The Philosopher's Stone
Chapter Twenty-Five
Confrontation
Yuery was settled onto a hospital cot and his Dad looking him over even as the medical nurse came into the room. Dumbledore, Snape, and Princess Chen were standing a little away from them. Yuery attempted to look around for Ron and Hermione and possibly Draco but didn't see them right away which made him squirm.
"Weasley is fine, I gave him a potion and he is resting over there. Now stay still so I can look at you." The nurse said when he asked.
"Check his arm, that thing touched him, and he yelled like he was being burned." Dad said, even as he stood pocketing the stone himself.
"Mister Elric, that does not belong to you. It is a very powerful artefact." Dumbledore said, not missing the action.
"Want to explain to me why this happened?" Dad said instead of responding to Dumbledore's outstretched hand. Yuery snorted, as if his Dad would just hand over the Stone like that. "Snape muttered something about blood magic?"
"Yes, of course." Dumbledore said patiently, still eyeing Dad's pocket. "I can explain. When Lily Potter laid down her life to protect her child, she cast a strong protection spell upon the baby. Simply put, your real mother's love prevents Voldemort from physically touching you."
"Lilly cast the spell intentionally, do not make it sound like a happy accident instead of her last act of bravery." Snape glared.
"Severus-" Dumbledore began, but Snape turned away from him.
"My first mother." Yuery said with a huff, he was tired. He was sore. He was just done with Wizards and their refusal to accept he was not who they wanted him to be. "My first mother loved me very much; I have always known this. She is not my real mother though, that's just stupid sounding. My second mother is my Mom, my first mother is my mother. They are BOTH my real mother. Just like my fathers."
"Harry, there are many things you do not understand about the night you were stolen." Dumbledore said patiently.
"Nope." Dad said with a scowl. "You are not rewriting history while I stand here. You were the one who was willing to let an innocent baby. Babies. Die for a messed-up vision one of you quacks claimed was the future. I tried to prevent their deaths, and when that failed, I took the baby from the ruins of his former home and gave him a new, safer life. You have tried several times since then to convince me I had to let his 'fate' play out for the betterment of the world, including that letter you sent my yesterday morning!"
"There was no meeting with the Minister of Magic was there sir?" Snape said, stepping into the conversation as the nurse backed away not wanting to be involved but staring at Dumbledore with horrified eyes.
It was all falling apart once again thanks to Elric, was Dumbledore's first thought as he watched the nurse retreat and the scowl on the child's face. "Of course, there was a meeting." Dumbledore said, trying to salvage the situation. "I have the summons here, it asked you and I attend a meeting immediately."
Snape snatched the letter before Dumbledore could put it back away. "A meeting you requested last week according to this." Snape said. "Why request a meeting when you knew Voldemort was in the castle? I know that you knew, I myself informed you that he was now attached to Quirrell."
"I… you were the one who wanted to speak to Sirius Black, I was simply trying to arrange it." Dumbledore frowned. "As soon as we arrived in London, I realized there was an issue at the school as recall."
"Yes, very convenient." Snape sniffed. "Just as you managed to delay the train so that Elric did not arrive this morning but not until afternoon. Any later and that boy would be dead!"
"Which of course is exactly what he wanted." Dad said with arms crossed over his chest. "I'm taking my son immediately. Please, Snape, would you have his things forwarded?"
"Wait, I need to know my friends are alright, and what about Hedwig?" Yuery asked.
"We're alright Yuery." Draco said, waving from the corner where Ron, Hermione, and Draco were huddled on Ron's cot all wide eyed at the things they had overheard. "You should go with your Dad now."
"What of the stone?" Dumbledore demanded.
"What of it?" Dad said. "It is a matter for alchemists."
"Nicolas Flamel entrusted it into my care until he returns for it." Dumbledore frowned. "I cannot allow you to take it."
"Flamel." Dad snorted. "I'll give you one chance. Just one, which is more than you deserve. What will you do with the stone now?"
