SERPENTINE
By Yih
Not beta'd
Chapter 5
The Mirror of Erised
THE DAMN DOG had bitten him good and bitten him hard. He was bleeding and he was thankful it was only a superficial wound. It was his luck that the last book he had read over the holidays had been a tome on healing charms. He had figured they might come in handy in case he met with a jaw disaster, as it had come to be to his disgusted delight.
He charmed the leg to stop bleeding and managed to get back to his dorm in good order, to find out that Draco had done exactly what the sister spell of Imperius would have made Draco do. Before Harry dissolved the praesieo-sedi-erespell, he made sure to add memories to Draco's mind that would gloss over the events and cause Draco to remember them the way he wanted him to remember them.
Having dealt with that issue, he got then proceeded to heal the leg as best as he could, though it still ached a bit but it wasn't anything a numbing potion couldn't fix. Despite the displeasure received from the bite, he had finally hit upon the method of calming the beast down. It had taken several tries and he had nearly gotten more than his leg snapped at. It had paid off though. Who would have thought music, his last method, would have proven to be the key to calming the three-headed terror down?
By the time he had figured that out, he had wasted too much time and was losing too much blood. He needed to get back to the dormitories before things became suspicious. However, he knew now and all he had to do was to bide his time and then… then things would start to fall into place and his father would be pleased, immensely pleased.
"AND THE SNITCH is released!" cried out the announcer, a biased boy from Gryffindor by the name of Lee Jordan. "Representing the glorious Gryffindor team is Captain and Keeper, Oliver Wood as well as three stunning and talented…"
"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall snapped a warning verbalized in every nuance of those two syllables that made up his surname.
"The three Gryffindor chasers are: Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell! The two beaters are the Weasley twins, Fred and George and our new seeker is their little brother, Ron Weasley!"
"I can't believe," Draco spat, "that Weasel is on the team as a first year."
Harry had been hearing about this nonstop for the past week since word had gotten around the school that the Gryffindor's new seeker was a first year by the name of Ron Weasley. Draco still couldn't get over that the red headed Gryffindor was on the Quidditch team before he was. Harry could almost understand the sentiment; after all he knew that Draco was a much better flyer than Weasley. However, the facts were that Slytherin's Quidditch team had a perfectly good 7th year seeker and Gryffindor's team was sorely lacking one. It wasn't a wonder Weasley had made the team, as there was a lack of viable options.
"Johnson has the quaffle and she passes it to Spinnet who fakes to the right and scores in the leftmost ring in brilliant fashion! Ten points for Gryffindor! Oliver Wood has surely got a team that can cinch the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor!"
Harry wasn't really paying attention to the commentary or the irritated expression on Draco's face. Instead, he was lost in his own thought about when he was going to try to steal the philosopher's stone. He figured that tonight would be as good of a night as any. If Gryffindor won, as he assumed they would be--- Gryffindors would undoubtedly be celebrating while the Slytherins would be commiserating. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs? They might even join the Gryffindor celebration considering the anti-Slytherin mode the houses had. Either way, it was a significant plus for him.
With all the students celebrating, the professors would have to be on the watch out for any wild antics and that would leave the forbidden corridor hopefully unguarded. Regardless, Harry planned to make use of his invisibility cloak to the fullest and this was the biggest distraction he'd get from what he planned on doing for a long, long time.
"And Gryffindor wins the match 180 to 70! Ron Weasley really pulled through when he accidentally caught the snitch in his mouth! What an excellent addition the youngest Weasley will be to the Gryffindor team. What…"
And so it was as he expected…
GETTING PAST THE dog was not a problem. It was funny how a simple thing like music would send the beast into the kingdom of dreams. He never would have thought of that if he hadn't read about it. Whoever disparaged the weapon of the written word didn't know how much damage or how much of an aid they could be.
The Devil's Snare had been ridiculously simple. Harry had expected a bit more of a challenge even if it was Professor Sprout. The key was a bit more challenging, and he was glad that he was as good at flying as he was because it took all the skill he had. It didn't matter so much that the key had a broken wing and wasn't flying as swiftly as it might have, but that the other keys were deterrents.
Now he was standing on a chess board. The challenge was getting harder, and this was difficult. It would put to test his strategic ability. He was looking forward to seeing if he could get past this. "Pawn to B3."
"Knight to A5."
He had lost a few men. He needed his queen to get into position, and when that happened then the game would be his as long as his opponent didn't see what he was doing. He didn't think his unknown enemy would. He'd used this particular move several times, and no one had ever caught up. That was unless he'd played them several times, and even then it was hard to counterattack.
"Queen to F7."
"Checkmate."
