Nothing over the next few weeks could draw Harry's attention away
from the Cerberus and what lay beneath the trap door. Ron told him
to forget about it, while Hermione said that Dumbledore must have a
good reason for allowing such a creature inside the school, but it
didn't help. Whatever was down there must be important and it was
clear to Harry that someone was after whatever it was. The scene he
had witnessed between Snape and Quirrell was too coincidental for
Harry's liking. His first thought was that Snape was trying to steal it
and was bullying Quirrell into helping him, but he had no evidence.
Snape was, of course, the likely character – dark, imposing,
unfriendly and sometimes downright scary – but nothing Harry had
witnessed suggested he was a criminal, or evil in some way. Plus,
Dumbledore trusted him, so much so that he'd vouched for Snape
after the last war. Cornelius had told him as much after he'd written
home about how Snape treated him at the beginning of the year. He
wouldn't say what Snape had done to need someone so powerful
and respected in their society to guarantee he was innocent, but he
had told Harry that regardless of what kind of teacher he was, if the
great Albus Dumbledore trusted him, then there could be nothing
truly evil about the man. Harry wasn't sure if he believed that, but
Dumbledore's trust in Snape was enough for Harry to give him the
benefit of the doubt. For now at least.
January gave way to February and still Harry was no closer to
discovering the truth. He knew he was driving Ron and Hermione
nuts and so he didn't tell them whenever he snuck out under the
invisibility cloak at night. He was sure they knew, but as neither said
anything he followed their lead and used Hermione's spell himself to get passed the Fat Lady. It was on one of those nightly wanderings
that Harry entered a chamber not far from the library that he didn't
remember seeing before. Inside there was a lone mirror with not
even a table or chair to accompany it. Harry approached the mirror
curiously, seeing his reflection appear as he removed the cloak. He
stared at himself for a moment, wondering why a large ornate mirror
such as this was in an empty room in a far corner of the castle. He
wasn't alone for long, however, at least not in the mirror. Two shapes
materialized on either side of him and Harry recognized them
instantly.
"Mum?" He breathed, staring at the women with eyes so like his
own. "Dad?" The man smiled. Cornelius and Aldora had managed to
put together a book of photos of his parents from people who had
known them, which they had given to him only a month into his living
with them, when they realized he had never seen a photo of his
parents before. He'd stared at those photos so many times that he
probably could recognize them better than himself. "But what…?"
Harry looked around the room, searching for the source of these
images, but found nothing. He realized then that some magic was at
work here, though he had no idea what. Harry sat and stared at his
parents for some time after he had tried talking to them and had
quickly realized they couldn't talk back. He spent the rest of the night
just sitting there with his parents, only returning to the dormitory an
hour before sunrise. He hadn't told Ron and Hermione what he'd
found, though a part of him had wanted to introduce them to his
parents. He was clever enough to know that whatever magic was at
work here was simply an illusion and was in no way real. However,
that didn't stop him from returning there every night that week.
"Back again, Harry?" Harry jumped at the voice and turned around to
face the Headmaster. He hadn't heard the door open or been at all
aware that he wasn't alone, so engrossed was he with the mirror. "I
see that you, like so many before you, have discovered the delights
of the Mirror of Erised. I trust by now you realize what it does." "It shows us an illusion of something important to us." He'd been so
happy at seeing his parents that he hadn't thought too much about
the mirror or the magic behind it, though he'd worked out that much.
"Yes…and no." Harry was confused. "It shows us nothing more or
less than the deepest and most desperate desires of our hearts."
That made sense. Although he'd been taken from his abusive aunt
and uncle's home some years ago and shown kindness, and even
love to a certain extent, he still longed for his parents and the home
they were supposed to have had together, if not for that fateful night.
That was the one thing he realized that he'd never have, and it made
his heart ache for it even more because of it.
"I guess that makes sense." He replied to Dumbledore.
