11

The Mirror of Erised.

A mirror that shows you your deepest desire. Something I wanted to find out about myself.

The only problem was I didn't know exactly where it was, and I also didn't know when Dumbeldore would move it.

So, I had no other option than to look for it myself. I could look into Ron's mind who should know where it is, but I wasn't comfortable diving into someone's head, who knew occlumency, without having read any books about advanced legilimency. It was simply an unnecessary risk I wasn't willing to take.

It took my a few days but I eventually found it.

It was in an abandoned classroom.

Standing before it I could at first only see my reflection, like any other mirror would do. Then the image became blurry and a line split the mirror in half.

On the left side was my mother smiling back at me. She was old, yet happy with white hair and wrinkles.

Next to her stood I, smiling as well. I held the hand of a shadowy figure, the silhouette of a woman. The only thing I could make out of the shadow was a sparkling ring, a wedding ring. And before us were two smaller silhouette, presumebly children. 'Huh, I never took me for a family man.'

Shifting my sight to the other half, I could see myself and only myself. I was standing in the middle of a forest under dark clouds. It was heavily raining and lighting struck the ground from time to time.

I was releasing waves of pulsating magic. The trees around me were deracinated and the rain avoided me, solely from the sheer quantity of magic. The thunderbolts were raining down all around me, but not daring to come close enough to strike me.

I blankly stared at it for a few minutes. A feeling of control and power radiated from it, and I looked on with envy, but even more than envy I felt ambitious.

I wanted to reach that hight. Subconsciously I clenched my fists and started to release a small quantity of magic.

"Fascinating thing, isn't it?" a voice came from behind me.

Turning around I was shocked who I saw, at the same time I unclenched my fist and reeled my magic back in.

It was Dumbeldore.

Looking over me towards the mirror he said "It is an old magical artifact called Mirror of Erised and it shows someone their deepest desire." I turned back to the mirror.

"Do you mind telling me what you see?" he asked.

Pausing for a moment I decided to tell him halve of what I had seen.

"I see myself and my mom smiling together. There aslo seems to be someone my age holding my hand. She is wearing a wedding ring, but I can't make out who it is. There are also two smaller silhouettes in front." I told him.

With nostalgia he replied "A family, a wonderful desire."

We both stood there, silently admiring the mirror.

After a short while Dumbeldore said "You should head back to your dorm, bedtime is soon after all."

Not wasting any time, I bid him farewell and headed back to my common room.

——

While Lucas walked away Dumbeldore had a calculative look on his face. 'There was more than just family. He didn't lie about that, but he also didn't tell me everything' He naturally noticed Lucas' tense body language and the magic in the air.

Not minding this short encounter any longer Dumbledore turned back towards the mirror observing his reflection for an unknown amount of time. Lucas obviously wasn't the first student he met at the mirror and he also wasn't the first one to not tell him everything. After all one's deepest desire was something very personal.

He had met all kinds of students with all kinds of reactions to the mirror. Some were crying others were angrily screaming at it, so this encounter was nothing out of the norm.

——

Over the next few weeks Harry, Ron, Holly and Hermoine tried to find out who Nicolas Flamel is. Hagrid had accidentally confirmed what Hermione had heard from Lucas that the cerberus on the third floor was guarding something only Dumbeldore and Nicolas Flamel should be concerned with.

If it were anywhere else in the world almost every half-decent sixteen year old wizard would know who Flamel was, but here in Britain except for the old pure blood families no one knew. This most likely had to do with the decline of alchemy and its strange absence from the curriculum. But then why didn't Harry, Holly and Ron know? Well Ron obviously had never paid attention to any classes bare the minimum to pass, anyway that has nothing to do with why they didn't know. The reason was simple, they were too young, so that information would have been absolutely useless to them. Once they graduated or even earlier they would have been told by their parents along with a plethora of other 'normal' knowledge.

Back to the present, the only question remaining, what had Flamel given Dumbledore. What was so important that it required one of the strongest magical beasts guarding it.

Harry even made multiple visits to the restricted section of the library. All unsuccessful.

They were walking through the halls having one of their usual arguments.

"We should seriously ask Lucas, he might know something." said Hermoine.

"Oh no, here we go again" muttered an irritated Ron.

