Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that Harry Potter belongs to the amazing JK Rowling and that I am most definitely up to no good.
A/N: So this one topped out at 11,500 words, mostly because I wanted to go ahead and just finish up the summer, but in the future I plan on chapters being anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000.
Previous Chapter Summary: The Flamels take Harry to Cairo, Egypt where the International Warlock Convention is being held and Harry learns all about Egyptian history. During their stay they are confronted by a medicine woman about the scar on Harry's forehead and she offers to have the soul piece that has attached itself to him removed via a cleansing ritual. Toward the end of their vacation they take a portkey to Uganda where they tour the Uagadou School of Magic before heading home.
Harry didn't think that he would ever be as excited as he was on the morning they had headed to Egypt but as he awoke on his birthday with the sun shining through the window and Alcmene stretched over his stomach, he realized just how wrong he was.
Perenelle had asked him if he wanted her to invite some of the children of the families that lived nearby because apparently, quite a few wizarding families lived in Devon around the small non-magical village, Ottery St. Catchpole and all of them currently had children that would be attending Hogwarts with Harry, but only one would be in the same year as him. Harry was eager to meet at least one or two kids his age before he got to Hogwarts, so agreed to her sending out invitations and although it had been rather last minute, they received positive answers back from the Weasleys, the Lovegoods, and the Diggorys.
So here he lay, on his 11th birthday, anxiously anticipating his first party and just as he put his glasses on and was about to get up, a soft knock on his door stopped him. "Come in." He said and started to pet Alcmene, who had awoken at the noise.
Nicolas opened the door, stepped in, and held it open for Perenelle, who was carrying a large tray of all of his favorite breakfast foods and both began singing him happy birthday as they approached. Harry sat up in bed with a large smile on his face and when Perenelle set the tray on his lap, Alcmene moving out of the way with an indignant growl, he noticed a small cupcake with a candle set off to the side.
After they had finished the song, Harry scrunched his eyes closed, made a wish, and blew out the candle. Nicolas and Perenelle clapped their hands and each gave him a big hug.
"We know you will get a regular cake and another song at your party but we wanted to make your first birthday morning with us special." Perenelle said sitting down on one side of his bed while Nicolas went to the other.
"This is great." Harry said, getting chocked up. He thought he had gotten that under control. "Thank you so much."
Nicolas ruffled his hair. "You're welcome Harry. Now, what did you wish for?"
Perenelle swatted him on the arm playfully. "You know he's not supposed to tell or else it won't come true."
Harry laughed with them but wasn't sure if Perenelle was telling the truth or not so he decided to keep the fact that he had wished to do well at school so that they would be proud of him to himself, just to be safe.
Both Flamels stayed with Harry as he ate his breakfast, secretly passing bits of bacon and sausage to Alcmene when they weren't looking, just talking to him and asking him if he was excited for the party. When he was done, Nickolas took the tray from him so he could get up and start getting ready for the day.
The party was set to start at 11:00AM and Nicolas and Perenelle were both busy trying to get everything organized. While Perenelle was cooking the food for lunch and baking Harry's cake, Nicolas was outside setting up the decorations and Harry was running around attempting to catch one of the fake snitches that they had conjured and charmed to fly low around the front yard, since they wouldn't let him help set up.
At 10 o'clock, as Nicolas was enlarging their picnic table to fit all of their guests, Harry caught site of two figures flying in on broomsticks. He ran over to Nicolas and pointed up at them. Nicolas frowned slightly in confusion since the party wasn't set to start for another hour and began walking over to the right side of the house, where it looked like their visitors would land.
As they got nearer, Harry could see that it was a man and what appeared to be his daughter. The man had shoulder length white hair and wore dark orange robes while his daughter, who was sitting side-saddle on her broom, had long dirty blonde hair and was wearing a bright yellow skirt with a light blue top.
A few minutes later and they had landed right in front of Nicolas, who held out his hand in greeting, "Hello. Mr. Lovegood I presume?"
"Yes, but please call me Xeno." He replied shaking Nicolas' hand and then put an arm around the girl's shoulders. "And this is my daughter Luna."
"It's very nice to meet you both. Please feel free to call me Nick." Said Nicolas and turned slightly to Harry. "And this is Harry of course."
Harry stepped forward and shook both of their hands. "Hello. Thank you for coming to my party." He was immensely grateful that neither of them stared at him or looked at his forehead to try and find his scar.
"Thank you for inviting us." Xeno said, looking around them. "Are we early?"
Nicolas coughed slightly. "I'm afraid so, about an hour early actually, but that is perfectly fine. I can take you inside and introduce you to Nell while Harry and Luna get to know each other if you would like."
Xeno looked perplexed. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought the invitation said 11:00."
"Er… it did. It's still 10:00." Nicolas said, checking his watch to make sure.
"Is it now? I could have sworn our clock said something different." Xeno still looked confused for a second before his face lit up in excitement and he turned to Luna. "What do you think pumpkin, could be the Twigly Jimbles are at it again."
Luna nodded as she gazed dreamily around her. "You probably forgot to set out the dragon milk again daddy. You know how upset they get when they don't get their dragon milk."
Nicolas and Harry exchanged looks before Nicolas stepped forward a bit. "Well, you're here now and more than welcome to stay until the party starts. Xeno, if you'll follow me I'll take you inside for a cup of tea." He said and turned to Harry. "Can you put their brooms up for them Harry? Then maybe you can show Luna around."
Harry nodded and went to grab both of their brooms. "Follow me." He said to Luna and then began making his way around the back of the cottage and across the large vegetable/fruit garden, to the broom shed.
Luna followed him across the yard, looking around interestedly. "You have a very pretty home."
Harry looked back at her and smiled. "Um… thanks, but it's not really mine. Nick and Nell have owned it for ages though, about 580 years in fact."
Luna's eyes widened in shock. Her father had told her that the Flamels were old, but to a child of 10, old usually meant 30 or 40. She was sure her father was inside right that minute, asking the couple all about the elusive creatures they were always searching for. With being as old as they were, surely the Flamels had seen at least one.
When Luna didn't say anything to that, Harry turned back around and took the last few steps to the broom shed. Upon opening the door to put their guests brooms up, Luna let out a gasp from behind him.
"There are so many." She exclaimed and stepped forward for a closer look. The shed was obviously charmed to be larger on the inside and it held a large amount of different brooms on either side of it, each one set securely on its own rack.
