A/N: Hello. It's been a while. Sorry 'bout that. The only reason I could publish today was because of READERMIKE. Dude. Thanks. You are the best. This reader told me about a way around the obnoxious error message I've been getting for a few weeks now. THANK YOU.

Chapter 53: The Stone

All of the walls were solid gold. There were no light fixtures, but the whole room seemed to glow. This gave Harry the sense of being on a two dimensional plane because nothing had shadows. Nicolas strode to the center of the room and bent down. He tapped the floor with his wand and stood back.

Before their eyes, a tendril of gold began sprouting from the ground. It should have been difficult to see as it was the same shade of gold as the rest of the room and there were no shadows, but it somehow drew the eye and bounced light in a different way than the walls and floor.

The tendril of gold sprouted leaves and a flower bud on top tucked over like a sleeping swan's head. Soon the bud grew and pulled itself upright, and then, finally, bloomed into a hand-sized gold flower. At the very center, where the pollen should be, was a red stone that Harry had seen once before. He stared at it, comparing it with his memories.

"You've seen it before," said Nicolas to Harry sounding surprised and disappointed.

Everyone looked at Harry.

"Er…" Harry decided it would be pointless to argue. "Yeah…how did you know?"

"I can tell."

"Ah, Nicolas, specific as always," said Albus.

Nicolas smiled faintly and waved his wand in the air. A silver goblet appeared in front of Harry, hovered for a moment, and then dropped. Harry caught it mid fall.

"Take the stone, Harry, and turn the goblet to gold."

"Er…" said Harry taking the stone in hand and holding the goblet in the other. "How do I do that?"

"Try," said Nicolas simply.

Harry opened his mouth to rebut, but thought better of it. He looked back and forth between the stone and the goblet for a moment. He frowned, and then tapped the stone against the goblet.

The change was immediate. Harry raised his eyebrows. "That's…dangerous," he said, imagining what would happen if he tapped the stone against, say, Albus.

"Well," said Nicolas, "it could, indeed be dangerous, as King Midas discovered. All he touched turned to gold, and he soon metalized his friends, family, and food sources. Learning from his mistakes, I added to the equation the necessity for intention; one has to want something to turn to gold for the stone to turn it to gold."

"Right so if I bonked Albus with this he wouldn't turn to gold…?"

Nicolas nodded. "Unless you wanted him to turn to gold, in which case I would be very upset with you."

"And I," said Albus.

"But different people choose to interpret how to turn things to gold differently. Penny, for instance…"

Nicolas conjured a rose. Penny took the stone from Harry and waved it, like a wand, at the flower. The flower turned immediately to gold. She handed the stone back to Harry.

"Right," said Harry. "What next?"

"Now, produce the elixir of life," said Nicolas.

"And how do I…No, let me guess. Try?"

Albus, Nicolas and Penny nodded.

Harry tapped the recently gold goblet with the stone and watched as it…

Did absolutely nothing.

He looked up at Nicolas, expectant.

"Well?" asked Nicolas.

"It didn't work."

"Did you try?" asked Penny.

"Yes."

"Well…try again," said Nicolas.

Harry tried again. He tapped the stone against the goblet and it rung like a bell, but nothing happened.

"How odd," said Nicolas. "Perhaps Fawkes is interfering? Allow me."

Harry couldn't feel Fawkes interfering, but handed Nicolas the goblet and stone nonetheless. Nicolas held the stone above the goblet and squeezed the stone like a lemon. A sparkling transparent liquid seeped from his hand as he squeezed and fell into the goblet. He handed Harry the goblet and licked his fingers.

"The best flavor in the world…Life," he said. "Drink up, Harry."

Harry hesitated just a moment before lifting the goblet to his lips. He tasted gold, and continued tasting gold even as he tipped the goblet. He'd tipped it all the way upside down before he could confirm, quite confidently, that there was nothing at all in the goblet.

"There's nothing in here," he said.

Albus frowned. "Harry, are you alright?"

"I'm just fine, Albus, but there's nothing in the goblet."

Albus put his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry knew he was trying to snap Harry out if Fawkes was taking over. "Is it Fawkes?"

