Mirrors and Symmetry

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Liam quickly closed his eyes trying and failing to convince himself that he saw nothing, that he didn't notice who those people in the mirror were, trying not to think of the many ways he could use magic to find some loophole or workaround to getting his family back, but the box was opened, the bell rung, the question asked.

Many thoughts and ideas flashed through his head, from all schools of magic, some far fetched, some downright fantasy, and some that he believed had a real chance to succeed if performed perfectly, he still had no idea how he actually apply any of these ideas with magic, but where there is a will there is a way.

However, the one fact that was in common between all his flights of fancy, one fact that had to be true for him to be with his first family again in any meaningful way, was that there couldn't be two versions of him at the same time.

'There can't be two of Daniel Chase, there can only be one, which would mean having to wait for my first incarnation to die as I did before in that car accident, that is assuming my first incarnation actually exists in this world, I still haven't checked, partly out of it being very inconvenient in this day and age, but mostly out of fear of what I will find and what it would mean for my current life, and last but not least out of fear of what I would do if I knew for a fact that my family was somewhere out there and that I could be with them'

Again the fact that there can only be one Daniel invaded Liam's mind, but what if for some reason the Daniel Chase of this world didn't have an accident, what if he didn't die like he did, what would he do then?

Before today he had a dark thought that every now and then crossed his mind before he dismissed it for being outrageous and stupid barely considering it for more than a few seconds, not even wanting to entertain the thought for long enough, a thought that started as a seed of something very benign, the seed was that he would do everything in his power to unite with his loved ones, and that seed grew into the conclusion that he would be capable of doing any number of things to achieve that goal.

Liam didn't think of himself as a great person but he knew that he was a decent one, when times got hard he tried to always put his family ahead of himself, and outside of that he always tried to treat other people with the respect and kindness that he would have liked to be treated with in return, so he knew that if it he, for example, had to hurt someone else in order to unite with his family, he would most likely not do something of that nature which brought him some comfort.

But if the pain was inflicted on no one other than himself, what then, in that case, what would he be capable of, wouldn't he then be prepared to deliver death, pain, and darkness to himself knowing what awaited him in the end, couldn't he, for example, create an accident resulting in the death of his earlier self, so that he could take his place, starting a new cycle, creating a new Liam Murphy that would go on to experience everything he did once more.

What if he was the architect of his own misery, what if a future him had been the one to cause his accident in the first place, forcing him to leave his family and sending him on this otherworldly journey, he dismissed the thought once more, deeming it full of inconsistencies and paradoxes, but he couldn't help but picture himself standing on the other side of the road watching the fight that led to his death and wondering if he saw that there was no car coming to ram him over, what would he do in that situation? would he just stand by and let nothing happen, or would he intervene causing the start of a new loop, the uncertainty made him uneasy, and made him rethink the thought he had so readily dismissed.

Liam wanting to unbusy his mind from this torrent of intrusive thoughts slowly turned around so as not to be facing the mirrors, then he opened his eyes, only to see that there was no difference in brightness, feeling worried at the sudden lack of illumination he reached for his wand so that he can cast Lumos, but he couldn't find it, actually, he couldn't even find his robe, and that was when it hit him, he hadn't noticed it so far but he wasn't exactly in a solid-state, he shivered even with the lack of corporeal form, remembering the last time he felt this sensation, it was shortly after he died, when he was in that place which he dubbed the place in-between.

Not knowing what happened he feared the worst, he must have died again, but how, and when, he didn't feel any pain, he didn't hear anything, how could he have died without even noticing, he tried looking around but found nothing to add anything to his information, it was dark in every direction, it was like he was weightlessly swimming in a sea that was both black and see-through at the same time, and the only word he could think of to describe it was infinite, he started to accept his current condition as this calm washed over him, he felt this strange sense of relief, he was relieved that he no longer needed to make hard choices, he could just rest for a bit.

