Chapter 4

Harry sighed, leaving the library with Ron and Hermione. The Christmas Holidays were starting the next morning, and Hermione had wanted them to get ahead on some of their homework before she left to go home to her parents. Harry and Ron had reluctantly agreed, especially since Harry didn't have anything much better to do.

Harry hadn't received a letter in a while, what with how bad the weather had been. He'd felt bad sending Hedwig out with his reply to Dora's last letter, but he'd felt like he owed her for her information, her help, and also he just really enjoyed talking to the older girl who was as close to real family as he'd ever had. Hedwig hadn't returned with a reply, but Hagrid had been having to tend to most of the owls who had made it to the castle, so Harry wouldn't have been surprised if Hedwig was holed up with Dora until the weather could improve.

Her information about Flamel had been great, since neither he, Ron, or Hermione had had any luck in figuring out who he was. With Dora's information, Hermione had immediately found the book they needed for further information, but they really hadn't needed it, since Dora had given them everything that was relevant. That had freed up a lot of their time for other pursuits, and had only increased Harry's excitement to be staying at Hogwarts. This was looking to be his best Christmas ever, and it certainly helped that Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all staying as well, since their parents were going to visit Charlie in Romania.

Her letter had been really helpful honestly. Sure, he'd already been watching his back a bit, since he thought Snape was trying to injure or kill him, but he hadn't really looked at the facts like Dora had, and he had been forced to admit that she was right, and while Snape was a possible candidate, Harry couldn't really be sure. Plus, her advice of more spells had been helpful, and with the freed up time that they had not searching for Flamel, he had dedicated some time to learning a couple of the hexes and jinxes she'd recommended. With her Auror contact talking to Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all did think they could relax for the most part because they were sure Dumbledore would look into what was going on.

Other than that, his last letter hadn't been anything special as far as he was concerned. He'd continued to tease her about eventually beating her in a duel, and worrying about her being a batshit crazy instructor. He'd asked how her training was going and asked about her welfare, and then he'd mentioned that he was thinking about looking into Occlumency since she felt it was useful. Lastly, he'd talked a bit more about his classes and quidditch practices before answering her question about where he was staying for Christmas, and agreeing that he was really forward to seeing her in person.

That had been nearly two weeks ago. Now, Harry was watching his roommates and friends pack their things to go home to their families, and thinking about the coming weeks of freedom.

*HP*

The holidays started quietly, but Harry and Ron were having a lot of fun, which made it easy to forget about Flamel and his stone. The dormitories were nearly empty and the common room had few people even when everyone was present, which meant they could get the best spots near the fire, could eat whatever they wanted, and plot ways to get Malfoy expelled. Ron started teaching Harry wizard chess, which Harry was not good at, and they enjoyed snowball fights with the twins, and jaunts through the castle trying to find new secret passageways that would help them get to classes easier and avoid Filch and Snape.

Harry awoke Christmas day looking forward to the food and fun, but not expecting any presents, which was why he felt utter shock, but happiness seeing a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed.

"Merry Christmas," Ron greeted sleepily as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe.

"You, too," Harry replied. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"

"What did you expect, turnips?" said Ron, turning to his own pile, which was a lot bigger than Harry's.

Harry blushed a bit, not wanting to admit to his friend that he'd never had a Christmas present in his life, and certainly hadn't expected any now. He had always spent Christmas locked up in his cupboard, only let out to help the Dursleys clean up after they unwrapped their presents, and then make them breakfast. As the day went on, if his uncle drank a bit and Dudley broke some of his new toys, Harry usually ended up locked back in his cupboard with a bruised stomach.

Harry picked up the top parcel, noticing it was wrapped in thick brown paper, and that it was from Hagrid. Harry grinned and unwrapped it, finding a roughly cut wooden flute, something which Hagrid had obviously whittled himself. Harry blew it, and rather liked that it sounded a bit like an owl.

"Looks like you got something from my mum," Ron said, pointing to a lumpy parcel. "I told her you didn't expect any present - oh no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater."

Harry tore open the parcel to find a thick, hand knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge. He smiled softly, appreciating the gift immensely.

"Every year she makes us a sweater," 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.

His next present also contained candy. It was a large box of chocolate frogs from Hermione. He looked to see two more gifts. He grabbed the smaller one, and smiled widely seeing that it was from Dora. He opened it up and a leather arm band fell out.

He glanced at it in confusion before seeing a note that was attached to the arm band.

