Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Young wizards rarely looked lively on the first school day after a holiday. Anyone who had spent a long time playing without the burden of homework would feel the same.

Moreover, lateness for the first lesson would be widespread today. In other words, which of the four house hourglasses ended the morning in first place depended upon which house had the fewest latecomers.

Suer decided to make a contribution.

He awoke early and dressed. After studying the grotesque sleeping positions of his dormitory mates, he made up his mind.

He took Justin’s alarm clock, set it to ring an hour before lessons and drew his wand.

“Sonorus.”

Then he placed the clock in a corner of the common room.

No one was allowed to be late!

With everything arranged, Suer quietly slipped out. Hufflepuff might have little hope of winning the House Cup, but at the very least, they would come first today.

When he wandered into the Great Hall, it held very few people. Just as Suer expected, the Hufflepuff table was utterly deserted.

A scattering of students sat at the Gryffindor table. Yawning Ron contrasted sharply with bright-eyed Harry, while industrious Hermione had naturally arrived early as well.

The three of them were huddled together discussing something.

“Good morning.” Suer greeted them and sat beside Hermione, only for the girl to glare fiercely at him. He had no idea why.

“Oh, morning, Suer.” Harry waved cheerfully. “I loved the present.”

“Me too.” Ron raised a hand. “How did you know I’d wanted a new wizard chess set for ages?”

“You’re welcome.” Suer smiled. “What were you talking about?”

“Oh, something happened in Diagon Alley the day before Christmas,” Harry said. “We were just discussing it. You see, Ron gets the Daily Prophet every day–”

“I’ll tell him. I’ll tell him.” Ron raised his hand. A murderous stare shot at him from one side, but he noticed nothing. “On Christmas Eve, a witch selling mulled wine in Diagon Alley spiked it with love potion, and then she was sent to Azkaban. Can you guess why?”

Without waiting for Suer to answer, Ron revealed it himself.

“The witch discovered that very day that her Muggle husband and her witch best friend were together in Diagon Alley. She wanted revenge on the other witch, so she poured loads of love potion into the mulled wine. Isn’t that hilarious?”

The corner of Suer’s mouth twitched. What part of that was funny?

Still…

“Did the Daily Prophet say which shop it was?”

“I think it was… Let me remember. Oh! Honeyed Rainbow.”

So that was it. Hermione’s “madness” that day had a cause after all.

No wonder she had glared at him just now…

“So…” Hermione said darkly, “don’t tell me the two of you spent Christmas discussing a piece of tedious gossip.”

“Of course not,” Ron said righteously. “Harry and I explored the castle!”

“Did you know Harry discovered something extraordinary?” Ron lowered his voice. “He found–a mirror–in a room deep within the library.”

“Deep within the library?” Hermione jolted. “You went into the Restricted Section? You weren’t caught, were you?”

As she spoke, she glanced towards the house hourglasses. Their score had not fallen.

“Oh, that’s not important.” Ron waved the concern aside. “Someone gave Harry an Invisibility Cloak on Christmas Day. Nobody could see us.”

“An Invisibility Cloak?” Hermione jolted again. “What sort? The Invisibility Cloak from the tale of the three brothers? But that’s only a legend.”

“Will you stop interrupting?” Ron asked irritably. “I don’t know whether it’s the cloak from the legend!”

Hermione turned away in a huff and stabbed a piece of bread as though it were her mortal enemy.

“The mirror was incredible.” A smile spread across Ron’s face. “I saw myself as Head Boy. I was captain of the Quidditch team too, holding a gleaming golden cup.”

“I think it might show the future. It believes I could become Head Boy and Quidditch captain.”

“Tch…” Hermione gave a contemptuous little snort. Though she had turned away, her ears remained perked.

Understandable. Lions belonged to the cat family, after all. Pride and curiosity were only natural.

Ron did not hear Hermione’s quiet mockery. “But Harry saw his parents in the mirror. If it shows the future, does that mean his parents will someday…”

“No.” Harry shook his head. “I went back to the room alone later, and Professor Dumbledore was there.”

“You ran into Professor Dumbledore?” Ron interrupted in astonishment. “He didn’t deduct points? I mean, Professor Dumbledore didn’t punish you? And you never told me about it.”

“Didn’t I?” Harry tilted his head. “Oh, sorry. I suppose now isn’t too late.”

“The professor told me the mirror had a name: the Mirror of Erised. It shows us the deepest and most desperate desire of our hearts. In other words, whatever we want most is what appears in it.”

“Then everything inside the mirror is false?” Ron visibly deflated. “It doesn’t predict the future at all.”

Harry nodded.

Hermione could not resist asking, “Is the mirror still there? Could you take me to it? Honestly, I’m curious to know what I desire most.”

“It’s gone.” Harry shook his head. “Professor Dumbledore moved it, and I don’t know where.”

“You don’t need a mirror to tell you,” Ron said. “It would show you turning into Professor McGonagall and bossing everybody about…”

Hermione glared at him. “So, has the aspiring Head Boy discovered who Nicolas Flamel is? Or did you forget all about him?”

Ron fell silent. He truly had forgotten. He and Harry had done many things over the holiday, but sitting in the library to search for information was not among them.

Suer snickered as Ron shrank beneath Hermione’s retort.

“Never mind. I wasn’t relying on you in the first place.” Hermione raised her chin. “I already know who Nicolas Flamel is!”

At that moment, a dark mass of students streamed through the doors of the Great Hall. Some were older, some younger, but they all shared one feature: faces black with fury.

“Suer.” As he passed the Gryffindor table, Justin ground his teeth and hooked an arm around Suer’s neck. “Was it you? Was it?”

“What?” Suer tilted his head, feigning confusion. “Did something happen?”

Justin stared suspiciously at his apparently innocent dormitory mate. “It really wasn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” Suer asked.

“Somebody stole my alarm clock while I was asleep,” Justin said bitterly, “and put it in the common room.”

“The alarm woke everyone!”

“We argued in the common room for ages and still couldn’t work out which rotten wizard did it.”

“You’re the only one in our dormitory who rose this early.” Still suspicious, Justin pressed him. “Are you sure it wasn’t you?”

“How could it possibly have been me?” Suer declared solemnly. “It absolutely wasn’t.”

Yes, it was me. Me and no one else.

But you’ll never catch me! Heh heh heh!