Hogwarts: Bourne Returns from Warhammer

Chapter 93 The Fisherman from Devonshire

"Nick Flamey?"

Upon hearing the name of the person that the two young wizards asked him about, Professor Binns was startled for a moment, and then naturally blurted out a brief summary of this person's life.

"Nick Flamel, Frenchman, famous alchemist in the 14th century.

His most famous contribution was the creation of the alchemist's magic stone, which he used to successfully turn mercury into gold. He is also the only alchemist known to have successfully created the Philosopher's Stone.

He used the Philosopher's Stone to create a lot of gold, but most of it was used to fund Beauxbatons School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one of the three major magic schools in Europe. Almost all of the impressive castle and grounds of the ancient magic school belonged to Nico Flamel and his wife Perenal Flamel.

Therefore, the huge fountain on campus is named after the couple. The fountain is said to have restoration and beautification functions.

Although I don't like the rumors I'm going to talk about - because rumors are often not true history - many wizards speculate that in addition to making gold, Nick Flamel also used the Philosopher's Stone to create a magic stone called The 'elixir' potion.

Those people rumored that it was precisely because of taking this potion that Nick Flamel and his wife were able to live from the 14th century to today, for more than six hundred years.

If you collect pictures of chocolate frogs, you should have seen a sentence in the introduction on Dumbledore's card - 'We have achieved many achievements in alchemy with our partner Nicolas Flamel'.

This achievement mainly refers to the Phoenix script. With the help of Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel and Dumbledore parsed the language of the Fire Phoenix and transformed it into a writing called "Phoenix script". This is The only important invention in the field of modern alchemy that can rival the ancient magic texts..."

Professor Binns, in his usual lecture tone, told everything he knew (historical ascertainable) about Nick Flamel.

It was the first time that Harry and Ron listened so carefully in the History of Magic classroom.

Although they couldn't understand it since the beginning of "Phoenix Essay", the previous gains were enough. They finally figured out who Nick Flamel was and what he wanted to give to Dumbledore to keep.

"The Philosopher's Stone, it must be the Philosopher's Stone!" Walking out of the History of Magic classroom, Ron could no longer contain his excitement and immediately said to Harry: "If I could have that stone that can convert mercury into gold, I would definitely It will conjure up piles of gold galleons, and then you can buy whatever you want!"

"The point is not to conjure gold," Harry lowered his voice and whispered to Ron: "Nick Flamel used the Philosopher's Stone to make the elixir, and you can live forever if you drink it. Even if I think about it with my speckled brain, It is said that this kind of elixir cannot be brewed by ordinary people, but maybe a potion master can."

"S..."

Ron almost yelled out the name, but Harry quickly covered his mouth with his hands and eyes, and then continued to express his inference.

"Remember what Bourne said in class? There are currently only two Potions Masters in Britain. One is his grandfather, Professor Slughorn, and the other is Snape!"

"You're right." Ron nodded in agreement with Harry. "Should we report this to Dumbledore now, or what?"

But Harry didn't think this was a good idea.

Although they fully believed that Snape was the best suspect, without any conclusive evidence, a few young wizards wanted to accuse a professor of being a dark wizard... It was still a bit taken for granted.

"Let's write a letter to Hermione first, telling her about Nick Flamel and attaching our inferences, otherwise she will probably waste her time looking through those tomes during the Christmas vacation."
-
Unlike the Harrow duo who started their vacation in "great detective" mode, Bourne, who was truly recognized by the great detective Sherlock Holmes, started his vacation in the form of a "wooden man".

In the factory of Sweeping Company, he received the same treatment as in Ollivander's wand shop, standing motionless while being measured by a tape measure floating in the air. A wizard craftsman stood next to him, with parchment and quill floating in his hand, constantly recording the data measured by the tape measure.

From chest circumference, hip circumference and foot size, to weight, height, arm span... these data took more than an hour to collect.

Eventually, he even had plaster casts of his feet and hands made under the guidance of a model-maker.

This made the little Khan standing nearby and watching anxious. He seemed a little anxious, because it could only take its turn after Bourne had finished collecting data.

