Mirror
 

Behind the mirror is a secret passageway. Unfortunately it doesn't lead anywhere because of a cave in.


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Eris had walked down the hall with a new found excitement, opening a room where only a solitary mirror stood.

"Looks kind of suspicious to me...only a mirror?" Eris brought up, tracing her palm along the rock walls as though trying to find something of interest.

Sarah followed Eris curiously. She looked at the mirror in confusion. It certainly looked like a regular mirror...

"You're right," Sarah said, "It does seem suspicious."

She walked closer to the mirror and examined it. Maybe there was a hinge on the mirror. Or... maybe... it was an illusion?

Eris turned as she saw Sarah examining a mirror, particularly a hinge.

"Sarah! It's a passage!!!" the young witch's heart nearly jumped out through her mouth with excitement. Not yet testing it, Eris examined the mirror and it's small hinges that clearly opened to something hidden.

"It's just like Erik's...." Eris began before realizing Sarah might not know this particular story from wizarding history.

"Erik is a famous wizarding inventor from a loooong time ago" Eris began trying to recollect the details from the story. "He made many, many inventions that are still used today...one of them was a mirror that is transparent when the user wills it, and hides a secret passage." the small witch continued, feeling the golden frame with her hands, yup, just like the story

"He was a bit crazy though" Eris laughed, "Lived in the bottom of some muggle operahouse in Paris, brilliant, but crazy."

Sarah listened in interest. Wizarding history was a source of wonder for her, her being a muggleborn. "Really?" she asked, she seemed to remember something about a guy who lived in the bottom of an opera house. But she didn't remember anything about mirrors like that. But, why would muggles know anything about that?

Sarah stepped closer to the mirror, "Shall we then?" she asked grandly, grinning mischievously.

"On the count of three then?" Eris grinned placing a hand on the inside of the hinge.

"One..."

"Two...."

"Three!"

Pulling the creaking old door of the mirror open with some effort, it appeared that yes there was a passageway. The passageway though, had been covered by rocks that seemed to have caved in.

Pressing her face against them , Eris tried to glance in between the cracks, motioning with her hand for Sarah to do the same. "See anything?" the muffled voice of the tom boy asked as she searched herself.

Sarah frowned, why did there have to be a cave-in???? Mean people.

Like Eris, she tried to look between the cracks in the rocks. She didn't see much. A spider... some dust....

....

A SPIDER?!

Sarah yelped and jumped back. "Bloody-!" she cut herself off. Let's keep it PG, eh?

Eris stumbled on her feet, one crossing over the other with wide eyes, Unfortunately, the placement of her feet in frightened and expectant excitement did not agree with her standing, and the young witch tripped and fell on her butt with a thump.

Scrambling to regain herself to a standing position, Eris brushed herself off cooley as though she didn't fall and simply was standing the entire time with swag.

"So...erm..." Eris cleared her throat, "What did you see?" she asked with a hopefilled excitement that she contained with a semi-casual voice.

"Oops," Sarah said quietly, "Sorry."

It appeared her outburst had startled Eris. And it also appeared Eris thought she had seen something slightly cooler than a big, hairy, ugly, creepy... ABOMINATION TO BUGS EVERYWHERE.

She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, "Er... well, you see... I kind of... saw a spider. And I'm sort of... scared of them."

Explorers shouldn't be afraid of spiders.

Eris blinked for a moment. Scared of spiders?, certainly Eris didn't have a fear of insects or other animals many people did, but she could understand the unnatural fears that people have. Her's was...oh she didn't want to get on the subject of fears. Just no.

Grinning Eris held up a fist, "Let's make sure it is punished then for it's crimes against you" the young witch replied in a jokingly dramatic way. Walking to the mirror she pushed it shut simply and rather anti-climatically to how she had presented her statement. "There, Locked away forever." Eris chuckled before turning to Sarah.

"I think that is all we are going to get from here...where do you wanna go next?"

Sarah bit her lip, but then laughed, "Thanks, maybe he'll die in there."

Yes. Die, you ugly, disgusting piece of creepiness.

She shrugged to Eris, "I don't know. Let me think... maybe this? Why don't we check it out?"

Eris nodded leading the way out into the hall where a door appeared in front of them.

Oooh. A mirror... shiiiny! Gaby liked shiny thing. She was like a niffler. She looked in it for a few seconds, but she didn't particularly care about her appearance. Hence the combat boots in place of school shoes - they were waaay more comfortable. Anyways, moving on from boots... there had to be something special about this mirror, otherwise it wouldn't be here. But what was it?

