Chapter Fifty-One
Previously:
"So who moves forward…?" Adrian started.
"…and who goes back?" Henry finished.
Through the Trapdoor, Hogwarts, Scotland, 26 March, 1991
"Should we draw straws, or, play some sort of game?" Hermione asked.
At Ron and Adrian's puzzled looks, Henry said, "Those are Muggle ways of deciding something, mates."
"Oh," Ron said. "Well, we have an easier way, Hermione. Watch."
The three boys set their wands on the ground, and she reluctantly followed suit.
"Okay, now you say, 'Who goes through the next door?', and then say Point Me! That's the enchantment," Ron said. "It's usually a directional spell, but it can also help solve problems, because- even though the wand chooses the wizard initially- the wands are actually non-sentient, and thus unbiased."
"That's very interesting," Hermione said, looking up at him curiously. "But I didn't come across that in the Charms book."
"You wouldn't," Henry said. "It's a common spell used in wizarding homes, Hermione, but it's actually taught in fourth year."
Her brow furrowed. "Then how-"
They all gave her a look, and she sheepishly caught the meaning.
She flushed. "Right, pure-blood, pure-blood," she said, pointing at Ron and Adrian, "half-blood," she said, gesturing toward Henry. Then, pointing at herself, she sighed, "Uneducated Muggleborn."
"Nah, Hermione, not uneducated," Ron said, throwing an arm over her shoulder and side-hugging her affectionately. "Just… just new is all."
She smiled up at the tall boy. "Thanks, Ron."
"Okay, all set," Henry announced.
"One-"
"Enough of the dramatic countdowns," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "Can't we just do this?"
"Uh, sure," Henry said.
"Who goes through the next door? Point Me!" they all yelled.
The four wands spun rapidly, and two wands- Hermione and Ron's- pointed at Henry, while Adrian's wand and Henry's own pointed at Adrian.
They couldn't help but grin, even as Ron's face fell from excitement into disappointment.
"Come on, drink up," Hermione said, handing the rounded jar to him. "Only half, though, because I still need to get through. I honestly didn't want to go."
Adrian nodded in silent agreement; he was worried- really worried- about his brother. He didn't think that legs were ever supposed to look like that…
"Yeah, yeah," Ron grumbled playfully, downing half of the potion and shuddering violently. "Urgh! It's like swallowing ice!"
Hermione grimaced and swallowed the remainder of the potion, shuddering much like Ron had.
Drinking the potion was indeed like swallowing ice.
"Go, before the potion wears off," Henry said, shooing them toward the troll room.
"Please, please make sure that Draco will be okay," Adrian pleaded.
"Be careful," Hermione said as she walked through the flames, untouched. "I can't take too much more of this."
"Yeah, watch your backs," Ron nodded, following after her with a raised hand in their direction.
And then they were alone.
Bottoms up," Henry murmured, sipping his half and choking, handing the tiny vial to Adrian, who followed suit immediately.
"Onward, then," Adrian said, and both boys stepped into the fire.
"A mirror?"
"Wha- where's the Stone?"
The boys looked wildly around the room, and all they found was a huge mirror.
"What the hell?" Adrian burst out, just as Henry shouted "Bollocks!"
They glared at the mirror and then shared identical looks of annoyance.
"Well, we came this far on guts and luck," Adrian shrugged.
"Yeah, but we left our brains back there," Henry replied, jerking his thumb in the direction Ron and Hermione had taken.
They stepped forward and stood in front of the mirror, staring at it intently.
And then, Henry gasped, for he saw things- people- that weren't there.
There was Henry's own reflection, but the boy in the mirror was clean, and looked to have been getting a normal amount of sleep. The "reflection" suddenly grinned and pulled his shirt open to reveal a scar-less chest.
His father stood directly behind him, ruffling his hair and laughing heartily with Remus- who looked far younger without his scars and gray hairs- and Sirius, who had his arm around James' shoulders. His father, he noticed, looked immensely happy and carefree. He'd never seen his father attempt to wrestle anyone before, much less a man almost a full head taller than himself.
His mother stood to far side of the mirror, shaking her head fondly at the adult- children her husband and his friends were. She smiled hugely at him, and he noticed that she didn't have any wrinkles in her forehead, and her distinctive auburn hair was free of any gray hairs. Her famous emerald eyes were sparkling with mirth.
But what- or rather who- was standing next to him in the mirror was what truly had him reeling.
It was Harry.
His brother looked exactly like he'd heard, almost identical to him- right down to the wild black hair and wiry frame-, except for brilliant green eyes, identical to their mother's. Harry was laughing so hard at the astonishment on Henry's face was hanging onto the boy's reflection for support. Even Henry's own- traitorous- reflection seemed to be chuckling at him, idly flipping a red stone from hand to hand.
"Henry?"
Henry jumped and looked over to Adrian, who was gripping his shoulder and shaking him roughly, as though to wake him up.
"What?"
"What are you looking at yourself like that for?" Adrian asked, cocking his head to the side like a curious dog.
"Wha- can't you see him?" Henry asked, looking back at his reflection and doing a double take when he realized that Adrian and Harry were standing in the exact same places (as compared to Henry and his reflection), except Harry was rolling his eyes and slapping his forehead and saying something to Henry's reflection that he couldn't hear, and Adrian looked annoyed with him.
"…don't see anyone but you, and this really isn't the time for jokes," Adrian said, sounding really irritated.
"I'm not joking! Look!" Henry insisted, stepping slightly to the side and dragging his friend to where he'd stood before.
"Do you see him now?" Henry asked smugly.
But what Adrian saw was quite different.
