The Unknown: A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 18: The Mirror of Erised

Jason couldn't understand what he saw in the mirror.

"What is it?" Harry asked curiously.

"I see my family," Jason lied. Taking one last look in the mirror he decided he had to get out of there.

"I'm gonna head back to the common room," he told the others. "I'm not feeling well."

"Don't go yet," Ron responded, "wait for us and the cloak."

"I'll be fine, I'll be stealthy. You guys shouldn't spend much more time here either."

Before either of them could protest, Jason moved away from the mirror and made his way to the door, quietly closing it behind him. As soon as Jason had moved away from the mirror, Harry and Ron had both moved towards it. Now standing in the corridor outside of the room, he could hear Harry and Ron quietly arguing over which one of them should be using the mirror.

Jason quietly made his way back towards the common room, sticking to the shadows to not be seen. At one time he had a close call where Peeves came floating down a corridor, but Jason was able to slip into an empty classroom until Peeves left. After making it past Peeves, Jason thought he was basically in the clear. Just before he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, he realized he was wrong.

"Would you like to join me for a walk, Mr. Fortescue?" A calm and friendly voice rang out from behind him. "I've been finding myself having some trouble sleeping as of late. Walking seems to help me and maybe it will help you as well."

Jason turned around to see Professor Dumbledore standing in the middle of the corridor behind him.

"Evening Professor," Jason replied as if nothing was wrong. "Oh, what am I doing out here? I must have been sleepwalking."

"Hmm sleepwalking? That's a rather impressive talent, especially how you dodged into that room to avoid Peeves." Dumbledore let out a light chuckle before turning around and motioning for Jason to follow.

Hanging his head in defeat, Jason followed after Professor Dumbledor. Dumbledore didn't say a word for some time, but as they passed through corridor after corridor he eventually spoke up.

"I've always loved the castle at night," Dumbledore said. "It's so calm and peaceful, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes Professor."

"I've spent a lot of time exploring this castle, ever since I was a student here myself."

"Is that so, Professor" Jason wasn't sure what was going on as Dumbledore made small talk, but he figured it was a good thing that they were moving away from Gryffindor tower, that way, Harry and Ron wouldn't get caught when they made their way back.

"Even with all the time I have spent exploring the castle," Dumbledore continued. "I doubt I'll ever know all of its secrets, that being said, I think you saw one of the castle's secrets tonight."

Jason looked at his feet as they walked.

"It's quite ok," Dumbledore said reassuringly. "I've always known that one day you and your friends would end up in that room."

"Professor, what is the mirror?" Jason asked.

"It is called the mirror of Erised," Dumbledore responded, "nobody knows who made it, or why, but it has stood in Hogwarts for many a year. I assume you have a theory about what it does?"

"From what the other saw, I'd say it shows a person what they need to be happy, but that doesn't explain what I saw."

"Young Mr. Potter sees his family and young Mr. Weasley sees personal glory," Dumbledore began. "The mirror shows the deepest most desire of our hearts. I'm sure you can see why that could be an issue?"

"After seeing it, a person wouldn't want to move away," Jason thought back to how Harry had been acting since he discovered the mirror, and how Ron was so hesitant to move away from the mirror. "They see what they desire and want to spend all of their time looking at it."

"Exactly," Dumbledore smiled. "Many a man has gone mad and withered away while staring into it. The mirror is an example of how magic can be very dangerous."

"Why would you keep that in a school?" Jason blurted out before he could stop himself.

Dumbledore laughed. "I have come to the realization that it is too dangerous to be left out where anyone can find it. Very soon I will move the mirror." Dumbledore continued to walk until they entered the clocktower courtyard. He took a minute and looked up at the stars.

"An interesting fact about the mirror is that the happiest person in the world would look into the mirror and see nothing. Only themself," Dumbledore said after some time. "I think I already know, but what did you see in the mirror?"

"I saw nothing," Jason whispered. "Not even myself."

Dumbledore walked Jason back to the portrait of the Fat Lady in silence.

"Don't worry," Dumbledore said when they arrived. "I will not be taking house points from you or your friends for tonight's adventure."

"Thank you, Professor," Jason responded distractedly.

"I would ask you," Dumbledore began, "to not tell your friends of our conversation. I will inform them that the mirror is being moved. I must also tell you to not go looking for it after it has been moved. Although I think that you are the person I'm least worried about searching for it."

Jason opened his mouth to ask Professor Dumbledore one more question.

"Trust me when I say that this is a topic you should not worry about," Dumbledore cut him off. "When the time is right you will understand what you saw, or didn't see, in the mirror. Now off to bed with you."

Jason watched Professor Dumbledore walk back down the corridor. Once Dumbledore was out of sight, Jason entered the Gryffindor common room and made his way to the first-years boys' dormitory to go to sleep. He tried his best to clear his thoughts of what had happened that night, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep that night.

"How'd we get back before you?" Ron asked Jason the next morning.

"Peeves was about when I was heading back," Jason began. "I ended up finding a place to lay low for a while until I could get back, but he left long before I realized." Jason didn't lie to Ron, but he didn't tell the whole truth. "What about you guys? Did you get back alright?"

"Mrs. Norris almost caught us," Harry spoke up from where he sat in front of the fireplace. "We got under the cloak before she came in."

That was the first Harry had spoken all morning.

"Want to play chess, Harry?" Ron asked.

"No."

"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?" Jason suggested.

"No...you guys go..."

"I know what you're thinking about, Harry, that mirror. Don't go back tonight." Ron warned.

"Why not?"

"I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it," Ron explained.

Jason knew that the mirror wouldn't be there much longer and he was going to leave Dumbledore to explain to Harry why he shouldn't spend time with the mirror, but he felt like he should dissuade Harry from going tonight.

"You've had a lot of close calls already," Jason stated.

"Yeah, they may not be able to see you," Ron said. "But Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are all wandering around. There are other ways they can find out you're there. What if they bump into you? Or you knock something over?"

"The two of you sound like Hermione," Harry said blatantly annoyed.

"We're serious, Harry, don't go," Ron pleaded.

Jason could tell that Harry wasn't listening to them.