Edited by: Orlaith and Cinderella Angelina

Chapter 11 - Mirror Mirror

The air around the forest was cold; it was nearly winter again. The moon above was full, but was only a drifting ghost through view of the mixed pine and cedar that surrounded the area. A creature with bat-like wings and a head like a dragon landed on a small clearing; she struck her hooves on the ground impatiently.

As she waited, Tenebrus thought about the dense kelpie who took things a little too literally. She had initially thought that it was a good thing for Seidon to have reached Sirius Black before Thetis did. However, she saw how naïve and unprepared Seidon was; she was not so sure anymore. Thetis would at least be a better guide than the current kelpie that fate had thrown to young Sirius Black. Dyrdar was also not very pleased with the fact that a kelpie had reached the last of the Blacks, before she did. The unicorn's only consolation was that Thetis was also displeased that another kelpie had stumbled across the child before she could. Neither Tenebrus nor Dyrdar trusted Thetis' motives; that kelpie from Lochness is known to be deceptive. Seidon was at least brutally honest.

"Hello, Tenebrus. What brings you to my side of the forest?"

By all accounts, the creature before her looked just like any unicorn, but it stood apart due to its dark colouring and spiked horn. The way that the unicorn was able to speak inside her head still unnerved the thestral.

"Dyrdar, I came to tell you that you need not worry about the kelpie. Seidon has no ill designs for the last Black child, but he is young and inexperienced. I'd like to ask for you to reconsider; that stallion would need a mentor to understand his true role in all this."

The unicorn tossed back her head in disdain. "Why should I? It is no longer my task. He took it upon himself, so best we leave him be, leave him to deal with it."

White eyes stared intently at the creature in front of her. "He accidentally stumbled upon this situation; neither Sirius Black nor his guide is ready. We cannot risk this."

The unicorn trotted towards the thestral. "Seidon will never be ready. He is nothing more that a weak river guardian. Even Thetis did not think that he was worth any attention."

"Was. He was a weak river guardian but, kelpies draw their strength from the water by which they reside. He now guards Hogwart's magical lake, he is much stronger than even he, himself, realizes." Tenebrus answered, as she watched the unicorn intently.

The unicorn stared at the thestral in surprise, "But kelpies were not supposed to see that lake. The Founders made sure that they protected that lake from the likes of Thetis."

The thestral nodded. "Which is the reason as to why Thetis has yet to find Seidon. Sirius Black, led Seidon to that lake. That foolish kelpie willingly bonded himself with the child without knowing the full implications. Seidon, is not part of Thetis' herd, I believe it best that we work with him to assist Sirius Black."

"I'll think about it."

"Do not waste too much time. It is our haven that is at stake. I for one do not trust that kelpie's judgment on human matters."

Hermione Granger's brown eyes continued to study the reflection in front of her. Hogwarts prepared her to view the strange and unexpected as normal, but this was ridiculous.

"You're my what?"

Her reflection gave an exasperated sigh. "Subconscious. It's the part of the mind below the level of conscious perception..."

"I know what subconscious means!"

"Good, I was starting to doubt your intelligence."

"Why exactly are you here?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"I've been watching you."

Hermione stared at the reflection suspiciously, "Watching me?"

"In the subconscious watching the conscious sort of way..."

"All right, I'm not falling for this. This is some sort of sick trick, either by S.P.A.W.N. or Draco Malfoy."

The image on the reflection shot her an indignant look, "Pranks are beneath me. They are an entirely pointless activity enjoyed by humans and leprechauns."

Hermione frowned and studied her reflection a bit more carefully. "Wait. If you're me, aren't you human as well?"

"You're human. I'm not. I may look human but..."

Hermione sighed. "Al right… Why don't we go back to why you're here..."

The reflection rolled its eyes. "I'm here to help you figure out Malfoy's plot, and how he pulled it."

Hermione bit her lower lip, for this seemed too good to be true. "And how did you come across this information?"

"As I said, I was watching."

