This is it. We have one more chapter left. Thank you for those who supported Mirror of Time, until this very end.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I own the Mirror of Time. The Mirror of Erised in this fic is not based on canon.
P.S.: I have no idea how to speak Latin, and I just Google Translated it, so forgive me for my mistakes.
CHAPTER 17: THE MIRROR OF TIME
James Sirius Potter growled in frustration.
First, they were in the past.
Second, they found Leonard Laurent.
Third, the said Leonard Laurent led them in a cave to get a thing called Compass of Destiny, which, apparently, is the only way they can get back to their own time.
Fourth, said man Leonard Laurent fell off the pit and have died.
Fifth, they happen to be battling a dragon.
Sixth, he almost caused Hugo's death awhile ago.
And lastly, he has no idea why his so- called best friend is moping on the floor, her eyes the epitome of shock and distress. Everything is driving him mad.
"WIDEWINGS! GET OUT OF THERE!" he shouted, seeing as they're trying to drive back the dragon down to the pit. That was when she finally snapped back to reality, staggering back as she wiped off her face with her sleeve. Was she crying?
Scorpius ran towards Hailey, placing both of his arms around her. "What is it? Are you alright?"
Hailey was shaking, and she can feel her throat closing in. What she saw can't be right. What she saw must be wrong.
They were tired. Tired of fighting what seemed to it an immortal dragon, when a girl's voice echoed in the cave. "Enough."
Her simple command made the dragon stop. A girl of maybe thirteen stood in front of the large boulder, with black hair that is pulled back into a neat braid and yellow amber eyes that is lined with kohl. She was wearing a white dress, and had no slippers, when the rest realized that she was floating in the air.
"Go back to sleep, Drakon. I will let them enter."
Her voice was soft and melodic, although it was certain that she has authority. The time travelers looked at her with uncertainty. The dragon, Drakon, as it is called, growled back as if he was arguing, but the girl snapped. "Father's orders!"
The dragon gave one last doubtful growl and retreated back in the pit. The girl faced them, eyeing them cautiously, and walked—no, glided towards them. "My father wishes to speak with you. Come with me."
"How are we certain you could be trusted?" Teddy asked warily, his wand still pointed at her. The girl sighed and laid a finger on his wand, pushing it down. "You have no choice. My name is Eris and my father has seen the Time Wanderer's death, and he wants to speak with you."
When the time travelers were sure they were complete, Eris glided towards the boulder and held her palm up, melting the large hindrance to a semi- liquid semi- solid pass through. It revealed a villa with a white house, fountain, and soft Bermuda grass.
Eris turned and looked at her guests expectantly, motioning them to come inside. "After you…"
Teddy sent a warning glance to her cousins and friends and passed through the boulder—it only felt like passing through Platforms nine and ten. He looked back, seeing his company, and put thumbs up. One by one, everyone followed.
Eris led them around, floating only centimeters away from the marble floor, by passing moving pictures and still paintings, while they moved towards a large sitting room.
"They are here, Father." Eris whispered.
The nine time travelers stood in a close file together, facing the back of the couch. Tick tock… tick tock…
Even though it was brightly morning, the fire was burning ablaze in the fireplace, and wisps of smoke came from the large couch that was turned to the fire. "Thank you, Eris."
The man had a deep, calming voice. Eris did a curtsey and glided away, shutting the door behind them.
The large couch turned around, revealing an old man, with blue twinkling eyes and a beard carefully trimmed. He was wearing midnight blue robes, a monocle, and pointy purple boots. Even without the countless number of clocks in this room, all showing different times, they would single him out as Father Time himself.
"I am glad to finally see you all. May I ask to whom I owe the pleasure?" he greeted pleasantly.
"You sent the Mirror of Time. To whom do we owe the pleasure?" Hailey sniffed, placing a calming hand over her heart.
Father Time smiled. He conjured a long couch, and gestured for the teenagers to sit down. He examined them one by one.
