The New Trio and the Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 13: Nicholas Flamel

When the two boys had told Neville, Ron, and Hermione of the mirror, they'd all but demanded to see it. Agreeing to take them one at a time, Ron was up first, but to his disappointment, they found out that the mirror was gone. This was a good thing though, Harry believed, because if he'd seen his parents, what would Neville have seen if it had still been there? Hermione had done some research, and had come up with the name, The Mirror of Erised, and explained to them that the stronger and more beautiful the desire, the more the pull to the mirror would increase. She said that countless people had died, either because they wasted away in front of it, or because what they saw was so heart-wrenching, they ended their own lives. This only solidified Harry's belief that Neville should never look at it.

Time passed, and the Mirror of Erised was buried under tests and essays, the group of friends losing interest in its powers and charms. The Cerberus had also become nothing more than a frightening thought late at night, until one day when the trio and Hermione decided to visit Hagrid on a Friday afternoon. Hermione mentioned she'd been reading a book on their unique natures, which suggested that they only bonded to one person, one family at the most, and the rest of humankind was sentenced to becoming nothing more than food. Hagrid suddenly became quite shifty, and wouldn't look either of the four in the eye, and Draco noticed. He wondered aloud, in an incredibly sarcastic voice, "I wonder who that one in the school's bonded to."

Hagrid dropped the teapot he was holding.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"Fluffy?"

"Yeah-he's mine-bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub two years ago, I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" asked Neville eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me any more," said Hagrid gruffly, "That's top secret, that is."

"Is whatever the Cer-Fluffy's been guarding the same thing that someone broke into Gringotts to steal last year on my birthday?" asked Harry, putting together scattered clues in a flash.

"Look, yeh shouldn't be meddlin' in things like this, ones that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget about Fluffy, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel-"

"Aha!" exclaimed Hermione. "There's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself.

*

No matter how hard they looked, squeezing ten minutes of fervent researching in between classes at a time, they couldn't find Flamel. He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was also missing from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. Then again, the library was so enormous, that it wasn't a wonder why they couldn't find a single book on one man, with tens of thousands of books, thousands of shelves, and hundreds of narrow rows.

After weeks of searching, they found themselves surrounded by piles upon piles of dusty old tomes, holed up in a corner of Gryffindor Tower. They hadn't eaten properly in a few days, so Neville took his turn to fetch some food from the kitchens. Ron had been avoiding them, saying he'd speak to them when they stopped reading and actually wanted to spend some time having fun, and from where he was sitting on the opposite side of the common room, he looked up and spotted their dejected faces. He finished beating Seamus at Wizard's Chess with a single move, his opponent groaning in defeat, and crossed over to them. "Hey, bookworms. Finally finished, have you? Draco, fancy a match?"

Draco huffed, but got up and obediently sat himself in Seamus' recently-vacated chair. Ron, the twins, Seamus, and Dean, had staged an intervention of sorts. The twins kidnapped Hermione, asking her help in devising their Easter break prank, and Harry was asked by Dean and Seamus to explain some wand theory to them. Harry was just beginning to explain the intricacies of Seamus' spruce and phoenix feather wand, when Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what was obviously the Leg-Locker Curse.