The express was due to leave, but Harry wasn't waiting by the station. He had overheard some Slytherins loudly talking about Lupin being a werewolf, so he was tearing through the school trying to find the professor.
Luckily, he found the professor in his office packing his stuff up.
"Ah Harry, I err… didn't expect to be seeing you… How's the arm?"
"It's been better. According to Madam Pomphrey it was always going to get worse, she just didn't pick it up until it was already broken… The swarm of dementors probably didn't help it either."
Lupin visibly winced at the reminder, it was the first time Harry had spoken to him since the full moon and clearly the professor blamed himself.
"The students know you're a werewolf… I think it must've been Ron or Neville." Harry said apologetically.
"No no, Dumbledore swore the boys to secrecy… It was Severus who told the Slytherins my secret, from what I understand he heard I was in contact with Sirius and felt it was his duty to warn his students about the 'danger'. But if you ask my opinion he heard you had gotten hurt and wanted to make sure it couldn't happen again."
"It's not Snape's responsibility to remove possible dangers! Besides, you're the best defence teacher we've ever had, you can't leave." He could've come up with more arguments but was stopped by Remus holding up his hand.
"Actually, as a teacher, it is Severus' job to remove possible dangers… However, I had already resigned before my condition was, revealed. And regardless of whether or not you blame me for your injury, the fact is I was out in the grounds with three students on a full moon and hadn't taken my potion."
"But it ended up fine!" Harry protested, only to be cut off by an Lupin
"And what if you weren't there? Do you think Ron or Neville could stand up to a werewolf?... You're just like James."
After mentioning James, Lupin sat down wearily and ran a hand over his face. For the first time Harry truly noticed how old Lupin looked, despite only being in his mid 30s he looked like he was old enough to retire in the Muggle world.
"How am I like my father?" He asked softly, after several moments of awkward silence.
"James and Sirius never really appreciated the risks associated with my condition, that was until Severus almost got himself bitten… James grew up quite a bit after that, Sirius not so much."
"And was this when my mum started to return dad's feelings?" Harry asked curiously, deciding to ignore the fact Lupin made it sound like he wasn't taking the risk of a werewolf seriously.
"Yes, it was. In fact, it was because of this that James got Lily to help us finish the map, which is why I am giving it to you. James poured his life and soul into this map, along with a fair bit of magic, and I know he would want you to have it."
"Thank… Thank you." Harry said emotionally, he gently took the map and carefully put it in an inner pockets of his coat.
"Now I believe you have a train to catch, I shall try my best to keep in contact."
It felt odd, to look around his compartment and see it full, when just one year ago there was just him and Luna. Luna was beside him, reading the latest addition of the Quibbler for the third time, with Tonks sitting across from him. Of course Tonks had made herself look like a student, just in case Tom Riddle decided to attack.
Then Colin Creevey had breezed into the compartment and sat on the other side of Luna, the shock came when Neville and Ron had tentatively asked to come in. At first it had been awkward to have his young friends all in one place, but then the others had started talking and it just worked.
About half way home an owl had dived through the open window, swiftly followed by Corvus, his mithril crow. The owl then began circling the compartment and hooting happily while Harry was focused on Corvus, who had reached under his wing and drew out first a letter then an entire broom from his undetectable storage.
He quickly opened the muggle envelope and read the letter inside.
"Dear Harry, I'm sorry our last meeting ended so suddenly… we never even got the opportunity to talk things over. I've been in contact with Dumbledore who managed to make arrangements for me. I'm going to be leaving the country for now to get help, but I will return." The word 'will' had been underlined several times, which made Harry smile faintly.
"I know you told Moony you don't like flying, but I reckon part of that is due to the school brooms (Which were a death trap when I was a first year). I won't force you to enjoy broom riding, having grown up being forced into doing things I hated I know it would achieve nothing. But you may find riding to be a chance to relax, Merlin knows James went flying five times a day when Lily was pregnant!"
Sirius had drawn a crude stick figure with his father's distinctive glasses flying all around the paragraph, drawing another happy smile from him.
"And even if you find you don't like flying, you may enjoy trying to figure out how the Firebolt works, maybe even try making something better. Consider it the start of 12 years of missed presents. I can only hope the owl I have chosen for the task is up for it, I would've used a stronger owl but I thought your friend Ron might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault he no longer has a rat.
"P.S. As I was trying to attach the broom to the owl your crow showed up with your letter, no idea how it found me considering I'm under extremely powerful wards but whatever I guess. I was also going to suggest code names, but if you are sure your crow is secure then I can trust it."
