A/N: We're near the end now. One or two more chapters should finish off this story, and I hope it'll really be finished this time.
I would like to thank Cygnus Crux, Mystical and Bucky for their reviews. They kept me going when I thought I should just throw this story away and start a new one. I hope I did not disappoint them too much with this chapter. As to your questions, Bucky, I do not know myself. Harry did not exactly have lots of time for that, did he? I'll try to do better next time though.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The name Tel'anran'rhiod belongs to Robert Jorden and the 'Wheel of Time'.
Dreaming of youChapter 9
The Mirror of Reflection
It's huge! Was Harry's first thought. The ladder had ended in a small alcove that opened out to a circular cavern so big that Harry could not see the far side. The walls that he could see were filled with crystals, crystals of different shape and sizes, each one shining with a light that came from inside, a kind of rainbow fire that lit up the cavern like a sun, yet gentle as a mist on the eyes. At the center of this vast cavern stood a mirror. Tall and straight it hung, halfway from the floor and the ceiling, without any form of support that Harry could see. It did not reflect any of the light that fell on it, but absorbed them all into itself, rather like an abyss.
"Where is this place?" Harry asked Star, his voice hushed. To speak louder would be… inappropriate.
"This is the Mirror of Reflections." Star answered, also in a whisper. Sometime during the trip down, Star had discarded her eastern clothing and had reverted back to her normal blue robe. "We use it to find things in your world."
"What do you mean by 'find'?" Harry asked curiously.
"We can find anything anyone had lose, or was stolen from." Star clarified. "You've heard stories of how some people lose something precious, dreamed about finding it in a certain place, woke up, went to that certain place, and really found it?"
"Yeah. I've heard some stories along that line." Harry answered.
"That wasn't just a story." Star replied. "Those people were brought to Tel'anran'rhiod and this mirror."
"I see…" Harry said. "So what are we looking for?"
"Someone that had been kidnapped by Voldemort." Star answered as she began walking towards the hanging mirror.
"But why do I have to be here too?" Harry asked as he half-jogged to keep up with Star.
"Because of the connection." Star said over her shoulders.
"What connection?" Harry asked, even though he had a suspicion of what connection Star's talking about. Ginny had told him about their bond together, due to him saving her life in the Chamber of Secrets.
"The connection one person has with another." Star said, confirming Harry's suspicion.
"The person kidnapped… it's not Ginny, isn't it?" Harry asked nervously, feeling his heart flopping about. There's still a chance, a slight chance that it's not her…
"No, it's not Ginny." Star replied. "It's Hermione."
"Oh man…" Harry's feeling rose on hearing it's not Ginny, only to drop down again to hear its Hermione. "That's almost as bad…" He was so preoccupied with the information that he didn't notice that they had reached the mirror. Only Star's hand pulling at him prevented him from walking smack into the mirror.
"Ok, Harry. This is what we do." Star said decisively. "You find Hermione through the mirror, while I contact Firenze. When you find her, I'll pass the word to Firenze, and he can go tell Dumbledore. Dumbledore will know what to do."
"Firenze?" Harry asked, snapping out of his thoughts. "The centaur?"
"You know him?" Star sounded a little surprised. Centaurs seldom interact with humans.
"Yeah." Harry answered. "He saved me in my first year."
"I see…" Star said. "Back to our topic, you understand what you have to do?"
"Sort of." Harry replied dubiously. "I have to find Hermione with this mirror. But how do I do that?"
"First, think of Hermione." Star instructed. "Her person, her feelings, what she is inside."
"Ok" Harry replied, bringing up an image of Hermione in his mind. While he did not have quite the grasp of Hermione as he did of Ginny, he had not been Hermione's best friend for almost five years for nothing. "What next."
"Reach out and touch the mirror." Star continued. "And call for her in your mind, focusing the thought through the mirror."
Harry walked forward, holding out one hand in front of him. When he touched the surface of the mirror, a jolt of freezing coldness ran up his arm, almost causing him to snatch his hand away from the intense pain. He grounded his teeth in determination, however, and pressed in even farther, trying to ignore the pain. 'Hermione! Where are you?' He cried out in his mind, focusing it all onto his hand to the mirror.
Instantly he felt a pull on his insides somewhat similar to a portkey. The cold feeling creped up his arm, numbing it in the process. Suddenly, Harry's senses seemed to exploded; sight, sound, taste, smell, touch all came flooding through Harry, almost overwhelming Harry's mind in it's intensity. His mind seemed to have became a giant sieve with only one hole, a hole of a certain size, made for only one thing, or a person, in this case. Things too large or too small for the hole fell through it, or around it, or past it.
At last he felt something that fit the sense of Hermione he held to inside his head like a key sliding into a keyhole. "Hermione? Is that you?"
