Chapter Ten
"Have you tried using it yet? Your magic?" Madison questioned the next morning, Christmas eve, sitting in a chair next to Theo's hospital wing bed. He shook his head.
"Not yet. Pomfrey wants me to rest first, she said I can try to use it tonight, under her supervision." Theo let out a heavy sigh. "I do feel stronger," he admitted. "Stronger than I have since we got here."
"That's good then, isn't it?" she asked.
Theo shrugged. "I guess. Hey, maybe now Malfoy will leave me alone."
"Doubtful," Madison said with a snort, pulling her thick hair into a ponytail. "He doesn't seem the type. Look what he's done – did?" She hesitated. "I guess we can't judge him on that Malfoy, can we?"
Theo opened his mouth to answer as Madame Pomfrey came out of her office. "Mr. Nott, are you ready to try using magic?" she asked him. A look of horror appeared on Theo's face.
"But- You said not until this evening," he protested, looking to Madison for assistance.
"Yes, I am aware of this," Pomfrey said, raising her eyebrows. "But let's just try a simple one, yes? Wingardium Leviosa." She passed Theo his wand and stood back, expectantly.
Madison took Theo's hand. "You can do it," she whispered encouragingly. "It's a first year spell, it's nothing."
He took a deep breath, his hand shaking as he raised his wand. "Wingardium leviosa." The spell came out in a squeak, but the vase sitting on his nightstand rose, knocking gently into the ceiling. Theo stared at it in amazement, a grin slowly spreading across his face. "It worked," he breathed, not taking his eyes off the vase. "I – it worked!"
"Yes, wonderful, Mr. Nott. Now if you could please put my vase down so you don't break it?" Theo and Madison exchanged a glance and burst into laughter, the vase slowly coming to rest back on the nightstand. "I will go let Professor Dumbledore know."
When she was gone, Madison gave Theo a huge hug. "It worked!" She exclaimed. "Your magic is back!"
Theo was still grinning as she pulled away. "I didn't think it would work," he confessed. "I thought I'd never have my magic back!"
Theo was in the hospital wing throughout Christmas, leaving the Gryffindor common room quite lonely. Ron and Harry were friendly with Madison, but she was closer to Hermione then she was to them, and there was no excuse during the holidays for Madison and Percy to hang out, as they'd told everyone he was helping her with schoolwork, and there was no schoolwork during the holidays.
She spent as much time as she could in the hospital wing with Theo, who had told Harry and Ron Madame Pomfrey was helping him strengthen up – that winter always made him ill. But Pomfrey would only allow her to stay an hour or two a day, so most of her time was spent in the room of requirement, researching horcruxes. She and Theo never spoke of what she'd told him before he went through with the ritual.
With Theo's magical problem solved they could move to concentrate on the reason they'd time travelled in the first place. You-know-who. In Madison's opinion, they should just kill Quirrell and get it over with, but Percy had said that if they did that, there was no telling what the dark lord would do next. In Theo's opinion, he'd just kill them all.
They knew where the horcruxes were, for the most part. Hufflepuff's cup was in Gringotts and was virtually impossible to get to. They needed a serious plan for that. Tom Riddle's diary was in the hands of Lucius Malfoy, and would soon find its own way to Ginny Weasley and by extension harry Potter, who would destroy it. Slytherin's locket was also in a place they couldn't get to – Grimmauld Place, under the care of the house elf Kreacher. They'd planned to get Sirius freed and convince him to let them search the Black Manor. With any luck, there wouldn't be any problems. The diadem was here. In fact, Madison knew it was in the very room she was in, yet a different one. She wasn't sure exactly how the Room of Requirement worked.
It was the Gaunt ring that left them puzzled. Dumbledore had never said, apparently, where he'd found it the first time around, but he had found it originally. The group didn't know whether to search for themselves or to have the old man search.
And Nagini, you-know-who's snake. None of them knew when she became a horcrux, perhaps sometime after his return, but they couldn't risk it. They'd have to tell Harry to kill it as soon as he could.
Harry. It was here they'd reached a serious problem. Should they do what Dumbledore had done the first time around, and let you-know-who kill Harry, with one of them nearby to kill him before he could kill Harry for good? They'd been researching ways to remove the dark lord's soul from the objects without damaging them, for this was surely the only way to prevent what happened the last time around.
Frustrated, she threw the book at the wall and dropped her head into her hands. She hated being alone. She wished she'd just gone home to spend Christmas with her father. He at least wouldn't have left her by herself for so long, giving her time to think and to remember.
Madison hated to remember. When she allowed herself to remember over the last few months, she kept getting sucked into the memories of death and destruction that had been her world until being thrown back to this time of –
Well, it wasn't peace, exactly. There was still fighting going on, it was just behind the scenes, between a select few people. The rest of the world had no idea.
It was late, Madison realized, looking over at the clock. She gathered her school books and started towards the door, only to see Dumbledore standing there. "Professor," she said in shock. "I didn't hear you come in."
"Sorry to have startled you, Miss Reyes. I had wondered if you wanted to take a walk with me?"
Madison raised her eyebrows. "Uh. Sure." She shoved her books in her bag and followed the headmaster out to the grounds. "Sir, what's this about?"
"Would you like to meet Nicholas Flamel?" Madison stared at him. "We are good friends, you know, and I thought maybe he could be some help in the search for – well, what you and your friends are searching for."
