The Alchemist Apprentice

by Aragon Potter

Having enough of the abuse of his relatives a young Harry Potter decides to leave Private Drive. Shortly after leaving, Harry meets a strange couple who take him in and introduce him to a whole new world…the world of Magic and Alchemy.

4. Chapter 4 Lessons and Engagements

The Alchemist Apprentice

By Aragon Potter

Chapter 4: Lessons and Engagements

"Thinking/Writing/French"

"Spells"

Summary: Having had enough of the abuse of his relatives a young Harry Potter decides to leave Privet Drive. Shortly after leaving, Harry meets a strange couple who take him in and introduce him to a whole new world…the world of Magic and Alchemy.

-France, Flamel's Estate-

It was another typical peaceful morning at the Flamel's estate. The sun was shining brightly, the birds living in surrounding forest where singing and chirping away and a strong cool breeze blew in from the north. However the tranquillity of the forest was disturbed by the sounds of two pieces of wood banging against one another or the occasional shout or cry from two people.

Standing in the middle of the back garden of the Flamel estate were two people, who were seemly fighting one another with short sticks. The first person was a tall young woman, who appeared to be in her late teens to early twenties, with short bright red hair, wearing black baggy sport pants, running shoes and a matching sports bra. This person was Sh'lainn Flynn Flamel, notable Irish Hit-Wizard and adopted daughter of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel.

The second person, the person she was seemly fighting with, was a young boy, who looked to be no older than eight or nine. The boy had dark messy raven-like hair and wore a short sleeve white shirt, black pants and white running shoes. The boy was short and a little scrawny for his age, though was seemly gaining some meat, indicating that he was finally being fed properly.

The boy in question Harry Potter, or as he was more commonly referred to as in the magical world, "The Boy Who lived," recently adopted Grandson of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel.

"Block, block, block aa-nn-dd strike!" shouted Sh'lainn as she blocked Harry's stick with his own. "Good, you're starting to get your rhythm, but you need to have a better grip of your stick and your footwork still needs work." Before Harry could respond, Sh'lainn kicked the back of his leg, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards and lose his stick.

Looking up, Harry saw a stern Sh'lainn staring down at him with her stick pointed in his face. "Remember what I said in the beginning, I'm teaching you not only how to fight, but to win and survive. In a fight, a real fight, there are no rules, your enemy won't bow down to you in respect or wait for you to make the first move. He or she will do whatever it takes to win, as should you."

"You mean like this!" yelled Harry as he kicked Sh'lainn in the shin causing her to yelp in pain and surprise.

Acting quickly Harry grabbed his stick and picked himself up and attempt to hit Sh'lainn in the knee. But before it could make contact, Sh'lainn recovered and leaped back to avoid it.

"Now that's more like it!" replied the grinning red head before leaping forward to attack.

For the next hour the two continued their spar which resulted in Harry receiving several small red marks on his arms and legs. By the end Harry was on the ground breathing heavily unable to stand, his arms too sore to hold his stick any longer and his leg too tired.

Seeing that Harry had enough, Sh'lainn decided to call it quits and offered him her hand. "I think that's enough for today, we'll start things up again when I come back, but until then you need to keep practicing."

Taking the his sisther's hand, Harry pulled himself up, "Eugh! why do I even have to learn this, Bat-Batreaht?"

"Bataireacht" corrected Sh'lainn. "It a type of muggle martial arts from Ireland that involve fighting with a short stick. I picked up it a few years back, not long after I joined the Irish Hit-wizard unit."

"Why do I even need to learn this?" Harry asked again. "Once I learn magic I won't even need to use things like this."

"Is that so?" Sh'lainn asked rising her right eyebrow. "Then tell me what would you do if you were caught without your wand and could no longer perform magic?"

When Harry had no answer for her, Sh'lainn explained. "Harry, the reason I'm teaching you this is because most wizards think like you do now, that because they can do magic they don't need to learn how to do things that don't involve magic. Without their wands most wizards and witches are helpless. Take it from me, I've defeated and captured plenty of Dark wizards and witches who were a lot more skilled and experience than me by getting close to them so that they couldn't use their magic. By learning how to fight without magic, you're giving yourself an extra edge over your enemy, something that most wizards and witches won't expect."

Seeing the point that Sh'lainn was making, Harry nodded. "So does that mean that later on I can have a pair of swords like yours?"

At the mention of Harry's having swords and seeing the rather hopeful look on the younger boy's face. The Dhampiresa smiled and shook her head in amusement "Some things never change, Boys and Swords." She had seen Harry eye her twin scimitars on more than one occasion ever since she let him watch her practice with them.

"We'll see, but first you need to improve on your Bataireacht, after that we'll see where we go from there. I might even teach you some hand to hand moves."

"You mean like Karate?" Harry asked.

"Something like that" Sh'lainn replied. Having spent several years in the muggle world after leaving Hogswart, Sh'lainn became interested in several muggle activities. One such interest was martial arts, where she learned styles like Krav Maga and Aikido, which proved highly effective when combined with her natural vampiric strength and speed.

Interested with the idea of learning more martial arts from Sh'lainn Harry smiled, after which he red head suggested they head back inside for lunch, knowing how her mother wouldn't be pleased if they tried to skip on lunch.

Agreeing with his older sister figure Harry nodded again and headed inside, with Sh'lainn right behind him carrying both training sticks.

Walking behind Harry, Sh'lainn smiled at how much the young boy had improved since staying with her parents. It had been almost two years now since her parents took Harry in, the young boy had become an almost a completely different person from the way he was before. He smiled more and was more confident in himself and in his studies, thanks to her parent's encouragement and kindness, and was more willing to open up to people. He was less shy and nervous around others, although still felt uncomfortable when around people he didn't know. But this was slowly being dealt with thanks to his newfound friendship with Fleur Delacour, as the French Girl took it upon herself to help Harry with dealing with other people.

Unfortunately, despite these improvements Harry still suffered from trauma. On more than one occasion he would have nightmares of returning to the Dursleys and wake up screaming, and have to take Sleeping Draught to calm down and fall back asleep.

Thankfully though these incidences were becoming less and less frequent and whenever he did have them, Sh'lainn would have him talk about them with her. Talking to her had helped Harry come to terms with what happened to him with the Dursleys. Knowing that there was someone he could talk to, who knew what he went through, made it easier for him. Sh'lainn would sometimes even share some of her own past with him so that he would know that she was being open with him as well.

As soon as they entered the house, Perenelle Flamel quickly pulled Harry over to her and began examining him. She had been against the idea of Harry learning martial arts believing he was still too young and that he shouldn't be learning how to fight. But in the end Sh'lainn convinced her that learning how to defend himself would help Harry's confidence grow and at the same time allow him to defend himself in the event that he was endanger and there was no-one to help.

After healing any bruises and cuts he had from his training, Perenelle shooed Harry up stairs, telling him to wash up and change his clothes before lunch.

Half an hour later, a washed a cleaned Harry entered the kitchen Sh'lainn, who had already changed, was at the table reading the paper. Shortly after Nicholas entered the kitchen and greeted them both before sitting down at the table where he asked Harry how his training going with Sh'lainn.

Not long after Perenelle floated the food over to the table. For lunch they were having Cabbage and tomato salad with cheese and bread as a starter. Roast beef, chips, small potatoes, baked tomatoes with herbs and a glass of water as the main course and for desert a kiwi.

Half way through their meal, a large grey owl suddenly swooped into the kitchen through the open window and preached itself next to Harry.

Holding out itself leg the owl offered Harry the letter tied to its leg. Taking it, Harry thanked the owl and offered it a piece if his roast, which the owl took without hesitation. Cooing its thanks, the Owl then took off out the window and to wherever it came from.

As soon as the messenger owl had left, Harry flipped the envelope and found it addressed to him.

"It's from Fleur!" Harry declared, recognising the girls' elegant handwriting. During her last visit at Flamels before starting her first year at Beauxbatons AcademyofMagic, the young quarter Veela had promised to write to him every few weeks and tell him how she was doing and what Beauxatons was like.

"OOhhh, it's from FFlleeuurr" Sh'lainn teased as she started doing kissing motions and sounds, causing Harry to blush slightly and glare at her before throwing a small potato across the table, which female Dhampir avoided.

"Harry!" scolded Perenelle

"Sorry" mumbled the boy apologetically.

Nodding, Perenelle then told him to finish his dinner, after which she then turned to Sh'lainn and reprimanded her on her teasing of Harry.

Once he had finished his dinner Harry excused himself from the table and asked his adopted Gradmother if it would be okay for him to read and reply to Fleur's letter before he started his studies.

Saying that it was fine, Perenelle excused him. But as he was leaving Sh'lainn called out to him, "Make sure to give her lots of hugs and kisses at the end." Harry of course did not respond, but did hear Perenelle shout "Sh'lainn!" as he left.

Making his way to the study, Harry sat at the desk and opened the letter. The writing was of course in French, but thankfully Harry's French had improved a lot in the last few months, thanks to his Grandmother's help. Though he was hardly what one would call fluent, he could still hold a short conversation in French, his reading and writing though was better. Fleur, whenever she visited, would even help him practice his vocabulary and corrected him whenever he made a mistake or mispronounce something. In return Harry helped Fleur improve on her English, where her accent wasn't quite a thick as it was before. Unfolding the letter, Harry began to read the letter slowly to himself

Dear Harry,

I hope this letter finds you, Great Aunt, Perenelle and Great Uncle Nicholas well. Papa and Mama send their love and Gabrielle misses you terribly, Mama still can't believe how quickly she took you.

