the secret of Erised {s.b.}

chapter 3: the mirror

Esmeralda opened her eyes slowly. She had no idea how long she had been out or where she was. She looked around and saw that she was still in the Room of Requirement. Alone. The spell had not worked. All those years of her going to the Room of Requirement to see her parents and trying to figure out a way to get them out of the mirror were wasted. She had never felt so alone.

The brunette tried to stand up but her head was pounding with pain. She closed her eyes and sat down slowly. She rubbed the back of her head and winced at the pain. She looked at her hand and noticed that it was clean.

At least I'm not bleeding, she thought.

Esmeralda looked around to find her wand so she could go back to her dorm. She figured she would go to Madame Pomfrey in the morning, not wanting to bother her this late at night. She saw her wand's reflection behind her in the mirror. Esmeralda turned around to grab it but it was not there. She looked back at the mirror to see if she had imagined it. The wand was still there.

She walked up to the mirror and put her right hand against it. She tried pushing the mirror to see if something would happen, but nothing did. Esmeralda was looking at her wand, the need to hold it and get out of there grew stronger with every second that passed. She started throwing her fists against the mirror in hopes that it would give her her wand back. There was a flash of bright light that came out of the mirror and shot her back a few meters.

Esmeralda wiped her robes and stood up. She was confused. Why was her wand inside the mirror and why couldn't she take it out ?

If I can't get the wand out, then maybe Dumbledore or McGonagall can. She thought as she turned to the door.

She grabbed both door handles and pulled them towards her to open the doors. Instead of the seventh-floor corridor, Esmeralda was greeted by a wall. The Room of Requirement was sealed. She couldn't get out. Not knowing what else to do, she started punching the wall in desperation.

"Help !" she yelled at the top of her lungs "Somebody help ! I'm trapped !"

Esmeralda couldn't keep screaming because tears began to roll down her cheeks. She was in so much emotional and physical pain. The spell had not worked, she did not have her wand and she was trapped inside the Room of Requirement. Her hands began to bleed because of how hard she was hitting the wall. Some of the blood was getting on it, but she didn't care, she needed to get out of there.

"Be quiet, my child," Esmeralda heard suddenly.

She stopped punching the wall and turned towards the mirror. She could see Venetia Dragonstone holding out her hand to her. Esmeralda began to cry even harder, that was the first time she had heard her mother's voice. When she had visited her parents through the years, they could not talk to her. Esmeralda had no idea why she could hear her now, but she didn't care. She ran towards the mirror and tried to reach for her mother's hand. The only thing she touched was the mirror's cold surface.

"Mama..." she began, "What is happening to me ?"

"Esmeralda, I am not your mother."

Esmeralda took a breath in.

"What do you mean ?" she began, "Of course you are !"

"I am only the Mirror of Erised's personification," the figure that looked like Venetia said, "The Mirror has sent me to tell you something."

"The Mirror's personification ?" Esmeralda said, "What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean ? And where is my mother ?!"

"Your mother is dead Esmeralda. She has been dead since the day you were born," the figure said, "A life for a life."