Hello, one and all. Thank you for giving this story its 100th plus review and for reading this story. Now if any artists are reading this fanfic or know of one. I would like to have a cover for this story. Anyway, let's dive right into Hell!
Chapter 9
Mirror of Erised
It was a mid-Demeber morning and Christmas was coming. Snow covered the castle and school grounds with a thick layer. This was the first time Harry has ever seen snow before, which made sense because he grew up in Hell and it was always mild or hot. Just to keep himself warm, Harry received some thick layers of clothing from his family, including a thick cloak lined with fur. During the start of the winter season, Harry was glad to not have many classes due to the upcoming holidays. As such, he was able to be the 11-year old boy he was and played around in the snow. Several other students agreed and some used magic to animate the snow into igloos, snowmen, and even have a snowball war.
During one match, Harry noticed that Fred and George charmed some of their snowballs to pelt Professor Quirrell in the back of the head, making Harry laugh at how the DADA teacher was covered by a flurry of snow. Of course, the twins got detention, but they declared it was worth it. Even with detention, the Weasley brothers all decided to have fun with Harry as they showed him all the fun that wizards could have during their first winter at Hogwarts.
As the week of Christmas came close, Harry saw Hagrid marching through the castle grounds, effortlessly pulling a large pine tree into the castle. The Prince of Hell watched as the half-giant helped set the tree up, but chuckled at the amount of snow on Hagrid's beard turned it white. "You look like Santa Claus," Harry told his first wizard friend.
"Ho ho ho," Hagrid laughed as he brushed off the snow and Professor Flitwick started to levitate ornaments onto the Great Hall's Christmas tree.
While many students were leaving for the holiday to visit families, several opted to stay at Hogwarts for a variety of reasons. As the students were dressed in their winter uniforms and began to leave for Hogsmeade Station, Hermione saw Harry was having a friendly game of chess with Ron. "Knight to E5," Harry commanded the chess piece as the knight moved to the new position on its own.
Thinking about what to do on his turn, the youngest Weasley brother smiled as he declared his move. "Queen to E5," Ron commanded his piece, which made the Queen move before standing up and smashing the knight with her throne.
"That's totally barbaric," Hermione voiced as she saw the game.
"That's wizard's chess," Ron stated before he saw her luggage. "I see you've packed."
"I see you haven't."
"Change of plans. My parents are going to Romania to visit my brother, Charlie. He's studying dragons there," he told the girl before he turned to Harry. "Maybe your sister and him could get along since they share the same name."
"As I said, she's not interested in dating anyone right now," Harry told his red-haired friend.
"That's alright, you two can look for any information on Nicolas Flamel in the library," Hermione said.
"You're not going home, Harry," Ron asked his friend.
"My dad's always had this issue with family on Christmas. Plus, my mom's told me that he and Charlie are having a bit of an argument," Harry answered, remembering a phone call he made when he was alone. "They said I should stay here for now. Luckily I have Hedwig and Samael."
"How is it that your snake isn't bothered by the cold," Ron questioned.
"Special breed," Harry reminded, not telling his friends that Sam took to sleeping in the fireplace recently.
"Now that's some snake," Ron commented. "But we looked through the library a hundred times already."
"Not in the restricted area," Hermione told them both. "There has to be information about him there. Happy Christmas," she said before leaving.
"I think we've had a bad influence on her," Ron remarked, surprised that Hermione suggested sneaking into the restricted section of the library.
"Probably," Harry said before they continued their game.
It was a snowy morning and Harry was sleeping peacefully in his bed while Hedwig was perched on a nearby chair and Samael was resting in the warm ashes of the fireplace.
"Harry, wake up!" Ron shouted so loud that it made Harry jump out of bed immediately. When Harry saw Ron in the common room, he saw that there was a mountain of presents by the tree next to the fireplace. "Happy Christmas Harry!"
