Nicolas Flamel's Story

"Cough—cough—cough!"

Adam choked on his saliva and frantically patted his chest, taking a few more sips of water before he recovered.

Concerned greetings immediately came from his family downstairs, and even the gloomy Ares cast a worried glance.

"I'm okay! Just choked on the water!"

After shouting downstairs, Adam closed the door, picked up Ares, and sat down on the small sofa in the corner:

"Suppi, can you be sure? Don't go around ruining people's reputations if you're not sure! Ares is only three years old! He's still a baby!"

As he spoke, Adam lowered his head and rubbed Ares's fluffy head.

"Adam, get a grip! Do you even remember he's a snowy owl?"

Suppi shouted speechlessly.

Adam was stunned:

"Oh, right... Now that you mention it, that makes sense. How old do snowy owls mature, anyway?"

"I wouldn't know."

Suppi lay on the bed and wagged his tail.

Looking at Ares, Adam fell into thought. If it really was lovesickness, it wasn't impossible.

Snowy owls are quite devoted animals, one of the few bird species that live in monogamous pairs, and rarely engage in polygamy even when food is plentiful.

So...

"Ares, did you find a girlfriend in the owlery?"

"Goo..."

Ares buried his face under his wings, looking embarrassed.

Adam: ???

He really did!

"Don't just be shy! Which family's girl is it? Is it official yet? Huh?"

The flames of gossip burned fiercely in Adam's heart as he poked Ares's feathers incessantly with his finger. Ares couldn't take it anymore and ran back into his cage.

"Don't hide, at least tell me whose owl it is. If I know them, I can send a few letters, and you might have a chance to meet~"

"Goo?"

Ares, who had been facing away from Adam in the cage, turned his head 180 degrees when he heard this.

"Of course, it's true, tell me who... oh, you can't talk."

Adam was a little stumped. They didn't have any photos, and besides, all the owls in Hogwarts were in the owlery. How could he possibly know everyone?

"But speaking of which, snowy owls should only be attracted to other snowy owls, right? There aren't many people with snowy owls at Hogwarts..."

Because of their unique white appearance, snowy owls are quite expensive. Adam remembered seeing fewer than ten snowy owls in the owlery.

He only knew the owners of three of them, hopefully, the owner of Ares's crush was one of those three.

Ares obviously couldn't know who the owner was, so Adam prepared to write a letter to all three people and have Ares send them to try. He didn't expect to hit the jackpot with the first letter.

"It's actually Hedwig..."

Adam was a little surprised. He had originally chosen to buy a snowy owl because he was influenced by Hedwig. He didn't expect the gears of fate to turn full circle.

"Hiss—hiss—"

Ares flapped his wings excitedly, making a hissing sound that was completely different from his usual one. Adam could roughly guess what he meant.

After all, Harry's living conditions were what they were, how much better could Hedwig's be?

"But what can I do? I can't just go to Harry and say, 'Hey Harry, my owl has a crush on your owl, and since Hedwig is suffering with you, why don't you let her come to our house'?"

Ares silently ran back into his cage again.

Adam spread his hands:

"Or you can try to find Hedwig and see if she's willing to elope with you? I can afford to keep another owl."

Last night, when Madam Li asked him how much money he spent at school in a year and whether she should give him more, Adam didn't know how to answer.

His biggest expense this year was his investment in the twins, but he earned it all back with a Christmas dinner and even had a surplus...

Ares moved his head when he heard this, not wanting to pay attention to Adam.

This time Adam really had no choice but to let Ares be alone, hoping he could see things clearly. He still had to go to Nicolas Flamel's appointment.

The Move card in the Clow Cards could teleport him to any place he had been to before. Adam used this to come to Nicolas Flamel's house alone.

He knocked on the door, and Nicolas Flamel took a long time to come and open it. He was a little surprised when he saw that Adam was the only one outside:

"Has your grandmother already gone back?"

"No... Mr. Flamel, I came alone."

Adam thought for a moment but couldn't find a suitable way to address him, so he just called him that for now.

As Adam spoke, he waved the Wand of Darkness in his hand. Nicolas Flamel noticed the uniquely shaped wand, a hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes... but nothing more.

"It seems our little Adam has quite a few secrets. Please, come in."

Nicolas Flamel's steps were very small, taking almost five times as long as Adam to reach the sofa and sit down.

"Do you know why I asked you to come?"

Nicolas Flamel looked at Adam and asked with a smile.

Adam shook his head; he really didn't know.

"The Sorcerer's Stone has been destroyed."

Even though he already knew this, Adam couldn't help but be stunned when Nicolas Flamel said it himself, words that were practically the same as saying, "I'm going to die."

"Yes, I am dying, so I wanted to find someone to tell my story to. But everyone I know is old, and one old man's story isn't likely to be very appealing to another. But fortunately, I met you, little Adam."

Nicolas Flamel smiled. "Would you like to hear my story?"

"Of course!"

Nicolas Flamel himself was offering to tell his story; how could Adam not be interested?

Under Adam's gaze, Nicolas Flamel slowly began to speak.

"Six hundred and sixty-five years ago..."

Nicolas Flamel spoke in detail about the story before he created the Sorcerer's Stone, but Adam wasn't impatient. Life in France more than six hundred years ago was also very interesting.

However, that period of life accounted for too small a portion of Nicolas Flamel's life. Soon, Nicolas Flamel spoke about the Sorcerer's Stone:

"When I truly created the Sorcerer's Stone, I simply couldn't believe it. But when I used the Sorcerer's Stone to create the first piece of pure gold, the first dose of Elixir of Life... I finally realized that I had truly completed this supreme achievement of alchemy."

What followed was a story about what happened after the Sorcerer's Stone was created, which felt a bit like a power fantasy, but Nicolas Flamel's story didn't continue to be smooth sailing.

This wasn't the world of Fullmetal Alchemist; the Sorcerer's Stone didn't give him great power. So, amidst everyone's covetousness, Nicolas Flamel quickly hid with his wife.

Then, the story seemed to reach the part that Nicolas Flamel really wanted to tell:

"I was once incredibly proud of my great achievement of creating the Sorcerer's Stone. In my six hundred and sixty-five years of life, I spent almost half of that time trying to replicate the initial success."

"However, after three hundred years and countless failures, my last hope was shattered. I had to admit that all the honors bestowed upon me by the world were just because of an accident—I had never truly mastered the ability to create the Sorcerer's Stone. That Sorcerer's Stone was just a wonderful coincidence, nothing more."