November faded unremarkably into December. Though Gryffindor didn't play another match until February, Oliver Wood insisted on the whole team going to the next two games (Hufflepuff v. Ravenclaw and Slytherin v. Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff didn't win either game), saying that they needed to watch the games to learn how the other teams played. Harry was the only one fully on Oliver's side. Everyone else — including Harry's group of friends who Harry dragged to every game — was not.
Before Harry knew it, it was almost Christmas. The castle woke up one morning a few weeks into December to find the castle grounds covered with a thick fluffy layer of snow. The lake froze solid enough for ice skating and the Weasley twins got detention for spelling several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.
The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver post had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. Hedwig took to visiting the twins at breakfast to steal all their bacon, then spending her days in one of the twins' rooms, where owl perches were set up for her.
No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors were ice cold and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons. No warming charms could be used in the Potions corridor, he told them when even the Slytherins complained, due to the delicate nature of brewing. They would simply have to bundle up.
"I do feel so sorry," said Theodore Nott, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."
He was looking over at the twins as he spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them. Nott had been even more unpleasant than usual since Harry's Quidditch match. Disgusted that Slytherin had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. Elowen had set his robes on fire "by accident" in Charms class just to shut him up. Nott eventually realized that no one, not even his fellow Slytherins, thought it was funny, because they were all impressed Harry'd managed to stay on his broom at all, let alone catch the Snitch.
It was true that the twins weren't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas, nor did they want to. When the list to stay at school had come around, Harry and Elowen had been the first to sign up. This would be the best Christmas they'd ever had. Hermione, Draco and Neville were all leaving, but Ron and his brothers were staying, because Mr and Mrs Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.
When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.
"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.
"Nah, I'm all righ', thanks, Ron."
"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Nott's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose – that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."
Harry and Hermione each grabbed the back of Ron's robes to keep him from diving at Nott.
"I really don't know why you insist upon insulting Ronald, Theodore," Draco drawled as he, El and Neville came up behind Nott. "Are you jealous that House Weasley is older and has more political power and influence than you ever will?"
Nott turned a bright red and he hissed, "Never thought I'd see the day when a Malfoy would hang out with a Blood Traitor."
Ron dived at Nott just as Snape came up the stairs.
"WEASLEY!"
Ron let go of the front of Nott's robes.
"'E was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Nott was insultin' his family."
"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor and Slytherin, Weasley, Nott, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."
Nott, Crabbe and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere.
"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Nott's back, "one of these days, I'll get him."
"I hate them both," said Harry, "Nott and Snape." His good opinion of the Snape who had introduced them to the magical world had become even more nonexistent since the Quidditch incident.
"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."
So the six of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.
"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree – put it in the far corner, would you?"
The Hall looked spectacular. Wreaths and garlands of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls and no fewer than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of tiny candles. The entire Hall smelled like fresh pine. Harry and Elowen looked around in awe — Petunia had only ever allowed an artificial tree into her house, and though the twins had been the ones to decorate it, Petunia's plain glass ornaments and ribbons (never tinsel or garland, those left too much mess) had nothing on the Hogwarts trees.
"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.
"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me – we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."
"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.
"Th' library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the Hall. "Jus' before th' holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"
"Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."
"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here, I've told yeh, drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."
"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Neville.
"I thought maybe he was a potioneer but we haven't been able to find anything so far," Draco added, looking frustrated. "It really would save quite a bit of time if you would just tell us who he is."
"We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere," Elowen needled. "Just give us a hint. I know I've heard his name somewhere."
"I'm sayin' nothin'," said Hagrid flatly.
"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," Ron shrugged, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.
They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The problem was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. The chalkboard in the Den now had 'Potions?' scrawled underneath Nicolas Flamel's name because Draco thought he remembered Flamel being mentioned by Snape in his potions tutoring as a kid. The Sprigs (Basil the Basilisk painting had greeted them one day as his "sprigs". The twins had told the others and the name had stuck) had read probably every book on potioneers in the library they could find, but they still hadn't been able to find the name. That wasn't even considering the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.
Hermione had written out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Elowen and Neville had picked a row and were going through the books on each side one by one. Draco was standing in front of a large book on a pedestal — the directory, Harry was almost sure — looking through it. Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section. He had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books and he knew he'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts and only read by older students studying advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"What are you looking for, boy?"
"Nothing," said Harry.
Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him.
"You'd better get out, then. Go on – out!"
Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Harry left the library. The Sprigs had already all agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk Snape hearing what they were up to.
Harry retreated to the Den to wait and see if the others had found anything, but he wasn't very hopeful. They had been looking for the last two weeks, after all, but as they only had odd moments between lessons, Quidditch practice, and study groups, it wasn't surprising they'd found nothing. What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.
Five minutes later, the other five joined him, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch, Draco breaking away to go sit at the Slytherin table with Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass.
"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" said Hermione as they filled their plates. "And send me an owl if you find anything?"
"Of course," Elowen told her. "Hedwig would love to deliver some mail."
"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them."
"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.
"What's a dentist?" Neville asked, and the lunch devolved into an in-depth explanation.
~~~
Once the holidays had started, Ron and the twins were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. They'd only been to the Den once to explain to Basil why they wouldn't be around much. They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork — bread, crumpets, marshmallows, an experimental strawberry that did not end well — and plotting ways of getting Nott expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.
Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess (He tried teaching Elowen once and that ended so badly for both sides they never tried again). This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family – in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.
Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing: "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him."
On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. When he came downstairs the next morning though, small piles of presents with his and Elowen's names on them sat in front of the fire.
"Happy Christmas," said Ron sleepily as he came down the stairs behind Harry.
"You too," said Harry absently. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!" He heard El coming down the stairs and turned to meet her bewildered expression with his own. "El, we have presents!"
His sister stopped at his side and they both just stared at the piles.
"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harry's.
"We've never had presents before," Elowen said as she sat on the floor and reached for one of the presents in her pile. It was from Neville, a small flower pot with a white flowered plant in it. The tag in the soil proclaimed it to be moly. The next package, from Draco, was a book, clearly from his family's library, with several pages marked. When El opened it up, she saw a Potter Family tree and smiled, setting it aside to show Harry later.
Harry picked up the top parcel in his pile. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it – it sounded a bit like an owl. A second, very small parcel contained a note.
We received your message and enclose a Christmas present for the both of you. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Cellotaped to the note was a fifty-pence piece.
"That's friendly," said Harry. He passed the note to his sister. She snorted.
"How generous of them."
Ron was fascinated by the fifty pence.
"Weird!" he said. "What a shape! This is money?"
"You can keep it," said Harry, exchanging a look with El and laughing at how pleased Ron was. "Hagrid and my aunt and uncle – so who sent these?"
"That one's from Neville, I'm pretty sure," Elowen said, pointing to a package that had the same wrapping as the one she'd gotten. She held up the book. "This one from Draco's sort of for both of us."
"I think I know who those ones are from," said Ron, going a bit pink and pointing to two very lumpy presents the twins hadn't opened. "My mum. I told her you didn't expect any presents and… oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you each a Weasley jumper."
Harry had torn open the wrapping to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of home-made fudge. He looked over. Elowen had the same box of fudge and a dark blue sweater.
"Every year she makes us a jumper," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."
"That's really nice of her," said Harry, trying the fudge, which was very tasty.
"Really, thanks, Ron," Elowen added, pulling her jumper over her head.
The next present all three of them opened also contained sweets – a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione for Harry, Bertie Bott's for Ron, and a box of strawberry Sugar Quills for Elowen.
Neville had indeed sent both Ron and Harry presents, a Chudley Cannons poster for Ron and a practice Snitch for Harry. Elowen opened a thin book on magical creatures from Hagrid.
This left one parcel sitting between both twins. A letter was taped to the top and Elowen picked it up.
"It's from Gringotts!" she read, surprised.
Harry paused in opening the package. "Gringotts?" he asked. "Why would they be sending us anything?"
"I sent a letter to them months ago, asking for them to find our parents' will," Elowen said absently. "I wanted to know who we should have been raised by."
She read the letter aloud.
"Heiress Black,
My apologies for the delay in responding to your correspondence. It seems that the will of the late Lord and Lady Potter, your parents, was put under heavy enchantments before being placed in the Potter Family Vault, and it took our ward casters quite awhile to unravel them. We have procured the will, however, and can set up an official reading whenever you and Heir Potter wish.
There is another thing I feel I must tell you. Some weeks ago, a powerful artifact, a Potter Family Heirloom according to records, reappeared in the main vault. The last person to remove it was the late Lord Potter, your father. I have felt a strange urging to send this artifact to you and Heir Potter at once, and I am not one to ignore the urgings of such strong magic. Rest assured, our Curse Breakers have ensured that the artifact is free of any harmful magics.
