Author Note: A special thanks to Kitari Isengar who has graciously proposed his services to beta this story. Previous chapters will also be corrected and re-updated in the next weeks.

Chapter 12

The Walls have ears

20th December 1991, Hogwarts, Scotland

Winter in Hogwarts was a nightmare by all accounts. At least that was Alexandra's honest opinion. By the beginning of December there was enough snow around and on Hogwarts to make any walk outside a very difficult proposition, if not an impossible one. And the temperatures were downright hellishly cold. The corridors were icier and icier as the season advanced, the wind was rattling and howling against the windows of the castles. Flying lessons had been cancelled until the return of spring. Thankfully, places like the Great Hall, the Library and the Common Rooms were warm and comfortable, but magic was showing its limits in the cold season. A Scottish winter was really bad in the dungeons, and classes like Potions where you had to touch your cauldron to find a moment of warmth had become hated by all the first-years. Even the avian carrying the courier were affected by the climate: her white owl Atalanta had taken refuge in Alexandra's bedroom, forcing the Potter Heiress to install a perch for her companion. The few birds courageous enough to brave the cold weather reigning at Hogwarts had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid after having delivered their letters and packages.

It was now the last day before the winter holidays, and most of the students waited impatiently for the occasion to return at home. Alexandra had just finished the morning with the Defence Against the Dark Arts class and was now looking for Hermione and Nigel. Quirell's stuttering had risen to extraordinary frequency this morning with his teeth clacking, and the raven-haired Ravenclaw was happy to have something change her thoughts.

Alexandra was passing the painting of a green archer scoring perfect hits on wooden posts when she heard the snobbish voice of Draco Malfoy behind her.

"I do feel so sorry," said the blonde pure-blood in a tone where no commiseration was present, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."

Alexandra turned and sent a dark glare to the Slytherin. Surprisingly, it went ignored. Sure enough Draco Malfoy was behind her, but she had not been the intended recipient of this new provocation. The Malfoy Heir was looking over at Ron Weasley, Leo Black, and Neville Longbottom, sporting his now infamous smirk. The one making the light blonde-haired Slytherin to look annoying, pompous and mentally retarded at the same time.

Judging by the frayed temper of the three Lions and the small holes on their dark robes, the Gryffindor and the Slytherin had come out minutes ago from a Potions Lesson with Professor Snape. Crabbe and Goyle, siding along Malfoy as usual, grunted in a sound that could have passed for a chuckle. This was going to get ugly.

Alexandra turned back, deciding the best to do in this situation was to ignore the Malfoy Heir. The green-eyed Ravenclaw had thought the blond boy was unpleasant in his words and his acts before the Quidditch match, but the Heir of the Malfoy Family had reached new levels of insufferable and unpleasantness after the defeat of the Slytherin Quidditch team. While it was not exactly common knowledge, Alexandra knew Draco Malfoy had bet and lost forty Galleons on his House's victory. Even if it was only pocket money for a family as wealthy as the Malfoys, it had to hurt Draco and his ego in the short term.

In consequence, Draco Malfoy had passed the rest of November and December provoking and insulting the Gryffindors, especially the ones Hogwarts students had unofficially labelled the Golden Trio: Neville Longbottom, Leo Black and Ronald Weasley. As these three Lions were prompt in drawing their wands first and thinking later, both Slytherin and Gryffindor had lost a lot of points for the House Cup, being locked in their respective fourth and third place by a wide margin.

Too bad Malfoy was too much of an idiot to stop this circus of idiocy and arrogance, Alexandra thought. Neville Longbottom, by playing a critical role in Gryffindor Quidditch victory had all but ensured the admiration and the loyalty of the first-year Gryffindors. Well, except Hermione Granger, who he constantly nicknamed "the bookworm" or "beaver", and Nigel, called "the disaster" or "coward".

The Malfoy Heir, by comparison, had done nothing to quell the whispers of rebellion and discontent in his own ranks. To be honest, Alexandra felt it was long-time overdue. From the moment Draco Malfoy had stepped a foot inside Hogwarts, the young blonde-haired pure-blood had relied on the wealth and the reputation of his family to gain influence inside Slytherin House. It worked more or less with his fellow first-years, but the older students scorned him behind his back, not wanting to make an enemy of Draco's father, but not wanting to openly support such an arrogant specimen.

