Hey everyone! Thanks for all the support you guys have given me. This chapter is specifically dedicated to Madi (who knows who she is), one of my roommates who turned out to also be a big fan of this fic. Thanks for the great semester, and good luck with the rest of your time at SUU!

The following Monday Harry- and he sensed, the other members of the Circle- had faced a slightly clouded mind and a euphoria that was hard to resist. Only Professor Snape's lesson dampened their state of joy slightly as they had to practice casting silently except this time the professor took the time to almost sadistically cast a muting spell. It was one of the quieter classes at Hogwarts, the silence that reigned was broken only by Snape's comments or by the silent spells that occasionally came out of wands. So far, only Edward, Hermione and Harry had managed to achieve any results although Neville also seemed to show signs of future success.

After potions class, Edward, Hermione and Harry had all received an invitation from Slughorn- but not Ron, much to his disappointment. Only the talented witch was showing signs of wanting to go; neither Harry nor Ed really wanted to attend. However, they still hesitated: what if their presence at such events was important to Dumbledore? In the end, Hermione suggested that Harry ask the Headmaster if he really should bond with Slughorn or if he could go without. The Boy-Who-Lived agreed and went to Dumbledore's office for his private lesson.

Meanwhile, the Circle members haunted the library to learn as much as possible about the animal they would be as an Animagus. Luckily, part of the zoological section was reserved for non-magical animals, so they could collect information. The next step was to know your animal from head to tail because without this knowledge the Anima would refuse to start the fusion.

A few hours passed during which Hermione had sent an owl to her parents asking them to send her her Illustrated Encyclopedia of Animals which she had gotten for her ninth birthday and which would be very useful for her to show her friends more current images of the animals into which they would change. Then it was curfew. Luna and Neville walked to their common room while Ron, Hermione and Edward headed for the Room of Requirement to find Harry. The latter was waiting for them there and they sat down in the comfortable upholstered armchairs provided by the room and began to ask questions about Dumbledore's infamous lessons to which Harry answered graciously:

"No super-powerful defense or attack charms and no information on Death Eater movement, Edward. However, he did give me information on Voldemort's ancestors and his personal history. He showed me a memory showing Voldemort's future father and mother-to-be. The poor girl was bullied by her brother and her father who almost killed her on the pretext that she loved a Muggle. They were sent to jail for assaulting ministry agents when they tried to prevent them from killing Voldemort's mother-to-be."

"Shame they didn't succeed…" Ron muttered.

"If she really was bullied by her family, I wouldn't say the same thing, Ron," Hermione commented dryly.

"When her family was sent to prison, she used a love potion to marry Riddle Sr., but Riddle left her when she was pregnant when the effects of the love potion stopped working."

"You see what I was talking about when I said love potions were rape-like, now…" Edward commented as Ron snorted in disgust. "Otherwise, what did he tell you about Slughorn and his parties?"

"That as much as possible, I should keep good ties with him because in the future he will have a difficult task for me which concerns him. So, sorry Edward, we're both going!" Harry stated.

"Why both?! You are the only one that it matters for!" Ed cried.

"Maybe, but I don't want to be the only one going through this!"

"Well! Let's recap the most important things then, Harry."

"Um, okay, so I saw Voldemort's ancestors: they all speak Parseltongue, all have mental or physical disabilities due to cousin marrying… Voldemort's mother was weak, almost a squib whose powers only really woke up when her family was gone from her life. The Gaunt family had two family heirlooms, a ring inherited from a family named Peverell and a locket inherited from Slytherin. Voldemort's father was handsome and wealthy and he had a fiancée. It's no wonder that Merope, Voldemort's mother, fell in love with him…"

"What do you think is most important?" Hermione asked, trusting her friend's instinct.

"The ring and maybe the locket. The ring, Dumbledore had on his finger when he took me to see Slughorn and the latter seemed to recognize it. As for the locket… I don't know, I feel like I've already seen it somewhere…"

"Hm, interesting… I guess we'll have an explanation later…" Ron said thoughtfully.

