Mirror, Mirror

"What should I do with the cloak?" Harry asked that night. The three of them were in the mostly empty Common Room. Rose had begun to notice that it was frequently empty, in fact. What did everyone else do with their time?

"You could use it to explore the castle!" Rose exclaimed. As she had been doing most of the day, Rose was playing with the puzzle cube that Hermione had got her.

"Do you think we could use it to sneak past that dog on the third floor?" Ron asked.

"Right," Rose said. "I had forgotten about that."

"Hermione won't help us figure out what it's guarding," Ron whined. "She keeps telling us to drop it."

"Ron, it is a giant, three-headed dog," Harry said.

"But don't you want to know what's under it?" he asked eagerly. "Hermione was the one who said she saw a trapdoor! I just want to know what's through it! Without Ms. Bossy Know-It-All here to spoil our fun, we can really find out!"

"I'm sorry, Ronald?" Rose said. She stopped playing with the cube and leaned closer to Ron. "I didn't catch that. What was it you just called my best friend?"

Normally, Rose had the biggest grin that Harry had ever seen on a person's face. Her whole face lit up when she was happy or excited, which was most of the time, but now there was something about Rose's eyes that made Harry… scared. Her typical grin was still present, but her eyes were those of a predator that had just fixated on its latest prey.

Throughout his life, Harry had found that it benefited him to remain silent. He kept his voice and head down, and his life was made significantly easier for it. His uncle yelled at him, and beat him, less so long as he did what he was told.

Not speaking often had helped Harry to improve his ability to notice details about people and places. It had occurred to him that this was probably part of what made him good at Quidditch, since his entire responsibility in a match was to find a small, golden object that moved at a speed with which most people had difficulty keeping up. Add to this Rose's improvements to his glasses, and he was able to notice the changes in Rose's expression with little difficulty.

Ron, however, had not had such benefits. The primary lesson that he had learned from his short life was that it was the loudest voice that was heard. So he only noticed a smile on his friend's face. He wasn't sure why she was smiling, but he figured that it was that she had found his joke funny. Growing up comparing himself to Fred and George, Ron never fancied himself a comedian, given that those two always had something clever to say in any situation.

Of course, it was the Twins that had made Ron distrust a smile, but this wasn't a "We're up to something" smile, so he was pretty sure he could trust it. Coming to this conclusion, Ron thought it best to smile back at Rose, whose smile broadened in response. Ron felt pretty good about himself, until he noticed Harry shaking his head cautiously at the red-head.

<He believes that he has amused you,> Reflectesalon informed Rose.

<Oh, he's amused me alright,> Rose replied. <Just not in a way that's likely to ensure him a long, healthy, fire-free life.>

Rose's grin vanished, her mouth instead forming a snarl. <That oughta be more obvious.>

To her delight, Ron's grin faded.

"One more time," Rose said. "What was it you just called my best friend?"

"Ron, she ripped a dragon apart in seconds," Harry hissed.

"I said she was a… a delightful person!" Ron said quickly. He was amazed that he had gotten those words out, as his brain was too busy shouting "DANGER! DANGER!" to aid him in conjuring words to construct into sentences.

Rose's expression returned to normal, and she resumed playing with the cube. "That's what I thought you said, Cohort." She turned to Harry. "As Emergency Backup Hermione, and the actual PC, what do you think is in there, Harry?"

Harry wasn't sure how he felt about being "Emergency Backup Hermione", but it was certainly better than "Cohort" that she frequently called Ron. "Er, I'm not really sure." Then he remembered what he and Ron had noticed a few months back. "Wait! Actually, I might know!"

Rose grinned and handed the cube to Smithy. "What've you got?"

"When Hagrid and I were out getting school supplies, we stopped by Gringotts to pick up some money from my family's vault. Hagrid also stopped at this one vault and picked up a small package. He wouldn't tell me what it was, but told me that it was 'Official Hogwarts Business', whatever that meant."

"Interesting," Rose said. As Harry recalled all of this, Rose wrote it down in her notebook.

"And then a few weeks later, I saw in the Daily Prophet that that same vault had been broken into, but they said that the contents had been emptied already."

"So someone really wants that package," Rose said. "How big was it?"

