The Mirror of Erised

The Mirror of Erised.

He remembered everything. All that had happened to him in his six years at Hogwarts, he remembered clearly, as if they had only just happened. Memories swarmed back to him randomly. Many held high importance; many were simply random in his mind. Random, yet important to him in his life. Harry remembered.

"Headmaster, what do you see when you look into the mirror?"

Dumbledore replied with a discussion about socks, and how he would love to receive more of them. You can never have enough pairs of socks, he would say. Harry often wondered if this was the truth. He never asked, but often wondered. Were the socks really the thing he wanted most?

Harry remembered Dumbledore's complete indifference to Hermione's time turner in his third year. They came back after it seemed like they had just left, and Dumbledore didn't seem to notice. He simply spoke to them for a few short moments and went back to what he was doing. He wasn't worried about how they were, because he knew they were alright. He didn't worry.

He remembered The Yule Ball, and Dumbledore talking to the other Headmasters. He gave away the secrets of Hogwarts, admitting that he didn't even know everything about it. He spoke about a small bathroom that he had found one night, and then never found again, not caring that the other teachers might find that useful information. He was completely care free about it. Harry always assumed that this was the Room of Requirement, a very helpful area of the school. Did Dumbledore know about it? He probably found out eventually. But we never got in trouble for using it with the DA. He never thought that we were in danger, and kept his cool when we were caught. He never worried.

After The Triwizard Tournament, Harry told Dumbledore about the Grave Yard. He had a glimmer of pride and hope in his face. As if he knew things would work out after that. He wasn't worried.

In Harry's fifth year, Dumbledore told him everything. About his life, his future, what he had to do. He had wanted to for many years. Was that what he really saw in the Mirror? Telling Harry all of this? The thing is, even though he was telling Harry something potentially awful, he never seemed to doubt Harry's ability to do what he had to do. It's was as if he knew everything. He wasn't worried.

Then his sixth and final Hogwarts year. Dumbledore was injured, Harry knew, and Malfoy was mocking him, trying to bother him before he killed him. Dumbledore didn't seem to care. He spoke to Malfoy with complete calm in his voice, with no worries about what Malfoy could do to him. Then Snape came. He pleaded for only a moment, very softly. He knew what was going to happen, and had made peace with it.

As Harry thought about all of this, he realized something important. Dumbledore knew everything would end up for the best. He didn't worry, and didn't care about things that went wrong. He simply cared for the good things in life, and the positive ones. He cared about all of the simple joys that we get from small things, and didn't waste time worrying about what would happen next.

It wasn't the socks that mattered, it was the peace and calm he had all throughout his life.

"Tell me, boy, what do you see in the mirror!?"

Harry was back with the Mirror of Erised, his back turned to it. He stared down his enemy with a look of hate, all of these memories rushing through his mind. He wished that he didn't have to be there, that he didn't have to have his friends hurt, that he didn't have to battle, and the he didn't have to be the Boy Who Lived. It was too much for him.

"Look in the mirror!" Voldemort order him. Harry turned around as slowly as he could and looked into the glassy surface of the magical item.

"What do you see?"

Harry looked wishfully into the glass and turned back towards his enemy, the man who gave him this responsibility. He looked at Voldemort with tears forming in his eyes and replied, simply:

"Socks."