Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (Female Reader Insert)

Chapter 9: The Mirror Of Erised.

Harry had never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys, mountains of roast and boiled potatoes, platters of fat chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. These fantastic crackers were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats.

When Harry finally left the table, he was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of non-explodable, luminous balloons from Ron, a grow-your-own-warts kit from the Weasley twins and his own new wizard chess set from Y/N. He spent a happy afternoon with the Weasleys having a furious snowfall fight in the ground. Then, cold, wet and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where- Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. He suspected he wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help him so much.

It had been Harry's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it: the Invisibility Cloak and whoever had sent it. Ron has fallen asleep the moment he lay on the bed. So, Harry leant over the side of his own bed and pulled the cloak from under it.

After much thought and consideration, he slipped out of the common room, covering himself in the cloak and went to the restricted section of the library. He'd be able to read as long as he liked, as long as it took to find out who Flamel was without Filch disturbing him.

***

Y/N couldn't sleep either. No. That wasn't it. She didn't feel like sleeping. That was because of two reasons- First, she didn't want to dream about the nightmare again; Second, Harry seemed distracted since he received the Invisibility Cloak and she hadn't had time to check up on him. She went down the stairs upto the common room and the moment she noticed Harry, cloak in hand, she hid behind an armchair.

Harry was draping the cloak over himself and trying to slip out of the common room. Y/N, closely followed, trusting her instincts, as she couldn't properly see him.

Then it struck her. Harry could be using the cloak in the middle of the night, past curfew, because of only one reason- Restricted Section. He had told her before, that he wanted to explore the restricted section and it was obvious that he would try and do exactly that.

So, she rushed to the Restricted Section, quiet as a mouse, constantly checking whether anyone had been following her or not.

Her hunch was right. He, indeed, had gone to the Restricted Section. She could see his hand creeping out of the cloak, holding a lamp, running along the shelves, searching.

"Harry!" She hissed and the boy whipped his head in shock, causing the cloak to fall from his shoulders.

"Y/N? What are you doing here?"

"Uhh- I couldn't sleep and.." She stuttered.

"So you decided to follow me?" He continued.

"Uhh.. yes?" She replied awkwardly and he just stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. "Besides, I was worried! You seemed so disturbed earlier, so I thought.."

To her surprise, Harry's lips curved into a smile, "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

She just grinned back sheepishly. She hadn't expected him to thank her for following him- but then, Harry was indeed an odd boy.

"Let's check in these shelves." He said, raising the lamp.

It was only after a few minutes that he accidentally opened a heavy, odd book which shrieked loudly in the pin-drop silence of the library. Y/N quickly helped him close shut the book and sharing a look of worry, they shuffled under the cloak- Harry dropped the lamp in panic and they rushed out.