Chapter 11:
Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.
Alicia had immediately placed a taboo on the word 'christmas' so that christmas carols sounded whenever it was said. She had so much fun with it she placed one on the Gryffindor porthole that played music whenever it opened and placed another similar one down in the dungeons to annoy the Slytherins. Unfortunately it might have annoyed Snape a little too much and caused him to remove it. The Weasley Twins thought it was ace.
The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.
No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.
"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."
He was looking over at Harry and Alicia as he spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lion-fish, ignored them, Alicia wasn't as mature and when Snape's back was turned she caused Malfoy's cauldron to catch fire.
Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. Then he'd realised that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family.
It was true that Harry wasn't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas, Alicia had decided to stay also. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and both Alicia and Harry had signed up at once. Harry didn't feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he'd ever had. Ron and his brothers were staying, too, because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.
When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.
"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.
"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."
"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose — that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."
Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs.
"WEASLEY!"
Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.
"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."
"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."
Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.
Alicia gripped her wand to sent another jinx his way but Harry stopped her as Snape was still within the vicinity.
"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back, "one of these days, I'll get him —"
"I hate them both," said Harry, "Malfoy and Snape."
"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."
"Yes please!" Alicia agreed much happier.
So the three of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.
"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree — put it in the far corner, would you?"
The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.
"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.
"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me — Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."
"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.
"The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"
"Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."
"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked.
"Probably shouldn't have admitted that." Alicia muttered
"Listen here — I've told yeh — drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."
"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Hermione.
"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Harry added. "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere — just give us a hint — I know I've read his name somewhere."
"I'm sayin' nothin'," said Hagrid flatly.
"The same way you said you wouldn't tell us anything about it and let his name slip?" Alicia wondered. Hagrid still didn't say anything
"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.
They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.
Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Alicia was more organised and grabbed a heap of reference books and sat down to examine them all. Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section. He had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"What are you looking for, boy?"
"Nothing," said Harry.
Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him. "You'd better get out, then. Go on — out!"
Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story,
Harry left the library. He, Alicia, Ron, and Hermione had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk Snape hearing what they were up to.
Harry waited outside in the corridor to see if the other three had found anything, but he wasn't very hopeful. They had been looking for two weeks, after all, but as they only had odd moments between lessons it wasn't surprising they'd found nothing. What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.
Five minutes later, Ron, Alicia and Hermione joined him, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch.
"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" said Hermione. "And send me an owl if you find anything."
"Promise."
"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them."
"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.
"They'd have no idea of any magical history." Alicia rolled her eyes.
Once the holidays had started, Alicia, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. They had the dormitory, and Alicia had hers, to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork — bread, English muffins, marshmallows — and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.
Alicia had been using all kinds of charms to entertain herself, actually she entertain the boys too, like turning her wand into a lighter and playing jokes on the Weasley Twins whenever they entered the common room.
Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess, with Alicia watching. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family — in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.
Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him, and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him."
Alicia found it amazing and at one stage had a go against Harry. Harry asked Ron if he could use his set and he'd agreed, so Alicia had used Seamus'. Unlike Harry she got along with the chess pieces for she asked them their opinion and what they thought was best, they argued quite a bit but she got them as well as Ron to teacher her.
She ended up beating Harry proudly.
On Christmas morning Alicia was the first one out of the three to wake. She saw a whole pile of presents at the end of her bed and tried picking them all up but there were a few too many. She used a charm to help her before racing into the boys Dormitory. She didn't even knock as she opened the door.
Both were asleep.
"Ron! Harry! Wake up!" she shouted, her presents dropped onto one of the empty beds and she shook Ronald awake.
"Ron wake up!" he and Harry also both had a stack of presents at the end of their four poster beds and Alicia quickly added hers to the mix.
Ron slowly groaned and opened his eyes
"Merry Christmas!" she beamed happily. Ron suddenly jumped awake and looked around, as though expecting to have woken up in the girls dormitories.