"Without a doubt. In the meantime, let's go to bed. In fact, each of you should think about your Anima before going to bed and try to dream about it as often as possible to get to know it better." Hermione added.

The sixth year classes weren't about laziness like Ron had dreamed of but rather intensive magic training. Silent casting and more difficult magic were now part of the program, and most of the free time was devoted to training. The five sixth-year friends had gotten into the habit of casting silencing charms on each other to make sure they got the results they wanted. Harry was sure that without the combined help of Ed and Hermione he would not have understood half of his Transfiguration lessons, a subject in which Edward was considered a genius. The transformations were all more difficult than the last and only Edward seemed to understand everything about the subject.

Harry was now shining brightly in potions- much to Hermione's annoyance, who felt that using the Prince's textbook was a case of cheating. The wizard did not care and replied to her that he needed, according to Dumbledore, to stay in the good graces of Slughorn, which annoyed the Gryffindor prodigiously. Edward didn't feel like he was cheating but just using the resources available to them.

In addition to the endless lessons, monumental piles of homework and research on their Animagus animals, there were also the introductory alchemy courses that began today. Edward couldn't help dreading this class a little during which he would have to control himself so as not to let any alchemy break through from his world. After all, it was one of his promises to the Truth. It would be tricky but at the same time, Edward couldn't pass up an opportunity like this to be able to study a subject that would be familiar to him and which had always occupied a large part of his life. Perhaps the alchemy of this world would allow him to better unravel the secrets of magic...

The class took place in the evening, from 8 am and had its own room which was assigned to this subject. Professor Snape was waiting in front of the door for the ten or so students who were about to initiate themselves in alchemy. His dark gaze rested more particularly on Harry and a few Hufflepuffs accompanied by a smirk of disdain, as if he doubted that they could handle such a complex course. But Harry was used to that kind of look and he much preferred not to show any insolence, not wanting to be excluded from such an interesting looking class at any cost.

The arrangement of the tables surprised the students because they formed an arc of a circle in front of the platform where the teacher would stand. Only Edward could find nothing unusual in the layout of the place. He observed the room carefully. The walls of the room were covered with extremely precisely and elaborately drawn alchemical symbols like that of the Flamel, an ouroboros, the four elements, arithmancy and mathematics diagrams, and drawings of transmutation circles that looked a lot like those from the world of Amestris. On the shelves you could see stills- very old chemistry and potions equipment.

The door slammed behind the students and Professor Snape ordered in a very calm voice:

"Take your seat."

Everyone did so without a word. Hermione's eyes were shining and Harry didn't hide his interest despite the enmity he had with Snape. As for Edward, it was best not to talk about it- if it was up to him, he would already be teaching the class without waiting for the professor.

"Can anyone in this room tell me what the purpose of alchemy is?"

Hermione's well-trained hand rose with the speed of a Firebolt and Snape gave her the floor:

"Finding the Philosopher's Stone capable of transforming base metals into gold and making the elixir of life."

"Very incomplete answer and based on a bad understanding of alchemy. Anyone else?" Snape said, ignoring the distraught look of the young Gryffindor.

"Knowledge?" Edward tried after not seeing anyone else dare to answer the professor's question when Hermione's answer turned out to be wrong.

"Much better," the head of Slytherin stated. "Knowledge or more exactly the why. Alchemy is to magic what metaphysics is to philosophy: it consists in discovering the reasons surrounding the operation of the most complex things in magic. Why do you think you need so many E's to take this course? Potter!"

"Um, I guess it's because we need these materials to understand alchemy?"

"This is only the least important reason. The truth is that it is the alchemy that will allow you to understand what is behind the subjects that you have been studying stupidly for five years now: it will reveal to you the reasons which explain the eternal laws of transfiguration and why they cannot be. broken, it will allow you to understand the workings of certain spells in the most esoteric components of magic, to learn how some of the most evil beings came to this world, for the less incapable of you to see the complex way in which potions will interact with your mind…"

The least that can be said of Snape is that he knew how to captivate his audience even while remaining one of the least sympathetic people Edward had known. And yet, unlike his own master, the teacher did not resort to any violence except that of words. The latter had seemed particularly directed at Harry but the latter, after having endured five years being scolded by Snape, must be able to contain his feelings. The speech was captivating and Edward just wanted to gorge himself with knowledge until his brain couldn't absorb anything more.

