Secrets of Hogwarts Unveiled

Harry thought of Flamel's words... Why had he been looking for Harry? He wondered if his summer of freedom was ending early. Had someone noticed or complained, one of those visitors from the Ministry?

Maybe he had more questions? Harry thought he'd been uncommonly chatty when he first met Professor Flamel, which made Harry a little suspicious. Magic was a great thing, but it was also tricky. What had Professor Flamel done to Harry to get him so willing to speak? Or had that been all Harry?

"Calm yourself, young man. You've gone very red all of a sudden."

Harry mastered himself.

"Better?"

"Yes, sir."

The Professor nodded. "This is my wife, who is also Professor Flamel for this upcoming year. She will teach, though we are as yet undecided on what courses."

"Professor." Harry tipped his head to her. It seemed polite. She looked like a perfectly nice witch...and that was all he got. Nice for her. Old for her husband. How were his eyes failing him so?

"I've been trying to get a handle on this old pile of stones. I was told by reliable sources that there are inexplicably large tunnels or pipes in the walls. Worrisome, so I had my sources, the elves, you see, leave a grate open so I could do some exploring."

"Elves?"

"House elves," the female Professor Flamel said. "I take it..."

"Oh, I know about house elves. I was wondering if there was another kind."

"There have been other kinds, of course, but they may have hidden themselves. Alternately, they may have died out. As for this tunnel, Penny had forbidden me to go looking until I had the appropriate clothing on and the enchantments, of course... And I find someone has already been exploring. Very dangerous... How deep did you go and what did you find?"

Harry began to see the risk he had taken. It had been a little stupid. There was something down there that smelled very bad. What if he had fallen? He would try to change, though he doubted it would be easy.

"Well, I could see out of grates on the fifth, fourth, third, second, first floors, and two levels of the dungeon, then there were some deeper levels that I had no idea about..."

"Excellent. You kept yourself to the safe levels. The elves dare not go any further. If you'll excuse us, we would like to see for ourselves. And perhaps make a few things safer for the school..."

The pair of elderly magicals looked rather like they were geared up for battle, Harry thought. 'Appropriate clothing..." Harry was wearing rather thin clothing for the kind of explorations he'd done. Well, another lesson learned.

What were they afraid of? What had Harry been smelling in that tunnel? He wondered, but did not ask. "Good afternoon, Professors."

They disappeared into the grate, then levitated the grate closed behind them. Harry had been through that opening, he had just seen the grate levitated into position, and now he couldn't tell where it had all happened. There was significant magic trying to keep the grates inconspicuous.

Harry smiled. He'd survived what turned out to be a foolish little adventure, plus Professor Flamel had kept his promise. He had let Harry stay, which was very nice.

He'd remember this day and ask in the future what exactly Harry hadn't discovered in those tunnels or pipes or whatever they were.

Harry found himself reminded of another topic, namely the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher's Stone, and these very mysterious Flamels. He had heard all these terms thrown around for the last month, but he hadn't felt much need to look into them. Yet.

Harry donned his cloak and moved swiftly through the halls. After he ate a late, late lunch, Harry snuck into the Hogwarts library under his cloak. He was in luck, Madam Pince wasn't patroling the shelves or repairing books. She was gone for now.

Harry just wished the books were better organized. An index? Anything. He wished he could find the old numbers of the Daily Prophet, too. The school received them. Harry had looked at a few, but did they get rid of them once they were old?

Harry's perseverance eventually paid off in sickles and galleons. According to the book Harry found very close to dusk, the Flamels were seven hundred years old...thanks to some special stone they had enchanted. But hadn't Quirrel stolen it, then accidentally destroyed it? The Flamels still moved around fully alive, even if Harry couldn't make out much about them. They must have had more than one stone.

.....

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