Hello! I know, this is the fastest I've updated in quite some time, but I'm really motivated to finish off this story before summer comes around. I was going to add the Christmas vacation in this chapter, but that would have made it way too long, so it'll be there in the next one.
This chapter is a little sad and emotional, just to give you a heads up. It also has the Mirror of Erised because I made a slight change. If anyone can guess Hermione and Mia's greatest desire, they will win an imaginary basket of candy! :) I think it's kind of obvious, but who knows? Questions, comments, ideas are welcome! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, all things Harry Potter are not mine. *sniff*
Chapter Thirteen: Our Greatest Desires
MPOV
It has been a few weeks since the Quidditch match, and winter has quickly settled over the school grounds. Ever since Hagrid had let slip about Nicolas Flamel, Mia, Harry, Ron and Hermione have been trying to figure out who he is. Every time they had a spare second, they would spend it in the library, searching through the hundreds of rows of books, turning every page and scanning every paragraph. It was no easy task, especially since they had no idea what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. Nearly every day, the four friends could be seen in the library at some point, hidden behind mounds and towers of books, flipping through and searching for any small mention of Nicolas Flamel. It didn't make it any better that they were doing it with the librarian, Madame Pince, breathing down their necks, wondering what they were up to. They knew it would be easier to ask her for help, but they couldn't risk Snape finding out what they were up to. In order to find out what Fluffy was guarding, they needed to know who Flamel was.
In the meantime, the Christmas holidays were quickly approaching. Hogwarts has already experienced its first snowfall early into the month. The entire school awoke one morning to find the grounds and the castle covered in an endless blanket of glittering white powder. The sun sparkled off of the surface and the ice dangling from the tree branches like beautiful crystals, and the snowflakes looked like fluttering white flowers dancing on the wind. Winter was always Mia's favorite season, and the sight outside the classroom windows were proof of it. Whenever they were not in class or searching for Flamel, she could be found wandering around outside, gazing at the falling snow as if it was the most wonderful thing she has ever seen. Once in a while her, Ron and Harry would get into fierce snowball fights, or make snow angels with Hermione and Jenna. Most days she would come inside with her cheeks flushed and snowflakes sticking to her curls.
The rest of the school was looking forward to heading home for the break. Mia's parents had written back to her, and were thrilled that Harry had decided to come spend the holidays with them. She was beyond excited, she knew Harry never really looked forward to Christmas, but she was sure to make this the best Christmas he's ever had. Her father was taking them out to the cottage in the country for the entire break, and then bringing them back home the day before Harry and Mia were meant to go back to school. Mia had ordered Harry's gifts from one of the Quidditch catalogs George Weasley had, and she really hoped he liked them. It was a new pair of Quidditch gloves made from a top brand of Dragon skin that came along with a book of all the national Quidditch teams. For Hermione, Mia ordered a golden tipped eagle feather quill that changed colors from a different catalog, along with a Chudley Cannon's poster and blanket for Ron. It didn't cost too much, but she wouldn't have cared either way. She wanted to get something really nice for her friends, and she hoped they liked their gifts.
Three days before the Christmas holidays, Mia and the others were, once again, sitting in the library digging for information on Flamel before they had to go their separate ways the following day. Mia was looking through The Greatest Achievements of the Modern World while everyone else was looking for more books. She sighed in frustration as she slammed it shut, not finding a single thing on Flamel. This is ridiculous, how can he not be in these books? They must have searched high and low throughout the whole library, and they still were no closer to finding out who he is. She internally groaned as she pulled yet another volume towards her as Ron and Hermione came back to the table, both of their arms full.
"Where's Harry?" she asked them.
"Madame Pince caught him wandering near the Restricted Section, so she threw him out," said Ron as he plopped down into his seat. "This is impossible, we must have gone through almost every single book in this place! How are we not finding him?"
"There has to be something we missed," said Hermione as she sat across from him.
"How could we have missed something?" said Ron grumpily. "I'm no as smart as you two, but I think it's getting pretty bad when I can almost cite these books word for word."
