A/N: Reviews came pretty quickly this time, which made me kind of happy.I finished this chapter as quickly as I could, the last part took me a few days to get around to finishing it. I'm very happy that the story has gotten to the part where it's moving along and I can get most of it done by the time Half Blood Prince comes out. So I'm rereading OTP... What? Get on with the story? Oh, right.
This chapter has a few important plotpoints, and one bit of romance at the end. This chapter ends in something like a cliffhanger, but only if you considered a pencil rolling off a table like a cliffhanger.
The Negative Side
In the Mirror
January and February passed by like refreshing breezes in the summer; too quickly to really make note of them. Hermione's memories of those months amounted to a general impression of activities. She rarely saw Blaise, who spent most of his time mysteriously disappeared with Ginny or Draco. Hermione only met with him to work on Defense assignments, and then Bianca was glued to his side. When he needed time alone, Bianca was sent to either Hermione or Harry to watch over, and once she went to Dumbledore's office. Otherwise, she could not be pried away from her brother.
Ginny, when she was not with Blaise, traveled between a few different groups of friends. One consisted of Hermione, Harry, and Draco, another of Gryffindors in her own year, and a third of Ravenclaws. Every so often, Hermione saw her with Hufflepuffs as well. When asked, Ginny told them that she was just "socializing."
The Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor was coming up. Harry and Draco continually tried to sneak into each other's practices, and almost always got caught by the other. They argued amiably about it afterward, until Hermione slammed her books shut and left to find a quieter place to study than the library. Draco's free time was spent with either Blaise or Harry, but he had nearly stopped talking to Hermione. He did not tease her once that she remembered. Harry often wandered off alone, and later Hermione would find him deep in conversation with Colin Creevey, whom she suspected was suicidal. They seemed to help each other by talking. Hermione tried her best not to interfere.
As for herself, N.E.W.T.s became her foremost occupation during those months. She had begun to study more fervently after the Christmas break, and since her friends seemed to be gone for the majority of the time, she used the opportunity to look through her enormous stacks of notes. The others told her numerous times that she needed reviewing least of anyone, but she would not be phased.
During all this, Hermione learned some things about Bianca, and became quite fond of her. She really was a seer, with true, constant ability. She was continuously telling them things that would happen in a few minutes' time. Blaise irritably told her to stop.
"I have to put up with this at home too. Since she was six years old. She hasn't learned yet what is necessary to tell and what isn't." This excepted telling Mr. Zabini, whose first name Hermione did not know, about Blaise whenhe tortured her. No one mentioned that incident, because whenever they did Bianca went white and clung to whoever was nearest.
She was a gifted, intelligent girl, who enjoyed reading almost as much as Hermione. Through this, the two bonded instantly, and often when Hermione was studying, Bianca would look over her shoulder or take a pile of notes and read nonstop. They had already held several interesting debates over certain pieces of information, in most of which either side had valid points.
The most interesting of these came one day when Bianca was looking through Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Second Edition and suddenly stated, "Well, that's not right."
Sensing an oncoming discussion, Hermione looked up from her Ancient Runes notes. "What's not right?"
"This." Bianca pushed herself out of the cushy armchair, which was far too large for her, and came to stand by Hermione's chair. "This section on the chimaera. It says that the teeth sometimes carry poison. That's not true."
Hermione stared at her. "Bianca, people have died from the poison in a chimaera's teeth. Of course it's true."
"No, they said it wrong. Chimaera's teeth always carry poison."
"But people have also lived through a bite," Hermione pointed out.
"Only when the poison was non-lethal."
Hermione stared again. "Non-lethal poison? There's no such thing, Bianca."
"Of course there is. See, there are two breeds of chimaera. One is the Chimaera Antiquus, and the other is the Chimaera Internecivus. The Antiquus has the poison, and has to have existed since before the 1300s. The Internecivus was born with an unfatal version of the poison but is more likely to bite your head off."
Though Hermione was not completely convinced, she knew that Bianca tended to be right. She suggested that Bianca should discuss the wild beasts with Hagrid. Bianca, who had seen the half-giant around the grounds and had been eager to meet him, brightened at this idea. Soon enough, she was spending almost as much time with Hagrid as she did with Hermione.
March went rolling by, and Draco and Blaise stopped disappearing so much. Curiously, Hermione asked what they had been doing all that time. Draco cryptically told her to watch the Slytherins, then stated that he had to meet Harry in the library.
