The Marauders and the Mirror of Erised

Lily is a good girl, everyone says. But, truly, is she? Lily highly doubts it. Because really good girls don’t read their sisters’ letters without permission, don’t jump off a dangerously swinging seesaw and don’t turn their classmates into the cactuses (well, she at least warned Black not to call her “A flower”, so it's technically not her fault). And, most importantly, good girls don't wander the school corridors at night. “Lily!” calls the soft voice out of the darkness, and Lily screams softly in horror. “Shh! Quiet! It's me! Lumos!” A small bluish ball of light escaping from the wand illuminates a familiar face. Hooked nose, pale waxy skin, dirty black hair. Severus. Lily grumbles that one day he will bring her to a heart attack ("As if Potter and his stupid jokes are not enough for me!") and Snape laughs hoarsely. "Sev, I'm not joking! We may stumble upon teachers, elders, ghosts! We will be punished, or they might take awa some points!" Lily whispers to Snape, dutifully diving after him into a side corridor. Snape snorts. "Nonsense," he says. “At the very least, tell them that I imposed an Imperio on you. I'm a Slytherin, they don't expect anything else from me." Lily slaps him on the back of the head. "Sev, and this is even more not funny! Honestly, I am so tired of seeing how frivolous you are about the dark arts!" she whispers indignantly, following her friend into the classroom, which opens to the banal alohomora. “Here.” Lily sees an antique mirror in the corner. Snape brings Lily to him, and her eyes widen. Certainly, her friend is definitely not one of those who pays at least a little attention to his appearance. "It's not a simple mirror," Snape explains, sensing her surprise. “What do you see?” Lily shrugs her shoulders vaguely. Him, herself, an empty classroom. Severus narrows his eyes. “Really? Come on, take my place!” He commands, and Lily comes closer. It is she who looks at Lily from the mirror, but she is a few years older. She's about eighteen years old, and she's hugging Petunia. Tunia is wearing a beautiful beige dress, and Lily herself is wearing a formal Hogwarts robe. But her sister doesn't seem to notice it. She doesn't call her a freak, doesn't say that magicians need to be isolated, doesn't scream or cry. As if she didn't care if Lily was a magician or not. As if he and Tunia had reconciled... “So, what?” Snape asks impatiently, looking hungrily at Lily, and she forces herself to turn away from the mirror. Lily recounts the vision, and for a second she thinks Severus is disappointed, but only for a second. “This mirror shows our dreams. Not even dreams, but crazy fantasies, our innermost desires," Severus says slowly and weightily, and Lily can hardly resist laughing: for fourteen years old, Snape sometimes behaves too dramatically. However, he is still far from Black. “And what do you see?” Lily asks without any second thought, and Severus, frowning, says, "It doesn't matter." Lily decides that Snape, like her, must see reconciliation with his family. *** When Lily tells Remus that she needs to talk to him, he raises his eyebrows and replies, "Yes, me too." Lily is nervous (and that damn Potter is staring!), and therefore Lupin easily manages to get rid of her claims. "Lily, believe me, I'm already keeping them from implementing about half of their plans," he spreads his hands, trying to look pathetic, and Lily, sighing, asks him once again to think about the faculty. Remus, of course, promises. "Well, now it's my turn to ask. Lily, where do you hang out at night? I don't want to be tactless, but the Fat Lady saw you going somewhere with Snape and...” And Lily has no choice but to tell Lupin (having made him promise that he would not tell anyone about it, especially Potter, Black and Pettigrew) about the mirror. Naturally, the very next night, one rat and three giggling Gryffindors under an invisibility cloak follow Lily and Snape. *** When the sound of Lily and Snape's retreating footsteps fades, Sirius is the first to get out from under the mantle. He stretches discontentedly, kneads his stiff back. Remus thoughtfully casts a spell on the door. They look at the antique frame. Surprisingly, it is not Lupin who finds the key first, but Sirius. “Erised” he pronounces wistfully. “The mirror shows our desires! Well, it should show. Prongs, you're the first!” “Why me?” James asks, and Black mockingly whistles. “Because the whole room knows about your desires! You should moan less in your sleep! Evans, Evans, uh-uh-eva-a-ans!” Sirius mimics and James has to restrain himself from throwing a spell at him. Potter takes a step forward. Yes, this is Lily. But there is nothing even remotely similar to his dreams in the mirror. Lily is still fantastically beautiful here, but already different. An adult. An adult James is next to her. On his shoulders sits a five-year-old disheveled boy, surprisingly similar to him. Lily laughs and, stepping up to James, kisses him on the cheek. “Hello! Hogwarts is calling Prongs! Hello!” Sirius shakes him by the shoulders. “What, Evans, right? I