Chapter 28
Harry and Hermione sat in the common room, beside the fireplace. Harry had been telling her what he had been up to for the past few weeks. He mentioned his little escapade to the third floor corridor and the beast he had discovered. This both shocked and angered Hermione, somewhat. Harry decided to show her the invisibility cloak in so that she could forget about what he told her before. Her eyes scanned the cloak with awe, she was even more impressed with it when she covered herself with it and saw how good it was.
"Wow, this is amazing!" she said as she examined the soft silky robes "I wonder who gave it to you?"
"There was no name" Harry said, "It just says 'Use it Well'".
Hermione continued to play with the silky cloth and then she gave an off look, which Harry knew was the look she would give once she had a good idea.
"You know Harry you could use this to your advantage" She said as she flashed the cloak at him "You could use this to look in the library for more information on that creature, on the sorcerer's stone, and on Nicholas Flammel."
Harry raised his eyebrow "But why would I need the cloak for that"
"To look in the restricted section" she said.
"Lumos!" Harry called from under his cloak. He probed his hand out of a small seam of the cloak and started looking at the books in the restricted section. He started at the "F" section in hopes of finding something relative to Nicholas Flammel while slowly walking down the line of books.
"Famous Fire Eaters…Fantastic Beast and Where to Find them…Flammel, Nicholas Flammel"
Harry stopped as he saw a book which read "Famous Wizards of the Salem Era". He removed the book from the shelf and was surprised to find that on its spine was a metal chain which connected to the shelf. Probably a mechanism so that no one could steal the thing in case they were able to sneak in.
He placed the book on the shelf and slowly opened it. He began reading but then something strange happened. The book started screaming at him and tried to attack him. Harry struggled to get the thing closed but finally managed to do so by wrapping the chain around it. Harry starting relaxing as the book had slightly shocked him. He gasped when he heard someone yell, "Who's in there?"
Harry turned to see a faint yellow light creaking pouring into the dark room. Harry quickly covered himself with the cloak. He saw a figure walking past him holding a lantern.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" the figure called.
Harry froze only because he recognized the voice of the figure. He slowly walked to the middle of the aisle where the figure walked and crept towards the corner. As he did so, the man turned around (much to Harry's fortune).
"Shit!" Harry whispered as he saw the face of Argus Filch. Filch was walking back towards him.
He walked towards the wall and crept up the sides to avoid making sounds with his shoes. As he was creeping up, Filch walked to where Harry stood a few moments ago and noticed the wrapped up book.
Harry silently crept up against the wall in hopes of finding a passage from elsewhere. He looked between the aisles of book just in case. Suddenly two people crashed against the wall just a mere inch away from him. Harry stepped back and started panting like crazy.
"You don't want me as your enemy Quirell" the voice said.
Harry recognized the voice as Professor Snapes'.
"I…I…D-d-don't know w-w-what you mea-" Quirell said.
"Don't play games with me!" Snape yelled but then he started to slowly turn his head towards Harry.
Harry then noticed that he was breathing rather heavily and covered his mouth. Snape was slowly extending his hand and Harry backed off slowly as well. Snape then retracted his hand and looked back at Quirell.
"You really should understand where your loyalties lie Quirell"
"Professors!" Filch called from behind them. Snape backed away from Quirell and faced Filch.
"I found a book laying one of the tables in this section. It means that a student has been sneaking around" he said.
The three of them then ran off to find this "student" and Harry had managed to regain his cool and continue his way a little more freely. Near the end he noticed a door and without warning, decided to enter it, hoping that it was someway out of there.
However once he entered the room he came at a dead end as the room was empty apart from a lone item sitting in the middle which was covered. It looked as though it had been there for a while.
