Uh oh...

"Ahem... do any of you... hear voices... from inside there?" Jake asked the people present. He had half a mind to ask Myrtle to float through and check, but something told him that would be bad.

"Hello?" Jake called out, hoping against hope that he wasn't about to get an answer.

"Is it locked?" Vanessa asked quietly, staring at the door, portrait thingy. How could it have been locked! "Why would it be locked," She cocked her head to the side, and stared at the thing, as if she was willing it to open. She wanted to get out.

"I don't think spells will work Rai," She admitted quietly, taking a few steps back. "I think we're stuck here...." She shook a little, she didn't want to be stuck in here. Not with that wierd mirror. Wouldn't someone notice that they were gone. She hoped someone noticed.

"There's someone out there!" She spoke quietly, as she heard a voice. Maybe they could get them out, or maybe they knew why it had locked.

"Erm..Heey..." She called back, a little louder now. "We're kinda stuck..." She added, although she kind of guessed they might have known that, or else they wouldn't have called.

"I didn't even know that portraits COULD lock!" Raiden said frantically, pushing harder now. "How can a portrait LOCK?!"

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the mean mirror. This... was the mirror's doing, he thought immediately. It was mad that they wanted to leave it here alone, so it had done something evil and magicky and locked the portrait on them!

He looked at Vannie, then at the portrait when he heard a small voice on the other side. Someone was out there? She had heard it too, so apparently there was! Raiden knocked on the portrait again, louder this time.

"Hello? Can you... uhm... open this?" he asked loudly, after she had spoken. "We... can't get it open."

He put his ear against the portrait and listened. Who was out there?

"EEP!" Jake yipped. "What do I do?! Myrtle..." Jake looked around. "I locked them in, didn't I... can they not get out?"

He looked back at the portrait. "Evil dragon..." he muttered. "Erm... Someone might have... kinda... maybe... sorta tickled the dragon... and it locked..."

My bad... Jake turned back to Myrtle. "Maybe they can still get out somehow? Even if we can't get in..." his head was reeling and he resisted the urge to flap his hands in a flailing motion.

"Nor did I!" Vanessa agreed, sounding very worried. If it had locked surely they could unlock it. They had to get out! They couldn't sit in here with the mirror for the rest of there lives! Nuu! That would be terrible.

"You tickled the dragon?" Vanessa shouted out, to whoever was outside. Why on earth had they done that? We're they stupid or something. "Well....that was clever....Is anyone else there?" She asked, hoping that someone who could open the door was there. She was feeling a little panicy now.

"Will the dragon...unlock the door?" She asked, surely the portrait must have been a moving one, like the other portraits. Maybe if they asked nicely.

Raiden looked at Vannie Corbette again, mixed feelings showing on his face, then leaned his forehead against the portrait and said, rather loudly, "Did... did you say Myrtle? Like... the ghost Myrtle?" From what he'd heard, Myrtle wasn't as bad as Peeves, but she was troublesome too... Causing problems by being sneaky. "Who's on the other side of this portrait? Who are you?"

Tickled... how could you TICKLE a portrait?! Raiden banged his forehead gently against the portrait's back, sighing. Why... why did the silly thing have to lock while he and Vannie Corbette were in here?! Couldn't it have waited until they were out?

"Of course the dragon will unlock the door," Raiden said to Vannie Corbette, voice slightly strangled. "It has to... if it didn't, we'd be-"

Stuck in here forever and die? Surely not.

"Yeah I tickled it..." Jake yelled again, becoming frustrated. "How many more times?!" Taking a few deep breaths, Jake stared at the Dragon in front of him. He was wondering if it would communicate or do... something... anything. Siiiiiigh.

"Myrtle's here... I'm here... Paris is here... and, erm..." Jake squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to remember the name. "Heliolilollios."

Yup.

Giving an exasperated sigh, Jake nodded, forgetting that they couldn't see him through the portrait. "Do you know any other Myrtles?" Rawrr... some people... "And I'm Jake... I recognise your voice..." Jake squeezed his eyes and tried to remember hearing that boy before. Nope. Not gonna happen. Sighing again, Jake backed up and sat on the floor so he was leaning up against the wall opposite the portrait. He couldn't get help without being accused of running away, so he could only wait for someone to show up so he could explain.