"Happy Chrismas Ron," Harry said in good gesture, even though he bit his lip a little saying it. His family didn't celebrate the holiday, but he personally saw nothing wrong with it. It was mainly Lucifer that had issues with the holiday due to family in Heaven, but the rest of the Morningstars decided to not celebrate it like people outside of Hell did. "What are you wearing?" The Prince of Hell asked as his eyes squinted to see that the young Weasley was wearing a maroon sweater with a large yellow R in the middle of it.
"Oh, my mum made it," the red-haired wizard smiled sheepishly as pulled on the sweater. "You got one too!"
"I got presents!?" Harry asked as he ran downstairs to see that some were for him. The first gift he opened was something long from his father. He unwrapped the paper to see that it was a customized scabbard made from white leather and gold. It fit perfectly with Harry's weapon as it was able to shrink with the blade. His mother gave him four notebooks filled with sheet music for his guitar. Seeing the logos on the inside, Harry was looking forward to practicing songs by AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Metalica, and Guns and Roses. His third present was from Charlie as she gave him a large black handbag. Harry was confused as he didn't know why his sister would send him a handbag, but when he opened it, it was a lot deeper than he expected. He put his hand in the back and had his entire arm in the bag. He then put his entire head in and saw that it was like a small room inside the bag.
"Whoa, you sister got you a deep bag," Ron said in amazement. "A nice one at that."
"I can fit a lot of stuff in here! I might put an entire room in here if I wanted," Harry said taking his head out of the hard leather bag.
"I wouldn't go that far. Why don't you open what my mum sent you? I bet it's a hand-knitted sweater," Ron suggested as Harry did just that. The red-haired wizard was correct and Harry received an emerald green sweater with the letter H in gold along with some homemade fudge.
"It's nice, I like it," Harry complimented as he opened his next gifts which were a pack of chocolate frogs from Hermione and a carved wooden flute from Hagrid.
"I see you got the Weasley tradition, too," Fred remarked as he and George arrived with their own handmade Christmas sweaters from their mother.
"Now you are part of the family," George joked. "I see mum got you your favorite color, Ron."
"Shut up, you both know I hate maroon," Ron snarled at his older twin brother.
"At least now I can remember which one of you is which," Harry joked as he saw the initials on the twins' sweaters.
"Are we? Maybe we want to switch to confuse everyone even more," Fred said with a smirk.
"Maybe I'm Fred and he's Geroge," George said to the Prince of Hell.
"Nah, everyone knows that our names are really Gred and Forge," Fred joked.
"Whatever." Not wanting to get be in the middle of the Weasley's conversation, Harry opened his next gift, he saw it was from both of his parents. Opening the small box, he received a black ring with the same Pentagram as his pocket watch on it. After inspecting the jewelry, Harry slid it onto his finger and watched it shrink to fit perfectly. "Cool," Harry remarked before he noticed there was a note with his father's handwriting. "Wear this to reflect any curses aimed at you." The ring was nice too as it felt like it was made from the highest jewelers in the seven rings. 'I wonder how Mom managed to convince Dad?'
In Hell the Day before Chrismas
"I know you hate Christmas, but the least you can do is send Harry a gift or two," Lilith said to her husband.
"Lily, I love you, but I'm not celebrating that damn holiday!" Lucifer exclaimed angrily as his eyes turned red and slit.
Not intimidated in the slightest at Lucifer's outburst, the Queen of Hell only smirked before she leaned toward him. "If you do, I'll surprise you with something new in the bedroom," Lilith whispered seductively in his ear.
The King of Hell shivered with goosebumps at what his wife offered him. He did enjoy their roleplaying in bed and trying new things made it more exciting. "You drive a hard bargain, my dear. Alright, but we pick one gift together."
