Author's Note: Thanks so much for the reviews! Also note that point of views start to change in this chapter.

Chapter Eight: The Mirror of Erised

The mirror was ancient. Remus arrived first, staring into the mirror as the others arrived behind him. James just stood for a moment, examining the architecture of the mirror. Foreign words appeared at the top, curving the wood, but when read it backwards:

I Show You Not Your Face, But Your Heart's Desire

Suddenly Remus turned and ran from the room. James turned towards where Remus had run; his friend had fled the room so quickly no one had a chance to stop him.

"Okay..." James said slowly, trying to understand what was going on.

"Wonder what it does," Peter thought out loud.

"Shows you your heart's desire," Sirius answered in awe as he read the engraving.

"Well? What is our heart's desire?" James said. "We're only eleven..."

"Woah," Sirius said as he looked in to the mirror with wide eyes.

"What?" James asked curiously.

"It's my family," Sirius admitted quietly, "And we're all getting along. Laughing...all of us are there, even Uncle Alphard and Adromendora. And...you guys."

James remained silent, not knowing what to say to his friend. He'd never seen him this serious, and it was times like this when James remembered the past Sirius clearly made an effort to cover up.

"Maybe we should go," Peter said, shaking, "I don't think this mirror does any good."

"Come on Sirius," James said impatiently, "I want to look."

Part of him was curious, but mostly he just wanted something to distract Sirius. Sirius didn't object when James shoved him aside and took his place in front of the mirror.

What he saw didn't surprise him. He was standing with Lily. They were laughing and holding hands. James became more amused as he notice the finer details of the vision. He was wearing Quidditch robes, and the two were standing in front of the castle. To his surprise, Sirius walked into the picture, holding a Quidditch cup. He slapped James on the back as he handed it to the two, who proudly held it up. He could even swear he heard a cheering crowd before him.

"Any day now..." It as Peter's voice that brought James back to reality.

"What?" James asked, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. He looked around to see that Sirius had left. "Where'd Sirius go?"

"He left after having to wait for you for so long," Peter said. His voice seemed eager, James figured he wanted to look into the mirror. "He said to let you dwell in your impossible romance dreams until you came to your senses. And he said if he stood there for longer than five minutes, to go find Lily to come and hit you over the head."

"How thoughtful," James said sarcastically, "well, I'm going back to the Common Room, you coming?"

"I'm going to look in the mirror," Peter said, gazing up at the mirror like he expected it to hold the answers to the universe.

"Whatever," James said, turning swiftly and leaving Peter to dwell at the mirror.

Remus wasn't quite sure how he managed to get back to the Common Room so quickly, but he figured the mirrored room must've sensed his will to be alone. It had spun him back down, and as quickly as Remus' legs could carry him, he fled out of the tunnel. Luckily, it was must've been a half an hour or so before curfew, so not many people were wondering about the hallways.

He ran up the flights of stairs, and ten minutes later, he was in the Common Room. Panting, he didn't have the energy to go up to the boys dorm, and since the Common Room was empty, which was unusual, he decided to settle for a sofa by the fire.

Remus didn't bother to lay down, he just sat with his knees brought up to his chin, letting the flames engulf his vision. Having no clue how long the others would take, he decided it be best if he pretended to be asleep, so they could come in and wake him up rather then come in and bombard him with questions.

Sleep had unexpectingly almost engulfed him, having sat there for what seemed like hours, and he was surprised when the others still didn't show. He was beginning to think back to the mirror. What if the others had seen what he desired? What if they knew it would never come true? Would they-

His thoughts were cut off by a voice. A female voice.

"Couldn't sleep?" It was Aria.

"Yeah," Remus muttered, "something like that. You?"

"You wouldn't believe the way Grace snores!" Aria said exasperated, like she had been waiting all semester to admit this. Remus snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if the others threw her out the window tonight! So where's the rest of the royal party?"

"What?" Remus asked, a little confused at first. Then he realized what she was talking about. "Oh. Who knows?"

