Percy Jackson and the Mirror of Erised [Book 1]

30) The Search for Flamel

It was almost Christmas. Hermione had talked to Ron about something, but when I'd asked what, they'd both said it was private. So it was probably about me.

I was a little annoyed at that. As far as I could tell, I'd done nothing wrong. But still they wouldn't say anything.

It was freezing. Several feet of snow covered Hogwarts. The Weasley twins had taken advantage of this, and bewitched some snowballs to hit the back of Quirell's turban, which kinda terrified me. He has a face on the back of his head, after all.

Even the castle was cold. Hufflepuff's common room and the Great Hall both had fires, but everywhere else was freezing cold. Including the dungeons.

I found myself shaking and as close to my warm cauldron as possible. I was even tempted to just stick my hand inside of the bubbling liquid.

"I do feel so sorry," Draco said during one of these chilly classes, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

Draco had been very unpleasant to my friends lately, but I was surprised to find him and I sitting on the Slytherin couches together by the fire. He'd even managed to get Hermione in one day, to tell her he was sorry about everything he said to her. She told him it was okay, and she's agreed help him keep his act up.

Harry wasn't going home. He'd immediately signed the paper McGonagall had passed around. Of course, I also signed the paper.

After that very potions class, we ran into Hagrid. Well, we actually ran into a fir tree that was being carried by Hagrid.

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

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

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

Ron dove at Draco right as Snape walked up the steps, "WEASLEY!"

Ron let go of Draco's robes and Hagrid spoke up, "He was provoked, Professor Snape. Malfoy was insultin' 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," Snape said.

I spoke up too, "I believe insulting a person is also a form of fighting, isn't it? Maybe a little less physical, but fighting nonetheless."

Snape whipped around to look at me and said, "Don't question me, Jackson. I have the power to make your life at camp a living hell. Punishment there is much more severe than it is at Hogwarts. No losing house points. Instead, you could lose some blood."

Dang. Okay then.

"Ahh, I understand that at camp you have to bring whatever crime that has been committed to Chiron or Mr. D unless you're the counselor of a cabin. And even then, you can only punish the members of your own cabin. I'm not in your cabin, Professor, and there's no chance of it, either."

Snape scowled and turned to look at Draco, "Five points from Slytherin."

He then hurried off. Draco raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly. I smiled back. He walked away.

We followed Hagrid to the Great Hall, which was beautiful. Trees lined the hall, several of them already decorated with beautiful silver ornaments. Holly and mistletoe dangled from the ceiling. Candles and icicles glittered in the leaves of the trees.

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

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

"Oh yeah, you're right," Ron said, turning away from the magnificent golden bubbles that were being produced from Flitwick's wand and decorating the trees even more.

"The library?" Hagrid followed us out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

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

"You what?" Hagrid looked surprised. "Listen here — I've told yeh — drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."

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

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Harry added. "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.

"We're just curious. Dumbledore is extremely powerful. He's, like, super cool. The stuff he works on must be amazing. The people, too. I'd like to know just how magical Nicolas Flamel is, if he could work with someone as amazing and wonderful as Albus Dumbledore," I said, forcing a eager look on my face.

Hagrid almost said something, but caught himself, "Yer a sneaky one, Percy."

Ron sighed, "Just have to find out for ourselves, then," Ron said. We left Hagrid and started towards the library.

It was practically impossible to find Nicolas Flamel. There were tons of books that he wasn't in. The one with the strong wizards, or important discoveries,  and tons of other books that seemed like they should have him. None even mentioned him. And there was a lot of books. Thousands of shelves with thousands of stories with thousands of pages with thousands of words that took me a long time to decipher.

I usually got a headache after an hour of trying to read, so I just went to sleep in the library.

Eventually we met up with Harry outside of the library and Hermione said, "You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you? And send me an owl if you find anything."

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

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

I am not good at writing dialogue for Professor Trelawney. I'm sorry for that, but you've got a bit before you deal with it. I've been having a hard time falling asleep early. Like, I've been falling asleep at 6 in the morning. It's very annoying. I would prefer to sleep at a normal time. When we go back to school, I'm going to be so tired.

Sleep well. Until Sunday.