And that was when a voice interrupted him and said

[There you are! mate, what the hell, I lose track for a minute and you just leave the body-craft unattended like that in the final step of our plan]

The voice seemed omnipresent, coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time

"Who is there?? what do you mean leaving the body craft "

[Who?? Interesting, you don't remember me, you aren't sleeping are you, now what could have possibly caused this ??? humm]

A silhouette in the shape of a human suddenly moved beside Liam shifting the dark water like aura that surrounded Liam, it seemed like it was always there right beside him just waiting for the right moment to reveal itself, it started circling the area Liam occupied before saying

[Hmm complete dissociation from reality, man what happened there]

"Where am I, am I dead, who are you"

[ Take it, easy buddy, ok, you are not dead, this place just looks similar to the place in between, don't ask me why you made it, as for who I am, I don't think you're mentally ready for that answer right now buddy, so how about we send you back first and we can talk at the usual time, hopefully, you will remember everything by then]

"No wait, what usual time, who ....."

Before Liam could finish his question he blinked his nonexistent eye only to find himself staring at the mirror back where he was

"are you?"

Liam looked around puzzled at the bizarre experience he just had, he could still remember everything that happened vividly, but everything was the same as before, he was about to fall back under the weight of his earlier questions and implications when he noticed that his reflection in the mirror was moving independently.

That brought him out of his stupor and reminded him of the importance of the mission at hand, so he cleared his head as best he could and he sat down on the floor, first, he took out his fake philosopher's stone and the fake Marvolo Gaunt's ring and placed them on the ground, he then took out his wand and cast the Portus spell again this time setting the active portkey as the philosopher's stone while making the ring the ground portkey.

Looking at his reflection in the mirror Liam carefully incased the philosopher's stone in some fabric and put it in his pocket, he then watched as his reflection smiled at him before taking out the same stone and looking at it for a second before nodding, the reflection then opened his other hand to reveal a second stone in it, the original one, he looked at it for a moment before placing it in the same pocket he had just taken the fake stone from.

Liam quickly took the stone out of his pocket to make sure the switch happened according to plan and seeing the uncovered stone, he looked at it for a moment thinking of all the possible applications to this stone, but he knew that to be able to get it you have to not want to use it, and so he had long made his peace with the fact that he was just delivering it to where it needs to go with no intention to use it at all.

He then stashed it away and took out yet another covered active portkey he had prepared beforehand, he braced himself and then uncovered the stone and touched it with his bare hand, one blink later he was back in the room of requirements standing over the ground portray, a second later the whiplash hit him so he kneeled down and threw up in the bucket he had prepared right next to the ground portkey after he was done he let himself collapsed on ground while staring at the ceiling, he didn't know what to make of his vision, or of that disembodied voice that spoke to him.

Growing tired of the constant headache that was a side effect of living in his head he stood up affirming to himself before anyone else

"No matter what I am going to do about my family situation I need to make sure that Voldemort is handled before I can invest in any life in this world, so anything else just has to wait "

He walked over to the desk and placed Marvolo Gaunt's ring and the ring he made for himself with his initials, he slid the metallic initials revealing a small gem underneath, placing both items on the table, he then cast the Portus spell once more, again making Marvolo Gaunt's ring the ground Portkey and the gem inside his key as another active Portkey that leads to it, one of the other advantages of the older version of the spell was that many active Portkeys can be connected to a single ground Portkey.

Liam moved a piece of parchment and an inkwell closer as he sat down, he thought of how to phrase this so he can make sure he gets what he wants out of it without revealing his hand too much.

he then started writing

{

Dear Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore,

I am afraid to inform you that Due to your promise to Mr. Flamel, unwitting and unwilling students of this school were exposed to many dangers both by the security measures you've implemented and by the those who wish to steal the item Mr. Flamel entrusted to you, therefore I have taken it upon myself to take measures that ensure that no student is harmed.

Enclosed within this letter is the item in question and a ring that I think you would find most interesting, while the first item is the original, I assure you the second is only a copy

In return for services rendered so far, and my continuing to keep an eye on Mr.Potter from afar to make sure he is safe I will require that you keep both on your person for the rest of the semester, that is nonnegotiable please wear the ring during breakfast to signal your agreement.

P.S. I think professor Snape should make a visit to the test room so as to the replenish the potion

Yours sincerely,

A Concerned Student

}