Jake stared at Nancy as though she was insane, and ran his fingers along the grooves in the frame of the mirror.

"It's a mirror," he said, as though stating the obvious. Which, in reality, he was. "It apparently lets you see your greatest desire..." he added, facing Nancy, as she was facing the mirror. "Someone said it hasn't been seen in a while, and we're trying to work it out." He'd save the 'what can you see?' for later, when Nancy had had the chance to look.

Keeping his ears open for any hints of a certain dragon waking up and RAWRing, or a shift in the light, as though the portrait woud swing shut, Jake looked at everyone in the room, curiously.

So the boy had a twin. Her eyes glared at the twin who was supposed to be John and did notice that he had a different type of attitude. He wasn't so...mouthy as the other. Bless his heart for having to deal with the monster that was Jack.

And why did Paris have to step in a play big sister? She was only a third year and yet she acted as though she was a seventh year student. For real, let's turn the hands back and act our age for a change. "As you can see, I stepped in to help Jake," Which you can just back off because I tried to helped him while you were not playing Super Muggle Hero to everyone. Why did Paris have to be so cruel to her? OHHHHHHH! She was jealous, that was it! "Everyone is fine now, thanks for asking."

She turned back to Kayla knowing that her attitude a while ago was a bit on the short side. She now knew the power behind that stupid mirror as it made her upset in many ways. She would have to thank Agie later and maybe talk to Kayla at another time. Seemed the girl had a lot to say, but she was not going to ask in front of the whole lot in the room.

"Fine," she said as she began to calm her nerves. Too much was going on in this room and now it was filling up more and more. That's when she noticed Varius say a short good-bye and left the room. Maybe she should do the same but one thing was for sure, she was not going to back to the mirror, at least not while there were people in here.

She nodded as he talked. Well the other Cale didn't talk so this one must be real. "Ok Cale as long as its you." She said to time as she pulled one of his curls just to make sure. "Just checking." She told him. "Yeah I think we should leave," she agreed. Before it drove them all crazy. Paris already felt sad about leaving.

She looked over at Jake. "Tickling a sleeping dragon?" she questioned. "Thats the school motto?" That was a weird motto to have. "Maybe we should tickle it and see what happens," She suggested.

Her attention was drawn to Nancy as she asked her what was going on in the room. "Well I don't know whats going on in here, but I think we should leave and tickle that dragon on the way out." She told her.

Nancy simply stood there staring at the mirror like in some sort of trance, like the mirror was hypnotizing her. Which it was, to a certain extent, at least. It was just plain beautiful at least the part she was able to see and it looked somehow special, different than all the other mirrors she'd seen up to this point. Furthermore, it looked sort of familiar as well, though, like she'd already seen it somewhere, in a book maybe?

The 13-year-old was torn out of her trance by Jake who stated the obvious causing her to finally shift her gaze from the mirror with a small sigh to the Hufflepuff before rolling her eyes and replying with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice, "Oh, gee! Really? That's a mirror? I thought it was a toilet, actually. You sure, it's a mirror?" Just as she was about to add something else her mouth snapped shut upon hearing Jake's next words. It apparently lets you see your greatest desire? So this was..."The Mirror of Erised..." Nancy muttered more to herself than to anyone else as her blue eyes flickered back towards the mirror. It was back? Why now? Was this somehow related to the sudden appearance of the ghosts this term? And why was it hidden behind a portrait of a dragon?! The latter was the question Nancy actually said out loud giving Paris and Jake a questioning look, "What's up with that dragon-portrait?"

Her question was sort of answered by Paris the next moment, though, as she said something about tickling the dragon on their way out. "Wait! Why should we leave already? I only arrived. Oh, and what makes you think we should tickle that dragon in the portrait?" She asked with a small snicker escaping her lips at the thought of tickling a dragon portrait.

Jake shook his head. "School motto is Never Tickle Sleeping Dragons... Barry tickled it... but I'm not sure if the portrait should be closed. And... I'm staying in here..." There was something about this place, everyone was acting oddly about it, so it wasn't normal. He wanted to find out.

"If you do go, shut the portrait before ya tickle it," Jake advised, before looking at Nancy. And staring at her.

