A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

"Have you thought it through?" he asked again, suppressing his joy, subconsciously ignoring the old man's initial words.

“Except for, except for a little worry—for which I added a condition—” Nick Lemaître said, his cheek turned to one side, facing out the window, where the sound of passing cars could be faintly heard.

Felix's expression turned cautious; he knew it wouldn't be that simple. However, he really didn't want to miss this rare opportunity. No matter how difficult the conditions Nick Lemaître proposed, he would do his best to fulfill them. Besides, he didn't think Nick would propose something he couldn't do.

So he said gently, "What do you need me to do, Nick?"

The old man was breathing heavily, his chest like a broken bellows. Dumbledore said softly, "Nick, you—" but the old man shook his head, "Don't stop me, Albus."

“Felix, do you remember—remember what I said when we first met? Old people like—to fit themselves into a place in the world—to seek a sense of security—”

His eyes suddenly widened, and his face turned completely pale, making him look somewhat like a ghost.

Felix's heart sank; he knew what Nick was going to say! Sure enough, the old man took a breath and said, "All this time, I've been trying to understand you, and the more I understand, the more worried I am that you'll go astray. Therefore—well, cough cough! As long as—as long as you sign a contract, everything I have—will be yours."

"An unbreakable vow?" Felix hid his face in the shadows, his voice devoid of warmth.

An unbreakable oath is a magical covenant between wizards, extremely powerful, with only one consequence for those who break it—death. Felix had previously made magical contracts, but compared to an unbreakable oath, the degree of constraint was worlds apart.

He could find a way to get rid of or transfer the magical effect of the former, but he had no way to deal with the latter.

Nick, panting, remained silent, completely acknowledging Felix's guess. He struggled to lift the key, but his hand felt weak.

"You must have thought this through carefully to come up with such a solution; it must have taken a lot of effort on your part," Felix said sarcastically.

"I... cough cough!" Nick coughed violently.

I'm sorry—

"Don't rush to refuse! Felix—my conditions aren't harsh; you can listen to them first—"

"I have absolutely no interest."

Felix looked at Dumbledore, his eyes full of inquiry: "So, you're here to be a witness?"

“No, Felix,” Dumbledore said sadly, “I don’t know what Nick is thinking either.” He looked at the old man and said in a low voice, “Nick, we all know this is not a good idea.”

Nick didn't argue. "I...I know, if I had the time—I would observe him for decades, but, Felix—I'm going to die—"

“That’s your business,” Felix said, his light blue eyes fixed on Nicolas Lemaître as he tried to raise the golden key in his hand. “Here’s a suggestion: before you die, you can find someone else willing to sign a contract.”

Nick seemed to perk up a bit, and his words became more fluent: "If... if you agree, you will inherit all my possessions, not just what you see here—I have twelve safe houses and seven libraries around the world, containing nearly seven hundred years of my accumulated knowledge: alchemy, ancient runes, magic manuals, ancient magic... I am also a board member of Beauxbatons. If you agree, everything is yours..."

"Believe me, the conditions aren't harsh." His eyes were filled with hope.

Felix said coldly, "I'm not stupid. I have nothing to say but refuse."

Nick fell silent, the light in his eyes fading. He suddenly struggled to sit up, leaning against the wall, the movement causing his body to tremble uncontrollably. "Ah—Albus, please—please leave for now—" he gasped.

Dumbledore glanced at him and Felix, sighed, and said, "Nick, you..." He turned and left.

Only two people remained in the bedroom.

Felix sat in the only chair, his right leg crossed, his black wand twirling deftly in his hand. He said casually, "What do you want to do, make me watch you die? You can't do anything right now."

Nick smiled. "That's exactly my advantage. I'm going to die, and that's my advantage." He emphasized this point deliberately.

Felix looked at him in surprise.

The old man said softly, "Your answer has never changed; you hate external constraints. So, I have a backup plan." He stretched out his hand, and one magical symbol after another appeared in his palm. These magical symbols coalesced into a golden eye.

"You know ancient magic?"

"Living long has this advantage: you can apply your knowledge to other situations. In fact, I've never practiced it..."

Felix asked cautiously, "What do you want?"

"From you? No, no, I just wanted to visit your home..."

"—You're dreaming!"

“I’m going to die, Felix,” the old man said, reaching out his hand and looking at him with pleading eyes, “No one will tell your secret!”

"..."

In the silence, Felix could almost see the old man's life slipping away, each breath hissing like a snake. He gritted his teeth and said, "Old man, I'll watch you die. You won't be able to stay alive even if you want to!"

Nicolas Flamel laughed heartily, his tone filled with satisfied relief: "You won't be disappointed."

Felix stood up, strode to the bedside, carefully examined the withered, pale hand, and grasped it just as it was about to fall.

Chapter 299 Memories

Mind Hut.

Nicolas Flamel looked around, taking in the room's furnishings with great interest, and appeared to have become hundreds of years younger.

“You have such magic? That truly surprises me,” he said with a smile. “My preparations are no longer needed.”

Felix stood with a stern face, as if welcoming an unwelcome guest, before a dark green curtain that was rolled up high to reveal a tall gate behind it.

Felix stared at the door, which opened automatically, revealing a hazy, indistinct view of what lay within. Behind the door lay his inner world, holding all his deepest secrets and memories.

The two stepped inside and stood in a long corridor, flanked by towering bookshelves. Every item on the shelves—books, journals, memory orbs, and miscellaneous items—represented their truest selves.

Backlit, only the light from the Mind Chamber could be seen, with Felix and Nicolas Lemaître's faces hidden in the darkness. Then, Felix's figure waved his arm, and a whirlwind swept through the aisle, twisting the bookshelves into thick, heavy clouds that piled up and took over their original positions.

