Chapter 399: Alchemy

"Good evening, Professor!" Ivan leaped forward and his body quickly changed in mid-air. By the time he landed on his feet, he had returned to human form from that of the black cat.

"Oh, a wonderful Animago Transfiguration!" Nicolas Flamel looked at Ivan and said admiringly, "That's perfect. Because it is too esoteric and complex, only a few magicians can master this magic. For centuries, you are the third magician I've seen who can do this at this age. It's truly amazing."

He spoke very slowly, his voice was very low. His old voice was like a knife through the bark of a tree. It sounded very hoarse, strange and ugly. But his mouth was smiling, and he seemed extraordinarily kind.

"Thank you for the compliment!" Ivan nodded.

As Nicolas Flamel watched him, Ivan also looked at him curiously, scrutinizing the oldest magician in the history of mankind.

The long life of over six hundred years had left obvious marks on his face.

Like Dumbledore, Flamel had a long white beard.

The wrinkles on his face were deep, and his twists and turns were uneven, like the mottled marks on the wall, crawling all over his face.

But his emerald green eyes were extraordinarily bright and full of vitality.

Most surprisingly, the surface of her skin reflected a faint golden light from time to time, which Ivan suspected was a side effect of long-term use of the Elixir.

A lot of magic, transformed by the Philosopher's Stone, accumulated in his body and manifested through the skin.

"Ivan, you should have known that this is my old friend Nicolas Flamel, my lab partner in alchemy and the best alchemist in the world." Dumbledore said softly, winking at Ivan, then turning to Flamel and introducing, "This boy is Ivan Mason, whom I just mentioned."

"Albus, your pupil is very good!" Flamel nodded and said, "I feel he is very much like you when you were young. He has magical power beyond his peers, precise magical control, and the spirit of exploration and eagerness to delve into the unknown..."

"But when I was young, I never tried to enter the girls' dormitory in Animagus form," Dumbledore said with a smile.

Ivan was stunned, and then realized that what had just happened was all under the eyes of the two old men. No wonder they were here waiting for him.

"That's not bad. I did this when I was young. No boy can refuse the enthusiasm of girls." Flamel remembered, "Beauxbatons wasn't that big, and there was no defensive magic on the door of the girls' dormitory. If someone wanted to give you a door inside, you could sneak in at night. The key was mastering timing. The teachers and castle guards would go to bed. If I had mastered Animagus form, there would be no..."

This topic was too embarrassing, and Ivan didn't want to hear Flamel's recollections of his experience of breaking into girls' dormitories, especially considering it was over 600 years ago. No matter who the girl or girls were who were willing to leave the door for him, they should have turned into a pile of dust and bones by now, which was too terrible to think about.

"About 400 years ago, when Beauxbatons was rebuilt on a grand scale, I set out to follow Hogwarts' example and add this defensive magic, which effectively identified and prevented boys from entering the girls' dormitory." Flamel continued, "This magic seemed perfect, but in reality it is flawed. You just have to..."

When he heard Flamel ready to expose how to enter the girls' dormitory, Ivan felt a little embarrassed, but still he couldn't help but listen attentively.

Defensive magic wasn't hard to decipher, but he didn't know what to do to sneak in without attracting attention.

"All right, Nicolas! Before we go into the girls' dormitory, I think we should first take a look at Ivan's Philosopher's Stone." Dumbledore stopped him in his tracks. "You are an expert in this area. Before we take the next step, I want to hear your opinion. "

"Of course, of course, you just told me!" said Flamel. "But before that, I want to show your student my inventions. Would you mind? "

"No problem, I just want to get something to eat." Dumbledore said calmly.

"I have prepared a French dessert for you in my office. You can try my chocolate mousse or my favorite opera cake!" Flamel greeted Ivan. "Come on, young man! Let me show you my alchemy products. You'll be intrigued!"

Ivan looked quizzically at Dumbledore and Flamel. He didn't know why Flamel had to take him to see the alchemy products placed on both sides of the corridor.

But intuition told him that the two should have come to an agreement.

Ivan looked at Dumbledore, and the latter did not speak, only nodded slightly.

His light blue eyes glittered through the half-moon spectacles and he could read no emotion in them.

Separated from Dumbledore, Ivan followed Flamel.

The old wizard presented him with the wondrous products of alchemy, first of all the cutlery he saw many times on Dumbledore's desk.

"What is this for?" asked Ivan curiously. "I can feel strange magical reactions, and the smoke..."

"This is one of my inventions, very handy. You should have seen it in Albus' office, I gave it to him." Flamel said slowly, "The key is in this smoke. It will help you see what you want to see."

"What do I want to see?!" Ivan was stunned.

Flamel did not continue to explain. He tapped the silver instruments with his wand.

The slow rotation of the silver suddenly sped up and made a whirring sound. More and more smoke was emitted, and soon it gathered.

In the smoke, Ivan was surprised to see Dumbledore's shadow growing clearer and clearer.

At that moment, he was sitting in a plush low chair, with a steaming drink and many French desserts on the table in front of him.

He picked up a piece of cake and then seemed to feel something.

Dumbledore frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed and turned and nodded toward them.

"Aha, he found us!" Flamel wielded his wand to disperse the smoke. "Albus is very sensitive to magic, far beyond the imagination of ordinary people."

"These things..." Ivan seemed to understand something.

"This alchemy can show a certain range of views." Flamel explained, "When I want to, I can see any corner of the Beauxbatons campus. We just saw through it what you and the girl did."

No wonder Ivan always felt that someone was watching him.

Deduced from this, the set of cutlery on Dumbledore's desk could also help him keep track of what was going on at Hogwarts.

So, no matter what happened at the school, he could find out the main reason for it quickly.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Flamel looked at Ivan and said with a smile, "This is nothing. Alchemy can help mages do many things that ordinary magic can't do. Alchemy can do them if you can think of them."