"I already spoke to Nicolas. The stone is to be destroyed, yes, he will die without it, but he has enough of the elixir to sort his affairs- "
"You can't help lying, can you?" Dad frowned disgust clear on his face. "What do you really intend to do with the stone old man?"
"I told you; it must be destroyed." Dumbledore began again.
"You're right. It does need to be destroyed, the souls inside it released instead of used in dark rituals. Which you are planning or will plan. I've seen the look in your eyes before, with that other stone. I will not allow this last piece of Xerxes to be abused." Dad interrupted. "I gave you a chance, one chance to say something, anything truthful and you couldn't manage it."
"Whatever do you mean?" Dumbledore asked.
"Nicolas FLamel does not need to get his affairs in order. There is no elixir. Nicolas Flamel is dead, has been dead for nearly a decade." Dad frowned, and Yuery slipped over to his friends because the yelling would begin soon now that HE had been brought up.
"Why would you think that?" Dumbledore demanded with a glare towards Snape, who rolled his eyes but otherwise stayed out of the conversation his expression hard to read.
"Because I saw him die." Dad said quietly, in that tone Yuery knew well. His Dad was not happy, and he was likely going to spend the next couple days mostly hiding in Yeye's office in between cuddling Yuery and his siblings. "He traded his life for my brother."
"What?" Dumbledore said blankly.
"My brother, his son. Nicolas Flamel was an alias. Of course, so was Van Hohenheim. He gave my mother two sons and walked away, which I suppose was more than the bastard left most of his lovers." Dad said.
"You…you are Flamel's son?" Dumbledore asked growing pale before turning to Snape. "You knew?"
"I told you Flamel's son sent the other in his stead and was a representative. I told you Flamel's son did not wish to speak to you personally." Snape said with a shrug. "I did not lie."
"You knew though, that the man I sought to aide me against the man who stole the child was the same man." Dumbledore demanded as McGonagall slipped into the room.
"Yes." Snape said simply. "You never asked how I found him, or seemed interested in any details, just that I passed your messages on which I did."
"No, you don't put this on him! He wasn't the one plotting and lying to try and offer up my son like a sacrifice!" Dad interrupted.
"Nick said…he said that his son would help us defeat Voldemort should I seek his aide. That's why I sent that letter to Amestris all those years ago. Clearly, he was mistaken." Dumbledore said weakly. "Now hand back over the stone, which does not belong to you it was left in my care and leave this castle at once."
"Oh, I don't think so. The souls inside this stone are all that remain of Xerxes as I said. My people. My father's people. You do not get to use them. I will be leaving with the stone and my son and withdrawing him from this school." Dad said, glancing in Yuery's direction to let him know it was time to go. "I will help you defeat this monster, not for you Dumbledore, but the people who have suffered and would otherwise suffer if he was left to his own plans. Make no mistake, I do not like you or trust you."
"What's happening here?" McGonagall asked at that point, she had missed most of the conversation, but it was clear things had escalated quickly.
"Minerva, I am taking my son and I am leaving." Dad said in a much kinder voice than he had been using with the headmaster. "I do not wish to fight with any of you on this, but I will if I must."
"No one is going to try to keep you from taking your son Edward, I simply would like an explanation of what is going on." McGonagall replied. "Is the child healthy enough for travel? I assume his injury was looked at?"
"I'm okay ma'am." Yuery supplied from his spot between his friends. "Dad, can I please go get my stuff and Hedwig? I mean I promise to come right back. I'm ready to leave as well."
"Yuery…" Dad sighed, "Yes, of course. Severus, could you please go with him to make sure no one tries to stop him?"
"Yes, of course." Snape said before leading the children out of the medical wing. "Draco, go collect your things as well please and meet us in the front hall."
"Yes, Severus." Draco said with a smile. Yuery guessed the 'Severus and Draco have been hiding together' secret might be over now, but he couldn't really ask when Ron and Hermione were with them.
