A/N: Okay, fuck it! I woke up and thought why not to post the second chapter if I already have it. I've already gotten ahead of myself and posted the first one. But now, really, I won't be posting anymore any time soon. I don't have any more chapters written and I have an exam -the most important and final one of my academic life- in a few weeks time, so I won't have time for anything else. If anyone reads it, you'll see an important decrease in the writing quality. This chapter is totally mine, I used a "mold" for the first one, so... Read at your own peril. This chapter was inspired by another fanfic "What's her name in Hufflepuff by Asehz2ashes" so thanks to them!

Chapter 2: The Order of the Moirai

He landed hard on something unforgiving and metallic. He felt nauseous. It took several moments for him to catch his breath and for his body to stop feeling sore. He tentatively tried to sit up and felt relieved that nothing felt broken. He would be bruised up to all hell, but no seemingly permanent damage.

Whatever this was, it was pitch black. Perfect, I've been kidnapped by a pedo, Alex thought to himself. The air was cool and stale. Could the mirror have been a secret trap door to the basement? Alex stood up and felt dizzy as light flared up around him. He was in a treasure cave. An enormous one, at that. Alex was pretty sure that if he stood very still for a few seconds everything would snap back to normal.

A torch-light hung from the ceiling lighting up the room in contrast with the dancing shadows. The light of the hanging lamp reflected on the glitter of the golden mountains made of coins that filled the space. There wasn't a section of the floor that was bare and several mounds of gold rose far above his head. Fist-sized jewels were scattered around the place, shining through the gold and in open wooden chests. The walls were all scraped with what looked like hieroglyphics, or were they runes?

The vault was square shaped. Alex had landed in the middle of it. He moved to the wall in front of him, splashing golden coins with his legs. There was a big, thick, wooden door that could only be the way out. Alex felt the door with his hands and the stone wall around it to see if there was a handle, but the only indication that the door could be opened was a brass, medieval looking, round knob and an ancient, rusty keyhole. He banged the wood and shouted. "Hello!? Is anybody there?!". No answer. He thought he heard a snigger behind him. Alex turned and tried to look for an assailant in the poorly lit vault. There was no one there. On the opposite wall, all the way across the room, Alex' attention was caught by a mirror that looked very similar to the one he had seen in the den. He once again crossed the room splashing golden coins around. The frame of the mirror was the same as the other one: a badger, an eagle, a snake, a lion, and the pretty-looking bird on top. The surface was different though, this was a plain looking mirror. Alex would have been more keen to further explore the frame of the glass if it hadn't been for the reflection that was staring back at him. Instead of his usual seventeen, average looking, year old self, the mirror showed a child. His child self. Even with the regression in age he recognized himself. Same wavy, brown, short hair, same brown average eyes, and same straight nose. Even his clothes seemed to have shrunk to fit his new body. The reflection must have been between 10 and 12 years old. He wondered if he was undergoing some neurological dire event. He decided to try and see if there was a way out through the mirror. It was solid. "This is not possible." Alex said to no one in particular. His voice was different too. A more musical, pre-puberty tune. Another snigger. "Hello?" Alex asked to the emptiness of the room. "I know you're there." Snigger. A shadow crossed the wall to his left, between the mountains of gold and a wall with some weaponry attached to it: spikes, shields, swords, daggers and shiny suits of armor. He made his way to that side of the room, pushing aside the gold, jewels and general obstacles in his path. There wasn't anybody there, just a life-sized portrait of a woman sitting in an armchair, dressed in a blue Victorian day-dress, with a button-up neck. She held a fan in her hand. Though she seemed to have been painted as she slept, the beginning of a smile colored her expression, the same way that the Mona Lisa smiled mysteriously to the observer. The portrait was supported on a painter's easel, and the frame had a plaque at the bottom.

Madam Eloise Mintumble, 1868.

That name rang a bell in Alex' memory, he could have sworn it had to do with Harry Potter, and something with time-travel. He looked around to see if there were hidden cameras. If there were, he didn't see any.

"This is not possible." Alex said again. Whatever was behind his change in appearance must have been top tier technology. He might have even been drugged. The alternative made something inside him spark with fear and exhilaration in equal measure. It just couldn't fucking be it.

Another snigger. This time he hadn't imagined it. The sound had come from the portrait. And by the looks of her, the woman in the painting wasn't able to hold her laughter any longer. She burst out laughing in very unladylike snorts. "Hello?" asked Alex. "Madam Mintumble?" What kind of futuristic technology was that? There weren't any cables attached to the portrait, and if it was a screen, whatever technology it was using was unknown to Alex. Perhaps it was broadcasting via bluetooth. Alex shook his head. David and Lizzie had gone beyond to set up this prank. Perhaps they had even involved his parents in this pantomime of an escape room. "Okay!" he shouted to the roof. "I'll play, this is an escape room isn't it? I'll find my way out!"

