Black propped the Daily Prophet on his lap and began eating, his eyes dancing on the news articles now and then.
"Oh my god!" Harry hissed. "Are you at it again?! How do you even do this?!"
"Wha...?" Ron asked from the other side, bits of food flying out of his mouth. Sitting next to him, Draco frowned, throwing a nasty stare at Weasley.
"He's reading the newspaper," Harry told them.
Ron made a noise as if he would vomit. He hurriedly gulped down the food and looked at Black. "That's some bad habit if I knew one!"
For once, Draco nodded. "Maybe the Mudblood's trying to look smart..."
Black rolled the Daily Prophet and threw it on Draco's face.
Ron and Harry shared a laugh as Draco threw the newspaper back, a redness appearing on his nose.
"So... you went to the Restricted Section last night and found a Mirror?" Black asked Harry, stuffing a piece of pie in his mouth.
Draco and Ron were also listening to Harry's tale with fascination.
"Father never told me there was such a Mirror at School," Draco complained, twisting his lips.
"Darcie must know, though, right?" Ron asked. "She knows everything."
Draco frowned. Even if his sister knew about the mirror, there was still a possibility she wouldn't tell anyone. She followed reasons unknown to everyone; one of the most annoying things about her.
"I want to see your parents, too," Black told Harry.
DEATH had descended last night to warn him regarding the Mirror of Erised.
However that also meant this concealed item, or concept, was something truly powerful, either physical or spiritual, and was just ready to be gobbled up by him.
No Risks without Reasoning; No Killing without Benefits — Kai's motto to never go against these words had survived the tests of time itself.
The Reasons were obvious in this case as well.
First, it was DEATH's warning, showing the potency of the matter.
Second, it was the Lucky Intuitions. With his current Luck going well above 150, there weren't many things that could harm his existence.
Third, Black was an Item and, by nature, disposable.
"You can come tonight, I'm going back," Harry told Black. Then he looked at Draco and Ron, who also wanted to see the Mirror. "Three might be too many for the Cloak," he said. "I will take you guys one at a time."
Draco didn't want to show interest, but he couldn't help it.
Ron was already smiling, silently cursing himself for not being the one to ask Harry to go tonight first.
"Nothing on Flamel?" Draco asked.
Harry shook his head. He had almost forgotten about Flamel. It didn't seem very important anymore.
Who cared what the three-headed dog was guarding? Who cared about the impending doom? He would be seeing his parents tonight!
The thought and the anxiousness killed his appetite.
"Bummer..." Draco let out a smirk, standing up. "I will visit my own Restricted Section."
"You have a Restricted Section?!" Harry asked, stunned.
Draco, Ron, and Black's mouth twitched. Harry realized soon enough. "Ahhhh.... Yeah, of course."
Draco's Restricted Section was easily accessible via letters and, during Christmas Holidays, you could find it in Diagon Alley.
Its name was Darcie Malfoy.
"It's here — just here — yes!"
They pushed the door open. Harry dropped the cloak from around his shoulders and ran to the mirror. There they were. His mother and father beamed at the sight of him.
"See?" Harry whispered.
Black smacked Harry on the back of his head and knocked him out.
Timeline Applaud wouldn't let Black kill Harry, but knocking him out was still on the table, it seemed.
Black needed to come to this room with Harry and, most preferably, tonight.
From here onwards, it was possible that Dumbledore would start noticing Harry's regular visits and could pop up anytime. As per the original timeline events, it was hard to predict when the old fool had truly come to know about it.
Before entering, Black had already made sure that there was no one keeping an eye on the room.
He took Harry to the side and sat him up against a wall. Then, he took out Scabbers (-Techn0 Rat-) and let it go toward the Mirror.
There was no need to discard caution before making preparations.
Black wanted to first look at the Mirror using the visual feed given to him by the rat.
The moment the rat stood in front of the mirror, Black began receiving the visual input. He saw the rat in the mirror, mimicking the real rat's behavior of twitching its snout.
For a few seconds, the Techno-Rat kept making different movements. The image within the mirror also kept replicating the same movements, showing no magical hint.
Then, suddenly, the image vanished.
Not only the image, but the entire visual feed vanished.
All the signals getting received by the AI just went dark like an ominous premonition.
The most weird and fascinating thing was that the rat was still looking into the mirror. It was as if...
... it was looking at something more than itself now. Something grand...
... it was looking at its desire.
Black's eyes narrowed.
That wasn't impossible, he knew.
The Techno-Rat wasn't some robot, having no will of its own.
It just possessed nanobots that received power from the rat's bioelectricity to function.
But why did the feed get cut? Black asked, the AI formalizing theories. Not taking any chance, the Ad Infinitum took all the help it could.
Lucky Intuition No. #$%@% — Rat's Desire is not my Desire
Odd, Black's frown deepened. What if I...
Suddenly, two yellow crystals danced in the rat's eyes, thoroughly taking over its mind. In the very next moment...
Blood and flesh splattered, painting the walls red.
The explosion had such power that the tiny rat left no pieces, becoming minced meat on the cold walls.
Black cleared the filth off him and Harry with a thought and clenched his hands into fists.
There was something truly wrong with the Mirror, he realized. He was sure of it now. It wasn't just about desire... It seemed more complex and unnerving than that.
It bordered on the feelings — the feelings when Kai had first met DEATH, a Deep One.
The sense of wickedness; the horror of an eldritch entity; the signs of evil mystery!
Black could feel these things just pouring out of the Mirror of Erised, one after another. Somehow, knowing all this brought out the Calm to its peak.
Calm wasn't just an Elite Ability. It was the closest thing Black had to mysteries.
With Calm, Black could potentially rip the flow of time around him, burying the gazes directed at him. That was exactly what Kai had done when he first met Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Kagaya possessed the ability to see into one's future trajectories; the probabilities.
It was Calm that had rendered that ability useless. Because, when Calm existed, there were no other trajectories or probabilities that coexisted with it. Only Calm. Eternal.
Of course, being an Elite Ability, it had more uses, but even the Ad Infinitum was still figuring it out.
So, once again, using Calm to protect himself against the Mirror of Erised, Black smiled gently.
Space pulsated and then cracked around him as Black brought himself to his maximum powerful state. His black eyes shifted between reptilian red, and a purple demonic ring surrounding them. Muscles squirmed like never before, causing hormonal changes in his body, and pushing his physical state to beyond.
Black came to stand in front of the Mirror of Erised.
11-year-old, with black hair and blacker eyes. Maroon Weasley Sweater with a B on it and black pants. Hands in the pockets.
Oh, and there was also a smile on his face.
Slowly the smile shook. Black frowned. He took out his hand and touched his lips. Then he paused as if Selene had petrified him in that instant.
The boy in the mirror hadn't taken his hand out of his pocket at all.
And now, the image's small smile was arching up, becoming a demonic, filthy grin.
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