Chapter 10: - Mirror of Erised
Harry watched as Joey stacked his plate high at dinner, not that he could blame him. He'd never seen a Christmas dinner like it. The food was phenomenal, and every few feet along the table was a stack of wizard crackers, which blew the muggle ones out of the water. Harry pulled a cracker with George and it didn't just go bang, it sounded like cannon fire and enveloped the table in blue smoke, while from the inside ran several live white mice.
On the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his wizard hat for a flowered bonnet from another cracker, and was laughing at a joke told by one of the Professors.
The yamis were experimenting with the Christmas dinner, having never tasted one before and they weren't too sure what to make of the flaming desert, in which was a silver sickle, which Percy nearly broke a tooth on. Harry watched as the teachers got redder and redder and Hagrid finally kissed Professor McGonagall, who giggled. He had a feeling, since the group from Japan were being supplied with drinks separately, and Yugi and Kari were getting sillier and sillier, that the older students were being provided with alcohol too.
When Harry finally left the table, he was laden with prizes from the crackers, however he had a feeling, after seeing Bastet walking past licking her lips, that the mice had become a Christmas meal for the Egyptian Mau. Yami and Ombre were helping Yugi and Kari upstairs as he passed and they smiled at him as he raced back past them on his way back down.
Harry and the gang, including the twins, who'd become honorary members since their help in pranking Kaiba, had a massive snowball fight, though Kari elected to watch rather then join in. Then, cold and wet, they returned to the common room where Harry broke in a chess set he'd gotten in the crackers by getting stomped heavily by Ron, and then Yami.
Yugi and Kari could be seen trying to duel each other and not getting very far before the two of them had an idea and vanished, with the twins and their decks, for the rest of the day, coming back just before tea with non-alcoholic drinks.
After tea, no one wanted to do much before bed, settling for duelling and watching Percy chase the twins round the common room because they'd stolen his prefect badge. Not until Harry had gotten to bed, did his mind settle on the invisibility cloak.
Ombre awoke as someone rushed back into the common room, long after the curfew. It was Harry who pulled off his invisibility cloak and stopped as he realised Ombre and Kari were still in the common room. He came over, "Ombre, wake Kari up, she's got to see this."
Seven people snuck back out of the common room, though it was hard fitting five people under the invisibility cloak, while Kari and Ombre used their Orb to hide themselves in the shadows, keeping one hand on the cloak while making their way slowly towards the mirror room, trying to make sure nothing showed through the cloak.
They pushed the door open and Harry dropped the cloak and ran to the mirror. There they were, his mother and father, smiling at him. "You see?" He asked Ron, who shook his head.
"I can't see anything." He said as the rest of the group walked over to the mirror. "I can only see you."
"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am!" Harry stepped aside and his parents vanished, all he could see was Ron in his pyjamas. Ron though was staring.
"Look at me!"
"Can you see your family?"
"No, I'm alone, but I'm different, I look older, and I'm Head Boy!"
"What?" Yugi gasped, he too could only see Ron in his pyjamas.
"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 turned excitedly to Harry, "Do you think this mirror shows the future?"
"How can it? My parents are…"
"My turn!" Joey said, and Ron got out of the way. Tears filled up in Joey's eyes and Yugi looked at him concerned.
"You alright Joey?" Joey nodded and backed away slowly, unwilling to tear his eyes away. Yami stepped forward, Ombre was keeping an eye on the door, Yugi was talking quietly to Joey, whose encounter with the mirror had shocked the teen.
"Ombre…I think you should see this…" Yami said, unable to move away from the mirror. Kari took Ombre's place at the door and Ombre came over. Yami looked in the mirror, he was dressed in Ancient Egyptian clothes, with images of him and Ombre or him on his own flashing up in the background. He recognised a couple of them as recovered memories or glimpses into the past that Isuzu had shown him, others he didn't recognise at all.
Yugi mentally budged him and Yami opened the link to allow Yugi to see what he was seeing, he heard Yugi's gasp, "Your memories, the ones that have been erased!" Yugi spoke softly, with the school as quiet as it was, everyone heard what he said. Yami smiled sadly then allowed Ombre to stand in front of the mirror, contemplating what he'd seen, quietly.
