Chapter 8 - Philosopher's Stone

A few nights later, Harry and I decided to put our new invisibility cloak to good use and try and see if we could find anything in the restricted section on Nicholas Flamel. Late at night, my twin and I quietly walked through the dark library under the cloak while Harry held a lantern in his hand. Once we reached the restricted section, Harry held the lamp up to the spines of the books, reading the titles in whispers aloud,

"Famous fire eaters... 15th Century Fiends... Flamel... Nicholas Flamel... where are you?"

Wanting to get a better look, Harry pulled the cloak off of us as he eyed one of the books. My brother turned to me with a questioning look in his eyes. I shrugged and lightly nodded, giving him the go-ahead before he placed the lamp down. The both of us quickly looked around to make sure no one was coming before Harry picked up the book and opened it. Not even a moment later, the book slightly shook, and a man's face suddenly appeared, screaming,

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Swiftly, Harry and I slammed the book shut and put it back right before we heard Filch's voice in the distance,

"Who's there?!"

I whipped around in the direction of Filch's voice before Harry grabbed the cloak. But, the lamp that we were using fell and shattered, giving away our location to Filch. We ran away from the now broken lamp but stopped at the sound of Filch's voice again, "I know you're in there. You can't hide."

At the sight of a light, I helped Harry pull the cloak over us just as Filch was coming around one of the shelves. "Who is it? Show yourself!"

We crept around the caretaker carefully as he held up his own lamp and looked around. Once we were far enough away, Harry and I walked faster to the door of the library. However, Mrs Norris was in the hall waiting for us. The red-eyed cat meowed and started following us as we tried to walk away quickly. As we rounded a corner, Professor Snape and Quirrell suddenly appeared. Snape shoved Quirrell into the wall as Harry and I crept around the two slowly.

"Severus...I-I thought..." Professor Quirrell stuttered, but Snape didn't let him finish,

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell."

"W-what do you m-mean?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean." Professor Snape suddenly stopped and turned his head in the direction of me and Harry. Swiftly, Harry placed a hand over my mouth, quieting my heavy breathing. Our potions teacher reached out as though he were trying to grab something, but Harry and I moved back in time. As my twin and I continued backing away from the two teachers, Snape took a moment before whipping his finger back in front of Professor Quirrell's face. "We'll have another chat soon... when you've had time to decide where your loyalties lie."

As Harry was removing his hand from my mouth, Filch came around the corner, our broken lamp in his hand,

"Oh, Professors. I found this in the Restricted Section. It's still hot. That means there's a student out of bed."

The three men darted off, leaving Harry and me in the hall alone. Thinking it was best to hide for a bit, Harry carefully opened the door that had been behind us before closing it again. As Harry let the cloak drop to the floor, he whispered,

"That was close."

I simply nodded as I looked around the room we had entered. It was quite empty except for a large mirror in the centre. I turned to look at Harry, only to see that the mirror had caught his attention as well. Together, we walked over to it. The mirror's frame was golden and covered in spiderwebs, and at the top was an engraved sentence in a language I couldn't read. My brows furrowed in confusion as I turned to see my brother holding the same expression. When we both looked back in the mirror, I saw two people appear. A red-haired woman and a brown-haired man with glasses. Confused and shocked, I turned to Harry again, whose eyes were also wide, before we looked to see if there was anyone behind us. Realizing we really were alone, Harry guessed,

"Mum?"

The woman smiled and nodded, and I looked at the man before asking,

"Dad?"

He smiled and nodded at me, and I smiled in return as I felt Harry grab my hand in his. We both reached out to touch them, but our fingers only met the feeling of the mirror. Then, in the mirror, Mum placed a hand on Harry's shoulder while Dad placed one on mine. With Harry's hand still holding mine, we put our own hands on our shoulders, trying to feel the hands of our parents but getting nothing. My brother and I frowned but tried to smile at our parents as they smiled back at us. Suddenly, Harry spoke,

"We'll be back."

"What?" I asked just as Harry started to pull me with him to pick up the cloak.

"We've got to show Eric and Ron!"

The two of us ran as fast as we could to the Gryffindor dormitories before whipping into Harry and Ron's room, where Ron and Eric were sleeping.

"Ron! You've really got to see this!" Harry yelled, and I joined,

"Eric! You've got to see this!"

