Portrait of a Sleeping Dragon
 

A massive portrait of a sleeping Hebridean Black dragon takes up a good portion of the wall near the base of the stairwell on the Sixth Floor. Upon closer inspection of the oddly-placed portrait, you notice an inscription on the frame. It's the Hogwarts motto, Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus. But then you notice a strange protrusion on the right side of the golden frame - its a door handle! Out of curiosity, you twist the handle and the portrait swings open to reveal a hidden room.

A strange glinting is seen coming from a far wall of the hidden chamber. Upon further inspection, you realize its an artifact from the past - the long-lost hiding place of the Mirror of Erised has been uncovered.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e206/SS_PB/mirror.jpg

"Evolette!" Anna exclaimed, noticing her Slytherin friend near the stairwell of the sixth floor. "I was just think about you earlier today, you know. I haven't seen you since that day we met near the statues. Are you...or, did you and...well, erm, what's going on with you and Terry now-a-days?" Anna finally asked. She hoped she wasn't stepping out of line by asking for an update on her friend's relationship troubles. She'd just been worried about Evolette for a few days now, and she wanted to make sure everything had turned out for the best.

As she waited for her friend to get closer, Anna leaned up against a portion of the wall. She looked up to notice a portrait, placed quite-oddly along the wall, she might add, of a sleeping dragon. Anna pushed herself off the wall and then read the inscription on the bottom of the portrait. "Hmm, never tickle a sleeping dragon," she said aloud, talking to no one in particular. Anna ran her fingertips along the frame, finally reaching---a door handle? Finding herself a bit alarmed, Anna jerked her hand back and stared back up at the portrait. "Hey, Evolette...come get a look at this," Anna said.

Paris had no idea how she ended up where she did, but she did and she was totally curious now that she was here. It was a dragon and anything dealing with a dragon was exciting to her. She loved dragons. She walked over to the portrait and stood there looking at the magnificent beast.

She stood there for she didn't know how long till she saw saw something on the door handle. Out of curiosity to walked over to take a peek. "A door handle," She said in surprise. This castle was full of surprises and she turned the handle, knowing she shouldn't but she couldn't help it.

It was a room that didn't like look it had been used in years. She slowly walked in. "Lumos," Her wand tip light up the path in front of her and something glittering at the end of the room caught her eye and it drew her into the room.

She was startled to see the Gryffindor prefect. "Hey Anna. What is this place?" She asked her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Anna noticed another student, Paris Greenwood, approach the portrait of the sleeping dragon. "Have you ever seen this here?" she asked. She watched as Paris grasped ahold of the door handle. Paris wasn't going to---oh, she was. Anna swallowed and glanced down the hall, still waiting for Evolette to approach. What was taking he so long?

Anna shrugged and followed Paris into the room. She took out her own wand and casted Lumos, as well. "I..I have no idea," Anna replied. "I've been going to this school for six...well, five years now, and I've never known this place to exist." Eyes wide open and heart beating a million miles a minute, Anna walked further into the room.

"Look, Paris...a mirror," Anna said, walking closer to the only object in the room she could see. Anna stared into the glassy surface, a smile forming on her face when she saw that she and Paris weren't the only two people who'd found the room. "Cale, when did you get in here?" she asked. "...and whose children are you holding?"

Evolette nearly dropped the book she was reading when she heard her name called out, keeping her spot, she peered over the top of the book to see Anna. Well, at least it was someone worth interrupting her reading. "Hello Anna." she replied, tucking her book into her school bag as she walked over to where the girl was standing.

How was Terry? Certainly Anna knew that she was back together with Terry? Right? Maybe not. She could have sworn that she had mentioned it. "Oh. Actually, Terry and I are back together." she added, suddenly remembering the last time she had seen Anna. "You were right, he did come back."

"What about Cale?" she asked, while pulling the strap of her bag, back up her shoulder, "Have you talked to him?" She was about to press on, when Anna seemed to discover a door handle, or something. "What?" she asked, stepping closer. Her blue eyes took in the painting, until they rested at the door handle. "Quite odd." she said, needlessly. "Where do you suppose it goes to?"

