Chapter 31

Christmas was approaching. On a mid-December morning, Hogwarts awoke from its dreams to find the surrounding grounds covered in several feet of snow, and the lake encased in solid ice.

The Weasley twins were punished for magically animating snowballs to chase Quirrell and hit him on the back of the head.

Albert admired the Weasley twins for their heroic act of hitting Voldemort in the face from the bottom of his heart.

As the holidays drew near, some classes were becoming a bit unbearable, for example, Professor Snape's Potions class.

Since the classroom was underground and had no heating, you could see your breath every time you opened your mouth. Not to mention, when my hands and feet went numb from the cold, I had to endure Professor Snape's sharp tongue, which was colder than the classroom temperature.

"I really feel sorry for those people," Draco Malfoy said defiantly during a Potions class, "They have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because their families don't want them."

But Harry seemed unaffected, even a bit pleased. He found it very exciting not to return to the Dursleys for Christmas, and Malfoy's words did nothing to spoil his good mood.

When Professor McGonagall registered students as remaining at school last week, Harry and the Weasley twins chose to stay. Harry stayed to avoid the Dursleys, while the Weasley twins remained because their parents were visiting Charlie in Romania.

Hermione and Albert chose to go home for Christmas; after all, it was their first time being away from home for such a long period.

Well, technically it wasn't Albert's first time, as he had spent all his days in prison.

Of course, Albert and the others also told Harry and Ron, who were staying at the school, that they would prepare gifts for them and look forward to their presents.

Despite searching through a number of books over the past two weeks, they hadn't been able to find information on Nicholas Flamel.

But that didn't affect their Christmas expectations.

Ten days before Christmas, it was time for the holidays. After breakfast, Albert grabbed his schoolbag and headed to the station in Hogsmeade with the others who were returning home.

After passing through the ornate iron gate with winged boars on either side of the school and walking for over ten minutes, they reached the Hogsmeade station platform, where the Hogwarts Express was already waiting.

There weren't many people in the carriage, unlike when they arrived, so Albert and Hermione soon found an empty compartment, where Neville Longbottom joined them.

Originally, Albert wanted to relax, but Hermione took out her homework and started writing.

This led Albert and Neville, who were playing Wizard's Chess, to set their pieces aside and take out their homework before finishing their game.

After a full day's journey, the train arrived at King's Cross Station, where they met Neville's grandmother.

Mrs. Longbottom expressed her gratitude to Albert and Hermione for helping Neville at school, which made them both feel a bit embarrassed.

After bidding farewell to the Longbottoms, Albert and Hermione took separate cabs home.

Before parting, Hermione repeatedly asked Albert to thoroughly search the family library for any information on Nicholas Flamel and to contact her if he found anything.

When Albert arrived home, he opened the door to hear the same words he had heard the first time he opened it.

Kreacher said, "Welcome, young master."

Albert found that Kreacher had prepared dinner and was waiting for him, which made Albert feel the warmth of home that he hadn't felt in a long time.

After dinner and before going to bed, Albert took the time to talk with Kreacher about his school life and what had been happening at home recently.

Albert had always felt that Kreacher seemed bored and lonely, so he wanted to ease Kreacher's loneliness.

After talking with Kreacher for a while, Albert decided to go to bed early; after all, the train journey had been very tiring.

…

Afterward, the Christmas holiday was enjoyable, except for doing homework every day and spending seven or eight minutes on the phone with Hermione discussing daily assignments. The rest of the time spent at home was very pleasant.

Albert began practicing difficult spells, such as the Totallus Charm and other important spells that would help him in his fourth year.

The spell Albert had been practicing since entering school was the Penetrating Charm, which he had found in a book in his grandfather's room.

As seen in the book before, this spell can eliminate any barrier, whether it's an advanced barrier, a hidden barrier, a protective barrier, or even age-related spells like the one Dumbledore used on the Goblet of Fire in the fourth year to prevent students under sixteen from participating in the tournament.

After practicing diligently, Albert realized that this spell was divided into six levels, and so far, he had only mastered the first level.

This led Albert to devise a plan: he should practice this spell every year, aiming to master two levels per year until the fourth year, at which point he would have completed all six levels.

Now, you might ask how Albert could practice magic at home without the Ministry of Magic noticing.

Well, as is known here in Britain, it is forbidden for students to use magic at home, especially during holidays. Only students attending school are allowed to use magic at school or on school outings, such as competitions or promotional tours in Diagon Alley.

The reason the Ministry of Magic didn't know that Albert used magic was that he did not use his wand at home.

The Ministry keeps records of every wand owned by a student, so they receive immediate information if a student uses magic.

After finding the book in his family library that talked about Nicholas Flamel, Albert went to the community library to meet Hermione.

During their phone call the previous day, Hermione had mentioned that she found information about Nicholas Flamel.

After all, finding something isn't difficult if you already know the answer and can find reasonable proof.

Knowing that Nicholas Flamel was a medieval French alchemist, it wasn't hard to locate him in the extensive information available in the family library. Albert was also familiar with this character from a series in his previous life.

Albert hadn't waited for long in the library when Hermione arrived, wearing a blue sweater.

She sat down opposite Albert and asked, "You said you found the answer. How did you do that?"

Albert replied, "I searched for chemistry books in our family library. Since our library is categorized by subject, it was easy to find information about Nicholas Flamel."

After saying this, Albert took off his schoolbag and pulled out a stack of papers. He flipped through them, pointed to the words, and read them aloud.

"Nicholas Flamel, a Frenchman, was a renowned alchemist in the 14th century. He is said to be famous for creating the Philosopher's Stone, which he used to successfully turn mercury into gold. According to legend, there were continuous sightings of him until 1929. Additionally, although public records show that he died in his hometown in 1427, greedy and avaricious people stole his tomb and his wife's tomb. When they found the graves empty, it was proven that he achieved immortality."

After finishing, Albert took out another map, and Hermione leaned in to see that it was a map of Paris.

"What's on this map?" Hermione asked.

"Look here." Albert pointed to a location circled on the map. "Number 51, Montmorency Street, the home of Nicolim. This was Nicolim's home. This indicates that Nicolim was an alchemist who lived in Paris, France during the medieval period."

"I've thought about it. The Philosopher's Stone must be hidden there," Hermione whispered. "When we were researching in the library that day, Harry told me he suspected that on the day he went to Diagon Alley, there was a small bag that Hagrid took from the deepest vault in Gringotts, hidden under the enchanted door. Based on the size and other available information, it's likely that the hidden object is the Philosopher's Stone."