Hmm. She investigated every square inch of it, and was about to give up, when: 'Is that a hinge?' she murmured, and ran her fingers along the edge, where the mirror met the wall. It was indeed a hinge! There was probably something awesome behind it! She was getting all excited, when suddenly she remembered a passage she had read about the mirror in Hogwarts; A History. There used to be a passage behind it, and it had caved in around sixty years ago. Or something.

Alice made no effort to be quiet, even though the Prefects would have her head on a stick if they knew she was out this late at night. Or if they knew that she had gotten the House Elves to give her some sweets that the students had eaten as a treat that night. Or if- Was that a girl poking at the edge of a mirror? Wait a minute, that wasn't the edge... it looked more like a hinge. This girl was smart, she had to be if she noticed that as fast as Alice. But maybe she was mental and just liked poking things.

Ooh, lookit. A person. Gaby turned and gave her a bright smile, watching the other girl survey the hinge on the mirror. 'There's a passageway beind, but it's closed in,' she informed her in her Southern drawl. 'I read about it in Hogwarts; A History,' she added, and then cocked her head to the side. She hadn't thought that anyone else would be out this late.

'Say, why are you out so late?' Gaby asked her curiously. 'I honestly thought every other sensible person would have gone to bed by now... although, maybe you just... ain't sensible,' she joked, grinning again.

Alice nodded, listening to the girl speaking as she examined the hinge closely. She finally decided to tug at it, and test the girl's theory of the caved in passageway. So the little first year braced one hand against the wall and pulled at the hinge with the other. After a second or two, she heard a little pop, and the mirror swung to the left to reveal a passageway.

Alice turned back to the girl. "Because it's against the rules, obviously," she replied. "If we were allowed to roam around the corridors after dark, I'd turn in before dinner. And if I'm not sensible neither are you, as you're out of bed, too, if you haven't noticed yet." She glanced back behind her. The two first years hadn't exactly been quiet, and Alice was either hearing footsteps, or... there was no or. Those were footsteps and they were growing louder and louder. Alice took a good look around, and once she had confirmed that there were no other escape routes, she motioned to the mirror. "Shall we?"

Gaby watched as the girl pulled the mirror open. Yup, she had been right; it was caved in. Still, there was a little cavity, just big enough for three or so small girls to sit in fairly comfortably. She surveyed it quickly: it would make a good hiding place. Or top-secret headquarters, whichever came first.

Oh. 'Good answer,' the brunette said, and turned back to the mirror as the other girl continued talking. 'Never said I was sensible. I just said you ain't,' she said with a roguish grin. She rather liked this girl. Perhaps they could be friends... or she could assist her in her secret plan to rule the world. Or both. Both seemed like a good plan. Wait, hang on... were those footsteps?

Oh, darn it. They'd been caught. She glanced at the other girl, and then back at the open mirror. What if they got locked in and couldn't open it from the inside? But still... it was either that or get caught, which didn't really sound too appealing. So she shrugged and headed into the little cavity. As long as you weren't scared of spiders, it wasn't that bad.

Alice stepped into the cavity after the other girl and pulled the mirror shut behind her. It actually wasn't that bad, it was pretty roomy, and a small bit of light crept in through the crevice in the wall. It didn't smell as terrible as Alice thought it would, and it wasn't very damp either. The only bad thing was that she was stuck in a caved in passageway with a girl who she knew nothing about. Except, of course,t hat she had an awesome Southern accent. The first year actually found her drawl quite amusing, compared to her own British way of speaking. "I didn't catch your name," Alice said. Ehh, that sounded very small talk-ish, and the Gryffie hated small talk, but if they were going to be in here for a while, might as well get to know each other...

Jez rounded the corner of the floor. She was trying to find that wonderful Room of Requirement her brother had been harping on about. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a mirror hanging on a wall click shut.
Jez blinked. Good Merlin ... did she just see what she thought she'd seen? A secret passage? Any passage her older brother hadn't told her about - and so didn't know about - wasn't worth knowing about! She stopped to think for a moment. If she did find another secret passage ... then she could really have a gloat at Keegan! Her mind made up, Jez opened the mirror, and dived into the passage, not stopping to contemplate the results.
Two warm bodies met her. She stifled a squeal, recognising one of them. "Gaby?" asked Jez uncertainly.

Ooh. Gaby hadn't realised how dark it would be. There was a little bit of light, streaming through the cracks in the wall behind the mirror, but it wasn't all that illuminating. Perhaps... what was that spell Scott had been doing in the Common Room the other day? Oh, that was it. Lumos. 'Lumos,' she muttered, hoping that it would work. It didn't. 'Lumos,' she tried again, to no avail. Well, one more time... 'Lumos!'

