Chapter 14: A True Mirror
As the Easter holidays approached, the second years were confronted by one of the most important decisions they would make at Hogwarts. A decision that every year eventually had to face. Picking their elective classes.
"Does anyone else think we are spending way too much time thinking about this?" Jack asked. Most of the first year Gryffindors were sitting around a table in the common room with a series of career pamphlets arrayed in front of them.
"This choice really matters. Picking the right courses can determine our future career opportunities," Brian insisted, echoing Percy's advice from earlier that day. Apparently, Percy thought it was part of his duties as head boy to guide the younger students as they 'made one of the most important decisions of their Hogwarts careers' – whether they wanted the advice or not.
"But does it really matter that much?" Jack insisted. "There has got to be a reason these are elective classes. I mean really. What job would require divination?"
"Um… Hedge Witch," Lucy replied, fishing around for the pamphlet. "They want divination, muggle studies."
"What does a hedge witch even do?"
"Looks like they go out to small isolated muggle communities and treat injuries, tell fortunes, among other things," Lucy explained as she skimmed the pamphlet.
"I think I'll pass on that career path," Jack replied.
"Apparently divination is a pretty easy," Demelza replied. "Unlike Arithmancy."
"Hey! I'll have you know that Arithmancy is a very useful subject. It happens to be needed for warding and more math is never a bad thing," Ginny retorted. "Its just not a class I'm sure I want to take."
Ginny had found no shortage of advice for selection of electives. Percy's advice was probably the least helpful, encouraging her to 'delve deep and think about what she truly wanted to do with her life'. As a twelve-year-old, she still had no idea what she wanted to do. Ron just shrugged when she asked him for advice and confessed he just chose to take random subjects. George was probably most helpful of the three by when he told her to not worry too much and just take something that sounded fun or was a joke.
Hermione, who was taking all the subjects, was able to give her a brief overview of the coursework. By her descriptions, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy were both difficult, Muggle Studies was easy for Hermione but may be a good education experience for Ginny as a pureblood, Divination was a fake subject taught by a batty old fraud, and Care of Magical Creatures was taught by an extremely well-meaning Hagrid – although that was the best thing she could say about the class.
She also had a letter from Bill with his experiences. Unlike Hermione, he thought divination wasn't a fake subject, just one that was difficulty to teach and almost useless without the Sight. But he admitted that it was interesting if approached with an open mind. He gave the most useful advice. If she needed a subject for her career in the future, she could always study on her own and take the O.W.L. then.
Of course, the last piece of advice came from Tom.
Well the standard subjects are standard for a reason. They are the ones that are almost always useful. Muggle Studies was added to the curriculum to appease bleeding hearts in the Ministry. Care of Magical Creatures only matters if you actually want to raise the beasts on your own since killing them is already covered in Defense. Ancient Runes only matters for those who want to go into research and read ancient, untranslated texts. Arithmancy is the only subject worth taking, and the only reason it is not part of the main curriculum is most students do not have the ability to understand it. The weaker wizards needed to be made to feel good, so the class was made an elective.
What about Divination?
That is the biggest waste of time of all. There is no such thing as telling the future. It is impossible. We all make our own destinies. The only recorded cases of fulfilled predictions are because people choose to follow them blindly. The prophecies were by their nature self-fulfilling. Mark my words Ginerva, when you get to choose electives, the only subject worth taking is Arithmancy.
"You know what," Ginny announced, breaking the silence. "I'm done."
"Wait, what are you taking?" Colin asked nervously.
"Runes and Divination," Ginny replied as she walked away. Fuck you Tom. I won't be your puppet any longer. Maybe she could find Neville for a game of Exploding Snap, or maybe she should find Hermione to tell her the final subject selections. Since she wasn't in the common room, she was probably in the library. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. She would go find Hermione.