May your enemies fall at your feet,
Griphook
Potter Account Manager
Black Account Manager"
Elowen looked up at the wide eyes of her twin and Ron. Slowly, all eyes turned to the package Harry was still holding. It was very light. He unwrapped it.
Something fluid and silvery grey went slithering to the floor, where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped.
"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every-Flavour Beans he'd got from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is, they're really rare, and really valuable."
"What is it?"
Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.
"It's an Invisibility Cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is – try it on."
Harry threw the Cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell. Elowen gasped.
"Whoa…"
"I was right! Look down!"
Harry looked down at his feet, but they had gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in mid-air, his body completely invisible. He pulled the Cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.
"Blimey," Ron shook his head. "Must've been really powerful magic to want to be with you." He glanced at Elowen. "What do you reckon it was?"
"No real way to know, is there?" Elowen answered. "I'm not sure I want to know. Magic powerful enough to make the goblins send it to us? I don't want to mess with that." Ron nodded and Elowen smirked, making him groan. "Not until at least third year."
Harry pulled off the Cloak and tossed it around his sister's shoulders. She stood up and gave a twirl, laughing as the Cloak swished around her feet like water. Ron was admiring the Cloak.
"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the matter?"
"Nothing," said Harry. He felt very strange to know that they now owned something that had belonged to their family, something that had last belonged to their father. Before he could say or think anything else, a dormitory door slammed upstairs and Fred and George Weasley bounded down. Elowen pulled the Cloak off and Harry stuffed it quickly out of sight. Neither twin felt like sharing it with anyone else yet.
"Merry Christmas!"
"Hey, look, Harry and Elowen got Weasley jumpers, too!"
Fred and George were wearing blue jumpers, one with a large yellow F on it, the other with a large yellow G.
"Theirs are better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Harry's jumper. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."
"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."
"I hate maroon," Ron moaned half-heartedly as he pulled it over his head.
"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid – we know we're called Gred and Forge."
Elowen laughed brightly and George grinned at her.
"What's all this noise?"Percy Weasley stuck his head over the railing of the stairs, looking disapproving. He had clearly come halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy jumper over his arm, which Fred seized.
"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry and Elowen got one."
"I — don't — want —" said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the jumper over his head, knocking his glasses askew.
"And you're not sitting with the Prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family."
They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his sides by his jumper.
~~~
Elowen decided at once that Christmas dinners were much better when they were allowed to eat it and not required to cook it. Never in their life, though, had the twins seen a Christmas dinner like this. A hundred fat, roast turkeys, mountains of roast and boiled potatoes, platters of fat chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce – and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. These crackers were nothing like the boring Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats. Harry pulled a cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear-admiral's hat and several live, white mice that immediately tried to escape. Elowen grabbed an empty water pitcher and scooped the mice into it to bring up to Hedwig later.
Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him. Elowen watched as Hagrid got redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to all the Gryffindors' amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lop-sided.
Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver Sickle embedded in his slice. When Harry finally pushed away from the table, he was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of non-explodable, luminous balloons, a grow-your-own-warts kit and his own new wizard chess set. The white mice were made quick work of by Hedwig, and the owl nipped the twins' ears affectionately before flying off to the Owlery.
The twins and the Weasleys spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight in the grounds. Then, cold, wet and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. He suspected he wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help him so much.
After a dinner of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor Tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge.
It had been Harry's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it: the Invisibility Cloak and whoever had sent it.
Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as he'd drawn the curtains of his four-poster. Harry leant over the side of his own bed and pulled the Cloak out from under it.
His father's … this had been his father's. He let the material flow over his hands, smoother than silk, light as air. He had to try it, now. Slipping on his shoes, he crept out of the dorm and down to the common room. He felt a bit bad, trying out the Cloak without Elowen, but after a fourth year boy had set off loud alarms trying to go up the girls stairs, Harry wasn't going to try and wake her up now.
When he got to the common room, however, Elowen was waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him.
"I couldn't sleep," she said by way of an explanation. "Something that belonged to our father? Figured if you weren't down in the next hour I'd go up and wake you so we could try it out."
