The Mystery of the Mirror Remains Unsolved (6/10) / A Sneak Attack from Behind Could Never Succeed (7/10)

The Room of Requirement, also known as the Come and Go Room, normally didn't exist. It only appeared when someone truly needed it.

To find the Room of Requirement, you had to focus on what you needed and keep that desire in mind as you walked back and forth three times in front of the blank wall opposite the tapestry. The room you wanted would then appear, and it would always be furnished to suit your needs exactly.

In other words, the Room of Requirement the three of them had seen was so bare because Dobby had only wanted a place where he could just about manage to shelter.

If someone who urgently needed to pee found the room, they might open the door to find a bathroom.

"So this really is a magical place." Harry raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Snape. "You know so much about it, Professor. Have you been here before?"

"Many people at Hogwarts have come here, but most of them didn't know it was the Room of Requirement. Everyone who enters this room sees something entirely different."

Snape's tone was cold, clearly showing he didn't want to dwell on the matter. Seeing this, Harry didn't ask any more questions.

Perhaps it had something to do with his mother, Lily. Or perhaps it was connected to some painful experience from his youth. It was only natural that Snape didn't want to talk about it.

Harry sighed inwardly. Snape's 'illness' was far more serious than Filch's. Though he had gradually warmed to Harry lately, there was still a long way to go before he could truly open his heart.

"But... this place would be perfect for hiding things." After thinking it over, Harry decided to hide the Mirror of Erised here.

Since Snape had already said the Room of Requirement changed its furnishings to suit the user's needs, there was almost no chance anyone would discover something hidden inside it.

Well, he certainly wasn't the first person to think of that~

"Dobby, thank you so much. You've solved a huge problem for me!" Harry clasped Dobby's hand and thanked him sincerely.

"N-no need to thank me. Dobby is honored to be of help to you, sir... Truly, Dobby has never been this happy!"

Dobby's voice trembled the whole time. It was clear that Harry's kindness had truly moved him.

"That's enough from the two of you." Snape pulled Dobby away and glared coldly at Harry. "Now I have to deal with the mess you caused and return this house-elf to where he belongs."

"Wait a moment, Professor Snape." Hermione suddenly stopped Snape as he turned to leave. "Dobby was sent to get revenge on Harry and me, right? Now that he's failed, won't his masters punish him when he goes back?"

"That's not your concern."

Snape was even less patient with Hermione than usual. He couldn't be bothered to answer her worries.

"It's all right, Miss Granger. Dobby often makes his masters unhappy... Dobby is already used to punishments and things like that."

Dobby, the one at the heart of the matter, tried to reassure Hermione too. He was entirely accustomed to being mistreated by his masters.

"You two... Hmph! Harry, what do you think?" Seeing both Snape and Dobby dismiss her opinion, Hermione turned to Harry, cheeks puffed up in frustration.

Her expression made it plain she expected Harry to agree with her, whether he liked it or not.

"Well... it wouldn't hurt to come up with a little plan." Harry's eyes shifted as an idea seemed to occur to him. "Professor, could you help me act out a scene? That way, Dobby would have a good chance of avoiding punishment when he gets back."

"Hmph, childish tricks."

After hearing the gist of Harry's plan, Snape gave a scornful snort. But he didn't refuse. Instead, with a sour expression, he left with Dobby.

As expected of a seriously stubborn tsundere—he had agreed, but still had to make a fuss about it.

"Harry, I'm still worried about Dobby!" Even after Snape left, Hermione couldn't put her mind at ease.

She felt that even if Harry's plan worked, Dobby might not escape the Malfoy family's punishment altogether.

"Hermione, I know you're worried about Dobby. I am too." Harry looked at her earnestly. "But... instead of worrying about something that's bound to happen, we should think about what we can actually do."

"What... can we do?"

Hermione fell into deep thought.

(P.S. Just to clarify, Hermione's idea of 'freeing house-elves' in Goblet of Fire definitely came from good intentions, but her perspective and practical understanding were ultimately quite limited. So there's no need to worry that the protagonist will become an even more radical freedom fighter than Hermione. Instead, he'll help her analyze the issue from a more scientific perspective. Sanmiao brings it up near the end of this chapter to give Hermione a few extra years to think it over, so she won't reach a one-sided conclusion in a fit of anger. That's all~)

The Mystery of the Mirror Remained Unsolved (6/10)

The Quidditch Match between Gryffindor House and Slytherin House continued until nightfall. In the end, Madam Hooch could no longer stand watching and kept urging both Seekers to catch the Golden Snitch as soon as possible. Only then was the match finally brought to an end.

