Chapter 59: Centennial curiosity
Perenelle had been in excellent spirits for the past three months, which also lifted her husband's spirits after the loss of one of his greatest achievements, the philosopher's stone.
No matter how Dumbledore would explain it, it was a fact that he had been entrusted with something priceless and had been unable to keep the stone safe. This caused Nicolas to fall out with the Hogwarts headmaster and his mood was not good for a long time.
Death is just another adventure?
They said that so that headmaster wouldn't come back to bother them anymore, if they really didn't care about dying, they wouldn't have lived more than six hundred years. It was just that with their accumulated experience, they knew how to handle their emotions better than others.
So why was Perenelle so cheerful?
It all started during one of her sneaky visits to Beauxbatons, where she liked to visit the fountain where she and her husband met, admiring the garden around her and feeling the gentle breeze caress her century-old face. The fountain was famous for a few decades, but nowadays hardly anyone went to that secluded and quiet corner, so she considered it a bit like her own place to have tea with some sweets.
What a surprise when he saw a student there so early in the morning!
Not only that, he was one of the few male students. If there was one thing that age had failed to erode in her, it was curiosity, so she stood still in an inconspicuous spot and watched what the student wanted to do there.
She watched as he pulled out some vials and took water samples from the fountain, then pulled out a microscope and examined some drops under it. From the frown, it appeared that he didn't find whatever it was he was looking for. After looking around again and thinking he was alone, he held up one of the vials he had just filled and examined it close to his eyes.
Why was he doing that? If she could see anything, she would have looked at it with the microscope.
It was then that Perenelle witnessed the student's eyes turn wonderfully golden and understood what he was doing, he was looking for some reaction of the water to the magic!
But after several minutes, there was no reaction and the young man wore a disappointed expression as his eyes returned to normal. He lowered his head, perhaps pondering if there was something he missed or thinking what to do now that he had his results, but what followed was completely disconcerting.
She put away the vials and microscope and pulled out...a jar of jam and a spoon?
From the color, I'd say it was orange or tangerine, she couldn't be entirely sure since the smell didn't reach her that far.
Maybe she just wanted to cover up her disappointment with food, but it had been a long time since she had found anyone who liked sweet enough to eat the marmalade directly with a spoon.
The student carefully scooped up some jam with the spoon and instead of eating it as he expected, he took out two other spoons and filled them as well, after which he seemed to wait for something as he looked around with the three pieces of cutlery in his hand.
His expression was strange, like a fisherman waiting patiently for a fish to bite.
One minute passed after another and Perenelle was in no hurry, she made a small stool appear and sat down while contemplating the young man, trying to guess what he wanted to do.
Half an hour later, she saw something she did not expect at all.
Three small yellow-skinned fairies with two small horns peeking out from their shoulders and purple-blue wings came out from among the vegetation, sniffing the air as if following a trail and spotted the student and the spoons in his hand.
They began circling around the young man and were gradually reducing their distance from him, being cautious. The student did not move once other than to blink and wait.
When those strange fairies he had never seen in all his long life seemed to understand that there was no danger, they approached the spoons full of jam and began to eat it with their hands showing an expression of delight.
After they finished eating, the student opened the palm of his free hand and the fairies passed over it, while the horns on their shoulders came off and fell exactly in the center of the outstretched palm. A total of six horns.
That seemed to end whatever was going on and the fairies left, hiding again in the vegetation. The student looked at the small horns in his hand and after a few minutes observing what he got, he closed his fist and tucked them away somewhere in his tunic.
Perenelle came out of her stupor and could no longer contain her curiosity, she made the stool disappear and walked towards the student who seemed about to leave. Her appearance caused the young man to look at her in surprise.
-I have to admit that I didn't expect to see something so curious so early in the morning - a polite and reliable way to open a conversation was always to comment on recent events - What are the names of those lovely creatures?
-My friend calls them Hofurin," replied the young man, regaining his composure, and although he tried to hide it, his experienced eyes could see how he was more relaxed at the question, "Apparently, they love tangerine marmalade.
The student's answer made Perenelle smile a little wider. She was now sure that she had not been recognized and it seemed that the boy was more interested in hiding whatever he did with the water from the fountain, than his interaction with the magical creatures.
In fact, how come she didn't know that fairies like these lived in this place after all the time she spent here?
Although come to think of it, he never came with tangerine marmalade.
He had a greater penchant for chocolate.
Having managed to break the ice, Perenelle struck up a conversation with the young man and they talked for a long time. It was rare to meet someone who didn't recognize her at a glance as the wife of the famous alchemist and she intended to make the most of it.
Right now, she was just an elderly witch named Bea who came to visit her old school to reminisce about the past.
Being someone who had lived for so long, she controlled the conversation without the other party noticing and found out some very interesting things.
Enough, at the very least, to keep him entertained.
Later, she managed to convince the boy without any trouble to see each other twice a month.
It was a nice feeling, interacting without politics or hidden agendas. Just an older person and someone from the new generation exchanging views and experiences.
Perenelle asked him questions like what he thought about alchemy (a habit that stuck with him because of her husband), the statute of secrecy, squibs, house elves, magic itself, etc.
And she must admit that his answers were to her liking or surprised her.
For example, the student explained how he believed alchemy had great potential, but it did not appeal to him and he preferred potions, a field in his opinion with the same potential that little seemed to understand.
In his words: Even if Flamel himself invited me to be his student, I would refuse.
The most surprising thing of all? She knew she wasn't bluffing, she really meant what she meant.
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Cadenadeaventuras
Cadenadeaventuras I've been very busy this week, so as of tomorrow normality resumes with all my fanfics and as usual, you have the original and advance version on my Pa-treon.
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