18 : the mirror's reflection

Draco

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.

There was definitely something that had changed in her. He couldn't say what. Was her hair less shaggy? Or her smile more shy? Or her lighter eyes?

Pansy suddenly elbowed him in the ribs and he stopped his observation of Granger to turn to her:

"What?!" he exclaimed in a low voice.

"You're not listening!" wailed Pansy. "He said what should be added next? Lizard eye or salamander blood?"

Draco looked at the potion they were sharing, which they had to return at the end of class. It was red in colour and bubbling, when it should have been pale green.

"Here, I'll do it." Draco grumbled as he pushed his best friend slightly to stand in front of the cauldron.

He added the ingredients in the correct order and turned down the heat a little to get the consistency just about right. Snape walked past them at this point and leaned over to smell the Wiggenweld potion they were making.

"Very good, Mister Malfoy... Very good work..." he said in his deep voice.

Snape then turned to Crabbe and Goyle whose potion was blue and Draco took the opportunity to look at Granger sideways again.

It was the first time he'd seen her since she'd spent a month in the hospital wing. No one knew why she'd been absent, but the fact that she'd stayed at the top of the leaderboard proved that she was cheating. It was impossible to be first without actually attending class.

But there was definitely something different. He tried to guess what could have happened to her to justify her month of confinement in the hospital wing, but couldn't put his finger on it. He had the impression that she was even more feverish than before, but that was probably his imagination. Or that he was too used to Pansy's coldness.

"Draco? Draco!"

Draco turned to Theo's voice calling to him from across the table.

"Pass me the salamander!" he said in an exasperated tone, his hand outstretched. Clearly he had repeated his request several times.

"Hey Draco, you're out of your mind today!" commented Pansy who was slicing maple roots. "Focus a little, we have to turn this thing in at the end of class."

"I thought you didn't care about grades." Draco muttered.

"I'm saying this for you." Pansy threw out coldly. "Aren't you the one who wants to study Potions after Hogwarts?"

Draco didn't answer anything. He was bothered by the whispers of Granger, Weasley and Potter right next to him. If he concentrated a little, he could almost tune out the noise of his potion and the murmurs of the class to hear a few sentences of their conversation:

"But no, that's impossible..." muttered Weasley.

"Yes, I saw him." asserted Potter, who was finding it harder to contain his voice to a whisper.

"It can't be Hagrid, he would never do that." Weasley continued.

"Just because we saw him doesn't prove anything, Harry," Granger breathed. "We know him. It's probably Tom who's wrong, after all, we hardly know him."

Draco couldn't understand anything they were saying, but this exchange pissed him off anyway. Every time he saw Granger, Potter, or Weasley, he had a new surge of anger that caught him by the throat and he couldn't really control it. But lately, it was Granger in particular who was getting on his nerves. She was really unbearable! Whenever he saw her face, he was exasperated, and her high-pitched voice didn't help either.

Besides, she was making the potion by herself, Potter and Weasley were doing absolutely nothing. Weasley was turning the pages of the book to pretend to read, and Potter was lazily mixing the potion in the directions Granger was telling him as she poured the ingredients. How could she manage to make the potion perfectly well by doing it alone and having a discussion at the same time? It was so frustrating!

"Draco!" called Pansy for the third time.

"What?!"

Pansy pointed to the contents of his cauldron, which had turned purple. He had forgotten to put in the root slices.

"Shit, sorry." he said as he poured the ingredients. "It's Granger, she's pissing me off. I can hear her voice next to me and it's making it hard to concentrate! Doesn't she get on your nerves?!"

Pansy shrugged, giving Draco a strange stare.

"No." she said in a whisper. "Not at all."

.

.
.

The Slytherin heir must have been scared, because there was no further petrification for the next few weeks. Draco had been waiting for it to drop at any moment, but everyone seemed to have forgotten about it and had moved on.

On the plus side, no one claimed Potter was the Slytherin heir anymore, which was completely stupid, since the Slytherin heir was necessarily from Slytherin House. Just because he'd spat some incomprehensible phrases at the dueling club didn't mean he was the descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and everyone knew he loved the Mudbloods too much for that.