"Yes, but remember this, Harry: this mirror gives us neither
knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, and even
gone mad." Kind of like he had, Harry realized. This was the fourth
night in a row that he was losing sleep just for the chance to look at
his parents again. "Which is why tomorrow it will be moved to a new
home. And I must ask you, not to go looking for it again." Harry
looked up at Dumbledore. There was something in his voice that
spoke of more than just wanting to save Harry, and other students,
from looking in the mirror too often. Harry thought immediately of his
other obsession and decided to test that waters. Dumbledore would
no doubt know all about the Cerberus and the trap door. Even if
Harry got detention it would be worth it for any bit of information the
Headmaster might let slip.
"Is that because it's going down the trap door, in the room the
Cerberus is guarding on the third floor?" Dumbledore's eyes flashed
with a flicker of something – anger, fear, Harry couldn't tell – as they
bore into him from above the half-moon spectacles.
"You visited the third floor?"
"Not on purpose." He said, going with mostly the truth, though he
wasn't going to drag his friends into this. "I was a bit late leaving the library one night and was out after curfew. Mrs. Norris found me and
started following me. I didn't want detention so I ran. I didn't realize
I'd run right into the third floor until I saw the Cerberus in the room I
was hiding in." Dumbledore continued to stare at him and Harry
wondered if he could tell that he was lying, even though the
important bit about how he found the three headed dog was the
same; it had been an accident, after all, he, Ron and Hermione
hadn't meant to go on the third floor.
"I trust you will be discrete about what you have found, Harry."
Dumbledore said with a sigh. "There is a reason the third floor is
forbidden this year and it would not do for certain people to get wind
of what is down there." Harry knew that was all Dumbledore would
say without further prompting. He had been present for several visits
that Cornelius had paid to Dumbledore over the years. The current
Minister of Magic began his tenure quite insecure about his position
and had often sought out the great Albus Dumbledore for advice. He
still did – though to a lesser extent since Lucius Malfoy had gotten
hold of him – and so Harry had met the Headmaster before coming
to Hogwarts and knew that if there was one thing Dumbledore was
good at it was not sharing information. Of course, Harry had gotten
good at pressing the right buttons to get more information out of him.
"Of course, Headmaster." He said. "Though I must ask, does the
Minister know about whatever is hidden in the castle? Only I can't
imagine that he does, you see. Hiding a dangerous creature in a
room that a first year can get into? And as you said, there are certain
people that shouldn't get their hands on what's hidden down there.
How hard would it be for those people to track it to Hogwarts?
Wouldn't they then try and get at it, which could put every student in
the school in danger?" He was laying it on a bit thick, he knew, but
he needed to know what was down there. All of the points he'd just
made were valid ones, and after Dumbledore confirmed that
something was down the trap door that dangerous people might
want, his own safety, and that of his friends, was at risk. Harry had
sworn four years ago that he would never allow anyone else control
his life and until he knew what Dumbledore was hiding, he couldn't decide if he could leave it protected as is, or if he needed to do
something about it. Dumbledore sighed once more, and Harry knew
that he hadn't told the Minister.
"All I will say, Harry, is that no one knows it is here and it will be gone
soon. I am merely holding it temporarily for an old friend of mine." An
answer without really giving an answer, it was what Dumbledore was
good at. On the other hand, manipulating adults was something
Harry was good at, and it was clear that Dumbledore didn't want the
Ministry to know about whatever it was he was hiding. Harry thought
for a moment about how hard he should push Dumbledore, knowing
that he could follow through and Cornelius would rush to the school
demanding answers, but now might not be the best time to play that
card.
"What friend, Professor?" Dumbledore stared at him a moment,
deciding if he should give away that bit of information.
"Nicolas Flamel." He said finally, clearly deciding that giving Harry
this much couldn't hurt anything. Even if Harry managed to research
everything about Nicolas' life and come to the right conclusion about
what was hidden, there was nothing he could do with that
information, so having Harry know the truth was quite harmless.
"Nicolas Flamel…" Harry apparently didn't know that name and
Dumbledore relaxed a bit more.
"Now off to bed, Harry." He ended the conversation. "Don't dawdle."
Harry nodded slipped out of the door before putting his cloak back
on and returning to his dormitory, his head full of thoughts of Nicolas
Flamel.
"Nicolas Flamel? Who's Nicolas Flamel?" Ron asked the next
morning. Harry had finally told his friends about his late night
wanderings and of course about his encounter with Dumbledore.
