Dumbledore was ashamed that despite everything he not only failed to gently lead Harry down the path he needed but had even been exposed and berated for his lowly actions. He didn't blame Nick for exposing him and ruining any chances of Harry listening to him as the boy was right to be angry. The mirror of erised's effect on those looking into it had driven even those with strong wills to madness so knowingly exposing a child to it was unconscionable. Yet in hopes of making sure that Harry wouldn't take the path of Voldemort he had done precisely this.-

Harry and Voldemort had been tied together by prophesy and Dumbledore hoped that Harry would end his pupils influence in the world for good rather than simply replace him as the next dark lord. With Gellert out and about preparing for who knows what preventing yet another dark lord from appearing was very important. 'There isn't only bad news however as it is clear that both boys are good at heart even if misguided in one of their cases.' The old wizard thought with a small smile and a hopeful glint in his eyes.-

Nick meanwhile was finally alone with Harry and so he took a look at the mirror itself finally. Within it he saw an older version of himself sitting in a soft looking chair within a vast library playing with a miniature galaxy with a smile as a hard to make out woman sat in his lap leaning against his chest looking at him in adoration. Nick tore his gaze away from the enthralling vision presented to him with great effort. "What did you see?" Harry asked curious to know what Nick's deepest desire was. "I saw the future." Nick said cryptically before having Harry hide them both under the cloak and return to the Gryffindor dorms.-

The next morning neither Harry nor Nick told any of their friends of the events of the previous night as it would do no good. Instead of creating a fuss over the headmasters actions to no effect Nick instead went directly to the one person in the school that might give the old man trouble over it , Snape. Nick knew well Snape's love for Lily and even if he doesn't seem like it Harry himself and so knew that the man would very much confront Dumbledore after learning what happened.-

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Nick wasn't disappointed either as the moment Snape learned of what happened he had an ugly expression and quickly vanished from Nick's sight. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Snape was going to give Dumbledore a piece of his mind. While this wouldn't shake Dumbledore's hold over the man it would make Snape more cautious about leaving him alone with Harry. This doesn't seem like a big deal but remember that Snape is Dumbledore's favorite person to have do his dirty work or spy on Voldemort's activities while in the castle or elsewhere.-

Both of the two older wizards realized that Nick was pitting them against each other but didn't mind since he used the perfect point to do so. Dumbledore had promised Snape that Harry would be safe and then directly broke that promise while Nick's part was merely pointing it out. If anything both parties were happy to see Nick's cunning and actions as it meant he got rid of his anger by doing so. A talented young wizard with a lot of anger but nowhere to direct it is a recipe for bad things to happen so him venting his rage using these methods was better than him turning to dark arts.-

An interesting thing that Dumbledore learned however was that a member of the faculty , specifically professor Sinistra , had witnessed Nick's aerial prowess last night. Apparently she had been studying the heavens as she was prone to do as an astronomer via her personal set up outside the castle and discovered him. To be fair though Nick wasn't being very subtle with his aerial movements and made a considerable amount of noise from the air pressure. Not enough to be heard through the thick walls and windows of the castle but plenty to be picked up while outside.-

According to the professor watching Nick fly gave the impression of seeing an inhuman level of control over ones body and broom. Each movement was precise and full of natural grace and were performed at frankly frightening speeds. Dumbledore could only take note of this information and not act on it as the agreement between him and Nick still stood despite yesterdays events. The headmaster finally left these thoughts behind and focused on trying to track down Grindelwald to stop whatever he was planning and find out why he broke the agreement.

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