Christmas was coming quickly and everyone could feel it. Samantha ordered some chocolate frogs to send to Lauren, as she would not be going home for Christmas. She felt bad about leaving Lauren there alone even longer, but also didn't want to deal with the Dursley's more than she had to. She thought it would be a very fun Christmas despite Max deciding to go home, because Leslie and the Weasleys were all staying.
The Weasley twins got in trouble for making snowballs bounce off of the back of Quirrell's turban, and then Samantha, inspired by them, continued until she had detentions as well.
"Great, I was just trying to have a little fun," she grumbled in the Common Room that night.
"You were hitting a teacher in the head with snowballs," Hermione said.
"And it was really fun! Besides, that thing has a strange smell, I don't trust it," said Samantha, playing with a tennis ball. She had gotten the idea from James and the Snitch, but had not yet been able to take a Snitch, so a tennis ball was the next best thing.
"It's a turban, what could possibly be untrustworthy about a turban?" Leslie asked.
"It gives me weird vibes, like something's wrong," Samantha said casually. "Besides, why does he even wear it? He probably sleeps in that thing, you'd think he'd give his hair some breathing time."
"Maybe it's against his religion to take it off?" suggested Elias.
"A religion he adopted between July 31 and September 1? That he's super dedicated to? I doubt it," Samantha said.
"You never know," Elias shrugged.
"I guess," Samantha said doubtfully. "So, anyone else have as fun a day as me?"
"Malfoy was taunting me again for having no parents," Harry said, shrugging.
"Great, another person to throw snowballs at," Samantha said. "What'd he say this time?"
"That he was sorry for the people that had to stay at Hogwarts because they weren't wanted at home," Harry responded.
"Lovely. Bet his parents sent him a fur coat to wear in Snape's classes, with some insanely stupid animal feathers, like a peacock," Samantha said.
"Wouldn't doubt it," Max agreed.
The next day, Samantha and Max met Harry, Ron, Hagrid and Hermione in the Great Hall.
"Oh, it looks marvelous in here!" she cried, looking at the decorations.
There were many huge Christmas trees, covered in sparkling icicles and candles. There was holly and mistletoe hung around the walls, and the whole thing seemed to glitter. It looked absolutely magical, which, Samantha remembered, it was.
"Hey, Ron, what's up with the angry face?" asked Samantha.
"Malfoy was insulting his family, and then Snape took off points from Gryffindor because Ron tried to lunge at him," Hermione said, filling her in.
"Ah. Snape's the worst," Max said.
"He really is," Samantha agreed. She looked at the mistletoe, then looked back at Max. While the other four had started talking about something else, Samantha whispered to Max, "We'll have to sneak back here later, the mistletoe is perfect."
Max smirked. "Definitely," he agreed.
"Guys, we've got some free time, let's go to the library," Hermione said.
"Righ' before the holidays? Bit keen, aren' yeh?" Hagrid asked.
"We're trying to find out who Nicolas Flamel is," Samantha answered.
"We haven't been able to find him yet, though," Ron said.
"Although, if you could just tell us who he is, that would save us a bunch of trouble," Hermione suggested.
Hagrid looked outraged. "No! Yeh shouldn' be researchin' him. It's not yer worry wha' that dog is guardin'," Hagrid said.
"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is," Max said innocently.
They hurried off to the library. Hermione had made a list of titles she wanted to look for, and Ron went to go pull out books randomly. Harry went off towards the Restricted Section, and Samantha and Max began looking in books they had checked out the last time and hadn't quite finished.
Samantha suddenly dropped the hair tie she'd been fidgeting with, and dove under the table to retrieve it. She had shot it a little ways, and it was on the other side of the table. She picked it up and turned over to pull herself back out, and that was when she saw it.
Carved into the wood underneath the table was a heart, and inside it read Lily+James forever.
Samantha gasped. She ducked out from under the table, shaken.
"What's up?" Max asked.
"N- nothing," Samantha responded. She turned her gaze back to the book, but was paying little attention to it. she did, however, remember to turn the pages. She had learned from her meeting with Bella.
