Chapter Eight: The Mirror of Erised

"I just don't understand why we can't find anything about Nicholas Flamel in these books," Hermione said one evening about a week before Christmas, slamming the book down onto the table. The four of them had been trying to figure out who the man Hagrid mentioned was for a few weeks now. Of course, Aria knew where to find him, but she figured that Harry should probably be the one to figure it out, since thats how it happened in the books.

"Maybe we aren't looking in the right books," Aria said, hinting to her a little.

"You're right," Hermione said slowly.

"This is a waste of time," Ron whined, putting his book down too. Harry closed his book with a snap, all of them were tired of reading. "You're supposed to be a seer or whatever, tell us where to look."

Aria sighed. She had been wondering when Ron would become bored enough point that out.

"A seer?" Harry asked, brows raised as he looked over the top of the pile of books in front of him

"Supposedly," Aria repeated, shrugging. "That's what Dumbledore said anyway."

"I've read about divination," Hermione said frowning. "It's not a very accurate art, subject to all kinds on interference."

"I've never studied it," Aria said, leaning back as they all looked at her now. "Dumbledore said it's in my blood. He said that is why my eyes change color sometimes, when I get visions."

"I wondered about that," Hermione said, nodding. "I thought it would be rude to ask though."

"Nah, it's fine," Aria said, smiling a little. "I don't really get how it works. It only started last summer, when I found out magic was real. It's not very accurate either. My visions are only little glimpses of things and usually I can't figure them out till it happens." Hermione nodded at that explanation. "Besides, Dumbledore told me not to tell about what I see."

"Yeah because you've followed every other rule here too," Ron said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"So you don't know what books to look in?" Harry asked, trying to avoid another argument.

"I have no idea," Aria said, shrugging.

"This is pointless," Ron said. 'we've checked everywhere."

"Not," Hermione began, leaning in closer, "in the restricted section." Ron's mouth was hanging open in surprise and Harry was shaking his head.

"We'd never get in there, there are always too many people around," Harry said, frowning.

"You three are all staying over Christmas though, aren't you? There will be less people around then," Hermione said, her voice barely above a whisper. Harry's eyes were sparkling with excitement and he exchanged a look with Ron. "While I'm away you three have to check there, its the only place we haven't looked." Hermione said, closing her book with a look of finality on her face. Aria nodded along with the other two, knowing she would never actually have a chance to look in the restricted section.

The classes leading up to Christmas got increasingly more exciting, except for Potions. And Defense. The Great Hall was decorated immaculately, and before she knew it, classes had ended and everyone was getting ready to go home. Harry, Aria, and the Weasley's would be the only people left in Gryffindor, and a couple other students from the other houses were staying. She hadn't spoken to Draco since she mentioned the war. He hadn't been upset about it as she had expected, but he had been avoiding her recently. She was glad that there would be two weeks straight of not having to watch herself so closely around everyone, and that there would be two weeks without occlumency lessons. They had been going much better than Harry's would in later years, because Aria had experience with emptying her mind, but Snape was always able to break through any walls she put up, and each image he saw brought up more questions, and the lessons usually ended with him kicking her out because she wouldn't tell him anything.

The morning of Christmas found Aria already wide awake. Loud wind blowing against the windows had awoken her sometime near two and she had been unable to fall back to sleep. She didn't lift her head until she heard the elf that brought gifts come and go.

She stayed in her pajamas while she opened her tiny pile of gifts. Aria hadn't been expecting anything, since she had no family here and she didn't really know anyone well enough to expect gifts from them, but she should have expected the lumpy round parcel, which was a knitted sweater from Mrs. Weasley in a dark gray color, with a golden A stitched onto the front of it. Mrs. Weasley had also sent a tin full of candies that looked homemade. Aria put the sweater on over her pajamas, smiling and resisting the sudden urge to cry from homesickness. It wasn't like she'd had a family Christmas since high school anyway, she had no reason to be upset. There were also candies from Harry and Ron, and a book from Hermione about Divination which looked pretty interesting. Aria had also gotten Hermione a book, one on Ancient Runes, a class they wouldn't have until third year, but she knew Hermione loved the subject. She had gotten Ron a new Wizard's Chess set, and Harry a book about ancient myths and beasts. Somewhere in that book was a chapter on a Basilisk, though she knew he wouldn't read it. She had also given the twins a box of muggle fireworks to mess around with.

