Twice Chosen | Esmerelda Potter

23. Flamel's Stone

Christmas break is over and Hermione has returned. She is happy to see that we are still alive, after I told her about the whole Forbidden forest incident. She's also a bit disappointed that we haven't uncovered anything else yet about Nicolas Flamel.

Classes have started back up again, along with extensive Quidditch practices. I'm already slammed with essays and homework to last a month. And Hermione is getting on our backs about exams.

"Look at you three! Playing with your cards! Pathetic!" Harry, Ron, and I are sorting our cards from the packages of chocolate frogs, trying to add to our collections.

"Final exams are coming up!" Hermione says.

Ron puts down all the cards in his hands and sighs. "I'm ready for the exams, you can ask me anything!" he says.

"Okay," she says. "What are the three crucial ingredients in a forgetfulness potion?"

"Uhh...I forgot," Ron stammers. Harry giggles beside him. 

"I rest my case," Hermione says. Ron opens the book next to him and looks through it. When Hermione turns around for a minute to look at Snape, he goes right back to helping us sort cards.

"Ronald Weasley! What will you do if that question comes up on the final exam?" Hermione shouts to Ron.

Ron's answer is immediate. "Copy off you!" 

"You will not!" Hermione says angrily. "Also, Professor Mcgonagall says that we all will be using special quills with an anti-cheating spell on them."

"That's insulting!" Ron shouts. "She doesn't even trust us!"

Neville comes into the Great Hall, but his legs seem to be stuck together with the leg-locker curse. As he gets closer to our table, the laughs get louder from the surrounding tables. 

"Leg-locker curse," Seamus explains to Harry, who seems confused.

"I betcha it's Malfoy," I say to the others. Both Hermione and Harry nod.

Neville stands behind an empty spot across from me. 

"Who did this to you?" I ask Neville.

"Malfoy," Neville responds. "He needed a test subject."

Anger runs through me and I stand up. "I'll really show this devil not to..."

"Esmerelda!" Harry says. "He's not worth it." 

"Nobody messes with my friends and gets away with it!" I retort. 

"Please! Don't so something you'll regret!" Harry exclaims.

I sit back down, my face still heated.

"I'll get him back for it later," I mutter under my breath.

"Neville, you really need to start standing up to people!" Ron says. 

"How will I do that when I can hardly stand?" Neville asks. "Can someone please undo the curse?"

"I'll do it!" Seamus stands up and puts his wand at the ready.

"That's all I need, for you to set my bloody kneecaps on fire!" Neville protests. At this point, most of the Gryffindor table is staring, along with a portion of the Hufflepuff table.

"C'mon Longbottom! If anyone saw, my eyebrows have completely grown back from the last incident!" Seamus says, pointing to his eyebrows. He turns around to walk away. 

What Seamus doesn't know is that there is a bald spot on the back his head, probably from the potion that exploded on him yesterday. The entire table begins laughing, but Seamus doesn't seem to notice.

I put the countercurse on Neville and he nearly falls to the ground. "Thanks, Esmerelda!" Neville says, sitting down in the empty spot.

"No problem!" I say.

"Guys, look!" Harry says, pointing to a chocolate frog card. "I found Flamel on Dumbledore's card!"

"What's it say?" I ask.

Harry reads the card. "Dumbledore is particularly famous for the defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, his discovery of the twelve uses of dragon blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel!" Harry passes the card to Ron.

"Of course! I read this on the train that day! That's why the name sounded familiar!" Harry says.

Hermione stands up. "Come with me! I have a book that might contain more information about Flamel!" All of us stand up and follow Hermione back to the common room.

==========

"I can't believe it! I had you looking in the wrong section this whole time! How could I have been so stupid?" Hermione slams a huge book down on the common room table.

"I checked this book out weeks ago for a bit of light reading!"

"This... is light?" Ron asks. Hermione glares at Ron.

"Look at this." Hermione reads the book aloud. "Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"

"The what?" Harry and Ron ask together.

"Honestly, don't you two read?" Hermione asks.

"The Sorcerer's Stone is a stone that can turn any metal into gold and it also produces the Elixir of Life, which makes the drinker immortal," I explain, reading from the book over Hermione's shoulder.

"The only known stone in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, who just celebrated his 665th birthday!" Hermione says as she reads the book.

"Merlin's Beard! Guess it really works then," Ron says to Harry and I.

Memories flash through my head, most specifically to the day at Diagon Alley before school started when Harry and I at Gringotts. Could this be connected to the break-in at Gringotts?That bulky package taken out of the vault... is that all connected?

"The Sorcerer's Stone, of course!" I say. "That's definitely what Snape is after! I wasn't sure before, but now I'm positive!"

"I think you're right!" Harry says, after thinking for a moment.

"That's what Fluffy is guarding. That's what's under the trap door. That's what Snape is trying to get. The Sorcerer's Stone!" Hermione says, sounding very sure of herself.

I think for a moment. "I have an idea! Maybe we go to Hagrid's tomorrow and trick Hagrid into telling us more information about the stone!" I say. "Then we could break though the trapdoor and steal the stone so no one else takes it!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione give me a look.

"You're bloody scary sometimes, Esmerelda," Ron says. "But we'll do it. We need some company anyway. And we need some information if we want to catch Snape."

"Hagrid's it is!" I say.