Slipping Away (-open-)

[Harry J. Potter]

It wasn't fair. None of it was. To have been granted the chance to have a normal life, to live with his parents, to be just like all the other kids, and now he was back to wondering what the hell had happened? He had never once considered the possibility of his father's job actually stealing him away. Sure, he knew it could happen. He wasn't dumb... But he figured that his father was more than capable of defending himself. That he was one of the best wizards of his age... That this would never happen. Not again.

He had taken to sneaking up here every night just to get a glimpse of him. Two years ago, it had not only been his father in the mirror looking back at him with eyes full of love and adoration. His mother had completed the picture. Only in that world did this happy family exist. For a moment, it had become mirrored in reality, set in more than just wishful thinking... But now it had returned. His father had been robbed from him... And now he was forced to resort to a shadowed substitute.

He wanted to break something. To destroy something. He held it all in, but it was getting to be too much. Another week... Another week and if nothing happened, Harry was going to look for his father himself.

[Hermina von Lohenstein]

"[No, you will not go up there again, remember what happened last time.]" That was Hermina's somewhat cryptical words to herself as she walked along the seventh corridor, heading for - inevitably - the Mirror of Erised - Again.
She headed up here a lot last year, having not seen the person of her desire for almost, what was it? Five years, five years since her mother passed away.

She knew that what she saw in the mirror wasn't even real, just a mental image from her subconscious mind... A trick, one might even say a hallucination. Fittingly, as most people viewed her as mental.
Sighing, she stood outside the door tentatively, pondering whether or not to do it again. Then with a swift movement, she pushed the door open and walked in.

She quickly discovered that there were already someone present. Almost automatically, she said hello. Mina wasn't too sure if she had met someone with evil intentions at first, but her upbringing prevented - in nearly every case - her from not greeting.
After a while, she realised who it really was and relaxed. Harry, Harry Potter.
Well, she thought, if he was evil, then I'm most certainly deluded, again.

She subsequently smiled weakly and said again: "Hi Harry." Pausing for a gulp, Mina continued: "How are you?"

[Harry J. Potter]

Harry debated making a dive for the invisibility cloak. What stopped him? The thrill of getting caught, perhaps. For too long since Sirius became Deputy Headmaster, he'd kept all ten of his toes in line, never once even considering getting himself into trouble. It was mostly because of his mother, but in some ways because of Sirius and Lupin. But today, he almost wanted them to catch him. To know that there was only so far he could follow the rules until they no longer suited him. It was getting dangerously close to the point where he was going to high tail it out of Hogwarts himself. So, here he was, thinking he was about to get caught, and it turned out to be another student.

Slightly disappointed, he turned back to the mirror and muttered, "Hello, Hermina... Well, I'm good," he lied unconvincingly. "You know, aside from being the bulls-eye for all Death Eaters and ignoring the fact that my father is still missing - Then I'm just a ball of sunshine and gumdrops." He looked at her. "I'm sorry... You haven't exactly caught me in one of my most shining moments. Anyway, how are you? As if I should ask. Nobody visits the Mirror of Erised when they're happy."

He moved aside so she could peer inside of it. Maybe she was like him. She got a certain fix from it. He knew how addicting the mirror could be. "Hermina," he said, thoughtfully. Harry didn't really know her that well, but he did know her through some of the double classes he had with the Ravenclaws... and of course, when they played Quidditch against one another. She was slightly quirky, but then again, Harry wasn't your paragon of normalcy. What he did know was that she fell on the right side of morality. But he couldn't just ask her what he was thinking, could he? Not everybody was Ron and Hermione - Not everybody was ready to pick up their wand and do something crazy. "If you don't mind me asking... What do you see in the mirror when you look into it?" Not what he was going to ask, but he could build up to it.

[Hermina von Lohenstein]

Hermina laughed, high and shrill and unconvincing. Sarcasm, strange it could amuse her still. But then, she haven't had a proper laugh for a long while.
Composing herself, she said, with what she hoped was an normal tone: "That must be horrible, I'd say. How are you coping with it?" She stated out the last part without realising that it was part true for her too, making her go a little bit red.

"No, you're right, no one in his or her right mind would come here. Then I'm not usually in my right mind. I don't know though, you might understand, then you perhaps would not."

Sighing, she watched him move aside for her from the Mirror. Catching a glimpse of the image, she turned away resolutely, eyes closed. She then whispered to herself: "Hello mum."
God, she missed her, she missed the hugs, the times she would be comforted in her laps, crying her eyes dry because of father. Strange, she chuckled dryly to herself. Strange, how a single person can and will ruin another ones life, if he wanted. If he wanted, nothing then would stand in his way, not even blood.