"You're a little..." Thick? Stupid? "...insane if you think it's a toilet..." Jake eyed the frame. "And I'm quite sure it's a mirror, actually."

Yup, this school was a hazard to sane people everywhere.

Jake sighed. "Think about it, the school's motto is Never Tickle Sleeping Dragons. That portrait of a sleeping dragon shows up, and apparently it hasn't been here for long, it's hiding this mirror, which is mysterious," Jake explained. "The motto and this combined is not only too tempting, but it just seems like a kind of 'DO IT!!!!!' message, reverse psychology. Or, it could be terrible... or nothing can happen. You never know 'til you try."

With that, Jake sat down cross-legged on the floor, as a sign to anyone that tried to move him out that he was staying. "I read Hogwarts; a History waaaaaay too much."

Nancy's eyes widened slightly in surprise as Jake said something about the school motto being Never Tickle Sleeping Dragons Okay, that really couldn't be a coincidence anymore with this portrait of a sleeping dragon being the entrance of a room which contained the Mirror of Erised. Weird, very weird. Oh, and how come Nancy hadn't known what the school motto was? Had she really been that distracted all this time? Gee! She really needed to be more observant.

Right at that moment Nancy noticed that Jake had stopped talking since he had apparently found something better to do. Which was to stare at her. Eep. Had she done something wrong? Immediately feeling slightly self-conscious Nancy was just about to open her mouth to ask what the matter was when Jake answered her question by himself. A wave of laughter rocked through her as she remembered that Jake was the one who had absolutely no sense of sarcasm, not even when it was right in front of his nose. Oh, he really shouldn't be around her! Between a few giggles Nancy managed to get out, "Gee, Jake! I know that it's a mirror. I'm not that stupid. I was being sarcastic."

Her face grew more serious again as Jake continued to talk about the portrait and the mirror, although there were still a small chuckles escaping her lips once in a while. Nodding in agreement to what the boy said Nancy's eyebrows raised slightly as she replied, "Well, I guess you're right. It is weird that the Mirror is hidden exactly behind this portrait of a sleeping dragon. Although, hidden is maybe not the right word, actually. The portrait hasn't done a very good job at hiding this room, to be honest." She glanced around the room at all the students which were currently gathered around the Mirror before giving Jake a pointed look. "It wasn't exactly difficult to find this room."

Grinning as Jake suddenly sat down cross-legged onto the floor as if to tell everyone that he was definitely not going to leave this room until he'd found out what the whole Never Tickle Sleeping Dragons-thing was about Nancy thought for a moment before with a small smirk she sat down right next to Jake. "I'm staying too."

Jake's brow furrowed as Nancy told him about the sarcasm. Again?! People were just... WEIRD!!!!!

One o' these day's I'm'a round up these whippersnappers and teach 'em some proper manners and ettiquette. How rude! Why I oughta... but I won't... yet... Are you eye-balling me? LAUGHING...?!

Then, through his internal rambling and seething, Nancy made an interesting point. "Nancy! That is so true! First, if it was hidden, why would the portrait that conceals it just suddenly show up? Plus, like you pointed out, said portrait doesn't even hide it well... maybe it's not meant to be hidden any more... like the Castle of Insanity is revealing it intentionally... maybe..." Or everyone here suddenly took a wrong turning. Pfft, unlikely.

Oh wait, Jake had let his nickname for the school slip out... Oops... Nevermind, just whistle and continue.

Unfortunately, whistling and talking at the same time was a hard thing to do, so he gave up on that idea.

Ooh, Nancy was sitting next to him. Yeah, kids staying put in unity! Wooooo!!!!! Today: a mirror, tomorrow: the UNIVERSE!!!!!

Or... you know... not.

Cam eventually noticed that Jake was in the room and now telling him not to poke. With a pout forming on his little face, he wondered about it and then nodded. Remember to put Jake's name on the suspicious list. Who knows, he could have been a ghost for acting like that! If he did poke him then his finger might have gone through it, yes Jake was a ghost. Or part-ghost. But he wasn't afraid of him anymore, some neat-freak can't possibly hurt him that much. Would be an even fight, right?

