Mirror of Desire

The weekend arrived quickly and it found Harry and company huddled around their potions books. Snape had given them a long essay and it was considerably more difficult than the work they had done the term before.

"He's bloody mental," Ron grumbled as he flipped idly through the pages of his book.

"He's just trying to challenge us," Hermione quipped.

"Oh come on, Hermione. Not even you can defend this assignment," Harry said.

"I never said that I wanted to do the assignment," Hermione sighed but turned back to her own parchment.

Little did the trio know, but Irlynn was sitting in the library pouring over the same assignment. She was doing her best to concentrate on her schoolwork. She'd managed to keep from obsessing over the adoption files the rest of the week. She finally set her quill down in frustration. The essay was just too complicated for her to think about right now. She gathered her books and tossed them haphazardly into her bag. With one last look around to make sure she hadn't dropped anything, Irlynn headed back to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Before any of them knew it, it was after eleven. Ron had fallen asleep atop his books, snoring loudly. Harry was trying to stifle a snicker at his friend's expense. Hermione gave him a disgusted look as she packed up her things.

"I'm going to bed," she told Harry. He nodded. It was fairly obvious to him that was where she was headed. He began to tidy up a bit before attempting to wake Ron. He elbowed his friend in the ribs a couple times, finally waking the redhead up.

"Huh? What's going on?" Ron mumbled.

"It's slate. You fell asleep on your books," Harry said.

"Oh," Ron yawned. He picked up his things and stumbled towards the stairs. Harry followed suit and climbed into bed. His mind was so exhausted from the potions essay, he didn't have much energy to think of much else. For the first time in a while, he fell asleep without racing thoughts to keep him up until the wee hours. Not only were his thoughts quiet, but he slept soundly that night. When he woke up the next morning he was actually refreshed. He was up before any of his dorm mates and was heading for the Great Hall when he ran into Irlynn.

"Morning," he greeted.

"Hi…you're up early," she said, giving him a smile. She hadn't slept as soundly as he had but she was still feeling refreshed.

"Yeah…I slept really well last night I guess," Harry said as they reached the Great Hall. They walked in to find it almost empty. Apparently no one was up for breakfast on a Sunday. Taking advantage of this, Harry invited Irlynn to sit at the Gryffindor table.

"It feels sort of strange," she said as she piled a helping of scrambled eggs onto her plate.

"They put all the tables together of holiday," Harry said around a bit of toast. Irlynn just nodded. She didn't want to weird him out if she told him she knew that, even though she hadn't been on grounds over holiday.

They finished their meal in comfortable silence. By the time they had left, more students were milling about the castle. The pair wandered in no particular direction until they ended up outside in the courtyard. There was still a light dusting of snow covering everything.

"Did Snape give you the essay of death…that's what Ron's taken to calling it," Harry asked.

"Yes…I think he may have knocked his head a bit. It's like we're in third year or something," Irlynn agreed.

"I think he probably knocked his head a bit a long time ago," Harry snickered. Irlynn joined in with a couple giggles despite herself.

"I got some of it done yesterday but I just couldn't finish," she sighed.

"Same with me. And Hermione isn't helping," he added. They stood there for a minute or two more before a light breeze picked up and made their robes swirl around their ankles.

"Oh it's a bit chilly out. What do you say we go back in?" she suggested. With that they headed back in. They agreed to meet at the library in a half hour to try and work on the essay together.

The rest of the afternoon passed by for both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first years. They managed to get their essays done and without much distraction. They parted ways just before dinner time where Harry ran into Ron and Hermione.

"Where have you been all day?" Hermione asked as they sat down.

"Irlynn and I worked on Snape's essay in the library most of the afternoon," he answered.

"Oh," Hermione said.

"That's good," she mumbled into her goblet of pumpkin juice. Harry did his best not to laugh at Hermione's expression. He didn't think her to be the type that got jealous if he looked for help on schoolwork elsewhere. Apparently he was wrong because she took off fairly quickly form dinner.

"I keep telling you, she's mental," Ron said das they meandered back towards the Common Room.

A couple hours later Harry sat staring into the fireplace. It had died to mostly embers by that point and no one seemed interested in stoking it. He watched the time slip away until he was the only one in the room. He knew he should go to bed but he wasn't tired. Instead, he stood up and headed for the dorm. As quietly as he could, he opened his trunk and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak.

Donning it and making sure all of his body was hidden, Harry ventured out into the corridors. He'd never been out of bed after hours before. He wasn't sure where he was going but he let his feet just guide him along until he heard voices to h is left he stopped dead in his tracks as he realized it was Snape and Quirrel arguing. He tried to inch past them without drawing attention. Snape stopped talking and turned around, making Harry stop dead in his tracks. Snape seemed to reach his hand out but drew it back and turned back to the other Professor.

Harry's feet moved faster than they had ever done before, finally depositing him safely in a room. He looked around and pulled the cloak off. In the room was a tall gilded mirror, just standing there all alone. The eleven-year-old slowly approached it and saw his reflection. Before his eyes two figures began to emerge until they became as clear as his own reflection. He swallowed as they smiled down at him; his mother and father.

Far from him, in the Ravenclaw dormitory, Irlynn tossed and turned in her sleep. She was getting another vision. Whoever it was stood in a room all alone and there was a mirror. As the person approached the mirror, two figures appeared until they were solid figures; a man and a woman. And then it happened, she saw the person's face for the first time in eleven years and it was enough to wake her up. She sat there in the darkness of the dormitory for no more than a split second before she grabbed her shoes and robes and raced from the tower. She wasn't sure where she was going but some force within her seemed to be guiding her. Within five minutes she had reached the room.

"Harry?" she said softly. He spun around stared at her in shock.

"I-Irlynn," he replied. She moved further into the room and looked at mirror. It seemed to be just hiss reflection now.

"What are you doing out of bed?" he asked.

"I…oh Merlin it's complicated. The short of it is…I have been seeing things since I can remember…and tonight…well you finally walked in front of a mirror," she blurted.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I think…I think I can see your memories and thoughts sometimes. There was a man and a woman in the mirror with you before," she answered. Harry nodded.

"My parents," he replied. She smiled at him and he moved out of the way. She walked up to the mirror and looked at it intently, not sure of what she would see. She saw herself reflected and slowly figures started to appear on either side of her. However, they never became clear. They were just blurs and she frowned.

"What do you see?" Harry asked.

"It's…it's nothing," she mumbled, feeling uncomfortable. Why had she been able to see Harry's parents so clearly?

"No…what is it?" Harry pressed.

"I can't tell who it is…" she answered. Was now really the time to get into her confusing magical heritage? It was late and they could both very well get in trouble for being out of bed after hours. She faked a yawn and he took that as a cue to stop asking question.

"I think we should keep this a secret…just us," he said as they snuck out under the cover of the cloak.

"Ok…no one knows about the mirror," she agreed as they stopped in front of the Ravenclaw Tower.

"Night," she whispered as she gave the password and stepped through. Harry gave a quick wave and headed back towards his own dorm. He wouldn't be falling asleep easily tonight. He'd seen his parents.