Warning, this is sort of angsty, but it gets happier! Enjoy!
I remember the night I first came here. The night where I learned I didn't have to be who I was, I could be who I wanted. I could be the beautiful girl who wasn't alone, who was understood and warm and perfect. But that night I didn't realize how real it could be. All I saw was something unattainable. I didn't realize I could become a part of it.
I didn't realize that if you stare long enough, you start to become part of it. You start to BE the person you see in front of you. You stare past the shiny, smooth, cool surface, that reflects differently than other mirrors. You feel what they feel, see what they see, and are loved like they are loved. You only remember that you're not that girl if you think. So you don't think, you just live.
I can't stay away, I come back, and soon the pain of the first time fades as I visit more and more. Then I stop leaving. The mirror keeps me alive, but more importantly, happier than I've ever been in my life. I don't even care that it's not really my life.
Sometimes other people come in. Sometimes, they look in the mirror, but mostly they look around the rest of the room. I don't know what they do, I never look. They never look at me either, to see me they'd have to want to find me. I don't care, all that matters is my life is the perfect, beautiful world, where I am perfect and beautiful.
But, at one point, maybe weeks, or months, or years since I first came, I start to notice a boy who comes more than others. He doesn't see me either, but for some reason I see him. The mirror reflects him, and I don't know why. But I see him, behind me, smiling and loving me like the others. But the image doesn't match the sounds of crying I hear from behind me.
Each time he comes, and soon even when he isn't there, I see his beautiful, smiling face in the mirror, but all I hear are the sounds of him suffering, and for the first time since I stopped leaving, I begin to want to look away from the mirror, to make his pain go away. Maybe the world behind me can be as perfect as the one in front. But I never look away, I just watch the mirror, and soon the sounds of his pain fade away and I'm left with his perfect image in my perfect world.
And then, one day, the perfect world fades away, because if everything is perfect, it's really just ordinary. So I gaze into the never changing emptiness, waiting for time to pass, and feeling remorse over what was once so beautiful. I wish I'd looked at the crying boy.
"Excuse me?" The sound of a voice startles me, as I haven't heard sound since the crying. I realize that the words are directed at me. Someone sees me. So someone wants to find me. I feel a hand on my shoulder, making to pull me away from the mirror, but I don't move. I realize I'm resisting, I don't know what's out there, and I can't leave my perfect, perfect world gone blank.
But then, for the first time in... well, I've come to realize there is no time in the mirror, the mirror has shown me something. It's me, but not me. The person in the mirror is not beautiful. She is merely an older version of the young girl who first entered this room. She has bags under her empty eyes, pale skin, lank hair, and is so thin her robes don't touch her skin. But, despite her obvious imperfections, she's smiling, because of the person over her shoulder.
That person is the crying boy, just as beautiful as always, looking at the girl, me, with concern. Before I can think, I look over my shoulder to see him, and suddenly I'm overwhelmed. Around me is so much color and texture and light and life, and the boy, or man, in front of me is more beautiful than anything the mirror has shown me.
"Have you been here since the battle?" I look at him questioningly. He stares at me, confused at my lack of reaction. "What house are you?"
"Ravenclaw." I whisper, still staring around at the beautiful, imperfect world.
"Well, you'd better get down to the Great Hall, everyone's there."
"Why aren't you?" He rolls his eyes at me.
"Everyone except the Slytherins, of course. No room for the cowards who didn't fight."
"I don't think I'll know anyone." I whisper, my voice still sounding rough from lack of use. "I've been away for awhile."
"Where were you that you couldn't get new robes?" I point vaguely at the mirror in front, avoiding looking into it.
"You've been in the mirror?" I nod, then ask a question before I can stop myself.
"What do you see?" He looks at me with confusion
"What do I see? I just see our reflection." I smile at that, and use his offered hand to shakely pull myself up. "You really don't look well, maybe you should see Madam Pomfrey?" I shake my head.
"You said they don't want you there, so let's not go there. No use surrounding yourself with people who don't understand what you've been through."
"And you do?" I blush, but nod.
"And I'm sorry. I should have talked to you before, when you needed it." He gets a strange look in his eyes, before starting towards the door. I feel my insides caving in, and all the hope I had crushing me as he leaves, but then he turns back around and beckons for me to follow. When I get close to him he holds out his hand.
"By the way, I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. Although maybe you already know me, you seem so familiar." I take his hand and he leads me into another world, so perfect in it's own way, where he thinks I'm perfect in my own way too.
So, if people are interested, I might continue this idea in a series of other one-shots with different characters in front of the mirror? Let me know? Feedback would be loved :)