Now it was time to proceed forward. He'd gotten past Sprout, Flitwick, and McGonagall. There was only Snape and Quirrel to face, and which was next? He stepped through the passage way and flames immediately sprung up on both of the exits. When he saw the bottles on the table, he knew exactly where the next challenge came from. When he read the missive, he had to silently applaud Snape. It was logical and downright clever.
Wizards were not logical. Some of them were like Dumbledore, and the others weren't half as brilliant. He knew reading it which one it was. It only took some careful mental deductions after reading it through a few times. It was the tiny bottle. In it, he saw--- was enough for one good swallow.
He drained it and ran through the black fire. Ice was in his veins and it combated the fierce flame. He was through and he expected another challenge… in a mirror? He stopped and stared carefully at it. He had never seen a mirror like this before. He read the title and it said "Erised."
Interesting name. He had never encountered a mirror like this before. And he thought that there was every type of mirror that could be imaginable at Malfoy Manor. His foster family certainly enjoyed looking at themselves when possible. But he'd never seen this type of mirror nor read about it either. Curious as it what it did. It had to do something. And whatever it did, he knew that it had something to do with the philosopher's stone.
He looked into the mirror.
At first he didn't see anything that would make him suspect that this mirror was anything that extraordinary. But after he blinked, he began to see what made this mirror so special. He was seeing something he knew that couldn't be real. It had to be a dream or a fantasy. It was his mother. He knew it had to be his mother because she had his green eyes, and he had never seen his shade of eye on anyone before. It was breathtaking, seeing her for the first time. He wondered if this mirror was the gateway to another realm of being.
The afterlife, possibly? After all, his mother was dead.
He blinked again, and when his eyes refocused he saw a man that had to be his father. Voldemort looked quite a bit like him, though his hair was more unruly than the Dark Lord's. But the firm jaw and the fine nose he saw he had inherited from his father. His cheeks were purely his mother's as well as his mouth. He was a good mix of both of his parents. And it was a reverie to see them both together, holding hands and smiling down at him.
So it wasn't a gateway then. This had to be an illusion of whatever he wanted most… whatever he…
"You shouldn't be here."
Harry whirled around. He didn't know who he expected to see, but he definitely hadn't been thinking that it would be Dumbledore. This wasn't good. He should have been more careful. He shouldn't have allowed himself to be sucked into the mirror's illusions… delusions. He shouldn't have let himself yearn for something like that. It had wasted precious time. Time that he couldn't afford.
"Come with me, Harry."
He had no choice. Dumbledore had caught him and whatever a crazy coot he might be, he was the strongest wizard alive until he could resurrect Voldemort again. Only 'til then.
He went.
THE HEADMASTER'S OFFICE was nicer than Harry expected it to be. It was as nice as some rooms at Malfoy Mansion, and that was rather curious considering the odd character that Albus Dumbledore was. Harry would have expected the décor to match the personality of the kooky wizard, being bright, flamboyant, and positively wacko. It was none of those things.
"Please take a seat."
Harry knew it was hopeless to refuse.
"I think it would be best that we get to the point."
Harry nodded, but was distracted by the beautiful sight that was a phoenix in flight.
"I'd like to know what you were doing there."
He'd been thinking about what he was going to say in way of explanation to Dumbledore on the way to his office. He was going to lie, and he was going to do a brilliant job of telling a fib. He had confidence in his ability to twist words around into believable scenarios. But the phoenix wasn't going to make it any easier. The mystical bird was going to make it that much harder.
Phoenixes represented all that was good, noble, and true.
None of which, he understood. "I was curious about the third corridor," he murmured in a hesitant tone. "I just wanted to find out why it was forbidden."
"Surely," Dumbledore responded with his blue eyes peering heavily into Harry's, "you must have realized the danger of the circumstances that you found yourself in, Mr. Malfoy. Didn't you realize that it would have been best to turn back when you found yourself confronted with a Cerberus? But no, you persisted in going through the trapdoor. Why is that?"
"The thrill of the forbidden," Harry stated softly. He lowered his eyes and then raised them until they were locked onto Dumbledore's. "The adventure of it."
"I don't believe that it was merely for that."
"It's the only answer in which I can give you."
Dumbledore stroked his phoenix's head with a gentle caress. "Do you know what danger you were in Harry?" Harry thought it wise not to answer. "The dangers you got past were in themselves potentially lethal, but from all that I've heard about you--- you seem to be a bright young man. However, I would know many students that wouldn't have been able to get past those perils. What you've done is extraordinary, but as dangerous as what you accomplished was… it was the mirror that is the most perilous." He paused. "Do you know what you were looking into?"
Harry shook his head. He didn't.