Her blue eyes widened when Anna entered the room, followed by another girl, who she had not met. "Anna.... Cale's not here." she said uncertainly, looking over at the girl. What was she going on about anyway?

Paris shook her head. "Hey this whole place is new to me. I have no idea how long its been here," She admitted. It could have been here a 100 years or 10 minutes for all she knew.

She looked back as Anna seemed about to pee on herself. "Suck it up," She told her. The girl was a prefect and couldn't take walking into a darkened room. "Nothing to be scared of." She reassured her with a smile in the dark so she wouldn't seem insensitive.

She walked over to see it was a mirror. "Why would a mirror be here?" She asked as she stood in front of it. She became transfixed by the image. "You want to interview me?" She giggled as a reported shoved a mic under her nose.

"Back together?" Anna absentmindedly asked Evee. She was aware that her friend had entered the room with her and was making an attempt to answer her questions, but Anna was too focused on Cale and the babies to piece together everything Evolette was saying. "That's...great. I knew you two were meant to be."

Anna giggled at the reflection in the mirror. One of the babies, the boy, had just accidentally punched poor Cale in the nose. "You really shouldn't hold other people's babies, you know. With your balance, or lack thereof, that little boy could easily knock you down," she said. Anna watched the little girl in Cale's left arm. She was currently yanking at the pretty pink ribbon her mother must have tied into her hair. It was a cute ribbon, too. As a matter of fact, it looked just like the one Anna had worn when she was a little girl. The one she'd kept lying on her dresser years and years after she'd grown too old to wear it.

"What?" Anna asked, looking away from the mirror to glance at Paris. "Do I want to interview you? Not necessarily. I mean, I work for The Quill, but my area of specialty isn't...." Anna stopped talked and shook her head at Paris. The girl was obviously not paying attention to Anna.

Evolette blinked at the two girls. What on earth were they going on about? Interviews and babies? Where was this all coming from? Why did Anna suddenly insist on talking to an invisible Cale? What in the name of Merlin were they-

Then her eye caught the mirror, and she suddenly became very distracted. For then, she noticed Terry, Hugo and Miles standing beside her. They looked sort of different though, as if they were, older, but yet, still the same. Terry was holding her hand, while Miles and Hugo were prancing about, laughing at something, or maybe even eachother, then Hugo tried to squeeze between Terry and Evolette as Miles inconspicuously messed up Hugo's hair

Evolette giggled, watching her three best friends as they interacted with eachother and herself. It was almost like none of their fighting or problems had ever existed, there was no Vannie, no Lima, just them, best friends forever.

Anna and Evolette
 

Paris was smiling at the reporters and posing for pictures. "Is this a good shot?" She asked blowing them a kiss. It was a dream come true. "Oh well you know a true Diva only wear Chanel," She told the female reporter with a bad hair. She twirled so they could get a full 360 degree view of her. She was pulled from herself in the mirror as Anna spoke to her. What was she talking about? She pointed to the mirror. "No they want to interview me. I'm a famous inventor," She gushed as the reporters all clapped. "I work for the Quill too." She was done talking to Anna she wanted to get back to her adoring fans and reporters. "Don't you see them," She asked not looking away from the mirror.

She noticed another girl she didn't know was looking at the mirror. "Don't you see them?" She asked her.

Evee; Paris.
 

"She's pulling out the ribbon!" Anna exclaimed, giggling and turning around to face Cale and the babies. Her smile slowly faded, and a blank expression took up residence on her face, for Cale and the two children had vanished into thin air. All that was left in their place was the floor and the walls running behind it. Anna jerked her head from side, panic rushing over every part of her body. "Cale? Cale!" she called out, wondering briefly why on Earth Evolette and Paris weren't making a move to help her find the three people who'd just disappeared.

"Evolette! Paris!" Anna shrieked. "They're gone. They've vanished! Please help me!" Anna swallowed a few times, trying to push down the lump in her throat that was slowly forming. This room, whatever it was, had taken her boyfriend and someone's two innocent children. "No, I don't see them!" Anna shrieked again, answering Paris' last question. "Turn around! They're all gone!"