Back in Hogwarts, present day
Harry shrugged as he got to his last gift that was wrapped in brown mailing paper with a note on it. "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It's time that it was returned to you. Use it well," Harry read the note. He figured it was someone who knew his biological father but was confused by the note's last words. Shugging once more, Harry opened the package and saw that it was a silver-colored cloak that was extremely large in size. In his hands, it felt like touching water as it was smooth and soft to touch.
"Put it on. Let's see if it fits," Ron told the Prince of Hell. Harry did as his best friend said and tried on the cloak, even if it was too big for him. But as he did, everything but his head vanished. "Whoa, you got an invisibility cloak!"
"I'm invisible," Harry asked as he saw his body was missing.
"They're really rare. I wonder who gave it to you," Ron pointed out as he picked up the letter that came with the cloak.
"There was no name on it. They just said 'use it well'. I figure it was someone who knew my biological father," Harry pointed out as he still has the cloak wrapped around him, making him look like a floating head.
"Um… do you mind taking it off or pulling the entire thing over you?" Ron asked as he was getting a little freaked out about Harry being a floating head.
"No, keep it on," Fred and George said liking the idea and thinking of all the pranks they can pull off with Harry.
Declining the twins' request, Harry took off the cloak, shoving it into his new bag. 'It might do me some good, looking through the restricted area,' he told himself since first years were not allowed into that section unless they had a permission slip or teacher's approval.
"Hey, maybe you can use this to check what Hermione told us about," Ron said, having the same idea as Harry.
"I was just thinking about that," Harry said as he was glad they both were thinking the same thing. "I'll go into the library tonight. That way I can try finding what we need."
"Oh, a little late-night snooping in the castle, eh? I like where this is going," Fred commented as his twin nodded.
"What's the big late-night sneaking for?" George asked his brother and friend.
Knowing that they won't stop asking what it's about, Harry decided to come clean. "We want to know about someone by the name of Nicholas Flamel."
"Never heard of him," the twins said simultaneously.
"Which is why we're trying to find information on him," Ron told his brothers.
"Well, good luck then. Fred and I are going to get some breakfast," George said as he and his twin left the common room and went to the Great Hall.
Both Harry and Ron looked at the twins as they headed out. Turning to the redhead, Harry voiced his opinion on the two. "Your brothers are surprisingly okay with us sneaking into an area with potentially dangerous information using a mysterious article of clothing that belongs to my dead father."
"They're sneaky pranksters themselves," Ron remarked. "If it was Percy, then we'd be in trouble."
Harry nodded in agreement as he could imagine the elder Weasley tying them down in their beds to prevent their search. "Well, let's go eat," Harry said as they went to enjoy the day at the Great Hall with everyone else sticking around Hogwarts.
That night, Harry was wearing the cloak as he walked the halls, avoiding Filch and his cat wandering the castle. He was thankful that the material of the cloak allowed him to see through it while he was fully covered. This way, he wouldn't bump into anything. As he snuck his way toward the library, Harry thought back over the day's events after opening presents that morning. The Hogwarts staff decided to have a bit of a party for everyone still at school, which helped with anybody feeling upset at missing out on their families and own celebrations. There were games with magic and a hunt for a white Chocolate Frog, Christmas Crackers that were magic party poppers with prizes inside, and Harry chuckled at the memory of Hagrid getting drunk enough to give McGonagal a kiss on the cheek that made her blush like a schoolgirl.
Eventually, he reached the library and started to look for what he thought could hold answers. Holding a lantern in his hand as he quietly stepped through the library. The entire library was pitch black with only light from the windows giving any sign of which sections he could see. Finding the closed door to the Restricted Section, Harry unlocked it and heard the echo of the door creaking open. As he walked in, he went to the 'F' shelves and looked over the titles of the books. "Famous Fire-Eaters. 15th Century Fiends. Flamel. Nicholas Flamel. Where are you?" Harry quietly said to himself as he couldn't find an appropriate book immediately.
