Ah, the 1920's. I remember them well. While we still had to be careful around Muggles, times were good. Music was amazing; trends and styles were beginning to trickle over from America, and it felt like it would last forever.
Okay, really? I don't remember that at all. Not even my parents were born yet, and my grandparents were barely teenagers at the beginning of them. However, it did get me to thinking. Of all the witches and wizards that are or have ever been, who might have shared my love of nostalgia - looking back on the '20s from the '20s? And then it occurred to me.
I know. You're wondering why I've brought up Flamel. But don't you see? Nicolas Flamel was also born in the '20s. It just happened to be the 1320s, that's all. Haven't you wondered what on earth possessed him to turn to alchemy and work so hard to create the Philosopher's Stone? After all, that was an achievement that had completely eluded Muggle and wizardkind alike. But the pull of nostalgia can be extremely strong.
Here's what we know: Nicolas Flamel and his wife, Perinelle, both attended Beauxbatons back in the 1330s-1340s. Sometime after that (probably sooner rather than later), they got married, and Nicolas embarked on a lifetime career of alchemy. And boy, was it a lifetime. Six to seven lifetimes-worth. The funny thing is, that it looks like he only got lucky that one time. One philosopher's stone, created within his first lifetime, and early enough for him to have then developed the Elixir of Life.
Here's what else we know: About six hundred - that's HUNDRED, folks - years later, he teamed up with Albus Dumbledore. That would have been. . . yes, you guessed it. In the 1920s. What were they working on, I wonder? What would have drawn Dumbles, the transfiguration master, to work with an alchemist? After all, all his Chocolate Frog card says is "his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel." Thanks, card. Super helpful. So, here's what I think. I think that they were both still exploring why Nicolas was never able to duplicate his success, and Dumbledore was bringing dragon's blood into the discussion - perhaps he thought that would be the thirteenth use? I can just hear him now: "I say, Nicolas, that Elixir of Life is dead useful, but surely there's something else that can benefit all of wizardkind if only we can find a way to generate a few more of those Stones and expand their scope. What do you say?"
Obviously the answer was "yes" - but the only conclusion I can come to is that they were woefully unsuccessful, or we'd know more about the results of their work. I can't help but wonder, though. Was it really a fluke? Or will someone born in the 1920s - or maybe even in the 2020s - finally be able to reproduce the Stone and answer Dumbledore's question.
I bet it's a Slytherin - as I have always firmly felt Dumbledore himself was missorted.
Why don't you ponder that for a bit and I'll see you back here next month, with the latest episode of Magical Musings?