Chapter 31: CHAPTER 31: THE DEATH OF A LEGEND

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WILL YOU STAY WITH US UNTIL WE REST?

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on the 17th of December 1992, Richard was in the Duelling club. Lockhart had opened the club, even though he didn’t trust the professor, he’s still looking forward to the event.

“You think he would embarrass himself?” said a girl beside him, it was Daphne.

“Of course, he’s full of himself after all, even if he knows he’ll make a fool out of himself, he’ll make an excuse for it and his fangirls will defend him.” Answered Richard casually.

The event continued, Lockhart introduced himself in front of the students, and to Richard’s surprise, Snape also agreed to participate, and the two professors tried to ‘demonstrate’ a duel, but it wasn’t really a demonstration, it was Lockhart, like Richard said, make a fool out of himself, and like Richard predicted, he played it off and his fangirls defended him.

Then all of them were paired, Richard was with his fellow Ravenclaw Michael Corner, and Daphne was with Hermione, much to Richard’s dread. The most troubling pair, however, is Harry and Draco. The two nemesis were on edge, they kept throwing spells at each other, each more dangerous than the next. The professors allowed of course, until Draco decided to summon a snake.

“Serpensortia!” the pale boy shouted.

A snake was summoned and looked at Harry angrily, seeing this Snape instantly act.

“Stay away Potter,” said the professor, “I will deal with this.” But before Snape could do anything, Lockhart interrupted.

“No, let me!” he shouted, then the liar casted a spell. The snake then was thrown to the direction of Justin Finch-Fletchley, and as a result, the snake was hissing at him, making the boy scared.

The other students also stayed away from the snake, but as if in reflex, Harry walked to the snake and said something only a snake could understand. Daphne and Richard looked horrified and stared at each other, they exited the club first and spoke to each other.

“You think Harry is the culprit?” Richard asked the girl, “He can talk to snakes, and guess what, the creature was a snake as you said.” Continued the boy sarcastically.

Daphne shook his head, “I don’t know, something’s missing in my opinion.”

“What’s missing?”

“It’s like someone tried to frame him…” said Daphne weakly.

“So, it’s not Harry?” Richard questioned again; this time confused at the indecisiveness.

“I don’t know either, let’s just watch first.” Said Daphne while walking to the Great Hall with Richard.

25th Of December 1992. It is Christmas in the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, but the atmosphere is not merry or blissful at all. Today was supposed to be the death day of the Flamel couple. The mood was sad and gloomy. It was supposed to be a holiday today and the students should be home by now, but they all stayed, saying goodbye to their professor one last time.

Ed was standing in front of Flamel’s busy office. He waited for his turn to enter. The room is full because all of Flamel’s old friends came to visit him to say goodbye, and Ed was supposed to be the last who will meet him, as he is his last and only apprentice right now. Ed was wearing all black, even though the couple weren’t dead yet, they instructed the one who stayed to wear all black, ‘At least we can see our funeral guest in all black.’ They said, which earned a chuckle from all the Professors.

The couple then came out of the room, wearing their final dress. The two nodded at Ed, and they followed Ed towards the dining chamber, Ed opened the door to the chamber slowly, adding a bit of a dramatic effect, the loud creak of the door made the students turn to the opening door, they saw Ed, and the couple behind him. All of them stood up in honour of the Flamels. The couple then were led by Ed, walking on a red carpet, to the speech podium. Nicolas went first, and helped his wife to climb the podium, while Ed stood below it, looking at the students sombrely.

Nicolas scanned the students, their faces were gloomy and anxious, seeing this, he smiled sadly at the students.

“Hello, my pupils…” Nicolas said in fluent French, “Why are you all so sad? We will just rest for a long time; it will not be the end.”

The students just sat in silence, no one answered the old man. Nicolas just chuckled at the scene, “My pupils, know this, death is but a new beginning, a new journey to be taken, a new adventure to be enjoyed, a new home.”

Nicolas stared at the students again for a couple of seconds, and continued, “My apprentice, Ed, once asked us, ‘Why? Why live for so long?’, and we just stood there, we thought about what we are going to say to him, because we genuinely did not know why we endure this long life. Frail body, bad eyesight, slow walk, and Merlin help me the back pain every morning is almost unbearable.”

