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Chapter 3

They all arrived back at Grimmauld Place. The Delacours wouldn't be staying in London, as Sirius's house just wasn't up to holding more people. Instead they were going to be using space at the Hogsmeade house. The question of what was going to happen with the two surprise visitors still hadn't even been thought of, let alone decided. After telling everyone exactly who the mysterious couple was, they all made their way to the large formal dining room, which was the only room in the entire house that had enough chairs for everyone to sit down and be involved in whatever discussion was about to happen.

The formal dining room at Grimmauld place was itself longer than the house was deep, which showed off the influence the Black family had at its height as it was illegal for such a space expansion charm to be placed on a Muggle-contracted house. Whether there was a waiver granted by the ministry or the Blacks were powerful enough that they didn't need to worry about such silly things as Aurors finding out about their house was up for debate. The room was also decorated to impress anyone who was invited to dinner. The thirty foot long table that ran the length of the room was one solid piece of flawless black marble. The room showed a subtle rather than ostentatious version of wealth and power.

The ten of them (Harry, Hermione, Fleur, both Fleur and Hermione's parents, Daphne, Tracey, and Sirius) all bunched up one end of the table with the two Flamels. As soon as they were all seated, Sassy of course took it upon herself to pop in and place a few trays of snacks and drinks on the table. Gabrielle was considered too young and was in the kitchen, where the elves could spoil her for a bit. Harry looked around everyone there. Dan and Emma were the calmest; despite having been told the two minute client's version of who their guests were, to them they were just another two magicals who could do impossible things. Hermione was the most agitated, and it was clear that she wanted to ask the famed alchemist a thousand questions about alchemy and his work specifically. The rest were some in between.

There was an awkward silence for a moment until Fleur's father broke it by making the introductions. After a half dozen variations on saying 'pleased to meet you', it was time to ask the important question. "So I guess your reason for coming to England is a little more involved than sightseeing and wanting to meet the Boy-Who-Lived. What can we do for you?" Fleur asked.

"Ah, well that's a story," said Nicolas. "Mr. Potter, I believe that a few years ago you came across an artefact of mine, and I was first wondering if you could tell the tale from your point of view, just so I can compare it to what I was told about what happened by another."

Harry began to get an inkling about what this was about. The only person Nicholas could have heard the story from was Dumbledore, had the old man done something to piss more people off? It honestly didn't seem like much of a stretch. So, Harry told the story from his perspective, about being there when Hagrid would empty the vault but refused to tell him what was going on. He told them about his encounter with the third floor corridor, how they had discovered that it was the Philosopher's Stone that was hidden in the school, how they believed that Snape was the one who was trying to steal it for Voldemort.

He relayed how, after trying to go to the teachers, he had decided that he needed to stop it being stolen because if Voldemort had gotten his hands on the Stone it would have meant the restarting of the Blood War. He told them about the traps and how three first years got past them, only to find Quirrell instead of Snape. Finally, Harry told them about finding the Stone in his pocket, the fight with Quirrel and passing out, and waking up in the hospital wing where Dumbledore had told him that, after talking with the Flamels, it was agreed that the stone was to be destroyed.

Once he was finished there was quiet for a few minutes as everyone mulled over Harry's words. Then Perenelle said. "Mr. Potter, your story actually matches up with what we were told. You had a few more details, of course, but I want you to look at this for me and see if you can spot the detail that has us concerned." She then handed Harry a French newspaper that, judging by the photo of Harry and Dumbledore standing together near where a headless Voldemort was lying just out of shot, was about what happened a few days ago.

"I'm sorry, but I can't read French," Harry said, going to slide the newspaper back.

Perenelle held up a hand. "The clue is in the picture," Then she turned to Fleur. "Your mother said you were teaching him French."

"We are working exclusively on spoken French for now," Harry defended Fleur by answering in French. He looked at the picture, searching for something odd or off, but he couldn't find anything other than it was strange Dumbledore was included at all, given that he didn't actually do anything. Maybe if Dumbledore had done something, Ginny wouldn't have died, he thought, the stray idea bringing with it the pain of his lost friend.

