Chapter 25

A particularly large package was delivered to Harry, carried by three owls working in unison.

"Oh, that reminds me," he said to the Gryffindors. "Anyone got a copy of the Daily Profit — sorry, Prophet — that I can borrow?" A flood of papers were offered to him immediately. Milo grinned. Celebrity had its perks, apparently. His newfound fame for defeating the acromantula apparently overshadowed the hatred for his losing 110 house points.

"Thanks," he said, grabbing one from some random NPC.

He looked at the cover, and nearly dropped it in surprise. Not because of the headlines, or even the content of the newspaper at all, but because the photo on the cover — of some smiling blond wizard being awarded a medal — was moving. Someone out there saw fit to cast some kind of spell, Milo wasn't even sure what would do this (some sort of Illusion, perhaps?) on every single one of these papers. Or, gods forbid, they were all magic items, each costing XP. If each newspaper cost even one Experience Point to make… Milo shuddered, imagining the soul-sucking factory needed to produce these tabloids, where wizards were dragged in en masse to be drained of the essence of their power, left a shallow husk of themselves.

Milo shook his head to clear his mind, and started scanning the headlines. Gringott's Break-in Still Unsolved… Nope, not that. Lockhart Saves Australia. Unrelated. Moody Stops Bicycle Theft, Takes No Prisoners. Nothing to do with him, certainly. Harry Potter Biography Hits Shelves, Shelves Hit Back. Apparently Flourish and Botts had attracted a malicious poltergeist. Nimbus Two Thousand Named Official Broom of Chudley Cannons. Yawn.

"Oh, by the way," Milo said as he read. "I found out what You-Know-Who is after."

"What?" Ron spluttered. "How?"

"Well, I cross-referenced everything on Harry's list with everything in the Hogwarts Library relating to extending one's life," he said. "And the Philospher's Stone is the only thing that appears in each. Nicolas Flamel was on the back of Dumbledore's chocolate frog card — which were invented in 1983 — back on the Hogwarts Express, which was, incidentally built in 1936, and he's the creator of the Stone."

"Why does it matter that he was on the card?" Harry asked.

"Well, something as important as the motives of the main villain would have been mentioned at least once by now by way of foreshadowing," Milo said. "Hells, you've probably been in the same room as the thing at least once and didn't even know it."

"Oh," said Hermione, sounding disappointed. "Here I'd hoped, against all reason, perhaps, that you'd finally found an ounce of sanity and logic."

"Mark my words," Milo said. "He's after the Stone — or he's a vampire."

"Well, if it's the stone he wants, we don't have anything to worry about," Hermione said. "Nicolas Flamel has it, and he's seven hundred years old. He's been able to keep it safe all this time, he must be pretty good at it. I mean, surely You-Know-Who isn't the first person to want to be immortal? I bet Flamel has to fight off dark wizards every other fortnight."

"Well, I'm glad that's settled," Harry said, cutting off Milo's reply. "Wait till you guys see what I got in the mail."

o—o—o—o

Harry was so excited he could hardly speak as they hurried to the Gryffindor common room to open his package. He skipped up the stairs two at a time, and blurted out the password to the Fat Lady so quickly he had to repeat it twice before she was satisfied.

"It's a Nimbus Two Thousand!" Harry exclaimed.

"Don't be daft, mate," Ron said. "Anyone who owned a Nimbus wouldn't just give it away."

"Oh, a broomstick," said Hermione. "Hooray."

"I had one of those, once," Milo said. "Stole it from a Death Eater I defeated. Dumbledore took it, though."

"Course you did, mate," said Ron condescendingly. "Course you did."

"Hey, Harry," Milo said. "Tell me something: why were you so excited to get this broomstick?"

"It's a Nimbus Two Thousand!" Harry said, practically shouting. "They're top-line racing brooms!"

"Right, right, but how do you know that?" Milo asked.

Harry frowned.

"I saw one in the shop in Diagon Alley," he said. "There was a crowd around it and everything."

"Ron, correct me if I'm wrong," Milo said to the redheaded boy, "but aren't there a number of top-line racing brooms out there?"

"Well, yeah, but the Nimbus is the best one," said Ron.

"Sure, but still — there'd be ones that are used by, I dunno, national sports teams that still far outstrip those used by Hogwarts players, and are maybe almost as good as the Nimbus?"

"Well, sure," Ron said thoughtfully. "There's the Comet Four-Eighty and it's hush-hush, but apparently Firebolt is working on something really fantastic."

"Yet none of those," Milo said with satisfaction, "were on Harry's list of notable items."

The four fell silent