Belle Dimanche and When Time Goes Wrong

Another Puzzle Piece

Belle actually missed the hotel when she returned to Hogwarts. But only because Hogwarts had school whereas the hotel had hot chocolate and no homework. Hermione was very annoyed to hear Harry and Ron had completely forgotten about finding Flamel, but Belle had to admit she couldn't blame them. It had been Christmas after all. And now Belle had a dangerous weapon to use against Malfoy!

'Never mind about Flamel,' snapped Harry after Hermione found out they hadn't searched for Flamel. 'I've got something to tell you.'

'What?' asked Belle curiously. 'You didn't find a stash of chocolate did you? Because if you did it definitely wasn't mine ...'

Harry paused for a minute, looking on the verge of laughter. 'No, I didn't find any chocolate. But for Christmas I was given a REAL invisibility cloak. And a rare one too. The note with it was anonymous, but apparently it used to be my fathers.'

'Now we can sneak to the kitchens and steal sweets!' said Belle gleefully.

'That's not what I want it for,' said Harry rolling his eyes. 'And this story was actually going somewhere other than food.'

'Did you say food?' said Ron suddenly. He knew this story already, so it seemed he had zoned out.

'Just forget the food!' sighed Harry. 'I used the cloak that night and went out in it. It worked, by the way. When I went out though, I found this mirror. And it wasn't an ordinary mirror. I saw my parents in it.'

Belle spat out the water she had been drinking in surprise and Hermione looked confused.

'But Harry ...' said Hermione. 'They're dead, you know that. They couldn't have been there.'

'I know,' said Harry. 'Anyway, the next night, I got Ron to come with me.'

'Oh yeah, yeah, he did, but I didn't see his parents,' said Ron cheerfully.

'What did you see?' asked Hermione.

'I was Quidditch Captain AND Head Boy!' he said excitedly. 'Both! It was amazing!'

'That's weird,' said Hermione frowning.

'The next night I went to the mirror again and I still saw my parents. But then Dumbledore found me,' explained Harry.

'You didn't lose Gryffindor points, did you?' said Hermione severely. 'Because if you did -'

'No, I didn't lose Gryffindor points,' said Harry impatiently. 'He just told me that I shouldn't go looking for the mirror again and made me promise I wouldn't - which I didn't. He said men could go mad looking at the mirror. It shows you what you want most when you look into it and they would just stare at it, trying to figure out how to make what they see come true. And after I went to the mirror the last night I had this weird dream ... I don't really remember it ... it was just kind of ... disturbing.'

'Dumbledore's probably right then,' said Hermione flatly. 'If you're having disturbing dreams you really might be able to go mad.'

'Thanks, you've really reassured me,' said Harry, rolling his eyes. Belle giggled and Ron sniggered but Hermione didn't listen.

Only a couple of days later Harry returned from Quidditch practice with bad news - very bad news.

'SNAPE?' exclaimed Ron in shock and dismay. 'But he won't be fair on Gryffindor! How can SNAPE referee in the next match?'

'Maybe ...' suggested Belle, frowning. 'Maybe, since he couldn't do it last time ... I hate to say it but what if Snape's trying to get closer to kill Harry?'

Ron immediately turned to Harry.

'You can't play,' he said.

'Pretend to be ill,' suggested Hermione, shrugging.