Voldemort curses to himself. While they now know how to get past 'Fluffy', who names a Cerberus that anyway? Dumbledore no longer having his curse has made it much harder to find the time to investigate the chambers as they can't rely on him being away for long. To cap it all, his host is showing distinct signs of dying to possession sickness. The fact that there's a herd of unicorns in the forest is just taunting him, as there's always one of those bloody great dragons lying by the makeshift dragon nest. Who'd have thought that, with the advice of actual dragon tamers, the DRMC would determine that hatching a Norwegian Ridgeback is safe because of the bloody great dragons. Dragons that are a completely new species to earth, magical, and sentient to boot.
Then there's that blasted demi-lich. Apparently she was changed into a lich by a 'God' and so never actually went through the tainting research that mars the soul and leads to inevitable corruption. Quirrell only needs to last a couple more weeks for the egg to hatch, and then they have their chance. They've managed to steal a portkey made by the Headbastard that he gave to Pomona for a shopping excursion with the first years during the Spring Break. Merlin that one was hard to pull off.
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"G g g good m m mor day Professor, Y y yo appear to be heading out early." Quirrell stammers urbanely as they meet in the great hall where the first year Hufflepuffs are having an early breakfast.
"Oh, yes. Miss Potter here offered to outfit everyone in witches casual so she's not the only one wearing it during the etiquette lessons."
Pomona listens patiently as he somehow manages to speak mostly intelligibly "How are those lessons going?"
"They're all doing very well, it's a shame we can't teach anyone else. We've had plenty of requests, but the rules from the board are clear."
"Yes, it's a shame that muggleborn no longer have the opportunity to learn our ways. How are you planning on getting the children to the shops?"
"The Headmaster kindly gave me a portkey for the trip to the Farmers Market, from there we can teach them to use the Floo without needing to worry about holding anyone else up."
"Oh, that's what the rope's for. Would you like me to carry it out of the gates for you? I was heading into Hogsmeade anyway, so it's no trouble to wait a couple of minutes."
After Pomona has worked out what he said, she replies, "Yes thank you. Would you mind bringing up the rear so that none of the students gets lost?"
"I will."
As they walked to the gate, Voldemort guided his host through how to layer a new portkey over the top of an existing portkey without disrupting the magic of the first. One of a couple of 'Dark' spells that he'd found during his travels after leaving Hogwarts. Though, the tome that he found these spells in wasn't dark, just illegal and declared dark, as governments didn't want people reusing portkeys they'd produced. After that it had been a simple, if difficult, matter of duplicating the rope then getting to the destination before the portkey did and using a switching spell before Pomona vanished the old portkey.
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Voldemort smiles as at the memory as his host works his way round from the Hogshead into the forbidden forest to hunt Unicorns.
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Sally-Anne looks over at Petunia nervously while they wait for Shenjing to arrive with her parents. The tall building of the hospital looming over them ominously. She really wants her parents to agree to the procedure, as it would make life for all of them so much easier. Privately, she'd already decided that she was going to continue on the program anyway if they didn't. As then she'd be able to get it done when she was old enough to make the decision herself. She'd been upset that they hadn't been able to have this appointment sooner. However aunt Petunia had sat her down after one of the scanning sessions and explained that the problem wasn't just with her parents, it was also with the hospital. As individually, either of her parents could take time off for hospital visits with her, however they would likely be losing out on a large chunk of their earnings by doing so. So they were both arranging for paid holiday on the same day as the appointment. She wasn't sure what statutory sick pay is, but she trusted the adults when they said it was important.
A slight woosh of displaced air coupled with the increased presence of Shenjing alerted Sally-Anne to her parents arrival. With a light tug of her hand to pull it from Petunia's grasp, she was running in a lopsided gait to hug both of them with tears in her eyes.
"Mum, Dad, you're here."
Her father ruffles her hair, "Of course we are Sweet-pea, we love you and want you to have the best childhood we can give you."
