“...Not safe, Alice. The boy’s already been attacked twice and you want him to be exposed?”

Alice gritted her teeth.

“And how much good did you do then?" She said, "From what I hear the professors didn’t arrive until things had already gone way too far. He shouldn’t be locked up in this castle when he apparently isn’t safe here either! Why can’t there just be extra security at our house?”

Frank put a hand on Alice’s shoulder and she took a deep breath. She was getting too worked up, thinking of the boy who saved her being so viciously attacked at school. Twice. She didn’t like the thought of Harry spending time in the castle all alone for the holidays. Mostly it disturbed her how easily Dumbledore had put his foot down without even considering the possibility.

“I assure you,” Dumbledore said, “He is far safer here than anywhere else. People would leap at the opportunity to attack him. Whatever security I could set up in such a short time wouldn’t be nearly enough. As his legal guardian, I won’t allow it. He’ll remain in this castle over the holidays for his safety, and that’s final.”

Frank spoke up. “Surely there’s some solution? I can’t believe there’s no way for the boy to come for a short visit at least. No boy should be alone for the holidays.”

Dumbledore shook his head. “Even with a week of preparation, it just isn’t safe. If there is another incident…”

Alice scoffed. “So it's politics then. What is this I hear that you haven’t even told Harry about the fact you’re his legal guardian? The boy was clueless until his friends told him about it. Maybe the papers are right, you are being negligent. And this curse business…”

“Nonsense. I’ve done everything in my power to assure his safety. Not even St. Mungo’s best staff could remove that curse. The symptoms of the curse were not apparent at first, but I suppose it was still my failing in not investigating further when I should have. And I just didn’t want to burden the boy with the legal business after his very eventful first day.”

Alice grumbled. “There’s been plenty of time since then to tell him about it.”

Dumbledore nodded. “Yes, time among friends and in class. Not the time to burden him further with all the legal details.”

“So, your first real use of your status is to keep him here for the holidays?” Alice said. It seems that Dumbledore wouldn’t budge.

Dumbledore nodded, “Yes. It is unfortunate, but I think my reasoning is clear. We can not sacrifice his safety with such haste in things.”

Alice turned. “Good day, Dumbledore. As you are Harry’s legal guardian, I suppose I have nothing else to say.”

She turned and walked over to the fireplace, Frank trailing behind.

“Good day, Albus,” Frank said before the two of them walked into the fireplace back to their home.

“Did you have to be so aggressive, Alice? The man is doing his best. I get you are impatient, but he had a point about security.” Frank said.

Alice sighed. “I just don’t like it. Dumbledore just felt so cold when he talked about Harry. And clearly, he’s not doing his best considering what happened…”

Frank hugged her. “You know it’s the attackers' fault, not Dumbledore’s. Both freak attacks, no way he could have expected them.”

Alice buried her face in Frank’s shoulder. “I know. But if Dumbledore can’t defend Harry properly, then who will? Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard alive. It’s scary that he doesn't even seem to think he can keep Harry safe…”

Frank patted Alice’s back but didn’t say anything else.

— — —

Well, that was disappointing. It seems Harry would be stuck in the castle after all. Neville seemed to take it pretty hard, getting angry on Harry’s behalf. Ron and Hermione’s reactions were more muted, but they didn’t like it either. Harry waved as he saw his three friends get on the Hogwarts Express train. It would be a very lonely week with them gone. Harry’s friends waved back, and the train pulled away.

Happy holidays.

Harry walked back up to the castle and the place was very quiet, only a few students left. Harry went to the common room and glanced around. What should he do? Maybe he should try to map the castle in his mind. There were whole wings of the castle that Harry had never set foot into, and he should fix that. With his new purpose in mind, Harry set out ready to explore.

— — —

The castle was big. Even after two days of wandering, Harry still hadn’t covered the whole thing. He only avoided the third floor corridor since he remembered being told it was off limits in Dumbledore’s speech at the opening Hogwarts feast.