After the Quidditch match, even this hold over the boys and girls was slowly destroying itself. By now, Theodore Nott was openly challenging Draco, and the black-haired boy had rallied the Carrow twins and Byron Vaisey to his side. With Tracey Davis passing more and more time in company of Daphne Greengrass, and Zabini staying alone, that left Draco Malfoy with Crabble, Goyle, Bulstrode and Parkinson. A relative majority, but not an absolute one. The sad part was that Draco hadn't appeared to have even noticed this challenge.

Arriving in the main corridor before the Great Hall, Alexandra jumped aside, avoiding from being struck by a massive fir tree advancing from a corridor to the right. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told her that the Keeper of Keys and Grounds Hagrid was behind it. She stopped her walk, letting Hagrid push the tree in her section of the corridor.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ronald Weasley asked behind her, sticking his head through the branches.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Would you mind moving out of the way?" Came Malfoy half-aristocrat half-moron's drawl from behind them. Alexandra sighed. Here we go again, she thought.

"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 lives into."

The face of Ron Weasley changed in a figure of hate, and the red-haired Gryffindor charged at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs. Bad timing.

"WEASLEY!"

Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes, just as he was about to beat him to a pulp. Pity.

"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. The Potions Master voice was so happy compared to his normal voice it easily revealed its previous sentence was a lie. The Slytherin Head would have been happy to remove points to the Lions for anything. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking in a manner the three Slytherin believed they had won some kind of competition. Alexandra wondered what Snape thought by giving free reign for Malfoy to antagonise the rest of the school. According to Hermione and Nigel, half the accidents at the very minimum in Potions class were due to Malfoy throwing volatile ingredients in other cauldrons and Snape refusing to intervene. But that wasn't all. Draco Malfoy also delighted in insulting the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, calling them "bookish buffoons" and "puff rejects." At the rate things were going, someone was going to murder the blonde bully long before he was an adult. Personally, Alexandra was more and more tempted to throw Malfoy from the top of the Gryffindor tower, and blame Weasley or Black for the murder.

"I'll get him," whispered Ronal Weasley in a loathing tone, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back with hate in his eyes, "one of these days, I'll get him –"

"We will have them all," said Black, a malicious expression on his visage, "Malfoy, Snape, and the rest of Slytherin."

"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid to the Golden Trio, unaware of the last sentences pronounced by the Gryffindors. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall. Looks a treat."

Neville, Leo and Ron followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, and Alexandra discreetly followed them. In the great Hall, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.

"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree – put it in the far corner, would you?"

Alexandra had to recognise, the Hall looked like a marvel of Christmas. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls and no fewer than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles. Christmas decorations were everywhere on the four House tables. It was a very festive atmosphere.

"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked to the three first-years in the distance.

"Just one," said Neville. "And that reminds me – Leo, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

Alexandra frowned. In the last month, the Golden Trio's time in the library had exponentially grown. At first she like the rest of Ravenclaw House had supposed Longbottom, Black and Weasley had finally recognised being at Hogwarts required a work ethic, but her hypotheses had been for naught: the Trio was still displaying the same attitude of "doing homework in time and hour is for the bookworms" in front of the teachers. Their grades were still average too. Seeing them walk randomly in the library, Alexandra had deduced they were searching something. The only question was what.

"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron. Now that was definitely suspicious for Alexandra. Ron Weasley had established himself in four months a reputation of laziness and gluttony few dared to contest. For him to be motivated to visit the library, something was definitely going on.

"The library?" She heard the giant man grumbling , walking with them out of the Hall and unknowingly echoing her thoughts. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

"Oh, we're not working," Longbottom told him in a smirking tone. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."

"You what?" Hagrid looking shocked. "Listen here – I've told yeh – drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."

"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all." Said the Black Heir, in his best "I'm innocent" tone. Few Professors were fooled by it these days, and Hagrid was no exception watching his large visage covered by a hirsute beard.

"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Longbottom added. "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."

"I'm sayin' nothin'," said Hagrid flatly, in a cold tone that was not his usual one.

"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and the Golden Trio left the disgruntled Keeper of the Keys and hurried off to the library.

