the secret of Erised {s.b.}

prologue

~1966~

Esmeralda Dragonstone stood in front of the mirror of Erised with her eyes looking intensely at her reflection. Her hand was gripping her wand tighter than usual due to her sweaty palms. Her other hand was pressed firmly against the mirror. She had memorized the spell to perfection. Quod Apud Mihi. That is all she needed to do. Say the spell and then her parents would come out of the mirror.

She never knew her parents. Her father, Heliodor Dragonstone, was an Auror and her mother, Venetia Dragonstone, a Herbologist. They had met when they attended Hogwarts, both of them were sorted into Gryffindor house. Heliodor was quite the adventurer and rule breaker. His dream was to become an Animagus. They met when he snuck into one of Professor Sprout's greenhouses at night to steal the key ingredient in becoming an Animagus; a mandrake leaf. Venetia was watering some of the plants in that greenhouse when she noticed him crawling on the floor. She helped him get the leaf and managed to sneak in a few more in case he swallowed or took out the leaf as most people who are trying to become Animagi often do. They became inseparable after that. Her parents were a perfect match, even the teachers thought that they would live to be a happy old couple. They were wrong.

Heliodor died a month before Esmeralda was born. He was murdered by a dark wizard that was trying to break into the Ministry of Magic. Venetia's pregnancy became high risk after she learned about her husband's murder. She was not able to leave her room for the last four weeks of pregnancy. She died during childbirth, leaving Heliodor's sister, Perla Dragonstone, to take care of baby Esmeralda.

Having lost her husband without ever having a child of her own weighed heavily on Perla's heart, but that didn't mean that she resented her brother for having a beautiful daughter like Esmeralda. She took care of Esmeralda as if she were her own child. Perla would tell little Esmeralda stories about her parents and the adventures they had together, her favorite always being the story of when they met.

As Esmeralda got older, her aunt started noticing the striking resemblance between the little girl and her father. She had wavy chocolate brown hair that would sometimes curl at the end. Her beautiful olive skin caused her sweet, big, and gorgeous honey-colored eyes to shine whenever the sun hit them at the right angle. But even without the sun, her eyes were always shining.

When Esmeralda received her letter to attend Hogwarts, her Aunt Perla took her to Diagon Alley to buy all of her school supplies. She got all the books she needed, her cauldron, robes, and a tiny black owl that she named Obsidiana. It was a tradition in her father's side of the family to be named after a gem or a precious stone. When she noticed how the tiny owl's feathers glimmered a silver-toned light, she thought back to the precious stone collection she had at home and realized that the owl reminded her of the rare black Aztec stone.

She walked into Ollivander's by herself. Her aunt said that it would be better for her to do so, given that Mr. Ollivander was a peculiar man. When she stepped foot inside that store, she was greeted by an old man that came out of the shadows of the towering shelves of wands. There must've been at least a thousand wands. Esmeralda had never seen so much order in chaos before.

Mr. Ollivander handed her two wands that, when she flicked them, caused a lamp to break and a few boxes of wands to fly out of the shelves. Esmeralda felt the embarrassment of the mess she had made flush her cheeks. She had started to pick up the boxes that came out flying so quickly that she didn't notice Mr. Ollivander's absence from the main part of the store. He came back slowly, holding a maroon box that seemed new, and opened it. Esmeralda saw how his eyes shifted between her and the wand, there was a tinge of expectation and bewilderment in them.

Esmeralda took out the beautiful wand from the box and she felt warmth travel from her hand all the way through her body. Mr. Ollivander muttered something under his breath that Esmeralda was not able to catch. He gave her a knowing smile, but his eyes still glimmered with confusion and maybe fear. Mr. Ollivander told Esmeralda that he was not planning in bringing out that collection of wands for at least another ten years.