Alicia moved to Harry and shook him also.
"Harry wake up! Wake up! You have presents!" after a few more shakes Harry awoke. He spotted the pile of presents and jumped.
"Merry Christmas," said Ron sleepily as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe.
"You, too," said Harry. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!" Alicia nodded happily
"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harry's.
Harry picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it — it sounded a bit like an owl.
A second, very small parcel contained a note.
We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece.
"That's friendly," said Harry.
Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence.
"Weird!" he said, "What a shape! This is money?"
"You can keep it," said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was, Alicia chuckled also as she picked up another parcel, this one was from Hagrid.
It was a big box of chocolate frogs. Hermione had given her a a nice thick book.
"Hagrid and my aunt and uncle — so who sent these?" Harry asked
"I think I know who that one's from," said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mom. I told her you didn't expect any presents and — oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater."
Alicia threw a parcel to Ron.
"Is that one the same?" she asked
"Oh not you too." he grumbled. Alicia grabbed the package and ripped it open, it was a jacket, a hood attached and was a lovely shade of purple, some fudge fell out of it. Alicia pulled it on immediately. She beamed
"It's awesome!"
"Well that's better then we get." Ron muttered as Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge.
"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."
"That's really nice of her," said Harry, trying the fudge, which was very tasty.
"I have to get her something in return…" Alicia muttered thinking "Maybe I could sorta make something…"
"Oh no you don't…" Ron began
"Shush, I'm thinking." she cut him off.
Harry's next present also contained candy — a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione and a chess set fell out from Alicia.
"Thanks." he said
"Well, they might be nicer then Seamus'." she smiled
This only left one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it.
Something fluid and silvery grey went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped.
"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavour Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is — they're really rare, and really valuable."
"What is it?"
Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. Alicia jumped off the bed.
"No way! Proper ones are extremely expensive and fake ones have all sorts of faults. There aren't many good ones in the entire world." she admitted
"I'm sure it is — try it on." Ron instructed.
Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell while Alicia beamed. "It is! Look down!"
Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.
"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"
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.
There was no signature.
"How odd." Alicia mumbled. Harry stared at the note while Ron was admiring the cloak.
"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the matter?"
"Nothing," said Harry.
Before he could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Harry stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight. He didn't feel like sharing it with anyone else yet.
"Merry Christmas!"
"Merry christmas." Alicia smirked
"Hey, look — Harry's got a Weasley sweater, too!"
Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G.
"Harry's is better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Harry's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."
"Look I got a Weasley jacket." Alicia held her arms out
"A jacket!" Fred admired
"She's even got a hood." and George pulled it over her head. Alicia waved her wand and it began to snow over the two boys who tried to avoid it.
"Alicia stop it." Fred muttered
"She knows more magic then we do." George said annoyed causing the eleven year old to grin.
"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded as the snow stopped. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."
"I hate maroon," Ron moaned halfheartedly as he pulled it over his head.
"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid — we know we're called Gred and Forge."
Alicia chuckled.
"What's all this noise?"
Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving. He had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm.
"Ms Evans," he began to scold her for being in the boys Dormitories.
"It's Alicia. I have a Weasley sweater now, I'm part of the family, no formalities." she grinned
"Oh great." the twins chorused earning a glare from the girl. They didn't dwell on it as Fred seized Percy's knitted jumper.
"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Alicia and Harry got one."
"I — don't — want —" said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.
"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family."
They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater and Alicia laughing her head off.
Neither two orphans had never in all their life had such a Christmas before. But it was the Christmas dinner that stuck out the most. 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. These fantastic party favours were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside.
Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon 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. Alicia had pulled one with Ron and laughed as he jumped away from the table as a couple spiders dressed in santa hats had scurried away.
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 kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.
Alicia and Harry left the table with an assortment of weird things from the crackers like Harry's Grow-Your-Own-Worts and Alicia's mini quidditch pitch with players and even little balls, the tiny snitch almost impossible to see.
