A/N: Okay, for all those who were wondering, "Caedesmort" is pronounced "See-Daes-Maurt" :)
Also, a SHOUTOUT to EaGLes41574! Your review made my day! Thanks a bunch and I hope I don't let you down with this chap! :)
P.S. Would LOVE it if I got some reviews... Really am looking forward to hearing what everyone thought of this chap:)
Chapter 36: Reflect on DESIRE…
Reference Chapter: "Mirror Tales"
Backstory Recap/ Excerpt: The lion growled loudly at the sky before turning back to Isabella. "Things seemed a lot better in the other world… Not so much Darkness in there than there is over here..." he mumbled more to himself than to Isabella. "The heir hasn't arrived yet and the Time still isn't right…" the lion continued on, sounding thoughtful. "When we look at a mirror, we see our current world being exactly reflected back to us: everything that is happening around us, the voices, the movement, the people—everything. This drives us to the belief that we are seeing our own life being resonated back at us as it is. It is not. What we do not see in the mirror is what's different about the reflection. What plays on other side of the mirror is something you may have never imagined; an alternate universe where things may be a lot better. What goes down in the history of time on this side of the mirror may NOT be the same as what happened on that side of the mirror! In fact what if you are, Isabella, stuck on the wrong side of the reflection? What if, your destiny and reality is ACTUALLY on that side of the mirror which is a lot less messier, a lot less tragic than it is here? What if, you are, in fact the reflection to the actual Isabella that is staring back at you over there?"
Ron's POV
DECEMBER 20, 1976
ABANDONED CLASSROOM, HOGWARTS
01:59 PM
CLANG!
The locket clanked loudly against the mirror, sending out an ominous silence in the room, broken only by the distant sobs of a young man, sprawled at the foot of a massive mirror. The mood inside the abandoned classroom was fast changing with every second…
His sobs and cries of helplessness continued to echo through the empty room. Every ounce of happiness, every atom of warmth, every flake of joy seemed to seep away through the gaps in the windows and the walls and darkness, gloom and despair began to steadily bottle up. Ron's breathing hitched as he noticed how dark it had suddenly gotten ever since he stepped in after Isabella. Isabella, on the other hand, merely stared on as if in a state of trance, while Severus continued to be completely oblivious to her presence…
"Why…? Why…?!" he sobbed. "Why does it hurt so much…?" he whispered to himself. He looked up at the smooth surface of the large mirror that towered above him. "What am I going to do without you, Lily?" he sobbed looking directly into the girl's eyes that Ron couldn't see. "Why are you sentencing me to a lifetime of despair?! What should I do to deserve you? What do I do…? Something… Anything…" he begged, banging his fists on the mirror.
CLANGG!
The locket clanked hard against the mirror again, and this time, Ron knew something terrible was going to happen…
The noise vibrated through the room so much so that the pillar behind which Ron and Hermione were hiding reverberated dangerously with the effect. A cold sweat burst out, as he nervously watched on. Suddenly, Ron's eyes widened when he realized the contents in the green locket had started to swirl ominously.
"Why, Lily?" he cried, looking up through bloodshot eyes. He was not sad anymore, Ron noted. He was angry. Very angry.
"Why?! WHY?!" Severus demanded. "WHY would you rather be with someone with NO SOUL?!" he bellowed and pounded on the mirror even harder and this time, the locket swung a great deal before finally crashing against the mirror one more time.
CLANGGG!
It felt like the very walls of the castle would come crumbling down as the sound waves thundered through the room. Ron held on to Hermione nervously, waiting for the worst to happen. He just knew something very, very bad was going to happen any second now…
And just when he thought he ought to run inside and yank the locket off of Snape's neck, Isabella came to his rescue.
"Snape!" she finally yelled. "Stop it, stop WHATEVER it is that you're DOING!" she said rushing forwards. "And WHO are you talking TO?" she asked, searching every inch of the large mirror.
A startled Severus swung around to see who it was and was thrown to find out that Isabella was spying on him.
"Wh… What are you doing here?" he stuttered, totally taken aback and in shock. Little drops of sweat burst through the pores of his skin as he tried to conceal the mirror behind him, for fear that Isabella might find out his secret.
"I was just getting to class when I noticed you alone in this room!" she said, looking around the room nervously. The vibration on the floors and walls hadn't ceased; if anything, it felt like it was getting worse with every passing moment. "Snape, what did you do, WHAT IS THAT THING ON YOUR NECK?!" she yelled, panic-stricken.
