Harry Potter 01 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Snape.’
    ‘Come on, cheer up, it’s nearly Christmas,’ said Hagrid. ‘Tell yeh what, come with me an’ see the Great Hall, looks a treat.’
    So Harry, Ron and Hermione followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.
    ‘Ah, Hagrid, the last tree – put it in the far corner, would you?’
    The Hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls and no fewer than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.
    ‘How many days you got left until yer holidays?’ Hagrid asked.
    ‘Just one,’ said Hermione. ‘And that reminds me – Harry, Ron, we’ve got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library.’
    ‘Oh yeah, you’re right,’ said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.
    ‘The library?’ said Hagrid, following them out of the Hall. ‘Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren’t yeh?’
    ‘Oh, we’re not working,’ Harry told him brightly. ‘Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we’ve been trying to find out who he is.’
    ‘You what? ’ Hagrid looked shocked. ‘Listen here – I’ve told yeh – drop it. It’s nothin’ to you what that dog’s guardin’.’
    ‘We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that’s all,’ said Hermione.
    ‘Unless you’d like to tell us and save us the trouble?’ Harry added. ‘We must’ve been through hundreds of books already and we can’t find him anywhere – just give us a hint – I know I’ve read his name somewhere.’
    ‘I’m sayin’ nothin’,’ said Hagrid flatly.
    ‘Just have to find out for ourselves, then,’ said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.
    They had indeed been searching books for Flamel’s name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. He wasn’t in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century , or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.
    Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section. He had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn’t somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books and he knew he’d never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts and only read by older students studying advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts.
    ‘What are you looking for, boy?’
    ‘Nothing,’ said Harry.
    Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him.
    ‘You’d better get out, then. Go on – out!’
    Wishing he’d been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Harry left the library. He, Ron and Hermione had already agreed they’d better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she’d be able to tell them, but they couldn’t risk Snape hearing what they were up to.
    Harry waited outside in the corridor to see if the other two had found anything, but he wasn’t very hopeful. They had been looking for a fortnight, after all, but as they only had odd moments between lessons it wasn’t surprising they’d found nothing. What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.
    Five minutes later, Ron and Hermione joined him, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch.
    ‘You will keep looking while I’m away, won’t you?’ said Hermione. ‘And send me an owl if you find anything.’
    ‘And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is,’ said Ron. ‘It’d be safe to ask them.’
    ‘Very safe, as they’re both dentists,’ said Hermione.
    *
    Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about