"Asking someone also could have worked idiot." Whispered Alexandra, walking through to the Hall to sit at the Ravenclaw table.

Passing her time in the library to escape Dudley and his gang during primary school, Alexandra had always liked reading about myths and legends. Maybe because it was a way to escape the reality where she was hunted and bullied by her cousin, her aunt and her uncle. But also because she loved genuine fantasy and imaginary worlds where magic and sword coexisted. She had loved reading the Lords of Rings, which in her humble opinion, was the best book of all times. She had not spent all her time reading Tolkien, however, and she had also read numerous books on mythologies and legends of the past. And Nicolas Flamel had been prominently mentioned in all the books mentioning the alchemy myths for the creation of the legendary Philosopher Stone.

Of course, Alexandra ignored if it was the same Flamel the Boy-Who-Lived had spoken about. The man had lived in the fourteenth century, after all, and for all she knew, this Flamel could be a great-great-great-grandchild of the famous alchemist or have no familial relationship whatsoever. Or it could be the same man, if the legend was true and the wizard had managed to create a Philosopher Stone.

Soon, Hermione and Nigel arrived. Seeing her smiling, Hermione asked:

"What's so funny?"

"Weasley and Malfoy tried to kill each other in front of me, but Snape intervened." Alexandra explained.

"Ugly bat" grumbled Nigel.

Seeing Hermione and Nigel 's disabused looks, it was not hard to guess what had happened.

"Snape was as charming as usual?"

"Thanks to Malfoy, Nigel has to buy a new cauldron."

Hermione didn't add "again" but Alexandra heard it nonetheless, grimacing. When she had begun studying and meeting Nigel and Hermione every time she could, Nigel had been frankly a disaster with a wand, his lack of self-confidence creating insurmountable problems for him to follow the normal magical course. Hermione and Alexandra had had to motivate him pretty hard to see him succeed the simplest charms and jinxes. Nigel's progress was slow, but the auburn-haired pure-blood was erasing the gap in academics separating him from the other Lions, and by Alexandra estimates would be at an average level by the end of the year. Except in Potions. The dreadful behaviour of Professor Snape there, combined with his known habit to never punish the Slytherins was pure hell for poor Nigel. Even Hermione was snappy and depressed when she left the dungeons, her good humour taking the rest of the day to make a reappearance. From a purely teaching view, there were many questions why the Headmaster tolerated the presence of such a man inside the walls of the castle.

"Don't look so glum, one more class and school is finished for the year!" Alexandra said in an enthusiastic tone.

Hermione refused to take the bait, through.

"Are you going to be alright? I know you stay at Hogwarts this Christmas..."

"Hermione, I would be a lot less 'alright' if had to return to my uncle and aunt's home." Alexandra grimaced inwardly. The Dursleys were not the kind of subject she loved bringing into a conversation.

"Believe me: the less my 'family' and I see each other, the better for everyone."

Changing once again the subject, she started to eat the meals which had started to appear for lunch. Alexandra had said the truth to Hermione after all: while Hogwarts was not her preferred place to live, she would take it every day if the alternative was the Dursleys home.

Her two friends had had better childhoods than her, however, which explained why they felt quite enthusiastic at the idea of going back home. From what she had learnt, Hermione's parents were dentists. Quite wealthy, they had not had a lot of time to give to their only daughter, but had encouraged her passion with the books and her will to be the best in the academic field. Nigel had lost his mother at a young age, and with his father a diplomat working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation always away, he had been raised by his grandfather. In Alexandra's mind, there was no real doubt who had been responsible for Nigel's low esteem of himself. Veteran of the Grindelwald war, the Wolpert patriarch looked like a nasty piece of work. He seemed the kind of man that drill sergeants in the army shook in their boots at the idea of provoking.

Anyway, Nigel's father was coming back home for the holidays, so the shy Gryffindor was going home too. Hermione was going in France to practise winter sports. Assuming her parents managed to put her on skis of course.

"So, " asked Hermione in her inquisitive voice." What are you going to do alone in this castle for two weeks?"

"Is it not evident, my dear Granger? I am going to prepare my plans for world domination. I have a Dark Lady reputation to uphold, you know."

