A Hidden Hallway? PV Valerie & Evelyn Closed

As she commanded them to come inside, she noticed the abnormally low ceilings that shouldn't have been covered in spider webs. Spiders, great. She could handle anywhere from snakes to the thought of drowning, but spiders were a no-no. The wind blew between them, it was a bit strange in fact, colder than usual. "It smells like expired water..." She groaned.

The hallway seemed unfathomable to Emma. The hallway just continued to go on for footstep after footstep, candidly, she was growing exhausted of it. She hugged herself as if giving herself a giant bear hug. Her arms were pasted to her body in an endeavor to spread the temperature from her body to her arms. 

They're footsteps echoed across the stone walls, which seemed the same as the usual Hogwarts's walls they passed every morning to classes. The sound rang in her ears, and continued to, making her extremely annoyed. 

The brunette looked from left to right as many times as her neck could contain. She looked ahead of her, and even once in a while, she took a step back to observe the walls that the group had already passed. Miraculously, as if she had overlooked it, a door appeared. Well, not exactly a door. It was a brass circular doorknob with the Hogwarts emblem, Emma sat there, nudging both Valerie and Evelyn. 

Fascinated, Valerie took note of the corridor around them while she slowly walked further inside. The ceiling wasn't as high as it had been in the hallway they had come from, but still there were spiderwebs in the upper corners and she could feel a slight, chilly breeze despite the cloak she was wearing. There had to be another entry, and it was at least big enough for wind and spider food - months, flies and small bugs most likely - to find their way inside the castle. Their air also smelled a little moldy and there were traces of running water on some of the old stones. The whole corridor felt like they were in the dungeons of Hogwarts, not on one of the upper floors. Still, there was less dust than she had expected.

"There is at least one other entry to this corridor, probably more," she told the other two in a quiet voice. "And yeah, it smells like mold. I think we are... beneath as sewer or some other part of the water supply system. Maybe this is some kind of maintenance tunnel..."

The deeper inside they went, the more obvious the drop in temperature was, which was confusing to Valerie as they were deep inside of Hogwarts and the castle should be warmer here, not colder.

A nudge from her side pulled Valerie out of her thoughts and she looked at a door knob of all things. It looked really out of place on the bare wall, especially since the door it should have been attached to was missing. Something bugged her about it though, and she had stare at it for almost a bit before she realized what it was: this was Hogwarts, a castle that was more than a millenia old.

The invisible door should have had a handle and a keyhole, not a simple door knob.

"Be careful," she whispered to Emma and Evelyn. "This is too easy."

Evelyn hummed in consideration of Valerie's words, but they haven't died yet so it would probably be fine. Emma appeared to be getting cold and she wasn't willing to offer up her scarf without prompting so getting inside the mysterious room seemed like a convenient solution to their problems. If it was a maintenance tunnel the worst that could happen would be them getting scolded by the house elves.

"Yeah, maybe. Why don't we go in and find out? Worst comes to worst we can throw down the gauntlet and go all fisticuffs on whatever's there." She shrugged and reached out to turn the doorknob. It was rusty yet gave little resistance to her pushing. Instead it seemed almost eager to let them in, which was strange but okay. She chose not to focus on the negative. Ignorance is key unless stated otherwise!

The room she stepped into was tiled with some stone she couldn't identify. The low ceilings carried over the wide stretching room. Except, the only thing there was a silver mirror. It was one of the full body ones you would see in clothing shops. If you ignored the enchanted inscriptions and almost liquid like glass pane and the fact that none of it was rusted like it should be with the state of everything else. Rather it appeared lovingly kept. She stepped aside so the others could see what she sees.

The bitter gale of wind blew in her face, though the breeze seemed to progress down her entire body. It was like gazing down into an invaluable artifact in a museum, she didn't want to touch it, but she did. Emma had no clue what was on the other side of that invisible door, but she wanted to find out. Thankfully, Evelyn had more guts than she did. Almost absentmindedly, she turned the isolated doorknob, she stood a few feet back.

There were no screams emitting from Evelyn, that was a good sign. Or maybe it was because something had her frozen in fear, she shook out the pessimistic thoughts swimming inside of her head. Emma peeked her head inside of the doorway, she had been so senseless. A mirror had stood there, she noticed it at once. 