Harry stood tall as he prepared himself to tell her what he himself had only found out a few days ago. He remembered quite clearly stepping into the shed and his jaw nearly hitting the floor when he saw all of the brooms on display, before that, it had always been Nicolas or Perenelle that would fetch the brooms and put them back up. "These are all the brooms that Nick and Nell have owned over the years. The first 8 are ones that Nell made herself using the knowledge of that specific time period. This one here," He explained, pointing to an old Cleansweep 1, "was one of the first ever racing brooms. While Nell still enjoys creating her own from time to time, the majority of the ones from around 1920 on are racing brooms she has bought over the years."
"These are incredible." Luna whispered, her dreamy expression turned to admiration as she examined each broom.
"Yeah, most of them are pretty uncomfortable though. Nell said that the cushioning charm that is present on all brooms today wasn't created until sometime in the 1800s, so it was hard to ride them for long periods of time before that." Harry said and set their brooms on a couple of empty racks near the door. "Want me to show you around or would you like to look at the brooms some more?"
"We can walk around. I'd like to see what else they might have." She replied and stepped out of the shed so Harry could close the door.
"I could show you the fairy fountain first if you want. They are pretty fun to play with even if they do try to braid my hair nearly every time they see me."
Luna looked at him with a big smile. "You have fairies?"
"Yeah, we have a bunch of them. Come on." He replied and led her to the front of the house.
When they got there, Luna let out a small squeal of delight and nearly started to run over to the fairies but she stopped herself since she didn't want to scare them. Her mother had always taken her into the woods near their house to watch and play with the fairies and Luna hadn't been to their favorite spot since her mother had passed. At that thought, she suddenly stopped several feet away from the fountain and a sad look came over her face.
Harry paused beside her, curious as to why she had stopped when she had been so excited just moments before, and saw the look on her face. "What's wrong Luna?"
"My mum loved fairies. She used to take me with her to play with them, especially when I was feeling down about something." She said softly and her eyes teared up a bit.
Harry looked around frantically for an adult, he didn't know how to handle crying girls, but he turned back to Luna when he heard her sniffle. Tears had begun to fall and she turned to the side to wipe them away, trying not to let him see.
Feeling sorry for her, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the handkerchief Perenelle had told him to make sure he always carried with him and tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned to him he held it out for her and she gave him a watery smile as she took it from him.
"I'm sorry." She said as she wiped her eyes.
"It's ok, I understand." At least, he thought he did. Even though he had never gotten to know his parents, he still felt their loss. He thought back to the day, not so very long ago, at the Dursley's when Nicolas and Perenelle had told him how they had really died. It had come as a severe shock and somehow felt like he had lost them all over again.
He gave her a couple of minutes to get control of herself and then gently grabbed her hand to begin pulling her towards the fountain once more. "Come on."
"What are you doing?" She asked, resisting him a bit.
He hoped he was doing this right. "You're feeling down so I am taking you to play with the fairies." He replied, looking at her nervously for the go ahead.
She stared at him for a good 10 seconds before a small smile lit her face and she began walking with him the rest of the way.
As soon as they stopped in front of the fountain, the fairies swarmed both of them. They began playing with Luna's hair and skirt while pulling on Harry's hair and sitting on his glasses so they could bend over them and look at themselves upside down.
Luna giggled beside him and brought her free hand up for the fairies to rest on. It was then that Harry realized that they were still holding hands and he blushed deeply but didn't let go lest he hurt her feelings.
"Thank you Harry. It's been hard without her here this past year." She all but whispered.
"You're welcome and I'm sorry about your mum. Do you…" He hesitated. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Luna was silent for a long time. So long, that Harry was just about to suggest a different topic when she finally spoke up.
So they spent the hour before their other guests were to arrive talking all about Luna's family. She told him how her mum was a very brilliant witch who loved experimenting with and creating new spells. How she made the best hot chocolate and cinnamon biscuits on those rainy days that Luna couldn't go out and play. How her dad was the editor of The Quibbler, a magazine that featured articles about all kinds of amazing creatures, and how he would even let her help him write his articles from time to time. Then she told him about how her mum had died last June, when one of her spells backfired, that she was with her in her last few minutes and how she was glad she got to be with her mum in the end even if it made her sad to think about.
While she was talking, the fairies were busy braiding her long hair in an elaborate style and then took it upon themselves to gather flowers to decorate it with. Luna didn't mind one bit and despite the somber ending to her story, she seemed to feel much better by the time she was done and was back to her dreamy self in no time.
Nicolas, who had come back outside earlier to finish setting up and chose not to bother them, came over about 10 minutes before 11:00 to let them know that people would probably start arriving soon.
Luna pulled a small flat rectangular brightly wrapped present out of her pocket and asked Nicolas to cancel the shrinking charm on it. Once he had done so, she walked over to the table that had been set up for presents and added hers to the pile.
"You didn't have to get me a present Luna." Harry said walking up behind her. He had asked Perenelle to mention in the invitations that they didn't need to bring presents since nobody really knew him very well and because it was so last minute, he didn't want anyone to worry about it.
Perenelle had known that everyone coming would probably bring one anyway, especially considering who Harry was, but did as he wished. He had blushed tremendously when she had told him that it was a very mature thing to do and she was very proud of him for being so considerate of others.
"I wanted to. Besides, I didn't really have to spend anything on it."
"Well thank you. I really appreciate it."
Before she could respond there was a ruckus coming from the front door and they turned just in time to see a group of red heads come spilling out of the house and making their way across the front lawn.
Harry was introduced to Mrs. Molly Weasley first and then came the obvious twins Fred and George, Ron, and Ginny. While the boys were all enthusiastic in their greetings, once they got over their staring, Ginny was rather quiet and turned scarlet when he greeted her.
They talked for a bit and just as Mrs. Weasley angrily confiscated some sweets that the twins were trying to offer Harry, two more people came to join them, having just floo'd in, and introduced themselves as Mrs. Victoria Diggory and her son Cedric.
Everyone was talking animatedly when Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Diggory noticed Perenelle starting to bring food and drinks out of the house and they excused themselves to lend a hand. Before she left though, Mrs. Weasley bent down and whispered something in Ginny's ear, who nodded and took the obvious present that her mum handed her.
As her mum disappeared into the house Ginny stepped forward until she was standing right in front of Harry. "Here H…Harry, this is from all of us." She mumbled and blushed furiously again as she handed him the present.
