Desires In Another Mirror

Harry followed Luna down a corridor, to a little room with bells lining one of the walls, each of them labelled with the name of a different room in the house. The labels looked old, and some of them were peeling now, but Harry could make out 'Anna's Room', 'Dining Room', 'Master Bedroom' and 'Library'.

Luna sat on the narrow bench underneath the row of bells, and Harry joined her.

'What is it?' she asked. 'What's wrong?'

'Luna... you believe in things that other people don't, don't you?'

'Frequently. Can you imagine, some people don't even think that the Blibbering Humdinger actually exists? I don't know why people are so closed-minded about it...'

'Luna... I'm trying to tell you something.'

'Oh, Harry, I'm sorry. Do go on.'

'Well, I have a story. And I don't think anyone would believe it except you, but I have to tell somebody, because otherwise I'm going to end up going wrong...'

'Tell me, then.'

Harry explained about the mirror. Luna listened carefully, nodding as he spoke.

'That must be very confusing,' she said, once he was finished. 'No wonder you've been so quiet. Ginny was worrying about you, you know. And I can see why you didn't want to tell anybody...'

'But you believe me, don't you?'

'Of course. Why would you make this up?'

'Oh, I'm so glad to hear you say that... will you help me? I need to know what's going on here... I need to figure out what's happening and what I need to do to get back home, but to do that I need to work out what's different here.'

'Well, of course I'll help you. What do you want to know?'

'Well, first of all - why aren't we at Hogwarts? What is this place?'

'Gosh... things really must be different where you come from! None of us has ever been to Hogwarts - it was made Pureblood Only in nineteen-eighty-four.'

'What? But Dumbledore would never allow that!'

'Dumbledore was too busy trying to defeat You-Know-Who to stop it. You do have You-Know-Who in your reality, don't you?'

'Oh, we have him alright,' said Harry.

'Well, anyway, Dumbledore had to choose his battles - it was more important to fight the Dark Lord than it was to keep Hogwarts open. He found this house instead, and McGonagall started this school. At first it was just the Order - of the Phoenix, you've heard of that? - who sent their children here, then McGonagall started to invite some of the people who had withdrawn their children from Hogwarts. And of course all the rescued Muggle children come here.'

'Rescued?'

'Yes, from the cullings.'

'Cullings?!'

'Yes. It was awful. Around the same time that Hogwarts closed, the Death Eaters started killing Muggles, left, right and centre. They didn't care who they were, they didn't care if they'd done anything wrong. They just did if for fun. Hundreds of thousands of Muggles died. The Order rescued as many as they could - particularly children. I mean, that's why Dudley lives with your family...'

'Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are... they're dead?'

'They were killed years ago, in the first wave of cullings. At least, your mother thinks they were. That was when we were all very small, of course...'

'Did they get to sleep alright?' James asked Lily, as she came down the stairs.

'Like little angels,' Lily smiled. 'At least someone can sleep at night.'

He looked sadly up at her, and she came to join him on the sofa, snuggling close to him and resting her head on his chest. For a moment they sat there quietly, listening to the thud of the rain on the roof and windows.

'Did you renew the protective spells around the house?' she asked.

'Of course. They're fine. They'll hold. Besides, Death Eaters wouldn't be out on a night like this. They like their comforts - the weather's much too bad for them, the cowards. We're safe, Lily.'

'Safe is a relative term. So we probably won't be murdered in our beds tonight. We still can't go to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade without worrying about being spotted and killed. We can't go to St Mungo's even... what if the children were to get sick? Where could we take them?'

'We'd call Minerva, and she'd call Poppy, and she'd be over here in a brace of shakes.'

'I suppose you're right.'

'Lily, things will get better. I know it doesn't seem like that - but things can't stay like this forever. Dumbledore has a plan. He'll figure out a way to overthrow You-Know-Who, and things will get better.'

'Oh, James, I hope you're right...'

There was a hammering on the front door.