The Grey Lady floated through the wall and into the locked room with the students. "Tell me. What has the mirror revealed to you?" she asked and hovered over to it. "I must know!"

Uwaaaaaaaah. The Grey Lady had come into the room... Raiden swallowed anxiously and shot a long glance at Vannie Corbette. What had it shown them? How did he explain what he'd seen? At the very base of what he'd seen, there had only been-

"It... it showed me..." his voice cracked slightly. "It showed me myself, Miss Grey Lady..."

She was near the mirror... he flinched, as if he thought she was suddenly going to rip the sheet off of it. He looked back at the portrait, hoping against all hope that it would open soon.

"Jake... Jake, whoever you are, please! Please, figure out some way to get us out of here!" He looked at the Grey Lady again, panic overtaking him a little. "Can... can you get the door open, Miss Grey Lady?"

The idea of being trapped in this room for a looong period of time was... kind of... terrifying. His hand scrounged in his pocket for a vial. This was... stressful. And Raiden couldn't do stressful. He popped the top off the vial and tipped it back, intending to down the whole thing.

Aww yay, Jakey Jake didn't hate Myrtle. And good thing too, because he probably would have found every loo he would ever enter flooded if he started to hate the best ghostie everrrrr.

"I dunno. So what if someone's locked in there." Myrtle shrugged her ghostly shoulders and started twirling one of her pigtails - never a good sign. "Maybe The Grey Lady will do something about it, since sheeee seems to know everyyyything about everyyyyyyone and she's alllllllways right."

The girly ghostie sniffed loudly, making sure Helena could still hear her through the wall and into the locked portrait room. "What's on the other side of the ticklish dragon anyways, Jakey?" Myrtle blinked her big, spectacled eyes innocently. "Do you know? Have you been in there?" She floated into his face and whispered, "Is it ILLEGAL STUFF?"

"Calm down, child. I must know what everyone is looking for!" the Grey Lady pleaded. "Do you not know what this Mirror does?"

Raiden let the draught slide down his throat without touching his tongue or any other part of his mouth. Only half, only half, he thought suddenly. Not too much. He stopped himself and put the stopper back on, then took a deep, shuddering breath and looked at the Grey Lady again.

"We... we found the room by accident," Raiden said, voice shaking. "I thought I broke the frame, and I was playing with it... and it came open... and the Vannie Corbette showed up...and we came in and saw the mirror and we didn't know what it was exactly, and-"

He looked at the portrait, at the covered mirror, then at Vannie Corbette. His heart hadn't slowed down a single beat yet; it never took the potion this long to kick in.

"We looked into it. I know what I saw... But I don't know exactly what Vannie Corbette saw, something about her boyfriend's dad being not mean..." He bit his bottom lip and looked up at the Grey Lady, desperation overtaking him again. "It... it shows you wh-what you w-want most, right? Vannie Corbette says that it's the Mirror of Erised... but I don't think it's all that nice at all, showing you things you can never have."

He stepped closer to the covered mirror and put a hand against the sheet, the coolness of the glass seeping through.

"Miss Grey Lady... wh-what do you see when you look in this mirror?" He asked absently, his voice wavering still. "Does it do the same for ghosts as for humans? D-does it show you the thing you want most, even if it's not possible?"

"It is the Mirror of Erised," she confirmed solemnly. "Albus Dumbledore hid it here after young Harry Potter saved the Sorcerer's Stone from falling in the hands of Lord Voldemort. No human has seen it since that time. Not even during the Battle of Hogwarts was this hiding place disturbed." Helena looked at the Mirror. "I see the humans who are in this room and the walls of this chamber. Ghosts cannot see into the Mirror like the living can."

"S-so it's been here all this time, with no one looking in it?" He managed to choke out. "For a magical item to go unused for so long... would that do something to it?"

He ran his hand over the sheet again, while looking at the Grey Lady... and didn't notice that it was beginning to slip off the side.

"Y-you can't see into it?" He asked. "So... you don't have to be burdened by seeing your greatest wish, one that can never come true." He tried to muster a little smile. "That sounds preferable to being able to look into it."

