Percy Jackson and the Mirror of Erised

3) Following Footprints

I started by drawing a castle. It was beautiful, standing against the black sky. Yellow lights danced from the windows of the building, reflecting back onto the almost black lake. Boats filled with people were drifting across the water, creating ripples across its surface.

Hagrid walked over to me and looked surprised, "Whas tha?"

I looked up, "I've been having these dreams for awhile. This was just one part of it. I think it's a castle."

Hagrid looked confused then, "Thas Hogwars."

I narrowed my eyes, "What?"

"Thas Hogwars."

"No, I know what you said. But how could I know what Hogwarts looks like?" I questioned, feeling really confused.

Hagrid nodded slowly for a moment, "Some witches and wizars are prophe'ic. Some more tha others."

I nodded, accepting that as an answer. Then Hagrid motioned for me to follow and I did, stepping back into the taxi with him.

I drew another thing I had seen. A beautiful crimson steam engine billowing smoke. People in robes and with trunks surrounding the platform. Many were children. Many were adults waving goodbye.

Hagrid watched with mild interest as I drew these things.

Next was a old looking hat. It looked almost as if it had a mouth on it. The hat was sitting in front of adults. I could see tall windows and what looked like floating candles. A very old man was sitting in the chair behind the hat.

I also drew a picture of a three headed dog. It reminded me of Cerberus, the dog guarding Hades in Greek mythology. I had a feeling the dog in my drawing was the same.

Next was a very ugly looking troll. It was towering over a girl with bushy brown hair. She had been in a few of my other dreams. You could see the shadows of two other figures behind it.

I also drew a mirror. This is what confused me the most. I was standing in front of it, but the person in the mirror was different. Me, but different. He held a red stone in his hand. In my dream I had vaguely heard him say, "You will collect the stone soon enough."

Next was a drawing of a egg. A very large and scaly egg. It looked like the ones from old legends. It was cracking. I could just barely see one glowing eye peeping out of a hole. I figured it was a dragon egg.

After the dragon came a cloaked figure. It was leaning over what I presumed to be a dead unicorn. That immediately made me sad. I'd always felt a connection with horses.

The next part of my dream was a series of flashes. There were a ton of vines strangling a boy with red hair, Harry, and the bushy haired girl from before. After that was a ton of keys with wings. Harry was riding -flying- a broom, reaching towards a very old and battered looking one. Another flash showed a giant span of water with a door at the other end, and I could see the scales of a eel like monster glistening beneath the surface.The next flash came quickly, but not quietly. The red headed boy was sitting atop of a Knight from chess. A white queen pierced her sword through the horse, crumbling it. The next flash didn't have the red headed boy in it. The girl with bushy hair was standing in purple flames, no sign of pain on her face. Harry was standing in Black flames, again no sign of pain on his face.

The last part of my dream was perhaps the scariest. A man was facing the mirror I had seen earlier. I could see his face in the reflection. He was holding purple cloth that would have once been wounded into a turban. What scared me was the other face he had. On the back of his head say a face so horrifying. It was stretched and angry, pure hatred glaring in his eyes. He had no nose, just two slits. They reminded me of a snake. He was a snake.

I didn't draw the last part. I didn't want to see that horrid face more than I had to.

Hagrid was staring at my notebook extremely confused. I'd just drawn the basics for each drawing. They weren't complete. You couldn't tell who each person was.

Hagrid pointed towards the drawing of the three headed dog, "Whas tha?" The expression on his face told me he already knew the answer.

"It's Cerberus. The three headed dog guards the gates of the underworld. He's owned by Hades, god of the underworld. Why he is in my dreams, I don't know," I answered honestly, hoping the wizard would give me an answer.

Instead Hagrid pointed towards the picture of the mirror, "an tha?"

"The enscriptiom said 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on woshi.' It sounds kinda like summoning a demon, but that's not it at all. Anyways, Ive decided to call it the Mirror of Erised. I don't know what it does, but it's important," I spoke, tracing the lettering I'd inscribed on the page.

Hagrid nodded and pointed towards another picture, this one being the egg.

I said honestly, "I'm not sure. I know it's an egg, but I don't know from what. It looks kinda like a dragon egg from the Tv shows, but it could be anything."

Hagrid nodded and was about to point at another drawing when the taxi driver said, "We're here. This is as far as I go."

Hagrid payed the man and we got out of the car. I followed him, pulling my jacket on to escape from the rain.

We walked towards the waters edge and Hagrid looked around a little confused. I could tell there was a small island not too far from where we stood.

"There's a boat over there. How do we get it?" I turned to Hagrid, pointing towards where the boat was.

He looked up and pulled out the umbrella again, "Accio boat."

The boat started speeding towards us, gliding across the water. I smiled happily at it. I've always loved the water, and boats get to sit on lakes all the time.

We clambered into the little boat, careful not to knock it over. Hagrid sat behind me and I dipped my fingers into the chilly water, smiling as we shot across the water towards the island.

I could now see a small shack resting atop the island. The Dursleys would never normally stay there. I wish I knew what was going on.

Hagrid helped me off of the boat and the strength of the water immediately left me, leaving a tired feeling instead. Not tired, exactly. More like your coming down from a high. And don't ask me how I know what that feels like.

The giant of a man held up his large fist, raising it towards the rickety wood paneling. He pounded his fist on the door. A loud boom resounded. The whole shack seemed to shake. Boom. Hagrid knocked again.

"Who's there?" Dursely shouted. "I warn you — I'm armed!"

Hagrid pounded his fist against the door once more. It swung clean off its hinges, crashing to the floor.

I didn't have to fix anything this chapter, so that was awesome. So Percy can draw. I wanted to give him something the others didn't have and couldn't really do. He can sing and draw. He's the artsy one in the Golden Trio, or Golden Quartet. He's also prophetic. I wasn't going to make him prophetic originally, but then I remembered demigod dreams. I figured that he would have some sort of clue as to what would be going on. Being a wizard would probably help that. Later in the series, this dies down. Instead of so many pictures, he gets a flash at best. This is not for plot convenience, I have a reason and that reason happens in this book. Percy will still have demigod dreams, just not as often or strongly due to all of the demigod nightmares. 

Later, guys gals and non-binary pals.