The mirror of erised
By Sinful Starlet
Rating: PG probably - maybe PG-13 but that's pushing it.
Disclaimer: Not JK Rowling (though I wish I was) so clearly not mine.
Summary: Some time during their later school career, Harry and his friends come across the mirror of erised again with some surprising results!
Blurb: Part four. Hermione reveals a few home truths about what she saw in the mirror - but how will her confidantes react to what she has to say?
Oh yeah, just wanted to say a personal thank you to Lacey Evans for reviewing every chapter I've put up so far - mucho gracias! Thanks to my other reviewers too - you are very much appreciated! *SS*
Chapter Seven
"I did", Hermione said, hanging her head again, prompting more concern from Harry - what was she so afraid to say? "And what did you see?", Lavender asked, unable to stop herself. "I...well I told Harry and Ron that I saw myself becoming the next minister for magic", Hermione replied. "But that wasn't what you really saw?", Parvati cut in again, urging her to go on. Again, Harry pricked up his ears, anxious to hear what Hermione was about to say.
"No", she said at last, "that wasn't what I saw at all". "I couldn't tell what I was seeing at first", she went on, still avoiding their eyes, "but eventually, I realised that what I was seeing was me...me kissing someone". By the sound of it, Lavender and Parvati hadn't been expecting that answer any more than Harry, who almost lost his grip on the cloak in his surprise. This really was news to the two girls though. Both of them had had several 'relationships' while they were at Hogwarts - though Hermione didn't exactly approve - they never lasted long, and didn't really seem to mean all that much to them.
In contrast, Hermione had never had so much as one relationship in her six years at Hogwarts - the same was also true of Harry and Ron, as they all seemed more interested in their friendship with each other than anything else. Therefore, any news of Hermione kissing someone, even if it was only as part of the mirror's reflection was big news to Lavender and Parvati, who seemed even more interested than before. "So come on then", Lavender pushed, determined not to let Hermione stop there, "who was it?"
Hermione seemed to visibly blanch at this question though, and for a few seconds anyway, flatly refused to give them a name, though she did answer a vehement 'NO!' to several of their more ridiculous suggestions. "Ok, forget his name then!", Parvati said, adding 'at least for now' under her breath so that only Lavender and Harry heard that part, "Whoever he is - what's the big problem? I mean, he's not a Slytherin is he? I can't exactly see you going 'ga ga' for Malfoy or one of his crowd!" "No!", Hermione said, managing a laugh at that, "And I don't care what you say Lavender - Draco Malfoy is not, and never will be...", she paused then went on imitating Lavender's most excitable voice, "cute!"
A look of alarm crossed Harry's face at those words - Lavender really thought---? The girl in question interrupted at that point though, as both Parvati and Hermione were laughing by then. "All I said was", she began a little huffily, "that he didn't look too bad in his Quidditch robes!" "No, well I don't mind a boy in Quidditch robes myself", Parvati said, still smiling, though she had managed to stop laughing by now, "but Draco Malfoy wouldn't exactly be the top of my list!" Lavender cut in, before any further argument could start, "Anyway - aren't we getting off the subject here - weren't we supposed to be talking about Hermione's crush?"
"He's not my 'crush'!", Hermione said, a little too indignantly Harry thought. "Whatever you say", Lavender replied, "but you did see yourself kissing him in a mirror that only shows you your 'innermost desires', didn't you?" She said the last part mimicking Hermione's words from earlier, and Hermione began to really regret telling them that much detail about the mirror and what it did. "Okay, so he's not in Slytherin", Parvati said, changing the subject, "Ravenclaw?" "No!", Hermione said again, before she sighed a little, seeming to give up at last, "It's just....complicated, alright? He's...", she trailed off again, really reluctant to let these last few words slip, "...he's one of my best friends".
Chapter Eight
If nothing else had, then that definitely got Harry's attention. It was about as close as he had got so far to really confirming his theory, but if he was wrong......... Lavender and Parvati also perked up, hearing that particular piece of information. "Well that narrows it down, doesn't it?", Lavender said, somewhat triumphantly, "So it's either Harry Potter, or Ron Weasley!" Hermione didn't seem to hear that, or she just ignored it, in either case, she carried on regardless of what Lavender had just said.
"I don't really understand it", she said, the look on her face not exactly sad, more confused, "I mean I've never thought of him....like that, before. The three of us have been friends since the first year, and now?" "You can't get the image out of your head?", Parvati guessed, rather astutely - it was confirmed anyway when Hermione nodded sadly. "I really tried not to think about it, but then he's always there, and it's just a constant reminder of what I saw".
"The images are a lot clearer at night", she went on, "when everyone else has gone away and it's just me lying here trying to get to sleep.........", she hesitated, her eyes closed as the mirror's vision flashed through her mind again, ".........and I can remember everything about it so clearly - the way it looked, the way it made me look, I mean, the mirror version of me anyway, even the way it made me feel...". She trailed off again, and looked down at her hands again.