"Who are you talking to, child?" asked the woman in the video with a very British accent. She must be in another room, and was broadcasting live. The filter they were using to make it look like a one dimensional canvas was top notch, Alex had to concede. "Are you daft? William needs to start stepping up his game when he goes out recruiting. Next time he comes by I'll give him a piece of my mind about how to get things done."

Who the hell is William?! And how the fuck can I get out of this room?! Alex thought. Okay, talking to the screen portrait must be the first clue, he reasoned. If the name of the woman was related to the Harry Potter series, and the vault seemed like a Gringotts vault, he probably needed to go along with the theme.

"Sorry, Madam Mintumble. I was just a bit confused." God, it was weird to be talking to a portrait. "I don't know exactly how I managed to get here, but I guess the goal of all this is for me to get out. You wouldn't know by chance how to do that, would you? And who's William by the way?"

"William is my son. And as far as how to get out of the vault… Well, with the key of course." She said as if it were the most obvious thing. "You definitely must have some sort of impediment. At least you will make a nice addition to my collection. Charlotte has been so lonely here…"

"Charlotte?"

"You're almost stepping on her, dear."

Alex looked downwards, and yes, indeed, he was almost stepping on someone. Well, what was left of her human remains. A skeleton lay at the feet of the easel, wearing a moth-eaten silly dress that seemed to be out of a 50s musical. Alex jumped back a few feet, prompting the woman in the portrait to start laughing again. Okay, that's a very realistic fake skeleton, thought Alex. He shook his head, and tried to think of how to get some kind of clue out from the woman, she was the only lead that Alex had for getting out of this place.

"You are Eloise Mintumble, aren't you? The famed Unspeakable who traveled back in time several centuries…" said Alex to the laughing woman.

"Oh, so there might be some hope for you after all." She said between her dying chuckles, as she fanned herself and smiled in a knowing way. "I'm painted after Eloise, yes, what you see is what I looked like in 1868. I don't have the memory of her travelling back to the fifteenth century, as she did so after I was created, but I've been told so far that she was the only person to ever manage to go back that much. Pity she didn't make it back. Time travel was not our only interest, no. I studied many fields of magic… Very well… Indeed, a muggleborn who at least knows something. If anything, it seems that you will make good conversation, of course, up until you die. But I bet perhaps you could manage to become a ghost and keep me company! Morgana knows Charlotte has not been very good at the art of polite conversation these past few years". Alex tried to dismiss her last words – and the suggestion of his imminent demise– and went on.

"Seeing that we are in a vault full of gold, and valuable objects, am I to assume that we are in Gringotts?" asked Alex. It was better to get all-in in the role.

"HA! There is no way I would have let those bastards get a hold of my fortune! It turns out that when you manage to make interdimensional travel a thing, those greedy goblins get all pissy about it: something to do with creating a multiverse inflational bubble and bursting out the market, the gall… No. Technically, we are not in Gringotts, but you made a close guess, not that it will help you in any way to get out of here… I built this vault just next to Gringotts, in the cellar of the Motherhouse. The bastards have my riches just under their noses and can't even get them!"

A phantom of a feeling was starting to grow inside Alex. Was it even possible that there was any remnant of truth in what she was saying? He needed to get out, probably the lack of oxygen was starting to mess with his head, and thus the hallucination of his younger self.

"How do I get out then?" Alex interrupted her rambling. "You said something about a key? How do I find it?"

"Don't you have a pair of hands and a pair of eyes? Use them!" she said, apparently annoyed that she had been interrupted. "I can't be expected to do all the work for you now, can I?" She went silent after that, opening the fan with an angry jab.

Alex started to search for the damn key. He was starting to feel tired, hungry, and a bit thirsty. He must have been gone for a while now, if he wanted to make it back for dinner he needed to hurry. A voice in the back of his mind told him that it was unlikely that he would make it back home at all. He pushed aside mounds of gold in search of a key, if it was anything like the keyhole it must have been rusty, and Alex hoped to be able to notice it in the middle of all the shiny things. He turned over everything that could be turned. As it was, there was also furniture under all the gold, Alex hadn't noticed it on a first glance. He opened drawers and wardrobes. He checked inside the armors and looked for cracks in the wall for a place in which a key could have been hidden. He even searched through the floor for the sake of thoroughness. After what felt like an eternity, and having searched the entire room feet by feet, Alex went back to the portrait. He hadn't found anything, and by now he was more than exhausted, sweaty and hungry. He also needed the loo. Urgently.

"Well?" asked Madam Eloise with a smirk. "Giving up already?"

