The Adventures of the Half-Blood Princess

Part 7

January 1992

By the time she and Hermione returned for the start of term, they were disappointed to learn that Harry and Ron still had not found a thing on Nicholas Flamel. They all had almost given up of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Harry was certain he had read the name somewhere before. Once term started, they were back to skimming through books for ten minutes during their breaks.

Then one day during study hall Harry was snacking on a chocolate frog not paying much attention to the famous Wizard card it came with.

"Dumbledore again!" he muttered. "He was the first one I ever--"

He gasped. He stared at the back of the card. Then he looked up at Anne, Ron, and Hermione.

"I've found him!" he whispered excitedly. "I've found Flamel! I knew I heard his name once before--- listen to this: Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel."

Anne jumped to her feet. "Stay here!"

She sprinted down the stairs to the Slytherin dormitories. Harry and Ron barely had time to exchange mystified looks before she came dashing back , an enormous book in her arms.

"I had you looking in the wrong section! How could I be so stupid?!" Hermione ranted as Anne thumped the book down on the table. "I checked this out weeks ago for a little light reading."

"Then I was curious so she loaned it to me. I happened to come across Flamel when I was reading this book," Anne admitted. She opened the book quickly skimming through the pages.

"Ah, here it is! 'Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone'."

"The what?" said Harry and Ron.

"Honestly, don't you two read?" sighed Hermione in annoyance.

"Listen to this," Anne told them, "The Sorcerer's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will turn any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal."

"Immortal?" Ron questioned baffled.

"It means you'll never die," explained Hermione.

"I know what it means!" Ron snapped. Harry shushed him.

"The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday." Anne looked up her eyes bright with excitement. "That's what Fluffy's guarding on the third floor! That's what's under the trap door! The Sorcerer's Stone!"

Later that night the four of them made their way across the grounds toward Hagrid's hut. They knocked on his door eager to talk to him.

"Hagrid!" Harry greeted him the moment the gamekeeper opened the door.

Hagrid was clad in oven mitts and an apron. "Oh, hello. Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today." He started to close the door.

"We know about the Sorcerer's Stone!" they all shouted at once making Hagrid pause.

"Oh," said Hagrid before letting them in.

"We think Snape's trying to steal it," Harry said ignoring the annoyed look Anne gave him.

"Snape? Blimey, yer aren't still on about him, are ya?" Hagrid questioned as they took off their cloaks and sat themselves down in front of the fire.

"Hagrid, we know he's after the stone. We just don't know why," Harry added.

"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the stone. He's not about to steal it!"

Anne was surprised. "If he is protecting the stone, why would he want to steal it?" She glanced at Harry. "There's no proof he is after it except on Halloween when he got injured by Fluffy. I suspect he probably was after whoever was going after the stone."

"She's right ya know," Hagrid agreed strongly. "Right now I'm a bit preoccupied today."

"Wait a minute! One of the teachers?" Harry asked bewildered.

"Of course! There are other things protecting the stone, aren't there?" Hermione said. "Spells, enchantments!"

"That's right. Bloody waste of time if you ask me. Ain't no one gonna get past Fluffy. Not a soul knows how, except for me and Dumbledore," Hagrid claimed proudly before immediately regretting it. "I shouldn't have told you that! I shouldn't have told you that!"

A cauldron over the fire began to rattle. Hagrid hurried over and removed what looked like a giant egg and carried it over to the table. Everyone gathered around curious.

"Hagrid, what exactly is that?" asked Harry.

Before he could answer, Ron cut in. "I know what that is! Hagrid, how did you get one?"

"I won it off a stranger I met down at the pub. Seemed glad to get rid of it, matter of fact," explained Hagrid simply.

The egg rattled and shook, then started to crack. Pieces flew in every direction as a strange creature of some kind emerged. It looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.

"Is that ..... a dragon?" asked Anne mystified.

"That's not just a dragon. It's a Norwegian Ridgeback. My brother Charlie works with these in Romania," replied Ron in awe.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid smiled. "Bless him, look, he knows his mummy! Hallo, Norbert." the dragon squeaked as it looked at Hagrid.

"Norbert?" said Harry frowning.

"Yeah, well, he's gotta have a name. Don't you, Norbert?" Hagrid stroked the dragon only for it to sneeze fire onto his beard. "He'll have to be trained up a bit, of course."

He then saw something in the window. "Who's that?"

Everyone looked over to see a pale familiar face staring at them. Realizing he had been seen, the figure retreated, running away.

"Malfoy," Harry responded.

"Oh dear," muttered Hagrid as the four quickly exited his hut.