Chapter 31 – Pathways
It was around eight by the time Harry and Lillian had washed up and dragged their tired bodies for dinner.
"Hello there," said Nicolas cheerfully spotting the two teens.
"Hello yourself," mumbled Lillian as she took a seat.
"So how was your day?" asked Perenelle innocently.
Harry, refusing to allow the old woman to have fun at his expense did not show any visible reaction but answered anyway. "Different."
Penny was surprised, "What! No smart ass answer? Just different!?"
Harry nodded tiredly.
Penny looked satisfied. "Well eat up then. We'll talk after you two are done."
About twenty minutes later they were done and Nicolas beckoned them into the living room.
For once Harry felt the alchemist was being nice and purposely guided Harry to the chair next to the window and Lillian next to the fire place.
They sat there for about fifteen minutes enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. Penny and Nicolas were sitting on the couch in the middle of the room, Lillian was close to them enjoying the heat coming from the fire and Harry was relishing the feel of the cool breeze on his face.
Nicolas was the first to break the silence.
"You should know today's training is nothing compared to what you two are going to endure for the next thirty days," he said.
Harry glanced at him wearily.
"I thought so," muttered Lillian glumly.
"Oh, don't look so gloomy," said Penny. "After all at the end of the day you might just be able to fight us!"
Harry sighed. "What's with you and you gloating about your strength?" he asked her.
She simply raised an eyebrow. "I think that's exactly what you were doing earlier weren't you?"
"That was then, this is now," said Harry.
"Act your age, Penny," said Nicolas good naturedly.
Penny just rolled her eyes.
"What are we going to do tomorrow?" asked Lillian.
"Pretty much the same thing," said Nicolas.
"More running!" groaned Harry.
"You can add more dodging and targeting too," she Penny.
"Targeting?"
"To make your aim perfect," she replied.
"And what about me?" asked Lillian.
"A variation of what Harry's going to do," said Nicolas.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll see," said Nick mysteriously. "So do you kids have any questions to ask? You've had quite the day, lots of unexpected things happening and I'm sure you might be having some questions."
"I got one," said Harry.
Nick gestured for him to continue.
"If the Perenelle and you are so powerful, why don't you just finish the dark lord once and for all?"
Nicolas laughed and said, "Why in gods name would I want to attract the wrath of a dark lord!?"
"I donno? Because you can kill him in one stroke!?" said Harry sarcastically.
"It's more complicated than that Harry."
"Really?" said Harry skeptically.
"Harry," began Penny, "Nicolas has a purpose, when the second brother took him under his wing he made Nicolas swear several oaths and one of them includes never interfering with the affairs of wizards."
Lillian frowned. "So he decided to train you but not let you fight?"
Nicolas sighed. "Do you remember what I told you about Merlin?"
Both teens nodded. "Merlin lived up to the youngest brother's standards for a long time but as always power corrupts and Merlin strayed away from the task the youngest brother set to him. Merlin always used his power for good and never took any credit for his deeds, but there is a point in everybody's life when they want to be recognized for what they do.
Merlin was no different.
The oaths I've sworn are to ensure I do not forget what my purpose is for as long as I live."
"What is your purpose?" asked Harry.
Nicolas just smiled. "To save the world," he said.
Lillian snorted. "How are you going to save the world if you can't and won't fight?"
"If such a situation ever arises where the world requires saving, literally, then you'll see what my purpose is. What job I was given by the second brother."
Harry leaned back in his chair and sighed. "You make yourself sound like a hero behind the scenes."
Penny laughed. "Even if he didn't swear those oaths why would he want to risk his life and defeat dark lords?" she asked the two.
Lillian and Harry had no answer. She was right though. Which person in the right mind would keep fighting dark lords for centuries!? Harry was certain he wouldn't if he was ever in such a position.
"Tell me Harry, why do you want to fight Voldemort and kill him?"
"Revenge," said Harry simply.
"But not because you think it is your destiny and because you hold that wand?"
"That too," replied Harry.
"Why?" she shot at him. "And don't tell me it is to save lives."
Harry's stony face faltered for a moment.
"I guess, I look at it like it is some kind of a job," said Harry finally. "Something only I can accomplish."
"Selfish reasons," said Penny. "You're not doing it for the world but you're doing it for yourself."
"Of course I'm doing it for myself," said Harry. "If it weren't for that monster I might have had parents. Not some pathetic guardians."
Penny smiled. "And what do you think Nick here would have done with the amount of power he has? Keep waiting until a dark lord shows up and then kill him?"
Harry shook his head. "No, I guess he wouldn't do that."
"So if a person has a lot of power and is immortal but without a purpose, what do you think would happen?"
Harry shrugged. "How would I know?"
"What about you Lillian, what do you think might happen."
"Err… I guess he'd get bored?"