Harry smiled widely and took it from her. "Thank you Ginny, you guys didn't have to get me anything though, I know this was all really last minute."
"Nonsense Harry," Cedric began as he came up behind Ginny, "It would have been very rude if we hadn't brought anything and besides, after what you did for us, it's the least we can do." And he handed Harry the present they had brought.
A deep blush spread across Harry's face and he went to set the presents down on the table as he tried to get it under control and had managed pretty well by the time he got back to the group. "Thanks Cedric, but Nick and Nell told me that they think it might have been something my mum did before she died that caused Voldemort's," They all flinched at the name but Harry continued on, "spell to backfire so she is really the one that deserves the credit, not me. I don't remember it but I'm pretty sure I probably just sat there not doing anything considering I was just a 1 year old at the time."
"You said his name." Ron whispered incredulously.
"Well yeah, Nick told me that people have a hard time saying his name nowadays but I didn't even learn about him until just last month." Harry said and shrugged. "Sorry if it makes you uncomfortable but Nick and Nell don't have a problem calling him by his name so if they aren't afraid to do it then I'm not going to be afraid either."
They all looked at him in wonder, except Luna, who was playing with the hare charm attached to her silver bracelet, and just when it seemed like the uncomfortable silence was becoming unbearable she looked up and spoke, "Ginny, do you want to go play with the fairies? Maybe they will braid your hair for you like they did me."
Ginny gave a small sigh of relief, quickly nodded her head, and she and Luna excused themselves before they took off towards the fairy fountain, leaving the boys just standing there awkwardly.
No situation could stay that way for long when Fred and George were present however, and they soon got over their unease.
"So, Harry old chap…" Said one.
"Do you fly?" Finished the other.
This broke the tension around them like little else could and Harry laughed as he started telling them about Perenelle's flying lessons and some of the tricks she had recently deemed him ready to try. All five of them talked about Quidditch and flying until Nicolas called them all over when everything was ready.
Lunch was a boisterous affair and, though unused to so much noise, Harry enjoyed every minute of it. Perenelle had sat him down at the head of the table and let the children sit at one end as the adults sat at the other and Harry had to remember that there would be cake and ice-cream after this so as to not stuff himself silly with all of the great food piled in front of him.
What he thought infinitely funny, especially considering his Aunt and Uncle, was that Nicolas was a much better cook than Perenelle was, though Perenelle's cooking was still very good. Nicolas told him that he had put a considerable amount of time into learning how to cook because it both made Perenelle happy and it was very relaxing, much like when he was working on his potions. He had conceded to let Perenelle cook for Harry's birthday party because for reasons unknown, she had been extremely excited about doing it since he allowed her to invite people over to celebrate with them.
Once the enormous chocolate cake was brought out and everyone had sang Harry happy birthday Perenelle swished her wand and pieces started flying over and landing on the plates that appeared in front of everybody. Another twirl of her wand and 2 large bowls filled with vanilla ice-cream appeared on each end of the table along with bowls and spoons.
After everyone had eaten their fill, Ron having spectacularly consumed 3 large pieces of cake and two bowls of ice-cream, Nicolas cleared everything on the table and floated all of Harry's presents over to him and he excitedly reached for one.
Deciding to open the guest presents first, Harry tore the paper off of the Diggory's present and opened the box to find a handsome brown leather book bag with his name engraved in gold on the right bottom corner. Cedric, who was seated next to him on his right, showed him how the inside expanded slightly so he could comfortably fit all of his books and the separate compartments for him to put his parchment, inks, and quills to protect them from tear or breakage. To top it all off, there was a permanent feather-light charm on it so that no matter how many books he managed to fit in it, it wouldn't feel any heavier.
After admiring the bag for a bit, Harry set it gently off to the side and reached for another present. Luna's painting of the Devon countryside was passed around and admired by almost everyone, making her blush slightly at all of the praise, and the Weasley's present of homemade fudge, shortbread biscuits shaped like broomsticks, and cauldron cakes were very much appreciated and delicious.
The last 3 presents in the pile were from Nicolas and Perenelle and Harry dug into them eagerly. The first was a box of all the different sweets that Harry had showed he had enjoyed so far, the second was an assortment of different colored quills along with various bottles of glow in the dark, color changing, and his favorite scarlet colored inks. The 3rd present he had saved for last because it was obviously the biggest and Cedric had to help him clear the table in front of him a bit to fit the large rectangular wrapped present and when he finally got the wrapping paper off and opened the box, his jaw fell open in surprise.
As the twins began shouting good-naturedly for him to show them what he had got, Harry reached into the box, pulled out a brand new Nimbus 2000, and held it up for everyone to see. While most everybody around him was giving the broom a thorough visual examination, Harry noticed jealousy and anger flash across Ron's face before it cleared and he was looking at the broom in admiration, though his cheeks and ears were still slightly red.
When Harry looked to his right, he saw that Cedric was looking at Ron with disapproval and suspected that he had seen the same thing, but when Cedric turned back to look at him, he smiled widely and said, "That's a really great broom you have there Harry. Are you thinking of trying out for a house team?"
Harry tilted his head to the side in confusion. "I thought 1st years weren't allowed to play on the house teams."
"They usually aren't Harry," Perenelle spoke up, "because many 1st years are too small and/or don't have the strength and talent needed to play most of the positions in Quidditch so, unless they show otherwise, they are not allowed to try out. But if a student's magical guardian believes them to be able to play then they can give their permission for them to try out and I think with another months worth of practice you will be ready to do so, if you want. Though you will still need to speak to Madame Hooch and gain her permission as well."
Harry let out a whoop of joy, set down the broom, and ran over to give Perenelle a hug. "Thank you!" He shouted and then turned to Nicolas to do the same before pulling away again. "Can we go and try it out?"
Perenelle smiled at him automatically including the other children and, after looking around to get positive nods from the various parents, nodded her head. "I don't see why not."
Harry ran back over to pick up his broom and told the others to follow him before leading them to a small trail off the left side of the yard that led to a smaller clearing set up specifically for flying.
Once they got to the clearing all of the boys and Luna gathered excitedly, ready to await their turn to fly.
Just as he was about to take off, Harry looked around him and noticed that Ginny was standing off to the side with a sad and wistful look on her face. "What's the matter Ginny? Don't you want to come over and try out the broom too?" He asked dismounting and getting a loud groan from Ron.
"She can't fly, she's too little." He said impatiently.