"Alchemy is particularly interested in the more mysterious aspects of magic and the universe and there are structures designed purposely to study them, although one of them has suffered significant damage quite recently."

He was of course referring to the Department of Mysteries.

"But before we even get to these notions that are far too complex for your narrow minds, we will now begin with a brief overview of alchemy and return to one of Miss Granger's statements, the one regarding the transformation of gold by the philosopher's stone. Miss Granger, why would it be impossible to turn, say, a simple steel needle into gold, for example?"

"Because that's one of the exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, which says that no one can make gold and precious metals appear ex nihilo or from some other object…" Hermione replied taken aback.

"Indeed, this is what your Advanced Transfiguration book asserts by listing other exceptions ... Nevertheless, this claim is partly false; the proof:"

Professor Snape waved his wand at a bar of lead which he transformed into a bar of gold with a flick of his wand. The eyes of all the students except Edward's widened at what they saw as a magical impossibility. To prove his point, he passed the bar to the students in his class who carefully checked if it was not a sleight of hand. Edward, when it was his turn, amused himself by checking the consistencies of the gold: pure gold, 24 karat. Just that fact made this gold bar highly suspect. Pure gold was never completely pure, there were always traces of impurities. Professor Snape observed his students, some of whom were already starting to get excited at the thought of the easily acquired fortune they could get if they learned how to do this. Then, with a sharp gesture, he made the gold bar disappear.

"Many men and alchemists in particular have thought of getting rich in this way but they have forgotten one detail: the goblins. The latter know perfectly well how to recognize alchemical gold and if you took the risk of trying to deceive them with this gold, according to a treaty signed at the end of the Fourth Goblin War they would be perfectly entitled to behead you."

This statement made many of the students turn pale, but Snape continued his little speech:

"If the Ministry caught you attempting to transfigure gold or other precious metals and sell it to wizards and Muggles, you would be arrested for treason because in doing so you would run the risk of destabilizing the economy of whole countries, or even the world. Recall that the penalty for treason is the Dementor's kiss."

Edward smirked: It was precisely for this reason that making gold in Amestris was prohibited and worth a death sentence. The wizarding solution was worse but equivalent in the offense. Edward was one of the few alchemists smart enough to be able to circumvent the law under his belt by knowing how to transform "impure" gold or by never making it last long. Feeling his thoughts drift towards his adventures with Alphonse, he turned his attention to the lecture again:

"As for making something appear ex nihilo, it is not possible. This can be done momentarily depending on the magical power provided by the wizard. The majority of you could make an object appear out of nothing, and for the most powerful among you it would perhaps last up to ten years. I would manage to make it last maybe a few decades. A wizard like Dumbledore made objects appear a century ago that are still there today... But sooner or later that object will revert to the nothingness from which it came. The reason is simple: we cannot make the apparition ex nihilo definitively. This precept was discovered by a Muggle. Who has any idea of his name and principle? Elric?"

"Lavoisier, and his principle is 'mass can neither be created nor destroyed." Edward replied easily, appealing to the knowledge provided by the Gate and ignoring the smirks of disgust from some of the Slytherins.

"Exactly. Muggles are far ahead of wizards on the subject of what our universe is shaped by. In particular, they discovered that matter is made up of elements that cannot be seen with the naked eye called atoms. We know that today there are dozens, or even a hundred different elements. When you perform transfiguration, your magic forces the nuclei of these atoms to rearrange themselves to form another element."

