black (his best friend and his right hand), Remus John Lupin (the "good boy" of the group) and Peter Pettigrew (a small rat who followed them every time). They were also known as Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail.

I kept on thinking about it when Lily hit my back with her elbow, making me came back to reality. I glared at her, but with her head, she pointed at the lake. I looked at it… and I saw the Slytherins standing up and walking toward us.

"Damn it!" I muttered. I left the book on the top of the pile. Lily understood the indirect and we stood up with the intention of leaving, but unfortunately, they arrived where we were too fast, blocking our way to escape.

The head of the group was a blond boy from seventh year. His skin was very pale and his eyes were grey. He was the "Prince of Slytherin", Lucius Malfoy.

Next to him was Regulus Black, Sirius Black's younger brother. Like his brother, Regulus had dark hair and eyes, but he was a bit shorter (he was in fourth year, after all) and he wasn't as handsome as Sirius.

I recognized Bellatrix' black hair (she was Regulus' cousin) and her bully-like laugh. There were another "Death Eathers" (that's how they called themselves, and how everybody else called Lord Voldemort's followers) but I couldn't remember their names, as always.

"What the hell do you want, Malfoy?" I hissed. I tried my best not to look to the boy who was by his another side, and it was obviously he was trying his best too.

The blond idiot smiled. Damn it! If there's something I really hate is when he smiled in that self-centered and arrogant way. Even after years watching him doing that, I still wanted to beat him.

"Why so angry, Asakura?" he said. "We were just coming to greet you, as friends. Is that wrong?"

For God's shake! He was pissing me off. The true was he wanted to make me feel in that way, so I just glared at him, and I'm sure his eyes showed for some seconds the fear he felt.

"Don't be a child and get out of here before she curses you, Malfoy", laughed Lily. She had already picked up some of the books and, when I realized that, I did the same.

But it seemed as Lucius didn't get the joke. He looked at her with contempt.

"You should shut up and put your nose out of joint, mud blood!" he told her, looking down his nose at Lily. Her happy face turned out of suddenly to a paler and angrier one.

On the another hand, I can't explain in words the wild anger that explode inside me. It was true that Lily Evans, my best friend, was what people like them called a "mud blood", because she came from a muggle family. Still, that damned label was one of those things that pissed me off and shook me up.

Without thinking about it, I dropped the books and I took him with my both hands from the neck of his cloak. His companions pointed at me with their wands, but Lily was faster and she used hers to disarm them.

Lucius' face went even paler than usually. I think it was because I could hardly control myself and I was squeezing his neck too much or because my angry made me look inhuman, which was very possible.

"Listen to me carefully" I muttered, our faces too close. He nodded. The another Slytherins (even Bellatrix and Severus, which were the bravest of the group) moved some steps away from us. It made him look more pathetic than before. Actually, for me he had always looked pathetic. "If you dare to use that stupid label one more time, I swear you will never be able to breathe again. Have I been clear?" he nodded one more time. "Perfect" I released him, and he fell to the ground because of scare. One more time, I suggested it was because of how my face looked. "Go away before I change my mind!" I shouted and, with a hostile atmosphere, the Slytherins went to the castle as hurry as they could, without forgetting to raise their wands from the ground before.

"You didn't have to" said Lily, while I was picking the books up once more. "They always call me mud blood".

"It doesn't matter," I answered. I smiled. "I just wanted to release my anger with that snakes… I'm sure Prongs would have killed them".

I roared with laughter when her face went red and she started to walk to the castle as fast as she could. I sat down on the ground, still laughing. I had my revenge after all.

I was going to stay there, studying for my Transformations exam, but I realized my friend had already taken the book, so I couldn't.

I was under the tree, with my back resting on it. I closed my eyes, deeply breathing. I tried my best to calm down, but I was just too angry. Not because Malfoy, that was clear. He had always been an idiot, and it was obviously he would never change.

I was angry because of Snape.

I couldn't realize why but after all, I was angry with him everyday, and that was the cause that I loved been with Prongs and the others: they always had the perfect idea to make fun of Snape, and I often tried to help them just to have revenge.

I stayed in that way for some minutes. Unfortunately, I was too relaxed to realize that some people were coming near to me. I noticed it when they were some steps far of me and I could smell them even if there was no wind.

"Hi guys" I smiled without opening my eyes. "I know it's you. Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail…" I looked at them. They seemed to be a bit disappointed because I discovered them, but it was common that I could do that.