YESSS! 'Hey Presto, we have light,' she said enthusiastically. It had worked! She was quite proud of that, actually. It was her second spell. Granted it had taken a couple of tries - she had been practicing in the dormitory as well - but still. She was only eleven. 'It's Gaby. Gabrielle, actually, but only my momma ever calls me that. I suppose you could call me Gabrielle if you wanted to. I'm a Ravenclaw, this is my first year... anyway, I should probably shut up now,' she finished with a nervous laugh. 'What's yours?'

Gaby jumped in surprise as the mirror swung open, thinking that it was probably the owner of the footsteps, coming to chuck them into detention. Well, great. And then someone said her name... not a prefect, then. She directed her wand, meaning the light, towards the figure. 'Jez?' she replied, shocked. 'What are you doing? It's so late!'

Of course, that wasn't really the best of arguments, since Gaby herself was out of bed. 'Anyway, quick, come in and close the mirror behind you! We could get caught,' she instructed hurriedly, pulling the other girl into the little cavity. It was a little snug, but they all fit in. Just about. It was a good thing she was small...

Alice sat and watched as the other firstie, who introduced herself as Gaby, made light with her wand. But it was dying quickly, so Alice lit her own wand. "Lumos," she whispered, and her wand lit up right away. Practice makes perfect. Just as Alice drew her thoughts, the Mirror opened and there was someone... what was that Jelly-legs jinx, again? The firstie tried to remember the spell to cast on the Prefect when she realized... that was one of Gaby's friends. How many Ravenclaws were there this year?

Jez obediently closed the door. "I didn't hear anyone," she said. "Where the hell are we, anyway? Keegan didn't mention a mirror passage." Of course, there was no guarantee her brother knew all of the secret passages, but it was almost a given. Jez flicked her wand. "Lumos." Its light added to Gaby's and the other girl's. "I could ask you the same question," Jez said to Gaby. "Weird place to be in the middle of the night. Though I'm the one to talk," she added after a moment's thought. "By the way, who're you?" Jez asked of the other girl. She looked like a Gryffindor. Did all the Gryffindors make it their duty to find every secret passage? Cos with the current track record, it sure looked that way.

Pfft. Could everyone do that spell perfectly except her? She was so far behind! She supposed that she would just have to read her textbooks again that night... oh well. It would be worth it when she earned a few house points! Until then she would just have to keep reading and re-reading her textbooks until she understood. Recently, she had been wondering if she was really a Ravenclaw after all.

'So, Alice, have you got any brothers or sisters at Hogwarts?' she asked curiously. Most people seemed to, which was interesting. Perhaps it was a British thing. 'Are your parents magical?' she added, just being downright nosy now. Not that it really made a change from normal, but still. Nosy.

Gaby laughed. 'We're in the passage behind the Mirror. It caved in around sixty years ago, though. This little cavity is all that's left,' she said, turning her brightish wand to the stone pile behind her. She grimaced just a tiny bit as Jez performed the Lumos spell perfectly as well. Everyone could do it but her! 'Well, I was exploring, and then I met Alice here, and then we thought we heard someone coming so we hid in here,' she explained, leaning back against the wall.

'So. We've found a secret passage!' she said, grinning as she addressed the other two girls happily. 'We've actually found our first secret passage!' she repeated, smiling like a loon on loon tablets. Which she was, just without the tablet part. 'I reckon we try to find a few more. The three of us,' she added, looking at them, eyes shining. The three of them, searching Hogwarts for hidden doorways. They ought to have a nickname. 'Oh, and we can plan how we should take over the school, too,'

Marilyn paced around in front of the mirror, waiting for Carter to arrive. They needed to talk...Rafe had told her a lot of things...and it all had made her have a massive panic attack. In fact, she'd just left the Hospital wing...

Putting her back against the wall, she slid down, resting on her bum with her knees to her chest.

Carter headed down to meet Marilyn. She wanted to meet. Something was wrong. This was not a good sign. Last time something like that had happened to him, he was walking in to his own single-ness.

Did he really have to run when Caroline told him she wanted to meet?

Well, this time he took his time. He took up the I'm-going-to-be-late-for-class quick walking pace instead of his I'm-trying-to-out-run-this-crazy-hippogriff run.

He found Marilyn against the wall. "Hey. Everything alright?" he asked softly settling into the space next to her.