Chapter One: The Vanishing Glass

The fall sky turned a bright shade of orange, like the peel of a fresh sherbert. Ron locked up the rest of the supplies in the Quidditch pitch shed. He'd have to put the key back in Fred's trunk when he wasn't looking. He'd done well this practice, stopped almost all of the quaffles from hitting his hoop. But maybe it was stupid, the tryouts were still two weeks away anyhow. Ron grabbed his broom and headed back for the castle. If he was lucky, there wouldn't be anyone in the common room that night. Hermione had study club and Harry had detention.

Ron threw his broom over his shoulder. Maybe he'd make keeper on the team after all. The hallways were deserted as he walked past. Good, he didn't need anyone to see anyhow. A shadow poked around the corner, someone was coming. Ron hastily shoved his broom behind his back and sprinted back down the corridor. He pried open the door of an empty classroom.

"Hello?" a familiar voice echoed down the hallway. Ron's stomach tightened into knots. Harry must've been done with his detention.

Footsteps walked past, good maybe he didn't hear anything. Ron decided to wait a couple of minutes. It was silly really, they'd been friends for five years. But he had enough going on right now, Ron didn't want to add on any anxiety about the team …

A light shone from the other end of the classroom. A massive mirror stood against the wall, with delicate silver engravings over its face. Ron remembered the first time he'd seen the mirror of erised. He saw himself as the quidditch captain, and head boy. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to boost his confidence. He strode up to the mirror, beaming and ready to see what vision of his ideal self-looked like now. But there was no reflection in the mirror. Ron's stomach dropped. That should have been impossible, at the very least it would act like a normal mirror if it was broken. Maybe? He wasn't really sure how magic mirrors worked, maybe Hermione would know.

Ron balled up the sleeve of his robe to brush off the mirror. He leaned in to clean it off, but fell forward onto the floor. Ron yelped in surprise as he hit the stone. God, maybe he was thick, but it definitely looked like there was glass in the mirror. Embarrassed, Ron grabbed his broom and headed for the door. Harry must've had a good head start to the common room by now, they shouldn't run into each other—

"STOP," two armed wizards were racing down the corridor at Ron. Red flashes of light shot out of their wands.

Panic seized Ron's chest, he began to run as fast as he could away from them. What were they doing there? Did someone break into the castle? A jolt of fear seized him and he started back towards the common room, before a jet of red light hit him square in the back.

"There's no way he could've gotten through the barrier."

"He did though, Prongs. We didn't even get an alert until he was already inside."

Aches shot through Ron's entire body. He was sitting in a chair, a bright light in his face stopped him from getting a good look at the two adults in the room. They must've noticed he was awake. The first one cleared his voice.

"We're going to give you a truth potion now, okay? We need to know how you got inside."

Ron numbly accepted a goblet from the strangers. He hesitated for a minute, but if they were going to poison him, why would they just hand it over? The potion tasted like paint, he coughed and the man on the right took the goblet back.

"What's your name, son?"

"Ron Weasley," the words shot from his mouth before he even had time to think. The man on the left shook his head.

"How did you get into the castle, Ron?" The man on the right asked gently.

"Train in September," his voice was dull and monotone, "was headed back to school." The two shadows across from him exchanged a look.

"Ron, do you know what year it is?" the one on the left asked.

"1995"

"So you should know that this hasn't been a school for eight years now—"

"Stop it Padfoot." The man on the right said, his voice sharpened. "Ron, what's the last thing you remember?"

"I was hiding in a classroom, didn't want Harry to know that I was trying out for the team. There was a mirror in it and I tried to clear it off, but the glass must've fallen out." Ron blinked. "Then someone hit me with a spell."

"I don't like this, James—" the man on the left stood up, but his companion held up a hand to quiet him.

"I need you to answer one more question for me. Do you mean to cause harm to anyone in this castle?"

"No." That one was easy. "Don't know why you would ask me something like that." The man on the right sighed and nodded.

The light shining in Ron's eyes lifted, sitting across from him was Sirius and a man he didn't know. Sirius's armed were folded across his chest, he eyed Ron suspiciously like at any moment he thought he was going to draw a knife. The second man looked an awful lot like Harry. Ron's stomach tightened, something was wrong.

"I still don't like this." Sirius said. "How do we know he didn't come from the London academy? Do you know the awful things they've done to those kids?" James ignored Sirius and turned to look at Ron kindly.

"Ron, my name is James Potter and this is my friend—"

"I know who both of you are," Ron blurted out, the truth potion must've still been working. "But you're dead. You died a long time ago." Sirius shot up in his chair, his wand pointed at Ron. James blinked.

"I … don't think so? I—um," James looked taken aback by what he just said. A look of horror crossed James's face. "What floor did you see a mirror on?"

"The second."

"Okay, okay," James nodded. "Remus and Pete are checking the barrier again. Sirius, I need you to send an owl to London to check the second safe house."

"Oh no—I'm not leaving him in this room. Why'd you say we're dead?" Sirius snarled, his wand pointed directly at Ron's face.

"You're not dead," Ron tried to fight against the potion, but words kept blurting out. "You're back home at Number 12 Grimmwald Place with the Order of the Phoenix. James is dead—"

Sirius made a noise like a deflating balloon.

