Lyra took the hankie that Madame Kohan handed her. "Thank you," she smiled as she wiped her nose from the dust that flew up. Her ears then perked up at what the librarian stated at the very end. So this book seemed fairly good. She took a seat at the table making sure that she could see exactly what everyone was looking at.

Anna's face wrinkled into a look of confusion, and she glanced from Professor Vindictus to Madame Kohan to Lyra. What on Earth did Professor Vinductus just say? "An introduction to what and a chapter on what?" she asked, having not picked on the meaning of the two key words. Apparently the words dealt somehow with the mirror or the ghosts, because Professor Vindictus had delcared the book "a gem." Anna sat and stared around, waiting to see if the book was as treasured as they'd made it out to be.

She sneezed when the dust from the book danced up her nose. She waved in front of her face to clear away the dust ad she sat down next to Anna so she could see the book. Of all the languages she knew she never learned Latin. Ghana was first settled by the Moors and they were successful in keeping the Catholics out of the country so they never had to learn Latin, they were an Arabic speaking country till the Christians colonized them.

So she felt look a noob listening to them talk. She would have to go back and learn Latin. They should teach that at Hogwarts seeing as how many of their spells and charms were based on Latin. She pulled out a quill and a notebook to take some notes.

Vindictus looked up and grinned at them. "Oh, let me enjoy this moment," he said and leaned back. "Are you telling me that none of you understand what I just said?"

Lyra looked towards McBroomy and smiled....then she shook her head no. She had no clue what that meant, maybe he would like to enlighten them. "English please," she requested with a smile.

"Latin isn't my strong point," She said hoping he would get on with and just tell them what it said. She wondered how he could walk around with such a huge head on his shoulders.

"All right then. I'll speak in the vernacular," Vindictus sighed and rolled his eyes for dramatic effect. "This book is about magical mirrors. The first chapter is about the science of reading mirrors and the next one is on the people who read mirrors in ancient Rome. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir we understand English." He arrogance was so off putting she wanted to throw up. And if she hadn't been in the restricted section she might have just gotten up and left, but she would put with his attitude a little bit longer to be privy to some of this information. "So magical mirrors aren't just regular mirrors with elaborate charms added to them. There is a science to them. A deeper magic." She said more to herself than anyone else. She smiled. This was just the book they were looking for, or it would lead them to what they were looking for.

"Ohhhhhhh," Lyra said as she moved in closer to look at the book. It was her sign that she understood now and that would mean this was just the book they needed.

Vindictus was reading the table of contents once again. "You reek of ignorance," he said to Paris without looking up. "Magical mirrors come in many forms throughout history. Ah, listen to this nice little ditty." He cleared his throat. "Tunc ex suus speProfessio Sage Vizier , A Veneficus Speculum no a Speculum amo bosom of Totus - sapiens Intelligence , Pondero in suus mystic complector totus Intus septiformus volubilis of orbis terrarum Invol'd ; quod vultus in ut Speculum visio Shah carnifico vultus of suus Votum."

He looked up at them and grinned. "Oh, yes, how careless of me! You didn't understand a word I said. Let me translate for you." He folded his hands on top of the book. "Then from his secret Art the Sage Vizier, A Magic Mirror made; a Mirror like the bosom of All-wise Intelligence, Reflecting in its mystic compass all within the sevenfold volume of the World invol'd; and looking in that Mirror's face the Shah beheld the face of his Desire."

"And this is why I have two graduate degrees and you call me 'professor.' "

Anna blinked and considered asking what the vernacular was, but she refrained. This wasn't the time nor the place for a vocabulary lesson---not unless the words directly related to something they were searching for, of course. Oh, wow! The book he'd found was on the science of magical mirrors, and it even included information about people who read mirrors. Now this book was a good find! "Yes, sir," Anna said, nodding to indicate that she understood.

Anna listened as the professor read from the book. She stared at him blankly as the words, in some foreign language, flowed easily from his mouth. She didn't understand a word he was saying, but she'd never tell him that. He didn't seem too pleased the first time they'd not understood. Ahhh, at least he was translating now. Anna struggled to follow along with what Professor Vindictus was saying. Even the translated version was hard to follow and understand! Anna shook her hand and then spoke up. "Catoptromancy, that's a form of Divination using a mirror, right?" she asked. "I read once that it was used to try and heal sick or injured people; although, I'm not quite sure how that would work. What else does it say, Professor?"

Lyra smirked at the flying professor as he was rather arrogant in his Latin language, but he had every right to be and that was what she liked about him. Confidence was what he had.

Instead of holding the shoes in her hand, she placed them to the side and leaned in closer to hear what else this book contained. "The Mirror of Erised," she mumbled as she leaned on the palms of her hands.

Her hand automatically reached up to smack him hard across the face and she almost didn't change her mind, but she did and she ran her hand through her hair to play it off. "Forgive me Professor." She said the last word with such contempt it surprised even her. After this day she never wanted to see that man again till she was on a broom and he was in her way and she could plow right through him.

"Now let's think like detectives," Vindictus said to them. There was no way he was doing this on his own. "It's obvious that Dumbledore hid the Mirror of Erised and that there's a simple entry about it in the history books. Do any of you recall the message that was inscribed on the mirror and what the books said about it? This lovely tome before us may have answers but the question is where to begin and page one is not the answer."

"The inscription carved around the top reads, "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi," which, when turned around, says "I show not your face but your heart's desire," she replied. Anna stared at the book, trying desperately to figure out what else she could pull from a single quote alone. She already knew what the quote meant, and she'd already seen firsthand what the mirror could do, but what was the missing link? What were they all overlooking or not thinking about? "The books state that many have wasted away by staring at the mirror for countless hours at a time," she added. "We're warned that through this mirror we can easily escape reality and find ourselves relying on a world which doesn't truly exist."