Harry peeked into another abandoned classroom. He went inside and noticed that there was a massive mirror standing nearly three meters tall inside. Its frame was intricate and lined with gold and silver, but the reflective surface was pristine with not even a speck of dust covering it.

Harry stepped in front of it, and it seemed the mirror was magical. His reflection in the mirror was widely smiling. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were around. One of them said something and the reflection turned and silently laughed so hard that it had to wipe tears from its eyes after it finished. It turned and started an easy conversation with its friends and appeared relaxed and at ease as they talked. Its face shifted between an array of emotions as it spoke easily with the others.

Harry touched his own face, still calm and unmoving as it usually was if Harry didn’t make an effort to change it. Was this what he would be like if he was like everyone else?

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Harry watched his other self joke, laugh, discuss, and silently argue with visible excitement and passion. For hours. It was interesting, to see how different the version of him in the mirror was. What Harry could have been like.

But it was time for dinner. Harry was finally getting his big appetite back after eating a much smaller amount of food ever since Halloween. Harry got up and left the mirror behind. He could finish his exploration of the castle tomorrow.

After another two days, Harry finished mapping every last little corner of Hogwarts. Besides the forbidden sections and Professors' offices of course. This place really was huge, even Harry with his perfect memory had gotten lost a few times as he tried to navigate.

Figuring he had nothing else to do, Harry wandered back to the room with the mirror. At least it seemed to be able to keep his attention well enough. He wouldn’t think the scenes it showed him would be engaging, but they were somehow. Mostly it was just him sitting around and chatting with friends. Something perfectly normal yet surreal to see.

“A very dangerous mirror, Harry. Men have wasted away in front of it, looking for things that never could be.”

Harry jumped and whirled around to see Dumbledore standing in the doorway.

“Headmaster, you startled me," Harry said, "What do you mean? I have noticed the things it shows me are more interesting than I think they should be. But I don’t think it is that good.”

“Hmmmm. Is that so?" Dumbledore asked, "It shows us nothing less than the deepest most innermost desire in our hearts. What do you see?”

“Should I tell you?" Harry asked, "That seems like it's pretty private. How does it even do that? What if two people look at it at once?”

The headmaster chuckled. “Ah, just curious. No need to answer. And it is a normal mirror except for those who place themselves in front of it. Only one can see it at once. The others see nothing out of the usual. Perhaps you should have been a Ravenclaw with a curious mind like that.”

Harry looked back at his laughing self in the mirror. He turned back to Dumbledore and his skull prickled.

“Interesting. Anyway, if it is dangerous, what’s it doing just sitting around here?” Harry said

Dumbledore coughed.

“Ah, this castle’s old rooms have many lost things. Not all of them are safe. I will be taking this away soon. I suggest you don’t go looking for it.”

Harry shrugged. “Alright, whatever. It’s just very boring without my friends around. No one else really likes to talk to me. Thanks for that by the way, I was looking forward to visiting the Longbottoms for Christmas.”

Dumbledore held up his hands and put on a stern expression, “Now Harry, I realize you are disappointed but it was for your own safety. The castle is the safest place for you right now with all the danger that seems to swirl around you.”

Harry started walking forward. “My prior experience says otherwise. I haven’t been attacked outside of Hogwarts yet. Sorry, you’re blocking the door. Can I go by?”

“Of course, of course.” The headmaster stepped aside, “I won’t keep you, then.”

Harry left and wondered what he should do now. Maybe he could convince one of the Gryffindors to hang out with him. They must be very bored by now so maybe they are more receptive to Harry’s request than they were a few days ago.

— — —

Dumbledore watched the boy leave. He had expected to get more insight into the boy’s mind from this. But even legilemency and reading Harry's mind didn’t reveal what the boy had seen in the mirror. Harry truly seemed to have moved on to thinking of other things the instant his eyes left the mirror. And Dumbledore didn’t dare to dive deeper.

