The whole of Hogwarts was open to her in this cloak, she realized. Excitement flooded through her as she stood there in the dark stillness of the common room at midnight.
She crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole. Her plan was to go into the restricted section of the library. She'd be able to read as long as she liked, as long as it took to find out who Flamel was. She set off, drawing the invisibility cloak tight around her as she walked.
The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Hari lit a lamp to see her way along the rows of books. The lamp looked as if it was floating along in midair, and even though Hari could feel her arm supporting it, the sight gave her the creeps.
The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, she held up her lamp to read the titles.
They didn't tell her much. Their peeling, faded gold letters spelled words in languages Hari couldn't understand. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. The hairs on the back of Hari's neck prickled.
A large black and silver volume caught her eye, it was on animagi. She pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on his knee, let it fall open. It slipped around on the invisibily cloak, but Hari kept it on, because she wouldn't hear anyone coming.
The book was very interesting with a lot of information. Her wand moved slightly in her pocket, and out of a corner of her eye she saw a light entering the library. She shut the book and saw a face that appeared to be screaming on the front, she guessed Flich had heard it -- stuffing the book back on the shelf, she ran for it. She passed Filch in the doorway; Filch's pale, wild eyes looked straight through her, and Hari slipped under Filch's outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor.
She came to a sudden halt before a corner. She had been so busy getting away from the library, she hadn't paid attention to where she was going. She saw Snape and Filch around it, and forgetting she was invisible, pressed herself to the wall.
"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library Restricted Section." Filch said, Hari just managed to make out their faces in the torchlight.
Snape replied, "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."
Filch and Snape came around the corner. They couldn't see her, of course, but it was a narrow corridor and if they came much nearer they'd knock right into her -- the cloak didn't stop her from being solid.
She backed away. A door stood ajar to her left. It was her only hope. She squeezed through it, holding her breath, trying not to move it, and to her relief she managed to get inside the room without their noticing anything. She let out a thanks to being skinny. They walked straight past, and Hari leaned against the wall. That had been close, very close, too close. It was a few seconds before she noticed anything about the room she had hidden in.
It looked like an unused classroom., but propped against the wall facing her was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way.
It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. Her panic fading now, Hari moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to look at herself but see no reflection again. She stepped in front of it.
She jumped backwards in surprise, whirling around. Her heart was pounding far more furiously than when Filch had appeared -- for she had seen not only herself in the mirror, but two other people standing right behind her.
But the room was empty. Breathing very fast, she turned slowly back to the mirror.
There she was, reflected in it, scared-looking, and there, reflected behind her, were two adults. Hari looked over her shoulder -- but still, no one was there. Or were they invisible, too? Was she in fact in a room full of invisible people and this mirror's trick was that it reflected them, invisible or not?
She looked in the mirror again. A woman standing right behind her reflection was smiling at her and waving. She reached out a hand and felt the air behind her. If she was really there, she'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but she felt only air - she and the man existed only in the mirror.
She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes -- her eyes are just like mine, Hari thought, edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green -- exactly the same shape, but then she realized, this was Lily Evans, her mother. She noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time. The tall, thin, black-haired man with darker skin standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. That must be her father.
Hari was so close to the mirror now that her nose was nearly touching that of her reflection. They just looked at him, smiling. Hari was looking at her family, for the first time in her life.
The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and she stared back at them, her hands pressed against the glass as though she was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. She had a powerful kind of ache inside her, half joy, half terrible sadness.
How long she stood there, she didn't know. The reflections did not fade and she looked and looked until the light of morning coming in at the window brought her back to her senses. She couldn't stay here, people would be getting up soon and hurried from the room.
"You could have woken me up," said Ron crossly when she told him. "I'd like to see your mom and dad,"
'I'm going back' Hari signed slowly. Ron was learning sign language, but it was coming along very slowly
"ok," said Ron. "Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"
Hari couldn't eat. She had seen her parents and would be seeing them again tonight. She had almost forgotten about Flamel. It didn't seem very important anymore. Who cared what the three headed dog was guarding? What did it matter if someone stole it, really?
"Are you all right?" said Ron. "You look odd."
What Hari feared most was that she might not be able to find the mirror room again. With Ron covered in the cloak, too, they had to walk much more slowly the next night. They tried retracing Hari's route from the library, wandering around the dark passageways for nearly an hour.
They finally found it and pushed the door open. Hari dropped the cloak from around her shoulders and ran to the mirror.
There they were. Her mother and father beamed at the sight of her.
"I can't see anything." Ron said
She gestured frantically to the mirror
"I can only see you."
Hari stepped aside, and pushed Ron to the middle, but with him in front of the mirror, she couldn't see her family anymore, just Ron in his paisley pajamas.
Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image.
"Look at me!" he said.
'Family?' she signed curiously
"I'm alone -- but I'm different -- I look older -- and I'm head boy! I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to -- and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup -- I'm Quidditch captain, too."
Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Harry.
"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"
'How? My family is dead? Can I see again?'
"You had it to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time. Don't push me--"
Suddenly Ron threw the cloak over both of them.
'What?' Hari signed. Ron tapped his ear, then froze as the luminous eyes of Mrs. Norris came round the door. Ron and Hari stood quite still, both thinking the same thing -- did the cloak work on cats? After what seemed an age, she turned and left.
"This isn't safe -- she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on." Ron pulled Hari out of the room.
The snow still hadn't melted the next morning.
"Want to play chess, Hari?" said Ron.
Hari shook her head
"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?"
Again she shook her head.
"I know what you're thinking about, Hari, that mirror. Don't go back tonight."
'Why?' she signed
"II've just got a bad feeling about it -- and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already. Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are wandering around. What if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over?"
Again Hari shook her head.
"I'm serious, Hari, don't go."
But Hari only had one thought in her head, which was to get back in front of the mirror, and Ron wasn't going to stop her.
That third night she found her way more quickly than before. And there were her mother and father smiling at her again. Hari sank down to sit on the floor in front of the mirror. There was nothing to stop her from staying here all night with her family. Nothing at all.
Except -- A hand tapped her shoulder lightly, she whirled around, it was Professor Dumbledore.
"So -- back again, Hari?"
'I didn't see you, sir.' Hari signed
"Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore, and Hari was relieved to see that he was smiling.
"So," said Dumbledore, moving to sit on the floor with Hari, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."
Hari nodded, she moved slightly to the side, to avoid touching him.
"But I expect you've realized by now what it does?"
'Shows me family' she said
"And it showed your friend Ron himself as head boy."
Hari was shocked, Dumbledore had seen?
"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"
Hari shook her head.
"Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?"
Hari thought. Then she slowly signed, 'e-r-i-s-e-d desire, it shows us our desires?'
"Yes and no," said Dumbledore "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible."
Hari nodded, understanding
"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Hari, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?"
Hari stood up, then signed 'Can I ask a question?"
"Obviously, you've just done so," Dumbledore smiled. "You may ask me one more thing, however."
'What do you see in the mirror?' she signed
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."
Hari stared.
"One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."
It was only when she was back in bed that it struck Hari that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. But then, she thought, as she shoved Scabbers off her pillow, it had been quite a personal question.