There is a poll on my profile page, I would recommend all go and vote for the top 3 stories that I have not posted that they would like to see in the future, just a little something to help me get on top of what stories to full blown work on when me main runners are completed! Thanks for that and enjoy the Chapter! ~F

Chapter Eight

Christmas

The morning of the first Quidditch match of the season found Hermione, Faykan, Ron along with Harry down at the Gryffindor table bright and early, his three Gryffindor friends trying to coax him to eat before the game that afternoon.

"You've got to eat something Harry." Faykan was saying, serving a plate of eggs in front of his friend.

"I don't want anything." Harry replied, shoving the plate away with near disgust at the thought of food. Nerves were causing him to feel nauseated, and eating was the last idea on his mind.

"Just a bit of toast then," Hermione said, offering Harry a piece from her plate.

"I'm not hungry." He persisted, pushing her hand back to remove the offending piece of food from where he could smell it specifically as his stomach rolled again in protest at the thought.

Ron was about to add his two knuts on the matter of food, when a cold voice sounded right behind Harry, making them all jump. "Good luck today, Potter." They turned to see Professor Snape standing there smirking down at them all. "Though after a run-in with a mountain troll, a little game of Quidditch should be quite simple," he sneered and walked off. Faykan watched the Potions Master's retreating form until he was out of sight, and then turned back to the other three.

"I just remembered that I failed to mention anything about where I went off to when you went to find Hermione." He explained, "When I followed Snape on Halloween, he went straight to the third floor, luckily I was transformed so he didn't recognize me, but right after he arrived so did Quirrell. I think, I'm not sure, but one or the other was using the troll as a distraction to get past that three headed dog." He whispered conspiratorially.

Hermione frowned at that, but said nothing, as Ron had launched into a rant about how Snape must have been the one trying to steal whatever the dog was guarding.

"I'm not so sure Ron," Faykan said, "Snape looked pleased to have beaten Quirrell there and Quirrell did smell extremely like a troll..."

Ron and Faykan argued the point for the next several minutes, and Harry allowed himself to be sucked into their argument, trying to forget about the Quidditch game that would take place in only a few more hours.

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After the very exciting, yet extremely terrifying game of Quidditch, the four Gryffindors were in Hagrid's hut, discussing the events of the game. Gryffindor had won outright, but in the midst of the game Harry's broom had begun bucking wildly, seemingly of its own accord, trying to throw him to his death from high above the match.

Only the combined efforts of Faykan and Hermione had managed to keep Harry on his broom, through Faykan muttering a counter jinx while Hermione ran and stopped Snape by setting his robes on fire, breaking his eye contact and severing his ability to further jinx Harry's broom.

She was still shook up about all the chaos that occurred, and it more than solidified to her that the one flying lesson was more than enough for her to want to keep both feet firmly on the ground for the rest of her life.

Afterward, Faykan had finally acquiesced to Ron that the red head may have had a point about Snape wanting to steal whatever the dog was guarding, in light of the evidence, however Faykan still held his suspicions of Quirrell, who had also been spotted staring intently at Harry's broom during the incident, and had been shoved aside by Hermione in her haste to reach Snape. At the mention of the three headed dog, Hagrid piped up,

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he practically demanded to know, dropping his teapot.

Faykan repaired the teapot with a wave of his hand while Hermione distracted Hagrid, asking more about the dog, "Fluffy, that thing has a name?"

"Cours' he does, he's mine," Hagrid said proudly, "I bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year. Then I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the…"

"Yes?" Harry said eagerly, and Hermione could tell that he wanted information just as much as she and Faykan did. It was his life that had been on the line not hours earlier.

"No, don't ask me anymore, that's top secret that is." Hagrid said gruffly, clamming up instantly.

"But whatever it is, Snape's trying to steal it," Ron added urgently.

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher; he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he try to kill Harry?" countered Hermione, working with what the others were giving her to try and back Hagrid into a corner and force him reveal something else, something that might be useful.

The afternoon's events certainly had enough of an effect to even have changed her mind about Snape. It was possible, but she was willing to go along with it to try and weed out a bit more of the mystery with a useful tip from Hagrid. Faykan glanced at her with a small look of betrayal that she was no longer fully backing his notion that it could be someone other than Snape.