"Are you able to enter our dorm? I mean it isn't your House?" Hermione asked. The only adult they had ever seen in their dorm was McGonagall, so it was a fair question.
"Yes, of course. All the Heads of House can enter any of the dorms." Snape replied. "If there were to be an emergency it would be inappropriate for the adults not to be able to reach the students."
"So, then why don't you ever see grown ups coming in?" Ron wondered. He seemed to still be struggling with the idea that Snape was NOT the bad guy, even though Draco and Yuery have been telling him that for months.
"There's rarely a need to enter another dorm aside from my own House. I am not certain how often the others visit their dorms, but I make it a point to do so regularly, but at various times. I find it the best deterrent for bullying when they have no idea when I will arrive. I will wait down here for you, please do not delay." Snape said.
"Okay." Ron said as the three made their way to the first years' room. "I concede he isn't out to get you, but you have to admit he's still scary."
"All the best teachers are when you misbehave." Yuery said with a shrug, thinking of his time in Xerxes. "So, I don't think I'll be back next year after this…honestly, I was going to try to talk to my parents about not coming back anyway. I miss being close to home, but after all this, there's no way my parents are going to agree to let me return."
"Will you write us at least?" Hermione asked sadly. She had expected that when they realized what was happening this afternoon, and after listening to his father's argument with Dumbledore she couldn't say she blamed them.
"Of course." Yuery smiled. "It's really very easy to write me as well. Yuery Elric, Fuhrer's mansion, Amestris."
"Well, I'm holding you to it Yuery. If you don't write, I'll find a way to get to Amestris and show up at your doorstep." Hermione said.
"You know you're scary, right Hermione?" Ron asked with wide eyes.
"You better write as well Ronald." Hermione sniffed.
"That stuff your Dad was saying, about Dumbledore wanting to let you die. Do you think it's true?" Ron asked.
"Hermione, you know how good I am at riddles?" Yuery asked, then waited for her to nod, "Well, I learned it from my Dad, and he is like a hundred times better at riddles than me. It was his whole career before he became a colonel. Dumbledore quoted a prophesy to him that was a riddle, and Dad understood it instantly."
"But…prophesy can be interpreted multiple ways generally. That's why they are considered unreliable according to the texts I've read." Hermione said with a frown.
"Sometimes." Ron said. "Sometimes, they are really easy to understand. Either way it doesn't matter if someone DECIDED that's what it meant what it might have actually meant. So, there was a prophesy?"
"Yes, and according to what I've overheard over the years, both Dumbledore and Voldemort decided it meant I needed to die for their side to win." Yuery said with a frown. "Dad went to warn my first parents, but he arrived too late to save them. Both sides still think I need to die."
"Do you think my parents know any of this?" Ron asked frightened at the idea.
"I don't think most people know. I mean I know a few know because Dad told them, but as far as I can tell, Dumbledore didn't tell anyone." Yuery said as he finished packing his trunk. "Thank you both for helping me today, you really should have stayed behind. I hope we see each other again."
Ron and Hermione both hugged him before they helped him carry his things back downstairs, Snape was waiting as promised, ignoring the glares from some of the older Gryffindor students at having the Slytherin Head of House in their dorm. "Come, Yuery. I have had your owl and her cage collected; they will be waiting for you downstairs."
"Wait, why is Yuery leaving early?!" Percy Weasley asked, looking confused.
"My father is withdrawing me." Yuery said with a shrug before following Snape out of the room and ignoring further questions. He was tired and just wanted to go home.
Edward was done with trying to speak to the wizards while Dumbledore argued over him, so he simply left the medical wing moments after his son and Severus to wait for them in the front hall. He was not surprised McGonagall followed him, as she did demand answers. He wasn't surprised Dumbledore had either because he wanted the stone and he wanted to find a way to keep Yuery.
Edward was losing patience quickly with the whole affair. He turned to McGonagall completely ignoring Dumbledore. "I will explain what I can in the time it takes for my son to arrive."
"Of course." McGonagall responded with a nod, both ignoring Dumbledore for the moment. She wanted answers and this was the only way she was going to get them.
