From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 158 The Brave Loyalty Curse

"Are you planning to take a spontaneous trip, Nico?" Dumbledore asked while tasting the apple pie in his hand while sitting on the soft sofa in the living room.

"Yes, just like you said, I'll leave when I say go!" Nico used magic to fiddle with the flames. He was boiling water to make tea. "If Voldemort really created the Horcruxes as you expected, then I must at least report to the God of Death before he is fully resurrected. I can't stand being disturbed by dark wizards every day anymore."

Dumbledore sighed: "Nicol...you are a respected wizard..."

But before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Nicolas Flamel: "I would rather not have their respect, but as long as I am alive, I can't have everything I want. And I really need to rest."

"When I heard that the Philosopher's Stone was destroyed by you, I couldn't say I wasn't angry. I was even a little panicked. After all, you all know that I have lived for so many years, and the inertia of living is too heavy for me... Many times I thought that life would continue like this." Nico looked at Ivy with a peaceful smile on his face. "After the fear of death faded, I began to plan how to spend the last period of my life. I made a list, you guys take a look?"

Nico pulled a small roll of parchment from the jacket pocket of his suit and shook it open. The parchment rolled over his knees and fell to the ground.

"Ahem..." Nico cleared his throat and read, "Nicolas Flamel's bucket list, number one, kissing his wife... That was the 98th time I've made the list."

He took out a pen and made a small mark, then looked towards the kitchen and said in a low voice, "I think putting this one at the top will help us have a smooth journey - at least she won't burn the food on purpose."

The clattering of pots and pans in the kitchen became a little louder. Nico shrank his neck and continued reading: "The next one is about moving. Look, we have already done it."

“I went to the Opera Garnier to see a musical, and I did it.”

"I climbed the Eiffel Tower. It's been a hundred years. I pass by it almost every day, but I never thought about going up because people always told me that I shouldn't stay too long on Muggle territory."

In addition to visiting various famous attractions in the Muggle world, Nico also hopes to visit other magic schools in the world. His alma mater Beauxbatons goes without saying, and Hogwarts and other famous magic schools are also on the list, Ilvermorny in America, Uagardo in Africa, and even the Institute of Magic in Japan.

"Go to China to find the Yeti... Visit the vampires in Romania..."

Of course, as a wizard, Nicolas Flamel's bucket list includes many things related to magical creatures, in addition to those that have been written into the novels by Lockhart, including flying on a dragon, witnessing a thunderbird create a storm, etc., which sound particularly dangerous.

"Wait, wait, Nico." Dumbledore had to interrupt Nicolas Flamel's narration because he continued to add new content to the parchment during the process.

Ivy heard "discussing the stars with the centaurs" and "building a ship that can reach the moon."

"Even if you have moved your home from its original address, the entrance to this house doesn't look like there is any magic protecting it." Dumbledore said seriously. He did not think that Nicolas Flamel and his wife's deathbed journey was a bad thing. On the contrary, he was carefully planning the itinerary for them.

"Traveling in the Muggle world is indeed a good idea. I think you will stay away from wizards who want to disturb your journey. But in the wizarding world, we all know that there are too many ways to find someone. Not to mention..." Dumbledore looked towards the kitchen and gestured with two fingers.

"It may not be a completely safe thing for two old and frail people to travel together. I don't want to see my old friend suffer again." Dumbledore held Nico's hand and said sincerely.

"Thank you for your concern, Dumbledore." Nico thanked him with some emotion, but then he laughed again, "I have thought about everything you said. Believe me, I have thought of a perfect plan."

"A foolproof plan?" Dumbledore asked with interest.

"That's right. First, publish an obituary in the newspaper. Tell the entire magic world that the great alchemist Nicolas Flamel is dead!" Nico stood up, as if he was planning a wedding or a grand prank. "Then there will be a funeral, which will be held in secret. Only you and Ivy will know the inside story. I will give you a will, and you can distribute the things I leave behind according to the contents above. My apprentices will accept it."

"Then we'll take the house and leave France, and complete everything on our bucket list." Nico stared at Ivy again. "And then there's the last thing, the protective spell for our mobile home. I want you to be my secret keeper, Ivy."

"Me?" Ivy frowned. He knew what a secret keeper meant.

That is the core part of the Fidelius Curse, the very core part.

The principle of this spell is to hide a secret in the wizard's soul. The wizard himself, as the container of the secret, also becomes the keeper of the secret.

As long as the keeper does not reveal the secret actively, no one in the world will know it.

Harry Potter's parents hid themselves with the help of the Fidelius Charm, but they replaced the secret-keeper with Peter Pettigrew, who immediately told Voldemort himself, which resulted in Harry becoming an orphan without a father or a mother.

To use an analogy, the Fidelius Charm is like a safe, and the keeper is the key. The secret in the safe can be anything, the address of a house, the location of a person, or a piece of forbidden knowledge. As long as the keeper does not reveal it voluntarily, anyone who knows the secret cannot tell it.

But for the secret keeper himself, there is more than one way to reveal the secret. As long as the secret keeper reveals the secret in any form, the Fidelius Curse will immediately break.

If the secret is a living person, then the Fidelius Charm will be broken if a third person sees him. If the secret is a house, then the Fidelius Charm will also be ineffective if someone sees the keeper enter or leave the place.

Therefore, as the keeper of the Fidelius Charm, one must always be cautious about possible leaks, and it is best not to meet the secrets that one is protecting for the rest of one's life. Let's use a safe as an example. When the keeper of the key is within the protection range of the Fidelius Charm, the safe of the Fidelius Charm can almost be said to be impossible to close. Therefore, there is no such thing as throwing the key into the safe, which is a bug.

