I know this is rather sudden for me to post another chapter after posting one up on Sunday. But I figured it was for the best. I will also tell you that it was a short one. But then so was the next chapter after this. I just put them together and voila. A long chapter for your enjoyment.
Attention: I recently filled out an author application at Portkey in hopes of adding my story it's list. Just the other day I got an automatic e-mail saying that I had been rejected, and that my story lacked plot development. I NEED TO KNOW IF THIS STORY DOES LACK PLOT DEVELOPMENT? And Be Honest!
Disclaimer: I said it before and I'll say it again. I am only borrowing the characters for the sake of art, I will return them to their proper owners as soon as I am done. Thankyou.
Chapter 8: The Mirrors' Images (part 1)
By: Tojot
Dumbledore wasn't lying when Hermione saw the corridor. One part of it was in shambles.
"He used a Reductor curse." Hermione said to Gryphon while she scanned the wreckage. "I wonder what he was trying to blow up."
"It had to be pretty big." Gryphon commented slightly tense.
"Why do you say that?" Hermione asked. Gryphon pointed to something that was slightly up the wall that no man could reach. There were four meter-long parallel gashes. Like a large beast had clawed it. Hermione's eyes when wide at the sight and she panicked slightly.
"What could've done that?" Hermione squeaked. Gryphon didn't answer. But Crookshanks meowed. "Crookshanks what are you doing here?" Hermione asked.
"Here to give ye support." Gryphon said in an oddly tense voice.
"I see. Mind if I search the underground passageways?" Hermione asked.
"Go ahead." Gryphon said briskly as she examined the claw marks. "Come back if ye need me or if ye have found something. And use that map."
Hermione nodded as she pulled the map from her pocket and tapped it with her wand, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Gryphon chuckled softly, it may have been the words Hermione had just said. From what Gryphon had heard of Hermione Granger is that she was never up to mischief.
Harry followed Hermione through the door to the chamber. He could still smell dog.
'The senses are heightened for cats, Harry.' Crookshanks said. 'So where are we headed anyway?'
'Do you see that hole in the floor there?' Harry asked as he indicated to the hole where the trap door had been ripped off its hinges. Hermione placed a feather-light charm on herself and started to lower herself into the hole.
'So it's said that you and my mistress and redhead had an adventure down there.'
'Did you just call Ron 'redhead'?' Harry chuckled
'I don't like him very much. Stupid git.' Crookshanks growled
'The feeling's mutual where he is concerned.'
'I know.' The cat responded smugly, and with a swish of the bottlebrush tail they had apparated to where Hermione was now standing. Harry recognized this room as where the Devils Snare had nearly strangled them. If it hadn't been for Hermione they would have been dead. Hermione was looking around the room, Her eyes were clouded over in thought.
"This is where…," She thought out loud.
'So she is remembering that night vividly too.' Harry said.
'What happened here?' Crookshanks asked.
'Hermione saved both Ron and myself from the Devils Snare that was here. Lucky that she knew so much back then.'
'This room is probably bringing back painful memories of seeing you in danger.' Crookshanks said. 'She hates seeing you in danger.' Hermione headed onto the next room.
"Onto the Flying Key Room." She said aloud. Her voice had a slight melancholic sound.
'So explain the Flying Key Room?" Crookshanks asked as they followed her.
'It's a room where Professor Flitwick charmed a whole bunch of keys to fly about the room and you had to find the key that would get you through the locked door.' Harry explained as they entered the room. 'Truthfully, it wasn't difficult, just time consuming and we were in a hurry. The key we needed had a bent wing because it had already been caught before.' The room they stood in was now devoid of keys and the door was gone. Hermione let out a deep sigh as she scanned the room, the memories seemed to be flooding back. But seeing as she hadn't found Harry yet she moved on to the next chamber.
The chessboard floor was still there even though the pieces were gone. Harry saw Hermione shudder as she looked around the room. There were still scratches and scuffs from the chess pieces. Harry had to admit it was Ron that got them through in the end with this room. Hermione was walking around the room in an odd fashion, it was then Harry realized that the steps Hermione was taking where the very moves she had done in the game.
