Cassia's POV
Weeks had gone by since the troll incident, and now Christmas break had just started. Almost everyone was going home for the holidays. Ron, Harry, and I were some of the few people who weren't. There was no way Harry was going back to our aunt and uncle, and Ron's parents were in Romania visiting his older brother Charlie. So I figured I might as well stay with them- they could use the extra company.
I sat in the Great Hall, next to Harry. He and Ron were playing wizard's chess, and I was eagerly watching them. Every so often, I'd give Harry hints on where to move.
"Knight to E5," Harry said, his eyes on the chess board. His piece moved two spots upward, and one spot to the right.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Hermione coming towards us, with her stuff packed.
"Queen to E5," Ron said, also not taking his eyes off the chess board. One of his pieces moved to where Harry's knight was, and literally knocked it off the board.
"That's totally barbaric," Hermione remarked.
"That's wizard's chess," Ron retorted. He glanced at her suitcase. "I see you've packed."
"See you haven't," Hermione countered.
"Change of plans. My parents decided to go to Romania, to visit my brother Charlie. He's studying dragons there," Ron explained nonchalantly.
"Good. You and Cassia can help Harry, then. He's going to look in the library for information on Nicholas Flamel," Hermione replied.
"We've looked a hundred times!" Ron protested.
"He's right, Hermione. It's like finding a needle in a haystack," I added.
Hermione leaned towards us. "Not in the Restricted Section," she corrected. She straightened up once again. "Happy Christmas." Then she left, dragging her suitcase with her.
Harry's POV
When Christmas morning finally came, I was woken up considerably early by Ron shouting, "Harry, Cassia, wake up! C'mon, guys, wake up!"
I jumped out of bed and raced to the top of the staircase. Ron looked up at me from where he stood in the common room, holding a bag of Every Flavor beans in his hand. "Happy Christmas, Harry," he said.
"Happy Christmas, Ron," I said back. I noticed he had on a dark purple jumper with an 'R' on the front. "What are you wearing?"
Ron glanced at his jumper. "Oh, Mum made it," he replied. He then snuck a peek at the neatly-wrapped presents piled under the tree. "Looks like you and Cass have got one, too!"
"I...I've got presents?" I questioned, unable to believe it.
"Yeah," Ron said, "Now go wake Cass!"
Unable to wipe the smile off my face, I rushed to Cassia's dorm and knocked on the door.
Cassia's POV
The sound of someone knocking on my door woke me up. I climbed out of bed and grabbed a brush and an elastic from my bedside table, and put my hair up into a messy ponytail. Another knock.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming. Keep your shirt on," I commented. My sarcastic streak usually doesn't start this early in the morning, but today was an exception. I crossed over to the door and opened it to see it was Harry.
"Happy Christmas, sis," he said, hugging me.
I returned the hug. "You too, Harry. What're you doing up so early?"
"Ron wants to open presents. We've both got something from his mother," he replied, "Come on! Come see!" He grabbed my hand and pulled me down the stairs, where Ron was waiting for us.
We all eagerly tore through the wrapping paper on our presents.
Ron was right- Harry and I did get a hand-knitted jumper from Mrs. Weasley. His was green, while mine was a bright red. I also got gifts from Dora, Ted and Andromeda, Hermione, Harry, Ron and his family, and -- surprisingly -- Cedric.
Dora's gift:
Ted and Andromeda's gift:
Hermione's gifts:
Harry's gift:
Ron's gifts:
Cedric's gift:
The card that came with Cedric's said For the girl who's gonna give every Chaser in Hogwarts a run for their money. Merry Christmas, Cassia!
Your friend,
Cedric :)
The last one was a lumpy parcel with no tag on it, so we couldn't see who it was from. I read the note that came with it. "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you twins. Use it well..." That's it. It didn't say who it was from. Harry helped me rip off the packaging, and we saw this enormous cloth, long enough to be a cloak of some kind.
"What is it?" Ron asked, as he dug into some candy.
"It's some kind of...cloak," Harry answered, holding it up.
"Well, let's see, then. Put it on," Ron said. Harry draped it around himself, and most of his body vanished.
"Whoa!" Ron and I exclaimed in sync.
Harry looked down at his legs, shocked to see that they weren't there. "My body's gone!" he exclaimed.
"I know what that is- that's an Invisibility Cloak!" Ron said.
"I'm invisible?" Harry questioned, turning around in circles, trying to check himself out.
"Really rare," Ron added, "Who gave it to you guys?"
"There was no name," I answered, showing Ron the card.
Harry came over to us, still invisible. "It just said...'Use it well'," he chimed in. Wow, this thing could come in handy.