Harry frowned. "That doesn't seem right. She and Luna are about the same height and Luna can fly just fine."
"He means she's too young." One of the twins said.
"Yeah, she shouldn't be flying until she is older." Said the other.
"I thought she was only a year younger than Ron." Harry said and turned to the youngest male Weasley. "How old were you when you started flying?"
"It doesn't matter, she can't fly. Now come on, I want to try out the broom."
"No, if Ginny doesn't get to try it too then nobody gets to try it. It's not fair." Harry said and looked around him. He really didn't want to upset anyone but he wasn't going to budge on his decision, he had been excluded enough times from doing fun things that he wouldn't just sit back and let it be done to someone else.
The twins looked a bit upset but they were looking back and forth from the broom to Ginny as if trying to come to a decision. Luna seemed as if she weren't even paying attention anymore and was looking up at the sky but Harry could see her lips twitching slightly as if she were fighting a smile. Cedric looked a little disappointed but gave him a small nod of understanding when he caught his eye. Ginny had a surprised but also grateful expression on her face and she gave him a shy smile as he looked her way. Ron, on the other hand, looked absolutely furious.
"Who cares if she gets to fly or not? I want to ride the broom." He nearly yelled and everybody looked at him in surprise.
Harry's frown deepened, Ron was reminding him a lot of Dudley and he didn't like it one bit. "I said no. We can all just head back to the cottage right now, unless you and your brothers change your mind about letting her fly too."
When Ron looked like he was about to actually start yelling, Harry tried a different tact. "Ron, how would you feel if everybody got to try out my new broom but we wouldn't let you take a turn?"
This actually seemed to get through to him a bit and after thinking about it for a long moment Ron took a deep breath. "You're right, I wouldn't like that either. Sorry for yelling mate. I guess Ginny can give it a shot if she really wants to."
"That's ok Ron." Harry replied, accepting the apology but deciding to keep an eye on Ron and that temper. He turned to the twins and waited for their response.
They looked at each other and after a few seconds of non-verbal conversation, both shrugged and grinned. "We are ok with it. She'll need to learn sometime." They both said at the same time.
Harry nodded, mounted his broom once more, and took off.
The rest of the party was spent flying around the small clearing, with each of them taking turns for 10 minutes each. The Weasley brothers got a big surprise when it was Ginny's turn and instead of staying to listen to the advice they were trying to give her, she just took off like a shot, flying around the clearing just as good, if not better, than Ron.
When she landed and saw their stunned faces, she giggled and admitted that she had been sneaking out of the house early in the mornings for the past year to fly around their paddock and practice. At hearing this, Fred and George got down on their knees and began bowing to her and promised that they would never exclude her from their Quidditch matches again. Ron looked a little grumpy that he was shown up by his little sister but his pride in her soon won over and he gave her a pat on the back.
All of the kids groaned in disappointment when the grown-ups came to collect their children.
Harry shook Cedric's hand as he thanked him and Mrs. Diggory profusely for the gift they had gotten him and Cedric promised to look in on him on the Hogwarts Express to make sure he got settled in. They said their goodbyes to everyone else before he grabbed his mum's hand and they Disapparated with a pop.
As they headed back towards the cottage so the Lovegoods could grab their brooms and the Weasleys could use the floo, Harry made sure to thank them for their presents too. About 10 minutes later the Flamels and Harry were standing in the quiet and empty yard, watching as Xeno and Luna flew out of sight.
Later that evening, Nicolas received a rather unpleasant letter from Grimstock, his account manager with Gringotts, about someone breaking into his high security vault where he had hidden the stone but breathed a sigh of relief when he was informed that the vault had already been emptied. He would need to speak with Grimstock about this tomorrow when they went to Diagon Alley.
OoOoOoO
The next day, Harry was walking through Diagon Alley with Nicolas and Perenelle getting his school supplies. His acceptance letter had been delivered while they were away on vacation and he had wanted to go immediately to get everything but Nicolas had convinced him to wait until after his birthday.
They had already gotten all of his books, including a few that both Flamels felt he should read in addition to his regular school texts. Even though they had not gone in to take care of the jinx on the Defense position yet, Perenelle had sent Dumbledore an owl the day after she had met with him about Harry, letting him know what books to include in the book list for that subject and Potions as well as for the Alchemy and Warding electives they would be offering to the NEWT students.
On top of that, they had also recommended that several new classes be added to the curriculum and even offered to donate gold to the school to cover the salaries of the new professors if needed. Dumbledore had been particularly excited about that and must have been working overtime to get everything situated because the 1st year book list had 2 more books than it normally did, which went along with the subjects, Introduction to the Wizarding World and Healing and First Aid.
Those were not the only new subjects however, just the ones that required the students to purchase a book for. The other two were Health and Wellness and Introduction to Latin, to help new students with spell pronunciation as well as spell crafting when they got older if they chose to continue it. Dumbledore had actually floo called them to get more information on the Health and Wellness class and when he found out that it would be teaching young witches and wizards how best to stay healthy he gladly accepted it.
Just as they were walking past Eeylops Owl Emporium Harry felt a strange pull on his mind and stopped. Ignoring Nicolas' questions, Harry walked right into the shop, made his way to the left hand wall, and stopped in front of a cage containing a beautiful snowy owl. As he stared into the large amber eyes he felt something snap into place inside his mind and was suddenly bombarded with a feeling of joy and contentment.
Nicolas placing his hand on his shoulder broke Harry out of his trance and he turned to look up at him. "I don't know what happened, I just felt something pulling on my mind and followed it to this owl."
Nicolas gave him a wide smile. "Did you stare into her eyes and feel some sort of connection take place?" When Harry nodded his smile got even bigger. "Seems like you have found yourself a true familiar."
"What's a familiar?"
"Familiars are animals that share a special attachment with certain people, for example, Alcmene would be considered Nell and I's familiar. A true familiar however, is that but also much more. The bond that develops between someone and their true familiar is considered sacred and it is actually against the law to separate a witch or wizard from their true familiar. The pull you felt was your natural connection to her and looking into her eyes allowed the bond to complete itself. You will be able to feel emotions coming from each other and as the bond strengthens you can even send each other flashes of memory. They can only bond with one person and that bond is for life, because of this, the familiars life will extend to that of the witch or wizard it is bonded to."
"I think I felt her emotions when we bonded, she seemed really happy." Harry stated, reaching up to open the cage and let her out. He could feel that she wanted to be petted.
