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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 |
again. He stepped in front of it. |
He had to clap his hands to his mouth to stop himself from 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. 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? |
He looked in the mirror again. A woman standing right behind his |
reflection was smiling at him and waving. He 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 mine, Harry thought, edging a little closer to the |
glass. Bright green -- exactly the same shape, 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 as |
Harry's did. |
Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching |
that of his reflection. |
"Mom?" he whispered. "Dad?" |
They just looked at him, smiling. And 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 family, |
for the first time in his life. |
The Potters 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. |
"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. Shame about not |
finding Flamel, though. 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 Flamel. It didn't seem very |
important anymore. Who cared what the three headed dog was guarding? |
What did it matter if Snape stole it, really? |
"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. |
"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 --" |
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