<><><><><>
That night, Harry woke me up to look in the Restricted Section of the Library. We put on our dad's old cloak, and headed down to the library. I held up a lantern, so we could see the titles of the books we were going to look at. Harry cautiously unlatched the door to the Restricted Section, and I held the lantern up at the books with an "F" at the beginning.
"Famous Fire Eaters...Fifteenth-Century Fiends...Flamel...Nicholas Flamel...where are you?" Harry whispered. We took the cloak off and I saw Harry pull a book from the shelf. I set the lantern down as Harry opened the book. An ear-piercing scream erupted from within the pages, and we snapped the book shut, placing it back on the shelf.
"Who's there?" a voice barked. It was Filch.
Harry pulled the cloak out from under the lantern. The lantern rolled off the table and shattered. We threw the cloak over ourselves quickly.
"Who is it? Show me yourself!" Filch barked, heading into the Restricted Section.
Harry and I made our way out of the library, still invisible, and into the hallway, where we saw Snape pinning Quirrell to the wall.
"Severus, I...I-I-I-" Quirrell stuttered.
"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," Snape warned him.
"But really, Severus..." Quirrell pleaded, "I-I-I don't k-know what you m-mean."
"You know perfectly well what I mean," Snape replied. He suddenly looked towards where we were standing, and slowly stretched out a hand. Oh, no! He was going to try and rip the cloak off us!
Harry and I slowly backed away, just barely escaping Snape's clutches.
When Snape looked at his hand and saw he had gotten nothing, he turned back to Quirrell. "We'll have another little chat soon. Maybe then you'll decide where your loyalties lie," he sneered. Then we heard footsteps coming our way, so Harry and I took off running. I couldn't believe how close we were to being discovered invisible...by Snape, of all people!
We came into an empty room, with nothing but a mirror in it. We took the cloak off us, making sure we were alone, and then cautiously advanced towards the mirror. There was something engraved in it: Erised streahr uoyt ubecaf ruoyt on wohsi. Wait a minute. "Desire" spelled backwards is "Erised". The mirror shows us what we want.
Harry stepped closer to the mirror. He gazed into it for a long time, but he looked on either side of him. "Cass...Cass, come here," he said, not looking at me.
I cautiously approached the mirror, standing side by side with Harry. We saw not only our own reflections, but two other people standing behind us inside the mirror. The woman had layered hair that grew just past her shoulders, and wore a simple black sweater. Her eyes were a striking green, just like mine and Harry's. The man bore a strong resemblance to Harry, except for the scar, not to mention he looked much older.
"Mom?" I whispered. Mum smiled at my words.
"Dad?" Harry whispered. Our father nodded, grinning. Harry put his hand up to the mirror. So did his reflection. Harry pressed his hand against the smooth surface of the mirror. Mom put her hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry touched his hand to his shoulder, only to see nothing there. A tear rolled down my cheek. This was what out family was like...before Voldemort killed them.
I was so distracted by the sight of my parents in the mirror that I didn't notice Harry had left the room. It felt like only minutes before I heard him return. But he wasn't alone. I turned around to see he had Ron with him.
"Come, look! It's our parents!" Harry said. He and Ron ran towards me, and I stepped away from the mirror.
"I only see us," Ron objected, after peering tentatively into the mirror.
"Look in properly. Go on, stand there," Harry said. He pulled him directly in front of the mirror. "There. You see them, don't you? That's-" He pointed to our mum.
"That's me!" Ron cut him off, "Only, I'm...Head Boy. And I'm holding the Quidditch Cup. And bloody hell! I'm Quidditch captain, too!" he exclaimed, gazing at his reflection. Harry looked confused. "I look good," Ron said to himself. He looked back at us. "Harry, Cassia, do you think this mirror shows the future?"
"How can it? Both of our parents are dead," Harry said.
<><><><><>
The next night, we both gazed into the mirror. Thank Merlin I wasn't wearing any makeup, otherwise I'd have other problems, if you know what I mean.
"Back again, you two?" someone said behind us, making me jump. We turned around to see it was Dumbledore. He had been watching us this whole time. "I see that you, like so many before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised," he remarked, "I trust, by now, you realize what it does?"
Harry shook his head.
Mustering my courage, I stepped in. "The engraving's written backwards," I pointed out, "If you rearrange the letters, it reads 'I show not your face but your heart's desire'."
"Correct, Cassia. The happiest man on earth would look into this mirror and see only himself, exactly as he is," Dumbledore told us.
"So it shows us...what we want. Whatever we want," Harry added, realizing what this meant.
"Yes...and no. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest desires of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing beside you," Dumbledore explained.
Harry and I both nodded.
"Yes, sir. We saw our parents...before they were killed," I said.
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes. But remember this: This mirror gives us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away in front of it...even gone mad," he told us, "That is why, tomorrow, it will be moved to a new home. And I must ask you not to go looking for it again."