"Hermoine this is a sensitive matter, we can't ask another student for help" replied Holly.

Not relenting Hermoine argued "But he's my friend, we can trust him, I trust him. And he knew about Flamel."

"Yeah, but I don't want to involve him. Not since the troll incident." followed Holly "Don't take this the wrong way, but it would be useless involving him into this, when he couldn't do anything back then, how do you think will he react when he sees the cerberus."

"But we have nothing that could bring us closer to finding out who Nicolas Flamel is. Neither I nor Harry have found him in the library. And you two were just as unsuccessful as we were." said Hermoine ponting at Ron and Holly at the end.

These kind of arguments were almost a daily occurrence and kept happening until Ron stumbled upon the name of Nicolas Flamel on the backside of his Dumbeldore card, which described him as the greatest alchemist ever. From there Hermoine found a book about him in the library. Since Nicolas Flamel was already over 600 years old he was no longer mentioned in the currently famous wizards that's why they haven't found him sooner.

Lucas in the meantime was busy reading relevant library books. He devoured one book after the other. This was only possible, because he skipped all non magic related books and any that had nothing to do with spells or magic theory. He also neither had to memorise any wand movements nor learn any incantation, which were the two things most wizards spent most of their time on.

He didn't really see a need to meddle in the matters of the philosophers' stone. Dumbeldore should have everything that's going on in the trials with wards monitored.

Eventually the year drew to the end and the time for the quartett to save the stone came.

——

As Fluffy was already sleeping they easily skipped the first challenge.

The second one, the Devil's Snare, was no problem for Hermoine.

The chess game was mostly played by Ron.

Although they got through it Ron was injured and Hermione volunteered to bring him back to the infirmary.

The two potters proceeded.

The third challenge was the flying key one, which Harry spectacularly cleared without the help of Holly.

Closing the door behind them, they arrived in a spacious room. Confused what they were supposed to do they walked forward, when they arrived in the center their attention was caught by the exit door and the two bodies leaning on the wall next to it.

They could hear snoring.

"Are those trolls?" asked Harry.

"Shhhhhh, you don't want to wake them up, do you?" whispered Holly. "But I only hear the sound of one"

Squinting their eyes they saw a hole in the chest of one of the trolls. Quirrel had killed one and put the other to sleep.

"It would be best if we could sneak past it" holly said quietly.

Harry nodded and slowly made his way to the door.

He reached it without any problems, but when he opened it it creaked loudly.

"Oh no" Harry looked warily at the now silent troll.

It grabbed the club laying next to it and stood up.

"Harry run ahead, you need to stop Snape!" Holly screamed as she shot a "Lumos" at the troll.

The spell illuminated the dark room, blinding all three.

"Go, I will be ok!" yelled Holly with closed eyes.

Harry was hesitating a little before determitedly shutting the door behind him.

'If we could defeat one on Halloween, then it should not be a problem now' thought Holly as her spell slowly lost its intensity.

With an enraged roar the troll sprinted towards the reason for its unpleasant awakening.

Its every step shook the room.

"Diffindo" she casted the severing charm at its legs hoping it would stop its charge, but the troll is not known for its tough skin for no reason. Merely a white mark appeared at the spot the spell had hit.

Seeing the troll getting closer and closer Holly began to panic, "Depulso." The troll stopped for a second before continuing its attack. It was not at all going how she had envisioned it. The troll was far more resilient and stronger than the one they had defeated. It was completely different to the lethargic one on Halloween.

Despair was clearly written on her face. She knew that she could not go back into the last room, because the furious keys would shred her body to bits and she was unable to get past the troll.

Now almost in striking range she ran backwards while casting every single spell she knew. Some managed to halt the trolls sprint for a split second other slightly injured its skin.

This game of catch went on for a few minutes.

The spell that was most effective was Lumos, because the troll wasn't used to the intensity of the light and was momentarily blinded every time she cast it, giving her enough time to distance herself. Unfortunately its usefullnes lessened with time and the troll could make out her general direction now.

"Lumos"

This time the troll merely closed its eyes for the duration of the spell instead of stopping and covering its eyes with its hands.

And if that wasn't enough Holly arrived at the end of the room. In her panic she had wanted to get as far away as possible and unfortunately forgotten that the room had an end.

