Mirabella's Story

Hogwarts was silent over the Christmas holidays. Apart from a few portraits hanging on the walls, there was not a soul in sight, and the sound of a bitter wind beating against the windows filled the air.

In the gloomy castle corridor, flames dancing on the walls lit only a small patch of space, and Rose's shadow swayed gently against the stone.

After she left the Great Hall, a cold wind blowing through the Entrance Hall cleared her head for a moment.

Only then did she realize she had left something she would need shortly in her dormitory, so she had to climb back up to Gryffindor Tower to fetch it.

Although her stamina had improved considerably compared with three months ago, the round trip still left Rose out of breath, and she had to stop for a rest on the third floor.

The Drunk Monk's portrait had been placed in the Charms corridor on the third floor. Rose saw that he was dead drunk, slumped in a chair with his head wedged against its back to keep himself from sliding off, still muttering under his breath.

Rose decided to pretend she hadn't seen him.

"Have some manners, kid," he said angrily.

"Sorry. Merry Christmas." Rose felt a little awkward.

"Polite students are so rare these days. Each generation is worse than the last-" The Drunk Monk tried to sit up straight and strike an authoritative pose for a lecture, but failed several times. "Ah, it's been years since I met someone like that Gryffindor first-year just now!"

Rose had a feeling he must be talking about Marlene, so she put on a humble manner and asked, "Do you know where that first-year went?"

At her question, the Drunk Monk narrowed his slightly puffy eyes and strained to remember, then pointed to the left.

"Thank you, and Merry Christmas again." Rose felt like the heroine of a court drama; all she needed to do was curtsy.

Sure enough, the Drunk Monk nodded in satisfaction, then slid out of his chair and fell asleep.

Rose found Marlene at the end of the Third Floor Corridor, looking up and speaking softly to a portrait on the wall.

"There you are-" Rose tapped her on the shoulder. "I hope I'm not interrupting your conversation."

"No, this is Mirabella," Marlene said, making the introduction.

Rose looked up at a portrait of a woman leaning against a large floor-to-ceiling window. Outside lay an endless blue sea, with waves rising from time to time and beating against the glass.

"Hello, I'm Rose Claude."

Mirabella clearly wasn't very interested in talking to her. She just kept gazing mournfully toward the far end of the sea.

"What's wrong with her?" Rose asked Marlene quietly.

"Her lover is in the sea, and now she can only remain trapped behind glass," Marlene explained.

"In the sea?" Rose asked in surprise. "Then he's-"

"A merperson."

"It must be terribly painful to be separated from your lover," Rose said sadly.

"Actually, she herself got her wish. She turned herself into a haddock, so in a sense, they could stay together forever."

"Wow—she was so brave!"

Rose's words earned her a glance from Mirabella, who said mockingly, "Brave? Most people think I was a fool. I could have stayed a perfectly good witch, but I insisted on turning myself into a beast."

"Of course they think that!" Rose said loudly. "They aren't as brave as you!"

Mirabella burst out laughing. She turned to Marlene and said, "I like this girl—what's her name?"

"Rose Claude, ma'am." Rose introduced herself again.

Evidently, the way Rose addressed her pleased her even more. Mirabella played with her golden curls with one hand, pointed behind herself with the other, and winked at them both. "There's a secret passage behind my portrait. You might need it someday."

Rose couldn't remember exactly how many secret passages there were in the original story. She only vaguely remembered that there were several on the third floor.

"May I ask where it leads?"

"I don't know the name of the place, but they planted a moving willow there this year."

The Whomping Willow!

Rose tried hard to remember which secret passage in the original story led to the Whomping Willow, but she could only remember one that went to the sweetshop in Hogsmeade!

"Thank you so much, ma'am!" Rose said happily. She felt as though she had an incredible secret!

Mirabella waved a hand, closed her eyes, and rested her head against the glass, saying no more.

Rose and Marlene walked toward the Moving Staircase together.

"You're not quite what I expected," Marlene suddenly said.

Rose turned to look at her.

"I thought you'd be a little more traditional-" Marlene said hesitantly. "But you're very different. After that, Mirabella's family put her in this portrait, making her look at the sea but keeping her from getting close to it."

Marlene stopped and met Rose's eyes. She saw the dancing flames reflected in Rose's blue eyes, her long lashes casting shadows on her lower eyelids.

"People all have their own ways of constraining others. They always think that if they make someone suffer a little, that person will become what they want them to be," Rose said. "Being able to do what you want to do is really very brave."

"Is it still brave even if it ends terribly?" Marlene asked.

Rose said with certainty, "Even if it ended as badly as it possibly could, at the moment she made her choice, she must have felt happy from the bottom of her heart."

Marlene nodded thoughtfully.

"Are you hungry?" Rose looked at the ribbon in her hand and suddenly remembered that she still had something to do. "I'm going to the kitchen, or you could go to the Great Hall. Maybe the Christmas feast isn't over yet."

"You know where the kitchen is?" Marlene's eyes widened.

Marlene's reaction made Rose lift her head proudly—she really was that impressive.

The two girls went through the door on the right side of the Entrance Hall on the ground floor and followed the Marble Staircase down. After they rounded several bends, scattered yellow-and-black decorations gradually began to appear on the stone walls.

"The kitchen is in the Hufflepuff Common Room?" Marlene was shocked.

Under Rose's teasing gaze, the two came to a pile of large wooden barrels.

"Do we have to crawl through the barrels?" Marlene looked hesitantly at the grimy barrels. A few of them even smelled of vinegar, and she felt that perhaps she wasn't that hungry after all.

"Of course not. This is the Hufflepuff Common Room," Rose said. She walked a few steps farther to the side and faced a painting full of fruit. Then she reached out and tickled the pear in the painting a few times. The pear giggled and turned into a green doorknob.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Marlene's eyes shone. "Hufflepuffs have it so good!"

"If I had to choose again, I really would spend ages wavering between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff!" Rose exclaimed.

"Our tower isn't bad either!" Marlene laughed and gave her a shove, and the two of them tumbled into the kitchen, playfully tussling.