Discovery
The next morning Harry told Ron and the twins about the mirror they'd found. The boys decided that they would go back tonight so they could all see Harry's family. Sirius didn't think it worked like that. His theory was that the mirror showed the people you thought of as family. Harry had only known the Dursleys, so the mirror had shown him James's side of the family. Sirius hated most of his biological family, so he'd seen the people he chose to love instead. Which meant that the Weasley's would see their family, not the one Harry saw.
That night the boys all huddled under the cloak and went back to the room with the mirror. It was cramped and the boys frequently stepped on his paws and each other, but they made it. Sirius kept thinking of his days in school. Under this cloak with James, Remus, and Peter. It had been just as cramped in later years. They had taken the same secret passages that Fred and George showed Harry and Ron. It was hard to push the memories away.
Harry pulled the cloak off once they were inside the room and stepped in front of the mirror. "Look, there's my parents and that's-"
"Harry, mate, all I can see is you." George frowned.
"Same here." Fred chimed in. Ron nodded.
Harry grabbed George's arm and pulled him in front of the mirror, "You need to look in properly. Can you see them now?"
"No. I see a joke shop. Mine and Fred's, going by the same. Looks good. You see it Freddie?"
Fred stepped up beside his brother and grinned. "Think we can make it happen?"
"Absolutely."
"Let me see!" Ron jumped forward. His brothers moved.
"Well? What do you see?" Fred asked.
"I'm- I'm older. I'm head boy!"
"You're what?" George laughed.
"Are we going to have to deal with another Percy?" Fred snorted.
Ron seemed to enamored with the mirror to pay them much attention. "I'm holding the Quidditch cup and the house cup. Bloody hell! I'm Quidditch captain too!" Ron turned to them excitedly, "Do you think this mirror shows the future?"
"That seems pretty far fetched. Especially since Harry saw his family, and they're dead." Fred pointed out.
"You alright, Harry? You haven't said anything since I got in front of the mirror." George said.
Harry sat on the floor and put an arm around Sirius, "I just don't understand."
Sirius was confused too. He knew that they wouldn't see Harry's family, but they hadn't seen their family either. Maybe the mirror wasn't meant to show families then. When he'd looked in the mirror Peter and Regulus hadn't gone to Voldemort's side. It was how he'd wanted them to be, not how they were. Harry had been neglected and unloved his whole life. He wanted a family who would love him, and that's what the mirror had showed. So, the mirror didn't show families, it showed what you wanted in life. Sirius was rather pleased with himself for figuring it out.
Sirius ushered them out of the room and back towards the Gryffindor common room when they started fighting about who got to stand in front of the mirror next. They would attract Filch if they kept on like that. Truth be told he was a little disappointed in the twins for letting themselves get carried away like that. They were pranksters and should therefore know better.
Harry went back to the mirror the next night and Sirius started to get worried. Harry had barely eaten and wasn't interested in doing anything with his friends. All he could think about was the mirror. Sirius understood him wanting to see his family, but he wasn't drawn to the mirror like Harry was. Seeing the people he'd failed so badly just made him want to cry.
Sirius noticed Dumbledore sitting in the corner of the room. Harry was too focused on the mirror to see.
"Back again, Harry?"
The boy jumped and turned to look at the Headmaster. His face paled. "I'm s-sorry. I j-just-"
"It's quite alright." Dumbledore assured him, "The Mirror of Erised can be rather compelling. "
Harry gripped Sirius's fur. He probably thought he was in trouble, despite Dumbledore's smile.
"Have you realized what it does?" Dumbledore asked.
Harry shook his head.
"Let me give you a hint. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised as a normal mirror. He would see himself exactly as he is."
"It-" Harry swallowed nervously and held Sirius tighter, "It shows what we want?"
"Yes and no."
-Thanks for the cryptic answers, Dumbledore. They're so helpful.- Sirius thought.
"The Mirror shows nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts. The Mirror gives neither knowledge, nor truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, or gone mad, not knowing if what they saw was real of even possible."