Wotcher Harry,

This is a wand holster for your arm. They're dead useful. This particular one is just like the one I use as an auror. It has an anti-summoning spell sewn into it, so nobody can summon your wand from your holster, and with a flick of your wrist, it will deploy the wand into your hand for a faster draw. It's enchanted to be feather light and comfortable and self-sizing, so you won't even feel like you're wearing it, and when it's around your arm, it has a disillusionment charm enchanted into it, so nobody will even know it's on your arm unless they deliberately try to feel for it. It should last you a couple years. I hope you like it!

Love,

Your favorite metamorphmagus

Harry looked at the holster in awe, extremely grateful for the gift. He'd of course ordered a gift for her too, but he hadn't expected one in return, and not something this nice. Deciding he wanted to try it on immediately and put it on his wand arm, amazed at how he barely noticed it. He looked a bit confused when it didn't disappear immediately, but his confusion cleared when it did disappear after his wand was put into the holster.

He grinned as he flicked his wrist slightly and the wand was deployed into his hand so fast he almost missed catching it. It would take some practice, but he was really looking forward to not having to carry his wand in his robe pockets.

Finally, he glanced towards the last parcel. He picked it up and felt it, surprised with how light it was. He unwrapped it and something fluid and silvery gray 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 Flavored Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is - they're really rare, and really valuable."

"What is it?" Harry asked, as he 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.

"It is! Look down!"

Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror, and sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.

"There's a note!" Ron said suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"

Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words:

Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A very Merry Christmas to you.

There was no signature. Harry stared at the note. 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. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father? He figured Dora might know, so he'd have to ask her.

Harry's thoughts were diverted as Fred and George made their way into the dormitory, bringing with them the noise and chaos that only the Weasley twins could bring. They quickly got Harry, Ron, and Percy who joined them as well into their own Weasley sweaters before guiding them out of the dormitories and towards the grounds for a snowball fight before the Christmas Feast mid afternoon.

As they turned the corner and started making their way to the Entrance Hall, Harry found himself stopping, which caused the Weasley's to stop as Harry saw Professor Dumbledore in the Entrance Hall, talking with someone that Harry recognized, even if he couldn't remember ever meeting her in person. She was average height, with a slim build, and she currently had her hair purple and at shoulder length.

He moved forward almost hesitantly, as she glanced his way, noticing him and she froze. Harry stopped, wondering if the first sight of him was a disappointment, but that was blown away when she smiled widely and immediately started running at him full speed. He grinned and sped up, but then his eyes widened when she tripped right as she reached him, unintentionally jumping into him and knocking him to the ground, and he grunted .

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Dora exclaimed, quickly getting off of him and pulling him to his feet. She looked so embarrassed and nervous that he couldn't help but laugh.

"You did warn me that you're a complete klutz," Harry said, a bit breathlessly, grinning.

She grinned, and then did something else that caught Harry off guard. She pulled him into a fierce hug. It was the first hug that Harry could remember, never having received one from any of his relatives, and not having received one from anyone else as far as he could remember. Normally, he probably would have flinched, but he didn't feel alarmed by Dora. He sighed feeling content and hugged her back. Finally she pulled back and grinned at him.

"Surprise!" she said, and Harry laughed.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked, elated to finally meet her in person.

"I'm visiting you of course, you prat," she said, with a light slap on his arm. "Dumbledore's going to let me stay for the day so that I can be with my family."

Harry felt a warm feeling fill him up, something he'd never experienced before.

"Merry Christmas, Dora," Harry said softly, and she grinned back and nodded before glancing behind him.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Weasleys!" Dora exclaimed, stepping forward and surprising Harry as both Fred and George crashed into her with hugs.

"Wotcher, Tonks," the twins greeted, looking quite happy to see her.

"We didn't realize you knew young Harry here," Fred said.

" . . . but the way you're falling all over him does make us a bit concerned . . . " George said with a grin.

" . . . no matter how happy we are to see you. He's a bit young, don't you think?" Fred finished.

Dora sighed. "You two haven't changed at all. I'm not falling down all over a first year, you prats. Harry's family I'll have you know!"

Fred and George both exchanged slightly surprised looks. "How come you never mentioned being family to Harry Potter!" Fred asked.

"Maybe she told Charlie?" George said fairly. "She might have told him a lot of things squirreled away in broom closets."

Dora glared, her face going slightly red as her hair went really red, and Harry grinned with slight awe seeing Dora's powers in person.