When it was time for lunch, Samantha and Max left, meeting Hermione, Ron, and Harry outside.
"You'll keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" Hermione asked.
"Of course we will," Samantha promised.
"You two should ask your parents about Nicolas Flamel," Harry suggested.
"That would be safe, especially for Hermione," Ron said.
"Yes, because my parents are dentists," Hermione said. "Max, your parents both work at the ministry. Maybe you shouldn't ask."
Max shrugged. "Maybe I'll ask. Who knows?"
"Uh, you," Samantha pointed out.
That night was the last one before Max would be gone for two weeks, and Samantha had planned a fun last night. Well, really, it had sprung into her mind at dinner, and she had told Max to meet her in the Common Room at midnight.
They got under the Invisibility Cloak and climbed out of the portrait hole.
"Where are we going?" Max whispered as they walked.
"The library. I wanted to show you something in there," answered Samantha, also in a whisper in case teachers were patrolling.
They walked to the library, and Samantha led them to the table where they had sat earlier.
"Under here," Samantha whispered, and they ducked through the chairs and laid, still covered by the Cloak, on their backs under the table. "Lumos," Samantha whispered, and her wand tip lit up.
She pointed it at the carved heart.
Max gasped. "That's your parents, isn't it?" he asked.
"Yeah," Samantha whispered.
The two thirteen year olds stared at it for a while, until Samantha pulled a pen out of her pocket.
"What's that for?" Max asked, looking at it.
"Wanna carve our names next to theirs?" Samantha answered.
Max grinned. "Yeah," he said softly.
Samantha had removed the ink from the pen, and she carved her name into the wood in tiny writing an inch to the left of her parents' names. She handed the pen to Max, who wrote his name under hers. Samantha took the pen back and carved a heart around their names. She then dropped her right hand, and in her left took Max's. They lay staring at it, enjoying the peace.
Once Samantha felt it was right, she and Max left the library.
They wandered the halls, their hands connected. Samantha wished they could stay like this for eternity, the calm silence and the beautiful decorations for the holidays. They passed under some mistletoe in an archway, and Samantha stopped.
"Look up," she whispered.
Max flashed his eyes up to the archway and looked back at Samantha, a small smile on his face. "Guess we gotta kiss," he said delicately.
Still invisible to the rest of the world, they embraced and let their lips met, holding onto each other.
They wandered the castle a little longer after that, and then made their way back to the Common Room, where they said goodnight and crept back to their dormitories.
For the first few days of the holidays, Nicolas Flamel slipped from everybody's minds. Well, everyone who knew about him. They were having too much fun to be worried about him. Leslie, Samantha and Gwendolyn were the only three left in the dormitory of the five that normally slept there.
The Common Room was just as empty. Ron was teaching Harry Wizard's Chess. Fred, George, and Damon, who had also stayed, were discussing other things to throw at Professor Quirrell's turban.
"We could make balls of dirt," Fred suggested.
"That sounds promising," Damon said, nodding.
"Poor Quirrell," Samantha laughed.
"The guy just can't catch a break," Leslie agreed.
"First snowballs and now dirt," said Gwendolyn.
The girls were sitting on the floor talking and practicing random spells.
"Next time the teacher takes my notes to people I'll just Expelliarmus it out of their hands," said Samantha lazily.
"And get in even more trouble?" asked Gwendolyn.
Samantha shrugged. "I'll modify their memory or something. And pick up my note before they get a chance to see it again."
"You're not gonna be that quick to grab something," Leslie said.
"Oh yeah?" Samantha asked. "Expelliarmus," she said casually. Leslie's wand flew out of her hand and Samantha leaned towards it, catching it before it hit the ground. "See?"
"Show off," Leslie muttered. "Can I have my wand back?"
Samantha tossed it to her. "I can't believe it's already Christmas," she said.
"I know, time here really does move quickly," Gwendolyn agreed.
"Soon enough I'll be on the train back to the Dursley's for another miserable summer," Samantha said with a fake smile and a dreamy look in her eye.