~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione stirred, dimly hearing someone calling out to her. Then she heard another voice, much louder then the first, suddenly shouted almost into her ear.
"Wormtail, you complete moron!" That voice roared. "That's the wrong person!"
Hermione cracked opened one eye in annoyance, ready to lash out at that person. What she saw dried out her mouth, and she suddenly couldn't make a sound.
She was in some kind of large chamber made of green blocks of stone. At one end of the chamber was a dais with a throne-like chair on it. Someone was seated on it, a thin, skeleton-like man with wide eyes that glowed a fearful red, a large snake coiled around him. He had a small smile on his face, a smile with the warmth of a glacier. Though she had not seen him before, Hermione was instantly convinced that this person could only be Lord Voldemort.
"How could you make such a big mistake?! You were the one who pointed her out to us!" the voice continued, growing louder as he went on. Hermione turned the other way to see who it was shouting.
The first thing she noticed was the huge pair of door that stood at the other end of the chamber. A man was cowering near them, trying to escape the kicks of another man standing over him. Hermione was about to shout for the kicks to stop when she noticed that the person was Wormtail. The shout died away.
"Cease your attack, Lucius." Hermione heard another voice said from behind her, a dry and hissing voice. "What would our guest think to see you so cruel to our dear Wormtail?"
"Yes, my Lord." The man who was kicking Wormtail said, stopping his attack and stepping away from him. Now that Hermione could see his face, she saw that it was indeed Lucius Malfoy.
"So, Wormtail…" Voldemort hissed as he stepped down from his throne and walked towards Wormtail. "You messed up again…"
"I'm sorry, My Lord!" Wormtail brawled. "I thought she was Potter's girlfriend when I saw him carrying her into the room."
"You know the penalties for failure, don't you?" Voldemort said pleasantly, ignoring Wormtail's blabbering. "Crucio!"
As Wormtail started screaming in pain, Hermione close her eyes. 'This isn't real.' She thought desperately. 'This is just a dream. It can't be real.'
'Hermione?' Over Wormtail's howls of pain, Hermione suddenly heard another voice, echoing inside her head. 'Is that you?'
'Harry? ' Hermione asked in her head, her eyes flying open, feeling more certain that it's a dream. After all, you don't hear your best friend's voice in your head everyday, don't you?
~~~~~~~~~~
"I got her." Harry cried out, his hand still on the mirror. Star jumped a little. It had been almost five minutes since Harry last made a sound.
"Great." Star answered. "Now follow the thought back to her."
"Ok." Harry said before refocusing his thoughts on the mirror, searching for that thought that he felt before, the one that felt like Hermione. When he found it, he followed it back to its point of origin. It was almost like following a string in a cat's cradle, or in a ball of seriously messed up ball of yard, but Harry managed it somehow. When he reached the beginning of the thought, the mirror suddenly rippled and stretched, pulling back to show a room made of green blocks. Hermione lay at the center of the room, hands and feet bound together. A sudden shriek of pain torn through the mirror, surprising Harry. Then the view changed, turning to face the source of the shriek.
"Did you get the place?" Harry said tensely as the view showed Voldemort with his ward trained on another person, who was screaming in pain. Harry recognize the signs. The Cruciatus curse.
"Give me another moment." Star said just as tensely as she pulled out something that looked suspiciously like a muggle's handphone out of her robes.
"Hurry up." Harry said, his voice strained. "I can't hold it much longer." The cold had numbed his hand, but the pain still continued to burn in his arm. Harry feared that he would have to let go soon, or lose that arm…
"Firenze?" Star called, talking into that handphone-like thing she was holding. "We've got the place…"
~~~~~~~~~~
"Right" Firenze said, as Star finished telling him all the information she could get from the mirror. "I'll be going to the castle now."
"Please hurry." Firenze heard Star say. "That girl's life depend on you now."
Firenze did not reply to that, but wheeled about on his hide feet and prepared to gallop to Hogwarts. Before he could take two steps, however, a black shape clashed directly in front of him.
"What do you think you're doing, Firenze?" Bane demanded. "Have you not interfered enough in human business? Are you some kind of half-ailed mule, running errands for them?"
"I am just following orders for the planets." Firenze growled in that half-patient tone that you use when explaining something to someone for the thousand time, pawing on the ground in impatience.
"The planets!" Bane snorted. "I heard her too. That's no more then a shooting star!"
"So?" Firenze replied with a toss of his head. "You know of the Darks Lords and how they treat us centaurs. I set myself against him, Bane. With humans and shooting star by my side if need be."
With that, Firenze neatly sidestepped Bane and galloped away towards Hogwarts.