Of course, that didn't stop Draco from annoying Granger and Longbottom whenever they passed each other in a corridor. Longbottom was always afraid of being caught by the monster (apparently no one had told him he was Pureblood and would be safe), so Draco took advantage of this by startling him by screaming whenever he got too close to him. It worked every time, and even Blaise would chuckle at the Gryffindor's frightened face.

For Granger, it was more difficult. She was much stiffer than Longbottom, and Draco couldn't seem to scare her. It was driving him mad, he'd tried everything: threats, startled, intimidation. Nothing worked, Granger was still determined to ignore him royally. She wanted so much to be different and clever, she always managed to anticipate his attacks.

Every time, he ended up getting angry all by himself and had to calm down when he felt yet another angry impulse ruffling his feathers. This infuriating girl had a talent for pissing him off, he had never felt so much rage since he saw her every day at Hogwarts. Sometimes, just watching her focused face in the Library was enough to make his blood run hot. He had never felt so many emotions at once, and he suspected it was her Muggle origins that were infecting him.

Yet he continued. Perhaps more out of boredom than out of a genuine desire to frighten her, just because the school climate was down and there was nothing else to do but attend classes, eat and sleep. So annoying Granger was his favourite pastime.

One day in April, he saw her walking away to the Library, alone. She was holding books to her chest and her hair was dishevelled and fell over her shoulders in uncontrolled curls. He waited until she reached his height to annoy her:

"Walking around the Castle by yourself, Granger? Aren't you afraid of getting killed by the monster? Or are you hoping your Miss-Know-It voice will put it to sleep before it can make a move?"

Granger simply rolled her eyes and continued on her way, Draco at her heels:

"I've seen you from miles away, Malfoy. And you're starting to rehash your insults, you've already done the sleeping voice thing to me."

"Then I'll call the Slytherin heir and tell him he forgot a Mudblood, so I never have to hear your shrill voice again!"

"Do that!" hissed Granger as she entered the Library. "You've been saying that for six months, I'm still waiting for you to put your plan into action."

"Don't worry Granger, it won't be long now."

She slipped away to a table she had been occupying lately and Draco joined the one where Blaise, Theo, Crabbe and Goyle were already seated.

"You already owe me forty Galleons, I don't work for free." Theo whispered to Crabbe and Goyle, his face hidden behind a book.

Draco read the title as he sat down, "Frankenstein." He sighed. He'd never seen a guy who read so much.

"Come on, Nott, please!" begged Crabbe.

"What's going on?" asked Draco, pulling out a scroll.

"Crabbe and Goyle have been asking Theo to do their Herbology essay for twenty minutes now, but Theo refuses because they haven't paid for their latest homework." explained Blaise.

"We didn't think we'd get an Outstanding every time." lamented Goyle.

"What, you don't have enough to pay me anymore?" scoffed Theo.

"We've emptied our reserves here, we need to go to Gringotts to get the rest. Can't you give us an advance?"

"No." replied Theo, still reading. "You should have thought of that. It's not my fault I'm a genius and I always manage to give you good marks."

Blaise and Draco chuckled as they heard Theo.

"Come on, please!" continued Crabbe.

"Just ask Granger, she'll do your essays for you," Theo said, pointing to Granger with her chin, who was sitting on the table next to them. "You won't have to pay her much."

Granger looked up from what she was doing when she heard her name and gave them a sour look.

"No way." Crabbe objected. "We don't want impure blood on our copies."

"I'm afraid you have no choice, if you want to get a good job without paying. Anyway, it's all for the best, because the teachers are beginning to express doubts that you've suddenly managed to string together more than two coherent words in the same sentence."

Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other, then conceded defeat. They got up and left the Library, muttering incomprehensible sentences. Draco thought to himself that he had never seen Crabbe and Goyle in the Library until now.

Pansy arrived at that moment. She walked through the Library and gave Granger a hostile look, particularly at her outfit. She was dressed in Muggle fashion, with a cardigan over her top and jeans. Next to her, Pansy looked like an aristocrat with her black skirt and perfectly slicked back hair.

