Quick Note: I used the exact same thing the portrait of Siri's mother screams in the book because in my mind them magical pictures of the Potterverse are like some sort of recorded moments, replaying themselves over and over. Just easier that way. Still don't own anything even remotely J.-ish. ;_;

Chapter Two: Number 12 Grimmauld Place

When the black car finally approached London, it glided gently down back to the highway and then flickered into visibility once more while passing through a dark tunnel.

It was about time too. Mimi was getting fidgety in the back seat of the car. For the greatest part of the long trip, Remus and Sirius have been telling her about her new adoptive brother Teddy, the magical school he was going to, Hogwarts, and the bizarre house at number 12 Grimmauld Place where they all lived.

Oh, the house. Mimi couldn't wait to explore it. Apparently, it's been a home to a rather nutty wizarding family for centuries and was full of secrets and strange magics that even Sirius and Remus had trouble understanding.

"Most of the stuff we don't know what it's for," Sirius had said at one point, "we just stuff into the attic."

Apparently, there was something called an "extension charm" in effect in the attic which made the room a million times larger on the inside and capable of holding much more stuff than it would normally be able to.

The very thought of all the mysteries hidden away there to be discovered, made Mimi's fingertips itch.

So, she was somewhat disappointed when the car drove to a halt in front of two very non-descript buildings, neither of which resembled a house. They were apartment buildings, by the looks of it, both very old and covered in graffiti.
"Alright, everyone out!" Remus ordered cheerfully as he killed the engine, "I have to Vanish the car."

Mimi had never heard someone use the word 'vanish' as a transitive verb before, but she figured she didn't want to be in it when it happened. She quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her backpack and Patchy while Sirius unloaded her bags and suitcases from the trunk.

Remus opened the door for her and Mimi hopped out of the car, eagerly glancing around for anything that resembled the magical house from Remus' and Sirius' stories, but wherever she looked, there were only apartment buildings.

People walked by every now and then, but no one even gave them a second glance, as though they were invisible or something.
"We're technically in our driveway," Sirius told her confidentially as he picked up one of her suitcases in each hand, "so we're under the cover of the spell that's protecting the house…see the numbers on these buildings?"

Mimi looked at the small, black plates. The one on the left building said 10 and the one on the right said 14.
"We're at number twelve Grimmauld Place, Mimi." Sirius spoke on, looking uncharacteristically…well, serious.

The moment Mimi heard the street name and number, the buildings in front of them seemed to move and then move away from each other, as if being nudged out of the way by the unusual, black house that slowly grew into existence between them.

Mimi's jaw literally fell as she gaped up at the tall, outrageous "house" that had by now grown to almost twice the height and width of the neighboring, apartment buildings. It was black and old-fashioned, with tall, foreboding windows shackled in iron decorations.

A worn set of front steps led up to a bizarre, black door that had no handle, keyhole or pretty much anything on it except for a silver knocker in the shape of a silver snake. Next to the door, the same black plate as those on other buildings showed a smudged, white number 12.

"Remember one thing, Mimi," Remus told her as he joined Mimi and Sirius, "now that you know the street number of our house, you're one of it's Secret Keepers. No one can find it unless you tell them where it is, like we told you so be careful. Only tell someone you absolutely trust not to spread it around."

Mimi nodded mutely, squeezing Patchy to her chest and then remembered something and turned around, looking for the car they came with. It was gone without a trace.
"Aaaaw…I wanted to see the car get Vanished…" she sighed and Sirius chuckled a little.

"You'll have your chance, don't worry." he said, "But right now, it's time for a tour."

They climbed the stairs and Mimi watched curiously as Sirius opened the door by tapping it with his wand.
"Teddy, we're home!" Remus called out in a vaguely upward direction, "Come on down to meet someone!"

There was a faint crash from upstairs and then a door was slammed before someone came thundering down the stairs.

"Don't run down the stai-" Sirius had begun to shout but it was too late as a twelve year old boy appeared at the top of the stairs that led up through a nearby door on the left wall.