"Funny…" Bane mused, as he watched Firenze's vanishing form, making no move to stop him. "That sounded very familiar…"
~~~~~~~~~~
Professor Snape was just finishing his rounds for the night when a sudden thundering was heard from the huge main gates that leads to the Hogwart's grounds. It was a testimony as to how loud the person was banging when you consider that the castle was a very long way from the gates, and that Snape was standing behind almost a foot of solid stone wall, and yet the thundering still managed to rattle Snape's teeth. It was a miracle that none of the students was awaken by that pounding. But then again, most students sleep behind a thick layer of silencing charms, designed to keep the snoring of their bunkmates from overwhelming their ears, so maybe it's not that miraculous after all…
Snape hurried up the winding path to the main gates, fingering his wand as he went. Judging by the sound of the knocking, it couldn't be a human, and what was non-human was dangerous, at least that's the way Snape thinks. This close to the doors, Snape's teeth were not the only things rattling. It almost seemed to Snape that he could feel his brains jumping around in his skull.
When Snape reached the gates, he took a moment to ready his wand, took a deep breath, and flung opened the gates… Just in time to receive a hoof print on his face.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, human." Firenze said on realizing that his fore hoofs had hit flash instead of hard wood. "I didn't see you there." He reached down and tugged Snape back on his feet without any apparent effort.
It took Snape a couple of moments to recover from the kick on the head. When he had at last shaken off the last of the galaxies swimming around his head, he fixed a baleful glare at Firenze, who just looked back innocently. "What do you want?" Snape finally growled out.
"Would you be so good as to direct me to the headmaster's chambers?" Firenze asked pleasantly. "I have something to discuss with him."
"Forget it." Snape said shortly. "I'm not disturbing the Headmaster's sleep, not for a centaur." With that, Snape turned around, a little wobbly, to say the truth, and started for the castle. He did not get very far.
"Listen here, little man." Firenze said, discarding the pleasant tone even as he reached out and picked Snape up by the scuff of his robes. "This has to do with the Dark Lord, so stop that high-and-mighty act and get me to Dumbledore's office at once!" That last part was almost shouted into Snape's ears, and then Firenze dropped Snape on his butt.
Snape glared at the centaur, which Firenze returned calmly, arms folded over his chest, one foreleg raised as if to step down on Snape.
"Fine." Snape snapped out at last. "I'll bring you to the Headmaster." He turned and walked towards the castle, not looking back to see if Firenze was following.
"You have no idea how grateful that made me, human." Firenze said dryly as he clopped after Snape.
"Don't be." Snape replied over his shoulders, just as dryly.
~~~~~~~~~~
Dumbledore sat back in his chair, staring up at his ceiling reflectively. Malfoy lay just beside him on the floor, still out like a light. Dumbledore had left him there, deciding that he wasn't up to dealing with Malfoy yet. Besides, he had something else to contemplate. Just after Harry Potter left with his friends, Dumbledore had a strange feeling that something was about to happen. Something big. Dumbledore did not usually have this feeling, and everything he felt like this, something did happen. He had learned not to ignore this feeling.
A single knock on his door broke him out of his thoughts. Then the door opened and Snape entered, followed by a centaur.
"Headmaster Dumbledore?" The centaur asked before he was even halfway inside the room. "I have a massage from a shooting star. The one you know as Star."
"Oh?" Dumbledore sat up straighter, "What's the massage?"
"She asked me to ask you to gather your allies." The centaur replied. "She has you-know-who's location and thought you might be interested in that information."
"Wait a minute." Snape interrupted. "How is it possible for a centaur to know something we've be tearing the whole wizardry world apart to look for? And to offer that information just like that?"
"My information is true." The centaur said stiffly.
"And why are you suddenly offering it up to us?" Snape sneered. "You centaurs were never known for your generosity with information."
"That is enough, Severus." Dumbledore spoke. "I believe this centaur."
"But Headmaster!" Snape protested. "It could be a trap! How do you know…"
Dumbledore held up a hand. "That's alright, Severus. This centaur is trustworthy."
"What makes you so sure, Headmaster?" Snape demanded.
"Simple." Dumbledore smiled. "He knows the name Star. Only five person knows of that name."
"What?" Snape said, astonished.
"You don't have to know." Dumbledore said. "Just trust me."
"You know I do trust you, Headmaster." Snape replied in a somewhat softer tone.
"Good." Dumbledore nodded his head. "We have much to do, and little time to do it. Severus, contact Sirius and the old crowd. You know who they are."
"At once." Snape replied, and turned to exit the room.
"Oh, and send Minerva to me, if you would." Dumbledore called after him. Snape did not answer, but nodded and disappear from the door.
"Now, if you would tell me more about this place where Voldemort is hiding…" Dumbledore turned to Firenze, his hands reaching for a quill.