Returning to Hogwarts and sErised

Finally the gang is all back together again! I had to head up to the prefects cabin though to get Penelope to enlarge our compartment for all of us to fit. The compartments are normally only enough for about 6 people which wasn't enough for mine and Harry's combined friends to sit in.

The compartment was all about giving thanks and thanking others for the gifts they received. Hermoine thanked me at least three times for the spell I sent her, though she hadn't been able to use it yet she has been practicing the movements.

"Sorry we couldn't come and visit you though Teddy. Mom wanted to spend Harry's first Christmas with us at the manor." Which was very nice in all honesty.

"It's alright Alex just..." He trails off a bit staring at his hands

"What's wrong Neville?" Asked Hermoine

"Just um after Alex pointed out those things to me and I went home for the Hol's Gran began to question me about why I wasn't using my dad's wand. When I told her about how wands choose the wizard, like Olivander and Alex said she said 'Rubbish. It worked well enough for your father it will work for you. Don't you want to be like your father' I then realized what Alex said was right. Gran only sees me as my fathers replacement. Had to hide my new wand the rest of the break because she tried to take it from me."

I reach over and I ruffle Teddy's Hair "If you want I can talk to my mother and see about having you over for the Summer, though we are heading to Africa so we would need to get you a passport"

"You are going to Africa? Why?" Asked the Book Worm

"Well last year we went to Hawaii and I got to learn how to Surf. This year we are going on an expedition, plus the tribes there have Witch Doctors and Shamans. It would be great to see how they use magic compared to us."

Even Hermoine seems interested in learning that. "So what did you do during the break?" She asked everyone but mainly me and Harry

"Well," Said Harry "We spent time with Alex's friends, on Christmas we ate dinner with Uncle Snape and Aunty Irma" this got gasp, I kinda forgot to tell them me and Harry were kinda Snapes and Irma Pince's nephews.

"You're related to Snape?!" Said Tracey and Neville at the same time

"Well Alex is and I guess I am too since Mum adopted me"

"They adopted you?"

"Yea. It is great! Mum is very nice. She said that it got pushed through quickly because of the Dursleys being arrested."

"Weren't they the family that now holds the title 'Shame of England' on the news? Wait does that mean you are the Harry Potter they kept talking about?!" Hermoine said in a panicked tone

Harry merely nods and Hermoine immediately hugs him "Uh. It's not that bad I mean Alex and Mum made sure the press couldn't bother me plus I never have to go back" He said putting a arm around Hermoine too, he just felt it was proper to return a hug when given.

"Yes. So mum finalized the papers. We watched movies with Aunty and Uncle, they had never seen a muggle movie before. We hug out with my friends on the mundane side of London. Also Ragnok visited to discuss business. I now own Toys of Raijin, which is now named Envy's Toy Box. We will be selling pens and some other muggle and magical items there."

"I thought you were only a partner" Said Blaise.

"Well I left my mother and Ragnok in charge of the accounts while I am unavailable and my mother did a subtle hostile takeover on the Japanese Research Team who were behind the Toys of Raijin store. So now I own them." Blaise and the others simply nodded. Hermoine looks like she wants to reprimand me but holds her tongue. Neville has no idea what a hostile takeover is.

"Heh I just realized the Twins aren't here" I say while chuckling

""Uh yea. Kinda obvious" Said Tracey

"You don't understand. See they stayed at Hogwarts. There are no classes so they have tons of free time. What do you think they did with all that free time?" Their eyes go wide at the thought. "See why I think it is funny?" They all shake their head in exasperation.

Turns out while at Hogwarts the twins behaved themselves, a little. They enchanted snowballs to keep pelting Quirrells turban over and over again. The Snowballs would smack him then the snow would reform into a snowball and smack him again until the snow melted. I high fived the twins for that, after teaching them what a high five was of course.

It was a few days after coming back that Harry pulled me aside after dinner. "Alex I gotta show you something"

"What is so important that you need to get me alone to see it?"

"It's a mirror. When I looked in it I saw us, Mum and then our dad and my mom. Though when Ron looked into it he saw himself older and as Head Boy, Quidditch Captian, and holding the house cup" I doubt that. No one has ever seen the house cup let alone hold it. Which means the teachers keep it or it doesn't exist.

"Hm... Okay I am curious. Lead the way" He pulls out his Invisibility Cloak and tells me to get under but I shake my head. My body turns wispy and dark as I began to blend in with the shadows. This is another ability I learned from Merlin's books on Shadow Magic.

I followed him to an old room. Standing there near the back of the room was a tall mirror. The mirror had a golden frame and stood on clawed feet. Above the reflective surface were etchings that read Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

I stare at the engraving a bit "I show you not your face but your hearts desire" I whisper. What does my heart desire? Curious for an answer I stand before the mirror. At first I only see myself standing there then the image ripples.