Anna and Evolette
 

Paris; jaw dropped when the reporters and the cameras vanished. "What, wait?" she whimpered reaching out for the mirror. What was happening? Was this a sick joke or something. Did Agie do this?! "Whats going on?" She asked.

Paris was pulled totally out of her image as Anna started shrieking. "What!" She said as she looking at Anna. She looked around for whoever she was talking about and she only saw herself, Anna, and that girl she didn't know. Anna was totally losing it. Like really coming apart at the seams. Paris had no idea what was going on. "There's no one else here!" She said grabbing a hold of Anna's arms. The girl was towering over her but she tried to hold on to her to keep her calm. "Anna no one else is here!" She took a deep breathe and pulled her hand back and slapped Anna, not as hard as she could but hard enough to bring the prefect to her senses.

She looked at the other girl as she started to panic too. "Do I need to slap you too?" She asked honestly.

The "images" are still in the mirror. Anna just turned away from it to see "Cale." =]
 

Anna's shoulders slumped and she looked over at Evolette with a defeated expression on her face. Why was Evolette going on and on about Terry, Hugo, and Miles when neither boy was in the room? Was no one worried about the three people who'd just disappeared into thin air? Apparently not. "No, you don't understand! He was right here!" Anna exclaimed, walking over to the part of the room where she'd seen Cale holding the two babies. "Cale was standing here, and he was holding someone's children. I saw them, Evolette! I did! They were here, but then they vanished!" Anna couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Prefect or not, brave Gryffindor or not, her boyfriend had just disappeared, and she wanted him back---right now.

Anna was slightly aware of Paris talking to her, asking what was going on and wondering why she was so upset. No one---no one---understood her, and that's what made Cale's disappearance all the more traumatic for her. Anna looked down and then buried her face in her hands. She then wiped at her face, trying to get all the tears dried up and away for good. It was no use, though. Just as soon as she'd wiped the tears on her face away, fresh tears would come trickling from her eyes. Anna was startled out of her moment when she felt someone grab her shoulders and shake her. "Par---..."

Anna's eyes flew wide open and she glared at Paris, shocked that the girl had slapped her. Anna wanted to tear forward and yank every piece of hair out of Paris Greenwood's head, but she didn't. Instead, she took a few steps backward, never once taking her gaze off the girl. "He was here, and that's just that," Anna spat.

It was like someone gave her a slice of heaven and let her take a little bite and then snatched her fork away. She wanted to shake the mirror and make the image come back. It was hurting to not see herself surrounded by reporters all asking about her latest invention and what she was going to do next. Her dad was there, throwing his arms around his baby girl who had become famous. "Bring it back," She whispered trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. It was clawing at her heart. "Make it come back."

This was cruel.

"I'm sorry about slapping you, but you were getting hysterical," She said. She didn't even hit her hand. Just enough to startle her and bring her back to reality. Honestly, these girls were to high strung. "Who was here?" She asked Anna after the girl seemed to calm down. hysterics could get someone seriously hurt, and Anna was about to work herself up to a panic attack or something. "What is going on around here? All I saw was a bunch of reports and stuff. Cale wasn't even here." She told her. Who even saw Cale in the first place?

She ignored the other girl, she didn't know her after all so she could care less if she was alright or not. She wasn't really going to slap her anyways.

She did however turn around and put her hands on her hips as the girl asked who she was like she was Queen of the world and Paris was her subject...Paris did not like that at all. There was only one queen in her universe and that was Paris. The Queen Bee.

"Who are you?" She asked her as she looked at the girl.

Kayla stopped alongside Dominic as they both stared up at the portrait, they hadn't talked the whole way up here and now she felt rather odd to be standing beside him. Well they were going to have to eventually say something to each other.

"So Myrtle was right" she had thought that the ghost was having a lend of them. She wondered when this had been placed here? Noting that she had not walked along this particular corridor as yet, it very well could have been here since the term had started. "Well whatever you do don't tickle it" Kayla was certainly in no mood for fighting a cranky dragon. It was then that she spotted a handle and she walked over to take a closer look.

