Nicolas sat with is his wife in the Slytherin Quidditch Locker room. The door was magically barred as she helped him wrap his legs with athletic tape. While his body was in peak physical condition, and he looked no older than 40, he was still over 600 years old. Sometimes, the small quirks of his age caught up to him, like wrapping his joints. He did it every morning, or if his wife was around, they helped each other. It was a ritual that they adopted over 400 years ago. When he toured the dueling circuit when he was younger, and when it first started, it became a ritual that they did before each duel. She would wrap his legs in silence and they would talk about his opponent when his arms would be wrapped.

"He's just a child you know Nic." The soft voice of his wife made him smile. A voice that after 600 years still made his heart race.

"I know my sweet. However, this is a political, educational and philosophical battle. He is at war within himself. His Crown weighs heavy." Nicolas stroked his wife's cheek as she finished wrapping his left wrist.

She sighed as she started to wrap the right wrist,"All crowns weigh heavy. It is why we chose never to rule. I am worried. You are strong and capable, but he is young and skilled as well." She trailed off as Nicolas cupped her face, his eyes intense in their focus.

"My love, let me be clear. He has as little chance of beating me as time does as I drink my Elixir. Especially with his Crown banned." Nicolas smiled at his wife and kissed her cheek.

Harry was going through a similar ritual. Sirius and Ron were in the Gryffindor Locker Room with him as he adjusted his own red and gold athletic tape. Sirius was leaning against a locker just silently watching his godson. Ron on the other hand was the opposite of calm. He was moving around the locker room like a niffler in a Gringotts vault. At least that was what Sirius said as he watched the red head bounce around the room, offering Harry advice.

"Remember mate, that whatever you hit him with has to be strong to overcome whatever that Stone of his does to his body." Ron said as Harry finished his wrapping.

"Ron, you're my best friend. But if you don't stop, I am going to turn you into a squirrel for Sirius to chase." Ron stopped and looked at Harry, his eyes wide. When he saw the young man smiling, the Weasley smiled too, weakly.

"Sorry… I'm just excited for you. I mean, this is the first duel you will have done since winning the Triwizard and there are a ton of people out there, and this could get you a ton of opportunities. Duels are serious Harry." The lanky boy seemed to fold himself onto the bench across from Harry before he locked eyes with him.

"Harry, if you beat Nicolas Flamel today. You will not need to sit your NEWTs, your OWLs anything. Mixed with your name alone, you will be able to work for and with anyone. Anyone Harry. Even if you don't win, Nicolas Flamel is a name that opens doors! You could impress him!" Ron had a smile on his face, as he spoke. His voice wavered in excitement and he gestured with his hands. It wasn't until the end that Harry started to smile as well as his excitement grew. Sirius just added to the excitement when he started to speak.

"This duel could be the best thing that the students will ever see! I know what you can do Harry. I know that you are more than capable of beating him, without even using that Crown. You can win this kid. And if you don't give them the best damn show that a Potter can give." Ron whooped as Harry stood and nodded.

"I think it's time to show off a bit. Ron, after the duel starts, get to Dumbledore and tell him I plan on going all out. Sirius, reinforce the Protector. I'm using the full arsenal of my family magic, baring the Crown. If Flamel thinks that just banning that means he is winning this, he's gonna be in for a rude awaking." Harry grinned as he flexed his fingers and pulled the ceremonial robe that he was required to wear to the duel area. He flicked his wand into his hand from the holster, and nodded to his two allies.

Without a word, the trio stepped out onto the Quidditch pitch to an overwhelming wave of sound.

Remus took a deep breath as the two duelists approached the center of the pitch. He prepared for this moment all of the previous night, sinking into a meditation taught to him by the magical monks of the Himalayas. He learned it at first to communicate with his inner wolf, the embodiment of his curse. Yet it served another purpose that the monks never mentioned. It also enabled him to focus solely on his magical pulse. This technique, along with his werewolf enhanced speed, made him the fastest draw with his wand baring Dumbledore himself, and Remus was fairly sure he was still the faster of the two.

