Patrick Stump and the Flying Car Brigade

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Several days passed, and if nothing else, I had been sleeping a little better. The Flying Car Brigade hadn't needed the Marauder's Map, so I was free to use it for my own purposes, and I found it relaxing to just watch the little dots whirl around the castle. I was never watching for anyone in particular, but I couldn't help but notice some things. For example, the Ravenclaws spent an awful lot of time on the Quidditch pitch, and Brendon Urie often ended up in unusual spots on the map. The strangest thing of all, however, was a slightly fuzzy spot on the map that resided in the classroom next to the Divination room.

I ignored it for a while, but one day, my curiosity got the better of me. I climbed up the long staircase in the North Tower up to the where the fuzzy spot was. I had never taken Divination, so the corridor was somewhat alien to me. I followed the map into an empty classroom, and looked around once I got there. The classroom was completely bare, with the exception of a gold-plated mirror near one wall. I cautiously stepped towards the mirror, uncertain of what exactly a dusty old mirror was doing in an empty classroom.

Now that I was a little bit closer, I was able to read the inscription on the mirror. It read "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi." I had no idea what that meant, so I assumed it was simply an ancient language that I didn't know. There you go again, Patrick, I thought to myself. You're just picking up things you shouldn't read.

I took a quick look at myself in the mirror, and I was surprised by what I saw. I was expecting to see only my short frame and my own pair of baby blue eyes staring back at me, but there was so much more. Instead of the empty room, I was waiting next to the lake, with the castle behind me. It wasn't just me in the mirror either. Some of the other sixth years were there too, although we didn't look the same. All of us looked just a little bit older. Professor McGonagall and Professor Hagrid were at the lake with us, and I could see Andy, Joe, and Pete waiting at the other end, along with more of my classmates. I heard Professor Hagrid call my name, and my reflection stepped forward. Professor McGonagall handed me a diploma, and my reflection carefully got into a boat and drifted towards the other end of the lake as Professor McGonagall called yet another name.

I couldn't help but stare at the mirror as I continued to watch the graduation ceremony. What was the mirror showing me? This had to be my future. The mirror was telling me that I would stay at Hogwarts, and I would graduate from Hogwarts at the end of seventh year along with everyone else. The future was bulletproof, and the aftermath was secondary, after all. This had to be what would happen to me one day.

The vision faded away, but I still couldn't see my real reflection in the mirror. Instead, the mirror turned opaque and I began to hear voices coming through a crack in the mirror. At first, I couldn't distinguish any of them, but after a few minutes, one of them began to stand out. The voice seemed masculine, but I didn't recognise it. "Can you hear me? Are you near me?" the voice said.

"Uh...hi?" I stammered. "I can hear you."

"You can?" the man on the other side of the mirror said.

"Yes," I said.

"I'm surprised," the man said. "Usually people can't hear through the Veil."

"The Veil?" I asked. "What's that?"

"It's the boundary between the living and the dead," the man said. "The crack in that mirror seems to be a break in it. By the way, where did you get that map?"

"This?" I said, holding up the Marauder's Map. "I got it as a gift from my friend Gerard. I don't know where he got it from, but it's actually very interesting. It tracks everyone at Hogwarts, and it has all of the..."

"I know," the man said. "I made it."

"Who are you anyways?" I asked, puzzled.

The man chuckled slightly and then said, "I'm Mr Padfoot."

"Mr Padfoot?" I said. "The one who called my boyfriend a meme-watching moron?"

"If the map said that, then it's probably true," Mr Padfoot said.

"Do you know the others?" I asked. "Moony, Prongs, and Wormtail?"

"They were my mates at school," Mr Padfoot told me.

"You said that this crack in the mirror is a break in the boundary between the living and the dead," I said. "Does that mean that you're dead?"

"No, it means that you've got maybe just two weeks to live," Mr Padfoot said sarcastically. "Yes, I'm dead, and so are the rest of the Marauders, if you're wondering!"

"This can't be real," I said. "You're just messing with me."

"Why would I be messing with you?" Mr Padfoot said. "I hardly know you. What's your name, lad?"

"Patrick Stump," I said.

"Stump," Mr Padfoot repeated. "I've never met a Stump before."

"What's your name?" I asked. "Padfoot can't possibly be your real name."

"You're right," Mr Padfoot said. "Padfoot isn't my real name. My Animagus was a dog, so my mates gave me that nickname while I was at Hogwarts. My real name is Sirius Black."

"Sirius Black?" I said. "I feel like I've heard that name before..."

Sirius began to say something, but a harsher voice interrupted him. "Mr Stump!" the voice shouted. "You're going to be late for Defence Against The Dark Arts. Twenty points from Hufflepuff."

"You're not my professor," I sassed, although I did take a quick look at the clock. It was nearly time for Defence Against The Dark Arts, and I couldn't let anyone catch me in there. Anyone else would think I was a madman if they saw me talking to a mirror.

"Patrick's right, Snape," Sirius said. "You're not his professor, and you really do need to wash your hair..."

The bickering voices faded away as I hurried away from the mirror and towards my Defence Against The Dark Arts classroom. I made it just in time. Howell started class the second I entered the classroom. I was still a little shaken up by everything that had occurred, but I was thankful that nobody had spotted me, and I had certainly learned something. After all, life was just a pace-car on death, only less diligent, so I told myself to focus and not worry too much about the mirror. I just had to get through Defence Against The Dark Arts.