It was by following Draco's nonspecific advice that Hermione discovered the results of Blaise and Draco's "secret time," as she had started to call it. Ginny grinned whenever she used this term, which encouraged her. Thisamusing phrase was far less interesting to Hermione, however, than what she saw occurring within the ranks of the Slytherins.
It was more apparent with students of younger years, ones who had not had as much time to make enemies. Kids Hermione knew to occupy Slytherin House, either from previous observation or just from the insignia on their robes, could be seen purposefully mingling with the other houses. The largest effort seemed to revolve around making a kind of reluctant peace with the Gryffindors. Puzzled by this behavior, Hermione sat and wondered for hours until at last she recalled something that Draco had said at their meeting earlier that year.
"Not being part of the Slytherin hierarchy, you have no idea how influential Blaise and I are within our House. We could convince them, one by one if we have to, that joining Voldemort, supporting him in any way, is a bad idea."
Hermione deduced that they had started to put that part of their plan into action, after so many months. They probably asked Bianca to let them know whether certain individuals were approachable. Slytherins were a careful folk.
More surprising to her than the Slytherin's attitude to the rest of the school was the day when Millicent Bulstrode approached her in the library. She had doubted that the large girl knew where the library was located.
"Erm, Granger," Millicent began.
"Yes?" Hermione replied, somewhat warily.
"Remember that time in second year when I had you in that headlock?" said Millicent hurriedly.
Hermione felt her face darken. "Yes," she said again, this time in more of a grunt.
"Well, I wanted to, er, to apologize."
Looking up in amazement, Hermione could tell that Millicent was sincere. For a moment the shock kept her from speaking, but eventually she found her voice. "Oh, that's all right," she said. "It was years ago, anyway. I don't hold grudges."
Of course she was lying. Everyone held grudges; everyone knew that everyone held grudges. However, Hermione was quick to forgive when asked, except for the most offending actions. "Would you like to sit down, Millicent?"
Millicent Bulstrode eyed the chair at which Hermione pointed, but sat with a fair amount of grace. "I want you to know that Draco talked to me," she said. "And I think we're on the same side. We want the same things, you know? It was just House enmity, but we can overlook that if you can."
Hermione smiled at her. "That's good." She impressed herself, to be smiling at a girl who had put her through one of the worst experiences of her life- two, if she counted turning into a cat. She had taken the hair thinking that it was Millicent's.
"Um, Gran- Hermione?" a voice broke into her thoughts. It belonged to the girl who had been an enemy until very recently. "Sorry, your eyes looked a bit glazed."
"I let my mind wander sometimes," Hermione told her, brushing it off. "If you spent a lot of time with me, you probably wouldn't even notice."
"I have some homework I need to do," Millicent said. "But it was nice talking to you, Hermione." She left the feeling that they were old acquaintances, running into each other at the store.
Incredibly confused, Hermione packed her books and approached the Gryffindor common room. Inside it, she found Ginny, Harry, Blaise, and Bianca sitting in the small ring of overstuffed furniture. It seemed that most others were letting them alone, though Ron would not stop glancing suspiciously in their direction.
Harry was tying an envelope to Hedwig's leg. Hedwig, though looking slightly ruffled, tolerantly waited until he had finished. She flew out of the open window as soon as the letter was secure, Harry watching her intently.
"Why is the window standing open in the middle of March?" Hermione asked, and closed it with a wave of her wand. The others looked up at her.
"Hi, Hermione," they seemed to say collectively.
"Harry," Hermione began, "do you realize that you've sent four letters in two days? Why don't you use one of the school owls and give Hedwig a break?" Harry looked sheepish, and shrugged.
"Yeah, Harry," Blaise put in. "What could be so important that you would tire out your owl and not even think that she might need rest?"
"Harry, are you blushing?" asked Ginny.
Harry cleared his throat and said, "So Hermione, you look a bit lost in thought."
This was entirely untrue, as Hermione was paying close attention to Harry. He had been very secretive about his mail this past year, she realized suddenly, and wanted very much to know why. She looked over at Ginny, who looked curiously back at her, and mouthed "We should talk."
Ginny nodded, but made no move to get up. She had apparently been spending quite a while running her hands through Blaise's hair, and had not yet stopped. Blaise's face kept twitching, as though he was holding in his response to Ginny's attentions. He was probably being protective of Bianca, though she was reading and not payingheed to anyone around her.