As the two stood across from each other, it struck Remus on how monumental this was. The epitome of the Old Guard, Nicolas Flamel was about to duel Harry Potter, the rising star of the new generation of the magical world. His eyes flicked up to the overpacked stands, noticing the people from the Ministry, the international guests and the press all attracted to the duel under the pretense of seeing two legendary figures duel it out.

Remus grinned as he started to address the duelists, his voice amplified by a sonorous charm.

"Duelists, this duel is until forfeiture or my call. Any magic after my call will be considered a forfeit. Anything clearly meant to kill will be banned. The Potter Family Crown is banned. There should not be any permanent maiming, or use of the unforgivable curses. Once the fire work from my wand goes off, you may begin."

Remus backed away, and flicked his wand up, a red firecracker spell shooting upward. As soon as his watch struck 10 am, the firework exploded. Remus' eyes widened when as soon as the spell exploded, both wizards moved their movements blurs.

Harry cracked his neck during Remus' instructions. He was careful to keep his mind blank as he looked into Flamel's eyes, feeling the tendril of Legilimency brush against his shields. That alone made the man's eyebrows raise slightly in surprise. However the brief brush Harry sent back, without making a single hole in his own shields, made the ancient alchemist grin. Harry smirked back as the firework exploded, he pulsed his magic twice and moved. An incineration curse slammed into the freezing curse that Nicolas launched at the same moment, the collision a thunderclap as the spells exploded against their opposite.

Sirius started to jog towards Dumbledore as Remus started to back up. By the time he reached the man by the Quidditch hoops, Remus had launched the firecracker into the sky.

"Hello Sirius. How may I assist?" Dumbledore smiled at the animagus even as he wove his final protection spell.

"I don't know what you are using for the protection of the stands and the crowd, but you'll want to increase it. I'm here to help." Sirius spoke with a seriousness that Dumbledore had not heard in years. The wizard's face set in a grim line as he started to flick his wand furiously.

"I told Nicolas that Harry was a chil-" the cold fury was cut off as Sirius spoke with a roguish grin.

"Harry requested me to warn you that he will not be holding back." Dumbledore froze for a moment before his flicks continued.

"What does that mean Sirius? How good is he exactly without that Mask?"

"Well, let's just say you are gonna need me to add some flair to this protection." Sirius grinned as he started to send ebony edged spells into the protections that the Headmaster was crafting rapidly, turning the opaque shield a faint gray. After all, he certainly won't mention that Harry could beat him. It would be much better to show than tell after all.

Harry fell into a rhythm of spell casting. He was using his fingers to make small movements, a trick that Mad-eye mentioned over the summer holidays. These small movements made rapid fire spells much better as the trajectory was shifted. He only used fast spells, such as leaden limbs, stunners and the piercing hex. He grinned as Nicolas shielded, and twisted his fingers slightly to make the stunning spell skim the ground before arcing up, slipping past the shield.

Nicolas batted a stunning spell to the side as it slid under his shield that buckled under the weight of a leaden limbs curse. The boy wasn't slow in the slightest, his magic not even pulsing as he slung dozens of spells forward, even as he shifted to the left. Nicolas was forced to keep turning in place, as the spells kept coming. He was interested to note the curving spells effect that the boy was using was a personal favorite of Moody. Useful if you suspected your opponent was faster than you, as the unpredictable trajectory would mitigate it. Smart of the lad to use it. He expanded the shield he was using with a simple wandless maxima, and flung his arms out, forcing the magic back and gaining a few milliseconds.

A wizard as old as he only needed half of that as he pulsed his magic and launched his counter attack. His wand turned into a magical machine gun; spitting out stunning spells as his fingers flicked towards the earth, turning the grass around the two into tentacles grabbing for the boy's legs.