Ombre opened her mind link straight away, and Kari saw that Ombre, too, was dressed as Ancient Egyptian Royalty, with flashes of images from her memories in the background. Kari walked over to her yami's side and as Ombre moved away from the mirror, Kari turned to follow but froze as an image was shown that made her reach for the mirror, and tears to well up once her hands touched the cold mirror… "Rai…" She whispered as the tears flowed, Ombre looked through their mind link and saw Kari and Ombre, Yugi and Yami, Joey and a teen she'd only ever seen in her hikari's memories, her twin brother, Rai. Ombre put her arms around the hikari and led her away so Yugi could take his turn.
Yugi stood where the others had, and looked in the mirror, Yugi's eyes filled with tears, and he reached for the mirror, "Mum…Dad…" He spoke in Japanese, but Joey understood, as did Yami, who came out of his thoughts and moved behind his hikari, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders. Yugi clung to him, without taking his eyes from the mirror. Joey walked over to Harry and Ron who was wondering what was going on, what Yugi saw that upset him so much.
"Yugi's parents have been missing for over four years, they're archaeologists, and went missing on a dig in Egypt." Joey said quietly, they were all startled by a noise in the corridor outside, and they just flung the cloak back on in time as Miss Norris stuck her head round the door. They stood stock still, especially Kari and Ombre who weren't sure if Shadow Magic worked on cats.
"This isn't safe. She might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on!" Yami said, leading them out the room, though he'd have liked to stay in the mirror room longer.
The snow still hadn't melted next morning.
"Want to play chess, Harry?" Ron asked.
"No."
"Hey Yuge, wanna duel?" Joey asked, Yugi just stared out the window.
"Why don't we go down to Hagrid's?" Ron tried again.
"No…you go."
"I know what you're thinking Harry, you're thinking about that mirror. Don't go back tonight." Harry wasn't the only listless one, Yugi was staring blankly out the window, and wouldn't reply to even Yami's mental banter, while Kari had grabbed her ice skates and hadn't come off of the frozen lake since she'd gotten up, ignoring Ombre who watched her hikari skating around and around, not really concentrating on the skating, but lost in her own little world, and ignoring Ombre's attempts at getting her to talk over the mind link about it.
"Why not?" Harry asked, staring at Ron. Ron tried to make a convincing argument but Harry had already made up his mind, he was going to see his parents in the mirror again and no-one was going to stop him.
By the fourth night he knew his way to the mirror room blindfolded, not that he tested that theory. As he stood in front of the mirror he saw his family, his mother and father, and his grandparents. There was no reason he couldn't stay here all night except…
"Back again, Harry? Yugi and Kari have returned here too." Harry turned slowly, his insides feeling as cold as the ice Kari hadn't left except to sleep since Boxing Day. Sat on on of the desks by the wall was the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, himself. Harry realised he must have walked past him in his rush to get to the mirror. "So, you and your friends, like so many before you have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised. I hope you've realised by now what it does."
"Well it shows me with my family…"
"And your friend Ron, as Head Boy."
"How did you..?"
"I don't need a cloak to become invisible. 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 like any other mirror, 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," Dumbledore said quietly, "It shows us nothing more or nothing less then the deepest and most desperate desires 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. Joseph Wheeler, whose family was spilt up when he was small, sees them back together again, back with his sister. The Pharaoh and the Princess, who can't remember their past, both saw flashes of memories from ancient times. Kari Ironhide lost her brother four years ago, and blames herself, so she saw Rai standing beside her and all her new friends. While Yugi Muto's parent's have been missing for four years, sees them returned to him, safe and sound. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad. The mirror will go to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I must ask you, not to go looking for it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live. And I will be telling Mr Muto and Miss Ironhide that too, they will be here later. Now why don't you put your cloak on and go back to bed?"
Harry stood up. "One question, Sir, Professor Dumbledore, if I may?"
"You've just done so, however, you may ask another." Dumbledore smiled.
