Sneaking Out to Look in the Mirror at Midnight

The next night, Harry, Ron, and Aaron squeezed beneath the Invisibility Cloak and carefully made their way through the corridors. After climbing an unknown number of flights of stairs, they arrived at an empty classroom.

The classroom was covered in dust, looking more like a place where junk was stored.

Aside from a pile of desks and chairs, a particularly grand mirror stood against the wall.

"That's right, this is the place. This is the mirror I told you about." Harry impatiently pulled off the Invisibility Cloak and excitedly pointed at the spotless surface. "Can you see them? That's my dad and mum."

"But I only see the three of us," Ron said.

"Try another angle. Stand over here." Harry pulled Ron over so he could see the mirror better. "There, you see them now, right?"

Harry was just about to point out his parents in the mirror when Ron excitedly cried, "That's me! I became Head Boy, and I'm holding the Quidditch Cup.

This is incredible! I'm also Quidditch captain. I look amazing.

Harry, can this mirror show the future?"

"How could it?" Harry lowered his head regretfully. "My parents are dead."

"It definitely can't!" Aaron said meaningfully. "This absolutely isn't the future."

"Aaron, what did you see?" Ron asked curiously.

"Let me see." Aaron walked in front of the mirror, while Harry and Ron consciously made room for him.

More than ten seconds later, Aaron stroked his chin and fell into thought. "How could this be?"

"What did you say?" Harry asked.

Aaron shook his head. "Unfortunately, I only saw myself. So this mirror plays favorites too!"

"You mean you didn't see your parents like Harry did, or become Head Boy like me?" Ron said in surprise. Then he patted Aaron's shoulder with slight sympathy. "You could only see yourself. This magical artifact is no use to you at all."

"Could you take your hand off me?" Aaron rolled his eyes speechlessly and pointed to the mirror's golden frame. "You'd better look at the words engraved on this mirror."

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi." Aaron slowly read out the words one by one. "Obviously, it's a string of gibberish. You probably couldn't find a person with a name like that in the entire Magic World.

But it isn't a name. It's a sentence, a sentence describing this mirror.

Read the letters backward, and you'll understand."

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, then both looked at the edge of the mirror and read in unison, "It shows us the deepest, most desperate desires in our hearts."

"So this mirror lets us see what we want to see?" Harry asked.

"That's right!"

"But why could you only see yourself?" Ron asked curiously. Then he seemed to think of something and opened his mouth in astonishment. "Don't tell me there's nothing you desire? That's so pathetic!"

"No, that's not quite right." Aaron shook his head. "As long as someone is human, they have desires. I can't possibly be free of all wants either. It's just that this mirror can't reflect my desires."

"That sounds impressive.

So what do you desire?"

Aaron froze for a moment, then turned around and gave Ron a meaningful smile. "Do you think I should tell you?

That counts as personal privacy, doesn't it?"

"Uh..." Ron laughed awkwardly. "I didn't mean anything by it. I was just curious, that's all."

"Then please put away your curiosity."

"Aaron, could you move aside for me first?" Harry asked somewhat embarrassedly. "I still want to see my parents. They're gone, and perhaps this mirror is the only way I can see them."

"Sure." Aaron stepped aside and made a welcoming gesture.

"Thanks!" Harry gave a brief word of thanks, then quietly stood in front of the mirror.

His eyes gradually softened. He reached out to touch the mirror's surface, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

The joy and warmth of reuniting with his family were plain to see, but to Aaron and Ron, Harry's expression looked somewhat entranced.

More than ten minutes later, Ron hesitated before asking worriedly, "He won't be all right, will he?"

"He'll be fine. He's only seeing the family affection he desires most deeply, and he can't pull himself away for the moment.

But you need to watch out for one thing: don't let him sink too deeply into it.

No matter how wonderful the things in the mirror may be, they're ultimately nothing but illusions.

A little reminiscing and motivation are enough, but wasting time for the sake of fantasy is the saddest thing of all."

Ron: ...