"Or he'd go mad because of living in solitude for so long and having to see the people he loves die. That is the price of immortality without a purpose."
"But you two have a purpose."
"That's the only reason we're sane right now. And the fact that we have each other."
Harry rolled his eyes.
"But there is one more reason why I won't fight dark lords," said Nicolas.
Both Harry and Lillian leaned ahead, eager to hear the man.
"You know that the dark arts are just a part of evil and one day he will come back?"
Both teens nodded.
"I could keep killing dark lords for the rest of my long life but evil would still survive."
"So your purpose is to defeat evil," said Lillian, her eyes wide.
"No," said Nicolas.
"No?" said Harry feeling annoyed. He was quite tired of the Flamel's guessing games.
"That is your purpose," he said calmly.
Stunned silence greeted him.
"I thought I had to defeat Voldemort," said Harry carefully.
"The one with the one wand will be the end of the evil," said Penny simply.
"What?"
"A prophecy made by a very famous seer centuries ago," said Nicolas.
"Meaning … me?"
The alchemist nodded. "It is quite self explanatory."
Harry felt a shiver of fear and thrill run down his back. "But I thought prophecies were unreliable," he said slowly.
Nicolas just smiled. "In our long years, I have never seen a prophecy not come true, however twisted the outcome," he said. "Usually they are very difficult to understand but this one is fairly clear."
"Who was it?" asked Lillian.
"Well, at first this is what the second brother told me and years later I heard it first hand from Michel de Nostredame."
"Nosterdamus!? As in the muggle known Nosterdamus?" exclaimed Lillian.
"Yes," said Nicolas. "And all his predictions have come true so far."
Harry just stared at a spot on the wall, his mind going blank for an instant. He didn't know what he felt about this latest revelation. He didn't know whether what he was feeling was fear or was it excitement.
"I want to know everything," said Harry suddenly, snapping his head towards Nicolas, his eyes burning. "All the time you keep testing me, revealing things when you choose too, I want you to come clean about everything!"
There was a light blue glow around Nicolas and Penny and Nicolas looked very pleased.
"What was that?" asked Lillian.
"An oath being lifted," replied Penny. "We couldn't tell a few important things unless the one with the wand demanded it."
"You mean I could have just commanded you to tell me everything and you would have told me!?" asked Harry incredulously.
Penny looked annoyed. "Not commanded," she said, "But yes, you could have asked for the complete truth and we could have told you."
"Well go on then!"
Nicolas exchanged a look with Penny. "There have been various prophecies regarding the end of evil and all of them point to one fact."
"Which is?" asked Lillian, her heart filling with dread.
"When the elder wand finally recognizes an owner, it will start the second rise of evil and only the wand owner will have a slight chance of defeating it."
Harry felt his heart skip a beat. "It will rise again?"
Nicolas nodded solemnly. "Maybe."
"But, what if Voldemort is killed before it happens?" asked Lillian.
Nicolas shook his head. "I don't know. I told you prophecies can be interpreted in many different ways. For all we know, if Harry here somehow manages to defeat Voldemort then maybe evil will never be able to rise."
"And what if it does rise?" asked Harry, his voice steady but his eyes betrayed his confusion.
"It will become an unstoppable monster," said Penny. "An entity with power we can't even dream of."
"But, if it is unstoppable how did the brothers defeat it!?" asked Lillian.
"They captured its heart."
Twin sounds of "Huh?" were heard.
"The second brother never told me the details but somehow they managed to capture its black heart. Once they had its heart, it was firmly under their control."
"But how are we going to do that?" asked Harry.
"So you've already accepted that it's going to come back?" Penny asked ignoring his question.
Harry took a deep breath. "I don't know if it will but I believe in being prepared for the worst and this definitely is the worst case scenario."
Perenelle smiled. "You are a very weird child Harry," she said.
"Thank you," said Harry dryly. "Coming back to my previous question, is there a way to kill it?"
Nicolas sighed. "How old do you think I am Harry?"
Harry was taken aback at the change of topic. "I donno, thousand?" he said taking a wild guess.
"Try two thousand," said Flamel. "The second brother had lived for more than fifteen thousand years or more before he found me or that's what he said."
Harry and Lillian's eyes grew large at that.
"You weren't kidding when you said he was old," muttered Lillian.
"And senile," said Penny.
Nicolas smiled at that. "He trained me and taught me everything that there was to know at that time but he never gave me his name."
"So what did you call him?"
"Old man," he said with a grin. "But forget that. He was ancient, living on an endless supply of the elixir of life. He had lost almost all his magical powers and the only reason he hadn't succumbed to death was because he was looking for someone to take over his mantle.
He took Merlin's abandonment real hard and when he found me, the first thing he did was make me swear lots of oaths at wand point when I agreed to train under him.
I tried to make reason with him but he went on and on blabbering about not letting it happen again and all such nonsense."
