Mirror of Destiny | Harry Potter

8. Visitor

"Albus Dumbledore is here looking for you."  Clarence came into her office with some annoying news. 

"Of course he is." Harriet mumbled before glancing up at her manager, "What does he know?" 

"Only surface." 

Harriet looked at him, "Let's keep it that way. Tell him I'm unavailable."

And each day for a week he kept coming. Harriet wondered how he had so much free time, before remembering school was out due to summer vacation. 

When footsteps sounded outside her office at the end of the week. She didn't even have to look up knowing Clarence would be there with a worried brow.

Without even looking up, "He just won't give up, will he?" 

"Who won't give up, Lady Ravenclaw?" A deep voice asked. A voice she didn't recognize but that sent a shiver down her spine. 

Harriet didn't bother looking up, "Do you have an appointment?"

"Indeed. It should be under L.S." 

Harriet fought another shiver as she started to connect the dots of who this might be. Still she checked her calendar and did see LS inked in for 1pm, checking the clock on the wall. 

"You are early." Folding her hands in front of her she looked up at the tall man with high cheekbones and forget-me-not eyes.

"Tilly." A pop and a Ravenclaw house elf popped next to Harriet's desk. "Tea for two, please, in the parlor." 

Standing from her desk, "If you wish to follow me its much more comfortable upstairs." 

He gave a curt nod and followed behind, pausing only when she did to wave her wand and lock her office for everyone but her. Down a corridor they went and then up some stairs to the landing overlooking the aquarium, then a turn to the left through a blue archway into the parlor. 

She waved over to the chair across from her and watched as the man slinked over like a prowling panther and sat. A leg crossing over the other, and a presumptuous smile upon his lips. 

"How do you like your tea?" 

"Black." 

Harriet handed him his tea before making up her own and sitting across from him. Waiting for him to speak, the ball was in his court. 

"I hear Albus Dumbledore frequents here." 

Harriet raised an eyebrow, as if saying did you really think I'll spill everything with such a comment. 

He chuckled as he took a sip of his tea, "My intel states he always leaves disappointed."

Deciding to rip off the bandaid, "I have no intention of involving myself in the political landscape." 

He sat back and watched her over the rim of his teacup, "Why even settle in England?" 

"Everyone wants to find a home at some point." 

"Have you found it?" 

Harriet couldn't help the frown that graced her lips before she tucked the emotion away but he'd already seen it. 

"I suppose it can be hard to find somewhere safe and happy." 

Words echoed from a dream long ago.

Harriet glanced down at her cup, making sure she didn't look him in the eye. Not sure how strong her mental shields were in comparison to him and not particularly wishing to find out. 

If he suspected who she was... 

Deciding to be direct, Harriet looked him in the eye (playing the 'Time Warp' in the back of her mind just in case). 

"What is it you want from me, Lord Slytherin?" 

His smile was wider this time, oddly not as maniacal as she would expect, "I wish for an alliance." 

Her first instinct was to deny him immediately. This was the man that would have killed her parents if he had been incomplete. A man who had already caused heartache. 

"I don't align myself with anyone that I don't know their main objective and how they want to attain it." 

Tom Riddle's goals as a splintered being seemed to be very bigot centered, a mad drive for power by any cost. 

Lord Slytherin was an enigma. She'd kept track of what he voted on and despite his previous leanings, he was mostly neutral or gray leaning rather than dark or light. 

It was confusing but Harriet resolved not to put her guard down. 

She would have to ask Clarence why he even accepted a meeting request from Lord Slytherin in the first place. 

Lord Slytherin leaned back in his chair, looking completely at ease. 

"I wish for the best for the wizarding world." 

"And how do you define 'best'?"

"Healthy, thriving, happy." 

Harriet raised an eyebrow at that last word. 

"And how do you hope to achieve this?" 

This time he leaned forward his voice and undertone, "By finding a true balance." 

Perhaps Harriet had still underestimated him, which was dangerous indeed.