Chapter Text
Chapter 1 – Excogitating at Gringotts
“Speech” | ‘Thoughts’ | ‘Tom’ | “Parseltongue” | Memories / Flashbacks / Letters
Rewritten: 31/March/2016
Harry and Lily landed in the Leaky cauldron with a soft crack. Tom, the resident barkeep, greeted them happily and tried to shove various food into their faces and began reciting the deals of the day as they walked by. It took very little convincing the toothless man that they weren’t stopping for an extended time and they were already behind on schedule.
Harry was still wearing the Muggle clothes that he was wearing on the train ride, not that he bothered wearing such things in Diagon Alley, he could have come here naked and no one would bat an eye, besides the Aurors, who’d pin him for indecent exposure. He waited at the stone brick wall that lead into Diagon Alley for his mother, who would open the wall for him as he couldn’t be bothered doing it.
“We can’t take too long here, Harry,” said Lily as she tapped the correct sequence and watched as the bricks vanished, allowing them access to Diagon Alley. “There’s things that we must get done at home and if we get it done early, you can come home early.”
“I shan’t be too long, mother, then we can go home – I mean I can go to the Dursley’s house.”
“Shan’t?” repeated Lily, not used to her son saying that word. “Oh Merlin, you’ve met Peeves, haven’t you?”
“Once or twice,” said Harry, smirking. “How long will I be at the Dursley’s house for? All summer? What about my birthday?”
“It really depends on how quickly we can get what we need to done, then you’ll come home,” said Lily. “I’ll collect you myself at the earliest possible time.”
“And my birthday?”
“We may be able to make a day of it. If not, then we’ll send you your gifts and come around for it.”
“Alright,” said Harry as they walked closer and closer to the large white building. “Oh, I also need to exchange some Galleons for Muggle money, that way if I get starved or something I can at least buy food.”
Lily sighed.
Harry realized that he also needed to find something for Draco’s birthday, which he was going to do during the summer holidays and claim it off as being late, but he couldn’t do that unless it was a Muggle gift, and he was sure Draco would dislike that. Perhaps a Muggle hairbrush.
“Did you hear me, Harry?” said Lily as they walked past yet another store in silence, the conversation now one-sided.
She glanced down at her son, who was walking in perfect stride with her, and frowned, knowing that he was in thought. It wasn’t a bad thing that Harry was a perfection representation of a pure-blood heir, nor was it bad when people assumed that he was, she’d never punish or scold him for that, but for just once she wanted a son that wasn’t scared to get his knees dirty or say mum instead of the more formal mother, even if the setting wasn’t formal. She would always be mother and not mum.
“I asked if you needed anymore clothes,” she said when her son finally glanced up, a confused expression on his face. “I can pick you up some while you’re browsing in Gringotts.”
“No, mother, I have enough clothes,” said Harry, stepping around an old lady. “I was just thinking about what I could get Draco for his birthday, seeing as I had no time to get it while we were at school.”
Lily gave a smile nod in acknowledgement and walked alongside her son, smiling politely at the people who greeted her. She stepped up the marble white stairs and greeted the goblin, as her son did and made her way into the bank. She read the warning and stepping into the building in almost record time.
Harry and Lily spoke to the goblins and climbed into the cart to go to Harry’s vault, which was next to the main vault. The ride was unpleasant as always, but you get used to that as time goes on. The goblin held the lamp and shone it at the cart so the two humans could get out in peace and not trip over the small gap and potentially fall to their deaths.
“Harry, I’m just going to quickly duck into out vault for a second, wait here when you’re done.”
Harry smiled and watched his mother slowly walk towards the main Potter vault, most likely to collect some Galleons of her own. He copied her action and quickly vanished into his vault, the goblin had followed his mother, due to her vault needing more protection than his own. Despite what people assumed, his vault wasn’t lined with Galleons or priceless artefacts, even if he was somewhat wealthy, at least for his age. He slowly walked around a pile of Sickles and Knuts, with small amounts of Galleons near the large pile and stopped in front of the bookcase that was lined across the entire back wall of the vault.
“Engorgio!” he muttered, watching as his trunk returned to its proper size. “Thank Salazar for the fact we can do magic in here.”