The four of them sat around me. James had black hair and brown eyes. He used glasses and was the new captain of the Quidditch team. Sirius had black hair too, but his eyes had the same color. Both of them were very handsome. Actually, they were the most handsome students in Hogwarts and the most popular too.

On the other hand, sitting down by my right was Remus. His hazel hair and eyes shone under the weak light of the sun of October. He wasn't as handsome as Prongs (James) and Padfoot (Sirius), but he was the kindest and the most understanding of the group. The three of them were very tall. On the contrary, Peter was very short, fat and he definitely was not an attractive boy.

"I will never understand how you do it!" claimed Prongs, laughing.

"It's a gift…" I answered, without modesty. Why deny something like that? I was cool, capable, smart and beautiful…, although I wasn't completely sure about the last adjective.

"If you say so…" started Moony, taking one of the books that lied on the ground. He grinned. "Who was studying for History of Magic? Lily or you?"

I grinned too.

"Lily, of course" James' face shone when I named her. "She's the only person in the world who cares about that boring and useless subject".

"True" added Sirius with a grimace. "Evans is always reading… Sometimes she looks as a library rat, doesn't she? She's so annoying!"

In a normal situation, I would have cursed any stupid who dare calling Lily a "library rat" or an "annoying" person, but with Padfoot was different. I knew he wasn't saying that just because he thought it was true (actually, it was true: sometimes Lily was too studious). He was doing it because, as usually, James would became as red as a tomato and he would start protecting her dear Lillian… even if she didn't like him. And annoying Prongs was another of our favorite pastimes.

"You're so right, Padfoot!" I said, pretending tiredness. "She so bookish! Just as you said: a library rat. Sometimes I ask myself what you've seen in her, Prongs", I added, looking at James (who, as we predicted, was trying his best to don't kill us) while Sirius and Remus laughed. "There are a lot of beautiful and funny girls at Hogwarts… And you had to fall in love with such an annoying and short-tempered as Lily!"

This time, Padfoot, Moony and I laughed so loud after seeing Prongs' furious expression that we could hardly breathe. Peter, as always, had no idea of what was going on, and it seemed like our black haired friend was trying to think what to do: protect Lily and support us making fun of him, or finish in Azkaban because of murdering us. At last, when it seemed as he had preferred the second option, we tried to stop laughing.

"Calm down, Prongs! We're just kidding you!" I told him, smiling. "Do you think I'd let Padfoot say something like that about my best friend?" he raised his eyebrow. "You do think I would?" I repeated. "I can't believe it!"

"I think you are capable of doing a lot of things, dear" he said, crossing his arms over his chest. His face had recovered its normal color.

"It's so unfair!" I claimed, crossing my arms too and pretending I was going to cry as a little girl. "You're an idiot, daddy!"

The others (except Prongs, of course) roared with laughter, even me.

"Don't call me daddy, Mirror!" he shouted.

"But you're looking at me as my dad would do!" I answered. It was true: I rarely could see my father, but when we were arguing he looked at me in the same way and he spoke in the same way.

"Mirror" said Moony at last, after some minutes. They'd stopped laughing. "You never speak about your family. Why is it?"

I tried to smile.

"I don't really enjoy talking about them. There's nothing special to tell" I lied. They knew I was lying; even Peter realized it.

I was one of the members of the Asakura family, one of the most powerful families in the magical and muggle world. That it's to don't say it was the most powerful.

My father, the only one I really appreciate in my family, lived in a magical world called Azarat, the main magical dimension, where he was the Great King. Because of that, the last time I had seen him was when I had to escape to the human world because of the war.

At that moment, I was living in a small village in Japan, called Hikari, where a samurai had rescued me of dying drowned in the river. I was studying in Hogwarts (in Britain) because Dumbledore (the headmaster) was a close friend of my family and he wanted me to come. Therefore, after all, I spent more time in Hogwarts than in home, because I couldn't came back to Japan for holidays and vacations because it was too far away.

"Oh, C'mon!" said Sirius, who had sat down in front of me. The four of them were now closer to me. James on my left, Remus on my right and Peter was a bit away from the circle. "Tell us, Mirror! We won't tell anyone!" he really wanted me to say something, but what could I tell them? I was just like Sirius: we both were the black sheep of our families, and we both hated almost every one of our familiars.

