Chapter 17

The Mirror

"Well, I will be spending the holidays away from Hogwarts," Draco boasted quite loudly in the Great Hall, glancing sideways at Potter and his friends. "Unlike, some, I actually have a place to go over Christmas."

I turned my head, just for a moment, to see if Potter reacted, as Draco desired. He did appear slightly sulky, but continued to chat with his friends as though he could not hear Draco. I just shook my head, knowing that there is not a chance that Potter would give Draco the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Not particularly in the mood for bullying, I turned my head to Lenora and asked, "So are you going home over the break?"

Lenora shrugged, keeping her voice casual, but avoided my eyes. "Nah, Dad says he's going to be busy."

"Is the ministry really making him work that much over Christmas?" I asked, believing there to be something more to this.

"He's busy with stuff outside the ministry," Lenora muttered and before I could inquire, she quickly added, "He won't tell me exactly what though."

I noticed Pansy's eyes briefly turn in our direction as we talked, but thankfully she did not say anything. She seems to have learned better not to after the last incident where she uttered something negative about Lenora's father. I must admit the whole thing seems odd to me. Even though I never actually met him, Mr. Lane strikes me as neglectful and distant with his daughter, yet Lenora still seems strongly loyal to him and will not stand for anything poor said at his expense.

"Maybe instead you can come stay with me," I offered. "I can write to my aunt and uncle. I'm sure they will be fine with it."

Once again, Lenora shrugged. "That's okay. I'd rather stay here anyway."

I thought for a moment, and then suggested, "Maybe I can stay here too."

This time, her eyes actually met mine, but her eyebrow rose. "You don't have to do that."

I shook my head as my mind was made up. "I want to. To be honest, I'm really not prepared to leave this place just yet. Besides, I'll have the whole summer to spend with my family."

"Well, I guess if you say so," Lenora mumbled.

"It will be great!" I ranted on enthusiastically. "Maybe with less school staff here, we can more easily get away with exploring more of Hogwarts, like the Dark Forest, or the Restricted section of the library. I do wonder why it's restricted. After all, what harm could books cause? Oh, and maybe we could check out that three headed dog again, and also…"

"Melanie," Lenora interrupted with exasperation. "Okay, I get it. You want to stay, but what are you going to tell your aunt and uncle?"

I thought for a moment on this. "I could say that most of the other students are staying to celebrate together and I don't want to miss out."

Lenora's tone remained apathetic, but I did catch a sparkle in her eyes as she said, "Yeah, you could do that."

Later that evening, I wrote to Aunt Becky, using my excuse, and she wrote back saying it was fine, but explained in great detail how important it was that I made sure to visit my mother and father over the summer. To avoid any unwanted eyes falling upon this, I burned the letter and wrote her back on a new piece of parchment.

xXx

Today turned out to be the day most students planning on visiting their families for Christmas left. In the Slytherin common room, I tried to spend most of my time with Draco, seeing as I would not see him for a couple weeks. I just wish Pansy were not here with us, but she insisted on sitting on the other side of Draco on the coach while we chatted.

"I bet this year, my father will get me my very own broom," Draco stated proudly. "It will be something better than Potter's Nimbus 2000."

"Is there anything better than that?" I asked.

"I'm sure Draco's parents will find something perfect for him," Pansy said, running her fingers through her hair.

Draco grinned at her, only briefly meeting her eyes. "Of course they will. My father always knows how to get hold of the best out there."

I shot Pansy a brief irritated glance, before suggesting, "Maybe next year you can try out for Quidditch next year with…"

"Of course, and with your new broom you will surely best Potter!" Pansy interrupted gleefully, sitting up on the edge of the sofa.

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I was going to say," I grumbled, slumping back into the couch.

Pansy seemed to know how to hold Draco's attention much better than I did. She had grown to be an expert in flattering him, which I began to find quite irritating. After all, Draco seems to enjoy spending time hanging out with me, but to him, I likely just appear as one of the guys. Pansy, on the other hand…

"Melanie?"

I snapped out of my daydream to see Lenora, crouched in an easy chair, with her feet on it, holding a magazine.

"Draco and Pansy left," Lenora stated, turning her eyes back to her magazine. "I think you were too busy daydreaming to notice."

"Do you think Draco is starting to like Pansy as more than a friend?" I asked, staring at the ground.

Without much interest, she just shrugged. "I don't know. We're only eleven. I don't think any serious relationships are going to happen for any of us any time soon."

"I think she at least likes him," I pointed out, glumly. "I can't tell if he likes her back."

"What do you care?" she shifted her eyes from her magazine to study my face. "Unless, do you like Draco?"