"How can you stand hanging around them?" Aria asked. "They're air heads."

"Just Sirius and James," Remus said, a bit amused by Aria's statement, "I think Peter just likes the look of being around someone more powerful then him, or at least being around the popular crowd, as I've heard us been called. I still can't believe I'm part of it." He said the last part more quietly, not meaning for it to be heard out loud.

"What?" Aria questioned.

"Oh, it's nothing," Remus said quickly, mentally cursing himself for saying that out loud.

"Come on, tell me," Aria pleaded, "I'll listen. I swear I wont tell."

Remus quickly came up with a lie. There was no way he could tell the truth.

"Before I came to Hogwarts," he started, carefully playing out his story, "I was a loner. I mean, I didn't really get along with people that well."

He could've kicked himself. He began to wonder how lame that really sounded.

When Aria just whispered, "Go on," in a soothing voice, he figured it was working.

"Well, my dad left when I was eight," he continued, "we got along great until he and my mum began to argue, then I just found it obvious to take her side, he usually never made much of a point. I didn't go to a Muggle school or anything, we couldn't really afford much. I dunno, it just seems so weird actually being here."

"You have to admit," Aria said, "you are a weird group. I mean, James is pretty much rich isn't he? And Peter isn't the popular sort at all. Sirius is just a git, and you're smarter than the three of them put together. How'd you land with that group?"

"That's not really true," Remus said, "Sirius and James both score higher then me on tests. It's just funny how they can act up so much and still end up being the smartest in the year. I think even the Ravenclaws get jealous."

Aria laughed. "Jealous, of those two?"

"Or at least they'd like to think that," Remus added.

He then looked into her eyes and realize how beautiful she was. Remus couldn't help to noticed she was looking at him too.

"You know Remus," Aria said softly, "you could do so much better than them."

"I know," Remus admitted quietly, "but I think that if I left, James and Sirius would kill me for leaving them with just Peter. They can stand him and all, but sometimes he's just too..impossible."

They continued to talk for a few moments, letting the crackling of the fire drown out their voices. They heard nothing else for those few moments as they talked about everything from their friends to home life, and they both jumped back when they heard a third voice enter their conversation.

"Wow Remus, I'm impressed."

"Sirius-" Remus muttered in a murderous tone, clutching his fist, but he decided to just let it go. "Where are the others?"

"Oh I dunno," Sirius said casually, flopping down in between Remus and Aria, "probably still goggling at visions of him and Lily, kissing. They would make a really cute couple actually."

Remus glared at Sirius, nodding towards Aria to remind him she was still there.

"You know how he is," Sirius recovered quickly. "Well, I'm going to bed."

He stood and turned to go up the stairs. Right before he reached the first step he stopped. To their surprise, he conjured up a few candles, which began to dance around the room.

"You two have a good night," Sirius said, winking at Remus.

Remus and Aria looked at each other once more. The two Gryffindors could barely stand it for two seconds before they burst out laughing.

"He thinks that we, me and you-" it was all Remus could get out as he doubled over with laughter.

"You know," said Aria as she ran a hand through her slick black hair, "if we were in seventh year, or at least sixth, I'd probably be trying to snog you right now."

All Remus could do was keep laughing.

"In the Astronomy tower," he added.

Aria finally managed to stand, and she made her way towards the steps to the girl's dorm.

"Oh, and Remus," she added before she went up, "it's a date. You just better remember. Good night."

"Good night," he replied back.

Remus leaned back against the couch, trying to go through all that had just happened. It was hard to tell by the tone of her voice if Aria was serious or not, but of course, he figured, only someone like him would actually wonder. When James came in a few minutes later, claiming he was going to kill Sirius for leading him through the wrong door, he was thankful it was dark because his face was still red with embarrassment from being caught. He went to bed around eleven thirty, and for a few moments it took Remus a while to remember why he was still up. Then the memories of the Mirror of Erised came back to him. However, to his surprise, the memories of him and Aria deluged them.