Chapter 221: Nicolas: Hogwarts Seems a Bit Too Dangerous
A tastefully decorated room, quiet and refined.
"Teacher, I never expected to run into you here."
Leonardo looked at the elderly man before him, bright-eyed and vigorous in white robes.
After taking the Vigor Draught, Nicolas Flamel's appearance, once visibly worn by centuries of age, had been transformed. Now he looked like a man of perhaps a hundred, which among wizards was hardly considered particularly old.
"I was flying about and happened to drift this way," Nicolas said with a warm smile, holding a half-finished bottle of fizzing ice-cold cola. "I didn't expect to bump into you out here in such a remote place either. Isn't it nearly Christmas?"
Leonardo had been en route to the next Norwegian Ridgeback habitat when he spotted the familiar outline of Nicolas's flying ship against the sky and decided to pay a visit.
"I'm looking for Norwegian Ridgebacks."
Nicolas nodded without pressing for details.
He bit down on the straw, took a long pull of cola, then let out a loud, satisfied belch.
"Being able to eat and drink whatever I please—I'd forgotten how good that feels."
"No wonder Albus is so addicted to sweets."
Nicolas shifted into a more comfortable position and asked with genuine interest, "So, anything new at Hogwarts this term? I've been drifting around up in the sky. Not exactly well informed about things down here."
Leonardo gave him a summary of the main events.
At first, Nicolas listened with amusement, but as the conversation turned to the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk, the subsequent attacks, and how Leonardo had dealt with it all, the legendary alchemist gradually straightened his posture.
When Leonardo finished, Nicolas was quiet for a moment before speaking slowly.
"Leonardo, is Hogwarts perhaps a bit too… eventful? Last year, a Dark wizard infiltrated the school. This year it's a thousand-year-old basilisk."
He paused, then added, quite seriously, "Would you like to consider transferring to Beauxbatons? The paperwork would be very easy to arrange."
Nicolas was genuinely concerned.
He wasn't shocked by the existence of basilisks or Dark wizards. After six hundred years of life, he had weathered every kind of storm.
But that was a school. A place where children were meant to study. And not just any school, but one with Dumbledore in charge, supposedly the safest place in the wizarding world.
Two years of crises this severe in a row. Nicolas was not comfortable with his final student living in such a volatile environment.
He knew Beauxbatons inside and out. It didn't produce catastrophes on a yearly basis. And Beauxbatons' Defence Against the Dark Arts post wasn't cursed, so no dangerous figures could slip in through that door.
With Nicolas's standing in the French wizarding world and his influence over Beauxbatons, arranging Leonardo's transfer would take no more than a word from him.
"Thank you, Teacher," Leonardo said, declining politely. "But I'm quite settled at Hogwarts. Besides, Headmaster Dumbledore mentioned that next term there'll be a three-school exchange competition between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang, held at Beauxbatons. I can see the place for myself then."
Seeing that Leonardo had no intention of transferring, Nicolas nodded.
"Very well. It's your decision. If you run into any trouble, write to me directly."
He paused, as though a thought had just struck him.
"By the way, has it been decided what events the exchange competition will include?"
A perfectly normal question, but Leonardo remembered his conversation with Dumbledore, and his expression shifted slightly.
He hesitated before answering. "The Headmaster said Beauxbatons proposed alchemy."
The moment the words left him, Nicolas froze, the cola bottle halfway to his lips. He slowly set it down.
"Albus is planning to send you to represent Hogwarts in this competition?"
Leonardo hadn't answered yet, but his expression gave him away. The corner of Nicolas's mouth twitched.
"Let me guess. He thinks having you, my student, go to Beauxbatons and win an alchemy competition on their home ground would be particularly 'entertaining'?"
Leonardo hadn't expected Nicolas to guess everything in one go.
He felt a flicker of awkwardness. Nodding seemed wrong. Not nodding also seemed wrong.
Did legendary wizards of a certain age all share some kind of mysterious telepathy?