[Year 1343]
"Elias, sir?"
There was a moment of silence.
"Sir?"
A hand waved in front of his face.
"Hmm? What?" Elias crabbily looked up from the notes he was absorbed in.
"Sir. I was wondering… can alchemy make someone live forever?"
At that question, Elias turned to fully face him, forgetting about his notes entirely as he stared Nicholas down contemplatively.
"What, exactly, makes you ask that?" It was not a friendly tone that left his mouth.
"Well, it's just…" Flamel shuffled uncomfortably, "I was looking through the records at school you see- for a project! I swear I wasn't snooping- but I found this."
Flamel handed Elias a sheet of paper. He held it up curiously, eyes traveling over the fancy script.
Elias Schmitt
Abschlusszertifikat am Durmstrang Institut
"My graduation papers?" He asked in mild surprise, "You stole them?"
"I made an exact copy." Flamel looked quite proud of himself, "But here. Look at the date. It's 1319! That's six years before I was born! But you- you don't look hardly a year or two older than me, and I'm almost graduated... And you're always so mysterious… I asked the people around the village about how long you and your shop have been here and nobody has an answer. Just that they think you've owned it for a long time. This graduation paper is the only record Durmstrang has of an 'Elias Schmitt'… and here you are, confirming it is yours. ...Do you ever age, Elias? Sir?"
"Ah… it would be you to find out." Elias pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, "You've always been cleverer than the rest, Nicholas." At Nicholas' puff of pride Elias held up a pointed finger with a glare. "Ah, cleverness is not always a good thing. However... in this you are correct; I am much older than I seem. But I am far from immortal. It is indeed due to alchemy, though not of a kind you ever want to touch. It is something I will never teach you and I hope you will never learn nor be tempted to do, for the reward is not worth the cost."
"But what is it? What is the cost?"
"You don't need to pry into dangerous things, Nicholas."
"But I must know! Immortality is something that has long been considered impossible, even with magic! How can alchemy, a science, achieve such a thing that magic cannot?"
"This is not immortality, Nicholas. This is simply borrowed time. Borrowed time that I would never ask for had I a choice."
"Then why do you possess it? What happened? Why do you not have a choice? I must understand, Elias!"
"...Human lives. The borrowed time is human lives."
"What?"
"The cost," Elias gazed at him with dull, molten eyes, "What else is equal to longevity than another human's lifespan? There is a stone inside of me, what is called a philosopher's stone, that holds hundreds of thousands of half lives. And each day that passes, one of those souls gets weakened just to keep me alive. I can feel it, in my chest." He placed a fist upon his sternum, shaking his head softly. Flamel's eyes widened in growing horror as he continued on. "These lives cannot live forever, Nicholas. They are still human, if only just the soul, and slowly, one by one, they will burn out. It is theft of the cruelest kind. I did not choose this fate for them, and I hope you never seek it for yourself. No-one should ever have to face this cruelty."
"...Then why? Why is it inside of you if you did not choose it?" Flamel asked in horrified awe. Elias chuffed humorlessly.
"Why? This is the price I have to pay for my own failure. But also the price I pay to redeem myself. ...I'm going to find a way to take them home someday, Nicholas," he started the words like a mantra he had been repeating over and over to himself every day, a slightly bitter, wistful look overtaking his face, "I'm going to get them home and set them free."
[Present]
Once again, Edward found himself standing inside of Albus Dumbledore's office, Albus sitting pleasantly across from him at the desk.
"Who all knows of the stone?" Edward demanded.
"Just the teachers and the groundskeeper. Nobody else will know."
"Are they trustworthy?"
"I assure you that every one of them will keep it secret. Right now, nobody knows of the stone's exact location except for me and Nicholas Flamel himself... but that is what I have called you here for."
"You're going to tell me?"
"In a moment, yes. I am waiting for our groundskeeper, Hagrid, as I have a task for you both."
It was a few tense minutes before a very large, very tall man came through the doorway.
"You called, Professor Dumbledore?" Hagrid asked in a booming voice. The man was so large it made Edward momentarily feel like a kid again. He stood a little straighter. Still, something was a little familiar about him but he couldn't place it.
"There you are, Hagrid," Albus greeted, "This is Edward Elric, our new alchemy professor. Edward, meet Hagrid, our groundskeeper."
"A new professor, eh? Nice ter meet yeh." Hagrid held out a massive hand. Ed took it with a practiced smile, trying to ignore how just one of Hagrid's fingers was nearly the size of his palm.
"Likewise," he said.