"GEEZ LOUISE, Jake! You know, I cleaned my hand WITH soap this morning and this is what I get? A THREAT?!" I don't think SO. I DO NOT THINK SO.


He wasn't that angry but he wanted to say something like that eventually in his wizard life.

Cam eyed the girl that was shocked when he started licking and kissing the mirror but was it his fault?! NO, it was his addiction for candy and candy and candy. It might have been the reason why his teeth was a bit crooked and yellow but it was just too good. No one could resist it, unless they were allergic but other than that, who doesn't like candy?

Now she was trying to make him stop poking her and then he just put on a serious face. What is wrong with me?! The girl was poking him but he liked poking people. Poking was fun. It was a way of life. But he still didn't forgive her for asking that question. "But I'm just trying to see if anyone here is a flesh-eating ghost. How could you not see that, eh?"

Mean, but awesome-poking girl!

On to the next person he poked, it was a girl that was scared of him and he didn't know why. It may have been because of the situation like Jake, she could have been a neat-freak too. ...Now she was taking a few steps back from him? She was VERY suspicious, and would have to be added as #1 on suspicious people in his list. No one was afraid of him, except for this girl! So with his finger he poked the girl and she immediately jumped up.

She felt human-ish and his finger didn't go through. What?! How else could she have been afraid of him? So Cam poked her a bajillion more times than he did to the others to check if she really was a flesh-eating ghost.

Just as Cale had suspected, Anna looked like the world was about to end when he suggested they leave. GAH, pulling her away from the two babies was gonna be a feat, he could tell. As much as he didn't want to leave either, he knew they had to or they could easily just sit there and let weeks of their lives pass by before even realizing it.

"What's the point of staying in here if we're not going to look at it?" he asked. It was true--why did they need to stay in the room if they were just gonna chill against the wall? The whole school was made up of walls, they could go there! "It's getting crowded in here. Let's go somewhere private, like the common room--please?" he added, making a pouty face and chuckling to himself. He hadn't chuckled like that since he had entered the room, but now that he wasn't looking at the mirror, his thoughts were starting to return to normal. "We can talk there," he told her with a head nod. He had every intention of telling her what he saw, of course, just not HERE, in front of all these people.

Anna could tell Cale wasn't happy with her decision not to leave. Of the two of them, Cale was usually the more level-headed one in situations such as this. He was usually the one who sensed when something was wrong, and he knew when to back away---like now. Anna, on the other hand, was the nosey one who always wanted to stick around to see what was going to happen next. She couldn't stand for something really good to be going on and for her not to be a part of it. She looked back at Cale and gave him a look that pretty much said she was begging him to side with her just this once and stay in the room.

"Because...I just might...want to look at it one more time before I have to leave and head back to the Common Room for the night," she said, tugging at Cale's arm and trying to get him to join her and sit down against the wall, as well. "Besides, there aren't any professors in here. I sort of feel like we can all just get away without the watchful eyes of the adults always on us, you know. ...and the Common Room is not private. All our younger Gryffies are constantly in there," she added. "Sit down. Let's talk."

On the way back to her office, Alex spotted students going into a room she hadnt noticed before. Walking in, she stopped dead in her tracks, gawking like a fish out of water. 'The mirror of Erised!' she said to herself, 'I've only seen pictures of it, and here it is, standing in front of me.'

Ignoring any other occupants of the room, she slowly walked over and extended a trembling hand to trace to words over the mirror. Alex thought she would burst from excitment, how many history nuts actually get to see such a legendary artifact, and touch it with their own hands???

Slowly, she looked up into the mirror and stared at her reflection. After a moment, her eyes filled with tears as she reached ut once again, this time to place her hand against the mirrors cool surface. There she stood, just staring into the depths of the mirror, until the tears over filled her eyes and sent them spilling down her cheeks.

Regaining composure, Alex wiped her face and continued to stare at the mirror with awe and sadness.

Weeeeeeeeell... this could have been awkward, if it weren't for super-Jake the tactless fool. The thing was (and this may have been his one saving grace) that Jake had an almighty... fear?... no... more of an anxiety about being around crying adults. It unnerved him.

