Nickolas Flamel was many things. An alchemist, a sorcerer...a manga addict. So it came as no surprise to those that actually knew him (even if it was by a fake name) that he immediately zoomed in on the one child in the French cafe looking like a black short haired Edward Elric.
"Hello Jamie. You are Jamie, correct?" said Nickolas grinning. He was an avid fan of Full Metal Alchemist. So few were willing to print the true way to create a stone for everyone to read. Then again the goblins never read mundane comics, so it was understandable.
"Depends. What is the primary law of Equivalent Exchange?" asked the boy calmly. When he learned Nickolas Flamel was a total FMA fan, he knew he had the perfect way to determine if it was him or not.
"To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs kid. What does the phrase All is one and One is all mean?"
"Life is an endless circle of death and rebirth. To try and bring life that was lost is not only against the laws of nature but against that of alchemy as a whole," said Jamie immediately, before countering "What is inscribed inside Elric's pocketwatch?"
"Never Forget, followed by the date of when they burned down their house so that they would have nothing to go back to," said Nickolas.
"Good to meet you Mr. Flemming. Always fun to chat with a fellow fan," grinned Jamie, shaking his hand.
"The same to you, Mr. Potter. Your owl said you have something of mine?"
Jamie reached into his pocket, checked for observers, before dropping it into Flamel's open hand.
"Please tell me this isn't what I think it is," said Flamel.
"It's not mine, and grandfather taught me that all lost or stolen articles are to be returned to their rightful owners. Picked it off a thief who for some reason burned when I tried to help him up."
"I lent this fake to Albus so he would quit badgering me about the damn stone. I didn't think he would be stupid enough to allow an actual thief to make off with it," said Flamel irritated. That was the reason he dropped the boy months after taking him on. Fool never thought things through.
"I recognized it from the series, knew it to be too dangerous to return via post."
"This is actually a replica, much like the one in Liore," said Flamel.
"Really? That one worked rather well for a construct made primarily of red water."
"Care to join me and my wife for a cup of tea and discuss the series? I hear they're coming out with a new movie later this year."
"The Stone of Shambala. I heard it's supposed to be rather good, and they finally solve that issue about Wrath and Gluttony."
"Don't forget Hohenhiem!" chirped Nickolas. It really was a delight to talk to another avid fan of the series. His wife didn't care for it much, preferring the Inuyasha and Sailor Moon instead. They both agreed Dragonball Z had taken a turn for the worst of late.
Sirius couldn't help but feel this was the most unusual conversation of his life...and promptly swore to try out some of the books his godson had stored in his trunk.
This was later reinforced when said godson introduced him to a series some of the upper years recommended when he hit puberty and girls started to look a lot more interesting.
He would later be banned from the internet until he could stop watching hentai for five hours straight each day...for a week. It was later turned into a month when being stuck without anything to occupy his time for nearly ten years had put a crimp in his social life.
Finally, Sirius was knocked out cold, thrown on the same boat as Ron and a few others (Neville, with his grandmother's permission) and forced to stay at sea until his libido quit directing his every action.
He only went along with it because the captain mentioned a topless beach in Tahiti that he planned to take them this year.
"More tea Jamie?"
"No thank you Mrs. Flamel. Your home is absolutely lovely," said Jamie politely.
Part of his pre-Academy lessons happened to be on etiquette and manners. His grandfather had been rather...stern about that, saying he didn't want his grandson to be a worthless blob like the Dursley boy.
"So tell me Jamie, what exactly do you plan on doing once you leave Hogwarts?" asked Perenelle.
"I plan on either joining the Royal Air Force or the Sniper division. Those who manage to get into one of the coveted spots have a chance to join almost immediately once they hit their majority. A copy of years in and I can get my own plane," said Jamie proudly.
"Going to follow your granddad's footsteps, eh?" said Sirius knowingly.
"Grandfather said that there is no greater service than the Queen or Country, unless it's to your fellow man," said Jamie.
"Good lad!" said Nickolas.