It was Hermione, who had been looking over Harry's shoulder, who saw it."Wait, Dumbledore's beard is grey. Normally his beard is all white."

"Exactly," said Nicolas. "I have known Albus for eighty years. He had a grey beard up until his hundred and teens. I'm sure you can guess exactly what we are thinking."

"Dumbledore has lied to everyone and stolen your Philosopher's Stone. But if you don't have the stone, how are you still alive? Dumbledore gave me the impression that you didn't have a lot of elixir and that you wouldn't last out the year," Harry asked.

"What Albus didn't tell you was how the elixir works. A dose of elixir will roll back your physical age by about ten years. At least, that's as close as we have been able to figure. It's not exactly easy to date how old the body is, so it's always a few years either way, but we are sure it's around ten years. That gives us a choice: we can have old bodies and have to deal with bad backs, arthritis, and a lack of energy. Or we can have younger bodies that allow for a lot more opportunities for enjoying life. What would you do in our position?" Nicolas asked, and Harry had to admit he had a point.

"Also don't forget that I am the one who made the Philosopher's Stone. Anything that can be made can be made again. Don't misunderstand, it's a labour of a lifetime to make a stone, but after you have one then time is on your side. Yet you'd be surprised how many people never even consider that I would have more than one," Nicholas explained with an exasperated smile on his face, like an adult explaining something simple to a toddler.

"So Dumbledore has stolen your stone, what does this have to do with any of this family?" Hermione asked, trying not to sound rude.

"Well that's the question isn't it. We know Albus. He was Nicholas's apprentice for five years. He is at his core a moral relativist. To justify the theft of an artefact like the stone, he has to believe his actions are morally justified in the larger picture. And after Albus told us that you had been the one who was responsible for keeping the stone from falling into the wrong hands, we took an interest in you. Nothing intrusive, just the public information, but you have ended up the subject of the news enough that we heard plenty to keep us interested.

"Of course there were also the details of your childhood and how Albus was involved in that. Again, Albus's moral relativism means he could only justify that to himself If there was some bigger picture. Now we move from the relevant facts into speculation. Albus has a goal, and it somehow involves Albus using my stone and you. Now, we know that he is using the stone to make himself younger, and we know that Mr. Potter here's fate seems to be linked in some manner to Voldemort. Given these facts, what do you think the situation is?" He asked them all.

It was Emma who answered first after a few minutes of silence. "Dumbledore wants to be younger so that he can fight Voldemort?" She asked.

"No, that doesn't take into consideration his actions regarding Harry," said Sirius.

"Sounds more like Dumbledore is trying to kill both Voldemort and Harry to me," Fleur said, getting everyone's attention. "He keeps pushing them towards each other, first hiding the stone he knows Voldemort is after in the school, and then not doing anything to keep Harry safe during the tournament. It's like he intends for them both to kill each other, or if there was one who survived he wants to be young enough to duel them and win." In the following silence, no one could really say that she was wrong. She was even working off more of the story than anyone but Harry, having lived through much of Harry's memories earlier that day, so they were fresh in her head.

"But why would Dumbledore want me dead? What would that get him?" Harry asked.

"That's the part we can't figure out either. We are sure that it's right, else Albus would have given you training to give you a better chance against Voldemort by now. By him leaving you to sink or swim on your own, the best we can conclude is that he wants you both dead. That is the question we are here to find an answer to," Perenelle told everyone.

"Not to be rude here, but what business is it of yours? The two of you are notorious for not getting involved, yet you come here out of the blue just to satisfy your curiosity. I don't buy it," Sirius said, acting every part the protective godfather James and Lily knew he could be when they gave him the Job.