After Easter break, Professor Lupin congratulated the students on their progress through defensive charms and announced they would be starting to study magical creatures. As a reward, he gave them an assignment to identify a few creatures already covered by the third years that they wanted to study. When the Gryffindors returned to the common room with the news that afternoon, they were quickly regaled by Seamus and Dean of Neville's triumph over the boggart Snape – much to Neville's embarrassment. When Professor Lupin asked for their selection the following week, boggarts were at the top of the list by far.
During the following weeks while Professor Lupin procured an actual boggart, the class studied the theory and learned the boggart repelling charm. As well as some basic principles for defense against magical creatures. On one bright Monday morning before the start of exams Ginny and her friends entered the class and were thrilled to find all of the desks pushed to the side of the room with a large chest sitting prominently in front of the classroom. The highly anticipated practical had arrived.
Professor Lupin had them form a loose semicircle around his desk. "This way, we are all an equal distance from the boggart. It should avoid choosing any of us and instead focus on the person who steps up closest to it. Now, as we practiced, the incantation to repel the boggart is Riddikulus. To be cast properly you must picture in your mind a way to make whatever form the boggart has taken into something amusing. I hope you have all given some thought as to what form your boggarts will take and have prepared a way of countering it. Now, if we are all ready, who wants to go first?"
The class stood silently staring at the box. No one wanted to go first.
"Olivia, step forward." Professor Lupin said, pointing to the girl standing on the far end of the circle. "You ready?"
She nodded; her eyes fixed on the chest.
Professor Lupin flicked his wand and a swirl of colors swept out before coalescing before the girl. There, laying before Olivia, was a low table with what seemed to be a birthday cake with chocolate icing. Five candles decorated the top, each burning low. It had been waiting there for a while. The icing had even started to melt in a few places.
Olivia flicked her want and shouted, "Riddikulus!"
The cake erupted as a jack-in-the-box sprung out. Olivia gave a satisfied smile as she took her place back in the ring. One of the Ravenclaws whispered, "That's what you're afraid of? A cake!" and her smile fell.
Professor Lupin didn't hear the comment and said, "Nicely done Olivia. Chloe, you're next."
The second girl, the bully, stepped forward. The jack-in-the-box stopped swinging and turned into a roaring fire. Ginny felt sweat break out across her face. With a flick of a wand, the fire turned into a series of fireworks that exploded in brilliant colors.
They class continued to make its way through the Ravenclaws – well most of the Ravenclaws. Ginny noticed that Luna was nowhere to be seen. Why would she miss the lesson? She was almost always in class, sitting in the back near the door, talking to no one. Was she okay?
Most of the Ravenclaws had relatively normal fears. One was a ferocious lion, and another was a mummy who was dispersed by unwinding the bandages to reveal a tiny gnome. The most unsettling shape the boggart took was at the end of the first cluster of Ravenclaws when Max stepped forward.
Immediately, the gnome stopped trying to free himself from the bandages and transformed into a small boy holding a broken toy. It was a car, but the front end was completely smashed in. For the first time, the boggart spoke. Its voice was small, quiet, and sad. Ginny had to lean forward and strain to hear it.
"Where were you, Max? Where were you?"
Max stared at the boy. Slowly he lifted his arm and muttered the spell. A smile broke out on the little boy's face. "I remember. You promised you'd come to the party" – the smile started to fall – "You're coming to the party, right Max?"
Max just shook his head and stepped back to join the semicircle, his face hard and unreadable.
Jack was the first of the Gryffindors to face the boggart. The boy vanished in a swirl of colors and was replaced by a pair of blank tombstones. A mist hung over them, obscuring the writing. Jack nodded to himself and shouted "Riddikullus!"
The ground in front of the tombstones broke open and a hand appeared, then another. An inferius climbed out of the ground and stood there with its arms extended. Suddenly, the mist changed colors to bright neon and the monster started… break dancing? The class broke out in laughter, and Jack took a bow before retreating into the line.