After a series of body data collection was completed, Bourne began to select the materials for the broomstick, and he realized that there were many ways to do it.

For example, broomsticks made by Sideswipe's competitor Nimbus come with only two choices of broomsticks - mahogany and birch.

The hardness of these two types of wood can only be considered average and the weight is relatively light, so the maximum speed can be close to the current technical limit of flying broomsticks. However, the former performs better in turning and stopping, while the latter has unique advantages in straight-line acceleration and sprinting.

The reason why Nimbus Company generally only has these two materials for users to choose from is because their company appeared relatively late and their research time on broom materials is relatively short. For the sake of product reliability, it is impossible for Nimbus Company to use some broom materials that lack data for mass production.

As the first large-scale broomstick factory in history to get rid of the craftsman workshop model, Sideswipe has existed for a relatively long time and has accumulated rich data from generations of products, so it can provide customers with relatively more choices. a lot of.

Oak, poplar, silver basswood, birch, mahogany, cherry, sandalwood...

These woods have historically been used by the Sideswipe company as the main materials for the Sideswipe series of brooms, so as long as Bourne likes them, they can theoretically be used for the broomstick he customized this time.

"So, young Mr. Slughorn, which material do you want to choose?" Humphrey asked Bourne holding an album. The atlas specifically shows the properties of various materials and some characteristics of brooms made from them.

In fact, when it comes to the choice of vehicle materials, Bourne prefers ceramic steel and plastic steel. Even ordinary steel is more in line with his wishes than wood.

However, an alchemical product like a flying broomstick actually takes into account scientific principles such as "aerodynamics". It seems that it is not feasible to fly with such force.

Therefore, in view of what he saw during the Quidditch match, when Harry's broomstick was affected by the Confusion Curse, Bourne chose ebony as a broomstick that could be enchanted with stronger "curse rebound" and "curse resistance" enchantments. main materials.

"That's it." After making a series of customization choices, Bourne finally breathed a sigh of relief. Shopping was indeed more difficult than fighting.

Moreover, it still cost 4000 gold galleons to customize this broomstick, even though he enjoyed the special discount from Sweeping Company because of the reputation of Mr. Weasley and Horace.

This price is equivalent to 15 "Sweeping Nine Stars" from Sweep Company, or 8 "Light Wheel 2000".

As a result, Humphrey did not charge a fee for the chopstick-sized broomstick customized for the little Khan. He treated it as a gift of a proportional broomstick model for Bourne, a VIP customer, to play with.

Then, after a meal of baked beans, sausages, bacon and hash browns, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, and black pudding, Byrne and Horace left the Sweep Company factory.

Before leaving Godric's Hollow, Horace bought a bouquet of flowers from a street shop and placed them in front of the sculpture commemorating Harry's family. After that, the old man took Bourne to drive his Duesenberg and drove westward all the way.

When the car turned onto the road and saw the road sign, Byrne realized that their grandfather and grandson were now near Devon in southwest England. (Note 1)

"Grandpa Horace, where are we going?" Bourne asked curiously, "Do you want to drive this car home?"

It’s not impossible to drive this Duesenberg all the way back to Scotland, after all, classic cars are cars too. But the problem is, Bourne doubts that with Horace's driving speed, they can get home before the end of the Christmas vacation?
"Oh, of course not, Bourne," Horace put his elbow on the edge of the car window, holding on to the steering wheel, and said coolly: "Didn't you see the two large suitcases on the back seat? ? An old friend of mine invited us to attend a party at his manor. It happened that you were also on vacation, so I brought you along. "

Old friends living in Devon?
Bourne had no recollection of Grandpa Horace mentioning this man before. However, many wizards have weird tempers. Maybe Slughorn's old friend is a wizard who likes to move around. Who can say for sure?
Although the road they took was considered a major road, there were still very few vehicles passing by. The classic car drove at a "speeding" speed for more than half an hour, about 20 miles away, and finally came to an intersection.

Compared with where Hogwarts is located, the temperature in Devon is significantly higher, and there is still some green scenery even in winter.

On both sides of the intersection, landscape shrubs have been modified to look like two roosters, one turning red as the leaves turn yellow, and the other green.