Harry pulled back Ron's covers as I pulled back Eric's. The boys started to slowly wake up as I yelled some more, "Ron, Eric, come on. Get out of bed!"

"Why?" my friends questioned at the same time.

"There's something you've got to see," Harry answered, "Now, come on!"

Quickly and carefully, Harry and I brought Ron and Eric to the room with the mirror. As soon as the door was closed, we shoved the invisibility cloak off of us, and Harry and I ran to the mirror.

"Come on. Come. Come look, it's our parents!" I smiled, pointing to the mirror. When Ron came over, he furrowed his brows,

"I only see me."

Harry and I moved over as Harry brought Ron to stand directly in front of the mirror,

"Look in properly. Go on. Ron, stand there. There. You see them, don't you? That's our dad."

"That's me!" Ron smiled, "Only, I'm head boy... and I'm holding the Quidditch cup! And bloody hell, I'm Quidditch captain, too! I look good."

"What?" Eric asked, standing beside Ron, "I see me standing beside Professor Sprout... with a certificate saying I've won an award in herbology! Harry, Ella, do you think this mirror shows the future?"

"How can it?" Harry frowned, "Both our parents are dead."

Harry and I smiled sadly as Eric and Ron turned away from the mirror.

"Maybe you two just need a good night's sleep," Eric sympathetically smiled. Ron nodded,

"Yeah, come on, Ella and Harry. Let's go back to bed."

Still feeling a bit glum, Harry and I gave curt nods, and then we all walked back to the Gryffindor dormitories under the cloak.

The next day, Harry and I couldn't stop thinking about the mirror and our parents. Eric and Ron had tried to distract us, but nothing really worked. In the Great Hall, after having only a little bit of dinner, Harry and I sat alone on one of the tables and away from the few other students who had stayed during the holidays. After a little while, I heard someone walking over when Ron's voice spoke beside Harry,

"Want to play chess?"

Harry and I shook our heads and replied with soft tones,

"No."

"Want to go and visit Hagrid?" Eric suggested with a small smile.

"No, thanks."

"Ella," Ron said, the frown evident in his voice as Eric spoke with the same tone,

"Harry."

"We know what you're thinking, but don't."

"There's something not right about that mirror."

Harry and I both nodded, but when our two friends walked away, I turned to him as we shared a knowing expression. We were going to go to the mirror again.

Later that night, after Ron and Eric were fast asleep, Harry and I snuck out of the room with our invisibility cloak and made the walk to the room with the mirror. We both just sat in front of the mirror with our legs crossed, seeing our parents smile at us. It was comforting to see them there and be able to see us with them. After a little while, we suddenly heard a voice,

"Back again, Harry and Ella?"

Quickly, I lifted my head from my brother's shoulder as we both turned around and stood up, facing Professor Dumbledore. "I see that you, like so many before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised. I trust by now you realize what it does." Dumbledore walked over to us and spoke softly, "Let me give you a clue. The happiest man on earth would look into the mirror and see only himself, exactly as he is."

I followed the professor's line of sight, looking into the mirror as I guessed,

"So, then it shows us what we want?"

"Whatever we want?" Harry added before we both looked back up at our headmaster.

"Yes..." Dumbledore said, then shook his head, "And no. It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desires of our hearts. Now you, Harry and Ella, who have never known your family, you see them standing beside you. But remember this, Ella and Harry. This mirror gives us neither knowledge nor truth. Men have wasted away in front of it, even gone mad. That is why tomorrow it will be moved to a new home, and I must ask you two not to go looking for it again. It does not do to dwell on dreams, Harry and Ella, and forget to live."

Harry and I looked back at the mirror once more before turning back to Professor Dumbledore and nodding.

§

The holidays were over, and Hermione had returned along with everyone else. Eric, Hermione, Harry and I were all studying for our exams at one of the tables in the Great Hall while Ron was going through his chocolate frog cards. As I was sitting between Harry and Ron, across from Hermione and Eric, I heard a flutter and looked up to see that Hedwig had landed on the table beside Harry.

"Hi, Hedwig," my brother and I both smiled before looking back at our books. Not a minute later, though, Hermione spoke to Ron,

"Look at you: playing with your cards. Pathetic. We've got final exams coming up soon."

"I'm ready. Ask me any question," Ron argued with a smug tone. Harry and I smiled at each other, entertained by our friends' argument.

"Alright, what are the three most crucial ingredients in a forgetfulness potion?"

