Chapter 21 – Death's Mirror Part II

Draco was completing an essay assignment for potions when the portrait swung open and his roommate entered. Instead of running straight to her own room, like usual, She headed towards him and, taking a deep breath, took a seat across from him.

Draco gave her a strange look. "What do you need, Granger."

"Malfoy, I need to know something about your father. I think it has something to do with him being a death eater."

Draco paled. "What are you talking about?" He asked quickly. "My fathers not a death eater! Why would you think a thing like that? Heh… heh… heh…" He laughed nervously.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Give it up Malfoy. We all know that you father is a death eater. There's no way around it."

Draco sighed, defeated, and responded "What do you want to know?"

"Do you know anything about a mirror? A special mirror."

Draco hesitated, then nodded.

"Tell me about it."

"I don't have to tell you anything!"

"Please, It's important."

"Why do you need to know about this?" He asked.

"Because your father dropped the mirror and Ron picked it up. It glowed and like… possessed him, so he threw it into the lake, and we need to know more about it. It could be dangerous."

"It is dangerous." Draco replied slowly. He didn't need to reveal this private information, but he despised his father. "That mirror is not just any ordinary mirror. That's Death's Mirror."

"Death's Mirror?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah. The death eaters use it to communicate."

"Cant they just use their dark marks?"

"Granger, don't you think it would be inconvenient to go all the way back to Voldemort's lair every time you needed to say something to him? And what if you were on a mission or something? You couldn't just stop in the middle to talk to the Dark Lord. They use a mirror. It glows when Voldemort wants to talk to them, like their dark mark, and when the touch it, they can see him and talk to him through the mirror."

"Well why couldn't Ron see him? The mirror glowed for him too, but when he picked it up he couldn't see anything."

"Because Ron is not a death eater. Only death eaters can see it. It would be stupid to let anyone who might come upon the mirror be able to see everything about it. What if it fell into the wrong hands?"

"You mean the right hands!" Hermione corrected, knowing he was talking about Dumbledore or the Ministry.

"Whatever. Anyway, it's called death's mirror."

"Why?"

Draco shrugged. "Dunno… Sounds cool."

Hermione let out an exasperated sigh. "Well then why was Ron becoming possessed?"

"Because although Ron wasn't able to see Voldemort, Voldemort was able to see Ron. And he knew who Ron was… Harry Potter's best friend. Most likely he wanted to get information my taking over Ron."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "How do you know all this?"

"It's just common logic. You're a smart girl. You could have figured it out."

"Was that a compliment?"

"No." Her replied, shaking his head. "Most defiantly not. But did you say that Weasly threw the mirror into the lake?

"Yeah…"

Draco laughed. "Stupid idea. It could have cracked and released its dark magic into the lake."

"What does that mean?" Hermione asked slowly.

"It means…"

XXX

The sun was setting in the sky, the breeze blowing, swaying some of the trees a bit. And then, as the students sat safely inside, the usually calm water of the lake shook. Several bubbles emerged from the depths, surfaced, and popped. Another, stronger shake lead to more bubbles, and yet ANOTHER lead to more. Then, quickly, a large, purple tentacle protruded and raised up to a frightening 20 feet. The tentacle came pounding down onto the dock, causing it to collapse and the pieces of wood floated around towards shore. The giant squid tried yet again to reach land, and this time its large arm grasped the shore, pulling its blubbery body out of the water. Its arms thrashed about and its eyes popped open, but they were not normal, they were glowing a bright shade of red.

XXX

Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Draco rushed down towards the lake. They had informed Harry of the danger, and finally they burst towards the doors. The glistening lake became visible, moonlight reflected from the water, that cold night air nipping at their arms and causing Hermione to pull her robes closer to herself. The reached the edge of the water, surverying it for any abnormalities, but found none.

"Thank god!" Hermione sighed in relief.

"Not so fast…" Draco replied, pointing to the sand. Drift wood scattered it, the final remains of the dock that once stood feet from it.

"What the hell does that mean?" Asked Harry, but no sooner had he asked this, than they heard a loud noise from above them. A frightened, high pitched scream from inside the building several floors up.

XXX

Professor McGonagall stood in front of her class as they sat serenely in their seats, awaiting their lesson plan. She looked around the room.

"And where are Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasly, and Ms. Granger?" She asked in a disappointed voice. No one spoke. "No one knows? Hm. Has anyone seen them at all today?"

