Sorry guys! I had forgotten that part before Reach for the Stars. :))

Part 15 : Heart's Desire

"I'm bored."

"Then do something. I don't know. willowy."

"I did. My holiday homeworks are already done, I read one bok, I studied a bit the chapters we'll be working on next week and now I'm stuck here with nothing to do because my *stupid* boyfriend didn't do *his* homeworks before Christmas."

"That's because a fellow Slytherin was distracting me."

"That's it! Blame it on the redhead!"

"I believe that is what I just did." Draco sighed and put down his quill. He turned in his chair and pulled his girlfriend to him. "Look Willow, why don't you go explore the school a bit? I've been here for five years and I don't know half of its secrets yet. I'll be done in a couple of hours. Of go get Hermione and do. girlie things." She pouted and he laughed. "Come on! Go! Have fun while I'm stuck here doing my History of Magic essay."

"Alright," she mumbled. She left the dungeons for the library, where she knew her fellow Gryffindor was hidding. She pushed the doors open and finally found her at their table. Silently, she krept up behind the other girl. "BOO!"

"Aaargh!" Hermione jumped off her seat, a hand over her heart, eyes wide in fright. Willow giggled at her friend's reaction.

"Shh!" they heard from the front of the library. It was Madam Pince, no doubt about that.

The two girls bursted out laughing. The redhead wiped the tears from her eyes. "Can you leave your sanctuary for a couple of hours?"

"I think I can manage."

* * *

"Where the *hell* are we?!" Willow screamed in frustration.

"Screaming and swearing won't help us," Hermione replied calmly.

The two girls were trapped in an empty corridor. There was no windows, no doors, no trap, no nothing. The door they had come through had vanished behind them and they'd look for another exit for the last thirty minutes.

Willow gasped when a door materialized itself in front of her eyes. "There!" she exclaimed, pulling Hermione behind her. She closed it behind her and sighed. "Stupid castle," she muttered. "Keeps changing and everybody gets lost." She turned around when the Gryffindor kept quiet. She was looking right in front of her, not blinking a single time. "Hello? Earth to Hermione!" She didn't react. "Houston, we have a problem." She moved her hand in front of the brown haired girl's face and she finally seemed to snap out of it.

"What?"

She looked right down confused and that worried Willow. "You okay, Mione? You were completly gone."

"Yes, I'm alright. I just thought professor Dumbledore would have gotten rid of that thing. It's dangerous."

"What thing?" The redhead looked behind her and saw a big mirror in the center of the room they were in. "What's that?"

"The mirror of Erised," Hermione whispered, watching the artefact with fascination.

"Huh?"

The Gryffindor wet her lips. "In our first year at Hogwarts, during Christmas break, Harry found this mirror in a room close to the library. He went back everyday after that first encounter. Dumbledore caught him one time and explained that it was dangerous and could drive someone mad. He moved it out of the room. I don't understand why he didn't destroy it."

Willow's curiosity had been triggered. "Why is it dangerous?"

The Gryffindor pointed the tp of the mirror. "It's backward. It says 'I show not your face, but your heart's desire'. To quote Dumbledore, 'it does not do to dwell on dreams'. When you look in it, you see whoever you want to be, anything you want to pocess. It's a dreamworld, one that can lead to madness." Hermione walked directly in front of the mirror of Erised. She only had to wait for a couple of seconds before the image shifted a little. "For example, I see myself two years older and I have the Head Girl badge on my robes and." she drifted off.

"And?" Willow probed. "You stopped. What did you see?"

"I have a boyfriend but he doesn't have any face. I guess who it is isn't important. I just see his school robes. He's a Slytherin," she said, squirming uncomfortably. The redhead raised an eyebrow. "I have a thing for badboys with an actual brain."

Willow chuckled evilly. "I should better watch my back then. Draco might slip from my fingers." She laughed when the Gryffindor blushed heavilly. "I'm just teasing, Mione."

"Damn Slytherins," she grumbled.

"Come on, let me see." Hermione stepped aside and Willow took her place in front of the mirror. "Show time," she whispered.

When the redhead stayed dumbfounded for a couple of minutes, the Gryffindor knew something was disturbing her. It was not like Willow to stop talking. She would at least babble or something, not stay quiet, mouth open like a goldfish. "Willow, are you alright?" she asked hesitantly.

The Slytherin couldn't believe it. What her heart truly desired was to be loved, that she knew. In the mirror of Erised, she saw herself and Draco embracing, smiling lovingly at each other. Then, an hand dropped on her shoulder. Out of the shadows, a tall figure emerged. It was Severus Snape, the potion master in all his glory. Suddenly, the Willow in the mirror changed, her hair and eyes becoming jet black, blue lightning bolts dancing around her. The same thing was happening to Snape. [In your blood lies the truth.]

She fainted.