Prompt: we stumble into the mirror of erised together. we look into it. neither of us know it's anything special. we just see our reflections.


Usually Maura Isles had no problem concentrating on her studying. In fact, studying was one of her favorite things to do.

But that was before Jane Rizzoli had come along.

Maura remained ever serious about her studies, but she found her thoughts drifting much more than usual: she was either reliving pleasant memories (making out with Jane in the Quidditch bleachers long after a match had ended) or fantasizing about what might happen the next time they were alone (they were in different houses, so bedrooms were not an option. Where might they find an accommodating place?).

At the moment Maura was in the library, blushing as she thought of the possibilities. She was trying to pay attention to a study group for her Ancient Runes NEWT class, but her eyes kept going back to Jane, who was sitting at a table across the way. Every time Maura caught her gaze, Jane would do something like wink or blow her a kiss.

"Miss Rizzoli!"Jane snapped to attention at once, startled by the abrupt presence of the rather intense librarian Madam Pince.

"What? I mean, yes ma'am?"

"If you don't mind, the library is a place for studying," sniffed Madam Pince. "Not flirting!"

"Flirting? Who's - look, I've got my books here, I'm …I'm totally studying! Watch." She pretended to scan the open Transfiguration book in front of her, then practiced a nonverbal spell to transform an abandoned quill into a rose. "See?"

Madam Pince flicked her eyes over to Maura's study group, still looking suspicious. "I am very impressed," she said dryly. To Jane's disappointment, she took the rose with her as she walked back to her desk.

Jane looked around for something inconspicuous to transfigure. She settled for the cap of an empty inkwell, which she was able to silently transfigure into a tiny blue rose. She waited until Madam Pince was distracted by some other troublemaking students (seriously, what was that pint-sized Harry Potter doing by the restricted section?) and levitated the tiny rose over to Maura's table. When it landed on her notebook, Maura's face broke into a wide grin and Jane gave herself a mental high-five.

The moment her study group finally ended, Maura sprinted over to Jane's table to give her a kiss - thus ensuring they were kicked out of the library by the PDA-hating Madam Pince.

"It's sweet of you to want to be with me all the time, but it might be better for us both if you stayed away during my study sessions," Maura said, using a charm to elongate the stem of her tiny rose so she could stick it through one of her coat's buttonholes.

"Yeah, that's fair," Jane chuckled. "While we're on the subject, you should probably stop coming to my Quidditch practices. If I miss another pass because I'm smiling at you, Wood is gonna yell at me again, and it's so demoralizing getting yelled at by a fifth year… who is also my captain."

"I still think you should've been captain. You're the senior member on the team, after all!"

"Eh, Wood wanted it more. Besides, after practice tonight he'll be up for hours devising new strategies and I'll get to be with you."

"You want to sneak out after hours?" Maura whispered. "I might have a panic attack if I do that again!"

"C'mon babe, I'll make it worth your while," Jane said, giving her hand a squeeze. "Half the fun is in the risk that you might get caught!"

"You know, when I heard Gryffindors were brave, I didn't think it meant because they weren't scared of getting caught having sex. I mean, making out!" she hurried to add when Jane stopped in her tracks. "S-sorry, slip of the tongue."

"Why are you apologizing?" Jane asked. She was flushed, but looked excited. "That's kinda been on my mind, too."

"Really?"

"Uh, yeah! I mean we've been going out for a while. I kinda figured the only reason we hadn't…" She cleared her throat when they turned the corner towards the Great Hall, a passageway thick with students. "I just thought we hadn't done that because there's not really a good um, place for it. A romantic place, I mean. But yeah I've been thinking about it because I… I love you, Maura."

Jane's only regret about saying this was that it was actually the first time she'd said it, and it didn't seem like the romantic moment it should've been as a second year pushed his way through them to reach The Great Hall and Peeves smacked Maura with someone else's bookbag in passing.

However, it seemed Maura hadn't noticed; her eyes were fixed on Jane."You do?"

"Um…yeah," Jane said shyly, pulling Maura closer before another impatient student could push between them. "I guess I've felt that way for a while - I should've mentioned it before now, but…" She laughed. "I guess not all Gryffindors are brave when it comes to matters of the heart."