"Oi, what do you think you're doing?" A tall man wearing an apron asked as he walked over to them, seeing Harry with his hand on the door latch of the cage.
"Sorry about that. Harry and his new familiar got a little excited and no doubt wanted to interact with each other a bit." Nicolas said genially as Perenelle helped Harry get the cage down instead, promising that he could take her out once they got outside.
"Familiar? Well I say, congratulations young man. You are quite lucky to come when you did as she just arrived here last week from our sister store located in Glasgow. We like to rotate the owls that have been at one location for too long between stores to make it easier for them to find homes." The man explained. "If you would like, I can help you pick out a few things for her and recommend a good book on how to take care of her."
"Yes please." Harry said, holding the cage tightly to his chest.
Once they had gotten everything they needed for his new owl, Harry hurried outside and across the street to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor where he set the cage down on one of the tables and opened the large door. The owl immediately jumped out of the cage and onto Harry's shoulder, wasting no time in rubbing her head on his cheek and playing with his hair.
Nicolas and Perenelle walked up with amused smiles on their faces and Nicolas shrunk the cage before putting it in his pocket, figuring that neither Harry nor the owl would want her back in it any time soon.
"Have you figured out a name for her?" Perenelle asked.
Harry didn't respond for a few moments but reached up so the owl would climb onto his forearm and then brought her down to look at and pet her. She gave a small bark of approval and Harry nodded his head. "I'm going to name her Hedwig."
He had read about Saint Hedwig, a German witch, in his History of Magic book. During the Holocaust she had risked her life smuggling numerous orphan children, both magical and non, from the country by making and using illegal Portkeys. She would then obliviate the non-magical children, erasing the knowledge of magic, and replace their memories making them believe that they had been smuggled out using non-magical means. Harry thought it had been a very brave thing to do and when everything was said and done, she had succeeded in saving the lives of over 1200 children.
"Well I think that is a wonderful name." Perenelle said and reached out to pet Hedwig as well.
"If you would ask her to donate one of her feathers to you Harry, we can go see Ollivander about making you a wand." Nicolas spoke up.
Harry gave him a questioning look. "I don't understand. I thought the wand was supposed to choose the wizard."
Nicolas nodded. "They usually do but since you have bonded with Hedwig here, none of the cores of the other wands would accept you anymore so we will need to have one made with one of her feathers as the core instead."
"Oh." Harry said simply and gazed at Hedwig. "What do you say girl, would you mind giving me one of your feathers for my wand?"
Hedwig screeched as a wave of delight flashed through their bond and roughly shook out her wings. When she settled herself again, Harry could see a single feather about 10 inches long laying on the ground.
"Thanks Hedwig. I know you don't want to go back in your cage so would you like to continue on shopping with us or fly back to the cottage and meet us there?" He asked as Nicolas bent down to pick up the feather.
A feeling of possessiveness rolling through his mind told him all he needed to know so he moved her back up to his shoulder before turning to Nicolas and Perenelle. "She wants to stay with us if that's ok."
"That's perfectly fine sweetheart." Perenelle responded.
Just as they turned around to start making their way to Ollivander's, a slightly pudgy boy with blond hair tripped and fell right in front of them.
"Oh Neville, can't you watch where you're going?" An old, stern looking witch wearing a hat with a vulture on it said exasperatedly as she walked up.
Harry bent down a bit to help the boy up and saw his round face was red in embarrassment. "Thanks." He murmured.
"Hello Augusta." Nicolas said.
The woman turned her head sharply to look at Nicolas and it took a second before she realized who he was. "Nick it is good to see you again. It has been a long time."
"Indeed it has. You remember my wife Nell?" He asked, noticing she had surreptitiously put up a privacy charm around them. They had been successful so far today that nobody had recognized Harry, they didn't want to jinx it.
"Of course, it is good to see you too Nell. And who is this?" She enquired, looking at Harry with a small frown.
"Ah, this is our adoptive son Harry Potter. Harry, this is Mrs. Augusta Longbottom."
Neville gave a loud gasp of surprise but Mrs. Longbottom's eyes merely widened slightly.
"It is an honor to meet you young man." She said and gestured slightly to her grandson. "This is my grandson Neville, he will be starting at Hogwarts this year as well."
"Hello Mrs. Longbottom." He replied nodding his head slightly before turning to Neville and offering his hand. "Hello Neville, you excited for Hogwarts?"
Neville needed a nudge from his grandmother before he reached out and hesitantly shook Harry's hand. "H… hi. I'm a little nervous but glad I even got accepted in."
That confused Harry a bit but before he could ask him about it, he felt a flash of displeasure and Hedwig nipped him sharply on the ear. "Ouch, ok I'm sorry." He said and rubbed his ear. "Neville, this is my familiar Hedwig. She got a bit upset that I didn't introduce her."
"Hello Hedwig." The boy said nervously, waving slightly in her direction.
"We were just about to head to Ollivander's to get my wand. Have you gone to get yours yet?" Harry asked.
Neville deflated a bit. "Er— my Gran said I'll be using my dad's old wand."
"Oh Augusta, you know better than that," Nicolas interjected and had to hold up a hand to keep her from saying anything. "Now I'm not trying to chastise you but you know all of this as well as I do, the wand chooses the wizard and if you force Neville to use a wand that isn't bonded with him, the magic he gets out of it won't be nearly as strong or as stable as what he would get with his own. Do you really want to hold your grandson's development back and damage his learning experience because you forced him to use a wand that wasn't compatible with him?"
"There is nothing wrong with his father's wand and Neville should feel honored to be using it." She declared with not a little bit of venom, daring him to continue arguing with her.
Harry looked at Neville and saw that his head was down, as if he were embarrassed, and he was staring at his shoes.
"It's not a question of honor. No two people in this world are the same, we are each unique in our own way. As much as you wish he were, Neville is not your son, he is the byproduct of both his mother and his father's bonding. He may have gotten most of Frank's personality but from what I can see, his look's are pure Alice and that is not something you should ever be, or make him feel he should be, ashamed of."
Mrs. Longbottom looked like she had been slapped in the face. "Ashamed?" she whispered and looked over at Neville. "Neville, do you think I am ashamed of you?" She asked as she put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her but then hurriedly looked away and stared at his shoes again. She gave an audible gulp and blinked her eyes furiously a few times. Giving Neville's shoulder a squeeze she said in a thick voice, "Well, we will discuss this more at home but I suppose Nick is right, I think we should see about getting you your own wand."
