"Just a moment mister Potter."

Harry stopped partway out the door. "What?"

If he was bothered by the rudeness, Dumbledore didn't show it. "I have been made aware of an altercation between yourself and our librarian, Madame Pince."

"I handled it."

"According to the report, you threw a bookcase at her to do so." He shot a look at Snape when the man let out a badly muffled snort, and steepled his hands. "I trust you have an explanation?"

"I dogeared a page in my defense text. She started shrieking about attacking books and made everything at the table fly at me."

"You should not-"

Harry held up a hand, cutting him off. "One, it was my defense book that I bought with my own money. I can do what I like with it. And two, the only teacher that should be attacking students is mom, since that's her job."

The headmaster sighed and massaged his forehead, before seeming to give it up as a bad job. "I would assign detention, but I seem to be having difficulty finding an appropriate punishment, as the point of such things is to scare the student into better behavior. Fifty points from Slytherin however, and I will ask that you refrain from such violent responses in the future." He waved him out. Then he turned to face Bayonetta properly. "I believe you had some issues in Diagon Alley?"

"If you can call this Skeeter woman an issue. She accused me of having a magically inept child."

The headmaster sighed. "I was wondering when such accusations would be made. I have had several people write me asking if I feel the boy is in danger of becoming a Muerta or an Obscurus."

Bayonetta could practically hear the capitalization of the words. "A what?"

"A Muerta." He sighed again and fished a scroll out of one of his desk drawers. "Do you recognize this?"

Bayonetta and Jeanne leaned forward. After a moment Jeanne said, "That looks like a standard drawing of the Kraken."

"It is also one of the most famous Muertas out there." He put the scroll on the table. "It is often the result of witch or wizard being unable to accept their magic within their own life. It is typically an affliction that occurs with muggleborn children. They find themselves unable to come to grips with their magic and are unable to reconcile it with their previous magic free lifestyle. The result is that the magic takes hold, and it begins to mutate the witch or wizard. The end result is nothing short of a monster. The magic extends their lifespan and destroys their mind at the same time. Most Muertas become mindless creatures of violence and destruction. They can be restored to a more docile nature, and even rescued if the transformation is not complete. But as yet, no one has found a method to cure them once the transformation has taken hold. The giant squid in our lake is one."

There was silence as they digested this. "I take it there have been instances before?"

The headmaster looked at Jeanne, seeming much older than he normally did. "Not all students who fail to graduate do so because of their grades. All heads of houses have had to face the situation at one time or another. Indeed, the ability to do so is a requirement for the post. It is never a pretty sight."

"And an Obscurus?"

"A similar yet very different situation. Muerta's use their magic. An Obscurus on the other hand bottles it up completely, until it has no choice but to explode. It usually does so in spectacular fashion, and tends to cause city wide destruction, and nearly always kills the person in question. I only know of one Obscurus that survived to an advanced age."

"Well, little chance of that happening to Harry." Bayonetta said.

"Which is more or less what I said in response to each of those letters." Dumbledore said, much more cheerily. "And we have not had to deal with a rampant Muerta or Obscurus for several years now, which makes me hopeful for the future." He frowned. "Truth be told, I am more worried for Harry's sake than anything else right now."

"Whatever for?"

"There have been rumblings at the ministry of magic. I'm sure you're aware by now that the magical community in general views your son as something of a messiah?"

"Considering the press coverage, I'd say that would be a bit of an understatement." Bayonetta said drily.

"Quite. As such the ministry of magic believes that it would be better if he were to be placed in a more magically normal family." He winced as the air grew heavier. "I have of course, attempted to dissuade them of such a foolish notion. I believe I have successfully stymied them for the time being. A misplaced memo happened to arrive in the head offices of Gringotts and the American magical congress. I believe it didn't go over well."

This time Snape failed to hold in his snort.

The headmaster leaned back in his seat, looking rather satisfied. "The American's do love their rights. By the time I left, I believe a diplomatic incident was preparing to occur. It may well be months before anything occurs on that front. It seems the American Embassy was willing to act on principle, but they became much more animated once I mentioned Professor Bayonetta."

Bayonetta sniffed. "We have a history. When I first took Harry in, they kept sending their version of policemen after me."

"Aurors." Professor McGonagall supplied.

"Yes those. Apparently they weren't aware I existed until then. Naturally I had to teach them a lesson. We eventually made a deal. I hunt down the criminals they can't, and they deal with the fallout. I have it on good authority that for a while I had a flee on sight directive attached to me."

Which means that for the time being, I just need to worry about him running afoul of one of the numerous artifacts that litter the castle, especially the mirror.

As the women saw themselves out, Snape couldn't help but comment, "You've removed the chessboard."

Dumbledore scowled slightly. "The game has changed. Ended really. I would be a fool not to notice that fact."

"I show not your reflection, but your heart's desire." Harry read aloud. "Yeah, that's not a red flag or anything."

"How did you even find this thing mate?"

Harry grinned at Theo and Loki. "I could feel it. It's only pouring out magic like a faucet."

"What does it do?" Theo asked. He reached forward and tapped the frame.

"Shows you things."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "What like the future?"

Harry made a face. "Depends if it's attainable or not. Judging from the warning, it shows you what you want more than anything else. That it happens to be something you can never have is probably just a bonus most of the time."

"That is a depressingly accurate viewpoint." Even Harry jumped as the headmaster shimmered into view. "I see you have discovered the Mirror of Erised."

Harry snorted. "AKA Desire."

"Indeed. I applaud you, both in preventing your friends from gazing into it, and understanding that the words are a warning. Great men have wasted away into nothing staring at it."

