Hogwarts 1991

Chapter 102 The Mirror of Erised

The moonlight fell, and the dust slowly fell in mid-air.

The ground was covered with hoarfrost, which made the whole room clearly visible.

McGuffin looked at the mirror on the opposite wall. It was out of place with the whole room—golden frame, unpredictable pattern, height reaching the ceiling, and two very special claw-shaped legs at the bottom.

On the top of it is inscribed a line of incantations: Erisstra Nehruait Ubi Kafruait on Wojs.

"—Is this the Mirror of Erised?"

But McGuffin realized another thing from the traces in other places in this room.

——The wastebaskets piled up next to it, and the dusty old tables and chairs can be seen that no one has come to clean it for a long time.

—The mirror must have been moved here not long ago (probably only this evening).

And the ground is dusty with two different footprints all over it.

"Dumbledore, Snape! It must be them..."

No need to think too much, McGuffin immediately had a target of suspicion, and he immediately understood what the incongruity he felt tonight meant.
If we match what happened tonight with the original plot one by one,

——Today, Harry received the Invisibility Cloak as a Christmas gift, so he naturally wanted to wander around at night like his father.Snape ordered Filch to step up his patrol at night and report to him.

More importantly - how is this possible?

McGuffin and Harry happened to come to this corridor, this room where the magic mirror is stored, just like the original plot.

It's a coincidence, how can there be such a coincidence...

——In the corridor that came here, the door is not closed yet?

A key tool for storing the Philosopher's Stone, a priceless magic mirror, has no protective measures at all, and the door is not even closed!
Who are you kidding?This is……

And judging from the footprints on the ground, a person walked back and forth in front of the magic mirror, watching for a long time.

"... Dumbledore is not still in this classroom, is he? Didn't this old bee 'specially arrange' Harry to come to this magic mirror?"

Conspiracy theories continue to take shape in McGuffin's mind.

"Mom?" "Dad?"

At this time, Harry's low voice sounded in the middle of the room.

MacGuffin was interrupted from contemplation and woke up with a start.

He looked up and saw - Harry was staring hungrily into the mirror.

McGuffin knew that Harry had seen his parents in the mirror at this time.

Harry walked forward slowly, one step, two steps, holding the mirror tightly with both hands, as if he wanted to drill into it.

"Harry? What are you doing?" McGuffin interrupted Harry's obsession.

Because he knew that this magic mirror only reflected the illusory scene that people desired and urgently at that time.

This magic mirror is not wiped, and a magic lamp of a blue elf will appear to help him realize his wish; or after collecting seven dragon balls with different numbers of stars, he can summon the dragon, this kind of universal wishing machine.

The value of the mirror itself is actually like this - it cannot realize people's wishes, but just wastes time in vain, wastes life, and indulges in daydreams.

If you keep watching, you will even be unable to extricate yourself from your own fantasy, and then gradually go crazy.

"McGuffin?!"

Only then did Harry realize that this was not a good time to do this, and Snape and Filch were still looking for the two of them outside.

"However... after so many years, I finally saw my father and mother."

Harry couldn't wait to share a little bit about his family with the McGuffins.

He drew McGuffin to the mirror.

"McGuffin, you won't believe what I saw...my parents...they were in this mirror..."

"Did you see that……"

There was eagerness, excitement, and even a little incoherence in Harry's voice.

"No, nothing...I can only see you standing in front of the mirror..." McGuffin deliberately pretended to be an idiot who didn't know anything. He suspected that Dumbledore was waiting for Harry's arrival in this room.

"How is it possible? My father and mother are clearly in the mirror?!"

Harry hastily stepped aside and pulled McGuffin in front of the Mirror of Erised.

"Now you can see your family members surrounding you!"

McGuffin finally faced the Mirror of Erised officially at this time, and he guessed what scene he was most pressing and longing for right now.

"It should be that the blood curse on his body was lifted, and Quirrell directly turned Harry's face into ashes, and no one threatened himself..."

But what appeared in the mirror...Although it was roughly in line with McGuffin's guess, it was not the same thing at all...

(Scene shown by the Mirror of Erised):
McGuffin holds a wine glass with half a glass of red wine in one hand, a wand in the other, and Quirrell/Voldemort on the back of his head.

Behind him, Snape and Dumbledore were bruised and swollen, holding wine bottles and towels like servants, serving McGuffin.

Even the scene changes into a surreal style like a comic game.

