Chapter 6:The
Mirror
"Dad, who is Professor Lockhart, and why is
he the Headmaster of my school?" James said, looking up at his
father.
"I would like to know that too, James," Rona
said, catching sight of Lockhart and the sign.
So Harry walked up
to Lockhart's table and, after he finished signing a book for an old
lady, asked him about Durmstrang.
"Well, the
ex-headmaster, Rufus Quagmire, was sent to Azkaban two weeks ago for
being in the company of a few Death Eaters. They immediately put out
a post for new Headmaster. I just accepted the job today,"
Lockhart said, with that enormous smile Harry remembered only too
well.
It was exactly 18 years ago. Professor Lockhart had become
the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for Hogwarts. He had
written many books, claiming he had done many dangerous things, like
ridding a village of a vampire. In actuality, Lockhart had tracked
down the people who had really done these things, found out
everything they had done, then altered their memories with his
Oblivious spell. Lockhart had tried to do this to Harry and
Ron in their second year when they had found out about Lockhart's
secret, but he was using Ron's broken wand, which backfired and
caused Lockhart to lose his memory and get sent to St. Mungle's
Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Harry, Ron and Hermione
had seen him there in their fifth year at Hogwarts, when Mr. Weasley
got a bad bite off a snake and had to go there. Now, it seemed,
Lockhart's memory was fully restored and he was back to his
flamboyant self.
"So when did you get your memory back,
Lockhart?" Ron asked, catching up to Harry.
"Ah,
Ronald. How's it going? Get your wand fixed, yet?" Lockhart
said, eyeing Ron with malice. "I got my memory back about two
years ago, and in that time, I have written about three more books,
which I am requiring all Durmstrang students to bring. I will be
sending out owls tonight."
Harry wanted to question Lockhart
further, but was shunted aside by the screaming Lockhart fans. Harry,
Ron, Hermione and Cho bought the books James and Sirius would need
for school, then walked out of Flourish and Blott's.
"Let's
stay at the Leaky Cauldron tonight," Cho suggested. "We'll
need to come back here tomorrow, anyway."
"Good
idea, honey," Harry said.
So they walked into the Leaky
Cauldron, walked up to the bar, and ordered three rooms for the
night. The innkeeper, Tim (Tom's son), showed them upstairs to their
rooms; 10, 11 and 12.
"Goodnight, everyone," Harry
and Cho said, walking into room 10.
"'Night," James and
Sirius said, walking into room 11.
"See you in the morning,"
Hermione and Ron said, walking into room 12.
Harry and Cho
got into bed and, minutes later, they both fell asleep.
Harry was
again haunted by a dream he had had only one time before in his fifth
year. He was sliding across the ground of a dark corridor. He
couldn't feel his arms or his legs, but he could see a snake tongue
come out of his mouth every few seconds. Farther down the corridor,
Harry saw a man crouched down on the ground next to a dark door. As
Harry slithered to the end of the corridor, he realized the man was
not Mr. Weasley as he had thought, but it was Lord Voldemort. Harry
opened his mouth, and was ready to strike when Voldemort woke up,
pulled out his wand, pointed it at Harry, and cried AvadaKedavra. Harry saw a flash of green light, then woke up
with his scar6 burning again and sweating profusely.
"Honey,
what's wrong?" Cho said, waking up.
"I had another one
of my past dreams. This time, I was a...," Harry began, but was
cut off by Cho. "Harry, I'm tired," she said. "Let's
discuss this in the morning."
A soft breathing told Harry
that Cho had fallen asleep. Harry did the same and, like last time,
didn't have another haunting dream from his past. When Harry woke up
the next morning, he couldn't remember anything about the dream he
had had. Nor, it seems, had Cho. As everyone was eating breakfast in
the parlor, a barn owl swooped into the room with a letter in its
beak. Harry opened the letter and read:
Dear Mr. Potter,
Upon my becoming Headmaster of Durmstrang,
I am requiring another three books for you to bring,
all written by me;
1)Day With Dolores: An
Unauthorized Biography.
2)Pesky Pixie Pesternomi:
How to Over-Come a Horde of Pixies.
3)Magical
Me 2: The Years at St. Mungle's
I
would also like to inform you on how to get to Durmstrang.
Go through Platform 9 3/4, take the magical taxi to your immediate
left to Platform 9 6/7. The train departs no later than 12:30 p.m.
Have a good rest of the holidays. See you August 31.
There
was no fuss about this letter. Everyone went to Flourish and Blott's
to pick up James' remaining books. The place wasn't as packed today,
because Lockhart was not there, but it still took a while to buy the
books, due to all the last minute shopping. When they finally
purchased the books, everyone went to the Leaky Cauldron, said their
good-byes, and then left for home. When Harry, Cho and James got
home, they immediately began packing James' trunk. He was using
Harry's old one. After the packing was complete, James went to bed
and, shortly after, Cho and Harry did to. The last week past without
much trouble. Harry had told James that the Weasley's would be at
King's Cross Station to see him off.
When Harry woke up the
next morning, he saw that Cho and James were already ready to leave
and that it was 9:30. Harry rushed through breakfast, got dressed,
and then left the house with Cho and Harry. Since there were no
fireplaces at King's Cross Station, Harry drew up a car with his wand
and drove to the station. By the time they had got there, it was
11:15. Harry grab a trolley, put James' trunk on it, and led the way
in to the station. They met up with the Weasley's at the barrier
between Platforms 9 and 10.
"Ready for school, James?"
Hermione asked.
"Not really," James replied.
"But
you get to learn a lot of magic tricks, like how to pull a rabbit out
of your hat," Ron said.
"Ron, knock it off," Cho
and Hermione said.
"So how do we get onto the platform,
mum?" James asked, looking at Cho.
"We just have to
walk between these to platforms, and we will magically appear on
Platform 9 3/4," Cho said.
So everyone went through the
barrier. First Harry, Cho and James with the trolley, then Ron,
Hermione and Sirius. When they reached the platform, they immediately
saw a purple taxi to their left. They got in and, 20 minutes later,
were on Platform 9 6/7, where a Poison Green Bullet Train stood, with
its many passengers loading. James kissed his parents good-bye, then
hug the Weasley's good-bye. James pushed his trolley to the end of
the train, where there was an empty compartment. James opened up his
trunk to change into his robes when he saw a shattered mirror taped
to the underside to the underside of his trunk. James grabbed it
repaired it with iRepairo/i, then looked into it. He saw his
black hair, like his father's, and his blue-eyes like his mother.
Unlike his dad, James hair was straight. He occasionally spiked it
with the best wizarding gel, which made his hair rock hard and
alternate colors every three to five minutes. James turned the mirror
around and saw smudged writing on the back. He could barely make out
the words James, contact me and Sirius.
James
turned the mirror around, looked into it, and then said, "Sirius?".
A man appeared in the mirror, but James didn't know who this man
was.
