Harry thought about the mirror often, often enough that Padma began to worry when he stared off into space like he had a problem to solve. The Yule holiday passed like this, in comfortable silence, Harry, reading about magical artefacts or legilimency, or runes, but not really. Padma, reading about heroes and beasts, or charms, but not really. She studied Harry's face intently, concern evident on her delicate features.
'Harry, what's wrong?' Harry break from his reverie, eyes focusing back on the present, on Padma, as she sat next to him in the comfortable blue armchairs of the common room. 'You've been staring into space constantly for the last few days, is there anything I can help with?' Harry just smiled wryly, setting the book onto his lap and taking Padma's hands into his.
'Actually, there is.'
The pair left the common room, Padma taking two steps for every one of Harry's. He walked with purpose, grim determination on his features as he retraced his steps from a few nights ago, the empty classroom, door still ajar, waiting patiently for him like it expected his return any time now.
'The mirror,' Harry said quietly, unwilling to completely break the spell of the silence around the classroom. 'Look into the mirror and tell me what you see.' Padma did so, dark brown eyes staring intently at her reflection before widening in surprise.
'I'm a charms mistress, a-a member of the wizengamot, my sister is there too, she's smiling so sweetly she's proud of me. My grandmother! My grandmother is there too! But- but she died when I was five how is this possible?' Harry stared at the reflection of the two unknown boys, stared at Death and Time and Magic, no doubt Love and Destiny too.
'I don't know. I can only imagine it shows what you want to see, I can see my family, but, my parents are dead so it can't show the future.' Harry didn't want to mention the deities, or the faceless boys he had come to cherish since seeing them for the first time. Those secrets were his and his alone, not even Padma, dear as she was to him, would ever understand, or ever find out.
Padma traced the odd looking runes on the mirror's frame, a puzzled expression on her face.
'I think these are the english alphabet, do you think? No that would be too simple.'
'Think what, Pads? You're very rarely wrong.'
'Maybe the text is just backwards. It's on a mirror after all.' Mulling it over for a second, Harry nodded, pulling out a scrap of parchment and a pen to write the letters backwards.
'I show not your face but your heart's desire. You were right it was reflected. Stars know why it was, but it was.'
'Oh!' Padma seemed excited, positively vibrating on the spot as her eyes gleamed with an epiphany. 'I've heard of this mirror, Nonna used to tell me stories about it when I was a little girl. The mirror of Erised, shows your deepest desires, many wixen have wasted away in front of it, entranced by the images of things that they can't obtain. Only the happiest man in the world could stand in front of it and see only himself.' Harry couldn't help but laugh
'Those are the kinds of stories parents tell their kids here? Talk about morbid.' Padma only grinned in reply.
'I know, but here's the bigger question, what's it doing in the middle of an abandoned classroom anyway? Anyone could stumble across it!'
That was a good question, actually.
--
In the Gryffindor boys dormitory two boys get changed for a quick beaters game against each other before the train comes in delivering the rest of the students back at school after the holidays. It is only because they're alone that they notice a small leatherbound book appearing on the table between their two beds, it seems as old as the restricted section books in the school library, but it's not a book either of them had heard of before, and the title has faded to much to completely make out. 'Th? L??e O? S?u???te M??icke' was all that was visible, and the tiny author's name, written in emerald ink, 'Cassandra Valbatsky'. The name was just as unfamiliar as the book, and the twins looked at each other confused.
'Not yours Georgie?' George shook his head and Fred's brow furrowed. Perhaps this was revenge for one of their many pranks, so one couldn't be too careful. Picking up his wand, Fred levitated open the cover, George casting a small shield in case there was a nasty charm hidden inside. Nothing. The book seemed innocent enough, and there wasn't a quidditch game in the world that could be more interesting than a mystery book of mysterious origins on a mysterious topic. Brooms forgotten, they sat on the nearest bed and began to read.
'15th October 1458, To anyone who finds this book I give thee a warning- There is no magic as ancient and deadly as that of the soul, many witches and wizards have gone mad in their quest to seek the power over it, and many more have died trying. Soulbonds cannot be forced, cannot be broken, and must not be tampered with, for the safety of everyone, and the sanctity of magic. Use this book wisely, and use it well. -Cassandra'
George turned the page as the warning sunk in, neither him nor his brother were on any quest for ancient magic, and whatever force had left this book in their possession seemed to agree with them. They'd be careful sure, but the tiny, hidden part of them that was blue and bronze shone through, they had to know more.
Chapter one- soulbonds.
Soulbonds are the greatest ties between wixen possible. Bonded mages can draw power from each other, read each other's minds, and a fully realised soulbond creates an intense surge of power for all bonded. There are four types of soulbond, platonic, romantic, duo and triad.
Platonic-
Platonic soulmates are magically powerful but do not have the same romantic pull, they remain brothers and sisters in all but blood and draw strength from each other but can survive the breaking of a soulbond.
Romantic-
Romantic soulmates are the strongest of the two, being able to sire extremely powerful offspring and read each other's minds. However, if this soulbond should break, with the death of any of the bonded, or its rejection, then all bonded will most likely die, succumbing to an overwhelming grief that depletes their will to continue living.
Duo-
Duo bonds are simply between two wixen, and are extremely stable. These bonds become the foundation for most soulmagic and two bonded are usually opposites that balance each other out.
Triad-
Triad bonds follow the arithmetic truth of three being a magically significant number. Therefore triad bonds are more powerful, if less unstable. It's likely triad bonded wixen will not be complete opposites. Triad bonds are more common with magically identical twins, who share a magical core (albeit enlarged) as their magic is most complimentary to a sing other.
Fred skipped a few chapters, skimming them slightly as he tries to find a less dry section. They'd read the whole thing, of course, but that would take time, so he'd try to find the most important bits now.
Cor Carecerem
The Cor Carecerem potion enables the drinker to find his or her soulmate in a twenty-four hour period. The drinker's sight becomes black and white for this timeframe, and their bonded will appear golden. For full effect the potion must be brewed starting at the summer solstice to be finished by its equinox. Each ingredient must be added under the light of a new moon, and placed under stasis until the next ingredient is ready. Failure in any of these steps will result in a potion that will turn the drinker golden for twenty-four hours, or, if irreparably ill followed, death. It is optimal that the intended drinkers brew the potion themselves to infuse the brew with their magic.
Ingredients:
Copper cauldron
Copper stirring rod
Jobberknoll Feather
Knotgrass
Aconite
Ginger Root
Eye of Newt
Moonstone
Essence of wormwood
Large pot of purified seawater.
Fred looked at his brother intently, before letting out a large huff. 'Jobberknoll Feather? Essence of wormwood? They're not exactly giving those out for free, how are we supposed to find these?'
'Well I'm sure Snape has most of these, if we distract him we could get a few supplies and start it when we get back to the burrow.' George looked pensive as he thought about their options. There was no proof that they had a soulmate, and if they mess up the potion it's likely the results would be disastrous. But... they were left this book for a reason, and they weren't that bad at potions. Maybe they could even give Snape a copy of the recipe if it worked, Jobberknoll parts weren't cheap. Besides, Valbatsky had said that magically identical twins were likely to have one, and the weasley twins, much like generations of prewett twins before them, had been just that.
'I guess that's our summer plans then, Freddie.'