'I do believe that these chambers here hold a lot of memories for you both.' Crookshanks commented.
'It was quite a memorable experience. For both of us I guess.' Harry said vaguely as he looked at Hermione. Her face had a pained expression on it. She looked near tears as she looked at the very square where Harry had put the opponent into checkmate. Hermione then steeled herself up and went onto the next chamber. Harry and Crookshanks followed.
'What is that smell?' Crookshanks said as they approached the next chamber.
'Troll. It had already been taken care of by the time we got this far. It looks like they have gotten rid of it.' Harry answered as he looked around at the empty room. The floor had a bloody stain where Harry remembered the head lay.
The chamber that once held potions, held them no more. No fire sprang up to prevent them from going anywhere. But Harry could never forget this room. And from the looks of it neither could Hermione.
"He's not here." Her voice hitched.
'What is the importance of this room?' Crookshanks asked. 'My mistress has felt more emotional impact in this room than all the rooms we have been in so far.'
'This is where I received my first hug. I was quite surprised when she threw her arms around me and told I was a great wizard. Due to my terrible childhood, I had never been hugged before, it was a new experience for me. This is also the room where we parted ways since I told her to go back. She never went further than this room.' Harry explained.
'But does she know what happened in the next chamber?'
'She does. I told her.'
Hermione crossed the room to the portal that continued on, closed her eyes, held her breath and took a step that crossed the threshold. Harry continued with her.
The Mirror of Erised was still there. Just as it was when Harry faced Quirrel and Voldemort. Hermione took the surroundings and shuddered. Harry and Crookshanks could feel it to.
'What was that?' Harry asked.
'It's the feeling I get when I enter a room where someone has died.'
'Dumbledore said that Voldemort left Quirrel to die here.'
'I don't like that mirror much either. I feel that many men have died in front of it.'
'That's because they have, it's the Mirror of Erised. Whoever looks into it sees their most deepest desire. Some waste away and some are driven mad in front of it.'
'What did you see in it?'
'My family. Ron has looked into it too, he saw himself alone and the best out of all his brothers.' Harry said
'That is a very sad desire that Ronald chose. But when one strives enough, sometimes the desire comes true.'
'Mine won't come true. My family is dead.'
'There are other ways of achieving a family, Harry. Have you ever thought about becoming a parent yourself?' Crookshanks said. Harry had never thought of that.
Hermione had not looked into the mirror yet. "Harry where are you!" She cried. She had broken down into tears. Harry had never seen Hermione so weak. The map had fallen to the floor in front of Crookshanks. "I need you!" She continued to sob. But then the mirror caught her eye. She gaped at it in horror as she walked towards it. "NO! Harry told me about this mirror, I can't let myself be drawn in." She said as she tore her eyes from what it was showing her. Her hands were shaking in fear. "It will never happen anyway." She said painfully the tears leaking from her eyes. "He's never noticed me like that before."
But her attention was drawn back to the mirror in a different way. Like she was ignoring what it showed her. She gasped and turned around quickly to look straight at Crookshanks. "I thought I just saw… nevermind, it must be the mirror again." Crookshanks looked down at the map and spotted someone moving towards their position. Peter Pettigrew himself. Harry had to find some way of letting Hermione know that they where expecting unwanted company. He let out a very loud caterwaul, which drew Hermione's attention back to him.
"What is it Crookshanks?" Hermione asked. She looked down to where Crookshanks right paw was situated on their position on the map. Fast approaching was a dot labeled Peter Pettigrew.
"OH NO!" She exclaimed as she scooped up that cat and the map and pulled out her wand. She ran towards the door they in which they came. "We have to get back and warn Gryphon." But there was one mistake that she had made whilst running back through the maze of chambers: She didn't consult the map. In the Chess chamber Hermione ran into something and fell over backwards. The form she ran into fell over too. She saw that saw had run straight into Peter.
'OH NO!' Harry hissed. Peter got to his feet and grabbed Hermione's dropped wand before she could and pointed both his and her own at her.
"Tell me where he is!" Peter demanded. Hermione was in a position where she couldn't get away as she clutched her cat to her.
"I don't know where Harry is." Hermione said nervously.