"First, I never felt the need to tell any of you little snots who were family members to me. Second, Charlie and I were a long time ago and that is between him and I."

"Ooh, testy, testy," Fred said with a grin.

"Yes, indeed," George continued. "We've obviously ruffled the great Nympadora's feathers."

Faster than Harry could react, Dora had deployed her wand and George and Fred were both running as she shot stinging hexes at the pairs, while Ron howled with laughter. Dora stopped moving forward as the twins made it out of the Entrance Hall.

"Those two know better," Dora growled out.

"As impetuous as ever, it seems," Percy said, walking forward, his hand outstretched. "Greetings, Tonks."

Dora grinned slightly at the eldest Hogwarts Weasley. "Well, no surprise to see you got Prefect, Percy. Charlie wrote to me telling me how proud he was of you, though he didn't seem surprised."

Percy rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt that."

"Oh he was," Dora said earnestly. "He's always proud of all his siblings' accomplishments. Besides, he was a prefect himself, as was Bill. Of course he was sure that you were the most likely of any of you all to become Prefect."

Percy looked at her slightly disbelieving, but nodded with his somewhat pompous expression clearing somewhat, looking pleased at her words.

"Now, as fun as it is to see Weasleys, I am here for someone else," Dora said, and turned back to Harry. "So, Harry, up for a jaunt around the castle."

Harry glanced at Ron apologetically, but Ron just waved him off and then ran off in the direction the twins had gone. Harry grinned at Dora and nodded.

*HP*

Dora felt happier than she had in a very long time walking the halls with Harry. He was a bit reserved, perhaps due to being a bit nervous with her, or unfortunately, she suspected he was just more reserved in general, if she was reading between the lines correctly on what his home life might actually be like. She hoped it wasn't as bad as she thought it might be, and dreaded that it was worse, but she wasn't sure they were quite ready to broach that subject, at least not today. She figured she'd try and drop by this next summer, even if Harry didn't want her around, just so she could see for herself. She wanted to make sure he was okay.

Regardless, despite his slight nervousness, he was still talking about various subjects with her, eagerly showing her his favorite places in the castle, as she in turn guided him to some of her favorites. He was slowly loosening up with her, taking her gentle teases and dishing them back like they did in their letters, and getting used to her personality and mannerisms that hadn't quite translated to her writing. She only hoped that she wasn't a disappointment. She wanted this bond so bad, and she felt like he did too, which comforted her to no end, and yet made her nervous about messing it up.

"So, Harry, we've still got some time before Christmas Dinner. How about we get some target practice in?" Dora offered up, noticing that they had wandered to a rather out of the way corridor.

Harry grinned and nodded eagerly. "Where did you get most of your practice in while you were at Hogwarts?"

"Oh, here and there," Dora responded with a grin. "Today though, we'll stay here, and I'll show you a fun way to get in some spell practice, though definitely one the Professors wouldn't approve of."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise as Dora pointed her wand at one of the suits of armor and then charmed the helmet to start floating on its own out into the middle of the hallway, and then it started moving slowly back and forth through the hallway, making it a mobile target. She then conjured three steel targets, reinforced them with magic, and spread them out next to each other on the hallway, a meter or so apart, creating three separate stationary targets.

Harry grinned at her little makeshift range.

"Now, we can move back here," Dora said brightly, "and we have three stationary targets to cast at and one moving target. With this setup, we can work on speed, accuracy, and distance if we want. Plus, the three stationary targets are all reinforced steel, so they should hold up against most spells. So, have you or your friends tried anything like this or even tried to find a place to practice defensive spells?"

Harry shook his head, looking apologetic. "Not really. We've practiced a couple spells in empty classrooms or in our dorms, but otherwise, no."

Dora smiled. "I'm not surprised. I didn't start doing this till about midway through my fifth year or so when I decided I really wanted to be an Auror and that I felt like I needed to start working on the skills I'd need for Auror training. Then again, I wasn't fighting mountain trolls. However, in a couple years, if you're still interested in possibly being an Auror, I'll give you some better information on what to do to prepare. Regardless, there's no reason for you to be training. You're a first year. I will tell you to study curses, hexes, and jinxes on your own just because they're useful . . . and you're not really taught them in class."

"You didn't decide you wanted to be an Auror until your fifth year?" Harry asked curiously.