And now Nicolas Flamel proposed that Ivy be his secret keeper, which was almost like handing over his entire life and property to a stranger he had just met once, and this stranger had destroyed the basis of his immortality.

"Don't be so surprised, Ivy." Nico said comfortingly, "I originally wanted Dumbledore to help, but after seeing your Patronus, I changed my mind."

"You have already seen what the Fidelius Charm protects. It is the entrance outside. We will carry it with us when we travel around the world and keep it secret. We will only put it up when we need it. As long as we hide inside, no one can see the entrance."

Nicolas Flamel's theory is very simple. It is equivalent to putting himself and Perenelle into a box (a mobile house) and then putting the box into a safe (the Fidelius Charm). Anyone who has not learned the truth about the box from Ivy cannot see the box itself. And Ivy himself is a student at Hogwarts. As long as Ivy has not graduated, the possibility of seeing him in the outside world is very limited.

Moreover, the Lemays were always on the move, so the probability of the safe and the key colliding with each other would be further reduced.

Or you can understand it as the safe growing legs and running away, leaving only the key itself in the magical castle of Hogwarts.

"You have to know that we didn't know each other before. This is a very risky thing. Both for you and for me." Ivy's mind was racing, but his voice was cautious and slow.

"Of course! Of course! But this is the fun of 'risk'. Although there are dangers, the rewards are also considerable. And I am an old man who is about to die. What's wrong with taking a little risk?" Nicolas Flamel said optimistically, "I have seen many people in six hundred years, and I have never made a mistake in my judgment. I believe in my own eyes, and I am willing to believe in you, Ivy."

Ivy frowned and thought for a while, but didn't respond.

"When Perenelle and I die, I hope you can help with our affairs. In return, this house will be yours. There are many alchemical manuscripts in it, all written by me, as well as some gadgets that facilitate daily life. I have given more alchemical props to other people in my will." Nico said slowly, and took out a pocket watch from his pocket and handed it to Ivy.

The watch case is made of silver and is covered with carved patterns. When you open the dial, there is no time scale, no minute hand, no second hand, and no hour hand. There are only two identical pointers. When one moves forward, the other will immediately follow, moving in step with it, one in front and one behind without stopping.

"That's me and Perenelle." Ivy guessed that Nico was talking about the two hands on the dial. "They are connected to our life force. As long as the hands stop moving, it means we will meet the god of death. Then you can come and take care of our affairs."

This was a huge temptation, two alchemists who had lived for more than 600 years and possessed the Philosopher's Stone that could make gold. The gold accumulated over 600 years alone was enough to drive many people crazy, not to mention that they also preserved a lot of alchemical knowledge, which was the biggest temptation for Ivy.

But the word trust is too heavy for Ivy. He may never be able to confess to others that he is a time traveler. Compared with the fragile and ambiguous "trust", Ivy prefers relatively "controllable" things, whether it is risk opportunities or interpersonal relationships.

"I hope we won't regret this." Ivy stared at the hands of the pocket watch in his hand and said softly.

"Great!" Nicol applauded, and then shouted towards the kitchen, "Perenal, bring out a bottle of wine! Our journey is about to begin!"

"Hasn't our journey begun long ago?" Perenelle's voice came from the kitchen, and then she asked, "How about Bordeaux sweet white wine? This is all we have left at home..."

"That's obviously your favorite!" Nicol replied, and then explained to Ivy and Dumbledore, "Bordeaux Noble Rot is a sweet white wine. Mold is involved in the production process, so no additional sugar is needed. The taste is very soft. It may be a little too sweet for me, but Perenelle likes it very much. She buys a lot every year."

Soon, Perenal brought out a wooden tray from the kitchen, on which were placed several goblets and a bottle of beautifully packaged wine.

The label and sealing paper of the wine bottle are ivory white, decorated with gold edges, and the wine inside is noble gold.

Perenal directed the cork to jump out of the bottle, and a rich aroma soon filled the entire room, like a mixture of many delicious fruits. Although it had been cellared, it smelled neither dry nor astringent, but as fresh as a fruit garden after the rain.

"Who shall we toast to?" Dumbledore stared at the golden liquid in the goblet, seeming a little impatient, probably because Nico had just said it was very sweet.

"To die!" Nico's eyes lit up, as if he had been looking forward to this day for a long time.

Although Ivy felt it was a bit strange, he still agreed: "For death."

The first moment the noble rot wine entered Ivy's mouth, he felt as if he had taken a big mouthful of honey, but without the sticky and astringent taste of honey. Then the aroma rushed straight to the top of his head. It was hard to say how many kinds of fruit aromas Ivy felt. Lemon, orange, pineapple, honeydew melon, every kind of fruit that would emit fragrance when ripe seemed to be among them, but they were not exactly the same. Although the aroma was complex, it maintained a high degree of unity with its taste. No wonder Perenal liked this sweet white wine so much.

"Only when you see death with your own eyes, will you feel that life is so meaningful!" After drinking a glass of wine, two blushes suddenly appeared on Nico's pale face. He smiled and sighed, "It seems like I have seen spring for the first time!"

……

The casting of the Fidelius Charm was so unremarkable that even if it were spelled out, no Muggle would be able to learn it.

When he came to his senses, Ivy was already standing under the Eiffel Tower with Dumbledore and the Flamel couple. Yes, they were going to complete the latest item on their bucket list.

(End of this chapter)