"Don't even mention them," Harry called to her.
"I'll try," Samantha said. "Least I'll get to see Lauren again."
"Oh, that'll be nice," Gwendolyn said.
"Sure will. Then she'll come to Hogwarts and we'll all be together," Samantha fantasized.
"I can't wait to meet her," Leslie said.
"You'll love her. She's much calmer than I am," Samantha said.
"You, have a calm sibling? I'm shocked," Gwendolyn said.
Samantha awoke Christmas morning with a pile of presents at the foot of her bed.
"Leslie, wake up, it's Christmas," Samantha whispered, tapping Leslie on the shoulder.
Leslie stretched, her wavy, shoulder length blonde hair spread on her pillow as she opened her deep blue eyes.
"Merry Christmas, Sam," she said softly.
"Merry Christmas, Les," Samantha replied.
The girls began opening their presents. Samantha had gotten chocolates from Damon, a scarf from Hudson, a hat from Bella, a new set of quills from Ellie, color changing ink from Elias, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from Connor, a book about the Holyhead Harpies from Leslie, a nice looking white and gold watch from Max that Samantha suspected was from a Muggle store, Chocolate Frogs from Harry, and a Q-tip from the Dursleys.
"Surprised they bothered," Samantha said, examining it.
Leslie scoffed. "That's what they got you? A singular Q-tip? The sock was better than that," she remarked.
"I guess I could try to duplicate it," said Samantha.
"And do what with it? What do you even use Q-tips for?"
Samantha shrugged. "Not sure. Don't care enough to look into it," she told Leslie.
She saw the final parcel laying on the foot of her bed. "What's this? Not another Invisibility Cloak, is it?" Samantha asked, checking once more to make sure Gwendolyn was still asleep.
"Haven't got a clue. Open it," Leslie said, shrugging.
Samantha did, and a hand-knitted dark blue sweater fell out, along with a container of fudge. The sweater felt very soft, and Samantha thought it must be very warm. "This is so thoughtful. Who do you think gave it to me?"
"I don't know. You seem to be getting a lot of anonymous Christmas presents," said Leslie.
"Yeah, I do," Samantha agreed. After waking up Gwendolyn the girls got dressed. Samantha wore a white tank top with the sweater over it and black leggings. She was right; the sweater was very warm.
Samantha and Leslie then headed to Harry and Ron's dormitory, where they had just finished unwrapping their presents. Ron's face reddened when he saw Samantha's sweater.
"Oh, she's made you a Weasley sweater too," he said.
"What?" Samantha asked. She saw similar sweaters laying on Harry and Ron's beds, except Harry's was green and Ron's was maroon.
"She hand knits us sweaters each year. I told her that Harry wasn't expecting Christmas presents, and she made one for him. I guess she decided to make one for you as well," Ron said, sighing.
"That's very sweet of her. They're very comfortable" Samantha commented. "Oh, and thanks for the Chocolate Frogs, Harry," she added.
"No problem," Harry responded.
The twins then bounded into the room, wearing light blue sweaters with a large yellow F on Fred's sweater and G on George's. "Hey, Harry and Sam got Weasley sweaters too!" Fred said, pointing to the sweater laying on Harry's bed.
Harry pulled his on. "Ron, get yours on too!" George called.
"I hate maroon," Ron said half heartedly as he pulled the sweater over his head.
"There you are," said Percy, sticking his head in the room. He had a yellow sweater draped over his arm.
"Perce! Put your sweater on, we're all wearing them, even Sam and Harry got them!" Fred said.
The twins grabbed Percy's sweater and proceeded to pull it over his head as he said "No-I don't-stop-". It sent his glasses askew, and his arms were pinned to his sides because Fred and George hadn't cared enough to put his arms through the sleeves.
That evening, Christmas dinner seemed even better than the year before, maybe because Harry was there enjoying it with Samantha. They had Wizard crackers that year, and Samantha was having a lot of fun with them. She, Leslie, and Gwendolyn opened a few together, and Samantha was now the owner of a pair of tie-dye socks, an owl plushie, a Santa hat, and a small hamster she named Sprinkles that kept trying to run away.