"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick woollen socks." Harry stared, "One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."
It was only when Harry got back to bed, he realised that Professor Dumbledore had been less then honest. But then, he thought as he shoved Scabbers off his bed, it had been quite a personal question.
On the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his wizard hat for a flowered bonnet from another cracker, and was laughing at a joke told by one of the Professors.
The yamis were experimenting with the Christmas dinner, having never tasted one before and they weren't too sure what to make of the flaming desert, in which was a silver sickle, which Percy nearly broke a tooth on. Harry watched as the teachers got redder and redder and Hagrid finally kissed Professor McGonagall, who giggled. He had a feeling, since the group from Japan were being supplied with drinks separately, and Yugi and Kari were getting sillier and sillier, that the older students were being provided with alcohol too.
When Harry finally left the table, he was laden with prizes from the crackers, however he had a feeling, after seeing Bastet walking past licking her lips, that the mice had become a Christmas meal for the Egyptian Mau. Yami and Ombre were helping Yugi and Kari upstairs as he passed and they smiled at him as he raced back past them on his way back down.
Harry and the gang, including the twins, who'd become honorary members since their help in pranking Kaiba, had a massive snowball fight, though Kari elected to watch rather then join in. Then, cold and wet, they returned to the common room where Harry broke in a chess set he'd gotten in the crackers by getting stomped heavily by Ron, and then Yami.
Yugi and Kari could be seen trying to duel each other and not getting very far before the two of them had an idea and vanished, with the twins and their decks, for the rest of the day, coming back just before tea with non-alcoholic drinks.
After tea, no one wanted to do much before bed, settling for duelling and watching Percy chase the twins round the common room because they'd stolen his prefect badge. Not until Harry had gotten to bed, did his mind settle on the invisibility cloak.
Ombre awoke as someone rushed back into the common room, long after the curfew. It was Harry who pulled off his invisibility cloak and stopped as he realised Ombre and Kari were still in the common room. He came over, "Ombre, wake Kari up, she's got to see this."
Seven people snuck back out of the common room, though it was hard fitting five people under the invisibility cloak, while Kari and Ombre used their Orb to hide themselves in the shadows, keeping one hand on the cloak while making their way slowly towards the mirror room, trying to make sure nothing showed through the cloak.
They pushed the door open and Harry dropped the cloak and ran to the mirror. There they were, his mother and father, smiling at him. "You see?" He asked Ron, who shook his head.
"I can't see anything." He said as the rest of the group walked over to the mirror. "I can only see you."
"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am!" Harry stepped aside and his parents vanished, all he could see was Ron in his pyjamas. Ron though was staring.
"Look at me!"
"Can you see your family?"
"No, I'm alone, but I'm different, I look older, and I'm Head Boy!"
"What?" Yugi gasped, he too could only see Ron in his pyjamas.
"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 turned excitedly to Harry, "Do you think this mirror shows the future?"
"How can it? My parents are…"
"My turn!" Joey said, and Ron got out of the way. Tears filled up in Joey's eyes and Yugi looked at him concerned.
"You alright Joey?" Joey nodded and backed away slowly, unwilling to tear his eyes away. Yami stepped forward, Ombre was keeping an eye on the door, Yugi was talking quietly to Joey, whose encounter with the mirror had shocked the teen.
"Ombre…I think you should see this…" Yami said, unable to move away from the mirror. Kari took Ombre's place at the door and Ombre came over. Yami looked in the mirror, he was dressed in Ancient Egyptian clothes, with images of him and Ombre or him on his own flashing up in the background. He recognised a couple of them as recovered memories or glimpses into the past that Isuzu had shown him, others he didn't recognise at all.
Yugi mentally budged him and Yami opened the link to allow Yugi to see what he was seeing, he heard Yugi's gasp, "Your memories, the ones that have been erased!" Yugi spoke softly, with the school as quiet as it was, everyone heard what he said. Yami smiled sadly then allowed Ombre to stand in front of the mirror, contemplating what he'd seen, quietly.
