Words: 1539

Description: The Marauders as third years find the Mirror of Erised.

Story: 

They stumbled on the Mirror by complete accident. The four Marauders were in their third year at Hogwarts and they had the brilliant idea to make a map with all the secret passageways. Of course, as Remus pointed out to them, that would mean wandering around the school after curfew to map out the whole school. They'd started the process in their second year and still had the top two floors to go. The only reason they'd made so much progress was because of James's invisibility cloak and the boys' talent at sweet-talking their way out of trouble.

The boys were hiding in a little alcove, Peter standing just outside of it to keep watch while the other two watched Remus draw the corridor. "There's just one more room down this corridor and then we'll call it quits for tonight."

The other boys nodded their agreement and waited for Remus to finish before they all gathered under the cloak again and set off to the next classroom. The cloak off once more, Remus moved to the nearest desk and started jotting down measurements. 

James, bored and forever curious, wandered to the front of the classroom where a great shape was covered by a silk fabric. James wasted no time in ripping the fabric off to discover a great big...mirror. 

He frowned in disappointment and read the words at the top. "Mirror of Erised..." he murmured to himself. James then looked at his reflection

But he was startled by what stared back at him. It was himself, but he was older, stronger, more handsome. And he had Lily Evans on his arm, beautiful as ever, and she was looking up at him with adoration instead of the usual scorn and he felt a tug at his heart strings. 

He was in Quidditch gear and he could tell that he was a professional quidditch player and he'd just won the World Cup and came out MVP. Sirius and Remus and Peter were there, cheering him on, looking so happy. His parents were there too, the usual pride on their features. James found himself staring at the scene in the mirror. It took him a minute to realize that it wasn't real.

Once James realized that, he also realized that there wasn't anything else he wanted more in the whole world than for the scene in front of him to be real.

"James, mate, are you coming?" Sirius called from the door where he and Remus and Peter were ready to go, thinking James was right behind them.

With great strength, James peeled his eyes away from the mirror. "Lads, this Mirror is enchanted or something. I think it shows the future! Look, Lily Evans is my girlfriend, and I've just won the World Cup--"

Peter's face scrunched up in confusion. He didn't see any of the things James was explaining. Instead, he saw himself, but he was taller and muscular and handsome. The lads were there, but they were all looking up to him like he was the most important person and they had to listen to every word he said with the greatest concentration. 

His eyes widened and he ached on the inside, wishing it were true.

Remus almost didn't recognize himself in the Mirror's reflection. He was taken aback by his reflection. The Remus in the mirror was laughing and smiling and there was a light behind his eyes that Remus never remembered seeing when looking at his reflection. The Remus in the mirror looked happy and full of life and energy and he reached up to show Remus his shoulder. His shoulder that was unmarked. Remus felt himself reach up to his own shoulder where he could feel the bite mark raised over his skin.

Remus realized then that the version of himself in the mirror was completely free of all his ugly scars. The Remus in the mirror wasn't a werewolf. And there were his parents in the background, gazing at him with pride; they were proud of him? His dad was nodding at him with a loving look in his eyes. His dad accepted him?

And then Remus realized that Sirius Black was holding his hand. This confused him. Sure, Sirius and he were close, but they'd never held hands before. He felt a fluttering sensation in his stomach at what the action implied and he felt a blush rise to his cheeks.

Sirius's mouth hung open in shock at what he was seeing. He was standing in a bright, light filled house with his family, except they were all smiling. His mother was standing behind him, hands on his shoulders and her long black hair cascaded down her back in soft curls that Sirius had never seen out of its tight bun before. She had little wrinkles around her eyes and a beautiful smile. It almost felt wrong to Sirius. Walburga Black would never smile like that, especially not towards him. But he wanted it to be true, he wanted it to be right.

His father stood by his mother and he was smiling too, looking proud and lovingly at his eldest son and Sirius got the distinct air that he was being involved, that he liked to spend time around his family. Sirius decided to take comfort in this knowledge. In reality, he hardly knew his father at all for how often he was gone or else holed up in his office.

And there was Regulus standing beside him, looking up to Sirius like he was his role model, like he loved him more than anything. Sirius took a mental screenshot of this perfect family photo. 

With a start, he realized that in the reflection, Remus Lupin was holding his hand. How many times had Sirius wished for this? He blushed furiously, eyes darting to his mates who were all staring at the mirror, enraptured. Sirius desperately prayed that they couldn't see what he was seeing.

Finally, Remus seemed to snap out of his trance. "We can't stay here," he said.

"Why?" Peter whined, eyes longing at whatever it was he was seeing in the mirror. 

"It's the Mirror of Erised," Remus explained, working on getting the other boys to turn away. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A History. It shows a person their greatest desires. It'll do us no good to stare at it; it's not the future and it probably won't come true."

James gave it a few more seconds before sighing and taking Remus's word for it. The three left the classroom and crept back to the Gryffindor common room, all of them lost in their own little world, thinking about the things they had seen.

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Years and years later, Remus Lupin traveled the halls of Hogwarts by his lonesome. He clutched the Marauders Map tightly in his hands, having just taken it from Harry Potter a few minutes prior. It was crazy to him that it ended up in Harry's hands.

He had pretended to be all 'professor-y' and disappointed, but he was very glad that Harry got the map. He would've made his dad proud, Remus knew that for sure.

Remus wandered up to the seventh floor and found the portrait of Barnabus the Barmy and paced three times in front of the empty wall, muttering, "I need to see the mirror, I need to see the mirror, I need to see the mirror."

The outlines of a familiar door appeared and Remus wasted no time in entering. Remus had used the Room of Requirement with his best friends many times in his school days, but this time he was alone and looking for the place to hide things. He'd overheard Dumbledore explaining to McGonagall that he'd stowed the Mirror here after Harry found it in his first year.

It didn't take him long to recognize the shape of the mirror and he moved aside the covering just as James had done years ago and he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. When he opened his eyes, he choked on a sob.

Standing in front of him was himself, hand in hand with Sirius, who looked as gorgeous as Remus remembered, not crazy like he did in the papers. Remus felt guilty over the love and longing he still felt for Sirius. 

Peter stood off to one side, not quite as close as the others were, but Remus still thought he was a sight for sore eyes.

And there was James and Lily, too. Remus saw them as they should've looked, thirty-three years old like him. They were smiling widely, just as in love as Remus remembered. Harry stood in between them, basking in the comfort of his parent's touch. And Harry was looking over at Remus's mirror self (who looked healthy and not quite so worn and weary) and Remus could tell that Harry knew him as Uncle Moony, and not as Professor Lupin. 

Remus took in what he was seeing, all of his friends, the love of his life, happy and together and alive and free.

Remus sat in front of the Mirror of Desire as he allowed himself to cry over what he had lost for the first time in many years. He stayed there in the Room of Requirement until the early hours of the morning.

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