The Echoes Of Yesterday

The Echoes Of Yesterday…by Samayel

Chapter 35: The Man In The Mirror


“What in the hell? What do you mean he’s gone?”

Harry was mildly annoyed, not because he hadn’t suspected that something was up, but because Draco’s sudden reported absence was an immediate inconvenience. Perhaps he should have intervened sooner, or pushed harder with question about Draco’s recent moody silences and occasional absences, but the boy had seemed diffident and comfortable, smoothly claiming that nothing was wrong and that he was spending extra time with his studies. Harry had taken it at face value, based on the fuzzy notion that he had a certain rapport with Draco that others did not. It was specifically annoying to think of himself as having been deceived.

Ron answered the question while Harry reviewed the last couple of days.

“Well, he wasn’t in any of my classes today, not that I need the help that badly anymore, but I figured I should find you first since you’re his mentor. I asked a few questions on the way here and he hasn’t been seen since last night. He seemed a little distracted the last few days, but that was all I noticed. What do you think? Check his suite, maybe?”

“Yeah…that first. Damn…this isn’t like him at all…or at least not like what I’d expect from him. That stubborn pride of his usually means he wouldn’t let himself be seen sloughing off work. Something is off about this. It just isn’t right. C’mon, mate…got time to tag along?”

“Well…sod it…I can’t very well leave with a student missing, even that one, can I? Tell ya what…if we can’t find him before I’m supposed to Floo home…well…break out the map.”

Harry shrugged agreement as they walked the halls together. The Marauder’s Map was rarely used now, and then only when a student couldn’t be easily found or accounted for quickly. It was a fine fallback, and had prevented lost students from suffering undue trauma more than once over the two past decades. He hadn’t had to use it in almost two years, but it was a damned useful thing to have around in a pinch. He still had his old cloak and a few other useful tidbits at his disposal…just in case a situation arose…like the time one of Hagrid’s ‘pets’ had escaped and had to be lured from the lair it had made in one of the Ravenclaw lavatories before it could be captured and tranquilized.

Draco’s rooms, as it turned out, were warded with ’safe’ wards that didn’t cause injury…but blocked entry completely. The spells were well above the average level of ward that Harry had dealt with for years…but not beyond his ability to crack. It just didn’t bode well that Draco felt such a need for privacy beyond what was normally granted to any student who didn’t reside in the dorms.

The room was empty and still, but still furnished with all that might have been expected, including schoolbooks piled upon Draco’s desk, and his trunk and other belongings still in place. At least it appeared as if he hadn’t deliberately left the school for good, but it did raise the question of where he had gone. It was possible to make one’s self scarce fairly easily at Hogwarts, given the size of the place and the number of enchanted places one could stumble into.

“Alright, Ron…tell you what…before you head home…stop by the infirmary and ask John Prewitt to expect a Firecall from me later. Tell him Draco is missing…and how long he’s been unaccounted for, and let him know that if I haven’t sorted this out in another hour or so I’ll have to organize a formal search. Then just head on home…I can handle the rest, mate.”

“Got ya covered, Harry. No problem. If anything too complicated comes up you’ll feel free to give a shout, right?”

“Yeah. No worries. We have enough people here to do this without keeping you here all night. Besides…the map’ll likely sort this out shortly enough. Give ‘mione and the kids my love then.”

“Right, then. See you tomorrow, mate.”

Harry made his way back to his suite with a brisk and business-like pace, then opened his warded trunk, wherein he’d always kept anything that might be too valuable to risk losing. He had other trunks, but only this one was routinely spelled and warded shut. The map was just beneath his old cloak, still folded and sealed in a heavy envelope for its own protection.

It was always ironic now, to be a professor and yet swear that he was ‘up to no good’. Honestly, he hadn’t used the map for anything but the rather noble purpose of rescuing the occasional student in near twenty years, which hardly qualified as mischief, but that was what it took to activate the map’s power, and that was what he solemnly swore.

Always, the map was a vast blur of moving marks and names, covering every level of the castle, and a certain measure of the grounds as well. He’d started with the towers and upper levels, working his way slowly to the dungeons and catacombs, and it took time to manage, since so many moving blips could easily distract his eyes. Even so, Harry was long used to the map and scanned his way across its surface carefully, becoming more and more concerned as Draco’s name didn’t make an appearance.