The audience chuckled a bit because of Nicolas’s joke. “I stood there still thinking about the answer, but my wife Perenelle right here was the one who answered. ‘I suppose we wanted to see how the new generations flourish.’ She said, and I agree. We, my pupils, came from a dark and depressing era. An era where witches and wizards were prosecuted, killed just because they were wizards and witches, so that’s why, deep down, we wanted to live long enough to see that those times have changed, and we succeeded our goal, we saw peace for the wizards, no discriminations from the non-magic, we live peacefully for hundreds of years now, so now, you shouldn’t be mourning our death, you should be celebrating it, because we accomplished our goal of seeing the future, and we will finally rest. And lastly, I ask you, from the bottom of my heart, to make this peace eternal, don’t make it so the times where we were born come back, work hard to maintain this world that I, no, WE built together, so your children will also enjoy it.”

Nicolas then picked up a wine glass, and raised it, “For peace, and for the generations to come.”

The students followed, “For peace, and for the generations to come.”

It was now the evening of Christmas, the Flamels came back to their office, and continued to receive goodbye. Ed was standing outside, receiving the guests, greeting and leading them to the Flamels. He saw the sky was getting dark outside, and the guests started to stop coming, Ed then entered the room, where the Flamels were having some tea.

“Tired Ed?” Perenelle asked him.

Ed just nodded weakly, and she smiled, “Sit.” She pointed at one of the seats.

Nicolas looked at Ed for a minute before sighing tiredly.

“This is it Ed, we finally can rest.” He said while looking at the window.

“Are you scared? Dying, I mean.” Ed questioned.

Perenelle shook her head, “Scared? No. Anxious? Yes.”

“Why anxious?”

“It’s simply normal Ed.” Said Nicolas, “We will be embarking on a new journey, of course we’re anxious. What will we see, what will we experience, even though I said death is but a new beginning, it is still an unknown beginning, an unfamiliar start, to an unfamiliar world.”

Ed pondered a bit before offering the couple, “Is there anything else I could do for you?”

Nicolas chuckled and said, “Relax a bit, and I will tell you stories about your grandfather.”

Ed nodded and fixed his position to a more comfortable one, then he looked at Nicolas intently.

“What do you want to know?” the old man asked.

Ed pondered a while, before answering the question, “How did he die?”

“From sadness.” Nicolas quickly replied, “It’s because of the curse, when Arisanna died, he began to grief, and thanks to the curse, the grief became sickness, and that sickness was the one who eventually killed him.”

“So, like a blood malediction?” asked Ed.

Nicolas nodded, “Yes, but much faster, speaking of malediction, have you found the cure yet for that Greengrass girl you talked about?”

Ed shook his head, “No, I’m close, but I still need a few more pieces, I discovered that it is like it said, a curse, and I found that the curse can be transferred, but this ‘sickness’ is basically unremovable, otherwise it will kill the host, so now the question is, how do we transferred it without getting the host killed, and how do we find a willing, or unwilling sacrifice for it.”

Nicolas frowned, “So there’s no absolute cure for it?”

“No sadly,” Ed sighed, “It’s the curse from nature itself, and I can only cure the girl, I can’t cure the whole bloodline.”

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“So, if they wanted to cure the one infected by it-”

“They have to make another suffer the curse, yes.” Ed nodded weakly.

Perenelle sighed, “I guess that’s the law of nature.”

“Like you said, equivalent exchange.” Said Ed.

Nicolas then looked at the clock, it was almost ten PM, he stood up and eyed Ed.

“It’s time Ed.” said the old man while smiling sadly.

Ed nodded sombrely, “Let me guide you to your bedroom.”

Ed stood up; he opened the door of the office for the couple and helped them to go to their bedroom. After a couple of minutes of walking, they arrived at their final resting place before dying. He opened the door and helped them to lay on the bed. Their frail bodies had already started failing them, so it’s quite hard to lay down on the bed.

Perenelle looked at Ed, and smiled sadly, “Will you stay with us until we rest Ed?”

Ed shot a reassuring smile at the two and replied, “I will.”

He sat beside the bed, waiting for their final moment. 

“Ed,” Nicolas weakly said, “We just want to say that it’s been a pleasure knowing you, you’re our last gift before we greeted death, even in the edge of our life, you made us learn our true purpose on why we suffer all this years, and for that, you have my gratitude.”