"It's so nice to see a lad who has his priorities straight and isn't afraid of hard work, isn't that right Nickolas?" said Perenelle, giving her husband a Look.
Which prompted a familiar argument between the two, one that had no bite to it but kept things interesting...right up until Jamie offered to clean the gutters for no charge. A quick change of gloves and removal of his coat and jacket and he quickly went to work.
Within an hour they were clear and the things in there were in the trash. How half that stuff got up there, he did not want to know.
Nickolas was so impressed with his work ethic that he offered him an apprenticeship.
"Unfortunately sir, my summers are packed and I don't see Dumbledore allowing it. Is it possible for me to get back to you on that once my hormones are settled down enough not to risk it?"
Rather than be offended, Nickolas beamed at him. It was so rare to see a responsible boy like Jamie.
"Come see me when you're in your thirties then. In the meantime, would you object to the odd owl or two? My wife isn't a big fan of Full Metal Alchemist, and it would be nice to have someone to debate with," he asked.
"Not at all!" said Jamie grinning.
Behind them, Perenelle sighed with relief. Now her husband had someone else to natter about that show with.
Jamie spent a good portion of summer fixing the engines of old planes. His grandfather had opened up some spots for the Academy to send those who wanted into the Royal Air Force, but were unable to make the initial cut due to limited openings.
Jamie decided to stay on base, as it meant he would be spending more time with his grandfather.
To his delight, Fred and George took Charlie up on his offer and were given a crash course in military life. They were invaluable when one of the re-enactments of the jungle went out of control and the poor sod managed to get out of the hanger which some idiot left unlocked.
Magical fireworks could be very distracting if used properly. Seeing a dragon made of flames shooting towards you, for example.
Because of that, they were able to stun the man and put him in a padded cell until he was able to come out of it. It was their standard procedure.
They had another for the really bad cases where they were too far gone.
They put them through a few re-enactments, just to be sure, then they knocked them out, remove the memories of the events, and kept a very close eye for an entire month. Usually that did the trick, and they were deemed fit for society again, at least in small doses.
If that didn't work, then the SOP was to put the poor fool out of their misery. Quick, clean, and the patient was given a soldier's burial...depending on what branch they were in. For those in the Queen's Navy, they were given the standard sea burial.
It was something everyone who came here to heal from the trauma agreed on. Better to be put out of their misery by a friend and comrade than by a cop trying to protect the innocent from them.
Fortunately, they had yet to go that far, but it was always an option. For now it seemed removing the memories in question and showing the poor sod how bad their condition had been after worked better than any medication.
"So Jamie, have you heard from any of your friends?"
"Only Nick for some reason. Then again, he has e-mail instead of owls," said Jamie. It was rather odd really, but he hadn't thought much on it.
"I heard we're getting a special visitor next week. Apparently word has spread among the nobles about the base and our near perfect recovery rate for soldiers," said Charlie.
It was only near perfect because there was only one person who had managed to get through the trauma and live a civilian life at the moment. Everyone else was still in recovery.
"Any idea who?"
"Some noble or other," said Charlie dismissively.
Oh, he had an idea of who it was, because he had gotten word from the Prime Minister. Luckily security wasn't a real issue, what with the base being off limits to civilians without trusted escorts.
Not that anyone would want to come to such an out of the way base in the first place. Still, it would be fun to see his grandson's momentary panic when he learned the Queen herself was coming to congratulate Charlie for helping heal his fellow veterans.
It was somewhat required in order to get any funding from the Crown, seeing as how he had been paying for all of this from the family vault and several donations from other veterans.
The two went back to fixing the engine, only taking a break for food and a nap.
"Soldiers, line up and fall in!" barked Charlie. As the 'owner' of the base, he was considered the one in charge. Even if there were several who outranked him, including three former generals and a Colonel.
Here, they were patients trying to readjust to civvie life. No one stood on ceremony here unless it was needed to bring people back in line, and Charlie had made a point to insure safety to those going into the hanger for some release.