"Okay, but I won't tell you too much…, just what I think you need to know," I answered, at last, looking to the red ant that was climbing through the edge of my cloak. I raised my sight to them. "All right, you can start asking".

"Don't be scared" suddenly said Prongs. Damn it! I hated so much when he acted as the great friend he was! It just made me fell guilty! "We just want to know one thing".

I inclined my head to one side, without understanding. If they just wanted to know one thing, why they went round about that so hard? It was just too suspicious…, but after it, I remembered something: I was talking to my four best friends (no, lying, to my three best friends) and unfortunately, they were the biggest idiots in the school (even if the marks of Prongs, Padfoot and Moony were the highest and they were so smart).

"Let it go, then!" I finally claimed.

"Well…" started Padfoot. He thought it carefully and he looked at James. "Tell her, Prongs"

"Okay, then… Why don't you do it, Moony?"

"M-me? All right… Ask her, Wormtail!" he ordered, completely red.

"No way!" Now you understand why I've always scorned that small rat. "You should do it, Padfoot!"

After all, we finished in the same place we started.

"No!" he complained. "I'll ask her something else…," he muttered to James, forgetting I was too near of them. Prongs nodded. "Tell us, Mirage… How many siblings have you got?" he decided. Remus rolled his eyes and James hit his forehead with his palm.

But even if his question was one of the most stupid I've ever heard (no, wait; it was the most stupid question I've ever heard!), I couldn't stop myself when I wrinkled my lips.

"I've got two elder brothers" I started. "And a younger half sister. Their names are Sensui, Kocurio and Luna. Anything else?" I realized I had been too cold, but it didn't matter: the sooner we finished with those stupid questions, the sooner I would be able to go having lunch. Even if I wasn't hungry for the first time in my life.

"Well… no, I think" replied James, but it was obviously he knew I wanted to leave that place and drowned myself in the lake. Okay, it's impossible he knew that last, but still…

"Great" I forced myself to smile. "See you later, guys!" and I left the place running, with the pile of books between my arms.

I had an idea of what they wanted to ask me because I knew how to use Legeremancy (the magical art of enter into another's minds), but I thought I was wrong, because it had nothing to do with my actual family… Actually, it was a question about my future family, and it just made me feel a deep hole in my stomach while I remembered that damned brooch and that weak and useless Hufflepuff student (talking about that, he was already in second year, and I was sure I had seen him talking to some girls while I run).

Again, I felt the strong desire of revenge through my entire body. I couldn't forgive them. I surprised myself and I asked my mind something I knew every body asked them every time: why I entered in Gryffindor, instead of Slytherin?

Well, I told myself. After all, it's not something of their business if I'm in love or not, right? Every girl would feel in the same way if her best boy friends wanted to ask her about her sight of future! Right…?

Yeah, it had to be right!

But still, when I entered to the library and saw some Slytherins of sixth year in a far table, I felt how my cheeks went red remembering one single thing: we had a customs ball at the end of the month, because of Halloween…, and I was sure which black haired boy would ask me to go with him. And the worst thing was that I knew even better which one would not.

Okay, coming back to reality, I looked for Mrs. Pince, the librarian, to return the books. I founded her easily. She was arranging some books of the Potions section.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Pince," I told her. She smiled at me, and I did the same. The true was I didn't really like her, but she was too strict, and I was one of the little amount of students that she treated in a normal way. "Sorry to interrupt you while you are so busy, but I wanted to return some of these books".

"It doesn't matter, Mirage, dear," she told me. "If you want, you can keep them all the time you want. Are you sure you don't need another one?" her dark eyes shone when she said that, and I could hardly forced myself to smile.

"Thank you very much, Mrs.," I answered using the most honeyed voice I could (which wasn't exactly beautiful, actually). "I'll bring them back as soon as I can"

And I left her as fast as I could too.

After walking between some tables (I did my best to avoid the Slytherins'), I founded the group I was looking for.

"Hi Cissy, Drómeda, Amos" I greeted. Narcissa and Andromeda Black and Amos Diggory smiled at me. The two girls were Bellatrix' younger and elder sister (in that order) and they were in Slytherin, too (it was a tradition that the Black family always entered in that house, and the exception was Sirius, of course). On the other hand, Amos was a Hufflepuff (the single smart student in Hufflepuff).