Harry, Alicia and the Weasleys spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds, Alicia doing the best as she bewitched an entire pile or two to aim like missiles. Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. He suspected he wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help him so much.
After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor Tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge.
Alicia however stayed in the common room as the boys all went to bed. She had her new book in her hand and was lost in it, not noticing the time until footsteps sounded down the spiral staircase.
She stopped and looked up, but no one was there. Alicia sat up, closing the book confused as she slowly grabbed her wand.
"Homenum Revelio"
Harry was suddenly revealed from under his invisibility cloak as he was halfway across the common room. Alicia crossed her arms as Harry realised the clock had been removed and turned to her.
"Where are you going?" she demanded
"Um… I thought I'd use it for the first time…" he muttered
"And do what?" she asked with a sigh
He didn't have an answer. She rolled her eyes and reopened her book
"I feel that you're going to take the fact that you're invisible for granted and end up in serious trouble. Plus you'll be alone and that never helps the worries." She muttered, Harry knew she was right and the thought stopped him. He picked up the cloak and looked towards the door, still wanting to go out an try it.
"Why don't you come with me?" he asked. Alicia looked at him and blinked, he looked reluctant but at the same time, excited.
"Are you sure?" she asked
"This time." he nodded "Next time I go alone."
"Um… alright." she grinned and got up, moving over to him. Being as small as they were both fitted under the clock nicely, and their feet you could not see an inch of.
"Shall we?" Alicia grinned. Harry's excitement was back and they moved to the porthole, moving together and keeping a close eye on the cloak.
"Who's there?" squawked the Fat Lady. Neither said nothing, but just shared a smile. They walked quickly down the corridor.
"Where should we go?" Alicia whispered ever so quietly. She came to a sudden stop as he did, his mind seemed to have hit an idea. He turned to her.
"The Restricted Section in the library." he muttered
"Flamel." she understood.
They set off, drawing the Invisibility Cloak tight around them as they walked.
The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Harry lit a lamp to see his way along the rows of books. The lamp looked as if it was floating along in midair. Alicia thought it was weird, slightly amusing, Harry believed it was creepy.
The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, Harry held up his lamp to read the titles.
Alicia scanned the titles, the words meaning more to her then they did to Harry, however even she couldn't make out as much as she'd have liked. Their peeling, faded gold letters spelled words in languages Alicia found hard to read. Several books she was able to discard positively, a few she thought wouldn't help, but there were still many books left.
Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. In the silence you could hear what sounded like faint whispers, something Alicia swore was coming from the the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn't be.
Harry was such at a loss with the books he deiced to take a chance, for he set the lamp down carefully on the floor and looked along the bottom shelf for an interesting-looking book. A large black and silver volume caught his eye. He pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on his knee, let it fall open.
A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence — the book was screaming! Alicia grabbed the book and together the two snapped it shut, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken, earsplitting note. Harry stumbled backward and knocked over his lamp, which went out at once. Alicia grabbed the book and shoved it onto the shelf again, coming out from under the clock slightly as Harry stood up. Harry reached out and pulled her under again. Panicking, they heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside, making sure the cloak covered them, the two ran for it.
They passed Filch in the doorway; Filch's pale, wild eyes looked straight through them, and the two slipped under Filch's outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor, the book's shrieks still ringing in their ears.
Alicia and Harry came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armour. Both had been so busy getting away from the library, neither had paid attention to where they was going.
"I told you." Alicia breathed ever so quietly as they looked around. Perhaps because it was dark, she didn't recognise where they were at all and by the look on his face, Harry didn't either.
"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library — Restricted Section."
Harry felt the blood drain out of his face while Alicia froze. Wherever they were, Filch must know a shortcut, because his soft, greasy voice was getting nearer, and to their horror, it was Snape who replied,
"The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."