"It'll be a while before the potion wears off." James reached out to lower Sirius' arm. "I'll have Evans come sit with him for a bit."

"That's a terrible idea."

"It might help us figure out what's going on. Besides, everyone else is busy, trust me." James turned and smiled at Ron. "I believe you, but there's a couple of things we need to check. I'm going to have someone come in and sit with you while you wait, is that okay?"

"Yes."

James and Sirius shut the door behind them. All at once a million thoughts started racing through Ron's head. If he'd died, why was Sirius here? He acted like he'd never seen Ron before in his life. Or maybe he'd been captured, and they were just trying to trick him into thinking they weren't Death Eaters. Ron reached into his robe pocket, they must've taken his wand when he was knocked out. He searched around the room, they were in an empty classroom. The desks and chairs were lined up against the wall. There were no windows to see the grounds outside. He drummed his hand on his leg nervously. They said they were sending someone to sit with him. But who was Evans?

The door on the far end of the room opened up. A young man with dark auburn hair walked in and quickly shut the door. He fumbled with the lock for a moment, taking slow deliberate steps towards Ron and the chairs in the center of the room.

"Harry?" Ron asked. Harry looked up in shock, his eyes were covered by thin white cataracts. He was completely blind.

"Oh, Black said you were weird." Harry took a seat opposite of Ron. "How do you know my name?"

A stone dropped in Ron's stomach. This had to be a sick, elaborate joke. Any minute now, Fred and George were going to burst through the door, honking a horn in his face. But instead, Harry remained seated in front of him. His arms folded of his chest, indifferent to the entire exchange. Ron noticed his forehead was completely healed, there was no scar.

"How do you know my name?" Harry asked again, and Ron felt dizzy.

"I—we're best friends. Do you really not—what happened?" Ron searched his face, for any trace of recognition. Harry shrugged.

"Dunno, I was hoping you'd tell me that actually. I heard they found you down on the second floor."

"Where's Hermione? Is everyone alright?"

"Granger? I assume she's in her room, its past curfew." Harry said. "That still doesn't explain how you got in."

"Can you please stop, its not funny anymore." Ron said. "I don't like it, did Fred and George put you up to this?" A look of concern spread across Harry's face.

"Wow, you're actually being serious," he said. The door behind them burst open. Lupin pocketed his wand and stepped in, followed closely by Wormtail.

"YOU—" Ron leapt to his feet, and Lupin drew his wand again.

"Calm down," Lupin said.

"No, he's got to be behind this." Ron bellowed at Wormtail. "What did you do!"

"I didn't—" Wormtail stammered.

"Peter is an old friend of mine." Lupin held out a hand to create a barrier in between Ron and Wormtail. "He wouldn't harm a fly."

"He's the reason you-know-who is back!" Ron yelled at the top of his lungs, the other three went pale.

"How do you know that name?" Harry asked, looking like he'd seen a ghost. Ron stopped advancing on Wormtail, trembling behind Lupin. He looked different than the last time Ron'd seen him, healthy as if he hadn't spent twelve years living as vermin.

"Harry, d'you know where your dad went?" Lupin asked, making sure to keep his eyes and wand trained on Ron.

"The second floor, I think."

Lupin nodded.

"Let's all go down there then." He pointed for Ron to walk in front of him, and Harry and Wormtail followed close behind. Ron felt his anger boiling again, he could hear faint whispered conversations between the three of them as they headed down to the second floor. Wormtail even offered to help as they got to the stairs, keeping an arm out to make sure Harry didn't fall over.

James and Sirius were waiting in the classroom with the mirror. James held his wand aloft at the mirror, creating a faint white glow around it. Sirius was inspecting the back of the mirror.

"Everything okay?" Sirius poked his head around.

"We're fine," Lupin explained. "Just tired and confused."

"This is the mirror of erised, Ron." James lowered his wand, looking gravely into the mirror. "It's supposed to show the deepest desire of its viewer. For example, I see my family and friends, happy and safe, when I look inside it."

"I've seen it before actually." Ron said, "when I was eleven I saw myself as Quidditch captain and head boy. But I didn't see anything in it today."

"Try going up to it." James offered, "what were the last things you did before you got here?"

"Right," Ron marched up to the mirror. "Well, I er—noticed I didn't have a reflection," he balled up the arm of his robe again, "so I tried to wipe it off, but there wasn't any glass—" Ron reached his sleeve up to the mirror and felt the cool silver beneath. It was perfectly solid. Ron brushed his hand against the glass, inside he could see a reflection of the classroom, but it was empty on his side. "Wait, but its—"

"Oh bloody hell." Sirius stepped out from behind the mirror. "Do you think it's like a vanishing cabinet?"

"Not in the sense that you're thinking." James reached out a hand to pat Ron on the shoulder. "Dumbledore always said that there'd be magic that would surprise us. Time turners can change events in the past, divination can predict the future, I wouldn't be surprised if there were points where different worlds can briefly connect with each other."

On the other side of the mirror, Albus Dumbledore walked by the mirror, oblivious to what was happening on the other side.