Setting his cloak and lantern onto a desk, Harry looked around to make sure nobody was around before he slid a book off the shelf and decided to open it up. When he did, a face emerged from the pages and screamed loudly, forcing Harry to punch it in the face before slamming the book shut. However, the sounds alerted Filch. "Who's there?" the night guard of the school questioned loud enough for Harry to hear. When he did, Harry grabbed his cloak in a rush, causing his lantern to fall to the floor and break. "I know you're in there. You can't hide," Filch said, ready to find the troublemaker.
'That's what you think,' Harry thought to himself before putting the Invisibility Cloak back on.
"Who is it? Show yourself," Filch asked as he drew closer. His pale white eyes staring through the Prince of Hell. Harry, carefully walked backward and held his breath to make sure he wasn't breathing on the old caretaker.
Once Filch was out of sight, Harry quickly but quietly went to the door of the library and opened it. He held onto his sigh of relief as Mrs. Norris was at the entrance to the library. Her red eyes looked straight at Harry as she walked up to him. Harry figured she could smell him, so he quickly ran to get away from the cat and succeeded. He knew there was little time to celebrate as he needed to get back into the Gryffindor common room immediately. He quickly turned a corner down the hall, then saw Snape pinning Professor Quirrell against a pillar.
"S-Severus, I-I-I-I-" Quarrel stuttered as he tried to get loose from the Potions Master. However, Snape was far stronger than he looked and gave the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher a stern glare.
"You don't want me as your enemy Quirrell. I know what you're up to," Snape said coldly.
"I-I-I don't know what you mean," Quirrell asked, playing dumb and failing as Snape applied more pressure on the turban-wearing teacher's neck.
"You know perfectly well what I mean," Snape said with venom in his voice.
Harry was curious as to what was going on with Snape and Quirrell. Why were they fighting? He knew Snape was after Quirrell's job, but this seemed like more than just trying to get a different job. Snape turned around to where Harry was standing and reached a hand towards him. Harry realized that he must have been breathing too close to where Snape was standing. Covering his mouth and stepping away slowly, he quietly tried to avoid Snape's outreaching fingers. He was a few inches away from the Potions Master's hand as the teacher made a grab for whoever he thought was close. Harry still held his breath as Snape was looking at his hand, loosening his grip on Quirrel for a minute before turning back to the turban-wearing man.
"We'll have another little chat soon, when you have time to decide where your loyalties lie," Snape said coldly at Quirrel as he was interrupted by Filch who came around the corner holding a broken lantern.
"Professors, I found this in the restricted section of the library. It's still hot. That means a student is out of bed," the caretaker told them both as Snape and Quirrel forgot their differences for a minute or two and headed to where Filch came from and split from there.
Once all three men disappeared and looked to be some distance away. Harry went into the nearest door and opened it before seeing that it was an unused classroom with desks and chairs pulled to the side on the walls and an upturned paper basket. Removing his cloak, he thought that he could be safe for a minute before returning to bed. However, Harry saw there was something that was out of place in the corner of the room, as if someone put it there to keep it out of the way. Stepping toward it, Harry saw it was a magnificent mirror that reached as high as the ceiling with a gold frame and was standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved onto the top that read "Erised s'traeh ruoy tub ecaf ruoy ton wohs I."
Wondering about the writing and why a nice object was here and not in one of the offices belonging to a teacher, Harry then looked at the mirror and saw something appearing next to his own reflection. Standing around him were five figures in silhouette, making Harry turn to see if anybody was behind him. When there wasn't, Harry moved closer to the mirror and saw who was in the looking glass. The Boy Who Lived saw his family from Hell on the left, but two figures he has never seen before on his right. One was a man that looked like Harry, but was much older and a woman who had dark red hair and emerald eyes similar to his own. Harry turned around again to see that no one was beside him, then looked back at the mirror. He figured that the people to his right were his biological parents. "Mom? Dad," Harry said and saw the figures in the mirror nod as they confirmed who they were.