Nigel began to cough at that, having swallowed the wrong way. Hermione looked at Alexandra with a semi-amused, semi exasperated face, like if she wasn't sure she was kidding or not. The five Ravenclaw who had been in hearing distance almost ran out from the table in panic. Cowards.

On the other hand, if there was the slightest opportunity of a Philosopher's stone being in the castle, unlimited gold and eternal life sounded like the kind of prize world domination pales against...

25th December 1991, Hogwarts, Scotland

Once the holidays had started, Alexandra found herself having too much to do in the short term to explore the mysterious wing of the third floor. Not only she had her private lesson on Friday evening with Flitwick, but the professors had also given a lot of written homework for January. Alexandra had also to order present for Hermione and Nigel: she chose for Hermione a book on magical customs while she gave a box of magical and non-magical sweets for Nigel and a bottle of wine for Professor Flitwick. Atalanta had appreciated having some work to do despite the cold falling on Northern Scotland.

One thing Alexandra remarked from the start of the holidays was how few persons stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays. Including herself in the student numbers, there were exactly three Ravenclaws in the tower who didn't leave with the Hogwarts Express, none of them in her year. In the other Houses, four Hufflepuffs, one lone Slytherin and five Gryffindors were staying, four of the latter belonging to the Weasley family. Half of the staff was also gone and would not come back until the New Year, including all the Junior Professors, the assistants of the Senior Professors and Professor Quirell.

As a consequence, she had the Ravenclaw armchairs in the common room all for herself. Rectification: she had the Common Room for her personal use, the two other students preparing their final exams at the end of the year were constantly in the library. The dozens of hostile looks Alexandra had been subjected when she ate at the Ravenclaw table for the meals were now gone. Hogwarts was now largely peaceful. Almost.

Alexandra meetings with her Head of House continued every two days in that period, although in this period they did more than duelling to pass the time. Alexandra wanted to know more about the customs and the history of the wizarding world, Binns and self-study could only carry you so far after all, and Flitwick agreed, under the reservation they played wizarding chess to pass the time.

The game was exactly like the non-magical chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle. Alexandra passed a lot of time shouting at her chessmen which endlessly contested her decisions, at the great amusement of Flitwick.

"No, he will kill me with his queen. Send this pawn instead."

"Your knight is in danger! Sacrifice the tower!"

"If you ask me my opinion, three pawns is a good trade for taking his rook. Do it!"

"You will be in checkmate if you lose me! No! No! Not here!"

After half an hour of going nowhere, she had decided to stop taking their advices into account. Ignoring them seemed a more sensible choice. So far, her defeats had been as total as her defeats in Duelling, which had made her ask the question if Flitwick was also a Chess master along with his other titles. The tiny teacher had just laughed when she questioned him.

On Christmas Eve, Alexandra went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun, but was unsure if she would get any presents at all. Like her birthdays and the rest of the time she spent in their house, the Dursleys had taken to spend the strict minimum on her on the bank holidays. In other words nothing, and that included Christmas. All the while Dudley received between thirty and fifty presents for himself.

When she woke early the next morning, however, the first thing he saw was some packages at the foot of her bed.

The first, very small parcel, contained a note.

We received your message and enclose your Christmas present. From Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.

Stuck to the note was a fifty-pence piece.

"That's friendly," said sarcastically Alexandra, speaking to herself ."Is that the value of your love?"

More interesting were the other presents. Hermione had sent her a large box of sweets, including Chocolate Frogs and some non-magical chocolates she was fond of. Nigel had sent her the book The Defences of Duelling Volume 1, a spell book combining on defensive magic uses for beginners and their applications in wizard duels.

The last present was from Professor Flitwick, a brand-new chess set. One more proof, Alexandra realised, that her Head of House had a sadistic sense of humour, and intended to administer her quite a few more defeats until school restarted.

The rest of the day was wonderful Alexandra having never imagined being invited to such a feast. Roasted turkeys, roasted meats, mountains of roast and boiled potatoes, platters of fat chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce – and other delicacies she had never seen before but that were now in front of her, begging to be eaten.

They were also wizards crackers, which went off like cannons detonations and fascinated to the highest degree Alexandra. Rapidly, she and the Weasley twins got into a duel to fire the greatest number of them. On the first, she obtained an admiral's hat, then several glowing balloons, more sweets and two or three tricksters kits.

