Dance With A Serpent

Mirror Mirror

She sighed and looked up at the sleeping portrait of Dumbledore. Was he ever bored?

Probably not. He knew how to entertain himself, and he had guided this school through the worst years that the wizarding world had known.

Minerva looked out the window down at her students. She had forced everyone to come back and take their last year again, during the final year of the war too many had been absent from the school and those who where there had lived in constant fear and had learned much too little of what they needed to know. Of course this had led to a humongous class of first years but so be it.

She looked up once again at Dumbledore. He would surely not have disapproved of her rehiring Severus and making him her deputy headmaster?

Minerva sat down at her desk and glared at it. She wasn't used to being bored. There was indeed a lot of work to be done as a headmistress but she might just have to spice things up a little. And with that thought she pulled out a desk drawer. She looked down into it and smiled a wicked little smile.

Two days later the staff and students were assembled in the great hall and dinner was being gulped down by hundreds of youngsters. Minerva smiled again her wicked little smile and stood up. The noise died down and everyone turned to the headmistress.

"I am sorry to disturb you all but a valuable item of mine has gone missing. The mirror of Freja its called and it's a hand-mirror so if anyone would find it and give it to one of the prefects that would be lovely. Thank you." And then she sat down smiling to herself.

Parvati and Lavender whispered amongst themselves then they turned towards Hermione.

"Hermione. Hermione!" Parvati hissed at her and she turned to them with a thoughtful frown, "Hmm?"

"Who's Freja?" Parvati continued in a whisper.

"I don't know who Freja is, but the one famous Freja is the Viking goddess of spring, reproduction and love. But she might also mean the Freja who.." answered Hermione.

"Love!" the two girls shouted one and other. "It's a mirror of LOVE" the started to giggle in a all too familiar fashion.

The news about the mirror being a magical love mirror spread like wild fire amongst all the students in the Great Hall.

Severus looked over that the headmistress and raised an eyebrow. "I believe it wasn't a wise move to tell them the name of the mirror Minerva. You will never get it back now."

"Oh tish tosh Severus. Have you no faith in our students?"

He looked out over the milling masses of students. "No"

To Hermione's complete lack of surprise the rumour about the mirror spread across the school and she could go nowhere without hearing about it. Most everyone was looking for it and she pitied the finder as Parvati and Lavender would kill them to get a hold of the wretched thing.

She couldn't really deny that she wouldn't mind having it herself if it indeed was a magical mirror of love. Not that she was overly interested to see who her soul mate was. (it was generally agreed that that was what the mirror would show the person who looked in it) she knew now that it probably wasn't Ron. Their brief romance had died along with the war. She loved Ron, she would die for Ron but she wasn't in love with Ron. He couldn't even argue probably, he had no comebacks. No he was probably not the one.

She would love to get the mirror so that she could force Harry to look in to it though. He and Ginny had been dancing around one and other for far too long. He and his nobility. He didn't want to condemn her to a life without privacy. They had barely spoken since that dreaded night.