With the two other people in the reflection identified, the image of Charlie gave a big smile before giving a hug to James and Lily Potter, who silently chuckled at the demon princess while the King and Queen of Hell only smiled at everyone. After Charlie released them, Lily Potter's image placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder when she saw the boy looked a bit sad. When she did, Harry could feel a warm touch on his shoulder like his birth mother was truly in the room with him. As Harry looked on at the mirror showing both of his families, he felt that he could have what he wanted since knowing when he was adopted. He felt like he could have his birth parents around and have the Morningstars meet them.
"Ron! Ron! Wake up! You have to see this! You really have to see this," Harry said excitedly as he entered the boy's dorm and pulled off the sheet to Ron's bed.
"Ugh, morning already?" Ron asked sleepily. His eyes were half-open as he let loose a small yawn. "Oh hey, Harry. Did you find out about Nicolas Flamel?"
"No, but there's something you got to see. Come on!" Harry told his best friend as he took his hand and pulled him out of bed.
After getting out of the dorm, Harry and Ron were both under the Invisibility Cloak and went back into the room with the mirror in it. Harry quickly pulled off the cloak and continued to drag Ron until they reached the mirror. "Harry, what do you want to show me?"
"It's my family! My actual birth parents with Charlie and her own."
"I only see us," Ron remarked as he only saw a normal reflection in the mirror.
"Stand right here," The Boy Who Lived told the red-haired wizard to stand in that position while Harry stepped to the side. "There you see them, don't you? It's-"
"-It's me! I'm Head Boy and I'm holding the Quidditch Cup! Bloody Hell! I'm the captain of the Quidditch team, too," Ron exclaimed excitedly. "I look good. Harry, do you think this mirror shows the future?"
"That can't be it. Both of my biological parents are dead," Harry said sadly.
Seeing his friend was upset at not being able to show what he wanted to, Ron put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Well, one thing's for certain. This mirror is special. Some sort of magic nobody in Hogwarts probably knows about," Ron stated. "Well, except for one of the teachers. Somebody had to put this here."
"But who? And why," Harry questioned.
During the next few days, Harry was being a little more distant than usual. He hardly ate anything those few days and all he kept doing was stare in the fireplace, whether it be the Great Hall or the Common Room. It seemed that Flamel didn't matter anymore. He got to see his biological parents for the first time and they were getting along with his adopted family. Upset and confused about the mirror, Harry went back to it to try and find some kind of answer. However, he could only watch the figures in the mirror interact with him in an attempt to cheer him up. "Just what is this thing," Harry questioned out loud, not knowing somebody has been watching him sadly sitting in front of the mirror.
"Back again, Harry," asked a familiar voice. Turning around, Harry saw it was Professor Dumbledore and he quickly stood up, thinking he was in trouble with the Headmaster. "I see that you, like so many before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Esired," Dumbledore said, showing that Harry wasn't apparently in trouble. "I trust by now you realize what it does."
Hearing Dumbledore say the name of the item, Harry looked up at the inscription again and read it backwards. "It shows us what we want. Our desire," Harry replied.
"Precisely," Dumbledore told the boy. "The happiest man on Earth could look into the mirror and see only himself exactly as he is. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest and most desperate desires of our hearts."
Getting his answer, Harry realized that the mirror showed him what he wanted by seeing his entire family. "If my sister were to see herself in it, I think she'd see a way to stop the purges in Hell. She wants to make it so that there's a more humane way to deal with the overpopulation issue rather than angels sending down Exterimators," Harry remarked.
"That sounds exactly what I believe Miss Morningstar would want most given what I've seen of her character," Dumbledore said. "But remember this, Harry. This mirror gives us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad."
"I can see why. If somebody was shown what they want, but it wasn't in their grasp, they'd do anything to get it," Harry said, thinking of what could happen if even somebody that wanted to have world peace were to look in the mirror's glass.