"Yes you do. Don't lie." Peter said. "You're his friend, and I know you're clever. Now where did you hide him!" Crookshanks wriggled out of Hermione's arms and leapt at Peter, clamping his teeth down on Hermione's wand in Peter's hand, and with little effort wrenched it away from the Deatheater. Hermione utilized this opportunity to scream with all her might, in hopes that someone would come to help her. Peter sent a curse at the cat, but Harry dodged it and dropped Hermione's wand into her lap just in time for them both to dodge another curse. It scraped Hermione's cheek.
"Stupify!" Hermione yelled, as she tried to get up but a sharp pain came from her ankle. She realized she must have twisted it. She knew it was broken though. Wormtail sidestepped the Hermione's stunner.
"Temprascion!" Wormtail shouted and a yellow mist sprang from his wand.
Knowing that this was dark magic, Hermione cast 'Protego' to counter as much of the dark magic that she could. Wormtail had used a dark spell that would mold the victim's body into whatever forms the caster chose, and keeping the victim alive. Sort of like human clay ball. The Protection charm Hermione cast had protected her from most of the blast, but the pressure was excruciating.
"Aronia Exime!" A voice shouted and Pettigrew was blasted off his feet and away from Hermione and Crookshanks. Gryphon came running towards them.
"Miss Granger are ye alright!" Gryphon called.
"We're fine." Hermione said. But her cheek was bleeding and her ankle was swollen and Hermione looked like she had a head-pounding headache.
"Good. Get thyselves out of here, I'll take over from here. GO!" And she sent another spell at the advancing Pettigrew. Hermione didn't need telling twice. She scooped Crookshanks up again and ran as fast as she could on her bad ankle. But before she could make it to the exit, she felt something warm around her, like a cool fire and she found herself in the Gryffindor Common room.
"Hermione?" She heard someone say her name before she passed out due to being overwhelmed.
'How did we manage to bring Hermione with us when we apparated?' Harry asked as he watched Neville pick Hermione up off the floor and ask one of the portraits to get madam Pomfrey.
'You were using your own power to apparate us, not mine.'
'What?'
'Your power is growing and my mistress has had the ability to sense it. it only shows when you're emotional. Watch it!' Ron's foot came out of no where but missed as they apparated to the hospital wing.
'Stupid boy!' Crookshanks fumed. Five minutes later, Madam Pomfrey brought Hermione's unconscious form into the wing. Ron came in to causing Crookshanks to hiss at him. Madam Pomfrey tried to shoo Crookshanks, but the cat wouldn't budge from the chair it had situated itself on.
"Leave Crookshanks, he won't cause you any trouble." Dumbledore said from the door.
"Honestly, first a dog and now a cat. I run an infirmary, not a kennel." Madam Pomfrey huffed. A growl came from Gryphon, who was being supported by Dumbledore. She looked a mess. A squealing rat clutched in her hand. Dumbledore conjured a peculiar cage and held it open for Gryphon to stuff the rat into. The rat struggled and twisted but was forced in anyway.
"Make sure he doesn't escape." Gryphon told Dumbledore weakly. The rat squealed loudly in the cage.
"I will, you have Madam Pomfrey take care of you." Dumbledore said softly. Their eyes lingered a bit but soon went their ways.
Harry turned to Hermione who still lay unconscious in bed. Ron was still there. He seemed to be in deep thought, but didn't voice anything for an hour.
"This is weird, first Harry disappears, then Hermione appears out of nowhere and passes out." Ron thought out loud, "What's happening around here?"
"That's the same question I would like to ask." Said a sleepy Hermione. Apparently she had just awakened.
"What have you been doing!" Ron demanded of her. "You are nowhere to be seen for most of the morning then you just appear in the common room in front of me and pass out." Harry could just see an argument starting
"If you must know have been searching for clues about Harry's whereabouts, Ronald." Hermione bristled.
"Clues? In the library I bet." Ron bellowed. "Answer me this, how would there be clues about Harry in the library?"
"I haven't been in the library. I've been in the passages underneath the third floor corridor. Around the corridor where Harry was said to have disappeared."
