The Crystal Council

Chapter 10

The Mirror

Hermione woke slowly and knew exactly where she was, the hospital wing and judging by the light coming in through the windows and assumed it was around mid-day and judging by the pain in her limbs the day after the troll incident. Hermione slowly moved into the sitting position groaning as pain spiked through her arms, it was a pain she was very familiar with having lived the majority of her previous life on the run. Looking around she could see her friends in the beds around her, on the opposite side of the room Ron was sleeping relativity peaceful though he still snored just as loudly as she remembered. Neville was next to Ron and was sleeping peacefully and with bandages around his head. Harry was next to Neville and in far worse condition with what looked like pain and bone regrowth potions next to his bed. Harry also had bandages around his head and chest indicating head trauma and broken ribs. Hermione looked around for Amy who was in the bed to the immediate left of Hermione's own. It was to Hermione's great surprise that Amy looked entirely unharmed despite having been almost crushed by a troll the night before. Hermione could also make out what looked like heat shimmer coming off her body. Hermione now satisfied that her friends were safe slid back down into her bed. She stared at the ceiling before closing her eyes, "This is my fault" Hermione thought " It was because I couldn't control my emotions when I was faced with Ron, then they came looking for me and ran into a troll of all things. How did it even get into the castle? Did someone let it in? Some many questions and never any answers." Hermione paused her inner monologue and opened her eyes only to realize Madam Pomfrey was leaning over her.

"Good Morning Miss Granger, feeling better I trust?" asked Madam Pomfrey

Hermione nodded.

"Good, it seems that your injuries were not as severe as your friends. Having said that none of you will be leaving your beds today." finished Madam Pomfrey as she placed a dreamless sleep potion on Hermione bedside table.

"Now get some rest dearie, the teachers have assured me that you have nothing to worry about and that your grades will not suffer from your time in the here, though that applies more to the other than to you Miss Granger." Finished Madam Pomfrey as she finished checking up on her other patients.

Hermione once again left alone with her thoughts and time passed quickly. Ron woke around noon whether this was due to his snoring or stomach growing Hermione couldn't tell. Ron also managed to scarf down a lunch in record time then once again falling asleep. Hermione was once again alone with her thoughts and soon fell into a quiet slumber.

Time passed quickly and everyone was released and after a tearful reunion and awkward conversations Hermione reconciled with her friends. Fall gave way to Winter as snow began to fall on Hogwarts, Christmas was the next holiday and Hermione and Amy had decided to remain at Hogwarts for the holiday break. Amy spent most of her time at the quidditch pitch learning how to fly from some of the older Gryffindor students. Hermione on the other hand spent her time scrounging the Hogwarts Library for information about Hogwart's past and the founders as well as Merlin and Morgan Le Fay. Hermione spent entire days combing the shelves of books looking for any new information and was quickly becoming frustrated with the lack of results. One day Hermione spent the entire day reading and hid in the bookshelves and waited for the librarian to leave in order to access the restricted section. However, even the restricted section held little of use and Hermione had to sneak out of the library in a poor mood. It would be due this bad mood that Hermione had found herself lost in the castle well past curfew.

Hermione let out a quiet sigh as she moved through the darkened corridors. "Damn it how did I end up lost in a castle that I have spent an entire lifetime in." Hermione looked around the corridor she was in and to her surprise she saw a door slightly ajar with a soft blue light emitting from the opening.

Hermione approached the door with caution remembering the last time she entered a door without double checking and she did not fancy running into another giant three-headed dog. Hermione opened the door quietly and entered once the door was opened far enough, She found herself in what she assumed was one of the many abandoned classrooms of Hogwarts. Hermione saw desks and chairs strewn around the room leaving a clear space in the middle of the room where to Hermione's surprise she found a rather large mirror with writing near the top.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru pyt on wohsi. I wonder what that means?" asked Hermione, thinking aloud. Hermione inspected the mirror from top to bottom and back to front before she started looking at her reflection.

The mirror's magic began to work and from the fog that clouded the mirror stepped a much older Hermione. Her mirror image looked to be about twenty or twenty-one. She was wearing black jeans and a white t-shirt and had a black leather overcoat. Hermione's mirror self smiled, there was a confidence in her older self's smile that made Hermione wonder what the mirror was trying to tell her. However before she could think on it more two more figures appeared in the mirror and Hermione recognized them immediately. Ginny and Luna both looked to be around twenty years old. Ginny's fiery red hair and bright brown eyes shined in the mirror as she stood next to Hermione's mirror image. Ginny's confident smile was matched by a more serene one from Luna. Luna's normally dirty-blonde hair had a silvery sheen which matched her glowing eyes. Both girls half hugging the mirror Hermione planted kisses on her cheeks. The young Hermione blushed but before she could pull herself together two more figures appeared from the fog. Both figures appeared older than the other three, the first one had deep blue eyes and flowing blonde hair with the tips being a light blue. The other figure was the tallest of all the people currently in the mirror, she had pitch black hair and to Hermione's great surprise the figure had beautiful purple eyes. The more Hermione looked into the mirror the more face and figures that appeared by her side Amy, Neville, Harry, Ron, and numerous others, all of them were smiling and healthy. Hermione was both in awe and extremely confused what was this mirror? Was it showing her the future or perhaps her own desires and it caused her to let out a sigh.

