Cloudy Mirrors

On with the show...

Cloudy Mirrors:

On The Other Side Of The Looking Glass

"Toss you're wand over to me, now, or that mirror behind you will be splattered with your brains," Malfoy said in a low voice.

"'Splattered with my brains?' Don't you think that's a little graphic, Malfoy?" Harry asked incredulously, as he slowly got to his feet.

"I mean it, Potter! Don't come a step closer!" Harry was surprised to hear an element of fear in his nemesis' voice, but he was too busy wondering how he'd managed to fall through a mirror to give it a second thought. He noticed something different in the Slytherin, but he couldn't pinpoint it. After he'd finished straightening his robes, Harry once again looked up at Malfoy, just in time to see him taking slow steps backwards, his wand arm shaking. "For the love of God, Malfoy! What's gotten into you?"

"Now it's your turn, Potter! Now you'll pay for all that you've done!" Draco's voice elevated with each word that came out of his mouth.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him, "You know, Malfoy, it's nice to see you taking a break from your usual prick-like self-but this new-and-improved Draco Malfoy is a little over the edge, don't you think?" Without waiting for an excuse, Harry moved toward the door, "Listen, I just saw something really weird in the Mirror and I need to go see Dumbledore. Something-"

Harry got no farther as Draco leaped at him and tackled him to the ground. Harry cried out as his head cracked the stone floor. "MALFOY! What the HELL has gotten into you?"

"You asked that already," the other boy replied, a maniac gleam in his eye. The Gryffindor was pinned down, one arm trapped beneath his own body, the other arm held down by Draco.

"Well, I figured it bears repeating since it didn't seem to sink in the first time around!" Harry shouted and struggled to get up. "What do you think you're doing now?!"

"Tying you up." Draco pointed his wand at him and muttered a few words. Thin cords sprung out and wound themselves around Harry's arms, wrists, and legs. He was vaguely reminded of his third year when Snape had done the same to Professor Lupin in the Shrieking Shack. "That was easier than I thought," Malfoy said, more to himself than to Harry.

Harry was livid with anger, "I don't know what you think you're doing, Malfoy, but when Dumbledore hears about this he'll-"

"Dumbledore? What are you talking about, Potter? Dumbledore's dead, you killed him weeks ago!" The Slytherin shouted at him.

Harry's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He shook his head, and wondered what had gone wrong with his hearing. "What. Did. You. Just. Say?"

"I said that Dumbledore was dead, because you killed him weeks ago! What, can't remember?"

"I killed Dumbledore? I...KILLED Dumbledore?" Suddenly, Harry broke out into loud laughter.

Draco looked alarmed, "There's nothing funny about it! You murdered him in cold blood!" This only made Harry laugh harder. Now Draco was starting to get annoyed, "Stop laughing, Potter! You think it's funny that you took a human life?"

Harry looked up at him, still chuckling, "Like you've never heard of anything like that? You're Hogwart's most famous Death Eater-in-training. Now, c'mon Malfoy, seriously. What's going on? Is this some new master plan of yours to totally screw with my brain?"

"You really...don't remember...do you?" Draco said, as he cautiously knelt down next to the still-bound Harry.

It was then that it struck Harry what was different about Malfoy. He lacked his usual air. It used to be that whenever you were within a 2 mile radius of him, this I'm-so-much-better-than-you-Slytherin-pure-blood-pride air would just radiate off of him. Sometimes it was so powerful that you just wanted to go hurl yourself out the nearest window. But now it was gone.

"Are you really...Harry Potter?" Draco asked, even more cautiously.

"Of course I'm Harry Potter! What I want to know is if you're really Draco Malfoy!" When he got no answer, he continued. "Malfoy, what's happened here? What's going on?"

Draco ignored his question and asked, "You said you needed to see Dumbledore about something. What was it?"

Harry sighed heavily; his head was starting to throb from the not-so-gentle meeting it had with the stone floor. "You know of the Mirror of Erised and what is does, right?" Draco nodded. "I was looking into it, and I uh....I fell through it."

"You....fell through it?" Draco repeated disbelievingly.

"Yes! I was leaning towards it, and I fell right through it and came out of the back," Harry motioned towards the Mirror, "You saw it, you were here."

"No, actually I didn't," Draco replied slowly, "I heard a crash when I was walking by the room. I decided to see what it was, so I came in and saw you lying on the ground. I figured that now was my chance. Now or never."

"Now was your chance to what?" Harry asked him.

"To capture you of course. Now, what did you see when you fell through the Mirror?" Draco had relaxed immensely now that Harry was bound and unable to do anything but sit and struggle.

"To capture....? Ah, never mind," Harry sighed again and went on, "I didn't see much of anything. Heard a crash, saw a pretty light show, then looked up to see you pointing your wand between my eyes."

Draco got up and went to examine the Mirror. He ran his slender hands along the back and base of it, and examined the silver closely. His inspection was interrupted, however, when Harry spoke up, "Uh, Malfoy...could, you maybe untie me now?"

Draco turned to look at him, "Not just yet, I still don't completely trust you. There are a few things that I want to ask you.....and tell you, as well."