"I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid; I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!" she continued, defending herself from the hurt look that Faykan was giving her as well as the unconvinced one from the large man.

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh; yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous, you forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel…"

"Aha!" said Faykan, smirking in triumph, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid shooed them out at that, constantly repeating 'I shouldn' told yeh that.'

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Draco was greatly looking forward to the Christmas holiday, because for once, he wasn't going to be stuck at his father's manor, he was planning to stay at Hogwarts. He had overheard that Harry, Ron, and Faykan were going to be staying at the school over the holiday, and decided on his own that he would use the extra free time to become more familiar with the three Gryffindors. Faykan seemed to genuinely like Draco, and Harry was warmly civil most of the time, but Ron still seemed to distrust the Slytherin, if only on principle, so Harry generally chose to just keep the two boys apart as much as possible for the sake of peace between them all.

Draco was sitting on the edge of the Slytherin group in the Potion's classroom, nearest the Gryffindors. He could see Harry and Faykan talking in low voices every time Snape turned his back to them, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Nott had earlier mentioned quite loudly, how much he felt 'sorry' for everyone who had to stay at Hogwarts over the holidays, all the while pointedly looking at Harry and Faykan. Harry just ignored him, choosing to pay attention to the powdered spine of lionfish he was measuring, but Faykan shot a death glare in Nott's direction, who only sneered in return.

Nott had become a real arse to the Gryffindor first years ever since the Quidditch match, comparing Harry to a wide-mouthed tree frog (because of how Harry had caught the snitch,) and anything else his little mind could think of. Thankfully he'd quickly realized that not many people found this funny, as they were too impressed that Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick, which everyone had noticed, even if they hadn't done anything about it. So Nott used his fallback plan of mocking Harry and Faykan about their lack of families. 'So childish,' Draco thought.

After the Potions class, where Snape docked another five points from Gryffindor for no reason whatsoever, Draco followed the four Gryffindors up to the library, skirting past Hagrid in the entrance hall as he delivered a giant Christmas tree for the Great Hall. He entered the library just to see them split up and gather books from every corner of the library, finally setting them down at a table in a secluded corner to browse them. Moving closer, Draco could tell that none of these books had anything to do with their current subjects, which only perked his interest more.

"Hey," Faykan said to Draco as the Slytherin sat down next to the shorter boy.

"What are you all up too?" Draco inquired, looking from Hermione to Harry, who both had their noses in books, scanning through them quickly.

Hermione looked at Draco, glanced at Faykan, who nodded at her and, returning to Draco, she said, "Were looking for information on Nicholas Flamel."

"Why would you be looking for something like that?" Draco asked puzzled. Ron shot him a look of impatience and returned to the essay he was writing. Faykan quietly started explaining everything they had seen and heard concerning the three headed dog named Fluffy, the troll attack, although he seemed to leave a large section of information out regarding how that had come to pass, all cumulating in their suspicions of Snape or Quirrell.

"There's no way its Snape," Draco said vehemently, "I mean, sure he's mean to non-Slytherins but he wouldn't go against something Dumbledore is trying to accomplish." Ron huffed in a defiant sort of way, and Draco shot the red haired Weasley an angry look.

Just at that time, Madam Pince, the librarian, walked over and started dusting around their study table. Faykan and Hermione glanced at her and after motioning to the rest, got up and led Draco out of the library. Hermione explained to Draco that they didn't want to raise the suspicions of whomever it was trying to steal the stone by asking around for the information. Draco could see the sense in that, and had to admit that for Gryffindors, these four were showing a lot of Slytherin cunning in their investigation.

"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" said Hermione to the three Gryffindor boys. "And make sure to send me an owl if you find anything."

They all agreed, naturally, and Draco knew that this would be the best way to get into all of their good graces. If he found the needed clue regarding Nicolas Flamel, then even Weasley would have to accept him as one of them, without a doubt.

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After Hermione had left, Harry, Ron, Faykan decided that they were going to take a short break from searching for Nicholas Flamel and enjoy the holidays for a while. The Gryffindor common room was almost completely deserted all day long, and the three boys had their dormitory all to themselves.