'Who on Earth could that be?' James said. 'Lily, stay here, I'll go and see.'

'Oh, don't be such a hero, we'll both go,' she said, picking up her wand.

They tiptoed across to the door, and Lily opened it a crack, then opened it fully when she saw who was behind it.

'Petunia!' she gasped.

Her sister stared helplessly at her, then gulped and broke into floods of tears.

'Petunia, come in!' Lily cried. 'Oh, you're soaked! Come on.'

Petunia looked awful. She was pale and thin, and her eyes were red. Her hair was so wet that it was completely flat, and damp little tendrils stuck to her face. She had no coat, only a dress and a cardigan, both soaked through. She was balancing Dudley on her hip - he had always been a chubby child, but now he looked half-starved. She had at least managed to find a waterproof for him, though, and sheltered from the rain and clinging tight to his mother, he had managed to fall asleep.

Petunia said nothing as Lily steered her to the sofa and sat her down. James went away and came back with blankets and a cup of tea. Lily pointed her wand at the fireplace and at once there was a warm blaze. Petunia shuddered, holding Dudley tightly against her chest, letting Lily wrap a blanket around them both. She drank her tea awkwardly, unwilling to let go of her son.

Lily and James said nothing. James busied himself warming up the room, then disappeared into the kitchen to find something for Petunia to eat. Lily stroked her sister's dripping hair and made soothing noises.

After a while, Petunia spoke.

'I know I haven't always been good to you, Lily,' she said, her voice shaking.

'Petunia, it doesn't matter,' said Lily. 'You're my sister. It's alright. Whatever you need, you can have.'

'Oh, Lily, if it was only for myself I wouldn't ask... but Dudley...'

'Have the cullings started in Little Whinging, then?'

'Yes! There was a gang of them, tonight. They're all over the South now, it isn't safe anywhere. I just grabbed Dudley and got out of there. I've been driving for hours. I ran out of petrol about a mile from here and I just ran the rest of the way.'

'Where's Vernon, is he alright?'

Petunia choked back a sob. 'He wouldn't come. When I said I was coming here, he refused to come with me. He thinks your lot are all alike, he thinks you'd kill him soon as look at him, just like the Death Eaters would. He refuses to believe that you're scared too.'

'Oh, Petunia...' Lily sighed. 'I'm so sorry. You and Dudley can stay with us, you'll be safe here.'

'Oh Lily, thank you! I know I don't have any right to expect your help after how we've treated you...'

'Don't say another word,' said Lily. 'We're sisters.'

'But Lily... I have to go and find Vernon. You know how he is - he won't lie low. He draws attention to himself, he'll make trouble, I know it.'

'Petunia, it isn't safe. Stay here. We can send somebody to look for Vernon in the morning.'

'It won't work. He won't go with anybody except me. Can I leave Dudley here with you while I go to find him?'

'Well of course, but...'

'Lily... I know he isn't the best of men. He's pig-headed and vain, and he can be nasty. I know. He's far from perfect. But I love him. I have to at least try to find him, to keep him safe.'

Lily sighed. 'If that's what you want to do. And if you can persuade him, you're both welcome to come and stay here for as long as you like.'

'Oh, thank you... I'll see you soon then...'

'Petunia, don't go yet! You're still soaked, and you look as though you haven't eaten in days! Please stay a little while, at least until you've had a rest and something to eat.'

'I...'

'Please?'

'Alright... I'll stay a little while,' Petunia said. 'But just a very little while.'

Lily nodded. 'My room is the first on the right at the top of the stairs,' she said. 'Look in the second drawer of the wardrobe, find something warm to wear. And you can borrow my coat. Here, let me sit with Dudley a minute.'

Petunia handed over her sleeping son and went to change.

After that night, Lily never saw her sister again.

'That's awful...' Harry said. 'Poor Dudley...'

'And poor Hermione,' said Luna. 'Her parents are dead, too. Hermione's lucky to be alive - McGonagall rescued her. She always tries to find the Muggle-born magical children if she can. Hermione's been living with the Weasleys since she was five. Most of the Order families have at least one extra child.'