"You do realize that you practically threatened a teacher?" Hermione
was much more upset about that fact then she was curious about who Nicolas Flamel was. "And not just any teacher, but the
Headmaster!" It seemed incomprehensible to Hermione that anyone
would threaten a teacher.
"I know, and I promise not to do it again." Harry waved off her
concern. "This week." Hermione glared at him but he could see a
twitch of her mouth that belied her desire to smile. He may threaten
teachers, but he wouldn't lie to her. "So how do we find out who
Nicolas Flamel is?" It was research they needed to do, so of course
he needed Hermione for that.
"I've heard the name before, but I can't remember where." She said.
"We'd probably be best to look up everything we can on Professor
Dumbledore. If I've heard the name before then he's probably wellknown somehow and if he and Professor Dumbledore are friends,
then they'll probably be mentioned together somewhere."
"Beats starting a search for someone we know nothing about."
Shrugged Ron in agreement, and Harry nodded as well.
"Good. Then let's go to the-"
"Library." Hermione glared but the two boys merely chuckled as they
made their way out of the Great Hall. They searched all day and
found nothing of use. Since they were doing something they didn't
want anyone else to know about, or for word to reach Dumbledore
that they were looking for information on his friend, they couldn't
exactly ask Madam Pince for help so it was up to Hermione to find
books for them to look through. A week passed with no results and
they were starting to get despondent; Hermione only had two more
books for them to look through. They were in the common room late
one evening when they ran out of texts, emphasized by Hermione
slamming the book shut.
"We've gone through every book I can think of that might have any
mention of Dumbledore, and nothing!" She said frustratedly.
"Maybe he's not famous like you thought." Said Harry. "But I know I've read that name somewhere!"
"Let's just go to bed." Ron grumbled. His stomach hurt from all the
sweets he'd eaten while Harry and Hermione went through the last
two books. With nothing else to do right now the two agreed and
they began to clean up. Harry was gathering all the chocolate frog
cards Ron didn't want when one of them caught his eye:
Dumbledore had just walked back into the picture on his frog card.
Thinking it a lark that a chocolate frog card, of all things, was the
only thing about the Headmaster that they hadn't read in the last
week, Harry turned the card over and read the bit on the back, only
he wasn't thinking it a lark anymore.
"Guys, here!" He called and Ron and Hermione rushed over.
"Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times,
Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard
Gindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's
blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel!" He
read. Hermione gasped and ran up to the girl's dormitory without any
explanation, though she returned moments later with a rather large
book.
"I knew I'd read that name before! I checked this out weeks ago for a
bit of light reading."
"This is light?" Ron asked as she slammed the book down on the
table and opened it, beginning to search through the pages until she
found the one she wanted. "Of course, here it is: 'Nicolas Flamel is
the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone.' "
"The what?" Neither boy knew what she was talking about.
Hermione shot them a withering look before continuing.
"The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing
powers. It can turn any metal into pure gold, and produces the Elixer
of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted
alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday."
"That's one powerful stone." Ron muttered. "You think that's what's
through the trap door?"
"Maybe. What else is he known for, Hermione?" She skimmed the
paragraph before shaking her head.
"Only as an alchemist. A very talented alchemist, famous in alchemy
circles, but the Philosopher's Stone is the only thing he's done that
might warrant such protection."
"Then that must be it." Said Harry. "Dumbledore must be hiding the
Philosopher's Stone for his old friend."
"But why? And who would want it? And what for?" Ron asked the
pertinent questions.
"Riches." Hermione suggested. "It can turn any metal into gold, after
all, and history is riddled with stories of people who have gone to
great lengths to find, or protect, treasure."
"The Elixer of Life could be it too." Said Harry. "Some people would
love to live forever."
"But who?" Harry shook his head.
"I don't know. It could be anyone, but I doubt Dumbledore's
protecting the stone just from the general public. He must know
who's after it, and the kind of trouble they'd cause if they got their
hands on it."
"Then that's what we have to do next." Hermione was resolute. "We
have to find out who is after the stone and why."
"But how?" Asked Ron, posing the question that was likely to give
them the most trouble.