Tonks shrugged. "I'd stated I wanted to be an Auror before that, but I'd definitely focused more on pranks and having fun then my grades. I was a good student, but by no means was I getting the grades I needed to get into Auror training. In fifth year, you'll do career counseling with your Head of House to help you pick which classes you'll take as a NEWT student, and to give you an idea of what grades you'll need. Professor Sprout was supportive, but she warned me that my Herbology and Potions grades needed to come up if I wanted to stand a chance in the NEWT classes, and that I should improve my Charms work as well, to give me the best chance of getting in. I took what she said to heart, what with my OWLs only a few months away, and started to buckle down. One way I found to get practice in was to do things like this, since I'm getting transfiguration, charms, defense, and dueling or spellwork practice all in one go!"

Harry nodded, interested in when Dora had really decided to choose her profession.

They spent the next half hour casting spells at the various targets, playfully trying to see who could land the most hits off the draw, or the best hit off of the draw, or trying trickshots that the other had to try and copy which had them both laughing. Harry certainly lost in everything they tried, but he still had a lot of fun.

Finally, Dora vanished the targets, repaired the helmet and returned it to the suit of armor.

"Alright, let's get to that feast!" Dora said brightly. "A Hogwarts Christmas feast is not something to miss!"

Dora had been right. The Hogwarts Christmas feast was not something to miss. He'd never seen anything like it. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of 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 fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Harry pulled a wizard 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. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and he was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.

Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice. Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Harry's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.

Dora kept Harry and the Weasleys entertained by morphing her face in various funny ways or changing her looks to increasingly ludicrous colors and mismatches, keeping them laughing. When she wasn't morphing, she happily shared embarrassing stories about the elder Weasley brothers that Ron, Fred, George, and even Percy seemed to enjoy, and then she'd regale some of her own embarrassing or amusing stories that would keep them laughing.

When Harry finally left the table with Dora, they were both laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of nonexplodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and Harry got his own new wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and Harry had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norris's Christmas dinner.

Harry, Dora, and the Weasleys spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on 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. Dora certainly didn't try to help him, being quite amused with how bad he was, and also just frankly interested in exploring the Gryffindor common room, never having been in it as a student.

After a meal 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.

The only dampening on it was that Harry knew his time with Dora was about over, and looking over at her, she nodded a bit glumly, and gestured for him to follow her out of the tower. She waved goodbye to the Weasleys and then they started their walk towards the Entrance Hall.

"It was really nice to finally see you," Harry offered up, not really sure how to part ways. "This has definitely been my best Christmas ever."

"It has been a really great Christmas for me too," Dora said brightly. "I never did thank you for that spell resistance cloak, but it's very nice and I can really use it."

"I hoped you'd like it," Harry muttered. "I wasn't really sure what to get you, but I figured that could help you stay safe."

"It definitely will," Dora assured him as they finally reached the Entrance Hall. She moved towards him and pulled him into another fierce hug that he returned, really enjoying the physical contact that felt familial, and he was a bit sad when she finally pulled back.

"Keep in touch, Harry," she said with a grin, "try not to fight so many trolls or interact with cerberuses, and do try to play some pranks for me."

Harry grinned.

"I'll do my best on all of those," Harry assured her, and she smiled before ruffling his hair.

"Merry Christmas, Harry," Dora said more softly.

"Merry Christmas, Dora," Harry echoed, and then she walked out of the Entrance Hall and was gone.

Harry was a bit glum at her departure, but he knew it wasn't the last time he'd see her. He might even be able to see her this next summer a time or two if he could escape his relatives for an afternoon or two. With her departure, he was thinking about going to bed when something else jumped into his mind: the invisibility cloak and whoever had sent it.

He hadn't asked Dora if his father had had an invisibility cloak, but he guessed it really didn't matter. He made his way back to the Gryffindor Tower and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Weasleys had all turned in. He wanted to be alone his first time using his father's cloak.

He moved up to his four poster bed, and pulled the cloak out from underneath his bed. It was smoother than silk and light as air. Use it well, the note had said. He wrapped himself in the cloak, and looked down seeing only moonlight and shadows. It was a very funny feeling.

Harry felt wide awake, knowing the whole of Hogwarts was open to him under the cloak. He could go anywhere, and nobody would know . . . not even Filch.

He crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole.

"Who's there?" squawked the Fat Lady.

Harry said nothing, and continued to walk quickly down the corridor, and started thinking about where to go.

Use it well . . . play some pranks.

