Chapter 242

Harry was very glad that his father's Invisibility Cloak seemed big enough; there was no problem at all in fitting three young wizards inside.

After a while, they came to that abandoned classroom again, lifted the Invisibility Cloak, and Ron pointed to the huge mirror in the middle, saying: "It's this. Look, this is a magic mirror."

"Magic mirror?" Tom looked at the luxurious mirror, a bit confused, "What can it be used for?"

"Uh, I don't know, but I saw my parents in it." Harry said, "You know, they both passed away when I was very young."

Tom understood in an instant.

Does Harry want me to see my parents here?

He knows I haven't seen what they look like either.

"However, I only saw myself becoming the Head Boy and winning the Quidditch Cup. I think this mirror might be able to let people see the future." Ron said.

"Go and try it, Tom, and see what you can see."

Tom walked close to the mirror; he originally thought that he would also see his parents whom he had never met, just like Harry.

But in the mirror, he only saw a boy.

He was locked in chains, standing face to face with him, almost as tall as him, and even his movements were exactly the same, but that face was not his own appearance.

In an instant, he recognized the other person.

Tom Riddle.

"You…… how could you be here?" he asked in shock.

The boy opened his mouth, he couldn't make a sound, but Tom inexplicably understood his meaning.

【This is a mirror, Tom; people always see themselves in the mirror.】

Tom shook his head, "No, this is impossible; you have long since…… the time is wrong…… and your appearance……"

【Appearance can be tampered with, time can be traced back, even death may not be the end…… don't you know all of this?】

"No, impossible, that notebook……"

【It's a liar.】

"How do I know you won't lie to me?"

【Ask your heart, Tom.】

【What are you afraid of?】

"If I am you, then what is me? Who is me?"

【Only you know this answer, Tom.】

【Give me freedom, and then give yourself freedom.】

Tom saw the boy in the mirror suddenly tear off the chains on his body and suddenly turn into a stream of black smoke that shot up into the sky.

"Tom, what did you see?" Harry asked curiously, "Did you see your mom and dad?"

"No." Tom's furrowed brows gradually relaxed, "I saw freedom."

……

"Nicolas Flamel is a good friend of Dumbledore, a master of alchemy; his greatest achievement is the Magic Stone."

The next day, at breakfast, Tom said to Harry and Ron, "I have already looked him up in 'Directory of Alchemy Through the Ages'."

"You found him?!" Harry was pleasantly surprised, "We should write a letter to tell Hermione; she will definitely be shocked."

"Magic Stone, what is that?" Ron asked, "It sounds quite ordinary?"

Magic stone, this feels like it's about the same as a Gobstone.

"On the contrary, it is extremely precious." Tom said, casually poking the mashed potatoes in front of him with a fork; he still had no appetite.

"The Magic Stone, also known as the Philosopher's Stone, is an alchemical creation."

"Legend has it that it can turn stone into gold and can also create the Elixir of Life; Nicolas Flamel used it to create the Elixir of Life and lived for more than six hundred years."

"Can create gold! Immortality! My god……" Ron shouted, "Everyone will go crazy for it."

"Not only that, its preciousness also lies in the fact that because it is extremely difficult to refine, there is only one Magic Stone left in the world now."

"And I think, now it should be in……"

"The school!" Harry's eyes lit up, "Behind the trapdoor! So that's it; no wonder Snape wants to get it for such a treasure……"

But he saw Tom's expression and felt something was wrong, "Tom, what's wrong with you? Is your matter related to this?"

Tom frowned and hesitated for a long time.

Suddenly, he thought, 【This seems to be an opportunity.】

"Do you want to stop Snape?" he asked.

"What? Of course."

"Then how do you plan to stop him?" Tom asked, "We know about the Magic Stone, but you also heard what Hagrid said; no one will believe our words; they won't listen to us."

Harry thought for a long time, "That's because we don't have evidence; if we can find evidence that Snape is plotting the Magic Stone, the professors will definitely listen."

"Alright," Tom nodded, "How to find evidence?"

"……I don't know." Harry lowered his head in frustration, "Snape definitely wouldn't go around talking about this."

Tom looked at him for a while and said: "There is one way that can definitely stop him."

"What way?"

"Get the Magic Stone before Snape does."

Tom's crazy proposal was temporarily rejected; after all, sneaking into a place that must be very dangerous to steal an extremely valuable item doesn't look like a good thing no matter how you look at it.

"We might be thrown into Azkaban." Ron said, his face pale.

And Harry didn't want to do that either; to become a thief himself just to stop a thief…… that's too weird.

"Alright." Tom didn't think he would convince them all at once, and, 【The Magic Stone alone is useless; I also need the formula for the Elixir of Life.】

……

Harry went to the abandoned classroom again that night, wanting to see his parents in the mirror again, but he met Dumbledore who had been waiting for a long time.

Dumbledore revealed the truth of the Mirror of Erised to Harry, "It shows us the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts."

"You have never seen your family, so you saw them standing around you. Ron Weasley has always been overshadowed by his brothers, so he saw himself standing alone, the best among them."

"As for Lucas……" Dumbledore's blue eyes showed a hint of contemplation, "what he saw was freedom……"

"Regardless, Harry, this mirror can neither teach us knowledge nor tell us the truth."

"The mirror will be moved to a new place tomorrow, Harry; I ask you not to look for it again. If you happen to see it one day, you must be prepared. It is of no use to indulge in illusory dreams and forget about real life; remember that."

……

School started, and Hermione returned to school; she was very happy to hear that they had found Nicolas Flamel, then heard about the magic mirror, and finally heard Tom's proposal to get the Magic Stone before Snape, and she was stunned.

Only then did she realize that this guy who didn't talk much on weekdays was the one who despised the rules the most among them.

"My god, this is too ridiculous; we might end up in jail because of this!"

"No." Tom said, "As long as we hand it over to a trustworthy professor after we take the Magic Stone out, won't that be fine?"

"Hand it over to whom? They will expel us!"

"There is one professor who won't."

Hermione also reacted immediately, "You mean…… Professor Murphy?"

(End of chapter)