"Something interesting just happened," Hermione decided to tell them. At this, even Bianca looked up at her. Though she found many things interesting that the others did not, she did not make a habit of talking about them. "Millicent Bulstrode just decided that she wanted to become friends with me."
Harry immediately started laughing; Blaise smiled knowingly. Ginny seemed not to have heard. "That's a good one, Hermione," chortled Harry. "I don't know how you could actually say that with a straight face."
"You do realize, Harry, that the most unlikely Slytherin to make friends with us was one of the first to do so?" Hermione reminded him crossly.
"Hey, I was unlikely, too," Blaise protested.
"Not so much as Draco," said Hermione. "He's acted very much like he hated Harry ever since he decided to be friends with Ron."
"Maybe that's the secret, then," Harry said thoughtfully. "I can't be friends with both of them at once." He and Hermione looked over at Ron, who appeared to be eavesdropping on them. Harry turned back to the group and addressed Hermione. "So, you're saying that Millicent Bulstrode, one of our former enemies, has recently had a change of mind just like Draco Malfoy and Blaise?"
"They never changed their minds," Hermione said automatically. "They never supported Voldemort to begin with."
"That's right," agreed Blaiseemphatically.
"Why did you wait so long, then?" Harry asked.
"Well, we didn't feel it necessaryuntil recently. We're coming of age for Eaterism and knew that if we didn't get out by then, we would be stuck forever. And Draco and I are the ones who are convincing the Slytherins to abandon Voldemort. As we said we would do."
"I still think it's odd," Ginny spoke up finally. She shook her head. "I'm not sure how far we can trust some of these people."
"They've only approached the ones we were sure of," Bianca said suddenly. "I told them which Slytherins were safe to change and which ones would have to wait."
Ginny looked irritably at the top of Blaise's head. "Why do you involve her in this business? She's so young, she shouldn't have to deal with it."
"Right, and eleven years old is the perfect age to start fighting Voldemort," retorted Blaise. "She's involved anyway. She's been tortured by Death Eaters. There's no going back from there. I should know."
This caused them all, except for Bianca, to stare at Blaise. He had never revealed this much to any of them before- not even Ginny, as Hermione could tell by her expression.
"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked, her voice taking on a worried tone.
"This past summer," Blaise said. "My father caught me eavesdropping. That's how I found out about the beginnings of the Eaters' new plans. Afterward, he had to… reinforce the fact that I was not to repeat anything I heard."
"But you did."
"Yeah, I did, Hermione. That was another reason why I knew it had to be now. I will never aid Voldemort in any way, but if he tortured me once, then I have no doubt he'll do it again. He always seemed to dote on Bianca, I didn't think he'd touch her. Now, neither of us are going home again."
"My things are still there, though," Bianca told him. "I want them."
"Sorry, Bianca," Blaise answered. "We can't. I suppose we can make one trip while no one else is home, and retrieve only the most important items. The rest of it, we'll have to leave." Bianca looked placated.
"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Ginny. She looked a bit put out. "I've told you… everything."
"I haven't told anyone before this."
"Bianca knew, though," Harry said. "I could tell. She didn't seem surprised at all."
Blaise's sister looked up from her book again. "I just knew."
As Millicent was making her way to the library to talk to Hermione, Draco was London-bound. He sat alone on the train, thinking of anything but the legal meeting to come. His mind wandered to a day early in February.
Pansy Parkinson strolled over to him in the nearly empty dungeon common room. He was doing research for a Charms paper that was due in a few days. He ignored Pansy until she sat and spoke.
"Hi, Draco." She did not sound as high-pitched and flirty as usual.
"Hello, Pansy," he answered. "What do you want?" He was not being rude, just direct. Anyone who had known him as long as Pansy would appreciate the difference.
"I know what you've been doing," she said immediately.
"Yes, homework," he responded, holding up his Charms text.
"No, not that. I mean with the Slytherins. I know you've been cornering individuals and convincing them to join Harry Potter, or at least not to join the Dark Lord."
Draco looked up and studied her eyes. He had thought she would be trying to look threatening - a losing proposition for someone like Pansy - but she was serious and surprisingly impassive. The blue of her irises seemed brighter than usual.
"What were you planning to do about it?" Draco asked, when too long had passed in silence.
"I wanted to tell you that I'm with you," said Pansy. She smiled. "I always have been. I admire you, Draco, I always have. I watch you more closely than you know, and I've been aware forever that you don't support the Dark Lord. You never let on to anyone, though. Even your father never thought… but I won't talk about that right now."