"That is why tomorrow it will be moved to a new home. And I must ask of you to not go looking for it again," Dumbledore told the young wizard. "It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry. And forget to live," he warned in a hushed voice.
Harry nodded in response. "I got my answer anyway, Professor."
"Very good. Now, best to put on that admirable cloak and go to bed. Your vacation ends soon. Go enjoy the rest of it before classes start again," Dumbledore told him.
Harry nodded again and hurried back to the Gryffindor Common Room, but turned back to the headmaster once more. "How did you know about my cloak sir?"
"Who do you think sent it," Dumbledore smiled as his eyes twinkled through his half-moon spectacles. "I don't need a cloak to be invisible."
"Than can I ask one more question? What do you see when you look into the mirror?"
"I see myself holding a nice pair of wolven socks," Dumbledore replied.
The Prince of Hell knew that likely wasn't what he really saw but didn't question it as he put on the cloak and hurried off to bed.
The next morning, Harry walked into one of the castle courtyards with Hedwig on his arm with a letter attached to one of her legs. The message was an apology letter for not writing back to his family, and a thank you for the gifts he received. Harry scratched under his bird's chin and let her go flying off. As Hedwig went to get far enough away from the school, she managed to reach Hell and gave the message to the Morningstar Family.
"Dear Mom, Dad, and Charlie.
I'm sorry I didn't write back to you immediately. I was preoccupied with something at school. Dad, Charlie, I hope you two put your tiff aside for now because I hope to come home next Christmas when possible. Speaking of, thank you for the gifts. They mean a lot to me.
Hope to see you soon, Harry."
"See? He liked the gifts we gave him," Lilith said as she finished reading the letter from Harry. "And I do hope you both get along next Christmas."
"I'll try," Lucifer and Charlie said simultaneously.
"It's a start. Now, what does he mean he was preoccupied with something in school," Lilith asked as she reread the letter.
"It might have to do with that thing Hagrid got in that vault when we were at Gringotts," Charlie voiced.
"What thing," Lucifer asked as he raised a brow at his daughter as he had some of the tea that Dumbledore gave him when enrolling Harry.
"Not sure. All I know is a dog that's smaller than Kirby is guarding it and Hagrid was very tight-lipped about it," Charlie admitted since the cat was out of the bag. "Something about Dumbledore and somebody named Nicholas Flamel."
Upon hearing the second name, Lucifer did a spit take and coughed. "Flamel!? That old buzzard has been avoiding Azrael for centuries!"
"You know him, Dad," Charlie asked before realizing what he said. "Wait, centuries!?"
"Yeah. He's been using something called the Philosopher's Stone or Sorcerer's Stone, I forget which. Point is, a magic ruby-colored rock that's used for all kinds of alchemy. Lead into gold, reshape the land into enormous walls, and produces the Elixir of Life. That bastard's been around over 600 years and is near his 665th birthday."
"On the plus side, if he lives to be 666 years old, we'll at least say it's appropriate he ended up here if he's sent down instead of up," Lilith remarked.
"Oh, I would love that. Guy's been avoiding death, but he won't last forever. He at least has my respect for living this long," Lucifer replied.
"Dad, focus!" Charlie yelled at her father. "Someone broke into that vault when it was empty."
"Well, living forever sounds like something tha- Oh shit!" Lucifer realized as he quickly took a blank piece of paper and wrote down on it. The King of Hell reread the message as he made sure it was readable and nothing missing. Satisfied, he rolled up the parchment and tied it to Hedwig's leg. "Go to Harry, immediately," he instructed to the owl. Hedwig hooted before she flew off with the message.
"Honey? What's got you so surprised?" Lilith asked as she saw him clench his hand into a fist.
"Another time, my love. Right now, we have to get ready for the Purge," Lucifer told the Mother of Monsters as he walked ahead of both women. 'I hope you get that letter soon, son. I'm counting on you.'
