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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. |
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 and father 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. |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN |
NICOLAS FLAMEL |
Dumbledore had convinced Harry not to go looking for the Mirror of |
Erised again, and for the rest of the Christmas holidays the |
invisibility cloak stayed folded at the bottom of his trunk. Harry |
wished he could forget what he'd seen in the mirror as easily, but he |
couldn't. He started having nightmares. Over and over again he dreamed |
about his parents disappearing in a flash of green light, while a high |
voice cackled with laughter. |
"You see, Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad," said |
Ron, when Harry told him about these drearns. |
Hermione, who came back the day before term started, took a different |
view of things. She was torn between horror at the idea of Harry being |
out of bed, roaming the school three nights in a row ("If Filch had |
caught you!"), and disappointment that he hadn't at least found out who |
Nicolas Flamel was. |
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