While Andromeda looked like Bellatrix (black curly hair and dark eyes, with a dark skin and heavy eyelids), Narcissa was pale, blonde-haired and had grey eyes. Amos had hazel hair and dark eyes, with a wonderful smile.

I sat down. The Black sister's were in fourth and seventh year, while Diggory was in sixth.

"What are you thinking about?" asked me the last one, when he noticed I wasn't reading.

"Nothing special" was my answer. Maybe I sounded too bored or tired, because he added:

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah…" after it, I saw Drómeda and Cissy with a smile, and they looked at me with a confused sight. "I was just looking for the safest way of killing someone without finishing in Azkaban"

They both laughed, but Amos took his time to understand whom I was talking about.

"Sirius again?" he said, smiling too. "What did he ask you this time? How many times you brushed your teeth last night?" we laughed as silent as we could.

"Actually, no, he didn't" I said. "But it seems as he and his set are very interested in what I'm planning for my future…" they didn't understand. I rolled my eyes. "You know Sirius… he wanted to know if I was in love…, if I'm planning having children, if I know who I'm going to marry with…, how many children I'll have, what I'm going to do with my future… Did I mention he wanted to know how many children I want?" I pretended innocence. They laughed, of course. Sirius had been in love with me since we first met, but I've always seen him as a friend. The problem was he was too stubborn and he didn't want to give up.

He was such a fool sometimes!

"So, tell us!" jumped Cissy after some minutes in which they just looked at me.

"Tell you what?" I asked. The only thing that scared I more than Lily's ideas… was Cissy's excitement.

"Oh, C'mon" laughed Amos. "Didn't he ask you the most important thing?"

I tilted my head. What were they talking about?

"Don't be a child, Mirror" smiled Drómeda. "Did my cousin ask you to go to the Halloween ball with him?"

"No" I immediately grumbled. "And even if he does it, I will deny," I added, when the Black sisters opened their mouths to complain. "Maybe you get on well with him, but he is like a little brother to me…, a stupid, annoying, silly and good for anything little brother" I completed in a low voice, but this time we couldn't support ourselves and we roared in laugh too loud. We had to leave the library as fast as we could so that Mrs. Pince wouldn't kill us.

We finally arrived to the Great Hall. The tables of the different houses we surrounded of people eating, chatting and joking. Amos went to Hufflepuffs' table after he greeted us with his hand, and Narcissa and Andromeda did the same while they walked to the Slytherins' table.

I went to Gryffindors' alone. As sooner as I localised Lily (who was sitting down in one corner of the table with another friends of her) I walked towards her.

"Hi, Valley" she showed a shy smile. I loved to call Lily like that for two reasons: first, she hated it, and second, because I knew she hated the comparison (because of the lily of the valley, of course).

But just a second before she answered me, her three friends looked at me. Damn it. I hated them. They loved to make me feel in a bad way, and their favourite hobby was criticizing me when I was close enough to hear them.

The tallest was called Alice. She had short, curly hair and dark eyes. Her face was round and usually a happy one…, except when I was near. In fact, she was very shy, and even if I hate to admit it (and believe me when I say I really hate to admit it) I could be rather intimidating. That cause made her face look gloomy and sad when I was near.

Sitting next to her and in front of Lily was Helga. She was a slim, pale girl, with a face full of freckles. She used glasses with no frame. She wore her long, ashen blonde hair in two braids, and her small, brown eyes showed a smart sight.

At last, by Lily's left was the last one. I glared at her, and she did the same to me. Her eyes were green, and her hair short, dark and straight and her face looked starving. She showed one of her arrogant smiles. She was called Claudette, but I preferred to call her "Clobber".

"Yo, Asakura!" she said with a false happy tone. "What are you doing here? I thought that a betrayer snake like you would be eating with your green friends," she added, looking at the place where the Black sisters (the three of them) were sitting.

"Actually Clobber, I was not planning to have lunch, and with you no less" I hissed with a furious sight. "I was just coming to tell you, Valley," I looked at her, "that you've forgot to take your History of Magic book" I gave it to her, and before she could apologise (in her friend's place, of course) I decided to leave. "See you later, guys" and I sat alone on the opposite corner of the table.

I didn't take a bite of my meat tart. I just drank near three litres of pumpkin juice. When I decided I should make use of my weekend, I stood up (I avoided Lily's begging sight) and I went as fast as I could to the Common Room, with some books weighing inside my knapsack.