"No what we are all introduced, I have a task for you both. Two tasks, really," Dumbledore pulled the attention back, "As you know, Hagrid, young Mr. Harry Potter is not receiving his acceptance letters. If he has not by August 1st, I want you both to go and personally deliver one and take him to get his supplies. He will need access to his bank account regardless. Here is his key." The elderly wizard produced a small bronze key. Hagrid accepted it, selecting one of the overwhelming number of pockets to slip it in, and gently patting the front.
"Wait, the Harry Potter?" Ed asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"That is correct," Dumbledore answered with a twinkle in his eye. "Harry will be starting his first year here this year."
"Fuck, Albus. You're asking me to teach the most famous wizard child ever alchemy? You must know, arrogance and alchemy do not mix well."
"I think you will find Harry to be quite humble. He knows nothing of his fame. I sent him to live with his aunt and her family so he could grow up with a normal life."
"He knows nothing?" Hagrid asked.
"He should know everything I instructed his relatives to tell him. But of his fame he should know very little."
Edward still pursed his lips in discontent.
"The second task I have," Albus continued, "and why Mr. Elric is here as well, is of a more sensitive nature. The philosopher's stone.
"Mr. Elric here has been tasked with assisting to protect it. As such, when you go to collect Harry Potter's supplies, you will also be collecting the stone itself. Nobody will see it as suspicious to go to Gringotts when you are helping a new Hogwarts student." a clever twinkle sat in Albus' eye.
"It's in Gringotts?" Ed interrupted.
"Not for much longer," Albus pointed out, "You will be bringing it here, and here it shall stay. Hogwarts is the safest place for it to be." Ed nodded in assent. "This is the vault it sits in. It is of highest security and only goblinkind may open it." Dumbledire slid a piece of paper forward on the table which the numbers 713 scrawled onto it.
"Memorize that. And give the goblins this letter from me. They will know who you are. Nobody else is allowed to go near the vault." Dumbledore passed them a letter signed with a neat, loopy scrawl. Edward pocketed it. Finally, Albus waved his wand at the piece of paper still on the table and it burst into flames, disappearing in a wisp of smoke.
"So we'll just have to wait until then." Ed surmised.
"That is correct. Now, I'm afraid Harry Potter's relatives, the Dursleys, are resistant to his letters, so we are expecting a small delay. I have placed a temporary tracking on Harry's whereabouts in case they decide to hide him. They have already tried moving him and locking us out."
"Tha's ridiculous!" Hagrid bellowed, "His own family! Trying to stop Harry Potter from going to school! What a load of-"
"Calm down Hagrid," Albus placated, "Should he wish to go, Harry will be going to school, whether his aunt and uncle like it or not. That is for certain. Hogwarts will never deny a student education."
Hagrid looked a little miffed at this but backed down.
"You delivered him to his family the first time, that is why I trust you to help him get to Hogwarts as well." Dumbledore explained. Hagrid beamed with pride.
"Tha's right Dumbledore sir! You can count on me! An' Professor Elric, of course."
"I knew I could." Dumbledore said pleased, and pushed forward a bowl of little yellow candies. "Lemon drop?"
After the debriefing, Edward quietly wandered the hallways, reacquainting himself with the castle's stone walls. The uneven echoes of his footsteps were swallowed by the hard granite. Of course, with it being so close to the beginning of the semester, he should have been back in his room making a lesson plan, but the lingering anxiety had him pacing for miles. He supposed he could just wing it as the classes went, right?
'...You're just avoiding the past again,' a voice spoke from the stone, 'You can't hide from it forever.'
"I know." Ed grumbled to himself, "But I can try."
'You're failing,' another voice snarked.
"..." Ed wanted to tell the stone's voices to shut up, but he could never bring himself to. They were all the souls of people, many of them incomplete as they were. But even incomplete- floundering, confused, and unable to remember their names, they were still souls with thoughts, feelings, and blurred memories. They were still human in a way that Edward refused to deny. People, who had nothing left but whispering voices in his head. They couldn't feel, they couldn't see on their own, they couldn't taste or smell... the only contact they had left to the outside world was him. And if he could give them even the tiniest, saddest taste of freedom, he would. Just like he did for Alphonse. The dagger of guilt twisted in his chest. "Dammit…" he slumped into a windowed alcove, pressing his hand against the fogged glass.
It was still terribly humid outside, a light drizzle keeping everything damp. His ports throbbed but he ignored them, looking out across the empty Quidditch field towards the dark forest. A distant thestral winged its way in lazy circles above. He sighed, refocusing on his own reflection in the glass. Dark circles ringed his eyes from stress, his hair (was it getting too long?) was dull and lackluster. If he looked closely, he imagined he could see a faint red glow deep within his eyes. The stone in his chest thrummed.
"Is it a student?!" Edward was torn from his reverie by a high, familiar, annoying voice. His heart sank further as he spun around and recognized who it was. "A wee student, this early in the castle? No! Oh my…" Peeves the poltergeist almost fell out of the air in shock. "Is that wee little Eddie Edmund?!"