"The mirror shows you, the viewer, your deepest and most wanted desire. Men and women have wasted their lives in front of it, captivated by its impossible allure. If I had not been there, do you think you possibly could have taken your eyes off it?"
Harry wasn't certain if he could have. The pull of the mirror had been powerful.
"That is why the third corridor is forbidden, and whatever reason you had for going there, I must ask you not to do so again. The mirror is dangerous, Harry, and it wouldn't be wise for the brilliant future that you have ahead of yourself for you to jeopardize that by wasting your life in front of it. You do understand, don't you?"
He wasn't going to get another opportunity to retrieve the stone if it was still even there. Dumbledore was going to make sure of that, whether or not he thought that Harry knew what was being hidden there. It was possible that Dumbledore would connect him with wanting the philosopher's stone. It was well known that Lucius Malfoy had been a follower of the Dark Lord's, no matter if it had been documented to be under the Imperius curse or not. It wouldn't be leap to imagine that his son was looking for the stone for Voldemort except that it was really Voldemort's son.
"I understand."
"Jolly good, would you like a lemon drop or some tea?"
"No thank you."
"WHERE THE BLOODY hell have you been?" Draco demanded as soon as Harry walked into the dormitory. "Do you know how dangerous it was to wander with a fucking troll on the loose?"
Draco was shaking in anger and he was shaking Harry. There was a nervous twitch in his eye that he had whenever he got especially emotional. It was one of his few inheritances from his mother. Narcissa had a twitch like that whenever she was in a tizzy with Lucius, which was rare enough. Narcissa did quite adore her husband, much like Lucius quite adored his wife. Overall, Draco was pretty much a carbon copy of his father. It almost made Harry cringe to see Draco looking so ferocious.
Telling the truth seemed to be the only way to appease Draco's anger. "I was at the Headmaster's office."
Draco stopped the violent back and forth movement and just stared at his twin. "What?"
"I was at the Headmaster's office," Harry repeated blandly.
"I heard you the first time!" Draco exclaimed. "Why were you with Dumbledore?"
"We had a meeting."
"For three hours?!"
Had it really been that long? "If that is how long it's been, then I suppose so."
Draco narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."
"Believe what you will then, I'm going to bed." Harry stepped away from his foster brother and moved to go to his bed when Draco grabbed him by the wrist hard and jerked him back. He turned around and glared at Draco in a way that had never failed to get Draco to back down. "Let go."
"No." Draco only tightened his grip. "I hate all these secrets that you keep from me. We're brothers; you should tell me where you've been. I've been worried sick for you. Who knew if you weren't injured somewhere before that stupid Weasel knocked the troll out? We're not only brothers, we're twins."
Harry wanted to laugh harshly and tell Draco that no they were not, but he couldn't. Instead, he forced himself to try to feel grateful that Draco was worried about him. But all he felt was irritation. He wanted to get to his bed and to run the day's events over in his head, to try to think what he'd done that had made everything go terrible wrong. He also needed to start planning on how he would try to tell the Dark Lord about his failure.
"There's nothing to say. Dumbledore kept me in his office for a meeting about how my classes were going, if they were too easy and whatnot since I was doing so well."
"And it lasted three hours?"
"He was away for an hour or so dealing with the troll incident and he told me to wait in his office, but it seems so," Harry stated calmly. "And it's been a long tiring day; I'd like to get some sleep. Will you please let go of my arm?"
Draco let go, but his stance was rigid as he allowed Harry to get into his bed. Harry slid into his bed and didn't even bother to change into his pajamas, just burying his head into his pillows in a practiced gesture that said he really was as he said, worn. He mentally counted down the few minutes that it would take before Draco's shadow would be removed from his presence.
It took the typical ten minutes before Draco was satisfied that he was sleeping. He shifted his position and waited another half hour until his foster brother fell asleep. He sat up in his bed and stared out at the window. He didn't understand how Dumbledore could have realized that he was there unless there was a trigger that he'd tripped over? Whatever the case, he'd failed to get the philosopher's stone and he wasn't going to get another chance.
Knowing Dumbledore, it probably wasn't at Hogwarts anymore.
But what really irritated Harry was that he was unlikely ever to see that mirror again. It was the only time he had ever seen his mother. And she was just as he had always imagined her to be.
His beautiful mother… he thought as he slumped backwards onto his bed and drifted off to sleep.
Author's Note: I realize that the events in this chapter are quite a bit different from the book. I intended it to be that way as some things will have to change to get this story to work. Obviously, there will be an eventual more telling confrontation with Harry and Dumbledore, but how did the first one go? And how do you like Draco's attitude w/ Harry? Reviews are always helpful. I'll probably be working on POB next.