Don't kill me *cowers behind computer screen*! I meant to update weeks ago but I'm up in Cape Cod for the summer and when we were shipping up our books and movies, Mom wouldn't let me bring the Sorcerer's Stone. She said no because she assumed that all Harry Potter books were huge and she said I could borrow it from the library up here. So I get here and my mom injures her foot a few days later and every time I asked to go to the library, she said maybe another day. Then my dad gets up for his vacation week and when he goes to the library, they said that the book wouldn't be in for a few days. I just got a copy of the book today. I'm really sorry, but in exchange for your patience, I turned on anonymous reviews—just don't give me any flames.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter books, blah, blah, blah, and the only characters I own are Nicki, Sydney, Justin, and Cynthia.
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It was almost Christmas. One mid-December morning, Hogwarts awoke to find itself encased in a layer of snow that was several feet thick. The lake was frozen solid and Fred, George, and of course, Nicki were punished for charming several snowballs to follow Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The entire school couldn't wait for the holidays to start and for vacation to begin.
While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors were icy and a stinging wind rattled the classroom windows. Snape's classes in the dungeons were the worst because the students' breaths were like foggy clouds and the hot cauldrons didn't warm them up.
The cold weather and the outcome of the Quidditch match made Malfoy's attitude even frostier and bitterer. One Potions class he said, "I do feel sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."
He was looking directly at the Potter twins when he said this. Crabbe and Goyle snickered. Sydney, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, not only ignored them but also held back Nicki from beating the Slytherins within inches of their lives. Disgusted that Slytherin had lost the Quidditch match, Malfoy had attempted to get everyone to laugh at the twins' lack of a proper family, but he realized that nobody found him funny because everybody was too impressed with Nicki's amazing ability to stay on her bucking broom and Sydney's excellence in academics that kept her at the top of the class, right above Malfoy. So Malfoy, jealous and furious, returned to his potion while grumbling to himself.
Truth was that the twins weren't going back to Privet Drive until summer vacation. McGonagall had come around the previous week to make a list of students who planned on staying for the holidays, and Sydney signed herself and Nicki up at once. The twins didn't feel bad at all; anything had to be better than another Christmas with the Dursley family. Ron and his brothers were staying too because their parents were going to visit Charlie in Romania.
When the group left the dungeons after Potions, they found a large fir tree completely blocking the corridor ahead. Two giant feet sticking out the bottom and the really loud puffing told them Hagrid was behind it.
"Hey Hagrid. Do you want some help?" Ron asked while sticking his head through the branches.
"Nah, I'm fine. Thanks Ron."
"Would you mind moving out of the way?" Malfoy coldly drawled behind them. "Trying to earn some extra money Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper when you leave Hogwarts? I suppose that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to that pile of wood your family's used to."
Ron dove at Malfoy before even Nicki could react, but also as Snape came up the stairs.
"WEASLEY!"
Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.
"He was provoked Professor Snape," Hagrid said as he stuck his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."
"Be that as it my, fighting is against school rules Hagrid," Snape said silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along all of you."
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle roughly pushed past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.
"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy, "one of these days I'll get him—"
"Don't worry Ron. When that day comes, Malfoy will be dead because I will already have gotten him for messing with all of us," Nicki assured while keeping a calm tone in her voice and holding a still hand on Ron's shoulder.
"I hate them both," said Justin, "Malfoy and Snape."
"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," Hagrid reminded them joyfully. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."
So the four of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great hall where McGonagall and Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.
"Ah Hagrid, the last tree—put it in the far corner would you?"
The hall looked amazing. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles and some glittering with hundreds of candles.
"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.
"Just one," answered Justin. "And that reminds me—Syd, Nic, Ron, we've still got about thirty minutes before lunch. We should be in the library."
"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his and Nicki's attention away from the golden bubbles blossoming out of Flitwick's wand as he trailed them over the branches of the new tree.
"The library?" questioned Hagrid, following the kids out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"
"Oh we're not working," Nicki told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."
"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here—I've told yeh—drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."
"We simply want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," Sydney replied calmly.
"Unless you fell like telling us and saving us the trouble of going through all those books and pestering you with more questions?" Nicki pressed, eager to find a shortcut past all of that hard work. "We must've been through hundreds of books and we can't find him anywhere. Come on, just give us a hint. I know I've seen his name somewhere."