He dug around in his trunk, muttering to himself about the history of goblins and how wizards eventually bought down the no magic ward, fearful that it could be expanded, and pulled out the book, which contained the Philosopher’s Stone, and slipped in onto the bookshelf. He made sure that his bookshelf was in alphabetical order, he was going to order it in year released, but some were hard to figure out and it was far too complex to do.
No human could get in his vault, not even his parents, and that’s how he liked it. Who in their right mind would think that an eleven year old boy held a priceless artefact, such as the Philosopher’s Stone?
Before he exited the vault, he picked up a few books on alchemy. After all, now that have had the actual Stone, the real Stone, he’d have to study alchemy on a very in-depth level to understand it. He’d also have to learn how to make the Elixir of Life, which the Stone provided, seeing as Nicolas Flamel was most likely already dead.
“Ready to go?” asked Lily as she stepped out from her vault, at the same time as her son. She didn’t waste any time and quickly made for her son. “Before we leave, would you like to stop anywhere and get something to eat? I’m sure you haven’t yet eaten dinner.”
Harry nodded and climbed into the cart, hoping that the ride up would help him clear his head a little. The ingredients that could be used to make the Elixir of Life flickered through his mind, even with his talent in Occlumency, blocking the constant thoughts was a hard task, excitement was driving him almost insane.
“I heard what happened at Hogwarts,” said Lily as she stepped out of the cart. “With Neville and some sort of stone.”
“Did the headmaster tell you?” said Harry, stepping out of the swaying cart with practiced ease. “I never thought he’d tell anyone anything, at least regarding that.”
“Oh my yes,” said Lily. “It shocks me to no end that something like that happened! He could have died.” She glanced down at her son, who had a rather bored expression on his face, as if he hardly cared if Neville died or not. “Thank Merlin he didn’t die. I’m not sure what I would have done if the positions were reversed and it was you in his position. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that you were in any sort of danger.”
“Aren’t you lucky that I’m not a Gryffindor and won’t charge headfirst into dangerous situations?” said Harry with a smirk. Clearly Dumbledore kept the fact that he was actually there a secret, not that he minded, as the less people that knew, the better. “You couldn’t pay me anything in the world to try and sneak beyond a three-headed dog, what idiocy.”
“A three-headed dog?” repeated Lily, looking confused. “What has that man been putting into that school? Also, how’d you know what was guarding this stone?”
Harry just hummed and lifted his eyebrows in an almost innocent manner.
“All right, this is the last time I’ll ask, as I know you, do you need or want anything else while we’re here?” said Lily. “I don’t want to come back because you wrote an owl asking for a newly released book.”
“Hmm, I’d like to stop in at Flourish and Blotts for a brief moment, I’d love to get a new book on alchemy,” said Harry as he glanced around, his eyes locked with a stranger, who was staring directly at him. “Although, I may have no time to actually read, let alone finish the book while at the Dursleys.”
The tall man, who was staring just previously, made his way over towards the mother and son with a rather wide smile. He paused in front of the two of them and just smiled, his white hair sticking up in random directions, as if he had just climbed out of bed and decided that he couldn’t be bothered to tend to it.
“Hello,” said Lily as she watched the old man smother down his hair.
“Hi!” said the man, still looking very happy. “I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I did overhear your discussion. You’re interested in alchemy?”
“Indeed,” said Harry, silently studying the odd man. “It’s something that I really wish to study, such an amazing profession – listen to me ramble on. Mother, why don’t you go to Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour and quickly grab us something to eat on the way? That way we don’t have to stay much longer.”
“Oh no, my boy,” laughed the man. “It’s fine, go on ahead with your mother. I’ll just quickly duck into my vault and then I’ll meet you there and we can have a chat while you enjoy the great range that Fortescue has.”
Harry smiled and made his way towards Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour with his mother. Of course he stopped for a brief moment at each window that they walked by, even if it was something he disliked, just to make sure that the man was still around. He knew, deep down, that the man was an alchemist, an odd one, eccentric, but an alchemist nonetheless and alchemists were rare, very rare. The rarity came from the fact that once they actually became alchemists, they stayed hidden due to what they could do and Nicolas Flamel was a prime example of that, the man pretty much vanished.
He spared his mother a very brief glance, not that she noticed the very subtle action, as they neared Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour. Discretion was key. He slowed his step once more and he was aware that she noticed that movement, he watched her closely, noticing a slight line etch onto her normally clear features before it vanished and was replaced with a motherly smile. A line of worry, perhaps?
