The castle was quieter in the weeks following the match, but Lennon could still feel something tense and unseen curling through the corridors. Though she stayed close to Harry, Ron, and Hermione—watching, guiding, laughing with them through awkward spells and transfiguration blunders—her thoughts often drifted to the third-floor corridor and the snarling presence that guarded the trapdoor.
She had told Mattheo nothing of the Cerberus, nor of what she suspected. Trust, with him, came in pieces.
---
It was near Christmas when Harry stumbled upon something peculiar while sneaking through the castle under his Invisibility Cloak. Lennon had gifted him one of the Marauder's hand-drawn maps she'd copied for herself, marked with secret passages, moving staircases, and scribbled warnings.
He had only meant to avoid Filch.
But instead, he found a room unlike any other.
At the center stood a tall, golden-framed mirror. Its surface shimmered like rippling water. And as Harry stepped before it, he saw not his reflection, but an image of himself—flanked by his parents.
He didn't speak of it right away, not to Ron, not even to Lennon. But the next night, he returned.
And the next.
Until Lennon caught him slipping out of the common room near midnight.
"Out for a stroll?" she asked softly.
Harry froze. "I… I was going to the library."
"At midnight?"
She held out her hand. "Take me with you."
He hesitated, then nodded.
They moved quietly, the silence of the castle wrapping around them. When they entered the chamber, Lennon froze.
"That's the Mirror of Erised," she whispered. "I've read about it. 'Erised' is 'desire' spelled backward. It shows your heart's deepest wish."
Harry stepped before it.
"I see my parents."
Lennon stood beside him but didn't look.
"What do you see?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Something I'm not ready to face."
They stood in silence, surrounded by magic and memory.
Later, Dumbledore would move the mirror. And Harry would never forget his words:
"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
---
Spring came swiftly to Hogwarts. The snow melted from the turrets, and crocuses peeked through the grass. With the warmth came a surprise.
Norbert.
It began with Hagrid, of course. His obsession with dragons was no secret. But when he whispered to Harry, Ron, Hermione—and eventually, Lennon—that he'd won a dragon egg in a card game, she felt her heart drop.
"You what?" she hissed, crouched in the hut beside the blazing fire.
Hagrid beamed. "A Norwegian Ridgeback! Isn't he a beaut?"
Lennon turned to Hermione. "This is going to go badly."
"Oh, we're well past badly," Hermione muttered.
Still, they helped. They brought buckets of chicken blood, soothed Norbert when he shrieked, and bandaged Ron's hand after a particularly vicious bite. But as Norbert grew—and grew fast—it became clear they couldn't keep him.
It was Charlie Weasley, Fred and George's older brother, who offered a solution. He and his team would take Norbert to Romania.
"We'll get him up to the tallest tower," Lennon planned. "You three get him under the cloak. I'll distract Filch."
And for once, the plan almost worked.
Until they were caught by McGonagall.
Detention.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron were devastated—but Lennon took the blame without flinching.
"I helped plan it," she admitted. "Punish me too."
But McGonagall only sighed. "You're supposed to be a mentor, Miss McCauley. Not an accomplice."
---
Back in the Slytherin common room, Mattheo heard about it through the grapevine.
"She's getting reckless," Theodore muttered. "Dragons now?"
"She's protecting them," Mattheo said quietly.
Lorenzo smirked. "Or she's starting to believe in something bigger than rules."
Mattheo stared into the fire. For once, he didn't argue.
---
Later that week, Lennon found Harry alone on the grounds.
"They took Norbert," he said. "We lost so many points."
"You did the right thing," she replied. "Sometimes, doing the right thing feels awful. But that doesn't make it wrong."
She looked toward the forest, the shadows stirring.
"Be ready, Harry. This was just the beginning."
He nodded slowly, already changed by what he'd seen in the mirror—and what he'd been willing to risk for a dragon.