I don't own Harry Potter, only the OC.

Hello guys, Badger here. I'm glad to see people enjoyed the previous chapter. Something I noticed however, is that there is a lot of Hermione bashing, but not much Ron bashing. I will try and add his character in more when Second Year starts. Anyway, this chapter did go through a couple of rewrites until I was happy with it, so I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 10

The cloak, The mirror and An excitable Elf

Harry was having a rather peaceful lie in. Was. His rest was interrupted when a pillow hit him square in the face. This made him scramble off the bed, in slight panic and shock. He looked to see James standing in some casual clothes, consisting of ripped jeans, a grey Rolling Stones shirt and some trainers. It felt weird seeing him in such clothes, considering Harry had only seen him in uniform for the past few months.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Harry asked

"I had to, you wouldn't get up" James replied "Its Christmas man!"

Harry froze for a moment, in surprise. How could he forget that it was Christmas?

"And, it seems there are some presents for you" James continued

"I-I have presents?" Harry asked

"Of course" James smiled "Now come on, get ready, I'll be waiting for you"

Harry wasted no time and quickly got changed into some more comfortable clothes, before he left their dorms and headed into the Common Room. As he and James were the only Slytherins who stayed behind for the holidays, the Common Room was barren. He walked to James who was sat on the arm of a sofa, in front of a Christmas tree, where there were two piles of presents.

"I took the liberty of separating our presents" James explained "Yours are on the right"

Harry nodded, before the two of them started unwrapping their gifts. Daphne had gotten both of them a box of sweets. Again, it was slightly disappointing that she couldn't be with them. The Weasley Twins also gave them a box of sweets. James had gotten a few books of spells from someone, who James called an old friend, as well as a new leather jacket from Susan, which made James chuckle. Apparently James once told her that he loves leather jackets. Harry was slightly nervous, as James unwrapped the present from him. He wasn't entirely sure what to get him, but he relaxed, when James smiled after he unwrapped a friendship bracelet. It may have been girly thing to do, but seeing as James had done a lot for him in a short time, he felt it was the perfect way to say thank you. James seemed to have appreciated it, as he put it on.

Besides the sweets from Daphne and the twins, Harry received a book of potions from Snape, rock cake from Hagrid and a book on Magical Customs from Susan. James' present was one of the smallest ones, though he wasn't complaining. He was surprised though, when he opened it, to see a ring. It was an elegant platinum band, which wrapped around some kind of black crystal.

"I would keep that ring on your finger Harry" James said "It doesn't stop spells or anything, but it will alert you, if any potions or poisons have been put in your food and drink, as well as what potion it is"

Harry smiled gratefully, as he placed the ring on his index finger. He felt warmth radiate from the ring, as it shrunk slightly, to fit perfectly on his finger.

"That was part one of your gift" James continued "Jinx!"

Harry was confused, only to be surprised a few seconds later, when some small being popped in out of nowhere. If Harry remembered rightly from what Daphne said a few weeks ago, it was a House Elf. This particular House Elf was a female, with large pointy ears, massive blue eyes, a skinny body and was wearing an elegant outfit, that almost looked like a dress of some kind.

"Master Badger!" The House Elf exclaimed in a squeaky voice, hugging his legs "Jinx is glad to see kind master"

"I'm glad to see you too Jinx" James replied, before he gestured to Harry "Jinx, this is Harry, I want you to answer should he call for you and help him if he needs it"

"Jinx will do what kind master asks" Jinx nodded "Does kind master require anything else"

"Not now Jinx" James replied "Wait until either of us calls you"

Jinx nodded, before she disappeared again. It took a while for Harry to find his voice.

"W-who was that?" He asked

"That was Jinx" James replied "That was part 2 of your gift, just call for her whenever you need her and she will come…she has helped me the past ten years, now she will help you too"

"How do you know her?" Harry asked

James looked at Harry for a moment, as if he was debating something with himself. After a few moments, he sighed.

"I guess I can tell you that, at least" He said "My parents were workaholics…they knew when I was born that they wouldn't be able to keep looking after me and work at the same time, so they assigned Jinx to be my personal House Elf. It was her job to take care of me, should my parents be unavailable to do so. Of course…after they died…it became a permanent job…she may have had some help along the way, but Jinx raised me for the past ten years"

Harry was slightly surprised as James opened up. It may not have been by a lot, but he was told more about his past. He couldn't help but wonder though how Jinx raised him. There was also something else on his mind.