There was no doubt about the result: Slytherin won by a landslide... and their Seeker had even caught the Golden Snitch~

Harry only learned the result several days later.

On the afternoon of the Quidditch Match, first-year Ravenclaw student Harry Granger mysteriously disappeared from the school grounds. It wasn't until two whole nights later that he was found unconscious outside the Slytherin Head of House's office in the dungeons.

It was said that when the students passing by found Harry, his face was covered in 'nosebleeds' and his body was 'black and blue'. He looked as miserable as anyone could possibly look.

And perhaps because he was embarrassed, he didn't even go to Madam Pomfrey. He slunk straight back to Filch's office instead.

Over this incident, Harry's sister Hermione went to Snape and had a huge row with him. But not only did she fail to get any answers, she even cost Eagle House ten points.

Before long, people with nothing better to do began spreading the word that Harry must have accidentally angered Snape, who was known for his bad temper, and been given a thorough beating.

The rumor spread quickly throughout the school, and many people began openly or discreetly discussing Harry's disastrous defeat. Malfoy was no exception.

In fact, he claimed to know the 'truth' better than anyone else.

"Hmph, that useless Dobby actually did a decent job this time! Potter, you finally got what was coming to you, didn't you? Let's see if you dare cross me again... Ow, that really hurts~"

Though he had received a Howler and then been slapped several times by his father, who had stormed angrily into the school, Malfoy was in an excellent mood.

Well, Malfoy clearly had no idea that forensic doctors were just as good at faking injuries as they were at examining them.

So all of Harry's 'injuries' were fake, but the handprints on someone's face were real~

"Looks like she won't be showing up again for now..."

In the Room of Requirement, Harry calmly stared at his reflection in the Mirror of Erised for a long time. At last, he sighed and picked up the ragged bedsheet beside him, covering the strange mirror.

He couldn't get any more information from it, so he had no choice but to leave it in a corner to gather dust for the time being.

Nearly two months had passed since Harry discovered the Room of Requirement. During that time, he had come to look into the Mirror of Erised every few days.

There was definitely something wrong with the mirror. Every time Harry looked into it, he saw the outline of that blond girl, and every time he suffered a headache so bad it made him question his sanity.

At the same time, though, as he endured those fragments of memory again and again, his mental strength continued to grow little by little. Gradually, he became able to ignore the feeling of mental exhaustion.

Recently, however, his mental strength seemed to have hit a bottleneck. No matter what he did, it wouldn't improve any further.

Fortunately, he had finally gotten a clear look at the girl in the mirror.

Her waist-length hair was tangled and unkempt. Her eyebrows were so pale they were almost invisible, and her eyes were frighteningly large, bulging outward as if in surprise.

Her robes were just as filthy, covered in multicolored stains until it was impossible to tell what color they had originally been. All kinds of odd trinkets dangled here and there from the hems and pockets, giving her an unmistakably mad and bizarre appearance.

Harry didn't particularly care about that. He had never judged people by their looks.

He only found it strange that he could see the girl in the mirror even though he had never met her.

But later, as the images in the mirror began to change and the fragments of memory in Harry's mind gradually came together, he realized he had been wrong.

The scene changed. A familiar-looking operating table appeared before him. The girl in the mirror had grown into a young woman, beautiful and serene as she lay upon it, though her face was no longer rosy...

The image ended there, leaving Harry intensely frustrated. It felt as if a crucial memory were missing, one he couldn't recall no matter how hard he tried.

"Who are you? And what kind of relationship do you have with me...?"

Harry was sure there was more to the image in the mirror. But no matter how intently he stared into it over the following days, the blond girl never appeared again.

He began seeing the Grangers, James and Lily, his birth parents in this life, and even his parents from his previous life. Eventually, he saw Hermione in the mirror too. But the blond girl never returned.

In the end, all he could see was himself. The Mirror of Erised seemed to have become an ordinary mirror.

Still, Harry believed this was only temporary. One day, he would see more in the mirror.

Perhaps... when he finally met that girl.

After Harry could no longer find useful information in the Mirror of Erised, he rarely visited the Room of Requirement. Only occasionally, when Hermione wanted to fix her hair, did he use it as a temporary washroom.

The Prefect's Bathroom was luxurious, but it belonged to someone else, and the risk of being interrupted was too high. A private space was far more discreet.

