章 63: Twin Troubles

Things have been… awkward with Harry ever since he took me to the Mirror of Erised. Speaking of, something about the name kept bugging me, so I wrote it down to try and help me figure out what it was. Embarrassingly, it took me rolling off my bed in frustration and having the paper land facing upwards on my face to figure it out. Hurray for thin paper.

Back to Harry. He just couldn't accept that I couldn't see our parents in the mirror. After that initial weirdness with my reflection, to me it was just a normal mirror. He stood in front of it again and started yelling at me about how they were there, and that I needed to be able to see them since he could.

I tried again, but nothing changed. It didn't take long before he was shouting about how I was doing something wrong. And of course, Ronald Weasley being the discriminatory little prat that he is, said that it had something to do with me being in Slytherin. How it would only show things to people who are 'worthy' or some nonsense.

But as obsessed as Harry was with both of us being able to see our parents… he bought into it. Before things could escalate though, we heard Filch coming towards the room. So we donned our Invisibility Cloaks and made our way back to our respective dorms.

That was weeks ago, and the Christmas break has long passed. Though I want to tell my friends about the problems between me and my twin… it's something that's best dealt with between the two of us.

If only Harry felt the same.

I feel like he's been spending more time around the youngest Weasley. Maybe trying to avoid me. But that's never stopped me before! But now whenever either one of them see me, they immediately rush off somewhere else. It's really caused my mood to dip, and it hasn't gone unnoticed.

My Slytherin friends and Clarity ambush me during one of our free periods one day and drag me into an empty classroom. Looking at all of them crowding me, I recall something I overheard one of the older students say.

"I know that I'm in high demand, but there's only so many of you I can handle at once."

I just get some confused looks in reply, causing me to shrug. "I heard one of the older Hufflepuffs say it, and it seemed to fit the situation since you're all crowding me."

Seeming to realize how close they all are, they take a few steps back and give me breathing room. They still make sure that someone is standing between me and the door though, which is kind of ridiculous. I have no reason to run. I'm innocent!

"Misha, what's been bothering you? I've barely seen any signs of explosions since I've come back from visiting my parents!" Clarity starts off my apparent interrogation with an immediate critical blow!

I look to the side. "Well… I've been so focused on trying to learn how to properly cast Confringo that I haven't had the time to spread my explosive love around." I shrug before meeting her eyes. "Are you saying that I should stop studying?"

She holds up a finger and opens her mouth, only to pause and rethink her response. Too bad for me she has allies.

"That's a lie!" Tracy exclaims. "I hid your book three days ago, so you haven't been studying it at all!"

I blink at her before clicking my tongue. 'Tsk. I knew something was missing. I blame Arianna. She's always moving my stuff, saying they're in the way of her napping spots. Lazy tiger. She barely ever leaves the room!'

I stay silent, examining the interesting patterns on the ceiling. Draco sighs. "Misha, just tell us what's bothering you. We are your friends, correct?"

I sigh. "Fine… Harry has been giving me the cold shoulder ever since the day after Christmas." I scowl. "And I'm pretty sure that irritating Weasley has been encouraging him."

"Which one?"

I roll my eyes at Draco's low-tier insult. "The irritating irritating one, Ron. Fred and George are the fun kind of irritating. They helped me put firecrackers in their brother's robe a couple days before the break ended." I chuckle. "It was fun watching him dance."

Clarity rolls her eyes while Draco and Tracy chuckle along with me. "Maybe the reason he tries to keep Harry away from you is because you're always pranking him?"

"Nah," I wave the notion away. "It's because I'm in Slytherin. He has some major House prejudice."

Shooting a glance at the other two Slytherins, she gets nods in reply. "Well, I antagonized him when we first met due to our family conflict, but he does lump all Slytherins into 'future dark wizards'."

Tracy nods. "He passed by me in the library once, and he asked if I was learning how to curse people."

I raise an eyebrow. She has mentioned that she's interested in learning a 'spell for any situation', and curses would fall under that category.

Seeming to know what I'm thinking, she rolls her eyes. "I was studying for Transfiguration." She grimaces. "Turning things into other things just doesn't click with me."

Clarity frowns. "That doesn't sound like someone your brother would be friends with."

I sigh. "It's probably a mix of them being in the same House together, and that he's usually not as rude when he's around Harry."

Clarity shakes her head. "Putting that aside, you said that Ron is exacerbating the issue, not that he was the cause of it. So why did Harry start giving you the cold shoulder in the first place."

I hesitate. Given how personal it is, I don't want to tell them about how he saw our dead parents in a mirror and got upset that I couldn't. Not only would it make him sound insane (probably, because magic), but it might also tempt them to look for the mirror, and then we'd have a repeat of the current situation. So I decide to simplify it.

"He misses our birth parents, but I don't.

Clarity, the one who knows both of us, and knows how close we are, blinks. "...Ok? Is that… something that would cause any problems? I mean, yes, you are twins. But you are also your own people. Wishing that you'd known the people who gave birth to you is understandable. But so is not being mired in the past."

I scowl. "So you see the problem! The fact that I don't miss them is somehow super offensive to him, to the point that he's ignoring me."

This time all of us sigh. "It sounds to me as if you'll just have to give him space." Draco shrugs. "But I lack any siblings, so take my advice with a healthy dose of skepticism."

I nod glumly. "All I can do is wait for him to stop avoiding me. Then we can talk about it."

AN: Thank you Hedgeboar and Andre McFarlane for the support!