Thanks to all those that stuck with me. I'm an absolutely horrible updater and I think that I forgot to put up a disclaimer last time. Considering I refuse to be martyred for that, I'll do it twice to make up:

I do not own Harry Potter

I do not own Harry Potter

Now, only five hundred and ninety-eight left to go and it'll be inscribed in my hand. Then, I can't forget it.

"Spell."

"Speech."

/Parseltounge. /

'Thoughts.'

(Author Notes)

"Another language"

'Writings'

:::

"Harry, my boy, are you awake?"

Philomel groans as she holds a hand to her head. "Professor, where am I?"

"Hospital wing, my dear boy. That was quite a blow to the head you took."

She opens her eyes tentatively and squints in the light. "Headmaster, what happened down there? Is the Stone safe?"

Dumbledore chuckles softly. "It has been destroyed. I'm sure you tried your best, but there was no sign of it and Quirrel was hardly in a position to take it out."

Philomel gains an alarmed look. "What about your friends? Flamel and his wife?"

Dumbledore smiles secretively. "They have enough Elixir to set their affairs in order and then they will pass on. But to the well-organized mind, death is but the next greatest adventure."

'But you've never died… So, how would you know?'

\/\'/\/'\/\'/\/

"Harry, you're back! I was worried you got hit too hard. The entire school's been talking about what happened in the trapdoor." exclaimed Hermione.

Philomel nodded quietly. "Is it the truth?"

Michele snorts, gaining Madame Pince's ire. "Of course not. What do you take us for? What about Dumbledore?" he says a bit more quietly.

"He believed me. The Stone was destroyed."

Hermione cried out with outrage, causing Madame Pince to glare at them, "After all that hard work!"

Michele looks somber, however. "What about the Flamels?"

Philomel's gaze drops. "They have enough Elixir to put their affairs in order. Then they will die. So, I'm going to send them a letter detailing what happened. Hopefully, they may send me some books on it."

\/\'/\/'\/\'/\/

Philomel is sitting in the Ravenclaw common room, in a corner, composing a letter with her left hand, confusing some of the other students who have, up till now, seen her write only with her right.

'To Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel,

'If you have already gotten Dumbledore's letter, I am truly happy to inform you that your ingenious Stone is actually quite safe.

'My name is Philomel, and my cousin's friends, Hermione Granger and Michele Romani, and he saved it from the clutches of Voldemort. They had sent it to me for safe-keeping. I had not known that this was your only Philosopher's Stone; otherwise I would not have kept it for so long. I shall keep it in my possession until you send a return owl; as my nightingale could not carry something of that weight to your estate.

'Fear not, the Stone will be safe in my hands. I had hoped to be able to study alchemy and the Stone further, but I completely understand if you do not wish me to look at it; however, if you could send some books, or even a list of books if you don't wish to part with your books.

'I only hope that this gets to you in time, because, no matter what the well organized mind may think, there is nothing worse than dying. Well, there is, but let's not get into that, shall we?

'Yours, sincerely,

'Philomel Faye Potter'

Satisfied with the letter, and sure that, with the potion mixed with the ink and soaked into the parchment, no one will be able to read it except the one it is addressed too, Philomel folds it up and heads off to Owlery to send it.

\/\'/\/'\/\'/\/

The next few weeks passed without consequence for Philomel and her friends. Besides a few impromptu snowball fights, an off the cuff swimming lesson for Philomel courtesy of Michele1, and lessons, nothing new really happened.

Dumbledore taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hagrid's house nearly burnt down and he was found to be illegally in the possession of a dragon, and Michele mysteriously was unable to hold forks and spoons without screaming due to an accidental dose of Phobia Brew a week after Philomel was dunked.

Philomel, of course, excelled in everything she put her mind to; but, as the weeks went on, her grades declined due to anxiety about the Flamels and Selah.

\/\'/\/'\/\'/\/

Nicolas Flamel was just closing up his lab for the night when a faint tapping on the window drew his attention to the nightingale currently flapping outside. Wondering what it might want, Nicolas opens the window. Selah hops in and holds out the leg with Philomel's letter on it.

The letter is untied with a bit of skepticism, "Who on earth uses a nightingale instead of an owl? Why would they be writing to me?" The first earned Nicolas an angry peck.

After reading it, Nicolas allows a slight smile to grace his face then he takes Selah and finishes locking up before going into the kitchen.

Perenelle, who was preparing dinner, turned when she heard her husband come in. "Nick, you are a minute late. I needed help peeling your beloved pommes de terre."