Harry was being taught wizard chess by both Ron and Draco, much to Faykan's sole amusement, as the other two boys seemed to get into their own highly competitive matches after arguing about tactics every time.

Harry picked up the game rather easily, but was no match for either Ron or Draco, whose matches could go on for hours before either of them conceded defeat. Faykan was good, better than Harry at least, but wasn't in the same league as either Ron or Draco, although Harry had a suspicion that the other boy was holding back so that Ron and Draco could have the limelight. Fay tended to just like to watch Harry struggle through his games with one of the other two, occasionally throwing out suggestions here and there.

On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed easily, looking forward to the next day for the food and fun, but not expecting any presents at all. When he woke early in the morning however, the first thing he noticed was the small pile of packages at the foot of his bed.

"Merry Christmas Harry," Faykan said, sitting on the foot of his bed, already awake with a slightly smaller handful of presents settled on his lap. Looking over at Ron, who was still asleep, Faykan and Harry grinned to each other, exited their own beds and crept over to Ron's, and swiftly jumped onto the sleeping boy, startling him awake.

"Bloody hell! What's wrong with you guys?" Ron yelled as they dragged him out of his bed and around to his pile of presents.

"Nothing Ron," Faykan said, grinning widely, "we were worried that you might have died in your sleep, as you were not wide awake on Christmas morning like normal wizards."

"Shove off," Ron retorted, but he clearly didn't have any anger in the retort. His eyes were locked on his sizeable pile of presents.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Harry watched his two best friends as they opened their first few presents. He had received a handsome feather quill from Faykan, as well as a selection of chocolate and candy from Ron, which went more or less in step with what he had gotten the other two. Their choices had been limited, as they hadn't been able to actually leave the castle grounds to purchase presents or the like, so no one made a fuss about what they received.

Harry was about to start getting dressed, without finishing his present opening, when he caught sight of Faykan reading a letter attached to one of his gifts. In his other hand was a small box that had been wrapped in strange silver white paper that seemed to create its own light.

Walking over, and knowing full well that it was prying to try and read part of the note that went with it, Harry couldn't help himself as he leaned in closer. But to his surprise, the writing on the parchment was such that he could not make heads or tails of it, aside that it was something clearly not English.

Opening the wooden box within that had a large runic symbol on the top, Faykan pulled out a small golden ring, set with a large red jewel, which seemed to flicker with its own inner fire, and as Harry looked at it, he felt an aura of calmness surround him.

Ron seemed to have noticed the change in the air as well. They both gathered around Faykan's ring to get a closer look at it, which seemed to have the same heartwarming effect on everyone around him.

"Wow, that's really cool, Fay." Ron said after a few moments of peaceful silence. "Who sent it to you?"

"An old family friend," Faykan said, as he slipped the ring on his left forefinger and quickly looked away, tucking the piece of parchment that had accompanied the ring away, but Harry could see tears in his eyes.

Harry finally turned to his own presents. Picking up the top parcel, Harry saw that written across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it, and heard that it sounded a bit like an owl. Harry ignored the small fifty pence piece from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, tossing to Ron who was fascinated by it.

Faykan, who was now eating a chocolate frog he got in a package from Hermione, picked up a strange lumpy parcel. "Who sent this?" he thought out loud, tossing it from hand to hand as he tried to make out what was hidden within.

Ron went slightly pink as he saw the package in Faykan's hand. Harry looked at his pile to find a similar one with his name on it. "I think I know who those are from," Ron said, "My mum. I told her you two didn't expect a lot of presents and, oh, no." he groaned loudly, "she made both of you Weasley sweaters."

Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand knitted sweater in emerald green, and a large box of homemade fudge. Looking up at Faykan, he saw that the other boy had received the same thing, except his sweater was a deep blue.

Ron opened his own sweater, while explaining "Every year she makes us a sweater, or sometime a scarf, and mines always maroon," he added glumly.

"Well, Ron, you tell her for me that I love mine." Faykan said, smiling brightly as he pulled the sweater on.

"That's really nice for her," Harry said, tasting the fudge, which was quite excellent.

