"Eliza suddenly felt wide awake, the whole of Hogwarts would be laid at her feet, open to her with this cloak. Throwing on the cloak with an uncharacteristic giddiness she set off out of the common room to go exploring.
She wanders around the castle aimlessly, it feels different at night. There's a silence that clings to the halls that makes Eliza feel like she's intruding. She walks up staircases and ducks in and out of corridors as she discovers more and more short cuts until she feels something pulling oddly on her magic."
A lot of the adults look nervous, knowing it's never good when something is pulling at your magic.
"When she was younger she had learnt about sirens in Muggle School, how the mermaids would call out with their voice and lure sailors to their deaths. There was something in this corridor that put that thought in Eliza's mind, the foreign objects magic was trying to ensnare her, lure her into following it.
So Eliza does."
James and Lily look scared for their daughter, wondering what could be pulling her to follow it.
"She walks further down the draughty hall letting her feet guide her instead of thinking about where she wants to go until she came upon a door slightly ajar. She walked into the room tensely but she couldn't deny she was curious. At first glance it appeared to be another disused classroom, abandoned desks and chairs scattered about the room.
But why would an abandoned classroom door be opened?"
"This sounds too much like a trap to me." Tom muttered under his breath, keeping his eye on Dumbledore.
"She scanned the rest of the room until her gaze landed upon the opposite wall where a grand mirror stood. It was magnificent, standing on two clawed feet and an ornate gold frame and Eliza knew instinctively that this was the artefact that had been calling her. She moved forward cautiously reading the inscription that had caught her eye.
Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi
It wasn't like any language Eliza knew of and it took her an embarrassingly long minute to realise that the words were simply written backwards.
I show not your face but your heart's desire"
"The Mirror of Erised." Many adults whisper in awe.
"Eliza dropped her cloak and stepped in front of the mirror.
Her reflection stayed for a moment before shifting, the glass looking as though it rippled as the image changed. It once again showed her reflection but this time she was older standing in fine looking wizard robes. There was a happiness in her eyes, a satisfaction that Eliza didn't think she had ever seen before. But most of all this older reflection of Eliza looked powerful, nobody would be controlling her.
She was free.
Eliza felt determination flare within her. That is what she wanted, what every step she took was in aid of. And one day she knew she would get there. She didn't need a mirror to tell her that."
"And I did everything I could to get to that, and eventually I did." Eliza says happily, knowing she's finally free and happy.
"Eliza nodded to herself and took a step back before whirling around when her magic flared in warning."
The people who cared about Eliza all looked nervous for her, wondering what made her usually controlled magic flare in warning.
""So I see you like hundreds of others have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised" Dumbledore says when Eliza finally sees him. Eliza knows she would have heard him come in which means he must have already been in the room waiting for someone to find the mirror, waiting for her to find the mirror."
"Dumbledore, if you hurt my daughter, I will not be afraid to go to Azkaban." Lily says to him, very calmly, making many people have a shiver run down their spines.
""I'm sorry for breaking curfew, headmaster it's just-" she goes to say earnestly every inch the embarrassed student she thinks he wants to see. Her excuses are cut off when he laughs softly.
"Yes the temptation of being invisible I imagine is too hard to resist" he says winking when he spots the cloak by her feet. So he sent it to her after all, and she had fallen right into his plans. She plasters a delighted grin on her face to cover up the disgust she feels inside."
"I was so happy when he finally died." Eliza says making many people look at her in shock, not thinking "The Great Albus Dumbledore" would ever die.
""Have you figured out what it does?"
"I show not your face but your heart's desire" she murmurs, keeping one eye on Dumbledore and the other on the mirror which shows her twenty year old self glaring angrily at the headmaster."
The current 21 year-old Eliza was also glaring angrily at Dumbledore.
""Very good Eliza" he commended and Eliza tried not to cringe when he used her first name. She could not seem combative towards him, not now, not when she had no way of winning the warfare that was to come just yet."
Many purebloods also grimaced in distaste, knowing it's disrespectful to call someone by their first name, unless given explicit permission to use it.
""But this mirror neither gives knowledge or truth, many have wasted away before it driven mad by what they see"
"I see my parents sir" Eliza murmurs with a hopeless desperation remembering how little Eliza used to feel when she had been locked in that cupboard waiting for heroes who would never arrive. She had outgrown that cupboard and she had outgrown that girl she used to be. But Dumbledore could not know that."
James and Lily looked outraged at the reminder of the "cupboard" again.
"Dumbledore nods solemnly at her words but something about him, something in his eyes or in his benign smile seems a bit more at ease than before, probably happy to know his hero is not as wayward as he thought.
"The mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow Eliza and I must ask that you do not go looking for it. It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live"
Eliza nods in response, not meeting Dumbledore's eyes as she gathers her cloak and leaves the room wishing the headmaster goodnight.
She may have fallen into Dumbledore's trap.
But he had also just fallen for hers."
"It was surprisingly easy to manipulate him for six years." Eliza mused, completely oblivious to the looks she received.