Fifty Shades of Erised

The glass is cool to the touch and he presses his fingers against it, cringing as the man in the mirror reaches out to do the same. Their palms collide, held apart by nought but the reflective surface and he gasps, wondering why it is that he is seeing him after all these years.

It's been a decade since that faithful night, when the darkness had been lit with flares of light and torn by screams. His brother and his love both duelling across the dew-speckled grass whilst he tried to intervene, casting what charms he could to keep them apart . . . to keep them from fundamentally harming one another.

A piercing scream had ripped the night asunder, throwing them all through the air and raising clouds of dust and mist throughout the garden. Like breaking glass, the scream had pierced their souls and cracked their beating hearts, till finally it died down in a flare of miscast green light.

There, all in white upon the grass, lay Arianna, still and unmoving . . . and to this day he knows not who's spell it was that killed her.

He sighs, letting the tear trickle down his crooked nose and plummet off the tip. He wonders why he doesn't see her here in the mirror. After all, is that not what he truly desires most of all . . . the chance to have an unbroken family?

"Why are you here?" he mutters, letting his fingers curl into a fist against the glass, "Why?"

He slams his fist against the Mirror of Erised, hoping to shatter the glass, to shatter this ghastly illusion. Instead he is thrown back, just as he was on that faithful night, by the enchantments woven into the mirror from the time of its creation.

As he clambers to his feet, he sees the blond in the mirror smiling mockingly before reaching behind his back to extricate something from his back pockets. He stares, eyes growing wide as Gellert reveals what he's holding and steps back so that only the pebble in his palm is visible.

Albus feels his jaw drop. It's a smooth stone, round and inscribed with a single emblem.

The Resurrection Stone.

They appear beside Gellert, gazing mournfully at him . . . his mother Kendra and his sister, Arianna. Beside them stand his father and brother, all shaking their heads until at last, Gellert closes his fist and they vanish.

Albus turns away, fighting back tears as he realises what the Mirror is telling him.

Yes, he does desire his family most of all . . . but he desires reuniting with them, and Gellert holds the key to that door.

A small doubt nags at him though, telling him that perhaps he's got it all wrong and perhaps, just perhaps, it's the other way around.

(Years later, he looks into the mirror and lies . . . claiming to see nothing but a pair of woollen socks)


-Also Written for the Greek Mythology Mega Prompt Challenge: Prometheus (Write about Albus Dumbledore)

A/N: Thoughts on this drabble?