"Nothing… It's nothing… It was… It was just a dare given to me by… by Mulciber," he stammered, looking equally nervous and struck with panic. "He said if I wore it long enough around my neck, I would turn over to the Dark side and that… and that if I did not, he'd leave me alone forever!" he spluttered. Isabella held on to a nearby pillar for support as the floors began to reverberate even more. "Oh no... I think this locket is cursed!" he huffed, as realization hit him.
"You think?!" she yelled. "Get rid of it, Snape! Get it off your neck, this second!" she yelled and ran towards him to yank it off his neck, but Severus ducked out of her way, giving her full view of the mirror this time.
Isabella froze. Ron and Hermione were craning their necks to see what was going on. She looked shell-shocked as she merely stood there staring at the mirror, as if she'd been slapped by an invisible hand.
"Wh-What... Me and... What?" she muttered, not taking her eyes off of the mirror for even a second. "Wh-What mirror IS this?!" she stuttered and looked up at the golden arch that was encasing it, until her eyes found some obscure letters and words written on the arch:
oO~.. "Ís'h'Ów nÖ' Tyo' Urf'Ac ebÜ Tyo' Urhë aR'ts DÉSÍRÉ" ..~Oo
"The Den of Desire…" Snape muttered from behind Isabella. "It shows not your reflection but your heart's true desire…" he whispered. "What does your heart truly want, Williams? The Mirror never lies… What do you truly see…?" he asked in a small albeit cold voice.
("Ron! This is it!" whispered Hermione. "The note that Isabella had given us! Reflect on DESIRE! This is it, she was actually referring to the Mirror of Erised!" Ron nodded his head and motioned her to quiet down before turning his attention back to Severus and Isabella. Hermione continued to look confused though… "But, why is it not Erised…?" she wondered out loud.).
"Nothing!" Isabella spat out, looking very distracted and guilt-ridden. "Nothing, I see NOTHING!" she repeated, more to herself than to Severus. A cold breeze blew over their faces, sending shivers down Ron's spine. The clouds outside seemed to thicken again and, the longer they stayed in this room, the darker it got, as if Death itself was upon them…
"You're lying…" he said, with a slight smirk on his face. "You're just scared of what the mirror is actually showing you, are you not?" he asked, amusedly. Isabella shot him a look of pure hatred before speaking up again.
"DO NOT make me kill you, Snape!" she yelled through gritted teeth. "That locket is cursed and I am starting to get a very bad feeling about this! We need to get out of here before things get worse!" she said, tugging at his hand, but he resisted.
"I'm not leaving this room!" he yelled as he shook her off roughly. Ron saw a look of deranged obsession playing in Severus's eyes as he inched closer towards the mirror. "I am never leaving this tower EVER! She will be mine forever!" he announced, turning back to the mirror once more as a sense of mad satisfaction crept back on his face. "Lily and I are meant to be soulmates!" he announced, as little drops of tears trickled down from his wide, bloodshot eyes. "And this is my destiny…" he whispered, quivering a little from complete insanity.
Isabella helplessly stared back at the madman that Severus now was and looked desperate to do something. Heavy winds blew through the open windows and doors, making her robes flutter and flap in the air. "Snape, this mirror is lying! It's driving you INSANE!" she yelled, but Severus wasn't paying any attention anymore. He had spread his arms wide and closed his eyes as if cherishing every second of the wild wind that was gracing his face and hands.
"SNAPE!" she bellowed, "SNAP OUT OF IT!"
Still no reaction.
But Isabella seemed to have had enough, because suddenly, without warning, she leaped forwards, grabbed the locket in her hand, yanked it off of Severus's neck and crashed it against the mirror, in an attempt to destroy it! Unfortunately for her, quite the opposite happened…
Instead of crumbling to pieces, the locket flew open and a thick, black cloud of smoke exploded out of it, throwing both Severus and Isabella to the ground. The black cloud started to swirl and gurgle and puff until it entirely blocked out the mirror from their view. And, because the mirror was entirely clouded by the black smoke, it cut out all light in the room, shrouding everyone in pitch darkness altogether. For a split second, Ron lost track of where exactly he was as his eyes desperately tried to adjust to the pitch blackness that he was surrounded in. And then, suddenly, there was a noise as that of something slithering through the dusty floors.
