Chapter 14 – Alchemy

The rest of Christmas, Emma spent most of her day time in the common room with Harry and Ron. She was reading her Defence Against the Dark Arts book through again for a third time on the evening Hermione had returned, the day before term.

Harry and Ron had been discussing something when Emma noticed it was about a mirror.

'Wait... mirror?' asked Emma, making them jump. 'You mean that huge gold one near the library?'

'Yes, you found it too?' replied Harry, immediately interested.

'Same night Hermione left for Christmas, yeah.'

'What did it show you?'

'Well,' said Emma, fidgeting and looking nervous, trying to decide what she could safely say. 'My mum.'

'It showed me my parents too.' said Harry, sympathetically. 'Though I've been getting nightmares since then. Have you had any?'

'No. No nightmares.' paused Emma frowning, giving Hermione a pointed look, before turning back to Harry. 'Though it is why I've not been able to get much sleep recently.'

Emma caught a raised eyebrow from Hermione out of the corner of her eye.

'You see, Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad.' said Ron.

'Serves you both right for going out after hours! Three nights in a row, Harry? If Filch had caught you!' nagged Hermione. 'And you didn't find out who Nicolas Flamel is.'

'I tried!' sulked Emma defensively. 'I read every book you told me to. He wasn't in any of them. In fact, I'm beginning to think Hagrid led us on a wild goose chase.'

'I'm sure I've read his name before, somewhere.' said Harry.

'We're just going to have to keep looking then.' said Hermione matter of factly.

They were interrupted then by Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain telling Harry that he's booked the team to start training the next day and so Harry should get an early night.

'So.' said Hermione after Oliver, Harry and Ron had left them. 'Your mother? I know you don't like her, and given what you and Harry have said about the mirror, I know you didn't see her because you wanted to.'

Emma just nodded and grabbed two pieces of parchment out of her bag that she'd drawn some sketches on in her more idle moments.

'That one was from the night you left.' said Emma, answering Hermione before she could say anything.

'The night I left.' repeated Hermione nodding knowingly. 'Your feeding time.'

She turned the first sketch over to show the second.

'I know it's not a very good picture.' said Emma, self consciously, when Hermione giggled at it.

'No, it's very good. It's just that expression on your picture's face. You really don't like your mother, do you?' soothed Hermione, looking at the picture properly. 'She's... like you then? What does that mean?'

'I'm not sure. I guess it means I was born a vampire, though I don't know how that's possible, and it just seems to ask more questions than it answers.'

'We'll just have to keep looking then. At least we have a bit more information to go on.' said Hermione thoughtfully and yawning.

'Sorry,' smiled Emma. 'I'm keeping you up, aren't I?'

'It's alright.' said Hermione getting up.

'Oh, sorry. I... wanted to ask you something else.' remembered Emma, sheepishly, before speed-talking like Hermione does. 'Could I... borrow your Defence Against the Dark Arts notes, please? I'm getting really worried. I don't know anything and this book isn't really helping, and I've read it through twice now, and the garlic...'

Emma trailed off, looking up at Hermione, expecting to be told off. Hermione always nagged the boys about copying and refused to lend them her notes.

'Sure.' said Hermione giggling at Emma's expression and getting her notes out of her bag. 'But only because you've got a good reason.'

'Thank you.' beamed Emma, giving Hermione a hug.

'Not a word to the boys though!'

'Of course.' giggled Emma. 'Good night, Hermione.'

The first month of term had passed with droll monotony. Emma, Hermione, Harry and Ron spent most of the free time they had between classes and in the evenings skimming through books looking for Flamel. Harry often wasn't there in the evenings as he was practising Quidditch, which had slowed down the search even more. It had consumed them so much that Emma hadn't had a chance to read any more books on vampires, and her exploration of the castle had taken second place to homework. She had no idea how the others, who needed to sleep, particularly Harry, ever finished theirs. She was making a little progress on both fronts though.

With the help of Hermione's notes, Defence Against the Dark Arts was starting to make a lot more sense and she had even learnt a number of counter curses. For exploring, she devoted her usual measly hour or two to the grounds. There was more ground to cover, but less chance of any secrets needing to be found, so it felt like a better use of her time. That and it was always nice to be outdoors in the heavy rain that had replaced the snow.

One evening, Emma was reading her A-Z of Charms book, trying to learn a new spell. She was sat in the common room next to Hermione who was losing at wizard chess to Ron. They all stopped, however, when a particularly glum looking Harry joined them. He'd obviously just come back from Quidditch training.

'What's the matter with you?' asked Ron. 'You look terrible.'

Harry leaned forward, and the other three copied.

'Snape's decided to referee our next Quidditch match with Hufflepuff.'

'Don't play.' said Hermione at once.

'Say you're ill.' added Ron.

'Pretend to break your leg.' suggested Hermione.

'Really break your leg.' said Ron.

'I can't,' said Harry. 'There isn't a reserve seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all.'