Harry stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape came around the corner ahead, Alicia looked around for anywhere they could go, if they ran their feet would make a noise and Snape walked too fast for them to out walk him.
They couldn't see the two, of course, but it was a narrow corridor and if they came much nearer they'd knock right into them — the cloak didn't stop them from being solid.
Harry took Alicia's hand and began to back away as quietly as he could. A door stood ajar to his left and Alicia, without thinking about it, pulled Harry into the room, hardly touching the door as she past. Harry squeezed through too, holding his breath, trying not to move it, and to his relief he managed to get inside the room without their noticing anything.
They walked straight past, and Harry and Alicia leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, listening to their footsteps dying away.
"Thanks for coming." Harry admitted
"Anytime." Alicia nodded.
It was a few seconds before either of them noticed anything about the room they had hidden in.
It looked like an unused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper basket — but propped against the wall facing the two was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way.
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.
Alicia moved forwards first, she ducked out from under the cloak to walk towards it intrigued. She heard Harry follow her as the panic they'd felt was fading.
Alicia, as she couldn't see him suddenly heard Harry gasp and his hands hit his face, as though covering his mouth. She turned and crashed into him as he stood beside her. Alicia grabbed the cloak and pulled it off him to see Harry staring behind him and his face looking paler then it had in the restricted section.
Alicia, confused as to what was wrong, turned back to the mirror. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked into it. There was a whole crowd of people standing right behind her and Harry within the mirror, but the room was empty. Breathing very fast, Harry turned slowly back to the mirror.
Alicia walked towards it in surprise, she wasn't as stunned by a magic mirror as Harry was but she did wish to see who it was she was looking at.
Harry stopped her before she could get too far. She turned to him.
"Do you see them?" he asked. Alicia nodded.
"All the people."
Reflected behind the two were at least ten other people. Harry looked over his shoulder — but still, no one was there. A woman standing right behind Alicia's reflection was smiling at them and waving. Harry reached out a hand and felt the air behind them. If she was really there, he'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air — she and the others existed only in the mirror.
Alicia looked at her face and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes…
Her eyes are just like mine. Bright green — exactly the same shade. Harry edged closer to the mirror as Alicia frowned, she didn't understand, she knew this women. Her eyes, nose, chin. Her poster and figure, it was all so familiar.
Alicia's eyes set on herself in the mirror as she looked between herself and the women.
The only difference seemed to be their hair colours.
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. Alicia could see the similarities as plain as she could with her and the women.
Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection.
"Harry." Alicia whispered and he glanced at her through the mirror "There your parents aren't they…" she said, her voice barely breaking the silence. Harry looked at them both
"Mom?" he whispered. "Dad?"
They just looked at him, smiling. And slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw other pairs of green eyes like his, other noses like his, even a little old man who looked as though he had Harry's knobbly knees — Harry was looking at his family, for the first time in his life. Even Alicia noticed this, but her eyes kept settling on the women. While Harry seemed to feel some sort of happiness from this, Alicia only frowned in confusion.
The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them.
How long they stood there, they didn't know. The reflections did not fade and Harry looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses. They couldn't stay here, both had to find their way back to bed.
Harry tore his eyes away from his mother's face and whispered,
"I'll come back," He grabbed the cloak and stood next to Alicia who kept her eyes on the women before the watery material was thrown over her and she was dragged out of the room by Harry.
"You could have woken me up," said Ron, crossly.
"You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror. Alicia you're coming back too right?" Alicia suddenly looked at him, having not really been listening.
"Yeah sure." she muttered before clearing her throat and speaking with more purpose "Do you think we'll all fit under the cloak? It was hard enough last night."
"If we walk slowly we should." Harry nodded
"Then lets hope we don't need to run again." Alicia smiled slightly
"I'd like to see your mom and dad," Ron said eagerly. Alicia was sent into her thoughts again. She didn't understand, why did she look like Harry's mom?
"And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone."