"Small," Harry said, cupping his hands together. "Maybe about this size? I don't know, but it fit in the palm of Hagrid's hand."

"That's not saying much," Ron muttered.

"On the contrary, Cohort, it tells us plenty," Rose said, closing her notebook and taking her cube back from Smithy. "Mr. Hagrid was sent to pick up the package, and then ordered a three-headed dog to guard it. That means that Mr. Hagrid will be our best lead for finding out what's hiding past that trapdoor."

"I tried asking him about it a few months ago after the Quidditch match against Slytherin," Harry said. "He wouldn't talk about it."

"Hmm." Rose thought for a moment. "If he's anything like Mr. Grund, and he really is, then we just need to get him drunk! Then he'll tell us everything!"

"What did you just say?"

Harry froze. It was just his luck that Percy would pick that exact moment to enter the Common Room.

"Salutations, Percy!" Rose greeted him. "Where were you?"

"I was making my rounds," he replied. "Did you just say–"

"No, you weren't," Rose interrupted him. "I, like your brothers, have memorized your schedule, and your rounds don't start for another hour. It's actually Alex's shift, and, since I know she's still at Hogwarts, I know that you're not just covering her shift. Considering you just lied to us, assuming that we didn't know your shift, you're most likely covering up your actual whereabouts." Rose grinned. "Now, given that I know your actual whereabouts, and that I know why you're covering them up, I think it would benefit both of us to forget that we saw each other."

"Ms. Peta-Lorrum," Percy replied sternly as the pale girl stood up from her seat.

She placed the cube with which she had been playing over her shoulder, where it hung in suspended animation, and began to walk over to him, flipping through her notebook.

"If you are seriously considering getting someone drunk, then I must–"

Percy stopped talking when he saw what the first-year had written in her notebook. Unlike all the surrounding text, which Percy was only assuming was text, it was in plain English. It read: "Percy Weasley x Penelope Clearwater"

"As I said," she said quietly as the text changed to scribbles. "I think it would benefit both of us to forget that we saw one another. Unless, of course, you want me to show this to Fred and George, whom I are the reason that you have kept this a secret."

"That's blackmail," Percy hissed. "And I can't just ignore an attempt to get a person drunk!"

"Please," Rose said. "It was just an idea! I'm not actually going to get Mr. Hagrid drunk, I'm just going to have Reflectesalon read his mind! Honestly, Percy, where would I even obtain alcohol?!"

Percy stared at the first-year. Why? What had he done to deserve this? Wasn't having the Twins bad enough?! Why did there have to be a first-year that was quickly becoming just as bad as they were?! Why?! It wasn't fair!

"Don't let me catch you again," Percy said as authoritatively as he could manage. He walked off up the boys' stairs, still wondering what he had done to deserve this.

"Where was he?" Ron asked Rose eagerly as she sat down. The thought of having information that even his brothers didn't have was too much for the first-year. He had to know.

"Not telling," Rose said simply, placing the notebook on her lap.

If only I could read that notebook of hers, Ron thought to himself. Then he realized that he could! Ron reached over quickly and touched the book, muttering "Derp." as he did.

"Derp is quite right, Ronald," Rose said, not even flinching as the red-head was encased in a block of some sort of amber.

Harry stared at him. "Rose, what did you do?"

"That, my friends, is called a sepia snake sigil," Rose replied. "The first words of my book is 'Keep Out' in Common, in which I embedded the symbol. The rest of it is in Celestial, which you would've been unable to understand, by the way." She giggled. "Right, he can't hear us. While scholar's touch has no effect on magic text, technically the text isn't magical. But once it's read," She motioned to Ron, "that happens."

Rose snapped her fingers, and the amber encasing Ron vanished.

"Now Cohort, what have we learned today?"

"Er…" he said, still disoriented.

"Don't mess with Rose's things," she said, then motioned to the confused ginger. "Your turn."

"Don't mess with Rose's things," he repeated hesitantly.

Rose nodded condescendingly. "Splendid. Now, I say we go visit Mr. Hagrid after the girls get back."

"Why?" Ron asked. "If we can just find out now, then why not do it?"

"And leave out half the party?!" Rose exclaimed. "That's just cruel, Cohort." She stood up, shaking her head. "I'm gonna go to bed. I recommend you two do the same. Harry, if you would like to explore the castle with your cloak, we can do that tomorrow night."

