Using the Mirror of Erised to find Horcruxes (was Re: Harry's Army)

[spotsgal]

No: HPFGUIDX 143818


> NymphandoraCallel:  
>   Ok, so the mirror shows you desires, not reality, assuming Harry 
> could use it to find the horcruxes, would it be able to show the 
> actual location of them, or would it be just showing Harry finding 
> them, in a fictional location.  The truth which the mirror is 
> showing Harry would then be the desire to find the horcrux but not 
> actually telling him where to look.

Christina:

Exactly.  Quirrel wants to find the stone, and so he sees himself 
with the stone.  If Harry's deepest desire is to find a Horcrux, 
who's to say that he won't just see himself standing there with the 
Horcrux.

  
> NymphandoraCallel:  
> Harry's deepest desire may be Dumbledore helping him find the 
> horcruxes or victory over Voldemort or again his parents only now 
> with Sirius and Dumbledore joining the group (and Ginny, Ron and 
> Hermione) after the defeat of Voldemort.

Christina:

...or Snape lying dead, or himself growing up with his parents, or 
any number of other things.  What Harry really wants is the happy 
ending, and I think that *that* is what he would see in the Mirror 
0of Erised.

> NymphandoraCallel:
> Again, and correct me if I'm wrong, every instance in which we 
> have seen the mirror in use it has shown the observer with 
> something that he has, at one point or another, seen or come in 
> contact with (Harry's parents, head boy badge, warm socks
).

Christina:

IIRC, you've answered your own question!  I don't think Harry's ever 
seen a picture of his parents, and so he wouldn't know what they 
looked like.  He figures out that the people in the mirror are his 
parents not because he recognizes them, but because he realizes that 
he looks exactly like them.  I suppose you could say that Harry has 
the memory of his parents' faces in his brain *somewhere* from when 
he was a baby, but with the Potters on the run, he certainly *never* 
would have come into contact with all the cousins and extended 
family that the mirror showed him.  So the mirror conjured up the 
images of Harry's extended family without Harry ever having 
knowledge of them.  So yes, the mirror can show you something when 
you don't know what it looks like.


Christina