The Survivor

Nicolas Flamel

She rechecked the page for the tenth time, realising it was of no use since the words didn't change. 'If this is true, then everything will change.' She whispered to herself as she drank a cup of black tea.

"What?" Asked almost everyone.

"What does that mean?" Asked Amelia.

"I know you like to appear mysterious and all of that, but did your kids have to get it as well?" Complained Hannah.

*

Dumbledore had convinced Harry not to go looking for the Mirror of Erised again and for the rest of the Christmas holidays the Invisibility Cloak stayed folded at the bottom of his trunk. Harry wished he could forget what he'd seen in the Mirror as easily, but he couldn't. He started having nightmares. Over and over again he dreamed about his parents disappearing in a flash of green light while a high voice cackled with laughter.

"I will murder him in his sleep." Mumbled Remus.

'You see, Dumbledore was right, that mirror could drive you mad,' said Ron, when Harry told him about these dreams.

"Ronald Weasley!" Screeched his mother. "What in Merlin's name isn't well wired inside your head?"

Hermione, who came back the day before term started, took a different view of things. She was torn between horror at the idea of Harry being out of bed, roaming the school three nights in a row ('If Filch had caught you!') and disappointment that he hadn't at least found out who Nicolas Flamel was.

"The audacity of him, 'Mione." Gasped Ginny in mock horror.

They had almost given up hope of ever finding Flamel in a library book, even though Harry was still sure he'd read the name somewhere. Once term had started, they were back to skimming through books for ten minutes during their breaks. Harry had even less time than the other two, because Quidditch practice had started again.

Wood was working the team harder than ever. Even the endless rain that had replaced the snow couldn't dampen his spirits. The Weasleys complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic, but Harry was on Wood's side. If they won their next match, against Hufflepuff, they would overtake Slytherin in the House Championship for the first time in seven years. Quite apart from wanting to win, Harry found that he had fewer nightmares when he was tired out after training.

"The only reason you won is because Dumbledore hates us." Stated the Slytherin students who were there when the ceremony began.

"Violet partnered up with Snape to talk with him and he refused to listen." Pointed out Adrian.

"We worked the whole year for those points only for Gryffindor to win last minute." Complained Daphne.

Everyone in their house made sure to complete every assignment in time, work for as many extra points as possible and even offered tutoring sessions to receive more house points and win the cup. Yet Dumbledore gave away points like they were candy and not something to be taken seriously when it came to Gryffindor.

Professor McGonagall was happy for a very short moment when Gryffindor won, but couldn't look Snape in the eye after it. She wanted to win fairly and they both knew that Slytherin deserved it. The house points were given with the intention of making Slytherin fail. She gave him the cup a week after school ended, not being able to look at it without feeling like she stole it.

Then, during one particularly wet and muddy practice session, Wood gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just got very angry with the Weasleys, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.