"Why not tonight?"

"Cos I'm fairly certain the Twins are up to something tonight, and we probably don't want to be directly involved."

She walked up the stairs to her room before the boys could have a chance to ask why she knew that.

<Also,> she mentioned to Reflectesalon. <I'm going to see if Professor Snape wants to hang out tomorrow, and I want to make sure that I'm not distracted.>

Severus Snape was having a nice, relaxing Thursday morning. Winter break was wonderful; it meant that most of the students were gone, and he didn't have to deal with any annoying–

"Professor Snape?"

Damn it!

"What do you want, Peta-Lorrum?" he growled.

Knock Knock Knock-Knock Knock.

"Do you want to build a snowman?"

"What?" he deadpanned. It wasn't just his least favorite student; it was worse. It was his least favorite student singing.

"Come on! Let's go and play!"

"Stop that singing at once!" he roared, storming over to the door.

"I never see you anymore! Come out the door! It's like you've gone away!"

"There's a reason for that," he said through gritted teeth. What was the meaning of this new onslaught of nonsense from Peta-Lorrum? Why couldn't she be like a normal student and be too frightened of him to bother him outside of class?!

"We used to be best buddies! But now we're not. I wish you would tell me why!"

"We have never been friends, Peta-Lorrum!" he shouted.

"Do you want to build a snowman! It doesn't have to be a snowman!"

"NO!" Severus shouted from the other side of the door.

"Okay, bye."

"Ah!" Severus opened his eyes, saw that he was still in his office, then realized that someone really was knocking on his door.

I've got to stop pulling all-nighters. They're not worth the bizarre daydreams.

"Professor Snape?" came Peta-Lorrum's voice.

"I don't want to build a bloody snowman!"

There was a long pause in the knocking.

"What?" came the reply.

"Go away, Peta-Lorrum!"

"Fine."

After not hearing anything for sixty seconds, Severus concluded that the pest was finally gone.

Severus pulled out a piece of parchment from his desk and began to write down ways of poisoning someone without leaving a trace. The only tricky part would be administering the poison. Severus figured he could slip it in the girl's drink during one of her meals. It would simply appear to be an unfortunate accident, and then he would finally be rid of that pest once and for all!

Sure, resorting to murder might be a little extreme, but he had no way of punishing this girl! Take away points? She didn't care. Give her detention? That was more of a punishment for Severus than for Peta-Lorrum. Assign extra work? She did it without complaints! Severus had tried taking the issue to Albus, but Albus had taken some sort of interest in the girl. Minerva was even worse; she seemed to be amused by the whole thing! If he wanted that girl gone, he needed a means of getting rid of her himself.

It was just then that something occurred to Severus. It was borderline diabolical, but it just might work. He burned the parchment, just in case someone went snooping through his desk, and sat back in his chair. Severus began to form a plan.

That night, Harry and Rose met in the Common Room.

"Ready?" Rose asked him.

Harry threw the cloak over himself, vanishing from the sight of most people.

Using a wand from her quiver, Rose vanished from the sight of all people.

"Rose?" Harry whispered, looking around.

"Right here," she replied.

The pair wandered through the halls, with Rose whispering to herself every so often.

"Rose, what are you doing?" Harry asked after the fifth time he heard Rose whispering.

"Asking the stones if anyone interesting has been through here."

Harry paused for a moment, stopping in his tracks. "What?"

"I can talk to the stones!"

Harry blinked. That one was new on him. He had heard Rose say some mad things lately, but, save for maybe the bit about being partially undead, that one took the cake. "What?"

"Remember a few months ago when I started screaming in the middle of Transfigurations?"

"Yeah," Harry said slowly, nodding. The two began to move again, a little more slowly so Harry could continue to process the information. "Ron said that you just went mental."

"Which is what I let everyone believe," Rose replied, smiling an invisible smile. "What actually happened was that the castle began murmuring. No one else can hear it, but the castle speaks sometimes. Due to speak with anything, I can understand the castle, which means that I can hear it when it starts talking. Or, as was the case that day, screaming."

"Are you sure?" Harry asked. It certainly sounded mad. How could anyone hear the castle?