Harry mentally growled as he flicked his wand up, launching a gigantic dragon of shimmering air before he jabbed his wand towards the earth as he jumped , pulsing his magic towards his legs to go as high as possible. From his jab, a single spark erupted from his wand at the hasty motion that then erupted into a proverbial sea of fire that blasted down onto the pitch as he thought, "ignus". All of the grass that Nicolas turned into tentacles with a flick of his fingers, were fuel for the hungry flames.

Nicolas' eyes widened as his grass burned. He flicked his wand up, swirling it twice around his head as water erupted around him, creating a wall. Steam erupted when the flames hit the moving wall, instantly bringing the water to a boil as it held its form. Something that Nicolas realized swiftly as a massive cutting curse slammed through the wall, forcing him to roll through it escape. He hissed as the skin on his arms, face and legs instantly blistered even as he tapped himself with a healing charm. A swift glance to his right showed the trench the boy made with that cutter. "Damn that actually would have cut me."

"It was meant to." Harry's voice made the Alchemist flip backward, his wand brushing the now bare earth slightly as he moved, creating a wall of rock that got blasted into chunks, that with another flick of his fingers, turned into birds. Each of the small birds soared towards Harry and were easily dispelled by a wave of his wand, turning back into chunks of rock that hovered around the boy. Slowly the rocks lined up into a single loop, each touching.

Nicolas grinned as the rocks started to turn into a chain that began to spin around Harry Potter.

The chain started to spin, and Harry smirked, as the links became razor sharp with a jab. With a twist, he started to pulse his magic in his body, slowing the world down. Everything slowed to a crawl as he started to run as Remus taught. His loping stride swiftly took him around Nicolas, even as the chain continue to be formed, the links multiplying as he held the transfiguration. With a pointed finger, the end of the chain spiked into the ground in front of the alchemist, as Harry ran a circle around him, the chain multiplying and sharpening.

As soon as the chain started to spin, Nicolas watched as the boy blurred around him, the plan lost on him until the now spiked chain stuck itself in the ground in front of him. With a muttered curse, he slapped the ground, turning it into mud, that he then muttered "Transia" when he jabbed it with his wand. In an instant, the mud turned as slick as ice and Nicolas grinned as Harry slipped. With a point, a stunning spell flashed towards the boy's as the still spinning chain blocked his vision. Nicolas lost his smile when the spell went through the boy, and the illusion failed. He spun when he heard the rush of something behind him. His eyes widened as a tsunami of mud rushed from the other side of the pitch.

He started to pulse his magic in his body just as the mud touched him, the world slowing. With a jab he muttered "tranisa", turning the mud into a multicolored gas that he swiftly took control over swirling it around himself into a gaseous storm. He smiled at the youth who was in shock as he kept control of the multicolored gasses that swirled around him in a hazy blob. That is until the boy flicked his wand, making a spark appear in the gas that promptly exploded.

WHOOSH

Harry shielded against the blastwave and looked at the crater in the pitch. Nicolas stood there, a shield shimmering around him and his clothes singed. 'He must have shielded at the last minute, but the speed to do that is unreal.' He took a deep breath and spoke aloud, his words powering the spell even further.

"Meteori Drax" Twelve dragon heads blasted from Harry's wand, half shimmering from the sharpened air they were formed of and the rest erupting from the earth as they raced towards Nicolas. Nicolas flicked piercing hexes at the foreheads of each earth dragon head before jumping over them as they started to crumble. He used the crumbling forms of the dragons to shield himself against the air dragon heads.

Nicolas waved his wand, an orb of magic impacting the bare earth. In a rush of green, grass regrew from the point of impact, that he quickly turned to razor sharp stone with another wave. Soon a wave of blades swiftly made its way towards Harry from all sides as Nicolas repeated the two spells in the far corners of the pitch.

Harry waited until the blades of grass were less than a foot away, before he spun, his wand low to the ground, the blades of stone grass being sheared with his spell Seruv. Continuing the spin, Harry made every blade of grass head towards Nicolas.

