Harry Potter and the Mysterious Sibling

Chapter Eleven: The Magic Mirror


Invisibility Cloak, Library, random classroom, Mirror of Erised.

Melanie couldn't help but wonder what she'd see in the Mirror. Ever since her dream, everything had felt out of place.

Maybe she should go with Harry to the Mirror?But then, she'd have to explain how she knew. Saying 'I know the future' to somebody, even if that person was her brother, would probably get her a one-way ticket to an asylum (or a Divination class, and she honestly wasn't sure which was worse).

What would she see in the Mirror? Would she see her family like Harry? But that didn't feel right to her.

The next morning, Harry looked distracted. This is the first time he's seen our parents, she realized. Melanie cursed her aunt and uncle for not even showing them a simple picture.

It was simply the 'Harry Potter patented luck' that while going to the Restricted Section of the library, he didn't get caught but merely gotten entranced with a magical mirror.

Nicolas Flamel wouldn't be in the Restricted Section. Puzzling over how she knew that, she realized something. I know about him…

She sifted through her memories, which was a rather difficult task as it felt like holding sand. Each individual grain of sand was a memory and she had to pick them out (was she using her hands to pick out the grains or metaphorical buckets and shovels?). Melanie wasn't sure if this was normal, but it worked, nonetheless.

Nicolas Flamel. Several memories changed colour in response to her thought and she picked those out. This definitely isn't normal, she thought, laughing under her breath as a few grains of sand lit up when somebody said those words.

She picked out a random grain of sand. Nicolas Flamel... Found on the back of Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card.

'Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragons blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and ten-pin bowling.'

So Flamel was… is an alchemist. Still alive at the age of… OVER 600 YEARS? Married to… Wait no, that's not important right now. What did he make that would need to be kept safe at Hogwarts? Thinking that, she face-palmed, much to the surprise, alarm, and amusement of those who saw her. OF COURSE! The Philosopher's Stone.

The Philosopher's Stone: immortal elixirs and turning things to gold. Riches and immortal life: the two things that so many people want.

She was brought out of her memory 'sand box' as Harry called her name.

"Yeah? Sorry, I was kinda spaced out for a second."

"We realized," Hermione said. "You were muttering something about Hogwarts and gold."

Those just had to be the words she said out loud. "Listen, I think I know who Nicolas Flamel is."

Hermione listened raptly as Melanie recounted everything that she'd 'remembered/realized'. This was rather early in the timeline, but it was better to know earlier.

"Gold and immortality? That's why Snape's after it!" accused Ron, prompting an eye roll from Melanie.

Snape's innocent, she thought, not saying it out loud. None of them would believe her, and then they'd wonder how she knew it.

Asylum, she reminded herself, only just managing to close her mouth and stop from blurting out everything.

The rest of the day was spent with them bickering, playing games and talking in the Gryffindor Common Room. At first, all three of them felt enthusiastic when Ron suggested chess. They ended up regretting their enthusiasm as Ron creamed them one by one. After another few games where they all lost terribly, they ended up discussing Nicolas Flamel, Snape and the giant black dog guarding the area ("Maybe we should go see it." "DON'T BE STUPID, RONALD!").

That night, when she was back in her dorm, she had a 'vision'.

Ron and Harry in front of the Mirror.

"See?" whispered Harry.

"I can't see anything," said Ron, frowning at the Mirror.

"Look! Look at them all… there are loads of them…" Melanie grinned at his description of what was in the Mirror; he'd told Ron that the Mirror showed family members.

They switched places to look into the mirror, making Melanie feel rather bad for Ron as he said that he saw himself better than his siblings.

They started arguing about who should get to look into the Mirror, leading them to leave them room as they heard a noise.

~.~.~.~.~

Melanie could hear only hear muffled talking, even though her ear was pressed up against the door. She looked down hallway to make sure nobody was there before resuming her failed eavesdropping.

This morning, when she'd seen Harry looking more distracted than ever, she'd decided that it was time for her to get involved. Her plan had been to go with Harry and talk to him, but she only just remembered that Dumbledore would be there before opening the door.

The sound of a few footsteps were her only warning before Harry exited the room, nearly giving his sister a heart attack in the process. She was hiding behind a corner, and peeking around said corner, she could see the cloak fluttering around Harry's ankles.

Her natural curiosity warred with her sense of privacy for the headmaster. Melanie's curiosity won over as she inched closer to the door.

Through the crack between the door and the door frame, she could see that Dumbledore was facing the Mirror.