He looked round to Nancy, sitting next to him, and then to Paris and the rest of the room as if to say "What in Merlin's name do we DO?!" To Jake, it just proved a fact. The teachers were reacting as though it was new as well, so something was up. Maybe Professor Pierce hadn't noticed the rest of them yet... but Jake didn't quite want to leave. He needed to know about this frustrating mirror.

Peering up from where he sat, Jake couldn't help but think, I thought this mirror showed what could make people happy, so why has almost everyone cried? Once again, Jake drew his conclusion. People = weeeeeiiiirrrrd.

Except a few... one of those being Cameron, who actually tried to eat the mirror. Yeah, Jake was still working that boy out...

"Ahem," Jake cleared his throat without quite realising he was doing so. Argh! Next stop: Facepalm City.

Nancy giggled slightly at Jake's facial expression as she told him about her being sarcastic. Was it really that difficult for him to notice sarcasm? Especially in situations like these! He hadn't actually believed that she'd thought the Mirror was a toilet, right? Right? Apparently not.

With another roll of her eyes Nancy listened to what Jake had to say about her theory, or was it a theory actually, well, whatever. Nodding enthusiastically Nancy was pretty glad that Jake agreed with her and didn't believe in the "It's all just a huge coincidence"-theory, either. "Exactly. I honestly think the mirror wanted to be found. But why?" Yes, that was the most important question. Maybe another treasure hunt like last term? Maybe there was some hidden riddle in here. But where?

Chuckling at Jake's calling Hogwarts Castle of Insanity Nancy crossed her legs while scanning the room for something that would help them solve this mystery. It was a mystery, right? Wee! How exciting!
Out of the corner of her eyes the 13-year-old saw that Jake was giving her a slightly frustrated and questioning look causing her to tilt her head to the side in confusion. Was something wrong? That was the moment her eyes fell on Professor Pierce who had apparently entered the room without anyone noticing and who was now standing in front of the mirror...crying. Oh no! Please don't! Her head jerked around to fully face Jake again giving the Hufflepuff boy a rather anxious look. Oh, how much crying people freaked her out at times!

Jake stared across the room for a moment, deep in thought, he chose to mutter his ideas out, rather than announce them to the room.

"If teachers don't know about it..." Jake started slowly. "And they're getting affected like this, then they haven't uncovered it. Someone has done it and kept it a secret, or the castle is doing it..." Jake's head started to hurt at all the thinking. "Wild guess here, but maybe they're trying to turn us insane, whoever they are... Or whenever the door closes and the dragon is tickled, maybe something happens with the mirror, like... we all get hypnotised..." Okay... that was a really wild guess, but Jake needed to know, so he was wildly pulling ideas out of thin air.

Jake shrugged off his robes and dumped them in front of him, sitting in his uniform. Loosening his tie somewhat, Jake couldn't help but thik what a pain those robes got at times, really slowing you down and stuff.

Right, maybe pretend he hadn't seen her crying was the way to go, unless someone asked him outright if he had. "Professor Pierce?" Jake asked, tentatively and softly, intending to find out how much staff knew, but doubting she'd be willing to reveal it.

Abby walks down the hall when she notices the giant portrait of a Heribean Dragon sleeping. She doesn't remember that portrait, but that's not unusual. Hogwarts has so many paintings all over the place. Then Abby notices the door handle next to the portrait. Now that's strange a door handle but no door. Abby is curious by nature, so she can't help but turn the handle and see what happens. A door opens and Abby goes inside. She finds the room full of people surrounding a large mirror. Abby walks over and finds Professor Pierce staring at it. "Professor Pierce, are you alright?"

Abby looks at the mirror more closely. It's huge as high as the ceiling with a gold frame and two clawed feet. There is an inscription carved around the top. Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. I wonder what that means. Erised, there's a mirror by that name. Could this be it? Abby looks directly in the mirror expecting to see Professor Pierce and her reflection. Instead Abby sees herself and your younger brother, Alexander. They are both wearing Barrows uniforms and robes. Alexander looks to be thirteen years old. "Alexander!" This can't be! You're dead. Abby's brother died when he was three years old, and Abby was five. She continues looking in the mirror. Tears slide slowly down her cheeks.

