Disclaimer: We only lay claim to the little Weasleys and Delaney (although we could probably only handle her in small doses). Everyone else belongs to the inimitable JK Rowling. And now on with the show….
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Once There Was A Way
By ScarlettBelladonna and Portia
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"This mirror will show you what you do and do not want to see."
-Snow White, The 10th Kingdom
Chapter Two: Curiouser and Curiouser
"Sisters are boring." It had taken Evan over ten minutes of observation to reach this conclusion. He had poked Lily twice and tickled her feet and still she had done nothing but roll over. Evan decided that it was time for some serious action. He reached out his hand to steal her teddy bear but was interrupted mid-grab.
"Evan Nicolas Potter! What are you doing?"
This was bad. It is a universal fact that parents only use your middle name when you have done something wrong. Evan was familiar with this concept.
"Er…"
"You weren't trying to get Lily to do magic where you?" Evan shrugged noncommittally. "Because you know that she isn't going to do anything interesting for sometime now. She's not even a year old. You were 2 before you showed any signs of magic and that was only after Will and Drew let the bludger loose in the playroom."
"But Daddy she's so boring," whined Evan. "She just sleeps and eats and lies there."
"Yes, Evan. That is what babies do. But cheer up! Jack will be here soon and Mum made hot cakes for breakfast." Harry Potter led his young son out of the nursery and towards the kitchen. They were just sitting down when the door flew open. Hermione Granger-Weasley exploded into the kitchen, her two sons in tow.
"Please tell me you have enough Floo Powder to get us to the Hebrides."
"Late dropping Toad off at school again, are we Hermione?" The evil grin cultivated from years of baiting Hermione was spreading across Harry's face. "I distinctly recall several lectures from you detailing the virtues of punctuality. Are we having trouble practicing what we preach?"
It immediately became apparent to Harry that Hermione was in no mood for games. "Yes, well some of us must get dressed at a reasonable hour, Mr. Potter." Hermione glared pointedly at the golden snitch pyjamas that Harry was still wearing.
"Are you implying that noon is not a reasonable hour to get dressed? Besides, I rather like my snitch jammies. And I would imagine that the boys agree with me, don't you boys?" Harry's son and nephews nodded vigorously in agreement.
"If these boys turn out with even a shred of responsibility it certainly won't be thanks to you or Ron."
"I will be happy to take full responsibility for every one of their future detentions," Harry proclaimed dramatically, "We certainly wouldn't want another family to claim the Detention Cup!"
Hermione was too frustrated to come up with a witty retort. Harry took advantage of his best friend's speechlessness and threw a handful of Floo powder into the fire. "You better hurry, Toad is already late."
Hermione huffed unintelligibly, kissed Jack on the cheek, grabbed her eldest son, stepped into the fireplace yelled "Hebrides" and disappeared.
Harry turned to face Jack and Evan who were already attacking Ginny's hotcakes, "So boys, after breakfast are we going to continue our hunting of the snark?"
"Well, we're getting pretty close to catching it," said Evan seriously.
"Last night I saw it behind Mum's rose bushes," revealed Jack.
"I am not surprised," stated Harry, "It is a well known fact that nothing attracts a snark quite as well as leaves on a rosebush."
The young boys stared in awe of Harry's extensive knowledge in the field of snarkology. After a few more bites the boys were ready for their adventure. "Let's go check on Lily, then we'll get dressed, brush our teeth and start the hunt."
The would-be expeditioners proceeded to the nursery to check on Lily's protective charms then changed out of their pyjamas and headed for the bathroom.
Harry had just finished dispensing Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Toothpaste onto the boys' toothbrushes and was starting to brush his own teeth when he nearly choked. Harry had become so accustomed to Weasley children, including his own, that he did not think it possible for anyone under the age of fifteen to have anything but red hair. But when he glanced at the mirror he did not see his son, who was as Weasley as they come, but what could only be described as a very young version of himself. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Evan, who appeared as normal as ever and was diligently brushing his teeth. Looking back at the mirror he confirmed the presence of a small boy, sans toothbrush, with messy black hair and bright green eyes smirking up at him in place of Evan, who was working on his molars.
Harry thought he was handling the whole thing fairly calmly, but as soon as that thought left him he noticed an eerily familiar green glow emanating from the boy in the mirror. Without thinking Harry smashed the mirror with his fist and promptly fainted on the bathroom floor.
"Well, that was uncalled for," screeched the mirror on the other side of the room. "Seven years bad luck is not enough for you!"
Authors' Note: So it's been a while since we posted Chapter 1 – please forgive us. Midterms and papers and Spring Break (oh my!) distracted us for several weeks. In the future, the plan is to post more frequently – although we promise nothing.
We promise that the plot will become more apparent in the next chapter – but it did make a small guest appearance in this chapter. Also, we hope that the next bit will be a little longer. We just wanted to get something up before the people who did read the story forgot we existed.
The Mirror says:
Reader, reader in your chair
Review this story, please, be fair