Things here at Beauxbatons are amazing. The Castle and the grounds are more stunning than Great Aunt Perenelle and Great Uncle Nicholas described, I really wish you were here to see it. The Castle is surrounded on all sides by high mountains, which makes it rather cold in the winter. The grounds are filled with trimmed lawns, hedges and beds with flowers more beautiful than any at home. There is a large lake behind that the students sometimes swim in the summer and a large open Quidditch pitch on the side for the school clubs to play in. In the courtyard there magnificent fountain directly in front of the main gate of the castle dedicated to Great Uncle Nicholas and Great Aunt Perenelle for all their patronage to the school, and is said to have healing and beautifying properties, not that I need it according to the other girls here.

The Castle itself is even more stunning inside. The floors are all tiled with large windows every ten feet and marble stoned walls and large chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. The school Library is even bigger than Great Uncle Nicolas's library and is filled with hundreds, if not thousands of books from all over Europe. The Dining Hall is enormous here, which is terribly surprising since Beauxbatons has the largest bodies of students in Europe, with students from France, Spain, Holland, Luxemburg, Belgium Switzerland Portugal and some even from Italy. At dinner wood nymphs serenade the students while we eat.

I plan to send you some photos of the castle and my friends later on, once they're developed.

Our classes are fairly interesting we're learning Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic. Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions, which I am not very fond of as the potions smell is awful in the room and is almost impossible get off your clothes afterwards.

After reading this, Harry couldn't help but smile, although not as arrogant or as obnoxious as she use to be, Fleur could be still rather vain when it came to how she looked or smelled.

Right now we're learning how to levitate a feather in Charms, Professor Barnette, our Charms teacher is a very strict woman with a nose almost as long as my wand. She is very demanding and will not except anything but perfection from us, and according to some of the older students, has never once smiled since coming to Beauxbatons. Thankfully though, I don't have to worry about her much as I am one of the better students. Our History of Magic teacher on the older hand is very popular with the students, specifically with the female students, as Professor Devault is rather handsome looking.

You would also be interested to know that we're starting our broom flying classes next week, not that you would ever need them. Papa is still talking about that day, saying how when you come of age he will try and convince you to play Quidditch professionally. Though I don't think Great Aunt Perenelle will be too thrilled with that idea.

Again Harry couldn't help but smile at this and had to agree with Fleur assessment. After the flying incident at the Delcour estate, his Grandmother had all but banned him from flying ever again. Stating that the only time he would ever be allowed near a broomstick again was to sweep the floor.

Our rooms in the castle are very large with blue paper walls, two large windows and a large white matt in the middle of the room. There four poster beds, one at each corner of the room along with a closet for our shoes and close and a bedside cabinet. In the middle of the room on the white matt there is a large round desk where we do our homework on.

Currently I am sharing a room with three other girls, one of whom is my friend Emmanuelle Fourier, whom I told you about. The others girls that I am sharing with are Camila Ambriz and Lisa Pirozzi.

Camila is very sporty. She adores Quidditch and can't wait to start flying and wants to try out for one of the Quidditch clubs here at the school. She hoping to be a Chaser, though she says she wouldn't mind being a seeker either.

My other roommate Lisa on the other hand, isn't very outgoing; she prefers to read her romance novels, which almost completely fill her trunk.

It took us a while to get to know each other, given how Camila is from Spain and Lisa is from Italy. But luckily they both speak English so we are able to talk to one another and share stories with one another and become friends, which is difficult enough here. Although most of the students are friendly enough here, given the large number of students from other countries and speak different languages, it can cause problems. It has been especially tricky for me given my allure, I've already caught a large number of boys staring at me and the few that actually come up to talk to me act like idiots. Some of the older boys even tried to impress me with silly stories of them fighting off trolls or having their own castle, I almost had to stop myself laughing at how unbelievable they were. I suppose not every boy can be like you Harry, but I expected this, mama told me before I left that this would happen. Most boys aren't able to resist it and until I learn to fully control my allure it can't be helped.

My popularity with boys has also not made me very popular with many of the other girls here, who are either jealous of my looks or of the fact that I can attract the attention of most of the boys at the school. I even saw one older girl giving me a rather dirty look, which she caught her boyfriend staring at me. Again this is not unexpected as mama said this would happen as well and that I should just ignore them. Thankfully Emmanuelle and my other roommates are more understanding and accepting, although I suspect that Lisa might be a little envious of my allure.

I've recently told the girls a bit about you, but don't worry I haven't told them everything, all they know is that you are a friend named Harry, whom I met last year.

Emmanuelle is almost demanding that I introduce you to her as soon as possible, but that is mainly because I have told her so little about you, Emmanelle has always been a little too nosy. Camila is also interested in meeting you, although that was after I told her of the broomstick incident, she's probably hoping that you could give her some tips on flying.

Again I hope that this letter finds you well and that Great Aunt Perenelle is not making you study too hard and that Sh'lainn is not getting you into too much trouble. I will see you over the summer break and will have lots of photos to show you.

Hope to Hear from you soon,

Love Fleur.

P.S. Please tell Great Aunt Perenelle that Madam Maxime sends her regards and hopes that she and Great Uncle Nicholas will visit the school soon

After Harry had finished reading Fleur's letter, he grabbed a sheet of paper from the pile on the desk and a nearby pen, Sh'lainn had finally convinced her parents to replace their quills and ink wells with muggle pens, and began to write.

Dear Fleur,

I'm happy to hear that you are doing well in school. Beauxbatons sounds incredible, I can't wait to see your photos, though I wish I could see it for myself, but given how I am already registered in Hogwarts it's unlikely I will. Then again I suppose if things don't work out in Hogs warts after my first year, Granma Perenelle and Granpa Nicholas can have me transferred to Beauxbatons, that way we can be together.

Things here are fine, Sh'liann is training me how to fight with a stick, weird I know, but she is convinced that it will help me out later. Sh'lainn hasn't gotten me into any trouble lately; although according to Granma Perenelle I don't need Sh'lainn's help to get into trouble. Granma Perenelle is still as strict as ever when it comes to my studies, but that's normal and I love her all the same. She has helped me a lot with my "gift" and I can turn it on and off at will now, which makes things a lot easier as you can imagine? She even mentioned that she might teach me a little magic later on if she is happy with how I am progressing with my studies.

Grandpa Nicholas has also promised to start training me in Alchemy next week, which I really excited to learn, he even says that if do well in my studies he might bring "it" over and show me how it works.

I'm happy to hear that you are doing well and have made some friends; Grama always said it's better to have a few close friends than a large group. That way you will always know who your true friends are. Also if any of those boys or other girls start messing with you, be sure to tell me, I'm certain I can get Sh'lainn to give some tips on how to get them to back off.

Please send my best to your parents as well as to Gabrielle. Also tell you dad thanks for the book about Broom flying tricks, it very interesting, though Grandma Perenelle wasn't pleased when she saw it and plans to have a word with him later, so make sure to warn him.

I look forward to your next letter and can't wait until I see you again.

Your Friend always,

Harry.

P.S. Both Grandma Perenelle and Grandpa Nicholas send their love and wish you the best at school.

When he finished writing the letter, Harry went over it twice, correcting any mistakes that he had made, before sealing it in an envelope and addressing it to Fleur. He went to kitchen, where he found his Grandmother alone, cleaning up after lunch. Sh'lainn had left just minutes ago to get to work; using the special portkey Nicholas had given her, which allowed her to travel to and from the Flamel estate to her home in Ireland without rising any flags with the departments of travel for either the Irish or French magical governments.

Nicholas had also left, having returned to his lab, busy with another one of his Alchemic experiments.

After asking his Grandmother if she could send his letter, (which she promised she would), Harry offered to help her with the clean up. Perenelle though insisted that she was fine and was just about finished and said he could return to the study room where she would join him shortly.

Nodding Harry returned to the study room and laid out the books that he had been reading with his Grandmother. He had made good progress in his magical studies in the past year. Thanks in no small part to his Grandmother, who had been a strict but dutiful tutor.

History of magic was the most interesting subject to Harry, though his Grandmother had made it interesting. Given how she had lived a large portion of it and was able to tell him a lot of interesting stories that were not widely known, let alone mentioned in History books.

Opening one of the history books he had taken from the bookshelf, Harry ran through the pages until he found the page had stopped on yesterday. The writing was in French, but this was also part of his lessons. His Grandmother would have him read out and translate what was said in the books to further improve on his reading and vocabulary.

As he waited for his Grandmother to appear, Harry took out a smaller book from his shelf that read "Magical Bloodlines and their Abilities by Theodore Ballswack." He had been reading this book in his off time at the suggestion of his Grandfather Nicholas, who said he might find it interesting.

As the name suggested the book was about unique powers and abilities that only certain wizards and witches and magical families had, and could sometimes be passed down to their children or descendants. These abilities were of course highly valued by the magical world. Not only because of what they could do, but also because of their rarity, placing families that had them in high estimate. It was also because of those magical abilities that those families began to believe that they were better than others. This then later help give rise to the term Pure-blood.

Later as the number of those born with unique abilities began to decrease, many magical families began to practicing selective breeding with other "Pure" magical families. They believed that the cause of the loss of their unique abilities was the result of mixing with non-magical blood or of those with lesser blood. Ironically though this just served to hasten the loss of their abilities, due to the narrow gene pool, and even caused most of those families to die out. According to his Grandparents hardly any of those families, who still exist, have these abilities anymore, while most of the other remaining Pure-bloods, who are alive today, never had them to begin with and simply claim to have had one so to enhance their lineage.

Opening the book, Harry scanned the pages, which talked about various magical abilities and people with different abilities. Abilities like predicting the future, talking to and controlling snakes, dragons and other animals, changing into other people and animals, sensing people's feelings like Sh'lainn.

After finding the page he was looking for, Harry began to read it.