Besides, if they used the Room of Requirement as a washroom, they could make the furnishings even more to their liking than those in the Prefect's Bathroom~

One thing worth mentioning: Dumbledore never once brought up the Mirror of Erised with Harry.

That seemed to confirm one of Harry's suspicions...

Well, the Sorcerer's Stone was like Schrödinger's cat~

Time slipped by, and before long, Harry and Hermione reached their first Christmas since starting school.

In late December, heavy snow swept across Hogwarts, and even the Black Lake was covered by a thick layer of ice. But the chill of winter couldn't dampen the festive spirit. The whole school was decorated for the season, and joyful scenes were everywhere.

"Harry, have you packed your things?"

Hermione dragged her suitcase into the Great Hall on the first floor. Today she had changed into casual clothes for the first time in ages. Without her robes and the dozen or so books she usually carried, she had shed some of her heaviness and recovered a little of her girlish playfulness.

"I'm ready to go!" Harry, who was helping decorate the Great Hall, pointed to the suitcase beside him and apologized to the teachers nearby. "Professors, Hagrid, Mr. Filch, I'll see you after the holidays. I'll bring you gifts~"

"Haha! We'll look forward to them, then. You and Miss Granger enjoy your Christmas holidays!"

Professor Flitwick laughed cheerfully. Professor McGonagall and Filch beside him also seemed rather eager, as if they were looking forward to seeing what gifts Harry would bring back.

"Perfect timing. Here's my present. Merry Christmas~" Hagrid, who was decorating the Christmas tree, simply pressed a parcel into Harry's hands.

"You're the best, Hagrid!" Harry thanked him, then brought his gifts and suitcase over to Hermione.

"Come on. Let's go home~"

"Mom, Dad, we're home!"

The moment Hermione got back, she was like a little swallow returning to its nest. She happily rushed through the door and gave the Grangers both a huge hug.

Hermione had never boarded at school before, so this was the first time she had been away from home for so long. Naturally, she had missed her parents terribly.

Harry, by contrast, was relatively calm. He was a boy, after all, and it was fine for him to be a little more composed around his parents.

Of course, to celebrate Christmas and the return of their two children, the Grangers had prepared a particularly sumptuous dinner.

"Let me tell you, Hogwarts has so many amazing things..."

At the dinner table, Hermione chattered about her experiences over the past few months at school. Every now and then, she would pout and complain indignantly about Harry causing trouble.

Harry would occasionally apologize meekly, but more often he acted as Hermione's interpreter, explaining to the Grangers the technical terms she blurted out whenever she got excited.

He didn't want his adoptive parents to think that after a few months of studying magic with Hermione, they no longer had anything in common.

And so, during the Christmas holidays, the Granger family, reunited after months apart, spent a rare and wonderful time together, every one of them wearing a happy smile.

On Christmas Eve, Harry sat at his desk in his room and began putting together a list of presents he needed to prepare.

It was his first Christmas and New Year since enrolling at Hogwarts. Though he didn't feel especially attached to the school, he was always grateful to certain people.

Hagrid and Professor Flitwick naturally came first. Ever since Harry started school, they had looked after him with almost constant care.

Hagrid was so big that it was difficult to find anything in the ordinary world that would fit him. Harry figured he might as well get a new collar for his dog, Fang. Hagrid would surely be delighted too.

As for Professor Flitwick, since he also conducted the choir, a stylish new bow tie would probably suit him best... Harry had heard him complain about it for ages. His old one was worn out, but he never had time to buy a new one~

Next came a present for Filch. Based on their few months of living together... er, sharing a room, Harry had quickly figured out what to get him.

A thick, stylish coat. It would keep him warm and make him look quite respectable on dates~

There were still Snape and McGonagall to consider. The former had secretly protected Harry, while the latter had taken Hermione in and stood up for her, so Harry had to show his appreciation to both of them.

As for the specific presents, that was still a secret~

That covered the teachers, more or less. As for the remaining friends, there were Neville and Ron... perhaps Peeves as well.

After this poltergeist had been physically subdued, he could now be considered one of Harry's underlings. Harry couldn't play favorites.

"Hagrid's gift... is a whistle?"

Feeling a little tired, Harry let his mind wander. He casually opened the oil-paper parcel Hagrid had given him earlier and found a crudely made Bird Whistle inside.

Hagrid had probably made it himself. Harry tried blowing it and found that it sounded a lot like an owl's call.

Harry wasn't particularly good at music, and his whistling was no tune at all. After fiddling with it for a while, he set it aside.

Next, he still had to prepare the last gift, and the most important one: Hermione's 'present'.