She made her way down to the common room in her sweat pants and the sweater from Mrs. Weasley with the book Hermione had gotten her, curling up on a chair near the fire to read until the boys woke up. Jupiter joined her there. He usually spent most of his time up in the dorm rooms, or out on the grounds. She had seen him disappearing into the forest before, but she never worried when he stayed away for days at a time. He had seemed not to like people much, besides her, and he absolutely refused to follow her down the dark stairs into the memory room. She had only tried to bring him once. Now that the common room was empty though, he had followed her out of the dorm room and down the stairs. Though the witch at the shop had said he was still growing, Aria had only noticed a small amount of growth over the last few months. He was now just a little larger than an average house cat, enough to draw attention but not enough that anyone who wasn't looking for it noticed the size.

It didn't take as long as she had thought it would before the others came bounding down the stairs, followed closely by the twins and a disgruntled Percy.

"Happy Christmas!" The twins and Ron shouted happily.

"Happy Christmas," she echoed back, smiling at them.

"Thanks for the fireworks," One of the twins said, leaning against the arm of her chair.

"Can you show us how they work?" The other one asked, leaning against the other arm.

"Sure," she said, laughing. "Later." The small group spent most of the morning in the common room, only leaving to get dressed for lunch in the Great Hall.

"You'll never guess what I got for Christmas," Harry said as he and Ron walked down to lunch with her. The twins were too busy bothering Percy to hear them talking.

"An invisibility cloak?" She asked, smiling at the look of shock on his face. It was a lot of fun to mess with people.

"How did you- never mind," he said, shaking his head. "I'm going to use it to get into the restricted section tonight. Do you want to come? I'd take Ron, but he's not very good at being sneaky, or quiet."

"Sure," she said, nodding.

"I don't want to go anyway," Ron said. "That part of the library gives me the creeps."

"How would you know? I don't think I've ever seen you in the library," Aria said, laughing along with Harry. Ron grumbled as they entered the hall, but he was quickly distracted by the food. Aria didn't eat much, instead focusing on reading the next chapter of the book Hermione had given her. Divination had always intrigued her, even when magic didn't exist, and especially now that it did.

"What's so interesting about that book?" Harry asked when the two boys had emptied their plates multiple times and Aria was absentmindedly pushing food around hers. "You haven't put it down all day."

"It's about Divination," she said, not really listening.

"Yeah, I guessed that from the title. 'Divining Divination'. Real creative there," he said sarcastically.

"Just wait till you have to read through 'Unfogging the Future', that ones real interesting," she responded in the same tone of voice, not looking up from her book.

"So why so interested in Divination?" He asked, taking a bite out of one of the cookies that had appeared on round plates along the tables.

"I figure since I have visions, maybe I can do some of these other things, or maybe I'll find something that will make my visions clearer," she said, paying attention to the conversation now.

"Right, visions. I forgot. Thats how you always know things before I tell you?" He asked, forehead creasing in thought.

"That, and I'm really good at guessing. You, sir, are predictable," she said, laughing.

"You've only known me for four months, how am I predictable?" He asked, frowning.

"I'm just good at reading people I guess," she said, shrugging and returning to her book in an obvious way so as to end the conversation. He went along with it, instead turning to Ron to talk about Quidditch.

That night Aria, Harry, and Ron sat in the common room until the rest of the Weasley's finally went up to bed, then Harry and Ron followed them up, Harry returning moments later with the invisibility cloak. The two of them set out for the restricted section of the library, Harry leading the way and Aria carrying an unlit lantern for use in the library. As they rounded the corner to the library, Aria suddenly remembered that Dumbledore had to be in the room with the mirror, he had to know what Harry would see, because he knew it later. The old man probably had some sort of wards set up near the mirror to let him know when someone found it, but just in case, she would have to find a way to let him know they would be there later. Maybe when Harry was busy looking at books she could tell the castle and the castle could tell him. Maybe the castle would tell him anyway without her asking.

"Okay," Harry said, opening the gate to the restricted section carefully and walking through it. Aria glanced around them as they shed the invisibility cloak, then she lit the lantern with the matches she'd kept in her pocket. "Should we split up?" He asked, squinting through the darkness at the towering shelves.