"Yup!" replied Rose. "Professor Dumbledore confirmed my suspicions when he visited me in the Hospital Wing. I asked Neville, who ends up there often, and he says that Professor Dumbledore has never once visited him. That means that I was a special case."

"But that could mean anything."

"Yeah, but it's different, so it's important."

Harry noticed that Rose seemed to be leading him in a more obvious direction.

"Where are we going?"

"The stones told me that Professor Dumbledore was through here recently. The tracks lead from the Room of Requirement and are heading down, I think."

"What's the Room of Requirement?"

"A story for another day," Rose replied. She lead Harry down to the fourth floor, and into a disused classroom.

"Here we are," she said, appearing before Harry's eyes. He followed suit and removed his cloak.

"Where are we?" he whispered.

"Fourth floor," Rose replied. "That's all I know, although I think that is significant."

A large curtain stood before them. Rose looked around the room for anything obviously trapped, then removed the curtain.

As Rose pulled off the curtain, Harry gasped at what he saw.

The mirror spanned almost the entire height of the classroom. Across the top of the gold frame were the words "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi." He didn't know what that meant, but he was vastly more interested in what he saw in the mirror.

Standing beside him were his parents. Everyone was right; he looked just like his father. His mother smiled kindly at him with the same eyes as him. Her face was warm, loving, caring; everything that her sister Petunia wasn't.

"It's my parents," Harry breathed. "I can see my parents!"

Uh oh, thought Rose. This can't end well.

Rose hadn't looked at the mirror yet, but was looking nervously at Harry.

"Look!" he whispered, pointing at the mirror. "Can't you see them?"

Rose looked into the mirror, and saw the two people that she missed the most. She could talk with Shadow, Alice, or Sk'lar all she wanted; she could ask for help from Uncle Oz, and despite how much fun she had with him, she didn't miss Mr. Grund all that much. Rose couldn't talk with the two people in the mirror.

She didn't see Harry's parents; she saw her parents.

Rose walked up to the mirror, placing her gloved hand gently on the glass.

"Mirror, mirror, what's behind you?

Save me from the things I see.

I can keep it from the world,

why won't you let me hide from me?"

"Can you understand that writing?" asked Harry.

"What writing?" asked Rose.

"That writing," Harry replied, pointing to the top of the frame.

"No, it's a poem," Rose said, "or maybe a song, I forget." She looked at the writing along the top of the mirror. "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."

"What's it say?" Harry asked. He vaguely remembered something about Rose being able to understand any language.

"No idea; it won't translate." She looked at it again, trying a Linguistics Check this time. "I show you not your face, but your heart's desire."

"But you just said–"

"It's backwards."

Harry looked at the words and realized that she was right. Then he looked at the mirror.

"So… it shows us what we want to see?"

"Makes sense," Rose replied. "You see your parents; I see mine."

"Oh." Harry sat down in front of it and stared longingly into the glass. They stared silently back at him. He had never seen his parents before.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry noticed a small, blue and black ferret with wings fly out of Rose's basket and perch next to the door.

Rose sat down beside Harry and looked into the mirror. She looked over at Harry and understood exactly how he felt. She put her arm around Harry's shoulders.

"It's alright, Harry," she whispered. "I miss mine, too."

Every night, Harry and Rose returned to the mirror. Harry started sleeping in, and Rose didn't need sleep. One night, they were joined by a third person.

"I see you two have found the Mirror of Erised," came a voice from behind them.

Harry turned around to see Professor Dumbledore standing in the classroom with them.

"Salutations, Professor," Rose said absently, not turning around.

"I thought I had seen you two wandering down here at night," the Headmaster said.

"What did you say it's called?" Harry asked.

"The Mirror of Erised," Dumbledore replied.

"Why is it here?" Rose asked, still not looking away from the Mirror.

"Many years back, one of the professors brought it here to do some research on it," Professor Dumbledore replied. "We were quite fascinated by it."

"It bypasses Occlumency shields," Rose said idly.

"Correct," Dumbledore replied. "I take it the Mirror can even show you your desire?"

"Yeah. And it's not an illusion either; it's actually altering our thoughts to make us believe that we see what we want. Otherwise, I'd see through it with true seeing." She looked up at the Headmaster. "It's an artifact at least, if not an actual deity in disguise. Those are the only options for bypassing mind blank."

