Days at Hogwarts

Chapter 28 The Magic Mirror of Erised

The duel was off, and Hermione suggested they wait outside the common room for the Fat Lady to return. Everyone went back to their rooms to get some sleep.

Harry and Ron exchanged a knowing glance, their faces revealing a knowing smile. They were both very excited about the nighttime outing; the twins had boasted about it to them countless times. Since they couldn't go back now, why not embark on a grand adventure?

Whether it's going out at night or returning to the dormitory, Neville has no particular preference; he just doesn't want to be alone, and he follows whichever side has more people.

"Let's go! Let's check out the restricted books section of the library first."

Loren's words made Hermione's heart pound. She didn't want to look at the books in the forbidden section; she just wanted to go with him to stop him from making an even bigger mistake.

The remaining three quickly followed. Loren led the team to the second floor, carefully bypassing two suits of armor that were fighting, and arrived at the library.

The library closes at eight o'clock, but the door was not locked. With a gentle push, the wooden door made a "creaking" sound.

Loren peeked inside; the library was pitch black. He led the others inside and quietly closed the door. After looking around, Loren went forward and lit a lamp on a shelf, carrying it past rows of bookshelves, while the other four people surrounded him.

The restricted section was at the back of the library. They tiptoed over the rope separating the restricted section, held up their lamps, and browsed the titles on the shelves.

The Birth of the Curse

Drive the Soul

The Most Painful Torture

None of them wanted to touch these books; the titles sounded sinister.

When Harry saw the book "The Dark Arts," he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, like a needle prick, but it passed quickly.

Finally, the group pulled out a book called "Powerful Potions" and started flipping through it. The names of various potions in the table of contents were dazzling.

Relaxants, truth serums, compound decoctions, aphrodisiacs...

Harry wondered if giving Hagrid some truth serum would help him find the answers to his questions. But Harry quickly realized that Hagrid was his friend; how could he have such a thought? How foolish of him!

Upon seeing the beauty potion, Hermione wondered if it would work on her teeth.

The last item in the book was Felix Felicis, whose effects were described as granting the user good luck for a period of time, making them successful in everything they did. Several people exclaimed in surprise upon reading this.

But all they could do was gasp in surprise. They had absolutely no idea how to make it themselves, and most of the ingredients were things they had never seen or even heard of. The processing method was even more bizarre; Felix Felicis required six months to brew.

The group could only fantasize about the effects and indulge in their cravings.

"Will we learn about these potions later?" Neville wondered.

"Forget it, these are from the forbidden section. We can't possibly learn these things. Can you imagine Professor Snape teaching us how to make love potions?" Hermione quickly rejected the idea.

The group thought about the love potion, then about Snape's gloomy face, and shook their heads in unison.

"Shall we try another book?" Harry thought of the book they had just read, "The Dark Arts."

Loren disagreed; it was impossible to spend the entire night in the library during a first night out. A good student going out at night, going out to read all night—wasn't that a kind of... well, that too...

Ron was just about to ask what to do next when Peeves' shrill voice suddenly came from outside: "Come on, Filch, come and catch me!"

Then came a series of crackling sounds, as if Pippi had thrown something at Filch.

Oh no, Filch is right outside. If he gets caught, he'll get five expulsion notices.

The five men huddled together, able to hear each other's breathing. Ron and Neville were completely blank, utterly stunned.

"Shh~" Loren gestured for them to be quiet, and quickly blew out the lamp in his hand. He led the group out of the restricted book section, crouching low, and hid behind the first bookshelf near the entrance.

Filch didn't chase after Peeves. He knew that the more he chased after it, the more smug Peeves would become, and ignoring it would make it quiet down soon.

The Slytherin boy tricked himself into thinking someone was out at night on the first floor, only to find himself waiting in vain for ages.

The Weasley twins used a similar tactic in their freshman year, a feat they hadn't seen in a long time, and this time they were actually fooled by the newcomers.

Filch assumed the freshmen would definitely choose the forbidden book section for their nighttime stroll, so he left Mrs. Lorris on the first floor just in case and came up himself. However, he ran into Peeves on the way and got entangled with him for a while.

Peeves had run far away, so Filch pushed open the library door and began to investigate.

The library is filled with rows of bookshelves that obstruct the view, and it is even more dimly lit at night.

The restricted section was at the back of the library. While Filch walked to the back, the five of them hid behind another row of bookshelves, avoiding Filch, and successfully slipped out of the library.

Without stopping, I ran all the way to an abandoned classroom, went inside, and closed the door.

The five of them could hear each other's hearts pounding. This was the first time in their lives they had experienced something so thrilling, and they almost got expelled from school.

They looked at each other, panting, and smiled sincerely. From that moment on, the five of them became friends.

After you and someone experience a certain event together, it's impossible not to develop feelings for each other. And escaping from the curator's control while wandering into a restricted book area at night is such an event.

After calming down, the group began to examine the abandoned classroom.

Like other classrooms at Hogwarts, but many desks and chairs were piled up against the wall, forming large, dark shadows, with an overturned wastepaper basket next to them.

The most eye-catching thing is the mirror in the middle of the room.

This is a very impressive mirror, reaching all the way to the ceiling, with a gold frame and supported by two claw-shaped feet. The inscription "Eris Stella Ehru Aitwubi Kafru Aiton Voches" is engraved at the top.

Loren read the words at the top, and Hermione quickly noticed the pattern in the spelling, reading it backwards: "Am I not your face, but the desire in your heart?"

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

No one answered; everyone turned their attention to the mirror.

Ron stood directly in front of the mirror and exclaimed, "Oh! I see myself all grown up, now the student council president! And the Quidditch captain, holding the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup in my hands!"

"This is a mirror that can reflect the future!" Ron was so engrossed in it that he grinned foolishly.

The others, who only saw Ron's shadow, quickly realized it was a matter of position. They worked together to push Ron, who refused to move, away, ignoring his protests, and took turns looking at the mirror.

Harry saw his family, his parents, and a dozen or so people standing behind him, some of whom had similar features to him.

Hermione saw that all her grades were excellent, and her parents and Professor McGonagall were praising her.

When Neville saw his parents, who were healthy and surrounded by his grandmother, tears immediately streamed down his face.

The group was puzzled, but after Loren explained that Neville's parents had been driven insane by the Death Eaters and were still in St. Mungo's asylum, they all felt a pang of sadness. They moved Neville away from the mirror and quietly stayed with him until he calmed down.

Loren never imagined that what he saw was a private internet cafe room built with the Room of Requirement, with Grandpa Bates sitting on the sofa.

He almost cried out. It must be that the Mirror of Erised couldn't penetrate his heart, just like the Sorting Hat couldn't see through his memories. It couldn't see his desires and thus combined Grandpa Bates with the internet cafe.

Hermione asked Loren what he had seen, and he only said that he had seen his family.

Aside from Harry, no one paid much attention to the reflection in the mirror. The group stayed with him until late at night, but Harry still didn't want to leave. Eventually, he became too sleepy, and Loren asked the others to take him back to his dormitory.

Loren walked to the end and looked into the corner as he closed the door.

There was a ball of light shaped like an adult's shadow, flashing with intense red light, which almost blinded Loren the moment he entered.

The original plot here flashed a scene of Loren's parents before, and Loren didn't have any special reaction, which some people felt was unreasonable.

I think it makes sense, so I changed it. However, the foreshadowing of the memory won't be revealed until the second year, so it's just a different way of expressing it, and the plot won't change much.

If any readers find any problems elsewhere, please point them out. Thank you!

(End of this chapter)