Startled out of her thoughts, she looked at Harry quizzically and then fixed her eyes determinedly on the Mirror. "What I see, Harry? Mum, me and sis, happy." Tears started to fall slowly down her cheek. It was an utopia, she was cold, dead. Not alive, lying and ... you know what in a grave. And as she thought, more tears came. Sniffing once, she said calmly, or as calmly as possible: "But at least, I still have sis, Gemina in the world."

[Harry J. Potter]

Harry shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. He didn't know what to do with crying females. Some wanted nothing but space, others needed comfort. He figured Hermina wasn't like most of them and would prefer being left alone. When she told him what she saw, he looked back in the mirror and said, "Huh. Well imagine that. You and are aren't so unlike one another." He stepped up closer to her, peering over her shoulder to look at his father. "It seems what we both want is happiness through our family..." He closed his eyes and let that sink in. It meant so much to Harry, and yet the dream never could stick.

"Hermina... What do you think the odds are of me sneaking out of Hogwarts unnoticed?" It was a silly question. Of course he'd be noticed unless he managed to steal the Marauder's Map out of Sirius' office. Damn Harry for being noble and surrendering it to him. "I mean... what are the chances of me getting caught?"

[Hermina von Lohenstein]

Stifling the crying, Mina looked up at Harry and smiled at his conclusion. Yes, she would like nothing more than having a perfect happy family, nothing like the dysfunctional mess she's been forced to cope with since birth.
"Well, at least you've got hope left. That means everything isn't lost." 'Unlike me, who's got absolutely nothing left in the world.' She remarked to herself.

Mina then felt a sudden outburst of anger, anger at whichever smarta** who landed her in such a dysmal situation. It was almost enough to make her stomp the ground, kick or hit something, but she contained it, except for some heavy breathing and an emerging redness. She looked away from everything in the room, crying silently over spilt milk. Or in this case, over her miserable situation.

Without looking at Harry when he started on another subject, she automatically responded with her distressed tone: "None, Harry. Or as much chance as in me having my mum back alive again." She sighed and clenched her small fists together.
'No, it's not his fault, get together you wuss.' Then she started again to cry... "Well, if that wasn't wussy, then what is it?" Mina randomly blurted out in her monologue, then realised it. "I'm sorry Harry." She apologised... She did that a lot recently, especially whenever she came to pieces in public. "I'm sorry, I can't stop this once I come apart." She sobbed out the lame excuse to him, not caring what he thought no longer.

[Claire Lunette]

Claire was walking through the seventh floor aimlessly. She knew that it was nighttime and she should be in bed, but she couldn't sleep. She just recently had gotten a letter from her father as she usually does every week to know how he's doing. Her father had a drinking problem ever since her mother had passed away; thus resulting in alcohol poisoning. He was lucky enough to have survived, but he was left with the disease known as Lupus. So every week, he wrote how well he was doing and never to lose faith. Claire never did and cherished her father's letters, but usually the same day she receives the letters, she wouldn't sleep. It always scared her to know if she was going to be orphaned or not. She didn't want her father gone like her mother.

Lost in thought, she heard crying echoing from the halls. She wondered where it was coming from. So she followed the sound which came from a lonely room at the end of the hall. Opening the door she saw both a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor within the room. The Gryffindor was none other than Harry Potter while the Ravenclaw was someone she didn't know. However, she was the one making all the noise.

Claire walked in and closed the door behind her. "Sorry to intrude, but I heard someone crying and I happened to be on the same floor," she said with her soft voice and looked at what they were sitting around. It was a mirror. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked, mainly to herself. She walked up to the mirror and stared at herself.

Nothing happened.

She looked away and stared back again. Immediately, she saw herself looking older. And she was in robes with a large smile on her face. In her hands was a diploma of some kind. She couldn't read what it said, but it was surely something that she earned. Hogwarts never gave diploma's, at least not what she knew. This must have been at an academy. Claire had always wanted to be an Auror... could it be that she was graduating from the Auror Academy. A smile had appeared on her lips and immediately everything vanished. "This is amazing," she said, still staring at the mirror to only her own reflection.

[Harry J. Potter]

Dear Merlin! What was he going to do. Crying women weren't really on the spectrum of things Harry knew anything about. What would Hermione do. Awkwardly, she shuffled forward and reached out, his arm fully extended... and he patted her shoulder in his best attempt at being tender. "It's... erm... It's going to be okay." But he cringed when she said that he was the one that had hope and she didn't. He let his hand drop to his side and said, "I try not to compare my loss to others. I could never possibly understand what you're going through, nor would I pretend to. So please don't make assumptions about my life." He wasn't offended... Okay, maybe a little... But he would get over it.