"I have given Voldemort a good amount of consideration for years," she continued. "About as much consideration as I've given you. And I came to realize that following you would be more beneficial than becoming his servant. You're a good person, and I want to be a good person. I know I would never be able to do this myself, but if I have you - as a friend," she added quickly, "then I'm sure I'll be able to get through anything."
"That's something," murmured Draco. As for him, he had never given Pansy a second thought. He had always assumed that she would follow in the footsteps of her parents, "loyal" Death Eaters.
"I've been working up the courage to talk to you," admitted Pansy. "It's taken a while because I know what you think of me. No, don't deny it. I do cling, and I don't always catch on to the signals you send me. I was in love with you for a while, but I know who you desire. It's not me."
Draco looked at her, narrowing his eyes in alarm. How could Pansy Parkinson know about him and Hermione?
"You can trust me," Pansy said. "I won't give you away."
"I suppose you mean that in more than one way. Pansy, I must say this is something of a shocker. I never considered-"
"I know. And that's all right. But now, I'm going to try to be everything I know you are."
Draco did not know how he felt about being a role model. He supposed it was flattering, but he did not want to be watched so closely. He would have to be careful about his actions. Who knew how many other, more impressionable Slytherins looked up to him along with Pansy Parkinson?
In London at last, Draco stepped off the train and headed straight for his brand new Wizard Lawyer. This particular lawyer worked at the Ministry, and was a half-blooded wizard named Meynard Mullip. He was fairly new to the business, a wizard from Canada who had gone to school at Beauxbatons, but his name was quickly gaining stature. He knew every Wizarding law in every country, and therefore was extremely adept at finding loopholes.
"Mr. Malfoy, please come in. I hope you don't mind if we're the slightest bit rushed. I have some official Ministry business directly after our meeting," Mr. Mullip said in a hurried, friendly but businesslike voice.
"Not at all," said Draco. "I need to get back to school, anyhow."
"Ah, that's right. You still attend Hogwarts." Mr. Mullip's voice had a strange version of a French accent. Draco recalled that he had grown up in Montreal, a French city. French had probably been his first language. "I had forgotten. Well, I looked over everything. Since your father has signed your money over to you, you may change the contract as you see fit. He no longer has any say."
"I thought it would be best to make sure."
"Of course, Mr. Malfoy. Now, from our talks, I have gathered that you would only like to change the part of the contract that allows a Parkinson to take over your money."
"That is correct, Mr. Mullip. I have a succession of three inheritors chosen, each of whom would receive all I own in the event of my death. I chose three because if the first is dead, then it would go to the next, and so on."
"A good move. If you have the names, I will take them down. It should only take a moment to alter the contract, and then we can both be on our way. Name one?"
Draco had been mulling this over in his mind for two months. As far as he was concerned, he had not yet chosen the proper order for the names. However, at that moment he spoke without hesitation: "Harry Potter."
Mr. Mullip paused for a moment. One did not have to be from England to know that name. It would not have taking him long to find out about the Malfoy family, either. His surprise was not unexpected. He recovered quickly, and made a note with his wand. "Two?"
"Hermione Granger."
"And the last?"
"Blaise Zabini."
Another minute passed, and Mr. Mullip had wrapped everything into a file and levitated it into a drawer. "Your new contract will be processed by tomorrow. As you requested, no one will be notified."
"Thank you, Mr. Mullip. You've been quite helpful." Draco held out his hand, and his lawyer shook it.
"No trouble at all, Mr. Malfoy. Doing business is… what I do."
Hermione could almost feel Ginny's excitement as the girl's footsteps approached her room. More than excitement, she felt another twinge of guilt at what they were doing. Ginny might be willing to go through other people's mail, but in Hermione's opinion private letters should be kept private.
The door opened, then closed after Ginny had slipped in. "I think these are all of them," she said, waving a stack of letters clutched in her left hand. "I'm surprised you suggested this, Miss Head Girl."
"Shut up, Ginny. I just want to know what's going on with Harry. He's been very odd, and I heard Parvati saying that he was 'attached'." That had been quite a strange thing to hear. If Harry was interested in anyone, he had certainly done well at hiding it.
Neither Hermione nor Ginny recognized the handwriting. Hermione immediately skipped down to the signature, where it said, "Love, Katie."
"Who's Katie?" Hermione asked the air in front of her.
Ginny shuffled through the stack until she reached the first one - all the letters were dated. The signature on this letter, dated September 23, said Katie Bell.