'I don't really see the problem.' mused Emma as the others looked at her like she was mad. 'What's Snape going to be able to do, if he's refereeing? Won't he be too busy to try anything?'

She just received three glares.

'Okay, never mind.' she said, putting her hands up, resigning. 'Forget I said anything.'

At that moment, Neville toppled into the common room, which meant they did forget. Neville had a difficult time getting through the portrait hole as his legs were stuck together, obviously by the leg locker curse. Everyone in the common room laughed at him, which Emma didn't like. Neville was alright. Sure, he was a bit dim, but he was kind. Hermione wasn't laughing though and she jumped up and performed the counter curse on him.

'What happened?' asked Hermione, leading him to sit with Emma, Harry and Ron.

'Malfoy,' said Neville glumly.

Emma went back to her book and the spell she was learning. She'd gotten used to listening to Hermione, Harry and Ron, and even joining in when she felt she had something worth while to say, but she was still uncomfortable listening in when others were there.

She was interrupted a few minutes later when she heard Harry gasp. Looking up, she noticed that Neville was gone, and that Harry was looking at the back of a chocolate frog card.

'I found him!' he whispered. 'I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before. I read it on the train coming here. Listen to this: "Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindlewald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel"!'

'Alchemy?' thought Emma out loud. 'Isn't that the thing the Greeks worked on? Trying to turn wood to gold, or something?'

'Stay there.' said Hermione excitedly, jumping up and sprinting up to the dormitories.

She quickly returned with a huge book.

'I never thought to look in here!' she whispered, still showing excitement. 'I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading.'

'Light?' questioned Ron, incredulous, and Emma giggled.

Hermione shushed them as she looked something up, flicking through the pages.

'I knew it! I knew it!'

'Are we allowed to speak yet?' asked Ron, grumpily.

'Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!'

'Ooh, that was it.' mused Emma.

'The what?' said Harry and Ron.

'Oh, honestly, don't you two read?' she said, pushing the book to the boys. 'You two. Read.'

Emma leaned over a little, skim reading the page. Just as she expected, it had a little about the Philosopher's Stone being able to turn any metal into pure gold. Not quite what she remembered from middle school, but close enough. There was also a small part about the Elixir of Life. A substance made from the stone that can make the drinker immortal.

'See?' said Hermione, when Harry and Ron had finished. '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!'

'A stone that makes gold and stops you ever dying!' said Harry. 'No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it.'

'And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry.' said Ron. 'He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?'

Now that they knew who Flamel was, and they weren't spending every spare moment in the library, Emma had begun to spend more and more time exploring the castle at night, really pushing her luck. She'd gotten into a number of close calls with Peeves and Mrs Norris, Filch's cat. At one point she'd managed to get herself trapped near the moving staircases, the only way out was to jump down two or three floors. Given the choice between breaking her legs, and getting caught, Emma knew which she would choose immediately and leapt off the stairs. Her legs would heal quick enough, but the house points she would lose, not so easy to get back.

As she fell, she spread her arms out slightly, to keep herself upright, and bent her legs a little to absorb the fall. She landed seconds later, three floors down, her legs buckled slightly under the force of the fall and she ended up in a squat-like position, kneeling, as her hands touched the floor. She was completely unharmed. Amazed, she stood up quickly, moving backward toward a wall, out of sight and looked up to where she'd jumped from. She was sure no human could do that without injury. Needless to say, she had a spring in her step for the rest of the night.

That morning, Emma was telling Hermione about her new ability when Harry and Ron came down from the boys dormitories for breakfast. Emma could tell Harry wasn't happy. He'd been getting more and more nervous the closer the Quidditch match came. It wasn't helped by Snape who, in Potions, seemed to make it his mission to berate Harry every lesson.

'I'm sure he knows that we know about the Philosopher's Stone.' said Harry when they left the dungeons.

Emma, Hermione and Ron didn't agree, but they didn't argue either. Snape was definitely being more antagonistic than usual toward Harry. The three of them had begun learning some curses, while Harry was at training, to use on Snape during the Quidditch match just in-case things got out of hand. Hermione had suggested they learn the leg locker curse, after seeing it used on Neville.

Emma, always up for learning new spells, managed to cast it on Ron first time. Hermione too had gotten it on her second attempt. Ron on the other hand had difficulty with it. He kept saying the spell wrong, and Hermione kept correcting him.

'It's Locomotor Mortis.'

Ron got more and more irate as the time passed, but at least he didn't yell at Hermione.

When it came time for the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff on the first weekend of March, Emma grudgingly made her way to the stands with Hermione and Ron. She'd been able to weasel her way out of the games that Gryffindor weren't playing, but with the threat on Harry, she couldn't get out of this one.

As the three of them got to the Gryffindor stands and started making their way to some seats near Neville, Emma noticed Dumbledore in the stands opposite them.

'Hey.' she said, tapping Hermione on the shoulder. 'Dumbledore's here!'