"Yo, Mirage" said Remus when I entered. He was sitting in the floor next to the fireplace with a book between his hands. He glanced at me before he continued reading. "What're you doing?"

"Not too much" I sighed and sat down by his side, throwing my knapsack next to me. I looked the ceiling. "And you? Where are the idiots?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"No idea. They left me here about an hour ago" he smiled. "They think I'm too smart, gentle and kind. They told me I'm such a good person that I was going to accuse them before they could finish their joke, so they obliged me to stay here" we laughed.

"Well, you do are smart, gentle, kind and a good person" I enumerated. "Where is the matter? I don't get it!" we laughed again.

We stayed there a long time, talking about nonsense. When I realized it, it was seven in the afternoon already, and it was getting hot next to the fireplace.

"So, she looked at me… and then… and then…!" I roared in laugh, and Moony did the same. Some students from first year looked at us. It seemed as we had scared them.

"You're a fool!" I told him when the first year children left the Common Room. "You scared those poor kids!"

"Hey! You're the one who was howling as a wolf!" he laughed. We couldn't stop laughing. I loved to spend my time doing that. Being with Moony was one the funniest things in the entire world.

At least, we founded ourselves reading the same book while my head rested on his shoulder. After some minutes, Sirius, James and Peter appeared. They looked tired.

"What the hell are you doing?" shouted Padfoot. Yuck, he was such a jealous person! Darn him!

"Calm down, Padfooty" I laughed. "We were just reviewing our last Transformations class, that's all. Nothing your jealousies should worry about"

I think it's no use in relating the stupid discussion that started after my comment. The only thing I can say is that Moony, Prongs and Wormtail kept a prudent distance from Sirius and I, and I have to admit I really appreciate that, because I could left them consoling their friend after I dramatically went to the fifth year girl's room.

Although I was so angry with Padfoot, one side of me wanted to came back and kiss him as if the world would finish the next day, but another side of me wanted to came back…, and torture him until death.

I rushed over my bed and lied there, with my face hidden under the pillow. I didn't want to cry, 'cause I knew I wouldn't be able to stop until midnight. I wasn't able to move as if I had a bomb under my mattress.

At last, after half an hour of meditation (and after I was sure the four idiots weren't in the Common Room), I run away and I went to the library with my Potions homework, although I had already finished it the night before. I just needed an excuse.

I greeted Mrs. Pince as always. There were few students studying in the library and it made me feel comfortable when I sat down at one of the last tables in the room.

I spent half an hour walking through the shelves, without knowing what to look for. At last, I chose a book from the History section. I sat down again and I tried to read, but my mind was floating far away from the castle. It was flying over the sea, while the sun caressed my skin.

I woke up several minutes later, after I recognised the vision. I had been dreaming about it every night since the first night of the year but I still had no idea of what it meant.

I sat down in the same place without moving counting the minutes in my head. Sixty-one… sixty-two… sixty-three…

Finally, I asked the time to a fifth year boy from Revenclaw (oh, that house is so cool!) and after he answered I felt into an overwhelming silence.

-Nine o'clock –he said.

Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit…!

I was late! I had promised that foolish that I was going to meet him at quarter past nine in the Common Room. But the truth was that I didn't want to meet him. Not after fought him that afternoon.

I sighed. If I really hate something about me, is the fact that I can't stand someone up. It's against my principles.

Five minutes later, I was running through the door of my room. I threw my books and bag over my bed and I took a brush from the dressing table. I brushed my hair with hurry and I tied it, but it was still very untidy because of the run I had from the library.

"¡Damn!" I shouted when I saw my face in the mirror. I was a disaster and my hair was not the only problem: my golden eyes looked watery and I had deep rings under them, and my skin looked too dry. How could this happen in less than three hours? At first, I didn't realized how, but then I looked carefully in the mirror. Some innocent person would have died if Clobber hadn't appeared behind me at that moment.

"What's the matter, Asakura?" she hissed. "Don't you like the little curse I tested while you entered to the bedroom without greeting me?"

She pretended surprise and her arrogant and silly smile freaked me out. For one second, I forgot that the Cruciatus would send me to Azkaban (stupid Minister of Magic and his stupid laws!).

"Don't make me laugh, Clobber" I grumbled. "I'm not as stupid as you are. I just need five minutes and one move of my hand to finish with your useless experiment".

I was ready for a battle, and she was looking for it. How much time would take to the teachers to find her body if I "accidentally" loose control?

7