Hello Everyone!

Chapter 24 of Descent will be in ANDREW HOLIDAY's point of view! I'm really glad that so many people like my original characters! I hope that I continue to make realistic and likable characters!

For the One-Shot, there has been a tie! Sirius' trip abroad and Draco and Theodore interactions! So, I think I will do both, probably Sirius and company's first and then Draco and Theodore, or I might just make a chapter out of the Theodore and Draco one.

At any rate please enjoy the next chapter which will be out most likely October 9th (If I don't get it done tonight, which I probably will.), hopefully with the one-shot followed soon after. Thanks so much for reading, and thank you everyone who voted!

Read On!

Illithya

No Warnings

Chapter 23: Forward Motion Part V

Under the shroud of the invisibility cloak and knowledge of the Marauder's Map, Harry found his way to the most secluded area of the school. The Slytherin silently pushed open the door that was hiding the Gryffindor. It looked as though it was an abandoned classroom with no special features. Harry stepped fully into the room.

In the center was a grand mirror that reached the classroom's ceiling. It had a golden frame and stood on two golden claws. Harry saw that Anthony was staring into the mirror. Occasionally he would twirl, but he looked sad, like how Harry had felt when he saw the Dark Lord in his weakened state.

Green eyes scrutinized the mirror once more. This time Harry noticed there was an inscription at the top of the golden frame. It read: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. How strange, Harry thought. He was now standing next to Anthony, who was looking longingly into the mirror. When Harry looked into the mirror he only saw Anthony. Strange.

Anthony's pale eyes had bags under them. He must have been as tired as Harry was before he went looking for his classmate. Suddenly the Gryffindor yawned loudly, but he refused to move from his spot. This behavior was starting to annoy Harry. So Harry did the most natural thing he could think of. He went to the desks and slammed a chair onto the floor.

Anthony bolted to his feet and looked around with panic. It reminded Harry of a startled cat. The Gryffindor twin swiftly left the near empty classroom soon after he caught his breath.

Harry then stood in front of the mysterious mirror. The Marauder's Map fell from Harry's hands as he audibly gasped. Standing next to him was his lord. He was grand in dark flowing robes and his ghost white face was smiling down at him. Harry looked up to see if his lord was really there. There was nothing. Just like his reflection should be…

And yet the Dark Lord was smiling down on him in his reflection. Then the Dark Lord patted him on the head, and he could feel it! How was this possible? What was this mirror? Could it tell the future? Harry was so confused, but he was nearly overcome with joy at the image the mirror presented before him. Only nearly.

His companion was nudging at his conscience the more and more Harry stared into the mirror. Harry wanted this. He wanted it more than anything. For one moment Harry determined that he would do all in his power to make this year go smoothly for his lord. He would do anything. Anything his lord asked.

Harry contemplated the mirror once more. The Dark Lord was still patting his head. Suddenly, Harry had the urge to smash the mirror into thousands of pieces. If he could have his lord's affections, then he would be complete. That was what the mirror was showing Harry. That he would be complete by the dark lord's side? Harry was becoming more and more confused by the mirror; and the more he became confused the more he wanted to smash the mirror.

Harry raised his small fists to smash the mirror open, and then he was in his dorm room. Harry blinked his wide green eyes. There was no one in the room with him. Harry could feel his companion raging in the depths of his mind. This had been one of the few times his companion had possessed him out of rage. The young Potter heir got the message loud and clear. He was to go to bed and not leave the Slytherin Dungeon until after the twins spoke with him. If his companion hadn't taken out his rage on them first.

It was the twins happy faces that woke him in the morning. Harry was relieved to see that they hadn't been murdered. He would have a very hard time explaining that to the authorities.

"Come on, Harry! We have a game of Quidditch to play!" the twins said together. Harry tried to feel what his companion was thinking. His companion seemed to be completely content at the moment. Maybe he had dreamt something wonderful. Harry had certainly seen something wonderful. As that thought entered the his mind he pushed as far back into his subconscious as he could. He didn't think his companion would want him thinking of things like that.

"I'm up. I'm up," yawned Harry. "When are we going to the pitch?"

"Probably after breakfast," said Fred, who was throwing clothes onto Harry's bed. "Hurry up and get changed."

"Come on then, let's go!" George said pulling Harry out of his warm bed. The trio made their way up to the Great Hall, where almost all of the students were eating breakfast. Ron, Andrew and one of the Ravenclaws were missing. Anthony was chatting with the Hufflepuff fourth year. They seemed like they were having a conversation on American culture versus British culture. Harry wasn't paying attention to the details, but Fred seemed overly interested. In actuality, Fred was stealing food from Anthony's plate. The older twin must have a new tick, Harry thought.

"Where's our brother?" Fred asked with a mouthful of waffles.

"He and Ron should still be in the tower. They were up late doing something." Anthony pushed his plate away from Fred. The house elves must have sensed that Fred was at the table because a plate appeared before him. Harry sat down next to him and ate animatedly. He was trying really hard not to think of the mirror last night, but Harry couldn't help but wonder exactly what Anthony saw in the mirror.