"I have!" Lavender said loudly, excited at the hint of drama. "They were down in the common room earlier today! Well… at least Hermione, Harry and Ron."

"Thank you Ms. Brown. Today I would like to start with–" But she was interrupted.

Neville, white faced and shaky, raised one chubby arm to point out the window, then emitted a sharp scream.

A large, purple tentacle slammed down on the window, writing and squirming. The suction cups lining the bottom of its arm stuck onto the window and pulled more of its enormous owner up onto the outside of the building.

McGonagall paled, then pulled herself together and quickly uttered "Follow me class! Come on, out!"

The students ran behind her, and the terrified class deserted the room.

XXX

"Oh… My… GOD!" Hermione yelled, pointing up at the Giant Squid. It had some how made its way onto the side of the building and was climbing up, flailing its tentacles wildly.

"HOLY SHIT!" Yelled Draco.

"What do we do?" Asked Ron frantically.

"We have to go tell someone!" Hermione cried, running towards the building. "I'll go, you all wait here uncase it does something and you have to stop it."

"Yeah Hermione, because THAT thing really could be stopped." Harry remarked sarcastically.

"There's no time for sarcasm. I'll be back." She ran off towards the building, and several minutes later cam back out accompanied by Snape, Filtch, and Dumbledore.

Dumbledore's squinted up at the possessed creature and muttered "You children should go back inside."

"But we want to help!" Cried Harry.

"No! Go back inside now! Wait in my office, I will be coming back soon hopefully."

"But…" Harry started, but Hermione elbowed him in the chest.

"As you wish."

XXX

After an hour of restless waiting, Dumbledore finally re-entered his office, sitting down.

"Well?" Ron asked, not being able to hold himself back.

"We have dealt with the Giant Squid. He is now safely back in the lake and hopefully will not be disturbing anyone again. It turns out that some how it had been possessed."

At this Draco burst into laughted. "Posessed?" He gasped, before falling into another fit of giggles. Hermione shot him a death glare, and Dumbledore ignored him.

"Yes. Possessed. Hagrid assisted us in successfully tranquilizing him before we could perform the proper exorcism rituals. We think that the cause was this." He said, reaching into his robes and pulling out a cracked mirror. "Are any of you familiar with this object?" He did not look happy.

Ron's face drained of color, and he raised a quivering hand. "Me." He whispered, his voice cracking.

"Do you mind explaining this to me?"

Ron proceeded to tell Dumbledore the full story that he should have told from the start.

Dumbledore nodded. "Death's Mirror."

"What did you call it?" Asked Ron.

"Death's Mirror. It is the death eaters form of communication."

"What do you think happened?" Asked Hermione.

"Well obviously Voldemort could see Mr. Weasly through the mirror. He wants nothing more than to get information on Harry, so he clearly knew this was a good opportunity. He called to him through the mirror, trying to possess him, but luckily Ron fought it. After throwing the mirror into the lake the evil magic was released, reaching the first thing in its path…"

"The giant squid." Hermione stated.

"Exactly." Dumbledore confirmed.

"What are you going to do next?"

"For now, we are going to dispose of this mirror for good. This has been a long day, and I think that you all should get to bed. Tomorrow brings new opportunities." He smiled weakly. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." They chorused, and then the four students headed up to their rooms.

XXX

Hermione and Draco entered their dorm room, collapsing on to the couches.

"I still cant believe that squid was possessed. That's too funny." Draco said, chuckling once more.

"It's not funny. Someone could have been hurt."

"Whatever you say Granger. I was already aware of your un-appreciation for good comedy." He got up and stretched.

"Stop flattering yourself." She spat. "You are already big-headed enough as is."

Draco smirked. "You want me." He said, walking into his room.

Hermiones eyes widened. "HEY!" She yelled into the closed door. "That's so not true!" But she knew he couldn't hear her.

If anything, she was trying to convince herself.

A/N: Hahahaha… The squid was possessed. It really was a birthday present to my friend Nat (along with a Banana foliage… don't ask.) She begged me to write about the Giant Squid getting possessed by Voldie. Hope you liked it Nat… And everyone else too! I hope that no one hates me for writing something like that LOL.

Review xD At least 3 before an update.

It really is time for Hermione and Draco to get together, isn't it…