Lucy followed Jack. The inferius stopped dancing, and shifted into a man in torn clothing, with long matted hair, holding a wide sharp knife. It laughed maniacally and started advancing on Lucy, slashing wildly. Lucy stood her ground and the knife turned into a rubber chicken and the boggart's feet stuck to the ground. It stood struggling to lift its feet while swinging the chicken, which made squeaking noises with every slash. It was only when Colin moved to replace Lucy that Ginny recognized the boggart. It looked like the picture of Sirius Black from the Daily Prophet.
When boggart-Black noticed Colin, it transformed into a large serpent with bright yellow eyes. The last time Ginny had seen that snake, it was receding behind her dead on the ground as Fawks carried her out of the Chamber of Secrets. While Ginny suspected it would be her boggart, she never expected that it might be Colin's as well. She felt another pang of guilt. It was her fault he went through that last year. He might look fine, but he was still carrying the memories with him. Nothing was better.
Colin defeated the boggart by forcing it to tie itself into a series of complicated knots. Demelza faced the struggling snake, and the boggart became a tall skeletal horse. Instead of fur, it had dark leathery skin. A pair of wings unfolded from its back, and it reared onto its hind legs, dwarfing the girl. Ginny heard a gasp from behind her, but she was transfixed. Demelza took a couple steps back before forcing the boggart to take the form of a unicorn. She returned to her spot in the ring, and Professor Lupin gestured for Ginny to go.
Ginny stepped forward and the unicorn stopped prancing, fixing its gaze on her. Ginny braced herself as it started to shift. She could do this.
The boggart didn't turn into a basilisk.
Tom was standing there in his Hogwarts robes with the Slytherin badge on prominent display. His brown eyes met Ginny's, and he smiled. "Hello Ginerva."
She was on the ground, on her knees. Her wand clutched uselessly in her hand. She shook her head furiously. "No. You can't be here. You can't."
Tom just smiled wider.
There was a warm hand on her shoulder. Tom's gaze shifted to this newcomer and with his eyes aflame.
Tom's features started to distort, and he was replaced by a night sky with a field of stars. Except they were not perfect stars. Instead of points of light, each star was a small orb full of a swirling glowing grey mist.
The hand on her shoulder tensed, and the stars seemed to pulse brighter.
The sky shifted again. This time, the stars were replaced by a brightly glowing sphere. A full moon. Professor Lupin's voice broke through and said, "Riddikulus!" and the boggart was forced back into its chest.
"That's all the time we have for this lesson. Those of you who did not have a chance to face the boggart should stay behind. For everyone else, class is dismissed."
The hand on Ginny's shoulder vanished, and she was surrounded by her friends. She tried to call out, but the blond had already rushed out of the classroom.
Luna had arrived late for the boggart lesson. While she was fascinated by the possibility of learning what her greatest fear was, revealing that fear to her housemates worried her. What if it was something that they could use against her? What if they could hurt her with it? It would be much safer if she could take her turn without anyone else there. One of the third years, Michael Corner, said that when their class faced the boggart, Professor Lupin had them line up and not everyone had a chance to go. Luna surmised if she arrived late, she could be last in line, maximizing the chance she would not have to face the boggart in class. Of course, completely missing the valuable practical lecture was out of the question.
Luna arrived to find one of the Gryffindors forcing the boggart into the form of a dancing zombie. She watched the boggart's rather poor impression of the man who tried to kill Ron Weasley and was fascinated when it took the form of a basilisk. She had expected that would be Colins boggart – what else would a boy who spent most of the past year petrified's greatest fear be – and was happy not to have missed it. It would probably be the only time she could observe a Basilisk's eyes without risk of petrification or death.
The subsequent appearance of a Thestral shocked her. To see a Thestral, one must have seen death, and she didn't realize anyone else in the year had seen someone die. Finding Thestrals pulling the carriages could be rather shocking. Luna was surprised to see them there, and she had met them before. For someone who didn't know what they were, finding only you could see them would be rather terrifying. Maybe she should reach out to the girl? She might feel better if they were explained.
