The Mirror of Erised

From that day on, Sirius treated me like air in the mornings and at lunchtime. That was the good news, but James was so upset that I had sneaked away without saying goodbye that he followed me around, grumbling all day.

"You actually made an excuse and ran away just so you wouldn't have to listen to me talk about quidditch. I'm heartbroken."

"I thought we were good friends. Why can't you accept me and quidditch?"

"My good friend doesn't like quidditch. My heart is going to break."

Every classmate who saw James nagging in my ear gave me a sympathetic look. From morning to night, he went on and on. I practically wanted to become a monk on the spot.

[James romance event triggered. Normal options temporarily hidden]

[James is going on about quidditch again...]

[1. "Quidditch, quidditch! When will you ever notice me?!"]

[2. Kiss him directly]

[3. Hold him and burst into tears, begging him to stop]

Why did it feel like even the premise for the options had gotten weird this time?

Each option was more outrageous than the last, and for a moment I couldn't tell which would be better. After going through them one by one, I realized in despair that choosing 1 seemed to be the only way to minimize the impact-by which I meant the impact of my complete social death.

Fine! Luckily, James and I were already best friends, so making an occasional intimate joke with him like Sirius did wouldn't be out of the question.

"James."

I looked at him solemnly and said in a mournful voice, "You're always going on about quidditch, quidditch. When will you ever notice me?"

My sudden words clearly threw him for a loop. His torrent of words caught in his throat, and only after staring at me for several seconds did he manage a, "...Huh?"

"Quidditch is fun, but we can't play it right now. Instead of that, why don't we focus on something we can both do?" I forced the conversation back on track. "Lately, we've just been running around aimlessly on our nighttime excursions. It's really boring. I heard there's a magic mirror at Hogwarts. What do you say we go take a look tonight?"

It didn't matter if I said a few things I shouldn't have in front of James. Once I brought up an adventure, he definitely wouldn't pay them any more attention.

"A magic mirror? Like the kind in fairy tales?"

Sure enough, James's eyes lit up at once. He showed no more confusion over what I'd said earlier, and he didn't even pursue the matter of me sneaking away rather than listening to him talk about quidditch.

"I'm not sure either. I only know there's a magic mirror. I didn't look for it before because I wasn't familiar with Hogwarts. We've more or less figured out our way around over the past month, so I thought I'd go take a look."

That wasn't entirely a lie. I really was curious about what I would see in the Mirror of Erised this time. When I'd used other people's identities before, I'd seen the people they most wanted to become. As Peter, for example, I'd seen myself popular and surrounded by admirers, while as Narcissa, I'd seen myself marrying Lucius.

So what was my deepest, most desperate desire as myself, as Merlin? I really was curious.

"Whatever it is, it'll be more interesting than racing Filch." James rubbed his hands eagerly. Just then, Sirius, who had been summoned by a professor earlier, came over, and James immediately waved to him. "Sirius! The three of us are going to..."

His words came to an abrupt halt.

It wasn't that James had suddenly realized that nighttime excursions were against the rules and shouldn't be shouted about in the corridor. Rather, he looked at me as if he'd only just remembered that Sirius and I were like fire and water, and his expression immediately grew troubled.

"Are the two of us going out tonight?"

Sirius lounged with his hands in his pockets. "Sure, I'm free tonight."

Sirius's deliberate deafness left James even more torn. The fact that the two of us could make the school bully wear an expression like that was a case of everything having its match.

"Oh, right!"

Just as we were about to fall into an awkward silence, Remus came out of the library. The moment James saw him, he rushed over at unprecedented speed, grabbed him, and dragged him over to us.

"Remus is coming with us too. Glad that's settled!"

Remus: "?"

Remus, who had been given no choice in the matter, joined the four-person nighttime excursion team in a daze. James was clearly very pleased with the outcome.

Before we set out, he took advantage of Sirius not paying attention to pull me aside and lean in very close. "With Remus along, it won't be so awkward, and it'll help build friendship between classmates." With that, he bumped his forehead against mine. "You're the one who said it!"

"So I said it. Why did you have to headbutt me?" I covered my forehead and stepped back twice. "Fine, I don't mind."

James pulled out his Invisibility Cloak. I was just about to duck under it when the options stopped me in my tracks.

[Random romance event triggered. Normal options temporarily hidden]

[When slipping under the Invisibility Cloak, who will you stand next to...]

[1. James]

[2. Remus]

[3. Sirius]

The moment I saw the words "romance event," my heart and lungs nearly stopped. Only when I saw that the options were normal did I breathe a sigh of relief—I genuinely had PTSD from these options now. Even if I could go back, I doubted I'd ever dare play another game with choices.

I chose Remus and ducked under the Invisibility Cloak. Sirius, who treated me like I wasn't there, hurried disdainfully to the front, while I went to stand beside Remus. I immediately caught a glimpse of the scars on his neck beneath his collar.

Haven't they healed yet?

Perhaps my gaze was too intense, because Remus instinctively pulled his collar tighter. He turned to look at me, and, caught in the act, I guiltily looked away for some reason.

