Murder in the Mirror



Day 1: Yesterday, there was one murder in each of the four houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I, Melody, a former student of the school, and current investigator of peculiar happenings, have retuned to this place that brings so many terrible memories to my mind. During today's investigations of the four crime scenes I've come across one similar piece of evidence: a large piece of a broken mirror in each place. Upon further investigation of these segments of glass I've noticed that these are no ordinary mirrors. Each of my colleagues have looked into the mirror and claimed to see something different. They say that they saw themselves, but not as they currently are. When I myself looked into it, I saw only myself, as I was. Whether what my companions say is true or not, the mirrors could indefinitely provide the key to solving this mystery.

Day 2: Once again, we try to figure out what the mirrors mean and what they have to do with the killer, or killers. This time I try to locate fingerprints using visionary spells, but the only traces of human or inhuman handle of them were of the killed. We have tried everything possible at this time to trace back the mirror's origins with no luck. Whoever owned these assumed to be accursed items does not want to be found.

Day 3: At last I've come to a conclusion that this mirror is either cursed or enchanted. I decide to do some research in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library in hope of some clue that can narrow down the possibilities. Unfortunately, narrowing it down did not seem possible. After finding over 100 files on enchanted and cursed mirrors, I tried to find ones that showed something or someone you are not, as all except me who looked into claimed they saw. However, 87 out of the 114 files fit that description almost perfectly. I began questioning the ones who gave me the description. I asked whether whet they saw was something bad or good or something else. All they could tell me was that it was someone that they wanted to be.

Day 4: I returned to the library and went through the files sorting whether they showed good or bad. I was surprised to find that the majority of them showed bad. I then went through the 20 remaining files looking for one that showed what the subject wanted. I ended up with only two. One, The Mirror of Erised, had been destroyed many years ago after it caused one of the students at Hogwarts, apparently where it was stored, some trouble. The other, The Mirror of Acana, was still in existence.

Day 5: I decided to consult with an expert, Albus Dumbledore. After asking him of The Mirror of Acana, I gathered that it had been melted in a fire in the owner's quarters. Stumped by this, I tried to come to a conclusion that the mirrors used in the murders were illegally made, but a strong feeling inside of me told me that they were not. Knowing my strong feelings had never been wrong before, I decided to go through the files again to look for one that may have been meant for something else, but ended up showing what was wanted.

Day 6: I had no luck in finding such a file, so I decided to take the day off and just think. After coming up with no possible solution, and about ready to just give up, it hit me. What I had considered to be pieces of four mirrors could actually be pieces of one. After collecting the four pieces, and a few of the people who wanted to watch, I set them on a table and slowly began putting the pieces together. I couldn't believe that I hadn't noticed before the curved edge on each of the pieces. Assuming the curved edge would be the outside I completed the large puzzle and stepped back to look at the result. It looked like a good mirror and with a frame it would be complete. The only problem was that I had no clue what mirror it was. It couldn't be The Mirror of Acana because it was melted, and it also couldn't be The Mirror of Erised because it was.destroyed.

Day 7: Once again I consulted with the headmaster in hopes he would have the information I needed: How was The Mirror of Erised destroyed? It was a simple reply: It was broken. That was all I needed. The four pieces of mirror were the four pieces of The Mirror of Erised. I went back to the files and this time concentrated on only the one file. I needed to find the last owner. The last owner was.Hogwarts. I looked more into it. It was destroyed and each of its remains were put into a secret chamber in each of the four houses, one piece in each house. The chamber's location was only told to the prefects of each house and of course the headmaster knew where they were. The prefects? I asked the teachers in charge of each house which students were killed. They gave me their names, not to be mentioned here, which isn't what I wanted. So, I asked for their status. Each was in year seven and the prefect of their houses. My colleague, Alan, who was helping me throughout the entire investigation must have seen the victorious look on my face and asked if I knew who the killer was. "Who? I think it was rather 'what'."

Conclusion: After a lot of extensive research of The Mirror of Erised, I discovered its human related history. Its first owner and creator had wasted away in front of it because it showed his deepest desires. Each owner after that had endured the same fate, all lost to the accursed enchantment. Time after time it destroyed the mind of each who relied on it for happiness, until it ended up at Hogwarts. There it was stored away in a chamber, never to be discovered. Apparently a student found it so it was moved into a more guarded section of the castle. After it saved the Sorcerer's Stone from being taken by evil possession, which is another story, it was destroyed, its remains stored in the four houses, location only known by the prefects, the ones who were told to not let any of the students go near them. Most likely, the prefects gained unbearable curiosity about why the mirror was to be so secretly hidden. They probably eventually couldn't bear the mirror's magical call for human touch so they broke into storage chambers all on that one day that their longing took over. The mirror's separate pieces, stronger now that they were fierce with rage of being broken, used their terrible power to do as they had done to the ones before. The mirror's pieces have now been melted like the other mirror, The Mirror of Acana, which was created for the same purpose. As for the terrified students, afraid of being destroyed the same way, have been put at ease by this simple saying: Accept reality for what it is and never lose sight of it and long life shall be yours.