章 1654: 17
Chapter 17: A New Use for the Mirror of ErisedChapter Text
The full moon has finally come. Ten werewolves, including Greyback, made their contribution to bolstering my servants' numbers. Greyback managed to turn five muggles by himself, the rest turned two or three each. In sum, I gained 26 new werewolves who will be able to transform within a month. The rest of the bitten received various degrees of magical wounds but would never become werewolves. Not too bad.
Lucius at last began producing results. For a hefty sum, he hired Rita Skeeter to dig up dirt on Albus. The truth and anything we could reasonably pin on him. So far she only learned that his father died in Azkaban, where he was incarcerated for attacking muggles. And she was getting close to Bathilda Bagshot. Any progress was good news.
We had prepared two inflammatory articles for print. "Criminal Restrictions on Self-Defense" described how easily the wizards would have defeated the Ministry chimera if they were allowed to use banned spells. "The Grand Failure of the Ministry" shed light on the high casualties among muggles. The echoes of French protests and their demands to allow French Aurors the authority to operate on British soil and investigate Death Eater activities already began rocking the chair under the Minister of Magic Millicent Bagnold. We needed to choose a puppet to replace her.. But the first priority was removing Crouch, the current number one candidate.
Snape also started to justify the confidence I placed in him. He quickly found the Marauder's Map and took it out of Hogwarts. It went unexpectedly smoothly: Hogwarts wards should have detected an artifact crossing them but for some reason completely ignored the map.
The map displayed all hidden entrances and all people, even the Headmaster. It emitted no Dark magic, I checked… Either I was missing something important or Tom jumped the gun killing James Potter who was apparently a genius artificer. I better show the map to Selwyn or Burke, maybe they could tell me how it was created. So far my only hypothesis was that Dumbledore made the map himself and gifted it to the "marauders."
For now, it would stay on Edward's desk, where charms recorded its activity 24/7. We already knew every dating couple and all the strangers periodically visiting the castle. The visitors were likely Order members, and we began searching for them by name. They appeared infrequently, meaning the Order's headquarters was somewhere other than Hogwarts.
I started my occlumency lessons with Snape's strange method. It lacked the traditional walls, endless labyrinths or oceans. There was no controlled schizophrenia or parallel personalities. The key lied in clearing the mind to an absolutely extraordinary degree. This resulted in something similar to the empty void of outer space: impossible to hold on to but not putting up any resistance. And in that void, you constructed anything you wanted to show. If someone broke beyond the picture, they saw nothing but emptiness. Incredibly easy in theory, just as incredibly difficult in practice… Snape showed and explained the best he could. I legillimized him over and over and examined it from the inside. There was only one issue: testing it.
Only experience could tell how well I was using the defense. Letting anyone into my mind was out of question. But a stroke of sheer luck found me a perfect legiliment incapable of betrayal.
The Mirror of Erised. It was clearly a powerful mental artifact that scanned the human mind for the deepest desire and displayed it. Occlumency or mind-shielding charms could stop it from working. I was going to try to fool the mirror with Snape's method.
It was a courtesy of the Hogwarts Board of Governors. During the most recent inspection, they began implementing the new policy of "removing artifacts that pose danger to children." Most were useless trinkets like miniature bludgers or quills that turned into poisonous frogs. But some pieces were worthy of attention. Like the Mirror of Erised. What was it doing at Hogwarts? One of the teachers found it during a sabbatical? The runes professor was researching it? Albus gazed in it every night in search of inspiration for his outfits?
The Mirror was confiscated and sent to the Department of Mysteries. Most teachers even voted for it. And on the way to the Ministry, it somehow got mixed up with a cheap replica that showed everyone's reflection as rich and famous. It should take the Unspeakables a while to notice the fraud. And when they do… They will either cover up their mistake or decide Hogwarts originally housed a replica.
Snape also brought information on Rosier's order of high quality combat potions. Acceleration, magic resistance and many more… We were not having a sport duel but a competition to settle who was best. That included being the best at preparing and getting away with cheating. After that list of potions alone, Rosier will spend a month in bed even if I don't land a single hit. And he also planned to poison me before the duel… It felt good when someone took you so seriously. Severus hinted that he did not know the exact details, but Rosier was brewing something else by himself and working with another Death Eater. Even better for me: I won't win too easily and make everyone suspicious. It was going to be fun.
Snape got over his magical exhaustion and has been teaching Lily twice a week. I watched their first lesson under invisibility charms. Lily yelled plenty of insults, but there were no Crucios from either side. She followed Snape's directions rather well.
I made Lily a gift for her second lesson with Snape. While she slept, I borrowed some of her blood and mixed it into her wand core. As a result, her willow and unicorn hair wand could now only be used for Dark magic.
She found out during her practical lesson when she could only cast Sectusempras. Not even summoning charms worked… So she began using her trophy wand. What? I had nothing to do with it. New life, new wand- you simply changed too much. You Crucio'd Snape with so much passion that it corrupted the unicorn hair… A claw is caught, the bird is lost.
And now I was standing in a securely warded room at the Lestrange manor. No need to fall into a habit of conducting experiments at my own house. The room was empty, save for the Mirror of Erised. It was a truly exquisite artifact: nearly ten foot tall mirror in ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet, the upper part of the frame engraved with the phrase "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."
It would take much more than some words written backwards to put me out of countenance, but the mirror's aura felt uncomfortably strange. Magical sight revealed its attempts to get into my head. I already checked it with wizards, muggles and spells. It was completely safe. Or rather, it did not affect magical power or physical health. Whoever was careless enough to go mad from its visions had it coming.
I stood before the Mirror but saw no reflection: occlumency and shields made me invisible to its legillimency. I had a bad feeling about this… But Rabastan already tried and saw himself the Minister of Magic with no consequences…
I took off the layers responsible for deflecting mental attacks, then released my occlumency defenses. What did I expect to see? Myself powerful and unstoppable, with godlike abilities and immortality. But instead…
People looked into the Mirror of Erised and saw their most desperate hopes. They spent long, lonely years searching for something their lives were missing… And found fulfillment in its reflection. Was the mirror a morbid joke or a weapon? The number of people it drove mad must rival the Resurrection Stone.
I raised my hand and touched its surface. The picture did not vanish. My eyes were shining brightly, hands were trembling.
So this was what Lord Voldemort truly wanted? My deepest unconscious desire?
I saw my previous life.
Yes, magic offered a lot… But a wand could turn a human inside out just as easily as it could blow colorful bubbles. Here, breaching the Statute could cost you your memories. And an unfair judge or jury could literally destroy your soul - hello, Dementors.
"How simple," I muttered.
But some desires should remain in the realm of dreams. No point in clinging to them. Living like a muggle here could only lead to dying like a muggle. Therefore, this vision was irrelevant to my plans. And dreams… Some dreams were plain stupid and must be transcended. Let's presume I died there and was reincarnated here. Time to move on with real life.
The tension immediately left me. Now to summon up all my will and proceed to the first occlumency lesson with my tireless partner… Come on, Mirror, this is not what I want. I want to become the puppeteer behind the throne over the entire magical world, happy, wealthy, wise, powerful, immortal… Just like Snape said: clear your mind…
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