Better Be Slytherin!

'I'm, uh, I'm not sure,' Harry said. He looked in the mirror again. A woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling at him and waving. He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If she was really there, he'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air -- she and the others existed only in the mirror.

Though she was a bit older than in Snape's photos, there was no mistaking Lily Potter. His mother. She had dark red hair and green eyes just like Harry's. He edged a little closer to the glass, and then he noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time, and she knew Harry was there. The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Harry's did. His father!

Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection. 'Mum?' he whispered. 'Dad?'

They looked at him, smiling. Really looked at him, not just pretend, like in the photos. And slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw other pairs of green eyes like his, other noses like his, even a little old man who looked as though he had Harry's knobbly knees -- Harry was looking at his whole family, for the first time in his life.

The Potters and maybe some Evanses, too, smiled and waved at Harry, and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness.

'What is it, Harry?' Ron asked again, but very softly. Even so, Harry flinched at the unexpected sound. 'You said 'Mum and Dad'. You can see them in there, can't you. But aren't they. . . ?'

'Yeah,' Harry said, feeling choked. 'They're dead.'

'So . . .'

'The mirror can't be showing the future, Ron.'

'No,' Ron agreed after a long moment. 'What do you think . . .?'

Harry could not drag his gaze away from his parents, from the rest of his family. He swallowed hard and made himself answer anyway, knowing he had to, knowing that once he left this mirror, he would never return. 'Maybe it just shows what you really, really want, more than anything. Even if you can never have it.'

A moment later, another person joined the crowd near Harry, and he could never mistake Severus Snape for anyone else. His Mum and Dad greeted Snape, and shook his hand, and as his Mum and Dad both put a hand on Harry's shoulder, the Potions Professor gazed down at him with a smile, then ruffled the hair on his head, and it was so real he almost felt it. It was as if they were all there with him, as if they were all his family, even Snape, and he felt so warm and sad and happy all at once he thought he might burst.

'Yeah,' Ron said, sounding sad. 'I guess you're right.'

TBC . . .

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reads and/or reviews!

Some of the descriptions in this chapter are lifted whole cloth from JKR's The Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 12, 'The Mirror of Erised,' and neither they nor the setting, nor the characters in this story belong to me. But then, you knew that already, yes? :-D

*Chapter 44*: Chapter 44

Better Be Slytherin! – Chapter 44

By jharad17

--HPHPHPHPHPHPHP--

Previously on Better Be Slytherin:

'Maybe it just shows what you really, really want, more than anything. Even if you can never have it.'

A moment later, another person joined the crowd near Harry, and he could never mistake Severus Snape for anyone else. His Mum and Dad greeted Snape, and shook his hand, and as his Mum and Dad both put a hand on Harry's shoulder, the Potions Professor gazed down at him with a smile, then ruffled the hair on his head, and it was so real he almost felt it. It was as if they were all there with him, as if they were all his family, even Snape, and he felt so warm and sad and happy all at once he thought he might burst.

'Yeah,' Ron said, sounding sad. 'I guess you're right.'

--HPSSHPSSHPSS--

Severus Snape spent his Christmas Break that year in a way completely unlike any other year since he began teaching, ten years ago. That is, he socialized. He spent a lively afternoon or two with Minerva, ostensibly going over ways they could improve OWL scores in their subjects, but in fact regaling each other with the best pranks they had seen and been caught by, the past ten years, as well as past students who had gone on to make names for themselves. On several afternoons, he joined Filius Flitwick in a cuppa, to discuss the possibility of forming a Dueling Club. They decided to give it a try next year. Finally, one night he even stayed up late with Dumbledore, discussing matters other than the Worst Dark Wizard Ever, topics such as how they were enjoying the holiday, memories of holidays past, and familial topics.

The last, especially, surprised Severus the most. He had very rarely shared any details of his home life with anyone, even Lily Potter, and here he was with the man he had once wished would permanently rescue him from his father's temper, both of them drinking tea, with a 'little splash of something to warm us,' discussing Tobias' fondness for snooker and a dark beer.

Severus had been otherwise unoccupied for the evening, once Occlumency training was done for the evening, because Harry had begged off chess or photographs for the first time since the holidays began. The boy had presumably gone to bed early or put the finishing touches on his work for his classes, which were due to resume on Monday.