"Sorry, sorry!" the boy panted as he rushed down the rest of the stairs to join them, "I dozed off waiting for you guys! Where's- oh…"

He stopped in his tracks, gaping at Mimi who gaped right back at him in return.

The boy's appearance was…somewhat peculiar, when compared to what she had been used to.

He had pale-brown eyes and hair of matching colour. It was long and fell down his shoulders while his bangs were short and somehow seemed to grow to the left as they fell into his eyes.

But that wasn't what had Mimi's eyes huge and sparkling. The boy had all sorts of beads and ribbons weaved into his hair, as well as several necklaces of varying length, all consisting of black leather straps which had some sort of colourful stones hanging from them. He also wore shiny, silvery rings and bracelets and all around, let it be said that he reflected a lot of light.

They stared at each other for a moment, Mimi in her Siamese kitty hoodie and short, denim skirt, as well as brown boots, and the boy also in a hoodie, although his was black with red-stripped sleeves which he'd rolled up and white faux-fur lining the edge of the hood before both of them exclaimed in unison.

"SHINY!" Mimi cried out excitedly.

"CUTE!" the boy practically squealed in a not too manly manner.

Just as he rushed to her, Mimi practically jumped into his arms and they giggled together as he picked her off the ground in an excited hug and she tried to grab any of the many trinkets hanging off of him.

Sirius sighed and looked at his husband skeptically.
"Well, looks like we have two weird children now." he said before giving both of them a mock-glare, "Come on you two, break it up! You're supposed to do that AFTER we introduced you!"

"Oh, right!" the boy seemed to remember and set Mimi down again, "I'm Ted, what's your name?"

"Mimi," Mimi said, still grinning, "Mimi Huggins. Um…can I braid your hair later?"

"Sure, can I braid yours?"

"Sure!"

"I like you, come on, I'll show you around!"

"Wait, we're supposed to-" Remus tried to protest helplessly, but the two newly-acquainted siblings were already scampering off down the hallway, hand in hand.

"Looks like we're not needed anymore," Sirius chuckled, "Now let's catch up with them and make sure she doesn't actually braid his hair…the boy looks girly enough."

"Hey, leave him alone, he can dress any way he likes, Siri."

"I know, I know," Sirius snickered, "But come on – you have to let me tease him a little?"

"No! Be nice!"

While they bickered away, Ted and Mimi were already halfway down the hallway where the boy stopped in front of a large set of red curtains.
"Hey, check this out!"

Remus, who was still bickering with Sirius some steps behind, saw his son grab the dangling piece of thick, decorative rope, clearly intending to pull it.
"Teddy, no!"

But it was too late, the rope was pulled and instantaneously, an inhumane shriek broke out, vaguely female.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness!"

Mimi yelped and ducked behind Ted, as it looked as if a very ugly old lady had popped out from behind the curtains and was screaming her lungs out.

"Half breeds! Mutants! Begone from this place!"

"It's okay, Mimi, look!" Ted said to the frightened girl, "She's just a picture."

A picture? Mimi peered out from behind of him and, upon closer inspection, confirmed that the woman was, in fact, two-dimensional. It was as if she was looking at a flat TV screen.

"How dare you befoul the house of my father's-"

"That's enough." Sirius said sternly as he pulled the curtains back on.

"Was that really a picture?" Mimi asked breathlessly.

"All magic pictures are like that." Ted told her, "Come on, I'll show you the basement!"

"Teddy, no, it's dusty down there!" Remus called out helplessly, but the kids were already long gone.

"Oh, stop fretting." Sirius grinned at him, "We had kids here when this place was ten times worse."

It was true. Two decades after this was the Order of the Phoenix's hideout, the house was nearly unrecognizable. It was now clean, aerated and much brighter. Remus and Sirius have done a LOT of work on it over the years and they still weren't done, but at least it no longer felt like a trap-filled tomb.

The curtains were pulled off all the windows, allowing the sunlight in and the walls were now painted a soothing shade of beige while the skirting boards were dark brown. The hallway almost imperceptibly widened into a huge entrance hall, decorated in pretty much the same manner.

