Chapter 11

For the rest of the Christmas holidays, Harry spent his nights in front of the mirror, always finding his way back to it. Every night his family greeted him in the mirror, the Potters and his father, Harry couldn't understand why Tom Riddle had red eyes, but he found he did not care as he spent his nights staring at him and Evan. On his fifth night, Harry settled in front of the mirror again, nothing blocking him from his parents and family. Nothing at all.

Except.

"So, back again, Harry?"

Harry felt as though his insides had turned to ice. He looked behind him. Sitting on one of the desks by the wall was none other than Albus Dumbledore. Harry must have 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," Dumbledore said, and Harry was relieved too see that he was smiling. "So," Dumbledore said, slipping off the desk 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 realized by now what it does?"

Harry thought for a moment, "It shows what you desire," he said. "I see my family… including my father Tom Riddle"

"That is correct Harry," Dumbledore nodded. "The happiest man in the world 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. However, if anyone else would look into the mirror, it would show nothing but the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you, for example." Harry nodded in understanding silently as Dumbledore continued. "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 shown is real or even possible. 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 not 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 go off to bed?"

Harry stood up. He looked back at the mirror then back at Dumbledore, "Sir, did you know my father personally? Tom Riddle, I mean."

"Yes Harry, I have," Dumbledore said, "You remind me of a young Riddle himself… although he does not have your eye," he said smiling as he indicated to Harry's emerald eye. Harry brushed his thumb under it before doing the same under his brown eye. "Why would you ask?"

"It's just… in the mirror, Tom Riddle's eyes are read," Harry explained. "I just wanted to know if… if my eye would do the same."

If Dumbledore was shocked, he hid it well. The old man stayed silent for a moment before shaking his head, "I believe, Harry, that you have nothing to worry about. Your eyes are yours, and they will stay as they are. Now, off to bed now."

Harry knew that he could not talk his way out of it, so he picked up his cloak and went to bed.

For the rest of Christmas break, Harry did as he promised and never once looked for the mirror, though his mind never wavered from the image of Evan he saw inside. He kept the invisibility cloak close at hand, but never used it as he spent the rest of his free days with the Weasleys. They day before term started, the students returned, and Harry wasted no time telling his friends what he found out.

"I think Dumbledore was right," Blaise said, "Harry, you can't waste your life sitting in front of a mirror. It would be bad for you—besides, you have family here too, with me, once we're old enough."

"I know," Harry nodded, "but still… I just wanted to keep seeing them, Mum and Dad, Evan… Riddle…"

"Still, what is this stuff about the Philosopher's Stone?" Draco asked.

"Oh right," Harry said, turning to him, "That was what was wrapped in the package Hagrid got!" he said excitedly. "The Philosopher's Stone—it's in here, Hogwarts, somewhere…. Protected by that Three-Headed Dog most likely! And Snape… he has a bite on his leg! Remember?"

"Yeah, so?" Blaise asked.

"He must be trying to get the Stone—"

"Harry that is stupid," Draco said, "Snape wouldn't do that—he's a professor here!" Harry frowned at that and shook his head, "But then why would he have gone there during Halloween while everyone else went to the dungeons?"

Both Blaise and Draco looked unconvinced. Ron and Hermione, however, when Harry told them the same thing later, seemed a little more worried. "Still," Hermione said, "I agree with Malfoy, Professor Snape is a teacher in the school, there is no way he would go and try to steal it."

"It's Snape! Who knows what that slimy git is thinking," Ron said. Harry started to nod, but Hermione stood her ground. In the end, both convinced Harry to drop the matter, and visit Hagrid with them for some tea.

Once the semester began properly, however, Harry had no time to worry about the Philosopher's Stone or the Mirror. Classes and homework pushed into his mind, and he found himself again spending time with his friends busier than ever as Christmas break moved further away, and Easter break moving ever so closer. Professor Quirrell had them copying down different ways to treat werewolf and vampire bites, Professor McGonagall had them focusing more on turning objects into others, Harry has managed to turn several matches into silver pins easily by now, in Herbology they learned about plants that liked to nip your fingers and laugh when it hears jokes, and Professor Snape continued to be as sour and as mean as ever. Harry felt that he was the only Slytherin who was picked on in that class.

And through all this, Harry somehow felt his influence in Slytherin House growing. In mid-March, Harry was surprised when a prefect walked up to him. "Hey Potter," he said.