Hermione frowned and with a voice tinged with suspicion, she asked, "Watching? I thought you said that you're 'my subconscious' - not some all seeing god."

The image in the mirror tossed back her hair. "A god, I like the sound of that ..." Upon seeing Hermione's confused expression; the reflection corrected its slip, "By 'watching', I meant that which I heard from other people's conversation; conversations which you had heard slightly, and had not given much thought to."

The first big Quidditch game of the season had arrived, and Harry was glad that Sirius would still watch the game and cheer for him despite last night's debacle. He lowered his head in embarrassment as a group passed by with a 'Potter for President' placard. Beside him, Sirius Black snickered and shouted, "It's a Quidditch game you dolts! He's not running for office. Can't you people even get your facts straight?"

Harry shook his head, as Sirius received numerous glares. "Sirius, I don't think you need to provoke people..."

"You're right! I ought to just concentrate on Longbottom. Now there's a guy who deserved it," he snickered mischievously.

Harry's eyes widened in alarm. "I thought you were going to concentrate on the Professors this whole week?"

Sirius shrugged. "Wrong, Harry. S.P.A.W.N. decided to concentrate on the teachers, I on the other hand, am another matter entirely." Both boys stopped as they neared the Quidditch field. "I guess this is where we split up, Wood's signaling you to hurry up and go over there. Good luck, Harry."

"Thanks. Are you going to finally talk to Ron, or maybe even Fred and George?"

Sirius crossed his arms smugly, "No."

Harry by now was a bit exasperated by Sirius' immature attitude, "Sirius..."

Sirius smirked and copied Harry's tone of voice, "Harry..."

Harry Potter watched as his friend headed for the stands. He decided to clear his thoughts for the present because he needed to concentrate on the game. He would worry about the dilemma with his friends later. Harry turned around and jogged toward the assembled team. Harry felt terrified and excited at the same time as he listened to Oliver Wood's pre-game motivational speech.

As Sirius headed toward the stands, he was intercepted by two large burly figures. "Crabbe, Goyle. Move it you overgrown apes."

"Sirius, Sirius..." The figure of Draco Malfoy appeared as the burly first years parted to give way to their ringleader. "I can see that you're developing the Gryffindorks' brusque manner."

"Aren't you supposed to sit on the Slytherin side, Draco?" Sirius drawled in a bored manner.

Draco raised his right hand towards his chin and nodded. "Yes, but I've decided that we ought to have some pre-game fun."

Hermione tapped Ron Weasley on his shoulder. "Ron, where's Sirius?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "How should I know? The git still refused to talk to me."

"We need to talk. Neville, Sirius, all of us are being set up, and I think I've figured out who's truly responsible..." Hermione was interrupted by a loud crash, which was followed by gales of laughter. She turned to her right, towards the direction of where the sound had originated. Her eyes narrowed as she marched towards the laughing group. "Leave him alone, you insufferable prats!"

Sirius gave Hermione a look of pure innocence. "He tripped."

"Trust that dolt to trip on his own shoelaces," Draco Malfoy sneered at the fallen boy.

Ron stepped up from behind Hermione, he noticed that Neville's shoelaces were tied to one another. He shook his head. "Black, I expected more from you."

Grey eyes narrowed towards the red head. "And I expect nothing from you." Sirius turned his back on Ron and walked away. Draco smirked and signaled his two goons, and they followed Sirius down the aisle.

Ron watched his friend; his mind reeled in shock at the anger in Sirius' voice. He had known that Sirius was still angry due to last night's events. Now his friend's anger was further fueled by the fact that Ron had admonished him. By now, Ron understood how emotional and irrational Sirius could get; that idiot most likely translated this recent event as: Ron siding with Neville, and therefore meant: 'Against him'.

The blond Slytherin wrinkled his nose. "Black, I have to say that this place stinks with Mudbloods, Weasley trash and Squibs. How you were able to stand this, I do not know."

Sirius frowned for he did not want to sit with Draco and the other Slytherins and listen to Draco's monologues about Mudbloods and Weasleys. However, he was obviously not welcome here. He grinned as he found 'the perfect solution' headed his way.