"The third year options lists have arrived!" she called out as she handed out scrolls to Blaise, Draco and Theo. The latter jumped at it like it was a flask of water in a desert.

"Merlin, Nott, won't you try to look a little less nerdy?" grumbled Pansy as she took a seat in the chair next to Draco.

"Sorry. What are you going to take?" asked Theo as he eagerly read through the options.

Draco read the paper several times and sighed: none of the subjects really interested him, except maybe Arithmancy.

"When can we take Alchemy?" asked Draco, rereading the paper.

"Sixth year, if you have enough OWLs to get in." said Theo.

"Oh, Theo, don't tell me you're going to take Muggle Studies." scoffed Blaise who was reading the paper as well.

Nott's cheeks flushed as Draco and Pansy laughed.

"No..." muttered Theo.

"What are you taking?" asked Pansy at Draco's address.

"Maybe... Arithmancy."

She made a face of disgust:

"What? No, that sounds horrible."

"You don't even know what it is." commented Theo.

"You, go back to reading your Frank and Stein book."

"It's Frankenstein." corrected Theo.

Pansy ignored him and continued talking to Draco:

"And what else?"

"Of everything, I'd say Care of Magical Creatures. That's probably the one with the least amount of homework." he said.

Blaise nodded in agreement. Pansy put the scroll of her options on the table and sighed:

"Okay, I'm good with that. But not the numbers."

"Or Muggles." said Blaise, pointing at Theo without him noticing, which made Pansy and Draco laugh.

Hermione

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.

Hermione was confused by the attack on the boys' dormitory, and the theft of Tom Riddle's diary. She kept wondering who could have done this to the Gryffindors, but no matter how hard she looked at the faces of the students at her table, she couldn't find an explanation.

She vaguely wondered if it was Malfoy who had realised that they had turned into Crabbe and Goyle and had wanted to do the same thing again, but Hermione quickly gave up on that idea. There was no way a Slytherin could make Polyjuice potion.

On Saturday, Hermione was walking up the stairs with Harry to get his Quidditch stuff when he gave a shout.

"The voice!" he cried. "I just heard it again. Didn't you?"

Hermione concentrated and noticed that Harry was watching the walls, as if he could hear her through them. It was frustrating that she couldn't hear the same thing Harry could, it reminded her of when he had spoken in Parseltongue and she hadn't deciphered a word he said.

Suddenly, she understood.

"Harry!" she exclaimed. "I think I've just understood something! I have to go to the Library!"

She left at once, without giving Harry or Ron time to ask her any questions. The only thing she could think of was "Most Macabre Monstrosities."

It was a book she had borrowed a long time ago, and it talked about all the horrible creatures one could encounter. She had read it to learn about the magical creatures she might face in the Care of Magical Creatures class in third year. And now that she'd figured out that the voice Harry was hearing in the walls was in Parseltongue, she had an idea of what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets might be.

She ran to the Library and barely greeted Madam Pince as she entered. She walked straight to the 'Magical Creatures' section and looked for the book, running her finger over the bindings:

"Monstrosities, monstrosities, monstrosities..." she recited in a whisper.

She nearly shrieked when she found it and opened to the contents page to find what she was interested in: the Basilisk. When she got to the right page, she came across an illustration. It was a huge snake with sharp yellow teeth. She got a shiver down her spine and started to read the paragraph:

"Of the many fearsome beasts and monsters that roam our land, there is none more curious or more deadly than the Basilisk, known also as the King of Serpents. This snake, which may reach gigantic size and live many hundreds of years, is born from a chicken's egg, hatched beneath a toad. Its methods of killing are most wondrous, for aside from its deadly and venomous fangs, the Basilisk has a murderous stare, and all who are fixed with the beam of its eye shall suffer instant death. Spiders flee before the Basilisk, for it is their mortal enemy, and the Basilisk flees only from the crowing of the rooster, which is fatal to it."