"Ahem, are you hurt?" I asked quietly.

"An accident." Remus blinked at me. "Don't tell them, okay?"

Who would have thought, Remus? Even you know how to act cute now!

"I suspect they noticed a long time ago." I glanced at James's back. "You do share a dormitory, after all."

"Good thing this cloak is fairly big. Otherwise, it really wouldn't fit this many people."

While we whispered at the back, James had already arranged the cloak and was striding out. "Remember to keep pace with me, or someone's going to fall out of formation as we walk."

The moment James set off, I suddenly felt as though we were performing a lion dance.

Since I was the only one who knew the way, I kept giving James directions in a low voice as we went.

James walked first, Sirius was second, and Remus and I were side by side. With us in that order, and with me having to lean forward toward James because I had to keep my voice down to avoid being discovered, Sirius naturally ended up caught in the middle.

I poked my head out from behind him, while James leaned his ear toward me as much as he could. After we went back and forth like that a few times, Sirius grew impatient. He looked like he wanted to punch me or throw me out, but he was still pretending he couldn't see me, leaving him caught in a bind. In the end, he could only make sarcastic remarks to Remus, criticizing me by implication. Remus really had come at the right time.

"The room's a little farther ahead."

Before Sirius could explode, we finally reached the room where the Mirror of Erised was kept. The moment we entered, the mirror appeared right in front of us. James couldn't resist something so novel and hurried over to it in a few long strides.

"Whoa." He stopped in front of the mirror and exclaimed without thinking, "Is that me?" He turned to glance at me. "It really is a magic mirror!"

"What did you see?" Sirius frowned. He too walked up to the mirror, and then we all saw him wear an expression as though he'd seen every member of Gryffindor join the Death Eaters.

"...What did you see?" James fell silent for a moment, then asked the same question, sounding somewhat unsure.

Sirius said nothing this time. He remained silent for a long while, with visible horror on his face. Even Remus couldn't help patting him on the shoulder.

"I saw myself holding up the Quidditch World Cup trophy, looking successful and accomplished in my career." James walked over, looking bewildered and uncertain. "I thought it showed me what I'd be like in the future, but judging by Sirius...?"

Remus walked over curiously as well. The moment his gaze fell on the mirror, he froze. Almost reflexively, he looked at us standing beside him, and only relaxed after confirming that our expressions hadn't changed.

Me: "???"

Why did everyone except James seem to be reacting strangely? Had something been slightly adjusted in this life again?

I hesitantly walked up to the mirror as well and looked up. What appeared in the mirror was myself.

I saw myself. Could it be that I was already the happiest and most content person?

I frowned, then suddenly noticed that the place I occupied in the mirror was no longer Hogwarts, but my home in twenty-first-century China, a place I could barely remember anymore.

For a moment, we all fell silent. This was completely different from what I had imagined-seeing the scene one desired most through the Mirror of Erised shouldn't have resulted in such a bizarre atmosphere.

"I remember now." I "came to a sudden realization." "I once heard my family mention it. This mirror is the Mirror of Erised. It can show people the deepest, most desperate desires in their hearts. For example, James saw himself in the future becoming..."

I didn't continue, mainly because Sirius's expression was so dark that I suspected he would start slaughtering people the next second.

"Uh, is that really how it works?" James couldn't help whispering in my ear. "Why do I get the feeling Sirius saw the most terrifying scene of his life?" He glanced again at Remus, whose expression was uncertain. "Remus doesn't look like he saw anything pleasant either."

"That's why I'm puzzled too," I whispered back. "You saw yourself becoming a Quidditch World Cup champion, and I saw the place I most want to return to. Surely the mirror doesn't only work on certain people?"

"I did see my deepest desire too, but it was so unexpected that I haven't quite recovered."

Although the two of us had kept our voices as low as possible, the room was small and very quiet, so Remus had no trouble overhearing our conversation.

"So Black is the only one who didn't see it." I rubbed my chin, then suddenly punched James on the shoulder. "Do you think he saw himself inheriting the Black family?"

"Ow! Why'd you punch me?" Every time, James howled as if I'd broken his arm, which really made me question how hard I'd hit him. "Still, it's possible." He even went over and patted Sirius on the shoulder with fake sympathy. "It's really not so bad, Sirius. Maybe the Black family will have changed by then!"

Sirius rolled his eyes at him. "Don't listen to certain people's nonsense." He wasn't treating me like air anymore. "The mirror probably broke when it got to me."

I scoffed at that.

Even after we returned to the common room like a lion dance troupe and went our separate ways, though, we still didn't know what Sirius had seen in the Mirror of Erised that day.

[Author's note]

★Reminder★

When James's affection hasn't reached the required level, he really won't pay attention to certain intimate things you say to him. But once his affection rises, he'll notice and remember them.

★Side quest reminder★

*Congratulations on completing the Sirius romance main storyline achievement-[Mirror of Erised]

*Congratulations on unlocking the Remus romance side quest-[Night of the Full Moon · 1]