What does he see?

Abandoning looking through the crack, she pressed her ear against the door, careful not to move it.

"Ariana…"

Ariana?

Dumbledore seemed to be done looking into the mirror, turning abruptly and walking towards the door Melanie was hiding behind. Stifling a small squeak, she sprinted down the hallway and around the corner. For a moment, Dumbledore stopped, looking in the direction she'd run. Shrugging it off, he continued on his way.

When she was sure that the Headmaster was far enough not to hear her, Melanie walked into the room with the Mirror.

"What am I going to see?" At the current moment, she couldn't really think of anything that she wanted too badly.

Family wouldn't exactly feel right, because she was sure that she had one.

Money? The Potter vault was filled.

Immortality? Watching all her friends die would be the worst.

A world without Voldemort (who definitely wasn't dead and had somebody trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone for him) would be nice, but how would that look in the Mirror? She definitely didn't want to see a rotting carcass.

Hoping she wouldn't see a carcass of a mass murderer, Melanie leaned forwards to look in the Mirror.

…Is the Mirror broken?

All she saw was a reflection of herself. Red hair, hazel eyes, surprised and confused expression.

Wasn't the Mirror supposed to show some wish of hers?

~.~.~.~.~

"When is something going to happen?" Melanie complained to herself.

Not that she wanted anybody to get hurt, but this waiting was aggravating. Somebody was going to try to steal the Philosopher's Stone at the end of the year, and she was sitting in classes.

For the next Quidditch match, it would go as normal. However, the three of them knew that, under different circumstances, Snape would've refereed. They were still suspicious of that possibility, which they learned from their memories, which meant that Hermione jumped on the chance to make all four of them learn the Leg-Locker curse.

Eventually, Melanie was able to cast the spell somewhat effectively (though there was one incident when she'd been trying to practice the spell against Ron and the spell had pushed him into a summersault).

After the match, Melanie watched as Harry discovered (through his memories) that Snape was 'threatening' Quirrell.

The memories of 'that world', as she though of it, worked just fine. The odd thing about the other memories was that the time difference between them seemed to be closing. As well, they had started to get less and less clear. At that rate, Melanie theorized that their memories would be gone by the end of the year.

Harry pulled them aside into an empty classroom, telling them about what he would overhear.

Now they'll only accuse Snape even more than usual. That thought made her feel like bashing her head in with a baseball bat (or the Beater's bat). She abandoned them to their accusations, choosing to sit by the Lake instead.

Perhaps it wasn't wise to sit by the Lake, what with her fire powers, but it was a calming spot. Watching the water ripples spread across the lake from the creatures moving around in it, she focused into her mind.

Steven? No response.

Steven! No response.

I know you're there, she thought, sounding like a child playing hide and seek. Where could you escape to? This is my mind, after all.

Yes?He sounded amused.

Why didn't I see anything in the Mirror of Erised? That was the question that had been dominating her mind for quite a long time. On occasion, she asked Steven about it, who had in turn said some vague things about it 'not being time for her to know'.

Cut the 'it's not time' stuff, thought Melanie, anticipating his response. A long pause occurred before she asked, Well?

Well what?

You know very well what.

Actually, I don't. You told me to stop telling you it's not time, but if it isn't time, there isn't anything else I can tell you. Okay, he was definitely amused now.

Well-what-you-seriously-GUH. That was the day that Melanie learned that it was possible to be lost for thoughts. And that it felt similar to be lost for words.

Well, if you're not going to tell me about the Mirror, could you at least help me with my Potions essay?

She pulled the essay out in front of her. Somehow, Steven saw it, whether it was through her eyes or not. Ah, yes. This essay is one that's given out every year. Now, this is what you need to write…


[Insert you-know-what.]

Thanks to…

That Elusive Reader: I clap every time I see the review number go up, so thank you! Glad to know that you're reading and, yes, it is odd that Steven even exists. . A dragon child… *ponders idea* Now that would be interesting. XD

I'm planning on finishing this by March-ish, hopefully. I have the next few chapters written out, so there'll probably be more updates. Don't hold me on any promises though, as I suck with commitments! XD

By the way, I sometimes switch POVs in the middle of the chapter. If it confuses you, sorry, but it shouldn't be that hard to notice. Usually, the person's POV will have their name included in it the most. I haven't done a Hermione POV yet, and I'm sure if I will this story. Maybe second year?

Read and review, pleaseeeeeeeee *goes on for five minutes* I'll give you virtual brownies!

~ScaleneGalleons~