Hermione Granger and the Sorcerer's Stone

Research of Mr. Flammel

Hermione woke up in the morning to find several feet of snow covering the ground.

She could see Parvati Patil, rolling over in her sleep. It looked like she was having a bad dream.

Good, thought Hermione and she left the dorm.

Hermione had made it to the Great Hall before she had known it, and as she had thought, Ron and Harry were not there. Hermione silently ate her breakfast when she got another letter from her family.

 Dear Hermione,

We are so happy for you! We knew

things would get better for you! Harry Potter? The

Harry Potter?! The one you told us about? Amazing.

We're so glad you're happy. We love you! You're coming

home for Christmas, right? 

P.S. We told Ms. Lauren. She wasn't really surprised.

With love, Mum and Dad

Hermione was going to write back, but the thought of writing to her parents one day before departing to them for Christmas seemed ridiculous.

She put the letter away safely in her hat then went off to Potions.

"I do feel so sorry for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home," said Draco Malfoy loudly in Potions.

As Hermione had assumed would happen Snape had just ignored his words.

She had noticed, also, that Malfoy had kept a steady stare on Harry as he said these things.

"You know, honestly, I say, after having that as a Seeker what will Gryffindor do next? Put a tree frog in the air, I suppose."

Malfoy looked around hopefully, but no one in the class seemed to find this funny.

"You know, Draco. I say the way Harry stayed on his broom like that was a bit - brilliant," said Millicent Bulstrode surprisingly. Hermione had realized that she had somewhat misjudged all Slytherins and that some of them were okay.

Hermione gave her a weak smile as a kind of thank you.

But Millicent just raised an eyebrow.

"Don't get  used to it, Granger," said Millicent.

Hermione bowed her head and continued her work. She absolutely hated Potions.

After class Hermione, Harry, and Ron began walking from the dungeons they saw a particularly large tree blocking the corridor above. Two enormous feet stuck out of the bottom. Hermione immediately knew who this was.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" asked Ron.

"Would you mind moving out of the way? Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose - that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compered to what your family's used to."

It was Malfoy.

Who else would it be?

Hermione bit her bottom lip to prevent her from saying anything.

Ron, who couldn't contain his anger, dived at Malfoy.

"WEASLEY!" Snape was marching up the stairs. Ron dropped Malfoy's robes and Draco smoothed them out smugly.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid. He stuck his head out of the huge tree. "Malfoy was insulin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid. Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you." Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed past Hagrid with smirks.

"I'll get him," muttered Ron.

"One of these days, I'll get him -" "I hate them both. Malfoy and Snape."

But Hermione knew hate was a strong word and she didn't think it was particularly accurate when it came to this situation.

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas. Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."

When they arrived in the Great Ha;; Hermione could not believe her eyes!

It was absolutely, completely, utterly beautiful and intriguing. Holly and mistletoe were hung all over the walls and a dozen Christmas trees stood gracefully around the Great Hall. Some sparkled with tiny icicles and they glittered with hundreds of candles.

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid suddenly asked Hermione.

"Just one," answered Hermione, who was desperately looking forward to seeing her parents this winter. "And that reminds me - Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"Oh yeah, you're right," agreed Ron.

"The library?" asked a puzzled Hagrid. He followed them out of the Great Hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

"Oh, we're not working," answered Harry. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."

Hermione groaned. She knew it was best to keep this to themselves, but apparently she had forgotten to mention this to Harry.

"You what?" asked a shocked Hagrid.

"Listen here - I've told yeh - drop it. It's nothin' to to you what that dog's guardin'."

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

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" suggested Harry. "We must've been through 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'," Hagrid said stubbornly.

"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," answered Ron. And with that the three of them left the Great Hall.

Hermione was beginning to get frustrated. They had searched for what seemed like hours on end. Flamel was not in Great Wizards of the Twentith Century, or Noble Magical Names of Our Time; he wasn't in Important Modern Magical Discoveries, or A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. Hermione was motivated by the thought of stopping Snape and she was also quite happy about the other information the books had given them, even if it wasn't about Flamel. It loved research.

Hermione had decided an easy thing to do was take down a list of subjects and titles that would most-likely have mentioned the name.

Ron was pulling books off the shelves at random and Harry was going over to the Restricted Section.

After searching endlessly for the name Flamel Hermione began to look around the library. Where was Harry?

"Ron, have you noticed where Harry's gone off to?" she asked.

"I dunno. I'm not his mother." "Ron!" scolded Hermione. The topic of Harry's parents was off limits.

"Last time I saw him he was in the Restricted Section." Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and began to take off with him when Ron stopped.

Hermione soon realized why he had stopped and let go of his hand.

They found Harry outside of the library and shook their heads and decided to go to lunch.

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

"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is. It'd be safe to ask them," said Ron, who was strangely looking at his hand.

"Very safe, as they're both dentists."