Silence.
Nothing ever moved for a whole thirty seconds. Severus and Isabella were far too terrified to even breathe while Ron and Hermione held on to each other as darkness engulfed them entirely. Ron wasn't even sure which way he and Hermione were facing in the darkness. He listened on with bated breath, hoping to not get ambushed by a snake out of nowhere.
Suddenly, Ron's breath got completely knocked out of his lungs when white thick cloud burst out of the locket on the floor and swirled upwards winding into a perfectly circular shape until, Ron thought, it looked like a face! The white cloud of smoke continued to swish around until the features got more prominent and evident, to reveal the deadliest human face Ron had ever seen in his life. Pride and command seemed to almost ooze from the face that stared back at the mirror. With a large crown set on its head, it was the face of a King that was more terrible and more horrifying than that of Voldemort himself!
The face was staring back at the mirror through a pair of eyes as that of the very eyes of a cobra. Fear and dread shot through Ron's spine as he held Hermione closer to him while staring into the white, cloudy face of the greatest Dark Lord the magical world had ever seen…
"Wondrous…" came a deathly voice from the cloud smoke that continued to stare at the mirror. "For centuries in silence I lie… And so vow'd, whilst there is world or time, th' Slytherin bloodline shall'st always bear and produce such soldiers, such captains, and such lords ne'er seen… And what of my bloodline thou shall'st see? Greatness-sss…" the voice hissed, as the white shadow of the long-gone King Mávros Slytherin beamed more and more with cold happiness.
Ron finally understood what was happening: Mávros Slytherin was staring into the Mirror of Erised which was reflecting back to him, his deepest and greatest desires ever! Hermione looked up at him, completely perplexed out of her skin as realization dawned on her as well.
Isabella and Severus exchanged petrified looks before slowly turning their attention back to the ghost of Mávros Slytherin. Ron, on the other hand, couldn't help but acknowledge how handsome Mávros actually was, despite the malice that hung about his face.
"Mine eye doth pierce the heav'ns and see what is invisible to thee!" he boomed, getting louder and madder with a controlled mirth as the mirror continued to show him more and more of his deepest, darkest desires. "My garments are not silk nor gold, nor such like trash which Earth doth hold but, Royal Robes I shall have on more glorious than the glist'ring Sun! The City where I hope to dwell, there's none on Earth can parallel... Mine blood shall'st live on, for pride, power and honour!" he thundered, looking more insane than ever.
"No Candle there, nor yet Torch light in this world forevermore, for there shall be, forevermore only darksome nights..." the old King hissed, his face almost quivering with rage and revenge that was threatening to explode. "I have returned...!" he bellowed, making Ron's legs almost buckle with fright. "ALL RISE FOR THE MIGHTY MAVROS SLYTHERIN HAS RISEN ONCE MOOORE!" the ghost boomed, making the entire room shudder and crumble all over. Ron saw that Hermione was visibly shivering at the mere sight of the ghost, and wrapped a protective hand around her.
Triumph and pride resonated from the very eyes of the snake as he continued to look into the depth of the mirror when he heard a soft sob escape from Isabella's mouth. With a rage that could have engulfed the entire planet, he swung around to see what it was that had disturbed his peaceful moment of victory and ended up staring at the white, fearful face of Isabella. At first, the King seemed to glare venomously at the white face of Isabella with every intention of shredding her to pieces. However, the longer he stared at her, the faster his rage seemed to fade away. All of a sudden, his wrathful face was filled with a sense of tenderness. He continued to gaze at her serenely as if hit by a wave of sweet memories from long ago.
"Irvette… Reborn…?" he whispered, drinking in her image. His eyes widened in wonderment and deranged longing of times forgotten. Somehow, from his tone, Ron got this feeling that Mávros was asserting an invisible sense of ownership on Irvette Gryffindor; it looked like, despite all that's happened, he still thought of himself as her Master. Slowly, very slowly, however, Ron noticed his breathing get shallower and heavier as he continued to stare at Isabella's white face, until his face was shuddering with absolute rage and fury. "Several centuries hence, thou was't of royal blood begot! But of all the heirs on earth, thine heart burns for MY BLOOD?!" the face roared.
Isabella simply stared back, looking beyond confused. It was clear that she hadn't understood a word of what Mávros had just said. "I… Er… Blood…?" she stuttered.