He followed the older year towards a group of teenagers in the common room. Harry recognized many of them from their Quidditch team. "You want to be a prefect, eh Potter?" the teen asked when they reached the group.

"I do," Harry nodded.

"Well, you know how they're chosen right?" Harry shook his head to that. "To put it shortly Potter, it's who you know, and what you do. Who do you know, Potter?"

"There's Blaise," Harry began, "and Draco…"

"Zabini and Malfoy, two good families," a fourth year grunted. Harry looked at him for a moment. "You're Marcus Flint, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, he is—speaking of, Potter, you and Zabini act close to each other," the prefect said, "What's up with that?"

"He's my family," Harry smiled innocently, "Future family, really. When we're old enough we're getting married." The teenagers all stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Hey! I didn't say anything funny," Harry pouted.

"I knew it!" Marcus laughed, "this House is full of poofs!"

"Must be the snake emblem," the prefect laughed.

"Everyone looking to play with it," a third boy laughed.

"The poor boy doesn't look like he knows what it's good for yet," a girl in the group said, "don't ruin it for him."

Harry glared at them as their laughter died. The prefect cleared his throat and looked down at him, "We'll talk about that later Potter, for now, if you want to become a prefect, you do your best to listen to me, alright?"

Harry looked up at the prefect. He was a handsome boy, tall and a little muscular for a, he guessed, sixteen year old. Olive skin and brown eyes, he had an easy smile that Harry liked. He nodded, "Okay," he said. "Umm…"

"Forgot my name, Potter? Shame," the prefect said. "I'm Avery, Jacob Avery."

"Hello Avery," Harry smiled. The older teen placed a hand on Harry's shoulder and introduced him to his group of friends. "All respectable families, like Malfoy and Zabini," he said. "Once I am gone, listen to them, and I am certain that you will become a fine prefect… and eventual Head Boy."

"You never told me how exactly Prefects are made, Avery," Harry said, looking up at the teen.

"Damn, looks like I haven't," Avery smiled. "Well boy, it's like this, we're picked in our fifth year. Snape will pick two of us and bring it up to Dumbledore who then approves it. So it really is all about who you know with our House. Stick with us boy, get cozy with the prefects, and we will make sure that you become one of us." Harry smiled at that.

"It sounds easy enough," he said.

"Yeah and after that you and your husband can reap the benefit," Flint snickered. Harry frowned. "Why do you laugh when you mention that?" he asked. "Blaise and I will become husbands."

"You do know that you're both boys right?" Avery said.

"So? Does that make a difference?" Harry asked. The group of teens laughed.

"Good answer Potter," Avery laughed. "Anyway, that's all I wanted from you today, I'll call you around next time we want to talk with you." Dismissed, Harry felt a bit strange, but soon this group of Quidditch Players and prefects became a part of Harry's people. Sometimes Avery would come up to him and bring him over, and other times Harry would walk up to them himself and just listen to their conversations. It was weird, listening to teenagers talk. Mostly they talked about girls and boys, older people problems, and stuff that did not make much sense to Harry. Sometimes they would say a naughty word and Harry gasped. He didn't like it when they swore, and told them that, repeatedly. They still cursed, but Harry was happy to see that they cursed less when he was around.

A couple weeks after his first talk with Avery, Harry was with Draco, who was muttering angrily to himself. They were outside as it was a sunny afternoon. "What's the matter, Draco?" he asked.

"Stupid Weasley and that stupid dragon—he's going to be expelled because of it," Draco muttered.

"A dragon?" Harry gasped. "What you mean?"

"It's all that oaf's fault! Stupid Hagrid—can you believe this?" Draco complained. Harry quickly looked around to see if they were being listened to, and pulled Draco to the ground sitting.

"Explain," Harry said.

Draco gave an annoyed sigh, "Fine, because that damn oaf got drunk one night and won a game of cards he got a dragon egg, and of course it hatched and Weasley just had to get involved! Because of course the darn Gryffindor has to, and now he and Granger involved themselves to transporting the damn dragon out of the oaf's hut—which is completely made of wood let me tell you—and up to some tower where Ron's brother is going to take it away! Because of course his brother works with Dragons and Weasley thinks it's a better idea to involve him instead of telling a professor!"

Harry nodded in understanding, however a huge grin was on his face. "How did you find out?" he asked.

"Weasley told me everything of course—I swear the boy can't keep a secret," Draco groaned. "He told me like he was happy about it."