Jane waited for Maura to reciprocate or at least say something, but all she did was stare at her, looking dazed. Jane cleared her throat. "Um… d-do you?"

"Hm? Do I what?"

Jane thought this must've been a deflection, and starting to feel anxious, she took Maura's hand and headed into the Great Hall. "Do you… want to get dinner?"

"Oh, Jane! I love you, too."

Jane's face broke into a wide grin. "Really? You do?"

Maura's response was a long kiss, followed by "Absolutely."

They ate dinner together at the Ravenclaw table, sitting obnoxiously close together in the kind of way that severely annoyed their single classmates and/or made said classmates all the more anxious to not be single. Jane had Quidditch practice after dinner, but managed to convince Maura to meet her in the library afterwards. She kissed Maura goodbye but was stopped at the door by a familiar halting voice.

"Miss…..Rizzoli. Off….so quickly?"

She turned around, trying not to glare at Snape. "Something the matter, teach?"

His eyes narrowed; he hated being addressed as anything other than "professor" or "sir," and she knew it. "I just wanted to ensure that you were aware that the use of love potions on a fellow student is strictly forbidden at Hogwarts."

"What are you talking about?" Jane asked. Snape's gaze flicked to the Ravenclaw table and Jane's followed. "If you've got a problem with the PDA between me and my girlfriend, I hope you're just as concerned about it happening between my straight classmates."

"Public displays of affection are discourteous and disgusting regardless of the genders of those involved," Snape said, his lips barely moving. "I merely find it hard to believe that an academically gifted pureblood as intellectual as Miss Isles would find anything so attractive about a scrappy, subpar student such as yourself."

"You are damn lucky your job doesn't depend on student evaluations," Jane growled.

"And you are damn lucky that I'm the only teacher in this school who can recognize the effects of a love potion. My suspicions have been aroused, and-"

The Weasley twins swept by just then, each grabbing Jane by one of her arms and pulling her towards the door, away from Snape. "Sorry, Professor!" George called over his shoulder. "Quidditch calls!"

"We heard him say the word 'aroused' and figured we ought to bring you out with us," Fred explained. "Everything all right?"

Jane pulled herself out of the twins' grip, looking sour. "That guy really needs to get laid."

Snape remained where he'd been, smirking at the seed of doubt he'd seen planted in Jane's usually-cocky expression. He turned to see McGonagall glowering at him.

"Severus, I hope you aren't trying to interfere with the outcome of the pool?"

"An unfounded accusation? Typical. The romantic entanglements of Miss Rizzoli are of no interest to me."

"You've got five galleons against them! Why is it you always bet against young love? What woman hurt you, Severus?"

Snape did nothing but angstily turn away.

While Jane busied herself at practice, Maura got some more studying done in the Ravenclaw common room. She was sitting at a small table with Penelope Clearwater, a girl whose studiousness and seriousness Maura appreciated. They rarely spoke to each other except to ask about magical theory and spent no time together outside the common room. Maura considered her one of her best friends.

"Maura?"

"Hm?"

"Are you…humming?"

"I suppose I am," Maura chuckled, shutting The Standard Book of Spells, Volume 6. "I can't help feeling a little giddy. My girlfriend told me she loves me. And I said it back! I've never had someone say that to me before!"

Penelope's smile looked a little strained, but Maura assumed that was because she wasn't used their conversations veering away from academics. "That's Jane Rizzoli, then?"

"Yes! Don't tell anyone, but I'm actually meeting her in the library after her Quidditch practice," Maura whispered. "I know it's after hours, but it's so hard for us to get any privacy…"

Penelope's eyebrows went up. "Privacy? Do you think you'll…" She frowned when Maura nodded with excitement. "Are you sure about this, Maura?"

"What do you mean? Yes. We're attracted to each other, we love each other. What is it?" she asked, now concerned by Penelope's dubious expression.

"Well…one of my best friends, Percy, he's a Gryffindor and well, you just hear things about her. Last year, she had was in on a bet with all the boys on the Quidditch team about who could snog the most girls, and I hear she doubled the number of the person in second place."

"So?" Maura asked, though she looked a little uncomfortable. "She wasn't in a relationship with someone at the time, was she?"

"I don't think so, but it was a bet that lasted the entire year. She let some girls on for quite a while."