Ombre opened her mind link straight away, and Kari saw that Ombre, too, was dressed as Ancient Egyptian Royalty, with flashes of images from her memories in the background. Kari walked over to her yami's side and as Ombre moved away from the mirror, Kari turned to follow but froze as an image was shown that made her reach for the mirror, and tears to well up once her hands touched the cold mirror… "Rai…" She whispered as the tears flowed, Ombre looked through their mind link and saw Kari and Ombre, Yugi and Yami, Joey and a teen she'd only ever seen in her hikari's memories, her twin brother, Rai. Ombre put her arms around the hikari and led her away so Yugi could take his turn.
Yugi stood where the others had, and looked in the mirror, Yugi's eyes filled with tears, and he reached for the mirror, "Mum…Dad…" He spoke in Japanese, but Joey understood, as did Yami, who came out of his thoughts and moved behind his hikari, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders. Yugi clung to him, without taking his eyes from the mirror. Joey walked over to Harry and Ron who was wondering what was going on, what Yugi saw that upset him so much.
"Yugi's parents have been missing for over four years, they're archaeologists, and went missing on a dig in Egypt." Joey said quietly, they were all startled by a noise in the corridor outside, and they just flung the cloak back on in time as Miss Norris stuck her head round the door. They stood stock still, especially Kari and Ombre who weren't sure if Shadow Magic worked on cats.
"This isn't safe. She might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on!" Yami said, leading them out the room, though he'd have liked to stay in the mirror room longer.
The snow still hadn't melted next morning.
"Want to play chess, Harry?" Ron asked.
"No."
"Hey Yuge, wanna duel?" Joey asked, Yugi just stared out the window.
"Why don't we go down to Hagrid's?" Ron tried again.
"No…you go."
"I know what you're thinking Harry, you're thinking about that mirror. Don't go back tonight." Harry wasn't the only listless one, Yugi was staring blankly out the window, and wouldn't reply to even Yami's mental banter, while Kari had grabbed her ice skates and hadn't come off of the frozen lake since she'd gotten up, ignoring Ombre who watched her hikari skating around and around, not really concentrating on the skating, but lost in her own little world, and ignoring Ombre's attempts at getting her to talk over the mind link about it.
"Why not?" Harry asked, staring at Ron. Ron tried to make a convincing argument but Harry had already made up his mind, he was going to see his parents in the mirror again and no-one was going to stop him.
By the fourth night he knew his way to the mirror room blindfolded, not that he tested that theory. As he stood in front of the mirror he saw his family, his mother and father, and his grandparents. There was no reason he couldn't stay here all night except…
"Back again, Harry? Yugi and Kari have returned here too." Harry turned slowly, his insides feeling as cold as the ice Kari hadn't left except to sleep since Boxing Day. Sat on on of the desks by the wall was the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, himself. Harry realised he must have walked past him in his rush to get to the mirror. "So, you and your friends, like so many before you have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised. I hope you've realised by now what it does."
"Well it shows me with my family…"
"And your friend Ron, as Head Boy."
"How did you..?"
"I don't need a cloak to become invisible. 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 like any other mirror, 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," Dumbledore said quietly, "It shows us nothing more or nothing less then the deepest and most desperate desires 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. Joseph Wheeler, whose family was spilt up when he was small, sees them back together again, back with his sister. The Pharaoh and the Princess, who can't remember their past, both saw flashes of memories from ancient times. Kari Ironhide lost her brother four years ago, and blames herself, so she saw Rai standing beside her and all her new friends. While Yugi Muto's parent's have been missing for four years, sees them returned to him, safe and sound. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad. The mirror will go to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I must ask you, not to go looking for it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry, and forget to live. And I will be telling Mr Muto and Miss Ironhide that too, they will be here later. Now why don't you put your cloak on and go back to bed?"
Harry stood up. "One question, Sir, Professor Dumbledore, if I may?"
"You've just done so, however, you may ask another." Dumbledore smiled.
"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick woollen socks." Harry stared, "One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."
It was only when Harry got back to bed, he realised that Professor Dumbledore had been less then honest. But then, he thought as he shoved Scabbers off his bed, it had been quite a personal question.