CHAPTER 25:

BATTLE FOR THE STONE

Harry watched as warring emotions clashed on Voldemort's ophidian face. Denial. Fury. Hatred towards Harry. A smidgen of fear that Harry was right.

And then, a calm voice, with a faint accent, came from behind the Mirror. Harry couldn't help but jump, and he was grimly satisfied to see Quirrell fighting down the same urge. "He is right, you know. Though I was surprised at just how quickly he caught on. But the Cetra Heritage is strong in him, and he has experience of Materia, more than you've ever had, Tom Riddle."

The man who came around from behind the mirror could have been in his early twenties, his noble features framed by white hair. He was dressed in blue-grey robes with white fur trimming. His eyes were a brilliant electric blue, and seemed to be older than the rest of him. His boots made a curious clopping noise as he moved, almost like the hooves of a horse. How he managed to stay silent until now, neither Harry or Voldemort knew. But he moved with an understated grace and poise.

"Nicholas Flamel," Voldemort hissed, having turned Quirrell so that he could see the person interrupting his moment of triumph.

Harry's eyes widened. THIS was Nicholas Flamel, the famous alchemist? This was the man who was supposed to have created the Philosopher's Stone? His surprise was less to do with the immortal man's appearance. After all, he radiated an understated authority that made Dumbledore pale by comparison. The surprise was that Flamel was here, helping guard the Stone, and more than willing to confront Voldemort.

And not only that, but the implications of what Harry held in his hand. If this was not the Philosopher's Stone, but a Summon Materia, then what was Flamel? Was he merely the owner of the Materia?

Or was he its inhabitant?

"Indeed, Tom Riddle," Flamel said, clearly enunciating the name. "Or, as you like to be called nowadays, Voldemort. I would say that it is a pleasure to meet a wizard of your power and standing…but it would be a lie."

"Then you have the Stone, the true Stone!" Voldemort snarled. "Give it to me, and not this wretched decoy! Or the Potter brat will be the first to die!"

"You'd kill him anyway, Riddle. Anyway, I wouldn't, even if it did exist," Flamel said, shaking his head. "The Philosopher's Stone, as far as I know, is a complete myth. A myth that had been around for over a millennium before my wife and I used the story(1). We merely used it to disguise our true natures. And while it excited greed of another sort, it gave us a disguise." Electricity crackled around the famous alchemist, and Harry began to get a bad sense of foreboding about the situation. "You desire immortality, Riddle, but immortality can be as bad a prison as any built with stone and steel. Especially if it's irrevocable."

"Words," sneered Voldemort contemptuously. "Mere words and hollow rhetorhic from a relic whose time is long past! I will have immortality, at any price!"

"THEN YOU SHALL HAVE IT!" Flamel roared, before slamming his hands onto the ground. In electric blue, lines and symbols appeared on the ground. A circle of light suddenly appeared around Quirrell, in front of the Mirror. Like a fly in amber, Voldemort and his puppet were trapped, the pair of them screaming in pain. Within the Mirror, a similar symbol-laden circle faded into existence, pulsing with cyan light.

"At any price, you say, you would-be god?!" Flamel bellowed as he seemed to push more energy into the trap. "You pay in other people's coin, Tom Riddle! Coin that never belonged to you! You pay in their blood, their souls, their very lives! You've never had to pay for your power yourself, but that changes today! You will have the immortality you deserve, a living death, in perpetual agony!"

For a moment, Harry allowed himself to hope, to dream that this was over. That Voldemort was being imprisoned, being killed before his eyes! That the scream emanating from Voldemort's now grotesquely distended mouth would be his death scream, the last noise he would ever make. A nightmarish noise, but one that would ironically herald the end of a nightmare.

But with a grimace, Quirrell made a gesture, and the cylinder of light around him shattered like glass. He didn't come out unscathed, though. Open wounds oozed blood, and Quirrell looked like he had some exotic disease with all those suppurating wounds. Breathing heavily, Voldemort hissed, "You almost had me, Flamel. But to use a Muggle term, there are no prizes for second place. Weasley! Kill yourself now!"

"Yes, Lord Voldemort," Ron said in a dull tone of voice, before aiming his wand at his neck. Harry rushed over, and grabbed Ron's wand, but Ron said, "Reducto!" Harry felt the warm splatter of Ron's blood gushing onto his hands, and screamed. Despite preventing his friend from severing his head, Ron had still managed to slice open his neck, and the redhead collapsed to the ground, blood rushing out of his body.

"Damn you!" Flamel snarled, before putting his hands in the air. Spinning disks of energy formed and coalesced. "AEROSPARK!" Flamel yelled, hurling the discs at Quirrell.

But to no avail. Quirrell caught the discs with a contemptuous sneer. "Is this the best you can do?" he retorted, before hurling them back at Flamel. But then, he found himself surprised as Harry, with a scream of fury, launched himself at Quirrell, a wing protruding from his back, his hair now silvery, and his eyes reptilian and filled with hatred.