"Well that's - it's different," Maura said. "She's matured, and there's not something like that going on now."

"How do you know that? Maybe it's just a different kind of bet. It's probably just a rumor, but I've heard even the teachers have had pools about how long her relationships will last."

"Are you saying Jane's only dating me as some kind of bet? That's a horrid thing for a friend to imply!"

Penelope held up her hands in a sign of surrender. "I just don't want you to get your heart broken, Maura. Not by someone who was caught by several prefects and at least one teacher trying to pass off the sounds of her trysts as Moaning Myrtyle haunting other areas of the castle."

Maura pursed her lips, collected her things, and went upstairs to finish her homework on her bed. She read the same incantation over and over, not because she was trying to memorize it but because she was distracted. The concerns that had dogged her when Jane had first started really paying attention to her were coming back to nip at her.

She's so pretty, she's so popular, she's so outgoing, she's got so many friends, so many girls like her, She could have anyone she wanted, why would she pick someone like you? Unless… unless someone had said to find the shyest, quietest girl in her year and bed her. Who would be a better candidate than the girl so isolated and old-fashioned, only the ghosts kept her company? Who better to brag about scoring than the so-called Queen of the Dead?

These were illogical thoughts, they had to be. She was startled when her suitemates come up for bed; she hadn't realized the time, and hadn't yet worked out what to say if she were caught on her way to the library. Did she still even want to go?

Yes, she told herself firmly. This is silly. Penelope doesn't know what she's talking about.

That said, she couldn't help feeling nervous when Jane was late to meet her. Five minutes was no big deal. Ten minutes…nothing to worry about. Maybe she ran into someone and has to wait for the passage to clear. Fifteen minutes… maybe Filch was patrolling the corridors and found her and she's getting chewed out… Twenty minutes… it must be Filch; she wouldn't have set me up like this to get in trouble…

But then she heard something inside the library and her heart hammered; maybe Jane had set her up?

"Hey!"

"Jane!"

"Man, babe, I am so sorry I'm late. Wood is insane, I swear, he had us going SO late! I finally had to tell him I had a Potions exam tomorrow to study for so we could get outta there, and then Peeves of course was hanging out around the corner from Gryffindor tower, and … anyway, let's get inside, yeah?"

They had rushed over to their favorite nook, but Jane found herself pausing instead of diving right in for a kiss. She'd spent years rolling her eyes at weak poetry and lyrics that went on about a girl's beauty in the pale moonlight, but here she was seeing it now and she understood it. Her stomach felt twisted into pleasured knots at the sight of Maura in this soft blue light, waiting for her, wanting her…

But wait, said a small voice. Is this right, are you in her league? What's she doing with a ragtag half-blood like you? Okay, she doesn't care about blood status, but still. Is she the kind of person who'd be too polite not to say it back if you said you loved her? Oh, you're being stupid! Don't let Snape get in your head! Oh Merlin, don't let him get in your head when you're trying to be sexy, ugh, that's got to be the un-sexiest thing ever.

"Jane…? Are you all right?" Maura asked, noting her pained expression.

"Hm? Yeah, sorry, I was um, I got distracted for a sec. You look really beautiful tonight, though."

Jane pushed her concerns aside, figuring the best way to gauge Maura's feelings was to see her reactions. She slid Maura's hair behind her shoulder and kissed her neck. Unfortunately Maura pushed her back, admittedly not a great sign.

"What's up?" Jane murmured.

"I was just wondering… is it true that last year you won a bet against the boys on your Quidditch team about who could kiss the most girls?"

Jane's eyebrows shot up but her answer wasn't what Maura had expected: "Did you not know about that till now? Dang, I thought it'd gotten around to most circles."

"Well, I'm not part of many circles as you damn well know," Maura sniffed.

"Who told - never mind. Yes, I won the bet in a landslide but only because i was upfront about it with girls. The boys were too proud to ask outright, and they mostly stuck to Gryffindors. I did not discriminate house-wise; hell, I even had a couple of Slytherins offer to help me out. Sisters before misters, y'know?" she chuckled and Maura had to fight a grin. "What's got you worried about it?"

"Well, it's just one of my friends was sort of making you out to be some sort of … lothario or something."

