Disclaimer: The characters of this fiction are borrowed and used as a tribute to the wonderful world created by J.K. Rowling. They're not mine, never was and never will be. No money is being made on this either.
Summary: Driven by jealousy of Hermione Granger's obvious crush for The Boy Who Lived, Ron Weasley makes the biggest mistake of his life that puts the whole Hogwarts school in peril. As Harry Potter suddenly finds himself trapped in a different world, it is now up to him to set things right.
***************************************
'Really, you people!' Professor McGonagall scolded her fifth-year students. 'Comparing with the things I had you to do the previous years, how hard could it really be to transfigurate a turtle into something as simple as a fruit-bowl?'
She got up from her desk and began to pace around the gryffindor's. 'Mr. Finnigan and Mr. Thomas, is that bowl
really supposed to be walking?'
'Well, I thought that perhaps you could train it to come to you when you're hungry instead of the
other way around.' Seamus said. Most of the other people in the room snickered at his joke, the Professor
didn't, being as strict as her reputation stated. Instead she approched the next pair.
'Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. I don't deny that that thing looks like a bowl, but…' McGonagall picked it up and
tapped a finger to it. '-it's still made out of turtle shell. You were supposed to change it into
porcelain.'
'But porcelain is so brittle, Professor.' Ron tried to explain. 'That way it won't brake if it falls to
the floor.' Harry tried to no avail hold back a giggle at Ron's attempt to cover up thier failure. McGonagall
on the other hand looked even a bit more sour over it. 'That may be, Mr. Weasley, but it most definately won't
earn you any points.' and then she turned away to the next one.
'Now that is what I call a fruit-bowl.' she said as she approched Hermione Granger. Hermione was the only one working alone, since Neville Longbottom still was in the hospital wing after an accident at potions class. Professor McGonagall picked up Hermione's shining green bowl and held it up so that everyone could see it.
'Look at this, everyone. A perfectly shaped bowl that's decorated with the back-pattern from her turtle and it's made of…' she tapped a finger to it. '-transparent crystal. Allright, I said porcelain, but crystal is actually harder to make, therefore I find nothing wrong with this. Well done, Miss. Granger.' and once again she gave Hermione one of her rare smiles that made the young girl beam with pride. Ron made a face that seemed like he just swallowed a vomit-flavored bean. Harry didn't mind a bit.
******************************************************************************************************************'
'I really don't understand what you're making such a fuss about!' Hermione argued as they left the
class-room. 'It's not like you were the worst one today at transfiguration!'
'I wouldn't make such a fuss about it if wasn't for the fact that McGonagall keeps pushing the rest of us
down just because she hold's you as a favourite!' Ron snapped. 'She's beginning to act like Snape
favouring Malfoy!'
Harry rolled his eyes. There they go again. How come that his two best friends always ended up bickering at
each other?
'She most certainly does not!' Hermione said. 'The reason to why she 'pushes you down' as
you call it, is because she want's you to do better than what you do now.'
'There you go, I knew it, now you're the one that's pushing me down!' Ron shouted.
'I do not! I'm only saying that you should start to study a little more if you want to do as good as
I!'
'Isn't that like pushing somebody down? Hasn't it ever occured to you that not everybody like being a
bloody bookworm like you all the time, Hermione?'
'BOOKWORM?!' Hermione face turned red and she clenched her fist. 'Now who's pushing who down, Ron?
I'm gonna…'
'Fellas, fellas…' Harry then stepped in between, thinking that this bickering had gone far enough. 'Ron,
let it go. Hermione has been the top student in our year ever since first grade, and it certainly didn't bother us
then, why should it do now? I think that her top marks should rather be an inspiration to all of us instead of an nail
in the eye, and that's probably what's in Professor McGonagalls mind as well. Besides, where would we really be
today if it wasn't thanks to her knowledge and her friendship?
Let's be proud of her instead, don't you think so?'
'Allright, Harry.' Ron said as he calmed down. 'You're right, sorry. I guess I got a little carried
away again.'
'Not the first time,' Harry said as he patted Ron's arm. '-but's it's just the way you are.
Just do your best at classes and it will be okay.'
'Harry, do you know what I like best about you?' Hermione then said. As he turned to face her he got a little
taken aback as he found her giving him her warmest smile.
'W-what could that be?' he asked feeling suddenly strangely warm inside.
'You've always been the perfect gentleman.' With that she slung her free arm around Harry's neck, (Her
other arm clutched her books to her chest.) and gave him a tight hug. 'Don't ever change, okay?' she said
into his ear, then she released him and went away towards her Arithmancy lesson and called over her shoulder: 'See
you at dinner.'
Harry stood stunned looking after her with a funny looking smile in his face until Ron shook him back to reality.
'Wake up, Harry. It's time for Divination.' Harry found himself wishing that he'd choosen Arithmancy
instead of Divination. But that wasn't the first time he wished that, he was quite sick of Professor Trelawney and
her constant predictings about Harry's death. He told Ron this as they headed upwards the tower.
'I know what you mean.' said Ron. 'She's getting on my nerves telling us about the 'the inner
eye' or 'the eye that sees' or whatever she's babbling about all the time.'
