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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟒: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝

Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. No one could wait for the holidays to start. 

While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before us and we kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted home." 

He was looking over at Harry and me as he spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Harry, who was measuring out the powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them, which I liked.

 Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a widemouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family. 

It was true that Harry and I weren't going back to Privet Drive for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Harry had signed up at once. He didn't feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he'd ever had. And I was going to stay because I didn't want to be stuck with Dudley alone. Ron and his brothers were staying, too, because Mr.and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.

When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, we found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told us that Hagrid was behind it.

 "Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches. 

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron." 

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose — that hut of  Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to." 

I screamed as Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs. 

"WEASLEY!"

Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.

 "He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

 "Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you." 

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.

 "I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back, "one of these days, I'll get him —"

 "I hate them both," said Harry, "Malfoy and Snape."

 "Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me and see the Great Hall, looks a treat."

 So the four of us followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations. 

"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree — put it in the far corner, would you?"

 The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles. 

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked. 

"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me — Harry, Ron, Diane, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

 "Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his eyes away from ProfessorFlitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.

 "The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

 "Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."

"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here — I've told yeh —drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'." 

"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Hermione. 

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" I added. 

"We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere — just give us a hint — I know I've read his name somewhere," Harry said. 

 "I'm sayin' nothin', said Hagrid flatly.

 "Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and they left Hagridlooking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.

We had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.

 Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section. He had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. I usually wandered around the desk of Madam Pince when she was away and searched a little for information about Flamel. 

"Merlin's beard, let it go, or you'll get expelled," Hermione said at once, so I stopped and wandered around the library and searched for the name 'Flamel'. 

Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts and only read by older students studying advanced defense Against the Dark Arts. 

 "What are you looking for, boy?" Madam Pince asked. 

I winced under her gaze. I muttered something. "Er —" 

 "Nothing," Harry filled in. 

 Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him. "You'd better get out, then. Go on — out!"

Wishing we'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Harry and I left the library. He, Ron, Hermione, and I had already agreed we'd better not ask MadamPince where we could find Flamel. 

We were sure she'd be able to tell them, but we couldn't risk Snape hearing what we were up to.

Harry and I waited outside in the corridor to see if the other two had found anything, but we weren't very hopeful. We had been looking for two weeks, after A, but as we only had odd moments between lessons it wasn't surprising they'd found nothing. What we really needed was a nice long search withoutMadam Pince breathing down our necks.

Five minutes later, Ron and Hermione joined us, shaking their heads. 

"Nothing," Hermione sighed. 

"Can I ask the Fawleys —" I started.

"We went over this, Diane, we can't. Not yet at least," Harry said. 

We went off to lunch. 

"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" said Hermione."And send me an owl if you find anything."

 "And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron."It'd be safe to ask them." 

"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.

✧✧✧✧

Once the holidays had started, Ron, Harry, and I were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. Ron and Harry had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so we were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. We sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on toasting fork — bread, English muffins, marshmallows — and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if we would network. 

Ron also started teaching Harry and me wizard chess. This was exactly likeMuggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot of like directing troops in battle. Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family — in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted. Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. 

"Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him." 

On Christmas Eve, I went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but not expecting any presents at all. 

When I woke early in the morning, however, the first thing I saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed. 

"Merry Christmas," said Cassie Fawley sleepily as I scrambled out of bed and pulled on my bathrobe.

The Fawleys had exchanged dorms since no one else was at their dorm. 

 "You too, Cass. Merry Christmas, Leslie, Belle, and Lily!" I said. "Will you look at this? I've got some presents!"

 "What did you expect, turnips?" said Lily, laughing at her own joke, turning to her own pile, which was a lot bigger than mine.

I picked up the top parcel. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Diane, from Hagrid. 

Inside was a roughly square object. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. It was written "Diane" on it. 

A second, very small parcel contained a note. We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Mum and Dad. Taped to the note was a fifty-pence piece. 

"That's friendly," I said. 

The Fawleys were fascinated by the fifty pence. 

"Weird!" they said, "What a shape! This is money?" 

"You can keep it," I said, laughing at how pleased they were. "Hagrid and my parents — so who sent these?"

"I think I know who that one's from," said Belle, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mum. I told her you didn't expect any presents and — oh, no," she groaned, "she's made you a Fawley hat." 

I had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted hat in pink and a large box of homemade mince pies. 

"Every year she makes us a hat," said Lily, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always dark blue."

 "That's really nice of her," I said, trying the very tasty pies. 

My next present also contained candy — a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione. 

"And who's is this?" I asked as I opened another box. Merry Christmas, Diane! Love, the Weasleys. 

It contained fudge and a sweater with a large D on it. I wore it and smiled.

I opened the next package. It was from Ron. It contained a little letter D necklace. 

"Ron," I said, wearing it on me. "Aww, he's the sweetest!" 

I opened Harry's. His was a thick book. "That's nice." 

And finally, each other Fawleys had given me a small plant. 

"It survives on air," Leslie explained. "And I'm sorry if it's a really terrible present —" 

"No!" I squeaked. "Definitely not, no, it's was wonderful!" 

The Fawleys smiled. They opened the last present. It was a small package. I smiled. It was my present. They all opened it. And they all gasped. 

"Is it —" 

"No way —" 

"My goodness —" 

"It is!" 

They all looked at me. "Is it a matching bracelet?" 

"Yes!" I said as I broke out into a grin as I showed my bracelet. 

"Thank you!" they all said as they put their matching bracelets on. 

"Oh! Harry and Ron! I'll be right back!" I said as I hurried out of the dorm. 

✧✧✧✧

I opened the door to Harry and Ron's dorm. 

"Harry! Ron!" I said gleefully. 

"Diane!" they both said grinning. 