"Who's that from?" Tonks asked, eying the letter and broom suspiciously. Despite repeated assurances from him, she didn't trust Corvus' ability to detect cursed mail, or that fact Corvus would only take mail from a limited number of people.
Harry quickly spread his magic throughout the compartment while simultaneously locking the door, he only answered once his magic had confirmed there was no foreign magic in the compartment. "It's from Sirius, he says he's going to be out of the country for a while… He also says the owl is yours if you want it Ron."
"Really? Wicked! See, told you he was a good bloke." Ron said excitedly, waving his arm around and apparently trying to get the owl to land on it. Harry noticed Colin was looking around in confusion, being the only one to not hear of their 'adventure' during the full moon, something he would have to rectify.
"Ron, you were saying you hoped he got caught and kissed less than a month ago." Neville said passively, not even looking up from the crossword he and Luna were doing.
"Well that was before we met him." Ron said defensively, frowning at Neville in betrayal.
"Just promise me you will let somebody look over that broom before you use it." Tonks pleaded, at her words Harry ran his eyes along the broom and Looked at the magic on the broom. As expected he couldn't make heads or tails of the magic, but it did confirm that there were no lethal spells.
Normally the intent of the user didn't affect a spell once it had formed, except for instances where the intent of the user was so intense it branded the spell. Such as accidental magic... or the desire to cause pain or death. The intent to cause harm was so strong that even the simplest levitation charm would have the subtle 'feel' of darkness deeply routed into it.
As such Harry didn't have to learn the makeup for every dark spell, he just had to be aware of the darkness. This was also the principle behind most basic dark detectors, including Corvus.
"Of course. So, anyone got any plans for the summer?" Harry asked innocently, trying to cut off Tonks' attempt at securing the broom which he had hurriedly hidden in his pockets.
"Hmm, this is quite curious." Nicolas mused, holding up the dark grey gemstone. The gem was all that was left of the dementor, which Harry had compressed with the Philosopher's Stone. That was unless you counted its cloak which was locked in a chest within his room.
The gem itself was translucent, except for the very centre where the dementor's fog swirled ominously. This fog was so dense it was impossible to see if the dementor had just been shrunk incredibly small and locked within the crystal or turned into the crystal.
Despite this Nicolas was able to hazard a guess. "Given the fact the gem is made primarily of carbon, an element that also makes up the dementor's bone structure, I think it is safe to assume the crystal is the dementor and not its jail."
"But I thought it was impossible to kill a dementor?" Tonks asked in confusion. It was easy to see she was uncomfortable sitting at the table, with Nicolas Flamel to her left, Severus Snape to her right and Dumbledore beside him.
They had gathered to investigate the gem and to share the dementor ash. Upon hearing of the event Snape had gone to the clearing and collected just over three large cauldrons worth of Dementor Ash, which was enough to fill four standard barrels. Given the scarcity of the Ash, Harry wouldn't be surprised if they currently had the largest store of Dementor Ash in the country, maybe even the world.
"That is true" Dumbledore pointed out "But the Stone didn't kill the dementor. In fact, I would assume the gem still retains the dementors durability." After taking the gem from Nicolas he began running the Elder Wand over it, curiously the fog within the gem seemed attracted to the wand tip.
"Which raises the question of if it has access to the dementor's other abilities." Snape said in a tone Harry recognised as 'I really want to find the answer but don't want people to know.'
"Well, there's only one way to find out." Harry said as he reached over for the gem, only to have Dumbledore swiftly move it out of reach.
"And what, pray tell, is that?" Dumbledore asked, too late Harry realised the man was wearing his 'realist' face, which meant the man wasn't in the mood for humour.
"... Force some magic through it and see what happens." He said guardedly, hoping Dumbledore wouldn't start talking about how reckless he was being.
"And what is your plan if the gem turns out to be dangerous?"
"If I use my mithril, I can remotely shut off the magic if it turns out to be dangerous before any damage can occur."
Dumbledore seemed like he was considering it before nodding sharply and passing the gem to Harry, before swiftly standing and gripping the Elder Wand tightly. The others around the table took Dumbledore's cue and soon did the same, leaving Harry as the only one sitting and surrounded by a circle of wands.
Rolling his eyes at the dramatics of his friends, he formed a cube of mithril and sunk the gem deep into it. Then after moving the cube to the centre of the table he reached out for the cube with his magic, with a careful pulse of his magic he instructed the cube to feed a sliver of magic into the gem.