I watched as Ron frowned,

"I forgot."

"And what, may I ask, do you plan to do if this comes up in the final exam?"

"Copy off you?" Ron teased, causing Hermione's features to be crossed with an angry frown,

"No, you won't. Besides, according to Professor McGonagall, we're to be given special quills bewitched with an anti-cheating spell."

"That's insulting!"

"Hmmm, it's as if they don't trust us," Eric lightly mocked with a grin. Harry and I chuckled as Ron rolled his eyes and looked back at his cards,

"Dumbledore again!"

I gave Ron a sympathetic smile before picking up the Dumbledore chocolate frog card. Then, we all looked up at the sound of someone hopping into the Great Hall as other students laughed. The five of us saw Neville trying to come over to us as though his legs were stuck together. "Leg-lock curse?"

"Malfoy," Harry and I said knowingly, glancing at one another before I turned back to the card I was reading as Ron spoke to Neville,

"You have got to start standing up to people, Neville."

"How? I can barely stand at all!" Neville questioned, trying not to fall over and keep his balance.

"I'll do the counter-curse!" Seamus excitedly offered as he stood from his spot a little way down the table.

"No! That's all I need: you to set my bloody kneecaps on fire."

Seamus frowned at that, aggressively slamming his wand down on the table,

"I don't appreciate the insinuation, Longbottom. Besides! if anyone cares to notice, my eyebrows have completely grown back!"

As I kept reading, mostly ignoring everyone else at this point, I found the thing I had been looking for,

"I found him!" I pat Ron and Harry's shoulders and passed the card to Eric for him to read aloud,

"Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard, Grindelwald, in 1945..."

"Go on," I urged.

"For his discovery of the 12 years of dragon blood; and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicholas Flamel!"

My friends all perked up excitedly and gave me smiles.

"We knew the name sounded familiar!" Harry realized as he smiled at me, "Ella and I read it on the train that day."

"Follow me!" Hermione said to us as she quickly picked up her books. Ron, Eric, Harry and I followed suit, running after her out of the Great Hall. Hermione lead us to the library and instructed us to sit down before she brought over a giant book.

"I had you looking in the wrong section! How could I be so stupid?" Hermione rolled her eyes at herself as she slammed the book on the table, accidentally hitting Harry's fingers. I grabbed his hand and gently rubbed it as our bushy-haired friend explained, "I checked this out a few weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"This is light?" Ron asked, causing Hermione to send him a glare and then start reading,

"Of course! Here it is! 'Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!'"

"The what?" we all asked, and Hermione shook her head at us,

"Honestly, don't you four read? 'The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will turn any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.'"

"Immortal?" Ron said aloud.

"It means you'll never die."

"I know what it means!"

Harry, Eric and I shushed his yelling,

"Shh!"

"'The only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr Nicholas Flamel," Hermione read on, "'The noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday!' That's what Fluffy's guarding on the third floor. That's what's under the trapdoor... the Philosopher's Stone!"

We all looked at each other, thinking.

"We should talk to Hagrid about this," Eric suggested, and we all nodded in agreement.

"When?" Ron asked, and Harry and I replied with nods,

"Tonight."

The others nodded.

That night, Harry, Ron and Hermione met me and mErice outside of the Hufflepuff entrance with the invisibility cloak. Quickly, the five of us made our way out of the castle, running across the wet ground to Hagrid's hut. Harry knocked on the door, and it opened to reveal Hagrid clad in oven mitts and an apron.

"Hagrid!" Harry and I yelled as we removed the cloak from the five of us.

"Oh, hello," Hagrid spoke, "Sorry, don't wish to be rude, but I'm in no fit state to entertain today." Hagrid went to close the door, but the five of us quietly yelled,

"We know about the Philosopher's Stone!"

Hagrid opened the door again and looked at all of us,

"Oh." He opened the door wide and moved for us all to walk into the small hut.

"We think Snape's trying to steal it," Harry explained as we all found spots to sit.

"Snape? Blimey, Harry, you're not still on about him, are you?"

"Hagrid, we know he's after the Stone."

"We just don't know why," I added, sitting beside Hermione on Hagrid's big chair.

"Snape is one of the teachers protecting the Stone!" Hagrid argued, "He's not about to steal it!"

Harry's brows furrowed,

"What?"

"You heard. Right. Come on, now, I'm a bit preoccupied today."

