Alison Hendrix was not the type of person to go looking for trouble. She stayed in the common room after curfew, (no matter how annoying Draco Malfoy and his "friends" were) did all of her homework, and never broke a single rule. Or, at least, she wasn't that person. Until she met Rachel Duncan.
Rachel Duncan annoyed the everliving doo-doo out of her. She was rude and arrogant and - Alison completely needed her respect. Rachel Duncan had what seemed like minions to Alison. They followed her every word and seemed to wait on her hand and foot. So when Rachel Duncan called her a fraidy cat who wouldn't go out of the Slytherin dorms after dark, she had to prove her wrong. She slipped out of the room and told herself she would she just visit the restroom and sneak back into the common room before anyone even noticed she was gone. But, being a first year at Hogwarts, she got terribly lost. (Oh, so very lost.) Instead of finding the restroom, Alison Hendrix found the room of requirement. There was, indeed, a toilet sitting off to the side of the room, but right in the middle of the room stood a mirror.
It was the strangest thing. This mirror didn't show her as she was in the room. Instead, she was sitting at home. She was sitting on the couch next to her mother, whom, instead of scolding her for not getting into the prestigious school for mathematics and technology that she wanted her to be in, was hugging her. Her mother had her arms wrapped around her, and somehow, Alison could tell that she was whispering sweet "I Love You's" into her ear.
The second time she found this mirror was in her second year. Since that first time she'd seen the mirror, she'd gone out of the common room every friday night in hopes of finding it again. This time, it was different. Instead of her mother loving her, she was alone. She was in a room she didn't recognise, but it was messy. It wasn't dirty, simply unorganised. She sat on the floor reading a book, and though she could tell the book's cover was ripped slightly and unhinging from the rest of the book so it hung tilted, it didn't bother her. Alison could point out hundreds of things wrong with the room - the pencils were facing the wrong way in their holders, or how the books were organised alphabetically and not by thickness as she always did it - but it didn't bother her. She was content to stare at this room, at emher/em in this room, without being upset. In this room, she was okay. She was just Alison.
In her third year, Alison met a Revenclaw named Elizabeth Childs in her herbology class. Beth was - not what you'd expect a Ravenclaw to be. (Beth actually struck Alison as a Gryffindor, but she insisted that she wasn't brave in the slightest.) The next time Alison returned to the room of requirement, the mirror showed her with Beth. They were laughing at some joke Beth had told. Alison didn't think she'd ever looked happier.
In fourth year when Alison finds the mirror again, it shows Beth again. Her and Beth. Kissing. She goes bright red and doesn't try to find the mirror again until -
Fifth year. In fifth year, Beth finally kisses her. They laugh about it for a second before Alison leans back in and they spend the rest of the time in the library kissing. (When she returns to the room this year, the mirror shows her and Beth together, only older. They've grown old together. They are together. Alison thinks that might be the best thing she's ever thought of.)
In sixth year, the battle of Hogwarts hits. Beth's best friend Cosima is lost in the war. Alison's best friend Felix loses his ear - and his twin sister, Sarah. Alison tries to comfort her girlfriend, but all she asks is to be left alone. Alison tries not to notice the bottles of muggle pills or sleeping medicine, or how Beth never gets through the night without a bad dream. When Alison finally gets the chance to look for the mirror again, all she sees is Beth, happy again.
The summer between sixth and seventh year Beth kills herself. The killing curse was designed not to work on the person who casts it - but Beth was a Ravenclaw.
She figured it out.
Alison doesn't go back to Hogwarts for her seventh year. At least, not officially. She slips onto the train with and old friend's invisibility cloak and finds the room of requirement again. This time, there is nothing but the mirror in it. And this time, there is nothing in the mirror, either. The mirror is empty. So is Alison.