Harry shook his head in disbelief - this was worse than he had imagined.

'What else?' he asked. 'After the cullings started, what happened then?'

'Well, things carried on in pretty much the same way for a few years - most of the Muggles that weren't killed were used as slaves, or just thrown out onto the streets. Mostly now they live in slums, in constant fear of the Death Eaters. But Dumbledore was still working to defeat You-Know-Who - he found out about his horcruxes - do you know what a horcrux is?'

Harry shook his head.

'It's very powerful dark magic. When a wizard makes a horcrux, he puts a bit of his soul somewhere for safe-keeping. Makes him very difficult to kill. You-Know-Who had several, and Dumbledore spent those years looking for them, and destroying them. Meanwhile, McGonagall was mostly running the Order while Dumbledore was away, gathering intelligence, wearing the Death Eaters down. About seven years ago now, Dumbledore reported to the Order that he had finally destroyed all of the horcruxes - all that was left was to kill You-Know-Who himself. And so there was a battle.'

'I take it we didn't win,' Harry said, glumly.

'No,' said Luna. 'We did not.'

They had to attack the Death Eaters' Headquarters, in the end. There was no other way to get to Voldemort, no other way to defeat them conclusively.

Death Eater Headquarters these days was the building formerly known as Buckingham Palace. Voldemort had wanted to show that the Muggle way wasn't worth anything any more - he had taken over a symbol of Muggle power, Muggle tradition, and made it his own. It wasn't very pretty, now. The spiked railings were stuck with heads - some Muggle, some Wizard. Not that it mattered, now that they were dead. The walls of the palace itself were smeared with blood and gore. The windows were all blacked out.

The Order of the Phoenix got all the way to the Throne Room before the Death Eaters attacked in force. Elphias Doge was the first to fall. Emmeline Vance stopped to see if he was alive.

'No!' cried Dumbledore. 'There'll be time for that later, now we have to keep our minds on the battle.'

And he plunged into the room, firing curses in all directions and deflecting as many. The assembled masses of the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters met at last.

'Any sign of You-Know-Who?' Sirius asked Arthur Weasley, as the two of them crouched behind the broken throne for a moment, trying to work out the best spot to attack next.

'Nobody's seen him,' said Arthur. 'Can you spot Molly?'

'Over there,' said Sirius, pointing to where Molly was duelling with Dolohov.

Arthur ran to help her, and Sirius cursed another Death Eater who was about to do the same to Remus.

Curses flew across the chamber in all directions, bouncing randomly off shield charms. Bellatrix Lestrange, laughing, grabbed a candelabra from the floor, lit it with a spell, and used it to set fire to the curtains. The fire crept around the edges of the room, licking up the walls, filling the room with grey smoke.

And Voldemort entered. Everyone, Death Eaters and Order members, stopped for a moment as he walked, quite calmly, into the room. His face was so pale that it shone in the light of the flames, and it looked horrifying. None of the Order had seen Voldemort in some time, and he looked frightful - his nose all but gone, his face flat and snakelike.

'Don't stop!' cried Dumbledore, and at once the Order turned back to their opponents, leaving their leader to deal with the Dark Lord.

Lily, trading curses with Crabbe, couldn't help but watch Dumbledore's progress out of the corner of her eye. He and Voldemort sent curse after curse towards one another, but not a single curse got through. Neither of them seemed to be tiring as Lily finally got through Crabbe's defences and laid him out with a Stunning Spell, but she barely had time to catch her breath before Mulciber aimed a curse at her. She repelled it and sent back one of her own. James was suddenly at her side, and together they dealt with Mulciber, but there were more Death Eaters pouring into the room. Lily and James stood back to back, firing curses at any Death Eaters they could see - although seeing at all was becoming increasingly difficult in the thickening smoke.

'Arthur! Oh, God!' cried Molly.