"Aura Sight: Aura Sight is a unique and rare ability that allows a person to see other people's magical Auras and is sometimes referred to as Aura Perception. With this sight a person is able to sense a person's level of strength and detect people and objects that are invisible, see hidden doorways and rooms, and detect people in disguises. More skilled users are able sense when a person is preparing to attack by monitoring their auras. Some of the more powerful wielders are even said to able to track people down by the trace aura they leave behind after performing magic. Only a handful of people have been recorded to have this ability in the last hundred years, one of the most famous users is Morgan Le Fay, one of the most powerful Dark Arts users to have ever lived and chief rival of Merlin. The ability is highly valued by wizards due to wide uses it has in the magical world, especially in world of Magical Law-Enforcement, Magical Archaeology and curse breaker. The ability has been known to appear in certain magical families, such as Baileys, Chambers, Hales, Hartells, Martells and the Peverells."

Shortly after his Grandmother entered the room, putting the book away, Harry then sat down at the desk and began their lesson on Asian magical history. In the lesson his Grandmother mentioned several notable magical figures like Dzou Yen, Quong Po. She even went on to give a brief talks on other notable magical figures who were known both the magical and non-magical communities, like Zhuge Liang, Himiko and Zheng, better known as Qin Shi Huang, who to Harry's surprise united much on Ancient China and became the First Emperor of China.

During the lesson his Grandmother explained how Zheng was a Wizard born into a non-magical royal family and was a one of the few wizards who became a ruler of a non-magical nation. Harry also learned that shortly after his reign ended, magical councils all over the world began to work on preventing other wizards and witches from becoming rulers of non-magical kingdoms and empires. Fearing that they would abuse their powers and endanger the fragile relations they had with non-magical people at that time, causing them to turn on them.

Several centuries later, at the Grand Magical Council of Wallenstadt, (which would later evolve into the International Confederation of Wizards), the Magical Council forbad any magical person from making themselves rulers of non-magical nations. The law however came redundant after the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in 1689 where the magical community began to hide itself away from the non-magical people.

Another interesting fact that Harry learned in his lessons was that the original Shinobi or Ninja of Japan were in fact wizards, who acted as assassins or spies for various lords. This gave rise to many of the myths surrounding Ninja, like flying, making copies of themselves, disappearing into thin air, turning invisible, walking on water, turning into animals or different people, summoning animals and controlling the five elements. Muggles would later try to mimic these people, thus became the Ninja that the muggle world was more familiar with.

After the lesson Perenelle then moved on to the more practical part of their lesson, which primarily involved him improving on his Aura sight ability. In the beginning the Flamels mainly worked on him learning how to turn on and off his ability to see magical Auras. Once he had mastered that Perenelle began to work on his ability to identify magical objects that were hidden or out of sight.

"Okay Harry, now tell me what you can see?" Perenelle asked as she pointed at the five boxes she had brought in for the next lesson.

Closing his eyes, Harry concentrated on activating his Aura sight. When he opened them again, a slight glow appeared in them, indicating that he had successfully activated it.

Focusing on the first box, Harry could see an aura emanating from the box, indicating that there was something magical in the box. Concentrating more on the box, Harry could make out a shape in the box

"Ehhh...A Book" answered Harry.

Smiling and nodding, Perenelle opened the box and revealed a book.

"Good" nodded Perenelle before moving to the next box. "Now tell me what is in this box?"

Moving on to the next box Harry revealed it to have a magical clock, the third box had a mirror and the fourth box had a dagger. When he came to the fifth and final box he answered that it was a vase, but when Perenelle opened the box, she revealed it to have a Knight's helmet inside.

Seeing the disappointed look on Harry's face, Perenelle gave Harry a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about that Harry, four out of five is still very good."

"But I've been at this for months now, at the rate I am going at, I'll never master it" replied Harry, who was starting to feel discouraged.

"Nonsense Harry, these things take time, you've only been at it for a few months. To quote a muggles phrase, Rome was not built in a day. Look at Nicholas, he did not become a renowned Alchemist overnight, in fact I've lost count the number of times that man has blown himself up in his lab when performing one of his experience. It took him over forty years of research and experiments before he was finally able to create the Philosopher's Stone. You're making good progress in your training, and trust me when I say that you'll master your Aura sight before you know it."

Encouraged by his Grandmother's words, Harry nodded and went back to his training.

-One Week Later-

Walking down the steep steps Harry made his way down to the basement of the Flamel estate. Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, Harry made his way over to a large door at the end of the room.

Knocking on the large door, Harry waited for a reply, when he received none, he knocked on the door again. After knocking for the third time, Harry then called out "Grandpa, are you there? It's me Harry" Are you in there?"

For a moment there was no reply, but before Harry could knock or call out again, he heard some movement from behind the door and then heard his Grandfather's voice. "Harry is that you?"

"Yea, it's me, I'm here for my lesson, you promised you teach me a bit about Alchemy, remember?"

"Your lesson...? Oh yes, yes your lesson...I'll be right there!" replied his adopted Grandfather before hearing several things being moved about in the room.

After about a minute or so, the door finally opened and a rather messy looking Nicholas Flamel appeared. "Harry, boy, I'm sorry, our lesson completely went out of mind. I got lost in a rather interesting experiment that I've been working on."

"Its fine" shrugged Harry, well use to his adopted Grandfather's behaviour. Whenever he was in the middle a very interesting experiment or research subject, his Grandfather had a habit of losing all track of time. On more than one occasion he and his Grandmother would have to call him for Breakfast, lunch and dinner all on the same day. His Grandmother even claimed that his Grandfather had once gone four days and nights without sleeping or eating during one of his experiments, before she finally knocked him out with a stunning spell and force fed him.

Moving aside, Nicholas allowed his adopted Grandson into his laboratory and closed the door behind him.

The laboratory was large enough for several large tables and chairs, though dimly lit with only a few Wall Sconce Candles lighting the room. Looking around Harry could see various coloured liquids simmering in their tubs and beakers on the tables, along with scattered parchment, notes and papers. In the corner Harry could also see and a large black cauldron with purple flames underneath it, causing the sickly green liquid in the cauldron to bumble loudly.

"So what are you working on today Grandpa?" Harry asked. It still felt a little weird calling the Flamels Grandma and Grandpa; he was slowly getting use to it.

Placing his hand on Harry's shoulders, Nicholas led the young boy over to one of the tables and pointed to a large beaker filled with a brightly pink liquid. "This is my latest creation, it's a special potion that allows the drinker to turn the body into mist and allow them to travel through small gaps before reforming into their solid. The effect doesn't last for very long, but it can come in quite handy if you wanted to enter a place that was locked, or if you were cornered by someone and wanted to make a quick escape."

"CCoool, do you think I can try it?" Harry asked his Grandfather, who smiled and shook his head.

"Sadly not just yet, I still have to perfect it, in my last test I nearly reverted into my solid form when I was travelling through the wall. Besides, I don't think your Grandmother would be pleased if she learned that I used you as a guinea pig for one of my crazy experiments" answered Nicholas. The old Alchemist gave his grandson a knowing wink, which caused Harry to smile. Knowing his Grandmother, she would no doubt give her husband one of her famed tongue lashing and then banish him to the couch with no dinner or supper.

After a few minutes or tidying and reorganising the lab, Nicholas made some space for Harry on one of the tables, directly facing one of the walls. He then conjured a large blackboard on the wall and charmed a piece of chalk to write down what he was saying.

"Alchemy is a branch of magic and an ancient science concerned with the study of the four basic elements, Earth, Wind Water and of course Fire. It is also the study of the transmutation of substances; it is thus intimately connected with potion-making, muggle chemistry and transformation magic and dates back to antiquity. Though there are still wizards, such as myself who actively studying and practice it today. There is even a less well known branch of Alchemy called Spagyric, or "plant alchemy" which involves the study and use of plants."

"So basically, Alchemy is the magic world's version of science?"

"That is one way of looking at it" nodded Nicholas. "Though some have said that Alchemy is where science and magic combine, for as I mentioned early. Alchemy does use certain aspects of muggle science."

Writing all this down on the pages he had been given him. Harry continued to listening to his Grandfather's lecture.

"By using Alchemy we are able manipulate and alter matter by using magic. This act is known as Transmutation, which comes in three sequences. The first is Comprehension, which is the understanding the inherent structure and properties of the atomic or molecular makeup of a particular material to be transmuted. The second is Deconstruction which involves using breaking down the physical structure of the identified material into a more malleable or fluid state so it can be easily reshaped into a new form. The third and final sequence is Reconstruction which involves reforming the material into a new shape."

When Nicolas turned to Harry and saw the confused look on the young boy's face. He decided upon a more visual explanation and told Harry to look at the stool next to him. Nicolas then pointed his wand at a nearby stool and caused it to revert into dust. After which he then waved his wand again and the dust turned into a small table.

Seeing the stool turn to dust and then into a small table, Harry slowly began to understand what Alchemy could do. "So basically Alchemy can change things into something else?"

"In essence yes, but it is much more complicated than that and can do much, much more. For example, unlike transfiguration, which as you have already seen is very similar to Alchemy. Alchemy does not need a wand to alter objects. An Alchemist can also use potions and draw ancient runic seals and symbols to achieve the same result, as well as much more. In fact Alchemy is one of the few magical arts that does not always require a wand. A few highly accomplished Alchemists have even found ways to perform Alchemy without having to use wands, potions or draw runes."

"You mean Alchemist like you!" said Harry with a smirk, which Nicolas returned.

"Yes, but that is something for another time." After which the old Alchemist went back to his lesson.

A little Disappointed at not seeing his Grandfather use more advance Alchemy. Harry then decided to ask his Grandfather something that had been on his mind after seeing the stool turn into a table. "So does Alchemy let you turn any object into anything you want?"

