Speaking quietly so that no one else would hear, Harry told the other two about Snape's sudden, sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee.
“Don't play,” said Hermione at once.
“Say you're ill,” said Ron.
“Pretend to break your leg,” Hermione suggested.
“Really break your leg,” said Ron.
“I can't,” said Harry. “There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all.”
At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what they recognized at once as the Leg-Locker Curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.
Everyone fell over laughing except Hermione, who leapt up and performed the countercurse. Neville's legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling. “What happened?” Hermione asked him, leading him over to sit with Harry and Ron.
“Malfoy,” said Neville shakily. “I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on.”
“Go to Professor McGonagall!” Hermione urged Neville. “Report him!”
Neville shook his head.
“I don't want more trouble,” he mumbled.
“You've got to stand up to him, Neville!” said Ron. “He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier.”
“There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that,” Neville choked out.
Harry felt in the pocket of his robes and pulled out a Chocolate Frog, the very last one from the box Hermione had given him for Christmas. He gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry.
“You're worth twelve of Malfoy,” Harry said. “The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin.”
Neville's lips twitched in a weak smile as he unwrapped the frog.
“Thanks, Harry… I think I'll go to bed… D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?”
As Neville walked away, Harry looked at the Famous Wizard card.
“Dumbledore again,” he said, “He was the first one I ever—”
He gasped. He stared at the back of the card. Then he looked up at Ron and Hermione.
“I've found him!” he whispered. “I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here — listen to this: ‘Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'!”
Hermione jumped to her feet. She hadn't looked so excited since they'd gotten back the marks for their very first piece of homework.
“Stay there!” she said, and she sprinted up the stairs to the girls’ dormitories. Harry and Ron barely had time to exchange mystified looks before she was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms.
“I never thought to look in here!” she whispered excitedly. “I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading.”
“Light ?” said Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.
At last she found what she was looking for.
“I knew it! I knew it!”
“Are we allowed to speak yet?” said Ron grumpily. Hermione ignored him.
“Nicolas Flamel,” she whispered dramatically, “is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!”
This didn't have quite the effect she'd expected.
“The what?” said Harry and Ron.
“Oh, honestly, don't you two read? Look — read that, there.”
She pushed the book toward them, and Harry and Ron read:
The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.
There have been many reports of the Sorcerer's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera lover. Mr. Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight).
哈利小聲地告訴他們關(guān)于史綱皮想成為快迪斯比賽裁判員的險惡用心。
"不要飛了。"荷米恩立刻就說。
"你瘋了。"羅恩說。
"假裝你的腳受傷了。"荷米恩建議說。
"要不真受傷一次。"羅恩說。
"我不能這樣做。"哈利說,"我們沒有后備的搜索員,如果我退出的話,格林芬頓就不能比賽了。"正在這時,尼維爾搖搖擺擺地走進(jìn)教室,人們在猜想,他是怎樣認(rèn)肖像洞那邊爬過來的?因?yàn)樗碾p腳被人盡皆知的鎖腳咒粘住了。他一定是像兔子一樣一路單足跳上格林芬頓塔的。
除了荷米恩以外,大家都覺得好笑,她跳了起來,口中念了念解咒語。尼維爾的雙腳分了開來站在那里,由于不習(xí)慣的原因,有點(diǎn)發(fā)抖。
"怎么啦?"荷米恩帶著他跟哈利和羅恩坐在一起問道。
"馬爾夫,"尼維爾顫抖著說,"我在圖書館外遇到他,他說他正找個人試一試他的咒語。""快!去找麥康娜教授!"荷米恩拉著尼維爾,"向他報告!"尼維爾搖了搖頭。
"我不想再惹麻煩。"他咕噥著說。
"你應(yīng)該站起來反抗他,尼維爾!"羅恩說,"他已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了凌架于所有人的頭上,我們沒有理由向他屈服,事情沒有這樣簡單。""不要告訴我說我在格林芬頓中不夠勇敢了,馬爾夫已經(jīng)說過了。"尼維爾哽咽著說。
哈利把手伸進(jìn)長袍的口袋,從里面拉出一只朱古力青蛙糖,那是荷米恩給他的圣誕禮物,只剩下最后一只了。他把朱古力青蛙糖給了尼維爾,他好像就要哭出聲來了。
"你比馬爾夫強(qiáng)十二倍,"哈利說,"是分類帽選你進(jìn)格林芬頓隊(duì)的,不是嗎?
而馬爾夫呢?他只能呆在臭氣熏天的史林德林出來的。"尼維爾拆開青蛙糖,嘴角抽搐了一下,笑了。
"謝謝你,哈利……我想我該睡覺了……你要卡片嗎?你不是正在收集嗎?"尼維爾走開了,哈利看了看他給的"著名魔法"卡片。
"又是丹伯多,"他說,"他是我第一個……"
他喘著氣,凝視了下卡片的背面,然后抬頭望著羅恩和荷米恩。
"我找到他了!"他小聲說,"我找到了弗蘭馬爾!我說過以前在某個地方見過弗蘭馬爾這個名字,是在來這兒的火車上——聽著,丹怕多于1945年戰(zhàn)勝了黑巫術(shù)巫師格林德瓦,發(fā)現(xiàn)了龍血的十二種用法,他與同伴一起為練金術(shù)作出了貢獻(xiàn),并因此而名聲大噪——尼可拉斯。弗蘭馬爾!"荷米恩跳了起來。自從得知他們的第一次家庭作業(yè)的成績以來,她從來沒有這么興奮過。
"留在這兒,不要走,"她說著,飛快地奔上通往女生宿舍的樓梯。哈利和羅恩還沒有回過神來,她便抱著一堆書,沖了回來。
"我從來沒想過要在這里面查找。"她低聲說,"幾星期前,我從圖書館借來消遣的。""消遣?"羅恩說,但是荷米恩制止了他再說下去,然后她便開始在書中查找,一邊瘋狂地翻動著書,一邊不斷地咕咬。
最后她找到了所要的東西。
"我知道了!我知道了!"
"我們現(xiàn)在可以說話了嗎?"羅恩發(fā)脾氣了,而荷米恩則對他愛理不理。
"尼可拉斯。弗蘭馬爾,"她激動地說,"他是至今已知的唯-一個點(diǎn)金石的制造者。"她的話并沒有像她預(yù)料的那樣使他們大吃一驚。
"什么?"哈利和羅恩疑惑地問。
"哦,你們兩個不認(rèn)得字嗎?看呀,在這兒。"她把書推到他倆的面前,只見上面這樣寫著:古代的煉金術(shù)研究涉及到點(diǎn)金石的制造。點(diǎn)金石是一種有著巨大魔力的神奇物質(zhì),它能夠?qū)⑷魏谓饘僮兂杉兘?,而且還能產(chǎn)生一種長生不老藥,使吃了這種藥的人長生不老。
幾個世紀(jì)以來,有許多關(guān)于點(diǎn)金石的傳聞,但現(xiàn)今存在的唯一一塊為尼可拉斯。
弗蘭馬爾所有,他是一個出名的煉金家和戲劇愛好者,于去年剛過了他665歲的生日,他現(xiàn)在在德汶與他658歲的妻子過著平靜的生活。