Author's Note: Dang, 397 views. 3 away from 400. I can't say much more than thank you to all my readers, even if I only have a few dedicated ones. XD Well, I hope you guys can forgive me for being really inconsistent with my posting, I'm deep in preparation for the SAT and my tests for AP Calculus AB and AP Language & Composition. Work kinda cuts into it too. Anyways, enjoy Chapter Nine!

A large, ancient mirror stood propped up again the far wall. Words in a language Harry didn't know surrounded the mirror's frame. Tentatively, Harry walked up to the mirror, making sure his Invisibility Cloak covered him completely. The mirror gleamed faintly in the dim light that came from a distant window.

Making sure no one was around, Harry took off the Cloak. His reflection appeared in front of the mirror, and the light around him seemed to shimmer lightly. Harry stood there silently for a moment, then gasped in astonishment.

A woman with long, dark ginger hair and bright green eyes—just like Harry's—stood to his left. She was very pretty, and she looked down at Harry with a loving smile.

To Harry's right, a tall man with messy black hair—just like Harry's—stood to his right. He wore glasses and had his arm on Harry's shoulder, grinning down at him like he was proud of him.

Harry swiveled around, but no one was there. He whirled back around just as fast, greedily drinking in the sight of what he knew immediately were his parents. He slowly began to see more people in the background, people that looked very much like him.

His family.

Harry's heart swooped in pleasure, but then fell in dismay. His family wasn't really there. He was still just as alone. But he couldn't manage to turn away from the mirror. He sat for what seemed like minutes, but really was hours. He had the sudden urge to tell Ron what he had seen, what the mirror showed him, and he stood up with slight reluctance.

"I'll be back," Harry promised the mirror, then ran to the Gryffindor dormitory with the Invisibility Cloak snug around him. He barreled into the dorm he shared with Ron, then found him dead asleep. It seemed cruel to wake him, so Harry got into bed and had the hardest time falling asleep. He finally did, and his dreams were full of what could've been his best family moments.

In the morning, at breakfast, Ron was very cross with Harry. "I would've gone to see it," he grumbled. "I would've gotten up."

Harry rolled his eyes. If Harry had been able to manage the Herculean task of shaking Ron awake, he doubted Ron's eyes would stay open even if they were running through the corridors. Harry considered telling Hermione, but she was too busy practicing some sort of charm usually reserved for third-years.

Late that night, Ron and Harry snuck out of the dormitory, both hidden underneath the Cloak. Harry's heart pounded as he retraced his steps, trying to find the right room. Just as Ron started to complain of heavy eyelids and tired feet, Harry found the right door.

"Here it is, it's right here!" Harry said excitedly, and he burst into the room. Ron followed, and Harry stood in front of the mirror, the Invisibility Cloak held loosely in his hand. He saw his family smiling and waving, and he smiled and waved back.

"Harry? I don't see anybody." Ron said, confused.

"That's…that's because you're not looking at it properly," Harry said, suddenly concerned that he might be going mad. "Try right there…yeah, right in front of it."

Ron's eyes went from confused to blank to sudden awe.

"You see them then?" Harry asked excitedly, but Ron shook his head.

"I'm…I'm..I'm Head Boy! And Quidditch Captain, too! The House Cup and Quidditch Cup are right here, and I'm a lot taller! Harry, I look cool!" Ron said ecstatically, then swiveled to face him. "Do you suppose this mirror shows the future?"

Harry frowned. "How can it? My parents are dead…"

Ron returned to gazing transfixed at his reflection. Harry got impatient, and tried to push Ron out of the way so he could have a turn, but as the two began to shove each other, they heard a loud "meow" from the doorway.

It was Mrs. Norris.

"Run," Harry said shortly, and the two booked it out of the room.

Back in their dormitory, Harry and Ron had a conversation in agitated whispers.

"I still say that mirror shows the future," Ron said stubbornly. Harry tried countering this with logic, since his family was all dead, but Ron wasn't budging.

"Fine, you can believe that all you want," Harry snapped, and shut his four poster bed curtains rather irritably. As he lay down, he couldn't sleep again—his parents' images still swam in his head. When he heard Ron go back to sleep, he crept out of bed. Just one last look.

However, when Harry got back to the room, he only had it to himself for a few minutes, before a gentle voice stirred him from his enchanted reverie. "Back so soon, Harry?"

Professor Dumbledore stood behind him, his hands folded across his stomach as he smiled kindly down at Harry. "Forgive me, but I do not require an Invisibility Cloak to hide myself from the naked eye." He walked to Harry's side.

"Um, Professor? What exactly is this mirror?" Harry asked tentatively.

Dumbledore smiled. "This, Harry, is the Mirror of Erised. It shows us that which we desire most. The happiest man in the world would simply use this mirror as a regular mirror. However," he said, his voice suddenly turning somewhat sharp. "Many men have spent their lives wasting away at the haunting images of the Mirror of Erised. It does not show what is to come, but what is desired."

Harry nodded. He desired his family more than anything else in the world, even though he couldn't bring them back.

Dumbledore smiled again. "The Mirror of Erised will be moved to a new location tonight, Harry. It would be wise to not go looking for it again."

And with those parting words, Dumbledore swept from the room, his cloak billowing behind him. Harry made his way back to the dormitory, fell into bed, and immediately fell asleep. His dreams were peaceful, free from the ache of the loss of his family at last.