Mia laughed quietly to herself as Hermione scowled at him, as if he greatly offended her, and citing books was an honored skill. She shook her head at them as she kept on reading. About ten minutes later, they decided to call it a day and left the library as well, meeting up with Harry outside in the corridor.
"Did you find anything?" he asked. All three of them shook their heads.
"Madame Pince kept glancing over at us," said Mia. "We figured we might as well head out before she starts asking a lot of questions."
"We'll just have to try again when we get back if we don't find anything before we leave. You will keep looking while we're away, won't you?" Hermione said as she turned to Ron. "And owl us if you find anything?"
"I'll see what I can do," Ron replied with a shrug. "Without you guys here, there won't be much to do."
"Don't worry Ron, we'll be back before you know it," Mia said with a smile. "You just have to put up with Fred and George until then."
"Brilliant," Ron groaned, making Mia giggle. The three of them made their way down to the Great Hall for some lunch, and then they had Charms class with the Hufflepuffs. When they walked into the Hall, they caught sight of Malfoy, who smirked as they passed by.
"I really can't wait to go home where my family is waiting for me," he said loudly, making sure they heard. Mia bit her tongue and chose to ignore him as they took their seats at the Gryffindor table. Malfoy had been on Harry's case lately, and it annoyed Mia to no end. Furious at Slytherin's defeat in the Quidditch game, he started bragging about going home for the holiday and making fun of the fact that Harry had no proper family to go to, that he had to spend the Christmas break at Hogwarts because his stupid Muggle relatives didn't want him. It was on one of these occasions that Mia, sick of the blonde's ruthless bullying, calmly turned to him and said, "That's really great that you are going home Malfoy, although I cannot imagine why they would ever want to deal with such a pig-headed, bitter prat like you. And for the record, you're wrong. Harry is going home to his family."
With that being said, Mia had turned away and continued on her way to class with her friends, not noticing Malfoy's angry and confused expression, or Harry's soft and grateful smile. Malfoy's taunts haven't ceased yet, but it went by unnoticed my most of those around him.
The Great Hall looked absolutely beautiful. Hagrid had brought in twelve towering Christmas trees that were decorated with candles, icicles, golden bubbles, and large glass ornaments. Garlands of holly was strung all around the wall and around the teacher's table, tied together with big red bows. All of this with the falling snow from the ceiling made it all the perfect picture. Mia was just a little sad that she wouldn't be at Hogwarts for Christmas, but she was happy that she would be seeing her parents and Brian for the first time since September. She missed them so much, she could hardly wait! As soon as they were done their classes for the day, Mia did her usual routine of running off to Gryffindor Tower, grabbing her cloak, and setting off down the stairs.
"Going outside again?" asked Ron.
"Yup," said Mia gleefully. "You guys want to come?"
"Sure," said Ron, starting to close his book.
"Ron, you're still not done your Transfiguration essay," said Hermione sternly. "It's due tomorrow."
"Come on Hermione, I need a break," Ron whined. "I'll finish it tonight."
"No, you're going to play chess and Exploding Snaps all night and forget all about it until I say something, and then you'll beg me or Mia to help you," Hermione said. "And I won't listen when you do."
"I'm all set, I'll go with you Mia," said Harry while Ron glared at Hermione. "Just give me a second to put my things away."
Five minutes later, after they were both dressed warmly in their cloaks, scarfs, and gloves, Mia and Harry set off down the staircase and out into the frosted winter air. They just wandered aimlessly around the grounds for a little while, and Mia smiled as she saw some of the first years playing in the snow, and in the distance she caught sight of the Weasley twins bewitching snowballs to bounce off the top of Professor Quirrell's turban. She giggled at this, catching Harry's attention.
"You really like them don't you?" he asked.
"They're really funny," said Mia with a smile. "I love all their jokes and pranks, it makes everyone laugh and feel cheerful."
"I know what you mean," said Harry, returning her smile. "It's nice to have a good laugh every once in a while."
Mia nodded her head as they walked around one of the courtyards.
"Are you excited for Christmas?" she asked him.
"Honestly, yes," said Harry. "I didn't before, but I know this year is going to be great."
