Chapter 79 — Dumbledore’s Advice

Chapter 79: Chapter 79 — Dumbledore’s Advice

Chapter 79 — Dumbledore’s Advice

"Vesey, did you see Mom and Dad?"

As Dumbledore was thinking this, Harry’s voice brought him back to his senses.

He looked at Vesey sympathetically.

Vesey hadn’t seen her parents at all.

After all, the Mirror of Erised could only show a person’s deepest desires based on what they had actually experienced. Vesey had never met her parents. No matter how much she longed to see them, the mirror couldn’t simply conjure up genuine memories of people she had never known.

Dumbledore thought Vesey would be devastated.

But she wasn’t.

Vesey shook her head and smiled happily.

"Brother, I didn’t see Mom and Dad, but I saw everyone at Hogwarts living happily.

"I saw you becoming the captain of the Quidditch team, and I saw Ron becoming a prefect and shaking hands with Professor Dumbledore.

"And I saw Hermione, Cassandra, and the others too. They’re all studying hard. They must be the hardest-working witches in the world..."

Vesey happily described everything she had supposedly seen.

Ron immediately became excited.

"Really? Vesey, did you really see me becoming a prefect?"

Vesey nodded and deliberately moved aside.

"Look! Future Ron is so impressive!"

Dumbledore watched Vesey from the side, his expression softening.

This child really is kind.

She was observant.

She knew Harry was passionate about Quidditch, so she imagined him becoming captain.

She knew Ron wanted recognition, so she imagined him becoming a Gryffindor prefect and shaking hands with the Headmaster.

This child was like a little angel.

She wanted everyone around her to shine.

Dumbledore sighed.

Then he quietly left the room.

He couldn’t keep watching.

If he stayed any longer, he was genuinely afraid that he would become too soft-hearted toward this girl.

Vesey waited until the presence of the fourth person in the room disappeared.

She even spent a little Energy to confirm that Dumbledore had returned to his office.

There was no one else in the room besides the three of them.

Vesey immediately waved her wand and transformed a broom into a small bed with a blanket.

"Brother, I’m sleepy. I want to sleep!"

She climbed into the makeshift bed.

Harry and Ron nodded.

The two of them continued taking turns looking into the mirror.

Eventually, Ron became tired of standing there.

Then he realized that Vesey had already fallen asleep beneath the blanket.

He was the one who had to stand there in the freezing cold while Harry continued staring into the mirror.

Ron urged him to leave, but Harry refused.

In the end, Ron could only pull his robes tighter around himself and return to the dormitory alone.

Harry remained there.

He stayed until he heard movement outside in the morning.

Only then did he finally come back to his senses.

He looked at his parents longingly, reached out, and touched their reflections in the mirror.

"Mom, Dad, I’ll take my sister back first. I’ll come see you again tonight."

He woke Vesey.

The two of them slipped beneath the Invisibility Cloak and carefully made their way back without being seen.

---

The next day at noon, after they finished eating, Harry looked completely distracted.

No matter what Vesey or Ron suggested, he wasn’t interested.

All he wanted was to stand in front of the Mirror of Erised.

Even his favorite pastimes no longer interested him.

"Let’s go there again tonight!"

Harry looked at Vesey.

Ron leaving early the previous night had made Harry somewhat annoyed, so he decided not to ask Ron to come with them that night.

Ron wasn’t particularly interested in going either.

It was freezing outside, and he’d much rather sleep in his warm bed.

Vesey felt the same way.

But she couldn’t say that.

Instead, she looked at Harry hesitantly.

"Brother, maybe you shouldn’t go again. Don’t keep thinking about that mirror..."

Harry didn’t want to listen.

He really wanted to see his parents.

He thought that if Vesey could see their parents too, she would surely understand why he couldn’t stay away.

But Vesey couldn’t see them.

She didn’t want to go anymore.

So Harry had no choice but to sneak out of the dormitory alone in the middle of the night.

He easily found the room again.

The moment he entered, he saw the Mirror of Erised and immediately ran toward it.

"So, you’re here again?"

A voice suddenly came from behind him.

Harry froze.

He turned around and realized it was Dumbledore.

The Headmaster was sitting on a table nearby, as though he had been waiting there for some time.

"I didn’t see you..."

Harry said nervously.

If he had known Dumbledore was there, he never would have come in.

"It’s rather strange that you can still be nearsighted after becoming invisible."

Dumbledore smiled.

Harry immediately relaxed when he saw that Dumbledore didn’t seem angry.

Dumbledore walked toward him.

"So, like many others before you, you’ve discovered the magical power of this mirror?"

Harry nodded.

"It lets me see my parents!"

Dumbledore sighed softly.

"And it lets Vesey see Hogwarts filled with smiles and a happy future. It lets Ron see himself becoming a prefect, doesn’t it?"

Harry’s mouth fell open.

"How do you know?"

Dumbledore chuckled.

"I don’t need an Invisibility Cloak to know when someone is here, Harry."

He looked at the mirror.

"So, Harry, can you draw any conclusions from the different things the three of you saw?"

Harry shook his head blankly.

Dumbledore sighed.

"Harry, you really need to read more. Vesey understood it yesterday."

Harry looked at him in surprise.

"How? I mean, if Vesey understood something, she would have told me."

Dumbledore smiled gently.

"She didn’t tell you because she didn’t want to. This mirror shows us what we most deeply desire. The happiest people in the world would simply see themselves reflected in it."

Harry seemed to understand.

"You mean this mirror shows us whatever we want most..."

Dumbledore immediately shook his head.

He used Vesey as an example again.

"You know Vesey didn’t see your parents. Do you really think she doesn’t want to see them?"

Harry shook his head.

Vesey missed her parents terribly.

There was no way she didn’t want to see them.

Dumbledore sighed.

"That’s because she never met your parents. The mirror cannot simply create genuine memories for her. It can only show her the scene she desires most.

"The mirror isn’t omnipotent, Harry. Its actual usefulness is rather limited. It can’t teach us knowledge, and it can’t tell us the truth.

"It can only make us lose ourselves in what we see and leave us wondering whether what we’re looking at is real or an illusion.

"Tomorrow, the mirror will be moved somewhere else.

"Harry, I must tell you not to look for it again. If you become lost in this imaginary world, you may end up hurting the people who love you."

Harry quietly considered Dumbledore’s words as he adjusted the Invisibility Cloak.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly asked,

"Professor, can I ask you one question?"

"Of course. But only one."

"Could you find some photographs of my parents? I want to show them to Vesey. We don’t have any photographs of our parents."

Dumbledore’s eyes gradually reddened.

After a moment, he gave a small nod.