After opening his own box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione, Harry picked up his last present, which was very light. As he unwrapped it, something fluid and silvery gray slithered to the floor and laid there in gleaming folds. Ron gasped and Faykan widened his eyes. "I know what that is," he said breathily, "That's an invisibility cloak,"

"A what?" Harry asked, picking the shining, silver cloth off the floor. It felt strange, like water woven into material.

"An invisibility clock," Faykan persisted, while Ron had a look of awe on his face, "I'm sure it is, go ahead try it on."

Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell, while Faykan beamed at him. Looking down at his feet, Harry gasped when he found that they were gone. He dashed to the mirror and, sure enough, his floating head's reflection stared back at him. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection disappeared entirely.

"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it Harry!"

Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words:

'Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A Very Merry Christmas to you.'

Whoever had sent the cloak to Harry, hadn't signed the note. Harry felt strange, who had sent him the cloak? And had it truly belonged to his father?

But before Harry could voice any of his questions aloud, Fred and George Weasley flung the door open and bounded into their dorm. Harry stuffed the cloak out of sight, not feeling like sharing it with anyone else just yet.

"Merry Christmas!" Fred proclaimed happily.

"Hey Fred, look, Faykan and Harry have Weasley sweaters too!"

Both Fred and George were also wearing bright blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F and the other with a G.

Theirs are better than ours, though," said Fred, picking at Faykan sweater. "Mum must make more of an effort if you're not family."

The twins then went about examining the three boys presents, after egging Ron into pulling his maroon sweater on. When Percy made an appearance, the twins literally pounced on him, pulling Percy's carried sweater over his head forcefully and frog marching him from the dorm, berating him about sitting with the family that evening at dinner, leaving the three first years alone again.

Harry had never in all his life had such a wonderful Christmas dinner as he had that year at Hogwarts. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Faykan and it went off with a blast like cannon fire and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral's hat and several live, white mice. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.

Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice. Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally stooping to kiss Professor McGonagall on the cheek, which, to Harry's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.

When Harry finally left the table, he was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of nonexplodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own brand new wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and Harry had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norris's Christmas dinner.

After a furious snowball fight that included Harry, Faykan, Draco and the Weasleys, they all returned to the warmth of the castle, the Gryffindors still laughing at how soaked the one Slytherin had become, as they had all teamed up on him at one point. It had been Harry's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed that night was he free to think about it; the invisibility cloak and whoever had sent it.

Ron, full of turkey and cake had drifted off immediately after he had drawn the curtains of his four-poster. Pulling the cloak out, Harry suddenly felt wide awake, as excitement poured through his body. He could go anywhere, without Filch or anyone else ever knowing.

He was startled out of his thoughts when Faykan spoke from his bed, "Wonderful feeling, isn't it. To be able to go anywhere you want, when you want. No restrictions." Turning to face him, Harry saw he was sitting on the side of his bed, fully dressed, staring at Harry.

"You want to go out tonight Harry, don't you?" he said, grinning.

"Yeah, I do, kind of." Harry replied.

"Let's do it then, C'mon." He said standing and moving stealthily to the dormitory door. Harry took one last look at Ron, who just grunted in his sleep, and decided he wanted to use the cloak alone for his first trip. Silently, he followed Faykan down to the common room, and out through the portrait hole, pulling the cloak on at the same time Faykan transformed into a large black fox.

The Fat Lady was fast asleep, and therefore didn't even notice them leaving down the corridor. As Harry followed Faykan the fox, he wondered where his friend was leading him too, as they weren't going anywhere that he recognized; it was very hard to tell where they were because Faykan kept leading him through many secret passages that Harry never knew about. Harry took the time during his journey to study Faykan's animagus form, he really was a superb fox after all, jet black with long grey streaks like his tattoos running down his back, ending at the tip of his tail. Each leg was grey also and his eyes were the same strong blue color that his human form had.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted when a piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence, ringing up and down the corridor. Harry and Faykan just froze, knowing that they wouldn't be seen if they remained motionless. Soon Harry heard rushing footsteps approaching, and he watched as Draco Malfoy sped right into him from around a corner.