It was near the bottom that he found the name he was looking for...the catacombs. As far below as one could go…and not al that far from where Harry himself had strayed a few times in his youth. Draco was alive, but motionless, and that was enough for concern. A Firecall to Prewitt and a swift assurance of Harry’s ability to deal with the matter, and Harry was on his way to the dungeons with annoyance flickering through the concern rather quickly.

’This had better be an emergency. He couldn’t have picked a nice nearby location to have a problem? I hope he’s alright and all…and he is an exceptional wizard in his own right…he can’t be that badly off, can he? Hell…if he’s missed an entire day of classes, something isn’t right. Damn, I wish we could Apparate in here!

Classes were out for the day, and dinner had already been served, so much of the hallway milling about was already done, and Harry’s journey was too quiet for his tastes…too easy to reflect on the memory of the last time he’d scoured the map for a Draco Malfoy. How poorly that had turned out. How that moment had changed the balance of power between them.

He’d nearly killed Draco with a single uttered spell, fearing for his own life, full of righteous wrath. Not so different from how they’d finally parted, with Harry losing his temper and Draco mumbling a goodbye through a bloody mouth and nose, while Harry had been full of that same righteous wrath, certain that he had been the one wronged. Maybe he had, but it excused nothing.

Had he really changed so much? He’d mishandled Draco’s son the same way…even with twenty years to sort himself out and know the right from the wrong. It was at the heart of why he was leaving this school behind. What moral center could he claim to have, and still be so selfish, so quick to vent anger when he was finally cornered? The man wasn’t really so much better than the boy he had been, and that was a shameful thing to think, but there you had it. The same rashness that had cost Sirius his life, the same anger that had caused calamities and accidents in his youth, and the same quickness with which rage flared in his heart and hand. So…maybe the younger Draco had brought it to the surface like no other could…but that excused nothing.

Harry clambered through a portal into the catacombs, already slightly winded from the journey through the school, but unwilling to slow his pace. A hasty Lumos and a check of the map showed that Draco was still in the same position as before, and Harry kept his wand out as he moved through the cavernous hollows beneath the school. So many odd things had happened down here over the years that Harry knew to keep himself ready at all times save when he was in the safest of the major hallways and rooms above.

The passage wound to and fro, and while he was awfully near the chamber where he’d faced the basilisk so many years ago, he couldn’t have been farther away from it in fact. The map showed the great chamber to his left, and yet he’d walked almost half an hour to get to where he was at now. The gloom was oppressive enough that he couldn’t make out anything more than twenty feet away, but there was a faint twinkle ahead, and Harry knew he was quite close to Draco’s position.

He approached with caution, calling out, only to hear no reply. The hairs on the back of Harry’s neck rose with superstitious worry while stepped forward into what was likely another large chamber, and he couldn’t make out any details at the far end of it, but Draco was supposed to be less than perhaps a hundred yards away.

“Draco? Are you alright?”

The light from his wand penetrated the gloom as he moved forward…and the walls of the back became clear. There was a crude archway, no door in place, and within was a room of discarded items, but seated clearly in the center was Draco Malfoy, cross-legged on the floor with his back to Harry, who hurried forward until he could see what had captured Draco’s attention. That stopped Harry cold in a heartbeat.

Draco Malfoy was staring at the image of his father, whose gaze had fallen to Harry, smiling affectionately and speaking words that Harry could feel more than hear. So like the dreams he’d lived with, so clear compared to misty memories. A healthy handsome young man, dressed sharply and confident in his stance, lean and tall and full of life. Until Harry’s gaze flickered just a few inches to one side as he stepped forward, silent and almost entranced.

The mirror. The Mirror Of Erised. This was where it had wound up. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t his Draco of years ago, just as it hadn’t been the parents he’d never been allowed to see. It was just a whispered promise reflected in glass. How it had wound up here Harry might never know, but the battered old thing had been tucked away with who only what other objects, and would have to be moved again. Harry winced while he avoided staring at the image in the mirror and knelt beside his charge. Draco was slack jawed and smiling, past the point of crying with joy, just smiling dreamily and staring into the mirror’s depths.