Mimi gaped all around, marveling at the sheer size of the place. Not only was the room they were in now ridiculously large, but the ceiling was also incredibly high. Speaking of the ceiling, a magnificent chandelier hung from the very center of it, glittering brilliantly in the afternoon sunlight that freely poured inside through the windows. This might've been a ballroom once, but now at the left side there was a bright, cheery kitchen and at the other a white dining table with chairs all around it and a beautiful, brown piano next to it all.

Still, judging from the three dirty plates piled up on the kitchen counter that had bar stools all around it, Mimi figured this was where the family ate when there were no guests. Walking all across the hall with a pot of stew to get to the table did seem like a hassle.

But right now, all of that didn't matter especially to Mimi – she was busy admiring the glittering chandelier waaaay high above her.

"Shiny…" Mimi uttered in awe as she gaped up at it before she seemed to remember something, "Wait…isn't the house surrounded by buildings? Where's all this sun coming from?"

"Magic, of course." Ted replied cheerfully, "The ceiling of the great dining hall in my school has the same enchantment on it, it shows the exact same weather as it is outside, like you're under the open sky."

"This place was a dump when we moved in here." Sirius grumbled, "My family was full of nutty wizards and witches who enjoyed cobweb and darkness and eating little kids so they had the place decorated the same style, pretty much…see that dresser with the fancy china?"

"Uh-uh…" Mimi nodded.

"Well, back when we started fixing the place up," Sirius spoke on ominously, "A family of spiders as large as the saucers lived there!"

"Siri, don't tell her that!" Remus scolded him when Mimi gasped and ducked behind Ted for protection from the spiders of the past.

"Come on, the basement, the basement!" Ted urged them impatiently, "You won't believe how big it is!"

"There's nothing in the basement." Remus snapped, "It used to be the kitchen but now we use it for storage and the boiler is down there. I'm sure Mimi would rather see the rest of the house first…like her room, for example?"

Mimi's ears immediately pricked up and her dark blue eyes flew to Remus' face in disbelief.
"I have my own room?"

"On the top floor." Remus grinned back at her.

"Across the hall from mine." Ted added.

"Yeah, it was my brother's old room once." Sirius finally topped it all off as they reached the stairway and began slowly climbing up, "Teddy got my old room since it already had all the Gryffindor decorations. We completely re-decorated Regulus' old room for you, though. Teddy did most of it, so I'm sure it's girly enough for you."

"Hey!" Ted snapped, though he didn't seem particularly annoyed. Apparently, this was a teasing argument he and Sirius had often, "That's rich, coming from a guy who's married to another guy."

"Boy, that has nothing to do with anything." Sirius retorted as they reached the first landing, "A man should be MANLY. Like me. Allow me to demonstrate."

"Oh, Merlin, not this again." Ted groaned jokingly as Sirius leaned down towards Mimi and bent his arm up in front of her which made his bicep pop up.

"Touch my muscles!" he said and Mimi eagerly jumped up and grabbed his upper arm with both hands, giggling when Sirius pulled her off the ground a little bit, "See! Hard as a rock!"

"Oh, come on!" Teddy snickered nastily, "We all know you cast a Duro charm on your arms every day."

"What? Why you little- get over here!"

"Hey, knock it off!" Remus barked at both his son and his husband, "We're in the middle of a tour here!"

He huffed exasperatedly when they both settled down a little.
"Now," Remus said with thick dignity, "We have three bedrooms on the first landing…this one here is where Sirius and I sleep."

"The other two are guest rooms." Sirius interjected while they carried on up the stairs from the first landing which was, honestly, more like a small hallway, "Now the first floor kind of grew into a leisure section for the family."

Mimi watched in awe as they reached the top of the stairs and an enormous quantity of sheer space greeted her.

"We had all the walls knocked down, leaving just the support beams since there was a lot of nasty stuff attached to the walls with a permanent sticking charm," Remus said, pointing his finger to the far left of the room where there was the only section of the floor that wasn't covered in a rug, but a linoleum floor instead. There were canvases and painting equipment scattered all around it and the area was surrounded by tall windows, offering a lot of light, "That there is the drawing 'room', over there you'll see the library, further down is the TV-room…uh…we don't get any of the Muggle channels, though…"

"Muggle?"