At this question, Nicolas just shook his head. "No, like everything else in magic, Alchemy has limits. For example you cannot bring a person back from the dead. You cannot create anything organic, like food, plants or people out of nothing and finally you cannot turn objects into valuable substances, gold, silver or precious gems."

But as soon as Nicholas had said this, Harry suddenly spoke. "Wait if that's true, then how are able to turn metal into gold with the philosophers stone?"

Smiling at how quickly Harry was catching on, the old Alchemist began to explain. "That my boy is a long complicated explanation. But to put it simply the stone is an exception to that rule, which is another reason why it is so highly valued in the magical world, as it breaks one of the fundamental laws of magic."

"But if that's true, doesn't that me there are things exceptions to the other rules as well?"

"Yes that would be the most likely the assumption. But what you need to understand Harry, is out of all those rules, turning metal into gold or silver is the least dangerous rule to break. For example you cannot truly bring a person back to the dead, though there may be ways that can come close. Bringing someone back to life is a magic and power far beyond us and borders of the realm of god."

Disappointed by this, but not surprised, Harry slowly nodded his head. After which the two went back to their lesson

After about hour more of lectures and explanations, Nicholas decided to move the more practical part of their lesson and give Harry a firsthand experience how Alchemy was done. During the course of the lesson however Harry added a bit too much powdered Dragon's horn to his potion, where instead of turning the liquid red, resulted in a chain reaction that caused the potion to explode, blasting both Harry and Nicholas away and into a nearby table and filling the laboratory with green smoke.

Fortunately, neither one was seriously injured, with the exception of some singed eyebrows and hair.

"Cough, Cough...Are you all right Harry?" Nicholas asked, as he waved away some of the smoke away.

"I think so?" coughed Harry as he slowly picked himself up. "Guess I don't have much of a talent for Alchemy."

Seeing the disappointed look on the young boys face, Nicholas smiled and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Nonsense Harry, you've only just started. There no need to get discouraged over one little explosion, in fact compared to what happen in my first experiment, this is quite minor."

"What happened?"

"I accidently turned my Great Aunt's pet cat into a six foot miniature dragon that nearly burnt our house down. The poor thing was never quite the same afterwards, even after we turned him back to normal."

When Harry heard this, his mood immediately brightened up and laughed at the story.

"In Alchemy there are no mistakes or failures, there are simply new discoveries, and with each experiment we learn something new" said Nicholas sagely. "And today we learned what happens when we add more than half a spoon of powered Dragon's horn with Griffin's blood."

Again Harry laughed at this and found himself motivated again and cleaned up the mess and restarted his lesson.

XXXXX

"Good, very good Harry" complemented Perenelle as she watched Harry levitate a feather she had placed on the table next to her around the room before moving it back on the table.

Pleased with himself Harry lowered his grandmother's wand, which she had loaned him for the lesson.

It had been a month since he first started his Alchemy lessons with his Grandfather and he was now finally starting to learn magic, under his Grandmother's supervision.

When his Grandmother first told him of her plan to teach him some magic, Harry immediately became excited and couldn't wait to get started. But his eagerness, quickly turned to concern when he remembered the trace, which according his Grandparents and Sh'lainn, was a special charm placed on all magic infants shortly after they were born. The trace allowed various Magical governments to monitor, track and locate magical children and know when they use magic outside of school, along with the spell they used.

He had learned of this through his studies about the magical world. Perenelle however assured him that he would be fine, though they could detect someone using magic, the French Ministry of Magic would be unable to tell who performed the spell. Given how both Flamels were living here, the Ministry would natural assume that it was one of them using magic.

After settling his concerns his Grandmother lead him upstairs to the large attic, which she turned into a training room for his lessons in magic.

The room was large a spacious, with several large book cases at the end of the room, with some small tables and chairs to the side and several cushions and other items in the rear left corner of the room.

After showing him the room, Perenelle went on to explain that she would only teach him some basic spells. But would not teach him anything too advance until after her starts school, where he would begin his full magical training. She then spent the next month teaching him the levitation spell, which was one of the first spells he would learn when he started Hogswart's.

Somewhat drained from using the spell, Harry sat down on a nearby stool, where Perenelle offered him one of the biscuits she had brought up earlier.

It wasn't surprising that Harry was tired from using the spell given how he still only eight and was only beginning to learn how to use his magic properly and using a wand, which wasn't even his to begin with.

Taking the biscuit Harry quietly munched on it before looking up at his grandmother. "So how was that?"

"That was very good Harry, your clearly improving, we'll continue practicing on the feather, and later we'll move onto something heavier."

"But I've mastered the spell, can't we learn something different?" asked Harry. After a month of practicing the levitating spell, he had hoped that they could start on a different spell.

"Not until you've mastered it completely" replied Perenelle, going into her teacher mode. "It still took a lot out of you to levitate just that feather; we'll keep at it until you are able to levitate heavier objects without ill-effect. After that we'll on to the Lumos spell."

"That's the spell that makes your wand act like a torch and lets you see in the dark" said Harry, remembering the spell from his studies.

"Yes" nodded Perenelle. "And after that I'll teach you Alohomora charm, which comes in quite handy when dealing with lock doors. And if I am happy with your progress, I might even teach you a little magic that they don't teach you at school."

Perking up at this, Harry quickly asked. "What sort of spell?"

"Illusionary magic."

"Illusionary magic?" repeated a slightly confused Harry, to which Perenelle nodded.

"It's an obscure type of magic that is not widely used, with few true practitioners, and is difficult to master. But with enough training and with a good imagination, anyone can master it, it's very useful skill to have."

When Perenelle saw Harry give her a curious look, she decided to give him a demonstration and waved hand around, where four copies of herself, which surprised Harry and nearly caused him to fall off his stool in shock.

Lifting himself off the stool, Harry tried to touch one of the copies, but his hand just passed right through it.

Turning to his Grandmother, or at the one that he thought was his Grandmother, Harry asked. "So you can use it to make copies of yourself?"

Smiling, Perenelle shook her head. "Oh no dear, that's just one the things you can do with it. You can do much more with it, like this!" With another wave of her hand, the entire attic turned into a large open forest, filled it lush green tree and animals. If Harry didn't know that this was all just one big illusion he would have sworn that he really was outside. He could smell the fresh air and could even feel the bark on the wood of a nearby tree, when his hand rubbed against it. It was only after he almost tripped over the stool he had been sitting on earlier, which was hidden in the illusion, that he was released from the spell and found himself back in the attic.

"Was that really just an illusionary?" Harry asked, which Perenelle confirmed with a simple nod.

"It felt so real."

"That's just shows how powerful the illusion was. The more skilled the user is, the harder it is to tell what is real and what is not. By using illusionary magic, you can trick your enemy into wasting their energy or into defeating themselves. But that is only beginning of what one can do with it. I have won many duels and defeated many magical practitioners, much stronger than I, by using illusionary magic. In a fight, its uses are limited only by your imagination and skill."

Beginning to understand the value of illusionary magic, Harry slowly nodded his head. It was also then that Harry suddenly realized something "Gran?"

"Yes dear?"

"How were you able to use magic when I have your wand? I though wizards or witches couldn't use their magic without."

"Actually that is a common mistake, Wizards and Witches can actually use magic without their wands. You see that with young magical children like you, who can perform accidental magic whenever their emotions are very strong. The problem is it is difficult to perform it without our wands to focus and control it."

"You were" Harry pointed out.

"Ah well dear, that is because I have had many years to train" smiled Perenelle.

"Can Grandpa do it too?"

"He can" nodded Perenelle. "Very few people in the magical world can use wandless magic. In fact I dare say there are less than a hundred people worldwide who can use wandless magic, and even them most of them can only do it to a limited degree."

"Do you think I could learn to do it?" Harry asked with more than a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Perhaps, but as I explained earlier, it takes many years of training and even then you would have to be very powerful magically to even hope to use it. And before we even do that you have to mast the basics first."

Nodding his understanding, Harry then asked if they continued their lesson.

Pleased by this, Perenelle directed him back to the feather on the table, where Harry raised her wand and said "Wingardium Leviosa"

-Several Months Later-

On July 31th, the Flamel's home was alive with activity as Perenelle and Nicholas prepared to celebrate their Grandson's birthday. Given how this would this would be his first birthday party with them, not to mention the first time anyone ever celebrated his birthday, the Flamel's decided to go all out for the birthday.

Perenelle spent the whole morning in the kitchen, locking everyone out, while Nicholas decorated and prepared the dining room and the back garden for the party.

Harry though spent much of the morning in the living room reading, having been forbidden from leaving the study by his Grandparents, who stated that they didn't want to spoil the surprise. Harry had of course tried to tell them that they didn't have to go to so much trouble and that he was well use to people not celebrating his birthday. But the Flamel's insisted and would not take no for an answer.

After a while the living room fire place, suddenly sprung to life and turned emerald green, indicating that someone was using the Flamel's private Floo network. Moments later Sh'lainn appeared carrying a large parcel wrapped in birthday blue paper.

As soon as the half-vampire stepped out of the fire, the young boy immediately jumped from his seat, cried her name and hugged her, which she quickly reciprocated.

"Happy Birthday Harry!" Sh'lainn said as she let go of the young boy, who had quickly become a brother to her in all but blood.

"Thanks!" replied Harry before his eyes drifted to the parcel Sh'lainn had placed down when she was hugging him back. "Is that for me?"

"Yep" nodded Sh'liann as she picked the parcel off the ground and stood back up. "But no opening it until the party."

Before Harry could respond, the fire suddenly erupted again; where the Dealcour family appeared out of the flames, whom Harry immediately recognised.