"Sounds like a very charming person," said Harry with a smirk.
Penny leveled a glare at Harry and said, "He was the craziest and most knowledgeable person I have ever met."
"Anyway," said Nicolas hastily sensing an argument brewing. "I don't even remember the number of oaths he made me swear. But I can tell you for sure that I am practically a prisoner in my own home."
"Not that I mind," he added.
"But why would he do that?" asked Lillian, "I mean what was the point of making all powerful and all if you can't even use it?"
"Because he was crazy," said Perenelle flatly.
"Forgive Penny," said Nicolas smiling. "She just dislikes the old man."
"With good reason," she muttered with a murderous look in her eye.
"Why?" asked Harry looking extremely interested.
"A story you will never get to hear," said Penny glaring at her husband. "Why don't we get back to the original topic?"
"Ah yes. So I'm sure you've figured out why I don't fight dark lords," he said, an amused expression on his wrinkled face.
The elementals nodded.
The group relapsed into silence once again.
"You know," said Nicolas after a while. "When I first met you two, Lillian told me something about Harry. Something about a moving power thing?"
"Yeah," replied Lillian. "Why don't you show them Harry?"
Harry glanced at her and then leaned back into his chair. "Don't know what you're talking about Freckles."
"Oh for heavens sake," she said irritably, "Stop being an idiot and just show them!"
"Fine," said Harry rolling his eyes. "You asked for it."
Lillian's eyes widened in horror as Harry raised his hand.
"Potter!" she yelled in panic as she rose from her chair and was flung out of the window.
Harry grinned as he heard her fall in the wet mud near the lake. His grin grew wider when he heard her roar in fury.
"So un-lady like don't you think," he said to the Flamel's.
"That was interesting," commented Perenelle.
"Quite," agreed Nicolas. "Do mind telling us how you did that?"
Harry shrugged. "I learnt how to have some control my magic when I was around 6 or 7 year old. I tried to reach out to the thing inside me which made me different and succeeded and ever since I've been able to move objects with my magic," he said.
"Hmmm... So because you tried to access your magical core at such a young age and successfully managed to do so, it manifested in a way we could have never known," muttered Nicolas.
"Can you do anything else?" asked Perenelle while Nicolas seemed to be deep in thought.
"No," said Harry. "It's just the elemental ability and this."
At that moment Lillian came back into the room looking extremely pissed but surprisingly clean.
"Did you change?" asked Harry with a smirk.
"There's something known as magic you moron," snapped Lillian.
"Anyway we'll test your unique skill tomorrow Harry," said Nicolas. "But before you two go upstairs there's something important I need to tell you."
"Do you know any magical creatures?" he asked them.
"Err… yeah," said Harry, "There are Unicorns, Dragons…"
"Hippogriffs and Centaurs," said Lillian.
"Goblins, house-elves," added Harry remembering Dobby.
"Alright," said Nicolas raising a hand to stop them. "You know quite a few magical creatures. You should know there are three branches under magic."
"Branches?" asked Lillian.
"Namely Wizards/Witches, magical creatures and dark creatures. Well this is the classification given by the ministry of magic," he said, shaking his head in amusement.
"I suppose elementals are classified as dark," said Lillian wearily.
"You guessed right. Which is exactly why you must not tell anyone about your powers, not your friends, parents, nobody. If the ministry gets even the slightest of hints about your powers you will be carted away to Azkaban without a second thought, or you will be captured by some crazy son of a bitch and will be forced to their bidding."
A nasty shiver ran down Lillian's spine.
"But is it that easy to capture an elemental?" asked Harry.
"No, but you will be on the run. You'll be wanted fugitives running for your lives with no one to help you.
Which is better? No one knowing what you are or running and hiding from the entire wizarding world?"
"I see your point," said Harry grinning lightly. "But how are we supposed to fight the dark lord if we can't use our powers?"
"Don't let anyone see you," said Penny.
Lillian snorted. "Yeah, like that's going to happen."
"That's your headache, not ours," said Nicolas. "But that's enough talk for today, it's time for you two to sleep and for us to watch a movie."
Huh?" was the eloquent reply from the two.
"We're watching a movie you dumb-asses," said Penny. "Now stop bugging us and go to sleep!"
"Which movie?" asked Lillian curiously.
"Inherit the wind," replied Nicolas.
"That's a really old movie right?" asked Lillian.
Penny sighed. "Will you go upstairs already!?"
"Can't we watch?"
Penny glanced towards Nicolas who gave a subtle nod. She then smiled and drew her wand.
There was a whoosh like sound and Harry and Lillian found themselves standing in front of their rooms.
"The hell!?"
Lillian tried going back downstairs but an invisible barrier seemed to be blocking the way down.
"Looks like we're trapped," commented Harry dryly.
Lillian's shoulders drooped. "Why can't we watch the movie?" she complained.
"What's the big deal?" said Harry.
