The trio before us finally finished their tale of discovery and adventure, their faces alight with excitement. Truly, they had accomplished more than any other wizard or witch when it came to attempting to steal the famed philosophers stone.
Internally Lunaris was busy with the still stabilizing foundations of our mind-scape, our previous efforts in meditation only serving to create the outer most layer. Like a painting, our mind-scape was in its first layer of work... There were many layers to continue. Thus, I was forced to analyse the stone myself.
Sitting in Dracoria's outstretched palm, it glowed softly, rhythmically even. Made of ruby-red stone and toned with a faint fire-orange glow the stone was a marvel of magic. The magic oozing off the exterior most layer of the stone was copious and dense. Unlike most magic, this had taste and smell, and a range of other sensatory information that I couldn't parse.
Reaching out I grasped the stone gently and slowly brought it closer to our eyes, the magic billowing around my hand like an umbral ball of arcana. Harry, I noted, was staring at the stone with something akin to hope. Based upon his story I could imagine what he was wishing for from the stone. Hermione and Dracoria were much less interested but still watched me as I examined the artefact.
"This is very powerful..." Harry's eyes gained a determined edge to them after my words. I internally hummed as I watched him mentally process the presence of the stone and what it could mean for his goals.
"Should we send it back to the Flamels?" Hermione nervously asked.
"No. Or at the very least, not immediately. Perhaps we can create a score of elixirs and gold for our purposes first. Then we can send a letter to him that explains how we came into possession of his artefact... We may even be able to get personal tutelage or something to that effect." I finished my speech with a small hum that was followed by a glowing smile from both Dracoria and Hermione. Harry looked decidedly neutral when i spoke of giving it back.
"That sounds awesome!" Dracoria exclaimed loudly, her eyes soaring with excitement, promise of future adventure and knowledge. I chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"I congratulate you all on nabbing this. All of you can ensure your families are rich for your lifetime and your descendants lifetimes." I placed the artefact on my desk.
"What do you mean 'our' families...? I don't have a magical family and running into so much gold in the muggle world would have me and my parents investigated for illegal activities." Hermione queried, her arms folding in front of her chest as she stared me down.
I laughed at her tone and handed the letter from Gringotts over to her. After a minute of reading she dropped the letter to the ground in shock and simply stared at me with her mouth open, working up and down like a guppy fish.
"You do have a family, and your parents are a part of it. Technically, as the only magical in your family, you are the Lady of the house... But that doesn't remove the fact that you are now landed gentry and vassals under House LeFay, my house." Harry and Dracoria gaped as Hermione suffered from shock.
~~~
Later in the day
The trio had, soon after the meeting, left the dorms. All of them were still in mild shock at the fact we had so easily granted Hermione station in the wizarding world. There were some thanks exchanged of course but for the most part they needed time to process what had happened down in the chamber.
This outcome was perfect for us since we now had a very powerful artefact that could create the Elixir of Life.
Which leads us to the current moment where I am pouring over a potions book that describes the Elixir of Life and how it is brewed. The resources were actually quite simple, all things considered. The Flamels hadn't cared for the recipe of their potion being released since someone would need the stone to achieve it.
Mainly the cost of the potion came almost entirely from the stone. The elixir itself required dittany, lacewings, unicorn hair and a single sprig of mistletoe. The brewing time would take at most a day, with the majority of the steps merely being waiting for it to finish cooking. The final step in the recipe was setting the stone in a bowl and pouring the potion over the top of it and letting it sit for half an hour. Don't get us wrong, the steps for brewing the base component to the process were difficult and required extensive stirring in the early brew but that was mitigated by the ease during the mid and later parts of the creation process.
'Great, I'll Owl-order those materials and start brewing a large amount of Elixir.'
~That's great sis, but what are we going to do about the invitation to the Malfoys?~
'Don't stress it Lun, we'll get Sirius to host our meeting at the Black House, as neutral ground, and move from there. The main purpose of the meeting is to inform them of Draco's new status and sully confirm their loyalty to our house.'
~Hmmm, kay~
'Really, that's all. We don't need anything from them. Their control of the minister for magic is of little consequence as the ministry can do fuck all against us as it is. Their money is worthless against our fortune and history. It's simply a meet and greet.'
~Yeah sure, anyway, I've been working on stabilizing our mental scape~
I hummed as I turned a page, waiting for him to continue.
~It seems our 'aura' right after we created it was a leakage of the ambient magic in the air that we were collecting in those rivers and lakes... Most of the effects have diminished and we've returned to normal as I've been creating dams and storage points for the magic to gather~
'Great! So does that mean we have more magic at our disposal?'
~No. Remember, as Wizards and Witches we don't have a 'core' or anything, we simply channel magic from around us, bathe it in intent, willpower and imagination and then bend its properties to our will to accomplish feats~
'So what does it mean?'