At the Head Table, Headmaster Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet and was chuckling merrily at the series of jokes Professor Flitwick was reading.

Flaming Christmas puddings and dozens of desserts followed the turkey. The elder Weasley wearing a prefect insignia nearly broke his teeth on a silver Sickle embedded in his slice. Alexandra watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Alexandra's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lop-sided.

When she finally left the table, she had fired all the crackers of Ravenclaw table and had the impression of having eaten her own weight. She had the feeling the next duelling session wouldn't be funny at all. The white mice that had appeared with the crackers had disappeared and Alexandra had the feeling they were going to end up as Mrs Norris' Christmas dinner.

The rest of the afternoon, Alexandra passed it having a furious snowball fight in the grounds, leading the Hufflepuffs against the Weasleys. Then, cold, wet and tired, she returned to the Ravenclaw common room, where she received a monumental defeat at the hands of the seventh-year student present there.

After a tea of turkey sandwiches, crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, Alexandra felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy Weasley chase Fred and George Weasley all over Hogwarts because they'd stolen his prefect badge.

It had been Alexandra's best Christmas day ever.

December 31st 1991, Hogwarts, Scotland

Once Christmas was over, silence and calm returned to Hogwarts. In the six days which followed, the snow fell three times, making Alexandra wonder what sort of enchantments the Hogwarts Express must have to brave the snow and the ice which accumulated on the railroad.

Alexandra quickly became bored: she had finished her homework, and bombarding the Weasleys twins with snowballs could only last so long. Duelling and playing chess was fun, but Professor Flitwick had many obligations as Senior Teacher of Charms and Head of Ravenclaw House; he couldn't pass all his time with a first-year, or for that matter any student in particular.

It was on December 28 that a stunning opportunity presented itself to Alexandra, as the Headmaster left the school to go to a New Year Congress in Egypt. With Dumbledore present in the castle, she had been extremely wary of going anywhere near the forbidden corridor of the third floor. Without him, the risk became manageable: with less than two dozen students in the castle, most of the professors didn't bother make their rounds, the only exception being Snape and Flitwick.

In good Ravenclaw fashion, Alexandra had decided the chance was unlikely to present itself again and as a result put precautions in place to ensure she would not fail. The first was to consult the old plans of Hogwarts in the library, which revealed that the forbidden wing consisted of seven rooms on two levels. Alexandra had no idea why the Headmaster had been so stupid to let the plans in a library everyone in the castle could access to, but she was grateful for any help she could get. It was unlikely Dumbledore had left the stairs intact in this wing, so a broom was definitely needed. She would have to "borrow" one from the broom lockets in the Quidditch Pitch.

Alexandra had also studied the patrols of Snape and Filch, which were surprisingly predictable. By her analysis, she would have eight and a half hours before someone, undoubtedly Flitwick, remarked her disappearance and alerted the other professors. This would be the time she was granted to pass through the obstacles defending the Philosopher's Stone. She had verified in the book A History of Alchemy (noting by the way that this was a heavily censored version of a French-traduced book), and there were only two wizards named Flamel today, the six hundred plus year old alchemist and his wife Perenelle. The only thing belonging to the famous alchemist, who according to the book was an old partner of Dumbledore, was the Philosopher Stone granting immortality and gold to its wielder.

That said, Alexandra had had deranging questions after reading this book. First, the elixir of Long Life had to be given every month or so for its wielder to not age. As the Stone was no doubt at Hogwarts since at least September, there were two options; either Nicolas Flamel had made another Stone, a far from impossible feat given his long life and his talent in alchemy (the man had invented the discipline after all!). Or the man was already dead. A Philosopher's Stone was an incredible and rare creation, even for wizards and witches. Alexandra did not think she would give even to her best friend's care an artefact of such incredible power, not if it could lead to her doom. Besides, Flamel was so old the lack of the Elixir of Long life would instantly kill him. The Potter Heiress had avoided thinking about this, because the implications were frightening. In her opinion, Headmaster Dumbledore was a senile old man who never should have been given the care of one child, never mind an entire school. But if the man had really murdered or get rid of one of his friends to place the Stone at Hogwarts, well...