"I haven't seen a movie for ages! The last one I saw was Aladdin and that was last year."
"Ala what?"
Lillian's mouth dropped open in shock. "You haven't seen Aladdin!?"
Harry's irritation level spiked. "Well forgive me for not wasting my time watching stupid movies!"
"Aladdin is not a stupid movie Potter!" said Lillian angrily. "And just because you don't see movies doesn't mean they aren't fun!"
"I'm going to bed," he said shortly ignoring her rant and entered his awesome pink bedroom.
He lay down on his bed and couldn't help but enjoy the feel of the soft mattress against his back.
As he slowly drifted to sleep, he suddenly wondered how was it possible that muggle technology worked in this house when in any other magical household they wouldn't.
Lillian on the other hand was wide awake. Her anger at Harry had ebbed away and the gravity of what Nicolas had said was just starting to weigh on her. She was going to have to hide her true self from everyone around her or risk being hunted down.
She felt alone and scared all of a sudden. She was after all just a normal thirteen year old… okay not a normal thirteen year old. But even abnormal thirteen year olds aren't supposed to be told they are not human and could be killed anytime and anywhere.
Her mind was in turmoil and it would be hours until she finally fell asleep. At first it sounded exciting, now it was slowly transforming into a nightmare.
A loud scream jerked Harry out of his sleep. He looked around wildly looking for the source of the sound but could find none.
"Must have been a dream," he muttered before he heard something scream behind him making him literally jump out of his skin.
He looked back sharply his heart beating painfully against his chest when he realized it was the alarm clock screaming.
A note materialized beside the clock telling him to come downstairs. It was five 'o' clock in the morning.
The clock screamed again making Harry jump again.
"Freaking thing is going to give me a heart attack," he said clutching his chest. The clock shrieked again and Harry hurled it out of the open window.
Sighing, he slowly dragged himself to the bathroom to get freshened up.
He stopped outside Lillian's door and wondered what if she had a similar alarm.
It wasn't. He could distinctly hear the alarm screaming freckles at an alarming speed. It kept going freckles, freckles, freckles, freckles, until there was loud crash and the noise stopped.
"Well, looks the old man does have a sense of humor," he said with a wide grin suddenly feeling wide awake.
It took them about half an hour to get down which was practically a record in Harry's mind.
They found a note on the dinning table asking them to come out.
"They really like writing notes don't they," commented Lillian dryly.
"You bet," muttered Harry.
A cool breeze was blowing gently when they stepped out. The sun could be seen slowly waking from it's slumber and bathing the surroundings with it's light.
"Peaceful isn't it?" said Perenelle from behind them.
Harry turned to talk to her but instead his mouth dropped open.
"Oh.. what, how?" stuttered Lillian.
Nicolas and Perenelle seemed to have de-aged to around twenty five.
"Ah, it feels good to be young again," said Nicolas stretching. "Those old bones always make me feel lethargic."
"The Elixir of life," breathed Harry.
"Trainings going to be intense from today so we decided to be in good shape ourselves," said Penny.
"I'd have never believed it if I didn't see it," whispered Lillian in awe.
"Now, now Harry. You can stop admiring my body now," said Perenelle winking at him.
Harry blushed. "I wasn't," he muttered looking away.
"And you can stop sniggering too, Lillian. I know you were staring as well."
"So!?" said Lillian. "It's not everyday you see an old hag become a… … a….. well become young!"
"I know you were going to say hot kiddo," said Penny raising an eyebrow. "Do you swing the other way?"
"What!?" cried out Lillian, her face turning red.
Penny just waved her off. "You'll understand when you grow older."
"I understood! And no! I don't swing the other way!" she said indignantly.
"Ahem," said Nicolas interrupting. "As illuminating as this conversation is. Let's get to what we came here to do."
Harry looked at Nicolas and again felt amazed at the change.
"You both are going to start by talking five rounds around the lake and then come in for breakfast," he said. "After that I'll be taking Lillian and Harry will be at Penny's mercy."
"Thanks for that," grumbled Harry.
"Okay start," commanded Nicolas.
With a sigh both started their jog around the lake. It began as a normal jog but soon transformed into a silent competition about who was faster and even though they both were tiring by the second, they continued to run. During the last lap it was a full out sprint which eventually Harry won.
Lillian looked like she had swallowed a sour lemon and Harry was just smirked and said, "Loser."
That irked her. "I wasn't aware it was a race," she said trying to catch her breath.
"Sure, sure whatever you say Freckles," he said in a patronizing manner.
Lillian sniffed in the air. "You stink Potter," she said coolly and walked back to the house.
Harry rolled his eyes but still sniffed himself and wrinkled his nose in disgust. He was stinking alright.
After breakfast Perenelle took Harry to the place they trained the previous day.
"So what are we going to do today," asked Harry, a little hesitation creeping into his voice.
