2Written in place of Bats Chaser Three (Prompts: 1. (word) flood, 4. (quote) "Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?" Friedrich Nietzsche, 8. (quote) "I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world." Mahatma Gandhi) Year 854 AD
If You Dare Challenge: 660. Mirror
One Million Words Competition: 948 words
Mirror of Erised
Rowena looked into the mirror, proud of what she had crafted. It was a beautiful mirror—the Mirror of Erised, she had decided to name it.
Otherwise known as the Mirror of Desire—it showed you what you desired. She had had Godric make it—and she had charmed it.
But she had another use for it. A secret use for it, that she hoped no one but she would know.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall, show me the one person I want to call," she said.
It showed Godric, sleeping on the bed that they shared. She smiled, caringly. He was just the most handsome thing ever.
That was just a test run on her mirror. Now for the real deal.
"Mirror, mirror on the wall, take me to my family's fall," she said, and stepped through the mirror.
She found herself in the same manor that she lived—but obviously in a different time. The furniture was from a different style—probably around three or four generations.
As to what time she was in, was when her family had taken their great 'fall'. They had lost a lot, and it had taken a long time to recover from it.
No one was in the house, as they had gone to church. Rowena had heard many stories of it.
What had happened when they were gone was the disaster. There had been a flood, and no one had been there to stop it.
Of course, Rowena wasn't a fool. She knew that she couldn't do anything to change the future, because she could end up not being born by just one action.
She didn't really care about the flood, anyway. She just wanted to talk to them about 'church'. She herself didn't go.
The generations after this generation hadn't gone—they had thought that God had been casting a curse upon them with this flood that had broken through the boundaries. They blamed it all on God, and afterwards never did anything to do with Him.
She knew that the flood would be coming soon, so she Apparated outside of the Manor, and waited for her ancestors to arrive.
She watched them panic at the sight of their completely flooded manor, and then chose her moment to go ask them.
"Why do you go to church?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think that right now is a suitable time to be asking me that kind of question!" the wizard, presumably Regal Ravenclaw, said, muttering spells to cast the water out of the manor.
Rowena sighed, and helped them.
As soon as they finished, she repeated the question.
"I thank you for helping us, but… who are you?" the witch, probably Regina Ravenclaw asked.
"I'm Rowena… I was just wondering why you went to church. I'm curious," she said. "I don't personally go… Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man? I have so many questions, but no one I know goes to church… so I came here."
"We go to church, because we need something to believe in, something to cling onto during the most desperate and dangerous times," Regal answered. "We go to church because it's our hope."
Regina nodded in agreement.
"I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world. But why God?" she asked.
"Because… I just feel like He's the one…" Regina said.
"If I told you that the generations after this didn't believe in Him or anyone else, what would you say?" she asked.
"It's a shame…" Regal and Regina answered together. "Those who don't know Him are missing out on some real spiritual relationships."
"Thank you! I'm going to leave now," she said, smiling as she Apparated to the lake next to the Manor.
"Mirror, Mirror, shaped like a heart, please take me back to the start," she said, and stepped into it.
Nothing happened. She hadn't transported to the present—she was still there in the past.
"Mirror, Mirror, shaped like a heart, please take me back to the start," she repeated, dipping her toe into the lake once again.
She tried different variations.
"Mirror, Mirror, don't be a tease, take me back to where I belong please."
"Mirror, Mirror, I say this in a song, take me where I belong."
"Mirror, Mirror, you are not made of stone, take me to my home."
"Mirror, Mirror, you're making me sweat, to my home I must get."
"Mirror, Mirror, I will destroy you, unless you do what you must do."
She let out an exasperated sigh. If she was stuck here, what would she do?
She was sure it worked. So why wasn't it working now? Was she stuck here?
"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice asked.
She turned around to see Regal Ravenclaw. "I-I can't seem to go back to my home. I was going to use this lake as a portal…"
"Then you have to take the spells on it off, silly. Here, let me do it," he said, waving his wand around and muttering spells under his breath.
"There, it's done, I think," he said, smiling kindly at her.
"Thank you so much!" she replied gratefully.
"A young thing like you should get home safe and sound," he smiled at her.
"Mirror, Mirror, shaped like a heart, please take me back to the start," she said, dipping her toe into the lake one more time.
Finally, she felt herself going into the future.
She rushed into her own manor, and collapsed on her bed. She was going to write a book about religions. But before that…
"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall…"
I apologize for this terrible story—I wrote it in about five minutes.