The Deputy Headmistress held back an urge to roll her eyes. "Mr. Black, unless you wish to be sent to detention before this game starts, I suggest you stop this nonsense of yours."

Sirius grinned and took the seat to McGonagall's right. "For the chance to sit by your side, my dear... anything."

The Transfiguration Professor opened her mouth, but decided that to tell Sirius to go take another seat was not proper.

Hermione glared at Sirius' direction, "How you're able to stand that jerk. I do not know."

Ron's eyes narrowed toward the prissy know-it-all, "How you can stand that cowardly back-stabber surprises me even more." Ron turned his attention toward at the other boy, who still struggled to untangle his shoelaces. "Sirius may be out-of-line, but he only acted out of anger. Neville, you on the other hand, acted out of pure malice. He never did anything to you. Sirius is not Orion, he is not Nadine and he is definitely not Bellatrix."

"Ron... I didn't ..." Neville stuttered.

Hermione nodded. "He's telling you the truth Ron, The one responsible was..."

"Oh shove it!" Ron turned around and stalked off. He searched the stands and found a seat beside Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan.

The game started smoothly, and both sides enthusiastically cheered for their team. Halfway through the game, Harry's Nimbus 2000 suddenly flew out of control; it vibrated, and flew higher and higher. Harry held on tight to the broom as it attempted to throw him off, as well as avoiding all his teammate's attempts for a quick rescue.

The crowd gasped as the broom continued to buck and dive. Ron spotted Snape from across the stand; he caught Hermione's eye as both realized that the Potions Professor was muttering some sort of spell; his watched Harry intently as he continued to chant. Ron nodded as both made their way towards the other side of the stand.

Sirius Black's eyes gleamed with determination as he stood up and aimed his wand towards Harry and the cursed broom. "Reverbo Plenus!" Beside him Minerva McGonagall gasped.

Harry opened his eyes and was surprised to see that he now stood on solid ground.

"Mr. Potter?"

Harry blinked, for he was surprised to see Minerva McGonagall by his left and he stood by the bleachers. Beside him the Transfiguration Professor cursed, "Black, you insufferable moron..."

Harry's eyes widened for high above them, in his former place atop the broom was Sirius Black.

On the other side of the stand Hermione managed to set Snape's robes on fire. The Potions Professor jumped up to put the fire out and accidentally knocked-out the Defense Against Dark Arts Professor in the process. Unfortunately her attempt to distract the caster came too late...

"He's falling!"

Sirius had not realized how that particular reversal spell would tire him out. He struggled to hold onto the broom, but he felt his grip slip. He closed his eyes and felt the air rush against him, and then he heard the sound of flapping wings. He could not see a thing except the bright blue sky above, but something swooped beneath him and carried him towards the stray broom.

Hagrid handed Sirius another cup of tea "Yeh sure yeh alrigh', lad?"

Sirius nodded but he was still visibly shaken. After that near death experience, he had decided to put all grudges on hold. Ron, Fred and George had looked too genuinely worried for Sirius to hold a grudge against them.

"Yeh were lucky that Tenebrus was around ter save yeh."

Sirius looked up from the cup which he held. "Tenebrus?"

"A thestral, invisible horses they be, lad. We got a whole herd here." Hagrid explained in a solemn manner.

Ron growled. "I'm telling you. Snape did it. He never liked Harry, and that night when the troll attacked, he was sneaking around. Sirius did mention that Snape went to see Pomfrey that very same night, due to some animal bite. He must be after that package."

Hagrid shook his head. "Yeh betteh watch those thoughts of yours lad. Preffeser Snape would not harm 'is students and he can't possibly know wha' Dumbledore was hiding. The Headmaster trusts him and tha' should be enough fer yeh."

Harry looked curiously at Hagrid. "What was in that package, Hagrid?"

"Yeh best ferget about it lad. Tha' package concerns only Albus Dumbledore an'Nicolas Flamel."

Harry looked at Ron who gave him a mirrored blank look, "Who's Nicolas Flamel?"

