It wasn't too long before Eric was stopped in the halls by Sheena. "So, you've talked with Professor Dumbledore?" Eric nodded. "So, we've got all those nasty suspicions out of the way? Professor F' wants to get started."

He nodded again. "So, where are classes?"

Her face drew into a slightly comical frown. "Well, that's the catch. Professor Dumbledore wants us to be low-profile. No one's supposed to know we're taking extra classes. How can we arrange this?"

Eric thought for just a moment. "Well, the dungeon's the obvious place. No one uses it for punishments anymore, so it's low-traffic."

Sheena started to smirk. "Ok, you're so smart – name two secure but safe places we can meet."

Eric fought to be as deadpan as possible. "The room of Erised and the Chamber of Secrets."

Her jaw dropped at his response, then her voice came out as a whisper. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. The Chamber's empty now, and the defenses to the Philosopher's stone are only partially dismantled. We could re-arrange the trap sequence to suit us, then map a path to the Chamber from there."

The idea seemed to appeal to her. "But, I thought only the Heir of Slytherin could get into the Chamber."

Eric was undeterred. "Harry Potter gained access. It must be a parselmouth thing, which means I can do it, too."

Her eyes began to gleam mischievously. "You're sure there's no more basilisks?"

He stuck his tongue out briefly. "Hatching a basilisk is no small thing. Most times, sticking a chicken egg under a toad gets you a wet, dead chicken egg. Basilisks don't breed – they can only be created."

The scheme was agreed to, and Sheena promised to bring Corvin's other student to help with the clean up that evening. The rest of the day's activities went by in a blur as the excitement of doing something new, challenging, and just a little bit against the rules grew up inside him.

That evening, he snuck down to the bottom of the main staircase to meet with the other students. It wasn't long before Sheena arrived with a dark figure. However, Eric had seen this silhouette far too often to mistake it. "Naomi?"

A welcome monotone replied. "You were expecting Dorian, maybe? So, how do we get in?"

Turning into the shadows, Eric found the access door. "This way." The staircase he led them down would end with a series of storage compartments. On the last landing, however, he tapped his wand on three plain bricks, which resulted in the wall parting swiftly and silently for the group of them.

Entering the corridor, it was only a few dozen yards before they approached the room under the third floor trapdoor. Here lay a pile of Devil's Snare, horribly unfed and wilting. Choosing the better part of caution, they nevertheless cursed it all to withered twigs before clearing the corridor completely. "We'll need to burn it all as a precaution. I'm sure Professor Sprout was just going to let it whither, but we can't have it growing back."

The next room was empty, the troll residing in it having been returned to the Forbidden Forest. "You know, a simple darkness spell would make a formidable defense for this room. After all, adventurous students exploring dark rooms usually find evil things that eat them in such places." They agreed to cast it later, using the keystones in the entrance and exit archways as anchors. They also noted that the base stones of the arches would need wards cast on them to prevent incursions by any malevolent creatures looking for a home.

The next was the key room. Spotting the desired key, Naomi took the initiative. "Dilatux!" A blue streak from her wand struck the key, slowing it considerably. Eric followed up afterward. "Snara!" A golden strand zipped from his wand tip to encircle the key, drawing back to him.

Sheena seemed slightly disappointed. "With all your work with brooms, I thought you'd be interested in catching it."

He sneered at the thought. "On those old things? It would take forever."

Next was the chessboard. Fortunately, over two years of disuse had resulted in a stalling in the enchantments, and the chessmen just sat along the wall, apparently too tired and beaten to move. Sheena looked over to the others. "You want to re-animate them?"

Eric looked at the possibilities. "Not as a chess game, but as a defensive line. Let me think about it."

Snape's potions were waiting for them, but there seemed no reason to stop. Whatever barriers resulted in the necessity of these bottles had long-since dispelled. All that remained was the Mirror of Erised, which still remained where it was in the otherwise empty room.

Sheena shifted uneasily, then started to look along the walls. "I'll check for other exits."

Waiting for her to move away, Naomi closed in on Eric. "What's gotten into her?"

"The mirror – it's supposed to be cursed. There have been wizards so fixated on the images it shows that they died in front of it." He sensed that Naomi immediately became uncomfortable. "Relax, it isn't a curse. It was made by a wizard who wanted to understand himself, and was brave and wise enough to understand what he found. The mirror just shows you what you want most."

She looked up at him. "So what's the curse?"

"The curse is that it doesn't give you any more information than that. Let's say I wanted most of all to be rich and famous – the mirror would depict me as rich and famous, that's all. No hints about how I could make all those things happen." He turned back to the mirror. "An image of your hearts desire – that's all you get. All you have to do is accept what you've learned and walk away."

There was only a moment's hesitation before the two of them went up to the mirror to look. It took only a second for an image to appear, and only a minute to sort out what it meant. Eric couldn't help but smile at the result; he never thought of himself as that decent a person.

Naomi was more than anxious. "What do you see?"

Eric smiled. "I see myself in an open field, basking in the sun while twirling a wand in my fingers. Willy's brought me iced tea and some cakes."

Naomi turned to him. "That's it?"

"Are you kidding? I've got no worries – not a care in the world. Just me, a warm afternoon, and some nice desserts." He looked back at her. "What do you see?"

Her monotone voice had returned. "I just see us."