He had to jump out of the way when a pale yellow light came shooting towards him.
"I guess it's dodging then," he said eyeing her wand warily.
The next hour was filled with Harry jumping and weaving through a constant stream of stinging hexes.
The one thing Harry realized was Perenelle was extremely creative when it came to shooting hexes. There was absolutely no way to predict what was going to come when and how. Each pattern was different from the other.
At the end of the hour when she finally stopped, Harry felt like he had been bitten by a hundred bees or maybe more.
"Well congratulations!" she said smiling. "You managed to score a 40 percent."
"Just forty!?"
"Forty is pretty damn good," she said. "It means you can probably stay alive for about 30 minutes in a real duel."
"30 minutes only!?"
"Less talk and more train," she said and conjured up a whole bunch of javelins.
"What am I supposed to do with these?"
She waved her wand again and a number of targets materialized in the air.
"Take three shots with your left hand followed by one with your right hand. Once you hit all ten targets we move on to the next round."
Harry took a deep breath and picked one javelin.
"I said left hand sweet heart," called out Penny.
"Left hand it is," he said rolling his eyes.
His aim was terrible. The javelin was too heavy and he couldn't even reach the targets.
Half an hour had passed by and he hadn't even managed to hit a single one. Both his arms were aching and on top of it his body stung too.
"This is pointless," he said irritably. "Those javelins are too heavy and the targets are too far!"
Penny simply shrugged and pulled a banana out of the bag she was carrying and threw it to him. "Maybe that will make you feel better."
Harry gave a sigh of defeat and ate the banana anyway.
It didn't make the slightest difference.
"Now start."
He picked up another javelin with his left hand and took aim again.
"Make sure you are well balanced and keep your arm firm," she said.
Harry obeyed.
"Now when you throw it, make sure the direction you throw the javelin is in the same direction as your line of sight and of course your eye should be only on the target."
Harry took a deep breath and threw it will all his strength and this time it managed to reach the target and miss only by almost six feet!
"You're getting better," said Perenelle approvingly. "Now continue until you get all the targets."
Harry began the exercise with renewed energy. With every throw the distance between the javelin and the target kept reducing until finally after one and a half hours he finally managed to smash a target!
"Yes!" he shouted in triumph.
"The rest of them are waiting," she said in a sing song voice.
Harry just grinned and said, "Bring it on!"
It was 12 'o' clock when Harry finally hit all ten targets and by then his arms felt like lead but the stinging feeling had gone and was replaced by unimaginable hunger.
The growl of his stomach was a testament to that hunger.
"I'm proud of you Harry," said Penny. "It took you only five hours to hit all targets."
"Is that good or bad," he asked.
"Good," she replied. "Considering the fact that those javelins were 4 kilograms each and you had to throw them 20 feet away your timing was pretty damn good."
"Four kilos!?" asked Harry aghast.
"Yes four kilos," she said. "And the fact that you managed to complete the task indicates that your magic is maturing at a terrifying pace and your strength and focus is improving too."
"Thanks," said Harry grinning.
"Now I know you're hungry, so let's eat before we continue our exercises."
Instead of going back to the house to eat, Penny had brought the food with her.
"This is some good Chinese food," said Harry, his mouth half full.
"Glad you like it," she said. "We ordered it just this morning all the way from China."
"China!? How the hell did you get it from China?"
"Magic," she replied simply.
"Oh yeah," said Harry. "But there's something I been wanting to ask you."
"Ask."
"You say you and the old man are around two thousand years old right?"
"Yes?"
"Do you keep records of all families and stuff like that?"
"Of course we do."
"Then you'll have records of my family won't you?"
"Yes," she said shortly.
"Could I have a look?"
"That's not possible right now. Those records are stored elsewhere and it would not be feasible for Nicolas or me to go and retrieve them."
"Oh," said Harry disappointed. "But there's another thing too. You see Austin forgot to mention one more unique ability we both share."
Penny raised her eyebrows in question.
"We're both Parselmouth's and I know it's weird," he said looking at her expression.
"Dumbledore thinks I can speak Parseltongue because of the whole scar thing but Austin is a different story all together and I can't understand it."
"Maybe she was born with it," suggested Penny. "I know quite a few people who had the ability to speak Parseltongue. It wasn't just limited to the Slytherin line you know. It's just an ability you're born with, like a metamorphmagus."
"I thought that too," said Harry, "But she can wear Slytherin's ring too. I had found it in my vault and could never wear it."
"Slytherin enchanted his ring so that only his ancestors could wear it, I know," she said frowning. "But Lillian is one hundred percent muggleborn. She doesn't have any magical ancestors as far as we know."
"Then how can she wear Slytherin's ring?"
"Tell you what," she said after a moment. "When you get back to Hogwarts, find the chamber of secrets. Inside it there is supposed to be a library in which Slytherin kept his most prized possessions. But the entrance can only be opened by a blood relative. If Lillian is able to open it, then she is a descendant of Slytherin."