Hagrid eyes widened as he realized his slip. "Yeh best ferget wat I said. This business is not fer young lads like yerselves. Just concentrate on having fun like those three." Hagrid pointed toward the direction of Sirius and the Weasley Twins, who were going about another inane conversation amongst themselves.

Sirius leaned back on his chair and moaned, "I haven't pulled a prank all day."

"Us too," Fred echoed forlornly.

Sirius turned his attention to the twins, "Are we still a team?"

"Of course!" George smiled at the fact that they're finally re-grouping.

Sirius smiled. "Let's not fight again."

Fred nodded enthusiastically. "Ditto. It's bad for our pranking schedule."

George smirked. "So this it what kiss and make up is…"

The statement startled Sirius so much, that he managed to accidentally push his chair further back than necessary. This caused the chair to tumble back onto the floor with Sirius on it.

Fred and George laughed at their friend's predicament.

From his position on the floor, Sirius made a face. "Ewww! I'm not kissing you! Moreover, make ups are for girls."

"You're a git. Do you know that?" Fred laughed.

Sirius stood up indignantly. "At least I'm not gay!"

Fred blinked for he was unable to understand where Sirius was coming from. "Who's gay?"

"George!"

Fred fell to the floor and rolled over in laughter.

George glared at the idiotic first year. "I'm not gay, you blistering moron."

Sirius crossed his arms and drawled, "You're the one who wanted to kiss and put on make-up."

George threw his arms in the air. "It's a figure of speech, you lunkhead."

Sirius ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "See? Now he wants to talk about his figure. I mean, how gay is that?"

"Arrgh! Black! I'm going to wring your neck!" George growled and threw himself onto the infuriating first year.

Fred grinned and joined the scuffle.

Harry and Ron snickered. Both boys were glad that things were finally back to normal.

"I mean did you see how he suddenly took Harry's place? And how he floated in air? I'm telling you it's Dark magic."

Hermione shook her head. "I looked the spell up. 'Reverbo Plenus' is a spell used by Aurors for extreme circumstances, when guarding dignitaries. It is said to be very draining to the caster. How Sirius was able to float back towards that broom is what's truly surprising."

"It's simple. Dark magic gave him that extra boost of energy and enabled him to float his way back towards the broom."

From his place by the couch, Sirius shot a dark look towards the group who discussed him as if he weren't around. He started to contemplate on the hexes he'd want to throw their way.

Harry placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and shook his head. Sirius grumbled and took a seat by the fire with Fred and George. Ron and Harry continued their game of Wizard Chess.

Percy approached the group. "I thought Mum already made things clear to you three."

Ron grumbled, "Shove it, Percy."

Sirius watched Percy carefully. A smile slowly formed upon his lips. Sirius Black, prankster extraordinaire had just come up with a brilliant idea. Beside him, Fred and George looked at one another and grinned, for they liked the mischievous gleam in Sirius' eyes.

Sirius stood up and glared at Percy, the lighted fireplace behind him made his grey eyes look slightly red, thus giving the boy and even more menacing appearance.

He gave each and every face within the common room an eerie smile.

He walked across toward Ron and Harry's chess set and pick up a bishop. Ron tried to protest, "Sirius! We're in a middle of a game here..." Sirius however ignored Ron, and continued...

Sirius lifted the squirming bishop piece in front of his face and smiled. He admired how his voice echoed through the room which enabled him to sound all the more menacing.

Sirius raised his empty left hand and pointed straight at Percy; the fire behind him crackled and glowed.

Sirius then threw the screaming bishop piece into the fire. The flames grew brighter as it burned the remains of bishop.

Ron moaned. "Sirius! That's my bishop!"

Lavender Brown looked to the right and left, then asked, "What's a Frisbee?"

Fred grinned. "It's a Muggle beheading device."

Hermione Granger rolled her eyes. "Oh for ..." She was however interrupted as Sirius picked a pawn from the chess board. He gave it a look of disgust as he held it in front of him.