"Yeah, I can see how someone might've thought that. But it's not like I went around promising lifelong commitments to girls, making out with them and then dumping them immediately. I dated a couple but for the most part, my line was 'hi, the boys on the Quidditch team think they're hot stuff and I'm trying to prove a point by kissing more girls than the lot of them this year, wanna help?' If I wasn't turned down flat, I usually got a peck and a signature from Madam Hooch's wife to make it official."

"Her wife?"

"Yeah, she thought it was hilarious. Also, we needed an outsider we could trust to be honest and objective when it came to tallying things up." There was silence for a few moments, and Jane asked, "Are you wondering why I didn't ask you?" She tried not to laugh when Maura nodded. "I really wanted to, but you kind of intimidated me."

"Oh, no…"

"I mean in a cool way! Your best friends in the school were the ghosts, how badass is that?"

"They're an excellent and underused primary source for wizarding history! I should've known people would find that off-putting."

"Guess you're not a fan of the whole 'Queen of the Dead' thing, huh? I admit that had me a little wary. But also you were wicked smart and crazy cute, and I kinda had a crush on you. I was worried about making an ass of myself; I thought you were way out of my league."

Maura put her arms around Jane's neck and pulled her in for a kiss, feeling much more secure. "There are no leagues, Jane. At least, not any we aren't in together. The only thing we're in right now is the library." Her heartbeat raced as she kissed down Jane's neck, her hand moving purposefully to the button of Jane's pants. "And the only other thing I want you in right now is my skirt."

Just a few murmured words in her ear, and Jane had never been turned on so quickly in her life. "Damn," she muttered. "Uh… you don't think any of your ghost friends would be lurking around here, do you?"

"No," Maura whispered, shifting one leg firmly between Jane's.

Right at the moment that Jane reciprocated by getting a grip on Maura's ass, an ear-splitting scream erupted on the other side of the library. Yelling a couple of choice expletives in alarm, Jane leapt away from Maura with her arms up in surrender. Maura grabbed one of her hands and ducked out of a nearby, little-used exit.

"What the hell was that?" Jane whispered in a panicked voice. "Does a banshee live in the library at night?!"

"Somebody was in there, trying to read a book in the restricted section after hours," Maura said back. "Not that I know that makes books scream from personal experience or anything…"

"By Tara's robe, I swear, I'm dating such a nerd…"

"But you love it. Don't you?" Maura asked, concern creeping back into her voice.

"Yes - ah, hang on!"

Professor Quirrell had appeared at the end of the hallway. Jane grabbed Maura and ducked into the nearest classroom, praying it wasn't where he was headed. It was a relief to hear his footsteps continue without pause until he was out of earshot; still, Jane stayed by the door a couple minutes to ensure nobody else was coming near.

Maura's attention had been grabbed by an ornate mirror on the other end of the room. Attracted by its lovely frame, she walked closer and was stunned to realize it didn't hold her reflection. Instead she saw herself and Jane walking up the stairs of the Three Broomsticks to one of the tavern rooms. Jane's reflection picked up Maura's and carried her over to the bed, kissing her, and–

Maura's eyes went wide; she stepped away and glanced at Jane to make sure she was still looking at the door. Safe. What was this mirror? Maura squinted and saw some letters at the top, but it didn't seem to be English - was it Latin? Oh, no, the words were just spelled backwards:

I show not your face but your heart's desire

Maura jumped when Jane appeared by her side. "Huh, nice mirror."

She sounded quite calm, leading Maura to assume the mirror's reflection wasn't showing her anything smutty. "What do you see?"

Jane raised an eyebrow at her. "I see myself? And now us," she said when Maura walked back in front of the mirror.

Maybe it was because she was calm now, but Maura was just seeing their reflection, too. When she took Jane's hand, the mirror reflected it.

Jane peered closer. "Is it just me, or do our reflections seem to be aging…?"

Maura smiled widely. This was a confirmation more affirming and beautiful than any she'd have ever known to ask for. "I see that, too."

Jane shook her head in amused bewilderment. Magic never ceased to surprise and/or confuse her. "C'mon," she murmured, leading Maura back to the door. "Let's try and make it back to our dorms."

"On an unrelated note, I've got an idea for our next Hogsmeade visit…"