Her mother takes over, "I know you wish we were around more, but it needs both of us to keep renting our house, along with your new legs, and your father earns too much for us to get a council house."
Sally-Anne squeezes both of them, "I know I'm a burden on the house, and now we've Shenjing, my familiar, too. But that's why I want you to agree to this. They said that they would provide all my legs for free until I'm an adult, though the operation on my stump is going to be experimental. The only magic involved will be in getting here, and we can get you your own magic so that you can come and go whenever you want."
Her parents smiled indulgently at Petunia as they let her prattle on about what they could do with magic of their own. Soon enough it was time for them to go in. The receptionists recognised Sally-Anne and Petunia, and they were quickly directed to where the meeting was going to take place today.
For Sally-Anne the beginning of the meeting went as she expected it too, for all of 5 minutes. That's how long it took her to realise that her parent's were looking bemused at the conversation going on around them. When Petunia starts to translate for them it's only a couple of minutes later that both the doctors and the assistant are speaking English.
Doctor Kumquat looks amazed, "Miss Bonds, please make a note that it took 2 minutes 35 seconds from the time someone with the interface started speaking English to the point where everyone in hearing could speak and understand it. Professor Sparks, we'll need to test this to see if it holds up. I'm sorry Mr & Mrs Perks, but this is exactly the sort of things we were looking to discover." – At their bemused looks he launches into an explanation – "Everyone on this planet is born with something we call the Interface. Amongst other things it…"
Around half an hour later he comes to the end of his impromptu history lesson, "…and that's why we're offering to treat your daughter for no monetary value. Well, there is another reason, and that is we have the opportunity to test our own version of the robotic prosthesis that they use in Badu, which given that it takes nearly 6 weeks travel to get there would make life for a lot of people here much more pleasant."
Her father nodded before looking down at a notepad, "So what's the main difference between your prosthesis and the one they use on Bad ewe?"
"Badu, and the system they use isn't so suitable for non-adults as the robotics directly interface with the central nervous system. They are designed to be permanent replacements to the body with minimal maintenance requirements. What we are proposing to do is attach a cap to the stump that will have the same interface their system uses, but doesn't attach to the robotic directly. Instead it will have a special socket that a robotic attachment can be fitted to. This will enable us to switch out the limb when it is too short and replace it with a new one that matches the other foot.
"As we know that the replacement limb is only going to be used for up to a year, we can also use prototyping materials in it and experiment with different robotics to try and come up with something that will feel like her natural foot, and also grow with her. While we can provide a waterproof cover that looks like skin, she will need to remove the leg while she's bathing. However once she's an adult we have the option of attaching a permanent leg and import synth-skin; which is an artificial skin that bonds with her natural skin and has self-healing capabilities as well as full tactile feedback."
"What would that involve?"
"To start with, the permanent leg wouldn't be covered by our agreement, as you could travel to Badu to get it done if you wanted to. We would need to remove the cap on the stump and fit one of the robotic limbs that were the inspiration for our system. She would then have a period of re-adjustment as she won't have had skin sensation since she lost her leg. Of course, by then we may have developed a way to incorporate synthskin with our system so that she already has that. Regardless, it's something to keep in the back of your minds and not think about until Sally-Anne is around 20ish."
Sally-Anne scrunches her eyebrows, "Why so old?"
"While you should stop growing a year or two before you're 20, it could be that you're a late bloomer and are sill growing slightly by the time you get to that age. Puberty doesn't actually finish until you're in your mid-20's. Additionally, you've got a magical bloodline and we know that complicates things. In fact, we will be providing you with a standard prosthetic like the one that you're using now because you're going to school in a high magic environment. So if our robotics fail due to the extended exposure to that level of magic we don't want to leave you unable to get around until we've replaced it, after analysing what went wrong of course."
Her father looks at her mother, "What do you think hun?"
With a shake of her head she says, "I think that we can't afford to say no. The NHS doesn't provide this level of support, and you know how quickly she's been growing recently."