But just as Harry was about to greet them, the Delacour's eldest daughter, Fleur, shouted "Arry!" and enveloped him in a strong hug.

"I've missed you" said the girl in perfectEnglish having improved a great deal in the past year, thanks to Harry's help though her accent was still present a little.

"I missed you too Fleur" Harry replied while hugging the girl back, where he could smell the distinctive scent of raspberries coming from hair, which Harry guessed was from the shampoo she used.

Taking a step back, Fleur then did a brief twirl, to show off her outfit to him, "SSoo, what do you think?"

Fleur was dressed in simple short white dress decorated with pink flowers, a light pink sash around her waist and matching white shoes. Her silvery blonde hair remained sleekly smooth, only a little longer from the last time he saw her. She wore a white hair band with a large bow and a pair of pink studded earrings.

Harry of course replied "You look really nice," which seemed to be what Fleur was hoping to hear as she smiled at him.

Shortly after Harry felt a small pull on his trouser, when he looked down he saw a two year Gabrielle looking up at him, dressed in a identical version of her sister's dress, only smaller.

"Arry, uck, uck" demanded the little girl as she raised her hands, clearly wanting Harry to pay attention to her.

Smiling at the little girl, Harry bended down and said, "Yes, you look very nice too Gabriella." He then began to tickly her sides, causing the little girl to giggly loudly as she tried to wriggly away from him.

After a little while, Harry ceased his tickling of the little girl and stood back up, Fleur and Gabriella's parents moved to him.

Marquis was the first to greet him, where he offered Harry his hand and shook it and wished him a Happy Birthday.

The head of the Delacour family was a tall clean-shaven man, with short black hair that was slicked-back with seemly more grey hair than Harry remembered when he last saw him. Though in Harry's opinion the grey hair made him look more distinguish looking. Marquis wore an elegant swashbuckler's coat made in rich black velvet with liberty coin buttons fasten to the front. Underneath he wore an elegant double breasted vest, button shirt, pants and tie, which matched his coat's color perfectly.

After letting go of Harry's hand, Marquis, moved to the side to allow his wife to greet the boy, where she proceeded to kiss him on each check and wished him a Happy Birthday.

Apolline Delcaour hadn't changed in the least and was just as beautiful has Harry remembered her. Apolline was a tall, willowy woman, with unnaturally beauty, with an air of grace that made most men almost want to bow to her in reverence. She had long sleek silvery-blonde hair that fell down her back. Her eyes were deep blue which could draw in any man she wanted, her skin was fair and frame was petite and her teeth were white and even. She wore a matching black dress with D-ring at the neck and zips on the back. Sleeves that could be unzipped for a more bell-shaped sleeve, cutout shoulders, a high collar, teardrop cutout on the chest and a split to the top of the leg on one side.

As the group began to converse with themselves the door to the living room suddenly opened, revealing Nicholas and Perenelle. Who appeared after the wards they had set up around the house alerted them that several people had entered the house through their private floo network.

Upon seeing their guests the two Flamels immediately went over to greet them, where Nicholas shook hand with both Marquis and Apolline, while Perenelle hugged and kissed Sh'lainn and the two young Dealcour girls.

Once all the greetings were done, Nicholas and Perenelle led everyone to the dining room where they were greeted with a sight that could be described as nothing short than a feast. The entire six meter long table was filled with all of Harry's favourite foods and sweets, both muggle and wizard alike. And in the centre of the table was a massive triple layer chocolate fudge cake with one layer on top of the other, decorated with marshmallows, jellybeans, white vanilla cream and words "Happy Birthday Harry" written on each level in icing and a large candle in the shape of a number eight at the top.

The room itself was covered with banners, balloons and would automatically play party music. The ceiling had also been charmed to look like a bright sunny day, where an occasionally Dragon or a wizards on a broomstick would fly by over them.

Harry of course was completely overwhelmed by the sight, since no-one had ever gone to so much trouble for him on his birthday. Even the Durlsey hadn't gone to this extreme when celebrating Dudley's, though not from a lack of trying. Harry was even certain that his whale size cousin would be salivating at the sight of the cake. "T-This is too much..."

"Nonsense dear, this is your birthday" Perenelle replied before leaning down and kissing the small boy on the head.

Touched by everything his Grandparents had done for him, Harry's heart swelled as he felt like crying.

Shaking his head, Harry stopped himself from doing this, boys couldn't cry on their birthday after all. He then looked up at his grandparents and said "Thank you."

Seeing the overjoyed look on Harry's face was of course more than enough to the two Flamels, they then nodded and told him to enjoy himself.

The party was an enjoyable affair for all, where they all talk and laugh and ate, with more than enough food and drink for everyone. After a while Nicolas lit the candle on the cake where everyone then sung happy birthday. When the song ended, Perenelle raised Hairy in the air with a levitation spell, allowing Harry to blow out the candle.

Once everyone had their fill of cake, party food and drink they moved on to the opening of the presents

Harry first present was from Sh'lainn which turned out to be a wizard joke box set from Zonko's joke shop in Hogsmeade, much to Perenelle's chagrin and Nicholas's and everyone's else's amusement. Inside the box set was Sugar Quill's, Nose-Biting Tea-Cups, Hiccough Sweets, Dungbombs, Frog-Spawn Soap, Acid Pops, Trick Wands, Stink Pellets and other magical prank items. Sh'lainn also promised she would teach him how each of them worked and want to do with them, which caused Perenelle to give the half-vampire a stern and disapproving stare. Not approving of her adopted daughter teaching Harry her bad habits and getting into more mischief

Harry's next gift was from Marquis and Apolline, which was a set of tickets to an upcoming Quidditich game involving the Quiberon Quafflepunchers, France's top Qudditich team. Again Perenelle showed her disproval of this gift, by giving Marquis a stern look, though wasn't surprised by it. Being an avid Qudditich fan, and after seeing how well Harry could fly, Marquis's had been slowly trying to "corrupt" her Grandson with the sport.

After thanking the Delacour's for the tickets, Harry gave his Grandmother a pleading look, which quickly broke elderly witch, where she gave him her permission to watch the match. Harry then turned to Fleur who gave him a small badly wrapped gift, which told Harry that she had wrapped it herself by hand.

Tearing the wrapping paper off, Harry opened the small box to reveal a small wrist watch with a brown leather band and a thin gold frame. But unlike most watches, instead of telling the time it showed a map of the world.

Fleur then explained that the watch was a Find-Me-Watch a magical watch which told the wearer where he or she was should they ever be lost or wanted to know where they were. When Harry put the small watch on, the map on the watch automatically zoomed in where it showed a small dot with Harry's name and his location, just outside of Fontainebleau. Fleur went on the explain that the watch strap was charmed so that it would automatically grow or shrink to fit the size of the wearer and could use the crown on the watch to zoom in or out of the map.

Intrigued and grateful for the watch, Harry thanked her, stating that he would never take it off, causing the girl smile and blush slightly, which everyone, save Harry and little Gabrielle, noticed.

Harry's next gift was from his grandfather, who handed him a small white box. Inside Harry found a small red crystal-like pendant shaped like an icicle with a silver intricately detailed cone which hung beautifully from a sterling silver chain. (1)

"A necklace?" Harry asked curiously after lifting it out of its box, to which Nicolas replied.

"It is far more than that my boy, the gem on that is actually a piece of the Philosopher's stone."

At the mention of this, everyone's eyes, (minus Sh'lainn and Perenelle's), widen, but before they could say anything, Nicholas continued with his explanation. "Now that does not mean it can turn metals into gold or silver, nor can it produce the elixir of life, as it too small to do any of those things. But it does contain a small amount of the elixir inside of it, not enough to make you immortal, but enough that it could heal you should you ever be seriously hurt or should Merlin forbid, be dying."

Surprised by this, Harry began to examine the piece of stone more closely and could make out a small liquid inside.

"How do I get it out?"

"By pulling on the stone from its chain. But it should only be done under dire circumstances, as the elixir is not something that you can casually use."

Understanding the value of what he had been given, Harry nodded and placed the necklace around his neck, promising that he would be careful with it.

Harry's last gift however was the most special of all to him, which was from Perenelle. After tearing the wrapping paper off, Harry opened the small box and found a silver framed wizard picture of his mother and father, holding a baby him inside.

Like at the beginning of the party Harry once again found himself at a loss of words, only this time tears did fall from his eyes as he smiled at his smiling and waving parents. For the first time in his life, he knew what has parents looked like, as long as he could remember he had always dreamed of what his parents had look like, but nothing he could imagine seemed fit. But now he knew.

As Harry continued to stare at the photo, Perenelle did not bother to ask him if he liked the picture nor not. It was obvious how much this picture meant to him with the way he kept staring at it. Given how young Harry was when he lost his parents Perenelle knew he would have no memories of them and with the way the Dursley's had treated him. She doubted that they would've shown him any photo's of them, if they had any to begin with.

Shortly after, Harry looked up from the photo, tears still evident in his eyes, and croaked out a "Thank you" which was all he could do.

Perenelle just nodded and smiled, understanding perfectly. Getting the photo had been tricky, given how she did not wish to draw any attention from Albus or the British Ministry. But it was well worth the trouble to see the look on Harry's face when he saw the picture.

Moving closer to Harry, Fleur asked if she could see it see the photo, where Harry nodded and handed it to her before wiping the tears from his eyes with his sleeve.

"She was very beautiful, your mother" Fleur commented looking at the Potter family. "And you look a lot like your father."

"You think?" asked Harry given how his father was attractive man.

"Oui" nodded Fleur. "But you have your mother's eyes." She then showed the picture to her parents, who both concurred on the comparison.

Soon after Fleur handed Harry back the photo of his parents. After which the Flamels signalled the group to follow them outside to the backyard.