"Non-wizards." Teddy filled her in gracefully.

"That's right," Remus nodded before concluding, "And over there is the study where Siri and I work, Teddy does his homework and such."

Up the stairs they went again and the next floor was basically just a long hallway with four doors on each side.
"The guestroom floor." Sirius explained, "You might think this is too much, but trust me, when our friends and their families drop by for holidays it's packed full."

"Other than that, not much to see here…" Remus added and led them up the next flight of stairs, "Up we go again."

"Pretty much the same thing on third floor." he said when they reached the next floor, slightly out of breath now, "No real rule, but when our friends come to visit, this is usually where their kids, Teddy's friends, sleep while the parents sleep in the guest rooms below."

"Come oooon, let's move on to the best floor in the house!" Teddy grinned and all but pulled Mimi up the stairs.

"Oi, take it easy will you!" Remus called out after them breathlessly, "Some of us ain't that young anymore!"

The following flight of stairs was the longest and it wound spirally upward for at least one floor more, though there weren't any landings or doors to go through until they finally reached the top where there was just a small hallway with two doors, one on each side.

The door on the left had a large poster on it with a bunch of people dressed in black and white robes with what looked like a magpie on their chest. The zipped around on broomsticks of all things, grinning like they were having fun while they passed around a large, brown…vaguely ball-like things. Although Mimi had never seen a leather ball with so many dents in it. Every now and then a girl would zip by, chasing something wicked-fast and golden. The large, black letters at the top of the poster said 'Montrose Magpies'.

"Uh…" Mimi said pointing to the poster, too confused to figure out what to ask first.

"Oooohhh, Quidditch." Teddy said, a delighted grin spreading all across his face, "Don't worry, I'll give you a full course on that later. For now, let's just say…it's the best thing in the history of EVERYTHING!"

"Anyway, that's Teddy's room over there." Remus said quickly, knowing that if he didn't distract his son from talking about Quidditch, Teddy would go on and on and on about it, "And here, is your room, Mimi."

Mimi all but whipped around and happily followed Remus to the other door which was painted a soothing shade of beige.

When he slowly opened them, her eyes grew two sizes as she gaped at what could only be described as the most awesome place in the history of awesome places.

First of all, it was HUGE. Seriously huge. Mimi had never had a room of her own before so she was used to sleeping in one large dorm with dozens of other kids, but even by her standards, this room was huge.

The walls were painted the same beige colour as the door and there was a generally beige theme prevalent in the décor, while some wood detailing were dark brown. The ceiling was slanted, indicating that the room was directly under the roof, and it was covered in wooden boards, giving everything a cozy air.

The bed was huge and wonderful, with three, large, fluffy pillows stacked in the top and soft-looking beige sheets covering it.

There was also a small writing desk just under the largest window that looked out to clear, blue sky. It was open and the feather-light, white drapes were swaying under a gentle breeze, so Mimi could tell that this was not some kind of magic-induced optical illusion. The room was so high up that no buildings nearby could block the view.

In the bottom of the bed was a large toy chest, crammed full with apparently just about anything that Remus, Sirius and Teddy could think of stuffing in there. It was burgundy with golden detailing, painted so it looked like a pirate treasure chest.

At the other end of the room, there was a small bookshelf next to a large, beige dresser with a huge mirror embedded in between two long, vertical compartments.

"Whoa- wooow! WOOOOOW! Is that- WOOOOW!" Mimi gasped out, running from one place to another to get a better look of everything, though still not daring to touch it, "It's…it's PERF- WOW!"

"You like it?" Teddy asked, shifting from foot to foot, "I, uh- didn't know your favourite colour so I thought this would do for the first-"

"I love it!" Mimi squealed as she turned around with a bright grin on her face before she ran up and hugged the tall boy around the waist, "Thank you! Thank you, it's amazing!"

"Well, I- uh…" Sirius cleared his throat, "…I thought of the pirate toy chest."

