The End of Eternity

By: Rita Skeeter

We are sad to announce that famous Alchemist and his wife, Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel have passed away. According to French sources, after one too many attempts to steal the infamous and coveted Philosopher's Stone, the most recent attempt which nearly succeeded, Flamel has decided to destroy the stone. He and his wife have used their remaining Elixir of Life to set their affairs in order, making arrangements to bequeath their vast array of wealth to their many heirs and friends. Today's edition is dedicated to the famous Alchemist, For his storied history turn to page 3, for a breakdown of his alchemical achievements, turn to page 7, for a review of his many past interviews, turn to page 11...

Sitting at the table in the kitchen, Harry reads through his copy of the Daily Prophet. It was interesting reading about Flamel from the perspective of others who think he's dead, knowing the truth. Some of the articles were interesting though, like his alchemical achievements that he'd shared with the world.

After finishing the paper Harry turned to the rest of his mail, looking over the letters he'd gotten. Ron, Neville, and Draco had all invited him to visit during the summer, something Harry planned to take them up on, even if Ron's invitation seemed a bit tentative. Hermione's letters had been almost entirely about the summer homework, of which Harry was already half-finished, though they had exchanged letters about Voldemort, Nicolas Flamel, and various muggle events that had happened over the year while they'd been at Hogwarts.

Knowing that as far as the wizarding world went, Dumbledore was his guardian, Harry had written up and sent a letter with Hedwig to him asking about staying at Draco's. He fully expected a no, but he still wanted to ask. Depending on how long it takes Dumbledore to respond, if he would even receive a letter from Harry. A man like him probably got hundreds of letters a day. He probably didn't read letters from students himself.

Wait, Harry thought with a frown, he might read my letters since I'm important to fighting Voldemort.

As if on cue, Harry heard the light tapping off Hedwig on the window. Harry quickly went and opened the window, letting her in and taking the letter. He saw Petunia glaring at him from the garden, but said nothing since Hedwig had done exactly as promised, flying in discreetly through the backyard, and not screeching or hooting. The neighbors would never know unless they were looking over the fence at that exact moment.

Harry quickly opened the letter and fed Hedwig a piece of his breakfast. Dumbledore's letter was short, his handwriting somewhat hurried as if he was busy and he'd had to be quick to squeeze this letter into his schedule. He said that he'd have to talk about the matter with Harry, and they would do so at the reading of Flamel's will in a couple days, as Harry was apparently in the will as well. He finishes the note asking if Harry would need assistance getting to Diagon Alley. Harry went up to his room with Hedwig to write a response then, passing Dudley at one point. After writing back that he would need some kind of help, likely a Portkey or Side-Along Apparation, Harry brings Hedwig back down to the backyard and sends her off with the letter, reminding her about discretion while in the neighborhood.

With that done, Harry starts his work in the backyard, as part of his agreed upon chores during the Summer. When he'd laid down the law about not being abused he'd made a concession that Harry would still do some chores, namely yard work and some household cleaning. It had seemed to confuse and throw off Vernon that Harry would offer that, but Harry was simply collecting bargaining points for himself for future negotiations.

Petunia was also in the garden today, alternating between planting new flowers, glaring at Harry, and spying at the neighbors over the fence. Harry worked his way through the yard, deftly plucking weeds, turning soil, laying out mulch, and watering plants. At a certain point he noticed Petunia looking at him, but without the glare this time.

"Is something wrong Aunt Petunia? Did I miss something?"

"No..." Penguins starts hesitantly. "It's just, you seem like you've gotten better at garden work since last year."

Harry frowned for a moment as he looked at his dirt covered hands. "Well..." he says, carefully choosing his words. "My school has classes for taking care of, um, special plants, you know. I've been practicing all year."

"With your hands?"

"Well, yeah."

"Don't you learn special tricks to do that kind of work?"

Harry shakes his head. "Special tricks like that would mess with the, uh, specialness of the plants. I could learn tricks for dealing with more mundane plants maybe but not ma-er, special plants. A friend of mine from that class actually taught me some of the tricks I'm using."

Petunia is quiet as she nods, seemingly thinking about something. "Just take care not to track in mud when you're done."

"Yes Aunt Petunia."

Harry gets back to work, putting Petunia out of his mind. She was being oddly polite, rather than her usual hostile attitude, but it was probably just cause she was scared.

Some time later Harry was dusting himself off as he prepared to go back inside, his chores complete for the moment when he heard a small hoot and looked up to see Hedwig swooping in with a letter. With a glance at the glaring Petunia, Harry caught Hedwig and brought her inside. After providing her with a treat, he quickly skimmed the letter. Dumbledore said that he could pick Harry up from a nearby park for apparition. With that done Harry begins to head back to his room, passing Dudley in the living room who speaks up as he goes.