"Very good, Anna," Vindictus said and continued to look at the group. "Why create a mirror with such power and who would have wanted such a mirror created in the first place?" He glanced at Lyra. "You love mirrors - always have since you discovered your own reflection."

She thought about it for a minute. "Well, According to Dumbledore, the Mirror shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts but he cautioned that the mirror gives neither knowledge nor truth and that men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they see." She said trying to find what they were missing.

She looked out of the window. "Someone wanted something they couldn't have and so they created the mirror so they could gaze at the things they could have and the image drove them mad," She said.

Madame Kohan couldn't help but be amused at Max's obvious enjoyment at showing off his knowledge of the Latin language. From the sound of things, however, this book may indeed be useful in regard to discovering more information about the Mirror of Erised. Though there was still the question of why the mirror had been hidden here...and why it had just been discovered at present time.

She glanced towards Anna as she mentioned the inscription on the mirror. Yes, of course, a basic warning that what is seen in the mirror is not what is real; just what one desires.

"But why?" She asked the young Slytherin who answered. "Why create such an image if they knew that their deep desire was never to be? Why choose to torture themselves by something that would never exist?"

Lyra's smile broadened when Vindictus glanced at her. "You are correct," she said about looking at herself in mirrors since she was first popped out into the world.

But then she looked to Paris. "But why would someone create something that would only show what they wanted? Why not invent something that was a little more simple for themselves?" She paused as she began to think about this for a moment. "What if someone created it to get back at someone? What if they created it to slow someone down, to keep them behind? You know, like if there was a race, someone created it to get to the prize first? There could be several reasons though."Maybe someone invented it so that one person could tell them where something valuable was held?

"Oh and if someone might have read the Quill, they would have seen that I also placed the inscription on the mirror as well and what it means." It was just too bad she didn't have a copy of that thing with her.

"I think you may have hit upon the answer, Madame Kohn. Whoever created the mirror probably did so, so he or she could gaze at the thing they wanted most in the world but could not have. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my younger brother, Xander. He's been dead for 12 years not, and everyday I wish there was someway he could come back to me."

She looked at Madam Kohan as she spoke to her. "They were already mad when they created it. When you want something so bad and its all you want. It can consume you and drive you mad. Love is something that would make you do something like that." She slowly. Seeing her parents after all these years. They were madly in love with each other and she knew that if one of them died the other one would do something like that. "It may not have felt like torture to them, but it still drove them utterly insane." She whispered.

She nodded her head. "Yeah didn't Dumbledore use the mirror as some sort of a hiding place?" She asked. She pulled her Hogwarts A History out of her bag from her HoM class and flipped through it. "Yeah he was trying to hide the Philosopher's Stone and he made it so anyone who looked in the mirror who wanted to get the stone but not use it would get the stone." She said reading. She looked back at Lyra, "That would make sense." She thought.

She turned to Abby. "Oh honey I'm sorry." She said softly. She didn't know what she would do without her brothers or sisters. She loved them to pieces.

Anna smiled and nodded once in reply to Professor Vindictus' comment. She listened as both Professor Vindictus and Madame Kohan questioned the reasoning behind creating such a mirror. Anna narrowed her eyes and tapped her fingernails upon the table, all the while deep in thought about any possible answers to that question. "Perhaps it lies within the fact that people always want what they can't have, and they're sometimes willing to do anything to get that which they desire. I suppose if you really want something and you know deep in your heart that you may never be able to get it, you'll settle for a mere substitute---in this case, an image in a mirror." She thought some more and then added, "Maybe it was created by someone who despised who they were or what they looked like. Maybe this person created the mirror to give them the image or the life they desired instead of the one they see in the reflection of a normal mirror."

Vindictus nodded at Anna's answer. It sounded reasonable to him. "The Sorting Hat must have made a mistake with you, Anna," he said and ran his finger down the table of contents. "Ah, this chapter looks interesting. Diversus Pius Veneficus Speculum." He grinned and flipped to the chapter located at the center of the massive book. "Mmm . . . ahh . . . we figured as much . . . as if that's any help," he commented as he read the Latin writings to himself. "Spending too much time before certain types of magical mirrors is dangerous. Dwelling on what was and what might be will drive you mad." He looked up from the book.

Madame Kohan frowned as a young girl spoke up, mentioning her younger brother. "Terribly sorry to hear about that, dear." She murmured.

"Hmm, you may be onto something there." She admitted as she pondered over the girl's words. However, she couldn't help but wonder why it was a mirror that they created...why was it not another object? Had a mirror had special significance to him/her? Had they even meant to create such a powerful object? Was that even their intention at all? And when they realized what had become, they could not resist its pull.

Madame Kohan smiled in Anna's direction. "You've definitely got a good theory there, Anna. It would be most unfortunate if that was indeed the reason; a sad case in a way if such a powerful object was created to show the beholder not their true reflection, but the reflections of the heart." She remarked.

Turning her attention back to Max, she replied "I do wonder though...if there is such information about magical mirrors from the past...do you think that the person who created such a mirror thought about the possibility of the mirror affecting others and possibly driving them into madness; even if the original intent was not such? Once he had gone on, had he not thought of what would happen to the mirror after his death? What would happen to other people who came across the mirror? If so...would he have ever created it even if he was so desperate?" She wondered aloud.

"Dumbledore was a genius who was canny enough to hide the Mirror from the eyes of meddling pupils," Vindictus said and closed the book. "This tome looked promising thirty minutes ago but the words it contains we already know. Find me another on scrying written in either Latin or runes because everyone knows that meanings are lost in translations." He looked at the group in disbelief. "Fine. I'll speak in English. Mirrors are used for divinations, if that helps your inept minds locate what I'm referring to."