Harry felt really guilty by now. He started to think that he shouldn't have come. After all was said and done, Hermione was one of his best friends, and here he was, spying on her, listening to her talking about things that were really personal to her - things she deliberately hadn't talked to him and Ron about. He turned and was about to leave when he heard Parvati's voice again, much more gentle than it had been before, "Hermione? Who was it?"
As much as he wanted to, he couldn't leave now, he had to know the truth. He got a real sinking feeling in his stomach every extra second that Hermione hesitated, wanting it not to be his name that she said. He did love her, but not that way, and he hated to think what it would do to their friendship if he found out that she did have feelings for him that he couldn't return. Feelings that in any case, he didn't really understand, but the only other girl who'd been able to make him feel the way he had about Cho, was not Hermione. Though, he thought with a kind of tragic irony, that it would probably be a lot less dangerous to his friendship with Ron if it was. He was brought out of his reverie fairly sharply though, when he heard Hermione's voice again, "It was...it was Ron".
Chapter Nine
Of all the reactions that Hermione might have been expecting when she revealed that particular home truth - laughter was not one of them. Both Lavender and Parvati seemed to find something immensely funny and doubled up as soon as she had said it. Harry's reaction was a little less extreme, though he had to admit that he was relieved to find out that she thought of him as nothing more than a friend. Of course his one and only theory, until that night anyway, about what was wrong with Hermione had been that she had feelings for Ron - it certainly explained her over-reaction to him talking to Katie outside the library the week before.
He also couldn't help smiling when he saw the two girls laughing, though he stopped when he saw that Hermione actually looked quite hurt. "I'm serious!", she said, a mixture of upset and indignant. "We know!", Parvati said, being the first to calm down, "Sorry Hermione, it's just that we've been waiting for you to admit to that for about a year and a half!" If that surprised Harry it was nothing to the look on Hermione's face. "What do you mean?", she asked. "Well it was fairly obvious you were going to fall for one of them", Lavender said, as if she were explaining some fundamental law to be obeyed, "it just took us a while to realise that it was going to be Ron and not Harry".
"But", Hermione started again, not looking any less confused, "if I didn't know, how could you?" "We have been going to school together for the last six years Hermione!", Parvati said, a trace of the comical in her voice, "And sharing a room the whole time!" "We might not know you as well as Harry and Ron", she went on more seriously, "but we do know you pretty well - I'm just amazed it took you this long to notice him!" "What?", Hermione asked again. "Well he's fairly easy on the eye!", Lavender said. Harry stopped smiling.
"When he's wearing his Quidditch robes anyway!", Lavender went on before Hermione could interrupt, "I mean Harry's great, he's really sweet and ridiculously protective of you...", she paused as Hermione blushed and Harry managed a smile again, "but you stand the two of them side by side when they're in their Quidditch uniforms and Ron'd get my vote every time!" "Well that's not exactly the way I would have put it", Parvati cut in, attempting to look disapprovingly at Lavender, but not really succeeding, "although all those hours of practicing haven't exactly done his figure any harm!"
Hermione blushed again, though she at least attempted to hide it while she reached for the glass of water by her bed. Harry was becoming a little indignant, hearing the two girls talk about him and Ron the way they were doing, but he reasoned, he wasn't looking to build a future with either of them, so it didn't really matter what they thought. He was a little put out that Hermione seemed to agree, but he knew he still had at least one person on his side, and he smiled to himself with the thought of her.
"So what are you going to do?", Parvati asked after a while. "I have no idea", Hermione replied, not missing the smile that passed between the two girls who were so amused by the idea that for once, the great Hermione Granger didn't know what to do. "I'll figure something out eventually", Hermione went on, "I just need some time to think about what I want from him - if anything - and there's Harry to think about too". Harry smiled again, although he was more than a little concerned - no matter what else was going on, she was still his friend, unwilling to let anything, even her own happiness, upset that.
"Just please don't say anything", she said, her voice taking on a pleading tone. "Of course", Parvati said immediately, shooting Lavender a harsh look as Lavender looked like she was about to protest. "We both promise", she said again firmly, until Lavender too nodded, "we won't tell a soul". This seemed to be the end of the conversation for the moment, with all the girls agreeing it was time to get to sleep. Lavender went back to her own bed and all three put out the lanterns by their beds. Harry waited until he was sure that they were all asleep and then edged out of the room, closing the door as silently as he could.
His mind was reeling as he made his way back to his own room, trying to think what to do about what he had heard that night. He couldn't just ignore what he had heard, but he couldn't just tell Ron either. It wasn't until he got back into his own bed, seeing with satisfaction that he had managed to get in and out of the room without waking any of the other boys, that he realised what he had to do. She would quite probably be more angry with him than she had ever been before, but there was nothing else he could do - he had to tell Hermione that he had heard what she had said to Lavender and Parvati.