Nicolas spun, his wand dancing in circles as each stone grass blade was transmuted into flash powder. As soon as he faced Harry again, he threw himself to the side and shut his eyes as a trio of spells flew through the flash powder, igniting it. He got up and had to shield as Potter threw a stunning spell right at him even though the boy should have been blinded by the flash.

Harry couldn't see. The flash was much too bright and his eyes were wide open. He wasn't sure how but he pointed his wand to the right and started to cast, knowing that was where his opponent was. A stunner left his wand, as did a fireball. He shielded against the curse the Alchemist sent back and retaliated with a wandless flick sending a colorless incarcerous towards the man. The spells stopped and soon he blinked as his vision slowly started to return.

Nicolas flicked the incarerous away, and stopped casting. Instead he pointed his wand at his hand and started to create a blue liquid that swirled in an orb in his palm. As Potter's eyes met his, the boy's vision clear, he raised his hand, bringing the orb of blue swirling liquid up to his lips. And blew.

A storm of ice and cold erupted from the blue orb towards Harry who pointed his fingers and snapped to create a blast of fire from the spark. As he held the wave of flames he pointed at where he knew Nicolas was, and spoke aloud once more. "Metoeri Hasta" He was awarded when Nicolas gasped in pain.

Nicolas knelt on his left knee and held his right shoulder that had a hole through it from Harry's piercing curse. Nicolas grinned as Harry hesitated to send a curse, his eyes flicking towards Remus. He pulsed his magic steadily and blasted a stunner forward, his body moving as fast as he could make it.

Harry's eyes widened as he snapped off an incarcerous that tagged the professor just the stunner slammed into his chest, making him see black.

Remus ran up to the two, one of which was out by a stunner and the other who was struggling slightly with his bonds that had wrapped him in ropes with one arm sticking out. He took a breath to announce the winner, when Nicolas spoke up. "Wait a second…a there we go." With a shift of the arm that was sticking out, a blade popped from the man's wrist, seemingly from nowhere. It hovered over the man's palm and a few flicks of his fingers commanded the knife to make a few quick cuts to make the ropes fall and the blade disappeared.

"Sorry 'bout that Remus. I had to move fast to make sure my arm was free after it healed up. Kid got me with a piercer." Nicolas smiled sheepishly. Remus just shook his head and sighed before declaring,

"Winner, by stunning, Nicolas Flamel!"

Nicolas smiled as he woke up Harry with a subtle flick.

Harry awoke to the cheering of the crowd. He sat up, and rubbed his forehead. When he opened his eyes he was met with a hand. Looking up, he saw Nicolas Flamel had his hand out to help him to his feet. With a grin, he took the hand and was hoisted to his feet.

"Congratulations Mr. Potter, you definitely proved that you are much beyond your classmates. You dueled me as well as anyone I have ever allowed the privilege. It is such an impressive feat that I have decided what to do with you. I just need to discuss with your headmaster before I announce it." The ancient alchemist smiled and patted the youth on the shoulder before he started to walk away. "Oh, and by the way, the loser of the duel traditionally fixes the mess!"

Harry sighed and started to repair the pitch as the crowd finally started to leave.

It was only an hour later, in the headmaster's office that found Dumbledore rubbing his forehead as his staff were in an uproar about the idea that Nicolas was proposing. Poppy and Filius were arguing about if it was morally acceptable, while Sinistra and Minerva were arguing about if it had a precedent. Interestingly silent were Severus and Remus, the two who would normally be the most vocal about the situation. He silenced everyone else with a wave of his wand and pointed to Remus.

"What is your opinion on the matter?" He asked the werewolf. As the boy's head of house, this was arguably the biggest shift for him, and Remus treated it with the utmost respect such a decision deserved by thinking about what he was about to say.

"Well Headmaster, Nicolas is right. Harry is clearly much too advanced for his classmates, and I would dare say he could take his NEWTs right now, at least the practical portions would be passed without a hitch. The exception would be of course Potions, as we don't know what he can do there." Remus nodded towards Severus before continuing. "I say we ask him first. If he accepts we deal with it."