"That's it! It's him!" she shouted, jumping up and down.

For a moment she had forgotten that she was in the middle of the Library. She looked up and met the outraged gaze of Madam Pince.

Hermione took the book, then told herself that she didn't have time to go and put her name in the borrowing list. She had to meet Ron in the stands of the Quidditch pitch to explain her discovery!

So she hid behind a pillar in the Library and ripped out the page about the Basilisk, ignoring the unpleasant feeling in her stomach of having defaced school material, closed the book and put it back in its place. Then she took a quill out of her bag and used the little ink left on it to write on the bottom of the page "pipes". It all fit. She had found who the monster was!

She clutched the ball of paper in her palm and was about to walk out of the Library, but then stopped abruptly.

Harry had just heard the voice.

It meant that the monster was going to make its move now.

And she was a Muggle-born, and she was alone.

She glanced around hopefully to locate Fred, George, Neville, Ginny, any Pureblood who could escort her. There was no one, everyone was at the game. Hesitantly, she stumbled around for a moment, both eager to get to Ron, but also terrified of coming face to face with the Basilisk.

She tried to imagine what Ron might say at that moment. "Are you a Gryffindor, or what?"

Hermione had to leave. She looked around and got an idea when she saw a pocket mirror sitting on one of the tables in the Library, where no one was sitting. She snatched the mirror and slipped it into her pocket, walked innocently past Madam Pince and out into the corridor.

She took the mirror in her hand and observed the reflection. She pointed it at the walls so that she could meet the Basilisk's gaze, and not catch him in the face. Walking like this was more perilous, she had to walk sideways down the corridor and be careful not to hit the walls. Suddenly, as she turned a corner, she bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch where you're walking!"

Hermione, who had abruptly closed her eyes as she felt the impact, sighed in relief.

"Sorry."

She opened her eyes again and saw a blue and silver badge hanging from the girl's dress that read 'Prefect'. The girl she had shoved must have been in fifth or sixth year, and she had long, curly, blonde hair.

"Are you a Muggle-born?" asked Hermione.

The girl seemed surprised at this request, she raised her eyebrows high:

"Yes? Do you have a problem with that, perhaps?"

"No, no, not at all! I am too! Listen, there's going to be another attack, the monster is a snake, and you mustn't look it in the eye! Here, here! Take the mirror with me, we must quickly go to the Great Hall, or to the teachers' room."

"What? But? How can you know that?" stammered the girl, who took the mirror with some hesitation.

"I just found out, and I know he's going to attack! Look in the mirror to walk, you mustn't meet his eyes. If you think there's something behind you, check the mirror, you'll only get peti..."

As she explained what to do, Hermione looked down at the mirror, and she saw two large yellow eyes in a vent.

She didn't have time to jump, or scream, or close her eyes.

It was as if her brain had just been plunged into a bucket of ice water.

She fell backwards and everything went black.

Draco

.

.

"That's not fair, I wanted to see the Quidditch match so badly." said Draco.

"You wanted to see Potter get slaughtered by Diggory instead." laughed Blaise.

"Why do you think it was cancelled?" asked Draco as he followed the Slytherins into the Common Room.

"No idea, probably a special dispensation from Potter."

Draco shrugged and sprawled out across the couch in the Common Room. The Quidditch match was what he was looking forward to most of his day, now that it was cancelled he had no idea what to do. So he just sat back and watched the people around him, slumping down completely. Blaise took a seat in his favourite chair right next to him.

"Where are Theo and Pansy?" he asked.

"In the Library. They both refused to come and watch the game because it wasn't the Slytherin team, so there was 'no point'."

Blaise rolled his eyes:

"They really don't care."

"Hey guys." greeted Goyle as he stood in front of them. "Do you know why the game was cancelled?"

"No, no idea." Draco replied. "McGonagall said we'd have more information, so we're waiting too."

