Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling nor the short story "The Spirit of Seeing" by James McIntosh.
"He'll do great things, that boy."
That's what the whole Wizarding World said about Harry Potter. His magic was strong, on par with the greatest wizards who ever lived. He vanquished Voldemort as a baby, then again when he was eleven. At twelve, he slew Slytherin's monster. At thirteen, he managed the Patronus charm so strong it had driven off dozens of Dementors. At fourteen, he won the Triwizard Tournament and fought the Dark Lord as an equal. At fifteen, he trained a group of teen wizards who were able to go toe to toe with a squad of elite dark wizards. At sixteen, he saved the life of his friend with his quick thinking. At seventeen, after the long Battle of Hogwarts, he managed to defeat the Dark Lord in a duel and vanquish him for good. From Quidditch practice, he had a strong body and coordinated reflexes. When he put his mind into things, his talent and smarts served him well. When he tried, he managed to be quite persuasive and charming. Harry felt if he put his mind and time into it, he could become anything he wanted.
He chose to become an Auror, to fight crime and dark wizards. After a lot of soul-searching, he finally stood tall with his shoulders back, and his green eyes spoke of a steady self-confidence held deep within him. His body was strong, built through hours of intensive Quidditch training.
But to become an Auror, he had to return for a last year to Hogwarts. It was a bittersweet reunion with his teachers and schoolmates. He forsook his wastrel younger years and truly put his mind into training this time. Not only did he train his body and reflexes with hours of Quidditch training, but he also spent endless hours practicing dueling, either with Professor Flitwick or by himself in the Room of Requirement. After long training sessions, he strolled through the halls of Hogwarts back into his private room he had as a Head Boy. A number of girls smiled at him and waved to him as he walked by, and he politely waved back.
When he was once returning from the dueling session with Professor Flitwick, he chanced upon an open door in one of the unused rooms in the castle. He found the Mirror of Erised there, standing innocently in the middle of the room. Harry whipped his wand immediately and pointed it at the mirror. He knew not how the mirror had found its way back to the castle, for all he knew, the Unspeakables probably had it after Dumbledore removed it from the castle the last time.
The Mirror of Erised stood silently as always, demanding nothing and offering to show anything his heart desired. Harry remembered Dumbledore's words about the dangers of the mirror and refused to look into it. Harry observed the mirror cautiously and, in a spur of the moment, he came to it and touched it. It felt like it had a bit of a dark aura, yet he felt no danger. He sheathed his wand and continued to trace his fingers along the frame. Suddenly, he cut his finger on a splinter of wood, and a few drops of his blood smeared along the golden frame. As Harry cursed his luck, he then saw the letters on the top of the mirror change from "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi" to the better readable "Erised fo rorrim eht ma i rof enigami ylbissop nac uoy gnihtyna uoy wohs nac I rettop yrrah". The young man observed the mirror carefully. It continued to stand passively in the room and seemed to pose no threat.
"You can show me anything, not just my deepest desires? Show me; I desire to see if there are any other Horcruxes, just like Voldemort had on this world."
Harry looked into the mirror, and the image swirled. It showed dozens of locations and different objects. The images disappeared after several moments, but Harry managed to write down everything he could divine about them on a conjured piece of parchment. The young man looked at the mirror in a horrified expression. "I need to speak with somebody at the ministry."
When Harry returned to his room that day, he was elated. While the Ministry of Magic was gutted during the war with Voldemort, in cooperation with the International Confederation of Wizards, they managed to secure two of the Horcruxes from the information Harry gave them. The rest should be a matter of time. They questioned Harry about the source of his information, but he didn't tell them about the Mirror of Erised, and they didn't press him too hard. He was a war hero, after all. Yet when he returned, the Mirror of Erised stood in the corner of his private room. When he told it he could not keep the ancient artifact for his own, the letters on top of the mirror changed: "dnammoc ruoy no erised uoy gnihtyna uoy wohs ot ydaer moor ruoy fo renroc eht ni ereh niamer llahs i". He relented, who was he to argue with such a useful object? Dumbledore might have been wise, yet he was also man prone to bias.
Another idea immediately came into his mind unbidden, "Show me the most beautiful girl in the world" he suggested with a light smirk on his face.
Silently the image changed, and in it appeared the most beautiful girl Harry had ever seen. Her long, light ginger hair lay delicately over her pretty head. She had big, piercing brown eyes, a delicate nose and plump lips. One hand lay perfectly on the hips of her gorgeous hourglass figure clothed in a white greek toga. Her perfection was otherworldly, not even any Veela could compete with her beauty. Harry's pupils dilated as he stared at the girl in wonder for a full five minutes.
Remembering himself, he cleared his throat and composed himself once again. While he felt slightly embarrassed, the mirror stood impassively in the corner of his room seemingly unaffected by the young man's embarrassing display.
Another idea entered the young man's mind. "Show me Merlin and his greatest deeds" he commanded. As usual, the mirror swirled with an image of exactly what the young man had asked for. Merlin with his long beard rode a white steed as he assisted noble knights in some great battle. His robe billowed in the wind. With a stern expression on his face he rained fire and brimstone upon an army of darkness. Harry marvelled at Merlin, pledging to himself that he too would one day be a great warrior just like Merlin.
Harry had had enough and tore his gaze from the mirror for the day. The mirror didn't seem to mean him any harm, so as the weeks went by, Harry became accustomed to the spirit in his room. He used it to see the weather of the day, to see what his friends were doing and he even started looking at beautiful girls with their clothing removed — after all, the spirit of seeing would show him anything he wanted.
The weeks turned into months.
He started leaving his dueling training an hour early. And then two hours early. And then three. For the Mirror of Erised was far more stimulating than dull, repetitive dueling training. It would show him the greatest magical battles there ever were.