"Actually, yes I am. I'm tired and hungry. And I need to pee, so could you avert your eyes while I do my business?" Alex had had more than enough. He turned to the corner and unzipped his fly.

"No!" screamed Eloise. "The stench will cling to the room for years! Very well… I will help you… Just because you seem to be a bit more knowledgeable than the last fool who crossed through the mirror, and today I am feeling magnanimous… Don't get used to it."

Alex rezipped his fly. He was getting out. Finally, "Well?" he said.

"Don't you use that tone with me, young lad." answered Eloise. "Are you a wizard or not? I bet that you love to do little parlour tricks, don't you? Even little muggleborns like yourself can do some basic spells." Alex almost answered that no, in fact, he wasn't a wizard. At most, he could be considered a party magician, but he was too tired to argue anymore. He took out the forgotten nickel, which in comparison to the gold in the room looked very cheap, and held it in his hand. He did the one-handed sleight and the coin vanished. It was in the sleeve of his coat. "Well?" Asked Eloise. She had an excited look on her painted face, as if she were waiting for something. "Now all you have to do is produce the key instead of that little cheap coin. A simple switching spell!"

"How? I don't have any keys!"

"MAGIC! You daft moron!" shouted her. She was getting agitated, just like him. "Just close your eyes, do what you always do, and will the key to appear in your hand!". He was frustrated, but Alex did what she told him to. He wanted to be done with this. He did the trick backwards, to make the coin appear in his hand, and with all the concentration Alex could muster, he imagined a key that would fit the keyhole to be in his hand. He felt a tingle and a rush, and as he turned his closed fist and opened his hand Alex felt that whatever was in it wasn't in fact a coin. He was holding a rusty, big, old key. Eloise applauded.

"Oh! Well done! I knew you would get it in the end! Or I was almost sure in any case! Welcome to the Motherhouse dear!" She said, "You are now a member of the Order of the Moirai! I hope that we can move on past our initial disagreements, you see, I have to be very selective with who I allow into our fold. All water under the bridge now!" Eloise said. Alex didn't pay her any attention. He was focused on the key in his palm, as if it were the most extraordinary thing he had ever seen. In a sense, it was. Perhaps the exhaustion had finally made him lose all sense of sanity. Or perhaps there really was a lack of oxygen in the room. However, Alex had so far been able to find reasonable explanations for all the things he had just witnessed in the previous hours since he had landed in this strange room. But this, this he couldn't explain. He didn't have a coin in his sleeve anymore. The coin had turned into the key. There wasn't any other explanation. Alex knew it, he also knew that it had been him the one responsible for transfiguring it. He had done Magic. Capital M. It was against all sense of logic – and the natural order of things–, and yet Alex was as sure about it as he was sure that the sky was blue and the grass was green.

Eloise went on. "I have a small favour to ask, now that we are on such good terms. When you are done fawning over the key, and pull yourself together, could you ask Oma to bring my portrait up to the drawing room dear? I have had enough of staring at galleons and sickles for a while. Besides, this light does not do justice to my cutis."

"Oma?" asked Alex, trying to get out of his own mind. "Who is Oma?"

"The house-elf, of course! By now she must already be waiting outside that door!" explained Eloise, pointing with her fan. "Didn't you need to use the bathroom dear?"

That seemed to make it. The notion that house-elves were real and the reminding of his need for the loo pushed Alex to the door. Tentatively, as if the key was about to disappear –he still hadn't gotten over the fact that the key had previously been a coin–, he put it in the hole and turned it. The door creaked but with a push it opened. A stone staircase went up. POP. A small creature appeared out of thin air. The art designers for the Harry Potter movies had really made a very good job characterizing the servant creatures, conceded Alex. Oma was about three feet tall, with spindly arms and legs and an oversized head and brown, musty, big eyes. She had pointed, bat-like ears, in one of which a golden hoop earring dangled with the movement. The elf bowed, and when she spoke she did so with a squeaky voice. "Oma welcomes the new young master to the Motherhouse. How might Oma address the young master, sir?"

"Alex Friedman, nice to meet you." answered Alex as politely as he could manage. Upon closer inspection there was a different aspect to the elf than what he might have expected. She wasn't wearing a dirty pillowcase and wasn't barefoot. Her uniform consisted of some sort of fabric that reminded Alex of an ancient Greek toga and she was also wearing straw sandals that laced up to her wobbly knees.

"Oma is thrilled to have a young master wizard to attend to again. It has been a long time! Oma almost disobeyed Master William's orders and popped into the vault to help Master Alex get the key, but Oma is a good elf. She knew the new master would manage it in the end!" She said as she started to walk up the stairs. Alex followed her. "Oma has been cooking all afternoon for when Master managed to get out of the vaulty, sir."