"You can see them any old time," said Ron. "Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"
Harry had just been staring at his food, Alicia had had her fork in her mouth for the last five minutes as she ate some pancakes, of which she'd touched hardly any of.
"Are you two all right?" said Ron.
"Lost in thoughts…" Alicia muttered slowly with a sigh.
"You look odd." he said to Harry. Alicia turned to him to see a worried expression on Harry's face.
"Worried we wont find it." Alicia said simply "I'm sure we will."
With Ron covered in the cloak, too, they had to walk much more slowly the next night. They tried retracing Alicia and Harry's route from the library, wandering around the dark passageways for nearly an hour.
"I'm freezing," said Ron. "Let's forget it and go back." Alicia was looking around ignoring the two, making sure to keep her ears pealed for any teachers.
"No!" Harry hissed. "I know it's here somewhere."
They passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction, but saw no one else. Just as Ron started moaning that his feet were dead with cold, Harry spotted the suit of armour.
"It's here — just here — yes!"
They pushed the door open. Harry dropped the cloak from around his shoulders and ran to the mirror.
There they were. His mother and father beamed at the sight of him. Alicia saw them from her spot by the door which she'd closed behind them and took a deep breath as a couple turned to her.
"See?" Harry whispered.
"I can't see anything."
"Look! Look at them all… there are loads of them…"
"I can only see you."
"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am."
Harry stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror, suddenly Harry's family was gone and it was just Ron in his paisley pyjamas. Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image.
"Look at me!" he said.
"Can you see all your family standing around you?"
"No — I'm alone — but I'm different — I look older — and I'm Head Boy!"
"What?"
"I am — I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to — and I'm holding the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup — I'm Quidditch captain, too!"
Harry turned to Alicia who moved to stand beside Ron. She could only see Ron in the mirror.
"I don't see anything." she admitted confused, how could she see Harry's family but not Ron's dream?
"Ron, may I try something and then you can have the mirror back?" she asked softly. Ron stepped aside and Alicia stood for the first time in front of the mirror.
And Alicia watched as Harry's family returned. Her eyebrows furrowed
"I don't understand," she muttered
"What do you see?" Ron asked excitedly
"Harry's family…" she admitted and Harry stood next to her
"I see them too." Harry beamed
"I don't understand…" she repeated "How come you two see something that makes you happy, and I see Harry's happiness?" She looked away from the mirror and stepped aside, Ron immediately taking her place. He stared at himself with amazement.
Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Harry.
"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"
"How can it? All my family are dead — let me have another look —"
"You had it to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time."
"You're only holding the Quidditch Cup, what's interesting about that? I want to see my parents."
"Boys!" Alicia hissed glancing at the door at their babbling
"Don't push me —"
A sudden noise outside in the corridor put an end to their discussion. They hadn't realised how loudly they had been talking.
Alicia had grabbed the cloak as Ron said "Quick!"
She threw the cloak back over them as the luminous eyes of Mrs. Norris came round the door. All three stood quite still, all thinking the same thing — did the cloak work on cats? After what seemed an age, she turned and left.
"This isn't safe — she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on."
And Ron pulled Harry out of the room, Alicia following immediately, but glancing back at the mirror with confusion.
The snow still hadn't melted the next morning.
"Want to play chess, Harry?" said Ron.
"No."
"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?"
"No… you go…" Ron looked at Alicia who sighed and shook her head, both of them knew what had Harry fixed, it wasn't a very good thing that he wasn't interested in his daily life but only on his past.
"I know what you're thinking about, Harry, that mirror. Don't go back tonight."
"Why not?"
"I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it — and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already. Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are wandering around. So what if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over?"
"You sound like Hermione."
"I'm serious, Harry, don't go."
"It's not going to work Ron." Alicia sighed
"Are you going with him?" Ron asked, Alicia turned to Harry
"Hopefully, I need to figure out what that mirror does, and why it shows me what Harry sees, but not what you see or not even something personal to me." she admitted "If that's alright with Harry."