Then it was Ginny's turn and the boggart turned into a boy. He looked to be in fifth or sixth year and wore the robes of a Slytherin prefect. Yet Luna could recognize all six of the current Slytherin prefects, as well as the two who graduated at the end of the previous year, and he was not one of them. In fact, she didn't recognize his face at all.
Then Ginny collapsed and he smiled. Luna had seen that smile before on a different face. On not-Ginny's face. The same haughty smirk. So sure and confident. So full of hatred and pride. In an instant, she realized this was Tom. Ginny had been telling the truth when she called out in the hall earlier this year, and this boy Tom was Ginny's greatest fear. There was no tricking a boggart. Somehow Ginny had been telling the truth. Maybe Ginny was still her friend.
And she needed Luna's help
Luna broke through the circle and planted her hand on Ginny's shoulder. A friend shouldn't need to face their worst fears alone.
Tom turned his gaze onto Luna and her last doubts vanished. They were not-Ginny's eyes from the fight at the edge of the forest. They were not-Ginny's eyes from the fight in the library. Tom had not-Ginny's eyes.
Then the boggart shifted into… the cover of her dream diary? She had been expecting a creature… a place… a something… Unless it knew. But of course it knew. It was a boggart after all.
Professor Lupin advanced on the creature and ended the lesson. Then Luna remembered this was a class. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other Ravenclaws watching her. They had seen her greatest fear. She needed to get away.
So she left and slipped into the nearest secret passageway.
The following morning at breakfast, an owl arrived with an envelope addressed to Ginny Weasley. While she often got letters from home, those were usually distributed by Percy who Mum felt was the only one responsible enough to write back that they received the letters and packages. The second unusual detail is the owl was not Errol. It could be from Bill, but he had written a few days ago. Puzzled, she opened the letter to find one line.
I'll meet you on the train. We should talk.
Ginny felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She looked up from the letter and saw Luna. It was the first time she spotted her sitting at the Ravenclaw table in months. Luna gave a small nod and walked away.
"What's the letter about?" Jack asked after peeking over her shoulder.
"I'm not sure yet, but hopefully something good."
It was the last morning of term, and the Ravenclaw girls were all in their room packing. Luna was relieved that morning to find the various objects that had gone missing over the term had appeared at the foot of her bed like last year. Ideally, they wouldn't vanish in the first place… but at least they were returned eventually. The others, meanwhile, were scrambling to finish their last-minute backing as well. The train was scheduled to leave shortly, and it waited for no one.
"You done yet Anne? I want to head down," Becca called out as she pulled on her trainers.
Anne glanced up from her book, her trunk laying closed at the food of the bed where it had been placed when Anne finished packing early the previous night. "Um… I thought I would wait for everyone else to finish."
"Let's head down now. I'd rather walk with someone. This way we can get a good compartment."
"I think it would be better to wait," Anne replied, glancing around the room. Luna was standing on her bed, trying to pull down her right shoe that had somehow been adhered to the ceiling over the past night. Olivia was quietly shoving the contents of her nightstand into a small bag in a disorganized jumble. Anne's gaze focused on Chloe who was patiently organizing the contents of her trunk, seemingly oblivious to the impending deadline.
"Is there something wrong?" Becca asked. Olivia and Chloe looked up and watched the exchange. The atmosphere in the room became heavier. Thicker.
Anne caught Luna's gaze and raised a questioning eyebrow. Luna shrugged in reply. It was Anne's decision, after all. It was not like they were friends anymore. "Fine," Anne said before adding in a stern voice "But I expect to see all of you on the train soon."
While Anne and Becca gathered their trunks and bags and climbed down the stairs, everyone else resumed their activities. Luna stared at the shoe. It was firmly stuck despite the lack of any clear adhesive. That meant it was probably a spell. She pulled her wand out from behind her ear and tried Finite to no effect. She followed that enchantment by several other spells including the repairing charm and a couple unlocking spells. The shoe just wouldn't budge. In desperation, she even tried casting a new sticking charm and canceling it, hoping to catch whatever spell was on the shoe in the cancellation. She fell back onto her bed, string up at the offending shoe, her mind wandering.
