"So what's the odds?"
"More trust in you than the Slytherins, for sure."
The Boy-Who-Lived smirks when he hears his Weasley friend's answer. They're currently enjoying breakfast before the first official Quidditch match of the year, and it's their house against the most hated house, according to the students of the school. "They're betting on me or on the broom?"
"You know what the bets are, Harry. You supported the twin for it." The bookworm of the trio retorts, though she does giggle with how cheery the boy is. "Are you ready for the match?"
"Always." He then pulls out his glasses and gives it to the girl, much to her confusion. "Needs to be a fair fight. That pair of glasses would be a cheat by itself."
"You can still see clearly, right?" Ron questions. "Sometimes I see you stumbling while walking normally in the hall."
"Ah, my head was a bit in Cloud Nine during that." Harry cheekily replies.
"Well don't do that during the match."
"I won't, Hermione. Nothing will distract me if it gets serious."
A while later
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is it."
"The big one."
"The one we've all been waiting for." The twin instantly continues Wood's first speech the moment the captain starts. Fred then whispers to their new Seeker. "It's the same as last year…"
"Shut it, you two. Anyway, this is our best Quidditch team for the Gryffindors in years. We are going to win." Though his eyes scream 'Or else' to all of them, to Harry's amusement. "It's time. Good luck to all of us."
Everyone gives out a loud cheer before heading out to the Quidditch field, with most of the school in the audience cheering for both teams. Harry takes a scan around and sees his friends holding up a "POTTER FOR PRESIDENT!' banner up high with the signature Gryffindor lion beneath the words. Chuckling, he returns his attention back to his team and notices that the other team is approaching them as well, with their team Captain giving him a vibe of a troll given his height.
"I want a fair game from all of you." The referee, Madam Hooch, gives the speech in which Harry notices she's glaring at the Slytherin captain. "Shake hands." Both captains approach each other as they are told, but the two definitely give the other a somewhat competitive glare. When the two separate, the referee orders: "All mount the broom."
'This is it.' The Boy-Who-Lived thinks to himself as he gets on the Nimbus. Within seconds, everyone's up in the air, waiting for the Quaffle to be served. Before it happens, however, Madam Hooch releases the two Bludgers and the Snitch out first and lets them fly away. He only has a small glimpse of the latter before it disappears somewhere in the field. He returns his attention back and sees the Quaffle in the referee's hand. The moment it's in the air…
He immediately dashes away from the main field, avoiding the war on the Quaffle from the Chasers. He starts hovering higher, following Wood's gameplan by dodging conflicts and waiting for the appearance of the Snitch to be noticed and going after it. He's now on high alert to check anything suspiciously shining up, and he has to dodge the Bludgers either randomly targeting him or being sent to him by the opposite Beaters. The latter's no problems because the Weasley twins are capable of dealing with them, but the former is hard due to the many things that could reflect light in the playing field…
Until he sees the barely-noticeable Snitch right next to the Slytherin's Chaser's head, and it's confirmed when Lee Jordan, the announcer of this game, calls out for it. Harry instantly goes after it just in time for the little ball to fly away. The opponent's Seeker has also chased after him, but Harry's broom proves to be more superior as it starts leaving the other Seeker behind and the Boy-Who-Lived slowly gets closer to the objective… Until his sense of danger flares up, and he has a one-tenth of a second to avoid someone trying to slam at him. After controlling himself, he sees it to be the other team's captain who pulled the move, and thanks to that the Snitch disappears again.
Sending an annoying glare to the captain who just grins back for his succession, Harry starts repeating the process before he sees the Snitch… until the broom suddenly shakes up much to his surprise. Then, it starts lurching and turning left and right despite his best efforts to control it. His grip gets tighter in order to not get thrown down to the ground, while he tries to figure out what happened to the broom. After a few minutes nothing changes…
Sounds like you're in a pickle.
