Chapter 13: Who is Nicolas Flamel?
I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter
The next morning, Daisuke, Harry and Ron sat in the Great Hall for breakfast, Jun and the other Weasleys nearby in quiet conversation. "How about we play some chess?" Ron asked Harry, the other boy looking glum as he stared down at his food.
"No."
"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid? He must be lonely down there in his hut." Daisuke said with a smile.
"No, you two can go." Harry replied and his friends both shared a concerned look.
"I know what you're thinking mate. Don't go back tonight, that mirror isn't worth it." Ron told him.
"Why not?" Harry asked with a frown, he wanted to see his family again and with the Invisibility Cloak nobody would know he was out of bed.
Ron shrugged. "I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about it. And it doesn't matter if you're under the cloak, what if Snape, Filch or Mrs Norris bumps into you, or what if you knock something over?"
"You're starting to sound like Hermione." Harry replied.
"We're serious Harry, don't go back tonight." Daisuke said with a pleading look, gripping her friend's hand tightly hoping he would see reason.
But Harry's mind was filled with only one goal, to see his family again in the mirror and neither Daisuke nor Ron were going to stop him.
That night, once he was sure everyone was asleep, he put on his Invisibility Cloak and left Gryffindor Tower. He rushed through the corridors of the castle, making more noise than he knew was safe, but he didn't run into anyone along the way. He pushed open the door to the room and headed for the mirror.
He took off his cloak and there, standing before him once again were his mother and father along with one of his grandfathers, all three smiling at him and he smiled back. Slowly, he sat down on the floor in front of the mirror, pulling his knees to his chest, he just stared at his family.
He felt like he could stay there all night with his family, nothing was going to stop him. Except for…
"So, back again Harry?" a gentle voice from behind asked him. He went rigid and felt his blood turn to ice, slowly he turned his head and there, standing behind him, hands clasped in front of him was Albus Dumbledore.
"I…I didn't see you there…Professor." He stuttered out nervously.
"Indeed. Remarkable, how short sighted being invisible can make oneself." The Headmaster replied with a small smile. The smile put Harry at ease as the older wizard approached and Harry stood up. "I see that you like hundreds before you have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."
"I didn't know it was called that…" Harry said, glancing at the mirror again.
"But by now, I suppose you know what it does." Dumbledore said. Harry looked at him and blinked. "Let me give you a hint. The happiest man on Earth would stand before the mirror and see only himself, exactly as he is."
Harry stared at the mirror and then said slowly. "It shows us what we want…whatever we want."
Dumbledore nodded. "Yes…and no. The mirror shows us nothing more or less than the deepest and most desperate desire of our hearts. Like you Harry, who have never known your family. You see them standing beside you. Just like how with Ron who has always been overshadowed by his older brothers, he saw himself standing alone the best of all of them."
"How did you know?" Harry asked him.
Dumbledore smiled and chuckled. "I don't need a cloak to become invisible." He answered him.
"But what about Daisuke sir? She said she saw people that she didn't recognise standing behind her friends and family." Harry said.
"Even I do not hold all the answers." Dumbledore said softly. "And remember this, Harry. This mirror offers us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad." He warned gently.
Harry gulped and nodded. "That is why, tomorrow it will be taken to a new home. And I must ask you, not to go looking for it again. It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
"Yes sir." Harry said softly.
"Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and head off to bed." Dumbledore told him with a smile.
Harry nodded and began to put the cloak back over his body before he paused. "Um sir…can I ask you a question?"
"Of course. You've just done so, but I will allow you to ask another." Dumbledore answered with a smile.
"What do you see when you look in the mirror?" Harry asked curiously.
Dumbledore looked into the mirror for a moment, his face truly showing its age and his eyes grew heavy at what he saw, but Harry didn't notice that. "I see myself holding a new pair of thick wool socks."
"Socks?" Harry asked, staring at him in surprise.
