When Harry went to bed the night of Christmas Eve, he hadn't been expecting anything special the next day, having never been able to celebrate the holiday properly before. Even if he had, however, the golden-eyed boy doubted it would've prepared him for the rude awakening he received that morning.
"Harry! Wake up, wake up!" Brought from his dreams by the odd sensation of something bouncing up and down on his bed, Harry sat up blearily, struggling to make sense of the confusing scene before him. Somehow, it seemed as if Susan had managed to find her way up to not only the Gryffindor common room, but all the way into his dorm, and was now jumping up and down on his bed with an expression oddly similar to an overexcited puppy.
"Susan? What are you doing here?" The girl, grinning widely, jumped off the bed and started to do an interesting little dance around it, singing her answer.
"It's Christmas, it's Christmas! Come on, get up!" Harry, shaking off the last of the lethargy, slowly complied, watching the hyper girl warily. Susan was never this energetic, even in the mornings. She was supposed to be the calm one of the group, so why the heck was she prancing around in his dorms with- was that a reindeer costume? What the heck was she doing wearing that?
"Um, Susan? What's going on? How did you get into my dorms?" The girl paused for a moment, glancing at Harry, before continuing to dance around, even as she spoke in a normal, if slightly breathless voice.
"Oh, Hermione let me into the common room, and showed me the way up here. Don't worry, everyone else is already up. They were excited for Christmas!" Oddly, the last word ended in a squeal, as Susan had now glanced at the pile of presents sitting at the foot of Harry's bed. The boy himself followed her line of sight, and gasped when he saw them there.
"I… have presents." He said faintly, not quite believing what he was seeing. Harry didn't get presents for Christmas, although he was aware other children normally received some. The fact that anyone would want to give him anything was a novel concept always meant cleaning and cooking in larger than usual amounts at the Dursley's, which was why he always slept in. Anything to avoid the extra work for as long as possible.
"Of course you have presents, silly! Why wouldn't you?" The brunette had stopped dancing entirely now, and was cocking her head at him in an oddly inquisitive fashion. Harry, caught off guard by the coal-black eyes now boring into him, glanced away, a blush climbing up his cheeks.
"Uh, i never really... celebrated Christmas before." He admitted, shame hushing his tone. He waited for a moment, a bit afraid to look back at his friend, but then there was a sudden pressure around his waist, and he glanced down to see the slightly smaller girl hugging him tightly.
"I'm- I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"Stop, it's okay. I'm just not used to having friends, is all." Harry interrupted, hugging Susan back. After a few moments, they released each other, Susan pulling back to beam slightly at the golden-eyed boy.
"Alright then. It is now my mission to make sure you have the best Christmas ever." And that she did. First they went through his presents, a sense of euphoria filling him as he did so. There was a little wood-carved flute from Hagrid, a copy of Quidditch throughout the ages From Hermione, and an odd little lion plush presented to him by a fiercely blushing Susan. He had been blushing himself when forced to admit he hadn't gotten presents for her, or anyone really, not having thought of something like that. Still, he managed to get away from Susan's mock outrage by promising to rectify the mistake at the soonest possible time, and returned to the last of his presents. There was a fifty pence note from the Dursley's, which he ended up letting Susan keep as she was fascinated by the shape of the muggle money. Strangely, he got a sweater from one Mrs. Weasley, who Harry assumed to be Ron, Fred, and George's mother. He hadn't been expecting anything like that, since he'd cut things off with Ron after the troll incident, but he supposed it could be since he was on the Quidditch team with the twins. That just left two other presents, both of which seemed to lack the sender's names.
"'For a game well played, and a few good laughs.'" Harry read aloud the note attached to the first, which turned out to be a rather heavy looking jokebook.
"Who's that from?" asked Susan, who was eating a piece of fudge from the tin that had accompanied Mrs. Weasley's turned the note over, but there was no distinguishing marks, except for the fancy looking handwriting.
"I don't know, it hasn't got a name." Susan frowned at that, but Harry was too busy moving onto the next one, which looked like some sort of bundle of cloth. Tearing apart the wrapping paper, Harry gasped in surprise as a long, silvery piece of material fell out, catching the light as it did so. What caught his attention, however, wasn't the material itself, but the magic surrounding it. The sensation was… odd, really. He could tell there was something there, its power practically vibrating the cloth as he ran his hands over it, but… it was more an emptiness, than anything. Even as he handed it to a curious looking Susan, the sudden loss of sensation was palpable. Away from physical contact, he would never have suspected the odd cloak was anything more than a fancy piece of fabric, if he couldn't remember the sheer power in it. It had felt, old, like an endless pit of age and darkness. The young boy, as a similarly awestruck Susan passed the cloak back, wouldn't have been surprised if it contained more magic than the whole of Hogwarts. It certainly felt that way.