'Would be glad if you could give me a hand here Dad.' That one second of distraction proves to be dangerous as the broom almost manages to hurl him out of it, but the wizard's reflex turns his attention back to the broom quickly. 'Okay… this is not normal if he suddenly talks in a situation like this…' He starts looking around to see that the game is processing with no one but the audience noticing his strange behavior. '...I can abandon the broom, but using the hoverboard would be somewhat against the rules…'
However, during the shaking, he can feel something small flying near him, and it takes him half a second to realize that the Snitch is close to him. He didn't react at first, thinking the Snitch might fly away if it 'knows' he's getting to it. Once he knows the ball is close enough after a few seconds, he makes a quick move and tries to free one of his hands and goes for the grab…
It doesn't work.
'Crap!' Due to the movement, his body's thrown off, leaving him hanging on the broom with just one hand. Harry quickly grabs it with both hands so he wouldn't fall off, but then the broom starts flying higher. It starts shaking as well, causing his grip to slowly weaken. Knowing that he doesn't have much time, he looks down to see that the Weasley twins have already circled below him, hoping to catch him if he falls. He is tempted to do so instantly… before he sees the opponent's Seeker chasing the Snitch, both are near and below him…
'One shot, then. I blame Aunt Uzume for this.' He chuckles to himself, and after aiming at the right moment, he throws himself off the broom much to all seeing eyes' surprise.
The other Seeker almost gets the Snitch if the flying bullet in the shape of a boy shoots at him, causing him to halt in surprise, which is the perfect opportunity for Harry to snatch it right before his eyes. Once the small ball is tightly in his hand, the boy shouts: "I GOT IT!"
Snapping out of shock, Madam Hooch instantly announces the result, while the Weasley twins manage to catch up to the human-bullet and grab his arms, one for each, before the boy slams his face to the dirt ground. Meanwhile, the Nimbus starts to fall due to 'whatever happened to it' stops and its rider is off.
"Blimey, Harry!" Fred speaks up after the trio is stable on the air with the rest of the team starts heading to them. "And I thought Charlie is risky enough going after dragons! Don't you have any regards for your life?"
"Well I trusted mine in your hands." Harry grins back. "Can't be a good teammate if you don't trust others, right?"
That causes George to punch his arm while laughing heartily. "Next time, tell us your plans before calling the move."
"Will try, can't promise."
…
Seconds later, the whole team blows up with cheers that they managed to win the first game of the season, and that continues even during the time they get back to the changing room. Harry then excuses himself to meet with Ron and Hermione and, to his prediction, both are scared yet excited when they talk about his stunt. The trio then move to Hagrid's hut while he learns that the big guy has also witnessed it from the audience. Once inside the building, the half-Giant expresses the same feeling as the other two when he talks about the match after the move Harry pulled out.
However, the conversation changes to the broom…
"I saw Snape do something to it."
"Are you sure, Hermione?"
"I am, Harry. I saw him focusing on you while chanting something. Or more likely the broom."
"Rubbish, Hermione. I know the Professor doesn't have a good reputation, but he definitely won't put the students in danger." Hagrid doesn't believe it as he pours tea into the kids' cups.
"...Do you know that he got bitten by Fluffy?"
"Who's Fluffy?" The bookworm asks, not knowing what the Boy-Who-Lived is talking about. "I saw his wounds, but what…"
"It's Hagrid's pet." Ron decides to continue biting his rock-cake to not let out any irrelevant stuff. "Not Fang if you're wondering."
"For your question Harry, yeah I did hear about it, but it's not that bad." The half-Giant waves it off, knowing that it's pointless to care about things he knew little about. "Madam Pomfrey can fix it easily."
The trio decides to drop the matter vocally, but all think about the event the bookworm witnessed. If Snape truly did it…
Nighttime. Gryffindor Tower
Everyone has already returned to their bed, all with a smile that their house just bested their rival house in the most popular sport in the Wizard World. One, however, has a lot of questions that need answers.