At this point, however, Severus, despite his fear-ridden face, turned around to look at Isabella with a thunderstruck expression on his face, making Ron wonder what Isabella had really seen in the mirror. A crack of lightening thundered and lit up the skies outside for a split second, making Ron jump once again.
"Thy sinful desires I have seen! Thy ambitions be beyond thy dull capacity!" he roared. "Mixing of Caedesmortan royal blood with the heirs of Woldorin?!" Mávros thundered, this time speaking directly to Severus. "Dishonour! No son of Caedesmort thou art!" he raged on.
Mávros Slytherin continued to seethe at the two white faces of Isabella and Severus. "Much is sinned in this realm!" he hissed, looking around the empty classroom and the silent corridors beyond. "Disturb no more my content heart, for I have vow'd Light as a foe still to pursue… All the wrongs be right'd and all the darkness over light be triumph'd! What is denied to me shall FOREVER BE DENIED TO ALL!" he raged on, as a thick white cloud of smoke started to swirl around his face, distorting the chiselled, handsome face of Mávros Slytherin. "Prepare to enter a new world, a world bereft of sin… A world perfect'd to my liking! A world where Love is thus destroy'd and Darkness prevails!" he thundered.
Ron's breathing got shallower and heavier as his anticipation for what was about to come next mounted inside him. Suddenly, he remembered something important...
'It happens in 1976…'
Isabella's voice echoed in his mind, as his heart started to race. He had to do something important right now. What was it?
'Seek the boy with the Jewel of Light…'
Severus… He's the boy with the Jewel of Light! What else did she say…?
'Reflect on DESIRE and burn it bright…'
Burn it bright… Burn it bright? How can he burn it bright? What should he do? Reflect on DESIRE? Burn it bright… Ron suddenly gasped. 'The Deluminator!'
However, before he could blink, before he could even move a finger, he heard a crash, like an explosion. He swung his head around just in time to hear Mávros Slytherin laughing frightfully, "The time is here…" he said, before crashing head first into the mirror!
An ear-splitting, earth shattering blast that could've destroyed the whole of England thundered through the room, throwing Ron and Hermione and everyone else in the room into a fabric of total confusion! All Ron could see was whiteness everywhere as he felt the wind engulf him entirely. And in all this confusion, there was a sudden sound of a glass shattering that pierced through Ron's ears threatening to explode his ear drums altogether as he held on to Hermione like his life depended on it… He couldn't let anything happen to her…
Suddenly, it felt like Ron and Hermione were thrown right into the eye of a storm and they were being carried by an unseen wave as big as the castle itself! Everything started to spin and bend around until they were moving and revolving and spinning uncontrollably as if they were being sucked into a very tiny hole on the wall where the mirror stood tall. The spinning got faster, the wind spun around them more wildly than ever before and Ron felt himself get lost entirely as he surrendered helplessly to the power of the great Dark Lord, Mávros Slytherin. A slow sense of hopelessness started to creep inside him as his wind-pipe got blocked entirely and the spinning got tighter and more claustrophobic for him to bear.
At some point through this journey, all was lost. For a split second, everything was white, calm and peaceful. Ron hadn't breathed in so long that, he was sure he was dismissed and relieved from the bondage of life forever, as a sense of happiness crept inside him. There was no sound, no movement, no ANYTHING in this paradise that he was floating in before he noticed something important: his hand was holding on to something. Slowly, he turned his head to see what it was and got his breath knocked out his lungs as he realized, he was in fact, holding on to Hermione's hand…
Before he could let the realization sink in, he felt himself be pulled towards the ground and found himself hurtling back to some unknown place at an unimaginable speed.
BAM!
Ron felt himself crash through a mirror in slow motion as several thousand glittering pieces of steel illuminated the room all around. A second later, he found himself thrown back into the room from where he was squeezed out of mere seconds ago. He flew out of the mirror and landed twenty feet away from the mirror before rolling over uncontrollably with Hermione clutched tightly to his chest. Finally, the spinning stopped and he landed smack on his back with his left arm wrapped tightly around Hermione. He was staring back at the high ceiling and breathing heavily.
"Ron," Hermione whispered next to him. "Are you alright…?" she asked, to which Ron merely nodded his head. All was lost. He had not acted in time as per Isabella's instructions. He should've sent out a whole bucket of light before the unthinkable had taken place. What was he going to do now? All hope was lost, how was he going to salvage his mistake?!
