[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-wizard-war-at-hogwarts":3,"chapter-wizard-war-at-hogwarts-wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-20":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Wizard War at Hogwarts",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2357993,4612,"Chapter 20: The Mirror of Erised","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-20",20,"\u003Cp>During the remainder of the Christmas break, Harry spent almost all his time searching for the secrets of the Deathly Hallows. He read book after book in the library but found no useful information; he also conducted quiet experiments with his Invisibility Cloak, gaining only slight results.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This Invisibility Cloak had been passed down through countless generations; from Professor Binns, Harry learned that Ignotus Peverell died in 1291, nearly seven hundred years ago, yet time had left not a single mark upon it—he felt the cloak was as fresh as the day it was made.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neither physical means—needles, blades, nor fire—could damage the cloak, nor could any spell affect it. Harry vaguely realized the Cloak’s other function might be protection: it could shield its wearer from nearly all environmental or area-based spells, while its invisibility effect prevented those with ill intent from detecting him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that was his only discovery; beyond this, Harry could not imagine what other secrets the thin cloak might hold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as the Christmas break was ending, Neville returned to school early. He looked full of determination and, upon meeting them, declared he had sworn to expose Quirrell’s plot during the second half of the term.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry found Quirrell completely unremarkable; he knew the real villain was some “double-faced” person. Although Quirrell was unpopular, he had always been that way—he didn’t match the profile of a double agent. If one were truly searching for a double agent, given that Quirrell was scheming to steal the Philosopher’s Stone, the other might be honest and earnest, trying to protect it—Harry thought Hagrid was far more suspicious than Quirrell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He let Neville continue pondering the Philosopher’s Stone; when Harry muttered the surname Peverell while walking, he felt he walked a great path, while the three-headed dog and the Philosopher’s Stone seemed like childish games.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night, after a fruitless day, Harry idly flipped through a book before bed and found Neville and Ron returning with flushed faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Harry, come with us,” Ron said. “Neville found a mirror—a magical mirror—it seems to predict the future!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Curious, Harry followed them outside; on the way, he remembered Zhang Qiu mentioning mirrors—it seemed divination had come to pass here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They entered an abandoned classroom. Desks and chairs had been shoved into the corners, revealing a pile of shadows; on the floor lay an overturned trash bin—against the wall opposite the door stood something that seemed not meant to be there, merely placed temporarily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a magnificent mirror with an ornate golden frame, rising straight to the ceiling, resting on clawed feet. Above the mirror was engraved: eresdstraehruoytubecafruoytonwohsI.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry immediately noticed the last letter was not an l but a capital I—meaning the inscription must be read backward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I show not your face, but your heart’s desire,” he murmured, slowly deciphering the inscription at the mirror’s top before looking into its surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, let me see…” Harry refocused on his reflection—and as he concentrated, he saw more: countless figures standing behind him, startling him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he soon recognized several: Eve, Sir Crowley, and in a corner, Aunt Petunia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing directly behind him were a man and a woman: a woman with deep red hair and olive eyes, stunningly beautiful; a tall, slender man with messy black hair and glasses, their hair swept back. They reached out, as if to embrace Harry beyond the glass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry suddenly realized—they were his parents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He gently placed his hand on the mirror’s surface, as if to touch them. For some reason, Harry felt the glass was not cold, but slightly warm—as if this were not a mirror at all, but merely a pane of glass separating him from his parents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Father. Mother,” he whispered. “But who are the others?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry identified other relatives: a tall, sturdy man standing beside his father, with gray eyes radiating casual elegance, his appearance incongruous with the family—perhaps his godfather, Harry guessed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A short old man, strikingly like Harry himself—surely his grandfather; beside him, the elderly woman must be his grandmother. Neville’s grandmother had left him so many proverbs, while Harry could only glimpse her from afar through the mirror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he looked beyond his blood relatives, he saw Sir Crowley holding Eve; a plump red-haired witch—he remembered she was Ron’s mother; Aunt Petunia with a look of disdain; and a flickering black hem—he recognized Professor Snape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What did you see, Harry?” Ron asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My parents… and my family,” Harry said, his voice thick. “Or rather, those who treated me as family—even though most are gone.