Mara's Magic

i - flamel's stone

Christmas holiday came and went by quickly. Nothing terribly exciting happened, at least not to me. But, I'd heard from Minnie (bit of a gossip to me, that one) that Harry and Ron had found the Mirror of Erised, a mirror that showed you your deepest desires. They have since removed it. 

Immediately after Oliver returned home, he devised a new, harder quidditch work out and practice schedule. Though the twins, Angelina, and Alicia complained, he had fair reasoning: if we beat Hufflepuff, we had a fair shot at beating Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup. We could overtake their position. And that was enough to get us working hard. 

One day, Oliver announced to us that Snape was going to be refereeing the match. Immediately, we all went up in arms, but there was nothing we could do about it. I couldn't help but notice how Harry's face paled when he said that, though. He looked deathly afraid. 

After practice, Harry immediately ran to the the Common Room. I shot Oliver a look and he nodded, waving for me to go after him. So, like the protective older sister I am, I did. 

I followed him all the way there, only stopping to help Neville get through the portrait. He had been bound in a leglock curse, which I quickly muttered the counterspell for. He gave me a grateful smile and entered the Common Room, me following closely behind. 

Ron and Hermione had stopped playing a game of chess and were talking in hushed, panicked tones to Harry. 

"Don't play," Hermione demanded. 

"Fake ill," Ron suggested. 

"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione recommended. 

"Actually break your leg," Ronald said. 

"No, I can't. We don't have a reserve Seeker. If I backed out, Gryffindor couldn't play at all," Harry said, collapsing onto the couch next to them. I walked up to the three First Years.

"Why do you want to back out of the game?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

Harry sat up quickly, Ron and Hermione staring at me with wide eyes. They exchanged looks, as if silently debating whether or not to tell me something. Hermione nodded her head slowly after a few moments and Harry sighed, turning to me. 

"Snape's trying to kill me."

I furrowed my brows. "I'm sorry?"

"At the match when Harry's broom went crazy," Ron explained. "That was Snape. He was sabotaging him."

"For what purpose? Why would Snape want to kill you?" I asked. None of this made sense. Sure, Snape was a gruff teacher and he didn't seem to care too much for Harry, but he would never try to kill him! I was certain of it. After all of our lessons and the help he'd offered me over the years, I would actually say he's one of my favorite teachers. I was confident that he wasn't trying to murder Harry.

"He's working for You-Know-Who," Hermione whispered. "To try to find something that is hidden here in the castle. We don't know what it is, but we know that it has something to do with Nicolas Flamel."

"Nicolas Flamel?" I asked, apparently too loudly as they all shushed me. I crouched down, lowering my voice into a hushed whisper. "You mean the Alchemist?"

"You know about him?" Hermione asked.

"How do you not know about him? He's the founder of the Philosopher's Stone," I told them quietly. Suddenly, the girl's eyes lit up and she reached for her bag. She pulled out a huge hardback book, flopping it down onto the couch. 

"How could I have been so stupid?" She asked, beginning to turn through the pages. "I checked this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"That's light?" Ron asked, raising his brows at the thick book. She shot him a glare. I patted his shoulder and stood again.