"Why doesn't someone just smash it?"

The cat on the desk next to Dumbledore suddenly turned into Professor Mcgonagall. She smirked when Theo and Loki clapped. "Thank you. For one thing, it is enchanted to resist such things, mister Nott." She eyed Harry. "I do not believe it could resist you mister Potter. But I must ask you to refrain. The mirror came into the care of Hogwarts some years ago, as the castle would be deemed safest."

She tapped her wand against her palm, ignoring the sparks this produced. "It is something of a classic example of good magic gone bad. It was never meant to cause such things."

Harry snorted. "Have you ever heard the phrase about the road to hell?"

"An apt analogy." McGonagall settled onto the desktop. "The story goes that a woman lost one of her two sons and fell into a deep grief. Her older son, who was skilled at mirror magic, decided to enchant this mirror so that it could show her heart's desire." She frowned. "Needless to say, it did not work as planned. She ended up wasting away into nothing in front of it, and in his attempts to see what went wrong, it's creator fell under its spell as well."

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "There have been many deaths attributed to it over the years. Given Hogwarts somewhat nebulous layout, the castle was deemed the best keeper for it."

Loki snorted. "And no one's ever resisted it?"

" The happiest man alive could gaze upon it and see nothing but himself. In the theory has yet to be proven." He shifted slightly. "The mirror will be relocated to a new home within the castle tomorrow. I must ask that you not go looking for it."

Harry shrugged. "Suits me. That brute can stay trapped in there for all I care. I'm more interested in that mirror you showed off in transfiguration."

McGonagall raised an eyebrow, but dug a small compact mirror out of her pockets. "You mean this? And what "brute"?"

Harry smirked. "The angel that's trapped in the mirror." Ignoring their astonished looks he inspected the compact. "'This has one in it too, but it's a lot weaker." He glanced over his shoulder. "Mom could probably deal with it, but I can't believe one of your lot managed to catch it. That's probably why the mirror acts that way."

"There is an angel inside?" The headmaster looked rightfully disturbed.

Harry grinned and flipped the compact over. "Yup. Angry one too." He glanced at the deputy head. "Do you mind if I take this to Aunt Jeanne? I don't think it should be hanging around people too long. It'll mess with their heads."

When she didn't say anything, Harry sighed and made some sort of gesture. A few moments later both Jeanne and Bayonetta strolled in. Harry jabbed a thumb at the giant mirror by way of explanation.

Jeanne eyed it critically. "That's quite the bruiser locked in there." She turned to the headmaster. "Do you want us to get rid of it?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No. The mirror will serve as one of our locks. Once it is no longer needed however, I would most definitely like you to do so. The mirror has a habit of snagging the unwary, whether they are nearby or not."

"I'm not surprised." She said. "It wants out. And it certainly won't be looking to thank anybody either."

It wasn't until they had left that Theo asked, "What did he mean, "one of their locks?"

Harry shrugged. "Search me. As long as it's not a problem, I'm not asking."

The next day had an unusual self defense class, in that all years were present for it. Bayonetta strode to the front of the group and pulled a list out of thin air. After reading close to twenty names, she smirked. "200 points from your houses. Each."

McGonagall closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath as she felt the house counters all drop to zero and then keep going.

Over the shouting Bayonetta continued. "And detention until Christmas. For libel and slander." Then she tossed a sheaf of parchment into the air and let the sheets flutter over to the students. "Since you lot seem to think you're not learning anything important, we're going to step things up today and have you actively battle opponents." She snapped her fingers and hundreds of angel mannequins descended from thin air.

Madame Pomfrey descended from the steps and scowled, readying her wand.

The results were not pretty.

"Thirty three broken bones, sixteen contusions, eight bruised ribs, four missing teeth, two concussions, and a broken leg." Pomfrey read out at dinner that night. "Albus, Why did you allow that woman into the castle?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Frankly I do not believe I could have kept her out."

A student presented himself to the mediwitch. After scanning him, she scowled. "Make that eight missing teeth and twelve bruised ribs." To the student she said, "Meet me in the infirmary after dinner." When he had nodded and left, she snapped "Really Headmaster, this sort of behavior-"

"Is both understandable and well within class guidelines. She had to start them on actual opponents at some point you realize."

Madame Pomfrey subsided, looking positively homicidal. Septima Vector prudently edged away.

"I do hope-" Dumbledore's voice was pitched to carry, and had most of the hall going silent immediately, "-that we have learned a lesson today. Both in what we are actually capable of versus what we believe we can handle, and just how much of our dung another person is willing to tolerate." There was a muted murmuring.

"In the interest of fairness, and to prevent protracted Quidditch games Mister Wood-" He eyed a Gryffindor, who flushed, while several others gave a sigh of relief. "I shall return enough points to return all counters to zero." The was a great clattering from the giant hourglasses at the back of the room.

"As we are now on even footing, you now have, as they say, a "do-over". Don't blow it." With that, he tucked into his meal, discretely charming it to avoid retaliation from a fuming Madame Pomphrey.

AN: I have returned! Real life kicked me hard. Look for more frequent updates throughout the year. I spent some time during NaNoWriMo hashing out the rest fo plot for this fic.

As regards Muerta's, I consider them a step up (or Down depending on how you look at it) from Obscurus. Obscurus don't seem to transform from what i've found. The basic principle is the same, but the afflicted takes it in a different directions depending.

Also if there's an actual backstory to the mirror, I haven't seen it. It does however allow me to bring up one fact about Infernals, Paradisian and Wizards. Namely' that the first two do not like the third. It'll be explained more later, but the sister fic, BUtterfly, will explain it slightly better in the new chapter.