"What is she doing writing to Harry?" Ginny exclaimed. "And what is Harry doing writing to her? It's not as though they were close friends while she was here, now suddenly she's left Hogwarts and they're regular correspondents?"
"Maybe there's an explanation that makes perfect sense," Hermione said, though she doubted it. As far as she knew, Katie and Harry had always been friendly, but never had more than a basic conversation.
"And maybe it's in the letters," Ginny retorted, sitting down on the floor and starting to read.
"Ginny, we just wanted to find out who he's been writing to."
"And now I'm curious as to why. Care to join me?" She patted a spot on the floor next to her.
After a moment's deliberation, Hermione shrugged and sat. She grabbed about half the stack and tore into the letters voraciously. They were almost as educational as a textbook.
It seemed to Ginny and Hermione that Katie had been bored and wondered how the Quidditch team was faring - at first. The second letter got into heavier issues, such as Katie's home life, which was not horribly troubled but far from perfect, and Harry's general depression.
Eventually, they started talking about plans for the future, and Katie included a description of the house she wanted and pets she had decided to have. When Ginny and Hermione, at the same moment, reached for the last letter, they found a large surprise there.
Dear Harry, Thank you for your last letter, it came at a perfect time. I had just had a fight with my mum, but you lifted my mood with all that stuff you said. No one's ever spoken to me like that before. I'm doing okay now, but I really think I need to get away. Would you mind if I came to visit you at Hogwarts sometime soon? I really do miss the place, and I'd love to see you. Love, Katie.
Hermione and Ginny sat processing this letter, letting it drop to the floor. "Well," Hermione began. "Well. Um, Ginny, why don't you go and put these back in Harry's room before he comes back from practice? I really don't want to have to explain what we were doing with his mail."
A few minutes after Ginny left, Hermione got up to restlessly walk the corridors. She supposed that jealousy was a normal reaction for a single girl such as herself, but she still felt bad. She wanted to be happy for Harry - and Katie, when it came to that. Instead, she found herself almost resenting them.
Why was she so reluctant to let others have their moment? Was it because she had thought she would have had hers by now? What a ridiculous thought that was. Yet as she wandered past portraits, doors and suits of armor, all she could think of was the unfairness of it all.
What I need, she thought, is to know just what it is that I want.
Almost immediately after this thought occurred to her, a door appeared to her right. She looked around, getting her bearings, and realized that it was the door to the Room of Requirement. She had reached that area of the castle without thinking.
Uncertainly, she entered the room. Perhaps it would help her with her problem. That was what it was for, after all.
The room was empty but for a mirror standing at the opposite end. It was very tall and impressively framed in gold. An inscription at the top appeared to be written in an unfamiliar language, but upon a second look Hermione could see that it was a sentence written backward. She had only to glance at the first word in the inscription to know what mirror stood before her, for that word was "Erised".
"This is a mirror… that shows me my heart's desire." She did not look into the reflection at first, scared of what she might find there. Harry had told her all about this mirror, seeing his parents… Hermione had an idea of what she would see. She had been denying it, even to herself, but how could he work her up so much if she didn't care for him? She wanted him to be a man she could be proud to love. She doubted he could give up his pride, though.
But maybe she was meant to make a small sacrifice, as well. So he was not the person she had imagined her life with. So he often seemed incapable of being nice, polite, or considerate. He had already shown that he was changing; on top of that, he was a good person. She had known that for a long time.
She could give up the dream of perfection she had held for so long if it was necessary for her to know love. With this new resolution, Hermione gazed deliberately into the Mirror of Erised, and saw…
Only herself. She was alone. Hermione felt both confused and disappointed. That could not be her heart's desire- but wait. Hermione-of-the-mirror was smiling, and she knew that she was not. All of a sudden, a pale, strong hand slipped into the hand of Hermione-the-reflection. The person to whom the hand belonged, she knew before looking, was Draco Malfoy.
Draco-of-the-mirror looked at Hermione-of-the-mirror with all his emotions plain in his eyes. His face only showed his usual half-smile, but his eyes were brighter than she had ever seen them. Hermione-of-the-mirror returned his loving look.
That was all Hermione needed to see. She lingered a moment, not wanting to leave this pristine, wonderful sight. Then she bolted from the room, not even noticing Peeves the Poltergeist as he dropped a Dungbomb that narrowly missed her head.
Hermione was about to make her vision a reality. Nothing would stop her.
…TBC…