Remus nudged him with gentle rebuke.
"Don't be a baby," he told him softly, "you'll get hugs too."

"I want hugs now." the dark-haired man whined jokingly and Remus rolled his eyes and indulged him with a quick, but warm hug and a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"There." the light-haired man snickered, "Now, let's get Mimi's things up here so she can unpack…Accio luggage!"

The first day in Mimi's new home was over all too quickly. She busied herself for the most of it by finding a perfect place in her new room for everything she owned. After she was done with that, she patted up and across the entire house several more times, looking into and under everything she could find, pretty much like a stray kitten settling into a new home.

Finally, a fun dinner with all three members of her new family where Sirius tried and failed miserably to flip pancakes and she got introduced to the wonders of chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans as well as trying out the patented Weasleys' Canary Creams which tasted heavenly and gave her great fun when she spent around five minutes flying around the room with Teddy in the shape of a gigantic, yellow canary.

Mimi knew that getting attached to her adopters too soon was a bad idea, in her case anyway. But these guys were just so weird and bizarre and wonderful that she just couldn't help it ~ she instantly adored them all. Especially Teddy with his bizarre outfits and fondness for glass jewelry.

For the rest of the evening, she listened to him excitedly explain Quidditch and talk about Hogwarts and the school houses and all the strange and wonderful things happening there.

They were all in the library at this point, Remus and Sirius sitting side by side on a comfortable sofa in front of the blazing fireplace while Mimi was sprawled on her belly on the thick rug in front of them, listening to Teddy's stories wide-eyed.
"Could I go visit you at Hogwarts sometimes?" she asked Teddy at one point and Sirius chuckled.

"Not just visit, Mimi." he said, "Come October, you'll be starting school there yourself. You're a witch too, just like us. Er…except we're wizards."

Mimi looked up at him skeptically.
"But I can't do any of the stuff you guys can." she said, "There's no way…"

"A wizard or witch's magic isn't that obvious until they get a wand of their own." Remus said, "A wand is what focuses it and allows you to use it at will. Until then, your magic comes out in more subtle ways you might not have noticed."

"Like what?"

"Well…" Remus trailed off uncomfortably, "You know how muggles became afraid of you when you spent a longer period of time in their houses?"

Mimi looked away, hugging Patchy closer to her instinctively. He was referring to her previous adopted parents.

"Well, that's because they're muggles." Remus spoke on quickly, "When they see something they don't understand, they become afraid of it and want it to go away. You weren't one of them in the first place, Mimi. It's a pity we couldn't find you earlier, but you're home now, so don't worry."

Mimi finally smiled a little and then grinned full out.
"So…I'm gonna get a wand too, huh?"

"Oh, yes." Sirius grinned back, "We're all going to Diagon Alley in two weeks or so to shop for school supplies for you and Ted. I have a feeling you'll like that place."

Mimi had the feeling she'd like just about anything that had to do with the wizarding world. It was a whole new universe to explore and she couldn't wait to dive straight into it.

That night, when Sirius and Remus tucked her in and left her to rest, Mimi couldn't sleep for the life of her. After a bit of tossing and turning, she sighed and threw the covers off of herself, grabbing Patchy from the pillow.
"No way can I sleep now, Patchy." she told her friend excitedly, "It's exploring time! I bet this house has secrets and I'm going to find them all out!"

She got dressed in her usual expedition garb, consisting of her Siamese kitty jacket and blue denim skirt, as well as her black, cat-shaped backpack which, after tip-toeing down to the kitchen she filled with a bottle of water and a couple of sandwiches wrapped in transparent foil. Just in case.

She stealthily climbed back to the third floor and paused in front of the flight of stairs leading up to her and Teddy's rooms where she set Patchy down on the lowest step and knelt in front of him, spreading a piece of paper next to him on which she'd clumsily sketched out the entire house.

"Okay, so we're here now," she whispered to Patchy, pointing at a spot on the scribble that only made sense to her, "but between here and the next floor there's a HUGE gap. I mean, REALLY huge. There HAS to be a secret floor there. I bet there's a secret passage leading to it, right? I mean, this is a really old place, like in the movies, it's probably full of secret passages. Let's check out the stairway first."