"Are you serious, sir?" Madison couldn't help but continue to stare.
"He will be leaving us by the end of the year, so it's now, or never, as they say."
"Oh," Madison said quietly as they reached the edge of the grounds and the apparition point.
"I assume you've done side along apparation before?" Dumbledore asked her, and she nodded, thinking back to the days she and Theo had spent apparating from place to place together, sometimes with her leading, sometimes with him. "We are going to be going to London, Nicholas and Perry have their home there this century."
"Perry?" Madison questioned, but then remembered Nicholas Flamel's wife was named Perenell, and figured 'Perry' must be a nickname. "Oh." She took his arm and they vanished, Madison briefly wondering if she should have told Theo or Percy she was leaving before the sight of the castle vanished and she was staring at a small home with smoke billowing from the chimney. "Flamel lives here?" She asked Dumbledore, who gave her a short nod before reaching out and knocking on the door.
"One moment!" A male voice shouted from inside. Then the door swung open, and Madison blinked in surprise.
She'd never thought about Nicholas Flamel would look like, but she'd expected him to look old, much older than Dumbledore, but the two looked as if they were the same age, give or take ten years.
"Albus!" He pulled the headmaster into a hug, then saw Madison standing nervously beside him. "And this is?"
"I'm Madison Reyes, Mr. Flamel," Madison didn't wait for Dumbledore to introduce her, and held her hand out. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
"It's Nicholas, please! I've heard about you. Come in, come in." He waved his hands towards the door, going in the house himself. "Perry! The time traveler girl is here with Albus!"
Madison followed Dumbledore in, closing the door quietly behind her. The house was small, cozy, nothing like what she would have expected a world renowned alchemist to be living in. A woman came through a door, wiping her hands on an apron. She too, looked younger than Madison would have expected her to, and she looked even younger when she broke out into a smile.
"Albus!" she exclaimed in a heavy French accent. "What brings you here? And ah, you brought the girl! Is this about our future?"
"Not exactly," Madison stated, looking over at Dumbledore for assistance. The headmaster wasn't paying her any attention, though, he'd gotten lost already in a conversation with Nicholas. Madison smiled at Perenelle nervously. "I ah. We actually came here for your advice, really."
This gained both of their attention, and they all moved into the living room, taking seats on the separate couches. "What do you need our advice for, Madison?" Nicholas asked her, folding his hands together, much like she was used to seeing Dumbledore do.
"Well-" She shot a look at Dumbledore, who seemed willing to let her do all the speaking. "It's about the dark lord, actually. Vol-Voldemort." It was the first time she'd spoken his name, and she flinched, looking around the room in a slight panic before calming herself down. Thankfully, none of the older people in the room commented on this, they simply waited for her to continue. And so she explained about Voldemort, his horcruxes, and Harry Potter. She told the Flamels about the future – not mentioning they would be dead by this time the next year – and how the wizarding world had gotten everything wrong. When she finished, Nicholas and Perenelle were holding hands, looking at each other.
"I've heard of horcruxes," Nicholas said finally, tearing his eyes from his wife to look at Madison. "Many wizards have created them in the past, but most then go into hiding, so people would not discover their secret. I was unaware Voldemort had them, and you said he created seven?"
"Accidentally," Madison said. "I don't think Harry was meant to be one." She saw Dumbledore nodding on her other side, and she looked over at him.
"I have a theory behind that, actually," the headmaster said. "He had already created, what, five horcruxes by this time?" Madison nodded.
"We believe so," she said. "At least five anyway, perhaps six."
"My theory is his soul was so torn, so weak, that the killing curse rebounding on him was enough to tear a sliver off, and that sliver, looking for its original host, attached itself to the only living thing in the room. Harry."
"As interesting as this is, what is it you need from myself and my wife?" Nicholas questioned, a twinkle in his eye that Madison had always associated with Dumbledore. The two men were very similar, she was noticing.
"We want to find a way to destroy the pieces of Vol - of his soul without destroying the vessels they're contained in," Madison explained. Nicholas looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Aha!" He said suddenly, standing up. "I will be right back." Madison watched him go, nervously tapping her foot on the carpet floor.
"Would you like some tea?" Perenelle asked them, standing as well. Dumbledore nodded, and Perenelle glanced at Madison, but she shook her head.
"No, but thank you for the offer," she said politely. The older woman gave her a short nod, then headed out of the room too. "Professor, don't you think we should have told Theo or Percy before leaving the castle?"
"Mr. Nott and Mr. Weasley will be just fine. You can explain to them where we went when we return," Dumbledore said as Nicholas re-entered, carrying a yellowed rolled up parchment. Madison sat up straight, looking at it with curiosity.
"This is information given to us by Grindelwald." At his name, Dumbledore gave a start, looking at Nicholas with an expression Madison couldn't place. "He decided it would be safe with my wife and I. It details… Well, it isn't exactly what you're looking for. It's more information about Horcruxes themselves. Here." He held it out to Madison and she took it, unrolling it and staring at the spiked writing.
She let in a sharp breath, looking up at Nicholas in horror. "This is the ritual to create a horcrux," she said in a hushed voice. "Why do… why do you have this?"
"Like I said, it was given to us by Grindelwald for safe keeping," Nicholas stated.
"I can't – Here." She passed it back to him. "I can't have that in my possession. What if someone got ahold of it? It won't help us, so just… you keep it hidden." She stood up. "Professor, I think it's time to go back to the castle."