Suddenly, Harry felt wide awake. The whole of Hogwarts was open to them in this Cloak. He grinned at El and swung the Cloak over both their shoulders. They were small and short enough that they both fit under it no problem. Excitement flooded through him as they stood there in the dark and silence. They could go anywhere in this, anywhere, and Filch would never know. Slowly, after a few missteps trying to walk so close together, they crept across the common room and climbed through the portrait hole.
"Who's there?" squawked the Fat Lady. They said nothing and walked quickly down the corridor.
"Where should we go?" Elowen whispered. Harry stopped, his heart racing, and thought. And then it came to him.
"The Restricted Section!" he whispered excitedly. He couldn't see her face but he could practically feel the raised eyebrow.
"Who are you, Hermione?"
"Think about it," he whispered quickly. "The Restricted Section has books the rest of the library doesn't. We'll be able to read as long as we like, as long as it takes to find out who Flamel is."
"Alright," Elowen agreed. "Restricted Section it is."
The library was pitch black and very eerie. Harry lit a lamp so they could see their way along the rows of books. The lamp looked as if it was floating along in mid-air, and even though Harry could feel his arm supporting it, the sight gave him the creeps.
"You think Invisibility Cloaks are how the muggle ghost stories started?" Elowen murmured lowly as she watched the lantern bob along in front of them. Harry shrugged.
The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope which separated these books from the rest of the library, the twins shrugged off the Cloak. Elowen cast a Lumos while Harry held up the lamp to read the titles.
They didn't tell him much. Their peeling, faded gold letters spelled words in languages Harry couldn't understand. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. The hairs on the back of Harry's neck prickled.
"I'm starting to see why these are Restricted," El said quietly, staring at a book titled The Moste Noble Arte of Death Magickes. The book looked to be bound in human skin.
"Yeah," Harry breathed as he looked around. "Anything look helpful?"
He picked up the Cloak and slung it around his shoulders, hood down, as he stepped closer to Elowen. Maybe he was imagining it, maybe not, but he thought a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn't be. It made him very uneasy.
Deciding they had to start somewhere, Elowen crouched down, handed her lit wand to Harry and pulled a large black and silver volume off the bottom shelf. She lifted it with some difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on her knee, let it fall open.
A piercing, blood-curdling shriek split the silence. The book was screaming! Elowen snapped it shut, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken, ear-splitting note. She scrambled to her feet and back under the Cloak. Harry pulled the hood over their heads and Elowen whispered a quick "Nox" as she took her wand back. They stumbled backwards, knocking into the lamp, which went out at once, leaving them in total darkness. Panicking, they heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside – Elowen shoved the shrieking book back on the shelf and they ran for it. They passed Filch almost in the doorway; Filch's pale, wild eyes looked straight through them and the twins slipped under Filch's outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor, the book's shrieks still ringing in their ears.
They came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armour.
"Where are we?" Elowen breathed, looking around. Harry shook his head. He'd been so busy getting away from the library, he hadn't paid attention to where they were going. Perhaps because it was dark, he didn't recognise where they were at all. There was a suit of armour near the kitchens, he knew, but they must be five floors above there.
He started to relay this before shutting his mouth. Voices were approaching down the corridor.
"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library – Restricted Section."
Harry felt the blood drain out of his face as he looked at Elowen, equally pale and wide eyed. Wherever he was, Filch must know a short cut, because his soft, greasy voice was getting nearer, and to their horror, it was Snape who replied.
"The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."
The twins stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape came around the corner ahead. They couldn't see the twins, of course, but it was a narrow corridor and if they came much nearer they'd knock right into them – the Cloak didn't stop them being solid.
"Door," Elowen hissed, barely audible despite being right next to Harry. "Come on."
They backed away as quietly as they could. A door stood ajar to Harry's left. It was their only hope. They squeezed through it, one after the other, holding their breath, trying not to move it, and to Harry's relief they managed to get inside the room without the two adults noticing anything. They walked straight past and Harry leant against the wall, breathing deeply, listening to their footsteps dying away. That had been close, very close. It was a few seconds before he noticed anything about the room he had hidden in.
"Whoa," Elowen said. He looked up. They were in what looked like a disused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls and there was an upturned waste-paper basket – but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way. "I don't think this was meant to be here."
It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
"You know what it says?" Harry asked as he came up beside her.