"So Hagrid approached him?" Harry asked.

"No, Weasley and Granger noticed the oaf looking up dragons in the library—not that it matters," Draco shrugged.

"When are they transporting the dragon?" Harry asked quickly, no longer able to contain his excitement. "I wanna see it!"

Draco stared at him, "Are you kidding me?" he said.

"No," Harry said, "I just want to see the dragon, I promise that we won't get ourselves involved—we'll be under my invisibility cloak—no one will wee us. Besides, I'm sure Ron and Hermione will need a way back."

"They'll be fine on their own," Draco said, crossing his arms. "If Ron is stupid enough to get roped into helping with this than he can get himself back to his dorm when this is done."

"But still Draco—a dragon!" Harry said. "When will be the next time we can ever see one?" He was jumping on his butt now, smiling happily at the thought of seeing a dragon. Draco shook his head at Harry's excitement and gave in after a long look from Harry.

"Fine," he said. "Fine, we'll go see the dragon. They're moving him on Saturday night, midnight."

"Awesome," Harry smiled, "and I promise we'll just go and see it." Draco shook his head, "I swear Potter," he said, "you're just a handful."

"And you're annoying at times but still we're friends," Harry smiled. "Anyway, Flint told me that if you want to join the Quidditch team next year…"

The week moved surprisingly quickly Harry found, especially with the huge amount of assignments the professors gave him. Saturday night found to be a cloudy night, which Harry guessed would be perfect to secret away a dragon. He never went to sleep that night, busying himself to let the time pass, spending time with the teenagers and reading a book just to let time go. When it was almost time to leave, Harry went up to the dormitory to wake Draco up and under the cover of his invisibility cloak, the two snuck away.

They found Ron and Hermione outside, both holding ends of a crate that Harry could barely see something in. He began walking forward, "Come on," he whispered to Draco, "I want a closer look."

Invisible, the two followed Ron and Hermione, Harry wanting to get closer and closer but Draco refusing to get next to them. "We'll see the bloody thing when they're in the tower."

Harry rolled his eyes and they followed the two into the entrance hall. "They're going to the tallest tower right?" Harry whispered. Ron and Hermione froze in fear.

"Who's there?" Ron demanded. Draco protested but Harry threw off his cloak, "Hello," he smiled, "can I see the dragon Ron?"

"Harry!" Ron gasped. There were footsteps coming from down the marble staircase and Draco panicked. He took the cloak and pushed Harry towards Ron as he threw the cloak over all four of them. It barely covered them, they had to crouch slightly for their feet to be fully invisible. The footsteps was Filch, patrolling the castle. The four of them waited with held breaths until the man was gone before Ron whispered, "We have to take Norbert to the tallest tower."

"Is that the dragon's name?" Harry whispered.

"Yeah," Ron said, "Can we move quickly? The crate is heavy."

"We'll help carry it, right Draco?" Harry said, grabbing the handle with Ron while looking at Draco.

"I will do no such thing," Draco said, with a sour look from Hermione, the four started to move up the marble staircase. Through corridors and up staircases they walked, moving quickly so as not to get caught by any teacher or Filch. They ended with a steep spiral staircase up the tower that led into the cold night air above where they threw off the cloak. Harry immediately crouched down to look at the dragon in the crate.

It was a small thing, with a skinny jet black body and crumpled-looking wings. It wasn't exactly what Harry imagined, and didn't look rather pretty. But he shrugged, it was a baby dragon after all, so he reasoned that it would get bigger with age. About ten minutes later, four broomsticks came swooping down out of the darkness.

Charlie Weasley's friends where a cheery lot. They showed Harry, Draco, and Hermione the harness they'd rigged up so they could suspend the dragon between them. They all helped buckle Norbert safely into it and then Harry and Hermione shook hands with the others and thanked them very much as Draco stood with Ron, giving him every single disapproving look ever existed that the blond could think of.

At last, Norbert the dragon was going… going… gone.

"That was nice," Harry smiled, "did you see it Draco? It was rather small."

"I don't want to think about it Harry, I want to go to bed," Draco said.

The four slipped back down the spiral staircase, Harry smiling at seeing a dragon and breaking the rules a little bit. He felt as though nothing in the world could ruin his night.

Except for one thing. As they stepped into the corridor, Filch's face loomed suddenly out of the darkness. "Well, well, well," he whispered, "we are in trouble."

Harry's heart sank, he forgot the cloak at the top of the tower.