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Chapter Nine
Of Alchemists and Dragons
Despite Harry's promise to Faykan to not look for the mirror again, he was sore tempted. He couldn't forget his parent's faces and he was starting to be haunted at night by nightmares of them disappearing in a flash of green light, while a high voice cackled with sadistic laughter. Thankfully, Faykan was always there for him, comforting him when he was at his lowest. It almost seemed to Harry that Faykan had even less sleep than he did over the last weeks of the holidays, as whenever Harry woke from a nightmare Faykan was beside him immediately, holding him and singing softly to calm Harry and return him to sleep.
Hermione came back the day before the holidays ended. She didn't seem interested in the strange mirror; she was too consumed with preparing for classes to restart and disappointed from the four boys for not discovering who Nicolas Flamel was. They were almost ready to give up on the library giving up the information about him, but Hermione wasn't going to quit, and continued to drag the four boys there every spare minute.
Harry was so tired of the library that he couldn't bare to look in too many more books for Nicolas. Taking out his last Chocolate Frog to keep himself awake, he bit the head off the frog as it tried to jump away from him and absentminded turned the card over. '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, Nicolas Flamel' Harry almost choked
"I've found him! I've found Flamel, he was on Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card!" he said excitedly. He showed the others the card, and Hermione jumped to her feet immediately and dug through her bag.
"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly almost slamming the book down on Faykan's fingers in her excitement. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."
"This is light?" said Ron eyeing the very large book, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.
At last she found what she was looking for.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Ron grumpily. Hermione ignored him. "Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"
This didn't have quite the effect she'd expected.
"The what?" asked Harry, Ron and Draco. Faykan got his now trademark far away look as she began to explain about the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers to transform any metal into pure gold, and produce the Elixir of Life, which would make the drinker immortal.
She continued to read aloud that the only Stone currently in existence belonged to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, who was six hundred and sixty five last year.
"See?" said Hermione finally after Ron and Harry looked up at her from the book. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!" Faykan was nodding to himself as she spoke, clearly in agreement.
"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it." Draco started to argue again that it couldn't be Snape, but at that moment Madam Pince came by and threw them all out of the library.
Harry didn't have time to think about their newest discovery because, once the school year restarted, Quidditch practice started to eat up all of his time. Wood was truly becoming a fanatic, but according to Fred and George he always was. He was training the team as hard as Harry could remember, even in the endless rain that had begun. He explained that his reasoning was that Snape had decided to referee the next match of Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff.
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Severus Snape was very concerned about Potter and his fiends. Ever since the incident at the last Quidditch match, he had kept a closer eye on the four Gryffindors, to the point that he was sure that they must have noticed. But Severus didn't care, he would do whatever it took to keep Lily Potter's son safe from harm, however inconvenient to the boy it was. This was the main reason for Severus to volunteer to referee the next Quidditch match.
The Potions Master noticed, a few time in his classes, that at the same time he was discreetly watching Potter, that both Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley seemed to be watching Severus' every move, as if he was going to blast them with his wand the moment they looked away. Taking a glance at Potter and Undol, Severus noted that while Harry was also watching him, the other black haired boy had a rather far away look that one acquires when pondering deep matters, or daydreaming…
Undol was the second reason that Severus felt the need to personally watch Potter. He had learned from Albus about the boy's nighttime encounter with the Mirror of Erised, and how they boy had seen through the Headmaster's disillusionment charm. What had rattled Dumbledore most of all though, was what Faykan had said that he saw in the mirror: 'White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.' Albus had a suspicion, but he hadn't yet let Severus in on what he was researching about this boy. So Severus watched and waited, he took extra time between classes to follow the boy, who stayed near Potter almost constantly, which made it easier for Snape to keep track of both boys.
Prior to the start of the Quidditch match, Severus had commented to Albus that it might be safest is he was present at the match just in case someone tried to attack Potter again, even with Snape in the air with the boy, he couldn't be sure if he could protect him completely. He had told the Headmaster about what had happened the last game, how he had saw Harry's broom start to go berserk, and had immediately starting muttering the counter jinx to try and save the boy. Whoever was attacking the broom had almost won, when Severus felt a powerful force start to influence the broom, assisting him in trying to settle the bucking broomstick. It wasn't until his cloak had been set aflame that he realized that the attackers connection had broken, allowing Harry to safely finish the game.