"It seemed to it that this is the family that Fate favored the most. She tends to mess with this family all the time!" he laughed, and the children exchanged looks. "Would anyone like a cup of tea?" he asked, and after a while, there was a low table in between them, and teapots pouring tea over cups by it selves.
The teenagers were too stunned to speak. In the mansion, and the whole villa itself, revealed an ancient powerful magic that they can feel vibrating.
"Ahh… of course, you'd want me to explain. I must admit, I do not spontaneously send teenagers back to the past to amuse me, Fate, and Death, but alas… I have lost a bet."
"You—you sent us to the—the past because you lost a bet?" Lily asked incredulously, her eyes starting to flash. Father Time waved a hand passively. "I have other reasons anyway. That is, of course, the existence of Time Wanderers."
The time travelers waited.
"The creation of the Mirror of Time was no accident; we purposely created it, to send it to people once time arises for its need. But the Creator did not like it. He does not like anything that messes with the ways of nature. He wants us—Time, Fate, and Death—to continue our work synonymously. And the existence of the Mirror spiked up his anger." Father Time took a long sip of his coffee before continuing.
"And since it has mainly something to do with Time, he entrusted it to me. Fate and Death became angered by this, and they teamed up to hunt me down and the Mirror. So I came to a place where it would be least hidden—Earth. I trusted a man, and you know him as Leonard Laurent."
He placed down his cup of tea and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. "No matter how hard I tried to explain to him how dangerous it is to open the Mirror, he wouldn't believe me. Well, I ought to think he did believe me, but curiosity—ahh—got the better of him. He opened the Mirror, thus creating himself a Time Wanderer—beings that should have not existed in the first place."
"Leonard Laurent came to a place in the future, and met a girl. He loved the girl. I'm sure he did, and the poor boy has fallen for her hard. As for my part, I searched for him everywhere, in his own time of course, not realizing that he must have used the Mirror. When I reached the timeline he wandered in, he and the girl were expecting a child." Father Time met Hailey's eyes. She held the stare back, and she was pretty sure she can see what kind of memory that is going through in the old man's head.
"The child that should have not existed in the first place." She whispered.
Father Time nodded solemnly in agreement. "I was angered by these actions, and I cursed Laurent to only wander in different timelines, but never really settling in one. I know that it caused him to suffer greatly, and only because he has not seen his child and his wife. In desperation, he consulted Fate. Fate, being the mischievous one as always, told him to get the Compass of Destiny, which is placed in a house not far away from here. Leonard went to the Compass, but he didn't know the traps that bounded it. It caused him to lose his sight."
"I am amused, however, to find that the man has not given up. He tried creating a replica of the Mirror, but it did not turn out as well. He only created the Mirror of Erised—a Mirror that shows what his greatest heart's desire. And every time he looks at that Mirror, he sees himself, with his wife and his child."
"I thought he was already blind?" Albus asked in surprise. Father Time smiled, but only briefly. "Yes, but the Mirror of Erised is designed to show what your heart's desire. The heart can see what the eyes cannot, Mr. Potter."
"I believe though," Father Time continued "That it drove him to the edge. And after years and millennia of his suffering, I took pity on him, and let him see his child. For the first and last time."
"When he was DYING!" Hailey spat out, her eyes burning with held back tears.
"You don't understand, Ms. Laurent. Haven't I say that he should have never existed? There never was a Time Wanderer, and there never should have been." Father Time replied calmly.
"Hold on, Hailey—why did he call you Ms. Lau—oh." Louis grew quiet, as everyone else looked at the fuming Hailey, who was glaring at Father Time.
"I am not one to blame in this, Ms. Laurent. Blame it on your father's curiosity, and his disobedience. He should have known in the consequences." Father Time responded to her glare, as equal as indifferent.
"But I thought you and Scorpius were twins!" Rose exclaimed, looking between Scorpius and Hailey. Hailey took a deep breath.
