It Could Have Gone That Way; A Harmione Fanfiction

Chapter 11: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

It was Sunday, and Harry was alone with Hermione in the common room. He had been recounting to her once more what had happened when he had looked into the Mirror of Erised. Harry thought that he had perhaps hinted to Hermione that he really wanted to go and find it again, but she had shut him down completely, her happy mood suddenly growing very serious.

"Harry, you can't go looking for that mirror. You'll go mad, or...or you'll get yourself killed. Please listen!" Hermione begged.

"Okay." Harry sighed,"I promise."

"Good." Hermione smiled and hugged him.

***********

"Of course! How could I be so stupid?"

Ron, Harry and Hermione were sitting in the common room, discussing Nicholas Flamel. It was Monday evening. The first day of term was over, and Harry was already exhausted.

"Sorry?" Ron gave Hermione a quizzical look.

"Flamel! He was an alchemist, wasn't he Harry?"

"Er...yeah, I think so. That's what the Chocolate Frog card said."

Hermione's face lit up,"Brilliant!" She leapt up and scurried up the stairs.

"What's wrong with her?" Ron chuckled.

Harry didn't reply. He was beginning to feel the stress of school fall back onto him, and he did not like it at all. They already had three homework assignments - two of which were long essays - and, until Hermione's outburst, had not found anything else out about Nicholas Flamel. To top it all off, Harry was longing for just one more look at that mirror.

"I never thought to look in here!" Hermione burst back into the room looking very flushed. She dumped a humongous dusty book onto the little table in the corner of the room at which the two boys were sitting,"I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"This is light?" Ron's mouth fell open.

Hermione shot him a glare before flipping eagerly through the book's pages,"Here it is!" She placed her finger on a line of text as she read it aloud,"Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"

"The what?" Harry and Ron chorused.

"Oh, honestly, don't you two read? Listen, the ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher'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-"

"Immortal?" Ron gaped at the book.

Hermione sighed,"It means you'll never die." She said irritably.

"I knew that..."

"There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence is owned by Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera-lover. Mr. 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 beamed up at them. The boys continued to stare blankly back up at her.

"No." Ron mumbled.

Hermione leaned across the table and lowered her bossy voice to a whisper,"That's it! The Philosopher's Stone! That's what the dog on the third floor is guarding. That's what's underneath the trapdoor. That's what Snape's after."