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Draco was terrified, not only was he almost caught by Filch when he was looking at books in the restricted section, but now he was lost and had run into a solid something that knocked him to the floor. He almost screamed, but just them a familiar fox jumped onto his chest and he heard a voice from the corridor ahead.

"Ouch, Draco what are you doing out this late?" a voice that sounded like Harry said, but it was coming out of thin air.

"Ok, that it, I'm losing my mind." Draco said to the fox, starting to hyperventilate at the sheer insanity that was his last twenty minutes, "first screaming books, now talking foxes…" Then suddenly, Harry Potter's head appeared out of thin air. Draco's eye bulged and his mouth dropped to the floor. Harry looked up, past Draco as he heard footsteps coming from where Draco has ran from, and Draco saw Harry removed a shimmering cloak from around him, pull Draco to his feet, and throw it around their shoulders. The fox then dove to the other side of the corridor, and Harry dragged Draco right behind it.

No sooner had they moved out of the corridor than Snape and Filch came skittering around the corner, talking in hushed whispers,

"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the Restricted Section of the library." Filch said excitedly to Snape as they hurried along, eager to catch whoever they suspected was out and about.

Harry put one hand over Draco's mouth, and used the other to guide him backward, away from Filch and Snape, and toward an opened door that the fox was creeping toward in the shadows. After the Potions Master and the caretaker passed the classroom they were hiding in, Harry released Draco and closed the door with a soft click that still made Draco flinch at the slight noise. Pulling off the cloak from them both, Draco gaped at Harry, not able to form any words for several seconds.

"Draco, calm down," Harry said slowly, motioning Draco to sit down in an unused desk, and sitting next to him. The fox jumped onto Draco's lap and rubbed itself against his chest, comforting him. Moments later, Draco finally found his voice, "Harry, how… you were moving around the corridor invisibly?"

Holding up an Invisibility cloak, Harry explained, "I received this as a Christmas gift, don't ask who from I don't know, but I just had to try it out as soon as I could, and I got led here… But what were you doing, running through the corridors like the Bloody Baron was chasing you?"

Draco sighed as he admitted, "I've been searching the library, every day since Hermione left, hoping that I'd be the one to find anything about Nicholas Flamel."

"But why?" Harry pressed, "You knew we were all taking a break."

Draco flushed a bit more, but had little choice but to speak the truth, "I was hoping that, if I was the one to find out the information, that you'd all like me better, and maybe even start including me more in your activities. I feel like I'm the odd one out all the time, just because of what house I was sorted into."

"…oh," Harry said, sounding honestly quite surprised, and perhaps a bit guilty and uncomfortable. Draco continued, explaining that he had been looking through the Restricted Section that night and had accidentally opened a book that had literally screamed and, not wanting to be caught be Filch, he had bolted out of the library immediately, running into Harry after bypassing several corridors in his mad dash.

"And you know the rest," Draco finished, even as the fox leapt from Draco to the stone floor and started walking around to the other side of the classroom. Draco and Harry followed it with their eyes, before finally settling on a large mirror they hadn't noticed earlier because of their distress at escaping Snape and Filch.

It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.' Draco watched as the fox moved directly in front of the mirror, and he almost yelled out in surprise when the fox morphed into Faykan. Turning his back on the mirror, he regarded Draco's look of utter shock, "Hello Draco…" He said with a wide grin.

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Harry walked over to the mirror Faykan changed in front of while the other boy explained his animagus abilities to Draco, who looked like he was going to faint after all the revelations of this night. Stepping in front of the mirror, Harry gasped out loud, drawing the attention of the two other boys.

A woman was standing right behind his reflection in the mirror and was smiling at him and waving. She was a very pretty woman, with dark red hair and her eyes, her eyes were just like Harry's. They were bright green, exactly the same shape, but then he noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time. The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Harry's did. Harry edged so close to the mirror that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection.

"Mum?" he whispered. "Dad?"

Faykan and Draco moved over to Harry, Faykan putting a hand on his shoulder. Harry looked at him, but his eyes were also on the mirror, deep sadness behind the blue orbs.

"Fay, can you see them too?" he asked tentatively.