At the sound of a throat clearing, Alex snapped out of it. "Oh." she said as she quickly wiped her face and adopted a professor-like demeanor, "Sorry, I didnt notice you there. How did you kids find this?" she asked, getting a little excited, "You know what this is right?"

"Yes, I'm fine dear, I was just... little caught up in the moment is all. Are you alright?" she asked kindly.

Jake cleared his throat a little, and tried not to speak so softly.

"Well, I don't know about the others, but I was wandering down the corridor, coming from somewhere else, when I saw the portrait. Then I noticed the handle and came in... I haven't looked into it yet," he added. "Judging by people's reactions that doesn't seem like a good move."

Do they know what it is? Really? "Someone mentioned the Mirror of Erised, and the mirror kind of explains what it is in the inscription... but... it may not be the real one," Jake mused, only just grasping that idea.

"Professor," Jake went on again. "Sorry to be a pain, but do you think that the portrait has anything to do with the school motto? Never Tickle Sleeping Dragons, or something like that... because... someone kinda already tickled it..."

Jake left out the fact that it was his own idea, because it didn't exactly seem smart to reveal, though it seemed like a good idea at the time. He was glad he hadn't been the one to actually tickle... though he still wanted to give it a try with the portrait closed.

Alex shook her head, "No dear, I believe this is the real mirror. The mirror shows you the desire of your heart, and I can tell you from my own experiance, it does."

Once again she looked the mirror up and down, "I'm not sure if it does or not. As far as I know, the mirror dropped out of historical sight after the Sorcerer's Stone was removed from it." she responded quietly.

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind, "Am I the first professor you've seen in this room so far?"

Kevin was wandering along the sixth floor when he saw a group of students and a professor gathered round a mirror that his had told him about he stood back from the group as there were many students he didnt know in the group

"Oh, ok," Jake nodded. He was spouting so many wild theories that they were probably all wrong anyway.

"I kinda thought, that maybe since the teachers don't know, that someone else revealed it, or the castle did," Jake shrugged. Had he been back at home that would have sounded utterly insane. But, come on, Hogwarts...

Immediately, at Professor Pierce's sudden statement, Jake nodded his head. "Yes, Professor," he said, "I haven't seen anyone others, and nobody mentioned one..." Was this important? Judging by the sudden speed in which she asked, it may well have been. But Jake had been wrong already...

Forrester had been wandering down the hall, thinking of stopping in on the new nurse, and putting off writing a reply to Ari, of course, when he came upon a new portrait he hadn't seen before and stopped before it to admire it.

He was about to turn away when he heard voices.....from the other side? He moved it and found the door to a room! Opening it, and feeling very much like Indiana Jones, he stepped through and saw several students and another professor. Blinking in confusion, he asked, "Is there a meeting I didn't get a memo about?"

"Perhaps I should go inform someone..."
Before the words were out of her mouth, Forrester appeared in the doorway, "Ed! Glad your here, look whats here" Alex said excitedly. Without waiting for him to guess she continued, "Its the mirror or Erised!"

"The mirror of Erised...." Forrester's voice was one of awe and wonderment. What? That's not like him. But....it isn't every day when one sees such a historical object. The Mirror of Erised was like the Holy Grail of the Magical world.

He took several more steps into the room, but stopped short of the mirror. He wasn't sure what he'd see, or if anyone else in the room would see what he saw. He examined the sides of the mirror. "It really is." He turned back to Alex, "Has this always been here?" There were so many new folk this term too....what if one of them had held it?

"I have no idea." Alex responded with a shrug. "This has been on my floor all the time and I never notcied. I know I've looked at the portrait before, I dont think the knob was there before. Do you supose this has anything to do with the ghosts coming back?"

"Erm, Professors," Jake started. "Maybe Headmaster Bontecou should find out... from someone? Like, not me though... please..."

Jake hoped it wasn't him. He wanted to stay here, and Bontecou decidedly scared him for no specific reason. But then, most teachers did. Plus, he felt safe in here, with his friend Nancy. Who knew, maybe the man was already aware.