She carefully folded the 'map' and put it in the joint pockets on the front of her jacket before picking Patchy up again and then slowly making her way up the stairway with her ear on the wall as she knocked along softly, looking for hollow spaces.

It wasn't very likely she'd wake anyone up, since the house was so huge that even Teddy, whose room was relatively close, was outside her earshot. Mimi knocked her way up the left wall and then down the right one and found nothing.

Also, everything was perfectly smooth without any visible bulging spots or indents to be pressed to reveal secret passages.

At the bottom of the stairs again, Mimi glanced down at Patchy and then up again with a sigh.
"You're right…" she whispered, "…if there's a secret door, it would probably be opened with a wand, just like the front door…but let's not give up yet! At least we can find it…it's got to be marked somehow. Let's see if maybe any of the rooms here have a passage leading up…"

She stealthily made her way from one room to another, but found only furniture covered with white sheets to protect if from the dust. However, there was one point of interest in the hallway ~ a truly enormous mirror, contained in a beautiful, black wooden frame that was intricately carved with a winding, abstract pattern.

Mimi examined the mirror up and down, peered behind it and tried pressing every little bulge in the frame she could reach, but nothing even budged.

Somewhat discouraged, she paused right in front of the reflective surface and squinted at her image before preening a little by combing her fingers through her pitch-black hair and trying (unsuccessfully again) to get the stubborn strand of hair falling down the middle of her face to settle behind her left ear.

Suddenly, something just above her reflection moved and Mimi yelped and whipped around, her heart pounding, only to confirm nothing was there.

Confused, she looked back at the mirror again, more precisely at the spot above her reflection she'd seen move before. It was an old portrait, apparently far back in the distance, just barely visible, peering from around the corner where the landing was between the staircases leading up and down.

Weird part was…Mimi didn't recall seeing it there before.

A quick run to the landing confirmed that there was, indeed, no painting there. Only the bare, beige wall.

Running back, Mimi leaned in towards the mirror as much as she could, squinting at the tiny portrait. It was moving, like all magical portraits did, and it showed ~ as far as Mimi could tell ~ a man wearing green robes.

"That is so creepy and awesome!" Mimi whispered to Patchy, "But I can barely make it out…if only I could bring the mirror closer to the painting- er- wall. Oh!"

She remembered something and rushed to her room where she retrieved one of her treasures ~ a small hand-mirror, decorated with rhinestones.

Mimi then stood in front of the exact spot on the landing where the portrait was supposed to be and lifted the mirror. Sure enough, it reflected a painting that wasn't there at all. She angled it until she could see the man's face. It was pointy and drawn, with a set of moustaches and a harp goatee, both black just like the man's short hair. He seemed bored out of his wits, reclining against the left side of the frame and picking his nose for all he was worth.

Mimi watched in fascination as he did so, too mesmerized by what she was seeing before she cleared her throat timidly.
"Um…hello?" she called out softly, but even that was enough to startle the man in the painting to the point where he nearly fell over.

He disappeared under the bottom edge of the frame for a long moment before he slowly peered out from behind it and then fully emerged with a sultry look on his face.
"Oh, goody." he said in a sarcastic voice, "Thirteen years later and I get found by a little brat. You're not a new Black offspring, by any chance?"

"Um…I don't think so, Mr. Picture." Mimi replied confusedly, "Mr. Black adopted me, but we're not related."

"I'm assuming you mean that lout Sirius." the pointy-moustached man sighed despairingly, "It's a new low for the Blacks if he owns the Black Manor…what did you just call me?"

"Mr. Pict-"

"I heard you, girl!" the man snapped back at her, "Don't be ridiculous ~ I am Phineas Nigelus Black, one of the founders of the Black family, do remember that!"

He looked deeply begrudged before glaring at Mimi through the mirror once more.

