Chapter 11 - Search in the Library

"It was Snape," Ron had said when the four of them were in Hagrid's hut, "Hermione and I saw him, he was jinxing your broom. Muttering under his breath, he wouldn't take his eyes off of you."

"Rubbish," Hagrid said, who had apparently missed the whole conversation that went on next to him in the stands, "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

The four First Years looked at one another, wondering what to tell Hagrid. Harry decided to tell him the truth, "Hagrid, I, or rather Lucifer and I, found out something about him. He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It went wrong and it bit him. We figured he was trying to steal whatever that dog is guarding."

"But, Quirrell's mouth was also moving, just like Snape...." Even though, Lucifer  wanted to complain, Hagrid dropped his teapot in shock, "How do you know about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?" Ron asked, wide-eyed.

"That thing has a name?" Hermione asked as well who was sitting on Lucifer's lap, because that sofa, could only fit three people.

"Course he had a name, he's mine. Bought him off a Greek chap I met in the pub las' year - lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-" Hagrid didn't get to finish as Harry had interrupted him.

"Yes?" He asked eagerly.

"Now don't ask me anymore," he said gruffly, "that's top secret, that is."

"But, Snape is trying to steal it!" Hermione said in a loud voice.

Lucifer just remained silent, to be honest he just lost interest, because these people weren't even trying to suspect the innocent looking, Quirrell.

"Rubbish," Hagrid said again, "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So, why did he just try and kill Harry during the Quidditch Match?" Ron asked him.

"I know a Jinx when I see one, Hagrid," Hermione explained, "I've read all about them and you've got to maintain eye-contact when it's a vocal Jinx, and Snape wasn't breaking eye-contact."

"I'm tellin' ya, yer wrong!" Hagrid said hotly.

Lucifer who looked like, he couldn't wait to get out of here, and when Hermione saw his bored expression, she just wanted to kiss his pouty lips, and make it go away, but there were other people around them.

And, Hermione didn't have that much courage yet, but her eyes silently told Lucifer, about talking later.

"Jus' 'cause he knows about the Dark Arts, don' mean he knows any powerful Dark Magic," Hagrid tried to defend the potion master, but Ron just glared at him in response, "Besides, Snape wouldn't try to kill a student. Now listen to me, all four of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Dumbledore an' Nicholas Flamel-"

"Aha!" Harry said excitedly, "So there is someone called Nicholas Flamel, is there?"

Hagrid looked right cross with himself.

After they left Hagrid's old hut, Lucifer couldn't stop himself any longer, and tried to make these fools understand, "I also saw Quirrell mumbling under his breath, while locking eye-contact.....So, what if Snape was actually trying to counter that ji-

"What are you even saying, Lucifer? Snape has been nothing more than a bully to me!" Harry immediately cut him off, and retorted loudly, he really didn't like Professor Snape.

And, Ron also gave his two penny worth of thoughts, "Yeah, he is a git, besides, Quirrell can't even speak without stuttering!"

But, Lucifer wisely chose to ignore these two boys, and looked at Hermione with a dazed expression instead, "It's always the quiet ones..." a low voice was heard.

The bushy-haired girl, knew what Lucifer meant, that's why she just sighed inwardly, and started playing with her locks unconsciously, "Then, we should keep an eye on both of them"

They returned back to Gryffindor Tower to work on some homework before turning in.

"What are you studying? This book doesn't seem to be of our curriculum. Is this another fourth-year stuff?" It was Hermione, who asked Lucifer this question, because, this boy had already completed his work ten minutes ago.

But, he was still reading something, which made Hermione slightly curious.

"No" Only, Lucifer was quite busy thinking, and didn't give much of a response, "Hey! I was reading that!" When, he tried to be vague earlier, Hermione had enough of this attitude, and snatched that book away quite fiercely, then used her right hand to move the pages randomly.