The girls in Hogwarts waved at Harry, but the young man stopped waving back. They were plain, he said to himself. One day he would find a girl as beautiful as the ones he watched through the Mirror, he thought. Ginny was devastated when he rebuffed her, but he just couldn't bear a thought of seeing her comely face every day and thinking he could have been with otherworldly beauty like he saw in the mirror.
As Harry watched epic battles of the past, he cheered aloud in his room as his favourite heroes turned the tide of the skirmish at the very last minute. Watching with eagerness, thinking that one day soon he would lead his own army into battle, not just muck around as he did at the Battle of Hogwarts.
He thought of these battles while he practiced his dueling techniques. He even began reciting lines he had heard his favourite hero speak as he cast spells. And he would leave training after just a few hours to rush to his room and watch another great battle (Not before seeing more beautiful naked girls, of course).
A year passed.
Harry managed to ace his NEWTs, the mirror showed him the written exam papers and he was natural in casting the spells. After graduation, he bought a lovely magical cottage in Hogsmead, he didn't want to live in Godric Hollow so he didn't have to face ghosts of the past. Mirror of Erised magically appeared in his room in Hogsmead after he moved out of Hogwarts. Harry didn't question the act. Harry pushed back on his plans to join the Auror Corps, for what he needed to join them, when he could just give them tips on where the dark wizards were hiding, at what hour they were asleep and where their dark artifacts were hidden. Doing this all from the comfort of his home was just a small side bonus.
Young women in Hogsmead didn't bother to wave at Harry, for he would ignore them. Some had wedded a husband. He grew distant even with Ron and Hermione.
Harry could hear Hogsmead villagers talking about most— could be heard whispering a name of some Asian kid, who was prophesised to become a great hero. Apparently he was skilled with wandless magic and martial arts to an unnatural degree, he could shoot spikes of metal from his fists and breathe fire nearly as hot as dragon fire. Harry cursed and muttered under his breath — something about real wizards using wands or staves, and eastern wizards being defeated in most major battles so far.
He now often trained only for a few short hours, and some days he would skip training altogether. He would walk at a quick pace from the dueling grounds through the village to get to his cottage, uninterested in exchanging pleasantries with the village folk.
He had begun using the mirror to watch a number of beautiful naked women perform sexual acts upon one another. It seemed that a single naked woman was no longer interesting. His admiration for his favorite heroes had turned into jealousy. He would watch the heroes defeat enemy after enemy, the gap between himself and the hero seeming to loom ever larger as his skill grew dull from the lack of practice. He could no longer ride the broom for such a long time as he did before. His dragonhide dueling robes grew heavy. His dueling skills no longer matched those of other top duelists he sparred with.
Several more years passed.
Harry had given up on taking on the mantle of hero again, although he would still re-watch his favorite accomplishments from his younger years through the mirror from time to time. He still had not joined the Auror corps. What for, anyway? All the major dark wizards were caught, thanks to the mirror, and he had little want for money or tedious paperwork, which came with being an Auror. The world did not need saving anymore. Still unmarried, he had become deeply frustrated and sad. The Sword of Godric Gryffindor laid quietly in the corner of the room, collecting dust, all ambitions to learn dual-wielding wand and sword long forgotten.
On the night of his 30th birthday, Harry Potter, nearing the end of his youth, sat alone in his room feeling worse than he had ever felt.
The clock struck midnight.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a shadowy figure standing in front of the Mirror of Erised. Harry Potter was startled. The shade of a handsome young man with dark straight hair caught his gaze with his red eyes. He smiled at Harry with a predatory glee and held Harry at wandpoint.
"Hello, Harry Potter."
"Riddle? How is this possible? We destroyed all the Horcruxes!"
"Do you think I would give my Horcruxes out like candy, leave them at Hogwarts, or at my dead family's home, where they would be so easily found if I only made precious few Horcruxes?"
"How many?"
"Too many for you to ever find. For when the number reaches 666, I shall become the root of all the darkness in the world," the shade of the Dark Lord spoke pridefully.
Harry became terrified. His mouth was wide open and speechless.
"After long years of hiding, my main body shall attack the few bastions of resistance tonight. A prophecy foretold that you were the one destined to defeat me. But it is I that has defeated you." Voldemort spoke with utter glee.
"Why wait ten long years? Why not fight me face to face when you regained body the second time?"
The shade let out another laugh. "If I had fought you face to face, you would have conquered me, again. You had a prophecy, youth and magical power to rival me. I would not make the same mistakes again."
"Why did you show me all those dark wizards? You were helpful. Why show me all the girls? Why all the other beautiful things you have shown me?"
"Oh, the Mirror of Erised was quite a good choice for a Horcrux, was it not? I am cunning, and you took out my rivals, one by one, be it uncooperative dark wizards or too stubborn freedom fighters, in whose house we planted dark artifacts beforehand. Who would ever question foresight and tips from great Harry Potter? And the slow drip of poison given to you through the means of endless fantasy has rendered you too weak to fight. And now the Wizarding World is mine…"
Harry Potter could do nothing other than slowly sit down onto the bed. A deep, dark pain settled inside his stomach. One that he knew would never go away.
"Don't you worry, the overthrowing of the current government will be nearly bloodless; I already own most of them. My main body may even let you live when he sees the fat piece of self-pity you have become."
The realization inflicted deep, tormenting inner anguish pulsing through his mind. The torture in his mind was too much to bear. He needed something to quell the pain.
"Will you… Will you keep my secrets safe?"
"Yes, the torment you cause yourself is so much better this way."
"Can I see those beautiful girls just one more time?"
A wide grin grew across the shade's face before he disappeared. "Always."