"Are you certain Harry?" Through the mirror, his Legal-by-law Guardian asks back, just to be sure what he heard is correct.
"That's what Hermione saw and told me with Ron confirming it, Uncle Sirius. To be fair, Professor Snape has a bad reputation to us."
"I can understand… Did they see anything else?"
"Given the bias, I doubt it… He could perform any spells, not just jinxes that try to throw me off."
"Including Curse-counters. I see your points. Snape is not a good guy, but he won't go that low. Besides, if we heard it right, he made an oath with Dumbledore."
"Do you know which kind?"
"Unknown. Anyway, as disbelief as it sounds, Snape will try to protect you."
"...Then there's another possible culprit."
"Oh? Do tell."
"Professor Quirrell."
"You do seem to be fixated on him."
"He gave me a lot of bad vibes. His classes not helping me much is a red flag. And he was staring at me after the Troll fight…"
"I talked with Dumbledore before, and he gave me this: There was a whole year Quirrell disappeared to 'get more knowledge' as I worded it. However, the location he went to was where people reported the presence of You-Know-Who."
"...I know that you guys are scared of him…"
"His name is cursed." Sirius decides to just reveal it, seeing that it's no reason to hide any further.
"Oh." Now he sees why people in the Wizard World don't want to say his name. Finally…
"I did ask why he hired Quirrell, but I didn't get a clear answer. To me, Lupin would be a better teacher, but…"
"His curse."
"Yeah, unfortunate for him."
"...Anyway, I'm going out."
"It's curfew…"
"I was taught by a Law-breaker, and I had my father's cloak."
"AH, that." Sirius laughs while slapping his forehead. "Alright, go have fun."
"Goodnight, Uncle."
After returning the mirror to the trunk, Harry pulls out his Invisible Cloak and gets out of the dorm. There's one destination he's aiming for…
…
"You should be quieter, Potter."
"To others, maybe. I want to talk to you."
The Potion Class. Snape is preparing materials for his next day's classes when he hears the door opening and closing. He thinks it was just the wind, but then he hears a faint sound of footsteps, and he remembers a certain memory. And his theory is correct when the intruder reveals himself.
Normally, he could just harass the boy and try to threaten him going back to his tower or facing detentions. However, the Potter's son proves to be much more competent than other students his age, and he has to admit that the boy does much better than he initially thought in his class. That, he won't voice out, never.
"What do you want, boy?"
"A lot. First, what did you do to my broom?"
"Are you accusing me?" The Potion teacher crosses his arms while concealing his expression as he watches Harry pocketing his cloak.
"Quite the opposite. I have a different culprit in mind."
"You do realize that you're trying to accuse a Professor in Hogwarts School…"
"Have I ever told you I'm accusing a Professor?"
'He's good.' "You won't get the answers to those questions from me."
"Guess I pushed a bit of luck. This one though… You are not putting your hatred towards my father on me, are you?"
There's a chill in the air, and it's not just the already low temperature of the room.
"...How much do you know of him?"
Harry just shrugs. "Not much."
"Then there's nothing…"
"But his friends do, a lot. And they told me enough of your rivalry between each other."
"...And you want to justify what he has done?"
"I'm saying you do not use that against me. Using my mistakes, no problems. Using your past, you are being childish."
The two enter an eye-staring contest. After a minute, Snape decides to stop it first and says: "You are sharp, I will give you that. Don't expect me to go easy on you."
"Never has, never will. Third matter, the thing in the third corridor. Is it dangerous?"
"...How do you know?"
"Just connecting stories. Just yes or no is sufficient."
"...Both."
"...Last question. Are we suspecting the same person?"
Instead of directly answering the question, Snape returns his attention back to the potion shelves. Harry is about to say a word when the Professor says: "Give me an essay about Babbling Beverage, next week. No asking other students to do it for you."
