[Chapter Size: 1600 Words.]
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"This mirror can see the future, right, Harry?" Ron stared at the large, beautiful mirror in front of him with a look of surprise and disbelief on his face. He twisted his body to the left and right in front of the mirror, striking a playful pose.
"What did you see?" Harry didn't answer his friend's question directly.
"I'm wearing the same badge Bill used to wear. It's the Head Boy badge! And I'm holding the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup. Wow, it's the Quidditch Captain's armband, and I'm the Captain!"
Ron continued shifting his posture in front of the mirror, occasionally stepping closer to get a better look. The more he looked, the more excited he became, and even his breathing grew heavier.
Harry pursed his lips and said, "Try again using the method I taught you this morning."
Ron looked at Harry with some skepticism, then nodded. He closed his eyes and muttered something to himself. After a moment, he opened his eyes again.
Ron then tried the Occlumency technique Harry had urgently taught him. Though he was still very clumsy, he managed to perform it. Looking back into the mirror, his reflection was no longer as lively, but he looked at Harry, confused. "There's nothing left."
"Well, it seems my guess was right." Harry nodded.
The story starts last night.
To avoid Snape, Harry had hidden in this seemingly semi-abandoned classroom and found the mirror.
When Harry first saw the mirror, he was startled.
Because in the mirror, he was standing with several mosaics. His smile was bright and sunny, but the mosaics on the sides looked extremely strange.
Although it was a mosaic, Harry deduced, by the shapes and colors, that they were likely some of his best friends from Hogwarts.
They all seemed to be enjoying themselves.
On Christmas Eve, he touched the silver stars of uncertain origin in the spiritual world, and his mental strength grew significantly. His abilities in mental blocking and Occlumency also improved a great deal.
Then, he began trying to create a layer of false consciousness outside of his mental protection.
Harry thought it looked beautiful when he created it, and he felt his design was very detailed. The clothes and colors of the characters were all clearly conceived.
But now, it seemed that wasn't the case anymore.
Except for him, all the other characters were mosaics.
Harry felt deeply embarrassed when he saw this. He struggled for a long time until the images of those characters became a bit clearer.
"You were lucky not to have been seen, otherwise it would have been a huge embarrassment."
Harry briefly fantasized about someone snooping into his consciousness, then seeing his carefully prepared false consciousness reduced to a bunch of mosaics, he felt so embarrassed.
But when he turned around, Harry suddenly reacted.
"Hey, wait, something's wrong. Can this mirror see into people's hearts?"
Harry tried to modify his external thoughts, but the scene in the mirror didn't change. He immediately had a new guess. This mirror was probably not for spying on what he was thinking at the moment but something deeper.
For instance, inner desires or lust.
After a moment of hesitation, Harry removed the Occlumency and Mind Block spells. The scene in the mirror truly changed.
But this scene shocked Harry.
"This... this... this…"
At that moment, Harry looked into the mirror and saw himself sitting obediently in the classroom, watching a very beautiful professor giving a lecture at the podium, looking like a good boy. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.
"This mirror must be inaccurate!"
Harry thought with certainty.
But surely, Harry brought Ron along. Before coming here, Harry weighed the pros and cons and taught Ron the Occlumency technique. Originally, he had planned to teach him the mind-blocking technique too, but after thinking it over, he was concerned that Ron might try to do more than he could handle, so he decided to take it step by step.
Furthermore, performing both Mind Block and Occlumency at the same time would interact with the invisibility cloak, and Harry needed to figure out why.
Ron's Occlumency training was surprisingly successful. The first attempt was only a partial success, and Ron was thrilled to use it more effectively after just one morning.
Then Harry took him to the mirror.
It turns out that what Ron saw was largely consistent with one of the possibilities Harry had imagined earlier. Well, since Harry wasn't familiar with the Head Boy issue, he hadn't thought of that. Apart from that, it was basically the same.
"Harry, what's going on with this mirror?" Ron asked, confused. Obviously, the mirror was puzzling him. But he wasn't ready to use his own brain to think it through, so he simply asked Harry directly.
"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with inner desire or will," Harry expressed his guess.
