Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling, the idea of the time-travel mirror was borrowed from the TV-series 'Mirror Mirror' (Gibson Group/ Millennium Pictures co-production)

Mirror of Time

Chapter 3: A talk with Lily

Lily Evans didn't have a good day. After she had found that strange girl from the future, Hermione Granger, she hadn't been able to concentrate in any of her classes. She had even almost messed up a potion, something that hadn't ever happened before, luckily she had been able to save it just in time.

However hard she tried to forget what had happened that morning, some things Hermione had said kept repeating itself in her mind.

'You're supposed to be dead.'

'Don't you know the school is closed?'

The longer Lily thought about the words, the more she wanted to know what the girl had been talking about. She tried to remind herself of something else the girl had said: horrible things happen to those who meddle with time. But, Lily reasoned with herself, it's not like I'm planning to change everything, I'm just curious what Hermione was talking about. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?

After debating this over and over in her head during the course of the day, Lily decided to take her chance and return to the Room of Requirement. Maybe she could find out how to travel to the future and have a talk with that Hermione-girl. It would definitely be better than sitting here all day, trying to figure out what she could possibly have been talking about.

When classes finally finished, Lily tried to make a quick escape to the Room of Requirement, however, that wasn't what her friends had in mind. Normally, Lily Evans was a very attentive girl in class, on top of that, she was also a very popular girl, thus the fact that she hadn't been able to concentrate today didn't go unnoticed by several people.

As she exited the classroom, two friends of her, a short brunette girl and a taller girl with a dark complexion stopped her. "Lily, what's up with you? You've been having this faraway look in your eyes the whole day, most of the time it seemed like you weren't there at all."

Lily smiled at her friends, although inside she was rather frustrated. Why can't they leave me alone, just this once? "It's nothing, girls, there's just something I have to do right now, so we'll talk later, alright?"

Both girls grinned at her, "All right, later." And they turned and walked down the corner.

Lily turned around and went her own way, up a few sets of stairs and through corridors, until she reached the Room of Requirement. Thinking of the storage room, the door appeared quickly and it didn't take Lily long to find the mirror.

A moment later, she had gone through the mirror and found herself in the same room, but now the room was a bit more filled. Without paying much attention to her surroundings in here, Lily left the Room of Requirement and went in search of Hermione, although she had no idea how to find her. I don't even know which house she belongs to. But while I'm here, at least I'm able to take a good look around.

Going through corridor after corridor, Lily concluded Hogwarts hadn't changed much from the time when she was going there, except for some new portraits. However, there was one big difference, and it changed everything, even the aura of the school itself. The whole school was empty, there was nobody walking the corridors, there was no noise, only a deep silence. The silence of death. Lily shivered as the thought crossed her mind. Obviously, the school had closed down, and being empty as it was, it had changed from being warm and homey to cold and creepy. I hope I find Hermione soon.

Without noticing, Lily had reached the floor on which the library was situated.

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Hermione woke up with a start. Damn, I've fallen asleep, how long have I slept?

She sat up on her bed and glanced at her watch. 4:30 P.M. already! I've slept through lunch, no wonder I'm hungry. Hastily she stood up and straightened her clothes, before exiting her chambers to make her way to the kitchen and ask the house-elves to make her some food.

Yes, there were also still some house-elves in the castle, although Hermione only saw them when she went down to the kitchens. Almost half of the house-elves had insisted on staying in the castle to keep it clean until the school would open again.

As she turned the corridor towards the staircase, she saw something she hadn't expected. A girl was walking in her direction and picked up her pace when she saw Hermione. Hermione, however, stood petrified in shock, and only managed to say something when the other girl had reached her. "Lily, what are you doing here!"

"I couldn't stop thinking about what you said to me this morning and I needed to talk to you, or I might not be able to ever concentrate in class again."

Hermione sighed. "All right, let's go to my room." And she preceded Lily to her chambers. After they had settled themselves in armchairs and Hermione had made them some tea, they were sipping from their mugs in silence, not really knowing where to start. Finally, Hermione asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

Lily looked up uncomfortably. "The school hasn't changed much since my time, but at the same time, it's completely different, the whole atmosphere had changed, as if something very dark has settled here and chased away all the good, it's creepy."

Hermione nodded, understanding what Lily meant, she had felt it too. But some very dark things did happen during the last years, and with Dumbledore dying, many other good things has left too. So I suppose Lily is right about what happened.

Lily's voice broke through her thoughts. "What happened here, Hermione?"

Hermione didn't answer and Lily sighed slightly.

"I understand if you can't tell me that, but can you at least say when I am? How far in the future am I?"

Hermione frowned a bit. "I'm not sure I should tell you that."

"But obviously you know about me, since you said I'm supposed to be dead. How do you know me?"

Hermione shook her head. "I really shouldn't tell you."

"It's obvious the school has closed down, but you are still here. What happened that they made the school close? And why are you allowed to be here?"

Hermione felt tears starting to prickle her eyes. "I really, really can't tell you that."