Harry grinned, having some ideas, but it would take some research, and with nobody watching him, he could even check out the Restricted Section if he wanted. Drawing the Invisibility Cloak tight around him, he walked off quickly towards the library.

The library was pitch black, and a bit eerie. Harry was going to light a lamp, when he thought about Dora scolding him to think things through more, and he realized he knew a simple spell to use instead.

"Lumos," Harry whispered.

Knowing he could search the library for charms books easily tomorrow, he moved to the Restricted Section in the back of the library. He stepped carefully over the rope that separated those books from the rest of the library, and used his wandlight to try and read titles.

It didn't take him long before he wondered if he'd made a mistake going into the Restricted Section. Most of the titles were peeling, and faded, hard to read. Some were in other languages, and some had no titles at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood, and it made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand up. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but he even almost thought there was a faint whispering coming from the books.

Regardless of his unease, he was here, and he might as well take advantage of it for now. He continued to look through various books, looking for anything that might help him with pranking or at least getting away with pranking when he finally found something of interest.

A medium sized book titled: Shadow Magic.

Now, granted, Harry was a complete novice when it came to magic, so he really had no idea what the book might contain, but if he thought about shadows, all he could really think of was darkness, and he thought maybe the book had a bunch of different types of spells of concealment or to help create darkness that he could then hide in. That could be worthwhile for someone trying to get away after playing a prank, and also for later in life if he decided he wanted to be an auror. He remembered Dora said there was a stealth and concealment portion to Auror training. Maybe he could get ahead!

Harry opened the book and started reading the introduction.

'Shadow Magic is an obscure but powerful form of elemental magic, often confused with the Dark Arts or attached to illusion magic, but while Shadow Magic has no inherent attachment to the Dark Arts and is the original basis for illusion magic, it can be so much more than either.

Shadow Magic is born from darkness, as it swallows all light that it touches, and is one of the ten magical elements of the world, along with air, water, earth, fire, ice, lightning, sound, light, and space-time. Shadow Magic is favored by those who value stealth and deception or disciples of Hades, and much of modern illusion spells have shadow elements in the spell theory, even if the average witch or wizard does not fully understand.

Shadow Magic, unlike many other branches of magic including other elemental magic, relies as much on the amount of darkness in an area as it does on the caster's magical strength, unless favored by the God Hades. A weaker wizard surrounded in darkness could easily overpower a strong opponent incapable of using Shadow Magic or defending themselves from Shadow Magic. Because of this, Shadow Magic is an extremely powerful tool because it can change the power scale that a wizard or witch has in their arsenal, especially if they understand the minimum basics involved with creating more darkness. Its only true counter is Light Magic, which has many of the same rules, benefits and limitations as Shadow Magic.

This tome contains the knowledge of how to create darkness, manipulate darkness in various ways, alter one's perception of darkness or within darkness, alter other's perceptions either through enchantment or illusion, offensive and defensive shadow spells, and several other advanced skills and abilities to include shadow senses and shadow travel. It also includes all relevant knowledge to gain favor with the patron of darkness should the reader decide to truly embrace the element of darkness.'

Harry couldn't help but gape at the book, extremely intrigued on the type of magic that was in this book, even if some of what the intro had talked about was a bit beyond his understanding, and he had no idea what the book was talking about with Hades. Wasn't he a Greek God? He flipped through the book, noting certain sections . . . Concealment and Invisibility, Offensive Magic, Defensive Magic, Animating Shadows, Rituals . . .

He finally shut the book, extremely interested in the obscure branch of magic, but suspected finding this book in a place like Flourish and Blotts was going to be nearly impossible, especially if the branch of magic was obscure, and obscure enough for the first page of the book to mention its obscurity! There was no way he'd be allowed to check out this book either, which left him only a few options if he really wanted to try and learn this type of magic, which honestly seemed incredible. He could only gleefully imagine using it to befuddle or prank Malfoy. He also was fairly sure that likely nobody under sixth year would know anything about this type of magic, since the Restricted Section couldn't be easily accessed until you reached NEWT classes.

Harry thought about it for a moment. He figured he had four options. One, he could see if he could find or maybe Dora could help him find a copy of this book somewhere, and then he could just own it himself. He could come here nightly and try to learn it while the Library was closed, but he suspected the lack of sleep would start getting to him, especially since he was sure the magic was quite complicated and he'd need a lot of time to really learn it. He could find some way to either make a copy of the book or at least copy certain pages from the book . . . or he could give up and wait until his NEWT years.

