14 chapter 13: Halloween Reflections

Harry walked down another corridor, carefully adding it to his mental map of Hogwarts. Although most of the corridors and staircases he had explored seemed to adhere to the normal rules of space and time, several had some… unusual quirks.

One of the corridors, despite being completely straight from the inside and in a completely different area of the castle, somehow inverted and briefly opened as it crossed the ceiling of the entry hall, allowing the people walking along the corridor to look up and see the people by the main door looking up at them in return. At least three of the staircases went up, yet somehow took the user to a lower floor while two of the doors seemed to act as portals, transporting anyone who passed through them to the far end of the castle.

Those were simple compared to a few of the other things he had encountered, however. The Infinite Staircase was a case in point, Harry had examined it carefully and even though he knew that there had to be at least a space/time twist to allow the hanging square staircase with its seven corner landings to connect back to itself without descending, he had been unable to find it.

The fact that the landings led out to non-sequential floors just added to the weirdness.

A scratching noise caught his attention and he moved to the doorway that the sound was emanating from. Pushing gently at the slightly-open door, he remained quiet as it swung open to reveal a white-haired man in a colorful robe, sat with his back to the door as he worked at something on a desk while to one side, a large mirror stood, its magical nature instantly obvious by the fact that it did not reflect the far window, but was instead filled with swirling mists.

The man stopped writing just as Harry recognized him.

"Hello." He said, turning and Harry found himself meeting Headmaster Dumbledore's curious gaze. "Ah, Harry, good morning. I do hope you're not playing truant."

Harry shook his head. "No, sir. First period on Thursday is free, but I have Herbology next."

Dumbledore nodded, then glanced sideways at the freestanding mirror. Harry followed his gaze, moving into the room for a better look.

"Sir… what is that?"

"This is the Mirror of Erised." Dumbledore said with a smile. "See if you can work out why it is called that, hmm?"

Harry looked at the mirror carefully,then he spotted the inscription on the edge.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi? Well, that isn't Latin, nor is it German, French… wait. No, you have to be kidding me. Someone just wrote it backwards and shifted the spaces?"

"Ah, I see you have discovered its secret." Dumbledore noted.

"I show not your face but your heart's desire." Harry quoted, then he shuddered. "That doesn't sound good."

Dumbledore's eyebrows shot up at the statement. "Oh?"

"I used to do a lot of reading." Harry said in a flat voice. "When I was younger, I read some fairy tales, then I moved on to the darker ones… showing someone their heart's desire… what they want above all else… it sounds like a trap to me."

Dumbledore applauded. "Very good, Harry. Yes indeed, to those unprepared or weak-willed, the Mirror of Erised is indeed a trap, causing them to stand before it and stare into it until they waste away. But for those who are prepared and are strong-willed, the Mirror is but a tool that helps one to truly understand oneself. Why, those who are young often see themselves as being powerful, famous or having a harem whereas those who are more experienced such as myself…"

Harry gave Dumbledore a questioning look as the old man trailed off.

"Do you wish to look into it?"

Harry blinked. "What?"

"Do you wish to look into it?" Dumbledore repeated with a smile. "I assure you, I will be happy to make certain that you are not entranced by it."

Harry gave the mirror a long look, then shook his head.

"No. Why risk throwing away my current happiness for something that I might never be able to have."

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose again.

"That is very mature of you."

"I did a lot of reading." Harry replied by way of explanation.

"I shall be keeping the mirror in this room until the new year, although the door will be secured when I am not here." Dumbledore said, turning back to his desk and moving a few pieces of parchment around. "I admit to curiosity about what you would see, so should you change your mind, I will be happy to aid you. In return, let me tell you what I see when I look in the Mirror."

Harry froze.

"I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."

Despite not making a sound, Harry's shock must have somehow communicated itself because Dumbledore looked at him, eyes twinkling.

"When you reach my age, my boy, you will find that you can never have too many socks. Hogwarts is a rather draughty castle, after all."

Harry stared in confusion at Dumbledore, who simply smiled at him before turning back to whatever work he was doing. Letting the door close behind him, Harry walked off, shaking his head.

"Socks?"

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"…and today, we shall practice the Levitation Spell." Flitwick announced as he used a swish of his wand to explode a pillow, sending a feather to land in front of every student in the class. Pausing to bow at the round of spontaneous applause, he straightened up and motioned to the Blackboard, where a diagram and a pair of words appeared.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising." He chirped with a wide smile. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And pronunciation is very important. Never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and ended up with a buffalo on his chest!"

Harry looked at his feather for a long moment, then up at the board. Slowly, he moved his wand, practicing the motion but without actually performing the spell.

"Wingardiam Leviosa!" Hermione swished and flicked her wand, sending the feather up into the air where, a moment later, it was joined by Neville's.

"Nice one, Hermione, Nev." Harry said with an appreciative chuckle, then he turned his attention back to his own feather. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The feather twitched and rose about half an inch before falling back onto the desk.

"Hmmmmm. Okay, let's try that again. Wingardium Leviosa!"

This time, the feather rose a full inch before dropping back down.

"Any hints?"