Dumbledore nodded before looking at the potions master. "Severus, opinions?"

Severus was silent as he looked at the flames in the fireplace for several moments. In those moments, the portraits that were listening in started to grumble until finally one yelled, "Answer the man!"

Severus spoke softly, his voice smooth. "You are all aware of my opinions of the boy. So I must ask, if this was any other student what would my opinion be? Yet we must also take note of the particulars of this situation. The boy has a target on his back, and again if it were any other student, they would have been expelled for the actions that the boy has committed in his five years here. However, that aside, I must ask one question. Flamel, can you control him because he will only improve."

"Of course Severus. A question of control from you. I think you underestimate me-"

"No, I am saying you are underestimating the monster that Potter can become if he is not in control." Severus snapped. "You were not on the grounds when Potter crowned fully. The pressure alone was monstrous. The boy is a monster of the highest order. That doesn't even count the fact that the Goblet protects him. We already shifted the schedule of the fifth years just to accommodate him once."

The room was silent at the potion master's rant. The other professors moved slightly so that Nicolas and Severus could look at each other clearly.

"Let me be clear Severus. Unlike Albus, I don't care about your past, your fears or your opinions. I only respect you for your clear talents and your decisions. However, that respect will not save you if you call that boy a monster around me again. Am I clear?" Nicolas spoke firmly, his voice monotone and his eyes, normally warm and friendly, were chips of hardened amber.

"Perfectly clear. I am merely stating what I saw today. He nearly beat you. The students will be in an uproar about the situation. Are we willing to deal with that? Because undoubtably the boy will say yes."

Dumbledore thought for a few moments, his mind flashing with possibilities. Then he stood and leaned over the desk.

"Remus, Filius, Severus, Poppy. I need you to make an announcement that tonight's feast is now mandatory. Any seventh year who is not here, needs contacted. They, along with the of age sixth years, will likely be the most jealous. During the feast, I shall announce the new rules should he agree to the proposal. Nicolas, I need you to contact Sirius, as he is the student's legal guardian. Should Sirius agree, then you will start on the paperwork and complete it to the point that the signatures are only needed. We will discuss particulars with him should he accept. This will only occur if Harry Potter agrees."

The Hogwarts Great Hall was full to the brim with all the students. Each were still chatting about the duel that they witnessed, where Flamel was nearly beat by a fifth year student. The talking didn't stop when Dumbledore stood, nor when he tapped his glass. It did however when he made his wand unleash a loud blast.

"Now that I have your attention. It is my intention to explain a few new rules should Mr. Potter accept a proposition. The first, you are not to treat Mr. Potter any differently from a student. The second, this will not affect any school schedules, nor any organizations that may or may not feature Mr. Potter. So Mr. Potter, Professor Flamel has a question for you." Dumbledore sat, and Nicolas stood. His arm was in a sling, even though the wound already healed and the whole staff knew.

"Mr. Potter. I am going to make you an offer I have made only twice before. Both times it was declined. Harry Potter, would you like to be my apprentice?"

Harry stood in shock as the voice of Nero in the back of his head hissed 'Do it. Say yes.' Without thinking anything more, he listened.

"I accept."

AN: Well... this chapter has been written since Thursday. However, with FFN having such issues with upload I was worried about losing it. So I waited.
For those of you wondering what this means for Harry, well that will be explained next chapter. He probably should have thought about it more, but he is only fifteen and was put on the spot.

Also, for the inevitable PMs saying "Harry's too damn strong here." I never said that Nicolas went all out, but Harry did. Baring his Crown, Harry put on a good show, but well the fight speaks for itself. Sirius also mentioned that he was being beaten by Harry, but it was a side comment for a reason. We (I mean you readers) don't really know how those duels went down, or if Sirius is even back to peak condition.

So, next chapter will drop when I can work on it. It will mainly be Harry falling into his role as Nicolas' apprentice and what that means for him.

Til Next time,
Zero