Once everyone was outside, Perenelle took out her wand from beneath her robs and waved it around several times, causing the garden and a portion of the surrounding trees to disappear, revealing it to be an illusion. When the illusion fell, everyone eyes, (minus Nicohlas's and Perenelle's), widen to the size of saucers when they saw what could only be described as a small amusement park.

Gone was the beautiful Flamel garden along with many trees that had been marking the boundry of the garden. Now there was a small rollercoaster designed like a medieval castle, a merry-go-round, but instead of wooden horse there were wooden Dragons, Griffins, Unicorns and Chimeras, which would occasionally make the cries of their respected creature. There was also a large ten meter high slide shaped like a Dragon, a bumping car area that was powered by magic, as well as several other rides and activities.

"'ow did you do all dis?" Fleur asked in awe, reverting back to her think French accent.

Nicolas just chuckled, amused by everyone's reaction and replied "Magic my dear, magic"

"Still" began Marquis, who like his eldest daughter was shocked by what his Great Aunt and Uncle had done "This is no small feat."

"Well I can't take all the credit, Nicholas did most of the work with his Alchemy, I simply hid it with my illusions."

This of course caused everyone to look at the elder Alchemist with reverence, which Nicholas brushed it off, saying it was nothing. Sh'lainn although was not surprised by this revelation. She was one of the few people alive today to know firsthand just showed how powerful her adopted parents were, and although her father was a pacifist by nature, it did not make him any less powerful. The fact that he was able to singlehandedly create a small amusement park in his backyard with little trouble and this much precision and skill with just Alchemy, showed just why he was credit as the greatest Alchemist who ever lived in the magical world.

Overwhelmed by how much this adopted Grandparents had done for him today, Harry tried to thank them, but once again found himself at a loss for words. He then found himself being gently pushed by smiling Perenelle "Go...play...enjoy yourself...it's your day."

Before he could say anything, Fleur grabbed his hand and led him away. "Come Harry, I want to ride the Merry-go-round."

For the remainder of the day Harry and Fleur spent their time riding all the rides, from the Merry-go round, to bumping cars and the rollercoaster, the latter being Fleur's least favourite as it reminded her too much of the flying race. Harry on the other hand thoroughly enjoyed the rollercoaster and couldn't get enough of it, where he dragged the older girl back to it at least five more times before they stopped after she threw up.

Afterwards Nicholas put on a show for the kids where they watched several animated armour knights battle a mechanize Dragon that Nicholas created using Alchemy. Even when the sun had set the celebrations did not end, where Nicholas and Perenelle put on a fireworks show that lit up the night sky. Needless to say it was the happiest and most memorable birthday in Harry's life

Eventually the day's event final took its toll on the kids, as one by one the kids started to fall asleep. Little Gabriella was the first to fall, though Harry and Fleur followed shortly after.

Sh'lainn had already left by this time, having to go back to work the next day, and bide her goodbyes to everyone.

Not wanting to disturb the sleeping children, the Delacours decided to spend the night at the Flamel's estate. Perenelle and Apolline carried the two sleeping to Harry's room where Gabriella was sleeping, in a crib that Apolline had conjured.

While their wives were putting the children to bed, Nicholas invited Marquis to his study for a nightcap, which the Delacour head was more than happy to share.

Moving to the study Nicholas directed Marquis to seat while he poured the cognac into the glass before handing it to Marquis. Swirling it in the glass, Marquis slowly sipped the beverage, enjoying its rich texture, flavour and smell.

"An excellent brand" Marquis commented, reverting back to his native tongue after taking another sip.

"It should be" replied Nicholas in French, after taking his own sip. "It's one of the original bottles served at Napoloen's coronation."

No sooner had he heard this, Marquis's nearly dropped his glass in shock and just stared and the glass for several minutes before shaking head in amusement, wondering why he was even surprised.

"And pray tell how exactly did you come by something like this?"

Nicholas of course did not answer, instead he just gave a smile that said, "Wouldn't you like to know," before taking another sip of his drink.

"Tell Marquis how did your talk with Juilen go?" Nicholas asked suddenly.

"Rather well" Marquis answered. "He has agreed to throw in his support; I have to thank you on your advice. I had no idea he could be swayed so easily when I presented him that bottle you gave me."

"I knew Juilen's Great Grandfather from long ago, he and his family have been avid wines collectors for many years. Fortunately I happened to have a 1721 Elf-made wine in my collection, which I had heard Juilen was searching for."

"A most fortuitous coincidence" a smirking Marquis remarked, knowing in fact that it was no coincidence that Nicholas had the very bottle that Juilen's family had been searching for years.

After several minutes of silent drinking, Marquis spoke again. "Now as much as I enjoy drinking a hundred and eighty year old cognac, something tells me that you asked me here for more than just sharing a nightcap?"

"That is true" replied Nicholas before placing his drink on the nearby stand. "Tell me Marquis how goes your progress with gaining support from some of the other wizarding families."

"Slow, as you probably already know. Even with Juilen's and the others, who have given their support, it will be hard to make any real changes anytime soon."

Nicholas nodded and took another sip of his drink before responding. "Change is slow Marquis, and many people don't like change especially among the more traditional Pureblood families, who hold the most influence. Though you come from an old and respected family, your decision to marry Apolline, a half-breed, and have children with her has made you unpopular with many of those families. Your moderate views make you even less popular as they believe you have no respect for tradition. They're then using that to turn other families and Ministry members against you, stating that you're trying to destroy our traditions and way of life."

"For someone trying to keep a low profile, you certainly know a lot of the happenings in the Ministry Political circles" Marquis remarked.

"Staying out of the spotlight has its advantages; one can see much when staying in the shadows. Besides I still have some contacts in the Ministry who keep me in formed of what is happening. And if we want to achieve our goal, you'll need to gain the support of at least some of those families and Ministry members."

"And how do you propose I do that?" Marquis asked before taking another sip of his drink.

Placing his drink down again, Nicholas choose his words carefully for what he planned to say next. "By agreeing to a marriage contract between Fleur and Harry."

No sooner had the words left Nicholas's mouth, Marquis near spat out his drink and stared at the older man in shock, not believing what he had heard. "A marriage contract?"

"Yes"

"Uncle Nicolas, you'll pardon me when I have say this...but have you lost your senses? You're the last person I would ever have expected to say something like this. You and Aunt Perenelle spent years trying outlawing the practice of marriage contract."

"You're right and trust me the irony of me even suggesting this is not lost on me either, under normal circumstances I would never even consider this. But it is best possible option" Nicholas explained.

"Would you mind elaborating?" Marquis asked.

"As I mentioned earlier, several of the more traditional Purebood families believe you have no respect for traditions due to your moderate views. This prevents you from gaining any of their support, but if you were to enter Fleur into a marriage contract with Harry. It would show that you still have respect for old traditions and might convince some of the less stubborn traditionalists to support you ."

"A tradition that is long outdated...the practice is even dying out the muggle world" Marquis countered.

"I agree, but sometime you need to make compromises, you know how this game works, Marquis."

"I do" answered Marquis. "But I will sacrifice my daughter's happiness for my own political gain. I like Harry, he is a good boy, and he has been a positive influence of Fleur. But that does not mean that will marry Fleur off to him, they're only children!"

"Marquis..." Nicholas said slowly, as he tried to calm the man down, not that he blamed him for acting this way. "This is not about your political goals; this is more to do with protecting Fleur and Harry."

Puzzled by this statement, Marquis signalled for the older man to continue.

"You're a rising star in the political world right now, Marquis. You come from an old and esteem wizarding family. You're greatly respected in the Ministry by many people, and your achievements and rapid rise in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has earned you both friends and enemies. There are many groups within the French Ministry, some of whom are supported by those traditional Pureblood families, who would like nothing more than to get you under their thumb. And what better way to do that than to use Fleur. They could easily have some of their own children try get close to Fleur; some might even try to seduce her when she get older."

"They would fail" Marquis replied gruffly, not liking the way the conversation was going. "My daughter is no fool; she would not let herself be used like that."

"That she is not, but that does not mean she cannot still be tricked or be used, even the wisest of wizards and witches have been known to have been fooled. Although the marriage contract would not stop every possible attempt they could make. It would limit their options and make thing difficult for them."

"Perhaps" said Marquis. "But even "if" I were to agree to this. It would reveal that you have Harry, and last I checked, you wished to keep secret."

"The fact that we have Harry will eventually come out when he enters Hogwarts for the first time, it is unavoidable. Harry's "engagement" to Fleur on the other hand does not have to be made puplic, if you and Apolline agree to the contract. All you need state is that she is engaged to a member of another esteem wizarding family, who are rather private and do not wish you to reveal whom she is engage to at this time, which is technically true. You can then give the contract to the Paris branch of Gringotts Bank and they'll keep it secure. Should the Pureblood families inquire, the Goblins will simply confirm that the contract is legitimate and reveal no more, since contracts of those types are considered private and cannot be shown or given to anyone other than the families who are involved."

"Even so, how exactly does this help Harry?" Marquis asked

Taking his glass, Nicholas took another sip of his drink; they were now getting to the heart of the matter. "It's a failsafe in the event that Albus or the Ministry succeed in forcing us to hand over Harry to them."

"And how exactly would they do that?" asked the Delacour head. "Harry is now a legal French citizen and you officially adopted him. Even Professor Dumbledore and the British Ministry don't have that kind of power."

"They do if they get the International Confederation of Wizards involved. If they argue a strong enough case they could have the citizenship and the adoption overturned, since technically speaking we brought Harry here illegally and hid him from the authorities. But if we have Fleur and Harry enter a marriage contract you could apply to have him become a ward of your house, since he would be marrying into your family, and arrange marriages are still recognized by the Confederation."