"I-I think it's an invisibility cloak. A very powerful invisibility cloak." Breathed Susan, breaking the silence that had fallen. Harry nodded slightly, taking a deep breath to steady himself. Then, in an effort to distract himself from the sensation of power, the raven-haired boy tossed the cloak over his head, curious as to what it wold feel like underneath the thing. He had read about invisibility cloaks, at some point or another, but even if he hadn't, the name would make it obvious what the thing was meant for.
As soon as the soft fabric settled over him, a sense of safety enveloped Harry. Somehow, he knew that not even one of his friends would be able to find him while he was wearing this cloak. The idea was collaborated when Susan spoke once again, her voice filled with awe. "You're… gone. I can't even feel you under there. It's almost like I'm in here by myself." Grinning, Harry pulled off the cloak making Susan squeak in surprise at the sudden reappearance of his magical signature..
"Okay, this is officially the best Christmas ever. I wonder who sent this?" Susan shrugged, picking up the card that had fallen out of the packaging with the cloak.
"No idea, doesn't have a name. Listen to this though; your father left this in my care when he passed, and I thought it high time to return it. Use it well." Harry stared at the paper in Susan's hands, wondering just who would have something from his father, and such a powerful magic object, as well. After a few moments, however, the boy just shrugged, pushing the thoughts aside. Not like it mattered very much.
"Ah, well. It's here now, and…" Suddenly, he shot a mischievous grin at the brunette girl. "I do believe you said you would be entertaining me today."Instead of making the girl blush, as he'd been hoping, she instead brightened into a sunny smile and quickly dragged Harry from the room, haphazardly throwing the cloak onto his bed. The next few hours became a whirlwind, filled with all sorts of fun and chaos. Susan and Hermione, who had stayed at Hogwarts when her original christmas plans were dashed by her parents catching a cold, each had their own christmas presents to unwrap, the former's having been mysteriously transported up to Gryffindor tower from the Hufflepuff dorms. Neither ended up with any powerful and ancient magical artifacts, but both girls did receive an unnamed present each, both carrying a short letter written in the same handwriting as the one accompanying Harry's new joke book(Which had already found extensive use that morning). Hermione's, a rather heavy looking book on the history of blood purity and its controversy in wizarding society, claimed it was for answering a question that has plagued wizards for generations. The note baffled Hermione, who had no idea as to what question it even spoke of. Susan, however, being the only one of the three who was familiar with wizarding customs, theorized it might be referring to the question of blood purity and the worth of Muggleborns itself. No one, though, had anything to offer for her own note, which simply stated for a helpful push, attached to a pair of very well made fur gloves.
After presents were interrupted by two sweater swapping Weasley twins, who proceeded to entertain the entire common room with being chased by their elder brother, Susan led Harry and hermione in some of the many Christmas wizarding traditions. Eventually, however, they were forced to go down to eat, where they met Luna, who immediately handed them an odd crystal ball on their arrival, along with yet another odd note; For being a breath of fresh air in a far too stuffy castle.
"Who is this from?" Asked Harry, rolling the ball around in his hands. The silver haired girl simply offered him a mysterious smile in response as she took a bite of her breakfast.
"Someone who thinks themselves very clever, and for a very good reason." And that was all the two Gryffindors and one Hufflepuff could get out of her on the matter. Harry had a sneaking suspicion Luna knew exactly who had sent the presents, even without them telling her about what their own notes said, but she just didn't want to tell them. Harry supposed it likely didn't matter all that much. Whoever it was, he doubted they could be causing much trouble by sending actually useful gifts, even if Harry had doubts about what good a crystal ball could be. Knowing Luna, it might just be the key to the universe, or something.
The rest of the day passed similarly to the morning, with Harry being far too preoccupied having fun to think too hard on mysterious presents or their senders. Susan seemed to be taking her promise seriously, and by the time the boy and his friends had sat down for dinner, he was exhausted. He barely made it up the tower to collapse into his bed afterwards, his eyes falling asleep almost as soon as he hit the bed.
