Chapter 8:

Halley's big on apologies and she made Ron apologize to Hermione the next day.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Halley yelled en Ron tried to escape after Halley told him he had to apologize to Hermione. Halley grabbed his arms.

"C'mon Harry, help!" Ron said, begging Harry Potter to help him escape.

Halley pointed her wand towards Harry, almost menacingly. "If you help him escape, I'll curse you!" Halley warned.

Hermione was sort of smiling at the scene now. She watched as Halley dragged Ron away from the boys' dormitories towards the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Your middle name is Bilius?" Harry asked Ron, smirking slightly.

"You wipe that smirk off your face if you know what's good for you!" Ron told him as Halley faced him to sit on the couch front of Hermione.

"Now apologize!" Halley told Ron. Ron glared at her, then turned to Hermione.

"I'm oh so sorry you're such a know-it-all." Ron said.

"Ronald Weasley!" Halley scolded.

"What? I apologized!"

Halley punched him. "How about apologizing for calling her a nightmare."

"Ow! Okay!" Ron sighed. "I'm sorry for calling you a nightmare."

Hermione glared at him for a few moments, then took a breath. "Fine."

"Isn't she supposed to say, 'It's all right'?"

"No," said Halley, "because it's not. It's not okay to call someone a nightmare."

"What are you? Five?"

Halley scowled at him. "You two better get along. I'm serious."

"Yeah, yeah- whatever."

"We should give Hermione a chance," Harry piped up. Then he walked to Hermione and stuck his hand out. "Friends?"

Hermione stared at his hand for a long moment. Harry was about to pull it back when she shook it. "I suppose someone has to keep you two out of trouble." She glanced at Ron as she said it.

It was late December night when Halley heard someone from the boys' dormitories walking down stairs to the common room. She walked down the stairs and stood, unseen, and peeked into the Common Room. She saw Harry glancing around, then throwing the Invisibility Cloak he had gotten for Christmas over himself. He picked up a (lantern?) and left the Common Room.

Halley tilted her head. She waited a good minute or two, the followed Harry by the sound of his footsteps, unnoticed. She kept a good distance behind him so he wouldn't know she was following him, and followed him to the library.

Harry went into the Restricted Section. This cannot be good… Halley thought, watching . Harry looked at all the titles, then pulled one out, and it fell open in his hands.

The book started to scream.

Halley clapped her hands over her ears. Harry stumbled back and knocked over the lantern. Harry quickly shut the book, which was still screaming, and pulled back on the Invisibility Cloak. The light died out and as soon as Halley heard Argus Filch's voice, she scattered silently, leaving the library.

She wondered around for a place to hide and she found an empty, open class room and ran in there, not paying attention to her surroundings as she hid behind a few desks and chairs. She waited.

After what seemed like forever, she heard someone come in and she tensed. Harry threw off his Invisibility Cloak and glanced around the room. Halley shrank back. Harry then looked at something. Halley shifted slightly to see he was looking at a mirror.

Harry stared at them mirror, then looked about himself. Then stared back at the mirror. "Mum?" he said in complete shock. "Dad?"

Halley was confused. Harry's parents were dead. How could they be there? Halley glanced around the room. It was only Harry with her.

Harry stood there, staring at the mirror for a long, long while. Halley eventually had to shift her weight onto her other foot, and tripped. Harry heard that and glanced around. Halley, again, shrank back.

He looked at the mirror once more. "I'll be back." He promised in a whisper, throwing hisCloak around himself. Halley heard him leave the room.

What was so special about this mirror? Halley came from behind the chairs and desks to see.

The mirror had an ornate gold frame, with two clawed feet, as high as the ceiling. It had an inscription engraved across the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on woshi.

Halley studied the words. It seemed to be some sort of foreign language or code, or something. Halley spent a good ten minutes before trying to read it backwards.

She read Erised backwards, and it was desire. Desire what? She read all the words backwards and got: Desire arts urhe tup ebu urfac tyo no ishow.

She honestly had no idea what that meant. Desire arts? What type of arts? But no, that's probably not what it meant. She tried to read the sentence backwards from the original inscription.

I show-no-tyo-urfac-tevu-tyo-arts-desire. Halley read it collectively: I show not your face but your heart's desire.

It was a nice looking mirror, but Halley didn't see anything exciting, or special. Nothing to make Harry blink in surprise and say 'Mum? Dad?'

She stepped directly in front of the mirror.

And she blinked.

To her left was a man with white blond hair and gray eyes. To her right was a woman with brown hair and blue eyes.