The Cowardly Lion (Book 1)

12: Of Nicolas Flamel and Quidditch

The next morning at breakfast, Harry filled both Ron and Hermione in, while Draco picked at his food; he was still worried about what his father would say, once Crabbe or Goyle filled him in. When he'd finished, Hermione slammed her hands down on the table - rather loudly, if you asked Draco - and then pulled a large, dusty old book out of her school bag.

"I got this out of the library a few weeks ago, for a bit of light reading, you know," Hermione said excitedly, flipping through the pages. Ron gawked at her.

"Light?"

"Oh, be quiet, Ron - I knew it! Here it is, look!" Hermione pointed to a spot on the page, and Harry tugged the book over, reading it aloud in a whisper.

"Nicolas Flamel," he said, frowning, "is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone." He frowned, while Draco's eyes widened with realization.

"What's the bloody - what is it - Sorcerer's Stone?" Ron asked, mouth full of toast, and Hermione glared at him.

"Oh, honestly, don't you two read? Look - read that, there." Harry rolled his eyes at Hermione's dramatics, but continued reading: "The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The Stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal. There have been many reports of the Sorcerer's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight)."

"See?" Hermione said excitedly, but stopped, as people were beginning to look their way in confusion. "Come on, let's go back to the dormitory."

But their quest was hindered by Draco's eagle owl swooping down and dropping a brilliant red letter in front of him; Ron's eyes widened, as did Draco's, but both Harry and Hermione looked utterly bemused.

"What's that?" questioned Harry, but Draco only got up from his seat and took off running. Only minutes after he'd gone, the red letter opened and began shouting profanities and insults, clearly meant for Draco, and Harry and Hermione were soon looking at the letter with just as much horror as Ron was.

"It's a Howler," Ron said finally, after the letter had torn itself to shreds. "You send them when you want to, well, humiliate someone for something, it's mostly done by parents who want to scold their children for misbehaving, but what's Draco done? Harry? Harry, where are you going?"

Harry raced up to the dormitory, where, sure enough, Draco was crying into his pillow. "Draco," he said softly, "Draco, would you come out? Nobody blames you for that Howler - okay, the Slytherins found it rather funny, but they're the Slytherins."

"Blimey, Harry, did you have to leave before I finished breakfast?" complained Ron, panting as he entered the dormitory. Hermione, who entered soon after, hit Ron in the back of the head. Draco quickly brushed away his tears and sat up.

"Well, I suppose this is as good a place as any to continue - the dog, don't you see, it's guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!" Hermione looked eagerly around the rest of the group.

"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying," Ron said wistfully, looking deep in thought. "Who wouldn't want it? No wonder Snape's after it."

"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in any of those books we were looking at," Hermione laughed, "A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry - he's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and twenty-five."