He knew that his mother cared for him, beyond any normal grasp of a motherly love. Being a Legilimens and a child, the ability reared its head more times than he could control and he learned a lot about her. She would forever worry over him, fear that she would lose him to another accident like what happened when he was six and just recently the troll incident. It could explain why she wants me with Muggles and not in the magical world.
“What would you like to eat, Harry?” asked Lily, sitting down on a chair just out the front of Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour. She watched as her son sat down as elegantly as possible, as if there were cameras ready to flash near him and she frowned. “I’ll get you anything you want.”
Harry looked up at his mother with a confused expression but it was quickly concealed. “I’ll have a chocolate and strawberry ice-cream with shaved chocolate sprinkled on top, please. Thank you mother.”
The ice-cream was ordered and placed in front of him in record time, in fact he was sure Mr. Fortescue would have ruffled his hair had it not been laced with Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and a few stray charms and there to make sure it holds in place and isn’t a mess like what his father’s hair looks like. He slowly chipped away at his ice-cream and waited for the old man to make a return to his table so they could discuss alchemy and that he could find out something about the Philosopher’s Stone.
Harry gave up waiting and pulled out an alchemy book and began to read it, of course he slid aside the small amount of his ice-cream that was left and the large book took up most of his side of the table. It wasn’t something Lucius or Narcissa would be proud of, but he couldn’t sit here and wait any longer, it was eating him up inside. Flicking through pages he finally finds something interesting, but doesn’t exactly have any time to read it because he knows that someone is trying to talk to him.
“Harry, as much as I enjoy seeing you read, you really shouldn’t be reading here,” said Lily as she pushed aside her own ice-cream, which was pretty much finished. “I didn’t know that you were interested in alchemy.”
“It’s recent,” said Harry, confused on how else he could explain his sudden infatuation with the subject. It really was recent. “I heard that Professor Dumbledore was rather decent at alchemy in his earlier days and that encouraged me to try and expand my horizons, seeing as an Alchemist is just as rare as a competent Potions Master.”
“Really?” said Lily, excited.
“It would be a great fall-back job, honestly,” said Harry. “Of course the two jobs differentiate, a Potions Master would stay in Britain, whereas an Alchemist would be all over the place.”
“Please, Harry, don’t use big words,” muttered Lily, ignoring the knowing look on her son’s face. “I love that you’re intelligent and that you know these words, but the rest of us don’t.”
Harry sent his mother a blank look before he masked it with a small smile. “Differentiate is hardly a big word, in fact I’m more surprised you don’t know what it means, seeing as it starts with different.” He let out a long breath. “Recognize or ascertain what makes someone or something different. That’s what differentiate means.”
Lily stared at her son before she slightly shook her head, her son was right, it wasn’t exactly a big word and it didn’t take much to know it and think on what it means. She let out a breath and glanced at her son, who had put the alchemy book away and was now once again eating his ice-cream, or at least what was left of it. “We should get going, I think, seeing as that man hasn’t yet come back.”
“Hm, yeah, that may be a good idea, actually,” said Harry, his face blank. Internally he wanted to complain and whine that he never got a name or even an address so he had nothing to go on and meeting an Alchemist was a rare opportunity that he couldn’t throw away for Muggles. His future in alchemy could take a massive hit and be over before it even started. He smiled at his mother and watched as the small bowl of ice-cream was in vanished. “At least I know that he was British, so that could help me find the man in the future.”
“I’m afraid that you have my accent misplaced, my boy,” said the man, sitting in a nearby chair. His hair looked worse than it was before they first met. “When you spend a vast amount of time in another country previous to your home country, you tend to pick up their mannerisms and speech patterns.” He sat silent for a moment, observing the boy and his mother. “So, lad, tell me what you know so far about alchemy.”
Harry straightened a little. “Alchemy is a branch of magic and an ancient science concerned with the study of the four basic elements, as well as the study of the transmutation of substances; it is thus intimately connected with potion-making, chemistry and transformation magic,” he said, remembering it from the book he was reading a few minutes ago. “Alchemy also concerns philosophy; alchemical literature is dominated by mystical and metaphysical speculation.”
“Well done, but appears as if it’s straight from a book, perhaps the one that you purchases recently?” said the man, smiling. “What do you know of Golpalott’s Third Law?”