"Sure," she said, shrugging. "Leave the lantern here in the middle so I can see the next shelf and you can start here." Once he nodded, she walked around the shelf and out of his eyesight. She laid a hand against the stone wall and whispered to the castle about her plans for the night, asking if it would tell Dumbledore where they would be. Once the castle had agreed, Aria pulled a book from the shelf just for show, staying close to the lantern, waiting for the moment Harry would pick the screaming book. If was only a few moments, but she was expecting it, so she jumped into action immediately, grabbing the invisibility cloak from next to the lamp, knocking it over in the process. In the near blackness, Aria threw the cloak over herself, then reached in front of her for Harry. Finding his arm, she quickly pulled him toward her and threw the cloak over him as well, just as Filtch entered the library, holding a lantern over his head.

"I know you're in here my pretties, you can't hide," he called, stalking toward the open gate of the restricted section. Aria and Harry didn't breathe as he came within inches of them, but at the first opportunity, the two of them ducked under his arm and out the gate, running out of the library and not stopping until they were many hallways away. They glanced at each other in the faint light coming in the windows, and suddenly both of them were laughing. They fell silent with fear as a circle of light bloomed in front of them.

"You said to come straight to you Professor, if anyone was mucking about after dark, and someone's been in the restricted section," the heard Filtch say, and saw his arm holding up the lantern they had left behind. The two of them didn't breathe as they sidled past him and Professor Snape, choosing the first slightly open door to hide in. The door didn't squeak on it's hinges as Aria pushed it mostly closed behind them. Harry shrugged off the cloak and walked further into the room while Aria listened at the door. The two men had finished their conversation and moved away. She let out a breath of relief and closed the door all the way, then turned around. It was an unused classroom, exactly the same as any of their other classrooms, but dustier, and with no desks. Where the teachers desk would have been was a large ornate mirror, and Harry was standing directly in front of it, his mouth hanging open in shock. Aria knew what the mirror was, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to look into it. She didn't want to be stuck with the image of her whole split apart family, or whatever other group of people the mirror would show her.

"Aria," Harry breathed, not looking away from the mirror. "Look!" Aria slowly walked down the wide stairs that led to the mirror and let out a sigh.

"I don't see anything Harry," she said, glancing at the mirror.

"But look! It's my family… my whole family," he whispered, staring. "Can't you see them?"

"No, I can't," she said softly.

"Well here, stand where I was and look properly," Harry said, scowling slightly and moving aside. Aria took a deep breath, but shook her head.

"No thanks," she said, letting out her breath with the words.

"Come on, just look," he said, frowning at her.

"I don't want to look," she said, glancing back to the door.

"But I can see everyone," Harry said in an awed voice. "My parents," he whispered. "You should see them."

"Well I wouldn't see your parents would I?" She said, rolling her eyes. "I'd probably see mine."

"Well I want to see them," Harry said, begging her to look in the mirror now.

"You wouldn't be able to," she said, tucking her hands in her pockets and shaking her head. "I can't see yours."

"Fine," he said, giving up and looking back into the mirror at the people Aria couldn't see. She let him stay there for a few minutes before sighing again.

"Harry, we should go before we get caught," she said, glancing at the door and unfolding the invisibility cloak she had been holding. Harry sighed and glanced one more time into the mirror, then let her throw the cloak over him and lead the way back to Gryffindor tower.

"I mean, I should just go look in the stupid thing, right? Otherwise I'll always wonder what I would have seen…" Aria ranted to herself as she paced around the memory room. Christmas vacation had ended that day, and classes were going to start in the morning, but Aria could not get to sleep. Every night after she had visited the mirror room, her thoughts were filled with what she might see if she looked in the mirror, and her dreams, if she managed to fall asleep, were the same. It had become an every day habit to brush concealer over the dark rings under her eyes from lack of sleep. It had also become an every day habit to pace around the memory room ranting to herself. As the only girl remaining in Gryffindor tower, she could have just stayed in her dorm room to rant to herself, but there was just something about the memory room that called to her.

"But what if I don't see anything? What if I don't like what I see?" She continued, repeating the same points she had been making all week. She made another lap of the room in silence, then collapsed in the middle of the room, laying back with her arms folded under her head and one leg crossed over the other to stare up at the invisible ceiling. The light in the room, which she still hadn't figured out the source of, only lit the walls, and though she could feel the ceiling above her, it appeared as a pitch black block of space, which was nearly as good to stare up at while thinking as the memories of the night sky.

"But, I have to, don't I?" She asked herself in a small voice. "I have to know."

"Have to know what?" Draco's voice came from right behind her, surprising her into a sitting position. She hadn't heard him coming in, but she should have guessed he would be here eventually. He liked the room as much as she did, and after two weeks spent with his family, of course he would want to come here to try to forget the bad things for a while.