The food was delicious. Percy nearly broke his tooth on a silver Sickle embedded in his pudding, which Fred later stole from him.
They then all had a snowball fight, and after that made their way back to the Common Room, soaking wet and freezing, to warm up by the fire. Samantha then remembered that she should probably look for Nicolas Flamel a little that holiday break. She didn't want to go alone, but Leslie wouldn't come because of her strong desire not to sneak out at night, and no one else in her year that remained at Hogwarts knew about Nicolas Flamel.
Then she realized she could bring Harry. So, that night, when they all decided to go to bed, she took Harry to have a word with him.
"Harry, so, I have an Invisibility Cloak, and I was wondering if you'd want to come with me to check out the Restricted Section in the library and see if we can find Nicolas Flamel somewhere," Samantha told him once the others were far enough away.
"You have an Invisibility Cloak? Why has it taken you so long to mention this?" Harry asked.
Samantha shrugged. "I just didn't have a reason to, really," she answered.
Harry glared at her. "We're siblings. What happened to telling each other everything, like we did at the Dursleys?" he asked.
"Siblings all have secrets. I kept this from you, this whole world. I always had secrets, and now is no different," Samantha told him.
"You told us everything but this. Every time you cheated on a test, any time you helped someone cheat on a test, all of that," Harry said.
"We're growing up, Harry. I tell my close friends about this stuff now," Samantha answered.
"I'm not a close friend anymore, then?" he asked.
"You're my brother. That's so different from a friend," said Samantha.
"In a good or bad way?" asked Harry.
"Good, in this case," Samantha told him, smiling. "So, what do you say? Wanna explore the Restricted Section with me?"
Harry paused for a moment before ginning. "Of course," he replied.
Samantha ran upstairs, where both Gwendolyn and Leslie were already asleep, and silently got the Cloak out from her trunk.
She came back downstairs and draped it over her and Harry. She was still taller than him, and the Cloak fit easily around them with plenty of space for someone else to be under there too.
They crept towards the library together, and went to the back where the Restricted Section was hidden. Samantha lit her wand and they looked at a few of the books. Samantha pried a thick one with a black leather cover from the shelf and let it fall open in the ground.
It shrieked.
Samantha's eyes widened. She shut it, but it still kept shrieking.
"Let's get out of here!" she whispered frantically to Harry, and the two left the shrieking book on the ground and ran out. They passed by Filch on their way out, and Samantha was thankful that she had gotten them out of there when she did.
They came to a halt by a suit of armor, and Samantha did a double take. She had no clue where she was. All she knew was that she was on the first floor.
Then voices were approaching. Snape and Filch, Samantha realized.
"In here," Samantha breathed into Harry's ear, and the siblings squeezed through a small opening of a classroom to their left. They didn't dare move as Snape and Filch passed, but once the voices died down, Samantha looked around the room.
There were desks and chairs pushed to the sides of the room. Samantha thought this must have been used as a classroom, but was definitely no longer in use because of the main object.
In the center of the room was a giant, beautiful mirror. Carved at the top of the gold frame was the phrase Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Samantha had no clue what that meant. Something in a different language, perhaps?
"Come on, let's see us have no reflection!" Harry whispered excitedly. The siblings stood in front of the mirror. Suddenly, Samantha gasped. She turned around, but no one was there.
"What's up?" Harry asked.
"I- I see- I see myself, and I see our parents, and- I- I'm older, and- there's other's around, little kids- and him, and- this isn't a normal mirror," Samantha whispered, her heart racing.
"What? I don't see anything, not even us," Harry said.
Here, stand here," Samantha said. She took the Cloak off Harry and moved him to where she had been standing, but she was no longer able to see her family.
"I see them too, mum and dad! And a bunch of other family!" Harry said excitedly.
"You don't- you don't see little kids?" Samantha asked.
"No. I mean, you, me, and Lauren are the only kids in here," Harry answered.
"Oh," Samantha said. "Can I see again?" she asked.