'Some day I wish I could prove her wrong about something,' Harry muttered. 'like suddenly doing something
unexpected from what she had seen that I should have been doing from her point a view.'
'Yeah. I'd like to see her explain that.'
'Then we would really finally prove that she's nothing but a fraud.'
'Harry.' Ron suddenly stopped on the stairs and turned to him. 'If we are to do something unexpected, we
should do it without really having planning it.'
'What're you talking about, Ron?'
'Let's do it now, Harry. Let's skip Divination today. It'll be fun to hear what Trelawney has to say
about that.'
Harry looked at his friend with a puzzled expression. 'You know Ron, that's a little bit too unexpected even
for me.'
'So much better.' Ron persisted.
'But I didn't mean for us to suddenly just skive it off, that's… disrespectful.'
'You've spent too much time around Hermione Harry, besides who are you to talk about being disrespectful when
we're talking about Professor Trelawney?' Ron grabbed Harry by his arm and pulled him with him towards the
other direction. 'Let's have an adventure, that was a long time ago.'
'But Ron, we might get caught…!'
'Not if we stay away from the common-room and keep to the un-occupied corridors.'
Harry really felt that this was a bad idea, but Ron seemed to have had made up his mind so he decided to tag along. He
wanted a break from Divination anyway.
****************************************************************************************************************
Harry's second's thoughts came back as Ron started to drag him into an all too well familiar corridor. His horrible experiences with the third-floor corridor back in his first year was still fresh in his mind, even though Hagrid's three-headed dog that was named Fluffy no longer guarded the trap-door in the floor. It was after all beyond those chambers underneath his feet where he stood face to face with Lord Voldemort for the second time of his life when the dark wizard was after the philosopher's stone.
'Ron, what are we doing here?'
'Memories, Harry. It's still amazing to remember what the three of us did here when we were younger. I was
planning to go back here sometime just to see those chamber's again and now I feel it is a good time.' Ron
opened the trap-door and gazed down into the darkness. 'Look, there are stairs here. Guess they were removed when
they sealed of this area and now they've been put back. Good, I'd hate to take that dive a second time. You
coming, Harry?'
'I don't like the idea really, but okay, since you're obviously going then I'm going too.'
'Great. C'mon, then.'
The boys climbed down the stairs and soon they reached the bottom floor. The Devil's snare plant was gone, but that
was expected. There was nothing to guard anymore down here. Gone were also the flying keys, the door was open.
'The chess-board.' Ron gasped as they walked through the door. ' It still gives me the shivers remembering
that giant queen towering over me and knocking me out.'
'You certainly gave us a good scare that time.' Harry said, also shivering. 'But it was well
played.'
'Yeah, my best game ever.' Ron whispered proudly as he gazed upon the giant pieces. They were fortunately
de-hexed, no need for them to play this time.
'I never made it through that door.'
'Be thankful for that, Ron.' Harry explained. 'There was a giant troll in there. Hermione and I never had
to fight it though 'cause Quirrell delt with it as he came through here before us.'
'Quirrell. I still can't belive that…' Ron swalloved. '-that You-Know-Who really shared his body with
him.' Harry didn't answer, he remembered it all so well, feeling the dread he felt that day once again crawling
up his spine. He could still see Professor Quirrell unwrap his turban and reveal Voldemort's bone-white face on the
back of his head. Harry had barely escaped with his life that day, but that time was just one of all the close
call's he had over the years at Hogwarts. He wondered again if there ever would be a year he could just be in
school without having danger hanging over his head like a Damockles sword.
They were now passing through the room where Snape had put his trick with the bottles. There were no flames this time that blocked their path's, which was a relief, 'cause there were no bottles left behind to drink from that would enable them to walk through the fire. Harry smiled at the memory, Snape's clue of logic would've have stopped many wizards, but it didn't manage to stop Hermione. 'She's so clever.' Harry thought to himself.
Harry and Ron now entered the final chamber. Harry found It dark and frankly quite boring. It may be interesting for Ron who'd never been there, but harry had now identified the nagging feeling in his stomach he'd felt since they climbed down through the trap-door. He didn't want to be reminded of this. He felt no pride of what he'd done down here, he'd practically found it unfair that faith had put him through this ordeal. What wouldn't he had given to have a normal life? He felt no desire for his fame, he didn't ask for it, he didn't want it! But there was no point to dwell on it. He was the Boy Who Lived, and there was no way to escape it. Neither did he find any reason to walk further into the chamber, he stayed at the door and let Ron look around for himself. Instaed he again felt shame that he'd let his friend talk him into skipping Divination. Even though Hermione didn't belive in the subject, once she finds out, she will most likely not let them hear the end of the lecture of how important it was to attend to your classes.
'Harry.' Ron then called out. 'C'mere and look.' Reluctantly Harry walked into the camber and
joined his friend.
'Harry, isn't this…?'
Harry couldn't belive his eyes. It was the Mirror of Erised. It was still down here! There was no way he
could figure out why, it's purpose had been served after Harry had managed to retrive the Philosopher's Stone
from it.
