The moment Stelle stepped back, the image in the mirror rippled like water, shifting back to reflect her standing alone in the dim room.
Almost simultaneously, her keen ears caught an extremely faint sound from a dark corner of the room—a sound like someone failing to stifle a snicker, followed by a light rustling, like a cluster of tiny bells rolling together.
Stelle whirled around toward the source of the sound, but there was nothing there, only shadows.
Yet she could feel that some mischievous presence had just departed.
Looking down, she noticed something glittering caught in a gap of the mirror’s ornate golden base.
She bent down and pried it out.
It was another Elation Token.
The twisted smiley face on it seemed to be giving her a thumbs-up for her clear-headedness—or perhaps mocking her brief moment of indulgence?
[Elation Token 4/7 – Obtained: In front of the Mirror of Erised.
Maintained clarity within the illusion of your heart’s deepest desire, passing the trial of Elation (or rather, rejecting Elation’s trap?).] Stelle held the cool metal coin in her hand, her feelings somewhat complicated.
These tokens seemed to always appear after she experienced something unusual.
But one feeling was incredibly clear to Stelle: the quest issued by Aha seemed, from the very beginning, to have subtly overlapped with the dark undercurrents running deep within Hogwarts.
Stelle pushed open the door behind the Mirror of Erised.
Beyond lay not another challenge, but a relatively small, circular room.
And standing in the center of the room was that same magnificent Mirror of Erised, as if it were the ultimate destination of all the trials.
The mirror stood silently, its golden frame gleaming faintly in the dim light.
Stelle walked forward, a bit puzzled.
She had assumed there would be more chambers ahead.
She hadn’t expected to end up right back in front of the mirror.
Or was this mirror itself the final test?
She stood before it once again.
The scene in the mirror remained unchanged—the parlor car of the Astral Express, herself trying to put the abstract crown on Pom-Pom, with Dan Heng, March 7th, Welt, and Himeko all present under that warm, real starry sky.
A powerful wave of longing surged in her chest once more, but having gone through it once, she cleared her head much faster this time and shook her head.
“No matter how many times I look, it isn’t real,” she said to her reflection, her tone carrying a trace of imperceptible loneliness, but mostly resolve.
Just as she was about to turn and leave, her eyes brushed past the inscription at the base of the mirror: *Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.* She silently read it backward in her mind: *I show not your face but your heart’s desire.* Her heart’s desire…
Her desire was to return to the Express crew and continue their endless journey of Trailblazing.
The thought was crystal clear.
And right then, the image in the mirror suddenly changed!
The crew members in the mirror seemed to give her a collective, encouraging smile.
Then, in the hands of the mirrored Stelle, a blood-red, egg-sized gemstone materialized out of thin air!
The stone seemed to have fire flowing within it, radiating a warm, powerful energy that dyed the mirrored sea of Stelles in a soft crimson hue.
The mirrored Stelle held the stone, winked playfully at the real Stelle, and made a motion of passing it forward.
The real Stelle froze.
What was this?
A new trick of the mirror?
Almost instinctively, she reached out toward the glass.
Meeting no resistance, her fingers slipped through the watery surface of the mirror and—incredibly, tangibly—made contact with the warm stone!
With a gentle grasp, she pulled the heavy, warm red gemstone right out of the mirror!
The moment the Philosopher’s Stone left the mirror, the illusion shattered like a bubble.
The mirror returned to its normal function, reflecting only her bewildered face and the stone in her hand, which was now pulsing with an alluring red glow.
Stelle looked down at the “red crystal” in her hand, which was emitting an exceptionally strong energy reaction, and blinked.
“The mirror comes with free gifts?” She hefted it, finding the weight quite nice.
“Did Aha arrange this?
Or is this some hidden Hogwarts benefit?” Completely unaware that she was holding a supreme treasure coveted by countless wizards, she simply thought the stone was shiny, warm to the touch, and a nice unexpected harvest.
Stelle casually stuffed the warm red stone into her pocket as if it were just a slightly unusual collectible.
“This night walk turned out to be pretty profitable.” She patted her bulging pocket, took one last look at the now-normal mirror, and turned to retrace her steps.
As Stelle’s figure receded into the distance, another Elation Token popped out from the ornate golden carvings of the mirror’s base with a soft click.
[Elation Token 5/7 – Obtained: Mirror of Erised (Ultimate Edition).
Checked in at the marvelous moment of a pure heart touching an illusory desire and obtaining a tangible reward.
Hint: Planting a willow without intent often best embodies the essence of “Elation.”] *** At almost the exact same moment, in the Headmaster’s office on the eighth floor of the castle.
Albus Dumbledore was about to pop a lemon drop into his mouth when his hand suddenly froze.
His bright blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles widened slightly, flashing with utter astonishment.
On the ring finger of his left hand, which rested on the armrest, an ancient silver ring began to emit an almost imperceptible warmth.
This sensation…
had the protections on the Mirror of Erised been triggered?
And had they been bypassed in a completely non-adversarial, non-greedy manner?
The presence of the Philosopher’s Stone had briefly surfaced with absolute clarity in the mirror’s chamber, and then vanished.
It hadn’t been taken by force; it seemed to have been retrieved normally.
He slowly set the candy down and gently stroked the ring, which was now cooling down.
A highly complex expression appeared on his face—a mixture of surprise, deep thought, and an indescribable trace of amusement.
He had indeed set up a series of obstacles to protect the Philosopher’s Stone, and he had anticipated that someone might try to breach them.
But the intruder he had envisioned was a dark wizard of great power and ill intent, who would systematically dismantle or destroy the defenses he had laid.
Yet his magic now told him that the defenses below had indeed been triggered—and the Mirror of Erised’s enchantment against “pure desire” had been satisfied in a way he had never anticipated.
This didn’t feel like the intrusion of a powerful dark wizard; it felt more like an accidental, somewhat innocent, and reckless exploration.
Who could it be?