"Of course it will, because you'll be with me!" she said airily, as if being with her was the dreams of many. Harry snorted at that.
"I don't know if I should take that as a good thing or a bad thing."
"Hey!" she said. "Watch it Potter!"
"I don't think I will Thatcher," Harry grinned. Before he knew what was happening, Mia quickly stooped down, gathered some snow in her hands, and smashed it into his face. Harry let out a yelp as the cold snow came into contact with his face, and he jumped back, shaking his head. Mia burst out laughing at him, hardly able to stand up straight. However, her laughter died as she saw Harry bend over and take some snow into his hands. She let out a squeal and started running for the hills with Harry close behind her. She took refuge behind a tree and peered out from the side, her eyes darting everywhere. There was no sign of Harry and after about a minute, she slowly moved out from her hiding place.
"Harry?" she called softly, walking with caution as she glanced around the entire courtyard. There was still no sign of him. Where did he go? At that moment, there was a loud shout of "Now!" and in the next second, Mia was being hit by multiple snowballs that came out of nowhere. She yelled and ran towards a snow dune, diving behind it as the snowballs continued to fly. She heard cackling laughter and looked out over the dune to see not only Harry, but Fred and George sitting in the tree she was hiding behind.
"No fair!" she yelled. "That's three against one! Some Gryffindors you are! And how did you get up there?"
"It's called stealth, Mia darling," said George with a wicked grin. "You see, when we saw poor young Harry try to go after you with only one pitiful snowball-"
"-my brother and I decided it was in his best interests to have some professionals help him out," finished Fred.
"That's still not fair," said Mia, making her eyes big and pouting in the best adorable face she could muster.
"No, that's not fair!" said Fred, avoiding her eyes. "Ugh, I hate it when you do this Mia!"
"Makes us feel guilty that does," agreed George. "You're a right little minx!"
"I learned from the best," said Mia, putting on a sweet smile. "Now are you three going to come down or do I have to make this snowman all by myself?"
The four of them quickly set to work on building a towering snowman, with the boys working on the bottom and Mia rolling up the body and head. They used piles of snow, and by the time they were done, it was almost seven feet, and required Fred to hoist Harry up on his shoulders to put the head on. They spent another hour or so finishing up the snowman, and then had another fierce snowball fight to the death until they decided it was time to go back inside to get ready for dinner. After Fred and George took off, saying they needed to go find Lee, Harry and Mia trudged their way back to the common room.
"Thanks again for inviting me to come home with you for Christmas Mia," said Harry as they walked.
"It's no problem Harry," she said. "Like I said, we'd be happy to have you with us."
Harry nodded, but his mind seemed to be somewhere else. There was a faraway look in his eyes, and he appeared to be deep in thought. He was quiet for the next few minutes as they walked, and it made Mia curious to know what was going on through his head.
"Harry?" she said. He shook himself out of his stupor and looked at her.
"Sorry?" he said.
"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked.
"Well," he said, sounding embarrassed. "I was just thinking about…my parents."
"Your parents?" Mia repeated softly, knowing this was a sensitive topic for him.
"You know, when I was little, I used to hope they would come and take me away," he continued on quietly. "Especially around Christmas. You know my aunt and uncle don't like me very much, so the holidays were never truly exciting. I don't why, but I've just been thinking about what would have happened if they hadn't died."
Mia silent for a moment, taking in his words. Harry was always sort of reserved, even around her. There were just some things he didn't want to talk about, things he wanted kept to himself. But she knew. She knew he longed for a family more than anything in the world, and although her parents treated him like their own, she knew deep down it wouldn't be the same. It hurt Mia to know that Harry was so sad and miserable, and she wished she could somehow bring his parents back for him. Then he would be happy and have the love he deserves. Mia reached out her hand and took hold of his, staring at him with a gentle smile.
"We can't change what happened in the past," she said. "But I know they loved you so very much, enough to sacrifice themselves to save you. That kind of love is powerful, and it stays with you for the rest of your life. Your parents would be proud Harry, I know they would."
"I just wish I knew more about them," said Harry, smiling sadly.
