ENDLESS NIGHT
"Stand up and draw your wand, Potter".
Nervously making his way to his feet, Harry drew his wand and held it out between himself and the Potions Professor. The desk between them, the two of them faced each other down, an eager look in Snape's dark eyes as Harry dreaded what was about to happen.
"You may use your wand to attempt to disarm me, or defend yourself in any other way you can think of," Snape said slowly, his sneer revealing that he clearly didn't think Harry capable of protecting himself.
"And what are you going to do?" Harry asked, eyeing Snape's wand apprehensively, not liking the idea of it being aimed at him any more than he liked the idea of having the foul man wielding it in his mind.
"I am about to attempt to break into your mind," said Snape, not at all sounding like he believed it would be hard. "We are going to see how well you resist. I have been told that you have already shown aptitude at resisting the Imperius Curse. You will find that similar powers are needed for this… brace yourself".
"LEGILIMENS!"
Caught unprepared as Snape struck, Harry didn't have a change to even try resist the attack, the office swimming in front of him before vanishing sharply as image after image shot past his mind's eye like a scarily vivid film.
He saw himself when he was five, watching through the slates in his cupboard door as Dudley rode through the house on his brand new red bicycle. He saw himself when he was nine, trapped up a tree as Ripper the Bulldog snarled at him, Dudley throwing rocks up at him as the Dursleys laughed. He saw himself when he was eleven, sitting beneath the Sorting Hat as it whispered how great he could be in Slytherin. He saw himself when he was twelve, alone in the Hospital Wing, reading Hogwarts: A History softly to a petrified Hermione. He saw himself when he was thirteen, standing over an unconscious Hermione and Sirius Black as a horde of dementors flew across the lake towards him. He saw himself when he was fourteen, watching as Cedric hit the ground limply in a flash of emerald-green light. He saw himself when he was fifteen, standing beneath the mistletoe as Cho Chang leaned closer and closer. And then he was eleven again, standing before the Mirror of Erised, staring into it desperately as a strange mist clung to everything it touched.
He could almost feel the backlash as Snape's mind came to a sudden halt and tore that memory to the front of his mind, diving into it greedily.
"Back again, Harry?"
Feeling as though his insides had turned to ice, Harry spun around, freezing at the sight of none other than Albus Dumbledore sitting on one of the desks up against the wall. How had he not seen him? Had he truly walked right past the Headmaster in his rush to get to the mirror? Or had the old man entered afterwards when Harry was captivated with his reflection?
"I… I didn't see you, Sir," Harry admitted slowly when it became apparent that the Headmaster was waiting for an explanation.
"Strange how near-sighted being invisible can make you," Dumbledore mused thoughtfully, the small smile tugging at his lips enough to cause relief to flood Harry's chest. "Especially when one's mind is filled with the wonders of the Mirror of Erised".
Harry paused for a moment, glancing back at his family in the mirror before turning to frown at the Headmaster. "Is that what it's called then, Sir?" he asked hesitantly, "The Mirror of Erised?"
"Indeed it is Harry," the Headmaster agreed, not moving from his desk as his eyes twinkled in the faint torch light. "So… now that you know its name… can you tell me what it does?" the man questioned slowly.
"I don't know, Sir," Harry confessed automatically, turning back to the mirror, his family no longer looking back at him and instead glaring over his shoulder at the Headmaster.
"How about this," the unknowing Headmaster began, "The happiest man on Earth could look into the Mirror, and see himself, exactly as he is. To him, it would be a normal mirror, no different than any other in this castle".
"The mirror in my dormitory calls us all fat," Harry interrupted, blinking over at the shocked looking man, "It told me I needed to try the 'Roman Diet'".
"It's a mirror Harry," Dumbledore said slowly, "I hardly think that a mirror is an expert when it comes to the nutritional needs of an eleven year old boy. I assure you, as the one who chooses the menus himself, that what you eat every day is healthy for you".
Pausing to take in this knowledge, Harry tilted his head slowly, "Does this mean I should ask you if we could have chicken pie for dinner tomorrow?"
"Consider it done," the Headmaster said with a chuckle, Harry beaming at the man before turning back to watch his reflection for a moment. "But the Mirror? Do you understand its purpose yet?" he pressed slowly.