He looked up when he heard Claire's voice, his heart racing at the prospect that it might be a professor, but he relaxed when he realized who it was. Oh thank Heavens! A member of the DA! One he trusted. "Lunette!" he said, almost too excitedly. He let her go on about why she was there and then gave her the time to realize that the mirror was exactly what she thought it was. At first he wondered what she'd seen, but no time for that right now.

"Claire! I'm sneaking out tonight to face possible injury and death in mortal combat against the very people who have tried to not only off me at every waking moment, but have taken my dad. I realize that this might be a bit dangerous, but if you would like to come..." He knew he shouldn't have extended the invitation, but when it came down to it, he would tell her to stay hidden under the cloak while he did most of the work. Really, he would just need somebody to tell his mother what happened if he didn't come back alive.

[HJG]

I hate him. Hermione thought as she peeked around the corner, her heart thumping hard in her chest, before she dashed to the next suit of armour, hiding in it's shadow. It creaked quitely, but it sounded shrill in Hermione's ears as she jumped, glaring at the suit of armer and waving a hand, trying to hush it up before dashing to the next corner. Urgh, boys! I hate them! I hate him! Hermione fumed, mouthing all sorts of obscenities but careful enough not to let a whisper out. What is wrong with him? Running of like that, he doesn't even say anything, and I know he's up to something. Ooh, he always gets that face when he's about to do something stupid! She kicked the wall.

Limping slightly in pain, Hermione headed up to the Mirror of Erised. Ron had told her that he was having those dreams again, and that far away look when he wasn't talking. She was too angry to try and be careful, quickly checking corners before barelling ahead, muttering angrily to herself, wand at hand and jumping at every creak and shadow, occasionally even her own.

Reaching the door that lead into the room, Hermione paused as she heard voices, suddenly for one heart renching moment wondered if she had it all wrong and someone else was in there and she came out all for nothing, when she heard his voice, and she leaned towards the crack, eavesdropping and wondering, slightly jealously, if it was some secret meeting when she heard the plan.

Barging in, bushy hair flying, a glaring Hermione shut the door behind her a little too loud for comfot, hissing angrily as she stomped towards the group, "Harry how could you! First you're sneaking off to look at this horrible mirror again, and now you're making stupid plans to save you're father while risking someone else's life?!" Now she was tearing up but her voice just got sharper, "This isn't you, if you had problems why didn't to tell me? Tell Ron!? We could have helped..." She finished with a whisper, sniffling slightly. "We're your friends."

[Harry J. Potter]

"Bollocks..." he murmured.

He turned around slowly to look Hermione in the eye, wishing to high Heaven that she wasn't crying. Oh, good. She wasn't... But it looked like a close thing which was just about as bad as Hermina over there breaking down like a leaky faucet. He would never understand women.

"What do you mean that's not me?" he asked innocently. "That sounds like me all over. Just the average day in the life of Harry Potter. You know... crap hits the fan, people try to kill me, I go off and play hero, and I always involve people who shouldn't be involved. Besides... It's not like I was forcing Claire to come with me. I just put the offer on the table, you know? Have a look out... Maybe somebody to come back to warn Sirius if things don't go according to plan."

He was no longer joking. Not when she asked such a serious question. "Don't you think I've spread my misery around enough? I didn't want it to poison you or Ron." Now he was even more miserable, if possible. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Hermione. I just thought that this was something I shouldn't involve either of you in. I didn't want to worry you." He stepped up to her and said, "All right. I'll wake Ron and see if he wants to get in on this, then. If we're going to rescue my father tonight, we'll need everybody we can get." Then, quieter and with a bit of a plea in his voice, "Can I count you in, Hermione?"

[Hermina von Lohenstein]

Hermina sighed quietly as Harry edged closer and patted her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breathe to calm her turbulent nerves. Sighing again, she said to Harry: "You're right... It's gonna be ok." But still, the notion of being ok sounded unrealistic somehow...

She fell silent once she saw other people come in, inwardly cursing Harry's tendency for heroics, and it's capacity to make him take completely befuddled decisions. She was pondering if she should remind him of that, but abstained when she saw Hermione come in and sighed in relief, hopefully, she would get his crazy ideas out of him.

She shuddered to the sound of the door banging to a close. Wow, it seemed that this happened too often in the past, Harry and his mad heroic ideas, and how Hermione came in and tried to knock some sense into him. She smiled a little to Hermione, as if understanding the plight she was in. Then Mina watched in despair as Harry talked. God, that was a persuasive talk, but still she wouldn't be the one to take the deal. She'd seen too much of this already, and wasn't it true that Harry didn't even have any idea where his father was held?
She turned resolutely away from the group and started to walk away from it, after saying a brief hello to Hermione. She walked away slowly and as she walked, she found another reason not to come along, one much more persuasive than her previous one: She'd find herself confronting father again if she came along, if he decided to show up, and that she wasn't even in the slightest ready for.