At that moment, the door opened again and Pansy and Theo entered the Common Room. Theo looked taken aback, and Pansy frankly irritated. She sat down on the couch too, not paying the slightest attention to the fact that Draco was already lying down. She ignored his little cry of protest as she leaned back on her legs, and crossed her arms over her chest like a child who had just been denied something:

"The only time I agree to do my homework with Nott in the Library is the day there's a lockdown and everyone has to go back to the Common Rooms. I'm really having bad luck."

"There's been another attack?" asked Theo as he took a seat in his chair opposite.

Draco arched an eyebrow: he hadn't even thought about that probability. He had completely forgotten that the Slytherin heir had still not been stopped.

"Hello everyone."

Draco gasped: Professor Snape was standing in front of the fireplace. He hadn't seen or heard him come in at all. Neither, apparently, had Pansy, because she immediately uncrossed her arms and stiffened against the back of the sofa.

Snape glanced coldly at the assembly awaiting his instructions, then unrolled a parchment which he read slowly :

"There has been another attack. As of today, all students are to return to their common rooms at six o'clock in the evening. After this time, no student is to leave their dormitory. At the end of each class, a teacher will accompany you to the next class. All practices and Quidditch matches are postponed to a later date and there will be no more evening activities."

Snape made no further comment and carefully rolled up the parchment again, oblivious to the protests that had risen in the room. Then he walked away, and Draco grumbled:

"No more Quidditch? What are we going to be able to do on weekends?"

"That's not fair! Why does everyone have to suffer when we don't have to?" lamented Blaise.

Pansy stood up suddenly and went to join Millicent Bulstrode and Daphne Greengrass, who were sitting behind them. Draco was able to stretch his legs again and gazed at the ceiling, before finally standing up.

"I'm bored. Blaise, would you like a game of chess?"

He agreed and Draco sat down on the floor facing the coffee table, preparing the game. He noticed that Theo hadn't taken out a book, which was extremely rare. He was just looking around, lost in thought.

Blaise had already captured his knight and his two pawns when Pansy returned, a small smile on her face. She sat down on the sofa behind him.

"I've got some news! Draco, you're going to love this!" she said cheerfully.

Theo sat back in the armchair to listen to what she was saying.

"Oh yeah?" asked Draco who was focused on his next tactic which was to target Blaise's rook.

"Hell yes, there's been another petrification, and it's Granger!"

Draco's hand came to rest in the air.

"Granger?" he repeated in a blank voice.

"Yes, Hermione Granger."

Draco was annoyed that she needed to state her name, he had understood perfectly well who she was. He didn't answer anything, waiting for Pansy to reveal what she knew, which she did a few seconds later in a cheerful tone:

"Daphne told me about it, she said that she was found by McGonagall in the Library corridor, with another Ravenclaw. Two for the price of one!"

She glanced enthusiastically at Draco, who smiled:

"Good!" he said.

His voice sounded a bit odd, but she didn't mind and continued:

"Apparently she didn't see it coming, the Chamber monster found her and she got petrified on the spot."

She looked around at the boys around her waiting for a reaction - Theo's eyes were wide, Blaise looked deep in thought, Draco still had his chess piece in his hand and Crabbe and Goyle had toothy grins. Pansy was a little disappointed that she hadn't caused more shock and rolled her eyes:

"Hey, Draco! Hermione Granger! How many times have you said she gets on your nerves and you can't wait for her turn?"

Draco pulled himself together and briskly put his queen down on the board:

"I'm very glad, I was just hoping she would die so I'd never see her face again."

Pansy grinned widely at this, but Draco didn't have the heart to copy her. He didn't know why, but he didn't feel the joy he thought he would when he heard this news.

Hermione

.

…

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Draco

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.

Over the next few weeks, Draco realised that he'd developed the annoying habit of watching Granger a little too often. He kept looking at her with a mockery that he had prepared in his head, only to remember that she was petrified in the hospital wing, and his sentence would die on his tongue.

In Potions class, in the Great Hall, in the Library...

At first he thought he just liked to annoy her. But as time went on, he realised to his horror that he had actually developed a habit of dragging his ear to hear snatches of her conversations with Potter, or watching her at an angle when she was busy. He didn't know why he was doing it, and now that she was gone, he had no reason to do it, and his own reflex to look for her in the crowd annoyed him.

