Disclaimer: Buffy characters are the property of Mr. Whedon. Harry Potter characters are the property of Ms. Rowling. I do own the story that I am writing, but I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while. So, yeah, if you decide to sue... I'm uber-broke.

Through the Looking Glass

Chapter 23

Rowena's Riddle

x x x x x

Buffy looked at the clock. It was nearly one in the morning and the conversation she was having did not seem as if it was close to ending. Not that she minded. Talking with Willow was one of the greatest things, especially after being away from one another.

"You tired?"

Buffy shook her head, "No. It's just... the last time I saw what time it was it was eight."

Willow smiled, "Time flies when you're having fun."

"Yeah, wouldn't that be major nutty if the clock sprouted wings..." Buffy giggled slightly and Willow joined her.

"Nutty?" Willow eyed Buffy suspiciously. "Trying out a new word?"

"Nutty's a word. It's just used to describe pecans and walnuts and... other nutty things."

"I know it's a word." Willow sighed. "In fact, it's an adjective."

"Oh, God!" Buffy exclaimed with a huff. "You know I don't do grammar. I mean... nouns and adverbs and proverbs and mechaniclisms and..."

"Buffy, be quiet or you're going to hurt yourself," Willow laughed at her friend. "And I don't think I've ever heard of a mechaniclism."

"I know!"

The two friends laughed again. They both sighed and enjoyed a comfortable silence.

"Hey, Will?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you find out anything about the mirror?" Buffy looked Willow in the eyes.

"Oh no," Willow cried in exasperation. "Not you too!"

"What do you mean?" Buffy blinked in awe at Willow's sudden mood swing. Willow time with Death Eaters was beginning to do funny things to her. Buffy hoped that it wasn't making Willow return to the dark magic.

"Oh, Buffy," Willow's shoulders slouched. "It's just that all the Order people drilled me as soon as I got here. I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just-"

"You don't have to apologize." Buffy waved her hand. "I should have kept it to myself."

"No, don't worry about it," Willow shrugged. "All I know is that Dolohov knows that the last piece is at Hogwarts somewhere. I don't think he knows exactly where, because if he did, I'm sure I'd know."

"How'd he find out?" Buffy wondered aloud. "I thought Harry and Hermione said that Dolohov didn't know where the last piece was."

"Oh, I don't think he was sure until recently." Willow explained. "I think he deduced that the last piece was at Hogwarts."

"I bet he has spies," Buffy whispered, her eyes darting around the room.

"No," Willow shook her head and laughed. "He knows about you, Xander, and Cordy. He thinks that you guys have been brought in to help protect the mirror."

"Damn... he deduced all that?"

"Guess so." Willow rubbed her arm and Buffy noticed a black mark on her skin.

"What's that?" Buffy pointed at Willow's arm.

"You don't want to know," Willow placed a hand over her arm. "It's bad."

"Did they make you get a tattoo?"

"Sort of." Willow mumbled.

"Will..." Buffy whined.

"Really, Buffy, it's horrible. It hurt like... like..."

"Hell?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," Buffy shrugged. "It's okay. If you don't want to show anybody. You don't have to."

"Thank you," Willow heaved a sigh of relief.

x x x x x

Cordelia wrapped the scarf around her neck tighter. The snow had stopped falling, but she figured that it would decide to start up again at any moment. Cordelia didn't really like snow, but she liked it better than being followed around by a bunch of first years that kept asking her stupid and pointless questions. Not that she was bitter. Oh, no.

Cracking open her book, Cordelia began to read. The book was by the Grimm Brothers. She had learned, from the forward, that the Grimm brothers were really wizards and that their stories were so well known that even Muggles read them. However, the Muggles believed them to be works of fiction. Cordelia laughed at the thought of the Disney versions of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. They were nothing like the real tales in the book.

"Bit cold to be reading outside, isn't it?"

Cordelia looked up. "Harry?"

"In the flesh." Harry sat down next to Cordelia and looked at the spine of the book she held in her hands. "Ah... the real fairy tales."

"Yeah," Cordelia nodded as she dog-eared one of the pages and shut the book tight. "Had to escape all five hundred of my shadows."

Harry laughed. "They look up to you."

"But, do they have to know everything about my past, present, and future?" Cordelia huffed and then she breathed in some cold air to calm herself down. "Sorry - there's a lot on my mind."