"When we were nine, Scorpius and I discovered some… papers that says my name was officially changed from Greengrass to Laurent. It also says that my mother is Daphne Greengrass, not Astoria."
"So… Leonard fell in love with your mother's sister? You and Scorpius are maternal cousins?" Hugo asked with his eyes wide. "But you look so alike!"
Scorpius heaved a great sigh. "It's only because of the hair. It turns out that father has been mixing something in our shampoo to make it look like its Malfoy blonde. It became permanent over the years. It was why, of all the Malfoy generations that passed, only this one has two children."
James placed Hailey under a one- armed hug, although he doubted if she needed this now. He knew about Hailey's adopted condition—she told him when she was getting into fourth year and he was getting into his fifth. This was why they became civil to one another.
"So," Hailey said, after mustering up the courage. "Do you plan on killing me anyway?"
The time travelers looked at her in shock, and even James sat frozen beside her.
Father Time smiled, sipping another tea. "Possible."
"WHAT? BUT—"
The others rambled on and on, but Father Time held up a hand to stop them. "One is that, but you have two other choices."
The others turned silent. "The second is that you become one of my daughters here."
"Daughters?" Hailey repeated dully.
"Oh, yes. Like Eris—you'll have the status of the Daughters of Time."
Hailey's eyes narrowed. "Eris is—was—Eris Green, wasn't she? The one with Maebosis that suddenly disappeared without coming back?"
Father Time chuckled lightly. "Oh, yes. I can't have someone flying in and out of timelines unharmed, can I? And so, with her father not seeing any cure for the sickness, I took her under my care. She became my assistant, and instantly, her sickness vanished, and she also became immortal."
"What about the other option?" Lily asked quickly.
"The other option… is that I strip her off her Time Wandering powers."
Everyone had their eyebrows so high they were on the verge of losing them.
Father Time circled his tea with a teaspoon. "Well, you all know that we can't have Time Wanderers… ehrm… wandering around. So, I'll strip you off your Time Wandering genes, and you could go back to your friends."
Hailey stopped and stiffened, aware of James' arm against her back. She was aware of sitting in a couch with nine people, who she has called family and friends for the past sixteen years of her life. The choice was too easy, as she remembered the sadness and fake joy that rasiated off Eris when she talks. She may be free of her disease, but she was imprisoned in this villa. Without anywhere to go.
"How… would you strip off my Time Wandering powers?" she asked slowly.
Father Time gave out a light chuckle. "That is easy. Because, of course, Time Wandering is a part of your Magic, I'll have it removed, but replaced with my own magic."
"Your own magic?"
"To fill in the lost ones, of course. It would be, of course, a normal magic just like what everyone else possesses." Father Time replied, his eyes twinkling.
Hailey took a deep breath and exhaled. "Fine. I choose the last one."
Father Time chuckled again. "Figures you would choose the last one. Well, step in front of me. And children, I want you to back away."
Hailey got up from her seat and stood in front of Father Time, who raised his hand above her head.
"Didn't Eris have this last option?" she asked before bowing. Father Time cocked his head. "It is not I who distribute diseases to people, it's Fate. Therefore, I cannot interfere with that. Now, bow your head, ma Cherie."
Hailey scowled by obliged, training her eyes on the man's pointy boots.
"Nunc denudabunt te Vicis off vestri Erraticas potentiae, et compensare mea—"
The door burst open, and Father Time spoke rather quickly than normal. A woman with deep violet robes entered the room, her cheeks flushed as she strode over Father Time with flashing eyes. With her fists clenched, she screamed in Latin, which the children could not understand. The children watched as a purple light still enveloped Hailey, but her face was scrunched in pain, her hands clenching the hem of her own shirt.
Father Time was losing his focus.
And with a final wave of his hand at Hailey, he spoke one last spell that sent them back in their own time, leaving only Fate in the room.
PLEASE review guys. It means the world to me. And by the way, we're heading on to the last chapter… but would you like me to place an epilogue of some sort?