"Perhaps so." he said with a nod as he made his way to his desk and sat down.
"I'll take a lemon drop." I said preempting his offer of candy as I grabbed a seat of my own.
He just smiled and waved his hand sending a piece of yellow hard candy my way.
"I take it you must have seen something unpleasant when you gazed into the mirror earlier. Perhaps you'd be willing to share?" he said casually.
"It wasn't anything crazy, just a reminder of things lost." I said with a sigh.
"I understand. " he said with a sympathetic look.
Yes the thing I saw in that mirror was a scene of my mother and I on an ordinary day back before I died. I deeply missed her and the plainness of my life back then. Don't mistake me I wouldn't trade my current life for anything but I deeply felt the loss of what was once. It was why the mirror provoked me before. It was practically taunting me with what I could never have, it's exact intended purpose. The mirror's tale was not a particularly odd one but it was one that stuck with you if you knew the mirror was real.-
Tale goes a rich noble long ago was concerned that his vast wealth would one day be stolen. So he sent out word to all across the lands that he'd pay a tenth of his great wealth to any who could make it's theft impossible. Many came and the noble rejected them all as they all contained flaws. Soon however a fae appeared. A strange being of wild magic and trickery. The fae said it could indeed create a way for the vast wealth to be made unable to be stolen. -
The noble heard this fae's plan and was delighted as it would indeed work. However the noble was a liar and never intended to pay for the fae's work as he had promised. The fae came to learn of this and twisted it's original enchantment with a single clause. Whatever was stored within the mirror could only be gained by one who wouldn't use it yet still desired it. The fae didn't tell the noble this until after the man placed his wealth in it and couldn't retrieve it. -
The noble raged and demanded the fae's life. Yet nobody made a move on the fae as the noble could offer them nothing for he no longer possessed any wealth at all. Tale ends with the noble wasting away before the mirror with his great wealth just there within sight but yet out of reach because that was his greatest desire. The mirror was a cruel thing even without knowing it's story and with my own heart wounds picked at by it I thought it best broken. I hadn't expected the creator be they truly fae or merely wizard to have made the bloody thing so damned durable.-
"Harry told me what occurred before I arrived. You had no intention of stepping in if Voldemort hadn't forced your hand I imagine?" he said with a calm tone.
"I was watching to make sure nothing went off the rails but hadn't expected him to sense my observation. It was only after seeing that wraithlike form of his that I understood my mistake." I said honestly.
Oh? And what mistake might that be?" he asked with an intrigued look.
"Voldemort was in pure soul form, my mistake was thinking that he'd be relying on his bodies senses and not his souls. As far as he may have been concerned I might as well have been standing right there staring at him." I said shaking my head with a sigh.
"Souls are not a well understood topic so your mistake can be forgiven as a mere lack of relevant information. What is important I believe is that when Harry was truly in danger you arrived without delay. I will not deny that I have had my misgivings about your character but with this most of my concerns have been assuaged." he said with a small smile.
"He'll be back you know. Voldemort I mean. I could tell that his spirit was bound here. Like several anchors were chaining his soul to this plane." I said seriously as I decided that since cannon was officially fubar I might as well start tipping things to my advantage.
Dumbledore leaned forward with a grave expression as I spoke "Are you certain?" he asked seriously.
I nodded "You know about my perception technique. I sense with my soul directly and his was laid bare before me when he was split from Quirrell's body. In my perception it was as if five different chains were solidifying his ragged soul in place. One of them seemed to come from Harry himself." I said seriously.
"Soul anchors, Harry. This is dire news indeed but it gives me an idea. I will look into what manner of magic may achieve effects like this now that I understand what I am looking for." he said with a genuinely grateful expression.
I shrugged "I hope it helps. In my opinion this dark wizard is a problem that you and the older generation should end. It shouldn't rely on us younger folk." I said pointedly before bidding the old man farewell and leaving the office through elementalization.