The ominous footsteps drew closer and closer and Holly was at her wits end.

The troll now within strikin distance took a big swing and attacked her with a grin on its face.

For Holly time seemed to slow down. The club was approaching her side and would most likely smash every organ in her body, starting from her ribs.

Seeing her life flash before her eyes she involuntarily cast a spell she had only ever read about, but never managed to cast, "Protego!"

An invisible shield appeared between her and the club. A shield powered by everything she had. A shield made out of her will to live. And a shield that hopefully was strong enough to withstand the troll's strike.

As the club and the shield connected most of the force was absorbed by it, but nonetheless, Holly was forcibly thrown to the side, hitting the other wall. Her shield broke upon impact and she lay there slipping in and out of unconsciousness, but mostly uninjured.

The troll being unable to comprehend what exactly had happened looked astonished at his club, before his simple mind stopped questioning himself and instead simply made his way over to his victim.

*Stomp* *Stomp* *Stomp*

Holly's heart beat faster with every footstep.

Having approached her, he reached out with his hand intending to grab Holly before eating her.

Now panic and distress overwhelmed her. She desperately tried to do everything and anything she still could do, but with no more magical power nothing helped her.

She closed her eyes and wished with all her heart that the troll left her alone.

If she had kept her eyes open you would have been able to see a flash of purple, as the troll was violently thrown to the opposite side of the room.

The unknown phenomenon having drained her of everything she had left, she fell unconscious and the troll, who was even angrier now was roaring loudly as he stood back up.

He sprinted back to her.

As he almost got a hold of her a powerful voice interrupted his movements.

"Reducto" a lightning-fast spell hit the troll and reduced him to dust. An old man appeared in the room with a calculative look.

Dumbeldore cast a first aid spell at Holly while being deep in thought.

He looked at the ceiling, while squinting, for he had felt the library ward trigger.

Unfortunately he did not have the liberty to check without abandoning Harry's safety in the process.

----

Harry Potter in the meantime solely opposed Voldemort and Quirrel.

Stepping through the fire wall he came face to face with the defence against the dark arts teacher.

Befuddled why it wasn't Snape who tried to steal the stone, Quirrel began to explain everything.

Afterwards the face of Voldemort on the backside of his head was revealed.

"Use the boy, he is the key" a sinister voice the second face said.

"Come here Potter!" Quirrel demanded.

"No!" shouted Harry resolutely, while taking out his wand. He aimed his wand preparing to fight for the inevitable fight.

"Don't kill him, I need him alive" commanded Voldemort.

"Yes master" answered Quirrel putting his hand in his pocket to fish out his wand.

Not waiting for Quirrel to be ready Harry screamed "Expelliarmus" and shot a disarming spell at him. Quirrel barely got his wand out of his pocket in time, but instead of conjuring a shield he simply swatted the spell away. Now going on the offence he shot a disarming spell of his own at Harry. The young wizard narrowly awoided getting hit by jumping to the side. Immediatly after dodging he aimed his wand again ready to shoot another spell. Quirrel not hesitating was ready to shoot another as well.

Both cast their spells. The magic meeting in the middle. Unfortunately for Harry, Quirrel's spell was a lot stronger, basically annihilating his magic before proceeding to make its way towards him.

Not having any time to dodge this time he got hit squarely in the chest. He flew backwards hitting a stone pillar, hard. He groaned audibly. His wand was ripped out of his hand and landed somewhere off to the side.

The moment after crashing into that pillar he was hit by the second magic that Quirrel had cast immediately after the disarming spell. Harry could feel invisible ropes binding him. With no way to fight back he could only look on with hatred as Quirrel made his way over to him.

"Look in his pocket" Voldemort hissed as Quirrel arrived in front of the defeated Harry, the dark lord could feel the stone's magic in there. Quirrel cast a point-blank stunning charm just to make sure nothing unexpected happened.

But as soon as Quirrel touched the boy-who-lived his right hand started to disintegrate into dust. Screaming in agony he held his crumbling hand. Voldemort being so close to the means of his resurrection couldn't care less about Quirrel's well being. He overpowered his mind with Legilimency, vanishing any pain or fear of loosing his hand. With regained focus Quirrel reached for the stone again, annihilating his other hand as well in the process. The disintegration didn't stop at only his hands. No it only started there. It had already travelled up to his right shoulder. Now with no way of getting the philosophers' stone out of Harry's pocket and the fear of death looming over his head, Voldemort abandoned his host early in order to not be affected by the curse. Quirrel snapped out of his legilimency-driven state, the unimaginable pain and agony returning. He screamed at the top of his lungs until those as well turned to dust and silence ensued.

