Reflection: Chapter 3
Not Beta-read

Future – 1995

Slowly the door opened and a girl came quietly in. She was about to close the door when a redhead brushed past her and made her drop the two books she had been holding onto the floor.

"Ron!" she scolded him as leaned down to sweep the books up into her arms. Standing up again, Hermione Granger stared confused at the boy that stood, looking very out of place, besides her.

"Ron? What are you doing here?" she finally demanded to know.

The red-head stared a bit uncomfortable over her shoulder, seemingly compelled to show her the emotions which could clearly be seen in his shadowed eyes. "I don't want you to be out of my sight," he simply stated.

Hermione sighed deeply, tired at his antics. "It has been so long ago, Ron… Let's face it-"

"I still don't like to leave you alone, even if only for a second!" he cut her stubbornly off and was surprised when he suddenly found himself with an armful of Hermione against his chest.

"Oh Ron…" she sniffed and buried her face in his sweater.

Ron's eyes widened in surprise and he patted her back uncomfortably. "Erm… yeah…" he mumbled and just held her.

"I miss him."

"We all do."

"He shouldn't… he should've…. Why did he?" Hermione hiccupped.

"… you know Harry, it's just like him to jump in front of a-of a-" Ron couldn't get the word out of his mouth and sighed. "At least he saved Diggory."

"I'd rather have him here," Hermione told him as she slid down onto the ground and pulled Ron with her. "Harry could've made a change! Cedric Diggory not! Why couldn't he have been selfish for once, Ron? Why did he do it! Why didn't he think of us!"

"Only he knows why…"

So caught up in sorrow, the two didn't notice the mirror becoming tralucent.

Past 1980

James Potter stared in confusion at the two huddled figures in front of the mirror and wondered where the hell his son was. "Who are you?" he finally questioned and immediately found himself with two wands aimed at him from the other side of the glass.

"What do you want?" the girl asked coldly, as she quickly wiped the tears from her face.

"Shit, the Deatheaters are here already," the boy muttered darkly.

"Hey, hold on! I'm not a Deatheater! You ask Harry! He knows!" James tried to defend himself to these two strangers. Now really, why would they assume I am a Deatheater… oh wait… He got a small flashback from when he first stumbled upon the mirror and blushed slightly.

"Harry…?" the brunette asked slowly as she lowered her wand. "Harry… Potter?"

"Uh yeah… he's my son." James scratched the back of his head and grinned a bit uncomfortable. "My son from the future."

"How… how do you want us to ask… him…?" she asked confused, making James blink at the bizarre question. "Just ask him!" Are they idiots or something?

"But we can't!" the red head suddenly yelled loudly, his face getting red in uncontrolled anger.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because-because Harry Potter has been dead for already two years!"

James lost his footing and fell hard to the ground. "What..?" he asked incredulous.

"He died during the Triwizard-Tournament… by V-vo-v… while fighting You-Know-Who."

"How can that be!" James exclaimed. "I just talked with him yesterday!"

Future - 1995

"What!"

"How!"

"I swear it," James said. "Just yesterday we were talking through the mirror. We found out that we had changed…" he trailed off. "We changed-I can't believe it! What did I do now to change the future? What did I do to make him die?"

The girl held up her hand to silence him. "Hold up. I have no idea what you're talking about. Please explain. Oh, and I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ron Weasley," she pointed at her companion who raised his hand slightly in a hesitant greeting. "We were Harry's friends."

James stared for a long time at the two in the mirror. These were his son's friends? They had stood by his side through everything that had happened at school? Well, they certainly didn't look like he had expected them to.

James slowly sat cross-legged down in front of the mirror and motioned for the two on the other side to do the same.

"This is what happened," he started to explain and told them everything he knew.

Future - 1995

"I would say it is impossible but between things like the Mirror of Erised and time turners… this actually seems quite likely."

Ron nodded at Hermione's words and he and James watched curiously how she flung herself at her pile of books and started to skim through one of them. She threw one in Ron's direction too, which was something that shocked Ron a lot. Hermione throwing BOOKS? She normally treated them as holy relics!

"Go and search for info, Ron," she ordered him.

"What are you two doing?" James demanded to know.

"Finding info so-"

He interrupted her. "That's not gonna help us! I need to know what has happened so far in your world. I need to know the differences! That way I can change it, Harry shouldn't be-"

James stopped talking and his head snapped to the side as if he was watching something what Hermione and Ron couldn't see.