"Once everyone gets down here we can discuss Quidditch." said George. "Since Gred and I can't be on the same team, you and your brother can't be on the same team. I also call Harry."

"Hey! Who says you get to call Harry!" yelled Fred. Anthony and the Hufflepuff looked a little frazzled to be in the middle of the twins fighting. Harry was just sipping away on his morning orange juice.

"How about we draw sticks for teams," said a voice from behind the bickering twins. A pretty blonde Ravenclaw suggested. The twins ignored her, but Harry told her it was a good idea as long as the twins weren't on the same team. That made the twins declare themselves captains of their own teams. The Ravenclaw just nodded her head, but she was looking at the twins like they were idiots.

It wasn't long after that Ron and Andrew walked into the Great Hall. They looked tired like they had been up most of the night. Harry almost felt sorry for the two of them. Almost. The twins came down on them like thunder and rallied everyone into one spot in the Great Hall, and held up sticks with red and sticks with blue on them.

"I'm blue and George is red," said Fred. Everyone picked sticks except the Weasley twins. "Whoa, whoa. Twins don't get to be on the same team!" Fred pulled at one of the Holiday twins towards him.

"Hey!" Andrew yelped. Harry sniggered at the sound. Everyone had to redraw sticks. As it turned out Harry was on Fred's team along with Andrew, the Hufflepuff, and the blonde one. George grumbled about having Ron on his team and not Harry. Harry got to play as chaser with Fred and the blonde Ravenclaw. While Andrew played as keeper and the Hufflepuff their beater. On George's team, George was also a chaser along with Ron and one of the other Ravenclaws, Anthony insisted that he be beater and the other Ravenclaw was George's Keeper

Both teams were pretty evenly matched, even with Harry on his Nimbus 2000. Anthony and the Hufflepuff were actually more than fair beaters. More than once Anthony just barely missed Fred and Harry, but he was able to hit the blonde Ravenclaw. The Hufflepuff was just as good as Anthony, but he wasn't going all out like the Gryffindor. Which was what got her hit square in the chest with a well aimed Bludger. She didn't even see it coming.

Being down one of their chasers and their beater forced Fred to go on the defensive and fall back to the Keeper's Box. At this point both teams were one score away from winning a hundred point game

"Give me the Quaffle. We'll rush them, let them hit me. Harry you have to get the Quaffle after that. I'll be able to get across about half of the pitch before Tony takes me out." said Andrew very seriously. He was gazing out into the pitch as if he was formulating battle strategy. It was a little intimidating to watch. Crystal blue eyes focused on something in the distance. "We should hurry."

Fred shrugged and tossed Andrew the Quaffle. Immediately the trio rushed to the opposite end of the pitch. Now that Anthony had access to two Bludgers he was able to freely attack the trio. Harry nearly had a heart attack when he saw Andrew jump from his broom to avoid getting hit by a Bludger, and then just barely land back on it. The kid had some talent Harry mused. He wasn't used to others being as talented as he was when it came to a broom.

A few feet away from the middle of the pitch both Bludgers came from opposite directions. Anthony had managed to get behind the trio. Andrew didn't see the Bludger coming from behind and was hit in the back while trying to avoid the Bludger in the front. He and the Quaffle fell to the ground. Harry swooped down and latched onto the Quaffle

Harry bolted forward, faster than Anthony could follow. It didn't help him that Fred was distracting him by cutting him off every time he got any traction on Harry or the Bludgers. Harry had to employ some impressive evasive maneuvering to avoid George and Ron. Their other chaser was taken out by the Hufflepuff beater. George's Keeper was good, but not good enough, as Harry weaved into the hoops. Ron was barreling towards him. Suddenly a Bludger whizzed between Harry and Ron and bounced off of the goal post.

Everyone turned to see Fred buzzing around Anthony. Harry glanced over at Ron, he was still watching Fred and Anthony. Harry darted to his right to meet George who wasn't distracted by his brother's antics. Harry leaned forward and flew towards the ground at top speed. He pulled up at the last second hoping one of the Weasley's would have fallen for that. Harry looped up back towards the posts and scored. The keeper was watching George yell at Ron.

Fred was cheering in the background along with a few of the professors who had come to watch, and make sure that the students didn't kill each other. The other students who had been hit by the Bludger were also sitting in the stands, being tended to by Madame Pomfrey. The rest of the players landed together.

"Was that cheating?" asked the Ravenclaw keeper.

"As long as Fred didn't touch him it's fine," answered George. "Well, that was fun. We should all do this again sometime."

George was smiling, but Harry thought that this was strange behavior for George. The Potter heir ignored this as Dumbledore used a sonorus spell to speak to everyone on the pitch.

"How about we all head back into the Great Hall and celebrate this victory," he more stated than asked. Everyone looked excited by this prospect, but Harry was a little wary of it. George looked a little confused by this as well. Even Fred looked to be in serious thought.

Everyone gathered in the Great Hall with the exception of Snape who was probably skulking about the dungeons. Lunch was fantastic as it usually was. The house elves had made a cake that had the house emblems of everyone that was on Fred's team with their team name plastered across the bottom. Everyone got an honorary cupcake that had a highlight moment of the game that they contributed to.