"I'm sayin' nothin'," Hagrid insisted flatly.
"Just have to find out on our own then," said Justin. The four kids left a disgruntled Hagrid and hurried off to the library.
They had been searching almost every book in the library for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid accidentally mentioned him. How else were they going to find out what Snape planned on stealing? The problem was that the four didn't know what Flamel did that made him book-worthy. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, Notable Magical Names of Our Time, Important Magical Discoveries, or A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. After looking through dozens of books, they still had tens of thousands more that Flamel could be in.
Sydney took out a list of subjects and titles she already decided to search while Ron and Justin strode off down a row and started to pull out random books. Nicki ended up wandering toward to Restricted Section. She had already considered multiple times that Flamel could be mentioned in there. Unfortunately, students needed a note with a teacher signature to look in a restricted book, and not even Sydney would be able to get one. These books contained powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts. Books like these were only checked out by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"What are you looking for young lady?"
"Nothing. Just admiring the, uh, organization. Yep, it's alphabetized alright," Nicki laughed nervously as she pretended to check a shelf full of books that would take her a lifetime to read.
The librarian, Madam Pince, brandished a feather duster at Nicki.
"You'd better get out then. Go on—out!"
Wishing she could've thought of a more believable story, Nicki left the library. She mentally slapped herself; coming up with excuses and lies to get out of trouble was one of her specialties. All this reading and lack of sleep was really affecting the area of her brain that came up with pranks and lies. Nicki, Ron, Justin, and Sydney had already agreed not to ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she could tell them but not without the risk of Snape finding out what they were up to.
Nicki waited in the corridor to see if the other three had found anything, but she wasn't very optimistic. They had been looking for two weeks but only in the time between lessons, so it wasn't surprising that they hadn't found anything. What they needed was a long search without Madam Pince watching over their shoulders.
Five minutes later, Sydney, Ron, and Justin joined her, shaking their heads in defeat. The four went off the lunch.
"You will keep looking while I'm gone, right?" asked Justin. "And owl me if you find anything."
"Maybe you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them."
"Very safe considering they're both dentists," assured Justin.
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Once the holidays started, the twins and Ron were having too much fun to think about Flamel. Even Sydney got her nose out of the books and relaxed with her sister and her friend. Both the twins and Ron each had their empty dorm rooms all to themselves and the common room was far more vacant than normal, so they got the good sofa chairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could toast over the fireplace: bread, hot dogs, English muffins, and especially marshmallows. Ron and Nicki spent hours plotting ways to get Malfoy expelled, which were fun to plan even if they had no chance of working.
Ron also taught Nicki wizard chess, which was exactly like muggle chess except the pieces were alive, making it more like directing soldiers in battle than a board game. Sydney refused to play because she called it barbaric, but that was the reason Nicki enjoyed it so much. Secretly, Sydney was glad that Nicki found a constructive way to use her craftiness.
Despite Ron's use of his grandfather's old chessmen, he still won every time against Nicki who used chessmen she borrowed from Seamus Finnigan. Then again, Nicki was still new to the game and the pieces kept yelling different bits of advice at her, which ended up confusing the girl.
On Christmas Eve, the three kids went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun. However, the twins didn't expect any presents, as was always the treatment they got from the Dursley family. When they woke early the next morning, however, they put on their bathrobes and rushed to the common room and the first things they saw were small piles of packages waiting to be opened. Ron was sitting by the fire waiting for the girls.
"Merry Christmas Ron!" the twins greeted in unison.
"Merry Christmas," Ron responded sleepily. "Look you got presents."
"We did?" they cheered as they ran down the stairs from the common room's balcony outside the dormitories.
"What did you expect, turnips?" asked Ron, turning to his own pile which was about the same size as the twins' combined pile.
Nicki picked up the top present which was wrapped in thick brown paper and For Sydney and Nicki, From Hagrid was scrawled on the package. Inside were two roughly cut wooden flutes that Hagrid had obviously whittled himself. Nicki blew hers—it sound kind of like an owl.
Sydney grabbed the second parcel, which was very small and contained a note.