Nicolas chuckles and gives her a peck on the cheek. "Ah, but Perry, I had a visitor with a letter. Would you like to read it?" he says, handing her the letter.

Perenelle snatches it with a sniffed, "Do not compare me to that American. Uncouth barbarian2."

After Perenelle finishes the letter, she giggles before adopting a serious look. "Albus did not tell me anything about a Stone being destroyed. Toi?"

"No, my dear, he did not tell me anything either. It's a good thing that that was the second Stone. Who knows what might have happened if Albus knew we still had the original?"

"Vraiment."

\/\'/\/'\/\'/\/

During the Easter holiday, quite awhile after Philomel had sent off the letter, a large barn owl swoops in along with the regular post. It lands in front of Michele, just looking like he got a present from his parents. Hermione looks at it curiously.

"Aren't you going to open it, Michele?"

Michele glances at it, then grins. "No, I will wait until later. I do believe we should all open it together."

Philomel, catching a glimpse of Selah darting into the window, nods. "Shall we meet in the common room or the library?"

Hermione scowls at not knowing what's going on but answers, "If we're going to be secret, we might as well go to the library. No one ever thinks about listening in in there."

"Not true, Hermione. Why, I've heard some very interesting things in the library because people don't think anyone will listen. Why, just the other day—"

"Michele, be quiet. No one is interested in hearing about that this moment. So, library it is, unless you have a better suggestion, Michele?"

"No, Harry."

\/\'/\/'\/\'/\/

In the library, a dark corner that was so dusty and filled with spider webs that even Madame Pince avoided it, Philomel and her two friends sat down with the package.

Hermione gingerly brushes off her seat. "Ugh, why hasn't anyone cleaned this?"

Michele sits down, after cleaning up the seat with magic, staring at the books. "It's the tax section."

Philomel just plops down, ignoring all the dust and cobwebs that cling to her robe. "Oh, good, after we look at the package, I can find that tax book I've been needing to look at."

After a little twitch of her eye, Hermione shakes her head and says, "Well, who's going to open it?"

Philomel snaps back to reality and efficiently undoes the package. The brown paper falls away to reveal a box and a letter:

'My dear Philomel,

'It was certainly nice of you to tell us about that incident, but your concern was quite unnecessary. As it turns out, we have the original Stone, so you may keep the one you have. It seems much safer in your possession than Albus'.

'Also, there is no fear of us dieing for quite some time, yet. Me and Perry might be older than Albus by centuries but we by no means look it, thank the Goddess!

'Now, as to the books, since there is absolutely nothing else for us to do and we are well over five hundred years old, Perry and I, especially Perry, have amassed quite the library. And, as such, we have enclosed about fifty books for your pleasure. Most of them are about beginning Alchemy and higher level potions. One or two are on non-adept chemistry, mainly the elements, and the rest are Histories. If you need anymore reading material, just send your charming bird with a letter. It's such a pleasure to see spaces on the shelves once more.

'Nicholas Flamel'

The rest of the letter read:

'Ma petite,

'It is such a surprise to get letters from people other than Albus. S'il-te-plait, don't hesitate to send more. Tell your cousin et ses amis that we appreciate their hard-work, though it was not needed for our benefit.

'Nicholas and moi, we are happy to give you any livres you need.

'Ciao, ma petite,

'Perenelle Flamel'

Philomel passes the letter around while she opens the box. Inside are quite a bit more than fifty shrunken books set neatly into the box like a jigsaw. Carved into the lid are instructions from Perenelle:

'Now, ma petite, all you need to do to restore the livres to their original size is take ils out. When you are done, put ils back, they will shrink to fit. The box is charmed against invasion and detection by anyone other than you.'

Hermione was looking at the box with confusion, as was Michele. It was Hermione who voiced what they were both thinking, "Harry, where did all those books come from?"

Philomel looks confused, "They're in a box. Can't you see it?"

Michele shakes his head. "No, we can't, anymore. One second it was there, and then it was gone. How can you?"

"Oh, so, it really is just me that see the box…"

:::

I know that this is really short. Really, really short. And well, that last line won't be explained for quite awhile. I've included a list of all the French words.

Ma petite- feminine "my little one"

Livres- plural "books"

Ils- plural masculine "them"

Ciao- bye

Moi- me

Cousin et ses amis- "Cousin and his friends" masculine

S'il-te-plait- informal "thank you"

Vraiment- true

Toi- "you" informal

Pommes de terre- literally, "apples of earth", taken together, "potatoes"

He pushed her into the lake.

Let's see how many of you know what I'm talking about.