"You said she had help" He said "Who helped her?"

"A kind family called the Albrights" James smiled "Remind me to introduce you to them after we have finished with the Dursleys…anyway, you have one more present to open"

Harry nodded, before he picked up the plain white box. Though James was still a massive mystery to him, he did at least have a few of those pieces in place, as to who he is. He pushed that aside for now, as he opened the box. He looked to see some kind of cloak neatly folded inside. He raised a confused eyebrow, before he lifted it out of the box, to get a better look.

"A cloak?" James asked "Someone is cheap, who is it from"

"I don't know, there is a note though" Harry replied, before he read aloud "Your father left this in my possession before he died, I recently came across it and thought it should be returned to you. Use it well"

"That sounds ominous" James snorted "Try it on, I'm curious"

Harry shrugged, before he wrapped it around his shoulders. Both Harry and James were shocked, when his body disappeared.

"My bodies gone!" Harry exclaimed, before he removed the cloak, to see his body come back

"Harry, that is an Invisibilty Cloak!" James explained "They are pretty rare! It must be a family heirloom of some kind…Who sent it?"

"There wasn't a name" Harry said "It just said 'Use it well'"

A small suspicious look appeared on James face, as he read the note for himself.

"I think you should get this cloak checked over Harry" He said "There could be any kind of spells or curses on this thing"

"I guess you are right" Harry agreed "Who shall we ask?"

"Professor Flitwick, obviously" James shrugged "If he can attach protective charms on your broom, I'm sure he can do the same for the cloak, as well as look for any spells that may be on it"

Harry nodded, before he carefully put it back in the box. The two boys then immediatley headed towards the Charms class, in hopes of finding Flitwick, so he could give the cloak a once over.

Flitwick waved his wand over the cloak with his wand, in slow, circular movements.

"I must admit, I'm glad you came to me about this" He said "I would be suspicious myself, if someone handed me something like this"

James and Harry watched as Flitwick ran his diagnostic charms on the cloak, for another few minutes, before he stopped.

"Find anything?" James asked

"Luckily, it is safe to use" Flitwick replied "Besides the charms that were worked into the cloak, there is no spells that I could pick up, not even a Tracking Charm…do you know who sent it?"

"No, there was just this note" Harry replied, handing the slip of paper to the professor

"Ahh, I recognise the handwriting on this note" Flitwick said "Don't worry Mr Potter, Mr Badger, I'll talk to them about this, but you can go, it is perfectly safe"

Harry nodded, before he took the cloak, tucking it under his arm, as he and James left the room.

Dumbledore sat in his office, reading over the newest copy of the Daily Prophet, until he was alerted from the wards around his office, telling him that someone was about to enter. He put the paper down and sat up straighter in his chair, as Flitwick came in.

"Ah, Filius" He said, smiling softly "How can I help?"

"I wanted you to explain this" Flitwick replied, levitating the note in front of the old headmaster

"How do you know about that?" Dumbledore asked

"Mr Potter and Mr Badger asked me to look for any possible charms that might have been on the cloak" Flitwick replied "Mr Badger, in particular, was suspicious of a present with no name of the sender"

"I will admit, before I sent it to him, I did consider putting on a few tracking charms" Dumbledore sighed "But you have to understand, this was just to make sure that this was so Harry didn't use it to break any rules…I'm sure you remember what his father did with the cloak at his disposal…the tracking charms were to make sure he didn't do anything similar"

That seemed to satisfy Flitwick, as he nodded in understanding, before he calmly left. Dumbledore leant back in his seat. He wasn't lying about what he said. Harry's father definitely did his fair share of harm thanks to the cloak. Even though he didn't place any charms on the cloak, he could still put up a few wards around Hogwarts just in case.