XXX
"Godric, calm down." A silver haired man, smiling in exasperation, walked alongside his friend.
"But Sal! We're going to be apprenticed to Merlin! One of the greatest wizards of the age!" The second speaker, a red haired boy in his late teens just as his companion was, whined, throwing his friend a pout. It didn't work.
"Yes, and with your antics, I have a hard time understanding why. No man who would wish to take you on as a student can possibly be sane." This earned the Sal man a hurt look, which only served to make him chuckle. "I jest, Godric. Still, you likely shouldn't be bouncing down the middle of the road, you could run into someone." The ginger instantly brightened, the hurt expression sliding off his face as if it had never been there at all.
"Sorry, I can't help it, I'm just so excit- Oof!" And, just as his companion had warned, the red-head had crashed into someone, sending both parties crashing to the ground. When he stood up, however, he discovered that it had not actually been someone he ran into, but two people. Two very attractive young ladies, in fact. Sal, already knowing exactly what was about to happen, could only groan in response as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Well, hello there ladies.I must apologize for bumping into you like that, but I was simply too blinded by your radiant beauty to watch where I was going." Yes, that was Godric, with his inanely cheesy pickup lines. This would most likely not end well, as evidenced by the two women now dusting themselves off after being helped up by the ginger. One, a startlingly soft-looking woman with hair the color of honey, was blushing so fiercely both men doubted there was any blood left anywhere else in her body. The other, a much more severe looking woman with-oddly enough- blue hair, was in contrast throwing a glare at the grinning redhead.
"Yes, well, do try to be more careful in the future. We wouldn't want your overly inflated head cracking open on the ground and spilling what little brains you may have." To his credit, Godric's smile didn't waver one bit, even as his companion was forced to bite back a harsh laugh at the scathing retort. Friend or not, that was a good one, and depending on the day, all too true.
"Row!" The blonde, her blush somehow becoming even more pronounced, scolded her friend, this time succeeding in earning a laugh from the silver-haired man. There was just something highly amusing to the sight of such an innocent looking woman scolding the much more serious one, especially with such a melodic voice. It was almost like a child telling off her own mother. Godric, however, just found it to be absolutely adorable.
"Yes, well, I suppose we should introduce ourselves." The blue haired woman opened her mouth as if to say no, but Godric plowed on regardless, ignoring her protests. "I'm Godric Gryffindor, and this is Salazar Slytherin. And what might be the names of you lovely ladies?" For a moment, Salazar thought the woman was going to rip his friends heart out to eat it, if the look was anything to go by, and his hand slowly started to stray towards where his wand was hidden within his sleeve. Godric had a tendency to piss people off, and long exposure to the man had taught Salazar to always be prepared for when curses started flying. Or arrows, if they happened to be in muggle territory. It wasn't needed however, with the woman finally giving up on her glare and answering reluctantly.
"Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff, if you must know."
"Well then," Godric said, his grin growing wider as he suddenly threw his arms around two very surprised women. "I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship, don't you?"
XXX
Harry bolted awake, a deep buzzing energy coursing through his veins as he glanced around frantically. After a few moments of staring into the dark, waiting for Merlin only knew what, the boy's breathing finally started to become steady, and the blood rushing through his veins calmed down enough to let him think.
That was… weird. As soon as his mind was clear, Harry recalled the unusually vivid dream he had just experienced. The boy couldn't quite remember the names of the people in it, but their faces were clearly etched into his mind, as familiar to him as his own, at least before the odd changes that had overcome his body since coming to Hogwarts. They just seemed so vivid, and their interaction, for some reason, was remarkably nostalgic, as if he were calling upon a memory rather than a dream, but Harry knew better. Despite the clarity with which he could remember them, from their faces and body types to even their voices, Harry had never met those four people in his life. They had a certain gravity about them, a sense of meaning that the raven-haired boy would certainly have remembered if he had ever encountered it elsewhere.
Thinking this, however, had no effect on Harry, the boy remaining on edge. The buzzing of his veins had subsided, but it was still there, an odd tension building just underneath the surface. Soon, Harry's thoughts turned away from the dream to something that had, although shoved to the side, been nagging at him all throughout the previous day. The cloak, his father's cloak, was sitting in his trunk, moved there at some point during the festivities. He had this strange urge to get out of bed and go digging through his belongings for it. He needed to use it, to feel that familiar buzz of power and safety settling around him.