The Flamels both nodded, then Nicolas said. "You're right, of course. We don't interfere. It was a set of rules we came up with in our two hundreds. We humans, magical and mundane, are a rather violent sort. As soon as a population gets big enough they don't go too long without getting into a war with someone. We realised that if we let ourselves get involved, we would be spending our entire lives involved in some type of conflict. What is the point of a longer life if you end up fighting so much you end up hating everyone? So for the most part, we stayed out of everything. We did medical research trying to develop new Potions and cures for magical ailments."

"But, there are times we bend those rules. One of those times is something we have on our conscience. In this case, Albus is our student and the stone is our creation. Both of them are our mess, and so we have a responsibility to clean up that mess," Perenelle explained their position.

"Do you have a way to track the stone, Mr Flamel?" Hermione asked.

"No, as useful as such a thing would be, it's just not possible."

"So Dumbledore could have it in a Fidelius safe house somewhere and we'll never find it." Sirius said.

"That's what I did with the stone before I had an agreement with the International Confederation of Wizards that I had to keep the stone in Gringotts."

"Why would the I.C.W. have any say in where you keep your stone?" asked Tracy.

"They passed a law to prevent me from using it to make gold. The goblins petitioned the I.C.W. because when I made gold I was essentially stealing value from the other gold. To be fair, now that I look back on it, they have a point. The agreement we came up with was that I could use the stone to make elixir, but to ensure the stone wasn't being used to make gold, it was to be kept in a vault."

"But then how was Dumbledore able to remove it?" asked Hermione.

"He's the Chief mugwump of the I.C.W., remember? And as the vault was broken into the same day it was collected, the goblins have decided not to kick up a fuss. Especially as Dumbledore told them that the stone had been destroyed now, and I assume that the market hasn't been flooded enough with new gold for the goblins to raise an alarm."

"So what do you want us to do?" Asked Harry.

"Nothing," said Perenelle. "You're children. All we ask is that you tell us what you know and to inform us if you discover anything. Nicolas and I are going to investigate for ourselves. We suspect that Albus has the stone in a safe house under a Fidelius charm; if so, there is nothing you can do anyway."

Harry and everyone else relaxed at being told nobody wanted them to do anything; well, nothing beyond sharing information, which was simple and easy enough. After that the conversation started to turn to the topics that Harry and the others expected to have with the Delacours arriving today. Gabrielle was invited back and the conversation turned to questions such as "How was the past year at school?", "Was everything running okay at the Potter chateau?", and "How was work at the French ministry?" The Flamels were invited to dinner but declined. They apparently had their own house in Britain and had planned to visit a restaurant that was a favourite of theirs. So, after giving Harry a charmed amulet that he needed to put on any owl he sent them if he wanted his letter to get through their wards, they left.

It was weird after they left, as no one quite knew what to say. Fleur did ask her parents how they knew the Flamels but the answer wasn't exactly satisfying. They had only met them the day before, introduced to them by Madame Maxime, who was herself only somewhat familiar with them. They were apparently the founders of Beauxbatons, and the two famous alchemists kept in contact with whoever was in charge of running their school. They had apparently asked Madam Maxime for the introduction.

Gabrielle talked Harry and Hermione's ears off for over an hour that evening, telling them all about her first year at Beauxbatons. It was a fairly mundane school year, especially compared to Harry and Hermione's first year, but they told Gabrielle all about their first year in return. Gabrielle told them all about her new friends, who the mean girls were, what boys in her year were cute. She told them what lessons and teachers she liked and which she was struggling in. Apparently she and Harry had something in common when it came to school, as neither of them were particularly fond of their Potions professors. Gabrielle seemed to have gotten off light, as her Potions professor was just a "Vieille vache," which apparently meant "old cow" and got Fleur giggling and agreeing with her sister. Apparently the teacher was the type to issue demerits if your shirt was untucked or took points off your essay if your handwriting wasn't neat enough.