I see myself, older, standing among my friends, family and some others with faces that are blurred making it so I can't tell who it is. My hair for some reason my hair is silver in the mirror, at my side is a sheathed sword. We were standing up on a hill. But must shocking of all was standing before, and around myself and my friends were hundreds of different creatures. Dragons, Unicorns, Werewolves, Vampires, Goblins, and every other creature I have learned about and a few I don't recognize were all prostrating themselves before me.

… It would appear my ambitions were deeper than I originally thought. Or perhaps this is both my desire and my Wolgans sides desire mixed into one. Well at least I have a solid goal now. No, I won't be a Dark Lord. I'll be a Beast King, Standing above over a Thousand others.

"It is a marvelous Mirror isn't it" Both I an Harry turn around to see the old hippy standing there.

"Yes the Mirror of Erised. An ancient artifact. No one is really sure how it got to Hogwarts." He glances down at me "Have you figured out what it does?"

"It already says what it does. It shows you what you desire most."

"Correct. Harry you who have never experienced family, ah before the Princes, desire a family of your own" How did he know what Harry saw? Well perhaps one of the portraits told him about it when he brought Ron over.

The old hippy then looks at me, but I don't meet his gaze as I have not fully mastered occlumency yet. "I saw myself, my family and my friends all together but older." Not a lie but not the whole truth either.

" Ah but my boys. This mirror does not grant us knowledge or wisdom" Yes it does. I think knowing what one desires most is pretty big in knowledge and wisdom by letting you know what you truly want above all else. Even I didn't know what I desired most until seeing the mirror. "grown men have gone mad before this mirror or wasted their lives staring into it"

"I shall be moving it elsewhere, I suggest not returning to this spot" It probably shouldn't be here anyway if grown men have gone mad in front of it. "Now I believe you two should go rejoin your friends"

"What do you see in the mirror professor?" Asked Harry

"I see a pair of Wooly Socks." Probably a lie. I mean whose greatest desire is socks? (Somewhere a house elf sneezes)

As we walk off I have to ask "Harry, how did you find that room anyway?" I mean the room isn't exactly on the way to any of our classes or to the common rooms.

Harry doesn't meet my gaze, suddenly finding the wall very interesting "Harry." I say in a slightly sterner voice

"I was uh c-checking out the Forbidden Section when I almost got caught and somehow ended up in that room?"

I rub my temples "Harry what were you doing in the Forbidden Section?"

"Well Hermoine, Ron and Me think that someone is after that item that Hagrid got out from Gringotts. You know Vault 713?" I nod. Of course I remember that little detour, later that vault was reported to have been broken into. The goblins are offering a bounty for the thief. "Well we think it is now at Hogwarts."

"Why?" It was a simple question but the answer

"Well um we brought it up to Hagrid and he may have mentioned the dog is named Fluffy and that whatever the item is 'stays between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel'"

"You mean the alchemist?"

"Wait! You know who that is?!"

"Well yea. Muggle fiction mentions him, and his wife Perenelle Flamel as over 600 years old, a master alchemist and the only person alive to create a philosophers stone"

"Ah! We have to tell Hermoine" Before I could reject he grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the Gryffindore common rooms. I don't think he even realized he drug a Slytherin to 'Gryffindor Home Base.

"Hermoine!" He says seeing her and Ron sitting in the common room. She looks up and smiles at him then gets stiff seeing me

"Harry you do know your brothers a Slytherin right? I don't think he is allowed to be here"

"Forget about that for a moment. He knows who Nicolas Flamel is"

"Really? Well come and tell us!" Well her attitude did a 180, she even pushed me into a chair. So I tell her what I told Harry "But it's muggle fiction!" She says

"Yea. You would be surprised how much they actually get right despite knowing nothing about magic, that or the authors are squibs." I say with a shrug

"What does this uh stone due?" Asked ron

"Well according to legend it can turn any metal into pure gold, it enhances alchemy, and produces the Elixir of Life which is said to be why Nicolas and his wife have lived for so long"

"That's it! Whoever is after it must want the Elixir. I mean other than the gold being immortal would be a great boon to whoever has the stone" Said Hermoine in her excited voice

"What I want to know is why it is at Hogwarts" I said out loud

"Well Hogwarts is the most secure place in the world other than Gringotts"

I can only roll my eyes at her. Nicolas and his wife have kept that stone safe for 600 years. So the question is why would it be in Gringotts and why was it moved to Hogwarts despite being safe for 600 years? My guess is that the stone is a fake and this is one of Dumbledores schemes to lure Voldemort here. Does this man even think of the children's safety?