"What! Don't you remember what Professor Dumbledore said about Wormtail being in the castle?" Ron reminded her as he grabbed her shoulders forcefully. "You could've been seen or worse… hurt!" Hermione winced at the pressure. Harry didn't like this action Ron took and hissed.
"ENOUGH!" Gryphon roared angrily as she stood abruptly from the bed she was sitting on. It startled Madam Pomfrey. "This argument has gone far enough. Weasley would ye kindly remove thy hands from Miss Granger's person, and remove thyself from this Infirmary so that those who are here for a serious purpose can rest!" Ron's eyes went wide as saw that he was hurting Hermione and let go. "Miss Granger has been through enough with out ye adding to her injury."
"Could I have five more minutes?" Ron asked Gryphon.
"I am watching thee." She said as she picked up a glass of water.
"You met Wormtail, didn't you?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded.
"But I know one thing that we didn't know before." Hermione said.
"And what's that?"
"Pettigrew didn't take Harry." Hermione said gravely.
"Are you sure?" said Ron.
"That's why I encountered him. He asked me where I hid Harry. When I didn't answer the way he wanted me to, he attacked me." Hermione explained.
"Why did he think you would be hiding Harry?"
"I'm supposed to be the clever one all right." Hermione said irritably. "But why would Harry need hiding? And if he is, then where is he?" Hermione said. An odd noise came from Gryphon. She was choking on a glass of water that went down the wrong pipe.
VVVVVVVVVV
The month of October wore on. Hogwarts seemed very gloomy without Harry. Every morning, Hermione would wait for her Daily Prophet. The first week had come out with headlines of: 'Peter Pettigrew alive and a Deatheater Spy' and 'What happened to innocent Sirius Black?' both written by Rita Skeeter. But news that Harry Potter had disappeared had leaked out to the press and sent the wizarding world into panic as well as the Defense Association. Several members of the Order of the Phoenix were spotted several times that week. Ron And Hermione where bombarded with questions about Harry. The corridor where Harry had disappeared had been forbidden. Ron had long ago put the Invisibility Cloak back in Harry's trunk, but Hermione had yet to put the Marauder's Map back. She had held onto it for some reason. Maybe it was because she could not get past the fact that she felt the Harry was still in the castle somehow. She always felt like he was near. She was studying the map late one night with Crookshanks on her lap.
"Hermione, why do you still have Harry's map?" Ron asked as he was still working on a Transfiguration essay that was due the next day.
"I don't know, but I keep having this feeling that he is very close. That I may see him on this map." Hermione said sadly as she put the map away. 'Mischief managed.' Crookshanks stretched and yawned on Hermione's lap then curled up again to resemble a fluffy orange cushion.
"Harry would tan our hides if he knew we had been in his stuff." Ron said.
"I am not afraid." Hermione said. "I have faced his anger before. I'll even welcome that when he returns." The conversation seemed strained and uneasy. An uncomfortable silence rested between them.
"Hermione have you thought about what I said at the beginning of the year?" Ron asked.
"About wanting to start a romantic relationship with me? Yes, I have thought about it, but truthfully have you thought about it and the effects it could have?" Hermione stated.
"What do you mean 'effects.'" Ron asked.
"Not all romantic relationships work, Ron." Hermione explained slowly. "We argue a lot and what if one of those arguments broke us apart? What would Harry do if we broke up and never wanted to see each other again? You know how he treasures us like family. And if the relationship did work out, Harry would probably feel like the third wheel and left out. If there is one thing Harry needs to feel at this time, it is not like he's been abandoned by those he needs the most."
"I have never thought of that." Said Ron. A sudden knocking could be heard from the portrait hole. "Oh no, I forgot I had do rounds tonight!" Ron moaned. The very strict rules that had been placed at the starting of the month had been loosened slightly now that Peter had been captured and prefects still had to patrol the castle.
"Go. Don't leave Luna waiting." Hermione said, an odd smile on her face.
"She's probably deep in conversation with the Fat Lady's portrait, again." Ron chuckled and went to open the portrait hole.
"Hello Ronald, ready to go on our rounds?" Luna's calm voice was heard.
"Yeah, let's get it over with." Ron answered stiffly and the portrait hole closed behind him.