"really……"

Seeing the two "roosters", Bourne knew that this path must lead to a wizard's house. Because they were all cast with a Muggle-Repelling Charm to ensure that passing Muggle pedestrians and vehicles would not notice the trail.

In fact, they were even more magical than Bourne thought: when Slughorn turned his vehicle closer, they actually moved neatly, and the two "roosters" that were nearly two meters high just looked like this. Standing in front of the Duesenberg classic car.

Like living animals, they tilted their heads and looked down at the grandfather and grandson sitting in the car.

"Are they alchemical items?" Bourne said uncertainly.

Because he noticed that when the two roosters were moving, some ancient magic words were faintly flashing on the branches of the shrubs on their "bodies". If they were transformed by transfiguration, they should not be driven by ancient magic texts.

Horace smiled.

"Very keen observation, and also very knowledgeable about transfiguration. It seems that Minerva is right, little Bourne, you have been studying hard." Horace said happily: "However, Gu Gu and Gu Gu 'In addition to being alchemical items, they are also products of transfiguration. Some of the ancient magic scripts on them are specifically used to fix the effects of transfiguration."

After a few simple explanations, Horace then took out two leaves from his breast pocket. He used a floating spell to make the leaves float in front of "Gu Gu Gu and Gu Gu".

They each picked up a piece and swallowed the leaves into their stomachs. Bourne noticed that the ancient magic words on their bodies flickered again.

Then, the two "big roosters" swung their tails to get out of the way, and continued to install landscape shrub sculptures at the intersection.

Duesenberg chugged onto the trail.

Both sides of the road are covered with shrubs, generally nearly three meters high, like two walls sandwiching the path.

Bourne saw the clue, so he asked Grandpa Horace: "If I didn't hold those two leaves, would something happen after entering this maze?"

Horace really didn't expect this time that a young wizard like Bourne could actually see the extraordinaryness of this road.

"That's right." He said, "People who don't hold the corresponding invitation letter, even wizards who can notice this path, will either be expelled by 'Gu Gu and Gu Gu' or be killed if they rush in." You will get lost in this moving maze. Moreover, the bush maze in this place is also cast with an anti-Apparition spell. Once someone intrudes through Apparition, a splitting accident will occur."

"Who is this friend of yours?" Bourne asked curiously: "Is he the Minister of Magic?

No, I remember that Mr. Fudge was published in the Daily Prophet. During his term of office, he will always call the office of the Ministry of Magic his home and work hard to serve the public.

Otherwise, is he the previous minister? Ordinary wizards don't need so much security in their homes.

If another 'Loyalty Curse' is applied here, the security level may be comparable to that of Azkaban. "

"Ha ha ha ha."

Horace burst out laughing.

"Bourne, although you are right, you still have to be considerate of my old buddy. He does have his own reasons.

First, he is French.

Secondly, some bad people have indeed been causing trouble for him recently. He had no choice but to move here to live in seclusion, and he had been decorating this home for Christmas before he dared to invite old friends like us to come here for a party.

However, you have nothing to worry about here. He doesn't have the bad habits of those big shots. Here he is just an old man who likes fishing. "

Listening to what Horace said before, combined with the alchemical items he saw at the door, which proved how skilled the maker was, the first reaction in Byrne's mind was that the person hiding here was Nick Lum - who made the A master of alchemy who held the Philosopher's Stone and lived for more than six hundred years.

However, the "old fishing man" behind Horace made Bourne hesitate. He thinks that a fisherman who is over 600 years old... is a bit exaggerated, right?

However, when Duesenberg stopped next to a small pond and got out of the car, Byrne realized that he was indeed still young and inexperienced.

Is it really impossible for a fisherman who has lived for more than 600 years?
"Nicolas!"

Horace got out of the car and said hello loudly to the old man sitting by the pond, but what he got in exchange was the old man waving his hands with a pale face.

"Don't speak loudly, you will scare away the fish!" He did not realize at all that his voice was even louder than Horace's greeting.

　Note 1: The official location of Godric's Hollow has not been specified, but it is definitely in southwest England, and is suspected to be in Wales. However, to take care of the plot, I changed it to Devon County here.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)