Harry curiously walked towards it and removed the cover. Behind it was a very large bronze framed mirror that was full of designs. The most peculiar feature was the inscription on top which read "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi"
Harry was confused as to what it meant but still found the mirror itself mesmerizing so he walked closer. He saw his reflection but then once he took a step closer he saw two figures appear before him. One was a female, the other male, they looked familiar to Harry but he couldn't remember where. He looked more closely at the both of them and noticed similar features. For one, the man had the same glasses as he did, and for the other the woman had the same emerald eyes that Harry had.
He then knew that he was looking at two people he wanted to meet most of my life.
"Mom?...Dad?" Harry asked the figures in the mirror.
They both smiled and nodded at him. Then they both turned back a little, they were looking at someone or something rather, was approaching behind them. Harry watched as two more figures walked up and stood between Harry's parents. Again there was one male and one female. The both of them resembled Harry's parents but with some minor differences and they looked younger than usual.
Harry once again tried to get a good look at them. He noticed something odd on the young male's forehead. Something that made him gasp and understand who the figure was. On his forehead was a lightning shaped scar that resembled Harry's.
"Me?" He asked the figure in the mirror, who nodded in response.
He looked over at the women his older self had wrapped his hands around. She looked familiar but Harry couldn't fully make out who it was.
"Who are you?"
Harry would constantly come back to the room the mirror was in every night. He had forgotten about his duty to find out something about the Sorcerer's Stone, he had forgotten that Voldemort was trying to kill him.
He simply sat down and stared at the image that the mirror would constantly produce for him. He wanted to show this mirror to Hermione out of curiosity because he wanted to know what she would have seen in the mirror.
Every visit to the mirror made him curious about parents. What were they like? What would they have said? What would they think of him now? These small questions had continuously fed both his curiosity and sorrow. The worst part is that he would be able to get his answers. The mirror couldn't allow Harry to talk to his dead parents he could only see them.
So as he sat in the dark room gazing at the mirror and the constant image of his parents, himself and the mysterious young girl (whom he had to admit was rather attractive).
"Back again, Harry" a voice called, causing Harry to jump.
Harry turned to see Professor Dumbledore standing there looking at him. Harry stood up and faced him.
"I have seen that you have, like many before, discovered the delights of the mirror of Erised" Dumbledore said.
Harry stared at him in confusion.
"Let me give you a clue…The happiest man could look into this mirror but he will see only his reflection" Dumbledore said.
Harry understood now "So this mirror shows us whatever makes us happy…whatever we desire?" he asked.
"Only the deepest desires of your heart" Dumbledore said.
"But the image keeps changing for me" Harry asked.
"Well that would no doubt be a by-product of missing your parents and developing strong friendships in the meanwhile" Dumbledore said, winking at Harry "I'll have you know Harry that this mirror does not offer knowledge or truth".
"But it's the only link I have to actually seeing my parents" Harry said, with concern in his voice.
"I understand Harry but understand that men have wasted away trying to solve this mirror…some even went mad" he said "I would not like the same fate for you especially with the burden you already face. Which is why tomorrow the mirror will be moved from this place" he bent his head a little lower to meet Harry's gaze "And I must ask that you please do not go looking for it again".
With that Dumbledore started walking away, leaving Harry in the room.
"Sir!" Harry called out.
Dumbledore turned and faced him.
"What do you see in the mirror?" Harry asked curiously.
Dumbledore smiled at him and then said "Sherbet Lemon"
AN: And that concludes Chapter 28. I was planning on having this thing finished by chapter 40 or 35. No one made any objections as to who I will kill except for one who did not want me to kill Snape, which I have mentioned before, I will not do but thanks for casting a ballot anyways. I will be busier from now on so expect long delays between chapters. I will do my best but I have a lot of stuff to do now. Forgive for the delay with this chapter though. Hint for future book or chapters: Keep in mind the image that Harry sees and also keep in mind that the mirror might play in important role in another book, not chapter but book perhaps the second or the third one. As I always stress RATE AND REVIEW GUYS!(PLEASE). I want to hear what you guys think of the story and any other comments.