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As Snape flew the length of the pitch, and while keeping one eye on Potter at all times, he barley managed to dodge a bludger that one of the Weasley twins and sent right at him. He fairly sent a penalty to Hufflepuff, and was turning to see where Potter had gone, when he felt, more than saw, a blur of scarlet rush past him, and whirling around, he watched as Potter pulled up from a dive with the snitch in hand. Gryffindor had won the match. Severus landed breathing a sigh of relief.
The attacker hadn't tried to do in the boy again. Just as he touched down, Severus looked up to see Quirrell moving away from the stadium, towards the Forbidden Forest. 'Curious' he thought, normally the jittery Defense teacher wouldn't have left the castle at all, except for Quidditch matches, which he seemed to have a fondness for. As the sun started to set, Severus pulled his hood over his head, and followed the strangely acting Professor into the forest. He had had a suspicion about the Professor ever since Halloween and it was time for some answers…
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Draco Malfoy was studying in the library, readying himself for the end of the year exams, when his four Gryffindor friends entered, Hermione in the lead. He waved them over to his side table, and they all came over, Faykan sitting next to him with Harry on the other side. Ron and Hermione sat across the table from them.
"Hermione, the exams are ages away." Ron was complaining, as Hermione pulled out five color coded study schedules and handed them out to the four boys.
"Ten weeks," she snapped back at the red head, "that's not ages; it's like a second to Nicholas Flamel."
"But," Draco interjected, "we're not over six hundred years old are we?" Faykan let out a small cough masking a snigger that no one noticed as Ron pressed on arguing with Hermione. Draco wondered how the boy was going to pass his classes if he kept procrastinating, and promptly tuned them out as he returned to his Transfiguration book.
Harry had pulled out his Potions book, when he stopped and called out to Hagrid, who was just shuffling towards the exit, clearly hiding something out of sight. He questioned them all if they were still looking for Nicholas Flamel, looking worried, and Hermione verified that they had already figured out who he was 'ages ago'. Ron almost blurted out about the Philosopher's Stone before Hagrid shushed him.
"Don' go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"
"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact," said Harry, "about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy…"
"SHHHH!" said Hagrid holding up a huge finger. "Listen, come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh"
"See you later, then," said Harry and Hagrid shuffled off.
"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully. Ron then dashed off to the section Hagrid had come out of and returned seconds later with a pile of dragon books.
"Hagrid told me first day of term that he always wanted a dragon," Faykan said, and he winced slightly as Ron kicked him under the table right when Madam Pince passed by.
An hour later, the five students entered Hagrid's hut and immediately noticed how stiflingly hot it was inside, as all the curtains were closed and a blazing fire was in the grate. Hagrid made tea and they all sat as comfortably as they could as Harry began his questioning about the Stone's defenses. Hagrid told them he didn't know the other defenses other than his three headed dog, but he did tell them the teachers that had made them: Professors Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall, Quirrell, Snape, and Dumbledore himself. Harry then explained that he had seen Snape follow Quirrell into the forest and what he overheard them discussing. Even Draco thought that for Snape that seemed extremely suspicious.
It was about this time that Ron noticed the dragon egg in Hagrid's fire. It was very large, completely black and settled perfecting in the heart of the flames. Hagrid explained how he'd won it off a stranger in a game of cards. Draco found that slightly suspicious, but didn't get to ask about it as Hagrid shepherded then out onto the grounds so he could continue tending his new dragon egg.
Draco had a very bad feeling about the giant man raising a dragon in his wooden house.
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A few weeks later, Hedwig brought Harry a note from Hagrid at breakfast. He had only written two words on it in a quick scrawl: It's hatching. Hermione wouldn't permit the three boys from skiving classes and rushing down to Hagrid's hut immediately, and while Faykan went to inform Draco, Ron argued with her. Harry saw Nott, walking past the Gryffindor table, stop dead as Ron said the word 'dragon'.