Harry didn't answer, he only nodded. Cordelia knew all about Harry's past and she thought it rude on her part to act as if something as miniscule as first years following her around was worse than having every member of the wizarding race know your name and everything about your life.

"Do you remember when we first met?"

Cordelia was slightly stunned. She hadn't thought he could be so random.

"I remember telling you about my visions and you blindfolding me." Cordelia remarked with a smile.

"Yes, that was when I thought you were mental." Harry laughed. "Speaking of visions... have you had any lately?"

"No, I haven't had one in a long while. My last vision was about Remus on a full moon, but it hasn't happened yet." Cordelia paused. "I probably won't be getting another vision any time soon, either."

"You know when you're going to get a vision?"

"No... but... well... this is going to sound crazy."

"No," Harry said sarcastically. "You? Mental?"

"Shut up." Cordelia playfully swat at his arm. "There's a sort of force that's stopping the visions right now."

Harry looked at Cordelia as if she was wearing pink zebra stripes and bubba teeth. If he even knew what bubba teeth were... Cordelia thought.

"I'm serious," Cordelia continued. "I was told... er... I mean... I can feel it."

"You can feel this force around you?" Harry took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. The action reminded Cordelia of something Giles or Wesley would do.

"Yeah, and it's not like the Star Wars force, either..."

"Never saw those movies," Harry admitted. "My cousin Dudley kept all his videos away from me. And now that I live here... all the magic can mess up any sort of electronic."

"You poor deprived child," Cordelia shook her head.

x x x x x

Every since Willow had told Buffy that Dolohov knew more than he should, Buffy was bound and determined to keep the mirror piece hidden for good. She devoted most of her time to reading in the library. Especially in the Restricted Section.

She had found a lot of books about the four founders of Hogwarts. Buffy knew everything about their history after the first hour she was in the library. But, she wanted the dirt... the good stuff. Even in the Restricted Section it was hard to find dirt on anyone but Salazar Slytherin. She found out that even though Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor were all upstanding wizards... that each had a secret. Even though no book told her about any secret... she knew they had one. But, she was only concerned with Rowena Ravenclaws secrets.

One more book, Buffy thought, and it's dinnertime for me.

Buffy read a few of the spines and none of the names called out to her. Buffy sighed and went back to her chair and noticed a book that someone had left sitting on one of the tables...

Misterius Misteries in Wyzard Scools

Apart from the bad spelling, Buffy could make out that this book might actually have something. After all, didn't one of Rowena's students disappear through the mirror? That would be considered a mystery. At least in Buffy's mind it did.

Buffy opened the book and skimmed through the appendix. She found something on mirrors and flipped to the page indicated. When she saw the picture, she couldn't believe her eyes.

There was a stately witch, dressed in blue, with a hammer in her hand and a broken mirror behind her. The witch was crying and Buffy noticed that in each of the mirror pieces there were a few young kids (she figured it was only their reflection) also weeping. Buffy read the sentence below the picture and it confirmed her suspicions.

Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the for fownders of Hog Warts Scool of Wyches and Wyzards, smashes her belovd mirra wen one of her stoodents was lost throw its pawer.

Buffy quickly turned her attention to the other page. She continued reading and she realized that she was about to read a small passage of text that Rowena had left for the Headmaster/mistress to use in case they ever needed the mirror's powers. The book called it a map to the mirror...

within this text
silabels
hold the kee

below or abov
hid'n
by thos we lov

owtsid for you to find
be wari, oh
deth is a sancshewary

Do not tuch,
For on your hands,
magyckle debarr'd.
blud will gush.

clus ar heer
eleven, seventeen
unerth the mystry

Buffy stared at the words. It wasn't a map... it was a poem. Of course it was a poem. She should have known that it would have been something like that... something where she couldn't figure it out. Not that she wasn't smart, but she certainly didn't have poem book smarts. This was a job for Willow or Hermione or Lupin... not her.

x chapter's end x

After Thoughts: If you read, I'd love to know what you think. Please hit the review button and fill me in!

And, wow! Quick update, huh? If you read the last chapter and you had a problem reading it, because of FF (dot) net being evil, it's fixed. Just in case ... you know.

Thanks to all of my reviewers/readers.

Look forward to Ch. 24 entitled:

Death Eaters and the Letum Essum

Dumbledore knows best.