We received your messages and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Taped to the note was a single fifty-pence piece.
"That's friendly," Nicki muttered sarcastically.
"Hey it's more then we usually get," Sydney shrugged.
Ron was fascinated by the coin.
"Weird! What a shape! This is money?" Ron exclaimed as he gawked over the fifty-pence.
"You can keep it," Sydney generously offered while Nicki was too busy laughing at Ron's pleasure from a single coin.
"Hagrid, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia—who are the rest of them from?"
"I think I know who those two are from," Ron murmured, turning pink as he pointed to the two extremely lumpy parcels. "My mum. I told her you didn't expect any presents and—oh no," he groaned, "she's made you each a Weasley sweater."
Nicki and Sydney tore open the packages to each find thick, hand-knitted sweaters and a large box of homemade fudge. Sydney's sweater was amethyst purple with a golden yellow star in the middle. Nicki's sweater was aquamarine blue with a silvery grey crescent moon in the middle.
"Every year she makes us a sweater," explained Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."
"That's really nice of her," said Sydney as she and Nicki tried the fudge, which was delicious.
Their next present also contained candy—a large box of Chocolate Frogs for Nicki and a copy of The Night Before Christmas for Sydney, both from Justin.
This only left two parcels, once for each of the twins. Sydney's was a lot smaller than Nicki's but it contained a charm bracelet with a Gryffindor charm dangling from it. The note inside said:
This bracelet was given to your mother by your father as a graduation present.
She left it in my possession before she died. It is your turn to wear it.
Merry Christmas Sydney.
Nicki unwrapped her last present and noticed that it was surprisingly light for a package its size. Something fluid and silvery gray slithered to the floor where it lay in glimmering folds. Ron gasped.
"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Justin. "If that's what I think it is—they're really rare and super valuable."
"What is it?"
Nicki picked the shining cloth off the floor. It felt strange to touch, like water was woven into the material.
"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron with awe on his face. "I'm sure it is—try it on."
Ron and Sydney watched as Nicki threw the cloak around her shoulders.
Ron gave a yell. "It is! Look down!"
Nicki looked down at her feet, but they were gone. She ran to the mirror and only saw her floating head looking back at her. She pulled the cloak over her head and her reflection completely disappeared.
"Look, a note fell out of it," Sydney said suddenly.
Nicki pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. It was written in the same handwriting as Sydney's note.
Your father left this in my possession before he died.
It is time it was returned to you.
Use it well.
Merry Christmas Nicole.
Just like Sydney's, there was no signature. Sydney stared at the note while Ron admired the cloak and Nicki thought of all the pranks she could pull using the power of invisibility.
Before any of them could ask any more questions about the cloak or the charm bracelet, the dorm door was flung open and the Weasley twins bounded in. Sydney hid the cloak out of sight before Fred and George could convince Nicki to do something really stupid with it.
"Merry Christmas!"
"Lookey here—Nic and Syd got Weasley sweaters too!"
Fred and George were wearing dark blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F and the other with a large yellow G.
"Theirs are better than ours though," said Fred while holding up Nicki's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."
"Why aren't you wearing yours Ron? Come one, get it on. They're lovely and warm," George demanded.
"I hate maroon," Ron halfheartedly moaned as he pulled it over his head.
"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid—we know we're called Gred and Forge."
"What's all this noise?"
Percy stuck his head through the door with a disapproving look. He too carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.
"P for prefect! Put it on Percy. Come on, we're all wearing ours, even the other twins got sweaters."
"I—don't—want—"Percy grumbled thickly as his brothers forced the sweater over his head, knocking off his glasses.
"And you're sitting with the family today. Christmas is not a time to sit with the prefects," George ordered.
The excited five students marched Percy from the room with his arms pinned to his sides.
The Christmas feast made the Dursley Christmas dinner parties look like afternoon snack sessions. Wizard crackers were much more fun than muggle crackers. Sydney and Nicki returned to their dorm with a pack of non-explodable luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, a new wizard chess set, a magic candy ring, and a pack of ever-growing flowers.