It wasn't long until Harry was cautiously stepping out of the common room porthole, cloak wrapped securely around him as he ignored the confused questions the Fat Lady asked to thin air. Harry had little idea as too where he was going, other than a desperate need to get out and explore. Use it well the note said. Harry wasn't sure exactly as to what was meant by that, but he did have half a mind to sneak into the forbidden section of the library in search of information on the ever elusive Nicholas Flamel. With it being night, and as Harry highly doubted anything could see through this cloak, it was the perfect time for such an activity.
With that thought Harry was off, his feet moving with purpose now that he had a destination. Soon, he was lightly pushing open the door to the library and stalking inside, trying his best to tread lightly. Sure, it was dark, but you never knew what was around the corner.
The many aging and decayed books on the shelves didn't tell Harry much. Most of their lettering, where it was present, were in languages the young boy did not know, and more than one tome Harry stayed far away from simply because of the creepy dark magic emanating from them. None of the other books in the library had ever actually radiated magic before, but he supposed that was why it was the forbidden section. After a while, Harry gave up, not really having been invested in the search anyways. In fact, it was almost like something else was pulling him away, some other goal or destination that required his attention.
This time, Harry didn't focus much on where he was going, even as he came within a few feet of running into Filch, the caretaker prowling through the halls with a nasty expression on his face, Shivering, the young boy slid past him and continued on his way, silently thanking whoever had sent him the cloak. Eventually, Harry found himself pushing open a heavy doorway, revealing a dusty and obviously unused classroom. Therein was where he found a sight that nearly took his breath away, and revealed the source of the strange pull he had been feeling since the moment he woke up.
Standing in the center of the room, with such majesty that even an eleven year old boy was gulping in its presence, was a beautifully carved and ornate mirror. There was a pulse of powerful magic, tantalizingly familiar despite Harry's failure to place it as he drew near. As soon as he was within a few feet of the odd object, the aching desire disappeared, or at least subsided to a point where Harry could ignore it if he warned. The golden-eyed boy didn't take that option, however, instead stepping the last bit to gaze directly into the mirror.
For a second, Harry saw himself, surrounded by a group of people who looked remarkably like him. There were several old people, each with kind smiles as they stared back at him, and each bearing a marked resemblance to at least one of his traits. The most amazing thing though, were the two people directly behind him, smiling proudly at Harry in a way that made his heart give an unexplained lurch. In that second he knew. This was his family.
He wasn't allowed to investigate, however, to drink in the sight he so desperately desired, to the point where his bones ached from the pain. A moment later, the image flickered, The smiles of Harry's family never wavering even as they dissipated into smoke, only to be replaced by another, even more surprising sight.
In the mirror, Harry had disappeared entirely. In his place were four people, two men and two women, whose faces had been burned into his mind not too long ago. It was the four from his dream, but they were behaving oddly. Unlike in the dream, the people no longer seemed to be strangers to each other, introduced for the first time. The blue-haired woman was still glaring at the redhead, but it was in a much more friendly manner, as if she didn't really mean it. This was accentuated by the fact that said ginger was laughing uproariously, his broad chest shaking with the silent movement. Behind them, the blonde was shaking her head in exasperation, a long-suffering smile on her lips. The silver-haired man, his wiry form far more relaxed than it had been in the dream, was leaning against the mirror frame, an amused smirk on his lips as he watched the antics of his companions.
As Harry watched the scene, he wondered why exactly this mirror was showing him it. Why give him such a tempting sight of his family, only to tear it away and replace it with these people he didn't know? Unable to answer the question himself, the young boy cast his eyes around, searching for some kind of clue. After a moment, they alighted on a script he hadn't noticed before, inscribed into the top of the mirror. For a moment, it appeared jumbled, odd, but then suddenly it was clear, and Harry was reading just fine.
I show not the truth, but your heart's desire. The raven-haired boy narrowed his eyes at that. It made no sense. If anything, he did want to see his family, even if it were an illusion, not some strangers his dreams had concocted. But then, scrutinizing the sight of the friends laughing together, Harry realized something. Several somethings, actually.
The first was that perhaps this was supposed to be a representation of something. The way the four people interacted, it was as if they were a family. While it may not be his own, Harry could not deny the sense of longing that pierced his heart as he watched their camraderie. Human contact, or any kind of kindness, really, had never been a part of his life before coming to Hogwarts, and that, perhaps even more than some long-lost connection to a group of dead people, was something he had always wished for. To be loved, to be a part of a greater whole, was the one thing Harry had been unequivocally denied at the Dursley's, and for the greater part of his life.