Stopping again to think, Harry tore his eyes away from his smiling mother and stared down at the ground, deep in thought as he ran over what the Professor had just said about the Mirror. "It… it shows us whatever will make us happy?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yes, and no," Dumbledore agreed. "It shows us nothing less than the deepest most desperate desire of our heart. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Young mister Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, as the best of them all. However… this mirror will give you neither knowledge nor truth," the Headmaster warned, "Greater men than ourselves have wasted away in front of it, entranced by what they see and driven mad by it. One can never know if what they see is real or even possible, after all".
The Headmaster paused, eyes lifting up past Harry to stare into the mirror himself, the twinkle dying slightly. "The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I must ask you to not go looking for it again," he requested as the dark mist seemed to just vanish suddenly, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that".
Gasping as Snape's office came back into view suddenly, Harry inhaled greedily for air as he quickly stared up at the Professor, who was staring at Harry as if he didn't know what to do with him all of a sudden.
"That memory. What is it of?" the dark-eyed man demanded silkily, "ANSWER ME!" the Professor roared.
"A Mirror!" Harry blurted quickly, pushing himself back up to his feet. "A Mirror I saw in First Year, it showed me my family. Professor Dumbledore moved it to hide the Philosopher's Stone after that, it stopped Vold- You-Know-Who from getting it".
Snape stared at him for a moment longer, seemingly going over his thoughts before finally saying "If that is the case… then pray tell, why is that memory false?"
"Fal- what?"
"Why is that memory false?" Snape snarled angrily, striding around his desk to grab Harry by the jaw, twisting his head up to stare into his eyes. "Did you not see the fog within your mind?" he growled, "Or were you too dimwitted to even notice it? What is it hiding?" he demanded, "WHAT?"
"I don't know!" Harry defended, unable to pull his jaw away from Snape's grip without using his wand, something he knew would come back to bite him in the end. "I didn't even know it was fake!"
"LEGILIMENS!"
Unable to even move, Harry was forced back into his memories, Snape tearing through them all and finding fake memory after fake memory after fake memory squirreled away within Harry's mind. He could see no pattern to them as they flicked past; some were of dangerous times, like when Professor Lupin transformed and attacked them, like when Harry went down into the Chamber of Secrets and Lockhart obliviated himself, and even the Dementor attack at the beginning of the year. And some were so simple… an entire hour-long memory of Harry talking to Hermione in the library about the Incindio charm versus the Glacius charm, an afternoon at Privet Drive where he'd been doing his homework, the time where he'd 'borrowed' some food from the Great Hall and he'd brought Hermione and Ron up to the Astronomy tower for a picnic at the end of First Year.
Hissing in pain as Snape threw his jaw to the side, twisting his neck painfully as the man stalked off behind him, Harry rubbed his throat as he resisted the urge to turn around.
False memories? What was the Professor even talking about? Harry didn't know memories could be read before Christmas that year, let alone falsified. He wouldn't have any clue about how to fake them either, Hermione hadn't been able to find anything on memories when she searched the library for books on Occlumency, and considering how Hermione was his go-to source of knowledge that was saying something.
"Here!" Snape spat as he reappeared in front of Harry, "Drink this Potter. Hurry up!" the man ordered as he shoved a small smoking vile in Harry's face. "Should you truly know nothing of these false memories, then you'll have no problem drinking this restoration potion, unless the great Harry Potter is too good to believe a mere 'dungeon bat' like myself?" he asked with a sneer.
Pausing for a moment to glare up at Snape, who was now just being petty and was obviously trying to egg him on, Harry accepted the potion, stopping only to eye it hesitantly before downing it in its entirety. Snape was an idiot, but not even he was stupid enough to poison Harry when Dumbledore knew where they both were.
He wasn't entirely sure what was supposed to happen next, Snape just kept staring at him expectantly, and Harry felt no different even after he'd handed the empty potion vial back. "Is something supposed to be happening, Professor?" he finally asked hesitantly, the man's eye twitching angrily at his voice.
"The mind is a fragile thing, Potter," Snape said slowly, all traces of anger gone from his voice as – was that concern? - filled his eyes. "The potion must work slowly to ensure your memories are returned in one piece, and not shattered. Although…" he continued softly, "I have yet to see it take this long".
"If this potion restores memories, then why not try that on Professor Lockhart?" he questioned curiously, Snape rolling his eyes so wildly Harry feared they'd roll out of their sockets.