Of course, it was only because he loved to annoy her, and to see her face contort into grotesque expressions of anger. This girl was such an open book, it was too satisfying to touch where it hurt to see her protective walls come down one by one. Longbottom, Potter and Weasley, it was too easy: Longbottom would flinch, Potter would rage right away, and Weasley would want to fight. Granger was more interesting, it was fun to get at her weak point. Sometimes she would even retort, and Draco would run out of words.

He almost missed those exchanges.

She was the only person who could make him feel all the emotions he couldn't control at once. Now he felt strangely lonely and jaded.

Of course, he would never tell anyone how he felt. On the outside, he would purposely say that he was glad to know that she had been petrified, that she had gotten what she deserved.

Sitting at dinner in the Great Hall, Draco thought about the sentence he had uttered that morning in Potions class: "I'm surprised the Mudbloods haven't packed their bags already. I bet you five Galleons the next one dies. Too bad it wasn't Granger..."

He had obviously said it in such a way that Weasley would get carried away, and he had fallen for it. But Draco had to admit that he hadn't felt the usual excitement he had when he provoked them. Had he really wanted Granger dead?

"Dray, pass me a bun please." Blaise called across from him.

Draco complied and at the same time decided to stop thinking about what he wished on Granger. If his father knew what was going on in his head, he would probably get disowned from his own family, he had no right to feel anything but hatred for this girl. He had to be happy that she was petrified, not regretting her absence.

He turned to his friends who were all silently eating. Aside from the time Pansy had told him that Granger had been petrified two weeks earlier, they had never brought up the subject again. Draco focused on his plate to keep from delving into his thoughts again.

"Did you hear that the exams are still on?" Theo threw out.

The subject dropped like a bomb: everyone around him exclaimed and protested, and Theo was so surprised by these reactions that he dropped his fork. But the worst screams were undoubtedly coming from Crabbe and Goyle, who were outraged:

"WHAT? But nobody told us! How are we going to make it?"

"It's not fair!"

"We're still going to have exams? Is this a joke?!"

"Calm down! Hey, calm down!" cried Theo, shocked that he had provoked so much resistance. "I just asked Snape this morning, and he told me the exams were still scheduled! If you're not happy, go and complain to him!"

Crabbe and Goyle turned violently to Snape, who was eating quietly at the teachers' table and hadn't noticed the Slytherin complaints.

"I'd completely forgotten about the exams." Draco muttered.

He thought about his father, and how he was counting on him to get good grades and be on his best behaviour. His resolve to move up in the general classification had been abandoned after three weeks of classes, and his name had fallen miserably to twelfth place. Théo elbowed him:

"I'm studying my Transfiguration class tonight in the Library, do you want to come?" he offered in a low voice.

"Er, okay? Is this a secret meeting or something?"

"No, I just don't want Crabbe and Goyle to show up too. They still haven't paid me my forty Galleons."

Draco agreed, and so went to his dormitory after dinner to get his books, before heading back to the Library. Pansy refused to come, and Blaise was suddenly nowhere to be found.

They walked through the Castle to the Library, when Draco saw something that made him stop. Theo turned around, taken aback:

"Are you coming?"

"Uh, I forgot my Transfiguration textbook. I'll go back and meet you there."

Nott rolled his eyes but continued on his way. Draco, on the other hand, did not return to the Common Room: he had just noticed that the hospital wing door was open. Madam Pomfrey had gone out to speak to Professor McGonagall, so he had a clear path.

Driven by curiosity, Draco put his books down and slipped through the doorway. The atmosphere was downright gloomy: the main room was dark, and it must have been ten degrees cooler than in the corridor. Draco had never been in the school hospital. He looked around the room for a few seconds, where a dozen beds were lined up. Some had curtains drawn, but there was not a sound that would indicate that a student was there without being petrified.