As his speech progressed, he showed images that would not have been out of place in a high school or college science class. He scrolled through them quickly enough but Edward doubted that the students from pureblood families could catch what they were seeing unlike Hermione, Harry, possibly a few Ravenclaws and himself. The make-up lessons he had given to the young Gryffindor more than a year ago were finally coming in handy; otherwise he was sure Harry would have been completely lost, having lost touch with the Muggle curriculum for years now...

At the end of the lesson, the teacher distributed copies of Mendeleev's table to them (although he intentionally forgot about Edward) and other diagrams that he ordered them to memorize by warning them that they would be questioned about it. Then he gave the class leave. When they stepped out, Edward, Hermione, and Harry agreed that even though Snape was hateful, he at least knew what he was talking about. Then everyone returned to their piles of homework that had grown even higher.

The next morning Harry had his Quidditch tryouts. He was about to have a nervous breakdown with all the idiots- the students who showed up for the trials either because they thought they were future competitive Quidditch players or because they were fans in heat. Harry had really had enough and the icing on the cake was McLaggen who thought his connections would necessarily get him a place as a Keeper. The worst part was that he wasn't bad; the problem was that he kept bragging about being able to play all positions without problems… Frankly, Harry reluctantly put him on par with Malfoy from that point of view.

Luckily, it was Ron who had gotten the job although the Boy-Who-Lived strongly suspected Hermione was involved. She had almost certainly cast a confusion spell on the insufferable Gryffindor- all that while hugging Ron to encourage him. A true feat of silent spellwork, according to Harry. After that, she gave Lavender a nasty look and quietly pretended to start her homework on the stands while being careful to watch and clap at critical moments. Harry couldn't help but be impressed by the girl's ability to strike low blows. Just like they say 'all's fair in love and war'... Even Edward, who had agreed to attend the trials, had been astonished at the cunning of the witch.

After that, they had gone to see Hagrid who had ignored them for almost three weeks, probably resenting them for not having continued with his lessons. They had only been able to enter after Harry threatened to break down the door. Hagrid had seemed so unhappy with the threat that he called him Potter. However, over a cup of tea, they had come to understand the real problem of Harry's first friend: Aragog, the giant spider Hagrid had taken in at the tender age of thirteen, had been at its worst health this summer and the groundskeeper was upset. While they never understood Hagrid's love for potentially dangerous (if not completely deadly) creatures, they couldn't help but sympathize with the game warden and his first friend and tried to console him while still baring their hearts, apologizing for not being able to attend his NEWT classes.

Returning to the castle, the small group passed McLaggen, still in the grip of the powerful spell of confusion cast by Hermione, but also Slughorn who insisted on inviting Harry, Edward and Hermione to a small supper that evening. The huge teacher seemed to remember Ron's presence when the three young people claimed that they had promised to eat with Ron and he invited him. After all, as Harry had subtly pointed out, he well deserved it for his loyalty during the foray into the Department of Mysteries. Slughorn seemed to understand the implication and declared that his family was starting to show great promise, much to the delight of Ron who seemed to forget that at first he wasn't supposed to be invited.

The evening took place in a good atmosphere: the small group had been joined by Ginny and they had remained in good company, avoiding boys like McLaggen or Zabini. Supper had been far more fancy than they usually ate, much to Ron's delight. Meanwhile, Harry and Edward were busy staying in the good graces of the potions professor while dodging the most awkward questions regarding their escapades in the Department of Mysteries. When the evening was over they were finally able to go to bed and Harry was careful to review his information sheet on the peregrine falcon, which was his Animagus form. He had been surprised to learn that diving, this bird was the fastest in the world and he found that ultimately this shape suited him well.

That night he dreamed that he was a hawk crossing the land, flying through the clouds. However, it wasn't long before he felt an excitement that was not that of the bird he had become. His animation seemed to concern a book. Realizing suddenly that he was perceiving Voldemort's emotions again, the dark-haired teen invoked the image of his mother and his friends to dismiss the presence of the Dark wizard. He woke up sweating, with many questions. in the head. What was this book that the Dark Lord thought about so ardently that he forgot his Occlumency barriers? What was there that could interest him so much as prophecy? Harry would have liked to go see Dumbledore to tell him about what he had seen but as Hermione had pointed out to him the Headmaster was not there most of the time. So he decided, before going back to bed, to talk to his friends about it the next day.

