A Memorable Tale

5 | A Haywire Broom

The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher'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.

"The Elixer of Life..." I mumbled, turning to my potions textbook. "Do you think we learn that in first year, Padma?"

"Likely not. Most books on the Philosopher's Stone is in the restricted section, after all."

"Yeah, and it's not like we just have the Philosopher's Stone in the cupboard." I picked up another library book from my pile and began flipping through the pages, landing on the Dark Wizards.

Padma always shuddered when she saw that book in my hands, since it was the only one that mentioned dark wizards and witches.

I took an old newspaper, reading the name Bellatrix Lestrange, then went to the book. "Tsk... She's been in Azkaban."

"Are you trying to find suspects for that little game your dad sent you?" Lisa Turpin asked.

She was very pretty with light brown hair always tied up in a ponytail, dark green eyes, and defined face - I think she's an athlete.

"Yes, but all I've got are people in Azkaban and the ones that are dead. I don't think you can be immortal when you're dead."

"Why not ask the Grey Lady?" Mandy suggested, twirling a lock of her curly, dirty blonde hair. "She's the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower, so she's nearby. Good luck, though, I heard she's shy."

I shook my head. "I see more luck with Nearly Headless Nick. Besides, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't appreciate me walking up to her and asking, 'hey, can you use the Philosopher's Stone or not?'"

"Isn't it a bit late for you to be playing defective, Griffin?" Sue Li asked with a tired groan, even though she's usually the one combing her long black hair in the early hours of the morning.

"It's detective, and sleeping is a waste of a collective six years of your life, why lose that? Is there a book in the library about only dark wizards and witches?"

"Restricted section."

"Of course," I breathed, setting my book down. "This one only mentions the Lestrange and the Black family then moves on."

Padma rolled her eyes and continued scribbling in her homework. "If you wanted to steal something that important and you already had such a criminal record, wouldn't you just send someone that doesn't?"

All of us turned to her for a moment, then I jumped up. "Padma, you're bloody brilliant!"

She gave me a look that very clearly said I know before returning to the homework that Flitwick had assigned us.

I practically tossed the book containing information about dark wizards and picked up the newspaper again.

"It was suspected to be someone with dark magic, but how on earth do they plan on finding him if the chances of them being completely undetected is relatively high?"

"Well, you're the one with the connections," Mandy said, suddenly interested in what I was doing. "Who do you know that could possibly be able to perform dark magic?"

Draco's entirely family, but they were with me on July 31, so that's not possible.

"Snape, probably," Sue said with a snicker.

I was quiet for a while. "He did want to be the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, meaning he has some knowledge on it. But what could he possibly want with the Philosopher's Stone? Snape doesn't have motive; his life motto is probably, 'we're all gonna die anyway.'"