The new year came around and classes were starting once again in January. All the students returned from holidays and were getting ready for their next exams. In the Great Hall, Harry and Hermione started to study for their exams while Ron was looking over his chocolate frog cards. The bushy-haired Gryffindor looked over to the redhead and shook her head in disappointment. "Should you really be looking over your card collection?"
"I'm just passing the time. I've been studying enough. Go ahead and ask me anything," Ron told Hermione, feeling confident.
"Alright. What are the three ingredients used in a forgetful spell?"
"I forgot," Ron mumbled, making Harry chuckle.
"It's Lethe River Water, mistletoe berries, and Valerian sprigs," Harry reminded him. "You should study a bit more. What will you do if this comes up?"
"That's easy, I'll copy off of you two."
"No, you won't. McGonagall will be giving us special quills that holds an anti-cheating spell," Hermonie told him.
"It's like they don't trust us! You agree, right Harry?"
"I can't afford that. If I'm caught cheating, I'll be suspended off the Quidditch team," Harry had to agree with Hermione on this one. Before Harry could get back to his studies he noticed Neville was bunny hopping toward the Gryffindor table. "Neville, what happened?"
"Malfoy," Neville said as he hopped toward the table. "He practiced the Leg Locker Curse on me."
"I can help you out of it," Seamus said, holding up his wand.
"That's all I need! For you to set my bloody kneecaps on fire," Neville exclaimed, rejecting the Irish Gryfindor.
Seamus slammed his wand down and felt insulted. "I'll have you know that I've been practicing. My eyebrows grew back perfectly," he stated, turning around in a huff. However, everyone saw that he seemed to have a bald spot on the back of his head and thought he shaved part of his hair off to 'grow back' his eyebrows.
Sighing, Harry took out his wand and undid the spell for Neville. "He was trying to help, but I agree. He needs to work on verbal spells more," the Prince of Hell told his unlucky friend and classmate. Reaching into his pocket, Harry grabbed the last Chocolate Frog from Christmas and offered it to Neville. "Here. Want it?"
Seeing Harry offer the treat, Neville accepted it. "Thanks. You can keep the card, though. It is your pack," the boy replied before he managed to catch the magical candy and enjoyed it.
Smiling at Neville's improving mood, Harry decided to see which wizard or witch he got this time. Seeing that it was another Dumbledore, Harry gave a silent chuckle before he read the back of the trading card. As he did, his eyes widened as he noticed something important. "I found him! I found Flamel!"
"What," Ron asked dumbfounded as he thought Harry was playing dumb. But Harry showed the back of the card to Ron and instructed him to read it. "Albus Dumbledore. Currently Headmaster of Hogwarts. Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, 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. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and ten-pin bowling."
Upon reading that penultimate part of the card text, Ron and Hermione were surprised that the information was right under their noses the entire time. "That's how I recognized the name," Harry stated. "It was on the first Chocolate Frog card I got on the train ride here."
"We better get to the library," Hermoine told them both as they were ready to leave, only to hear a single owl screeching from above. All three of them looked up to see that it was Hedwig and she was coming in fast.
Seeing his owl flying toward him, Harry stuck up his arm and landed right on his arm. Harry noticed that the snowy owl looked exhausted and was concerned for her. "Hedwig, what's wrong," he asked.
Earlier, with Hedwig
The snowy owl flapped her wings as she was exiting Hell to deliver the message to Harry. The way that Lucifer instructed her made it clear this was very important for the boy's safety and Hedwig wasn't going to let down any of the Morningstar Family. But as she was flying in the air, she had to quickly dodge a bullet that almost hit her and the letter ended up dropping down to the forest floor below. Screeching in panic, she dove down to try and look for it, only for the winds to send the parchment toward the Forbidden Forest. Knowing it was a dangerous area, Hedwig was upset at losing the letter and turned her attention down to where the shot came from.