Quirrell was sent into the wall, where Harry punched him. Harry was surprised when his punch seemed to do more than bruise Quirrell: it seemed to be burning his face!

Quirrell screamed in pain, but he retained enough presence of mind to activate the Materia. "Shadow Flare!"

Harry screamed as he was flung away, his body seeming to flare from positive to negative. He landed next to Ron's body.

"Pitiful," Voldemort sneered.

"I couldn't agree more," hissed the venomous voice of Jenova in his ear. Suddenly, Quirrell and Voldemort screamed in pain simultaneously as Jenova, using an arm transfigured into a blade, chopped off Quirrell's own arm. "Harry! Here!" she yelled, throwing Harry the severed arm. She was then thrust into the wall by Voldemort.

Harry stared dumbfoundedly at the severed limb. What was he supposed to do with it?

"THOR'S HAMMER!" Flamel cried out, a massive bolt of electricity from his hand sending Voldemort into the wall. But even as Quirrell's body began to crumble into ashes, Voldemort's spirit began to rise from it, a cloud of vile, black smoke with an ophidian face snarling on it.

Harry! Stop gawping! Get the Materia off the arm! Jenova shouted in Harry's head through their mental link. Use Phoenix! It's the only way to save Ron!

Harry's eyes widened, and he scrambled to pluck the bangle, his bangle, stolen by Voldemort, from Quirrell's severed arm. That's what Jenova meant. If he got this right, he could save Ron! Phoenix could revive the newly dead!

He managed to put the bangle on even as Voldemort's spirit began to swoop down on him. "Your long-overdue death is nigh, Potter!" Voldemort shrieked angrily.

Just as Voldemort was about to hit Harry, the Boy Who Lived touched the Summon Materia on the bangle, and screamed, in desperation and fury, "REBIRTH FLAME!"

In a flare of fire and flame, a magnificent bird of many colours appeared. The shade of Voldemort paused, briefly, stunned at this phoenix, even larger and more magnificent than Fawkes. Even Jenova and Flamel stopped and stared.

With a shriek of fury, Phoenix filled the room with flame. Only Voldemort was affected, screaming in agony as the smoke-like spirit he had become burned.

A red light, seemingly filled with feathers from the magnificent bird, suffused the blood-soaked body of Ron Weasley. His wounds healed up, his pale skin gained life again, and suddenly, he was on his hands and knees, staring at his own blood. He was understandably perturbed at what he had just experienced. Harry wasn't sure what dying was like, but he didn't intend to find out. He had already been through a number of horrific experiences anyway.

Voldemort, however, broke free of the flames, fleeing out of the chamber with shrieks of pain and fury…and even fear.

Flamel, looking upon the colourful bird with awe, said, quietly, "Lord Phoenix…your presence here is timely and welcome."

In a high-pitched, androgynous voice, Phoenix said, "Well met too, Lord Ixion. It has been long since we last saw you and Lady Valefor. Unfortunately, there is little time for a reunion. Fare thee well, Lord Ixion." Then, Phoenix faded in another flare of flame.

Ron panted, looking around, before his terrified eyes turned to Harry. "Bloody hell, Harry, I thought I was a goner there."

"Are you all right, Ron?" Harry demanded.

"Not really. I bloody well died!" Ron yelped. "I could watch what was going on, but not do a thing to stop it! And that was You-Know-Who! You-Know-Bloody-Who! And not even Nicholas Flamel could stop him…" He blinked, and then looked at the famous alchemist. "Wait a moment…that Phoenix summon…it called you Lord Ixion."

"Indeed."

"But I thought your name was Nicholas Flamel," Ron said, confused.

"And I said my name was Jen Calamitas," Jenova said, "but that wasn't my real name."

"Jenova is right," Flamel said. "Flamel is the name I've gone by for several centuries. I adopted it from my last master. I forgot the name I was born under. But the name I have gone by for over a millennia before I became Flamel was Ixion. I will explain in due course."

The flames blocking the passage back into the obstacles and traps suddenly dissipated, and Aerith, another Jenova, Hermione, and the House Heads, save for Sprout, rushed in. Not long after, Fawkes and Dumbledore appeared in a burst of flame. Cait Sith was last to appear, scrambling in. Aerith was on Harry in a heartbeat. "Harry! Are you okay? Whose blood is this?"

"It was Ron's. Aerith, he's okay, I used Phoenix's Rebirth Flame. Voldemort had him under a spell, had him kill himself."

Aerith looked at the redhead, and paled. Snape, meanwhile, bustled over. "Sit still, Weasley. I need to make sure the curse the Dark Lord used on you is gone."

Ron scowled, but let the Potions Master do his work. Hermione looked aghast at the pool of blood under Ron, and covering Harry's hands. She didn't even comment on Harry looking like Sephiroth.

Dumbledore looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione, and noting that they were okay, walked over to Flamel. "Nicholas…please tell me we managed to get him! Did we manage to trap Voldemort?"