"Shut up!" he whispered, tugging at them both. As they made their way down to the greenhouses for Herbology, Faykan catching up with them in the entrance hall, Ron continued to argue the point with Hermione. Harry decided to ignore them both, focusing on the song Faykan was half humming as they walked, trying to figure out if or where he had heard it before.
After the lesson, Hermione finally conceded that they could go during the morning break, and they departed the second the bell had rung, practically running the entire way to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.
"It's nearly out." He said as he ushered them inside.
The egg was lying on the table with deep cracks slowly growing on all its sides. Something was clearly moving inside, struggling to escape, making odd clicking noises and the egg chipped and splintered. Draco came bursting in the door just in time to see the egg before, with a loud scraping noise it split open, revealing the baby dragon within. Harry thought that, for a dragon, it looked more like a crumpled black umbrella, with its huge spiny wings dwarfing its skinny jet body. The dragon was sneezing slightly, shooting sparks out of its snout with every one.
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured as he reached a hand out to stroke the dragon's tiny head. It reacted by snapping at his fingers, showing off its pointed fangs.
As Hagrid continued to praise and coddle the baby dragon, Harry shot Hermione and Faykan a worried look. "Hagrid," Hermione said, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"
Hagrid turned to answer, but as he looked at Hermione the color drained from his face suddenly and he leapt to the feet and ran to the window.
"What's the matter?" Ron said watching him with wide eyes.
"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains… It's a kid; he's runnin' back up ter the school." Hagrid answered
Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him. Nott had seen the dragon.
The next week consisted of Harry, Ron, Faykan, Hermione and Draco pleading with Hagrid to let the dragon go, which he had named Norbert. They had no luck until Faykan remembered about Ron's brother Charlie and Hagrid finally agreed to send him a letter asking him to take Norbert to Romania. They received his answer the next Wednesday via Hedwig:
Dear Ron,
How are you? Thanks for the letter, I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon.
Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark.
Send me an answer as soon as possible.
Love,
Charlie
There was only one hitch in the plan; Ron had been bitten by Norbert while helping Hagrid feed the now not-so-small baby dragon, and the wound swelled overnight, sending Ron to the hospital wing. What was worse was that while Ron was trapped in the hospital wing, Nott came in to taunt him, and took Ron's book where he had hidden the letter from Charlie, meaning that he now knew when and where they were going to deposit Norbert.
"Well, it's too late to change the plan now," Harry said when they realized this terrible news, "and besides, we have the invisibility cloak, Nott doesn't know about that."
So it was decided. Saturday night, Harry, Hermione and Faykan walked down to Hagrid's hut under the invisibility cloak, and collected Norbert, whom Hagrid had fussed over giving him things to 'comfort' him on his long journey. Harry would have felt sorry for his large friend, if not for worry about what they had to do. Luckily it was a very dark, cloudy night so anyone looking out of the castle would have had a hard time seeing them. After they got the dragon, which was mercifully in a crate, they left back for the castle, and Faykan transformed into his animagus form to scout the route ahead for signs of teachers or Filch, while Harry and Hermione carried the crate up staircase after staircase to the astronomy tower. When they were about two thirds of the way there, Harry and Hermione saw Faykan stop, ears twitching as he listened ahead of them. They crept slowly forward and were delighted when they saw Professor McGonagall, in a tartan bathrobe and a hair net, pulling Nott by the ear.
"Detention!" she shouted. "And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how dare you…"
"You don't understand, Professor. Harry Potter's coming, he's got a dragon!"
"What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on. I shall see Professor Snape about you, Nott!"
The three Gryffindors finally reached the top of the astronomy tower and breathed a collective sigh. They only waited about ten minutes, chatting happily about Nott's punishment until Charlie's friends arrived to take Norbert away. Harry and Hermione shook hand with the others while Faykan just gave them all a nod of recognition. And at last Norbert the dragon disappeared over the clouds and out of their lives.
