41 The Mirror of Erised

As Nova walked back into the Room of Requirement, he lit his forge to provide him some warmth as he changed back into a dragon and curled up. While he lay there thinking, he took out the diadem and stared at it or rather the soul fragment inside that let off a steady thrum as it sent pulses of Void Energy to locate a suitable host.

He then let out a soft stream of fire and it slowly formed runes that began to circle around the diadem. This was a runic circle designed to strengthen souls that Nova had ripped from the mind of some Void demon some eons ago, it was never really useful for anything except cases like this where the artifacts soul was weak and needed strengthening. As he finished, Nova allowed it to hover in midair and started to think about the message his wife had left him. He couldn't understand how Asteria could just tell him to move on with his life without her by his side. After all the eons they had spent together, it was like telling him to just quit forging, something he just couldn't do.

And though these mortals had part of her soul inside them, it wasn't there defining trait. So Nova refused to believe that they would be drawn to him as his wife seemed to think. Mortals can't be that foolish to just fall for whomever. Sure there would be some attraction, but only on a friendly level. The only thing that a divine soul would have an effect on the host would be that they might live a few centuries longer, but that was anything special. And more than likely all the girls would be these so called wizards anyways, the mates would surely live that long as well. If not Nova could easily extend the partners life to match theirs. And if the girls had trouble finding a partner, he could always play matchmaker. His wife did it all the time, how hard could it be.

"Umm . . . Nova? Is everything alright?" A voice suddenly said. Nova then looked up to see Helena hovering above him.

"Yes everything is just fine. Only a minor set back to my plans." Nova told her.

"I see. That set back must have been very upsetting to destroy part of the Forbidden Forest and create a lava lake in its center." Helena stated.

Nova just rolled his eyes, while think if only she knew, "Is there something you need."

"I was wondering when you would be starting on my body?" Helena asked him.

"While I do have just about everything I need, all I am lacking now is an object that has strong life properties."

"What do you mean?" Helena questioned, as she had never heard of anything of the sort and that the idea of something existing like that was rare.

"The life property that I am talking about would be used to help bind and contain the blood and bones of the vessel and while the phoenix tears and ash will help some, we still need a catalyst to hold it in place. In cases like yours items such as Waters of Samsara, Alchemy Stones, Leaves from Yggdrysil would do quite well."

"I don't know about the rest of those but when you say Alchemy Stones, you mean like the Philosopher's Stone."

"So you have heard of it? Impressive. Though I doubt this realm has any, but as soon as I find the right materials I could make one." Nova said lazily.

"If a Philosopher's Stone would work, there is one here in the castle." Helena told him. Hearing this Nova lifted his head back up and looked at her, "Really I am surprised. Did it form naturally?"

"No it was made by an alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, hundreds of years ago. It's here in the castle because someone is trying to steal it."

"Oh ok. Now lead the way."

"But it belongs to someone else."

"And. The alchemist is probably on his way out anyways and since he is only a mortal the stone would only be able to help him live a minimum of 700 years anyways."

"You mean he is dying?"

"More than likely. No show me where it is being kept." Nova said as he started to walk out of the Room.

"Aren't you going to change back to a human." Helena asked.

"Why should I? It's the middle of the night, and it is a holiday with no one around. What is there to worry about?" Nova said.

As Helena led the way, Nova found that they were walking in the direction of the library. Moments before they entered the library, there was a piercing, blood curdling shriek that split the silence. Hearing this Nova looked around and didn't find a dying person, then looked at Helena who didn't seem to know either.

A moment later, Nova heard footsteps running in his direction, as he looked down the hall, Nova watched as Filch and his cat came sprinting from around the corner and closely behind him was the Bat like Snape. To avoid them running into him, Nova pulled himself to the upper floor. Little did Nova realize though that he was still seen as his tail wasn't exactly staying hidden while draped over the side of the rail. But instead of stopping to investigate the dragon attempting to hide on the upper floor, Snape and Filch were hurrying into the library.

"It's a good thing they didn't see me." Nova said.

". . . ." Helena just stared at Nova's tail.

As Nova looked at the library door, it suddenly opened and Nova saw Harry walking out, though he seemed to be holding something over his head almost like a sheet. Puzzled Nova chose to follow Harry to see where he was going. After wandering around the castle for a little while Harry went into an open classroom. After making sure no one was around Nova followed him in after changing back to a human.

As he walked in he saw dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper basket -- but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way. But what caught Nova's eye was the mirror.

It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

"Hmm . . .A mirror that shows desire impressive." Nova thought to himself. As he stood there across the room he saw Harry take off the sheet looking think and sit down infront of it. Off to the side of it though, was Dumbledore. Deciding not to bother either of them Nova just waited. Suddenly Harry got up and put back on the sheet and ran out of the room as quick as he could. As he approached the mirror all he saw at first was his reflection, and then after a moment it shimmered and there he saw his wife standing by his side, with her head leaning on her shoulders. And although Nova knew it was fake, it still gave him that sense of longing.

Shaking his head, the mirage fade, "Quite the dangerous artifact don't you think old man?" Nova spoke as he turned to Dumbledore.

"Indeed Nova it is, though I don't think our young Mr. Potter as fully understood what he has seen. But I do feel that the Mirror of Erised would be a good lesson for him." Dumbledore replied softly.

"No I think you are right. But instead of telling him now, letting him learn on his own would be best at this point." Nova said.

Dumbledore just softly nodded. While Nova studied the mirror, he had found that it was being used as a storage device.

"Interesting." Nova thought, "It is being used as a spacial device. Lets just swap out the material for something of similar value. It's probably nothing of value anyways." With a small twitch of his finger, Nova replaced the object in the mirror with a ruby about the same size.

"Well Old Man you have a good evening." Nova told Dumbledore as he started to walk out.

"You as well, Nova, though I feel we need to talk about your little episode in the forest later." Dumbledore told Nova as he was walking out.

"No we don't." Nova said as he closed the door.