"I already thought of that," replied Harry.
"You found the chamber?" asked Penny in surprise. "That was the only place in Hogwarts which Nick and I could not enter."
"But you know where it is?"
"It has two entrances, one in the enchanted forest and one in a bathroom inside the castle."
"I know of the one in the bathroom, but I didn't know of the one in the… what forest!?"
"The enchanted forest also known as the forbidden forest in recent times."
"It was known as the enchanted forest? Why did the name change?"
"Because the name was too attractive to the students at Hogwarts. Visiting an enchanted forest is exciting, but visiting the forbidden forest is scary."
"Well to most visiting a forest which is forbidden to visit is adventurous," Harry said dryly. "Especially to Gryffindor's."
Harry ate his lunch quietly mulling over his conversation with the alchemists wife. Most of his thoughts were directed towards his family and their history which he couldn't seem to find anywhere.
"Are you done," cut in Penny's voice. "We have to get back to training."
Harry nodded and wiped his hands clean. "Ready for round two."
"Good," she said and conjured more spears.
"More target practice!?"
"This time it gets a little more interesting," she said. "The targets are going to be moving."
That said and ignoring Harry's mutterings she conjured more targets which began to move randomly at a steady pace.
"Remember. First three tries with your left hand and then one with your right. Begin."
He got one at his first try itself. Penny smiled but didn't comment. She could feel the change in him and couldn't help but wonder if he could change so much in a two days, what would happen after a month!?
Sweat was dripping from his face profusely and his arms were crying for rest but Harry ignored them and continued his exercise.
He was now missing the targets by a few inches even when they were moving so Penny decided to increase their speed but it didn't bother Harry. He just hit them harder and faster.
"Stop," shot Penny's voice over the sound of another wooden target cracking.
Panting Harry looked at her in annoyance for his concentration was broken. "What?"
"That's enough," she said and vanished the spears and targets.
"Enough for today or enough target practice?"
"Enough target practice. We're going to start a new exercise."
"A new exercise?"
"We're going to test the limits of your wandless magic," she said and placed the tip of her wand on the ground.
"Broldeium," she said in a strong clear voice and the earth began to shake and huge boulders began to rise out of the ground like bubbles in a bowl of boiling water.
Harry was amazed. He had read about this charm and it couldn't be performed by any normal wizard. It was said that even Dumbledore couldn't perform this spell without being severely exhausted and yet this woman was doing it with ease.
By the time she was done there were at least thirty to forty boulders twenty times the size of him around them.
"I want you to levitate one of these boulders," she said calmly.
Harry looked at her and then looked back at the boulder and said, "That one?"
"Go on," she said gesturing to one of the boulders, "Let's see what you got."
Harry took a deep breath and stretched his hands out in front of him.
For a few seconds nothing happened and Harry seemed to be concentrating real hard.
He then closed his eyes and the boulder began to shake.
Perenelle could see that Harry was straining himself but she let him continue anyway.
Suddenly Harry dropped down to his knees panting. He wiped the thin layer of sweat which formed on his forehead and said, "I can't do it. It's too heavy."
"Well to bad," mocked Perenelle. "Because you're going to be staying here until you're able to levitate all these boulders at the same time and then use your elemental power to shatter them into pieces."
"You're joking!" cried out Harry. "Do you even know how heavy that thing is!? Contrary to what you might think, I do feel how heavy the item I levitate is!"
"Use magic!" she said smirking. "This is your next exercise. And if you don't finish the task by the end of the day, you will be punished."
Harry glared at her furiously, "At least tell me why I am supposed to do this!?"
"Strengthen your abilities and to make you suffer," she said casually.
Harry's anger deflated and he shook his head. "You're a sadistic bitch, you know that right?"
"You've until six in the morning," she said coldly. "Your dinner will be sent here at eight and when I come back I expect to see your task complete."
That said she simply shimmered out of view leaving Harry alone surrounded by rocks and boulders.
"She is a bitch," he said with a sigh and resigned himself to his plight.
Minutes became hours as Harry kept trying to lift a boulder. Soon it became dark and his dinner arrived which he gulped down like water.
He conjured a blue flame to give him some light as he went back to his task but he couldn't do it. He was too tired and he couldn't even raise his arms anymore.
Harry decided to rest for a little while and before he knew it, he was fast asleep. The cold winds made no effect on him but instead made him feel much better and more comfortable.
Perenelle watched him fall asleep from a distance and sighed. She was hoping he'd at least be able to levitate one but she was wrong. She knew it was harsh on her part to make him do something so hard but time was running out and there was no time for the easy stuff.
The next morning when Harry woke he was quite surprised to find himself surrounded by rocks before he remembered the previous day's events.