"Good to know," Dumbledore said. "What do you see?"

"Mum and Dad," breathed Harry.

"Same," Rose said.

"Just know, that men have wasted away before it, not knowing if what they have seen is real, or even possible. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."

Once again, both first-years nodded.

"Why is it in a random classroom?" Rose asked.

"This is only a temporary home for the Mirror," he said. "It will be moved to a new location in a few days."

"Why not just move it directly from the Room of Requirement?" Rose asked.

"Preparations needed to be made, and not all the staff can find the Room of Requirement," Albus replied, not questioning how Rose knew it had previously lived in the Room of Requirement.

Rose nodded her apathetic understanding.

"Rose, use caution when looking at your clasp in the Mirror. A reflection will reflect what you see."

"What?" Harry asked.

Rose looked at the reflection of Reflectesalon in the Mirror and saw what he meant. Looking back at her from Reflectesalon was an eye. It was yellow, almost golden, with a narrow, black slit for a pupil. She knew that eye; along with its twin, it haunted her nightmares.

You will never be free from me!

His words echoed in her head as she closed her eyes and screamed.

"Rose!" gasped Harry.

Rose slowly opened her eyes, and quickly covered Reflectesalon with her hands so she wouldn't have to see the Abomination again.

"It shows our worst fear," she said shakily. Harry noticed that her hands were trembling over her clasp. "When the Mirror of Erised reflects a mirror, that reflection shows our worst fear."

She glared at Professor Dumbledore.

"You could've just said that," she hissed, "but I guess then we wouldn't have learned anything."

"I'm sorry," Professor Dumbledore replied.

Harry didn't know what his worst fear was, but he really didn't want to know. He made a mental note not to look into Rose's clasp while looking at the Mirror. Considering whatever Rose had seen had really spooked her, he didn't think that was going to be a problem; her hands weren't moving from her clasp.

Rose took a few deep breaths, and looked at her parents again. They knelt down beside her, wanting to ensure the safety of their daughter. She smiled at them, and slowly stopped trembling.

"What do you see, Professor?" asked Rose after she had calmed down.

"I see myself holding a nice pair of white, woolen socks," he replied, glancing in the Mirror. "One can never have too many of them. Unfortunately, people keep giving me books for Christmas."

A grin slowly crossed Rose's face, and she turned to Harry. "Harry, I know what we're going to do tomorrow."

Harry glanced nervously at Rose, then looked back at the Mirror of Erised.

"Until then, I think you two should get some sleep," Professor Dumbledore said.

"I don't need sleep," Rose said. "Another effect of veil of undeath."

"Ah yes," the Headmaster replied. "You know, you gave Madame Pomfrey quite the scare when you first started using that."

"Sorry about that," Rose said, turning to Harry. "He's right, though, Harry; you do need more sleep."

"But–"

"Harry, your parents lived for some 30 years, right?" Rose said. "We must be able to get a picture of them somehow. Then, you can stare at it longingly."

Harry took one last look at the Mirror, then turned to Rose. "I guess you're right," he replied sadly. He pulled his invisibility cloak over him, and began to leave.

Rose glanced over at Harry as he was leaving, then turned back to Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor, Carolina told me something when we first met. She said 'The most cheerful people are often the ones that need to smile the most.' I think you hide your pain the same way, because even someone as content as Carolina or Uncle Oz wouldn't see socks in the Mirror."

"If you would remind me, which of your friends is Carolina?"

Rose mentally noted that he was changing the subject. He wasn't denying it, but casually moved the subject away from it. Rose knew that trick; she had done the same thing to Carolina on more than one occasion when the subject of Rose's or Sk'lar's parents came up.

"Saint Carolina Bulard," she replied, a genuine smile on her face. "The nicest person I've ever met. No matter what, she always tries to do the right thing. She once tried to explain it to me. She said that she sees a person in need, and she helps them. Simple as that. She doesn't stop and think about the benefit to herself, she just helps. And she doesn't let something like hatred get in her way of being nice to people."

"She sounds like quite a wonderful person," Albus replied. If Rose was indeed telling the truth, then she had met some extraordinary people. "I certainly hope that I can meet her some day."