"How is it that that owl can be so well behaved, aren't they wild animals? Is it magic?"

Harry stops for a moment, debating just ignoring Dudley for a moment before deciding to see how things went, "Wizarding owls are a domesticated species, like cats and dogs. Generations of selective breeding for intelligence and loyalty have resulted in owls like Hedwig. But some wizards can form a Familiar bond with their pets, which can make them even smarter." Plus or minus some other effects. Harry though but decided not to say. Harry started to turn away, figuring the conversation over when Dudley asked another question.

"Why do you still have glasses?"

"What?" Harry turned back to his cousin, slightly confused.

"Why do you still wear glasses, can't your kind fix that with magic?"

Harry is stunned for a moment, that Dudley would make that kind of observation, but it was a valid question from an outsider perspective. "We have a bit of a taboo about permanent body modifications, it stems from how certain Dark Magics can cause various changes. Because of how taboos tend to generalize over time, even things like weight and eyesight fixes are looked down on."

"There's fat wizards?"

"Yes."

"So there's no magical weight loss trick?"

"Well, yes there is, but like I said it's looked down on. Also, I think the potion is kind of expensive."

The way Dudley seemed to droop into an odd sort of sadness as he turned back to watching the telly left Harry feeling odd. He shared a look with Hedwig who seemed to shrug like she had no idea what was going on either. After a moment, Harry would tentatively say, "I could try looking into it anyway? It's not like the wizards taboo should affect you?"

"Really?" Dudley asked, a surprised look on his face.

"Yeah..."

"Thanks Harry."

Harry quickly got back to his room, feeling weird about how everyone was acting. After his threats he'd expected nothing but fear but they were acting practically civil! If Vernon starts acting nice, Harry felt he might lose his mind.

Later on when Vernon got back, everything seemed to return to normal. Vernon seemed to be angrily pretending that Harry didn't even exist and Petunia and Dudley followed his lead in ignoring him. When Harry came down to grab some dinner they all pointedly ignored him. It was then that it clicked for Harry, Vernon was the driving force of the anti-magic mindset in the house. Petunia had her own issues with magic because of whatever happened with Harry's mother, but it was Vernon's influence making it worse.

Now, how to fix that...

A few days later, Harry makes his way to the park, saying hi to a passing Mrs. Figg on the way. When he gets there he has to look around for a moment before he spots Dumbledore and Snape conversing under a tree. Harry jogs over quickly and they end their conversation with Dumbledore cheerfully greeting Harry with a twinkle in his eye and Snape nods at Harry.

"Hello Headmaster, Professor. Are you coming to the reading too?"

"Yes. I have apparently also been named in the will. I'm not sure why though, I never had much correspondence with Master Flamel. Despite the overlap between Potions and Alchemy, we ultimately dealt with separate topics."

Harry nodded as Dumbledore pulled out and looked at a pocket watch.

"It's not yet time for the reading but perhaps we ought to go ahead on. As much as muggles tend to ignore the strange, I think even we three might draw attention if we dally here."

Closing the watch Dumbledore holds out his arm for Harry to hold onto before nodding at Snape, who then both twist.

The experience of disapparation was decidedly unpleasant.

"Ugh." Harry groaned as they landed, wobbling slightly. "Wha-?" The two Snapes seemed to be smirking as Dumbledore rubbed Harry's back.

"Yes, it is always a rough experience the first time, but you'll be fine Harry."

After a few moments to settle himself, Harry and company make their way through Diagon Alley towards Gringotts. Harry noticed as they went that people were staring at them, and many looked like they wanted to approach, but kept their distance. After a moment Harry realized it was Dumbledore that kept them at bay. The look on his face as he moved forward practically said, "I'm terribly sorry but I have important matters to attend to." It acted like a bubblehead charm to keep people away.

I need to learn how to do that. Harry thinks to himself.

Once within Gringotts, Harry looks around as they move towards a teller. He had hoped to spot Griphook, but didn't think he could see him. He realized belatedly that after a year he wasn't sure how accurate his mental image of Griphook was. It was hard to tel the goblins apart at the moment and he could very well be looking straight at him and not realize it.

Dumbledore spoke to the Teller and so the three of them were swept through a security room which had a waterfall ("Thieves Downfall" Dumbledore supplied) and were in a conference room. Within which there was a Goblin Observer, a French wizard, and the Minister of Magic. Oh boy.

Authors notes: sorry for the delay, works been a hassle.