"One can never have enough socks. And yet people always tend to give me books for Christmas." The headmaster said with a chuckle.
"Goodnight Professor." Harry said softly, putting the cloak over his body and he left the room and headed back to Gryffindor Tower thinking over the words of wisdom that Dumbledore had given him.
For the rest of the Christmas break, the Invisibility Cloak remained at the bottom of Harry's trunk. He never went looking for the mirror again once it had been moved, something which Daisuke and Ron were thankful for.
Though both became worried when Harry told them he had been having nightmares, of a sickly green light and a high-pitched voice cackling.
When Hermione returned the day before term started, she had a different reaction to what had happened. On one hand, she had been horrified at the thought of Harry being out of bed, even with the Invisibility Cloak. Yet she was also frustrated that they still hadn't been able to find anything out about Nicolas Flamel.
Soon, term had started back up again. With all the lessons, the four friends were back to skimming through library books during their breaks. Harry had less time to do so on account of all the Quidditch practice Oliver Wood had been putting he and the others through.
One evening after training, Harry trudged into the Gryffindor Common Room and walked over to Daisuke, Ron and Hermione who were playing chess. Daisuke holding her head in her hands as Ron won yet another game between the two of them, the Weasley grinning cheekily at her as Demi-Veemon slumped in Hermione's arms as she watched them.
"Want to go again?" Ron asked Daisuke before he noticed Harry's worried expression. "Harry, you alright mate? How was practice?"
Harry gulped and leaned in so he could speak to them quietly. "Snape…he's been made the referee for our Quidditch match against Hufflepuff."
"What!?" the three humans and Digimon whispered loudly in shock.
Harry nodded glumly and sighed. "Say you're ill, that you can't play." Daisuke told him.
"Pretend you broke your leg." Hermione spoke up.
"Really break your leg." Ron piped up making the others give him a glare.
"I can't. For one, Madam Pomfrey will know I'm lying, and she could fix my leg in a second. And if I back out the others can't win the game. Without a Seeker they'd be playing a man down." Harry told them.
Their conversation came to an end when a soft yelp came from the portrait hole, they turned and saw Neville laying on the floor, the poor boy sniffling with tears in his eyes. Daisuke got up and rushed over to help him to his feet, she and the others noticed why he was laying on the floor, his legs had been locked together by the effects of the Leg Locker Curse.
"Jun!" she called for her cousin who walked over quickly and easily cast the counter curse and Neville's legs sprang apart.
"What happened?" Jun asked the young boy, helping him over to a chair to sit down as he sniffled some more.
"Malfoy…h…he caught me outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to test it on." He answered and both girls frowned.
"That jerk." Daisuke grumbled. "You need to report him to Professor McGonagall, you can't let him get away with this!" she urged him.
"I don't want any more trouble." Neville sniffled as Jun rubbed his back gently. Ron, Hermione, Harry and Demi-Veemon made their way over to him.
"You've got to stand up to him Neville. Malfoy is used to walking over people, that's no excuse to lie down and make it easier for him." Ron told the boy.
"There's no point in telling me I'm not brave enough to be In Gryffindor. Malfoy has already proved that." Neville choked out, wiping tears from his eyes.
Harry pulled out a chocolate frog from his robes and handed it to Neville. "You're worth twelve of Malfoy. The Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor for a reason, and where is Malfoy? In slimy Slytherin." He told the boy with an encouraging smile.
Neville's lips twitched into a small smile. "Th…thanks Harry. I think I'll go to bed now." he said, unwrapping the treat and taking a bite. "Oh, do you want the card, I know you collect them."
Harry nodded and took the card from Neville as the young boy headed up to the boy's dorm. "That was a nice thing you did for him, Harry." Jun said softly and the boy nodded. "And don't worry, leave Malfoy to me. I'll have a word with Professor McGonagall. The one thing I will never accept is bullying." She said sternly before she walked out through the portrait hole.