His eyes slowly scanned his surrounding when they came to rest on a figure sitting on one of the rocks eating a sandwich.
"Good morning Harry," said Penny. "I see you had a nice and restful sleep."
Harry winced. "I suppose," he answered.
"Did you do what you were asked to do?"
"No I didn't," he said. "I could barely even move it."
Penny's wand was out in a flash. "Are you familiar with muggle military training Harry?" she asked him in a low voice.
Harry gulped and said, "No."
"Well," she said with a pleased smile. "Looks like you're going to get a crash course."
What followed after, Harry could easily count as his most painful exercise. He did sit ups, push ups, was made to run with his hands above his head. Penny even made him somehow stand on his hands and walk until blisters formed on his hands.
Harry sorely regretted meeting the Flamel's at the end of his routine.
"Now that wasn't too hard was it?" Penny said cheerfully.
Harry could see she was taking pleasure in watching him suffer and it frustrated him to no end because he was suffering.
The rest of the day passed by in a similar way to the previous. First was the dodging training followed by target practice and then they moved on to the refining Harry's moving things ability. But only this time Penny asked him to try and use the water element to help him lift up the boulder.
It was met with partial success. Harry did manage to lift the boulder by a centimeter and when Penny asked to raise it further without his elemental power, it came crashing down.
Three days passed by before Harry was finally able to hold the boulder 5 feet above the ground without any effort.
"Now try to lift another one," said Penny.
Harry gave the slightest of nods. His eyes crunched up in concentration as he tried to lift another boulder without using his hands.
He could feel the intense pressure on his magic as the second boulder began to rise. His whole body began to shake due to the effort he was putting in.
"See if you can lift a third," said Penny softly.
Harry frowned. How was he supposed to lift another? He didn't have three hands!
Perenelle seemed to know what he was thinking. "Your magic is not flowing out of your palms Harry. It can flow out from any part of your body. Concentrate on holding the rocks up with your mind guiding your magic, not your hands."
Harry nodded and slowly lowered his hands while continuing to keep the two boulders air borne. Closing his eyes he reached out with his magic to a third boulder and envisioned his magic surrounding it and lifting it, just like the previous two.
Much to his delight it worked. The boulder began to rise slowly without a sound.
Now he was holding up three boulders and to his surprise it wasn't that hard anymore.
As a matter of fact he felt confident enough to try with more and one by one he began to raise each and every one of them and soon all the boulders were in the air just floating like planets in space.
"Put them down Harry," echoed the voice of Perenelle Flamel.
Harry lowered the boulders gently and took a deep breath feeling very relaxed all of a sudden.
"Care to explain how you managed to lift all those rocks?" she asked.
"I donno," replied Harry. "One minute I'm struggling to keep two afloat and the next it was all too easy! I think after I started to guide my magic with my mind rather than before when I would visualize it coming from my hands, it became easy.
When I was using my hands I could feel a little of the boulders weight which was quite a bit and when I started to use my mind it became as light as a feather."
"That's because before your magic didn't have much space to move around."
"Meaning?" Harry asked frowning.
"Look at it this way," she said. "We use our wands to access our magical core. You on the other hand did it without one. Just like blood needs veins and arteries to travel so does your magic. My hypothesis and original plan was to make those pathways expand by vigorous exercises. Just like how muscles hurt when they are over worked, your magic began to hurt too and it wasn't easy for it too travel so fast with a small outlet.
When you tried using your mind to control your magic, your magical pathways might have expanded drastically to meet the demand for it. And once your pathways expanded, it became very easy for you to use it to raise the boulders.
Now if you reach a new limit, your magic will be forced to expand these pathways again which will allow you to have a greater command over your magic."
"Hmmmm," replied Harry. "Interesting, but is there a limit to its growth?"
"There is always a limit," said Penny. "You'll know when you reach it. Now I think we proceed. I want you to raise these rocks again and use your element to shatter them to pieces."
"How on earth are you supposed to shatter rocks with water?" asked Harry skeptically.
"Have you forgotten you can also lower its temperature!?" she shot back.
Harry's smiled sheepishly, "I forgot about that."
"Well go on then," she said. "Let's see you do it then."
Harry nodded and once again lifted all the boulders without a sound and without breaking into a sweat.
He raised his right hand and a burst of water erupted from it and began to surround all the boulders.
Harry closed his eyes and started looking for holes in the boulders and made his water enter through them. Once all the boulders were saturated with water he went in for the kill. The water began to freeze with a crackling sound and then he just dropped them down.
They fell with a loud crash and shattered into a million white pieces.
Harry looked at the woman, his eyes shining with triumph.
"Very good," she said clapping. "I see you have a greater control over your element than I originally thought."
"I practice a lot," said Harry.
Penny conjured two chairs and took a seat, gesturing Harry to do the same.
"How do you feel?" she asked looking at him closely.