He checked that the nurse was still chatting outside, and then walked cautiously to the first bed with the curtains drawn. He opened it, and recognized the Gryffindor student who had come on the train. He held a camera in his hands that hid his face. Draco moved along the beds, opening them as he went: a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw he had never seen before were lying in the same way. So the last bed had to be Granger.

He walked over and pulled the curtains back. What he saw made him recoil in shock.

It was Granger, but she was nothing like the girl he knew. The Granger he knew was always red-cheeked, and had hundreds of expressions on her face that he could easily read. The Granger who lay in this bed was cold, white, devoid of emotion. She reminded him of Pansy and her porcelain skin, except that it didn't fit Granger at all.

He remembered the first time he'd met her on the Hogwarts Express. He remembered being shocked to see a girl who looked so fiery, so emotional.

He stared in horror at the wide-open eyes of this inanimate girl, who had no warmth left. She was motionless, stiff as a board, and so pale that she looked like a ghost. Someone had put a strange blanket over her body, full of squares of all colours.

He took his eyes off the lifeless body, which was a bit scary, and looked around. On her bedside table were pink flowers, probably brought by Potter or Weasley. Next to them was an impressive number of cards.

Still guided by his misplaced curiosity, he opened some of them. He was not surprised to see the names Potter, Weasley and Longbottom, but he had not expected to see "Fred" or "Parvati" at all. He had never imagined that Granger could be so popular.

As he put the card of a certain Lavender back down, he noticed another strange object on the nightstand. It was a pocket mirror, exactly the same as Pansy's, which she used to correct her make-up. He frowned and looked at his own reflection in it for a few seconds. How could Pansy's mirror have ended up in Granger's hands?

Suddenly he heard the nurse's footsteps and Draco had just enough time to hide behind the curtain to avoid being caught. He heard Madam Pomfrey bustling about next door, then locking herself in her office. Without a last glance at Granger, Draco grabbed the mirror and slipped out.

When he reached the Library, his thoughts were far too focused on his discovery to pay attention to what Theo was saying. Granger's frozen face kept coming back to his mind, scaring the hell out of him, and he was glad to hear Madam Pince tell them that the Library was closing so he could go back to the Common Room. He listened with one ear to Theo telling him the plot of his current book on the way back.

When he arrived at the dormitory, Blaise was still absent. Pansy was lying in Draco's bed, already in her pyjamas. She was playing with her wand, making little sparks, which stopped when they entered the room.

"Ah, the nerds are back!"

"Hey!" challenged Theo with a small smile. "If you're going to insult us, you can leave, nobody's forcing you to sleep here."

"Shut up, Theo, I know you love it when I'm your roommate."

"Where's Blaise?" asked Draco as he looked for his pyjamas in his suitcase.

"With Sandra." said Pansy.

Draco had no idea who Sandra could possibly be, but he didn't comment. If he asked, Pansy would probably launch into a long explanation of the girl's life, and Draco was too eager to go to bed to do that to himself.

When he changed in the bathroom, he took advantage of the slightly ajar door to throw the mirror onto his bed, facing Pansy.

"Isn't this yours?"

Pansy straightened up and took the mirror in her hands, dumbfounded:

"Yes it is! It's my mirror, I've been looking for it everywhere! Where did you find it?"

"On a table." replied Draco vaguely.

He went back into the dormitory and lay down next to Pansy.

"Why do you have a lot of gold glitter on your fingers?" she asked, skeptically.

Draco raised his hand to observe her hand.

"No idea."

She pointed her wand at Draco's fingers.

"Scourgify."

"Thanks. I'm going to sleep, I'm exhausted. See you tomorrow. See you tomorrow Theo!" he added a little louder so the boy could hear him.

Pansy folded the blanket over him and muttered an incantation, which plunged the dormitory into darkness.

Long after Pansy and Theo had fallen asleep, Draco was still thinking about Granger's petrified face. He never thought he'd get such a shock when he saw her like that, he wished he hadn't succumbed to her curiosity. Because in addition to being frightened, Draco was feeling something he'd hardly ever felt before: guilt.

He finally fell asleep many hours later, his dreams filled with cold faces, curly hair and golden mirrors.