~We'll never be without magic? I mean, everything has magic around it, but if we were to ever find an area without magic we would still have those internal stores~
'Neat...!'
~Yeah, it is cool...~
We soon finished reading the potions book in our hand, the conversation having turned to silence as we both continued with what we were doing. I reached for another book, one on runes and arithmancy whilst Lunaris meditated, trying to shore up his side of the mental space seeing as how it was still a flimsy from the excess power I had accidently invoked in my part of our previous meditation.
Half an hour passed effortlessly as I read about the usage of Thurisaz runes on ward stones and in enchantment. Unfortunately for me my studying was interrupted when Harry popped up in the middle of the room, an invisibility cloak whisking around him and disappearing into his pockets.
"Solaris?" I pulled a bookmark down on the page and closed the book, staring at him directly as I did so.
"Yes Harry?" He scraped his right shoe over the flagstones below in nervousness as I spoke.
"Could we maybe, um, I don't know, bring back my p-parents with the stone...?"
I grunted in thought.
"Possibly...? We'd have to research on the topic of souls and their connections to bodies, magic and blood. It's probably not impossible but we'd need to breach the restricted section and most likely look into ritualistic magics..." He nodded softly, his eyes pinned to the floor.
"H-How soon do you think we could, try it?"
I rubbed our forehead as I contemplated his question.
"Mmm, what if you came to visit me in the upcoming summer? I could take you to the LeFay library and perhaps pull out some books from the Emyrs vault. I'll see if we can get Dracoria and Hermione to come over too and we can all make an attempt to research on the matter from different angles." I pause before continuing.
"I highly doubt that we'll find anything we can accomplish as first years or second years though. We just don't have enough experience in channelling magic and the theories behind magic to achieve something like full resurrection." I put up a hand as he was about to complain. "But that doesn't mean we can't start studying in that direction. A goal is always a great thing to have."
He smiled roguishly, his Emerald irises gleaming with magical power.
"Thanks Sol and Lun!" Sprinting forwards he hugged us quite thoroughly, blushing at the contact, before stepping back and pulling his cloak back over him.
He left before we could even comment on the hug or respond to his thanks.
We shook our head as I picked up my book and Lun went back to meditating.
~~~
(Nicholas Flamel's Perspective)
Nicholas laughed uproariously as he sifted through the letter his old protégé had deigned to send him. The reason he was laughing? Well, that would have something to do with the fact that the naïve fool believed that he had lost his 'only' philosophers stone and that he was 'truly sorry' for how it would impact he and his wife.
The stone he had given to his protégé had been the very first iteration of stone that he had created. It worked just as it was labelled and that was it. His latest creations were far beyond that simple trinket. What was gold in the face of platinum or palladium? The elixir of life was important, for people that didn't have a version of the stone that would naturally draw in magic from the world and rejuvenate them.
Wizards and Witches were fools to believe that he and his wife had simply stopped at creating the one stone. Perenelle Flamel and Nicholas Flamel were over six centuries old and had the remnants of the library of Alexandria... One stone was never the end of Alchemy... In fact the stone was but the beginning of the path, something that only those who had achieved the creation of one could comprehend.
"What is it husband?" He turned to his wife with a wicked grin, handing the letter over as he waved a hand over his bread, the butter spreading across it automatically.
A minute later Perenelle was laughing as well, her eyes hooded in mirth as she tried not to roar in laughter.
"He's turned into such an old fool!" Nicholas chuckled at her antics as his peanut butter sandwich completed making itself.
"I only took him on as an apprentice because I lost a bet, you know that..." She shook her head at his words and dropped the letter, her hands finding much better use in picking up her Subway sandwich.
"Only you could make a bet with a thousand year old Sphinx and get a shit apprentice out of it love." He grumbled at his wife's words before taking a frustrated bite out of his sandwich.
"Yeah, well, now I have a reason to cut my connection to the cretin."
~~~
Meanwhile, In MACUSA...
Alarms were blaring throughout several departments as another magical ripple battered the United States. Cracks and pops were a constant melody that underpinned the screeching claxons throughout the building.
Hundreds of Wizards and Witches were sprinting around, wands in hand, as they searched for direction and leadership. The Chrysler building, a magical shopping district, was threatening to collapse after the last 'ripple', the wards flickering in and out. The Statute of Secrecy was under threat.
The President was watching all of this chaos with a deep sense of unease. He knew something was happening globally but no one knew who or what was happening. The Magical governments of Egypt, South America, India, England and Russia had been having similar issues and yet none of them had found any hint of malice or duplicity in the events.
Claxons were soon silenced as the ripple disappeared as magic established its hold inside the wards and enchantments again. The Chrysler Building would most likely be fine now, though that offered little comfort for the President...
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