"Oh Ron," Hermione sighed, "That's who I really think you should be with."
'Hermione thinks Ron ought to date Luna Lovegood? Why?' Harry asked Crookshanks.
'My mistress notices things. She has observed that Luna may harbor feelings for Redhead. Another thing that no one has seen, how they act around each other when they think they are alone. This, my mistress doesn't know.'
'How do they act?'
'No, I won't tell.'
'Oh, come on.'
'If you must know, they are constantly flirting with each other and what's more is that Redhead doesn't realize he is doing it.'
"Might as well put this back in Harry's trunk for all the help it is not giving me." Hermione said to herself as she picked the Map back up off the table. Crookshanks followed her. The boy's dormitory was empty since everyone was still working on homework down in the common room. She crossed over to Harry's bed and the trunk that rested underneath it. As she placed the map inside the trunk she noticed something shiny lodged underneath a leather photo album she had never seen before. She lifted the album off it to discover that it was a beautiful but broken mirror. She curiously picked it up.
"Why does Harry have this?" Hermione asked herself. She pulled out her wand to repair it. But it wouldn't repair. "This must be enchanted." She turned it over to see that there was a note attached to the back of it, in Sirius' handwriting.
This is a two-way mirror. I've got the other. If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you'll appear in my mirror and I'll be able to talk in yours. James and I used to use them when we where in separate detentions.
Hermione was confused at first but something clicked in her mind. "Harry must have tried to use this after Sirius fell through the veil… and it didn't work. But if Harry had this the whole time, why did he continue to use Umbridge's fire?"
She heard someone coming up the staircase. She stowed the mirror away in her robes and put the photo album back in the trunk and the trunk under the bed just as the door swung open. Neville came in.
"Hermione! What are you doing in here?" Neville asked slightly startled.
"I am returning something to Harry's trunk that he left in my possession before he disappeared." Hermione partly-lied.
"I miss him." Neville confessed.
"You do?"
"Hogwarts isn't the same without Harry." Neville explained. "Friends like Harry are hard to come by these days."
"So true." Hermione agreed.
That Saturday, Hermione brought the Two-way Mirror to see if Professor Gryphon could fix it. Since she had fixed an enchanted knife of Seamus' in class. Gryphon could be found in abandoned classrooms searching in old cabinets, Cupboards and trunks. She was covered in dust but didn't seem to care.
"Are you looking for Boggarts?" Hermione asked when she found the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.
"Aye, for my Third year classes. Care to help me?" Gryphon grinned.
"On one condition, you mend this." Hermione said as she pulled out the mirror.
"I've seen this mirror before." Gryphon gasped as she looked at it in Hermione's hands.
"You have?"
"Aye, it was a possession of James Potter. The lad kept using it in my detentions."
"You taught Harry's father?" Gryphon answered this question with a nod. "That makes you…"
"…Much older than I look." Gryphon finished the sentence.
"So you've taught here before?"
"Aye." She said briskly. She opened a trunk and a large white catlike creature stepped out, growling and hissing. It stood on its hind legs and was about three meters tall. It had large white eagle wings protruding from its back. It had its silver eyes on Gryphon and its tail flicked irritably back and forth behind it.
"Miss Granger get back!" Gryphon said. "Riddikulus!" The creature turned into a pair of lion cubs at play. She picked them up and put them in a suitcase that she had brought with her.
"What was that creature?" Hermione asked.
"Something ye don't want to meet, unless it has a collar." Gryphon sounded as though she didn't want to continue the current conversation as she picked up the suitcase and left the dusty room. But Hermione kept on.
"Why are you afraid of it?" Hermione asked as she tried to keep up with Gryphon's strides.
"Tis something I wish not to speak of. I am better off not telling thee." Gryphon snapped irritably, her eyes filled with anger, but not hatred. "Now, the mirror that ye seek to be repaired?" Gryphon said holding out her hand for the mirror. "Enchanted mirrors have one more ability than that task they've been assigned."
"And that would be?" Hermione asked curiously.
"They show the reflection of one who is not visible or in hiding." Gryphon replied. "Now, I shall mend this for thee. Good day." Gryphon said cordially and walked off towards her classroom.