"At the beginning of this year, when I arrived at the school, I felt both the power of the stone and the Dark magic in the area. I did go to Dumbledore and warn him that his school was compromised. He informed me that he was aware of what was then in the Forbidden Forest and that he had the matter well in hand, including that none of the students would be allowed anywhere near the forest. He also assured me there were barriers in place preventing it from coming closer." Edward began.
"Yes, we did have barriers in place, I am unsure how he managed to get passed them and into the castle. It should not have been possible, even with Quirrell's help." McGonagall frowned, with a glance in Dumbledore's direction.
"That barrier was up when I left. It was up when Emperor Ling Yao left. It was here while General Armstrong was here. It was gone when Princess Chen Li arrived." Edward said.
"According to Miss Li herself, she is not a magic user or an alchemist." Dumbledore interrupted. "It was highly unusual to allow her in because of this, but I assured the governors she was harmless."
"She can sense magic and alchemy, even if she cannot preform it. She is part of the Xingese royal family after all, you should remember her proper title." Edward sneered in response, quickly ignoring the man and returning his attention to Minerva. "Once Princess Chen walked the grounds and confirmed the barrier gone, she walked the castle, and confirmed there was a dark force inside the walls. She also felt the Stone as I had before her. She went immediately to an ally and warned them, before writing me as well."
"I do not see the point of this, you were not here, you have no idea what went on at this school. We always do everything we can to keep our students safe." Dumbledore said angrily.
"I also learned from the same letter, as well as a second letter, that my son and several other students had been sent into the forest. In the middle of the night. For detention. I immediately made arrangements to return to the school even as I wrote back and asked that they watch over my son carefully until I arrived. Somehow, despite my arrangements so that my son would never be alone here for longer than a few days, in that short gap an enemy managed to corner him while all of the able bodied adults were otherwise occupied. No, you did not do your best to protect your students. You sir barely try." Edward said angrily. "Now, I am doing my best not to fight you, which is getting harder every time you open your damned mouth so shut up."
"What will you do with the stone?" Minerva asked, ignoring the side arguments for now.
"As I told him, I will destroy the stone and release the souls inside. I will not give the details, because they should never be repeated, but a Philosopher's Stone is created by sacrificing lives. Lots of lives. That's the secret to the stone, that's why no one can figure out how to repeat the process." Edward said. "Even with a philosopher's stone, one can recall the dead. Dumbledore, you need to know this. There is no way to bring them back, whoever you seek. The Bastard told you this, according to his journals, and it's true. Please, for the sake of what's left of your sanity, let the matter drop. That's the only kindness I am will to offer you at this point."
"I gave up the idea of returning them years ago, when I was still young myself. I will never stop mourning." Dumbledore admitted.
"None of us ever do, but we have to learn how to live with it." Edward said softly. For a moment, Dumbledore thought perhaps they were gaining ground and he could reason with the younger man, before Edward's eyes hardened again. "What I cannot and will not live with is my child coming to harm when it was not only avoidable but encouraged."
"Who encouraged Harry to be injured?" Dumbledore argued.
"His. Name. Is. YUERY." Edward growled. "You encouraged it. You manipulated the entire situation to place him in harm's way. How else did the barrier fail? How else did the spirit get into the castle without issue? How else did you manage to not be anywhere near by when they went for the stone?"
"If you are implying that I allowed Voldemort inside the castle-" Dumbledore began.
"I'm not implying shit. I'm saying it. All evidence points to you allowing this to happen." Edward replied. "Now, I am done with this conversation and here comes my son. Kindly go away so you don't upset him further."
Dumbledore frowned since no one was on the stairs, then Snape and the boy appeared at the top of the staircase a moment later with his trunk floating in from of them, as Princess Chen and Draco arrived from the other direction. Dumbledore looked around the group before stepping back. He refused to leave, however he also understood it was not an argument he was going to win.
A/N: The next installment will not be out until early next year (2023)