At the Gryffindor table where he had been graciously invited, Edward was explaining to Ron the Aguamenti spell, even though his explanations seemed to be losing the redhead more than anything else. Hermione, on the other hand, was mesmerized and reread her alchemy notes, comparing Edward's explanation with her lecture:

"And so, you just have to transform the atoms of oxygen and hydrogen present in the air into molecules of water and then you have to regulate the flow of water that you have created using your wand." While he spoke, the alchemist poured himself a glass of water with his wand, splashing his friends in passing. He still had many difficulties controlling his magic…

"I don't understand a thing…" Ron whispered, completely lost as he wiped himself off.

"In fact, everything becomes extremely simple when you know a bit of basic chemistry and for that, Professor Snape's alchemy class is really useful! On the other hand, Edward, you should learn to limit your magic!" Hermione exclaimed happily, sending out a perfectly controlled stream of water with her wand.

"I absolutely have to talk to you!" Harry said as he sat down between Edward and Ron. And without further ado, the wizard described to the others what he had felt in a dream last night. Hermione immediately urged him to let Professor Dumbledore know before realizing that once again their Headmaster was absent. Edward himself looked thoughtful. Harry noticed this and he questioned him immediately.

"You know something, Edward, don't you?"

"When we were in the Department of Mysteries and I created a diversion, I took refuge in a huge library and in it, there was a Death Eater forcing open a chest to grab a black book. It was Rookwood, a former Unspeakable. He tried to kill me when he saw me but before that he said that this book would allow Voldemort to control everything, including magic."

"How could anyone control all the magic? It's not possible!" Ron exclaimed, shaking his head.

"I'm just repeating what he said! I myself find it hard to believe that anyone could control such a gigantic force." Edward said while remembering that in his world, the Homunculus had tried nearly the same thing by seizing the Truth. What if the latter had sent him here to prevent Voldemort from doing the same? It wasn't that unlikely after all… Ed wanted to slap himself for not remembering it earlier.

"What I especially have trouble understanding, is why we speak of magic as a force. I always believed that magic was something that we had in us thanks to our DNA." said Hermione.

"DN... what? Ron asked in a desperate tone.

"That's only partly true. In fact, I have another hypothesis on the use of magic. It might actually be a force present throughout the universe and it would be one or more genes that would allow you to access it. In fact, the magic is not totally contained in your genes. Edward explained, trying to simplify as much as possible his very complicated hypothesis on the origin of magic.

He looked up and saw Hermione staring at him with astonished eyes, as if she had just discovered rocket science.

"But how do you know it's true?" She asked with an almost frightening gleam in her eyes: that of someone thirsty for knowledge.

"That, you'll have some clues later…" Edward retorted, thinking about his book on House Elves and more specifically the chapter concerning the source of magic of these strange creatures.

"Are you sure you can't tell me now?" The young witch pleaded.

All his friends smiled and gave each other a knowing glance: they recognized their Hermione there!

Hermione's birthday arrived and on September 19 the whole Animagus group gathered under the tree where they tended to hang out to discuss their progress. Everyone had been told to keep it a surprise for the teen and so Hermione had passed the day without realizing that a party was planned for her. She had burst into tears of emotion and thanked everyone, although some were entitled to more than a hug of affection (Ron was still all red as he touched the cheek on which Hermione had placed a chaste kiss). She unwrapped her gifts to the general joy of the group: she had received an aromatic plant from Neville, earrings with strange runic symbols from Luna, perfume from Harry, a magnificent cat-shaped barrette from Ron (who had thought it would distract her from the books a bit, without realizing that all of her friends had practically the same thought.). Edward was the only one who had given her a book- more specifically his House Elf research diary. To say that Hermione was overjoyed would be an understatement.