"Maybe we can find out," said Mia. "I'm sure some of our Professors knew them well, and we can try to find someone who was close to them. We can look into it when we come back, okay?"
Harry nodded and gave her a true smile this time. She squeezed his hand and grinned.
"Don't be sad anymore," she said. "Let's talk about how you're going to help Gryffindor beat Slytherin's sorry arse for the Quidditch Cup."
Harry chuckled and they continued their way up to the seventh floor of the castle. After giving the password to the Fat Lady, they clamored in through the portrait hole and into the common room. It was even more crowded than when they left, and they didn't see Ron or Hermione anywhere. Mia asked Neville if he had seen them, and he said they went upstairs to the boys dormitories with a package that Hedwig had brought. Thanking Neville, Harry and Mia went up the spiral staircase and headed towards the dorm to find Ron and Hermione sitting on the bed with more books scattered around them.
"Hey guys," said Mia as they entered, removing her cloak and gloves.
"Hi Mia," said Hermione. "Sorry we weren't downstairs, but we decided to look for Flamel a little more before dinner-"
"More like you forced me to," Ron muttered.
"-and since it was getting crowded, we came up here so no one would bother us. Oh Harry, Hedwig brought something for you, we put it on your bed."
Indeed, sitting on Harry's bed was a brightly wrapped parcel with a note sticking to it. Harry went over and picked it up while Mia took a seat next to Hermione on the bed.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Dunno," Ron shrugged. "Maybe an early Christmas present?"
"Possibly," said Hermione. "Maybe someone wanted to give it to you before we left?"
"Can't think of anyone though," said Harry thoughtfully. He took hold of the parcel and ripped the paper off. Mia stared as something fluid and silvery gray fell gracefully to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. It was beautiful material, and it looked like woven water. Ron and Hermione gasped loudly, with Ron shooting up from the bed, making a couple books topple to the floor. There was a shocked and awed expression on his face, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"What?" said Mia.
"I know what that is!" Ron gasped in a whisper.
"But it can't be," Hermione breathed. "They're really rare-"
"What is it?" asked Harry.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak!" said Ron.
"An Invisibility Cloak?" said Mia, staring at the silk like material. "Are you sure?"
"Positive!" answered Ron excitedly. "Try it on Harry!"
Harry, looking dazed, picked up the cloak and draped it around his shoulders. Hermione gasped, Ron gave a whoop of enthusiasm, and Mia's mouth dropped open as they saw everything below Harry's head completely disappear. Harry stared at them for a minute before looking down, his eyes going wide.
"That's amazing!" said Mia, a grin coming across her face.
"It's more than amazing!" Ron gushed. "It's brilliant! I'd give anything for one of those. Think of all the things you could get away with-"
Ron stopped dead at the look Hermione gave him and shifted uncomfortably where he stood.
"Wait, what about the note?" asked Mia. "What does the note say?"
Harry grabbed the note off of the bed and read out loud," Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A very happy Christmas to you."
"That's it?" said Hermione. "I wonder who sent it."
Before anyone could say anything, they heard the sound of people on the stairs and Harry quickly stuffed the cloak out of sight. Dean and Seamus came inside laughing about something and said a brief hello to them, which they returned. Silently agreeing that they all could look at the cloak again later on, they left the dormitory and headed back downstairs to go to dinner with everyone else.
That night, Mia couldn't sleep. She kept waking to strange and confusing dreams that had her wondering if she should have taken Ron's dare and eaten that green pudding at dinner. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see herself running along the edge of the Forbidden Forest at night, clad in nothing but her night gown and racing through the grass barefoot. As she was running, she saw that Harry was running next to her, looking carefree and happy. There was a certain glow about him, and something else she couldn't describe. He smiled at her, and she smiled back, pushing herself faster. After a moment she finally came to a halt as she found herself at the Black Lake. She turned behind her to face Harry, but instead of her black haired best friend, there was a magnificent white and brown Stag, standing tall and proud, and gazing at her with its dark eyes. Mia wasn't scared of this creature. Instead, she smiled at it and gently stroked the soft hair on its neck. At that point the Stag would start to glow a blinding silver color and it was then that Mia would awake, getting more and more confused each time she let her head fall back onto the pillow.