"Wait a minute," I said, getting distracted by the sight of Hagrid's dog, Fang, sniffing Ron before focusing again, "One of the teachers?"

Hermione spoke up beside me,

"Of course! There are other things defending the Stone, aren't there? Spells, enchantments."

"That's right. Waste of bloody time, if you ask me," Hagrid answered as Hermione and I both watched Fang continue to sniff Ron as he tried to shuffle away. "Ain't no one going to get past Fluffy. Hehe, not a soul knows how. Except for me and Dumbledore. I shouldn't have told you that. I shouldn't have told you that."

Suddenly, the cauldron that had but hanging over the fire began to rattle, gaining Hagrid's attention, "Oh!" Hagrid hurried over and took something out of the cauldron using his oven mitts. "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" He brought it over to his kitchen table, and we all followed as he carefully placed down what looked like a big egg.

"Uh, Hagrid, what exactly is that?" I asked as we all stared at the egg thing.

"That? It's a... its um..."

"I know what that is!" Ron exclaimed, "But Hagrid, how did you get one?"

"I won it. Off a stranger, I met down at a pub. Seemed quite glad to be rid of it, as a matter of fact."

The egg suddenly started rattling before it cracked. Pieces suddenly flew off, almost hitting us before we ducked, as what looked like a baby dragon emerged. The creature squeaked and slipped on an egg piece as Hermione questioned,

"Is that... a dragon?"

"That's not just a dragon," Eric said, and Ron added,

"That's a Norwegian Ridgeback! My brother Charlie works with these in Romania."

My eyes went wide as I turned to Harry, whose expression matched mine.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid asked with a voice that sounded as though he was on the verge of tears. "Oh. Bless him, look. He knows his mummy. Hehe. Hallo, Norbert."

The dragon squeaked as it looks at Hagrid.

"Norbert?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, well, he's got to have a name, doesn't he?"

Ron and Eric laughed, and I smiled at Norbert as Hagrid looked down at the baby, "Don't you, Norbert?" Hagrid raised his fingers back and forth across Norbert's chin, "Dededede."

Norbert backed away a bit before hiccuping and blowing a fireball into Hagrid's beard. All of our eyes went wide as Hagrid quickly pat his beard to stop it from catching on fire,

"Ohh! Oooh, ooh, ooh, well... he'll have to be trained up a bit, of course."

Norbert hiccuped again when Hagrid asked, "Who's that?"

The five of us all turned to look out the window that Hagrid was looking at, only to see a blond-haired boy scampering away.

"Malfoy," I stated with a frown.

"Oh, dear. The five of you best be off. It's late, and I don't want you lot gettin' into any more trouble."

"Bye, Hagrid," Harry, Ron, Eric and Hermione said as Harry grabbed the cloak. I smiled at Norbert,

"Bye, Norbert. Bye, Hagrid."

With a wave, Hagrid said goodbye as he held open the door for us.

As we were all walking back through one of the castle's corridors, Harry spoke,

"Hagrid always wanted a dragon."

"He told us so the first time we met him," I added. Ron nodded and said,

"It's crazy. And worse, Malfoy knows."

"I don't understand. Is that bad?" Hermione questioned.

"It's bad," Eric frowned. The five of us suddenly stopped as Professor McGonagall, in her nightgown, appeared in front of us,

"Good evening."

We all had guilty looks on our faces, but mine turned into a slight glare when I saw Malfoy come around the professor with a smug smile. "Follow me. Now."

Glumly, we all followed McGonagall into her classroom, stopping to stand in front of her desk while Malfoy stood a few feet away, smirking. "Nothing, I repeat, nothing gives a student the right to walk about the school at night." Professor McGonagall started her lecture, "Therefore, as punishment for your actions, fifty points will be taken."

The five of us gaped at the Transfiguration professor with furrowed brows as Harry questioned,

"Fifty?!"

"Each. And to ensure it doesn't happen again, all six of you will receive detention."

I looked down with a frown of disappointment until I heard Malfoy speak up,

"Excuse me, Professor. Perhaps I heard you wrong. I thought you said... 'the six of us.'"

I watched as Malfoy's frown deepened as Professor McGonagall answered him,

"No, you heard me correctly, Mr Malfoy. You see, as honourable as your intentions were, you, too, were out of bed after hours. You will serve detention with your classmates."

Malfoy's shoulders sagged as the five of us gave him smug smiles of our own. Maybe this will teach him to be less of a git.