"Oh it's just this stupid…" she began, but then trailed off as an idea hit her suddenly.

"What?" He asked, watching her face as a smile began to grow on it. He frowned, confused.

"There's this room, with this mirror," she began, focusing back on him. "You said you wanted to share your memories with me to prove that I can trust you right?" She waited, and he nodded. "Well I know of one you can share with me, but you have to go make it first. There's the room, with the mirror, I want you to go look in it, and then come back here and show me the memory of it," she said, grinning excitedly.

"Will you do the same then?" He asked, his brows drawn. Her smile fell away in an instant.

"Why?" She asked, trying to gather her thoughts again.

"Because I don't know if I trust you yet either," he said, looking around the room as he spoke, not wanting to see her expression. She watched him for a moment, her eyes narrowing in thought.

"Alright," she said finally, surprising both him, and herself. "Fine, I'll show you. But you have to go first."

"Okay," he said. "Alright, where's this room?"

The two of them took the doorway from the memory room that led anywhere they wanted, this time letting them out in the unused classroom. Draco glanced around them for a moment, catching sight of the mirror, but looking over the rest of the classroom before stepping toward it.

He looked into it for a moment, then took a half step back, then leaned forward to peer at the image closer. He glanced over at Aria for a second, then back at the mirror. He watched the image for another few minutes, then he frowned and looked at the floor, stepping away to let her know it was her turn to look. Aria took a deep breath and tucked her shaking hands into the pockets of the pajama pants she had worn to bed that night and stepped forward.

She kept her eyes on the ground for a moment, then, finally, looked up into the mirror. For a second, she could only see herself reflected back, the young self with brown hair and no figure. But then, as she watched, she began to grow into the self she had remembered from before she came here, red hair, older, and smiling, without the stress lines that Aria hadn't realized she'd developed since coming here. Then the image grew more, other people coming into view behind her. Her old friends, her sister, even her not-so-serious ex boyfriend that she had somehow managed to stay friends with after they broke up a couple months before the crash. Aria frowned while looking at them, wondering why the mirror showed her them. Yes, she missed them all, and she missed having the ability to look after herself and be respected, no matter how little, as an adult. But really, she didn't miss her old life that much. No, what she missed was something she'd never really had in the first place, someone to talk to. Real, tangible people, people that had know her for years and understood her without her having to explain anything. Real friends that actually knew her.

She had kept her expression mostly clear, not wanting to give Draco any more to think about when she showed him the memory, if his memory wasn't what she expected. She took a step away from the mirror and opened her mouth to speak, but had to stop to clear it.

"Let's get back before someone else comes along," she said, turning to the wall without looking at him and walking forward into the dark staircase that had appeared just a second after she turned.

He followed her silently, not interrupting her thinking. She put the image of her past from her mind and tried to think about what Draco's memory would be. If he was still like he had been in the books, what he saw in the mirror would probably be him, doing something to please his father, or his father telling him he was proud, or something of that nature. So if Draco's memory didn't involve his father, then Aria knew he had already changed, and she would be able to trust him. Well, sort of. Trust him with some things.

"Okay, go ahead," she said, her hands still tucked into her pockets. He looked at her for a moment, then shrugged and closed his eyes. The room was silent for a moment, then the image changed into the room they had just left. Draco pulled himself away from his memory self and watched as the present version of Aria walked with the past version of himself to the mirror. She waited a moment, just seeing Draco's face reflected back, and then suddenly there were other faces in the mirror as well, and memory Draco took a half step back. His parents were right behind him, but it wasn't what she had thought it would be, the Draco in the mirror wasn't trying to prove to his father how great he was, instead, both his parents were smiling, and mirror Draco was grinning. Behind his parents came his Slytherin friends, but instead of sulking and glaring as most of them tended to do, they were smiling too. The memory Draco leaned forward to watch them more, and Aria made one tiny glance back at present Draco. He had been staring at the mirror too, but looked at her when she moved. She glanced back and almost smiled, she was in with his friends too, something she hadn't expected. No matter how much he said he didn't trust her, he had to have done, a little, to include her in his mental list of friends. She watched them for a few more moments before he let the memory fade.