can see it in your eyes — Evans! Truly deer eyes! Not a single thought! Now, aside, let me see too!” Pushing back his long bangs from his face, Black steps forward. He's flying. Flying an incredible Muggle thing that Lupin showed him in a magazine (Damn, what was its name? cyclebike? Cyclomotor?), there are some vague figures ahead of him, and he sends spells at them. Sirius sees James and Remus on his left, and Regulus on his right. And Reg is fighting with him, on his side. “Reg!...Reg!...Reg!” Sirius mumbles incoherently as James and Remus pull him away from the mirror. “They had a fight again recently. Regulus is all about this bunch, where the rest of the Blacks, Avery, Mulciber and Lestranges are," Remus quietly explains to James, and a worried crease appears on his forehead. And Peter is already standing in front of the mirror. And Peter, whom he sees in the mirror, makes his mouth open in fascination. This Peter is an adult, strong, even, in a sense, brutal (the real Peter involuntarily tightens his stomach and stiffens). Potter and Black ingratiate themselves, trying to attract his attention, and there is no sign of Lupin. “That's enough, Tail. You've been watching for a long time," says Lupin, and Pettigrew regretfully gives him a place. Lupin sees the full moon and... himself. In human form. And the moon doesn't bother him. Lupin is lying on the shore of the lake, his head resting on the lap of some girl, and she is laughing, feeding him chocolate. Lupin tries to make out the girl's face, her hair, her figure, but for some reason her features blur and slip away. But the main thing is that the moon has no power over him. "We'll be here tomorrow," someone says, probably, James, and Remus lets himself be led away. But the next night there is no mirror in the room. *** Throughout the history of Hogwarts, there have been many students who have come across the mirror of Erised. There were those among them who understood what it showed. But no one recognized two more features of the mirror. First, the picture seen in the mirror never comes true. *** Peter dreams that he will become strong and influential, he will be respected and feared, he will be fawned upon. Six years after seeing the picture, he will become the servant of the Dark Lord. And his whole life will be a series of humiliations, bullying and ridicules. James sees his happy family life with Lily. Seven years after that day, he will die. And yes: he will never take his five-year-old son on his shoulders. Lily wants to make peace with her sister more than anything in the world. Eighteen years later, her son will get to Petunia's house. And in a couple of years it will be in the closet under the stairs. And Dudley's friends will dip his head in the toilet, and Petunia will address him as "hey, you!", and Vernon will lock him in a closet for weeks. Sirius dreams of two things: freedom and reconciliation with Regulus. Sirius will spend twelve years in Azkaban, and then a year locked up in a house he hates. And he would die without knowing that Regulus had renounced the Lord and the Death Eaters. Remus dreams of getting rid of lycanthropy. But he will not succeed in this during his lifetime. And in his last years, he will feel even ten times worse, dirtier and more disgusting, because he will be ashamed of ruining Tonks's life (and she will not be able to convince him otherwise). And as for Hogwarts, instead of moonlit nights with Tonks by the Lake, Remus will find his doom there. *** Yes, the picture seen in the mirror never really happens — that’s the first feature of the mirror. And yet unnamed dreams and desires come true. Even if not in the expected way. And this is the second feature of the mirror. At his last moment, releasing his silver hand, Peter will show courage for the first time in his life. And, even for one second, he will have something to respect himself for. James, after six years of failures, will still get respect, friendship, appreciation, and then love from Lily. And she'll have his ring on her finger. And she would walk down the aisle with him. And she will bear him a son. Whose achievements, doubts, successes and decisions James will follow from the other world. And he will be proud of him. Lily will see that even if her son does not find shelter in her sister's house, Molly, Arthur, Sirius and Remus will replace his family. And when Petunia's grandson receives a letter from Hogwarts, Harry will be the first person Dudley will turn to for help. And Harry, of course, will help. Sirius will spend the last moments of his life in battle, saving James and Lily's son. And already in the next world, the first person Sirius will see will be a black-haired boy who looks very like him. And Regulus, beaming with pride, will show him clean forearms, where will be no disgusting mark. And Remus will find love during his lifetime. And his son, his piece, flesh of the flesh, will continue to live when Remus is gone. And Teddy Remus Lupin will find out and understand why his parents died. After all, our desires do tend to come true. Even if not quite as we expect.