Chapter 729: Meeting Nicolas Flamel Again (Patreon)
Content
So far, Hogwarts' Floo Network had not been under the supervision of the Ministry of Magic, at least not in Dumbledore's office.
With this fireplace, Fudge and the Ministry would not know where Evan, Sirius, Hagrid and Madame Maxime had gone.
As for Voldemort, he had probably sent messengers to contact the giants. Sooner or later, they will meet. It was estimated that it would be a fierce battle.
The giants were hiding in Sicily, Italy, and it was not easy to find them.
They were living in a very secluded place. In the deep mountains, it was difficult for ordinary people to enter, at least for humans.
Dumbledore had been there before and was able to relay his word, and he told Hagrid about it.
In the matter of communicating with the giants, everything was to be led by Hagrid and Madame Maxime, with Evan and Sirius only cooperating. Although they knew it was difficult to convince the giants, they must be made aware of Dumbledore's attitude and be persuaded not to resort to Voldemort once and for all.
In Evan's view, it was a journey doomed to failure purely from the perspective of persuading the giants.
Voldemort was able to offer the giants far more than Dumbledore could promise, and was more attractive. Nevertheless they had to take the initiative to get in touch with the giants and communicate as much as possible.
Because the giants had great fighting strength, they were very powerful magical creatures and could not be ignored.
"I hope you understand that this is a very difficult journey. Not only is it a bad environment, climbing rocks, sleeping in caves, etc., it is also possible to meet Death Eaters at any time and fight them." said Dumbledore, watching the four of them. "Communicating with giants is also a great difficulty. You must be on your guard at any time, and you cannot relax!"
"I have no problem!" said Madame Maxime worriedly, "but this child is too young to ..."
"I can do it!" said Evan hastily.
Besides Dumbledore, and Sirius, the others didn’t know anything about Evan’s real purpose this time. Even Hagrid did not know. Everyone thought he was following Hagrid and Madame Maxime to find the giants.
For a young wizard of thirteen or fourteen, that was really too dangerous!
After knowing that, Mrs. Maxim had to object. She didn’t know all about Evan and couldn’t trust his ability.
"This journey is truly extraordinary. You will face many dangers beyond your imagination. This is a great test for Evan, but I believe he has no problem. He has proven he can be trusted with his past experience," said Dumbledore calmly.
"Yes, I can attest to that, Evan is already a very good wizard!" Sirius agreed.
"Only in the struggle of life and death can a wizard grow fastest, and the flowers in the greenhouse can never bear the heavy burden," said Moody gruffly, turning to look at Evan. "I'm not sure how this kid has done in the past, but the giants are a good opponent, and I'm in favor of him going."
"But ..." Madame Maxime was still hesitant.
"Well, Olympe! Evan is indeed a great wizard, and we have to admit it!" Hagrid followed, looking at Madame Maxime. "He can help a lot by following us; we can’t belittle him because he’s young."
After Hagrid had spoken, Madame Maxime nodded suspiciously and said nothing more.
"Very well, if there is no other problem, I would like to say a few words about getting rid of the surveillance of the Ministry of Magic and communicating with giants. There are several points that must be noticed," Dumbledore continued. "Evan, you can wait for them in Madame Maxime's office first. Nicolas is already there. He has something to say to you."
Evan nodded, glanced at the five of them again, and turned toward the fireplace.
The green flames flashed, and after a whirlwind, he was the first to get out of the exquisite fireplace in Beauxbatons.
That was Madame Maxime's office. Located at the very top of Beauxbatons Castle, it had plenty of daylight.
Like the main decoration style of Beauxbatons, everything was surrounded by gold and red, and the decorations inside were very luxurious.
The entire room was divided into two upper and lower floors. The two huge stone pillars on the innermost side were carved into the appearance of two young witches. They were pretty in appearance. The wands raised high in their hands crossed with each other, and stars flashed from time to time on the dome in the middle.
Madame Maxime's desk was under the drapery, and it was full of thick documents.
That table and the chair behind it were much larger than normal, and were made according to Madame Maxime's figure.
On the right side of the room, a staircase extended upward. On the upper floor were rows of tables, and a small tea hall.
An old man in dark gold wizard’s robes was sitting at the tea table, with cakes and steaming coffee in front of him.
"Good morning, Evan. Nice to meet you!" said Nicolas Flamel with a smile and looked up at Evan.
"Hello, Professor Flamel!" Evan replied respectfully, looking around.
"When we parted before last year, I had a hunch that we would meet again, but I didn't expect it would be so soon," said Flamel, walking down from the top. "Yes, Albus told me everything… we have a special contact method. How have you been this past year, and how far has the alchemy I taught you progressed? "
"I'm still studying those ancient magical texts, and I've acquired some basic alchemy knowledge." Evan said shyly.
His progress in this area was really unpleasant. In the past year, just to understand what the messy ancient runes meant, it took him a lot of time, let alone the actual alchemy operation, which had not yet begun.
"It took me a full fifty years to figure out what those words were saying. You have done a great job. I’ve always believe that your future achievements will be much greater than mine," said Flamel. "But the current situation is extreme. If you can, I hope you could hurry up and go to Egypt as soon as possible. This will be very helpful for you to master alchemy. I heard Albus talk about those monsters, which made me very worried..."
"I’ll go this summer, professor. What is worrying you?" Evan asked, wondering what Flamel had to tell him.
"More than six hundred years ago, when I was a student, there was a fanatical religious organization in the wizarding community, which was once very popular. It had been founded by a group of wizards who graduated from Ravenclaw House at Hogwarts and worshipped the goddess of war Morrigan..."
"Raven’s Claw?!" said Evan in surprise, everything came full-circle!