He wasn’t the most skilled at legilimency and every detection by the mind's natural defenses always pinpointed the source of the attack. That would be disastrous if Dumbledore were to be discovered. So only the shallowest layers of Harry’s mind were exposed to him. How unfortunate. Things would be so much easier if Dumbledore could risk diving deeper and get more insight into the boy central to his plans.

— — —

The other Gryffindors were not very receptive to Harry wanting to hang out. They weren’t mean about it when Harry tried to join them for some board games, but no one protested when he silently left either.

Unfortunate.

Eventually, Harry just decided to go outside and practice some of his spells. It was entertaining, standing by the lake and sending bursts of fire and tossing rocks with his charms. Harry should do this with his friends when the holiday vacation is over. It was very relaxing.

It was Christmas morning and Harry had received presents from his friends. He hoped his own gifts were good enough in return.

Hermione wouldn’t be surprised by her gift, since she was the one who’d helped Harry order all of it before she had left for the holidays. There was a large catalog that you could select from and they delivered everything too if you paid extra. The owls were all scared of him, so he had to have Hermione actually send out the orders for him.

Harry got Hermione a book of cleaning and household spells that Harry had read out of curiosity back when he was buried in the library, reading as fast as he could. Children from wizarding households seemed to look down on the household spells, but they were fairly advanced and very useful. Harry wasn’t sure why they weren’t being taught in class honestly. Harry still could only manage to cast the weakest scourgify or scouring charm. He wasn’t nearly good enough to clean his robes without ripping them yet. Hermione had seemed to like the gift when Harry asked her about it, at least.

Ron got a little quidditch figurine that flew around in the air. You could order it around and it would move and even make some of the more famous quidditch maneuvers. Harry had seen it in Diagon Alley in one of the shops and thought Ron would enjoy it. A fun novelty.

Harry got Neville a remembral, to help remind you if you had forgotten something. But not one of those vague color based ones. This one had a little arrow inside that pointed towards the item you had forgotten to take with you. Neville often forgot his quill or one of his essays while he rushed out of the dorm room in the morning and often had to run back when he was halfway to class. So Harry thought he would make good use of it.

Harry got a gift from each of his friends as well. He opened the first gift and looked inside. Hermione gave Harry a book. He just stared at it for a moment as it sat there in the box. Seriously, Hermione? But there was a little note on top that Harry opened. It was luckily very short, so Harry spent the effort reading it.

“Will… Read it to… you. When Holiday… Is over. Advanced charms for physical… force like levitation… charm. Fourth year level. Merry Christmas, ... Hermione.”

Oh, that was much better. Harry couldn’t believe she would read a whole book for him though. That was really above and beyond what she needed to do. Should he have made his gift for her better?

Ron got Harry a sneakoscope. There was another note and Harry read it as quickly as he could. The cylinder looking device went off whenever someone untrustworthy was nearby. That was nice of Ron, even if Harry had heard from other students that these things didn’t really work properly. Harry did have a hard time telling who was untrustworthy though, so it might be helpful anyways. Harry picked up the Sneakoscope and it didn’t go off. That was good, Harry was a trustworthy person according to this thing. At least there was that.

Neville got Harry an enchanted ball that always returned to your hand after you threw it. Harry carefully put it in his robes. He would be having a lot of fun with that later.

Surprisingly, Harry also got a gift from Neville’s parents. A comfortable set of silky red pajamas, which Harry immediately went to try on. They were very nice. The attached note had them apologizing that Harry hadn’t been able to visit and how they would like to meet him over the summer if he wanted to. Harry would like that, it would be a good distraction from the unpleasant time he was sure he would be having with the Dursleys.

Harry leaned back on the couch in his silky Pajamas and threw the ball from Neville into the corner of the common room. It bounced off the walls and floor before shooting back to Harry’s hand. His lips twitched upwards as he threw it again. Maybe his Christmas wouldn’t be so bad after all.