"Um…" Ron and Harry exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Do you know Nicolas Flamel?"
Harry and Ron stayed at school for the holiday, spending several days in the library.
They weren't doing an assignment; they were searching for news of a name—Nicolas Flamel.
Harry felt the name was familiar, but despite their best efforts—they practically turned the library upside down—they still couldn't find any trace of it.
Even Hermione, who returned to school, couldn't find any information about Nicolas Flamel.
The three decided to try their luck at the library again, and happened to run into Vizette. Given their trust in Vizette, they decided to come over and ask her.
"You know what?" Harry looked at Vizette expectantly, "After all, you're simply…"
Ron immediately chimed in, "He's even more of a Mrs. Pince than Mrs. Pince! Not only does he know the title, he also knows where to find the book!"
These were all things they had witnessed firsthand; after all, Vizette had helped them with a lot of homework before becoming friends with Hermione.
"Nicolas Flamel?" Vizette searched through the books in his mind, quickly found the relevant information, and extracted the key details.
"He is an immortal wizard, a great alchemist, currently living in seclusion in Devonshire, and possesses the only Philosopher's Stone in the world."
"So that's how it is!" Harry gasped upon hearing this. "Fluffy was guarding the Philosopher's Stone!"
Ron continued, "Merlin's beard! Snape was after the Philosopher's Stone!"
"Oh? Fluffy? Professor Snape? The Philosopher's Stone?" Vizette raised an eyebrow. "The Philosopher's Stone at the school?"
"Hey!" Hermione called out in a fluster when she heard Vizette's series of questions.
Although she had a vague feeling that something was wrong, she was unable to stop Harry and Ron in time.
The two not only revealed crucial information that aroused Vizette's suspicions, but also caught Mrs. Pince's attention.
As a result, Harry, his two friends, and Vizette were thrown out of the library, and even Vizette was asked to leave.
"I'm sorry…we really didn't mean to drag you into this…" Ron's face was flushed, almost the same color as his hair.
Hermione asked eagerly, "Vizette, you just said Nicolas Flamel is an immortal wizard? What do you mean?"
"He lived for over six hundred years, from 1327 to the present day," Vizette said succinctly.
"So that's how it is!" Ron exclaimed in realization. "That's why we spent the entire Christmas holiday looking for 'Studies in the Development of Modern Wizardry,' but we couldn't find it anywhere!"
"I remember where it is! Wait for me... See you in the Great Hall!" Hermione was very anxious and ran towards the moving staircase in a hurry.
"You...don't you eat Chocolate Frogs?" Vizette looked at Ron and Harry. "The name Nicolas Flamel appears in Chocolate Frog cards."
"Really?" Ron and Harry were somewhat bewildered.
"It wasn't a card of Nicolas Flamel, but one that mentioned Principal Dumbledore," Vizette said.
"Oh! Headmaster Dumbledore!" Harry's eyes lit up. "I knew I'd seen him! I've been saying that all along!"
He fumbled in his pocket, pulled out a crumpled Chocolate Frog card, and began to read the text on it.
"Twelve uses for dragon's blood discovered... remarkable achievements in alchemy with my partner Nicolas Flamel!"
"I can't believe I didn't think of that!" Ron raised his fist and smacked his forehead. "I had collected over five hundred cards!"
"I didn't expect that either!" Harry felt a sense of enlightenment and a smile appeared on his face. "Luckily, Vizette reminded me."
"Vizette, do you also like collecting Chocolate Frog cards?" Ron asked curiously. "Do you have any cards of Agrippa and Ptolemy? I can trade you some cards you don't have..."
Seeing that Harry and Ron were trying to steer the conversation away from the topic, Vizette immediately voiced his doubts, "What I'm more curious about is, what does this have to do with Professor Snape?"
Ron explained, "Because Snape would always find some excuse to deduct Gryffindor points in front of Harry!"
"They'll also deduct points from my score! Whenever Harry and I sit at the same table, we both lose points..."
"Everyone else will too!" Harry said indignantly. "Anyone sitting next to me will lose points along with me!"
Vizette coughed lightly, trying hard not to laugh.
Professor Snape would indeed deduct points in front of him, and he had experienced this twice before.
Noticing Vizette's barely suppressed smile, Harry declared confidently, "He definitely wants to harm me! He has a wound on his leg! A huge wound! He was bitten by Fluffy!"
As he spoke, he bent down, pulled up his trouser leg, and gestured back and forth on his calf, "It's this spot where the wound is! I found it!"
"So my flying broomstick malfunctioned! Then Ron and the others discovered that Professor Snape was casting a spell there, so... well... they planned to... well... stop him..."
His mouth was gagged by Ron, and he managed to utter a few broken words.
"Harry, stop talking!" Ron looked utterly terrified, as if he had seen something horrible.
Vizette quickly turned around and saw Snape, dressed in a black robe, less than two meters away from them.
Snape's lips curled into a slight smile, a forced and insincere expression.
"Very good… Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, very good!" His voice was very cold, drawn out, and without any inflection.
"Let me think... talking about the professor in the hallway, and once casting a spell to burn his robes..."
He took two steps forward, blocking Vizette's path, and leaned down to stare at Ron.
"Mr. Weasley, you seem to know very well who the arsonist was." He narrowed his eyes slightly, and there was even a hissing sound as he spoke.
Harry's face was just as red as Ron's, or even redder.
Ron blushed because he was nervous and scared, while Harry blushed because Ron covered his face and he couldn't breathe.
Harry finally managed to pull Ron's hand away and glared angrily at Snape.
Snape straightened up and continued to look down at Ron. "Talking about professors in the hallway, Gryffindor loses twenty points!"
"You!" Harry gritted his teeth and continued to glare at Snape.
Snape blinked, continuing to focus his attention on Ron. "Twenty points each!"
Ron felt uneasy under Snape's scrutiny and, disregarding the forty points he had lost, grabbed Harry's hand and fled down the corridor as fast as he could.
Just as the two were about to disappear at the end of the corridor, Ron's voice came, "Vizette! Thank you for telling us so much! Take care!"
Snape turned around, his expression still indifferent, but his tone was crisp and clear, "Vizette, come to my office!"