Neville's head shot up and a smile slowly spread across his face when she gave him a firm nod. They all turned as one and headed directly to Ollivander's, Harry and Neville walking together slightly behind the others, talking all the way.
As creepy as Ollivander was, you couldn't really doubt his expertise in the way of wands. It didn't take Neville long at all to find his, which was made of cherry wood with a unicorn tail hair core and then Ollivander set his sights on Harry. He got extremely excited when Nicolas told him they needed a wand to be made for Harry using his familiar's feather and eagerly grabbed the raven haired boy and drug him to the back of his shop.
Harry was handed a piece of wood and instructed to close his eyes and concentrate on the feeling the wood gave off. Roughly 8 minutes and 26 different types of wood later he finally felt a warmth emanating from the wood that was placed in his hand and Hedwig let out a triumphant shriek.
"Excellent Mr. Potter, wands made of Rowan wood favor those pure of heart and are very good at protection charms as well as performing excellently in duels. If you come back tomorrow afternoon I should have your wand ready for you." Ollivander said and they all thanked him before leaving.
The group stayed together as Harry and Neville went to be fitted for robes, got their potions supplies, and to stock up on ink and parchment. When Perenelle informed Mrs. Longbottom that they needed to visit Gringotts however, they parted ways with both boys promising to write to each other.
When they stepped into Gringotts, Hedwig deciding to wait outside for them, Nicolas went to speak with his account manager while Perenelle decided to take Harry to his trust vault, which Dumbledore had sent the key for, via Fawkes, late the night she had met with him, as well as meet with the Potter Account Manager to read his parent's will.
Harry laughed excitedly as they sped through the underground tunnels on the Gringotts cart and almost groaned when the ride came to an end. Griphook, the goblin escorting them, hopped out of the cart, took the key from Perenelle to unlock the vault, and pulled open the door, allowing massive amounts of green smoke to come billowing out.
"What's all that green smoke for Mr. Griphook?" Harry asked.
The goblin gave him a queer look but explained. "It is part of a security measure, if the vault is ever opened without the proper key, the wards will trigger, the smoke will incapacitate the would be thief, and the goblins will be alerted that there is an intruder. When the proper key is used, then the wards automatically deactivate the neutralizing effects of the smoke and then reactivates once the door is locked again."
"Wow, that's really cool." Harry said, then gaped once he actually got a look inside his vault.
"Indeed, little wizard." Griphook replied and walked over to the side of the vault to wait for them.
Once he had gotten over just how much money he had, Harry turned to Perenelle. "If I have all of this money, how come you and Nick have been paying for all of my things? Shouldn't I give you money for it?"
Perenelle smiled and ran her hand through his hair before pulling him in for a brief hug. "Of course not sweetheart, we are your guardians now and it is our job to make sure you have everything you need to grow up healthy and happy. I brought you down here so you knew what you have available to you once you get older and so you could get some gold in case you ever want to buy something yourself."
She pulled out a small red leather pouch and handed it to him before taking him over to get some money, explaining to him again how many Knuts to a Sickle and how many Sickles to a Galleon before telling him their average conversion rate into Pounds so that he could have a comparison. She only let him take 10 Galleons, 15 Sickles, and 20 Knuts though, telling him that that should last him for a while since he wouldn't really be shopping anywhere without them.
Done with that, Perenelle informed Griphook that they were supposed to meet with Plodnok about the Potter will and he took them back up to the main floor of the bank, then led them to a door with a plaque that read Plodnok and below that, Account Manager. Once inside, Plodnok wasted no time in bringing out the Potter will and letting Perenelle read it over.
It was fairly simple, as wills go, naming Harry as the soul heir to the Potter vault, the trust vault, and the property located at Godric's Hollow. Various people, including Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, were named beneficiaries, which wasn't unusual at the time the will was written but she got a severe shock when she saw Harry's Godfather in parenthesis next to Sirius' name.
Godparents in the magical world were serious business because accepting such a title and responsibility required the Godmother or Godfather to give a Wizard's Oath that they would never harm, or attempt to harm, their Godson/daughter in any way, either directly or indirectly. This meant that Sirius would not have been able to betray James and Lily, because it would have put Harry in danger and triggered the oath, which would have kept him from being able to go through with it.
If Sirius really was Harry's Godfather, then she was holding the proof of his innocence in her hands and the Ministry had sent an innocent man to prison for 10 years. Oh, they weren't going to be happy about this one bit.
"Plodnok, I can see that Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom were named the executor's for the will so I can understand why they weren't able to execute it but it also names the previous Potter Account Manager Urk as a witness. Why wouldn't he have executed it after everything settled down?" She asked, not a little bit upset that Sirius' innocence could have been cleared up a long time ago had a copy of the will been sent out to the appropriate beneficiaries, considering Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore were also named.
The goblin shifted uncomfortably. "Account Manager Urk became ill just days after the Potters were killed and passed away shortly thereafter. When I took over his position I had seen in his appointment book that he had set up a time to execute the will on November 4th 1981. I did not realize however, that this was the very day he had fallen ill and so had believed it to have been done. Without anybody else coming forward to enquire about it and not having any reason to look further into it myself, the will was made secure in the Potter file and forgotten about."
Perenelle kept her temper in check, Plodnok had all but admitted that he had made a mistake and she knew how much goblins hated having to do that. If she went on a rant now it would only make him more surly and less than helpful. "Thank you for letting me know what happened. If you could go ahead and execute the will and send copies to the listed beneficiaries who are still alive as well as make a copy for myself and Harry here, it would be greatly appreciated." She said, as politely as she was able. She or Nicolas would have to take the copy to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to have them take a look into Sirius' imprisonment.
When they were finally done and met Nicolas in the lobby, they exchanged information and he told her that Dumbledore had sent Rubeus Hagrid to pick up the stone from the vault. Neither of them could figure out just what he was thinking, Hagrid would have stood out like a sore thumb. They would certainly need to bring that up when they saw him on the 5th.
OoOoOoO
It was a bright and sunny Monday morning as Nicolas and Perenelle walked up the dirt road to Hogwarts from the front gate. Harry was currently at Neville's, being shown around the massive greenhouses that took up the majority of the backyard of Longbottom Hall. He had wanted to come see Hogwarts with them but when Perenelle told him that they had arranged for him to visit Neville while they were gone, he had immediately changed his mind.
