Passing her time in the library to escape Dudley and his gang during primary school, Alexandra had always liked reading about myths and legends. Maybe because it was a way to escape the reality where she was hunted and bullied by her cousin, her aunt and her uncle. But also because she loved genuine fantasy and imaginary worlds where magic and sword coexisted. She had loved reading the Lords of Rings, which in her humble opinion, was the best book of all times. She had not spent all her time reading Tolkien, however, and she had also read numerous books on mythologies and legends of the past. And Nicolas Flamel had been prominently mentioned in all the books mentioning the alchemy myths for the creation of the legendary Philosopher Stone.
Of course, Alexandra ignored if it was the same Flamel the Boy-Who-Lived had spoken about. The man had lived in the fourteenth century, after all, and for all she knew, this Flamel could be a great-great-great-grandchild of the famous alchemist or have no familial relationship whatsoever. Or it could be the same man, if the legend was true and the wizard had managed to create a Philosopher Stone.
Soon, Hermione and Nigel arrived. Seeing her smiling, Hermione asked:
"What's so funny?"
"Weasley and Malfoy tried to kill each other in front of me, but Snape intervened." Alexandra explained.
"Ugly bat" grumbled Nigel.
Seeing Hermione and Nigel 's disabused looks, it was not hard to guess what had happened.
"Snape was as charming as usual?"
"Thanks to Malfoy, Nigel has to buy a new cauldron."
Hermione didn't add "again" but Alexandra heard it nonetheless, grimacing. When she had begun studying and meeting Nigel and Hermione every time she could, Nigel had been frankly a disaster with a wand, his lack of self-confidence creating insurmountable problems for him to follow the normal magical course. Hermione and Alexandra had had to motivate him pretty hard to see him succeed the simplest charms and jinxes. Nigel's progress was slow, but the auburn-haired pure-blood was erasing the gap in academics separating him from the other Lions, and by Alexandra estimates would be at an average level by the end of the year. Except in Potions. The dreadful behaviour of Professor Snape there, combined with his known habit to never punish the Slytherins was pure hell for poor Nigel. Even Hermione was snappy and depressed when she left the dungeons, her good humour taking the rest of the day to make a reappearance. From a purely teaching view, there were many questions why the Headmaster tolerated the presence of such a man inside the walls of the castle.
"Don't look so glum, one more class and school is finished for the year!" Alexandra said in an enthusiastic tone.
Hermione refused to take the bait, through.
"Are you going to be alright? I know you stay at Hogwarts this Christmas..."
"Hermione, I would be a lot less 'alright' if had to return to my uncle and aunt's home." Alexandra grimaced inwardly. The Dursleys were not the kind of subject she loved bringing into a conversation.
"Believe me: the less my 'family' and I see each other, the better for everyone."
Changing once again the subject, she started to eat the meals which had started to appear for lunch. Alexandra had said the truth to Hermione after all: while Hogwarts was not her preferred place to live, she would take it every day if the alternative was the Dursleys home.
Her two friends had had better childhoods than her, however, which explained why they felt quite enthusiastic at the idea of going back home. From what she had learnt, Hermione's parents were dentists. Quite wealthy, they had not had a lot of time to give to their only daughter, but had encouraged her passion with the books and her will to be the best in the academic field. Nigel had lost his mother at a young age, and with his father a diplomat working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation always away, he had been raised by his grandfather. In Alexandra's mind, there was no real doubt who had been responsible for Nigel's low esteem of himself. Veteran of the Grindelwald war, the Wolpert patriarch looked like a nasty piece of work. He seemed the kind of man that drill sergeants in the army shook in their boots at the idea of provoking.
Anyway, Nigel's father was coming back home for the holidays, so the shy Gryffindor was going home too. Hermione was going in France to practise winter sports. Assuming her parents managed to put her on skis of course.
"So, " asked Hermione in her inquisitive voice." What are you going to do alone in this castle for two weeks?"
"Is it not evident, my dear Granger? I am going to prepare my plans for world domination. I have a Dark Lady reputation to uphold, you know."
Nigel began to cough at that, having swallowed the wrong way. Hermione looked at Alexandra with a semi-amused, semi exasperated face, like if she wasn't sure she was kidding or not. The five Ravenclaw who had been in hearing distance almost ran out from the table in panic. Cowards.
On the other hand, if there was the slightest opportunity of a Philosopher's stone being in the castle, unlimited gold and eternal life sounded like the kind of prize world domination pales against...
25th December 1991, Hogwarts, Scotland
Once the holidays had started, Alexandra found herself having too much to do in the short term to explore the mysterious wing of the third floor. Not only she had her private lesson on Friday evening with Flitwick, but the professors had also given a lot of written homework for January. Alexandra had also to order present for Hermione and Nigel: she chose for Hermione a book on magical customs while she gave a box of magical and non-magical sweets for Nigel and a bottle of wine for Professor Flitwick. Atalanta had appreciated having some work to do despite the cold falling on Northern Scotland.
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