"Not at all," was the answer. "But it looks very expensive. Oh! Hold on." She reached in her pocket — and Harry just now noticed she was wearing her uniform robes — and pulled out a scrap of parchment and a self inking quill ("inking a quill every time I wanna use it is dumb, Harry"). Quickly she wrote down the inscription. She quirked a grin when she caught Harry's amused look. "Okay maybe Hermione is rubbing off on both of us."
Harry shook his head fondly and moved closer to the mirror, stepping in front of it.
He had to clap his hands to his mouth to stop himself screaming. He whirled around. His heart was pounding far more furiously than when the book had screamed – for he had seen not only himself in the mirror, but a whole crowd of people standing right behind him.
But the room was empty except for his twin. Breathing very fast, he turned slowly back to the mirror.
There he was, reflected in it, white and scared-looking, and there, reflected behind him, were at least ten others. Harry looked over his shoulder – but, still, no one was there. Or were they all invisible, too? Was he in fact in a room full of invisible people and this mirror's trick was that it reflected them, invisible or not?
"El, I think I'm going crazy," he mumbled.
"Why, what do you see?" She stepped up next to him. A soft gasp left her mouth as she looked behind her and back at the mirror more closely. Her hand grabbed tightly to Harry's.
The woman standing right behind their reflection was smiling at them and waving. Harry reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If she was really there, he'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air – she and the others existed only in the mirror.
She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes –
"Her eyes are just like ours…" Harry whispered to Elowen, edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green – exactly the same color the twins shared, the exact same shape as Harry's, but then he noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time. The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just like Harry's did.
"Harry, he looks just like you," Elowen was just as close to the glass as Harry was — so close that their noses were nearly touching that of their reflections.
"Mum?" Harry whispered.
"Dad?" Elowen breathed.
They just looked at the twins, smiling. And slowly, they looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror and saw other pairs of green eyes like theirs, other noses like theirs, even a little old man who looked as though he had Harry's knobbly knees – the twins were looking at their family, for the first time in their life.
"There are so many of them." Elowen's voice was thick as she took in their family.
The Potters smiled and waved at the twins and Harry stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness.
How long they stood there, Harry didn't know. The reflections did not fade and he looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses. He met Elowen's eyes, seeing the ache in his chest reflected in them. They couldn't stay here, they had to find their way back to bed. After a last long look, Harry tore his eyes away from his mother's face. He didn't have to look at Elowen to know she was on the same page.
"We'll come back," Harry whispered and they hurried from the room.
~~~
"You could have woken me up," said Ron the next morning at breakfast. He understood why the twins might want to do it by themselves the first time, he really did, but he was itching to try the Cloak.
"You can come tonight," Harry said quickly, "We're going back, I want to show you the mirror."
"I'd like to see your mum and dad," Ron said eagerly.
"And we want to see all your family," Elowen added, "all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show us your other brothers and everyone."
"You can see them any old time," said Ron, waving a hand. "Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. Shame about not finding Flamel, though." He shoveled some more eggs in his mouth and frowned. Neither twin had eaten anything at all. That was odd. "Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"
Harry couldn't eat, and he knew Elowen was the same. They had seen their parents and would be seeing them again tonight. To be honest, Harry had almost forgotten about Flamel. It didn't seem very important any more. Who cared what the three-headed dog was guarding? What did it matter if Snape stole it, really?
Elowen was restless and fidgety. She wanted nothing more than to go straight back to the mirror and commit her parents' faces to memory. If she knew she wouldn't get caught going in the daytime, she'd already be there, Harry right by her side. Nothing else sounded even remotely better.
"Are you all right?" said Ron, eyeing both twins. "You guys look odd."
Neither twin answered.
~~~
What Harry feared most was that he might not be able to find the mirror room again. Lucky for him, Elowen had a better memory for directions than he did. With Ron covered in the Cloak too, they had to walk much more slowly next night. They retraced the twins' steps from the library, but it took them nearly an hour to get there.
"I'm freezing," said Ron. "Let's forget it and go back."
"No!" Harry hissed. "We're almost there."
They passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction, but saw no one else. Just as Ron started moaning that his feet were dead with cold, Harry spotted the suit of armour.
"It's here… just here!"
They pushed the door open. Harry dropped the Cloak from round their shoulders and both twins ran to the mirror. There they were. Their mother and father beamed at the sight of them.
"See?" Elowen whispered.
"I can't see anything."
"Look!" Harry urged. "Look at them all… there are loads of them…"
"I can only see the two of you." The twins looked back to see Ron standing confused behind them. Elowen stepped away and pulled Ron up.