Ed nodded weakly and also said his final goodbye, “I also thank you for your guidance this past couple of months, you both are like a grandparent that I’ve never had, and I truly will miss you both.”

Nicolas chuckled, “I can’t wait to tell Edwyn that his own grandson said that I’m like a grandfather he never had, he would have been livid.”

Nicolas and Perenelle then looked at Ed with a wide smile on their faces,

“Goodbye, Edgart Aldrich.” Said the two in unison, and the couple drew their last breaths, their eyes losing the light of life, and their finally in the embrace of death.

Ed looked at their bodies, he shed a single tear, a tear of grief and longing. He closed their eyes and covered the lifeless bodies with a sheet. He got out of the room, and casted a Patronus spell, he whispered to the owl, ‘The Flamels have gone for their eternal rest’, and the owl flew to the recipient, their other closest friend, Albus Dumbledore.

26th December 1992, the snow was falling softly to the ground, making the mood sombre and calming, Ed was walking in front of two coffins laced with gold, beside him, Albus Dumbledore. He was at the funeral of the Flamels, one of their last wishes was to be buried in the Beauxbatons, and so they did. The students who stayed followed Ed and Dumbledore from behind, wearing thick clothes to reduce the coldness. 

After a couple of minutes of walking, they arrived at a small yet majestic building, it was to be the final resting place of the Flamels. As the two closest to the couple, Dumbledore and Ed were asked to carry the coffins to the tomb, which they quickly agreed to. Dumbledore walked to Nicolas’s coffin, and Ed to Perenelle’s, the old man and Ed tapped the coffin with their wands, making it float. Then, they enter the tomb with the coffin behind them, they put the coffin in a hole in the middle of the place, and Dumbledore transfigured the stone around it to close the hole, he then started to ‘carve’ the transfigured stone into the statues of the couple, while Dumbledore was doing that, Ed was transfiguring a stone tablet, and made an Epitaph for the two. He wrote in the Epitaph:

 

Here rest the body of the eternal couple,

Not bound by death,

Nor bound by life.

 

Their teachings spread across the known world,

And their wisdom brought peace to their kind,

May the Guardian of Knowledge always guide them.

 

Ed looked at the tablet solemnly when Dumbledore commented, “A good epitaph, maybe you can make mine too one day.”

Ed chuckled, “Maybe.”, then the two exited the tomb, where there’s a crowd of journalists and students waiting for them, Dumbledore dealt with them, while Ed just stood in the corner, introspecting about the death of the Flamels, but then something crossed his mind, ‘It’s almost new year, I’ll make sure they’re safe.’ Ed thought.

Then he waited for Dumbledore to finish his interview with the journalists and walked up to him.

“Okay Ed already packed your things?” questioned the white wizard.

Ed shook his head, “Not yet, I still need to say goodbyes too, but I doubt they want to hear it.”

Dumbledore chuckled, “Then I will see you next semester Ed, before that, I ask you not to do something reckless.”

“Can’t guarantee it, Dumbledore, you know that.”

The old man sighed tiredly, “Very well, stay safe Ed.” The old man then apparated away from the place, and Ed walked to the school alone, the weather is quite cold, even though he’s in France right now, so he hurried to his room and packed his stuff, though he doesn’t really need to pack, as all of his things are inside the suitcase. So, he just grabbed the suitcase and got out of the room, but outside of the room, there’s a tall blonde girl waiting for him, it was Fleur.

“Hey Fleur,” Greeted Ed, “Ready to go home?”

The girl nodded, “Yes, I’ve already packed my things and put it in the carriage, are you coming with me?”

Ed shook his head, “Oh no, I will go home using a different method.”

“Oh,” Fleur said in disappointment, “Well, I guess this is goodbye then.”

Ed shrugged, “Not really, I’ll probably still send some letters from time to time, and maybe we’ll meet again sooner than you imagined.”

Fleur raised her eyebrow, but she just hugged the boy, “I will miss you.”

Ed just hugged back, “I will miss you too Fleur, now go, make sure you train in Occlumency, otherwise weird people will peek through your mind.”

Fleur chuckled, “All right, goodbye Ed,” said the girl before kissing the boy on both cheeks. She walked away to the directions of the carriage and waved at him.

Ed just sighed at the behaviour and waved back. He then turned around, he hid and blink to his home.

He looked at Andrews manor and smiled widely,

“Home, sweet home.”

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