"Building different rooms inside our mind....? What's this?" It's just, Hermione got slightly confused after reading this, and looked over at Lucifer, who was sitting beside her on the sofa.

".....It's Occlumeny. The Sorting hat used that word, so I'm trying to lo-"

"So, is there anything important that you've learned?!" Hermione, also had a competitive nature, and she didn't like being overtaken by her opponent.

"....." Lucifer, "It helps to prevent other wizards from knowing your thoug-

"I'm going to borrow this for a while, okay?" It's just that Hermione cut him off in the middle of his talk, when she heard such terrible news.

".....Yeah, but you don't have to look that sca....right, it will also help with your migraine" This dialogue, seemed to have forced Hermione to take an oath of silence.

And, there was no response for several minutes,"...when did you notice?" Even her eyes seemed to have become watery, after hearing those surprising words, with slightly anxious tone.

"For the last two days, you have been going to sleep early, and during the practical less-

"I see, well there's no need to worry," Hermione said, while taking out a dark blue coloured flask, and shook it lightly, which made a small noise, "I'm taking the pills for it" she, said while looking into Lucifer's eyes, hoping to God, that he would believe her, because she had never heard the name of Merlin from her childhood, and just by staying at the boarding school for a while couldn't effect her old habits.

"Okay" Lucifer nodded his head, after taking a second look at Hermione's bottle. He didn't see any problem, if she's taking her medicine, those headaches will probably go away.

This response seems to have made, Hermione feel quite relieved inside her heart, and then she quickly put that flask back inside her pocket.

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Christmas was close upon them as it entered mid- December, and Hogwarts had found itself blanketed with pure white snow, three feet of it to be precise.

Very few Owls managed to make it through the roaring winds outside to drop off mail. Most mail arrived mid-day or evening when the winds died down a little bit.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. The Gryffindor Common Room and the Great Hall were warm from the fire they had constantly going, but the corridors and classrooms were chilling to the bone.

The classrooms themselves had their windows rattling from the winds outside.

Potions class was probably the worst, as it was down in the dungeons. The only solace they found was in their cauldrons radiating some heat.

Lucifer did also notice that Hermione was standing closer to him than usual in Potions class. He figured it was just for extra potential warmth.

"I do feel sorry," Draco Malfoy said in Potions one day, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they are not wanted at home."

Lucifer glanced over at Draco and saw that he was looking over at Harry as he spoke.

He heard Crabbe and Goyle chuckle in a way only two slow idiots could.

Malfoy tried to get people to laugh at Harry by saying that a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing him as Seeker, but no one was laughing.

They were all amazed Harry was able to keep his hold on his broom as it had jerked him about. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, decided to insult Harry about the fact he had no parents.

Lucifer was glad Draco didn't ask anything about him otherwise his dead body would be hung over the Great hall right now.

After they left class at the end of the day, the four of them found a large Fir tree blocking the corridor. They heard huffing and recognized it to be Hagrid, "Hey, Hagrid. Need help?" Harry offered, being polite.

"Nah, I'm alright, thanks Harry."

"Would you mind getting out of the way?" Draco's voice could be heard, "What's the matter, Morningstar? Need some money for the holidays?"

Lucifer just looked at his stupid face for one minute straight. Hermione who was standing beside him was covering her mouth to prevent from snorting out loud.

And then, he just pulled out a black Gringotts card from his side pocket.

Draco looked at the small thing with his mouth open, trying to imitate the Donald duck, and he was doing a pretty good job, even Ron couldn't help but follow this blonde-haired's actions, with his mind full of jealousy.

'Only pure-bloods can afford that.....' After concluding his thoughts, Draco finally gained his body posture back, and just walked away after sneering towards him.

"Whatever," Draco said and pushed his way through the tree, spreading needles everywhere and smirking.

"You alright, Mister?" Hermione asked him with a playful smirk.

"Yeah.. yeah just caught off guard that's all..." Lucifer was a little flustered.