"Oh yeah! That was a lot of punks we killed," Blitzo, the founder and manager of I.M.P cheered as he raised his gun into the air.
"I still can't believe we were hired to kill actual wizards in an area like this," remarked Moxxie, a white-haired imp carrying a dead dark wizard out of a bush.
"Mox, you know that the whole Wizarding World is full of crazy people who think all kinds of things about people. Racist magic shit and all. Lucky for us, the guys they magically slaughtered wanted us to deal with them," Blitzo stated.
"And besides, they can't exactly defend themselves against your great aim," said Millie, a female imp with a beauty mark by her eye, as she wrapped her arms around Moxxie and kissed him on the cheek.
"Since Moxxie didn't fuck this up, drinks are on me tonight," Blitzo said as he had to downplay his employee. Moxxie would have argued, but Millie was able to keep him happy and avoid calling out their boss. Seeing all of this, Hedwig glared at the tall imp and started to cough up an owl pellet. The pellet fell down like a bomb being dropped as it landed right on the taller imp's shoulder. "Ah, gross! I get enough shit from owls back with Stolas," Blitzo complained as he brushed the stomach contents off of his clothes. The taller imp looked up and saw Hedwig up above and fired his gun at her. "Eat lead, you fucking pigeon!"
Hedwig avoided the oncoming bullets, then swooped down to scratch at the imp with her talons. Getting a successful attack on his face, she flew out of the area and sadly went off toward Hogwarts while the smaller imps checked on their boss. "Blitz, are you okay," Millie asked.
"Yeah, just pissed that I got scratched up by Stolas' albino relative," Blitzo muttered.
"Let's just get going," Moxxie said as the three returned to Hell through a magic portal.
In the Forbidden Forest, the letter was stuck in a nearby tree branch that was low to the ground. Soon, a centaur strolled past and saw the letter. Picking it up, he inspected the seal and realized who it was meant for. "It appears you will need this, Harry Morningstar," Firenze said to himself as he went to safely put the letter away until when it was needed.
Present day
Harry scratched the owl's neck to try and comfort her while she looked upset. "It's okay, Hedwig. No need to be sad. If it's important, then I'll find it in time," the Prince of Hell told his bird.
"Maybe it was something related to Flamel. Anyway, we got our answer, let's head to the library," Hermione told both Harry and Ron as the three of them left the Great Hall in a hurry.
Quickly making it to the library, Hermione soon had a large book and placed it on the table. "I had you looking in the wrong section. How could I be so stupid," she said, slamming the heavy book down in front of them. "I read this weeks ago for a bit of light reading."
"This is light," Ron asked incredulously, earning himself a glare from the girl.
Looking at the page she opened up to, Hermione pointed the name 'Nicholas Flamel' out. "Here it is. Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone," Hermione stated.
"The what," Ron and Harry asked together, unsure of what the mentioned item was.
"Honestly, I thought at least Harry reads," Hermione said, rolling her eyes before she continued to read from the book. "Also called the Philosopher's Stone, the Sorcerer's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will transform any pure metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal."
"Immortal," Ron questioned.
"It means you'll never die," Hermione responded.
"I know what it means," Ron told Hermione, prompting Harry to shush him.
"Why do I get the feeling that something this strong needs a human soul to create it," Harry remarked.
Ignoring Harry's slightly morbid question, Hermione kept reading. "The only known stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday," she stated.
Harry's eyes became so wide at the information that he felt like his glasses were the only thing keeping them in his skull. 'That old?! My dad would have a field day if he knew that he was almost 666 years old,' Harry thought.
"That's what Fluffy's guarding on the third floor. That's why he's standing on the trapdoor. The Sorcerer's Stone," Hermione stated, believing the stone was hidden within the school's restricted areas.
And that will be all Ladies and Gents. I want to thank WaterDragonMaverick for beta reading and editing again. What will happen in the next segment? What was in that letter Lucifer gave him? Well, you will have to find out in the next chapter.