He saw his reflection, of course, and he also saw Draco lazily leaning on his shoulder, as the taller boy did fairly often. Draco's long legs were crossed at the ankles, not appearing to have ever suffered any damage.
Marvela was there as well, hugging her bear tightly and giggling at him. She looked much the same as when he'd seen her at Christmas.
And she was there as well. The girl from the photographs he and Draco had found years ago in the attic. She was very pretty, with long blond hair and sparkling dark blue eyes. She was older than he and Draco were, probably thirteen, and she planted a kiss on Draco's cheek, which seemed to disgust him immensely and amuse her to no end.
What mattered most of all to him was the way his parents were standing; his right arm around her waist and pulling her closer, her resting her head on his shoulder, her hand on the one he had on her hip.
Lucius had his sleeves rolled up, revealing an unmarked left arm, and his mother wasn't wearing her silver band on her left arm, either.
'They've never taken the mark…'
His mother looked younger and happier than he'd ever dreamed of seeing her, her robes bearing a faint dusting of flour, and his father… his father…
His father was smiling.
Genuinely, truly, openly smiling.
There were no shadows in his lively gray eyes, and he surveyed the children and wife before him with a relaxed satisfaction. His hair was shorter, though he kept it long enough that it fell in his face, causing him to run his fingers through it to push it back constantly. With the white blond strands falling into his gray eyes, it became obvious how much Draco resembled his father.
And with her face unlined and happy, it became obvious how much Marvela and the other girl resembled his mother.
And with all of these facts literally staring him in the face, it became obvious how little he looked like either of his parents.
"Ade?"
Adrian shook his head and focused on Henry, who was positively beaming at him. Looking back into the mirror, he stumbled back, frightened at how absorbed in the image he'd become. Henry eagerly took his place in front o the mirror.
"Isn't it great? Did you see him?" Henry asked excitedly.
"No. I- I saw my family," Adrian muttered. "Henry, tha- those people… the mirror doesn't… it isn't real, I don't think…."
"Of course it's real! Look! I can see him!" Henry said absently.
"Can you?" Adrian muttered and grabbed the back of Henry's shirt and dragged him away from the mirror, ignoring his friend's squawks of protest.
"Hey!"
"Look at the mirror now, Henry," Adrian urged, pointing at it. "What do you see now?"
"I- I see us. Just us," Henry said, sounding shocked at the realization f reality. "We're a bloody mess, mate…"
"You don't see anyone else, do you?" Adrian asked. Henry shook his head mutely. "What you see in the mirror… it isn't real, mate."
"It could be," Henry challenged.
"No," Adrian said gently. "It can't. I saw things- impossible things- in that mirror, things undone which cannot be undone. It isn't the future, or a glimpse of it."
"Well, what is it, then?"
"It shows you what you want most," Adrian whispered. "Look there, at the top of the frame!"
"Erised?" Henry asked, squinting. "I think that the letters are all backwards…"
"Look," Adrian said, turning backwards and holding up his near-broken glasses.
The word became clear in the reflection of the inscription; Desire.
"My- my reflection had a stone, a red stone!" Henry said. "We have to want the stone to find it, I think!"
"Let me try again," Adrian said, cutting of Henry's angry reply. "I already know that it isn't real."
He stepped boldly forward and focused everything he had left into wanting the Stone, if only to show up Dumbledore and return it to the rightful owner, Mister Nicholas Flamel.
He certainly wouldn't want to live forever, and he didn't need any gold.
Although Ron could certainly use some…
He opened his eyes, not remembering that he'd shut them, and saw his true reflection- he was dirty, slimy, and sweaty and covered in troll mush, but his reflection grinned at him all the same, flipping a red stone in its hand and studying him thoroughly. Finally, the reflection smirked conspiratorially at him and dropped the red stone into his pants pocket.
As the reflection did this, he felt a weight drop into his own pocket and nearly screamed with relief.
They'd done it. Eight "children" had broken through maximum security and stolen what is arguably the most valuable object in the world.
And all out of sheer curiosity.
As these thoughts ran through his mind, he suddenly froze.
"Drake," he whispered. While he'd been wrapped up with the strange vision in the mirror, his brother was in the hospital, seriously hurt, or worse…
And then he ran from the room, leaving a very concerned Henry in his wake.
"? Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan yoooooooooooooooooooooou heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaar meeeeeeeeeeeeeee?"
He stirred, swinging at the empty air restlessly to rid himself of the irritant. This annoying echoing was going to wake him up.
And he was so tired…
"Mister Malfoy, your brother is unconscious. He wouldn't even talk to-"
"I want to see my brother!" Adrian exploded. "And Nevile and Daphne and Blaise, too!"
"Yes, I'll bet you do. Care to tell me how they were all mysteriously injured at the same time, Malfoy?" Madam Pomphrey challenged. "Because neither Mister Weasley, nor Miss Granger can seem to remember. And neither could Mister Zabini or Miss Greengrass, before they passed out from exhaustion…"
"Look," he said hotly, displaying his feet, which appeared to have come into contact with something that would melt trainers. "My feet are sore, and my ankles are burned, so you have to treat me!"
She scowled at him, and for a brief moment, he was glad that he'd foolishly run through the fires at the potions challenge.
But only for a moment, as he was suddenly levitated and pulled into the Hospital Wing.
It was going to be a long night.
Wooo!
So, the last chapter will be up when I have time to post it. I have a big family thing that'll be consuming my time for the rest of the week, so I won't be back for a couple days, at least.
I hope you enjoyed the penultimate chapter in my first- ever fanfic, and I shall see you soon!
-TheNefariousMe