With that the meeting devolved into discussion of timeframes, signing documents, and seeing prototypes of the leg. Afterwards, Sally-Anne badgered her parents into going through the rite of Ascension. Something they only agreed to once Petunia assured them that there was an opposing rite to remove their new magical powers.
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Harry nervously looks at the Library in front of him. This was the first time he was here because one of the sages had asked him to come. The fact that it was L had him on edge. Reminding himself that she's a friend, he starts the walk from the portal to the main entrance. As he gets closer his nerves fade to the background as the familiarity of the place overcomes any misgivings he had. Once inside he turns left and heads to the stairs that will take him down to their public sitting room.
Once there he can see that she's sitting on a sofa talking to a young man with green hair. Politely, he walks forward and stops at a point where he can't hear the conversation, but they can see he's there. Just as he's getting antsy, L looks over.
"Harry, you came. This is Virtuoso Frederik, he is also a top level chef able to make ambrosia."
"It is good to see you. Ve have just been talking about that marvellous stone. L kindly sent me a copy of hers along with a question about it's usefulness. Vell, I vas able to adjust the recipe for Ambrosia so that ve no longer needed a potion of youth. The recipe is more, how you say difficult in number of steps. Complex! But also cheaper, as no longer need reward points. After making first one, need Alchemy rank 5 to make more."
Harry just stands there looking confused, so L takes over, "Harry, I know that Pomona used a potion of Youth a couple of months ago. You also know what Ambrosia is. What we are looking at here is a cheaper way for people to be able to make their second chance at adulthood. Many people find themselves in situations where, for one reason or another they don't want to transition to being an elder, with the inherent risk of dying randomly because they just got too old or they pushed themselves too hard."
"Indeed, they tend to be parents who had babies late in life and are looking at becoming Elders before their children can look after themselves. These people tend to vant more time without immortality."
Harry asks, "Why do you need me?"
"You live in the same vorld as the creator of the stone. Ve would like you to return the stones ve left with you. Vhen you do, I have a parcel and letter to send them too. The parcel has four portions of ambrosia in it, duplicated by magic. We know that they don't have the interface, so we're not sure how ambrosia will affect them."
"Sure, I'll do it. To be honest I thought I was in trouble when I got the call."
L just laughs, "Harry, if you were in trouble you'd know it. They'd be no call, you'd just end up spending a week as a lawn ornament, or walking around in your underwear."
"Ya, L is like that. Ve have all fallen fowl of her temper sometimes."
Harry narrows his eyebrows, "Don't you mean foul?"
"Ney, fowl, chicken, duck, goose, or some other lawn toy. I haf given you the parcel and letter. I am sure I vill see you around at some point."
Harry checks his inventory and eventually finds the parcel and letter, the parcel does indeed contain four ambrosia. "Thank you for trusting me with this, I'll get it sent off as soon as I can."
It doesn't take long before Harry is heading off to Hogwarts again.
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An old man waves his wand ahead of him, leading his wheelchair into the kitchen where his slightly younger wife is already seated at the table, her walking stick propped up in the divot that has developed over the decades of her putting it there. He glances at the divot on his side of the table wistfully. He's not been able to use a walking stick since his fall a decade ago where he broke his hip.
Once he moves his wheelchair into position, Lona, their house-elf places breakfast on the table for the two of them.
"Lona, won't you join us for breakfast?"
"Oh no master, Lona ate earlier."
He smiles at the age old rejoinder, and then frowns as he remembers the last house-elf that actually joined them as a family member. Rusk was his name, must have been 4 or 5 centuries ago now.
"Good morning Perenelle, how are you this morning?"
"Aging, the potion's worn off again. I think that it's time to let go."
"Weren't you the one that kept saying that there was so much to see happen?"
