Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 587 Hagrid the Wide-Mouthed Bottle

After being comforted by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Hagrid seemed to be in a much better mood, but he was still sobbing intermittently.

“Don’t be sad, Hagrid,” Hermione comforted him, unsure of what to do. “So… how is Aragog now?”

"Tyella gave me a potion," Hagrid said dejectedly. "After I fed it to Aragog, Aragog was noticeably better."

"Isn't this great? Hagrid, then what are you still sad about?" Harry encouraged.

"But...but...Tiera said, said, said this potion is an elixir of immortality. He doesn't have many left. If Professor Slughorn can't successfully concoct another Philosopher's Stone, the elixir of immortality will soon run out, and Aragog will still die. Waaaaah..." Hagrid seemed both sad and worried, pulling his dirty potato-peeling scarf and wiping it on his face.

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Hermione asked in surprise. "Horace Slughorn is forging the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Well, Tyella said that he lost Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone during his ascension ceremony, so he has to compensate Nicolas Flamel with a new one. But he said that with his knowledge, managing the mess at the Ministry of Magic and also crafting a Philosopher's Stone would be too much of a burden, so he partnered with Horace Slughorn to craft one together, and asked me not to tell anyone." Halfway through his sentence, Hagrid suddenly covered his mouth, his sorrowful expression replaced by fear and regret, looking at Harry, Ron, and Hermione in a panic and at a loss.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at Hagrid with some bewilderment, seemingly not understanding why Hagrid would so easily tell them such a secret.

"I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have said it," Hagrid muttered to himself, looking extremely flustered and at a loss.

“Hagrid, well, then we'll head back to the castle first.” Hermione said, withdrawing her hand from Hagrid's shoulder.

Clearly, Hagrid is currently in a state of deep remorse, and Hermione doesn't want to have to deal with his nagging after he comes to his senses.

Clearly, Harry and Ron shared the same idea as Hermione, and the quick-thinking Harry had already picked up his schoolbag.

"You little brats, you're trying to trick me again!" Hagrid growled, annoyed and angry. "Don't tell anyone what I just said!"

"Okay, okay!" Hermione opened the door to Hagrid's hut and jumped out, with Harry and Ron following closely behind.

"Don't tell anyone, do you hear me!" Hagrid said, waving his thick arms. This time he seemed genuinely angry and remorseful. "Especially Tyella! Don't mention this to Tyella, understand?"

"Okay, okay!" Harry followed closely behind Hermione and ran towards the castle.

"You are not allowed to tell anyone, do you hear me!"

As they moved further away from Hagrid, Hagrid's voice grew fainter and fainter behind them.

“The visit to Hagrid wasn’t as bad as we thought, was it?” Hermione said. “At least our visit to Hagrid wasn’t entirely fruitless.”

Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest was now out of Harry, Ron, and Hermione's sight. They slowed down again, walking and talking about the information Hagrid had "inadvertently" revealed to them.

“Yes.” Harry nodded in agreement. “We know that Tyella and Horace Slughorn are forging the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“But what good would that do?” Ron said. “What I mean is, yes, if Tiera and Horace succeed in refining the Philosopher’s Stone, they could brew an elixir of immortality, extend the lives of Hagrid’s terrifying pets, oh yes, and turn stones into gold. But obviously Tiera doesn’t need that skill. Don’t forget, the treasury of the Magical Union’s finance department is piled up with mountains and seas of Galleons.”

“Ron! Didn’t you hear what Hagrid just said?” Hermione said, exasperated. “No.” Ron shrugged helplessly. “My attention was completely focused on Hagrid’s dying little eight-eyed spider. I had no interest in anything else.”

“Tierra said he knocked off Nicolas Flamel’s Philosopher’s Stone during his ascension ceremony, so he has to pay Nicolas Flamel one,” Hermione repeated Hagrid’s words. “Didn’t you all realize? It’s obvious that the ascension ceremony and the Philosopher’s Stone are related!”

"So what?" Ron said nonchalantly. "Even you are still at least a ways off from learning the details of the ascension ritual."

Ron counted on his fingers and said, "There are at least three more major exams: one NEWt, one regular entrance exam for the magic university, and one magic graduate exam that we haven't even gotten a chance to take yet."

"You, how come, still don't, understand, what, I, mean, ah!" Hermione seemed to be getting a little irritated by Ron's dullness, and raised her backpack to slap Ron on the shoulder, uttering a word with each slap.

"What, what?" Ron seemed startled, not understanding why Hermione had suddenly become so agitated.

"Don't you understand what I mean?" Hermione said angrily. "The Philosopher's Stone is helpful for the ascension rites, and Nicholas Flamel is demanding that Tierra return it at this time. Don't you understand what that means?"

"Is Nicholas Lemma's elixir of immortality almost finished?" Ron asked.

“No!” Hermione denied. “It’s Nick Flamel who’s also preparing for his ascension ceremony!”

"Wait, Nicholas Flamel wants to become a god too?" Harry asked, puzzled. "What's he preparing for the ascension ceremony? He already has the elixir of immortality, can't he just drink it all, like Ron said?"

“Impossible,” Hermione insisted. “During the summer before fourth grade, when I was chatting with Tierra, I remember her saying that Nicholas Flamel had so much of his elixir of immortality that he could make lemonade. There’s no way he could have finished it all so quickly.”

“Alright, alright.” Harry wasn’t going to argue with Hermione about this. “Even if Nicholas Flamel wanted to hold an initiation ceremony, what did that have to do with us?”

“It’s not directly related,” Hermione said, “but Hogwarts is so chaotic right now, with so many misfits. If something goes wrong, it could be a terrible thing!”

As Hermione, Ron, and Harry chattered excitedly about "Tierra and Horace Lugghorn forging the Philosopher's Stone for Nicholas Flamel," they were completely unaware that their increasingly excited and loud voices had drifted away on the wind to the nearby Owl Hut, where Draco Malfoy was being punished for making racially discriminatory remarks, being forced to clean the Owl Hut instead of being put in solitary confinement.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione's voices reached him, he temporarily put down his work and listened intently towards the source of the sounds—

"Philosopher's Stone"

Tierra

"The Ceremony of Becoming a God"

"What if something goes wrong?"

Draco Malfoy darkly stroked the Dark Lord's mark on his left arm.

(End of this chapter)