…
"Harry James Potter, you did what?!"
"Keep it down Mia!"
"Why didn't you wake me up mate?"
"Ron this is serious, don't encourage him!"
"Hermione how is he encouraging it when Harry's already done it? Didn't you learn your lesson with Fluffy?"
"This mirror sounds cool though, I'd like to see his mom and dad-"
"There's nothing cool about it, it could be dangerous and Harry shouldn't have been out of bed-"
"Will you three be quiet?!" Harry hissed, glaring at them. It was now the following morning, and the four friends were all seated at the Gryffindor table while Harry was telling them of his late night adventure. Apparently, Harry got the marvelous idea of using the invisibility cloak to go wandering around after curfew. He wanted to go to the Restricted Section of the library and spend all the time he needed to look up information on Nicolas Flamel and not be interrupted. But when he tried to open one of the books, it screamed, and he had to get out of there before the teachers found him. He managed to hide in an unused classroom, and it was there that he found a strange mirror. He explained that when he looked into the mirror, he saw his entire family, including his parents, standing beside him. Mia's fears of Harry getting caught were temporarily forgotten, and was replaced by sadness. She couldn't imagine how Harry must have felt, standing there and seeing his family. It must have been so overwhelming, and exciting at the same time.
"Harry, you mustn't go back!" Hermione said in a whisper. "You have no idea if that mirror is dangerous or not."
"Come on Hermione, what could be so bad about a mirror that shows someone their family?" said Ron as he took a bite out of his toast. "I'd like to see Harry's parents."
"And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone," Harry added with an eager smile. "And you can show us your parents too Hermione."
"Harry, we could get caught!"
"Hermione, if we have the cloak I think we'll be okay," Mia said gently to calm her friend. "And you have to admit, wouldn't it be intriguing to see it? A mirror that can show a person's entire family tree? That's very advanced magic, and it could be an influential experience for us. If we see the mirror for ourselves, we can see if it's dangerous, and learn all about its magical capabilities."
Hermione turned silent and thoughtful, and Harry and Ron beamed at Mia. They all knew Hermione wouldn't turn her nose up at such an academic opportunity to observe such an advanced magical artifact. After what seemed to be an ongoing internal battle, Hermione frowned.
"Oh, all right!" she said, going back to her food. "But if we get caught I'm cursing all three of you into the next century."
"Wouldn't have it any other way Mione," said Mia, her eyes sparkling.
…
That night, Mia and her friends found themselves all hunched together under the invisibility cloak, retracing Harry's steps from the previous night to try to find the mirror again. The corridors were dark and cold, and Mia shivered as she scooted closer to Hermione. They had been wandering around for nearly an hour, and Ron was starting to moan about his feet being frozen. Mia really couldn't blame him, it was freezing out here! Since there was four of them underneath the cloak, they had to move pretty slow so as not to make any noise. Another fifteen minutes passed and just when Mia was going to suggest that they head back, Harry made a sharp turn past a suit of armor, his face showing excitement.
"It's here — just here — yes!"
They came upon a classroom door and hurriedly pushed it open, scurrying inside. Harry instantly threw the cloak off of himself and ran forward towards a high, golden framed mirror that very nearly reached the ceiling and stood on two clawed feet. Mia folded the cloak and tucked it under her arms, and then looked over at Harry, who was gazing into the mirror with a longing expression on his face, as if he were wishing he could somehow jump through it. Mia, Ron and Hermione cautiously stepped up about a foot behind him and peered around him into the mirror. Mia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. She couldn't see anything except her and the others.
"See?" Harry whispered.
"I can't see anything," said Ron, scrunching up his eyes as if that would help him.
"Look! Look at them all… there are loads of them…"
"I can only see us Harry," said Hermione anxiously. "There's nothing else."
"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am," Harry instructed as he stepped aside, allowing Ron to stand in front of the mirror. For a moment Ron still looked confused, but then his eyes widened as he stared at his reflection.
"Look at me!" he said.
"Can you see all your family standing around you?" asked Mia.