All three slipped back down the spiral staircase, hearts light as their hands, until they came to the bottom of the stairs to find Professor McGonagall stride out of the darkness. They had been so happy about Norbert leaving that Harry and Hermione forgot to put the invisibility cloak back on and Faykan had forgotten to change into a fox.
"Good Evening," she said her mouth the thinnest line Harry had ever seen.
The three Gryffindors followed her in silence to her office, where she finally sat down and addressed them, "Nothing, I repeat, nothing, gives a student the right to walk about the school at night." Harry could tell beneath her well controlled face she was bubbling with rage. She continued telling them what she thought they were up to, feeding Nott with a lie to get him in trouble. She finally ruled their sentence. "All three of you will receive detention, and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor."
"Fifty?" Harry gasped; they had just lost the lead for the House cup, the lead he had won in Quidditch.
"Fifty, each," Professor McGonagall continued, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose.
"Professor, please"
"You can't…"
"Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students."
Harry was devastated, one hundred and fifty points lost in one night, putting Gryffindor in last place. How could they ever make up for this?
The next day went by painfully slow, the story spreading like wildfire: Harry Potter, the famous Harry Potter, hero of two Quidditch matches, had lost all those points, him and a pair of stupid first years.
Harry was suddenly the most hated student in Hogwarts. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on him, because everyone had been longing to see Slytherin lose the house cup. Everywhere Harry went, people pointed and didn't trouble to lower their voices as they insulted him. Slytherins, on the other hand, clapped as he walked past them, whistling and cheering, "Thanks Potter, we owe you one!"
Harry promised himself that he was done poking his nose in other people business, and he poured himself into studying for his exams and trying to put what had happened behind him. Even when he thought he heard Snape threatening Quirrell in an empty classroom, he refused to allow Hermione or Ron talk him into investigating more.
The following morning, notes were delivered to Harry, Hermione and Faykan at the breakfast table. They were all the same:
Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight. Meet Mr. Filch in the entrance hall.
Professor McGonagall
Harry half expected that Hermione would complain about that this was a whole night of studying lost, but it seemed that she, like Harry, felt they deserved what they'd got.
At the prearranged time the three Gryffindors said goodbye to Ron and went down to the entrance hall, to find Filch and Nott. Harry hadn't thought about Nott since they were caught the night before, but remembered that he had also gotten a detention.
"Follow me," Filch said with a sneer, lighting a lamp and leading them outside.
As they walked out onto the ground Filch taunted them about breaking rules and about his beloved chains that he used to hang student up by various limbs in his office, Harry presumed that Filch was delighted by the severity of their punishment.
The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness. Ahead, Harry could see the lighted windows of Hagrid's hut. Then they heard a distant shout.
"Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started."
Harry's heart rose slightly; if they were going to be working with Hagrid it wouldn't be as bad. His relief must have showed in his face, because Filch said, "I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy, it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece." He sneered at this, and Faykan put a hand on Harry should to reassure him of their safety
Nott had stopped dead however. "The forest?" he repeated, sounding panicky, "We can go in there at night, there's all sorts of thing in there… like, werewolves,"
"That's your problem, isn't it?" said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. "Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?"
Hagrid showed up then, and after a few words with Filch, who said he'd return in an hour for the students, he sent the caretaker back up to the castle. After Filch had gone, Nott turned to Hagrid, starting to shake visibly in fear refusing to go into the forest and complaining that his father would hear about his mistreatment. Hagrid simply said that if Nott thought his father would rather want him expelled, he could go back to the castle and pack immediately. Nott finally backed down at that.
"Right then," said Hagrid, "now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight, an' I don' want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment."
Hagrid lead the four students to the very edge of the forest, and holding up his lamp, he pointed down a winding narrow track that disappeared into the thick black trees.
"Look there," Hagrid said pointing at a pool of silvery liquid. "That's unicorn blood. I found one dead last Wednesday, this ones been hurt bad by somthin'. We're gonna try and find the poor beast." Hagrid continued to explain that they would be splitting up, setting Faykan to go with Harry and Fang, while he would take Nott and Hermione. They were instructed to send up green sparks if they found the unicorn, red if they encountered trouble.