"So," she began, looking over at him. He was looking away from her nervously, his eyes running along the brick walls. She didn't say anything else, just smiled and let her memory take the place of his. As he watched what she had seen in the mirror, his face grew more and more confused. She watched his reactions till the end of the memory, then she remembered a few others to share with him. Snippits from her childhood, growing up, her favorite memories of high school and the few years of college she'd taken, happy moments from her job and spending time with her sister and the other people who had been in the mirror, just so he could sort of understand what she'd seen in the mirror. It was only fair, in her mind, since she understood much more of his image than she should have. He wanted a happy loving family, and friends that actually cared about him, not his family name or money. The memories she showed him took maybe five minutes in total, ending with the car crash and her discovering that she was only eleven and somehow in England. When she let the memories fade, his mouth was hanging open in shock. He only closed it and began to move when she had poked him in the face multiple times.

"Um," he said, then stopped and sat on the floor. She sat beside him, smiling a little.

"You have questions?" She asked, still smiling. "I'll do better to answer them this time.

"How old are you?" He asked, glancing over at her.

"Well, I appear to be eleven," she said, then laughed when he rolled his eyes. "I was 23 when I… came here."

"And how did you get here?" He asked, his brows drawn in confusion. She shrugged and tried to sound nonchalant.

"I'm not really sure, I just woke up here," she said, frowning. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the floor, her usual position.

"And how are you younger?" He asked, ignoring her movements.

"I don't know that either," she said, shrugging again though he couldn't see her shoulders any more.

"And the image in the mirror? It means you just miss your old life?" He asked, trying hard to keep his voice calm. She opened her eyes to look at him for a moment before answering.

"No," she sighed, sitting up to be on his eye level again. "It means I miss being, well mostly carefree, and I miss having friends that I can talk to about important things."

"Oh," he said, then was quiet. "Mine meant…" He trailed off, thinking again.

"It meant that what you want the most is to have a happy loving family and friends that you can trust that like you for more than your name and money," she finished for him, smiling a little. He gave her an incredulous look. "I'm good at reading people," she said, shrugging again, this time smiling as well. He shook his head, then smiled too.

"So are you from the future or just the wrong age?" He asked after a few moments of silence.

"Both," she said, leaning back against the floor again. This time he copied her motions, both of them gazing up at the black ceiling. She let one of her stargazing memories take over the room again, the two of them laying a ways away from the older version of her.

"So, do you know the whole future? Like, what happens, or just snippets from visions?" He asked, his voice growing excited. Aria would never be able to understand why people wanted to know about the future before it happened. Would you really want to know if something horrible was going to happen, yet not be able to stop it?

"Does your father know occlumency?" She asked, changing the subject blatantly.

"A little," Draco said, shrugging.

"Does he ever use it on you?" She asked.

"Only when I try hiding things from him, like the thing about the elves I told you," he said, his voice quiet.

"I can't tell you anything until you learn occlumency," She said, propping her head onto her arm to look at him. "You have to be able to keep what I say from everyone, including, when the time comes, Voldemort. Otherwise I can't tell you anything, and I've already put myself into danger."

He nodded solemnly, his eyes wide.

"I can teach it to you, but not until maybe next year, I'm still learning," she said, frowning at the memory of those lessons. She had done well at her last lesson, she had blocked Snape for the entire time, save one small memory slipping through at the end of the lesson, of the crash and the following moments. She had left the room shortly after as Snape began to question her on the memory again.

Draco was silent for a few minutes, just looking up at the stars in thought.

"Why do you have so many memories of staring up at the stars?" He finally asked. "Aren't adults supposed to have jobs or something?" Aria laughed at that, not expecting something so child like to come from him, but then, she had to remember, he was a child, even if he was more mature than some adults she knew.

"I did have a job. And in my free time after my job, I liked to look at the stars. Or sunrises. Or the lake," she said when she had calmed down.

"The lake?" He asked, not looking away from the stars.

"Lake Michigan. The town I lived in was right on the edge of it. You saw it I think, in the first memory I showed you." As she spoke, the scene around them changed back into the memory of the sun coming up over the lake that she had showed him before. He sat up to stare out over the huge lake that stretched from one end of the horizon to the other, as far as you could see. They sat in silence for a long time, appreciating the sunrise and then the morning sky. They were quite up to the point that Aria's memory self finally got up from the grass, stretched, and began to walk back along the bluff toward the parking lot. The two younger people didn't move, and Aria didn't supply a new memory, instead letting the scene around them fade back into the brick room as it came to an end. She closed her eyes, the floor feeling as comfortable to her as her bed. It was quite late, by her estimate it was probably around two in the morning, she really should try to sleep before her classes tomorrow… Her eyes flew open as her brain finally registered that the faint sound of crickets she was hearing was not a normal sound of the room. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to faint light around her, but when they did, she sat up straight and looked around her. The small points of light flickered around her in the air, and in her tired state, it took her a moment to realize they were fireflies. She glanced around for Draco and spotted him watching her from a few feet away where he had been sitting before. She cocked her head to the side in question but was quickly distracted as a younger version of Draco, maybe six or seven dashed across the dark yard, a jar in hand. The jar was nearly full of the fireflies, and it glowed like a lantern as the trapped bugs let off their light.