Out of those doing the re-enacting, only those from the same platoon at the time of the flashback were allowed in with the patient. If no one was available, then only the patient was allowed in until they were either done or knocked out.
The last thing they wanted was for someone to walk in there during a re-enactment and killed by accident. It was one of the few areas banned to everyone but those suffering flashbacks, because you could never tell when someone was in there or not.
They had an observation deck that was impossible to break into, but that was for insurance purposes.
Every soldier on base lined up in a familiar row as the plane rolled down the tarmac. The second everyone realized what the symbol on the side of the plane was, several of them panicked slightly. The others straightened even more.
Jamie, Fred, George, Percy (he was there because they had internet and people to teach him basic high school subjects), and several of Jamie's old friends from the Academy couldn't help their gape.
It was the bloody Queen of England!
Thankfully for Jamie and the others, they didn't have to see her until near the end of the visit. That gave them time to get over the shock that the QUEEN had come to their little base/rehabilitation area.
They were relaxing in the common area where some of the younger patients tended to congregate when they had free time. It had internet (no porn sites allowed unless you were in your own room), satellite TV (channels inappropriate for those under sixteen were blocked), books, a snack bar (free, of course), and all the latest gaming systems.
Jamie had gone into the store personally to furnish it for those who were too young for the bar. About the only thing close to alcoholic in that room was butterbeer.
So naturally his brain did a three-second standstill when the Queen came in.
Seeing Jamie suddenly tense up and go into a proper salute had the boy scrambling to do the same. The civilians more awkwardly than the rest.
"Your Majesty!" said Jamie in surprise.
"It is good to see young men acting so responsibly these days," she said.
"My grandfather has raised me well, Ma'am," said Jamie proudly.
"He has impressed Us with his solution to a growing problem. We shall give him Our full support to heal those who have served Us so well. And We shall watch your careers with great interest," she intoned.
She left after speaking to each boy individually, giving the Weasly's their first look at the Royal Monarchy in their country.
Needless to say Percy was so impressed that he redoubled his efforts to get a position in the muggle world.
There was little doubt that the Queen of England herself was more respectable than the so called Minister of Magic.
"WHAT! You meet the Queen herself?!" shrieked Hermione.
Jamie had wisely held the phone away from his ear when he told her.
"Yes. She came to inspect the base when she heard rumors about what grandfather was doing to help his fellow veterans."
"What was she like?" asked Hermione.
"Impressive, regal...and strong. She really impressed Percy, and now he's working even harder to get an internship in the Prime Minister's office."
"Please tell me he's calmed down from that arrogant attitude from before."
"Just a little. Now that he knows about the big bad world out there, and how far behind he is, he's been hitting the books almost all the time when he's not joining the others for basic exercises."
"Anything has to be better than how he was before."
"True. How goes the summer coarse load?"
"Already finished and notarized," said Hermione primly.
"Same here. I shall see you at Diagon, Ms. Granger," said Jamie.
"See you in Diagon Jamie," said Hermione.
"Now to see how Neville is doing... Here it is," said Jamie.
The phone rang twice before someone picked it up.
"Neville Longbottom available?" asked Jamie.
"Nope. He's busy harvesting some plants off the coast. Kid's really taken to sea life."
"Hey Mike! How's Ron then? He finally quite acting like a brat?"
"Hey Jamie! Yeah, once he got it through his head that we were just paying him to clean, he was allowed to leave the brig. Kid was almost as spoiled as that Dudley brat you used to complain about."
"And Sirius?"
"Man had the worst case of blue balls I've ever seen! He's slept with ten women already!"
"Just remind him that if he wants that nice lifestyle to continue he has to earn it," said Jamie.
"He knows. He said he wants to enjoy his last taste of freedom before he enlists for real. Can't say I blame the man for that," chortled Mike.
"Well just call if he causes too much trouble and we'll straighten him out next time you hit port," said Jamie.
"Will do little man. Have fun at the base," said Mike.