Humming to himself, Marquis closed his eyes and ran over everything that Nicholas had told him in his head, as things were now finally beginning to make sense. "This is the real reason why you wish to have Fleur enter a magical contract with Harry, not for my political career, or to keep Fleur from being used by my rivals. You want to make sure that Harry is kept out of the British Ministry and professor Dumbledore's hands."

Nicholas of course tried to deny this, but before he could say anything. Marquis raised his hand, stopping the old Alchemist from saying anything. "Please do not treat me like a fool Uncle. It is quite clear why exactly you are doing all this. I only ask that you have enough respect for me to be upfront with me and be honest."

Sighing, Nicholas nodded. "I apologise Marquis, and yes you're right, this is the main reason why I am asking you to agree to my plan. But what I said about Fleur is true and I do not wish to see her used by your rivals against you, that is also true."

"Fine, but what's to prevent Professor Dumbledore or the British Ministry from overturning the contract as well?"

"By using a Magical Binding contract spell with the marriage contract" answered Nicholas. "It will ensure that neither Albus nor the British Ministry can overturn it and make sure that Harry or Fleur will not be locked in a forced marriage."

"And how do you do plan to do that?"

"Tell me Marquis, have you ever heard the story of the Jean Spada?"

"Of course" replied Marquis. The fairy tale was well known in Magical France, told by father's to their daughter. According to the story the Spada family were an extremely wealthy family where the head of the family had only one daughter, Jean Spada, who had many suitors perusing her. Fearing the suitors were only after her to gain access to their family's wealth, leaving Jean in a loveless marriage. Jean's father created a spell to learn if any of them truly loved his daughter whenever they asked for her hand in marriage and cast them away when they failed.

Upon remembering the story, Marquis's eyes widen, "Wait! You plan to use "that" spell, but it's only a story!"

"Every story has a hint of truth Marquis, even fairy tales. The spell that Jean's father used does exist, I was able to discover it during one of my research projects."

"And how exactly does it help Harry and Fleur?"

"My plan is that when we have written up the contract and cast the Binding spell on it. I will caste the Spada spell on it. In the contract we will state that Harry and Fleur will be betrothed to one another until they have both reach the age of magical maturity. On that day they will be required to marry should they come to truly love one another. This is where the Spada's spell comes into play where it will detect if they do love one another or not, if they do, they can marry and if one or both of them don't love the other. Then the Spada spell will nullify the Binding spell, freeing both of them from it. This way neither Dumbledore nor the Ministry can break it or take Harry away."

"I see, you've thought this out" said Marquis, to which Nicholas only nodded. "But tell me, why are you going to so much trouble to keep Harry away from Dumbledore and the British Ministry? I know you said you want to keep Harry safe, but I can't help but feel there is more going on than what you're telling me, like there something bigger at play and it somehow involves Harry."

To his credit, Nicholas showed no signs of distress, instead he remained perfectly calm as he took another small sip of his drink. "Your right, there is more going on than what I am telling you, and it does involve Harry. I can't tell you what it is about, not because I don't trust you, but because if I told you it would be placing you and your family endanger and the fewer people who know, the safer everyone will be. But I will tell you this, there is a coming darkness and Harry will be in the centre of it and will be with best chance of stopping it. That is why Perenelle and I wish to keep close, not just because we care for him and want to keep him safe, but to prepare him to face what is to come."

Closing his eyes, Marquis ran over everything he had just learned over in his head, and after fifteen minutes of heavy thinking, he slowly opened his eyes again and looked directly at his Great Uncle. "Though I still have my reservation, I will talk to it about with Apolline, if she agrees; I will consent to the arrangement..." But as he said this, Marquis already knew that his wife would agree to it. Partly due to her Veela nature, Apolline loved to play matchmaker with people and recently she had been toying with the idea of trying to set Harry and Fleur up, once they got older, believing they would make an adorable couple.

"Still," continued Marquis "Should Apolline agree, there are some conditions I want to make before we agree."

"Which are?"

"First, I will decide on the wording of the contract. If there is something that I don't like about it, the contract is off." Nodding in acceptance, Nicholas signalled Marquis to continue.

"Second, none of us are to interfere in any way with Harry or Fleur's relationship and will not try to influence them in any way, if they wish to be together or not, it will be entirely up to them."

"Agreed" said Nicolas, where he then listened to the rest of Marquis's conditions and agreed to them all, knowing that if he did not Marquis would refuse to agree to the contract.

Once everything had been settled, Marquis finished his drink and lifted himself out of the chair. But before he left the room, the Delacour patriarch stopped glanced back at the older man. "Oh before I forget, should Apolline agree to the contract, you will have to be the one who explain all this to Aunt Perenelle."

At the mention of telling his wife about the contract, the coloured all but drained from Nicholas's face, leaving him almost ghost white. Though normally a kind, loving and caring woman, Perenelle Flamel was not someone you wanted angry at you, where she could make even a Wild Hungarian Horntail cow before her.

"Ah...well...em...you see Marquis...eh...I was actually hoping that you would tell her, or at least accompany me when I told her" said Nicholas. Hoping that if Marquis was the one to tell Perenelle about his plan, or at the very least accompany him when he told her. It would stem his wife's anger. Who would no doubt react negatively to the new, given her strong dislike of arrange marriages

Seeing the obvious fear on her Uncle's face at the mention of him telling Perenelle of contract, Marquis couldn't help but smirk and take some pleasure in it. As it showed just who exactly wore the pants in his Great Uncle and Aunt's relationship, to quote an old muggle saying.

"I'm sorry Uncle Nicholas, but that condition is nonnegotiable...This is after all your idea" Marquis replied as he struggled to keep himself from laughing at the now panicking Alchemist, who was no doubt imaging the horrific things his wife would do to him once he told her of his plan. Marquis had no intention of being his the sacrificial lamb to his Great Aunt's anger.

After Marquis's left the room, Nicholas grabbed his drink and swallowed its remaining contents in one large gulp, in an attempt to steady his nerves. He then made a mental note to make sure that his will was in order before he told Perenelle of his plan, immortal or not, his wife was certainly was going to kill him when he told her.

N/A.

Well that's another instalment of The Alchemist Apprentice done, Hope you all enjoyed it. Now I know there wasn't too much movement story wise. But I wanted to show in more detail what Harry's life with the Flamels is like, what he is learn and to show that he is having a happen childhood.

The next Chapter will be another brief time skip but will have some more adventure in it involving Sh'lainn, as well as meeting a new friend.

Again as always, read and review, I enjoy reading people's opinion of the chapter and on the story in general. I will do my best to reply to all your reviews, as I believe an author should respond to his readers. But please note that I cannot respond to anonymous reviews and if you wish for me to respond to your questions you must become a member of Fanfiction.

Suggestions are welcomed and will be given serious thought.

In regards to my grammar and spelling mistakes, I am well aware that both are far from perfect and that it may be a problem with some reader. But they cannot be avoided I have no official Beta to help me, and I am doing my best to make as few mistakes as possible.

Now in regards to any flames, they are not welcomed on this story or on any of my other stories. If you don't like the story that's your opinion, and it is fine, I do not force anyone to read my stories. But I do not like reading people trash talking my stories, and acting like they are experts on writing, especially from people who have never written a story themselves. If I receive any flames, the review will be either deleted or the flamers will be flamed back by me, I am not afraid to stand up for my stories and defend my actions.

Again hope everyone enjoyed the Chapter, and please look out for my other stories, The Raikage, Rise of The Raikage, Rogue Shinigami, White Fire Prince, Brother's Bond and Hope of the Senju Clan.

Author's Note

(1). Go to Larkin 2727 Photobucket and look up the Alchemist Apprantice Album for image of for image of Harry's Necklace

Spells:

Wingardium Leviosa: The Levitation Charm is a charm used to make objects fly or levitate. It is one of the first spells taught to students in magical schools, it was created by Jarleth Hobart. It however cannot levitate or make living things.

Lumos: The Wand-Lighting Charm is a charm, a light-creation spell, used to illuminate the tip of the caster's wand; the spell takes some concentration and the strength of the light is dependent on the amount of magic the caster uses. The spell was created by Levina Monkstanley.

Alohomora: The Unlocking Charm, also known as the Thief's Friend. The charm can unlocks and open any door and window that is not protected by magic. It is also able to open doors locked by the Locking Spell. The creator of the spell is unknown, but it is believed to have originated from Africa. The spell earned notoriety in the 17th century, where Eldon Elsrickle, a magical thief, used it to terrorize London, stealing from homes of Muggles and wizards alike.

Illusionary Magic: Illusionary magic is ancient and obscure type of magic. The magic involves the caster using his or her magic to manipulate an opponent's cerebral nervous system, thereby affecting their five senses. Those under the influence of the spell will either appear to be unconscious or continue to move around under the pretence of the illusion. The latter is very effective in a duel as the user can make themselves appear to be somewhere else or someone else, and attack the victim from behind or when they let their guard down. A caster can even change the environment to make the victim see a flat plain where there is a steep cliff

Illusionary magic requires a lot of skill and takes years of training to master, which is one of the reasons why few people use it. Illusionary magic, also depends a great deal on not only the castors imagination, but also the castor's skill, if performed incorrectly, the spell will not work. A true master of the magic can create illusions so powerful that a person cannot tell what is real and what is fake.

The creator of illusionary magic is unknown, but is believed to have Ancient Samaria. One of the few masters in the magical art is Perenelle Flamel, wife of the famed alchemist Nicolas Flamel.

Extra Notes:

1. Name: Perenelle Flamel (Nee Moreau)

Date of Birth: 2nd July 1334

Age: 655

Race: Human

Wand: Unknown

Background: Perenelle Flamel (formerly Moreau) is a muggle-born witch and the seventh child to the wealthy Moreau family.