"No," said Harry. "I really don't think so. If you want me to try again with your hand there…"

Harry handed the goblet back to Nicolas and Nicolas produced another batch of elixir. Harry took the cup, sloshed around the contents a bit, and, with Albus's hand on his shoulder, tipped the cup over his mouth.

And again, there was no liquid to pour.

"Nothing," said Harry.

"How odd," said Nicolas. "Perhaps if I…" He conjured a chair and motioned for Harry to sit in it. Harry sat in it. "Would you tilt your head back, Harry, and open your mouth?" Harry obliged. Nicolas held the stone directly over Harry's mouth and squeezed. The elixir of life trickled from Nicolas's fist, fell towards Harry's face, and vanished before making any contact.

"Well," said Nicolas, "that's…interesting." He was silent for a moment. "Harry…may I speak to you outside?"

"Er…yeah." Harry followed him back out of the gold room. Nicolas made sure that they were out of earshot, a few rooms over, before turning to Harry.

"I'm not really sure how to phrase this…but…are you already immortal?"

"Er…not to my knowledge. Well. Maybe. Er…You know how I have that invisibility cloak?"

"I thought of that, but the cloak alone wouldn't be enough to negate the effects of the elixir. You would have to be master of all three Deathly Hallows."

"Oh." Harry swallowed.

"You're not."

Harry didn't say anything.

"But Albus has the wand."

"It favors me as well. It's a long story."

"But the stone's long lost."

"You said it yourself—I'm a man out of time."

"You have traveled from the past?"

"The future. There was an incident with a very large time turner."

"And you had the stone?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know where it is now?"

Harry looked at Nicolas warily.

"I do not seek it," Nicolas said. "I am already immortal and do not wish to summon ghosts from my past."

"Yeah. I do know where it is. Its last owner didn't know what it was. He hid it in his grandfather's old house." He realized it was silly to worry about Nicolas trying to steal the stone; he knew for a fact that Albus had found it years later in Gaunt's shack and try as he might, he could not change the future.

"So you, Harry Crockett, know the whereabouts of all three Deathly Hallows and are Master of Death?"

Harry yawned, suddenly feeling tired. "Yeah, I suppose."

"Meaning you are immortal."

Harry was feeling more and more weary. "Never thought about it that way…" He yawned again. Maybe Nicolas wouldn't mind if he sat down for a moment. He looked at the floor below him and let himself fall.

Albus burst into the room just in time to see Harry burst into flames and shrink to the floor as a phoenix.

"Nicolas, Penny, now!"

Penny dashed into the room and the three of them all cast spells at the phoenix on the ground. Albus hurried forward and put a hand on the phoenix's head.

Harry awoke, his vision oversaturated and low to the ground. A hand was on his head, the contact singing in his mind.

"Harry?" he heard.

He looked up and saw Albus. His heart raced with joy. All of his emotions seem to have heightened; he bet he could teleport a lot more easily in the phoenix shape.

"Fawkes can't teleport out of here. There's an enchantment on Shell Cottage that prevents it."

Harry nodded, his head bobbing up and down on his long feathered neck. Somewhere through his extreme emotion he wondered why Nicolas would have enchantments on his house that prevented phoenix teleportation.

"We're holding you in your animagus state," he continued. "Do you think you could be stable in it on your own?"

Harry thought for a moment. With Albus's hand gently stroking the feathers on his head, he could probably do anything. He nodded. Penny and Nicolas lowered their wands. Albus kept Harry's wand raised, but Harry could feel that he was no longer trapped in the phoenix form.

This was the first time that Harry was conscious and in control while in the shape of a phoenix. Besides his vision going into the infrared spectrum and his emotions being much more powerful and passionate, he could sense something else about the people in the room…It was like he could sense the purity of their spirit, and he wanted to cheer for it.

"We prepared for the possibility that the stone wouldn't work," said Albus in a soft voice while still petting Harry's head. "I thought it would be possible that Fawkes's immortality might interfere with the stone, though it seemed doubtful. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but if you had known, Fawkes would have known. I spoke to Penny and Nicolas about it this morning—I am very sorry for going behind your back. I had thought that using the stone would work. Regardless, since you are already in your phoenix form, I thought it would be prudent to get started on your other plan to make a potion. I gave it some thought, and concluded that phoenix feathers and tears—most specifically yours—are probable ingredients for a potion, though I have not finished drafting a recipe."