The Potters and the Weasleys spent their afternoon having a hard-core snowball fight on the grounds. Then they returned to the common room where Nicki broke in her new chess set by losing terribly to Ron. She figured that she wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help her so much. After a Christmas dessert, Nicki enlisted the help of Fred and George to get revenge on Percy by stealing his prefect badge. Sydney and Ron watched as Percy chased the three troublemakers all over Gryffindor tower. It was the twins' best Christmas ever.
After Sydney fell asleep in the bed next to hers, Nicki pulled out the cloak. Her father's… this had been her father's.
Suddenly, Nicki felt wide awake. She could go anywhere with this cloak and Filch would never know. Nicki pulled on the cloak, crept out of the dorm room, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole.
Nicki knew exactly where to go first: the Restricted Section.
The library was pitch black and really creepy, even though to Nicki, any place with this many books was creepy. She lit a lamp to see her way along the rows. The lamp looked like it was floating and despite the fact that Nicki knew she was holding it, the sight still freaked her out.
Once in the forbidden section, Nicki held up her lamp to read the titles, even though some of them didn't have titles. She picked up a large black and silver book, but it proved too heavy for her and fell on the floor, letting out a bloodcurdling shriek. Nicki snapped the book shut but accidentally broke her lamp after hearing the last earsplitting note the book gave. She panicked as she heard footsteps coming her way. Stuffing the book back in the shelf, she ran for it, passing by Filch in the doorway. Filch seemed to look right through her as Nicki slipped under his outstretched and sprinted down the corridor, a ringing left in her ears from the book.
She stopped suddenly in front of a tall suit of armor, not sure where she was.
"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library—the Restricted Section."
Nicki felt the blood drain from her face. How could Filch have gotten there so fast? "Of course," she thought. "He knows all of the school's shortcuts." She heard Filch's voice louden as he came nearer. To her horror, Snape of all people replied, "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far. We'll catch them."
Nicki stood in her place and didn't move a muscle as the two adults rounded the corner. She sucked in her breath to make herself take up less room in the corridor. If they came any closer, they would bump into her and she would be probably kicked out of school.
She backed away as quietly as possible and slid through the open door to the left. Nicki waited inside the room until Snape and Filch's footsteps had faded down the corridor. When her pulse returned to normal, Nicki took in the sights of the room. What looked like an unused classroom had desks and chairs piled against the wall and an overturned wastebasket. However, propped against the wall was something that didn't appear to belong there.
It was a beautiful mirror about as tall as the ceiling with an ornate gold frame standing on two clawed feet. The inscription carved around the top said: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
Nicki's panic faded and she moved closer to the mirror, but didn't see her reflection. Nicki walked forward until she was only a foot away from the mirror.
She bit her lip so she wouldn't scream. She whipped her head around but sure enough, nobody was behind her. She looked back in the mirror and saw herself dressed differently and standing beside the two people she only knew from a memory.
Lily Potter stood on Nicki's right. She had strawberry blonde hair, which explained where Sydney got her golden blonde hair, and her eyes—just like Nicki's, same color, bright blue, and same shape (I know this is incorrect but I had to do it to make sense of the twins' characteristics; I know Lily Potter is a redhead with green eyes but I changed her as little as possible). The twins' mother was truly beautiful. She was smiling but at the same time crying.
James Potter stood on Nicki's left. He was tall, thin, and had the same messy dark hair as Nicki. He had dark blue eyes that were almost the same color as Sydney's. His eyes had the same playful twinkle as Nicki's eyes. He wore glasses and his hair stuck up in the back.
"Mum?" she whispered. "Dad?"
They just looked at her and smiled. She looked at what she was wearing and gasped—she was dressed as the Gryffindor Quidditch captain. Nicki wanted to reach out and touch the reflection. She felt half joyful and half depressed. She stood there for who-knows-how-long, watching her family. Finally, a noise in the distant brought her back to reality. She tore her eyes away from the glass and promised, "I'll come back."
Nicki snuck back to the dorm, only to find Sydney standing right behind the door with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face, looking like a strict parent after their teenage son/daughter snuck in past curfew.
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"You could've woken me up," Ron pouted.
"How 'bout you both come with me tonight. I'm going back. Oh Syd, you are going to love seeing our parents. You and Mum look practically the same."
"I should hope so," said Sydney stiffly. "Half of my genes come from her."