Alex' stomach growled in response. He also really needed the loo. They arrived at the top of the stairs, where there was a wooden paneled wall. Oma snapped her fingers, and the wall glided to the side leaving an open doorway. On the other side, an elegant, cavernous hall sprawled. The flooring of the room seemed like a giant chessboard, with big, black and white marble flagstones. There was a black wooden door, a stone lintel over it, that Alex assumed was the exit of the building. Behind him, a split staircase went up to the upper floors. One could see the central hall from the top floor through the arched galleries. The passageway to the vault had been hidden under the main stairs of the house. In the center of the room stood an ornate round table with a glass vase full of blooming zinnias.

"The bathroom is that way, sir." Pointed the elf. "First door on the right. Master will be having dinner in the formal dining room tonight, yes he will. Tonight is a special occasion!"

After he had answered nature's call, and while he washed his hands, Alex took stock of his image in the bathroom mirror again. A plain mirror, thank you very much. Aside from the obvious de-aging, he still looked like himself, or how his pre-teen self had looked like, at least. "You look like you need your beauty sleep, darling." said the reflection. Whatever. He had done magic and somehow was in the Wizarding world of Harry Potter!

The dining room seemed to have been taken out of a Jane Austen novel. A high ceiling, in which painted clouds seemed to be slowly drifting on a blue sky backdrop, a glittery chandelier, and an impossibly long carved table lit with silver-supported candles. Sleeping portraits decorated the walls and an ornate flower arrangement –proudly boasting its elegance– sat in the middle of the table. Alex believed they were daffodils. Oma seemed to have gone all above and beyond with the layout of the silverware and the cooking. A feast lay in one end of the table, waiting for Alex to devour. As he sat down and picked a bit of everything to try, he asked Oma: "So, what is the Order of the Moirai exactly?" He didn't remember that being mentioned in any of the books.

"The Great Order of the Moirai is an ancient society conformed by witches and wizards searching to uncover the many secrets of magic, sir." explained Oma. "As far as Oma knows, time travelling and world crossing are just some of the many fields studied in the Motherhouse, sir. But Master Alex needs to learn about wizardry and witchiness in school before he can do any of that. Young Master Alex would do better asking Master William if he comes back. Oma is just the house-elf." Said the elf with a shrug.

Many questions came to Alex' mind. So he decided to fact-check what he thought he knew.

"You say I am your new master, how did I become it? What about Mr. William? Aren't you bonded to him?"

"When young Master Alex crossed through the darky mirror and managed to conjure the key, he became a new master and member of the Motherhouse. Oma is bonded to the Great Order of the Moirai, and the Motherhouse. Master William is the current Head of the Order, sir." said Oma with pride. "There hasn't been many wizards lately in the Motherhouse for Oma to attend, since Master William sealed the house twelve years ago. It has been a very dark times, sir."

Alex mused as he took a bite of what he believed was pheasant. He had crossed to another world through the mirror, so perhaps there had been a bit of a mix between Narnia and Alice in Wonderland in the Dutch house after all, but he had ended up in an altogether different fictional world, and there was this secret society that he had never heard of or read about in the books or fanfics before. Also, the house-elf, Oma —Alex had always thought of himself as an ally of SPEW– had said something about dark times. Was it possible that he had ended in a time between the wizarding wars? Or had he just arrived at a time when Harry Potter had finally defeated Lord Voldemort for good?

"Oma, Madam Mintumble said that the vault in which I arrived is close to Gringotts, are we in Diagon Alley?" asked Alex with a spark of excitement. It was dark outside, by the darkness that seeped from the dining room windows. If he really was in Diagon Alley, there was no way Alex wouldn't go exploring at a later point. "Also, would you happen to know the date?"

"Not exactly in the Alley, master Alex. Our backyard is adjacent to Gringotts bank. But the goblinses creatures don't know about the Order's riches. It was quite clever of Mistress Eloise to put the vaulty so close to them, under the garden, sir. The Motherhouse is located in Carkitt Market, one of the adjacent streets to Diagon Alley and of better standing, if Master Alex asks Oma's opinion, sir." Explained Oma with a puff. "Today was the 21st of July of 1991, sir. It's close to midnight now, so it will soon be the 22nd. Don't older masters teach young masters the hours and the dates where you come from, sir?"

Alex didn't answer. He had landed in the summer before Harry Potter had started his education at Hogwarts, and that meant that Harry would still have to face Voldemort and fight a war. Alex was possibly the right age to attend Hogwarts too, and he had done magic, hadn't he? Suddenly, the fictional conflict he had read so much about became a very much real thing. If the events of the books were about to unfold, what was Alex going to do? Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore… No. Fucking. Shit.