So Harry and Faykan set out with Fang into the heart of the forest. They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest until they lost the path because the trees had become too thick to follow it. Harry thought the blood splotches they were finding intermittently seemed to be getting thicker as they went. Faykan pointed out a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak tree.
"Look…" he whispered in Harry's ear.
Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.
It was the body of the unicorn, dead. Harry had never seen anything so beautiful or so sad. He stepped toward it, but stopped suddenly when a slithering sound came from the far side of the clearing. A bush on the far edge quivered, and out of the shadows came a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Harry, Faykan and Fang stood transfixed, as the cloaked figure reached the unicorn, lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink its blood.
"What is it," Harry whispered to Faykan, trying to be a quiet as possible, but even that was too much. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry, while unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Harry, and he couldn't move for fear.
Then a pain like he'd never felt before pierced his head; it was as though his scar were on fire. Half blinded, he staggered backward. Barley, he could see Faykan standing between him and the cloaked figure, wand in his hand, and his whole body shone with light, "auta me'urra amin naia"[1] he bellowed, lowering his wand to point at the advancing figure. Bright blue white lightning blasted from the tip of his wand, and arced over the air toward the figure, who conjured a shield of darkness that absorbed the blast of electricity. The figure then turned and fled, rising into the sky and vanishing past the tops of the trees.
"Harry, are you alright," Faykan said as he pulled up his friend. Shaking his head, dispelling the dizziness and pain, Harry stood, touching his throbbing scar gingerly "Yes, thanks Fay. What was that?"
"Whatever it was, it was a horrid creature. Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a terrible crime. The blood of a unicorn will keep you alive, even if you are an inch from death, but at a most terrible price. You would have slain something pure to save yourself, and you will have a cursed life from the very moment the blood touches your lips." Faykan explained, but that only spawned more questions for Harry.
"Who would choose such a life?"
"Perhaps someone who only needs to stay alive long enough to drink something that would restore him to full power, something that would mean he could never die."
"The Philosopher's Stone…" Harry said quietly, "Of course the Elixir of Life! But, who."
"Can't you think of anyone Harry, anyone at all who could have been waiting so many years to return to power, clinging to life and awaiting their chance?" Faykan questioned, looking directly into Harry's eyes.
Realization finally dawned on Harry, "You mean that thing that killed the unicorn, which was drinking its blood. That was Voldemort?"
"I can think of no other," Faykan said flatly, then raised his wand and shot emerald green sparks into the air.
They waited in silence for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts, until Hagrid arrived with Hermione and Nott.
"Harry! Fay! Are you both alright?"
"We're fine Hermione." Faykan said, while Harry stood slightly dazed from the past experience. "The unicorn is dead Hagrid; it's in that clearing back there."
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Ron was asleep when the other three Gryffindor first years arrived back in the common room. Harry shook him awake, and he and Faykan told them both about what they had witnessed and worked out in the forest. Harry refused to sit, and paced in front of the fire while Faykan stared out a window.
"Snape wants the stone for Voldemort... and Voldemort's waiting in the forest... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich..."
Ron moaned when Harry said Voldemort's name, but he wasn't listening. Faykan brought up the fact that as long as Dumbledore was around, Harry was sure to be safe, as the Headmaster was the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared, however Harry could hear a tint of sarcasm in Faykan's voice as he said it.
"Stop saying his name." Ron moaned again and Faykan turned to him, "VOLDEMORT!" he cried in Ron's face, who paled and fell out of his chair. Faykan glared down at him. "Stop telling people to be afraid of him; I will say his name, for it is just a name. He is just a man, nothing more…" Ron whimpered slightly, but remained silent from then on.
Harry finally posed that they really needed to get to bed, and they all went up to their respective dormitories. Harry was so exhausted he dropped right to sleep the minute his head hit the pillow.
[1]auta me'urra amin naia : come lightning I command