"What's happening?" Ron asked confused.

"It's Hogwarts," James mumbled and grabbed his wand. "The wards-I can hear them-full alarm. I need to go!"

"No, wait James!"

"I have to help the others! We can't let You-Know-Who win!" he moved out of the reflection of the mirror.

"No!" screamed Hermione. "You can't go! He will kill you!"

Ron grabbed her arm and she tried to shake him off in her agitation, but he clung hard onto her. "What Ron?" she hissed and finally noticed, as she looked to the side, that he was very pale and staring stupefied at the mirrors image.

"What-" she started to ask again as she turned her head to look at the mirror, and she saw it too, just before the mirror became black again.

A plump brown rat was washing its paws in front op the mirror and somehow… one of its paws was silver.

Past - 1980

James hurried through the hallways, following the intense force of magic that came from the Headmaster's office. His steps hurrying even more as he thought that his wife and child might be there.

The gargoyle, which used to protect the entrance to the office, was already blown to pieces and James hurried through it. As he burst into the office, he took notice of all the death eaters, standing in a circle around what seemed to be Voldemort and Lily. Lily was clutching Harry to her chest.

"Lily!" James shouted and ran to her side, noticing with worry how the Death eaters let him through, without even trying to stop him and then closed the circle behind him.

Voldemort smiled cruelly and glanced unconcerned at the wand in James' hand. "How nice of you to join us," and he turned to regard the child, that lied bawling in Lily's arms.

"So this is the child of the Prophesy?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily bit at him.

"It must be… the other boy is already dead."

Poor Neville, what about Alice and Frank?

"His parents died just as easily. Oh well, say goodbye to the kid." Voldemort raised his wand.

"You bastard! You filthy HALF-blood!" James could see Lily's shocked face at his words, but he ignored her as Harry's words were echoing through is mind. 'His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, he hates it when you call him that though, cause-'.

"What would your father say if he saw you like this, Tom?"

Voldemort's face twisted in shock, anger and pure hate. "WHAT!" He screamed agitated. "What did you call me!"

"By your bloody Mudblood name, Riddle. I wonder, is Marvolo the name of your father or your grandfather? They probably both are turning in their grave knowing you're disgracing their family line… if they are dead. But you wouldn't know that, would you? They didn't want you-"

"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Voldemort screamed outraged, his attention on the man that was mocking him, instead of on the woman and child that edged to a window where she grasped one of the Headmaster's brooms and carefully tried to open the window, the baby in her arms softly crying.

The two stood in front of each other. This is it, James thought. I love you Lily… Harry…

"Avada Kadavra!"

Future - 1995

A pitch-black darkness was quickly assimilated by an eye burning bright light, and Harry found himself standing in a hallway close to the Gryffindor tower.

He grabbed for his arching head. "I was-I was-I was dead! Holy Merlin!" he stuttered perplexed and fell down on his knees. His hands flew over his body as to convince his mind that he was indeed back. A finger brushed over his forehead and he felt the familiar scar, it was also back again.

As he sat there, and re-introduced himself back with live, he couldn't help wondering why he hadn't seen a white light, or a tunnel. It had more been like-

"Geesh, Harry, you look horrible!"

Harry glanced up to see his readheaded friend looming above him, and reaching out a hand. Harry took it and pulled himself up.

True to Ron's words, Harry didn't look that well. He had dark shadows under his eyes, and his face was paler than last time Ron had seen him. "I've just come back from the dead: give me a break!" Harry muttered, as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Back from the dead?" Ron looked at him sypathicly and petted his shoulder pityful. "Was Snape that horrible?"

"… no I-Snape?"

Ron frowned at his surpriced face. "Yeah, that's where you come from right? He gave you detention for skipping DADA?"

Snape is a spy again… and he teaches DADA.

Harry looked at the crest on his robes.

Gryffindor.

"Ron, you're my best friend, right?"

"Of course Harry! Why do you ask?"

"Well you know," Harry tried to come up with a plausible explanation and came up with something that would also make the red head explain stuff without knowing it. I now have a Slytherin mind in a Gryffindor body. How ironic…

"I was just thinking back of our first year…"

"Hah, never thought being your friend would mean I'd go through so many adventures. I'm glad we went to search for Hermione that time though… if we hadn't then maybe we wouldn't be together now."