Upon discovering her magical powers she went to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, where she met her future husband Nicolas Flamel. There she quickly rose to being one of the best students in the history of the Academy, which earned her the ire of many students from old pureblood families. She also became and accomplished duelist and won many tournaments before finishing school.

After leaving school, Perenelle later married Nicolas and learned Alchemy from him, becoming a successful Alchemist in her own right. But was more well-known for her dueling skills and magical abilities, where she won several World Dueling Championships. During their marriage Perenelle later discovered that she was infertile, preventing her from ever having any children. After Nicolas created the Philosopher's stone, she began taking the elixir of life, becoming immortal. They then used the increased wealth they had gained from the stone to become the wealthiest and most influential people in France and Magical Europe.

Perenelle was well-known known for being very generous with their fortune, donating large sums of money to many charitable causes and schools in both the magical and muggle world. She also commissioned and donated many sculptures, buildings and landmarks. Perenelle also served as a member of the board of Governors for Beauxbatons Academy, where she held the position over two hundred years, before finally retiring from the position, making her its longest serving member ever.

In 1550 Perenelle and Nicolas disappeared from social life and began to travel the world, learning different types of magic and collecting and gathering various powerful magical relics and items.

In 1900, Perenelle and Nicolas moved briefly to Dublin Ireland, where they found a runaway Sh'lainn Flynn, whom they later adopted as their granddaughter.

In 1925, Perenelle, Nicolas and Sh'lainn returned to France, where Perenelle reconnected with Marquis's father family, one of her last living descendants. She then later took in Marquis's father, after his family was killed by Grindelwald's followers during the First Great Magical World War, and stayed hidden throughout the war.

In 1980, Perenelle and Nicolas moved to England where they would later find and adopted a runaway Harry Potter and bring him to France.

Appearance: Perenelle rather severe-looking woman, although only average of height, she has been known to have a towering and imposing presence around her. She has short white curly hair, cool green eyes, that miss very little, and wears a pair of half-moon spectacles. Like most magical folk, Perenelle wears traditional wizarding robes, though tends to favour darker colours, like black and dark green

Personality: Despite her strict demeanour and appearance, Perenelle is a very kind a considerate person. She adores children and appalls the harming and mistreating of them. She enjoys cooking by hand and values family above all other things, where she often fusses over her "children" and dislikes seeing them hurt or in danger.

She is strict, though very fair minded and open to learning new ideas and things. She despises pureblood ideology, believing it to be ignorant and unfounded. This stems from her own previous experiences from her time in Beauxbatons, where she was often persecuted by pureblood children for being muggle-born and outdoing them in studies.

Though normally calm and collected, Perenelle can be very fierce when angered, to the point where she can intimidate most people with a simply gaze. When angered, Perenelle often reverts to her native language. She can also be very aggressive when it comes to certain issues and has a strong sense of right and wrong, believing that one should always stand up for what is right and can be violent when she feels justified, or when protecting her family.

When she was young, Perenelle was a very active and outgoing girl, though has a very strong dislike for flying, believing it to be dangerous, though this may also be due to a bad experience she may have had in her youth.

Skill/Abilities: Due to her long life Perenelle is very knowledge and wise. She is highly intelligent and has mastered numerous magical skills and abilities from her travels around the world. She is very powerful magically wise and is a highly skilled and experience dualist, having won multiple World Duelling Championships over the years and defeating many opponents.

Perenelle can also speak multiple languages and has mastered several obscured magical arts like illusionary magic. She is a skilled Alchemist in her own right, having being trained by her husband Nicolas and is knowledgably in magical healing. She is also one of the few people in the magical world capable of using wandless magic, where she can create powerful, realistic illusions, with just a wave of her hand.

She is also a capable teacher, having taught and trained not only Harry and Sh'lainn, but others over the years.

2. Name: Nicholas Flamel

Date of Birth: 15th December 1327

Age: 662

Race: Human

Wand: Unknown

Background: Nicholas Flamel was born to a small minor Pureblood family. He was an only child and when growing up he was very sickly.

At an early age, Nicholas showed to be exceptionally bright and would spend most of his time inside his room reading.

When he was eleven he entered Beauxatons Academy for magic, where he later met his future wife to be Perenelle. Upon entering the Academy, Nicholas quickly became fascinated with Alchemy and spent much of his time learning as much as he could about it. During one of his first experiments he accidently transformed his Great Aunt's pet cat into a six foot miniature dragon that nearly burnt his family's house down.

After leaving school, Nicholas married Perenelle and after several decades of researching and experimenting he became one of the foremost experts in Alchemy. He later became world renowned in both the magical world and the muggle world when he became the first ever person to create the Philosopher's stone, which he used to make himself and Perenelle immortal.

Upon creating the stone, Nicolas later turned his attention to politics. Though not very fond of it, Nicholas proved to just as talented in it as he was in Alchemy. Using the increased wealth they had gained from the stone. Nicholas began to push in much needed reforms in the French Ministry, giving muggle-borns, half-bloods and half-breeds more rights and better position in the government, while lessening the influence of darker pureblood families in France. With the help of his wife he was able to force many of these families out of France, thus solidifying his own powerbase in the government.

It was after this that Nicolas gain the reputation as a kingmaker within the French Ministry where it was rumored that he control events within the French Ministry for many decades, where nothing got pass him without his support or approval.

Like Perenelle, Nicolas was also was well-known for being very generous with their wealth, donating large sums of money to many charitable causes.

In 1550 Nicolas and Perenelle disappeared from social life and began to travel the world, learning different types of magic and collecting and gathering various powerful magical relics and items.

In 1900, the two moved briefly to Dublin Ireland, where they found a runaway Sh'lainn Flynn, whom the later adopted as their granddaughter.

In 1925, they returned with Sh'lainn to France, where Perenelle reconnected with Marquis's father family, one of her last living descendants. She the later took in Marquis's father, after his family was killed by Grindelwald's followers during the First Great Magical World War, and stayed hidden throughout the war.

In 1980, Perenelle and Nicolas moved to England, where he placed the stone in Gringotts bank, under the advice of his old friend Albus Dumbledore. Later he and Perenelle would find and adopted a runaway Harry Potter and bring him to France.

Appearance: Nicolas is of average height with long white hair the falls just below his shoulders and long sideburns that help to frame his face and short bears that runs down his chin.

Nicolas is considered to be a very kind man with a joyful face. He has rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes, that sometimes sparkly in the light.

His normal attire consists of traditional wizarding robes and a long cane, which he uses to walk around with. He generally prefers to wear brightly colored robes, like emerald green, bright red and blue.

Personality: Nicolas is a very quite easy-going man. Even in stressful situation he is calm and relaxed and rarely gets angry or annoyed. He is also a very compassionate person who hates seeing people suffer needlessly and will not hesitate to help them, regardless of whether he knows them or not.

He is a very learned man and enjoys reading and listing to opera and does believe in failure, stating that even when something does not go right you learn something new.

He is a patient person and a pacifist by nature prefering to avoid conflict whenever possible. Unlike his wife Perenelle who will more likely jump into action when she sees it, especially when she believes she is in the right. But when pushed hard enough or when needed, Nicolas has been known to respond with force.

Though not widely know, Nicolas is also a very sly, cunning and manipulative individual, which he has shown over the years in his political manoeuvring of the French Ministr. He rarely acts without thinking things thoroughly, and analysing all possible situations and outcomes.

Skill/Abilities: Due to her long life Nicolas is very knowledge and wise. He is highly intelligent and was considered a prodigy at a young age when he entered school. He has mastered numerous magical areas, such as Transfiguration, Potions and more notably Alchemy, along with several other magical areas from his travels around the world.

Though not as powerful as his wife, Nicolas is still considered a very powerful wizard well within his own rights. From his many years studying Alchemy, Nicolas is considered the greatest Alchemist to have ever lived, after having created the Philosopher's stone.

Like Perenelle, Nicolas can also speak multiple languages and has mastered several obscured magical arts. He is a skilled in wandless magic in her own right, and is knowledgably other areas, like muggles science

He is also a capable teacher, having thought and trained not only Harry but also Albus Dumbledore in Alchemy. Nicholas is also very cunning and politically savvy and is able to manipulate situation to his advantage, which he demonstrated with his exiling of several notable dark wizarding families out of France.

Bataireacht: This is an actually style of martial arts and one few that originated from Ireland, Bataireacht is Irish for stick-fighting.

Irish stick fighting came into its own sometime around the 17th century when the English banned the Irish from owning formal weapons. At that time the innocent walking stick called a bata or shillelagh, (which has became an iconic symbol for both the Irish and the fighting style), came to be used as a serious weapon, and stick fighting became an integral part of the Irish fighting style. In the 19th century Bataireacht became associated with gang or "faction" fighting. Some evidence exists which indicates that prior to the 19th century the term had been used to refer to a form of stick fighting used to train Irish soldiers in broadsword and sabre techniques. Although stick fighting is a free style form of combat there are certain patterns and family/school styles in existence.

The basic idea behind the use of the stick is to charge, strike and disarm your opponent quickly, aiming for the vulnerable points such as joints, shoulders, knees and temple or for areas where nerves could be struck. You can use the stick one handed which was the traditional method, although some will use the stick with both hands using a two handed grip (it's little awkward, which is why it is usual best to fight with on hand).

There has been a new surge of popularity for Bataireacht in recent years, especially in Ireland, due to people wanting to keep the fighting style alive and because of its effectiveness in urban areas. The fighting style is not very difficult to learn, but takes a lot of practice to master and is extremely effective when used correctly, different objects can also be used in place of the stick, such as a short pipe, metal rod, broken leg chair and other things.