Unless of course… The mirror was dangerous, Dumbledore himself had told Harry about the people who had wasted
away before it as it showed the people who looked into it his or hers deepest desire.
He had himself fallen for its charm when he saw his family he'd never known in it and it ended with giving him
nightmares. That's not an experience he needed again. He was about to turn away, but Ron wouldn't let him.
'Tell me Harry, what do you see in it?'
'I see my parents Ron, you know that.'
'But that was over four years ago, maybe you see something different now. Maybe you'll see something that will
help you defeat You-Know-Who?'
'I won't see anything like that. This mirror does not give us any knowledge or truth. Dumbledore told me that.
And I don't want to look into it again.'
'C'mon, Harry. You know what this thing is about now, you won't get enchanted by it this time. Besides this
is a one-time-only shot, we won't come back here again. Just one peek to get to know yourself better and to get the
experience to do something about it if you happen to see yourself differently.'
Harry was quite sure that he would regret this, but he took a step closer to have one fast glance. Sure enough, there
he was again with his parents, smiling and waving to him. Harry himself was unchanged in the reflection, but this time
there were more people standing around him in the reflection.
'It's Sirius.' Harry said. 'He's holding a note from the ministry…' He leaned closer to read
the note in the mirror. '…he's been fully pardoned.'
'That's nice.' Said Ron.
'Someone else is there too… being covered behind my mother. I can't make out who it is…' Harry had now
placed a hand on the mirror to lean past the image of his mother, but he could only see the silouette of the person,
yet the person seemed somewhat familiar.
The last thing Harry remembered before the strange thing happened was that he heard a strange mumbling behind him, and then he felt an invisible hand grabbing him and yanked him towards the mirror like a magnet. 'I'm going to crash into the mirror…' was the thought that hit his mind at that moment, but the crash never came. Instead it was as if he bounced on the mirror's surface, (although he didn't feel it.) and was instead thrown away from it again. He hit the floor hard on his buttocks with such force that his glasses flew off. Ignoring the pain on his back he scrambled on his feet and retrived the glasses in the process. Luckily they hadn't broken. Angrily he put them back on his face and walked away from the mirror. After this strange incident, he never wanted to see the mirror again.
'C'mon Ron…' Harry growled. '…let's get out of here.'
Ron didn't answer. Infact, Ron was gone. Harry was all alone in the chamber.
'Ron, what the hell are you up to now?' he shouted towards the doorway. Being completely annoyed and
disappointed with his friend Harry hurried back through the rooms he came from to catch up with his classmate. As he
rushed passed the giant chess-pieces he came to wonder how Ron could have disappeared so fast. Only two seconds had
passed when the mirror did its strange behaviour to him, but there wasn't a single sign of the red-headed
Gryffindor. It was like he'd vanished in thin air.
It was when Harry finally had climbed up from the trap-door and came out from the corridor when he felt that something was wrong. The castle felt all of the sudden cold, it was quite dark and unusally quiet. But it wasn't night yet, that was impossible. And even if it was, the castle was not supposed to be cold. He reached the staircases that would take him to the Great Hall, he was halfway down when he halted and gazed around. The staircases stood deathly still. They didn't move. Harry felt that something was terribly wrong here, and he began to feel even more cold from the very thought. Resuming his pace he reached the main floor and then he got an idea. He was going to ask the people in the paintings of what was happening. But as he turned to the first frame he got surprised. The paintings were empty. All of them.
Confused, and starting to feel scared, Harry hurried to the Great Hall. He could feel a sense of panic overwhelming him as he looked around. The Great Hall was deserted, and no one had bothered to clean up after themselves. Sure enough, the tables were laid with dishes and goblets, but they no longer had any golden glance. They were miscolored and covered with grime and dust, and the long tables had turned gray and were cracked what looked like from age. But it was the roof that really frightened him. No floating candles were in sight but there was a visible roof. He couldn't see outside. It was no longer bewitched!
Harry was in panic now. Rushing out from the Great Hall he thought that he would go to the Gryffindor common room to check for any signs of what was going on there. But he was sure it probably would be as deserted as the rest of the castle. He quickly reached the corridor that would take him there but halted as he rounded the corner. To his great relif he finally saw movement. A ghost came through the door that led to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and was moving along down the corridor. Harry only saw the back of the ghost and decided that it wasn't Myrtle, the ghost looked like a male. It had to be Nearly Headless Nick, he usually strolled around the castle to keep an extra eye on everything. Thinking that he finally would get some answers to what was going on, Harry rushed after him, calling his name.
'Nick. Sir Nickolas, wait up!'
The Ghost turned around in surprise. Harry on the other hand stopped dead in his tracks as he gazed upon the
apparation. He became so shocked that he dropped on his buttocks a second time in only half an hour, only this time he
didn't feel it. He could only stare with wide open eyes before him with a just as wide open mouth, being totally
unable to speak.
It wasn't Nearly Headless Nick, but neither was it any of the other ghost's that Harry had seen around Hogwarts.
It was Ron.
Next: What happened?