Lily couldn't tell where the cry had come from - the people were just shapes now, with no features. But Molly's sobbing continued, reaching her ears over the noise of the battle. It was risky to get rid of the smoke - the Death Eaters would be gaining an advantage too - but Lily felt she had no choice. She blasted as much of the smoke away with her wand as she could. Molly was a little way in front of Lily and James - Arthur lay still at her feet, tears streamed down her face, and still she fired spell after spell at the Death Eaters. She felled Rodolphus Lestrange with an Avada Kedavra, and a scream of rage.

Moody was dead. His blood was spilled all over the floor. Sturgis Podmore and Frank Longbottom were both lying still. Lily saw Alice check Frank's pulse, nod in satisfaction, and then continue the battle.

'Emmie!' Lily heard Minerva cry out in warning, but it was too late. Emmeline Vance was hit by a well-timed Avada Kedavra from Lucius Malfoy, and slammed to the ground. Minerva gave her fallen friend an anguished look before returning to her duel.

There was a wordless scream of horror. Lily spun to see Alice, hands over her mouth, looking down at...

Dumbledore.

Dumbledore was dead.

There was no question about it. Not when his head was lying so far from his body. There were more cries as everyone saw.

Dumbledore was dead, and Voldemort stood over him, wearing an expression of mild curiosity.

'I thought the old man would see that one coming,' he said, calmly.

'Don't stop!' ordered Minerva, spinning around to see what remained of the Order gaping in shock. 'It's not over yet!'

She fired a curse at Voldemort himself, and he deflected it with a laugh. The Order, stunned and horrified, returned to their duels, but it was hopeless now. Dumbledore was dead. Elphias, Moody, Sturgis, Emmeline and Arthur were dead. Remus and Frank were injured. Lily felt herself lift off the floor and fly backwards with the force of an unexpected curse, landing several feet away. She could see, but she couldn't move. She watched as James cast spell after spell, hitting several Death Eaters. She saw Voldemort and Minerva exchange curses. Minerva wasn't as good as Dumbledore, but she was still very good. Voldemort couldn't get past her defences. But she was concentrating so hard on him that she wasn't paying attention to the rest of the battle, wasn't defending her other side...

Lily tried to call out, to warn Minerva, but she couldn't make a sound. She could only watch helplessly as Bellatrix approached Minerva from behind and hit her full force with a curse. Minerva crumpled to the floor.

Everything went black for Lily.

'Seven of the Order got out of there alive,' said Luna. 'Your dad got your mum out, then went back for Professor McGonagall. Neville's mum got his dad out. Molly, Professor Black and Professor Lupin got out on their own power, just barely. They managed to get here without being followed.'

'Seven?' Harry said, incredulous. 'That was all that was left of the Order?'

'Oh, no,' said Luna. 'There were some people who hadn't been in the battle - special missions for Dumbledore, other duties, that sort of thing. Madam Pomfrey was supposed to wait here, because she was looking after all of the children. Hagrid was off trying to talk the giants round. My dad was working on another important project quite a way away - there wasn't time for them to get everyone together from all across the people. So it wasn't everybody. But the Order was still badly depleted.

'Dumbledore, dead... and poor Mr Weasley...' Harry said, almost to himself.

'It was months before the Order could do anything very much,' said Luna. 'They were a mess. Professor McGonagall was very badly injured. It took her months to recover - well, you can see that she never really did. Dumbledore's death was a terrible blow - You-Know-Who's power grew and grew after that.'

'And?' Harry said.

'And... that's it. You-Know-Who has probably taken over the whole world by now, I don't know. Certainly all of Europe. The Order is slowly building power again, but it all has to be in secret. And we all have to live in secret. We would all be killed if anyone knew where we were. We mostly only go outdoors for one day a year, the Weasley picnic, and that has to be planned in meticulous detail and carefully guarded. All of our houses are under dozens of protection and concealment spells. Things are very dangerous for all of us now.'

'Almost makes me wish I hadn't asked,' Harry said.