It was a good celebration, or at least it would have been if Harry hadn't been sitting next to Quirrell. It wasn't actually Quirrell that bothered him, it was being so close to the Dark Lord that was bothering little Harry. Harry wanted to acknowledge his lord. He wanted to know if his lord had been watching Harry play Quidditch. He wanted to know if his lord was impressed by Andrew Holiday's strategies.

Harry scowled at his piece of cake. Jealousy racked Harry's nerves at the thought of his lord praising anyone else. Then Harry remembered how angry his companion had been at him last night. Disappointment filled Harry, making him loose his appetite. Harry had done something that displeased his lord. He wasn't worthy of his lord's praise. It wasn't contentment that he felt from his companion earlier, it was heated disinterest. That was something Harry had never experienced before from his companion.

Harry forced himself to smile along with the others, he forced himself to eat his cake and pretend to be happy about the game, but he completely viewed himself a failure and unworthy.

Later that evening Harry sat at the fire contemplating exactly what it was that made his companion so angry. It had to have been the mirror he concluded. Harry racked his brain to figure out why it was the mirror that caused such a reaction. By the time the fire had gone down Harry realized something. He had been looking into a mirror. Which meant something was looking back at him: his reflection.

Harry all but ran to his dorm. The twins called after him. They had been trying to cheer him up since lunch to no avail. Harry sat at the first desk in the dorm room. He wrote down what he saw at the top of the mirror. Then he went to the bathroom and held the parchment up to the mirror. It read: Ishow no tyo urfac ebu tyo urhe arts desire.

"I show no…not yo-your face…but your…hearts? Hearts desire. I show not your face but your hearts desire…" Harry whispered to the mirror. "Hearts desire…"

Harry let his head slump as he left the bathroom. All he wanted was for his lord to be proud of him. Harry threw himself into his favorite chair next to the window that looked out into the lake. Godric, the giant squid that lived in the lake, came to window like it always did when Harry sat at it. The twins looked at Harry. It was Fred that said something.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Fred. Harry didn't answer him. "Look, Harry, we know that you went out last night because we were punished for letting you out of our sights. What happened last night?"

"Fred!" said George like their mother was going to pop up from underneath the rug.

"Be quiet, George. If Harry's going to be acting like this he obviously doesn't have what it takes to get the job done." Fred was being callous. This made Harry incredibly angry. Fred had no right to say things like that to him. Harry stood up from his favorite chair.

"Fred, I swear I will curse you if you don't shut your mouth I'll curse you so bad that you won't make to the end of the weak without medical attention." threatened Harry.

"That's funny, Harry, because of whatever you did last night had us under curses you couldn't even imagine! Then we're told not to bring it up at all! And to top it all off, you act like you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders! So guess what! You don't! We are the ones who have to keep you safe from anyone that might hurt you or take you from the Dark Lord! So if you ever want to do something dangerous like whatever you did last night, don't!"

Harry was taken aback by Fred's behavior, but that didn't stop Harry from cursing him out of rage. Fred was lying on the ground in pain. A rupture in his kidney caused the elder Weasley twin to grind his teeth. Fred was to proud to cry out.

"Enough," said George. "Look, we're not supposed to bring it up, so I won't talk about it, but you are not nearly strong enough to be doing excessively dangerous things. Whatever you did last night apparently could have killed you. You obviously didn't recognize the danger. You need to trained better than what Hogwarts has to offer. All of us need more training. Let's all figure out who would be the best person to train us in dueling, magic detection, wards anything of that nature. This was everyone's fault. We just have to make sure that we don't make that kind of mistake again."

George was the reason of the three of them. Harry calmed down, and watched George perform the counter-curse on Fred. Fred didn't say anything, but he looked pissed.

"Let's just go to dinner and sit on this. How about we act like none of this ever happened as well." George walked out of the common room. Fred and Harry glared at each other, but they too left the common room without saying a word to each other.

No one noticed the tension between the three Slytherins, well almost no one. Snape, of course noticed, and Anthony noticed. Harry thought that was strange, but then Fred was picking at his own plate of food and not the Holiday twin's plate. Occasionally, Anthony would stare at Fred, but that Harry wasn't too worried about that.

George was doing a good job of pretending everything was fine. George was good like that. By the end of dinner both Fred and Harry had gone back to their usual selves. Fred was stealing food and Harry was bickering with Ron.

Harry was up late that night. Thinking about what the twins had told him, about the mirror that showed you what your heart's desire was, about ways to make his companion stop ignoring him.

Harry's thoughts drifted as he thought about those things. He desperately wanted to please his lord, and have his lord look at him so affectionately. Harry mumbled as he fell asleep and dreamt of the room his companion promised him. The one with the beige walls and black trim. Harry dreamt that he and the Dark Lord were reading in one the chairs together. The Dark Lord would run his fingers through Harry's hair as he read, and Harry would end up watching his lord read.

Harry woke up the next morning feeling a lot happier.