The days passed very slowly for little Black, between her aunt and cousin's attempts to make her smile, Kaguya managed to endure until she was back on the train on way to Hogwarts.
"Are you okay?" Draco put his suitcase aside to sit next to his cousin.
Kaguya took a breath, looked at her hands, looked at Draco and smiled.
"Of course! I can't wait to get to Hogwarts to continue riding the broom," His cousin's smile became so bright that Draco didn't recognize the girl who had been thinking about escaping from mansion a few days ago.
What Draco didn't know was his cousin's desire to see her parents again.
They arrived a day before school started, and that same night Kaguya came running back to the mirror room.
But there was nothing.
'I desperately searched for the mirror in every corner of room, but no. The mirror had disappeared....'
The door opened, revealing Headmaster Dumbledore, a little surprised to see Kaguya in that place.
"Are you looking for the mirror, Kaguya?"
Black, who had not noticed the teacher's presence because she was looking for the mirror, almost tripped over the desks from shock.
"Professor Dumbledore" was the only thing she managed to say knowing that a punishment was coming.
"I will not punish you, Kaguya," Dumbledore smiled as he approached her, "Many fall under the spell of the Mirror of Erised, including myself at times."
Kaguya felt a little relieved, but that didn't take away the growing sadness that was taking over her, "I thought nobody came in here."
"Only a couple of students came in here this year, more times than they should have," Dumbledore took Kaguya's shoulder, "I'm sure you and Harry saw very similar things."
"...That mirror showed me my parents."
"And a boy is shown holding the House cup."
"I don't understand," Kaguya looked confused at the teacher who had a kind smile.
"You see, the happiest man in the world can look in the mirror and see himself as he is," Kaguya understood what the teacher was trying to say.
Several things came together in her head.
"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi," Kaguya repeated the words she had taken so much trouble to decipher, "I thought it was another language..." she muttered under her breath.
"Kaguya, the mirror shows us what our heart desires most."
Her parents.
"There are people who become obsessed and fascinated by the mirror, to a point where they go crazy because they don't know if what it shows is real or even possible."
Kaguya looked at the teacher with crystallized eyes, "They took the mirror to another house, and I ask you please, Kaguya, don't look for it."
"But... My father..." Her voice cut off before she could finish her sentence.
It was so unfair that only thing that showed her true support had disappeared, "I just wanted to see him...."
The teacher knew at that moment that Kaguya saw more than just her parents in that reflection.
When he had to explain it to Harry, it wasn't as difficult as it is now.
He had a little girl in front of him crying because of the reflection of her parents.
"Kaguya, a reflection, an illusion, can never make us completely happy. True happiness is in the people who are always by our side. It is easy to miss people who are not with us, but we rarely appreciate those who are by our side."
"You don't understand, no one does," Kaguya abruptly wiped away the tears that wouldn't stop coming, "I appreciate my cousin, my aunt, my friends. But there was something about my father that no one could ever fill....."
"Why do you love him so much, Kaguya? What do you see in him?" That question was enough to make her whole world go down in flames.
She knew what he meant. She had never met her parents.
Never received any love.
'Now, Sirius Black, he was a prisoner, a murderer, perhaps a madman at this point. What good could there be in this man, who, even without knowing him, made me love him more than the rest of family? Do I love the real Sirius Black or just the illusion which I saw through the mirror? It was a question that would never have a definite answer, since I was sure I would never meet him....'
But it was based on the reflection of her heart.
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"W-why? Why am I here? You said I can experience love again....I miss him." Kaguya murmured, shedding a few more tears.
Kaguya seemed to be a special case.
Dumbledore could assure that Harry and Kaguta were very similar, but unlike Harry, she had not yet felt true love.
The night passed with little Black crying on Professor's shoulder, who tried to cheer her up with lemon candies.
Kaguya tried hard not to think about that damn mirror, not to keep thinking about her father or mother or that silly boy of dreams.
She wanted to listen to Dumbledore and appreciate the time she spent with her cousin, with Pansy, with Theo, with Ron.
'But it was very difficult, because until they left, I would never know how much I loved them.....'
Now, final exams were approaching, and her head was saturated with many things.
Sometimes Kaguya convinced Pansy or Theo to go to the library, she helped Draco study and other times she went to study alone to concentrate better.
'I was standing between the shelves looking for theory books, I felt that the practical part should not be learned in a book and also knew a few more spells than those learned...'
"The ancient study of alchemy is linked to discovery of the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance that has amazing powers. The stone can transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which makes the drinker immortal," It was Granger's voice that spoke of that amazing stone.
"Immortal?" And that was Ron.
"It means you can't die," Granger stressed, while rolling her eyes irritatedly.
'Don't tell me, really?'
"I knew it, Hermione!" Ron assured, obviously annoyed by her tone.
"There has been much talk of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone in existence today belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who turned six hundred and sixty-five last year, leads a quiet life in Devon with his wife Perenela," Granger continued reading, "That's what Fuffly looks after on the third floor, that's what they hide there."
'Fuffly? What the hell was that? They were talking about something on the third floor, and the strangest thing there was Cerberus,' as Kaguya decided to call him.
'Cerberus was called Fuffly? What a disappointment.'
The three Gryffindors left the library and Kaguya came out of her hiding place.
She took the book that was still on the table where Ron and other two were a few seconds ago, sat down and began to read about the wonderful Philosopher's Stone.
xxxxxx
That night Kaguya arrived with the book to her common room, she hadn't eaten much so she arrived before her friends.
Pansy and Theo wondered how much Kaguya read, but she insisted that she was studying.
"Does anyone know where Draco is?" Kaguya asked with a frown.
All the students were already in the common room, except Draco.
"He said he was going to teach Potter a lesson or something," Theo replied, his head on Kaguya's lap, with a potions book in his hands.
"A lesson?"
"You shouldn't worry about him," Pansy spoke up from the floor with a charms book, "He has the same thing with Potter that you have with Granger."
That wasn't what worried her.
Kaguya was worried that Potter and his gang were looking for the Philosopher's Stone and that Draco was after them.
"I'm already bored, the exams can wait, I want to sleep," Pansy kissed Kaguya and Theo on the cheek and went up to the girls' rooms.
"Oi, Don't worry about that guy," Theo said looking at her poofy head, "You'll see that Draco will be here in five minutes."
Kaguya smiled at him, pretending to be reading while she kept checking the entry. 'Something was wrong, it wasn't a feeling, it was a fact. Because nothing can go right when you're around Potter.'
A few minutes passed and Draco still hadn't returned.
Kaguya stood up, careful not to wake Theo who was now lying asleep.
She carefully placed a pillow under his head and covered him with her robes.
She took her wand and went out in her pajamas to find her cousin.
Everything was silent and dark.
Kaguya found nothing until she reached McGonagall's office, the lights were on and the door was slightly open.
She stayed close without looking in, to reduce the risk of being discovered.
"There is no excuse for students to be out of bed at night. As a consequence of your actions, I will deduct fifty points from each of you!"
It was McGonagall's furious voice punishing someone.
xxxxx
1 Extra Chapter - 70 Power Stone's! 🎉