"No Harry, they are for your eyes only in this mirror," he answered sorrowfully. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he continued, "This mirror, it shows the viewer only their heart's deepest desire. Nothing of substance, and only a deep yearning forms when one looks too long. Harry, I presume you see your family don't you," Harry nodded, still watching them surrounding his reflection. Faykan turned him so that Harry was looking right into Faykan's bright blue eyes with his back to the mirror, "This mirror will destroy anyone who watches too long, Harry. I want you to promise me, that you will never come to look for it again once you and Draco leave."

"But what about…" Harry began.

"Promise me." Faykan cut him off. Draco just stood back, not wanting to look in the mirror or disturb the two Gryffindors.

"I promise." Harry said softly, taking one long, last look at the faces of his parents, and he turned to Draco, "We should probably get back to our common rooms," he said and they both left, Harry draping his invisibility cloak over them both as they opened the door.

Harry was very concerned at why Faykan was suddenly so knowledgeable about a thing they had just encountered. Did it have to do with that information that he couldn't discuss with them yet? There were so many questions that he wanted answers for, and it was starting to grow infuriating that he couldn't get them in a timely manner.

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As the two first year boys left, Albus Dumbledore watched from under his powerful disillusionment charm as Faykan turned to look at the mirror once more. After a few silent moments he spoke to the empty room, "You can reveal yourself, Professor Dumbledore, I know you are there."

This managed to actually surprise Albus, and he emerged from hiding without even trying to pretend to not be there. "I apologize for not announcing myself, Mr. Undol, but it seemed to be most prudent at the time." Albus began slowly but stopped as he saw the boy was still looking in the mirror.

"So," he continued after watching Mr. Undol for a moment in respective silence, slipping off the desk to stand next to the younger boy, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."

"The delights," Faykan said, huffing slightly, "You mean the trap, Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi: I show not your face but your heart's desire… it's not a very complicated snare, is it Professor." Albus stood silently, watching as the boy painfully tore his gaze from the mirror again to face him.

"I certainly hope you plan on removing this mirror before school resumes, most likely to the third floor if I'm not mistaking, Professor." Faykan said, shooting a glance at the mirror again in disdain.

"Ah, so you were able to piece together that part of the puzzle also were you?" Albus said calmly, but Mr. Undol was already moving towards the door.

"One more moment if you please, Faykan," the Headmaster said, calling the boy back. Faykan turned and stood, waiting for Albus to ask his question, "I presumed that Harry could only have seen his family in the mirror, but I was wondering, if I might be so bold as to ask what you see in the mirror?" he asked finally.

The boy actually smiled as he watched Albus, "White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise."

"I'm sorry, but that could mean all sorts of things…" Albus said, pressing only slightly with his legilimency to try and see into the boy's mind.

Surprisingly, once again he was completely blocked from observing a single thought of the boy's mind, and in addition, instead of simply answering his question, Faykan started to sing, some long forgotten tune whose words haunted and chilled Albus to the core, despite their words being utterly foreign to him. There was a beauty within the melody and words, and yet there was no comfort to be found within the tone of sadness and longing.

"Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen, yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron! Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier mi oromardi lisse-miruvóreva Andúnë pella , Vardo tellumar nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni ómaryo airetári -lírinen.Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva? An sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë, ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë; ar sindanóriello caita mornië i falmalinnar imbë met, ar hísië untúpa Calaciryo míri oialë. Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar! Namárië! Nai hiruvalyë Valimar. Nai elyë hiruva. Namárië!"

Afterward, the boy simply turned, transformed into his fox animagus form that Albus had already seen when the three boys had entered, and departed the abandoned classroom, presumably bound for Gryffindor tower, leaving the most powerful wizard of the age with a solitary piece of his puzzle that the Headmaster couldn't yet solve.

It was still shocking to think that the boy was already so powerful, and yet it was nothing to be unusual of the scion of House Undol, whose parentage were reported to be among the most magically powerful and wise of Britain, if not the world.