"Your swish isn't smooth enough." Hermione said critically. "Your flick is almost perfect, though."

"I'm sure that a mudblood like you would be happy to worship his flick." Malfoy sneered from the desk behind them and Hermione half-turned to give him a glare.

"Shut up, Malfoy." Neville grated. "You haven't even managed to move your feather yet. Some example of a Pureblood you are."

Malfoy sniffed, but Harry saw him pull out a second wand that he pointed at Hermione. Before he could fire whatever spell he intended to use, Harry reached back and shoved Malfoy's desk, knocking his aim off. The spell passed between Hermione and Neville before Flitwick swatted it away with his wand, causing it to splash against the wall.

"That, Mr Malfoy, will be twenty points from Slytherin and a detention." He stated, his normal jovial tone replaced by an icy calm that caused most of the students to freeze with fear. "And if I ever catch you using one of those again in Hogwarts, I will see you or your father in the dueling ring!"

"W… what spell was it, sir?" Hermione asked nervously and Flitwick growled.

"One that temporarily destabilizes a person's magic." He stated. "The more a person has trained, the shorter the effect. Had it hit me, it would have lasted for only a mere fraction of a second. For you… as you are so new to magic, it would have lasted for almost three months. This time next year, the effect would be a few days at worst."

"Three… three months?" Hermione whispered, going pale. "But that would… I…"

Flitwick looked at her, then pointed at Draco.

"From now on, you will sit at the front where I can keep an eye on you. I will also be warning all the other teachers of your actions, if anyone ends up with Magical Destabilisation, you will be expelled unless you can prove under Veritaserum that it wasn't you. Understand?"

Draco nodded, looking almost as pale as Hermione.

.

Hermione was still trembling at the end of the lesson and Neville gave her a concerned look.

"Hermione?"

"I remembered the rules!" Hermione whispered. "For the first six months, if someone loses control of their magic and can't get it back under control within three weeks, a Governor can petition to have that student's magic sealed and their memory erased! Draco's father is a Governor!"

"Shit." Harry cursed. "What's the bet that he was trying to get rid of you because you were making him look bad?"

"Actually, it's more likely to be because she's your friend." Neville mused, earning a shocked look from Hermione. "Lucius Malfoy is known for indirect attacks. Getting rid of one of your two closest friends and thus weakening you would be quite a coup for him… and it would also allow him to make a move against allowing Muggleborns into Hogwarts as he could have used Hermione as proof that Muggleborns can't cope with learning magic in the same schools as Purebloods."

Neville looked at both of their flabbergasted expressions, then shrugged.

"I am Heir Longbottom, Gran forced me to learn politics even though she thought I was a Squib. Probably on a better safe than sorry basis, but I did learn. Part of it was learning about the allies and enemies of House Longbottom… and Malfoy is most definitely an enemy."

"What would have happened had the spell hit you?" Harry asked and Neville grinned almost ferally.

"Gran would have called every single ally of House Longbottom together, called in every single favor and declared a Blood Feud."

"All because Draco learned a spell." Harry marveled as he finished packing away his notes.

"Actually, he used a Battlestick since the amount of control needed to cast that spell isn't attainable until one completes their OWLs and moves onto the more advanced methods of spellcasting." Flitwick commented from his desk. "A cheap one with only one spell… well, I say cheap, it must have cost at least two hundred galleons and it can't be re-used once the spell is fired. I've come up against duellers who use Battlesticks, it lets them fire spells fast and with no personal magical cost, but they need to pre-plan their tactics so that they can have the spells loaded in the correct order and should their adversary do something they do not expect, it renders their remaining spells virtually useless. Since Draco effectively wasted so much of his father's money, I doubt he will be doing anything like that again."

"That's why you phrased your threat that way!" Harry said in realization and Flitwick smirked.

"Indeed. It is a good thing that Draco is less than accurate, but I would have taken Lucius to the dueling ring had he tried to follow through and once Draco reports his failure, Lucius will know that I am watching him. He will not do anything like that again. Not if he wants to live."

Hermione stared in shock at Flitwick's suddenly-revealed violent aspect.

"Well, off you go, and don't be late to the feast!"

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"Sue, where's Hermione?"

Sue Li looked across from where she and Padma were discussing something over a plate of pumpkin pie while around them, the decorations for the Halloween Feast floated and fluttered.

"She said she was feeling rather shaky, so she went to the eastern walkway to get some fresh air."

"Okay, thanks." Harry replied, then looked round. "Hey, Nev, can you pass the potatoes, please?"

"Nice alliteration." Padma giggled and Harry promptly proved his moral superiority and maturity by sticking his tongue out at her, causing Sue Li to join her in giggling at his actions.

"Here you go." Neville smirked, passing the requested dish across and Harry accepted it with a grateful nod. Picking up his fork, he stabbed one of the potatoes and started to transfer it onto his plate when the doors slammed open and Professor Quirrell staggered through, his jacket ripped and his turban askew.

"Troll!" He gasped, his voice surprisingly loud in the sudden silence. "Troll in the dungeons… thought you should know…"

As the DADA Professor collapsed on the floor, Harry summed it up in a single word.

"Bugger."