"I'd hardly call that buffoon a Professor," Snape countered, speaking almost civilly to Harry, "And his memories were not altered, they were erased. Were he of any skill, in obliviation, then he could have left traces, as it were, of his memories to be recovered. Since he was a lacking wizard with a lacking wand, however, he overpowered the spell and wiped his mind clean. What has happened to you however, despite your being a lacking wizard, is that your memories have been suppressed and written over by a much more skilled wizard, which leaves traces beneath the false memories that the mental restoration potion can pull forth to the surface," he explained with only the slightest bit of a drawl to his voice.
Frowning slightly as he processed that information, Harry opened his mouth to ask a question, only for something to flicker at the corner of his vision, making him glance over at it, not seeing Snape's wand snap up until-
"Legilimens".
"It's a mirror Harry," Dumbledore said slowly, "I hardly think that a mirror is an expert when it comes to the nutritional needs of an eleven year old boy. I assure you, as the one who chooses the menus himself, that what you eat every day is healthy for you".
Pausing to take in this knowledge, Harry tilted his head slowly, "Does this mean I should ask you if we could have chocolate cake for dinner tomorrow?"
"Consider it done," the Headmaster said with a chuckle, Harry beaming at the man before turning back to watch his reflection for a moment. "But the Mirror? Do you understand its purpose yet?" he pressed slowly.
Stopping again to think, Harry tore his eyes away from his grinning reflection and stared down at the ground, deep in thought as he ran over what the Professor had just said about the Mirror. "It… it shows us whatever will make us happy?" he asked hesitantly, a little unsure as to how what he saw would make him happy… although his reflection definitely looked happy as he threw an arm around the shoulders of the man sitting beside him, telling what looked to him like a dirty joke that had them both tilting their heads back and laughing.
"Yes, and no," Dumbledore agreed. "It shows us nothing less than the deepest most desperate desire of our heart. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you, your mother and father hugging you as you so wish to experience. Young mister Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, as the best of them all. However… this mirror will give you neither knowledge nor truth," the Headmaster warned, "Greater men than ourselves have wasted away in front of it, entranced by what they see and driven mad by it. One can never know if what they see is real or even possible, after all".
"I don't see my family, Sir," Harry corrected slowly, making the Headmaster pause and frown at him.
"You do not?" Dumbledore asked curiously, "What is it that you see then?"
"I see me," Harry confessed, turning back to the mirror as a small smile graced his face at his reflection's wink. "I'm older, but I'm still young. I'm sitting on a throne, in a huge cave, and there are a lot of smaller thrones surrounding it, all of them around this huge table," he explained absently. "I'm sitting in the big throne, and I think I'm wearing leather pants," he added with a scrunched up face, "I'm wearing one of those biker vest things too, and there's this black tattoo going across my eyes… like a raccoon".
"What else?" Dumbledore pressed, his voice strange, not that Harry noticed as he kept staring at the mirror.
"There's black smoke everywhere?" Harry continued with a shrug, "It all looks so dark… but we're happy. We're all laughing and talking as we eat".
"What about you?" the Headmaster asked as Harry heard him walking across the room to stand behind him, "What are doing?"
Instead of answering straight away, Harry watched as the man from before ruffled his reflection's hair, the older Harry saying something to him, his mouth moving clearly to say the word 'Uncle'. His reflection stood suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him as he raised a hand, a puff of black smoke preceding the appearance of a goblet in it, his older self speaking loudly as he looked around the table.
Reaching out himself, Harry tilted his hand palm up and concentrated, a black puff of smoke revealing a smaller hand-held mirror that had appeared out of nowhere, just like the goblet in the Mirror of Erised. "I'm giving a toast," he said softly, looking down into the mirror in his hands which reflected his older face looking back at him, "To family".
Tilting the mirror back so he could see Dumbledore over his shoulder, Harry asked "How did I do that? I saw my reflection do it, and I just knew that I could too. What kind of magic is it?"
"It doesn't matter, Harry," Dumbledore said simply, "You won't be able to do it again".
Angling the mirror down on instinct, Harry barely had time to recognise that Dumbledore's wand was aiming at him, before a flash of white light ended the memory sharply.
ENDLESS NIGHT
Based off DZ2's "Clear the Mind" challenge, which can be found in a link on my profile.
I do not own Harry Potter, Charmed or any of the affiliated characters/worlds. The only thing I do own, will be reveal in around half a dozen chapters or so, so be patient.