"Shut it, Peeves," Edward's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.
"It is wee Eddie Edmund! Why, Peevsie thought he would never see you again!"
"I hoped not," Edward muttered, "You'd better leave me alone this semester. I don't have time for your messes right now."
"But Peevsie never plans, Peevsie just does!" The poltergeist had the gall to look offended.
"That's a lie and you know it. Look, you come near me or my classroom, and you get what you did last time, got it?"
"Peevsie knows…" he made a face, flipping upside down and blowing a loud raspberry at him. "Wee Eddie Edmund is no fun!"
"I hope to keep it that way. Now scram!" Ed clapped his hands together with a warning slap, and Peeves made a loud whine and buzzed down the hallway, creating a gust of wind so violent a nearby suit of armor rattled and its spear clattered to the floor with a loud clang. Ed sighed, lifting the dulled spear and fixing it back into the suit of armor's grasp.
"Sorry about that," he apologized, glancing up into its empty gaze. It never moved.
Wordlessly, he turned away to return to his room.
The next few days passed relatively quietly. More staff members slowly trickled in as the semester loomed closer. He met the school's nurse, Madam Pomfrey, and Argus Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris. Ed couldn't help but think how much Alphonse would have adored her.
On the eve of August 1st, Hagrid approached him with the news.
"Harry still hasn' gotten his letters. The Dursleys are tryin' to hide him good. Been dragging him all over the country, they have." the large man looked quite miffed.
"Do you know where he is now?" Ed asked.
"Eh they're still on the road. Takin' a car and driving this way and that like that will help. Muggles are strange, aren't they? No, actually… I was hoping yeh would come with me ter Hogsmeade an' help me pick out a birthday cake."
"A birthday cake?" Ed asked, confused.
"For Harry. Since it's his birthday tomorrow and all. Think he migh' appreciate it."
"I suppose it can't hurt." Ed decided. He could use an escape from the castle grounds, and he hadn't been to Hogsmeade in ages. A change of pace would be nice from the anxiety-riddling grounds of the castle. Hagrid beamed.
They took a carriage down to the village- not a village anymore, Edward noted. In his absence Hogsmeade had blossomed into a hearty sized town. On a lonely hill apart from the rest of the town sat an old shack he didn't remember, boarded and dark. However, everywhere else in the town positively bustled with life.
"There's the new cake shop I've been wanting ter try," Hagrid pointed down the street to a cute small bakery, painted white and colorful sweets displayed in the window. 'Betsey's Batter Bakery' read the sign. Upon entering, they were greeted with the soft jingle of a cheery bell and a greeting from the shop owner. Like the windows, the interior was full of quaint displays of cakes and cookies of all types. They spent some time browsing the treats, Edward noting some claimed to be spiked with love potions and the like. In the end, they walked out with a chocolate cake covered thickly with white frosting. Hagrid had requested 'Happy Birthday Harry' to be written on it with bright green icing. "Ter match his mum's eyes," he'd explained. Edward offered to carry the cake in favor of Hagrid putting it into one of his many coat pockets. It was only bound to get squished. Or eaten by mice. He pretended not to hear the faint squeaks coming from the hairy man's coat.
White waiting for a signal from Dumbledore, they decided to stop in the Three Broomsticks for a drink or two. Ed ordered a firewhiskey with a strange look from the bartender, but at Hagrid's encouragement, set two drinks down in front of them. Edward took a sip and grimaced. He had no love of the spicy drink, or many alcoholic drinks in general, ordering it by habit, but some of the souls within him enjoyed it nonetheless. The drink was strong, and while he couldn't exactly get drunk himself, some of the souls liked to experience absorbing the kick if it was strong enough. It was one of the few ways he could make them feel something without causing much harm. Guilt simmered with the aftertaste of the whiskey.
Hagrid, oblivious to his musings as he nursed his drink, took a large gulp of beer. "So you're teachin' alchemy, right?"
"That's right."
"I heard it was a lost art."
Edward sighed. He should have assumed he'd be getting this question a lot.
"Not quite," he admitted, "There are only two real alchemists left."
"You an' Flamel?"
"No, Flamel knows party tricks. Child's play," he grimaced at his own choice of words, taking another swig of firewhiskey, "He hasn't practiced true alchemy in many, many years. I care not to count. You see, Flamel didn't like to listen to boundaries. He gave up the true art and created something else."
"I see… Who's the second person then?"
Edward grimaced and set his empty glass down on the counter, frowning darkly. "A man by the name of Van Hoenheim."
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Not quite a cliffhanger, but kind of a cliffhanger. It's thickening like soup.
As always, thank you for reading (and reviewing)! 3