Your Heart's Desire
By Jay Orin
"Sir -- Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?"
"Obviously, you've already done so," Dumbledore smiled. "You may ask me one more thing, however."
"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."
Harry stared.
"One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."
-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi"
"I show not your face but your heart's desire"
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Albus watched Harry as he left, until he was sure that the young man was in his room. Then he looked at the mirror once again.
He didn't lie to Harry, not exactly. The socks were there, he was holding them, that much was true.
However, there was more to the picture than what he told Harry.
He saw two women in the mirror. One had short, grey hair and dancing golden eyes, clad in a Quiddich uniform and holding a package that held a pair of warm gloves. The other had long black hair, curly from having been loosened from its traditional bun, a pair of square glasses perched on her nose, and an elegant red tartan robe. Her stomach was slightly rounded, she was obviously with child.
The picture shifted to reveal four younger people as well, two men and two women, looking rather happy. Two of the men looked alike, except that one had a hooked nose, due to the fact that he was hit with a spell that bend it. One of the women had long dark brown hair, blue eyes with a ring inside each, and a pair of round black glasses. The other had golden eyes, short, wild, dark brown hair with highlights of red and gold, and a pair of square, golden glasses.
The picture shifted once again. The man with the hooked nosed was holding a woman with red hair and green eyes. The other man was holding a woman with short, jet black hair. The woman with long hair was holding a man with emerald green eyes and long black hair, and the woman with gold eyes was holding a tall man with warm brown eyes and black hair that was cut close to his head, except for a long thin rat tail. The couples looked very happy.
The picture shifted one last time. All of the women in the picture were with child. The woman with the short black hair was playing with a boy that looked like her, and the redhead was playing with a baby that looked a lot like Harry.
"Enough!" shouted Dumbledore. He stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
A happy family, three generations of Dumbledores, all happy, all smiling. But they aren't happy, are they, Albus? a wicked little voice taunted.
No. Decidedly not. He thought rather calmly.
Only one of his children survived.
Kate had died at the hands of Lucius Malfoy. Murderous thoughts swirled in Albus', and were quickly pushed down. His daughter was a leader, had always been, and had thrown herself headfirst into the fray, her blue eyes changing, blazing a fiery red, her long hair trailing like a cape. She died arm and arm with her lover, William Potter-De Lindsey.
Raven died at the hands of his lover (and soon to be fiancée), Nyphadora Tonks. Here he felt a stab of pity; someone so young shouldn't be in so much pain. It wasn't her fault that the "Visions of the Heirs" had claimed her mind.
His youngest daughter, Anne, had died a few days after her lover, Angel Montez. He attempted to save her, blowing his cover with the deatheaters, and was immediately terminated. She begged the Deatheater in charge of her to kill her. Reluctantly, he agreed.
And that Deatheater was his only living son, Severus. Severus stopped caring about anything, even his life. His lover was dead, his niece (or so he thought) was dead, and he lived only to see that Voldemort died. Dumbledore noticed of late, however, that Serverus was showing some of his old spark. Dumbledore knew the cause. He shook his head and gave a small smile. I know you have to hide your relationship to him, but you don't have to be such an unsufferable prat to him, my son.
What Dumbledore wanted, his heart's desire, was to display the socks and gloves that Minerva and Xiomara made him. He wanted an end to all the subterfuge, and to show his family, to have them proudly displayed like the socks and gloves in the mirror. To have his family. For them all to display the name Dumbledore, instead of the name of their adopted familys (Snape, and Fox, respectedly. Raven lived in an orphanage, and was labeled as Baby S., standing for Snape). And finally, for them all to be together, alive and happy. With that thought, he went to the room that he, Minerva, and Xiomara shared, and fell asleep between his two loves.
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It was only when he was back in his bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. But then, he thought, as he shoved Scabbers off his pillow, it had been quite a personal question.