"Oh come on Syd. I thought you forgave me for not bringing you along."
"It's not about you not bringing me with you; it's about the fact that you almost got caught and left me worrying where my sister disappeared to."
"I'd like to see your mum and dad," said Ron eagerly, trying to ease the tension between the sisters.
"Exactly. Come on Sydney, you know you wanna see it," Nicki sang in a sing-song voice. "Since when do you pass up an opportunity to learn about something magical?"
"Oh fine," Sydney surrendered. "But only for my curiosity's sake."
Nicki couldn't eat. She had seen her parents. She didn't care about Flamel, the three-headed dog, or Snape's evil plan.
"Are you all right?" asked Ron. "You look a little weird."
After wandering around for a while, trying to find the mirror room, Nicki, Sydney, and Ron finally found the abandoned classroom. Sydney looked in the mirror and started tearing up when she saw her parents. Nicki asked her twin what she saw and Sydney answered, "I see Mum and Dad. I also see myself dressed as Head Girl."
Ron looked, expecting to see the Potters but instead he saw himself, older and dressed as Gryffindor Quidditch captain and Head Boy. He was shocked though when he saw Nicki walk up beside him, dressed in her tight Quidditch uniform. Ron turned his head to see that Nicki was indeed next to him, but she looked normal. He looked back toward the mirror and saw mirror-Nicki kissing him on the cheek. The twins saw his face and asked what he saw. "I see myself, but I'm older, and I'm Head Boy!"
"What?" Nicki practically screamed.
"And I'm Quidditch captain, and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup! Do you think this mirror reveals the future?" Ron purposely left out the kiss because he assumed that was just a mistake.
"How could it?" Sydney asked skeptically. "Our parents are dead."
The three kids started fighting over whose turn it was to look in the mirror. Suddenly, they heard a noise outside in the corridor. They dove into the corner underneath the cloak. Mrs. Norris crawled into the room. Sydney wondered if the cloak worked on animals. After what felt like an eternity, the cat left the room.
"This isn't safe; she's probably gone for Filch. Let's get outta here."
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The next day, Ron and Sydney tried to talk Nicki out of revisiting the mirror, but she ignored them. That night, she snuck down and watched her parents. Nothing could keep her from spending the night with them.
"So, back again Nicole?"
Nicki froze in place. Sitting on one of the desks was Professor Dumbledore. She must have walked right past him in desperation to get to the mirror.
"I, um, didn't see you sir."
"Ah yes, being invisible tends to make one nearsighted," Dumbledore said while smiling, causing Nicki to sigh in relief.
"So, you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."
"I didn't know that was its name."
"But, I expect you've realized by now what it does."
"It, um, shows me my family and me as Quidditch captain."
"And it showed your sister as Head Girl."
"Yeah but she also saw our parents—"
"And your friend Ron saw himself as Head Boy and Quidditch captain."
"How did you—?"
"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," Dumbledore said gently. "Now, what do you think the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"
Nicki shrugged.
"Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like normal mirror, meaning he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?"
Nicki thought for a minute, using the productive part of her brain to answer the question. Slowly she said, "So the mirror shows us what we want, whatever we want…"
"Yes and no," Dumbledore answered. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. You also see yourself as Quidditch captain, just like your father was. Your sister Sydney also wants to see your parents, but she also wants to see herself as Head Girl, just like your mother was. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible. The mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow Nicole and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you do ever run across it, you will be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and go back to bed?"
Nicki stood up.
"Um, Professor Dumbledore, can I ask you something?"
"You just did," Dumbledore smiled. "But you may ask me one more thing however."
"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"Why, I see myself holding a pair of thick woolen socks."
Nicki gave him a confused and skeptical look. "Why?"
"One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People only insist on giving me books."
Only when Nicki was back in bed did she consider the possibility that Dumbledore might have been lying. "But then again," she thought, "it was kind of a personal question."
Okay just to clarify, Nicki and Sydney are half-blood twins, Ron is a pure-blood, and Justin is a muggle-born with dentist parents just like Hermione. I know I focused practically the entire time on Nicki, but Sydney is equally important and she is more like Hermione than Harry. Leave reviews, not flames, and have a nice day.