Turning Time (A Harry Potter Fanfic)

Room of Requirement, pt. 3

Meanwhile, Severus and Lily shuffled around the seventh floor corridor, concealed by the Invisibility Cloak. A door appeared. Severus reached out, twisted the handle, and pushed the door open. After closing the door, he swept the Invisibility Cloak off of them. 

Lily walked further in, tentative. “What is this place?” She seemed to be waiting for something to happen, something to explain how serious Severus had been when he offered to show her. 

“It’s called the Come and Go Room, or the Room of Requirement. I discovered it in fourth year.” Severus hung back, watching her. “It’s supposed to give you…what you need. So if you needed the loo—” 

“It’d give you the loo.” Lily smiled and looked around the room with a new interest. It was empty, except for candles floating overhead, and a partially hidden object in the opposite corner of the room, which was covered in a gray sheet. Lily seemed to disregard the object as her gaze passed over it. “What did you need, then?” Lily turned back toward Severus, eyebrows up. 

Severus met Lily’s eyes, more earnest than she, and opened his mouth to reply. 

Then Lily heard noise from outside and the question was dropped, but not forgotten. “It’s raining, I think. Can you hear it?” Lily went to one of the windows and peered through the blackness. 

While she was distracted, Severus drew closer to the Mirror. He pulled the covering off and looked into the Mirror for the first time in over a year. Lily stood in the glass, appearing exactly as she had always had appeared in the Mirror; dark red hair in waves around her face, her body slight in a white nightgown. 

Severus realized, with a jolt, that it was how she appeared now. 

“What’s this?” Lily came from behind him.

“It’s called the Mirror of Erised.” 

Lily’s puzzled eyes searched the glass. She glanced around, confused that her reflection didn’t match her environment. Then she looked to the words for an explanation. “‘Erised…stra ehru…oyt ube cafru…oyt on wohsi.’ Do you know what that means? It doesn’t sound like Latin.” 

Severus studied her and chewed his lip, his breathing light and fragmented. He breathed in carefully. “It means—Well, if you reverse the letters, it says, ‘I show not your face…but your heart’s desire.’”

Lily looked back at the inscription, then into the Mirror. She crossed her arms, bracing herself. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and cracked a little. “Heart’s desire…what would that mean, more specifically? Your best friend?” 

Severus’ heart pounded. “No, it’s what you want more than anything. Something you’d don’t have, and if you did have it, you’d never need anything else.” He thought about Harry. “If you miss people you lost to the Dark Lord, you might see them. Or, say you wanted to be Minister of Magic—” 

“What do you see?” Lily didn’t look at him; she was focused on the Mirror. 

“Me?” Severus shut his eyes. “I see—I see you.” Then he opened them, preparing himself for her reaction, though he didn’t know what to expect. 

Lily’s eyebrows were furrowed. As though she’s panicking, Severus thought. Finally, Lily replied, “But I see you, too. You’re standing there…safe.” She turned to him. “Why—” 

Severus leaned in and kissed her. He was hesitant, his lips hardly grazing hers; their lips parted after only a second. Severus kept his face just an inch from Lily’s, their breathing uneven. Lily held her breath in shock, eyes locked on his mouth.