'What? He never turns up to a Quidditch match.' said Hermione looking to where Emma was pointing.

There was no mistaking that silver beard.

'There's no way Snape's going to try anything now.' beamed Emma, somewhat smugly. 'So, enjoy the game.'

Hermione, who wasn't as calmed by the news that Dumbledore was there, frowned but kept going to find her seat.

Emma ran back down the steps to ground level and wondered where she'd go now. Realising quickly that every single teacher at the school was in the stands, she could go anywhere. She looked at the castle, as inviting as it was, and then surveyed the grounds around her, noticing the Forbidden Forest.

So far, Emma hadn't broken that rule, but she had considered it many times. She wasn't as scared of it as some of the other students were. She'd heard Ron say there were werewolves in there, among other things, but Emma was a vampire, maybe the creatures in there would be more scared of her.

In the end, Emma decided to compromise. She ran into the forest, but only far enough so that she could still just see the grounds and the castle occasionally between the gaps in the trees. She walked slowly along, inside the circumference of the forest for a while, quietly. With her much improved hearing and great night-vision, she saw a lot of owls and heard their hoots, and the odd rustling of leaves caused by small mammals, but Emma didn't see anything dangerous. It just looked like a particularly dense forest to her, though it was beginning to thin a little as she got nearer to the castle's side of the forest. The sun was beginning to set and Emma had just stopped suddenly when she heard the telltale sound of the castle's front doors shutting. That was unusual because sunset meant dinner time. Quickly moving out to the edge of the forest, to see the front steps, she saw a dark figure walking swiftly toward the forest a short distance ahead of her. It looked like Snape.

As curious as ever, Emma headed quietly to just short of where Snape would enter, and followed him, using her sharp senses to keep her distance. She noticed he was heading toward a small clearing, and once she had gotten near it's edge, she ran up to a tree, kicking off it and using it to propel her into the lowest branches and there she perched. She smelt the garlic, making her head hurt and her vision blur, before she saw the figure Snape was talking to. Emma covered her nose with her robes so she could breathe without the stench and as her senses partially recovered, she heard Quirrel stutter for what must have been the first time.

After a few moments, her senses fully recovered, she heard a rustle of leaves above her to her left. Looking up, she had to stifle a laugh when she saw Harry, with his broomstick, perched on the top of a tree just a few over from where she was.

'… d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus …'

'Oh, I thought we'd keep this private.' said Snape, his voice icy. 'Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone, after all.'

Quirrel replied with incoherent muttering and was interrupted by Snape.

'Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?'

'B-b-but Severus, I -'

'You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrel.' said Snape, taking a step towards him.

'I-I don't know what you -'

'You know perfectly well what I mean.'

An owl hooted overhead and Emma heard another rustle from where Harry was. It looked like he'd nearly fallen out of the tree. Emma had to stifle another giggle, missing a bit of the conversation. Harry must be loving this. Proof positive Snape is up to no good.

'- your little bit of hocus pocus. I'm waiting.' said Snape.

'B-but I d-d-don't -'

'Very well.' interrupted Snape. 'We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie.'

He threw his cloak over his head and marched out of the clearing, back up to the castle. Moments later, Quirrel followed him, unsteadily. He must have been really shaken up.

Emma watched Harry then as he got back on his broom, flew down and landed in the clearing, looking after the two teachers. She waited a second before putting her robes back down again, seeing if the air was clear. Once she was certain she could breathe properly, she jumped out of her tree and landed a few feet behind harry with a barely audible thud.

'Well, that was interesting.' said Emma, making Harry jump like she'd never seen him do before. 'You know, Harry. We should really stop meeting like this.'

Emma tried ever so hard, but she couldn't keep a straight face and had begun giggling uncontrollably and fallen on the floor. She couldn't help it. The look on Harry's face was priceless.

After a few seconds, Harry had started smiling too, seeing the funny side of it.

'Come on you.' chided Harry. 'We should tell Ron and Hermione.'

After stopping at the broom-shed and making their way up to the common room, they caught up with Hermione and Ron who seemed to have come from the medical wing.

'Emma, Harry, where have you been?' squeaked Hermione.

'We won! You won! We won!' shouted Ron, thumping Harry on the back. 'And I gave Malfoy a black eye and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! He's still out cold but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be all right – talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens.'

'Never mind that now.' said Harry breathlessly. 'Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this...'

'This way.' said Emma leading them a few doors down. 'All clear.'

Emma and Harry looked at one another, not sure who should start.

'We were right. It's definitely the Philosopher's Stone.' said Emma first.

'And Snape's trying to force Quirrel to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get passed Fluffy yet.'

'He also said something about Quirrel's "hocus-pocus".' added Emma.

'There must be other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrel would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell which Snape needs to break through -' said Harry.

'So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrel stands up to Snape?' asked Hermione, alarmed.

'Seems so.' replied Emma.

'It'll be gone by next Tuesday.' said Ron.