Harry looked at the card in his hand and sighed. "Dumbledore again." He groaned, flipping the card around and his eyes widened when he read the text on the back. "I've found him! I've found Flamel!" he whispered.
"What?" Daisuke asked, taking the card, and reading the text herself. "Professor 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." She read aloud and Hermione jumped up with a bright smile.
She sprinted up the stairs to the girl's dormitory leaving her friends to share a bewildered expression before she ran back down the stairs with an enormous book in her arms. "I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading." She told them, setting the book down on the table.
"Light!?" Ron asked, glancing at the book with a raised eyebrow. Hermione ignored him as she opened the book and flipped through the pages until she found the page she had been looking for, she traced her finger over the words before she smiled.
"Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone." She whispered dramatically.
"What?" Harry and Ron asked in sync, the desired effect Hermione had been hoping for not happening and she huffed.
"Honestly, don't you two read?" She asked snarkily.
Daisuke leaned over the girl's shoulder and continued to read. "The ancient study of Alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold, it will also produce the Elixir of Life which will make the drinker immortal."
"That means you never die right?" Ron asked and Daisuke nodded with a smile before she continued reading.
"There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone throughout the centuries. But the only one currently in existence belongs to Mr Nicolas Flamel the noted Alchemist and opera lover. Mr Flamel who celebrated his 665th birthday last year enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife Perenelle who is aged 658."
"That's what Fluffy is guarding. I bet he asked Dumbledore to look after it, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it." Hermione said.
The other three shared a concerned look. "No wonder Snape wants it then; I mean anyone would want a stone that makes someone immortal and turns stuff into gold." Ron muttered.
Eventually, the time had come for the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Daisuke, Ron, Hermione and Demi-Veemon bid Harry good luck outside the changing rooms before he walked inside, his friends all feeling worried that they might not see their friend again.
They soon were in the stands, next to Neville who was confused at why his friends looked so worried and why they had brought their wands to the match. Little did anyone know, but Daisuke, Ron and Hermione had secretly been practising the Leg Locker Curse. Just in case Snape showed any signs of wanting to hurt Harry.
The two teams were soon making their way out onto the pitch, the entire school seemed to be filling the stands. Harry gulped nervously before he caught sight of Dumbledore sitting with the other staff members, there was no mistaking the silvery beard of the headmaster. His stomach did a somersault, and he could have burst out laughing in relief, there was no way Snape would dare try to harm him during the match now.
Snape did indeed look furious as he waited for the teams, Harry spotted Cedric leading his team onto the pitch and the older boy flashed Harry a small smile which Harry returned.
Ron, Hermione, and Daisuke watched tensely as the players and Snape all flew into their air as the match began. "Ow!" Daisuke yelped, feeling someone tugging at her hair.
"Oops, sorry didn't see you there." It was Malfoy, the Slytherin sitting behind them with Crabbe and Goyle either side, the two dunderheads chuckling dumbly.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked, not taking his eyes of Snape as he awarded a penalty to Hufflepuff when Fred hit a Bludger at him
"Oh, just wondering how long Potter will stay on his broom this time. Does anyone want to take a bet? If you want Weasley I can lend you some money since you don't have any yourself." Malfoy snidely said with a smirk.
Ron went red in the face but bit his tongue and kept his eyes on the match, Hermione squinted watching Harry as he flew around searching for the Snitch, Cedric flying close behind the younger and faster Seeker.
"You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?" Malfoy spoke up again.
"Shut up Malfoy." Daisuke said with a frown, but Malfoy continued.
"It's people they feel sorry for. I mean they have Potter on the team, and he's got no parents. Then there are the Weasley twins who've got no money. You might as well join the team next Longbottom; you've got no brains."
Neville turned to face him with a bright red face. "I'm worth twelve of you Malfoy!" he shouted and Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle burst out laughing.
"You tell him Neville." Ron said, still not looking away from the match.