"No — I'm alone — but I'm different — I look older — and I'm head boy!"
"What?" said Mia and Hermione together in shock.
"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," Ron breathed out in astonishment. He turned to face them with a gleeful look on his face.
"Do you think this mirror shows the future?" he asked.
"Ron!" said Mia.
"How can it?" answered Harry impatiently. "All my family are dead —Hermione, what can you see?"
Hermione timidly stepped forward as Ron moved aside reluctantly. She stared into the mirror for a minute, her expression a mix of wonder, happiness, and fondness. After about another minute, she stepped backward as well.
"What did you see?" Mia asked her.
"I saw us," said Hermione with a smile. "But we looked older. We were sitting by the lake in the summer, just talking and laughing. It was really nice…"
"But you didn't see your family at all?" said Harry. Hermione shook her head and he scowled in frustration. Before he could say anything, Mia walked forward until she was in front of the mirror, and the others were silent, waiting to see what she said.
At first, Mia only saw herself, standing there in her night gown, gazing into her own eyes. Then, to her surprise, she saw Harry standing right next to her, holding her hand and smiling at her. He looked so happy and joyful, and her reflection was smiling as well. After a couple more seconds, Mia shifted her gaze and her eyes grew wide as she saw the two people standing behind Harry. A man and a woman. The woman was beautiful, with long, flowing red hair, a heart shaped face, and bright emerald green eyes that were almond shaped…just like Harry's. The man next to her was thin, had messy jet black hair, and warm hazel eyes that shone from behind his glasses. He was the spitting image of Harry and Mia felt her stomach drop. The woman bent over to kiss Harry on top of the head while the man clapped him on the shoulder. Harry looked at his parents as they stared down at him with the outmost love and care. Then they turned their gaze to Mia and smiled at her with the same look, with the man nodding at her in what appeared to be an appreciative way. Mia felt a strange aching in her heart, and she was frozen to the spot.
"Mia?" came Hermione worried voice. "Mia, why are you crying?"
Mia suddenly realized there was a single tear running down her face, but she didn't wipe it away.
"I see them," she whispered.
"What?" her friends chorused together.
"I see your parents Harry," said Mia, never tearing her eyes away from the mirror. "And I see you too. You look just like your dad."
"How can you see me too though?" Harry said, looking towards the mirror. "Let me have another look-"
"Hey, you had it to yourself all last night, give us a bit more time," said Ron as he came in front of the mirror.
"You were only holding the Quidditch cup, what's interesting about that? I want to see my parents," said Harry as he pushed Ron.
"Don't push me-"
"Guys, please stop!" said Hermione.
"Be quiet!" Mia hissed suddenly. There was a noise that came from out in the corridor and it brought an erupt end to their little squabble. How loud had they been talking?
"Cloak! Now!" said Mia, quickly unraveling the soft material and throwing it over the others as they huddled together. Just as they disappeared from sight, Mrs. Norris poked her head around the door and stared straight at them. Mia held her breath, worry gripping her insides. Can Mrs. Norris see through the cloak? It seemed like hours they were stuck under her piercing gaze, but after a while, she turned and left the room. Mia breathed a sigh of relief.
"We shouldn't be here," said Hermione, a note of panic in her voice. "She might have gone to get Filch. We have to leave!"
"But…" said Harry, looking back to the mirror.
"Harry please, we can't stay here," said Mia, gently taking his arm. "We have to get back to bed."
And with that, Mia pulled Harry along as the fur of them made their way out of the classroom and out into the corridor. They moved a little faster getting back to the common room, and only once they were safe inside did they lift off the cloak. There was a moment of silence as they stared at one another.
"We probably shouldn't have gone," said Mia softly.
"Yeah," said Ron. "There's something not right about that mirror."
"It doesn't make sense though," said Harry. "How come Mia and I were the only ones who saw my parents?"
"I don't know Harry," Hermione replied sadly. There was nothing else that could have been said. Without looking at each other, all four of them trudged up to bed, each one wondering what it was exactly that they had seen in that mirror and why it had affected them so.
Review? Pretty please?