"Ah?" Ron said. "If you say so. So, Harry, what did you see?"
…
Harry had to work hard to make Ron temporarily forget about exploring his own "inner desires and will."
Although Ron seemed a little regretful, he was still more interested in the technique of mental blocking.
"It's no wonder you always sleep so deeply, Harry. This is so useful." Ron was very interested in the mental blocking technique. Harry guessed it was because Ron had managed it on his first try.
This was the first time Ron had mastered a spell so easily.
As for Ron's comment that Harry slept deeply, Harry scoffed. Nearly every time the roommates fell asleep while talking, Ron was always the first to doze off.
…
In the following days, Harry rushed to the strange mirror almost every day.
He certainly wasn't there just to see a pretty professor, at least, not entirely. His main goal was to practice mental blocking techniques.
With the mirror's magical effect, Harry continued creating false thoughts until he managed to deceive the mirror. If his skills weren't so low, Harry would have taken this opportunity to begin building a second layer of defense and false information.
Ron didn't comment on Harry's behavior.
After discovering that what the mirror showed wasn't the future, Ron lost interest in it. He also wasn't interested in creating false ideas.
Ron felt that he didn't have enough secrets to justify all these extravagant things. He simply continued strengthening his mental barriers.
There were still three days left in the Christmas holidays, and Harry had already received a letter from Hermione. In the letter, Hermione said she was bored at home and couldn't wait to return to Hogwarts and practice magic.
Unfortunately, the Hogwarts Express wasn't running constantly. Other forms of travel couldn't access Hogwarts.
The school was still empty. Harry entered the classroom with familiarity, ready to continue practicing Occlumency. He could now make the characters interact with each other in a layer of thought.
As soon as he opened the door and before he could remove his invisibility cloak, he found someone sitting on an old sofa in the corner of the classroom. A man with long white hair and a beard, wearing a gray robe. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Well, you're a little later than usual today, Harry." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his glasses, and he smiled widely. Although Harry was still wearing the Invisibility Cloak, he was sure Dumbledore had figured it out.
"Good afternoon, Professor Dumbledore..." Harry awkwardly lifted his invisibility cloak.
He didn't think it was strange that Dumbledore could see through the Invisibility Cloak. Countless books had described Dumbledore as the greatest wizard in Britain and even Europe this century.
So, it was no surprise that he possessed all sorts of miraculous powers.
When Harry first met Dumbledore, he was drawn to his appearance, which reminded him of Neil. In fact, the only similarities were their white beards and hair. That's why Harry felt such a deep dislike for him.
However, after a semester, he had come to see Dumbledore more often and found that this legendary wizard was actually a very calm old man. He often joked with the students, most of whom were twins.
Also, he never deducted points from students and seemed very easy to talk to.
Well, he was particularly fond of sweets. Three "specials" should be used here to describe the extent of his love for them. Harry was very worried that, at his age, Dumbledore might develop diabetes.
"Originally, I thought you were drawn to the magical power of the Mirror of Erised, but it seems it's not what I imagined." Dumbledore looked at Harry with a smile.
"Ah Professor, you know everything..." Harry suddenly felt a little embarrassed.
The embarrassment wasn't because he had snuck off to play with the mirror, but because he was worried Dumbledore knew about the "inner desire" in his heart that he wasn't willing to admit.
"Well, yes, a little. You know, being the Headmaster comes with some privileges." Dumbledore winked at Harry.
Harry felt a little relieved. At least Dumbledore didn't seem to mind that he'd been sneaking around with the mirror. He then continued asking, "Professor, this mirror of Erised, can it see into a person's heart?"
"Well, not really. It's just one of its abilities." Dumbledore seemed very pleased, as though Harry had asked a good question. "It doesn't snoop into people's hearts. To be precise, it reveals your innermost desires. Speaking of which, Harry, I didn't truly know you..."
Harry almost exploded.
"What's happening? Professor, do you really know?"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't get excited, don't get excited, Harry." Dumbledore was still smiling.
"It's normal for boys, your father was like this too. Well, I'm a little surprised by your situation. I thought it would be Patil or Johnson, or at most, Farley."
"Professor, please stop talking." Harry was upset.
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