Nicolas Flamel Was at Least Several Hundred Years Old

By mid-December, heavy snow was falling from the sky. Hogwarts Castle stood amid the ice and snow, while Black Lake had frozen over with a layer of solid ice.

Hagrid dragged a fir tree several meters tall onto the grounds, leaving a long trail across the several-foot-deep snow.

The castle was filled with laughter and cheer. Most students were packing their luggage, preparing to go home for Christmas. Even the mischievous ghosts who usually caused trouble would stop to wish people a merry Christmas.

Twelve medium-sized Christmas trees stood along both sides of the Great Hall. At the very front, Professor Flitwick was decorating the largest one, with Aaron helping him below.

Candles, colored paper, lamps, and golden Stars ornaments were placed onto the tree one by one with the Levitation Charm.

As the final star was placed atop the tree, it became especially beautiful.

"All done, Professor. Merry Christmas." Aaron wiped the sweat from his brow. Decorating one Christmas tree was nothing to him, but he had handled nearly half the trees in the entire Great Hall.

That was quite a workload. Although the Levitation Charm was simple, his Magical Energy had only just reached four digits. He could not afford to squander it like this.

Especially since he did not want to Attract Attention yet. He had used a Magic Ring to seal away half his Magical Energy, and doing such physically exhausting work with the Magical Energy of an early-stage Intermediate Mage was truly not easy.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Gaius." Professor Flitwick said with a hearty smile. "Ten points to Slytherin. That was what I promised you."

"But your talent truly is impressive. You're only a first-year, yet your magical power is nearly on par with a fourth-year's."

"Thank you for the compliment!" Aaron smiled as well. Every point counted; that was the only way his system mission could be guaranteed.

"Then, Professor, if there's nothing else, I'll be going.

"After working hard all morning, I'm rather tired."

"Go on, child."

Aaron picked up Abei, found a seat in the Great Hall, and casually flipped through a book on magical creatures.

Harry and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess beside him. Harry was clearly a beginner, pondering every move carefully.

Ron, on the other hand, looked like a seasoned veteran, slaughtering his opponent with great delight. Of course, it was also possible that he was simply crushing a novice.

The lifelike Chess Pieces constantly battled across the board under the control of the two players, with clattering sounds ringing out from time to time.

At that moment, Hermione walked over. Looking at the destroyed pieces, she frowned. "That's too barbaric."

"This is Wizard's Chess." Ron chuckled as he put away the pieces. "Have you packed your luggage?"

"You haven't packed yours."

"The plan changed. My parents decided to go to Romania to see my brother Charlie. He studies dragons there."

Aaron noticed that Abei had perked up its ears. It was clearly curious about news of other dragons.

"Great! You can help Harry.

"He wants to go to the library and look for information about Nicolas Flamel."

"We've already looked a hundred times." Ron complained.

"Nicolas Flamel?" Aaron raised an eyebrow. "That name sounds familiar."

"Aaron, you've heard of him?" Harry was overjoyed. They had searched the library for so long without finding anything, yet the answer had been right beside them all along!

"I've heard of him, but why are you looking for that old man?

"He has a particularly strange temper. One second he's as gentle as a spring breeze, and the next he's as bleak as an autumn wind."

Harry's eyes darted away as he explained, "We're not looking for him. We just want to learn a little about him."

"Is that so?" Aaron gave them an amused smile. "I don't believe you.

"You three are all first-year wizards. Logically speaking, you should have had no dealings with him at all. You shouldn't even have heard his name, so why did you think to look for him?

"What exactly is your goal?"

"Uh..." Harry hesitated, unsure whether he should reveal their suspicions.

"Harry!" Ron shook his head slightly at him. At present, only the three of them knew about this matter. But if they added Aaron, who was close to Snape, the risk would increase dramatically.

Seeing the situation reach a deadlock, Hermione interjected, "Tell him! Don't you trust Aaron's character?"

"It's not that we don't trust him. It's just... we don't want to drag him into this." Harry said. "You know, his relationship with that person..."