A few minutes later, the now graduated seventh-year prefect, Penelope knocked on the door. "How are you girls doing?"
"Oh. Hi Penelope!" Olivia said. She zipped her trunk closed. "Can you give me a hand with my trunk?"
"Sure," Penelope replied, casting a levitation spell. "You two alright?"
"Yes."
"Yup."
"Good. Alright Olivia. I'll bring this down for you."
Two sets of footsteps left the room and faded away. Luna let out a frustrated sigh. It was time to give up. She couldn't figure out how the shoe had been attached. It obviously needed some special counter-curse that she didn't know, and it was time to take more drastic action. A few quick severing charms later, there was a small hole in the ceiling and the shoe was laying on her bed. The sole was covered with a thin layer of wood, but Luna could look up other counter-curses when she got home. Luna lay her wand down and tried to put it on. It seemed wearable if a bit stiffer than usual.
There was a click behind her. Luna turned her head in time to see the flash of light that accompanied the works Petrificus Totalus!. Luna's arms sprang to her sides, and she fell off the bed with a muffled thump.
Chloe walked into her field of vision and reached down to pick up Luna's bag. She pulled out a small book with a cover of stars on a dark blue background. She gave a satisfied smile. "I knew I had seen this somewhere before. Shall we see why your greatest fear is the cover of this book?"
Luna started panicking. She couldn't let her open the diary. No one could ever know. She tried to shout, but her mouth refused to open. She screamed in frustration, but only managed a choked gurgle.
Chloe suddenly frowned. "Well that's weird. You charmed it shut somehow, didn't you? Clever Loony. Very clever. Don't worry though. I'll figure out why this book matters so much. You can count on that. Meanwhile…" Chloe lifted her wand and floated Luna under the bed. Luna's head banged against one of the legs, but Chloe paid no attention. "This is payback for your friend's rescue earlier. The spell should wear off in about two hours. You'll miss the train, but I honestly don't know if you care. See you next year Loony."
Chloe casually tossed the diary to the ground. There was then a grinding sound that Luna assumed was her trunk being shoved rather roughly under another of the beds. There was another thump, the sound of footsteps, and Chloe left the room.
Luna strained against the spell, but found her body locked tightly. It was too much to hope the fell would fade quickly. Chloe probably meant what she said. Luna had two hours to go in this claustrophobic space. Luna sighed mentally. That meant she would miss the train, and she promised Ginny she would be there. Well, there was nothing to be done. She would need to try to find some way to make it up to her.
On the bright side. This could have been a lot worse. Chloe could have gotten into the diary. It was stupid to think carrying it in her bag would keep it safe. She never should have been that reckless. The only reason it was not a disaster was Chloe couldn't open it. That was odd. She never cast any protective charms on the diary, and she doubted it was accidental magic that protected it. That meant the charm was there before she got the diary. It had to be either an intrinsic property of the book itself or a spell someone else placed on it. No one else had handled the diary in years. The last time had been when she got it. Luna cast her mind back to that time years ago, before everything had started to go wrong.
Her mother handed her the diary the morning after the first dream and made her make the promise. Then again, her mother must have been able to open the diary. She had purchased it after all. Actually, could she even be sure Mum purchased the diary? Maybe she made it… which would mean she placed the spells on it.
What else happened that day? She brought the diary to Ginny's house… Ginny flew a bit at some point…then she showed her the diary. Did Ginny ever open the diary or only look at the cover? Luna couldn't remember. She couldn't be sure. That meant she needed to test it somehow. She needed to know if anyone else could open the diary. She needed to know if it was safe. But… testing brought its own risks. What if they could open the diary? What if they saw what was inside? This needed a lot more thought.
Luna made a quick count of the Nargles that had taken up residence in her head since she became locked in this immobile position. It seemed like roughly half an hour had passed. She tried to move, but still found her muscles stubbornly unresponsive. Well, only another hour and a half to go. Plenty of time to plan.