"Hey Denton, what do you reckon will happen if I turn this?" she gave him a small wink and without waiting for his reply, she turned the handle and opened the door. "Oooh it's very dark in here" she looked over her shoulder. "Come on Dom, let's go on an adventure."

Dominic nodded at Kayla when she agreed with his unsaid statements about Myrtle being right. He had to chuckle softly though when Kayla mentioned to not tickle it; truth be told the thought hadn't even occurred to him. Well maybe it had, but it had slipped his mind in his wondering when the portrait appeared here as he certainly never remembered seeing it before.

"Hmm?" he blinked as the next thing he knew, she had her hand on some handle that he had overlooked and opened it. Entering the secret passageway, Dominic waited a few moments - or more like seconds - before hearing Kayla call back to him and use his first name! Something that Kayla Winters never did!

"An adventure? Well, alright..." He sighed, slightly nervous about being alone with someone who once his enemy. But nonetheless, they were both prefects now and needed to maintain their wits and dignity. But the moment he entered into the dark room and his eyes adjusted to the limited lightly, he heard voices. "Uh..." and saw them. Paris, Evolette, and Anna ... together, gathered around some sort of ancient artifact. "Something the matter?" the fifth year asked nonchalantly to the three other females in the room, who seemed to be add slight odds about something.

Kayla chuckled at his obvious discomfort about being alone with her...and rightly so. She spotted the three girls the same time Dominic did. "Lumos" she muttered, so she could get a better look at who was here.

"Now doesn't this look all nice and cosy" Kayla drawled looking at the three girls. "Did you plan on keeping this place a secret or can anyone get in on it?" she chuckled softly. "How are you Anna, Paris? Evee, have you been avoiding me or something, I haven't seen you since last term."

Ray heard some nose outside of the six floor just as he passed by the portrait of the sleeping dragon. He placed his ear on the portrait and could hear clear sounds of people talking. He inspected the portrait and found strange protrusion on the right side of the golden frame - its a door handle. He twisted it and the portrait opened up and revealed to himself a hidden room.

A strange glinting is seen coming from a far wall of the hidden chamber. Upon further inspection, you realize its an artifact from the past - the long-lost hiding place of the Mirror of Erised has been uncovered. Just in front of it stood around five students, but for now he was more interested by the mirror.
"By merlin's..." Ray said as he got closed to the Mirror of Erised. "Is that what I think it is" Ray added as he stood in front of the mirror.

Here he was standing next to Helga Hufflepuff how was presenting him the golden cup of the Hufflepuff, just next to Helga stood his mother and his father. James and Christina Hufflepuff were greeting him with a smile that showed how proud they were with there son. Just to the left stood his uncle, he didn't show as usual any emotional state. He rather looked as if he was expecting that the boy would find the truth around his family!

Ray kept on looking at the mirror before turning around and looking at the group of students.
"Hello sorry but I think this must be the mirror of Erised, right?" Ray asked the group before turning to his house prefect, hoping that they would give him an answer.

Varius was continuing his mission by trying to learn all of the portraits names within Hogwarts. He had successfully managed all of the seventh floor and had moved himself to the sixth. His next portrait consisted of a sleeping dragon, but Varius never thought about manners when he tried to tickle the sleeping creature and wake it up... hoping it could maybe speak english, or at least he could understand dragon talk.

Before he reached out to run his fingers along the painted scales, he heard voices. Looking to the left and to the right, he noticed no one else at the corridor. Hmm, he placed his ear gently onto the portrait and heard the voices once more! The dragon could speak english! Maybe this was telepathy? or the dragon was a really good ventriloquist!

But then he noticed the handle. "Oh," he said softly, and it all made sense as he was sure he could hear what he thought to be Kayla's voice. Again, not thinking about manners, he entered without knocking, desperate to see what was behind this little passage.

