Code Erised

Was there ever any doubt? I tumbled at the Mirror of Erised, with its odd man boy tone talk about ... what? ... snow? Flying solo? The movie, with that snowy calendar scene and the flying owl, was almost explicit, but I put it down to Rowling's fresher status, she, if not blissfully unaware, at least perhaps a little tone deaf.

And that was a huge closet, there at the end, in which to keep a secret. And what guardians! A three headed dog, a deadly embrace by weeds that hate sunlight, a flock of furious keys (omg, keys!) and a lock a girl can't open (sorry, dear Hermione), a game of wizard's chess starring of all things knights and queens, followed by the curious dual nature of queer old Quirrell confounded in front of the self-same mirror that reveals something other than nature, Desire, something backwards and encrypted.

Hagrid's guardian, Cerberus, Hell's own watchdog, was the only archetype in the bunch. The number three, like the Norns, measuring time past, time present, time future, the dog that denies passage until you throw it a bone (one of your own, of course; by longstanding tradition, a femur bone will serve.) The singing harp was interesting, but Rowling's dark muse was clearly not aroused by this scene. Was it only a movie?

[FFXII Update — Got Fury? Scathe works great.]