"...Alright." Harry shrugs, but both sides know what it means. "Goodnight Professor."
A few seconds later Snape hears the sounds of the door again, and when he turns back, the Boy-Who-Lived is gone.
"...This kind of sharpness… Lily should be proud." The Potion teacher says to himself quietly, and continues his work like nothing happened. "...Those people who raised him after Lily…"
…
'Filch just has to come this way.' Harry curses in his mind as he hides himself in an unused classroom. On his way back to the tower, both the Caretaker and his cat, , patrols right at where he's about to step in. And unlucky for him, they just had to head right where he is.
Quietly listening to the footsteps, he looks around the room and notices a big vertical mirror standing lonely in the middle of the room. After making sure that the Caretaker is far enough, Harry slowly approaches the mirror. He has to admit that the one who made this has a quality taste, seeing the seemingly flawless ornate gold frame. Upon closer inspection, he sees a line of words being written backward. He starts trying to read it, and he succeeds and he replays it in a low voice: "I show not your face but your heart's desire… Curious."
Putting the cloak away, he looks into the front of the mirror. And it seems to do exactly what the statement is, as in not showing his face. Sighing, he gets a little bit closer… and almost chokes when he sees a lot of people standing behind him. He immediately draws out his wand and points it backward, but to his surprise, he sees no one. He looks back to the mirror again and to the location behind him three times before settling down and focusing more on the vision. This time he notices that he's also in the picture, but he's smiling towards the people behind him who are also smiling. Upon closer look, he sees similarities between the people, and to himself as well.
And he sees familiar faces of the people right after his mirror self. "Mom… and Dad…"
His real parents. Smiling back at him.
Unconsciously, he smiles back and raises his left hand towards the mirror… until something in him snaps, and he starts aiming his wands all around the room, seeking for something…
"You have sharp senses, my boy."
His concern instantly drops when he recognizes the voice of the old man as the wizard steps out of the shadow with a smile. "You scared me. I thought Filch suddenly showed up."
"You seem to scare him more than young Snape." Dumbledore says with a twinkle in his eyes.
"...Of course you know." Harry chuckles, then turns his face back to the mirror. "So this mirror… Does it have a name?"
"The Mirror of Erised."
"Erised… Desire. Ah." Harry nods in understanding. "Why the backward?"
"Why not?" Both chuckle this time. "So what do you see, my boy?"
"My family, seemingly." Harry has no reasons to hide. "Your heart's desire… Well, I do want to meet my real family."
Are we not enough for you?
"Shut up, Dad." Harry gives a mock rude comment to someone who Albus presumes his male guardian. "Anyway, that can only do that, right? Does it have, like, guidelines to do so?"
"Unfortunately no, my boy." Reaching his hand to the mirror's frame, the Headmaster explains further: "It shows nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. Everyone will see different things in this mirror, and the happiest man will see only himself in the mirror." Taking a few seconds to think, he questions: "I'm surprised, though. Is that really your deepest desire? After having such a happy family?"
"...I guess it's just the thirst for my origins. I mean, who wouldn't?"
"I suppose so."
The two then start looking into the mirror again, each seeing their own versions of desires…
"One of your regrets, sir?" The Headmaster turns to the young student with surprise on his face. "It's the same expression my Uncle made when he talked about his past."
"...Lily and James will be proud. Yes, it's something I wish to undo."
"Can you?"
"...Should I?"
The question drops the sounds again as the two continue watching for a few minutes…
"We should leave, it's very late, and it's very unhealthy to dwell in the mirror." The Headmaster stops himself first and calls for the student. "I hope you don't find this mirror again. Goodnight."
"Goodnight sir." Harry bows respectfully to the man and starts pulling out his cloak. He then remembers and calls for the old man: "Does Uncle Sirius or Professor Snape tell you?"
The two stare for a few seconds before the Headmaster nods. The young boy nods back, and the two disappear into the darkness of the school, preparing for the next day.