That didn't stop them from grumbling for some reason. Still, for all the chilly weather, a few warming charms did the trick to be comfortable. By the time they arrived towards the corridor, they witnessed Weasley punch Malfoy in the face. The ponce probably deserved it, but as usual, Snape came prowling and punished the Golden Trio.
Speaking of them, they started showing up at the library a lot, curiously in the recent history section. If things went the same as the stories, they were trying to figure out who Nicholas Flamel was. Harry snorted. Considering his copied book in Alchemy held a pretty thorough biography about the man, Harry knew that they were really looking in the wrong section. Flamel hasn't done anything history worthy – at least as far as the rest of the world knows – for at least two hundred years.
When Harry entered the Great Hall, he almost gasped in amazement. The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.
Harry and his friends took a seat on the Slytherin table, and Daphne asked, "So, what are you going to do while you're staying here?"
The Potter scion shrugged, "I guess I'll explore the castle, and practice some magic."
"So, nothing out of the ordinary then," Tracy interjected.
"Very funny, Tracy. But without classes, I should have more free time to finish up with my runic studies, and finally go back to focusing on wand magic."
The conversation flowed from there until it was time for them to leave. Harry accompanied them to the Hogwarts Express, and returned to the empty common room, feeling oddly empty. Here was this magnificent castle that he could explore to his heart's content, and yet, he was oddly lonely.
Practically all of the Slytherins, apart for a dozen upper years, returned home for the holidays. In his year, oddly the Weasleys were the only ones remaining because apparently, their parents decided to visit their son in Romania for Christmas. Harry had to say that for a family that couldn't afford to give their son a wand of his own for his magical education, they were really wasting more gold than needed for an entire trip instead of inviting their son home.
Harry shook his head at the thought of the Weasleys and simply chose to wander randomly in the castle. Things would have been a lot simpler if he had the Marauder's map. He didn't even know if such an artefact existed in the first place. The Potter scion realized that he knew practically nothing about his parents. Were the Marauders even a thing?
The only person who would speak about his parents objectively would probably be McGonagall. But Harry had little to no contact with the Transfiguration mistress outside of class, and he didn't know how to broach the topic. It was probably easier to just sneak into Filch's office and see their records. Kind woman or not, that witch was very intimidating.
All things considered, Harry just let himself wander off into the castle, something that he never really did before. He was always running from one place to another, trying to maintain his friendships and try to learn a certain spell. It was nice to just let go.
Oddly enough, Harry found himself in front of an open room near the library. He felt oddly compelled to just walk there and look at it properly. The Potter scion's eyes widened when he entered it. Inside was a very large mirror, probably very old, with some kind of golden frame. It had an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.
Well, that was an unexpected surprise.
.....
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