Hermione rolled her eyes speechlessly. Given how deeply Harry and Ron suspected Snape, they would never trust Aaron completely.

"Aaron." Hermione pleaded softly, "Can you tell us what you know about Nicolas Flamel? It's very important to us."

"Fine, but I don't know much.

"The last time I saw him was when I was four. My grandfather took me to France."

"France? Is there nothing else?" Harry asked in confusion. "Like what he does?"

"An alchemist!

"But not an ordinary alchemist. Even my grandfather had to show him some respect. He even brought a batch of precious magical materials when we visited."

The three exchanged glances. It seemed they needed to focus their search on books about alchemy.

"Anything else?" Harry continued.

"The other thing is that he's very old."

"You don't need to tell us that." Ron smiled and shook his head. "He's a wizard who knows Dumbledore. He probably has a white beard already."

"Not necessarily.

"Dumbledore is a renowned practitioner of White Magic. His social circle is far broader than you imagine.

"For example, the Minister for Magic, some pure-blood families, the Hogwarts Board of Governors, magical diplomatic departments in various countries.

"Even certain races that live in darkness—werewolves, giants, vampires, and..."

"Stop." Ron patted his little chest. "I was wrong, Aaron.

"I shouldn't have interrupted. Please continue."

"Tch!" Aaron curled his lip disdainfully and explained, "The age I'm talking about may be greater than you think. Even Dumbledore can only be considered a junior before him."

"No way!" Hermione's mouth twitched. "Dumbledore should be over a hundred years old this year!"

"Hermione, wizards are different from Muggles. Their lifespans are naturally longer.

"Besides, wizards have many ways to extend their lives. The conventional methods include all sorts of potions and elixirs...

"As for unconventional methods, you can ask around in Knockturn Alley. Pick any wizard off the street there, and they'll know ways to extend one's lifespan. But they're basically all steeped in blood and violence, and they might not even work."

"Gulp!" Hermione swallowed. "Forget that.

"Then how old exactly is Nicolas Flamel?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?" Ron could no longer control his emotions. "Then why did you say so much just now...?"

"Relax, calm down.

"I was only four back then. At best, I was just a tiny bit smarter than a three-year-old. How could I remember that much?

"Besides, I was a four-year-old child. Do you think it would have been appropriate for me to ask a Great wizard his age?

"Even if it were appropriate, would Nicolas Flamel have answered me?

"But there is one thing I remember quite clearly.

"When Nicolas Flamel opened the door for my grandfather and me, he said, 'The last child of the Gaius family to come here was your great-grandfather.'

"Also, let me remind you: when my great-grandfather met him, he was only a little better off than I was—he was five years old, and my great-great-grandfather had taken him there.

"That means Nicolas Flamel had known at least my great-great-grandfather."

The three of them: ...

"By that logic, Nicolas Flamel must be at least over two hundred years old!" Hermione said. Then she suddenly thought of something and slapped her forehead. "No wonder we couldn't find Nicolas Flamel's name in books about famous modern wizards!

"The books recording his information must go back at least one or two hundred years!"

"Possibly more than that." Aaron said calmly. "His standing in the hearts of some older wizards is not something Dumbledore can compare to.

"That's all I know. You'll have to find the rest yourselves."

"Thank you, Aaron." Hermione smiled. "At least we can rule out the modern-wizard section. If we really can't find anything, we'll have no choice but to go to the Restricted Section."

"Oh, the Restricted Section?

"You need a professor's signed permission to read books there. But you... forgive me for being blunt, you aren't qualified yet."

"Can you help us? Every professor likes you. If you borrowed them..." Harry said excitedly, but Aaron cut him off before he could finish.

"Sorry, I can't help you with that. I suggest you don't do it either.

"It's extremely dangerous for first-year students to come into contact with restricted books, especially since you aren't going there to study."

Harry scratched his head awkwardly and was too embarrassed to ask Aaron for help again.