Sirius smiled evilly as he turned towards Neville, he again used his left hand and pointed toward his nemesis,

Neville gasped as Sirius threw the second screaming chess piece into the flames.

Beside Sirius, Ron grumbled. "Black, you owe me a new chess set."

Sirius placed his right hand under his chin, as if he was in deep thought. His grey eyes stared down onto the remaining chess pieces.

A stampede of Gryffindor students ran out of the common room, all screaming for help.

Minerva McGonagall marched inside the Gryffindor common room. She had been surprised to find a large group of her Gryffindor students in hysterics. Most of them were babbling about Sirius being a Dark Lord, who had cursed Percy and Neville with the use of a chess set. Every one of them was afraid to return to Gryffindor Tower, for they feared to be the next one cursed. Never in her life had Minerva heard of such nonsense. She had planned to question Sirius Black about the matter. The scene she walked into however, clearly explained what had transpired.

Fred Weasley dramatically held up a throw pillow as his twin slowly unrolled a parchment. "And this Best Actor award goes to... Sirius Black! For his brilliant depiction as the 'Dark Lord of the Chess Set!'"

Hermione who had been trying to get a word edge-wise for quite a while, noticed the Deputy Headmistress' arrival, "Look, if you guys don't want to listen about Neville and Draco, you might want to know that Professor McGonagall is standing by the doorway." As expected the boys had not even heard a word that she had said.

Hermione sighed, for she now understood the reason why Harry found a need to shove a chocolate frog down Sirius' throat, just to get a word past that loud-mouthed dolt. Not only did Sirius Black not know when to shut up, but combined with the Weasley Twins, those three were impossible. Worse was the fact that Harry and Ron's full attention were on the antics of the three.

Sirius sauntered over and accepted the pillow from Fred. "Thank you for my second award of the night! I ..."

"Mr. Black! I should have known all this nonsense was your doing."

"Why thank you Minerva, I never knew you thought so highly of me. Does this mean that you'll finally go out with me?"

Fred protested, "Hey! How come you get all the credit, Black? A little acknowledgement to the people behind the scenes would be nice."

"Of course I deserved full credit. I wrote the script and I acted it out," Sirius lifted his chin arrogantly.

George shook his head. "Actors are such hams. They don't even acknowledge the 'Special Effects People'. Fred and I happened to be the ones who charmed the fire to glow brighter, and created all those dramatic crackles. Your performance would not have looked as eerie without our help."

"And don't forget your 'Props Manager', who charmed those chess pieces to scream as they were being thrown into the fire," Ron added.

Harry placed in his own two cents, "Let us not forget your 'Sound Effect Specialist', who enhanced your voice so everyone in the common room could hear you, and those echoes of mine made your performance even more dramatic."

Minerva McGonagall glared at all five boys, while Hermione shook her head and contemplated the 'Stupidity of Boys' in general.

The area by the lake was so quiet and peaceful this night. However, Tenebrus had not come by the lake to relax, nor admire its beauty. "Seidon."

From behind the thick bushes, the kelpie answered, "Shush Tenebrus, I'm quite busy."

The thestral tapped its hoof to the ground, impatiently. "It is a matter of importance."

"A genius need not be rushed."

The thestral sighed. "What are you up to?"

The kelpie however only gave her a vague answer, "Playing god."

Sirius Black moaned, for he had 90 more lines to go. On the board he had written: 'I will not pretend to be a Dark Lord and throw fake curses at my housemates.'

Beside him Harry busily wrote: 'I will not assist Sirius by being his Sound Effects Specialist.'

Ron and his brothers were also busy with their own lines to write.

"Guys?"

Ron groaned. "What now, Black?"

"I'm bored."

Harry sighed. "Which is why we'd best finish these lines as soon as possible and thus get out of here."

"Just a thought, its still 'Target the Teachers Week'..." Fred smirked, and faced his companions.

Ron moaned. "Fred! This isn't really the time..."

Unfortunately George did not share Harry and Ron's sentiment, "Indeed. What do you have in mind Fred?"