He didn't like the last option, so he figured he'd write to Dora and ask her about the branch of magic, see if she knew anything or if she had any idea where he might find a book on it, and then he'd try to find a way to make a copy of the book. He grinned, realizing that he could actually ask Percy to help him, since Percy would likely be willing to help him learn the duplication charm. He knew there was one, and he found it a bit amusing that the straight-laced Prefect would unknowingly help him break the rules at Hogwarts. Ron and the Twins would certainly get a kick out of that.

With his way forward decided, he replaced the book back on the shelves and continued to browse, noticing a large black and silver volume. He pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and balancing it on his knee, let it fall open.

A piercing, blood curdling shriek split the silence - the book was screaming! Harry snapped it shut, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken ear splitting note. He stumbled backward into a set of shelves causing another loud clang. Panicking, he heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside. He quickly stuffed the shrieking book back onto the shelf, and then ran for it, passing Filch in the doorway, who thankfully looked straight through him due to Harry's cloak.

He came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armor, realizing that he'd been so busy getting away from the library that he hadn't paid attention to where he was going. He certainly didn't recognize where he was at, though he thought that could have just been because of the darkness.

"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. Wherever he was, Filch must know a shortcut, because his soft, greasy voice was getting nearer, and to his horror, it was Snape who replied. "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."

Harry stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape came around the corner ahead. They couldn't see him, of course, but it was a narrow corridor and if they came much nearer they'd knock right into him.

He backed away as quietly as he could. A door stood ajar to his left, and knowing it was his only hope, he squeezed through it, holding his breath, desperately trying not to move it, and to his relief, he managed to get inside the room without Filch or Snape noticing. They walked straight past, and Harry leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, listening to their footsteps dying away. That had been close . . . too close. It was a few seconds before he noticed anything about the room he had hidden in.

It looked like an unused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper 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.

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. HIs panic fading now that there was no sound of Filch and Snape, Harry moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to look at himself but see no reflection. He stepped in front of it.

He had to clap his hands to his mouth to stop himself from screaming, seeing a crowd of people right behind him in the mirror. He whirled around, but the room was still empty. Breathing 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?

Looking at the mirror again, he took a better look at the people next to him and realized that he recognized several of the people immediately next to him. There was Dora, right beside him, beaming, and behind her were her parents Ted and Andromeda. On the other side of Harry was a pretty woman with dark red hair and the same green eyes that Harry had inherited from her. Next to her, just behind Harry was a man with Harry's messy black hair. His parents were right next to him, but when he reached back, nothing was there. These reflections only existed in the mirror.

Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection, drinking in the sight of his family whole and together. Slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw other pairs of green eyes like his, other noses like his, even a little old man who looked as though he had Harry's knobbly knees—Harry was looking at his whole family, for the first time in his life.

The Potters and Tonks smiled and waved at Harry and he 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 he stood there, he didn't know. The reflections did not fade and he looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses. He couldn't stay here, he had to find his way back to bed. He tore his eyes away from his mother's face, whispered, "I'll come back," and hurried from the room.

*HP*

"You could have woken me up," said Ron, crossly.

"You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror."

"I'd like to see your mom and dad," Ron said eagerly.

"And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone."

"You can see them any old time," said Ron. "Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. I'd like to maybe see that book on Shadow Magic, too. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"

Harry couldn't eat. He had seen his parents and would be seeing them again tonight. He had almost forgotten about Shadow Magic. It didn't seem very important anymore. Who cared about learning magic to play pranks or learning something cool and obscure?

"Are you all right?" said Ron. "You look odd."

What Harry feared most was that he might not be able to find the mirror room again. With Ron covered in the cloak, too, they had to walk much more slowly the next night. They tried retracing Harry's route from the library, wandering around the dark passageways for nearly an hour.

"I'm freezing," said Ron. "Let's forget it and go back."

"No!" Harry hissed. "I know it's here somewhere."

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 armor.

"It's here—just here—yes!"

They pushed the door open. Harry dropped the cloak from around his shoulders and ran to the mirror.

There they were. His mother and father beamed at the sight of him, with Dora smiling brightly right next to him.

"See?" Harry whispered.

"I can't see anything."

"Look! Look at them all . . . there are loads of them. . . ."

"I can only see you."

"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am."

Harry stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror, he couldn't see his family anymore, just Ron in his paisley pajamas.

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—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?"