"Hermione, what are we going to do now?" he whispered back miserably, but shut up quite immediately as he realized where he was. They were still in the same room and quite predictably, so were Severus and Isabella. They can't be seen, Ron reminded himself.
"Snape?!" he heard the faint voice of Isabella from far away. Quickly, Ron and Hermione jumped up to their feet and slid behind a pillar. "Snape, are you alright?" they heard her say.
"Where… Where are we?" he asked, uncertainly as he clumsily scrambled back to his feet. "The mirror! What's happened to it…?" he asked, stricken with panic and turned around to see that it was still in its pristine condition as it was before except, it didn't look quite the same. That's when Ron realized how the Mirror got the name 'The Mirror of Erised'.
The inscription on the rim now read:
oO~.. "ÉRÍSÉD st'Ra ëhrU o'yT Übe cA'frU o'yT Ö'n wÓh'sÍ" ..~Oo
"Isn't she simply breath-taking?" he asked, as he continued to stare at an invisible Lily.
"Snape, HONESTLY?!" Isabella retorted crossly. "This mirror is driving you INSANE! I mean, after ALL that we just saw, you're still stuck on Lily?!" she shrieked and shook his shoulder, as if to wake him up from a trance. "Who WAS that and… and… where are we?!" she asked, looking around uncertainly. "We're certainly back but something feels different," she breathed, and Ron could sense panic rising slowly inside of her.
"We are where we're supposed to be," Snape said silently, clutching the Jewel of Light tightly in his hand. "It's the Dark Lord's wish and we're powerless in front of him. Fighting him is futile," he said, sounding beat and tired. "Mulciber was right… I have to join my Master, my fate," he whispered.
"WHAT?" Isabella shrieked. "Are you MENTAL?! Joining Voldemort, are you HONESTLY considering that option?" she asked, looking horrified. "Snape, Lily trusted you! How could you do this to her?"
"Lily is gone… All hope is lost," he whispered. "The Dark Lord is my only hope now… He's my only option…"
"No! NO, he's not!" Isabella said, holding him by his shoulders. "You're a good person, Snape. Allow the world to see that side of you! Allow Lily to see you the goodness in you…"
"To what avail? The Slytherin never gets the Gryffindor… Did you not hear the Dark Lord?"
"First of all, DO NOT CALL HIM THAT! It burns my blood to have to give a thick, white smoke face so much respect! For starters, we don't even KNOW who that was. Secondly, I don't give a rat's arse about what he had to tell us about our future! Thirdly, I want you to get RID of that locket, right away," she snarled. "Also, let's get out of here before we see something else on the mirror…" she trailed away and tried to drag Severus by his hand, but he won't budge.
"What's making you so nervous, Williams?" Severus asked in a low voice. "What was so horrific about what you saw in the mirror? You do realize that the mirror never lies, don't you?"
Isabella didn't say anything for a long time. However, Ron saw her slowly raise her head up and looked straight into Severus's eyes. "I just realized that, one's deepest desires aren't always all that pleasant. I'm scared, Severus…" she whispered, almost welling up. "I don't want what I saw… It could destroy me entirely! I hope to never see my future turn out like that!" she said, as a sob escaped her mouth. "Promise me to never talk about it, Severus? Please…"
Severus mutely stared at her. "Whatever it is, it won't remain a secret for too long..."
"Severus," she pleaded. "I need just your word at the moment... I promise to help you out in any way possible if you promise to keep my secret safe with yourself..." she begged. "Please..."
He didn't say anything for a long time and chose to simply bore her with an accusatory look. But eventually he did give when he curtly nodded at her as if to say he promises.
"Come on then," Isabella said, tugging at his hand, as a sense of relief washed over her body. "Let's get out of here…" and the two of them filed out of the room in awkward silence.
Ron let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. He slowly turned to his wife and, as he met her eyes, he immediately knew she was thinking the same thing that he was as well.
"That was our cue, Ron… We should've been quicker," she said, sighing audibly and leaning against him.
"What next, though?" he asked, looking down at her.
"Isabella has already answered that as well," she said and Ron immediately remembered the rest of the note that she had left for them.
'Daughter of love, sacrifice and thorn…
What is up is now down…'