Meeting Nick Flamel

He learned many things about Ivan from Dumbledore almost six months ago.

Expecting such a talented and ambitious young wizard to be arrogant and difficult to manage, Nicolas Flamel found Ivan to be different from what he had expected.

At least on the surface, he appeared to be very kind and humble. He was also very handsome, and for a moment, he had a very good impression of him…

"Why don't you all come inside and talk? You're a little later than I thought!" Nick Flamel gestured them into the living room.

As Ivan and the others sat down, a large group of noisy alchemical creatures, only a few centimetres tall, suddenly crawled up the table and hopped to the central plate, where they laboriously pushed the teacups towards them.

Immediately after, the children brought over the large teapot.

Ivan eyed them with interest, curious to see how the smaller alchemical creatures were pouring his tea.

Ivan watched as the little creatures stacked themselves up like blocks.

Some formed into feet, some into heads, and finally, in a seamless fashion, into a creature several times larger than the original, struggling to hold on to the handle of the teapot to pour the steaming tea into Ivan's teacup.

Perhaps it was because it had lost its grip, but an alchemical creature in the shape of a turnip head suddenly detached itself from its body and accidentally fell into a cup full of hot tea. It was so hot that it waved its little hands wildly and made "Ulla" noises, spilling tea everywhere.

Ivan did not see this coming, and was caught off guard, unsure if he should fish the creature out of the bowl.

"Hey… it looks like these little ones need a bit more work!" Nick Flamel noticed the oddity and smiled as he picked up Ivan's cup and poured the tea on a strange-looking plant.

The smaller alchemical creature clung to the corner of the teacup the entire time, trying to prevent itself from falling out of the sky. It screamed and screamed, and Nick had to slap the bottom of the cup to knock it off.

Ivan's eyes were fixed on the green plant.

He had seen with his own eyes that when Nick splashed the tea, the other party seemed to have moved quickly and avoided it, causing all the tea to spill in the loose soil below.

A small, moving tree? A magical plant like the Mandrake?

With this thought in mind, Ivan, who knew very little about such herbology, stared at the tree, but the tree remained as still as a normal plant.

Ivan wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him when the strange-looking green plant suddenly shook, flapped its branches, and pulled its roots out of the ground, shouting frantically, "It's too hot…it's too hot!"

Ivan couldn't help but laugh at this comical scene. It seemed that the boiling tea had seeped into the soft soil and burned the roots of the tree, so he could no longer pretend to be dead.

Ivan was amused. He had only been there for a short while, but he felt as magical as if he were entering the wizarding world for the first time.

During this delay, Nick Flamel replaced the cup and placed it in front of Ivan.

"Thank you, Monsieur Flamel! Actually, I can do it myself…" Yvonne said sheepishly.

Yvonne was not used to having a six-hundred-year-old wizard serving her tea.

"There's nothing wrong with moving a bit more when you're older!" Nick Flamel said with a smile, then turned to look at the alchemical creatures on the table. "And after all, these alchemical creations are not as flexible as real life…"

Perhaps because of Nick's words, the children looked crestfallen, as though they had been dealt a blow.

Seeing how cute they were, Ivan couldn't help but ask where they came from.

"You know, it's not always easy to do things in your old age, so I made these little things to help me with my chores!" explained Nick Flamel.

Yvonne understood, but then remembered that Nick Flamel was supposed to have a wife who was also immortal, and that he had read in his first year that they had shared a six-hundred and sixty-five birthday!

Yvonne looked around, but for some reason there was no sign of Nick's wife.

Nick and Dumbledore were already talking about other things, and Ivan was able to calm down and eavesdrop openly.

Disregarding Ivan's presence, Dumbledore's expression turned grave for the first time since he entered the room, and he turned to Nick Flamel and asked, "Any luck with that thing I asked you to fix?"

"Kind of!" Nick nodded, then grumbled, "Why do you always give me trouble when you come to see me?"

"Trouble? You really think so? I thought you'd be very interested…" Dumbledore picked up his cup of tea with his good left hand and took a sip.

"In a way, it was a problem, and I haven't had a good night's sleep while researching it! I'm sure you understand how important sleep is to an old man…" Nick teased.

"But to think that the stories in a book of English fairy tales were true… I used to pursue legends in my youth, of course, in France, but without exception they were all fakes!" Nick added.

"It's normal, isn't it? That's the legend, and you'll never know if it's true until you verify it…" Dumbledore said noncommittally, placing his teacup on the table. "For many wizards, your very existence is a legend!"

"How long will it take you to fix…" Dumbledore's eyes were fixed on Nick through his half-moon spectacles.

"About two to three years!" Nick replied hesitantly.

"It will take that long?" Dumbledore's brow furrowed deeply. "It seems to me that the damage should be minimal. I should be able to use it normally and see people who wish to see it!"

"Because it's not damaged at all, it's just affected! You know…" Nick was about to say something when he saw Ivan sitting nearby, eavesdropping.

After a moment's thought, Nick took back some of his words and continued in a vague tone. "In short, when you destroyed it, you affected it somewhat, and it's not easy to get rid of that effect completely, nor is the repair material easy to find…"

"Even so, two or three years is too long! I can only wait half a year at most…" Dumbledore shook his head; he would not be able to hold out for that long.

However, there are some things that can't be solved in a hurry, and seeing Nick's dark expression and the fact that he was ignoring him, Dumbledore relented and said in an uncertain tone, "Well, perhaps this can be extended a little longer, a year and a half?"

"Two years! That's the best I can do, or you can take it back and figure it out!" Nick replied angrily.

They were soon engaged in an argument over time, which confused Ivan, who could only guess that Dumbledore wanted Nick Flamel to repair something important.

At first, Ivan thought it was the Time-Turner, but when he heard it he dismissed the idea… and hadn't that thing been fixed long ago?

Then it could only be…

Yvonne thought about their previous conversations and had a vague idea what was going on, but she wasn't 100% sure.