The day after Harry's arrival, he drags me into an empty classroom. In the middle of the dusty room stands the Mirror of Erised in all its glory.
My earrings are heating up.
I see myself as an adult. Not quite Katya, there's something of Hermione too. Holding Ksyusha's hands firmly, I spin her around as she laughs. I catch her and hold her close to me. Just behind us stand two embracing couples. My parents, first and second. They look at my daughter and me, smiling.
I turn away from the mirror, trying to stay calm.
"Mio, what do you see there?" Harry whispers excitedly.
"What I most want to see," I answer sadly.
"I see my parents. They're alive and smiling at me," the boy shares.
"This mirror is a Legilimens," I see Harry has no idea what that is, "The mirror gets into our heads, reads our thoughts, and shows us our deepest desires. In exchange, it drains our energy. It's like a drug. Addicts are very happy after taking a dose, but then they feel worse and worse, and they can't live without the next dose, even if they see that it's destroying them. It's a very dangerous artifact, Harry. People can even die if they can't stop in time. We shouldn't come here anymore."
Harry hesitates. But he does know what drugs are and understands that this is dangerous.
The next night I'm tossing and turning in bed. I need to see Ksyusha. One last time. Last time I turned away from the mirror almost immediately because I decided I needed to save Harry. But today I'll look quietly, and then I won't come back.
Look at me! I lectured Harry about drugs, and here I am. It's a pity that the Disillusionment Charm still doesn't work well on me. I quietly slip out of the bedroom and creep through the corridors to that abandoned classroom. There it is. My heart beats somewhere in my throat; I walk slowly toward the mirror... and then I bump into something invisible.
"Ouch!" says the emptiness in Harry's voice. Phew, he scared me, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest!
"Hermione, what are you doing here?" Harry's head appears in the air.
I decide to answer honestly:
"The same thing as you. Came for a dose."
"So, you have discovered the Mirror of Desire?"
Harry and I jumped in unison.
"...!" I barely hold back the construction ready to fly off my tongue. Director, why sneak up like that?
Dumbledore spouts some soul-saving nonsense and promises that tomorrow the mirror will be removed. Well, I hope that's true. Harry and I shouldn't rely on willpower now.
I'm going to dinner, minding my own business, and suddenly someone covers my mouth with their hand and drags me into the nearest classroom. Today I was talking with my parents and so I'm alone now, how unfortunate. When the door slams behind me, they let me go. I turn around and see the redheaded idiots. Morons, I was so scared I almost... well, very frightened, in short.
"What do you want?" I ask angrily.
"It was you, wasn't it?" they answer with an equally angry look. What's going on? I haven't had time to do anything against them yet. I planned to, yes, but how would they know.
"What did I do?"
"You reported us to Filch."
"Nobody else would."
"Only you care about that stupid cat."
"Others might need it only to kick it."
"And now he's getting revenge."
"Spying on us..."
"Searching us every time he suspects something..."
"And he's always suspicious..."
"He's Filch, after all!"
"He took one valuable thing."
"And it was very important to us."
"And it's all..."
"YOUR fault!" in unison.
"Didn't anyone tell you..."
"That tattling is bad?"
Talking to the twins is like watching a ping-pong ball. Back and forth, back and forth, it's very distracting.
"Like I have nothing better to do. It wasn't me. If I had said something about the cat, Filch wouldn't just be watching you, you'd be in detention until the end of the year."
"Brother Dred?"
"Yes, brother Fordge?"
"Don't you think someone's lying to us right now?"
"Undoubtedly, brother Fordge."
"And lying is bad."
"Just like tattling."
"You know what, I'm leaving, you have each other to talk to without me," but I can't leave. While I was looking at one brother, Incarcerous came flying from the second, immediately followed by Expelliarmus. The second was unnecessary; I was so bound up that I couldn't move a finger. My hands are pressed tightly to my sides. I begin to lose my balance, they catch me and put me down on the floor.
"I think that the little tattletale..."
"Needs to lie down for a while..."
"And think about her behavior."
"You're both just incredible idiots!" Seriously, I would kill them. If I weren't lying here like a cocoon.
"Don't you think, brother Fordge, that we've forgotten something?"
"Undoubtedly, brother Dred!"
They point their wands at me. Oh my goodness! I involuntarily close my eyes.
"Silencio!" in chorus.
"Good night, little badger!"
They throw my wand on the nearest desk and, laughing like hyenas, leave the classroom. And I remain on the floor, angry as all the devils of hell.