A blue bubble appeared above McGuffin's head, with words inside——

[Who else, who else? 】

"This... what the hell?"

"...How come this broken mirror is so unscrupulous when it comes to me..."

McGuffin remembered the horror of being dominated by the magic hat during the sorting ceremony.

"Fortunately, I was the only one who saw this situation, Madan, if any one of these three people saw it, it would be enough for him to drink a pot."

"Did you see that? Your family..." Harry urged.

The corner of McGuffin's mouth twitched, how could he tell Harry what he saw in the magic mirror, not to mention that Dumbledore's old bee might still be in this room.

"I did see my family... But it seems to be me when I grow up, ah! I graduated from Hogwarts, and my family is also in front of Hogwarts Castle, and we are taking graduation photos for me..."

"How is this possible...Hogwarts Castle will not allow Muggles to come here, even if it is your family, it is estimated that this kind of thing will not happen in the future...McGuffin!" Harry retorted with a look of disbelief.

"I know...I know...but what's going on with your parents, what's going on with this mirror?...The things that appear are all impossible fantasies..."

McGuffin deliberately guided Harry, wanting him to know the impossibility shown in the mirror in front of him.

"Don't think so much, let me see my parents again!"

Harry was a little disappointed that he couldn't show his parents to McGuffin, and then he pushed away from McGuffin, wanting to see his parents again.

It was a desire that would never be satisfied in his heart, and if it were possible... Harry would have watched it here forever.

"Harry, that's enough! Let's go back now! Snape and Filch are still looking for us.  … Remember where this is, and you can come over tomorrow."

McGuffin reminded Harry, and more importantly, there were some voices in the corridor, which made Harry regain his sanity.

The two reapplied the invisibility cloak and left in a hurry.

……

"What do you think?" A voice sounded out of nowhere in the abandoned classroom.

Snape and Filch didn't find any trace of anyone for a long time, so they decided to start patrolling the corridors of Hogwarts respectively.

After that, he went straight to the abandoned classroom where the Mirror of Erised was placed.

By this time Harry and McGuffin had left.

He stood in front of the magic mirror, walking back and forth.

(The Mirror of Erised appeared in front of Snape):
That was before he went to Hogwarts, and Snape had just met Lily Evans who lived next to his home.

——This little witch from a Muggle family, her only good friend in childhood.

Baby Snape and Lily lay on the lawn.

He was telling Lily, whose eyes were full of longing, about the world of wizards, stories about Hogwarts school, and things about magic over and over again, as if the two of them had the same topic that could never be finished, and it would continue like this.

"What do you think, the two little guys who just came here..."

Dumbledore asked again, and this time his figure gradually reappeared on a chair by the wall.

Seeing that Snape didn't answer, Dumbledore slid off the table and walked over to Snape.

"Professor Snape, you should know that what is displayed in this mirror is what you most urgently desire and what you desire the most...and at the same time, it is also illusory, and even impossible to realize...desires!"

Of course Snape knew, of course he knew about it.

but he also understands
——Isn’t man just what he longs for?

——Especially those who once had and experienced in life, but lost it, will make people feel regret and urgent desire to have it again, even though they know it is illusory.

Snape turned his head, swallowed hard, stared at the old bee in front of him, and said in a hoarse voice, "Dumbledore! I can't believe you never look at this mirror. And you ask me how to see... what? Those two idiot little wizards? If it weren't for me...how could they have found this place from the library!"

"I don't know what's the plan behind you... In short, how can you place your hopes on a stupid first-year wizard who causes trouble like his father and has almost nothing but a little talent in Quidditch?"

Snape paused, his expression was indescribable, as if he didn't know how to describe it, he opened and closed his mouth several times, and finally said,
"And the other one is always making big news all the time. Even the most common, minor things can make him blow up the toilet with a magic wand... Although it wasn't intentional, but... this is too 'evil' (Chinese)!"

Dumbledore suddenly heard a familiar yet unfamiliar word.

He couldn't believe that the Occlumency master, Snape, who was always very calm and rational, actually said this word.

Simply... Did Snape 'infect' Professor McGonagall?
——Suddenly full of bad words, Dumbledore didn't know how to speak.

"How do you expect such two guys to stop a professor like Quirrell or the Dark Lord behind him..." Snape murmured to himself, "It's good if this guy Albert doesn't blow up Hogwarts..."