Albus stayed in the room with mirror for several long minutes, mulling over the new information that he had received that night alone. An animagus, the boy was an animagus! A very powerful amount of transfiguration, did Minerva say he was gifted with that aspect of magic? In addition, wisdom and cleverness well beyond wizards five times his age. Albus figured not even Voldemort would have guessed the purpose of the Mirror so quickly, but this young first year had managed it within minutes of gazing at it. And then there was the song he had sung.

He had heard those sorts of words before, so very long ago, and the importance of such things being so casually used frightened Albus to no end. They were an ancient language of power and majesty, to be respected by all wizard kind, although only a few still remembered them, and even less had heard them spoken, and fewer still to understand them. For a simple first year to understand their meaning, and be able to fluently speak these words of power was impossible. At the least it confirmed what Severus had strongly suspected from the beginning, and Albus had no rights to deny it any longer.

Finally there was the mystery of what the boy described as his deepest desire. Albus thought hard for minutes, until the thought struck him like the metaphorical thunderbolt from the heavens. "Home…" he said aloud. Whatever the boy had described, it had the distinct feeling of home to it. The boy wanted to go home. Did that mean he was not comfortable at Hogwarts? Albus severely doubted that it referred to simple homesickness; the boy was too complicated for that as it was.

This was something far deeper, a longing almost, for something unattainable. Perhaps it was more of an all encompassing idea. Wasn't the boy an orphan like Harry, yet unlike Harry he had known his family. Albus nodded, that was a distinct probability. The boy had strong kinship with Harry because of what they had both suffered. But what fate had drawn them together in such a manner, and what was this home that the boy was longing for?

Perhaps some research into the line of the Undol family would yield some answers to what young Faykan was missing so terribly. Albus' heart panged for the two boys. If, just maybe, if he was to help ease the pain in Undol's own heart, he could recruit a powerful ally to defend Harry from the wrath of Voldemort, until the prophecy could be fulfilled.

Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind, long years numberless as the wings of trees! The long years have passed like swift draughts of the sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda wherein the stars tremble in the voice of her song, holy and queenly. Who now shall refill the cup for me For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the stars, from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds and all paths are drowned deep in shadow; and out of a grey country darkness lies on the foaming waves between us, and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya forever. Now lost, lost to those of the East is Valimar! Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar! Maybe even thou shalt find it! Farewell!

Spoilers ahead, you have been warned!

So, I am rather concerned at the lack of reviews that the story has been generating the last month or so, but regardless I will push on, I just hope for a bit more feedback, as that was a large part of the reason for this remake of the story. Perhaps it was just a busy month and I am overreacting, but a small amount of reassurance would not be amiss...

anyway, getting past myself for a bit, the Chapter... Again I chose to more or less skip the Quidditch match, as I felt that there wouldn't have been anything new to add to the events, which couldn't be easily covered after the fact, such as Faykan assisting to counter the curse on Harry's broom, etc.

The Hagrid's hut scene I tweaked just slight, only enough to imply that Faykan and Hermione together were trying to pressure Hagrid into letting something slip intentionally, rather than it just accidentally falling into their lap.

Small expansion on the Draco pre-Christmas segment, (btw, does anyone know what the explination for why wizards celebrated Christmas was, I don't think there was a decent one given by Rowling) mainly flushing out his growing role, or desires for such, among the group.

Christmas day, I didn't like that more than Ron and Harry saw Faykan aquire the Ring of Fire, Narya, as it made no sense for the Twins or anyone else to appreciate it, especially when it vanishes from sight after he puts it on and everyone's attention leaves it, as one of the Three would do.

Great expansion throughout the mirror scene, both before and during, as well as adding the song at the end. I've really gotten more of a kick out of the music of LotR lately, so I went about adding more music from those ages into the story, as they add an extra depth of history, as what out of a culture would prevail more than music? Keep an eye out more even of the songs and lays of Middle Earth as the story progresses. I do try to keep them relevant to the situation at least, so they won't be out of the blue songs, and I would welcome people asking about the titles of ones that I chose, where they come from and how they apply, as that would likely be a deeper section than what you would read from just this story.

For example, the song at the end of this chapter was sung originally by the Lady Galadriel, regarding her longing for the shores of Valinor. Think on that one for a bit as to why Faykan would be singing it, and have a wonderful evening.

~F