“Draco. It isn’t real. I know. You have to come away from here. It’s Harry…I don’t know what you see in there, but it’s just an illusion.”

Draco’s mouth closed, and it was easy to see that he was having trouble pulling his head away, he seemed utterly disoriented, and haunted when he turned to speak in a near whisper to Harry.

“I…I don’t care. It’s…it’s beautiful. I want this…leave me alone.”

“You know I can’t do that. People have wasted away to nothing in front of this mirror. It only shows you your greatest desire…but it can’t make it real. Take what you can learn from that, and come with me.”

“Ha…my…greatest desire. That’s…that’s what it is? What if that’s better than what I have? It makes sense…that something…like this…would be a lie. It…feels so…good. I can hear…feel…what it means…I don’t…I don’t want to go anymore.”

“Can you stand up? I’m going to put the cloth back over the mirror, and when I do, we’re leaving. Do you understand?”

Harry rose and stepped between Draco and the mirror tugging the heavy cloth down from the edge and letting it cover the glass. His own sigh of relief was palpable, because even until he’d slid the cloth down, his own Draco, tall and clean and fine, had been whispering nothing but forgiveness and love to him. Small wonder it had hooked Draco’s son, who hadn’t had even the small cushion of years of friendship with others. He could see the tortured look on Draco’s face when he turned back. It hurt visibly to watch another in the mirror’s thrall, even while his own, older, wounds stung just as deeply as ever.

Harry held out a hand. “Come on. It’s alright. We’ll go back together, okay?”

The journey back was in silence, and Harry was aware of Draco’s staggering sense of embarrassment. The discomfort radiated off of Draco in waves, and it was a long walk through quiet hallways before they reached Draco’s door. His face was still turned away from Harry’s, eyes boring into the floor.

“I’m…I’m so sorry. My feet keep trying to take me back. I can’t…what…what will happen to it?”

“I’ll move it somewhere else, possibly off the grounds entirely. It will be moved tonight, so don’t think going back will accomplish anything. Draco…don’t feel bad. I was once drawn to the mirror’s image too. It was a long time ago, but I haven’t forgotten it.”

Draco pushed his head against his door and breathed slowly while he answered, looking as properly tired and wan as a person who hadn’t likely slept of eaten an a day would look.

“I was looking for things from the past…things from old stories I was told. I…I found it a couple of weeks ago. I kept coming back…just a for a few hours at first…but I just couldn’t stop. It makes such sense…nothing that good could be real…but it was nice…for awhile.”

“You’ll be alright…its power fades fast once you’re separated from it. Years ago…I saw my parents…happy to see me, alive and well, proud of me. The Headmaster found me staring into it and talked me away from it. I thought it had been destroyed since then…back in the war. They must have tucked it away down there when they cleaned up after the school reopened. What you felt, whatever you saw, it was powerful only because it meant so much to you. Don’t be ashamed of having feelings. It wouldn’t have such power if you didn’t. I have to go…it’ll need taking care of immediately, but you’ll order something from the house elves and get some proper bed rest, won’t you?”

Draco nodded shakily while opening the door to his rooms.

“Yes. I’ll…I’ll be fine. Don’t you have more to ask? More questions? Am I in trouble? Do you…want to know what…what I…”

“No. No trouble. Getting entranced by an artifact we should have dealt with more carefully is not a crime. You don’t have to tell me anything. What you saw in the mirror is for you and you alone to learn from.”

Draco’s mouth opened and closed a few times in silence, and then he stepped through his threshold and closed the door all but for a foot’s space through which he could look out, still avoiding Harry‘s direct gaze.

“Thank you…Harry. Good night.”

And the door closed quickly and quietly, leaving Harry in the hall alone, well past dinner hours, with a task that would take some time and thought still in front of him.

It was just as well that he didn’t let his thoughts linger over what Draco had seen. Draco slept the night in an exhausted stupor, his memory flickering through the images the mirror granted him, and Harry had dominated them all, from first to last, not as a friend with a comfortable distance between them, but with a lover’s ardor, and the knowledge of his greatest desire, just beyond his reach, was barely tolerable even to Draco’s sleeping mind.

TBC!!!