Harry who would get to see his family either way, nodded.
"It'll be alright." Alicia said to Ron.
That third night they found their way more quickly than before. Harry was walking so fast, the Alicia almost slipped out from under the cloak several times. She knew he knew he was making more noise than was wise, but he didn't seem to care. Luckily, they didn't meet anyone.
And again, there were Harry's mother and father smiling at him again, and one of his grandfathers nodding happily. While Harry sank down to sit on the floor in front of the mirror, Alicia sighed, still standing by the doorway. And it was her that spotted the person sitting by the desk, and her blood ran from her face in worry.
"So — back again, Harry?" he looked at Alicia and smiled, bringing some assurance back to Alicia as she let out a sigh.
Albus Dumbledore was watching the two.
Harry walked straight past him, so desperate to get to the mirror he hadn't noticed him.
"I — I didn't see you, sir."
"Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore, and Harry was relieved to see that he was smiling.
"We're sorry sir, we know we're not meant to be here." Alicia whispered. Dumbledore nodded but didn't comment.
"So," he said, slipping off the desk, he took Alicia's hand and walked her to sit on the floor with Harry, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."
"I didn't know it was called that, sir."
"But I expect you've realised by now what it does?"
"It — well — it shows me my family —"
"And it showed your friend Ron himself as Head Boy."
"How did you know — ?"
"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently, Alicia smiled
"Disillusionment Charm." she realised. Dumbledore smiled and her and nodded.
"Very good." he said "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"
Harry shook his head and Alicia looked at the mirror when he turned to her.
"Something to do with what we want, our happiness, but a little different." she said. Dumbledore nodded and when she didn't continue he prompted them.
"Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?"
Harry thought. Then he said slowly, "It shows us what we want… whatever we want…"
"Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly. Alicia though hit an answer.
"It shows us our desires." she muttered. Dumbledore nodded
"The most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible."
Alicia's eyebrows furrowed, it still didn't explain how she saw Harry's desires, and she hadn't missed how Dumbledore hadn't explained.
"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?"
Harry stood up, Alicia didn't and Dumbledore turned to her.
"I don't understand," she whispered before turning to him "Why do I see Harry's desires?"
"Because you Ms Evans have the same desire, to know and meet your family, to be surrounded by them." he answered
"But why do I see Harry's? Why not my own family?" she questioned. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and he looked at both Harry and Alicia's reflections in the mirror.
"What did you notice when you looked in the mirror?" he asked her. Alicia glanced at Harry
"That I looked like his mom." she muttered "Except for my hair." Dumbledore nodded
"The same hair as Harry's dad's, yes?" Alicia's eyes widened at the thought and she looked at Harry who was watching confused.
"But…" she began as Dumbledore smiled "I don't understand…"
"It's a long story of which now is not the time." Dumbledore placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked back at the mirror. She knew what he was implying, but she couldn't picture it.
Harry looked between the two and the mirror, lost by the conversation.
Dumbledore stood and offered a hand to Alicia who took it standing up.
"If you look close enough, you'll notice the similarities." he smiled before patting her back and she walked over to Harry and the cloak, he held it to her.
"Sir — Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?" Harry said as they reached the door of the room.
"Obviously, you've just 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, woollen socks."
Harry stared and Alicia blinked.
"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."
"Then I aspire to get you something like a game, now you've asked you'll probably receive many socks, right Harry?" Alicia asked smiling, trying to hide how her new gained information made her feel.
Dumbledore smiled at her and nodded before the two pulled on the cloak and left the room. Alicia didn't believe what Dumbledore had said, but she didn't expect him to answer a question like that honestly. Like Harry it could have made him see something from his past, who knew what had happened through Dumbledore's life.
Alicia however, as she climbed into bed, couldn't stop thinking about what Dumbledore had said. Was she really related to Harry? If so, why had she not been told?