"Professor Snape, what are you talking about?" Dumbledore seemed to have heard some kind of flag.

"Nothing?" Snape looked around and changed the subject hesitantly, "Can't we just arrest Quirrell and use Veritaserum to force him to ask where the Dark Lord is?"

"The Dark Lord is at Hogwarts, Dumbledore, aren't you sure? He appears in front of me dishonorably now, which means that he is extremely weak now, even I dare not face it... With such a good opportunity, we can easily end the existence of the Dark Lord."

"I don't understand, Dumbledore, why you don't act quickly. Instead, you seem to be relying on a famous 'fool' to make a plan that you don't know whether it can be realized..."

"Snape, you have to understand that we are not dark wizards... There is no evidence..." Dumbledore said seriously, raising his voice.

"Ha, not a dark wizard...Dumbledore, I'm not a student who hasn't graduated yet. You'd better leave your explanations to first-year wizards and the Ministry of Magic!" Snape interrupted Dumbledore's speech very rudely, "You must know something? And you didn't tell me."

"Do you know how Harry survived 11 years ago? Or how Voldemort disappeared at the height of the sun so that almost everyone now believes that he was destroyed forever that night..." Dumbledore did not answer but asked Snape the biggest question of all wizards in the British wizarding world for 11 years.

"Didn't the prophecy say...Harry is Voldemort's lifelong enemy?" Snape's tone was full of remorse and disgust.

"Severus, you have to know that prophecy has no effect. It can change something. It is always a human being who can do something. Voldemort didn't lose all his mana for no reason, and lived in a dark corner all these years..."

Before Dumbledore could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Snape who sneered.

"It's impossible! Potter was just a young wizard at that time, I don't believe it... and I don't see this kind of outstanding talent enough to defeat Voldemort from Harry Potter..."

"Snape, what defeated Voldemort was not prophecy, but love, the love of a mother who is selfless and even sacrifices her life to protect her children, this is magic that Voldemort will never understand..."

Snape trembled all over, as if he understood something, he didn't want to believe it.

"Presumably you also know how ancient magic evolved into modern magic. Fundamentally speaking, ancient magic is more in line with the essence of magic—magic power responds to our mind and will to form magic... At that time, a mother could sacrifice all her love for her child. From ancient times to the present, in the world of wizards, there is no magical mind and will that is more powerful than this kind of emotion."

"What do you mean..." Snape could not continue.

Dumbledore continued, "Even Voldemort couldn't break this kind of magic. On the contrary, you can almost guess how he couldn't understand when he found out that his spell had been rebounded. He was so panicked and so weak that he couldn't kill Harry, the target who was so close, but..."

"But, even so—hit by the Dark Lord's own spell, which can be regarded as the deadliest killing curse in history... Voldemort still didn't die, I'm afraid my guess is right!" Dumbledore raised his voice and said, "That is, Voldemort, in order to live forever, or with stronger mana, has now lost his qualifications to be a 'normal wizard' or a 'human being'..."

"And I'm afraid that Lily sacrificed her life with a kind of selfless and sacrificial love, leaving Harry with magic that will never disappear. This magic will remain on Harry forever to protect him...and Voldemort will not understand, nor can he understand and feel this kind of power. It is completely impossible for a person like him to contact Harry head-on, or in his current state, I am afraid that he will not be able to cause harm to Harry at all..." Dumbledore continued to explain.

For the first time in a long time, Snape recalled the memory of that night 11 years ago.

——That night, when he was the first to arrive there, Lily had already sacrificed, she sideways protected the newly born Potter, and Voldemort disappeared, letting go of this goal that was within reach.

It's almost the same as...

Almost a one-to-one correspondence with what Dumbledore said.

Although he didn't want to believe it, it was the only reasonable explanation.

"I don't want to say it, but if you want to figure out what happened to Voldemort, you can't just rely on Veritaserum or the Imperius Curse. Those things... Dark wizards like the Dark Lord know better than us and are good at using them. We don't have to follow them to do the same, and we don't have to do that."

"Whether you admit it or not... Snape, since that night, Harry has been in constant contact with Voldemort... It is most appropriate for him to find out what is going on with Voldemort. And he has many reliable friends around him, which is something Voldemort has never come to understand."

"What do you think, can these two little guys have the courage to face Voldemort now?"

"... what?" Snape stared at Dumbledore in disbelief that he had said those words.

　changed

　　
　
(End of this chapter)