Erised

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help?” Ginny asked her concernedly. The usual malicious pranksters who seemed to always be out to get Luna had, once again, hidden her possessions.

“No, it’s quite alright.” Luna replied serenely, her thumb gently running along the spine of the latest issue of The Quibbler. “I’ve already found this. It won’t take long to find everything else.”

“If you’re sure…”

Luna nodded lightly before turning on her heels and walking slowly away from Ginny, bringing The Quibbler up and holding it to her chest. Although she never let on, Luna hated when people took her things, but she did not wish to burden anyone else with this trivial matter.

Not truly paying attention to where she was going, Luna just let her feet carry her to wherever they were content to go. Before long, she found herself in the expanse of the Hogwarts library, looking up at the dusty gates of the restricted section. Looking through the bars, Luna was amazed at the contrast between the two sections. While the main section of the library was light and spacious, the restricted section was dark and cramped, the dusty air stagnant. Her feet wanted to visit that air.

She looked all around her, finding the area vacant, Madame Pince distracted assisting a first year in the Herbology section, no one paying any attention to Loony Lovegood, as usual. Keeping her ever observant eyes on her surroundings, Luna reached behind her and slowly pushed open the gates, slipping inside the forbidden restricted section.

She stepped deeper into the section, slowly leaving the slivers of light from the main section and enveloping herself into the shadowy restricted section.

The thick air had a brown hue and the shelves of books were overruled with thick blankets of dust and cobwebs. The few windows within the section were clouded over with dust and completely un-opaque, the sound of rain pounding against the glass could faintly be heard if Luna focused on the sound.

It was as if no one had been in this section of the library for decades; Luna knew instantly that there was no way her things had been hidden in here – but there was the off-chance of the discovery of the Crumple Horned Snorkack.

She walked up and down the aisles of shelves, her eyes occasionally scanning the titles along the spines of the books. She hadn’t heard of a good majority of the magic contained within the prints, and if she had heard of them, they were considered taboo.

Finally in the last aisle of books, Luna was unsurprised that none of her things were in the dank section of the library. With a small sigh, she reached out her hand as she walked and traced her finger along the dusty spines of the ignored books. “Poor things,” she mumbled. “I know what it’s like to be alone,” she told them in a comforting tone. When she reached the end, she pulled her finger away – the tip had turned a dark grey color. She scrunched her nose, “probably has gnargles in it.” And she wiped her finger on the sleeve of her robes.

And then she saw it.

The door, perched nonchalantly at the end of the aisle, was almost calling out to her. Luna could feel the magic radiating like a pulse from the room behind it. It coursed through her feet as she approached the door, and it struck her like lighting as she grasped and turned the knob.

The room was large and, in contrast to the restricted section beyond, it was free of dust. Luna could have sworn that it had been mid-afternoon when she first entered the library, but the windows beyond reflected a starry night sky. There was nothing in the room, save for a large mirror which sat dead center.

Closing the door behind her, Luna slowly stepped forward, approaching the ancient looking object. Scrawled across the top of the mirror were the words erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. “I show not your face but your heart’s desire.” She translated under her breath.

She was now standing directly in front of the mirror, looking straight into the reflection. She wanted to laugh.

The mirror reflected, not her, but the image of a boy. He was tall, about a foot taller than she; he stood with straight-back posture, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. The boy had thick jet black hair, waxy pale skin, and a hard-set mouth. The crest of Slytherin emblazoned on the chest of his sweater. At first, Luna had thought it to be her friend Harry, and was about to ask him what he was doing in a mirror; but then she saw the boy’s eyes.

They were dark. The darkest eyes she had ever seen. At first glance they appeared to be a dark green, but when she blinked, Luna could swear that they were black.

Even though the boy wasn’t Harry, she asked, “What are you doing in a mirror?” her voice echoed around the space.

The boy didn’t reply; instead he smirked arrogantly, his head pushed back so that he was looking down at her through his dark lashes.

“It’s not very polite not to answer someone.” Luna said quietly. Looking beyond the boy, she noticed that he was standing in the same room as she, though on his side, there were no windows to illuminate the room. He was standing in the dark, and very much alone. “Is that why you look so angry?”

The boy’s smirk vanished, but he remained silent.

She set The Quibbler down on the ground beside her, never breaking eye contact with the boy. “I’ve been there.” She said serenely. “I’ve been without friends, it’s dreadful.” The boy looked at her skeptically. She continued, “It really is dreadful. No one should be without friends.” The boy’s dark eyes seemed to grow somehow darker as she spoke. “Everyone should have someone to love them. I could be your friend, if you’d like.” Luna had no idea why she reached out her hand, but when her fingers grazed against the cold glass, she gasped. Touching the glass felt like touching a cool pool of water. “We could be great friends.” She breathed.

The boys smirk returned and he reached out his arm, touching his hand to hers through the surface and Luna felt warmth. Then pain; the mirror had shattered.

Showering down around her like rain, the shards of glass cut into her skin, cut through her clothing, cut everywhere.

When Luna opened her eyes, she was lying on the ground, surrounded by sharp shards of glass, some of which were stained crimson. Slivers of glass indented in her skin, her whole body felt as if it was engulfed in flames.

“What a good girl you are.” The voice was silky and sounded as if it had told too many lies.

As she forced her body into a sitting position, Luna looked up and saw the boy standing before her, his arms folded behind his back; his skin remained smooth and pale and unharmed. Out of habit, Luna became aware of the wand inside her pocket.

He slowly stepped forward, glass crunching beneath his feet. “You realize you’ve just broken one of the most treasured magical artifacts, yes?” he asked condescendingly. “You do know what that mirror is?”

Luna cocked her head to the side. “Of course I know what it is. The Mirror of Erised.”

The boy’s smirk deepened. “Very good.” He said before kneeling before her. “Sometimes it’s called the mirror of desire.” He looked down and grabbed one of the largest bits of glass, blood running down its expanse and meeting his fingers, staining them with her own blood. He held it up and looked at her through the blood.

A small smile danced across Luna’s lips. “My name is Luna Lovegood. Who are you?”

His smirk dropped from his face before he carelessly tossed the shard of glass back onto the ground with its brothers. He stood back up to his full height.

“My given name is Tom Marvolo Riddle.” He reached out a hand for her, which she gladly accepted and he pulled her up to her feet. She winced at the pain. His next words were like a bomb. “But you may call me Lord Voldemort.” He said it casually, as if the name was nothing.

Luna couldn’t help but to become panicked, she began to back away. She numbly reached for her pocket for her wand, but her fingers couldn’t find the strength to grab it.

The smirk returned to his face. “I think you’re right, little Luna.” In three long steps, he was standing before her, his chest practically against hers. “I think we’ll be great friends.”