Harry's opinion was that Gabrielle was just happy that she could speak with Harry now that he could now somewhat speak French. He only needed Hermione or Fleur to explain a word to him every three to four sentences. His spoken French was still broken and disjointed, but it was just good enough that Gabrielle was able to follow what he was saying.

There was also some worry when it came to introducing Crookshanks and Adaline, Fleur's cat. However, after a quick sniff of each other, both Crooks and Adaline just walked away from each other. Adaline wandered off and started exploring the new space she found herself in. Both Hermione and Fleur were happy enough with that for a first meeting. Apparently as long as they weren't trying to murder each other, then the rest will come in time. They were sure there would be little spats in the coming weeks as the two fought over pecking order, who got the best spots to sleep and stuff like that, but this was about as good as a meeting between two strange cats could go.

After dinner, Harry and Fleur escorted her parents through the floo to Potter House. Sassy and Dobby had prepared their rooms for them already. Gabrielle, knowing that this holiday to Britain was the last time she could expect to spend any real time living together with her sister, begged Fleur to stay with them at Potter House. Fleur was torn; on one hand it was her sister and her birth family, on the other was the family she was building for herself. "It's fine if you want to spend some time with your sister Fleur, it's not like Hermione and I won't see you for breakfast tomorrow morning," Harry told her. That seemed to make things easier for her, and she opted to share a room with her sister, at least for that night.

-ϟϟϟ-

The next day when they were all together again at Grimmauld Place, Harry and Hermione got a distressing letter. It was from Ron, delivered by the old family owl that Harry and Hermione were familiar with.

Harry, Hermione,

I hope you're doing well after everything that's happened. I know you must be missing Ginny almost as much as we are. I hate to have to say this, but Ginny's funeral is this weekend and I need to ask you both to stay away.

Dumbledore has been here the last few days, and despite what my brothers and I have said, my mother is listening to Dumbledore telling her that it's Harry's fault Ginny is dead. He is saying that he could have saved her, but you acted rashly and attacked You-Know-Who while he was holding Ginny hostage.

The rest of us know that isn't true. Fred and George have spoken to friends of theirs that saw the whole thing, they all said Ginny tried to escape and Harry did everything he could to save her, and then cut off He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's head in retaliation, while Dumbledore stood there and did next to nothing. Bill, Charlie, and Percy are all listening to us, but mum is listening to Dumbledore and I'm not sure that you'd be safe if she saw you.

Also if she sends you any letters or howlers, please just ignore them. She has lost dad and Ginny in the last year and she isn't thinking right.

I know it's unfair that Ginny was your friend and you can't come to the funeral. I wish there was something I could do about it, but I'm sure you can understand that my brothers and I need to put our family first in this situation.

I'll see you 1st September,

Ron

The letter understandably had both Harry and Hermione upset. They were both still grieving the loss of such a close friend, and had both just assumed they would get to say their goodbyes at the funeral with everyone else that was grieving. After seeing how upset Harry and Hermione were, Fleur picked up and read the letter for herself, and then immediately pulled Harry and Hermione into hugs, offering them her support. Hermione clung to Fleur like she was a flotation device at sea and started to silently weep, both for herself and their friend. Harry just leaned into her, accepting the offered comfort.

Fleur was well aware of just how close her two paramours were to the girl who had died. The three of them had spent a lot of their time in the evenings talking over their mirrors, and the subjects they discussed tended to cover a lot of what had happened to them, including their struggle to help the girl who had fallen into a depression. Fleur led Harry and Hermione out of the room. It was obvious that they weren't going to eat anything for a while, and she knew they would be more comfortable expressing their emotions if there wasn't a crowd of people watching them.

Once they had left, the adults in the room passed around the letter and gave it a read. As upset as they all were about Mrs. Weasley blaming Harry for what happened, they all understood that she was a mother grieving the loss of her youngest child. She needed someone to blame, but what had them all angry was the manipulations of Dumbledore. It was obvious that the old bastard had fed the grief-stricken mother a bunch of honey-filled lies to direct her anger and hatred away from him, the adult who had done nothing to help the situation, and redirected it towards a teenager.

