Disclaimer: I own nothing

Also, sorry for the delay. I had a death in the family, and just haven't been up to writing, but I hope you like this! School is starting back, so hopefully I can keep to once a week, but I'll apologize in advance if I can't keep that commitment. Enjoy!

Chapter 12: Nicolas Flamel?

Hermione continued to spend the majority of her free time with Ron and Harry, and they began to research "Nicolas Flamel" with fervor. Seeing as she had spent more time in the Hogwarts library than either of the other two had spent in any library, Ron and Harry looked to Hermione to lead them through the research in order to discover this person. Harry was adamant that he had read that name somewhere, but could not remember where, when, or in what context, so it was not much use to them. Given that all they knew about Flamel was that he was (most likely) famous for something in wizardry, most of the library references had the possibility to be useful.

Hermione began to grab books from many shelves and stacked them on a table as Ron and Harry watched with big eyes. The table was full of books before she settled down and picked up Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century and began to read. She glanced up at the boys who continued to simply stare at her.

"Well, just pick one and read it! We don't know anything about this wizard, but I picked books relevant to the recent achievements in wizard history; hopefully these will tell us something."

As Hermione went back to reading, Harry and Ron looked at each other and simply each grabbed a book off the top of the stack. Harry settled in with Notable Magical Names of Our Time and Ron began to flip through Important Magical Discoveries. Hermione skimmed through each chapter, looked through references in the back of each book, and continued hoping for just a glimpse of the name, but as time wore on, she became less and less positive about finding out what this Nicolas Flamel did that was so important.

"What if he's in the restricted section?"

Harry and Ron glanced up from their game of Wizard's Chess (a rather barbaric version of the chess that Hermione already knew where the pieces smashed each other when taken) and gave her a questioning look. Hermione sighed – "Flamel – the restricted section of the library – you guys did know that there was a restricted section of only the darkest of dark arts, right?" Hermione shook her head as the two boys shrugged. Honestly, how were they ever going to graduate with this attitude toward their schooling?

"Well, how do we go about getting into this restricted section?" Ron asked her.

Hermione chewed her bottom lip – this was the major problem. "Well, we have to have a signed note from a teacher explaining why we want to look through the section before Madame Pince will let us in."

"So, pretty much, we won't be getting in there? No teacher is going to let first-years into the restricted section to look for a person that we're not supposed to know about, and Madame Pince watches that area like a hawk, so there's no chance of sneaking in." Hermione sighed. She hated to admit it, but Ron was right.

It was the day before Hermione would leave to see her parents for Christmas. She was so excited, that she considered cutting corners on her potion-work; they were making (or in some cases, attempting to make) a cure for warts. However, she persevered and by the end of class, she and Neville had a perfect potion, like always. Hermione had taken to having Neville as a partner when Dean and Seamus had become friends and it helped Neville to be calmer and drop fewer things if he was partnered with Hermione. As they walked out of the cold dungeons, they saw a large fir tree blocking the corridor and Hagrid dragging it behind him. They walked towards him quickly and Ron comically stuck his head through the branches, "Hi Hagrid, want any help?" Hermione giggled to herself – if Hagrid was huffing and puffing to get this large tree up to the Great Hall, how would Ron be of any help? Hagrid, however, looked down kindly at Ron and answered sincerely, "Nah, I'm alright, thanks 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 compared to what your family's used to." Hermione instantly stiffened at the annoying drawl of Draco behind them. Before she could think of a comment, Ron had hurled himself at Draco.

"WEASLEY!" Professor Snape was quickly coming towards them. Ron glared at both Professor Snape and Draco before letting go of the front of Draco's robes. Hagrid began to attempt to explain, but Professor Snape ignored his reasoning and took five points from Gryffindor for the altercation. Ron really did need to learn to control his temper, but she couldn't blame him, either. Draco often boasted about "blood purity", and she wondered if he would ever use that against her. She and Harry dragged Ron away from the group as Hagrid invited them up to see the Great Hall decorated.

Holly and mistletoe were hung all across the walls, Hagrid carried the twelfth Christmas tree to the far corner as Professor Flitwick levitated ornaments onto the trees. Hermione gave a little smirk at the now familiar "swish and flick" motion of the wand. The trees were also decorated with hundreds of magically lit candles and never-thawing icicles. Hagrid looked at them with a smile on his face and asked, "How many days you got left until yer holidays?"

"Just one, and that reminds me – Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library." As Harry and Ron nodded in agreement and started turning, Hagrid looked at them in confusion – "The library? Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?" Hermione was trying to decide what to tell Hagrid, since she thought it was unwise to tell him what they were actually doing when Harry replied for her.

"Oh, we're not working. Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is!" Hermione groaned. Harry looked so pleased with himself, did he think that Hagrid was just going to be so impressed with their work ethic that he would just finish the riddle for them? As Hermione expected, Hagrid was flabbergasted and immediately told them to drop their research. Hermione sighed and tried to clean up Harry's mess, "We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all." Hagrid looked as though he may believe her; after all, he knew how inquisitive and curious a witch she was. Just as he was about to let them leave, Harry again opened his mouth, "Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble? 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…"

Hagrid looked down sternly at them, "I'm saying nothing."

"Just have to find out for ourselves, then" replied Ron, and Hermione hurried them out of the Great Hall before the conversation could continue. As they trudged up to the library, Hermione thought about what she would need to pack after they finished in the library. Professor McGonagall had come up to her the day before to explain that, since she was now being educated at Hogwarts, she was not allowed to do magic outside of school, and had given her a letter to explain this to her parents. Hermione had decided to bring home all her graded homework to show her parents all that she had learned since she would not be able to demonstrate it.

As they reached the library, she pulled out a list of new books and references to look up as Ron aimlessly walked up and down aisles and pulled books at random to look through. When Hermione had questioned this tactic, he simply replied, "If we don't know what we're looking for, there's not harm in looking at anything!" Hermione couldn't exactly disagree with this sentiment, but she continued to try and deduce what would be most useful to look through instead of pointlessly wandering the library. Harry, on the other hand, wandered towards the restricted section. Hermione shook her head – if he thought he was going to sneak in, he was about to be proven wrong as she watched Madame Pince hurry over to him. Resigning herself to continue to study over the holiday, she grabbed a few books to research and one, All About Ancient Alchemy, in order to have some pleasant reading over the break.

She and Ron met Harry outside the library and subtly shook their heads at his questioning eyes. As they walked back to the Great Hall for lunch, Hermione turned towards them and asked, "You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you? And send me an owl if you find anything?" As they nodded their assent, Ron added, "And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is. It'd be safe to ask them."

Hermione smiled at the thought of her parents somehow knowing about a famous, powerful wizard that she hadn't even heard of. "Very safe, as they're both dentists."

Hermione packed her trunk that night – clothes, robes, books, completed homework, her wand, and vials of potions that she had completed correctly were all neatly folded or placed into their proper places. The other girls were also excitedly packing their trunks and talking about what they would be doing over the break. Hermione turned to Parvati and asked, "If I just wanted to leave a gift or two here for friends staying during the break, do you know where I should put it?"

"Just wrap it and make sure the names are spelled correctly on the packaging. One of Padma's friends is staying here for the break as well and that's what she's doing. What did you get for Ron and Harry?"

"A box of chocolate frogs for Harry and a box of Bertie's Beans for Ron – I didn't quite know what they really liked, but I assume that they'll enjoy these regardless." As the girls nodded in agreement, Hermione turned back to packing, excited to see her parents again and hoping that the boys would have luck in finding more about Flamel.