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh, sorry,” Ron glanced again at the inscription above. “I didn’t notice this line at first—I thought it showed the future.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, thank you,” Harry sniffed. “I’m sad—but also happy. Even though they’re not here, just seeing them again in the mirror is enough.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By the way, you all thought it showed the future,” Harry adjusted his emotions, trying not to dampen his friends’ spirits. “What did you see?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I saw myself in fifth year,” Ron peered again into the mirror, his excitement rising. “I’m Head Boy, and Captain of the Quidditch team—I’m holding a trophy. Everyone’s cheering for me. I’m the best Keeper ever—I can even hear my teammates singing, ‘Weasley is our King!’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, Neville? What about you?” Harry asked curiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neville gently nudged Ron, who reluctantly stepped away from the mirror. Neville took a deep breath, his expression hardening: “I saw myself at seventeen, bloodied, standing amid the ruins of Hogwarts.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He made a sword-wielding gesture, mimicking the mirror’s motion: “I hold a sword set with rubies, slaying a spotted basilisk. That was Voldemort’s last breath—but one strike, and he vanished!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He repeated the sword-swinging motion again and again, relishing it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry asked, puzzled: “If the mirror shows your heart’s desire, why is there blood? Why the ruins of Hogwarts?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m sorry,” Neville snapped out of his trance. “I’ve always feared Voldemort. I thought I had to fight until my loved ones fell one by one, until Hogwarts itself collapsed—only then would I have a chance.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But whether or not that’s necessary,” he added, “I will fight until my last breath.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s go,” Harry said. “Fantasy won’t help us—we still have things to do.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Harry left the abandoned classroom, a heavy stone seemed to lift from his heart. I’ve always longed most for my family. The glory of my ancestors was merely a Jituo —I don’t care who I’m descended from. I only care that I am my parents’ child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I told you,” Hermione removed her Disillusionment Charm. “That mirror shows desire, not the future. Harry saw something different, didn’t he?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hannah pressed her lips tightly together, silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, you saw it too—Neville’s deepest desire is to defeat Voldemort,” Zhang Qiu added. “Even if you’re his best friend, in the face of vengeance, you must step aside.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the three boys and three girls had all left the classroom, Dumbledore dispelled his Disillusionment Charm and slowly approached the mirror, letting out a long sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, he raised an eyebrow, cast another Disillusionment Charm, and slipped quietly aside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry returned to the mirror, slowly peeled off his Invisibility Cloak, and reached out to touch the glass, half joy, half sorrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hours passed—so long that Dumbledore cast another Disillusionment Charm—before Harry finally withdrew his hand and pulled the Cloak back on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Goodnight, Father. Mother,” he whispered. “We’ll see each other tomorrow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While writing his homework in the library, Harry thought not once of searching the Restricted Section for knowledge of the Deathly Hallows—he only wanted to finish quickly so he could return to the mirror and spend more time with his parents. Last night, he’d noticed: when he stared at them, the others gradually faded away, and his parents began to move more—hugging the reflection of himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing his homework, Harry didn’t even return to his dorm. He grabbed his books and hurried to the classroom. But someone was already there: Hannah, holding up her skirt, bowing shyly toward the mirror. Neville sat nearby, clutching a wooden stick, glancing anxiously at his watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s not mock each other,” he remembered their promise last night—not to become too obsessed with the mirror. Clearly, he and Neville had both broken it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Weasley is our king~ Never put the ball in the goal~ Gryffindors sing loud, Weasley is our… oh, cough, Harry?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry spun around—Ron stood in the corridor, holding a vase.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re not here to queue up too, are you?” Harry said with mild mockery. “I think they’ll be a while. Why not head back? King?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh, I just happened to pass by,” Ron’s ears burned red. “I was heading back to the dorm. I’ve been reading your novel these days—I’m obsessed, can’t stop reading all night. I mean, I’m not thinking about this mirror at all.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1462,"2026-06-21T04:54:27.874Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","f2ec91659b32e0e35647be6ff9ad7a45fa43d8b8b15d8dda696345801d2ada6e","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-21","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-19",528,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwizard-war-at-hogwarts-cover.jpg"]