“Not very much,” said Harry with a facial expression that almost drew sadness in, as if he was upset about not knowing it. “It’s mentioned in Advanced Potion-Making, but it doesn’t explain anything about it.”
“Before you delve into the art of alchemy, I suggest you search up information about Golpalott’s Third Law, it’s what I’d call the starting ground for such an art,” said the man with another one of his smiles. “The Egyptian Centre for Alchemical Studies is another place you should aim to visit when you’re a little bit older.”
“I never knew that existed! Thank you for the assistance,” said Harry, smiling, his finger twitching. He was about to speak again, but he noticed his mother’s mouth beginning to open and he paused.
“Harry, I’m going to quickly get some parchment, that way you can write us. You’ll be safe here?” said Lily hastily and saw her son’s nod. “Right, I’ll be back in a moment.”
Harry watched her leave and gestures the man to sit. “I hope this doesn’t come out badly, but the main reason I’m studying alchemy is to try and find another Philosopher’s Stone, as Nicolas Flamel did,” he blustered out before he paused and looked almost disgusted with himself. He did note the shock and awe on the man’s face. “I mean, Nicolas Flamel had found or created one, it’s not very clear, so I should be able to find or even create another one, shouldn’t I?”
The man sat up a little straighter, his relaxed posture vanished. He watched the boy carefully. “Well, my boy, there could be another out there somewhere or you could be correct, Nicolas Flamel could have indeed made it and only he know show it was made. It’s not a good thing to dwell on an object that can make you live forever.” His dark eyes twinkled slightly. “You’re not the first, and most definitely not the last, to enquire about such an item as the Philosopher’s Stone. There could be one, or hundreds.”
Harry watched the man carefully, his white hair was flying around in odd directions due to the wind. “You say the like you know there’s only one. There could be more, but I don’t think there is.” He gave the old man a piercing look, something in his face must have flickered with the thought of using Legilimency on the man, because the man abruptly laughed.
“How the generations get so inpatient is beyond me,” said the man with a knowing smile, his eyes still twinkling. “My dear boy, I have spent enough time around a few adept Legilimens that I know the signs that it’s going to be used, but I am more shocked by the fact a nine year old child can perform it and has performed it intentionally in the past.”
“I’m eleven, almost twelve,” said Harry, not sure if he should be offended that this man called him nine. “It’s not so much that I want the Stone, it’s mainly the fact that I would love to replicate the Elixir of Life, maybe substitute the Stone for another ingredient.”
“And in order for you to do that, you need to know how the Elixir of Life is created,” said the man. “With apparent rumours that the Stone has indeed been destroyed, it’d be impossible to do that. The only known maker of the supposed Elixir of Life is said to be dead.”
“You don’t actually believe that, do you?” asked Harry as he studied the old man closely, trying to figure out something. “I honestly just cannot see someone as great as Nicolas Flamel handing over the Stone and waiting for death to come, it just doesn’t add up. He had the Stone for nearly five hundred years and supposedly had no issues until now.”
“If you met Nicolas Flamel today, and you could ask him anything, anything at all, what would you ask?”
“How to make the Elixir of Life would be the first one, but I’d also love to know why he gave the Stone to Professor Dumbledore anyway, if I had the Stone I wouldn’t hand it over,” muttered Harry and glanced towards Gringotts. “The chances of me meeting Nicolas Flamel are slim to none.”
“Those are still chances, chances that could very well be true,” said the man with a smile behind is odd looking beard. “I am surprised you haven’t pieced it together yet.”
“I pride myself on my intelligence, but you’ve been rather cryptic,” said Harry calmly and with an odd look at the man, silently studying the man. “How did I not see it before? I was so stupid! But how? I thought you died and your wife?”
“Hush, my boy, and I’ll answer all the questions that you have time for,” said Nicolas. “My wife and I are still alive because we made sure we always had an ample supply of the Elixir, it could produce a limited amount, but it was enough for four people each week and we only needed two doses per month, so you can see that we easily had enough and we stored that away.”
Harry listened carefully, not wanting to miss anything said.
“I knew the Stone wasn’t destroyed, as Albus had proclaimed, it’d take a very, very talented Alchemist to even dent the Stone. He would have had to come to me for it to be destroyed and he didn’t.”