He sat on the floor, holding his knees to himself, eyes straying to the stone he was sitting on. All he could do was hope that someone would be able to get the door open from the outside... It didn't seem as if the Grey Lady was going to let them out.

"We're stuck, huh," he said softly, sighing. And, as he looked back up at the Grey Lady, the sheet came loose and slid down to the floor, leaving the cruel mirror exposed.

The Grey Lady took pity on the child. "No, you're not trapped," she said and floated over to the locked door. She lifted her hands and whispered a few words. Suddenly, a loud click was heard. "You've told me the truth. I can see it in your eyes and hear it reflected in your voice. Before you leave, can you tell me this - why would adults wish to see this legendary mirror?"

Raiden's eyes followed the Grey Lady as she moved toward the door; and then he heard the click. That AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL click. It was a click that said 'I'm a door, and I'm unlocked now, so you can escape'. Scrambling to his feet, he swayed for a second.

"Adults..." he thought for a second. What could adults want? They still had hopes and dreams, but the most wanted desires of people his age and people who were older... were probably vastly different. Their time to complete their dreams had probably already passed... so in exchange for that, they'd want... "They'd... probably want to see it... so they could see themselves as young again. Because unlike kids my age... they don't want to grow into greatness, because their time to achieve it's probably already passed... they'd... they'd want to go back."

He stopped, and his eyes widened a little bit. That... that sounded like... wait...

"Hang on," he whispered, his voice guttering like a flame. "They'd... they'd...want to go back..." He looked at the Grey Lady again. "Miss Grey Lady... can this mirror do anything besides showing you what you want the most? Does it... have any other abilities? Or... anything?"

The Grey Lady just floated and kept her ghostly gaze on the Slytherin. "But why did one adult see himself as older? I heard him say it!" she exclaimed and was clearly distressed. "They weren't looking for it!" She floated around the chamber and around the Mirror several times. "Oh, no! What have we done?" she wailed loudly and disappeared through one of the walls.

"Someone wanted to be older?" Raiden asked, confused. But before he could ask her who it had been, or what they were supposed to be looking for, she was circling the mirror in distress and wailing, and then heading straight for a very solid wall. "Wait, wait!"

And Raiden, being him, disregarded the solidity of said wall and the fact that ghosts were unable to be touched... and reached out to grab her dress, as it was the last thing to disappear. Too much momentum put him at odds with such a solid wall in front of him, and he ran right into it, letting out a small yelp of pain as his knee connected with the stone.

"Oh that was stupid of me," he mumbled, putting a hand on his forehead and leaning against the almost offensively solid wall he'd just assaulted without thought. "Darn it..."

Right. Door. Unlocked. He wasn't sure for how long though... He stared at it, as if he were terrified that it would lock on him again, leaving him stranded in here... and he was fairly sure the Grey Lady wouldn't be so obliging as to let him out again.

"J-Jake," he called, leaning heavily against the wall now. His heartbeat had spiked dangerously, and he was at a loss for why his calming draught hadn't worked. "J-Jake, open the door, and prop it open so it doesn't go all locked on us again..."

Anna followed Cela, Seymour, and Professor Kazimeriz from the first corridor to the sixth, anxious to get to the portrait and show the professor what they'd all been seeing. Somehow, she'd gotten it in her head that Professor Kazimeriz was going to help them figure this whole thing out, and with him by their side, there would be no way this little puzzle would be unsolved for long. "It's just over here, sir. There's a portrait of a dragon, and the room which houses the Mirror of Erised is just beyond the portrait hole," Anna explained. She glanced up at the professor as she spoke, thinking that he probably already knew all this anyway. Professor Kazimeriz didn't seem like a man that let too much get past him without him taking notice. When she finally reached the portrait, Anna stopped short and looked from Cela to the Professor to Seymour and then back again. "Ready?" she simply asked.

Myrtle had taken to hovering against the portrait with her ear toward the wall, doing her best impression of a student eavesdropping. Of course she could just float on through and annoy Helena and Raiden there, but this method was so much more funner.

She heard the door click unlocked and then voices came up the corridor...or at least one did. Quickly, Myrtle floated back toward Jakey's shoulder and put on her most innocent face. She wasn't about to tell that silly Prefect or that boy that the door was unlocked from the inside too....