"Oh....er....hmmmm," he said, rather speechless at the sight of quite a few prefects and a lot more older students. He felt realllllll small, "Am I interrupting some secret Prefect shindig or something? Or group... or resistance?" He stared more towards Kayla's direction, because she was the only one he really knew (apart from Dom, but that was only because he was his Prefect and HAD to know).

Varius completely ignored the mirror for the moment. He realised it was old and fancy and quite dusty actually - but he was more worried the student's already residing in this hide out were going to kick him in for intruding.

Everyone :)
 

Her attention was thankfully drawn away from the Slytherin girl she didn't know. She felt herself drawing up to go toe to toe with the girl. She looked up and her anger continued to boil as she saw Dominic. He was the not right person for her to be sering right now. "No everything is just peachy," She said to him trying to keep from rolling her eyes. The boy's mere presence irritated her.

He mood dissipated as Kayla walked in. Now that was someone she always glad to run into. "Hey Kayla, interesting company you keep these days," She said to her and looking at Dominic. "Something is going on in this room." She explained not sure how to explain what she saw in the mirror without getting chocked uf and all emotional that it was gone.

She rolled her eyes as another student, a older Hufflepuff by the looks of it walked in. Was this a party or something? And if it was who invited Dominic. He would never be on her party list. She ignored him for the time being and then another puff walked in, but he was a little puff she he didn't bother her as much. "I'm not a prefect." She answered, "I just walked in here after Anna," She said pointing to the prefect who seemed like she was gearing up for another hysterical shouting fest. "But apparently its a party so join on in," She told him.

Wowza. How on earth had they managed to paint a handle looking so realistic and 3D? Hugo's emerald eyes widened as he realised that, in fact, it was a REAL handle. Holy macaroni! "Merlin's beard," he whispered, pressing down on the handle and stepping into the room. There were about five figures already inside the room, but only one of which he recognised. "Lettie!" He squeeled, running forward and coming to stop beside her. Wait? What the--? His eyes buldged as he looked back and forth between the Evolette clones. There was one in front of him, and another next to him. Eh? This didn't make sense!

But looking a little closer, Hugo noticed that the second Evolette was standing in an archway. No...not an archway...a frame. A golden frame with a strange inscription on the edge. And next to the clone Evolette...there were four other figures. Terry, Miles, Maxxie and...a girl. The girl from his dream! It was only then that his gasped. A mirror! "Lettie?" He asked, turning to the real Evolette. "Why are you standing with Miles, Terry, Maxxie and The One?"

Evolette took a few deep breaths as more students came flooding into the small room. It was a good thing that she wasn't claustrophobic, or she would be needing to breathe into a paper bag right about now.

She tossed a smile at Kayla, and ignored Dominic completely, then started thinking that now would be a good time to bolt. Kayla could take care of Anna if the girl had another panic attack about the children. But then she heard someone call her name, and great relief washed over her when she saw Hugo.

Grasping onto her best friend's arm, she blinked when he asked why she was standing with Terry, Miles, Maxxie and someone called The One. What? She actually had to look around her before she realized that he was looking in the mirror.

"Of course." she said thoughtfully, as someone who she didn't know mentioned the Mirror of Erised.

Hugo was completely mesmerized by the figures in the mirror. Evolette was even more beautiful than she was usually, the sparkle in her eyes brighter than it had ever been as she clung happily to Terry's hand. Terry himself was taller, but just as handsome as he'd always been. Miles and Maxxie, both grinning from ear to ear, were leaning on each other happily, winking out of the glass at him. And then she stood on her own. Her long dark hair curled around her angelic face in a manner that stunned him into silence. He wished she'd find a way to him, rather than through dreams and random mirrors. Sigh.

"Of course what?" Hugo urged, not once tearing his gaze away from the figures in the mirror. "Lettie?" He nudged her, glancing quickly at her face, which was also fixed on the mirror. He stared back at the glass, beaming. "Do you see her? There!" He pointed towards the girl's face. "That's The One. Remember I used to tell you I'd find The One? My soul mate. Not just another flirtee. Well? Do you see? Standing right next to Terry," he asked expectantly.