Sirius growled softly. Did telling Harry that he might go crazy from looking at the mirror help anything? It was just scaring him.
"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Now, why don't you head back to bed?"
Harry nodded quickly, threw his cloak back on and left.
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The rest of the winter holidays were pretty uneventful. The invisibility cloak stayed at the bottom of Harry's trunk, and they didn't have anymore nighttime adventures. Harry did get more nightmares the week or so after the last time he'd gone to the Mirror, which worried Sirius, but they stopped just before the term started.
Draco complained about missing another adventure and Hermione scolded him for breaking the rules. They were both disappointed that Harry hadn't found anything on Flamel. Draco had looked threw his library over the break, but he hadn't found anything either.
"I think there might have been something, but my parents kept me rather busy over the holidays. Mother caught me looking near some of the Darker books we have the day before Christmas Eve. She wouldn't let me look around without her or Father after that." Draco sighed.
Draco had been excited to tell Harry that his parents were alright with him coming to stay with them for part of the summer. He then got into an argument with the Weasleys about who Harry would stay with longer. Hermione had broken it up when Harry's breathing picked up.
A few days later Fred and George limped into the common room, complaining. Apparently the Quidditch captain, Oliver Wood, had been particularly brutal with training the team today. James had been the same way when a big game was coming up. Peter and Remus had gotten annoyed quickly since all he would talk about was the upcoming game. Sirius had flopped around and whined a lot. The first time it had happened he'd actually convinced Remus to write the introduction to a couple of his essays. After that he'd learned better.
Sirius snapped back to the present when Neville Longbottom hopped into the common room. He'd been hit with a Leg-Locker Curse. Hermione rushed over and performed the counter before leading him over to sit with them.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Zabini." Neville whimpered, "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice on."
"Go to Professor McGonagall! Report him!" Hermione urged.
Neville shook his head and mumbled, "I don't want more trouble."
Harry handed him a Chocolate Frog and flashed a small smile. Neville returned it and mumbled his thanks. "Want the card? You collect them, don't you?"
Harry blushed and looked away.
"Thanks, Neville." Fred said.
"I'm sure he'd appreciate that." George finished.
Neville handed him the card and walked away.
Harry looked excited and showed them which card it was.
"Dumbledore? Don't you already have him?" Ron frowned.
Harry rolled him eyes and read, "'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindlewald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel.' We've found him!"
Hermione jumped to her feet and ran off. The twins hugged him from either side.
"Well done, Harry!"
"Never would've thought to look on one of those!."
Ron snorted, "Draco's gonna be furious you found it without him here."
Harry paled.
"He'll understand." George said quickly.
"Yeah, we can tell him everything tomorrow." Fred agreed, smacking Ron lightly.
Ron scowled at Fred.
Hermione came back down with a rather large book. "I never thought to look here! I checked it out weeks ago for a bit of light reading."
"Light?" Ron repeated incredulously.
Sirius shook his head in amusement. She was definitely Lily reincarnated. There was no other explanation.
Hermione flipped through the book for a couple minutes, scanning the pages for something specific. Finally she looked up with a grin, "I knew it!"
"What did you know, Hermione." George asked.
"Yeah, please, share with the class." Fred added. Harry giggled.
"Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!" Hermione read, excited.
Sirius's eyes widened. What was Dumbledore thinking having that here? There were kids here. He didn't care how many enchantments protected the thing, a powerful Dark wizard could still come after it. If they couldn't get to it they might take their frustration out on the kids. Seriously, what was going through the old ma's head!
Sirius didn't tune back into what the kids were talking about until Harry announced that he was going to bed. That night he was the one with nightmares. Images of Death Eaters killing Harry, his friends, and all the other first years danced in his mind. It was nearing dawn when he stopped trying to sleep. He knew Harry and his friends would probably get into trouble before the year was out. Especially since Quirrell was going to try to take the stone. He just needed to think of a way to stop Quirrell without the kids getting involved. He sighed. It was going to be a long year.