Hagrid was not there to meet them this time and escort them up to see Dumbledore so they walked leisurely through the halls on their way and stopped every so often to gaze at or speak to one of the many portraits lining the walls.
"Mr. and Mrs. Flamel, it is good to see you again. I hope you are well?" Dumbledore spoke as they walked into his office and stood to greet them.
Nicolas gave Perenelle a small smirk, which she turned her nose up at and ignored, when Dumbledore addressed them by their last names. They had made a bet on whether or not he would respect Perenelle's wishes from their last meeting or if he would revert back to simply calling them by their first. Nicolas had been on the receiving end of his wife's anger enough times to know that she would leave an impression on the wizened wizard and he would not dare to address them by their first names until she again started calling him by his.
"We are doing very good thank you." She replied a bit crisply.
The only sign they saw that her attitude bothered Dumbledore was the slight sigh and drooping of shoulders before he gestured for them to sit and poured them both some tea. "And how was Egypt?"
"It would have been an excellent vacation had it not been for a very disturbing discovery involving Harry." Nicolas said, taking one of the cups offered.
"Oh? What discovery would that be? I do hope he is all right." Dumbledore said in concern.
"Before we tell you anything Dumbledore, we want to warn you right now that if you are not 100% truthful with us regarding what we are about to speak about then I will take my stone, we will walk out that door, and you will never see us or Harry again. Do you understand?"
Dumbledore had already decided to fully disclose everything he knew about Harry to them so, though he dreaded what had happened that would cause them to make such a threat, he did not hesitate to agree. "I promise you both that I will not hide anything from you and will answer any questions, that I am able, truthfully."
"Good. Now, did you know that Harry had a piece of Voldemort's soul buried beneath his scar?" Nicolas asked bluntly and watched their old friend's face carefully.
Dumbledore sucked in a quick breath and paled dramatically. "A piece of his soul?"
"Yes, just beneath his scar."
"But how… why…" He paused and stared at them. "How do you know this and are you completely sure?"
Nicolas and Perenelle were satisfied with Dumbledore's reaction and decided that he had had no prior knowledge about this. Both sighed in relief before Perenelle responded. "An old medicine woman saw it and alerted us to its existence a few days into our vacation. We are very sure that it is as she said because we both witnessed its removal the next day."
Dumbledore sat stunned for a moment before he spoke hesitantly. "I was under the impression that a Horcrux could only be destroyed if its container was also destroyed beyond repair. If Harry was indeed a Horcrux then it would not have been possible for them to simply remove the soul piece without harming him significantly."
"Well then, it's a good thing that Harry wasn't an actual Horcrux." Perenelle said and held up a hand to silence him when it looked like he would argue. "It was determined that there was no way Voldemort would have had the opportunity to complete the process of making an actual Horcrux before he disappeared and even if he had, he would certainly not have intentionally placed one in a living being that he obviously wanted dead.
"The shaman that we spoke to said that the soul fragment most likely split from the main soul when Voldemort's spell backfired and it latched onto the first living thing it could find. It did not move any further than Harry's scar however and the shaman and his companions performed a purification ritual on Harry which removed the fragment and then they destroyed it."
There was silence for a moment as Dumbledore looked at them both in horror. "If a fragment of Voldemort's soul broke off without him going through the process to split it himself, that would mean that his soul had already been severely unstable. The only way that would have happened is if he had made at least one Horcrux before that night."
"We came to the same conclusion and now we know how it is he survived his bodies destruction." Nicolas said gravely.
"Of course. We need to figure out how many he made. As power hungry and obsessed with immortality as he was, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if he actually made more than one."
"We thought we would leave that to you to start with since you seem to have known him quite well but once you have gathered enough information on him and his past, Nell and I would like to be brought into the fold so that we may help locate and destroy these abominations. We have also agreed that it may be best to bring in others to assist with the hunt."
Dumbledore thought this over for some time before responding. "Perhaps Severus could be of some help."
Perenelle gave him an incredulous look. "That's it? We are starting a hunt for items that are considered the darkest of black magic and you want to bring in a single person to help?"
"I believe it would be best if we didn't involve too many people. We don't want information like this getting out to any of his supporters."
Nicolas let out an exasperated huff. "Dumbledore, Nell and I are now professors and parents which means that we will be spending the majority of every day here in the castle or at home with Harry. You hold 3 top ranking positions that monopolize the better part of your days and Snape will most likely be busy brewing potions from dawn until dusk. Just when do you plan on any of us putting in the required hours we would need to go searching for Voldemort's Horcruxes?"
After a very dramatic sigh, Dumbledore responded. "You are right of course. I can maybe speak to Amelia Bones with the DMLE and see if she will be willing to listen, she has always been firmly against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It may be a bit difficult to convince her though, not many people are going to be willing to accept that Voldemort is not dead."
"That's a good start. If she does agree to help she might be able to recommend an Auror or two and maybe even an Unspeakable to add to the group. If you are worried about the information getting out we can go ahead and get a Wizard Oath out of everyone just to make sure nobody can speak of it to someone else that isn't a part of the Oath."
"Yes yes, I will set up a meeting with her for this weekend so we can discuss it and I will owl you to let you know how it goes." Dumbledore still wasn't very comfortable with so many people being told but he could see the benefit in having multiple people outside of Hogwarts assisting.
"Terrific. Now that that's settled, what say we move onto why you saw fit to send Hagrid of all people to collect the Stone from Gringotts?" Nicolas enquired.
Dumbledore looked slightly confused. "Mrs. Flamel asked me to send someone to retrieve it and I thought Hagrid was an excellent choice."
Nicolas closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of nose, leaving Perenelle to respond. "Dumbledore, I specifically said someone trusting and nondescript. Please tell me how an 11 1/2 foot tall man is nondescript."
The awkward silence that followed that statement, as Dumbledore tried to figure out a response, was broken by Fawkes' trill of what sounded suspiciously like laughter, which lightened the mood somewhat.
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I apologize, I was thinking more of the safety of the stone and didn't think it through fully when I chose Hagrid to go fetch it. I trust him with my life but I can see that he may not have been the best choice for such a delicate job."
"Well there's nothing we can do about it now. Let's just hope that the thief still thinks that we took it with us to Egypt." Nicolas said with a sigh.
"Indeed. Would you like to go ahead and hide it now?" Dumbledore asked.
Perenelle stood up. "Might as well, then you can tell us what you know about Harry before we decide whether or not to bother taking a look into that jinx on the DADA position."