Aria smiled as the young Draco ran across the yard toward the house, giggling with a child's laugh.

"Mum!" He called out as he reached the porch. Aria hadn't seen the woman till then, but she had been sitting on a low bench on the porch, watching the child. "Look!" The young Draco said, coming to a halt in front of her and holding the jar proudly in front of him. "I caught a hundred!"

"Did you count them all?" His mother asked softly, smoothing his hair down with one hand as she took the jar in the other hand, smiling. Aria smiled too as she listened to the child and mother talk. After a few moments, a sliding glass door opened and Draco's father came outside to sit beside his mother. The man listened as Draco told him about catching the bugs, and then he examined the jar for a moment.

"Wait just a second," the man finally said, disappearing into the house with the jar. Draco climbed up onto the bench beside his mother and leaned against her side as they waited for his father. Finally the man came back out and sat so that Draco was between the two adults, and handed the jar back to the boy.

"See there? I poked holes in the top so that your fireflies don't die. You can keep them on your bedside table for tonight, and tomorrow we can let them go, okay?" He said, and the young Draco nodded.

If Aria hadn't seen the man speaking she wouldn't have believed he was capable of behaving like an actual father, but this was something that even muggle children did sometimes, and her eyes watered as she watched the small family walk back into the house together. The memory faded, but she continued looking in the direction of where the door of the house had been until she was sure none of the tears would leak over. She wasn't even sure why she was nearly crying. She waited a few more seconds to make sure her voice wouldn't crack as she spoke, then turned back to the older Draco.

"What was that for?" She asked softly. He shrugged, not meeting her eyes.

"It's my favorite memory. You shared yours, so I thought it was only fair," he mumbled, then leaned back against the floor again to avoid looking in her direction. They were both silent for a few minutes.

"Thank you," she said at last, glancing over at him. "For sharing I mean. It was nice." He didn't say anything, but Aria knew he had heard so she didn't say anything else, just leaned back against the floor with her arms tucked under her head.

Some time later she was drawn into awareness by the castle's voice whispering around her.

"People in your houses are starting to rise," the voice said, and both of them jerked into sitting positions. Aria realized she must have fallen asleep for a while, and Draco must have as well, and got to her feet. They looked at each other for a moment, then parted ways without a goodbye. While Aria was a little used to sharing her memories with Draco, he had never shown her one of his before, besides the mirror memory, and she suspected he wasn't used to sharing emotions or anything with another person, so he would be feeling awkward. She made it into her dorm room just as Hermione was coming back out of the bathroom after a shower. Aria pulled back the hangings around her bed, making it look as though she had just gotten up, and yawned as Hermione greeted her.

"Hey," Aria replied, rubbing her eyes. She was still tired, but thats what she got for staying up half the night. "I'll meet you at breakfast if you want, I just want to take a quick shower."

"Sure," Hermione said, grabbing her own book bag. She opened her mouth to say something else, but just then Lavender pulled back the hangings on her bed too. Hermione mouthed 'later' to Aria, who nodded and rushed to the bathroom.

After her shower, Aria dressed and headed down to the Great Hall, sitting beside Hermione. The boys weren't awake yet, not that Aria was surprised much, and most of the room was empty, just enough chatter from the other students to cover a hushed conversation between Aria and Hermione. They hadn't gotten much chance to speak yesterday with the hectic activity of all the returning students.

"Did you find out anything about Nicholas Flamel?" Hermione whispered to her as Aria spooned oatmeal into her bowl and looked around for the coffee pitcher the elves always sent up for her. At least, she assumed it was for her since no one else at the Gryffindor table drank it.

"No," Aria said, sounding disheartened. "But we did find this mirror…" Aria went on to explain their adventures over the last few weeks, ending with an open mouthed Hermione. Aria nearly smirked as she sipped on her second cup of coffee, and spotted the boys coming into the hall. Hermione waved them over and immediately set into chastising them both for running around the castle at night. Harry glanced at Aria only once, with a look that plainly said 'thanks so much for telling her' and Aria just smiled in reply and finished her breakfast.