"You're out late aren't you Miss Granger." came a calm voice from behind Hermione

Hermione let out a scream and turned quickly ready to deal with whatever threat had approached her only to find Albus Dumbledore standing in the doorway.

"Professor Dumbledore!? What are you… Why are you…" Hermione rambled trying to find an excuse or reason that could get herself out of trouble.

"Calm yourself Miss Granger, I understand. It seems you got lost on your way to your common room." Interrupted Dumbledore

"Yes headmaster, I apologize." replied Hermione

"Its fine Ms. Granger, though I am curious about what you saw in the mirror?" asked Dumbledore

" I saw a future version of myself surrounded by friends and family." replied Hermione

"I see… well I recommend caution the Mirror of Erised has the power to how people their deepest desires and can draw people into spiral of suffering if they are not careful." Warned Dumbledore.

"Oh, thanks for the warning professor. I promise to avoid the mirror in the future." replied Hermione

"Good, now off to bed Ms. Granger and hopefully I wont catch you around these parts again." said Dumbledore

"Yes Headmaster." replied Hermione as she began to leave the room she turned and looked into the mirror once more and saw another vision. Hermione as an adult covered in glowing crystal armor her eyes shining with a hidden strength that winked just as Hermione turned to leave the room.

Hermione woke up the next mourning absolutely exhausted her dreams plagued by the visions she had seen in the mirror. Unfortunately for Hermione it was also Christmas day and Amy had no intention of letting Hermione sleep in. Amy was currently shaking Hermione who doing her best impression of a dead person.

"Hermione wake up! It's Christmas we need to open our presents!" cried Amy

"Hrm we need to get more sleep" replied Hermione

Amy however refused to take no for an answer however and pulled Hermione's covers off her bed with an inordinate amount of force. This caused Hermione to let out a loud shriek the cold morning air hit her clawed at her exposed skin. Hermione's eyes shot open as she watched the laughing Amy retreated out the dorm door and into the common room. Hermione let out a quiet sigh and quickly got dressed into significantly warmer clothing before heading down to the common room.

The common room was warm partly due to magic of the castle and partly due to the roaring fire in the fireplace and in the corner was Amy digging through a small pile of gifts that sat under a Christmas tree decorated in the house colors of Gryffindor. The Common room was quiet most of the other students had returned home for the holidays and the few that had stayed were still asleep.

"Amy!" Hissed Hermione "Was it really necessary to wake me up like that?" Hermione asked in an angry whisper.

"We have presents to open and you were being stubborn about getting out of bed." replied Amy

Hermione let out a sigh "The reason for that is due to the fact that I was up late last night in the library looking into the history of Hogwarts, but I got caught by Dumbledore on the way back."

"Huh, that sucks. Anyway that is not a problem right now, here catch!" warned Amy as she tossed a present a Hermione.

Hermione just managed to catch the present and looking at the tag saw it was from someone unexpected. Mrs. Weasley had sent Hermione a Christmas present and without a doubt Hermione knew what it was, one of Mrs. Weasley's famous sweaters something she was known for even in Hermione's old dimension. Hermione felt tears sting in her eye as she opened the gift, it was indeed a sweater made with a beautiful red wool and a gold letter H embedded in the center, there was also a note which fell to the ground as Hermione unfolded the sweater. The note contained an apology from the Weasley matriarch for whatever Ron had done to upset Hermione which brought a small smile to the young girl's lips. Hermione pulled the sweater over her head and put it on, the gold embroidering shimmering in the firelight.

"What other presents are there?" asked Hermione as she moved to join Amy near the Christmas tree.

"Not many. I only got a gift from you and the Madam and she only sent me money. Thanks for the quill by the way it is beautiful." Amy said holding up a red and gold quill that seemed to glow in hazy light of the fire.

"I also got you a gift and so did the Madam it seems, here open them up I wanna see what you got from her!" Amy added

Hermione took her two gifts from Amy. The first was a small square package poorly wrapped by Amy and held within was a small enchanted pin with a lion on it that moved and roared. The second was more rectangular and was significantly more well wrapped, upon opening it she found a book with a black cover and no title on the cover. Hermione opened the book to find the pages were empty as well.

Amy who had been looking over her shoulder said " Looks like it might be a diary, not a bad gift."

"Indeed…" replied Hermione as she was certain this was no ordinary diary and she would have to test it later.

However now was the time for friends and Christmas day had only just begun Hermione would spend it with her best friend Amy, the two would spend all day talking and hanging out with Amy turning down Hermione's idea to spend some time studying. Soon the holidays would end and the other students would begin to return and the remainder of the year would take a turn no one could have foreseen.

Howdy Folks, this one took a while and I am so sorry it took so long but, hopefully, I am back. I have had a hell of a time getting this chapter finished and I'm not super satisfied with it but I've been sitting on it for a week now and I need to get it out so I can focus on the next chapter. I manage to graduate college earlier this year and the transition to looking for a job and getting into a new chapter of my life has left me with little time to write. Things have settled now and I should be getting a chapter out every other month or so depending on my work load. Once again thank you for reading and your patience.

hdecarranza: Thanks!

wolfy46: Glad you liked it, sorry for making you wait so long for the next chapter.