"Hermione?" it was Hagrid. Hermione jumped.
"Oh, it's just you Hagrid." Hermione said regaining her composure.
"What are you doin' in this part o' the castle?" He asked.
"I was looking for Professor Gryphon to see if she could mend something for me." Hermione said.
"Professor Gryphon is a great woman. Has never taken credit for the great thin's she has done. Best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher ye'll ever have, she is. Though don' try an' guess 'er age, She's much older than she looks." Hagrid said.
"So I've heard." Hermione added. "So what about you, why are you in this area anyway?"
"Professor Dumbledore wanted me t' move sommat fer him. Care t' join me?" Hagrid said as he continued up the stairs of a tower. "Should be very interestin'." Hermione hurried along in his wake.
And interesting it was. Right in the middle of the tower room was a very large and shiny motorbike.
"Is that…" Hermione stared at it in awe. "…Sirius' motorbike."
"Yeah… Hang on. How'd you know it was Sirius'?" Hagrid asked.
"Sirius told me the summer before Fifth year." Hermione lied.
"Oh. Well this is the bike tha' helped me transport Harry from Godrics Hollow t' his Aunt an' Uncles house. Dumbledore wanted me ter move it because of a few curious firs' years found it last nigh'. Filch caught 'em o' course." Hagrid explained. "It brings back the memories."
"I'm sure it does." Hermione said as she ran her fingers across the glossy black painted gas tank. "A night as memorable as that one."
"There's sommat I never told anyone about tha' nigh'. Not even Dumbledore." Hagrid revealed. Hermione turned her head quickly the face him. She was intrigued by this little tidbit of information.
"I met someone other than Sirius and Dumbledore tha' nigh', someone who helped me greatly." Hagrid said as he crossed to a large window and opened it wide. A cool breeze blew in.
"Who was it?" Hermione pressed.
"I don' know, she kept 'er hood on her black robes up. But I do know tha' she was female." Hagrid said as he sat down on the seat of the bike. "She was 'bout yer size though. Ne'er saw her again after tha' meetin' within the Potter's burnin' house." Hagrid explained.
"Could she have been Lily Potter?" Hermione suggested.
"No." Hagrid said bluntly.
"Hagrid, how could you have known if it was Harry's mother or not? Who else could have been in Harry's house at that time?" Hermione asked sharply.
"Don' know, but I know fer sure it wasn' Lily. The… The…" Hagrid cast around for a word that would explain the point he was trying to get across to Hermione. "The mannerisms were different. An' she didn' have tha' same feelin' Lily always had around 'er. This lass was a bit more powerful though an' younger too." This information sent Hermione's thought processes into fast-paced motion.
"She was younger?" Hermione repeated. Hagrid nodded as he started up the engine of the motorbike.
"Want a ride?" Hagrid asked, speaking over the purr of the engine. Hermione had heard from Harry that this particular motorbike could fly and Hagrid was planning to take it out of that tower via the window.
"No thanks, Hagrid. I think I'll have to pass." Hermione said. With that Hagrid nodded and the bike lifted off the floor and out the window with the large man on it.
Author's note:
What did Hermione see in the Mirror of Erised? I did give thee a clue. And why is Gryphon afraid of that particular creature? The answer to that hits very close to home for the woman. You'll find that I tried to make this original character lifelike and three-dimensional.
I have a reason why it seems that there is no plot development. The development of the plot is moving very slow, (though I did reveal some in this chapter.) I am trying to explain things that need to be explained for the sake of Harry and Hermione's relationship and for the sake of the story. It needs to go in a certain order or everything will be thrown off kilter. There is a lot more than that but I can't reveal that to you at this time It is supposed to span the length of the school year at Hogwarts. It is a very long story if I do that. This chapter and the ones before are still in the beginning stages of the plot. The First day of October is still relatively early to reveal too much of the plot. Though I did want to, but were would the fun of the Mystery be in that?
By the way of plot development, I already have the ending planned. I think it'll be quite the ending. And my inspiration has graciously returned to me.
I am still trying to finalize the stopping point for Chapter 9: The Mirrors' Image (part 2) but it won't be long before that happens. So until then, please review and tell me what you thought of it.
-tojot
