Character:Nicolas Flamel

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Nicolas Flamel was a famous alchemist, married to Perenelle Flamel. He was the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone, and was several hundred years old by the time he died; both he and his wife survived with the help of the Elixir of Life. Flamel was a noted opera fan, and lived in Devon with Perenelle (PS13).

Flamel and Albus Dumbledore were very close friends. The two wizards started corresponding when Dumbledore was a young man (DH2), and worked in alchemy experiments together (PS6).

In 1991, Flamel's Philosopher's Stone was stored in vault 713 at Gringotts. Fearing for the Stone's safety, Albus and Nicolas decided to remove it from there. Rubeus Hagrid was sent to retrieve it on July 31 and take it to Hogwarts, where it was hidden (PS5); later that same day, the vault was broken into, but the Stone had already been taken away (PS9). Lord Voldemort, who was using Quirinus Quirrell to procure the Stone for him, continued trying to get to it during the following year; these attempts alarmed Harry Potter, who had started studying at Hogwarts that same year, and he sought to discover more about the mysterious object hidden on the third-floor corridor.

After Rubeus Hagrid accidentally mentioned Flamel in connection to the events taking place at Hogwarts (PS11), Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger did extensive research about the wizard. They were unable to find any information about him in books such as Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, Notable Magical Names of Our Time, Important Modern Magical Discoveries and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry (PS12). Harry later realised that Flamel's name was mentioned in Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog card, and Hermione quickly found more information about the Stone in an older book. At the time the book she consulted was published, Nicolas was 665 years old; Perenelle was 658 (PS13).

Following Lord Voldemort's final attempt to get the Stone, which nearly cost Harry his life, Dumbledore and Flamel decided to destroy it. Nicolas and his wife used up their stock of Elixir to organise their affairs (PS17) and died soon afterwards (JKRW).