"You four wanna come see the Great Hall? It's a real treat right now," Hagrid asked them. They agreed and followed Hagrid to the Great Hall and he was right, it was a sight to behold, "So," Hagrid started after setting up the final tree for McGonagall and Flitwick, "How many days yeh got left until yer holidays?"

"Just one more," Hermione said, excited to see her family again after, being almost four months away from them, "That reminds me, Harry, you said you'd join Lucifer and I in the Library before lunch, which we have a half-hour until."

Harry just nodded and glanced at the boy standing beside him.

"Oh yeah, you're right," Ron said, tearing his eyes from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the newest tree.

"Who said you could join us, Ronald?" It was Hermione, who asked this question, while they were about to leave the hall. 'Can't he just go away?'

"He's going to help us, remember?" Harry tried to interject, before another fight took place, only Hagrid was also following them, "The Library? A bit keen there, aren't yeh?"

"Oh, we're not working," Harry was known to be a chatterbox, and just went with the flow, but Lucifer smacked his shoulder.

"Not working? Then what are yeh goin' to the Library fer?" Hagrid asked them.

The cat was out of the bag now, so Harry explained further, "Well... ever since you mentioned Nicholas Flamel, we've been trying to figure out who he is..."

"You what!?" Hagrid looked shocked, "Listen here, I've told yeh before, jus' drop it, okay? It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'"

"Oh, we just want to know who Nicholas Flamel is, that's all," Hermione said in a sweet voice. Lucifer looked at her and realised it was her secret voice which she used with him multiple times.

It wasn't a total lie, but she did it so easily that it unnerved both Harry and him.

"Unless you'd like to save us the trouble?" The messy black-haired boy, decided to just ignore it, and foolishly added. "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere. Come on, just give us a hint?"

"I'm sayin' nothin'," Hagrid said, and that was that.

The four of them walked away to the library and Hermione just glared at Harry again. It was true, though, they had read through many, many books.

It was mostly Lucifer and Hermione doing the heavy reading, but Harry and Ron did skim through books, looking for any sign of the name 'Nicholas Flamel'.

Of course, he wasn't in the Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, Notable Magical Names of Our Time, Important Modern Magical Discoveries, or A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry.

And of course, at least, according to Harry and Ron, the size of the Library was daunting to look at, and lowered their morale greatly.

They didn't give up, yet, and Lucifer felt that, they should get special awards for it.

"Hey, I forgot to ask where you got that, Occlumency book from anyway? I didn't find it the last time I was here....."

"....." Lucifer.

"Y-you didn't steal it from the restricted section, right?" When the boy in question, didn't say anything in response, Hermione already had a bad feeling.

"Lucifer, I swear to God!" A loud shout was heard from their desk, it was Hermione, who was going bonkers, and started hitting Lucifer's arms with her large book.

"Shhh.....Keep quiet or I'll directly ban you from the library!" Madam Pince threatened, from her seat, while glaring at these annoying first years, it was only then, Lucifer was saved from the bushy-haired girl's outbursts.

Only, they achieved nothing in their half hour before lunch and made their way out of the Library and towards the Great Hall once again. "You will look while I'm at home, won't you? I know you will, Harry, but what about you, Ronald? If you don't then...." Hermione paused her sentence, while crossing her arms at the red-haired boy, the criminal who's always following them, under the reason of being looking out for Harry's well-being or something like that.

"I'll try... but we've looked through so many books already, Hermione," Ron said, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"You can always steal from the Restricted Section," she suggested, while her eyes staring at Lucifer's face, who tried his book to look innocent, and even seem to have a angel halo over his head.

"And how are we going to do that? Madam Pince watches the Library like a hawk," Harry said.

"Don't look in my direction, I am really an angel," replied Lucifer, while giving a nice smile, that only made Hermione's face turn red even further, very furious and, wanting to correct his bad attitude in life.

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1 Extra Chapter - 200 Power Stones..