Sirius laughed. "I've got a good one. How do you think Snivellus' hair feels at being sooo neglected?"

Fred and George grinned at one another. "We might have just the solution for that..."

"Guys!" Harry interrupted, "You can discuss that later, inside the privacy of our room. This is not exactly the ideal place for you to plan your pranks."

To Ron's relief, their three companions saw the logic in Harry's argument and turned back to writing their assigned lines.

An eagle owl tapped softly on the window by his bedside. Draco Malfoy rose from his bed and accepted the old newspaper that the owl carried. He unrolled the paper carefully, and smiled.

Percy Weasley sighed as he pulled out a quill and a parchment and began to write:

Dear Mum,

P.S. When did Dad start losing his hair?

Hermione stared at the mirror in front of her and once again concentrated, but still to no avail. Tired and frustrated, she slumped onto the counter and grumbled:

A soft blue light enveloped the glass as her reflection ceased to be a simple mirror image. "You bellowed?"

Hermione glared at her image, "Finally! I've been trying to summon you for the past 30 minutes. My roommates are wondering why I'm in the bathroom for this long talking to myself!"

The reflection that claimed to be her subconscious flipped back a strand of hair arrogantly. "You really should do something about this hair of yours..." Seeing Hermione's glare, the reflection crossed its arms defiantly. "You don't summon me. I come to you when I feel like it."

Hermione gritted her teeth and wondered if people found her as infuriating as this subconciousness of hers. "I want some advice."

"Yes, it's only natural for a human to seek advice from a wiser being."

"You're not wiser. You're me, you dolt!"

The reflection raised an eyebrow, "So you're now calling yourself a dolt. Do you really believe that I can help you with this self-esteem issue of yours? Sorry, that is not my specialty. Go seek out a professional, or I can suggest you go to Professor Lupin temporarily, that man is good listener..."

Hermione felt an urge to literally pull her hair out, but she settled with throwing a brush towards the reflection.

"Ouch!"

Hermione stared in surprise as her brush managed to bounce off her reflection's head, and the mirror image rubbed its forehead, then glared at Hermione.

"Fine. I'm leaving!"

Hermione's eyes widened frantically, "Wait! I apologize. I really need your advice on this problem."

"And why should I assist an insolent and ungrateful brat such as yourself? I have better things to do with my time."

Hermione wondered what a 'subconcious' did in its free time, but decided that to ask that particular question would further infuriate the being in front of her. "Because I verified your version of what happened, but Harry, Ron and Sirius won't even listen to me. I don't mean that they don't believe me. I just can't get them to listen to a word I say."

Her reflection cocked its head to its right, and placed a finger on its chin. "You should take a page off Sirius' book. Now there's a boy who knows how to get people's attention." The soft blue light started to fade.

"Wait! What do you mean by that?" Hermione placed a hand on the mirror, but it was too late. All she managed was to have her hand pressed on the cold, hard glass - a plain, normal reflection stared back at her.

Author's Note:

Next Chapter: Cycle of Chaos. Plenty of classroom pranks and my first attempt in an action sequence... Picture this: Kelpie versus Fudge! Stop laughing *pout* I'm being serious here.

On the horses' names:

Seidon - The kelpie's name was derived from Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. This god is said to have given horses to man (fitting isn't it?). I chose to derived the kelpie's name from Poseidon and give his personality an air of arrogance (with moronic tendencies/childishness) as is common with Greek gods.

Tenebrus - Is the name of the thestral in OOTP, she is said to be Hagrid's favorite (So she's the only horse that is not an OC). I did not have to do any thinking for this name but for those interested; Tene means 'love' (African origin) 'Bruis' means mansion/rich home (Celtic/Gaelic origin).

Dyrdar - I wanted a Norse sounding name for the unicorn. Dyr means 'deer' or 'rare' and dar stemmed from arr which means 'warrior'. Thought 'Dyr' is fitting since deers lived in woods, and also a dark unicorn is also a rare creature. As for the warrior part, it has more to do with her serious and cold personality.