Emma took a deep breath of both relief and fear. Whatever was awaiting her was either going to make her cry or scream, hopefully for joy. She took a step inside of the dark room, with the mirror as its star. Nothing else happened to be inside of the room, which she found a bit peculiar. She kept her gaze with the ground, though kept trying feeble attempts to make her look.

Valerie watched, enthralled, as Eveyln stretched her hand and reached for the door knob. The whole thing seemed ridiculously easy her, nothing like what her aunt had told her about the hidden rooms and secret passages they had found when exploring ruins of old magical castles. She expected traps maybe, or fire, or at least smoke, but when the Hufflepuff girl carefully opened the door it happened thankfully without any dire consequences on their part.

The other two girls took the lead and Valerie stepped inside behind them, closing the door to the corridor behind them to keep the blasted wind out. A series of torches by the door blazed into light then, illuminating the room and the ornate mirror that stood in its middle.

It was long room with a ceiling that wasn't much higher than that of the hallway they had come from. Still the walls were made from another kind of stone than the ones used for the normal corridors. Marble perhaps, but if that was the case it would be an ancient chamber.

"Wow," Valerie mumbled when she returned her attention on the mirror. It definitely wasn't a normal mirror with the way it shone in the light. There was an inscription on the rim, and Valerie instinctively made a few steps towards it to be able to read what was written there.

Evelyn nodded in agreement with Valerie. Wow indeed. The torches flickered against her back and gave her hair a copper sheen. She dragged her teeth over her bottom lip again before choosing to step closer. Her strides were quiet and had a subtle roll to them, because of the draft her robes flared out behind her. It was quickly closed off when she stationed herself beside the mirror. Not in front of it, she didn't want to gaze at unattainable dreams yet. At least not until the others had their first glance.

She waved her arm out. "Come one come all to the newest attraction. What will you see? Nobody knows! The only way you'll find out is to step up. So come! come! Come forward you two." Evelyn bared her teeth in a grin. "But beware, this is not for the light hearted."

She dropped her arm and stretched her back, standing for so long had started to made her sore. This is why she didn't slouch. Doing such things only made it worse in the long run. Valerie and Emma appeared fine though. Valerie already seemed to be stepping up on to the plate. Evelyn idly wondered what she would see if not her reflection. Would what she spoke of really come true?

Emma eyed the mirror both suspiciously and curiously. She was curious to see what'd she see inside of the mirror. She kept reminding herself that the other two couldn't view what she was seeing, perhaps she could hold her emotions back. Her blue outlined robes dragged behind her on the grimy floor as she walked near the mirror.

Evelyn had tried her best attempt as a Carnival spokesperson, though she had to admit she wasn't bad. As far as she had been told, the others wouldn't be able to view her thoughts. Her jaw dropped an inch when Valerie had easily volunteered. It was as if she had nothing to fear, unlike herself, and like Evelyn had mentioned, this mirror was not for the light-hearted.

As the fellow Ravenclaw stepped up to the mirror, she paid it no actual attention. She inched over to the mirror, though she saw only Valerie's reflection. The brunette was more focused on her own image in the mirror, who would invent such a thing? The viewer would ever see something good, bad, or in Emma's case, heartwrenching. She looked at the ancient writing on the Mirror, she knew that Erised meant Desire backward, but what did the sentence mean?

Valerie heard the girls shuffling around behind her back. Eveyln advertised the "newest attraction" with a true showman's voice, but she didn't even turn to look at her, so fascinated was she by the ancient mirror. It was truly magnificent with clawed metal feet and a surface like rippling water, and as her eyes adjusted to the flickering light cast by the torches she could finally read its inscription. Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

Your heart's desire, one of the girls had said earlier. Erised. Desire.

"Your heart's desire..." she mumbled, her eyes glued to the letters. "I show... not... your face... but your heart's desire. You were right, Eveyln."

It was then, when she turned her eyes down from the inscription on the top of the high frame, that her eyes fell on the mirror. First she thought that the promised display of her heart's desire was wrong, as she only saw herself, robe, Ravenclaw scarf and all.

The image slowly changed as she watched herself age, from one year to the next. Her reflection - could she even call it that anymore? - grew older, taller, stood straighter and changed her hairstyle to a short cut Valerie thought to be pretty ugly, but maybe she would really like this sidecut when she'd reached that age, who knew. Still, there wasn't really anything she-

"Oh," she whispered and stared at the mirror, where her twelve year old brother Vincent now stood beside her eighteen-year-old self, a grin on his face and the Ravenclaw crest embroidered on his Hogwarts school robes.