"Me too," Rose said. She waved one of her various wands and vanished from sight. "Good night, Professor Dumbledore."

"Good night, Rose."

Albus took one last look at his family in the Mirror, sighed, then replaced the curtain over the Mirror.

<Ref, I've got a question for you,> Rose asked her clasp on the way back to her room.

<What is it?> Reflectesalon replied.

<You can see and hear, so what did you see in the Mirror?>

<I see you, Rose. My entire purpose is to serve you in whatever capacity I can. I follow your every instruction and remain completely loyal to you. When I looked into the Mirror of Erised, I saw you completely happy, because when you are happy, Rose, it means that I have done well.>

Rose smiled. For ten years, Reflectesalon had been all that she had left of her parents. Now, he was all that she had left of her plane. It comforted her to know that he would always be there for her. She undid her clasp from its resting place, and gently kissed him. After all, she couldn't hug him without getting creative.

<Thanks, Ref.>

<You are welcome.>

Rose replaced Reflectesalon on her cloak, and happily skipped off down the corridor back to Gryffindor Tower.

Just over twenty-four hours later, when Albus descended the stairs that led from his room to his office, he found a box on his desk. It was wrapped in red wrapping paper, decorated with a rose pattern. Opening the box, Albus found a pair of white, woolen socks inside. Along with the socks was a note:

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Not only will these socks keep your feet warm, they will also keep the rest of you comfortable in temperatures ranging between -50°F and 140°F. I hope you enjoy them.

Your Friend,

Rose

Albus smiled delightedly.

"I think your friend Carolina would be proud of you, Rose," he said as he placed the socks on his feet.

The days passed by, and, true to the Headmaster's word, the Mirror was gone a few nights later. Harry was upset that he could no longer see his parents, but Rose said that she would figure out something for him. Given everything else that Harry had seen the girl do in the past few weeks, it wouldn't surprise him.

Professor Dumbledore asked them not to go looking for the Mirror, a request that even Rose obeyed. She reasoned that the Headmaster had been right; it didn't do them any good to dwell on the past.

Several days later, Harry was awoken by a voice at his door.

"Harry?"

Harry slowly got out of bed and walked over to the door. "Rose?" he replied groggily, before reaching the door.

Knock Knock Knock-Knock Knock.

"Will you help me hide a body?"

"Will I help– WHAT?!"

The top of Harry's list of weird things that Rose had done had just changed from "talking to stones" to "asking to hide a body".

"C'mon we can't delay!"

"What?! Why?!"

"No one can see him on the floor; get him out the door; before he can decay!"

"Rose, are you feeling alright?" asked Harry, although he was certain that he wouldn't get a helpful answer, if he got one at all.

"I thought you were my buddy. We won't get caught. Just help me and don't ask why!"

Harry no longer had words other than 'What'. When was Hermione getting back? Wasn't dealing with Rose's… Roseyness Hermione's responsibility?

"Will you help me hide a body? It doesn't have to be in one piece."

Rose paused, so Harry assumed that she was waiting for an answer this time.

"N-No, Rose. I don't want to help you hide a body."

"Oh dear, why?"

"Harry?"

Harry sat up in his bed and looked around. Rose was standing next to his bed, her head tilted to one side. He had stopped asking long ago how she got into their rooms. He was almost certain that girls weren't allowed in the boys' rooms, just as boys weren't allowed in the girls' rooms, but Rose, being Rose, didn't seem to care.

It was just a dream. Thank God, or Merlin, or whatever, it was just a dream!

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said, putting his glasses on. "Rose, you don't… you don't need to hide a dead body, do you?"

"No, why?" she asked. Had it been anyone else, Harry figured that he would've got a strange look, or been asked if he was feeling alright, but Rose just looked confused. "Do you? Cos I know a few good places to hide one!" And now she looked excited.

Harry stared at her. "No, and… Never mind, I'm not going to ask why you know."

"Good idea," she replied sagely. "The fewer questions involved in hiding dead bodies, the better." She looked at him expectantly. "Well? Come one! Get dressed! Hermione and Sally-Anne are going to be back soon!"

Finally! thought Harry as he got up. Let Hermione deal with her insanity.