"Look in it properly, go on, stand where we are."
Harry stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror, he couldn't see his family any more, just Ron in his paisley pyjamas. Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image.
"Look at me!" he said.
"Can you see all your family standing around you?"
"No, I'm alone… but I'm different." The twins exchanged confused looks. "I look older… and I'm Head Boy!"
"What?"
"I am! I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to — and I'm holding the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup! I'm Quidditch captain, too!"
Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Harry.
"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"
"No," Elowen said morosely.
"How can it?" Harry agreed in a depressed tone. "All our family are dead. Let me have another look —" And he tried to tug Ron away.
"You had it to yourselves all last night," Ron pulled out of Harry's grasp, "give me a bit more time."
"You're only holding the Quidditch Cup, what's interesting about that?" Elowen snapped, pushing at Ron's shoulder. "We want to see our parents."
"Don't push me —"
A sudden noise outside in the corridor put an end to their discussion. They hadn't realised how loudly they had been talking.
"Quick!" Ron threw the Cloak back over them as the luminous eyes of Mrs Norris came round the door. The trio stood quite still, all thinking the same thing – did the Cloak work on cats? After what seemed an age, she turned and left.
"This isn't safe," Ron said as soon as he was sure the cat was gone. "She might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on."
And Ron pulled the twins out of the room.
~~~
The snow still hadn't melted next morning.
"Want to play chess, Harry?" said Ron.
"No."
"Elowen?"
A silent shaking of her head.
"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?"
"No… you go…"
"I know what you're thinking about, guys, that mirror. Don't go back tonight."
"Why shouldn't we?"
Ron shifted uncomfortably. "I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it – and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already. Filch, Snape and Mrs Norris are wandering around. So what if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over?"
Elowen scoffed. "You sound like Hermione."
"I'm serious, El, don't go."
But the twins only had one thought in their heads, which was to get back in front of the mirror, and Ron wasn't going to stop them.
That third night, Elowen met Harry at the portrait hole and they found their way more quickly than before. They were walking so fast Harry knew their feet flashed beneath the Cloak and they were making more noise than was wise, but they didn't meet anyone.
And there were their mum and dad, smiling at them again, and one of their grandfathers nodding happily. Harry sank down to sit on the floor in front of the mirror, Elowen leaning her head on his shoulder. There was nothing to stop them staying here all night with their family. Nothing at all.
Except.
"So, back again, my dear twins?"
Elowen whipped around and Harry felt as though his blood had turned to ice. He looked behind him. Sitting on one of the desks by the wall was none other than Albus Dumbledore. The twins must have walked straight past him, so desperate to get to the mirror they hadn't noticed him.
"I… we didn't see you, sir." Harry tried not to look too guilty.
"Strange how short-sighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore, and Harry was relieved to see that he was smiling.
"Do you have a Cloak as well, sir?" Elowen asked. Dumbledore smiled gently.
"To any good wixen, a Cloak is not necessary to become invisible," he said gently. He slipped off the desk to sit on the floor with the twins, "so, you two, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."
Harry flushed a bit. "We didn't know it was called that, sir."
"But I expect you've realised by now what it does?"
"It… well, it shows us our family…" Elowen's head was slowly turning to look back in the mirror. Dumbledore tapped her knee to get her attention again.
"And it showed your friend Ron himself as Head Boy."
"How did you know…?"
"You set off an alarm that first night," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"
Harry shook his head. Elowen just stared blankly.
"Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?"
"It shows us what we want," Elowen said wistfully.
"Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible." He sighed, suddenly looking much older. "The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, and I ask the two of you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable Cloak back on and get off to bed?"
Harry stood up, pulling Elowen up with him. He'd swung the Cloak over them when a question occurred to him.
"Sir… Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?"
"Obviously, you've just done so," Dumbledore smiled. "You may ask me one more thing, however."
"What do you see when you look in the Mirror?"
"Harry!" Elowen hissed. Dumbledore chuckled.
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woollen socks."
Both twins stared.
"One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."
The twins left. As the door closed behind them, Elowen could hear him settle in front of the mirror. "…Gellert, Ariana, hello…"
It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. But then, he thought, as he shoved Scabbers off his pillow, it had been quite a personal question.
He rolled over and fell asleep instantly, dreams of his parents laughing as they danced together filling his head.