"How can it? All my family are dead—let me have another look—"

"You had it to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time."

"You're only holding the Quidditch cup, what's interesting about that? I want to see my parents."

"Don't push me—"

A sudden noise outside in the corridor put an end to their discussion. They hadn't realized 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. Ron and Harry stood quite still, both thinking the same thing—did the cloak work on cats? After what seemed an age, she turned and left.

"This isn't safe—she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on."

And Ron pulled Harry out of the room.

*HP*

The snow still hadn't melted the next morning.

"Want to play chess, Harry?" said Ron.

"No."

"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?"

"No . . . you go . . ."

"I know what you're thinking about, Harry, that mirror. Don't go back tonight."

"Why not?"

"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?"

"You sound like Hermione."

"I'm serious, Harry, don't go."

But Harry only had one thought in his head, which was to get back in front of the mirror, and Ron wasn't going to stop him.

That third night he found his way more quickly than before. He was walking so fast he knew he was making more noise than was wise, but he didn't meet anyone.

And there were his mother, father, and Dora smiling at him again, and one of his grandfathers nodding happily. Harry sank down to sit on the floor in front of the mirror. There was nothing to stop him from staying here all night with his family. Nothing at all.

Except—

"So—back again, Harry?"

Harry felt as though his insides had turned to ice. He looked behind him. Sitting on one of the desks by the wall was none other than Albus Dumbledore. Harry must have walked straight past him, so desperate to get to the mirror he hadn't noticed him.

"—I didn't see you, sir."

"Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore, and Harry was relieved to see that he was smiling.

"So," said Dumbledore, slipping off the desk to sit on the floor with Harry, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."

"I didn't know it was called that, sir."

"But I expect you've realized by now what it does?"

"It—well—it shows me my family—"

"And it showed your friend Ron himself as head boy."

"How did you know—?"

"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"

Harry shook his head.

"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?"

Harry thought. Then he said slowly, "It shows us what we want . . . whatever we want . . ."

"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 or 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.

"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask 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.

"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?"

"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."

Harry 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."

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.

Dumbledore had convinced Harry not to go looking for the Mirror of Erised again, so instead, he devoted himself to his first idea before seeing the Mirror. He wrote to Dora about Shadow Magic, inquiring about it before he easily convinced Percy to teach him the Germino Charm, allowing him to make duplicates of items. He had been warned that the copies didn't last forever, but he figured it could at least allow him to copy certain pages.

The first night after learning the Gemino Charm, he and Ron went to the Restricted Section and Harry managed to find the Shadow Magic book again, though upon looking at the first few pages, he knew it would be a long project to learn it, since even the first lesson seemed quite complicated. It was certainly complicated enough that Ron lost interest upon realizing that they'd have to do research even to start learning the beginning lessons of the book, but Ron's quitting only spurred Harry on for a reason that Harry didn't even understand. He just rather liked the idea of being good at something that others might not be, for the first time. He copied the whole first chapter, and then spent the next day copying the pages out onto his own parchment . . . which was tedious and annoying so he then badgered a rather happy Percy to teach him how to charm quills to write things out for him.

He knew it would be a while before he would be able to do anything out of the book, but he planned to have the whole book copied out by the time he left Hogwarts for the summer. By the time the Christmas Holidays had ended, Harry had at least heard back from Dora, confirming that trying to find a book on Shadow Magic was unlikely, and that she wasn't even aware of anyone that was proficient in the obscure elemental art. She told him that elemental magic as a whole was complicated and didn't always have a ton of applications to normal life which was why most witches and wizards didn't learn it. She did mention that she knew some history about it and it was powerful, but not dark magic, and she thought it would be cool if he learned some, especially if the end goal was using it to cause a little playful mayhem at Hogwarts or help him down the line with a career he was interested in.

Harry did enjoy at least being able to talk to Hermione about something she had never heard of, which was a first, though she had been horrified to learn that Harry had been out of bed, roaming the school multiple nights in a row and copying pages out of a book in the restricted section. Regardless, she had never heard of Shadow Magic, but unlike Harry, she seemed a bit unnerved by it, and had mentioned that it was restricted for a reason and that Harry should give up on it until they were old enough, so he did . . . give up on talking to her and Ron about it.

With the school year starting again, Harry wasn't going to have a ton of time to read up and learn about it anyway, so he didn't even feel bad omitting the truth from his two best friends. He had more things to learn before he could even attempt anything anyway.