It's an interesting feeling – to scream at the top of your lungs and not make a sound. I tried to untie myself, tried to cast a wandless Finite, but it was all in vain. I managed to attract my wand from the desk with telekinesis, but what's the use if it's impossible to take it in hand? To set something on fire, again, I need to at least use my hands to direct it, and in this position, the most I'll burn is my robe. I couldn't tear the ropes with telekinesis; I don't have enough strength. I'll have to wait – it's the only thing left. A middle school student's charms last about three hours. So I lie on the stone floor and dream up punishments for the Weasley twins. The longer I wait, the bloodier they become. It's a pity that these are just dreams, not plans for the future, because implementing some of them would definitely earn Azkaban, but I'm not in a state to think rationally now. It seems the icy floor has frozen me to the bone, the bastards. The valuable thing that was important to them is most likely the Marauder's Map. If it's back with Filch now, it complicates my task greatly. You can't just sneak into his room; he moves around Hogwarts through some secret paths that are inaccessible to ordinary students and can suddenly appear anywhere. Like "wormholes" in the space of the castle. After four hours, which seemed like an eternity to me, the ropes dissolved. Groaning, I got up and dragged myself to the bedroom. God, how cold...
In the morning, my roommates asked where I had been and agreed that complaining about the twins was practically pointless. They won't be punished anyway, and they don't care about house points. We'll come up with a worthy response ourselves.
And what do you think? Hagrid got a dragon!
I look sternly at the gamekeeper:
"Hagrid, you must tell everything to Headmaster Dumbledore!"
The giant frowned.
"Hagrid, you yourself said that Dumbledore is the kindest, greatest wizard. Of course, he'll be able to find a solution! Surely you trust him?" I almost convinced him, but then Ron jumped in with his brother and the dragon reserve. That's it, Hagrid was fired up. He's like a guilty child – believes that parents will help deal with his mistake, but it's still embarrassing to tell them.
In the end, all my sensible suggestions were overridden by canon. Norbert bit Ron, and Harry and Neville were caught in the tower because they managed to forget the unique, priceless invisibility cloak on the floor! Why Neville? There are other students in Gryffindor besides Ron. Besides, there are the Weasley twins – Harry could have taken them along, and they would have seen their brother too. And Neville shouldn't be dragged into dubious enterprises!
I hide in the shadows under my weak Disillusionment Charm. Potter, Longbottom, and Malfoy trudge after Filch toward Hagrid's hut. So detention in the Forbidden Forest after all. I turned around and ran to the dungeons.
I knock on the door of the Slytherin Head of House.
"Granger!" Snape barked, finally opening the door to me, "Neither day nor night is there peace from you. Are you aware that lights out was twenty minutes ago?"
"Professor Snape, Filch took Longbottom, Potter, and Malfoy for detention in the Forbidden Forest. With Hagrid! And Hagrid recently complained that someone was killing unicorns! You know what a scatterbrain Hagrid is, nothing will happen to him, but what about the boys?" I blurt out in one breath.
"Oh, Merlin," Snape tiredly rubbed his face and stepped into the corridor, closing the door behind him, "go to bed, Miss Granger."
"Yes, Professor," I run away.
But on the way to the common room, it occurs to me that right now Filch is definitely not in Hogwarts. This might be the first and last chance to take the map. So I quickly turn toward his room.
"Alohomora," I whisper. Quietly entering, "Accio Marauder's Map."
The parchment flies out of one of the boxes, knocking it to the floor. The contents scatter across the room with a crash. I freeze in fear. But there's no one here. I hide the map in my robes and quickly gather everything back into the same box. Phew... it seems that was a dungbomb, and the shell is leaking. I was incredibly lucky it didn't explode when it fell to the floor. Though it's too early to talk about luck. I quickly exit, lock the door with Colloportus.
And I come face to face with Mrs. Norris. She sits directly opposite the door, looking at me. Damn, I'm done for. But then the cat approaches and rubs against my leg. Incredible. I bend down, pet her with my clean hand. She purrs. Kitty, you won't turn me in, will you? You liked my gift, didn't you? I'll bring you more later.
I slowly start backing away; Mrs. Norris meows goodbye and walks in the other direction. After reaching the bedroom and washing my hands about ten times, I finally close the bed curtains. I can't believe I did it! Take that, Weasley brothers. My heart is pounding somewhere in my throat.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," I whisper, barely audible. The map begins to reveal the plan of Hogwarts with names scattered across it. By running your fingers over the parchment, you can change the scale. I find near the gamekeeper's hut dots with the names Severus Snape, Argus Filch, Rubeus Hagrid, and the trio of punished students nearby. Then the dots of Snape and Filch move toward the castle, with the students' dots following at some distance. Convenient. I flip the map to another side, zoom in on the Gryffindor common room – somewhere around the dormitories is a dot labeled Peter Pettigrew. Now that I know for sure that Peter is Peter, what should I do with him? I think and come to the conclusion that probably nothing for now. It's dangerous, and I can't think of anything clever.
After sitting over the map for some time and seeing how the dots of Potter, Longbottom, and Malfoy were stuck in the trophy room with Filch, I whispered "mischief managed" and with a clear conscience went to bed.