They had also discussed their progress on the path to becoming Animagus. Edward had continued to read his book bought on Knockturn Alley and he had deduced that the animagus change was one of the few forms of magic that did not use the energy of the gate, only the pure energy of the person, which is why one didn't need a wand. Now he knew wandless magic wouldn't be easy for his friends to grasp, but he would still try to explain it to them in a simplified way. Fortunately, he had been able to find books in the Restricted Section that described better than he did what they were supposed to do. The fact that the section was closed had given Ed the same reaction as the word "Forbidden Forest"- namely, it must be an interesting place, let's go see…

"Well, I'll try to explain the next step in becoming Animagus as simply as I can."

There were chuckles in the small assembly when Ed used the word "simply": the scientist was not known for his simple explanations.

"Oh, can it! In the book on the Animagus, they explain that we need access to our magical heart. Basically, this is a place that produces magic in us- stop!" Edward interrupted himself as Hermione raised her hand. "I know what I said before, Hermione. Yes, magic is indeed a force, but wizards are also capable of producing it, but it's a negligible amount compared to that of the universe."

"I think I've got it," Hermione said wisely. "In their DNA, wizards have a gene that allows them to have magic, but also a gene that allows them to use the magical energy present in the world, right? And the combined presence of these two genes makes a wizard!"

"Yes, it's a theory that I put forward based on some scientific work, but I think we've already lost the others, so we're going to simplify things a bit. "

"You're exaggerating," Harry protested, "this might be the first and last time I've said this, but in alchemy, Snape knows his stuff really well. We started to discuss this during his last class. He called it "the elementary chemistry every fool should know." Even the Slytherins didn't dare say anything!"

"That's true. Well, getting back on topic, I read in a book that to see your magical heart, you must already be able to see the magic. For this, there is a somewhat complicated spell called "Occulo Magicorum". I will teach it to you and for a few hours you will be able to see the ambient magic. On the other hand, it was written that in a location with high magical density like Hogwarts, this spell can cause headaches, conjunctivitis and disturbed balance. Are you guys ready anyway?"

A few hours later, the whole group was at Madam Pomfrey's to treat the various inconveniences caused by the spell. They had not taken into account the fact that Hogwarts was such an important source of magic; for several hours they had seen all the countless magical flows flowing inside the castle and even between the students. The slightest spell dazzled them and finally, they had to resolve to consult the nurse who, luckily, did not ask too many indiscreet questions. To escape the headaches that were looming, Edward had urged them to meditate and focus on the sensation they felt when they cast a spell. In the end, it hadn't been in vain- because now everyone knew where their magical heart was.

Edward's was located at the top of his head. Ron's magical heart was placed on his right hand and Hermione's on her left hand. Luna had said dreamily that it was a sign that they complemented each other. Hers was between her two eyes, like a third eye. Ginny's was at her navel; Neville's was on his back. Harry, on the other hand, was an anomaly. To his despair: he had two. The one that was the most powerful was at the location of his heart but he had another at his scar which pulsed very weakly. When everyone turned to Edward for questioning, Edward confessed to not knowing anything about it, which seemed like a personal insult to him. But he had decided by saying that it was certainly the magical center of the heart which was Harry's because since the other was at the site of his scar; there was, according to him, a good chance that it was artificial. The blond didn't know more.

Still, now that the seven members of the Circle knew the location of their magical heart, they had to learn to tap into it to use their personal magic. And once they had finished this work, they would be ready to begin the transformation. And all were in a hurry to try and finally become the animal they had dreamed of for two weeks!

But for now, they needed to get rid of those damn migraines. Not to mention that they couldn't neglect their school work: Ginny and Luna had to prepare for their OWLs; Harry, Edward, Ron, Hermione and Neville had their titanic workloads. Lucky for Hermione and Edward, they had quickly regained their normal sight and could do their homework or research again. The others weren't in such a rush to get to work...

Translator's notes: In the original, Mel72000 accidentally left out where Ginny's magical heart was located and had to put it in an author's note in the next chapter; I just put it in here. This was really a fun chapter to translate, honestly. I like the explanation for magic that Ed's theorizing.