A Spark of Magic - Year One (Magical Hybrid)

The Mirror of Erised

~girl's dorm~

Ember settled down on her bed, crossed her legs and opened up the book. "What should I look up first?" the ginger enquired to Felix, who'd hopped up onto the bed as well. The kitten meowed and she chuckled "yeah, good idea", she agreed. The hybrid flipped through the book until she came across a passage which describes her ability to move through stuff to a t.

Phasing

Otherwise known as intangibility, it allows the user to move through physical matter. This is made possible by tapping into the phoenix fire that occurs naturally within them.

The user is able to 'share' this ability with other people and objects so long as they are touching/holding them. Through practice and experience, the user will eventually be able to phase people and objects through solid matter without having to actually hold it/them.

"Phasing", Ember murmured. Now finally she had a name for this...gift. The ginger lifted up a hand and glanced over at the chest of drawers, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. I wonder...

The 11 year old got up from the bed and stood in front of the furniture. She took a deep breath, readying herself before plunging her hand into the solid wood. Ember laughed in relief when her hand passed through it. Given that she had only been able to 'phase' a handful of times successfully, she took this as a win.

Ember pulled out her hand, flexing her fingers with a smile. She definitely felt a little more confident now that she knew what this gift was called AND how it worked. Only thing to do now was to keep practicing whenever she could until she was as proficient as her mother's side of the family must've been. Well...with the exception of Petunia. She clearly didn't inherit these abilities, given how disdainful she was toward magic.

------

Several hours later saw the ginger slipping into the library, safely concealed under her father's cloak. Correction, most of her was hidden beneath it with the exception of one of her hands which was clutching a lantern in order to see.

She probably would've been fine given that she could see the dimly lit potions classroom easily as if it were like the Great Hall when bathed in sunlight. But given that the library was almost pitch black, she didn't want to take any chances. The ginger didn't stop when she approached the door marked 'Restricted Section'. "I love this power", she grinned as she phased through it.

She wandered along a row of books quietly reading off the spines of some of the books as she went. "Famous fire eaters...15th Century Fiends...Flamel...Nicholas Flamel...where are you?"

Ember tugged off her invisibility cloak and set it down along with the lantern. Picking a book at random, she pulled it off the shelf and opens it. A man's face suddenly appears sticking out of the page and screamed at her. The 11 year old, who was rather startled by this, quickly slammed the book shut and puts it back on the shelf.

"Who's there?!" Filch suddenly called causing the hybrid to whip around towards the source of his voice. She grabbed his cloak, making the lamp which she'd set on top of it to fall and shatter. "I know you're in there. You can't hide", Filch said. Ember slipped on her cloak "Who is it? Show yourself!" the caretaker demanded as he appeared in the library panting and wheezing.

The ginger quietly moved through the restricted section, slipping past the caretaker. She left the library only to come across Mrs Norris. The cat seemingly looked up at her and meowed. Ember hastily backed away but unfortunately the feline decided to follow her. She quickened her pace, hurrying around a corner only to nearly run into Professors Snape and Quirrell.

She stepped back as the potions master pushed the turban wearing man into the wall. "Severus...I-I thought..." Quirrell stuttered.

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell", Snape warned holding onto the front of Quirrell's robe. As he spoke, Ember edged softly around them.

"W-what do you m-mean?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean", Snape said. Ember's hearts stopped at the wizard looked right at her. She pressed a hand over her mouth to quieten the sound of her own breathing. As Snape reached out, she took a step backwards so that the man of grasped at thin air.

Not wanting to leave it to chance that he might be discovered, Ember put more of a distance between himself and the teachers. Filch suddenly appeared moments later holding a broken lamp, Ember's broken lamp. "Oh, Professors. I found this, in the Restricted Section. It's still hot. That means there's a student out of bed", he reported with a smirk on his face.

Ember's eyes widened and she stepped backward THROUGH the door she'd been standing beside. She yelped in surprise not having expected it, tripping over the invisibility cloak and tumbled to the floor. "Ow", she groaned, sitting up and pulling the cloak off of herself. She got to her feet and in the room that she'd accidentally stumbled into. It was large and empty, save the ornate mirror sitting in the centre.

She walked over to the mirror and when she stands in front of it a ginger haired woman appeared, standing behind her reflection. Ember glanced behind her but there wasn't anyone there except herself. She turned back to the mirror. Though she didn't recognise the woman, Ember couldn't help but get this feeling of familiarity.

The hybrid gaped when a magnificent, firey bird swooped through the air behind the woman before vanishing in a burst of flame. Suddenly, the penny dropped. "Mother..." she breathed, earning a soft smile from Lily. Her mother placed a hand on her shoulder, Ember did the same as if she could feel her hand. "I wish you were here", she whispered "I could really use you right now".

"Hello Ember", Dumbledore spoke up from behind her, making the 11 year old jump "I see that you, like so many before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised", he added when she turned around.

"S-sorry I didn't mean..." the ginger started

"It's quite alright", the headmaster cut in softly "the mirror shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts".

"Like my mother", Ember murmured and he nodded "but...what I don't I understand is why..." she trailed off, something inside warning her not to tell Dumbledore about the bird. That it must be kept secret from the wizard, at least for now.

"Why, what?" the headmaster gently pressed.

"Why I...I didn't see my father", the hybrid answered.

"Well, the mirror gives us neither knowledge NOR truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad. That is why tomorrow it will be moved to a new home, and I must ask you not to go looking for it again", Dumbledore said.

"I won't", Ember promised.

"Good. Now off you go", Dumbledore lightly ordered. The ginger gathered up her invisibility cloak and left the room.