But Lily had seen the other girl's eyes water, and she continued in a soft, understanding and kind voice. "It must be lonely, being here alone in the castle. I've walked through it only for a short time, and it gives me the creeps, this castle shouldn't be empty like it is, you shouldn't be alone. Everybody needs someone to talk to once in while, and you can talk to me, Hermione. Whatever it is, just talking about whatever is bothering you so much won't hurt, will it?"

It was getting really hard for Hermione to fight her tears. Here was someone ready to listen to her, someone who hadn't gone through everything that had happened the last two years. Someone who didn't clam up whenever someone mentioned Sirius or Dumbledore, like Harry did. Someone who didn't try to chance to subject all the time, like Ron did.

In a way, Lily was exact what Hermione needed right now, just someone to listen.

But if I tell her about the future, won't it change the past?

Sensing both her hesitation and her need, Lily came to sit next to Hermione and put an arm around her shoulder. "It's all right girl, you can talk to me. Just tell me the things you want to tell, besides, only telling won't change it from happening. I'm sure more is needed for that."

Finally, Hermione let down her defences and started telling Lily some of the things that had happened in her life lately, along with the answers on the question Lily had asked earlier.

"So many things happened, Lily, you have no idea. The school is closed down because, well, last June, Dumbledore was murdered and it seems like all our hope for the future has died with him." Lily gasped, staring in horror at the other girl once again, but Hermione continued, unable to stop now she had started pouring her heart out.

"Our only hope to defeat Voldemort is my best friend, Harry," Hermione carefully refrained from mentioning his last name, she didn't notice Lily didn't flinch hearing the most feared name ever in the Wizarding World, "he is supposed to be the 'Chosen One' and is now somewhere out there, together with my boyfriend, Ron, fighting Death Eaters. I'm here trying to find out information he could need, but I'm not even sure I will ever see them alive again."

She was now sobbing in Lily's shoulder. Lily was trying her best to comfort the crying girl, while attempting to comprehend what she had heard.

"Hermione, what year is it?"

"1997," came Hermione's whispered answer.

Lily gasped. "1997? I'm 21 years in the future and Voldemort's still not defeated?"

Hermione looked up, surprised, "You say his name, but most people are afraid to do so."

Lily shrugged, "You say it too, don't' you. It's like Dumbledore says, fear of a name only increases fear for the thing itself." Hermione nodded.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Lily's face, "I'm dead in this time, aren't I?"

Hermione looked very uncomfortable at this. "You shouldn't exactly know that and I'm not going to tell you what happened."

"All right. But if I'm dead, then how do you know me?"

Hermione sighed and stared down at her hands.

"Hermione?"

"I don't know you, I only know of you, because…, because you are, were, whatever, my best friend's mother," she whispered.

Lily gasped and a long silence followed, while Lily was processing this information.

The irony of the situation suddenly struck Hermione. Isn't it strange, sitting here talking in a completely deserted Hogwarts with Harry's mother, when seemingly all hope for the future is gone, I find a portal to the past. What would Harry say if he knew?

After a very long time, Lily spoke again. "You know who his father is, don't you? You said something about my 'boyfriend' earlier and you seemed surprised when I told you I didn't have one."

"I'm not going to tell you who it is, Lily," Hermione interrupted the other girl, "I've told already too much and I can't risk stopping Harry from being born. I'm not going to tell you anything else."

Lily frowned, but nodded in understanding a moment later and another silence fell between the girls. Hermione broke it. "Thank you for listening, Lily, and once again, please don't repeat any of this to anyone."

"I won't."

"You should return to your own time now. And we shouldn't ever use the mirror again, it could be dangerous."

This time, Lily shook her head. "No Hermione. I agree on you for all your other precautions, but as long as only the two of us know about the mirror, I don't see any harm in using it from time to time. I think it would be actually a good thing if you used it, when you need someone to talk to, I'll be on the other side of the mirror."

Hermione still looked doubtful.

"Hermione, the mirror could give you some normalcy in your life, and Merlin knows, with everything that you told me is going on in this time, you could really use it. You can follow some classes if you want to, blend in with the students, have some fun. I can't begin to imagine how hard your life must be now, wouldn't it be a lot more bearable if you could leave it behind you from time to time?"

Hermione shrugged. "Probably, but I can't just barge into classes without permission, the teachers would wonder where I came from."

"Ask permission from Dumbledore, I'm sure he would understand it if you explained him your situation."

For a moment, Hermione just sat there, debating with herself. This could be risky, if I'm not careful, I might change something in the past. But on the other hand, it would give me the chance to continue my schooling, I could still take my NEWTs and Lily is right, I could really use some normalcy. Besides, if I lay low and be very careful what I say, what can go wrong? This might be a good idea after all.

She looked back up to Lily. "Maybe you're right. I'll try it."

Lily smiled. "Everything will be all right, you'll see. Let's go talk to Dumbledore."

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Thanks to Kristy Mac8 for informing me who produced 'Mirror Mirror' and for your review, and thanks to Evil Cat Hater for you review.