Professors' Notes: The Mirror Of Erised

It says something about Harry...

Yes, indeed, it does. To know that eternal life was possible? To have all the money in the world at his fingertips? And to wish only that it didn't go to the Dark, and not want it for himself? My goodness, the boy would have been miserable in Slytherin...

I wonder if he knows that I created the mirror, and not just the spell to hold the stone in it? It isn't as if anyone else would have created an inscription backward on the top of the thing... Except perhaps Nicholas. That was one of the reasons we worked so well together; that same quirky, yet creative, sense of humor.

But no, I do not think he knows I created it. He doesn't think about those things... he knows what it does, for him, and that is enough for him. Until he realizes that it does something different for someone else, that is... then he explores that until he's done with it. I wonder if I'm disappointed or not.

The Mirror is, perhaps, my least effective work. It isn't like the pensieve... I am glad that I lead Harry to believe that someone else created that. It is simply too personal.

On the other hand, so is the Mirror of Erised.

Your heart's greatest desire... Harry's is his parents. I am not surprised. A beautiful couple, they were, and even more so as a trio, a much, much younger Harry in their arms. Ronald's is Glory coming his way; that doesn't surprise me either, although I wonder if that is the case why he wasn't chosen for Slytherin. Ah, but we all have our qualities...

I wonder what Hermione would see? I do not think it would be a library, although doubtless that's what her friends think it would be. So shallow, sometimes; no, I think hers would be different, but I wonder what...?

Perhaps it would be a library... after all, the Mirror shows only what you yourself know you want. If you don't know you want it, then you can't throw it to the mirror.

That's how it works: like any good mirror, it is but a reflection. It finds the one thing you are aware of wanting the most, and shows that. All the magic has to do is reach inside you and show that... a simple illusion spell, with very few modifiers...

Ah, but there is the danger. Like any illusion spell, it needs a source of energy. Where to get that? From the one looking into the mirror, of course. I told Harry that he could waist away in front of that mirror; I didn't mention how quickly it could happen. By the end of the Christmas holiday, if he had stayed there, even if he was only there at night.

I am proud that neither he nor Ron attempted to find the Mirror again after I moved it. I wonder if they even came back to that room to find out if I had? I doubt it. If there is something more powerful than that infamous Potter curiosity, it is trust in me. Flattering, but disturbing... Still, to resist the temptation of the Mirror of Erised is not an easy feat. It is an addiction, and after even an hour you can find yourself pulled in...

It is the Mirror itself that does it. The pull of energy to support the illusion creates a linking spell. Like a marriage of energy, and like a marriage, codependence soon develops. Is it dark magic? Of course. But I never intended anyone to have access to it, and I will claim that in my defense. I had thought that if it were out of the way, down a deserted corridor, then no one would find it... how wrong I was. When someone did find it-the very last person I would have addicted to Dark Magic!-I immediately moved it. Surely I cannot be held responsible; there is a point where you have in fact done all you could.

I do think it was inspired to put the stone in it. The misdirection at first, putting so many defenses on the third floor and then not even having the stone there, should have protected it. Alas, that was not to be. The Philosopher's Stone was secured in the mirror anyway, however... I admit, I faltered in that. I should have realized that even I would not be able to get the stone out once it was in there. So I created a spell that would enable me to break the spell holding the stone in the mirror, and there again I faltered. Now the stone could be taken by the dark... and it nearly was. Perhaps another hour, and Steven and Tom would both have had the stone out. Perhaps a bit more... but then, I have always underestimated Tom. Perhaps it would have been less.

I should be grateful that Harry was able to get to the stone, I suppose. I do wonder how he got in, though. I am well aware that I did not place any brooms in the chamber where Filius' keys were, not to mention three. I find myself wondering who had the insight to do so.

And then there's the matter of beating Minerva's chess set. I think perhaps that is the one that gives me the clue I need to figure this mystery out. That chess set was designed so that it could not be beaten, period. And yet, Ronald beat it. Not strategy in the world should be able to defeat it; somehow, he did. This is not possible. I know that Steven worked his way past it without challenging it to a game; I think perhaps the set must have been designed just so that Ronald could defeat it-Ronald, and no one else. And only in that way... I would not put it past Minerva. And then, she must have left the brooms; again, a typical action, for one who was the first female chaser ever to grace the Gryffindor team, and the finest then or since, although she carefully doesn't mention that to her students.

It must have been Minerva. Now I have but to figure out why...