After a while Dumbeldore appeared in front of the unconscious Harry, he looked at the boy with a puzzled look 'Something doesn't add up. They should have been stronger, after all they deafeated a fully grown mountain troll.' Deciding to ask him after he wakes up he levitated Harry's body and summoned his wand before making his way to the infirmary. He also took the philosphers' stone and safeguarded it until further notice.

----

Lucas pov

It was time. The quartett should be starting the trials around now.

That's why I made my way towards the library. Dumbeldore should be preoccupied with the philosopher's stone.

With a simple invisibility spell I got there unnoticed. As it was in the middle of the night Ms. Pince was asleep in her own quarters and the entrance to the forbidden library was unguarded.

I opened the door with the unlocking charm and briskly searched for the book I was looking for. I dared not touch anything else.

After a few minutes I found it.

A book with the title "The Mind Arts". I had read about this book in a strange one in the public section.

I quickly read it and carefully commited every sentence to memory. Slowly a black book started to form in my mind on a pedestal to the side, away fron everything else.

I didn't want to take this book out of here and evoke Dumbeldore's suspicion.

As quickly as I came I left and without a problem arrived in my dorm again.

I couldn't help the grin forming on my face.

Now I could finally advance my legilimency.

And I had all summer to do so.

----

A day later Harry woke up surrounded by presents and Dumbeldore who just so happened to enter the infirmary at that moment.

"Good afternoon Harry" Dumbeldore greeted him as he walked over, stopping in front of some presents "Ah gifts. From your admirers."

"Which admirers?" asked harry confused.

"It is a well kept secret what happened between you and professor Quirrel down in the dungeon. Naturally the whole school knows about it." He explained with a grandfatherly smile.

He then proceeded to answer any question Harry had. After satisfying him it was Dumbeldore's turn to ask some questions.

"Harry I would like to know something, you remember the Halloween incident right, the troll?" After getting a nod from Harry, Dumbeldore continued "McGonagall told me about it, but she wasn't there when you fought it that's why I would like to hear the full story from you." Seeing Harry hesitating to answer he reassured him "You don't have to if you don't want to tell me."

Waiting a bit in silence Dumbeldore could see Harry fighting with himself, whether he should tell the truth or keep silent. Dumbeldore assured him again that nothing bad will happen and that he doesn't have to spill the beans. Harry eventually relented and told him that they weren't alone and that one other student was present, but didn't do anything.

"Thank you Harry, I knew I could trust you." Dumbeldore calmed him with a friendly smile. A feeling of delight filling Harry's chest like he just did a good deed.

Then the old man took out one bean from Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans to distract Harry from worrying about him telling the truth. "Oh, ear wax evidently." Dumbeldore announced getting a chuckle out of Harry.

"And Harry, I also have some lesser good news." he waited a little bit for Harry to calm down and listen, "Although your sister fought the troll heroically, she unfortunately received some minor injuries."

With a swing of his hand the curtain of the hospital bed next to them swung open revealing a sleeping Holly. "Nothing to worry about, Ms. Pomfrey took care of everything and said she should wake up sometime during the day." Harry was at first anxious about his sister, but Dumbeldore's words managed to relax him.

"Harry!" screamed two Gryffindors from the entrance.

"It seems you have visitors. I will leave you alone now." Dumbeldore said before leaving.

Ron and Hermoine endlessly bombarded Harry with questions, until the matron threw them out of the infirmary, to exam Harry one last time before releasing him from the hospital ward.

He did not mention to them that he told Dumbeldore about the Halloween incident, because Dumbeldore successfully made it seem like no big deal.

In the evening on the same day was also the last feast in the Great Hall, before the students would return to King's Cross via train.

Gryffindor won the house cup after Dumbeldore rewarded the quartett and Neville with some extra points

Slytherin placed second

Ravenclaw third

and Hufflepuff, like every year, was last.