"Tee hee," Myrtle giggled simply to Jake. "I swear I didn't know dragons were so ticklish. Maybe we should go back to my bathroom now, Jakey..."

Celandine was in heaven. OKAY. So the only person she was touching right now was a very old man, but she was touching someone and they weren't going AAAAARGH! She kept her arm out to support Kazimeriz and stopped when they reached the portrait, looking at it in interest. She nodded a greeting at the hufflepuff and... was that moaning myrtle? Celandine smiled brightly and turned to look expectantly at Professor Kazimeriz.

She just shook her head. This Hufflepuff was utterly weird and she wasn't sure she should keep talking to him or just walk away. He called himself a Prince, but he must be a muggle born then or just crazy. "Oh ok. It sounds lovely." She said airily. Not really knowing what to say to him. He was just weird.

She turned toward the portrait as Jake asked if anyone heard any voices. She leaned toward it and pressed her ear against and listened. She did hear voices, how in the crup did they get in there and how did the door get locked? "The dragon locked the door?" She asked looking around at everyone. "Who's in there?" She asked Jake.

She heard a female's voice but she couldn't make out who it was. "Hello," she called. She looked back at Jake as he started to panic. "Calm down love, we will get them out." She glared at Myrtle for making Jake feel bad about taking her advice.

Jake looked from Myrtle to Paris to Helioliliolios to the portrait and up and down the corridor. This was not the place to be... this was baaaaaaad... Jake had a game coming up... he did NOT want to get in trouble now... the team would kill him, no matter how bad he was...

"Erm..." Jake pushed against the wall and stood himself back up. The door had clicked... it was unlocked... that was enough for Jake. He didn't want to get any closer to that dragon if he could help it. It was a while before he realised anyone was talking to him. "What? Oh... Myrtle... let's go back to the boys' bathroom... yeah..."

EEEEEP!!!!! More people! And was this... no way. "Iiiiiiii thinkweshouldgonow!" Jake babbled to Myrtle, backing away down the corridor. The portrait was unlocked, he didn't need to be here. "C'mon Myrtle, we'll talk there."

And that being said, Jake turned on his heel and headed for the boys' bathroom. Someone else would let them out... right?

Rai...I wouldn't do..." Vanessa spoke as she watched Raiden run after where the Grey Lady was disappearing. "That," She winced as he ran straight into the wall. Eep. That must have hurt, and stuff. She knew that she wouldn't like to run into a wall. Not at the rate Raiden was running. Ouch most definetly.

"Rai...are you okay?" She asked concerned as she approached the boy. Had he hurt his knee, for he was holding it. She smiled at him, at least now he probably had learnt not to run into walls after ghosts. It wasn't a good idea.

"Erm...The doors..Unlocked...We should get out Rai....before it decides to lock again," She shuddered, looking towards the door. She really didn't want it to lock again, with them inside.

Raiden smiled slightly as he sucked in a short breath and stood up fully, pushing himself off the wall. No reason to make Vannie Corbette worry, right? He was okay, he'd probably just have a bruise on his knee from hitting it on the wall... that was about it.

But his heartbeat still wasn't going down. He fumbled in his pocket for the half-full vial of Calming Draught; it would probably be pertinent to take the rest of it now, as his heart was pounding against his ribs angrily.

"I'm... I'm okay, Vannie Corbette," he said breathlessly, rubbing his chest over his heart with one hand while fumbling to pop the top off the vial with the other. "I'm alright... I just... panicked a little." He made a face and downed the leftover draught, then put the stopper back on it and tucked it into his pocket. "I... I like being with my friends, but I don't like being trapped in places. It makes me get all squirmy... and that mirror isn't helping much..."

He looked at it again, avoiding his reflection... but now he wanted to see into it. He wanted to look again, and see what he wanted most. Because that mirror... was the only place that it would ever be true. And even if the mirror showed the impossible... well, he wanted to see the impossible again.

"V-Vannie Corbette," he said weakly. "I think you're right. We should leave..."

He stumbled toward the door and pushed; it came open easily, just as that click had promised him just a moment ago. He pushed it open wide and stared at the group in the hallway, not stepping out just yet. None of them were Myrtle or Jake, he was sure...