Harry moved over so Samantha could be in front of the mirror again.
She stared into her mum's eyes, green like Harry's. Then at her dad, with his messy hair and casual but handsome look. Harry stood next to them, an inch shorter than James, looking very similar. Lauren was there too. Shorter than Samantha by a small amount, with features extremely like Lily's. She herself was older as well, and she stood next to Max, who also looked older. They had three little kids around them. Max was holding two girls, one who looked around five and one who looked about two. In her own arms was a small bundle of light green.
"Can I see mum and dad?" Harry asked, and Samantha moved aside.
She wanted to stare at that forever. Her family around her, kids with Max... that seemed perfect to her.
Erised... she thought about it. What did it mean? Was it something in Latin, or Greek, or any other language? She ran it over in her head as she and Harry walked back to the Common Room, and she ran it over all day the next day.
That night, something struck. Erised was not a word in any language, she realized, but instead a word in reverse. Desire. That was the Mirror of Desire. Desire meant nothing, she realized. Her parents were dead, and desire could do nothing to bring them back.
She didn't go that night, although she let Harry borrow the Cloak to show Ron. She knew he wouldn't see their family, but instead his deepest desire. Samantha doubted his deepest desire was to see Harry's family. It would be creepy if it was.
The next night, though, Harry invited Samantha to come back. As much as she knew this was neither future nor past, she wanted another look at her and Max as parents.
They crept together into the room.
Samantha was just shutting the door behind her when a voice in the darkness said, "So, back again, are we?"
Samantha jumped. "Dumbledore?" she said.
"I didn't see you sir," Harry muttered.
"So, you two, like many before you, have discovered the Mirror of Erised," Dumbledore said, moving from the desk he had been sitting on.
"Desire," Samantha said quietly.
"Ah, you've figured it out," said Dumbledore. "Do you know what the whole phrase translates to?"
Samantha shook her head. "I can try to translate it, though," she said.
"Go ahead," Dumbledore said, gesturing to the mirror.
Samantha stepped in front of it, but ignored her family this time. She stared instead at the words carved at the top of the mirror.
She mouthed stuff, trying to put everything together. After around a minute, she turned around. "I show not your face, but your heart's desire," she said delicately.
"Exactly," Dumbledore said.
"So, none of this is true?" Harry asked.
"I'm afraid not. Seeing dead loved ones is not something I expect will ever happen, not with them in their true form. Ron's, with him as Quidditch Captain and Head Boy, could very well happen, if he puts in the effort, because that is the future.
"Samantha's is more complicated, I believe. You never told exactly what you saw, did you?" asked Dumbledore.
"No," Samantha shook her head.
"If you don't mind sharing, what was it?" Dumbledore asked.
"I saw... Mum and Dad. Harry and Lauren were there too. We were all older. Max... Max was there too. He was holding toddlers, and I was holding a baby," Samantha answered.
Dumbledore thought for a moment. "Part could be true," he said. "You see, you, Harry, wish to see your family, your parents and grandparents. Ron, who has always been outshone by his brothers, sees himself alone, the best of them all. And Samantha's desire was deeper. It was to see her parents, her siblings, be with them, and be with her chosen family too. Her husband, and their children," he told Harry.
Samantha blushed when she heard 'husband'. That was strange, the idea of Max being her husband. Wanted, but strange.
"Do you understand, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"I think so, sir," Harry replied.
"Good. You will be prepared if you happen to come across it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Now, the mirror will be moved to a new home tonight, so coming again to visit would be useless. Why don't you put that Cloak back on and get to bed," Dumbledore told them
Samantha nodded.
"Sir, can I ask you a question?" said Harry.
"You just did. But yes, you may ask another," Dumbledore said warmly.
"What do you see when you look in the mirror?" Harry asked.
An almost pained expression came to Dumbledore's face, but Samantha blinked and it was gone. "I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks," he said.
Samantha knew this was a lie. Something in her brain told her.
"One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone, and I did not receive one pair. People insist on giving me books," Dumbledore said.
More lies. It was a rather personal question, though.