Harry nodded.

"So, Harry, is there any way you could—"

Harry beat him to it. He shook his tail in just a particular way that he dislodged a loose feather. Albus caught it and smiled.

"Now, I'm not even sure that your tears have regenerative powers. I'll need a to test…"

Albus took his hand off Harry's head and used Harry's wand to conjure a small knife. Harry's eyes widened in shock, but before he could react Albus quickly sliced into his own palm. Harry gasped in horror as blood trickled down Albus's wrist. His new heightened emotions obscured everything else. His vision became clouded as tears burned their way to his eyes and out where—where Albus caught them neatly in his palm where they healed the cut, and then let the tears drip into a small vial. Harry squeezed the last tear out and glared up at Albus, annoyed that he'd been tricked into crying so easily.

Albus smiled gently. "So compassionate…Can you change back now? We should begin our work."

Harry nodded. He took off and landed again behind a large armchair before remembering the feelings of his humanity and pulling himself back into his human form. Before he knew it, he was standing behind the chair feeling rather drafty. Albus flicked Harry's wand and Harry found himself clothed in, as usual, purple robes. At least they were better than Fawkes's gold choice.

"Are you ready to go, Harry?" Albus asked.

"Yeah, just a moment. Nicolas—why is your house phoenix proof in the first place?" Harry asked.

"Good question," replied Nicolas. "Have you ever heard of Archimedes?"

"From geometry, yeah," said Harry.

"Not quite. I speak of Archimedes, the black phoenix, the familiar and betrayer of Merlin. In the days before I invented the Stone, I was aided by a phoenix companion, Rudolph, who has, for centuries since, visited me every Christmas to help me deliver gifts. Archimedes did not like that a phoenix was helping a wizard gain immortality and began attacking both Rudolph and me. Rudolph taught me to make this place safe from a phoenix and Archimedes found better things to do than plot vengeance against me for my alleged crimes against phoenix kind. As I said, Rudolph and I have been able to make our rounds every Christmas without any trouble from him. That being said, I suggest you keep your unfortunate incidents with Fawkes a secret, lest he hear about them and hunt you down."

"Wait, let me get this straight. You're Santa Claus?"

Albus chuckled.

"Well, who else could do it? Didn't you ever wonder how you found all of your gifts at the foot of your bed every Christmas morning?"

"I…thought it was…magic?" said Harry weakly.

"Don't be absurd. How could magic deliver all of those presents to the right people in one night?"

"But…then…how do you do it?"

"Well, the elves' help."

"You've got to be joking."

"House elves from every wizarding household in Great Britain bring all of the gifts here. My own sizeable house elf staff caters to the wizarding families without elves. They all help sort the gifts, and then Rudolph and I deliver them. Phoenixes can carry immensely heavy loads, so he and I can carry everything. Rudolph teleports us from house to house delivering the gifts at the foot of each witch or wizard's bed. We use a time turner. It takes about a week's worth of nights, which is why it helps that I am immortal. I've got all the time in the world."

"Well, how did the muggles hear about this?"

"Who knows," said Nicolas. "I don't deliver their gifts. Then again, they've heard of all of our magical creatures and don't think they're real, as well."

"But I thought Santa Claus was supposed to be a fat man with a beard," said Harry.

"I've lost some weight in the last few centuries…"

"Well…I'm not sure if you've spoiled my childhood or validated it, but…wow. Well done."

"Yes, anyway, the point of this conversation was not to discuss my annual moonlighting as Santa Claus. I was quite serious about Archimedes. He's still around, and it's said that it was he who tricked Merlin himself into death."

"Wait, what?"

"Harry, it's time we left," said Albus. "We need to start on this potion."

"Right," said Harry. "Nicolas, we should talk…"

"Of course Harry. Perhaps when you've freed Fawkes. After all, we have all the time in the world."

And that's when it hit Harry that he might live forever.