"You know that was before your fall. I'm just worried Nick, we could conceivably keep taking the potion forever. Either of us could make another stone easily enough, even if your apprentice loses the original. It's just, since your fall I keep thinking that maybe one day we'll be unable to do anything ourselves. I know that we've got Lona and Rufus looking out for us, as such there's no way we will be left helpless." She indicates the phoenix dosing on the perch in the corner of the room as she speaks.
"But, there's helpless and there's helpless. I know dear, and I think that I miss being able to explore and see what is happening in the world. It's why I let Dumbledore borrow the stone. We've got into a routine where we always check our aging speed, then wait a day before drinking a dose each."
"I know love, we've had the same conversation all year. I think the worst thing about our age is that we don't really have anything else to talk about. I almost found myself sending an owl to subscribe to the Daily Prophet just to see something new."
Nicolas laughs, "We must be a right pair. I almost wish we'd got the house wired for electricity back in the 60's"
Whatever Perenelle was going to say dies on her lips as a Fulgent flash of light leaves them both blinded and clutching their eyes. They hear a squark of anguish from Rufus followed by the sound of him flaming off somewhere. It's only a moment later that Nicolas feels Lona gently tipping his head back and dripping some phoenix tears into his eyes. Once his vision returns, he can see his wife dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. Sitting on the table between them is a brown cardboard box that's sellotaped shut and has scorch marks on one edge.
The two of them just stare at each other and then the box and back again for a few minutes.
"Lona, do you know how the box got here?"
"Phoenix dropped box on table before making cow eyes at Rufus and following him away."
"Ah, thank you. Would you mind unpacking the box for us please?"
A click of her fingers leaves 2 philosopher stones, 2 letters, and another cardboard box sitting on the table in front of them. Both of them stare at the identical stones in horror their hands twitching like addicts that can see their next hit. With a shaky hand, Perenelle reaches out and deliberately takes one of the letters. A wave of his wand sees the other one unfold itself in front of Nicolas.
As his eyebrows try to hide in what's left of his hair, Perenelle looks up from her own letter, "I take it that your letter is somewhat unbelievable too?"
Nicolas nods and wets his lips, "This one is from Harry Potter. He found our Philosophers Stone in a mirror over the winter holiday and assumed that Albus was trying to retrieve it for us. After lending it to a friend to ensure that it wasn't something dangerous, he finally got word that it was safe last week and sent it out as soon as he got a box."
"My one is from a Frederik VonLusk, he evaluated the stone and discovered that it could replace a very expensive ingredient in something called Ambrosia. Apparently Ambrosia can restore youth and vitality to a person. If fed to a ghost it will restore them to life. In thanks they've given you four portions, two of the original recipe and two of the new recipe. In exchange, they would like to learn alchemy from you."
They both turn and look at the unassuming white cardboard box and stare at it for a good 10 minutes. Perenelle is the one that breaks the silence.
"Lona, would you please join us at the table."
"What does mistress wish?"
Wordlessly she hands the letter to Lona, once the house-elf has had time to read the letter she continues, "Lona, you have been with us for nearly 100 years. I know that you're struggling as much as we are with your work." – She raises her hand to forestall argument – "I've seen you walking around instead of popping, you forget I enchanted my glasses centuries ago. We have 4 portions of this available, so I would like you to have one. But only if you want it, you are part of our family, something that was very common before the statute. Regardless, please could you serve each portion up so that Nicolas and I have one each."
Nicolas smiles at his wife, "So you're just going to trust the letter?"
She shrugs, "It either works, or it doesn't. I don't think they're trying to kill us, as they've returned your stone. Either way, we have the chance to be able to explore the world again. Who knows, we could also learn to make ambrosia in return for teaching Frederik alchemy. Wouldn't that be wonderful."
Nicolas looks down at the small pink jelly like substance that's in the bowl in front of him, "True, it's not like ambrosia is unknown in our mythology. If I remember, I was trying to make this when I stumbled on the Philosopher Stone."
With a smile at each other, they both dig in to their respective dishes.