The second realization, and this was perhaps what made even the first actually important, was that the four strangers in the mirror looked oddly familiar, and not just from a dream. A closer look confirmed this fact, and Harry suddenly realized what he was seeing. Three of the four friends looked almost exactly like how he would imagine his own friends, if you counted Draco, would look once reaching a similar age, albeit with different hair colors. The silver haired man could've easily been Draco's father, and the blonde looked almost like how Harry thought Susan's mother would look, if the girl hadn't claimed her hair was supposed to be red. Even the blue-haired woman looked like a Luna who was lacking the loopiness unique to that particular girl. Actually, now that he thought about it, she looked frighteningly similar to the Ravenclaw on Halloween night, when she had that strangely serious look on her face. But the most frightening thing, however, was how similar he looked to the largest of the group, the broad shouldered man with that crimson red hair. Even looking closer, he could see the man bore the same golden eyes he now carried, and a quick glance confirmed that the others matched those of their counterparts in Harry's circle.
Harry's heart was suddenly clenched with fear. Who were these people, and why were they so similar to his friends and himself? Heck, even Draco was making an appearance, albeit changed, but for some reason Hermione wasn't there. That seemed odd, to his mind. If his brain had concocted up these characters, enough so that he could confuse a magical mirror to think this was his greatest desire, then where was Hermione? It didn't make sense, it couldn't make sense.
Shaking his head, Harry didn't even try to think about it. This was something he needed to think about, hard, and now was not the time to do so. Crouching down to pick up the cloak which had dropped to his feet at some point, Harry swiftly made for the door. Just before leaving, however, he paused, turning back for one last glance. Nothing happened, though, and then he was gone, a ghost lost in the stone depths of the castle.
XXX
And the plot thickens! Bum bum buuuuuuuuum!
…
Yeah, let's not do that again, shall we? Anyways, welcome back to the Founder's Circle. First off, I decided that doing the AN down here at the bottom was better after trying it out on one of my other stories, so chances are this will be happening more, since it just makes it easier to talk without being afraid of spoiling the chapter.
Speaking of which, how'd ya'll think it went? Honestly, most of it wrote itself, pretty much starting right after the cloak was unwrapped. I mean, I had a vague idea of what was going to happen here, but damn if it didn't just pop up out of nowhere and scream "WRITE ME!"
Yeah, anyways, so let's go over the chapter a bit, see if I can't get a few preliminary strikes on some questions you might have. First of all, mirror. Now, i know a lot of people are probably going to be screaming at me that the whole Heart's desire bit was supposed to be backwards and jumbled. I realize this, and in fact if you pay attention, I actually did mention that. At first the writing was jumbled, but then it sorted itself out for Harry. Why? Well, that has a lot to do with the overall theme behind the story, and something I've been hinting at all along, so spoilers. Don't worry, it will all be revealed by the end of book one, and Harry isn't just suddenly capable of walking through magical illusions. There was a very specific reason as to why this one didn't work on him.(To be fair, it wouldn't have worked on the rest of the Circle either) It also explains the whole being called to the mirror, so there is that as well.
Now for the cloak and the gifts. Well, s you can see, the cloak is essentially the same, i just gave it a bit more character, courtesy of Harry and co.'s awesome sensing skills. Although, i will probably be having it protect against a few things it didn't, like Moody's eye. That one just made no sense to me whatsoever. Aside from that though, we have the rather mysterious presents, with their interesting notes. Now, if any of you paid attention and were actually thinking, it should be fairly obvious who sent them, but I still think I'll let you all guess in the review section. Just for some fun.
Also, before I forget, the whole thing with Susan being in the Gryffindor's boys dorms. Yes, Hermione let her up there, seeing no harm in it since they're eleven, so get your minds out of the gutter. And yes, i made Hermione stay at Hogwarts for the holidays expressly for that reason, so sue me. Also, with the way I've made her reaction to being made part of the group, since it's larger than just two idiot boys who really needed a woman to set them straight, it made a bit more sense for her to stay and build that relationship. Actually, it made no sense for her to just disappear over the christmas break right after making friends with Ron and Harry in canon either, so there's that.
Alright, so, with randomosity and finally starting to get a bit more away from canon, here we are with the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed and don't forget to review! TTFN!(If you guess where that is from, you get a virtual cookie!)