"I didn't think..." she began, talking to herself, truly captivated by the image of the two of them hugging in the mirror. "Your heart's desire."

She'd always wondered. The wizarding world could be cruel, especially to ones like them: the children of a Squib mother, grandchildren to two muggles and two pure-bloods who had turned their back on the old ways. Vincent would be saver as a Squib, she'd thought. He'd be happier, she'd thought. Maybe it's for the better if he never becomes a wizard, she'd thought sometimes.

There had always been those two sides in her, waging the war over what would be better for Vincent, what would make him truly happy... but it seemed that deep down, hidden where only this mirror seemed to be able to see, she wanted him to be like her. To be a wizard. To join Hogwarts and for her to be able to show him this magnificent castle, even if they'd only be here together for a single year.

"This mirror," she finally said and turned around to Emma and Evelyn, grinning, "Is amazing."

Maybe for you, Emma thought to herself though she decided to say something positive. "Umm... Seems unique?" She stammered, it was the first thing that came to mind. She didn't want to take too long to respond, it'd be a bit peculiar.

Emma had figured it was her turn. Unprepared for the upcoming events, she took her position in front of the mirror. She glanced once more at the reversed writing on the mirror and then down to her feet. She was absolutely sure that her reflection could not be seen in the mirror, after all, she could only see Valerie's reflection.

She hated the fact that the mirror could read her emotions and her heart. It was as if the mirror knew herself better than she did. She looked up at the mirror and thankfully, she saw herself, though that wasn't for her.

A bit horrorstruck, her figure began to shrink. Her hair had fixed itself into two chest-length braids and her beady eyes seemed to have enlargened. Just what she needed, it was as if the mirror knew every single detail from her life, larger than what she remembered. She looked down at her four-year-old self, her bangs were out of control. The toddler wore a purplish dress that reminded her of the one like the Disney princess, though this one had less detail.

The brunette had recognized the figure at once, miraculously, an older figure walked on to the scene of the mirror. It was her grandmother that had started her very own tradition. She felt extremely guilty, she had forgotten the voice of her deceased relative. Two more figures walked on to set, did the deceased side of her family want to torment her? It was herself, her grandmother and two other figures. She hadn't recognized them, but she figured they were family also. The look they were giving her grandmother was undeniable. 

She waved sluggishly, though the figure seemed to have moved her arm at the precise time. Mirrors weren't capable of talking, were they? She hoped not. If this was her heart's desire, would it know that she didn't remember the voice of her favorite family member? 

Emma wasn't the best at reading lips, though the figure seemed to make it ten times easier. As the words appeared out her mouth her mouth opened slightly. It was almost like she could hear the words ringing, though unsure of reality or fantasy. You've done well. Yet, good could have meant anything. She put her hands behind her back as a fire ignited in her body, the room was no longer cold to her. Her eyes became hot and her left foot a bit numb.

Quickly stepping out, she gestured that it was Evelyn's turn. "It was great," she lied, though her cheeks seemed to turn a bright pink. 

The other two seemed to have positive results. She didn't expect to see anything new or exciting though. Evelyn knew what she wanted to do with her life. She would work in the ministry as an unspeakable of the death or time department. There wouldn't be anything special to surprise her. But once Emma stepped back and she stepped forward all she saw was her reflection. It began to steadily change. Not how she expected.

The glass rippled like water, the light slanting off murky depths. She looked behind her to see if the other two noticed anything. But they didn't, so she hesitantly turned back. She was there suspended in the water. Seaweed tangled her hair and gills filtered water. Why did she have gills? Evelyn scratched her neck under her scarf. She couldn't take her eyes away. Her body was half transformed into that of a kelpie. Just like the Kelpie that lurked behind her. No! She lurched forward her hand trying to grasp mirror her's.

But she couldn't. This wasn't real, this wasn't what she wanted. It couldn't be. Her skin wasn't suppose to look so stiff, she wasn't suppose to have fins. Mirror her smiled as the scales crept up her torso. She couldn't watch anymore once her eyes became filmy grey. Evelyn pulled back outside the view of the mirror. She was torn between laughing and crying so she did neither. Instead she composed herself and smiled.

"Yeah, great."