The sky seemed to be pulled down to their feet, with thick clouds hanging low—they were as if they were in a sea of ​​clouds, with dark golden clouds on both sides, stretching and overlapping from where they stood, disappearing into the unknown horizon.

“Please come in,” Felix said briefly and politely.

“Felix…” Nick Flamel shook his head. He felt guilty. There were some things he hadn’t told anyone, not even Dumbledore—he had seen half a prophecy: the world was about to face another upheaval, one more impactful than anything before.

Unfortunately, he could not see the end, nor could he see the road ahead; he could only place his hopes on those who came after him.

Dark golden clouds swirled and rolled, creating images and sounds.

As the clouds gathered, a man with an air of elegance raised a palm-sized piece of paper in his hand and said confidently, "Felix, I'll keep an eye on things..."

Nicolas Flamel strode across the scene, stopping before a swirling mass of dark gold clouds to examine it closely. The image showed only Felix, sitting quietly in his office, flipping through a stack of parchment, the pictures on which causing him to frown.

"This is……?"

“I’ll pick up the path Salazar Slytherin abandoned and see how it goes.”

Nicolas Lemaître offered no comment, simply nodded, and continued walking. He had no interest in the minutiae, but rather focused on the swirling clouds that stirred his emotions.

He walked a considerable distance, his clothes billowing up a wisp of mist that scattered the previously gathered image. "I can only tell you that person's codename is Bigfoot..."

Nick stopped at a bustling place and asked curiously, "Is this the Three Broomsticks Bar?" He looked at the people in the picture: Felix and a middle-aged man with a hooked nose were sitting together. The middle-aged man was listless, chugging down one drink after another with a numb expression.

“Severus, we should all look forward,” Felix said in the video.

"Can you forget the past?" the middle-aged man said. "Can you forget Chesterton Avery? What about Carroll, Nott, Parkinson, Selwyn... and the Shafik family?"

Felix remained silent, clinking glasses with the middle-aged man. As they led the man back to Hogwarts, Felix stared at the man lying on the bed, babbling drunkenly, and whispered, "That's why I thank you, Professor."

Nick Lemaître asked, "Who is this?"

"The dean of my school."

"He helped you?"

"Yes."

"He seems like a kind-hearted person."

"...maybe not."

Nick said knowingly, "I was being narrow-minded. People are complex."

They continued onward, stopping frequently. Nick Flamel paused briefly at Felix's pursuit of Sirius and the Patronus's expulsion of the Dementors, but instead watched Felix's entire speech at the Ministry of Magic.

"What do you think of the secrecy law?" the old man asked.

I hold a pessimistic view.

Would you push for the repeal of the secrecy law?

"It's a thankless task, I don't need to do anything, and I can't keep it up for many more years."

Nick sighed and said, "I agree with you. The wizarding world has been closed off for too long, while things are changing rapidly outside..."

He changed the subject cheerfully, saying, "Don't let my old-fashioned appearance fool you. I have a safe house right here in the Muggle community, without any magic—it makes all sorts of modern appliances malfunction: refrigerators, air conditioners, ovens... and even home video game consoles, you know, Perenaar loves them... I also have another identity: an expert in occult studies!"

……

Before another cloud, Nick looked at Newt Scamander with nostalgia, and he became more talkative: “When I first met Newt, he was very dull and not very talkative, and he probably hasn’t changed now…” He said softly, “So many years have passed in the blink of an eye.”

He then looked at Felix in the cloud, who asked rudely, "What family are you from again?"

The young man opposite him stammered, "Ever—Every."

Nick Lemaître asked curiously, "Is this the Avery that the professor just mentioned?" Seeing Felix nod, he couldn't help but ask, "What did he do?"

Felix said with a profound expression, "You'll see, isn't this why you came?"

……

Not far from here, after listening to what Felix had said in his seventh-grade class, Nicolas Flamel clicked his tongue: "The seed of miracles..." He pondered for a long time.

As they continued walking, Nick couldn't help but laugh when he heard Felix, from his memory, say to a freckled boy, "This is Nicolas Flamel among rats." "What a wonderful metaphor."

Felix was a little embarrassed; he hadn't expected to be caught by the person directly involved when he said those words.

Nick said thoughtfully, "So, the infamous Sirius Black is innocent, and Peter Pettigrew is the traitor? Animagus... The only question is the Faithful Charm, but the Secret Keeper can be moved, or perhaps the Potters lied to everyone from the beginning."

Felix said calmly, "You should have realized it sooner; some crucial details were skipped."

Nick smiled and said, "I can't possibly put my nose right up to your face and observe every single detail of you. Even though it's not convincing, I still want to salvage a part of your image of me."

“Is that so?” Felix muttered.

At another cloud formation, Nicholas Lemaître asked, "Who is this little girl?"

“Hermione Granger, my assistant in Ancient Runes class,” Felix explained.

"How thoughtful of her," Nick remarked, watching Hermione place a potted plant on the square table piled high with books, bringing a touch of life to the dimly lit left half of the space.

"But what happened before? You seem to have suffered some setback... Oh, I see, a magical surge. This method... is somewhat inappropriate, but..."

Nick Flamel stared at the image on the dark gold cloud: the Longbottoms holding Neville on one side, and Felix in disbelief on the other. He stopped speaking.

The road ahead was quite long, and Nick didn't stop again except to say "interesting" to the golden rune ball, until he saw everything that happened at the Muggle conference during the summer vacation.

"All curses will end. I've used that magic too... I'm sorry, as people get older, they easily get caught up in meaningless memories." Nick said with a sigh, "What do you think of the Reform Society?"