The effect was instantaneous, albeit miniscule. The fog started glowing faintly as a layer of frost slowly spread along the cube. After seeing that Harry was still in control, Dumbledore nodded and gave him permission to go further.
He sent another pulse, which doubled the amount of magic being sent into the gem. In turn the fog's glow increased and the chill spread, this time spreading the frost all the way onto the table top. Seeing that the frost was eating away at the cube, he gave it one final pulse, which made the cube to send the last of its magic into the gem.
With the cube gone, the gem started rocking slowly, while still spreading the frost in a perfect circle. But with the magic gone the fog soon stopped glowing and the frost started melting, leaving the gemstone sitting in the middle of the table like nothing had happened.
"I would say that concludes that the powers do carry over." Nicolas said benignly, lowering his unusually long wand and returning it to it's belt loop.
"Now the question arises of what to do with it." Dumbledore mused, running his hand through his beard.
"I suppose we can't turn it over to the ministry?" Tonks asked weakly, by all rights she should've confiscated it already as an Auror. But even if she was willing to steal from Harry, who she considered a good friend, she doubted her ability to defeat him in a proper battle. Never mind the three wizards who had achieved masteries in their respective crafts before she was even born.
The looks she received made her regret broaching the subject at all, Snape was glaring at her in open disgust, while Harry looked like he had been told Christmas was cancelled. As for Flamel and Dumbledore, both were smiling at her humorously, clearly finding the idea of turning it over to the ministry laughable.
"My dear, if we turned it into the ministry it would either be turned into a weapon or hidden deep within the department of mysteries, never to be seen from again." Nicolas said kindly, before turning his attention back to the gemstone. "While I don't condone giving Harry anymore dangerous magical stones, he is in the best situation to look after it."
"The only problem is I can't use it within my mithril without it eventually being destroyed by the frost, that cube should've lasted way longer." Harry said sadly.
"Only when its being used." Snape said pointedly.
With a sigh, Harry told Nicolas his idea, then quickly formed a large ball of mithril and set about shaping it. As he worked Nicolas used his Stone to transmute a solid gold shield around the gemstone, which would hopefully minimise the amount of magic going both into and out of the gem.
By then, Harry had finished with the mithril. Where the ball had been, a large shiny albatross now sat proudly on the table. Harry then casually pushed the gold ball deep into the bird's chest and let the mithril form around it to keep it contained.
He then gave it the instructions 'Ensure the gem is safe at all times. Stay as far away from humans and magic as possible. Do not let anyone other than me take the gem out.'
As an afterthought he added a metaphysical tether between his gauntlet and the bird, just in case it flew far enough away that he couldn't remotely call it back. After a final check he powered it up and watched as the bird spread its wings and easily took flight.
Almost immediately its powerful disillusionment and notice-not spells kicked in, making it nearly impossible to detect. Diving into his mithril mind space he was barely able to track it, as it sharply rose to the very edge of the atmosphere and set off towards the arctic circle.
"Now that we have that's over with, what are we going to do about the ash?" Nicolas asked cheerfully, rubbing his hands together expectantly.
"Well, personally I'm fine with splitting it between the four of us."
"Harry, me and Perenelle have to return home to France over the summer for the funeral of a decedent, with luck we will be back in time for the Quidditch World Cup. Which does unfortunately mean we won't be around for your birthday." Nicolas told Harry after the meeting ended.
"I didn't know you followed Quidditch?" Harry asked in confusion
"The Quidditch itself is interesting enough, but me and Perenelle like to attend for another reason. You see our son, Gerard, was the captain of the French team for over ten years and was one of the captains that helped start the first International tournament. We made a habit of going to the tournament while he played, then even after he stopped playing we kept attending."
It was easy to forget that despite the fact Nicolas and his wife looked like they were in their early 70s, they had lived through several historical events. Harry just couldn't imagine a time when his tutor wasn't the wisest man alive, but before figuring out the formula for the Philosopher's Stone he had just been an unassuming wizard, albeit one who was a prodigy at alchemy.
"So how do you feel about getting your present from us now?"
At Harry's eager nod Nicolas waved his hand and made a large wrapped box appear in his hands, it was a beautiful act of magic which must've been achieved by a switching charm. The wrapping paper even had several animation charms embedded, which he recognised as Perenelle's work.
The boats gently rocking on rolling waves somewhat ruined the surprise, but it looked so good it was hard to complain. Carefully opening the paper revealed a DIY kit for a gigantic galleon, the sailing kind not the currency.
