Chloe Cullen - A Harry Potter and Twilight Crossover

Chapter 10: Nicolas Flamel

Pretty much for the rest of the holiday, I worry about Harry. His obsession with this mirror is worrying. Apparently Harry went to go see the mirror for a third night in a row and ran into Professor Dumbledore. Instead of getting detention, he convinced Harry to not look for the mirror again. Whatever he said worked, because Harry doesn't see it for the rest of the holiday. He does have nightmares though. I'm very thankful for when classes and Quidditch practice start again. It puts Harry's mind elsewhere. Mine also. I'm not worrying about Harry's obsession with that mirror. Although, Harry told me that the mirror's true job was to show your heart's deepest desire. Does that mean I really want to be a vampire?

I don't have time to dwell on that though. Wood is working us harder than ever for our match against Hufflepuff so we can take the lead. During one wet and muddy practice session, Wood gives us bad news. He is already upset because Fred and George are screwing around by pretending to fall off their brooms. "Will you stop messing around!" he yells. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!" I zoom next to Wood. "Snape's refereeing?" I sputter. "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin!" The rest of the team lands next to me to complain as well. "It's not my fault," says Wood. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us." After practice, I storm up to the Gryffindor common room.

Harry makes his way to the common room a few minutes after I do. I finished homework already, so I just study for exams. "Don't talk to me for a moment," Ron says when Harry sits next to him. "I need to concen -" he catches sight of Harry's face. "What's the matter with you? You look terrible." He then tells them about Snape refereeing. "Don't play," says Hermione. "Say you're ill," says Ron. "Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggests. "Really break your leg," Ron says. "He can't," I put in before Harry gets any ideas. "There isn't a reserve Seeker. If he backs out, Gryffindor can't play at all." At that moment, we hear the door open. Neville comes toppling in with the leg locker curse on his leg. Hermione is the only one that doesn't laugh. She performs the counter-curse and leads him over to us.

"What happened?" Hermione asks him. "Malfoy," says Neville shakily. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on." "Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urges. "Report him!" he shakes his head. "I don't want more trouble," he mumbles. I groan. "You've got to stand up to him, Neville! He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier." I say. "There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," he chokes out. "Now, is that what I said?" I ask, irritably. Then, Harry gives Neville a chocolate frog.

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Harry says. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin." Neville's lips twitch in a weak smile as he unwraps the frog. "Thanks, Harry .... I think I'll go to bed... D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?" As Neville walks away, Harry looks at the card. "Dumbledore again," he says, "he was the first one I ever -" He gasps and stares at the back of the card. "I've found him!" he whispers. "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: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grinndelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'!" Hermione jumps to her feet. "Stay there!" she says and sprints up to our dorm. "I never thought to look here!" she whispers excitedly, slamming an enormous old book in front of her. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

After a few minutes, she seems to find what she's looking for. "I knew it! I knew it! Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!" A memory then comes to the forefront of my mind. Hermione telling me that the Sorcerer's Stone grants the user immortality. "The what?" Harry and Ron ask. "Oh, honestly, don't you two read? Look - read that, there." she says, shoving the book toward them. "See?" says Hermione when they finish. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer'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 from ever dying!" says 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," says Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"

The days before the Quidditch match breeze by. Before I know it, I'm getting dressed in my Scarlet robes. "The whole school's out there!" says Fred. "Even - blimey - Dumbledore's come to watch!" My heart does a somersault. "Dumbledore?" Harry says, dashing to the door to make sure Fred's telling the truth. Snape looks pissed when we walk onto the field. "Mount your brooms" he says in his oily voice. We all do as we're asked. He blows the whistle and we all rise into the air. He releases the Quaffle and I take possession. I zoom to the Hufflepuff side, but throw it to Katie Bell before a Hufflepuff Chaser can get it. I narrowly miss a Bludger, which George beats towards Snape and then Hufflepuff is awarded a penalty. After we score, a Hufflepuff Chaser catches the Quaffle. I chase after him and he throws it to another Chaser when I intercept it and Snape awards Hufflepuff another penalty. What the hell?! I think to myself and I glare at Snape as I'm forced to surrender the Quaffle. In my peripheral, I see Harry start to dive. He's diving toward a flash of gold. In about a second, Harry pulls out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph with the Snitch in his hand.

Everything that happens after that is a blur. I start to take in what's going on around me when everything slows down. That's only when Harry and I are walking to the broomshed to put our brooms away. Then, I hear something. I rustling of footsteps. I instinctively look behind me to see a hooded figure walking swiftly from the castle. I tap Harry on the arm and point it out to him. Without thinking, we jump back on our brooms and follow the figure. The figure goes into the Forbidden Forest, and we follow. When we get there, we have to circle lower to hear them. We land noiselessly in a tree. If I focus my hearing, I can hear Snape accompanied by Quirrell.

"...d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places Severs..." "Oh, I thought we'd keep this private. Students aren't supposed to know about the Sorcerer's Stone, after all" Snape says, his voice icy. "Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?" "B-b-but Severs, I -" "You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," says Snape, taking a step toward him. "I-I don't know what you -" "You know perfectly well what I mean." Then, an owl hoots, almost knocking Harry from the tree. I freeze, but once I realize he's okay, I hear Snape say, "- your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting." "B-but I d-d-don't -" "Very well," Snape cuts in. "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie." We get out of the tree and Harry throws his cloak over us and we make our way toward the castle.

"Where have you two been?" Hermione squeaks. "We won! You won! We won!" Ron shouts, thumping us 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," I say. "Let's find an empty room, you wait until you hear this" I say and we find an empty room and Harry and I tell them what we heard. "So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy - and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus-pocus' - I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through -" "So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" Hermione says in alarm. "It'll be gone by next Tuesday," says Ron.