"So, you got yourself adopted into the Black family, did you?" he sighed dramatically, "Don't suppose you're a pureblood, at least? By the looks of you, you may have some preferable breeding, though one never knows for sure…"

This was all too much for Mimi's poor, childish brain. She blinked at the portrait blankly, not really sure what she was being asked.

Phineas rolled his eyes exasperatedly.
"No matter, then." he grumbled, "So what do you want, then? I'm a very busy man."

A mental image of him picking his nose just a minute ago popped up in Mimi's mind, but right now she had other questions.
"So, how come I can only talk to you through a mirror?" she asked eagerly, "Your picture isn't there…I think…unless it's invisible or something. But what's the point of an invisible picture?"

"No, my portrait was indeed removed from this place," Phineas sighed tragically, "By a pesky mudblood girl, if I recall correctly. But her petty skills were enough to remove it's physical manifestation, not the powerful enchantment that left a portal for my spirit here."

Once again, Mimi was overwhelmed by the complexity of the man's speech. She wrecked her brains desperately for a long moment before she tried to sum it up.
"So…it's like the body of the picture is gone, but the soul's still here?"

Phineas gave her a long look of utter suffering.
"Something like that." he ground out, clearly restraining himself from saying more.

No matter what he claimed, this was the first bit of conversation he'd gotten in quite a long time now.
"Well, Mr. Black, I'm looking for a secret passage in the house," Mimi said, "can you help me find it?"

A pair of surprised, green eyes shot her a suspicious look.
"How do you know there's a secret passage?"

"There has to be," Mimi reasoned, "something's got to be in that huge gap between the floors, right?"

Phineas snorted haughtily.
"I do not reveal Black family secret to outsiders." he said magnificently, "Furthermore, it's not a place for children, not to mention-"

He paused suddenly and looked as if he were listening for something. A moment later, his eyes widened in surprise as he turned them back to Mimi.
"What?" he gasped, clearly not talking to the girl, but to someone who was out of sight, "Her? Are you sure? Oh, very well- yes- yes, I- now don't you start with me!"

He seemed to suddenly realize Mimi was staring at him confusedly and snapped out of his little trance.
"Er…herm." he cleared his throat awkwardly, "Very well, I'll tell you."

"Really?" Mimi beamed at him, "Oh, thank you! You're the best, Mr. Picture!"

"I told you not to- ugh, never mind." Phineas sighed, "Listen, I can't tell you directly where the passage is-"

"Why not?"

"Don't interrupt, young lady!" Phineas glared at her warningly, "But I'll tell you how to find it. The passage is out of sight in the same way as my painting is. So, in order to find it, you'll need a mirror."

"Oh…I see!" Mimi gasped, "That makes sense!"

"Yes, but just finding it isn't enough." Phineas warned her, "Unlike my painting, the passage exists completely in its mirror reflection. If you want to go through it, you'll have to find a large-enough mirror to pass through. The old and powerful magic of the passage will make it possible."

"There's a mirror in my room!" Mimi gasped, "I think I can drag it down here."

At that very moment, she got startled by the sound of a nearby grandfather clock signaling the stroke of midnight.

"Aaaaw, maaan…" the girl moaned, "I gotta go to bed now. I'll find the secret passage tomorrow night, Mr. Picture. See you then!"

Before Phineas could protest at being called Mr. Picture again, Mimi thrust the hand mirror into her backpack and ran off towards the staircase.

Soon the house was silent once more...

Next time:

- He extended his hand forward and Mimi thought she saw another one – pale and lean – grasp and shake it. It looked like someone had come to visit…another wizard perhaps? -

Mimi moved alongside the wall, examining the reflection of every part carefully until she finally reached the top of the stairs and a cold breeze brushed across her face…from inside the mirror.

"To chart these wild seaaaas!" Mimi roared as the heaving sea of junk carried her little sofa-raft away.

Late Note: The next chapter will also be a two-parter. Sorry about that, I didn't realize how long they were. It's just easier to upload/proofread/fix them smaller chunk at a time. Thanks for understanding. :)

And: REVIEW, people, don't be scared! O.O How am I supposed to know what to improve if you don't tell me? ;)