“You dislike Professor Dumbledore?”
“No, my boy, Albus and I go back a long time and he’s a great person and an even greater headmaster. He has odd ways of going about things and nine times out of ten, they go the right way that he hopes,” said Nicolas. “His plan would have worked flawlessly as what he said it all worked out, just something else happened that he couldn’t explain.”
“All worked out?”
“When he told me that the Stone had sadly been destroyed in the battle that happened, he promised that he’d work something out and I trusted him, if the Stone was destroyed he would move mountains to help assist me, but the Stone wasn’t destroyed.” Nicolas gave a slight shrug, which caused the boy to laugh at the absurdity of it. “I have spent six hundred years with the Stone. There’s only one person that Albus assumed would want the Stone, and that’s You-Know-Who.”
“Voldemort,” said Harry and lifted his eyebrows when Nicolas Flamel almost hissed at him.
“I do not say the name out of fear, my boy, dark times it was – You-Know-Who had a Taboo Curse on the name Voldemort, if you said it, his Death Eaters would be at your door. My wife and I refused to speak about him, whether it be You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or anything he was called, we did not speak it,” said Nicolas, his face become almost cheerful once he finished speaking. “You my boy, have been on my radar since Albus spoke about you. I’ll be honest, I debated about stunning you and taking you home with me.”
“What?” said Harry, inching away slightly.
“You have the Philosopher’s Stone, my Stone,” said Nicolas eagerly. “Before you pull out your wand and try and duel with me, I have over six hundred years of magical theory and knowledge. The Elixir of Life makes my body as agile as it was when I was in my youth. I don’t want to threaten a child, much less one as talented as you, but if you push me, child, I will.”
“How did you know?” said Harry quietly.
“As I said just moments ago, I have six hundred years of experience over others. I am glad that you have it and not You-Know-Who, that makes me exceptionally happy, not that either of you can use the Stone, you’d need almost sixty years in the study of alchemy just to learn how to work the thing, it took me awhile.”
Harry said nothing, he just sat there in silence, both his hands on the table.
“Maybe we can work out a deal regarding the Stone?” said Nicolas, his dark eyes twinkling at the look on the boy’s face.
Harry sat up straighter and looked at Nicolas Flamel. “Mr. Flamel, I must admit, that sounds like a very reasonable idea.”
“Please, call me Nicolas,” said Nicolas. “I’ll ask you three things, just three and then you may request what you want. Is that fine with you?
“Of course,” said Harry.
“Why do you seek to use the Philosopher’s Stone?”
“I don’t want to grow old!” blurted out Harry and then recoiled as if something had betrayed him. “I only want to use it, to live forever and be immortal. There is so much I want to learn and improve on and I cannot do it in one simple lifetime.”
“That does make sense, so in the pursuit of knowledge, that’s the main reason I kept using it,” said Nicolas in agreement. “Right, next question, do you believe that – ah – Mrs. Potter, I assume, glad to see you’re back. Now, Mr. Potter, I’ll owl you regarding your future questions on alchemy, run along, my boy.” He paused and gave the boy a knowing look. “I cannot be around forever, so be sure to reply as soon as you can.”
“That man is rather nice, teaching you about alchemy and such,” said Lily as she walked alongside her son, towards the Leaky Cauldron. “Are you finished here? We shouldn’t waste much more time.”
“Yes, mother, I’m done here – I’d like to ask a question though, if you don’t mind,” said Harry and glanced at the shabby looking tables in the pub with mild disgust.
“Sure, you can ask me any question you want, Harry.”
Harry walked alongside his mother slowly, while he pondered how he was going to ask the question, perhaps if he just blurt it out, it’d be easier to ask and therefore not an issue. “What happened to Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, weren’t they father’s friends?”
“Well – something – I’m not sure if I can tell you, Harry,” said Lily sadly. “Sirius went after the man who betrayed our family, while Remus had things to do, he didn’t tell us much and in return, we didn’t tell him much.”
Harry nodded and realized that it was just best to forget them all together. “Alright, thank you for explaining it to me,” he said and would find a way to make himself forget those people, surely there was a spell or a potion that could make him forget who those people were. Sirius was still fresh in his mind after hearing about the man in idle conversation, it wasn’t good, whatever he had heard and he instantly knew why his mother had covered for the man.