"Ron, thank you for the necklace, it was wonderful, you're the kindest!" I said as I jumped on Harry's bed. 

Ron blushed hard and I smiled back. 

"And thanks for the book, Harry," I said as I smiled at Harry. 

"No problem, Ane," Harry replied. 

Harry had only one parcel left. Harry picked it up and felt it. I could see from his face that he thought it was very light. He unwrapped it.

 Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it layin gleaming folds. Ron gasped.

"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of very Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is —they're really rare and really valuable."

 "What is it?"Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water that was woven into the material. 

"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is — try it on."

 Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell and I gasped. 

"It is! Look down!" 

"Harry!" I squealed. 

Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely. 

"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!" 

Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. I looked at the note too. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words: 

Your father left this in my possession before he died. 

It is time it was returned to you. 

Use it well. 

A Very Merry Christmas to you.

There was no signature. Harry and I stared at the note. Ron was admiring the cloak. 

"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the matter?"

 "Nothing," said Harry.

 He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to my uncle?

Before I could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Harry stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight. He didn't feel like sharing it with anyone else yet.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Hey, look — Harry's got a Weasley sweater, too!"

Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G.

"Harry's is better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Harry'ssweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."

"I hate maroon," Ron moaned halfheartedly as he pulled it over his head.

"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid — we know we're called Gred and Forge."

"What's all this noise?"

Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving. He had got halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.

"P for perfect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry got one."

"I — don't — want —" said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George."Christmas is a time for family." 

They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater. 

I had never in all my life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce – and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along with the table. These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. 

Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral that and several live, white mice. I and George tried the Chocolate Frogs again but this time Professor Flitwick had added an extra bouncing charm to them so they would hurry out of our hands before we had a chance to eat them. 

Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him. Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice. 

I watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to my amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided. 

 When Harry and I finally left the table, we were laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of unexplorable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own new wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and I had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norris's Christmas dinner. 

 Harry, the Weasleys, and I spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. 

Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, we returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. He suspected he wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help him so much. After a meal of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifles, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge. 

 It had been my best Christmas day ever. 

✧✧✧✧

"You could have woken me up," said Ron, crossly the next morning.

 "You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror." 

"What mirror?" I asked as I looked from Harry to Ron. 

"Harry reckons he says his mum and dad in a mirror, Ane," Ron said.  "I'd like to see your mom and dad," Ron said eagerly to Harry. 

"And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone." 

"You can see them any old time," said Ron. "Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?" 

Harry couldn't eat. 

 "Are you all right?" said Ron. "You look odd."

With Ron covered in the cloak, too, we had to walk much more slowly the next night. We tried retracing Harry's route from the library, wandering around the dark passageways for nearly an hour. 

"I'm freezing," said Ron. "Let's forget it and go back." 

"No!" Harry hissed. I know it's here somewhere." 

We passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction but saw no one else. 

Just as Ron started moaning that his feet were dead with cold, Harry spotted the suit of armor.

 "It's here — just here — yes!" 

"Great," I said as I shivered.

We pushed the door open. Harry dropped the cloak from around his shoulders and ran to the mirror. The mirror was just a mirror. 

 "See?" Harry whispered. 

"I can't see anything," Ron and I said. 

 "Look! Look at them all...there are loads of them...." 

"I can only see you," Ron said. 

"Yes, Harry, we can only see you." 

 "Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am." 

Harry stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror. I could see Ron in his paisley pajamas. Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image. 

"Look at me!" he said. 

"Can you see all your family standing around you?" Harry asked excitedly. 

"No — I'm alone — but I'm different — I look older — and I'm the head boy!"

"Head boy? Older?" I repeated. 

They have to be kidding me. 

"What?"  Harry asked, dumbfound. 

"I am — I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to — and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup — I'm Quidditch captain, too." Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly atHarry. "Do you think this mirror shows the future?" 

"How can it? All my family are dead — let me have another look —" 

"You had it to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time." 

"You're only holding the Quidditch cup, what's interesting about that? I want to see my parents."

 "Don't push me —" 

"Shut it!" I hissed loudly. 

Both the boys stopped and looked at me. 

"This is codswallop, I'm telling you, you're getting fooled, fooled! I-it's playing with your minds! How can a mirror — a mirror — tell you the future?!" I said, breathing hard. 

"Why don't you try it?" Harry snapped. 

"Fine!" 

I marched in front of the mirror. There I stood. I was smiling — grinning, I was happy. I was happier than I had ever been. Hermione, Harry, Ron, and the Fawleys were there. And people were crowding around me, chanting my name. Then I could see Mum and Dad — and Dudley. They were smiling. 

"Diane? DIANE!" Harry said, shaking me. "Ane, are you — Diane!" 

I hadn't realized I had been staring at it for so long. 

"What do you see?" Ron asked. 

"Me — me, fitting — fitting in," I said.

"Diane, why don't you let go of the sparkle you sometimes try to hide?" Harry whispered. 

A sudden noise outside in the corridor put an end to our discussion. I hadn't realized how loudly we had been talking. 

"Quick!"Ron threw the cloak back over us as the luminous eyes of Mrs. Norriscame round the door. 

Ron, Harry, and I stood quite still, we all thought the same thing — did the cloak work on cats? After what seemed an age, she turned and left. 

"This isn't safe — she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on." 

And Ron pulled Harry and me out of the room.

The snow still hadn't melted the next morning. 

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

"No."

 "Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?" I asked. 

"No...you two go..." 

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

 "Why not?" 

"I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it — and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already. Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are wandering around. So what if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over?" 

"You sound like Hermione." 

"I'm serious, Harry, don't go." 

But I could see Harry didn't care. 

"Fine!" I said. "Go, Harry, go! Like you ever listened to me anyway," I added scathingly.