PS/SS Chapter Thirteen Chapter Summary and Questions

[foxmoth at qnet.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 28924

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., lamppost42 at h... wrote:


> 3. The Chocolate Frog card proclaims that Dumbledore is also 
famous  for "his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas 
Flamel." (PS/SS Am. Ed. 219) Flamel's dates are 1330-1417 
> (http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/exhibit/flamel.htm). 
Dumbledore is approximatley 150 years old in PS/SS. If Flamel 
is the only known maker of the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone 
(and has been since the early 15th century), then for what kinds 
of alchemical discoveries are Flamel and Dumbledore so 
intimately mixed as to end up on a Chocolate 
> Frog card together?

If there were  famous discoveries Hermione would've found out 
about them.  SPECULATION: Perhaps Nicholas, retired from 
active sorcery and enjoying "a quiet life in Devon",  was already 
contemplating "the next great adventure" but felt he could not 
pass on until he had bestowed the secret of making the 
Philosopher's Stone on a worthy recipient. That he made 
Dumbledore his partner was therefore noteworthy in itself, since 
it meant that Dumbledore might acquire the knowledge of how to 
make the stone.  It could even be that  to protect the Stone during 
Voldemort's first reign of terror, Dumbledore became the 
Flamels' secret keeper, and for this  reason James refused to let 
him be secret keeper for the Potters, because it would have 
meant putting all the eggs in one basket.

Pippin