Harry shrugged, "I feel perfectly fine," he said. "I actually expected myself to be quite drained but I'm not."
"The wonders of magic," said Penny with a smile.
"How long has it been since I last went back to the house?" asked Harry.
"Four days," answered Penny, removing a bottle of water and a sandwich from her bag.
"So has Austin been training like me or what?"
"No, Nick is working on her element mostly and her spell casting abilities."
"No physical exercise?" questioned Harry.
"Physical exercise is a must for anything. But for you its more intense because you have to take on a dark lord."
"Then why train Austin?"
"Mainly because she was with you and we wouldn't want her to waste her time."
"So she doesn't have to be involved in all this. If she wasn't with me then you wouldn't have trained her," he said.
"No, we would have disguised ourselves and helped her to an extent with her element."
"I see," he said quietly.
"But you're also being trained harder because you can take it," she said.
Upon seeing Harry's questioning look she elaborated. "You had a hard childhood. It's as simple as that. Nicolas went to your house and read your relatives mind.
Lillian on the other hand has had a perfectly normal life. She doesn't truly understand what it means to be frightened for your life while on the other hand, you do."
"So?" he asked feeling a little defensive.
"This whole training thing is like a new game to her and I don't blame her. She's acting like any thirteen year old child would behave in her position. But you, Harry sadly are much more mature than that. That is why when I tell you that you have to kill a dark lord I know you won't loose your mind."
Harry was silent for a moment.
"You underestimate her," he said suddenly. "I know she won't freeze in pressure situations."
"We know that too," said Penny. "The first test proved that."
"What's next?" he asked changing the topic. "Talking about Freckles is just a waste of time."
Penny smiled but didn't voice her thoughts. Instead she just drew out her wand and said. "Now we duel."
Three weeks had passed by since Harry and Lillian had been with the Flamel's and every single day both were pushed to their limits to learn new things and strengthen their bodies.
Added to that, both had not seen each other since the second day of their arrival. Penny kept Harry far away from the house in the small forest while Nicolas trained Lillian next to the lake.
But today was the day when they would finally meet.
It was late in the evening when a small ball of glittering light appeared over Penny's head and dropped a letter in her hands.
On reading the contents of the letter which Harry had no doubt, was from Nicolas, Penny immediately created a portkey and took them home.
Harry landed with a hard thump in the gold house of the Flamel's. They were in the living room and Nicolas and Lillian were already there, sitting on the couch.
There was a strange balance scale on the table and both Nicolas and Perenelle were looking worried.
"Welcome back Harry," said Nicolas. "I hope you're enjoying your training."
Harry snorted. "Does getting beaten to pulp everyday count as enjoyment?"
Nicolas smiled. "No, I'm afraid not," he said.
Lillian offered a weak smile and waved at Harry looking quite tired herself. Harry looked at her closely and couldn't help but feel she was different in some way.
He couldn't figure it out but he knew something had changed in her.
"It has happened," said Nicolas suddenly distracting Harry from his observation of Lillian.
Harry frowned. "What has happened?"
"Lord Voldemort has returned."
Lillian gasped. "He's back!? When did it happen?" she asked rapidly.
"Today and that's not all," said Nicolas.
Harry slowly sat down strangely feeling very light headed.
"This device you see in front of you is an instrument to monitor the consciousness of evil."
"It's on 35 percent," said Harry observing the markings on it. "Is that good or bad?"
"Bad," said Penny. "It has never gone beyond 10 percent even when Slytherin was at the heights of his power."
"Okay that's bad," muttered Harry.
"This only means Voldemort has used a ritual he should have never even considered," said Nicolas.
"I suppose it was very dark magic," said Lillian.
"Worse," said Penny grimly. "It is a ritual to sacrifice a soul in exchange for a body."
Harry and Lillian sat there wondering how far that was on the evil scale.
Nicolas sensing their confusion elaborated. "In simple terms Voldemort has just handed over a soul to evil and has effectively made his body a vessel for it."
"I don't get it," said Lillian. "How does evil getting a soul make a difference?"
"It makes a difference because now that a soul has been mixed in his magic, his consciousness is going to return at a tremendous rate. The more Voldemort uses dark magic, the faster evil is going to return."
"And added to that Voldemort will keep getting more powerful day by day because evil is slowly taking over his mind and body without him realising it."
Harry eyes widened in horror. "And Voldemort is not going to stop using dark magic which means…" He couldn't finish the sentence.
"How much time will it take for it to take over his body?" asked Lillian fearfully.
"We don't know," replied Nicolas. "It depends on Voldemort. I am sure he will not want to be wiped out of existence and will fight evil from taking over his mind."
Harry laughed humorlessly. "Voldemort fighting evil," he said shaking his head. "The irony."
"But eventually he will lose," said Penny.
"And when he loses the battle?"
"I believe some call it the apocalypse."