Done with the ritual, Voldemort got up and left Nicolas on the floor. "Remember, Flamel, the clock is ticking. The fate of your wife lies in your ability to fulfill your end of the bargain."
Voldemort signals the dementor to get out. Even though unhappy to be denied its meal, the dementor floated out of the room, and soon after, the coldness disappeared, and the room regained its previous warm environment.
Perenelle, clearly exhausted and drained of energy and happy emotion, remained seated on the chair.
Nicolas wanted to approach his wife, embrace her, look after her, and console her that everything was fine now, but Voldemort commanded an order at Wormtail present before Nicolas could even move closer to see his wife.
"No, no. You don't have the time to look after your wife, Nicolas. You should immediately begin the preparation of the stone. Don't worry, as soon as you finish, your wife will return safely to you. Wormtail, take this woman out and keep her in prison. Make sure she is well-fed and no harm happens to her. I don't want her to starve to death and complicate my deal with Nicolas."
Helpless, Nicolas watched as her beloved wife was taken away by the Death Eater called Wormtail. His eyes continued to follow his wife as she disappeared from his sight beyond the entrance door.
"Now, Nicolas, let's begin, shall we? Tell me, how much time do you expect to complete the Philosopher's Stone?" the voice of Voldemort interrupted his thought.
Nicolas, torn between his desire to protect his wife and the urgent task at hand, took a deep breath to steady his nerves.
"The creation of the Philosopher's Stone is a complex and delicate process. I will need time to gather the necessary ingredients, and the alchemical procedures are time-consuming. I would request at least a few months. Between two and three months should be enough to ensure the Stone is perfected," Nicolas replied.
Three months. Voldemort had no notion about the time it would take to create the stone, even with the new memories. So, as a precaution, considering the marvel of this stone, Voldemort had thought for around six months and up to a year when preparing his plan.
So, three months were not bad at all. He could adjust certain plans to happen quickly.
Still, he could not express his satisfaction. "A few months, Flamel? I had hope that it would be less. But I shall grant you the time you require. However, know this... every day you prolong this work adds a day to your wife's imprisonment."
Nicolas was well aware of this. He was going to work relentlessly in order to get his wife back to safety. There was no time to waste. Nicolas turned and walked to his workplace.
Voldemort was about to leave when he realized that this was a golden chance to unravel the secret behind the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. He entered the room and watched the old wizard.
Without wasting a moment, Nicolas approached a cupboard and tapped it with his wand. With a soft creak, the cupboard door swung open, revealing a meticulously arranged set of items. Six small flasks, each containing the Elixir of Life, stood in a neat row.
The vibrant, golden liquid within sparkled as if holding the essence of immortality.
Voldemort observed the flasks, for the first time seeing the potion of life. "How long will these elixirs sustain you and your wife, Flamel?"
Nicolas, while carefully handling one of the flasks, responded with a tinge of sadness in his voice. "One more year for both of us."
Nicolas regretted momentarily. If he had completed his leftover task more quickly and welcomed death sooner, there would have been no need for his wife to go through this ordeal.
With a deep breath, Nicolas turned his attention to the next crucial component of his work. An ancient book, concealed within the cupboard. Nicolas took it out of the cupboard and placed it on a nearby table.
The book had a worn, brown cover. In the center, there was a magnificent phoenix, its feathers a radiant gold. Nicolas lightly tapped his index finger on the middle of the phoenix symbol, and the cover of the book opened automatically.
Nicolas began to turn the pages of the book. Each page held a photograph captioned with the name of a wizard. It allowed Nicolas to keep in touch with various Wizards around the world as the page acts as a two-way mirror. Nicolas turned the pages, among them were the names of Albus Dumbledore, Newt Scamander, and the headmaster of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Eulalie Hicks. Voldemort was observing from a distance as Nicolas continued to flip it until he arrived at last at the page he wanted.
Adrien Rousseau. An elderly person appeared in the photograph. He was one of Nicolas's friends' grandchildren in Germany. Adrien was a metal charmer and had previously sought Nicolas's help with all sorts of knowledge.
The two began talking, and Nicolas asked him to send him the following materials. What Nicolas requested were these metals that were well-known among Muggles: Iron,
Aluminum, Copper, Zinc, Silver, Platinum, Nickel, Lead, and finally, Tin. Nicolas also required Gold, but he had some already in his house. Next, Nicolas, after saying goodbye, turned the page to another person to buy some magical ingredient.
For that, Nicolas contacted different sources to get Fire seeds, Fairy wings, Unicorn horns, and many others. Some of the ingredients, like a phoenix feather and phoenix blood, Nicolas had to use a contact to buy them from the dark market. One of the worst ones to get was the Tears of a Phoenix.
Voldemort, by the side, observed. His mind was working in reverse. Try to analyze the stone essence backwards.
The stone was able to turn metals into gold. So there should be a connection between them. Maybe that was why Nicolas required so much metal. Next, through the stone, the elixir of life was produced with the ability to prolong life. The tears of a phoenix and the rest of the ingredients could be for this use.
Nicolas set ablaze the cauldron and put in several ingredients. For the creation of the stone, this was the easiest part. But in the past, before Nicolas had successfully made the Philosopher's Stone, he had to do lots of trials and errors with different sets of ingredients.