I shifted awkwardly on the couch. "I don't know… I just, er, don't think he should be with someone like Pansy."

Lenora tossed her magazine on the coffee table. "Are you kidding? Pansy would the perfect girl for him. He needs someone to praise everything he does and worship the ground he walks on." She paused before adding, "Actually, to tell you the truth, he doesn't seem interested in either one of you, but he definitely enjoys you both fawning over him." She met my eyes more intently. "Personally, I think you can do better. You don't want to spend the rest of your life flattering someone in desperate need of attention."

"I suppose you're right," I muttered, though my feelings of jealousy remained on surface.

xXx

The night before Christmas, I found it nearly impossible to go to sleep. Flat on my back, I starred up at the ceiling with my eyes open wide.

"Hey, Melanie," I heard Lenora's voice whisper. "You awake?"

I turned over on my bed to face her. "Yeah. I can't sleep."

"Do you want to go for a midnight walk?" she asked.

"Sure," I replied, sitting up. "Where do you want to go?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Somewhere we haven't been yet."

We ended up just roaming about the halls, walking up and several stairways that moved us wherever they pleased. Since neither of us cared we where we were going, we did not mind. Now, the hallway we strolled down on seemed deserted, as all the classrooms appeared dusty and unkempt.

"Did you see that?" Lenora asked suddenly in a hushed voice, pointing around the corner. "I think someone's coming."

I looked in that direction, seeing a tiny silhouette, slowing starting to grow larger. I grabbed Lenora's hand, pulling her into one of the classrooms.

"I think it was just a rat," Lenora said, peering out the door. "Let's go."

"Wait." I found my eyes moving towards the direction of this grand oval shaped mirror. I could not explain of, but something seemed odd about it. Slowly, I walked up closer to see my reflection. Letting out a gasp, I saw I was not alone. I whooped my head around but saw no one there. Feeling slightly agitated, I turned back to see who stood within the mirror.

"What is it, Melanie?" Lenora demanded, giving me an odd look.

"Can't you see them?" I asked, feeling my blood turn cold.

She folded her arms. "See who? I only see you there."

I gazed more intently, muttering, "My aunt and uncle are there, smiling and waving like in a picture."

I stopped, withholding the next thing I wanted to say. I also see my parents there too, but I cannot reveal this to Lenora. My family stood along further back as though in the background. In the front, mounted a tall man with curly dark hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. He stood with a broad smile and his arm around a fair skinned woman with long wavy brunette hair and a few spotted freckles on her cheeks. She wore deep blue robes, standard witch's robes I assume. I looked deeply into her eyes, feeling some sort of connection with her.

"Lenora," I whispered in a deep breath. "I think this mirror shows the future."

She walked up closer, apprehensive. "What makes you say that?"

I described every detail of the woman, ending with "I think that's me, and maybe the man she's with is my future husband, and I don't know why the rest of my family is there. Maybe it's some sort of reunion. Can't you see it?"

She shook her head. "No, I guess since you're the one looking into the mirror, it just shows you your future." She grinned. "So you say this man has dark, hair. I guess that means you won't end up with Draco." She stopped pondering momentarily. "Are you sure the woman is you?"

"She does look a lot like me," I responded, my eyes still fixated on the mirror. "The main difference is her skin is lighter. Mine skin tone seems to be more similar to the man's."

"Alright, that's it." Lenora walked up and pushed me out of the way. "Let me try."

She stood just where I had, looking directly into her reflection. I tried to read her expression, but could not tell what ran through her mind.

"Well, what do you see?" I finally asked after a few moments of silence.

"It seems as though I've been named head girl," Lenora softly uttered, amazed. "My father is standing behind me with his hand on my shoulder. He looks real proud."

"Head girl," I repeated, impressed. "Nice. That will really stick it to Pansy."

We both started giggling. Our laughter was soon interrupted but trudging footsteps. This time we were sure it was a person.

"It's Filch," Lenora whispered. "He's coming in here!"

Before he entered, I pulled Lenora behind the door. As soon as the straggly old man, walked in and began scrutinizing the room, we tiptoed out and dashed towards the stairs. Thankfully, we made it back to the common rooms unnoticed.

We immediately went to bed, but I still found myself unable to sleep, consumed with thoughts of this mysterious mirror. Could it be that it really does show the future? I wonder whom this man is that I may someday marry. He did not look like anyone here, or at least any that I could think of.

The next night, due to my overwhelming thoughts of my possible future, I went to find the mirror again, this time alone. I hoped to learn more of my future and how to find this man I might marry. To my disappointment, when I arrived to the very same room, I found that the mirror was gone.