Dumbledore understood the not so subtle threat behind her words perfectly. If he didn't tell them what he knew they would leave and not come back. He simply nodded and got up to retrieve the Stone from the secret vault he had hidden behind one of his bookcases.
Casting the Fidelius and sharing the secret before placing the stone back into the vault didn't take long at all and they were soon back to sipping tea while Dumbledore prepared to tell them about the prophecy.
Hearing that the child that was quickly becoming like a son to them was destined to either defeat a powerful Dark Lord or die by his hand worried both Flamels beyond reason. As soon as they heard it though, they resolved to tell Harry and start training him for when the time came that he would meet Voldemort in battle. They would not however, allow this prophecy to completely rob him of what was left of his childhood and do everything in their power to make sure he grew up happy.
"All right, lets go ahead and look into that jinx shall we? What have you done in regards to it so far Dumbledore?" Perenelle asked.
"Well, when I first started to notice its existence the first thing I tried was moving the classroom that the DADA class was taught in and when that didn't work I did the same with the professor's office. I checked the parchments of each application I received since becoming Headmaster, both rejected and accepted, but could not find anything on any of them. I even changed the name of the class once and checked to see if the jinx may be a variation of the Taboo curse where instead of revealing the speaker's location, the jinx would strengthen the longer the specific word was used and then activate towards the end of the year once it acquired significant power."
Both Flamels nodded as he explained, thinking furiously about what could be causing this.
"Have you ever suspected who it is that might have placed the jinx?" Nicolas enquired.
"Yes, I believe it was Tom Riddle who placed it. He was quite an exceptional young man before he turned to the dark and became known as Lord Voldemort. He was also most upset when I turned down his application for the position."
Nicolas and Perenelle stared at him, stunned. Nicolas recovered before his wife. "You're telling us that Voldemort applied for the DADA position before he actually became the Dark Lord?"
Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Oh yes, but by then I had heard all kinds of rumors about his exploration into dark magic and did not think it best for him to be teaching children. Of course, I did not know just how far he had journeyed down that road and it was only a few years later that he began to rise to power."
Nicolas ran a hand down his face, today was turning out to be very trying indeed. "Well, lets take a look at his application first since we are here and if we don't find anything there, we will brainstorm on what else to look for. You seem to have done a thorough investigation so far."
"Very good." Dumbledore said and went to a filing cabinet, pulled out a folder of all previously rejected applications, and brought it back to his desk while flipping through it to find the one he was looking for. "Ah, hear it is."
Nicolas took the offered parchment and looked it over for some time before he turned to his wife. "Nell dear, do you recognize this parchment? It seems oddly familiar but I can't seem to place it."
Perenelle took the parchment from her husband and nearly dropped it in surprise when she got a good look at it. "Nick, this is cursed parchment!"
"Cursed parchment?" Dumbledore asked worriedly when he saw Nicolas' face pale.
"Yes," Perenelle began and set it down on the edge of the desk. "It was invented by a dark wizard in Greece by the name of Toxeus Vitalis back in 1434. It was quite ingenious in that it allowed witches and wizards to embed curses, jinxes, and the like into the parchment without them being detected by the standard detection charms. He apparently engraved his own rune array into the skin just before the parchment was treated so that they would be hidden beneath the surface and once the desired spell was cast the runes would activate and conceal the spell. Rumor has it that there was more involved than that but that is all I heard about directly.
"I only got to see one with my own eyes before Emperor Palaiologus ordered them all to be destroyed in 1438. They weren't in circulation long enough for them to become overly popular so they never really made it outside of Constantinople, thank Merlin, but I am curious how Riddle managed to get a hold of one. It would have been pretty simple for him to cast the jinx on the DADA position via the parchment. You no doubt cast your detection charms but without knowing to look further you wouldn't have been able to find it." She finished and looked to Dumbledore for confirmation.
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "I did look into the parchment when I was first attempting to remove the jinx but I never found anything wrong with it so I just filed it with the other rejected applications. How do you remove the jinx?"
"Oh, that's quite easy." Perenelle said before she quickly pulled her wand and set the entire parchment on fire, burning it to ashes within seconds.
"Was that entirely necessary?" Dumbledore asked angrily. "We could have studied the parchment and figured out just how it works."
Perenelle looked unabashed as she vanished the ashes. "I don't think so Dumbledore, it's bad enough that Riddle had it in his possession for any length of time and we can only hope he didn't find out its secrets before childishly using it to place a jinx on the position. Can you imagine the destruction he could have brought had he found out how to make his own and started distributing them willy nilly to all those in the Ministry who opposed him during the war?"
Now it was Dumbledore's turn to pale as he thought through that horrifying scenario. "You're absolutely right, I was only thinking about it from a learning standpoint." He said and took off his glasses to rub his eyes.
"Don't beat yourself up about it, the concept is fascinating, and I was rather excited about it myself before I really thought about what they could do." Perenelle said softly. "We will have to send an owl to the Minister for Magic of Greece to let him know that one was found so that he can have a search done to see if they can locate anymore and destroy them if they do."
"Perhaps it would be better if I sent it, make it seem more official." Dumbledore suggested.
"That's fine with us." Nicolas replied, standing and helping his wife up. "If we are done here Dumbledore, I think Nell and I will be going now. After everything we discussed, I think we both really need to see and speak with Harry."
"Quite understandable Mr. Flamel. Thank you very much for coming and especially for ridding me of that infernal jinx. We will be having a staff meeting on the 17th starting at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, where you will be introduced to the rest of the staff." Dumbledore said as he walked them to the door.
"We will be there. Thank you for everything today Dumbledore, even if the topics were most unpleasant to discuss." Nicolas said and patted him gently on the shoulder.
"Of course, and please don't hesitate to owl me if you have any other questions or suggestions regarding the school. I rather enjoyed the different course ideas."
Both Flamels waved at him as Perenelle responded. "We will. Good day Dumbledore."
As they made they're way out of Hogwarts, Perenelle wound her arm through Nicolas', needing the comfort and closeness as they discussed how they were going to tell Harry about the prophecy and discuss the role he would play in the future of Wizarding Britain.
A/N: Though I can't say for sure, my next chapter may be a little late. There was a death in the family so it might be a little slow in being written. Don't worry, I'm not talking months but perhaps a week or two so I hope you guys can bare with me if that happens. Thanks for all of the reviews and likes for the story so far, you guys are awesome.