Flamel shook his head. "He managed to break free of the seal array. I doubt he will fall for such a trap again." He walked over to Quirrell's body, sniffed it, and snarled in disgust. "Unicorn's blood. It boosted his magical powers to a ludicrous degree. That, and…" His eyes widened, and he smashed his fist into a wall, causing it to crack. "Albus, his means of immortality…they probably helped anchor him to a degree so that he wouldn't get pulled into the seal(2)! I should have factored more power into the sealing array!"

"We'll discuss this later, Nicholas…" Dumbledore said, quietly. "But you don't think we'll have another chance at doing something like this?"

Flamel shook his head. "Even if I did do a new sealing array designed to counteract what happened, he'll know to have countermeasures himself. He's no fool, Albus. We've missed our best chance at entrapping that excremental bastard." His eyes flickered over to where Harry and Hermione were consoling Ron. "Harry Potter is indeed a most extraordinary boy. The Mirror marked him as worthy of receiving my Materia. I'm sure my wife will agree. And if what Jenova suspects is true, then he will need our assistance, both here and back on Gaia."

Dumbledore nodded as he levitated Quirrell's corpse, ready to give what was left of the man as dignified a funeral as Dumbledore could grant him. "I am an old fool, Nicholas. And my mistakes nearly cost my students their lives. I hope that I can rectify that before long. Let's get them out of here. You can explain everything once we have them in the Hospital Wing and being looked after."

Flamel nodded, and they followed the three children, the staff members, and the cat robot out of the Mirror room. Almost as an afterthought, Flamel, with a gesture, shrunk the Mirror, and placed it in his robes. There was no use for it now…

CHAPTER 25 ANNOTATIONS:

And there you have it: the revelation of who Flamel really is (I will explain how Ixion became Flamel in the next chapter, the first chapter of the final episode), the battle against Voldemort, and a really close call for Ron. You may have to wait a while for the final episode to be posted, but hopefully, this episode will have been worth the wait for you guys, and it's all over bar the shouting anyway. I'm still impressed by the fact that this story has 10K views now. This story is my third most popular in terms of views, beaten only by the first story in this series, Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage, and my only 'pure' Harry Potter fanfic, In Spite of Obstinate Men.

I actually had a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist running through my head as I wrote the bit where Flamel activated the sealing array. I also had a notion, as I was writing this chapter, that Flamel (in this) would be excellent if he was voiced by Simon Templeman of Legacy of Kain fame.

I've also recently seen Team Four Star's debut episodes of Final Fantasy VII Machinabridged. If you're a fan of Final Fantasy VII, but are not afraid to see the mickey taken out of it, watch it. The first episode is available on YouTube, while the first two episodes are on Team Four Star's website. I have literally not laughed as hard as I did watching it for a long time, so I recommend not eating or drinking while watching it, lest you like either choking, or else spraying liquid all over your computer.

In case any of you are Naruto fans, I'd like to give a shout out to my one and probably only Naruto fanfic, Observations of a Wannabe Kunoichi. It's Sakura-centric with little bashing, though, so it may not be for everyone.

Review answering time. God, I have a lot to catch up on. Firstly, Goeno, who posted reviews on Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage: Thanks for your enthusiasm. But shouldn't it be 'the cut of my gib' rather than my 'gizzard'? Still, I'm glad you like what I wrote.

Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros: Thanks again for your enthusiastic reviews. I hadn't thought about Rufus reviving the Shinra space program. Let's assume that, for satellites at least, he has done so. Once they've stabilised the world's infrastructure, he'll get onto space exploration. Cid will doubtless be pleased.

Blackholelord: If you mean Advent Children, then yes. Assuming I get the motivation to get that far. I do intend to write a story set between this one and the events of The Chamber of Secrets, but I have burnt myself out with this story, and I may not write my version of The Chamber of Secrets. Certainly not for a long period of time.

Jostanos: Yes, you did pull a Hagrid, though whether I get that far in my writing is another matter.

BoredomPersonified: In answer to your questions…

1. I have no idea how to tier the Limit Breaks of Harry and Jenova, so I can't answer that question.

2. Hojo is Sephiroth's father in canon. Sephiroth probably shares more features with his mothers (Lucrezia and Jenova) than Hojo.

Thanks anyway for your praise.

Now for the numbered annotations…

1. According to Wikipedia, stories of the Philosopher's Stone have been around since at least about 300 AD, when Zosimos (doesn't that sound like an adversary's name from a Final Fantasy game?) of Panopolis wrote about it in his Cheirokmeta. Flamel is stated to be over six hundred years old in the book.

2. Note that Flamel isn't discussing the Horcruxes openly (or at least by name) in front of the others. Like Dumbledore, he believes that the fewer people know about them, the better, if only to prevent Voldemort from using Legilimency on them.

CHAPTER 25 SOUNDTRACK:

Nicholas Flamel: The Hymn of the Fayth, Ixion Version, from Final Fantasy X, composed by Nobuo Uematsu et al.

A Fight to the Death: Memories of the World (aka The Fierce Battle, Final Fantasy Fables Chocobo's Dungeon version), originally from Final Fantasy VI, composed by Nobuo Uematsu and arranged by Yuzo Takahashi.