𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 (𝟏) || HARRY POTTER LOVE STORY

27

The Hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls and no fewer than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icecles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.

"How many days yeh get left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.

"Just one" Hermione answered. "And that reminds me - Harry, Ron, Julie, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"Oh yeah, you're right" said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the brnaches of the new tree.

"The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

"Oh we're not working" Julie said casually.

"Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is." Harry agreed.

"You what?" said Hagrid, who looked shocked. "Listen here, I've told yeh - drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."

"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all" Hermione said.

"Unless you'd like to save us the trouble?" Harry added. "We must've been trough hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere - just give us a hint - I know I've read his name somewhere."

"I'm sayin' nothin'." said Hagrid flatly.

"Just have to find out for ourselves, then" said Ron as we left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.

"You guys are so dramatic," Julie teased, nudging Harry. "I'm sure we'll figure it out without Hagrid's 'help.'"

Harry shot her an amused look. "You're one to talk, Jules. You're the queen of drama."

"Maybe," Julie shrugged, grinning. "But I don't get kicked out of libraries."

She could tell he was about to retaliate, but Ron cut him off, muttering something about "The library doesn't need any more troublemakers."

The only flaw in their plan was that it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book.

He wasn't in 'Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century', or 'Notable Magical Names of out Time', he was missing too from 'Important Magical Discoveries' and 'A study of Recent Developments in Wizardy'.

And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library, tens of thousands of books, thousands of shelves, hundreds of narrow rows.

Hermione had made a list of subjects and titles they decided to search while Ron and Harry strode of down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at radom.

Julie had wandered over to the Restricted Section. They all have been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there, but unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books and they knew they would never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never thaught at Hogwarts and only read by older students studying advanced Defence Against the Dark Magic.

"What are you looking for?" Harry asked, catching Julie.

"Nothing," she said quickly, trying to hide her curiosity.

Madam Pince appeared out of nowhere, waving her feather duster. "You'd better get out of there, Miss Clarke. Go on – out!"

"Great," Julie muttered under her breath, turning to leave, and she was almost out the door when Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked up to her.

"You bad girl," Harry said with a grin. "Got kicked out of the library."

"Oh, you're so clever, Potter," Julie said, rolling her eyes. "I was just trying to find some real answers."

"Not on the restricted bookshelves, you weren't," Harry teased, his eyes sparkling.

"Did you find anything useful, then?" Julie shot back, crossing her arms. "Or were you too busy reading random books and pretending to be studious?"

Harry shot her a very cold glare.

"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" Hermione said when we arrived. "And send me an owl if you find anything."

"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is." said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them."

"Very safe, as their both dentist" said Hermione grinning.