May Day Eve

Chapter One : Legends

Harry

There was much pandemonium inside the quarters of a group of sixth year boys at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was the eve of May, and tomorrow there is no need for early morning wake up calls, they can stay as late as they want and not have to worry about their classes the following morning. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley focused all their attention on a chessboard that was slowly becoming devoid of white chess pieces that belonged to the boy with black rimmed glasses and beautiful green eyes. The two boys roommates were all huddled in a corner, discussing what seemed to be a very important matter

“That’s not true, I mean, I’ve never heard of that before,” Neville cried, prompting Ron and Harry to turn to them.

“What’s not true?” asked Ron intriguingly.

“Well, Seamus here, has some sort of story about May day eve, but I heard another version,” Dean explained.

“Well, what are you going to believe, the muggle version or the wizards version?” Seamus challenged.

“Well, I’ve never heard either,” Neville protested.

“Will one of you tell us the story first?” Harry asked confused.

Seamus shifted sides to face him and began, “There’s this legend about a banshee who tried looking into the future through a mirror on a May day eve a thousand years ago, but she made a mistake and confused the spells she was supposed to use and stay away from, and there so happens to be a devil residing inside the mirror. That spell happened to be just what the demon needed so he can claim her soul and take her back with him as his wife, for all eternity. The banshee was allowed to peek outside the mirror to see the outside world, but only once a year on the moment she was captured. And so every year, before May first, at the stroke of Midnight, when you look at the mirror, you will see the banshee’s burnt face and body, flowing with pus and disentangled skin because of prolonged stay in the underworld, crying in pain and pleading for help. Scary, huh?”

“Sounds like a cheesy urban legend to me,” answered Harry, shrugging slightly.

“Wherever did you get that crap, Seamus?” Ron chimed in.

“You don’t believe me, why don’t you go see for yourself?” he dared the two boys.

“I’m not going to risk losing points for Gryffindor and getting detention over some stupid story,” Harry answered incredulously.

“I say you’re just scared. The Boy Who Lived is scared of a harmless banshee, little cowards,” Seamus taunted, a naughty glint in his eyes.

Ron stood abruptly, upsetting the chess pieces on the bed, his face flushed and ready to lunge at Seamus, “Who’s a coward, we’ll show you just how much crap there is to that story, you sorry git!!” he screamed as he made his way to the door, “Come on Harry.”

Harry was about to protest, but Ron was already outside the room and knew it was pointless trying to stop him. And he wasn’t about to leave his friend wandering around the Hogwarts castle alone. With much effort, he followed him outside the room and through the portrait hole.

“You know, you could’ve just ignored him,” Harry advised Ron as soon as they were out of earshot.

“That little prick thinks he’s such a hotshot, we’ll show him, we can bash the mirror on his head when we come back,” Ron said

“He was just teasing, you should learn to control your temper,” said Harry, “Do you have any idea where we’re going?”

“Actually no, do you have any idea where we could find a mirror in this place,” he asked, stopping a moment.

“There’s this big one on the first floor, inside the room beside the Great Hall, Hermione and I came across it one night –“ Harry was interrupted by Ron.

“What were you doing running around at night looking for a room with Hermione?” he asked suggestively.

“Oh please, we needed a quiet space so we could study,” Harry answered, waving his hand in the air. Ron noticed Harry’s ears turning beet red but said nothing more and just smiled back.

They went on walking until they reached the bottom of the stairs. As soon as Harry saw the room he was referring to, he quickly pointed this out to Ron, but Ron was too busy craning his neck towards the first floor landing.

“What the? No, it can’t be,” he muttered to himself.

“Ron, what is it?” Harry asked perplexed.

“You go inside the room, I’ll meet you there, I just need to confirm something,” he told Harry with his back as he quickly sprinted up the stairs with his long, lanky legs. Harry, who was too startled to react, figured he might as well do as he was told.

He walked once more towards the room. As soon he reached it, he turned the knob and opened the door. He didn’t think he was going to see anything, but he practically fainted in shock when he saw a figure in the darkness that was illuminated by a single candle raised to its face. He would’ve been less surprised if it were a banshee, but instead, he saw the most beautiful angel looking right back at him from the mirror.