Harry donned his cloak, before he left the kitchens. It was two days after Christmas and he decided to put the cloak to good use, and put it on to sneak into the Hogwarts kitchens after curfew, when his stomach began rumbling. It turned out though that he didn't need the cloak, as the corridors were empty. However, when he was only a few corners from the Slytherin Common Room, he ran into Mrs Norris, Filch's cat. She seemed to be able to sense him and started meowing loudly. This was bad. If Mrs Norris was here, then Filch was nearby. Hearing Filch coming down the corridor he needed to go down, Harry turned and ran until he came across a door that wasn't locked and immediatley went inside.

He kept his ear against the door, listening and waiting for Filch to pass and disappear down the corridor. Blowing a sigh of relief, he got ready to leave, when something caught his eye. It was a massive golden mirror, with the words 'Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi' inscribed across the top. Curious, he took off his cloak and approached. What he saw shocked him. Standing there behind him, were two people. He looked behind him, to see he was alone, before he looked back at them. One was a man who looked a lot like him and the other was a woman who had his eyes. Were these people his mum and dad? The images seemed to answer the unasked questions, by smiling and nodding at him. The image of his mother then rested her hand on his shoulder, which subconsciously caused Harry to place his hand there, expected to feel it there.

James was enjoying a rather nice sleep. Until Harry burst into their dorm, calling his name.

"James!" He exclaimed "James! Come quick! It's my parents!"

"Huh…what?" James asked sleepily "Harry its 2 in the morning, what is it?"

"It's my parents, come and see!" Harry replied, practically pulling him out of his bed

James was led to the room where Harry found the mirror. If James was being honest, it was quite elegant and magnificent. His eyes narrowed, as he read the inscription that Harry pointed out to him.

"You say you saw your parents" James said

"Yes" Harry nodded "Why?"

"'I show not your face, but your heart's desire'" James read out "It's backwards"

"So…this mirror shows me what I want the most?" Harry asked, looking back into the mirror

"Right in one" James said, softly "It makes sense that you would see your parents"

Harry was silent for a moment, before he looked back to James.

"W-what would you see if you looked into it?" He asked

"Lets find out" James shrugged

Harry moved out of the way, to allow James to stand in the centre. Harry watched, as James looked into the mirror in silence, his eyes widening ever so slightly.

"What is it you see?" He asked

"Me" James replied, placing a gentle hand against the mirrors glass "My parents, Grandparents and the rest of my ancestors are smiling proudly, as they look at me, someone is standing next to me, I guess they are my future wife, but I can't tell who they are, they are blurred and distorted"

"W-what shall we do about this mirror?" Harry asked

James was silent for a moment, before he recoiled from the mirror, as if he was physically thrown out of a trance. He shook his head slightly, before answering.

"Nothing" He said "We leave and forget about it…I can only imagine the amount of witches and wizards who went mad, staring at their hearts desire"

Harry nodded gently. He would've liked to see his parents a little bit more, but he felt like he would go mad himself, if he did. Forcing himself away from the mirror, He followed James out of the room, leaving the mirror alone, for good.

There we go guys. That was chapter 10, I hope we enjoyed. What did you guys think about James revealing who raised him? This was actually an idea I came up with pretty early on. Seeing as there are quite a few mysteries around the character, I decided to have a little bit of his past revealed, but don't worry, there is a lot more to reveal. Jinx was a character I actually planned on introducing after first year ended, but decided to introduce her at Christmas instead. And no, James' gift to Harry was not a romantic gesture. I hope you don't mind the small segment, with Professor Flitwick. I can't help but find it odd that Canon Harry just accepted a gift from an unknown person and started using it, not bothering to check if it might be dangerous.

The small segment was actually added to remind you guys that this isn't a bad/manipulative Dumbledore fanfic. While I quite like those stories, I won't be doing it here.

Also, though the Trio aren't going to encounter Quirrell or the Stone, I still wanted them to come across the mirror. I should also mention that, when I first wrote this chapter, Daphne was with them, until I remembered she wasn't at Hogwarts for Christmas, so had to modify the ending portion, but if she was there, she would see an older version of herself with a husband, family and successful career. For Harry, of course, He sees his parents, a family he wishes he has. For James, he sees the members of the Badger Family before him, looking proud of him, with a woman on his arm, where he can see himself worthy of having the Badger Family name.

The next chapter will see a jump to the end of first year. I don't think chapters of pointless filler will be appreciated much. Again, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will see you in the next one.

Badger out