"Is there anything we can do about this?" asked Dan when Sebastian Delacour, the last in line, had finished reading the letter.

"Like what? Go bully the poor woman into letting them attend the funeral? That would just make everything worse," Apolline said, misunderstanding what Dan meant.

"I didn't mean do something about the mother. I meant is there anything we can do about Dumbledore? He is spreading lies about Harry."

"While I don't claim to be an expert on British magical law, I seriously doubt it. It would be like trying to prosecute a gossiping house wife because of a rumour." Sebastian said, sounding tired even though it was still only the morning.

Sirius nodded in agreement. "Unless Dumbledore gets something printed in a paper or magazine, or goes on the wireless saying this stuff, then legally there is nothing we can do. What worries me is that if Dumbledore is saying these things to Molly he is almost certainly telling them to his band of vigilantes."

"What band of vigilantes?" Emma demanded.

Realising that they didn't know about the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius gave the other adults the full rundown, including that he and his friends (including Harry's parents) were members back during the first war. "You need to realise that there was a lot of support for clearing out the muggleborn from the Wizengamot during the early part of the war. The Ministry was blocked from doing everything it could until the war spread and the Death Eaters started going after purebloods that they called blood traitors. Where the Ministry was held back, there was, shall we say, a private group that strung up to oppose them.

"Dumbledore was the founder and called them the Order of the Phoenix. A lot of us joined trying to fight back, and when the Ministry finally started to move the Order of the Phoenix had too much momentum to back down. Especially as we were doing more than the Aurors. We did things like sneaking muggleborn and their families out of the country as well. whereas the Aurors were focused solely on fighting. The Wizengamot still only cared because they were now at risk and few cared about the muggleborn. Now it seems like Dumbledore has restarted the order. I refused to rejoin, as did Remus, but I'm sure that quite a few did rejoin, and it's an organisation full of people who will take Dumbledore's word as gospel," Sirius told them.

"And if he is telling them that it's Harry's fault that the girl died, what are they likely to do?" asked Emma, worried about the boy that she had come to see as her son-in-law already.

"Well Harry did also behead Voldemort, a wizard they are all afraid of. Most of them will remember the first blood war and will at least privately think that, while sad and unfortunate, the loss of one girl is worth it. I honestly don't see them doing anything beyond having a more negative opinion of Harry. And of course, spreading that opinion to others," Sirius explained his thoughts.

"That doesn't sound too worrying," Dan said, relaxing slightly. "For a minute I thought you were going to say that this vigilante group was going to target Harry."

Sirius shook his head, agreeing that that wasn't likely. The members of the order that he knew of wouldn't be convinced that Harry was evil anywhere near this easily. Brash and impetuous and got a young woman killed so that he could win a fight with a monster, yes Dumbledore could possibly convince them of that. But there is a big leap between an accidental death and someone who needed to be a target of Dumbledore's roast chicken club.

-ϟϟϟ-

In the Department of Mysteries, a few Unspeakables were debating what to do with the information that they had uncovered from the Boy-Who-Lived's memories. They had examined the memories of the diary and what happened after the Weasley girl died, and had come to the conclusion that the only thing it could be was a Horcrux.

The more disturbing part was that when the girl had died, it was obvious that the shard of soul had left its vessel and had begun the process of merging back with the core soul. However, Harry had struck Voldemort a lethal blow, so with the Horcrux's destruction and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named beheaded, that should have been the end of it. Tom Riddle should have died. Yet he didn't, his dis-embodied soul had tried to attack Mr. Potter, and when it failed it had flown away, very obviously not succumbing to death.

That could only mean one thing: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had at least one more Horcrux out there, and it would need to be found and destroyed if this war was ever going to end. Add to that the memo the investigation team had received from the department of prophecy, as both Potter and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were apparently the subjects of a prophecy. This matter had to be handled very carefully.

A/N

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