"Longbottom if brains were gold, you'd be poorer than Weasley and that's saying something." Malfoy said as Harry dived towards the ground right in front of them. "Oh, look at that, Potter's probably spotted some gold on the ground for you Weasley." He cruelly said before a blue blur shot off Daisuke's lap and slammed into the boy's face, biting down on his nose hard.
"Demi-Veemon!" Daisuke gasped, jumping to her feet as Malfoy fell off his seat squealing in pain as the Digimon chewed on his nose. Crabbe and Goyle tried to help but only ended up tripping over Ron's foot which he held out to trip them, as this was all going on Harry continued his spectacular dive, the entire crowd on edge as Cedric tried to catch up to the boy.
Suddenly, he pulled out of the dive, a blur of scarlet almost knocking Snape off his broom as Harry held his arm up in triumph, the Snitch firmly grasped in his hand.
The stands erupted with cheers, nobody could remember the game ending so quickly, it had barely lasted five minutes. Harry jumped off his broom a foot off the ground and landed, the other members of the team landing and lifting him up high cheering loudly as Gryffindors poured out of the stands to join the celebration.
Snape himself landed away from all this, white faced and tight-lipped. He spat in disgust as Harry was set down and gave the man a small smirk and friendly wave.
Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see it was Cedric, the older boy grinning and holding his hand out to him. "Great catch Harry." He congratulated and Harry smiled, his cheeks a light pink as he shook the boy's hand.
Dumbledore could be seen through the crowd and once Harry saw him, he nodded with a gentle smile as the Gryffindors continued celebrating.
Later, when the rest of Gryffindor house had gone up to celebrate further in the castle, Harry walked down to the broom shed with his Nimbus 2000. He leaned against the shed and looked back up at Hogwarts, the grand castle's windows glowing orange in the setting sun. "Gryffindor in the lead…take that Snape." He thought with a smile.
Speaking of Snape, Harry spotted a cloaked figure leaving the front of the castle wearing a hooded robe to hide their face, but there was no mistaking that prowling walk. It was Snape, heading for the Forbidden Forest while everyone else was in the castle.
He mounted his broom and flew off quickly, following him from above into the forest. He weaved through the tall trees, flying lower and lower until he was perched on a branch of a tall beech tree. He looked through the leaves and saw Snape and Quirrell down below in a shadowy clearing.
He did his best to listen in to the conversation, but all he could hear was Snape asking Quirrell if he had found a way to get past Fluffy yet, also he was reiterating the threats he had said to Quirrell that night Harry had been testing out the Invisibility Cloak.
An owl hooted loudly, Harry had almost fallen out of the tree because of it, by the time he steadied himself Snape had left and Quirrell was all alone shaking like a leaf.
There was nothing more he could learn that night. So, he quickly flew off, put his broom in the shed and rushed up to the castle and found Daisuke, Ron, Hermione and Demi-Veemon waiting for him. "Where have you been, it's almost dark out." Daisuke told him worried.
"Everyone's having a party up in Gryffindor Tower, Fred and George stole a bunch of cakes from the kitchens." Ron said with a bright smile.
"Never mind that now." Harry hissed quietly. "Follow me, you won't believe what I just heard." the four hurried off to an empty room, thankfully Peeves wasn't inside.
"So, what's this all about then?" Hermione asked as she shut the door behind them.
Harry told them what he had seen and heard. "We were right. Snape is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone and he is forcing Quirrell to help him get past Fluffy. I bet there are other things protecting the stone too, spells, enchantments, Quirrell probably had something to do with Anti-Dark Magic that Snape needs to get through."
"So, the stone is only safe as long as Quirrell doesn't break?" Hermione gasped.
"It'll be gone by next Tuesday then." Ron said with a sigh.
"We don't know that." Daisuke said.
"We'll need to be ready then, to stop Snape before he can steal it." Harry added and his friends nodded in agreement before they left the room and headed up to the party in Gryffindor Tower.
The end of the chapter
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