"Your lecture—no, what you said makes a lot of sense.

But why do I have to be the one to watch out for him?"

"Do you even need to ask?

You're Harry Potter's best friend. You're together all day long. Who could be more suitable than you?"

Ron opened his mouth, then stood up straight with a proud look on his face. "You're right. As his best friend, I need to pull him out of it."

As he spoke, Ron walked up to Harry and grabbed his arm. "Harry, you need to take a break."

"Let me look a little longer."

"No, you're about to stare yourself into the mirror." Ron spoke righteously. "Let me look for a while instead!"

At those words, Aaron nearly choked on his breath.

This was his so-called best friend? I thought their friendship was so deep, but in the end...

That's it? Such a flimsy brotherhood. What a disappointment!

"Ahem! Though this is a bit of a mood killer, I still have to interrupt you two.

We should go. You came here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping just to look at some broken mirror. Don't you think that's boring?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other, then shook their heads in unison.

Though they knew the things in the mirror were fake, the comfort it brought their hearts was immense. Naturally, they wanted to look a little longer.

Aaron held his forehead and shook his head. "Coming to see this broken mirror with you two was the biggest mistake I made this term."

"Haha! Don't say that!" Ron laughed awkwardly. "Why don't you try again? Maybe you'll see your desire this time!"

"There's no need.

Compared with illusions, I prefer keeping my feet on the ground. I hope you two do as well." Aaron said. Ignoring Harry and Ron's strange expressions, he headed for the door. "I'll be going first. Good night, you two."

"Wait!" Harry hurriedly called after him. "You don't have an Invisibility Cloak. It isn't safe for you to go out."

"I have my ways." Aaron meaningfully took out a transparent bottle of Invisibility Potion, then pushed open the door and walked out.

"Sometimes, he feels even more serious than my mum," Ron said, the corner of his mouth twitching.

Harry nodded. He was just about to speak when they heard a loud bang.

The door suddenly flew open, and Aaron ran back in frantically. "Well, I think we need to leave, but before that, we might need to hide."

"Why? I haven't seen enough yet!" Harry said unwillingly.

"Yeah, I haven't even had my turn!"

"I saw Mrs. Norris. Is that a good enough reason?"

Ron was instantly startled and asked uneasily, "You mean that cat? Filch's cat?"

"What else?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the three of them heard a cat's meow.

Harry and Ron instinctively shuddered. Without wasting any words, they quickly pulled up the Invisibility Cloak and covered Aaron with it as well.

Before long, a pale yellow light appeared in the doorway, and Filch walked in carrying a lantern.

He carefully inspected the classroom but found no students breaking the rules. "Let's go, my dear. There's nothing unusual here."

Mrs. Norris gave an unwilling meow and took a few steps toward the Invisibility Cloak. At that moment, the three of them held their breaths in perfect unspoken coordination and stepped backward together.

Filch frowned slightly and looked in front of Mrs. Norris. "There's no one there! Maybe you were mistaken."

Once they had left, the three of them let out sighs of relief in unison.

Aaron stepped out from beneath the Invisibility Cloak. "I think we can go back now, right?"

"Of course, of course." Ron nodded sheepishly. He had been thoroughly frightened just now and had no desire to stay any longer.

Harry was still somewhat unwilling. He slowly stroked the Mirror of Erised. "I think I could look a little longer. Filch probably won't come back anytime soon, right?"

"Heh!" Aaron laughed speechlessly. "Harry—no, Harry Potter—you really are a genius. You're breaking school rules, yet you're still so self-righteous.

Have you considered what might happen if Filch suddenly came back?"

"That's right.

Harry, getting caught by Filch isn't a good thing.

We already made Percy angry once. If we really get caught this time, we won't be able to face him."

"But..."

"No buts." Aaron cut him off. "The mirror is right here. It isn't going to grow legs and run away. You can come back whenever you want to look at it, but we need to go back now."

Ron hurriedly nodded at Harry. Without caring whether Harry agreed or not, he directly pulled him toward the door.