"Yeah…"

"Speaking of my girlfriend: have you seen her?"

"No I havent-" girlfriend? WHAT!

"Oh…" Ron was silent but then slug an arm around Harry and proceed on dragging him with him to the library, while remising, with a little prodding from Harry, their Hogwarts years. Telling Harry about another new past.

Past - 1980

The baby had stopped crying. For one long moment, it was unnaturally silent, as if all sounds were muffled. Then the silence was disturbed by a blood curling scream. The men in black cloaks and white masks stared in fear and shock at the one they called their Lord, who had dropped his wand and was clawing at his head. Leaving red gashes all over his face as whirling smoke left his form.

Seeing as the Dark Lord was currently preoccupied with the pain he was in, he was the only person in the room who didn't turn to watch the figures standing in the doorway.

"You traitor!" a Deatheater suddenly yelled as he recognized one of them, only to be Stupefied by one of the man's companions. After this, chaos ensured and spells were flying all around in the room. Finally it seemed all the Deatheaters were incapable of moving, and it became eerie silent again. Lily quickly moved from her hiding spot behind a pillar and stumbled with Harry tightly clutched in her arms towards James, noticing vaguely that the three saviors had been Dumbledore, Snape and Peter. Peter now lied unconscious on the ground and Snape was clutching his arm as if it were to fall off if he didn't hold on to it.

"James!" she exclaimed as she noticed a large, red gash on his jaw. He just opened his arms and she rushed forwards, only to feel something clinging onto her leg, making her fall to the ground. Her motherly instincts made her turn in the fall so she would land on her side, instead of on the young infant in her arms. She glanced down at her feet where a claw like hand was clutching her ankle. Attached to the hand was Lord Voldemort, who used his last power to drag her towards him. The last thing she heard was her husband screaming her name as she and Harry were teleported away…

Future - 1995

Harry woke up in the infirmary, or so he suspected. He couldn't even remember blacking out, but the enormous headache he head told him he must have hit the ground quite hard. He tried to raise his hand to put it on his brow, knowing that it would make it hurt even more, but it's just a natural reaction, however, his arm couldn't move. He shifted his head slightly to stare at the appendage and was startled to see the large restraints over his arms, legs and ankles. Why was he strapped onto a bed? Had he been trashing around and had they did so to keep him from hurting himself? This seemed the most logical conclusion; however he also seemed to be petrified from the neck down. The restraint should have given him a bit of leeway to at least move his hands a bit, which he really couldn't, no matter how much he tried. Why would they have done that?

"You are awake," a voice stated and he turned his head to the side to see a man at a fair distance standing away from him. Behind the man he could see some other people standing, clearly in a silence bubble, because they were moving their mouths and arms frantically as if in a heated discussion. At the same moment Harry realized that he wasn't wearing glasses but still could see them clearly. Odd…

"Um, yes I am," he answered unnecessarily, glad to find out they hadn't made him incapable of speaking too. The disturbing feeling that he was in a bad situation and perhaps the people thought him to be dangerous, occurred to him as he calculated the distance between him and the man. Also the blatant dislike the man seemed to hold for him, made a shudder crawl over his petrified back, yet the memories, of this apparently new life, didn't deem it important enough to surface, leaving him in a obvious disadvantage.

"Where-?" he started to ask, but was promptly silencio'ed. He blinked and sighed. I'm screwed…

The man, who had silenced him, continued casting various checking charms on Harry's silent form. And finally turned to the talking people behind him, who broken off the silence bubble.

"And?" a woman asked him.

"It is definitely Harry James Potter."

They all shared a glance which made Harry, inaudible gulp. They had this… bad aura around them, and Harry felt quite threatened.

"Azkaban?" another man asked and Harry eyes bulged out. Are they trying to decide weather to throw me in Azkaban? What the hell have I done for them to be willing to throw me there?

"I'd say we torture some information out of him first," a man with a gruff voice said, and Harry realized startled that it was Mad Eye Moody. This proposal seemed to appeal to the others and as one person they turned around to Harry.

Harry whimpered soundlessly, willing his body to move away, but it not complying under the protest of it being under a strong spell. They moved closer, all with their wands menacing in their hands. Harry started to feel lightheaded from, what he supposed was fear, and had one glance at a face that seemed very familiar, had perhaps even once smiled at him with loving and care, but now was deformed into a dark scowl, and then Harry blacked out…

To Be Continued