Ever since Dumbledore had given him the smaller kit last year he had become obsessed with ship building, such that he had an entire fleet of mithril boats to go with his original ship. If the packaging was to be believed, this ship would put them all to shame.
Part of him just enjoyed the feeling of building, of starting with a selection of parts and ending up with something beautiful and knowing you alone made it. Another part of it was the chance to experiment, modifying the first kit had been his first real experience of testing his mithril in real world conditions.
"Thank you." Harry said genuinely.
"You are quite welcome." Nicolas said, doing an exaggerated deep bow which made Harry laugh.
Once Nicolas left, Harry went out in search of Dumbledore and Snape. He had seen the pair head towards Dumbledore's study and hoped the two were still there, since he wanted to speak to Snape before the professor left.
Before he could knock on the study door he caught Snape saying "Whether this is because the Dark Lord is rising or dark forces acting alone I cannot say. Personally I -"
"Forgive me Severus. Come in, Harry."
Grimacing at being caught eavesdropping, even if he didn't plan on doing it, Harry opened the door.
"I take it Nicolas has left?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yeah… I just wanted to ask if I could talk to you once you're finished, professor." Harry said to Snape, getting a sharp nod in return.
"You're in luck, I believe the business between myself and Severus has concluded for today. Severus, I will ask that you look further into it and report back to me later."
"Of course headmaster, lead the way Potter."
Harry led Snape down the hallway and into his own 'study', it was not as extravagant as Dumbledore's but it was sufficient. Despite knowing this, he still winced when he saw how bleak the room was. His desk and chair were plain mithril, without even a drop of colour.
He gestured towards the one piece of furniture that wasn't made of mithril, a comfy leather bound chair. He had added the mithril furniture during the summer before his second year, where he didn't have the skill or desire to make them look good.
Now that he was almost two years older he found the plain look unsatisfactory. As he walked around the desk he let his fingers glance over the surface, which allowed his intent to take ahold.
At first nothing seemed to change, but then the corners started to go from right angles to a graceful curve. Once the corners stopped warping patterns started to appear, they were just simple abstract patterns but they looked interesting enough.
Harry was quite proud of the end result, over time he might improve upon it but for a first attempt it was excellent. When he sat down he let his intent similarly shape his chair, the only major difference being he left out the large image of a crow that sat in the very centre of the desk.
With that matter addressed, he turned to Snape "You told the Slytherin's that Lupin is a werewolf."
While he wasn't as skilled as Dumbledore, he felt he was doing a pretty good job of mimicking the headmaster's steady stare. Unfortunately Snape seemed unaffected.
"I did." He answered evenly, much to Harry's dismay the man was doing a much better job at the 'steady stare' routine. When Snape didn't explain why, Harry raised an eyebrow to try and prompt him to continue, at which point Snape copied him.
Sighing heavily, he dropped the intimidation tactic. Instead he decided to go for the blunt and honest tactic,
"Why? He had gone the entire year without an incident." He demanded angrily
"Would you call putting three students at risk 'going without incident'? And it may interest you to know the reason I revealed his status, a rather… inappropriate rumour was spreading throughout my students about why Lupin quit. A rumour that could've led to the wolf being dragged into court, which wouldn't have gone well considering werewolves aren't allowed legal council."
Much more subdued, Harry asked "What was the rumour?"
"Nothing that you need to worry yourself about… Suffice to say it involved Lupin and a sixth year female." Snape's tone clearly told Harry to drop the subject.
"If that is all, I have work to finish before I can enjoy my own holiday."
I had planned to write more, but the internet for my street was cut for several hours.
Firstly I want to again say I will be updating this story once every 2 weeks, during the 'off' week I will probably be working on other stories.
Things I think need explaining in this chapter:
The dementor's gemstone will return, but only once Harry is able to actually use it. (I also need a better name from it and welcome any ideas)
Harry's mood is also a lot better than previously in the story because he's basically gotten over Hermione's death and he has more hope in his life now, such as Dumbledore taking the role of grandfather and Sirius being free and having more friends.
Finally Harry's damaged left arm is partially based on my knee, which varies from barely working and slightly painful to working perfectly. This means there will be times where he uses his left arm without issue. His left arm is the one he used to try and stop the basilisk fang and strangled the dementor on the train.
Harry can switch the gauntlet by just placing the other hand on the gauntlet which causes it to move over, like the venom symbiote.