Welcome to the sixth chapter of our ongoing series, which answers the question: In Harry Potter, what if instead of magic, it’s Dota 2?

Previous Chapters:

Oct 27 2014: 01 The Wardmaster

Jan 02 2015: 02 The Fogwards Express

Jan 09 2015: 03 The Shuffling

Jan 22 2015: 04 The First Blood

Jan 30 2015: 05 The Juking Lesson

Feb 25 2015: The Mirror of atoD

——————-

House SlytheriNA

The year was nearly over. Harry’s Dota classes were progressing smoothly, save for recipes with 2GD who seemed to hate him more each lesson. Harry saw Ron and Hermione daily, rarely staying in SlytheriNA’s dungeon common room.

After his performance in the juking lesson, Harry had been made an official alternate for SlytheriNA’s B-team, but he had yet to see any match play, as Demon seemed always to fill any empty slot that appeared on the team. Harry’s preferred position was solo mid, of course, the same as Malfho.

This year’s Fogwards Dota House Cup was decided early, with 中国PUFF’s A and B teams taking first and second. SlytheriNA’s first team finished third, while SlytheriNA’s second team finished last due to Demon throwing away a critical match, much to Harry’s satisfaction.

Harry’s celebrity had not diminished throughout the year, as his tale of mysteriously defeating the famously fatal Pudge level in his first juking lesson had spread around the school. To avoid the stares and judgment of his fellow students, Harry rarely walked the halls during the day. Instead, he preferred to explore after curfew, using his father’s amulet to dodge janitor Flax’s nightly patrols with ease, as the man never ever thought to carry a set of sentry wards.

The past few nights Harry just couldn’t fall asleep. He even resorted to reading “The Agricultural Revolution: A History of 中国PUFF” and while he was now somewhat of an expert in Chinese Dota, he was no closer to a good night’s rest.

Harry tucked his amulet into his pocket, walked out of his room, past the SlytheriNA common room doors and into the cold, dark Fogwards hallway. Where should he go? He had the whole school to choose from.

Suddenly, he felt his scar burn, and he knew where to go.

—-

Fogwards Library, Restricted Section

The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Harry wished he had brought some observer wards, but stopped himself before casting the familiar chat wheel “WE NEED WARDS” indicator spell. He silently cursed himself for not forcing Hermione to buy them yesterday.

The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Normally, a greater hawk alerted Finol of any students entering the section, but Harry’s amulet gained him access.

He moved deeper into the section, and once he was in the clear, deactivated his amulet and cast an illusory orb down the stacks. It lit up the titles on either side as it drifted.

Mysteries of the Forests of Caldavar

The Norse Pantheon

Navigating Blackheart’s Bay

Skills of Catwoman

…

The list went on, and Harry recognized none of it.

Further down the shelf there was a burned book with a half-title Shapers of Da-, its peeling, faded letters unreadable. Harry noticed one stack of books at the very end. His scar burned again as he fixated on it, the voice in his head driving him further toward them.

He pulled a book off the shelf, called The Summoner’s Rift. It had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. Maybe he was imagining it, maybe not, but he thought a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn’t be.

He opened the book and began to read.

—–

Fogwards Hallway

Harry found himself standing in a darkened hallway with no recollection of what he had been doing the past few hours. How did he get here?

A noise shocked him out of his trance.

“You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering about at night.” said an exasperated Pyrion Flax. He was walking with 2GD, and this time they had dust. “I think somebody’s been in the library’s Restricted Section.”

Harry had nowhere to run. In just a few moments they were going to find him…

Suddenly, a door appeared to his left, a door Harry had never seen before. Throwing caution to the wind, Harry opened it, walked through, and shut the door behind him.

—–

The Lobby of Requirement

It looked like a normal private lobby, the ones used by the House Dota teams to practice against each other. Harry could change it into a drafting room and eventually into a Dota map if he wished. But propped against the wall facing him was something that didn’t look as if it belonged here.

It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: eM deeF.

Harry realized quickly that even an idiot would recognize this inscription was “Feed Me” backwards. Feed the mirror? Feed it what?

He looked at his reflection. The image staring back at him was foggy, but Harry could make out that he was wearing some sort of uniform that wasn’t SlytheriNA. A woman was standing right behind his reflection, smiling at him and waving.

Harry turned around, but he was still alone. She existed only in the mirror. She was a pretty woman, dark hair and eyes…

Her eyes are just like mine, Harry thought.

She was crying and smiling. There was a tall, thin, blond-haired man standing next to him, smiling proudly as well.

“Mom?” Harry whispered. “Dad?”

—–

Fogwards Dining Hall

“The mirror showed me my parents,” Harry described his discovery of the special private lobby and its mirror to Ron and Hermione, carefully omitting his excursion into the Library’s Restricted Section.

“Your parents are dead, Harry” Hermione said with a sympathetic face. “Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?”

“Way to be a downer Hermione,” said Ron. “He knows they’re dead.”

“It’s not every day someone is killed by a Reaper’s Scythe, let alone two people,” Hermione remarked. “They’re not coming back, a magic mirror won’t change that.”

“Maelk died twenty times in a match once and still came back…” Ron scowled. “It was legendary!”

Harry said nothing as his friends argued. He had seen his parents. They were in the mirror. If he could only find a way to get to the room again.

“If you two don’t believe me about the Lobby, I’ll show you,” Harry said. “Let’s go.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Jacky Mao approached. Another two GяўffiйdФr students were with him. “Oh, this is Shane and Henry.”

“Nice to meet both of you, we were just going…” Harry didn’t want anyone to follow them.

“To the special private lobby with the mirror right?” Jacky spoke of it like it was common knowledge.

“You’ve been there too!?” Ron looked envious.

“Of course, Omar showed me during EEL, he knows all about private lobbies,” said Jacky matter-of-factly. “You just need to think of the special lobby, and it’ll be there.”

As if on cue, a door appeared next to them. They all walked in, except for Hermione, who refused to break any rules, even imaginary ones.

The room was the same, and the mirror was right where Harry remembered.

“See? My parents are right there.”

“I don’t see anything but you, Harry.” Ron said. “But I do see myself holding a Hand of Midas…”

“I have hair?” Shane said, looking into the mirror. “Whoa.”

“I just see a grizzly bear,” said Henry. “A tall girl is riding on my back…”

“I’m holding four Aegises of Champions,” said Jacky. “I’m also an anime character.”

“The Aegis of Champions?” asked Harry. “What’s that?”

Shane and Henry ignored him, still staring into the mirror.

“What?” Harry said. “Is it the trophy for the House Cup? Maybe I’ll win it next year.”

Ron was able to tear himself away from his reflection to explain.

“There’s no House Cup next year Harry — next year is The International.”