In the end, the main flaw in her plan to rob the Headmaster was her ignorance of the nature of the traps waiting for her in the forbidden corridor. Alexandra had managed to discover Professors Snape, Quirell, Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall had participated in the defences, but given how many enchantments were possible with magic, that didn't narrow the field of possibilities at all. Hagrid had by his own admission with Longbottom furnished a "dog". The Headmaster had certainly also established his own protections.

Ultimately on December 31 evening, she decided to go. Inspired by one of the many action films Dudley had seen, Alexandra decided it to call the attempt Operation Grand Chelem, a name she found appropriate for her objective. There was absolutely zero chance for the professors to give her the information she needed, the knowledge of their defences would not be found in the library, and she had no idea how much time the Headmaster would stay away from Hogwarts after New Year before coming back.

Casting spells to make her the next best thing to silent in the corridors, Alexandra left the Ravenclaw common room at eleven o'clock, a broom taken from the Quidditch Pitch under her right arm and a pack of steaks from lunch in a bag.

With Snape and Filch busy patrolling at this hour near the Gryffindor common room, this part of the castle was deserted in the winter holidays , and she managed to arrive in front the forbidden corridor without incident. She tried to open the door but, predictably, it was locked.

"Well, let's try this!" Alexandra whispered."Alohomara!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open. Alexandra stayed a few seconds before the door with her mouth open. That was it? She had supposed a corridor where a painless death was waiting would be heavily defended magically, but her first year unlocking spell had just overwhelmed the first protection. Something was very wrong, Alexandra felt. May be it was her being paranoid, but Alexandra knew she was only a first-year. A first year trained by Flitwick and in the top five of every important class which counted. So if Alexandra could pass this door, every student beyond second-year could pass this door too.

Sighing, she wondered if she wasn't about to make a big mistake. She could lock the door again, and likely no one would know of her presence here this night. Still,...

"Behind this door, the adventure begins..." Alexandra murmured to herself. Casting a "Lumos!" to be aware of her surroundings, Alexandra Potter entered the Forbidden Corridor.

31 December 1991, Alexandria, Egypt

The meetings of the International Confederation of Wizards were always places where every nation loved spending astronomical amounts of money, magic, wards, runes, precious stones and brilliant decorations. This end of the year congress did not escape the rule. The Royal Palace of Alexandria was a marvel of magical architecture, displaying enchanted images of the Nile, the desert and diverse local monuments like the pyramids. Built by French wizards at the end of the eighteenth century during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, then renovated and embellished by the successive Ministries of Egypt, the place had been chosen at the quasi-unanimity by the ICW senior delegates. The diplomats were particularly eager to welcome the beginning of the New Year with extremely expensive foods, drinks and in clothes the majority of the wizarding population would never be able to afford once in their life. At the moment were present the Supreme Mugwump, over one hundred and seventy senior delegates, twenty-five incumbent Ministers of Magic and a couple of hundred senior officials, not to mention all the witches and wizards having been invited for their looks or their colossal fortune.

In all this magnificence and with every influential man or woman busy to expand his influence and power base in the six hundred foot-long hall, the conversation of two witches discussing in a dark alcove of the first floor protected by four intensive secrecy wards had no chance of being heard.

"The ICW has really outdone itself this year, don't you think Knight Informer?"

"Indeed, my Queen. Though I wonder how the Egyptians are going to pay their employees tomorrow with half of their budget thrown in this little party."

A snort came from the first woman.

"Be brief. I can't be away for too long."

"I think the Knight Alchemist is trying to betray us to the Supreme Mugwump."

"Is he mad?"

"I wondered the same thing, my Queen."

The two witches let the time of a song pass in the Palace before opening their mouth again.

"I have to warn the King."

"He's not going to be pleased. The Philosopher Stones of Knight Alchemist have been very useful for the funding of our cover operations. We may have to advance the schedule of Knight Summoner."

"I know. But no plan survives contact with treachery and the enemy."

"And Dumbledore?"

"Ignore him. Unless you think you can take him with the Elder Wand?"

This time it was the second witch who snorted.

"I thought so. Don't worry, his time will come."

One click of the hand, and the alcove stood vacant.