[Claire Lunette]

Claire looked at Harry for a bit. She knew that she was someone he could trust. Although, why would he put himself in such a dangerous position? Was it seeking the attention he needed? "Harry, I-" she began until she was interrupted by Hermione barging into the room. And she wasn't depressed but rather angrier than a tea kettle. It seems that Harry had been changing these last couple weeks. And Claire knew why. Harry finally got a taste to what having a family is like. Now that they are slowly disappearing, that taste is shifting into nothing. And what child wants that? If Claire could have her mother back, she would do anything he can to make that happen.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but-" she said quietly, but her voice wasn't heard enough for Harry was still talking. She wasn't good at getting people's attention. She waited for Harry to finish and she turned to him, her face full of worry. "Do you think seeing you in danger doesn't give your friends misery? Or better yet have your mother worry? Harry, we'll help as much as we can to make things better," Claire looked at Hermione who was still looking like a raging tea kettle; especially her hair giving the after-effect.

Claire began thinking, making her choice whether to help him or not. She never told him an answer since he asked, and she thought about it. "What are you expecting out of being injured?" she asked, wanting to know as much information before giving him a precise answer. She wasn't the type to just jump into things.

[HJG]

Rubbing her eyes furiously, Hermione sniffed, her voice breaking in her throat which hurt from anger, frustration, and everything else, "No Harry, it's not like you to go ask people to help you just so they can go off and tell your mother what a stupid thing you did." She frowned at him, he never mentioned himself as playing hero, and always hated it whenever someone else pointed it out for him, he never got so melodramatic, usually it was 'We've got to stop Snape form getting the stone!' Or something or another, and Hermione was betting whatever plan he had up his sleeve was the stupidest one yet.

Then he made her feel guilty, "Harry, we're your friends, talking to each other is what we do." It was his epitome of misery, and it dripped from his voice and hung all around him like sticky, dark webs. He was lost, utterly and completely a step away from reality, like a child alone without his parents. Harry was sick with worry and he didn't want to loose his father again, and it just made Hermione feel ashamed.

Lifting her chin up she scoffed, "And who else is going to help you out of a tight spot if not you're own friends?" Giving a small smile, rolling her eyes, "And yes, Ron has his moments," she knew how stupid and dangerous this was, turning to the others, Hermina already sneaking out the door, she told them seriously, "You two really don't have to come, this has nothing to do with you..." She looked them in the eye, if Harry wasn't sane enough to not let them in, then Hermione had to push it.

[Harry J. Potter]

At this point, nobody else mattered. Only Hermione and what she was saying. "Well, I haven't much been myself lately," he admitted a little sourly. "I've been forced to sit and just wait for something... Anything to happen. But the answer is obvious, isn't it. They don't want my father. They're using him to get to me, and the only way we're going to figure out where he is would be if I take the bait. He would do this for me, Hermione. And I can't just sit here and wait anymore. The Aurors haven't done anything. Nobody knows where he is, there's no new information. I have to do something. I can't not do anything."

He looked at Claire. "You don't understand." She probably never would. There were some things that only Ron and Hermione could get, and he'd been a fool to push them away for so long.

"I know, Hermione. I am sorry for what I did." But she seemed to understand, like he knew she would, and his look of contrition transformed into one of excitement. "Really!? Oh thank you, Hermione! We haven't a moment to lose!" He went and scooped his cape up to hide both of them on the way back to the common room to grab Ron. They would not do this without their best mate.

He looked back at them. "She's right. I was wrong to ask... I think I just let my excitement get the better of us. Claire... if we don't come back by morning... Well, if we're not back by noon," that gave them a bigger time window, "Tell... Tell anybody but Professor Black to come search for Ron and Hermione."

[Claire Lunette]

Claire looked at the two talking. What was she doing? These two pretty much were so close that whatever she did say, it wouldn't matter. And surely it was working. She wanted to help in any way she could, but it seemed that Hermione sort of gave her the cold shoulder and Harry ditched her out of any plan there was. Claire couldn't do much and she was too shy to question it. She just nodded and looked down. She was older than this boy, but she couldn't do anything. It was just a social problem that she had.

"Be safe," was all that she could say with her small voice and she looked at the two. They were going to get ready to go for sure. Claire hoped that they would be back before noon tomorrow. But what made it weird was that Harry specifically said not to tell Professor Black. He guessed that he would be too worried for Harry. But who could she tell if something bad did happen? Who was there to trust to tell about Harry and Hermione's dangerous adventure?

Claire began to walk out of the room, realizing that the Ravenclaw had left the room too. Shrugging to herself, she completely walked out and closed the door behind her. Hoping for their safe return.