Chapter 11: The Alchemist's Wife

"But Professor," Alphonse spoke "We're hoping to leave as soon as Mr. Flamel is found. The school year won't even begin before we're gone."

Dumbledore's worried expression unsettled the brothers.

"I'm truly sorry, but in spite of my efforts, Nicolas hasn't been found yet. And his time runs out in only two weeks. I'm afraid it's a strong possibility that we won't be able to reach him before his Elixir runs out."

The magical couple closed the door behind them, not letting go of each other's hands for a moment.

"We're home." They exchanged delighted looks.

The clock on the mantelpiece struck eleven o'clock in the morning.

"We still have ten hours left before our departure," said Nicolas Flamel and grinned at his wife. "What would you like to do, love?"

Mrs. Flamel tapped her chin thoughtfully, then smiled.

"I think a cup of classic English tea would be a wonderful start," she replied, pulling out her wand. With a single wave, a full porcelain tea-set appeared, with hot tea steaming in small, elegant cups. Nicolas took one and sipped with a pleased hum.

"Most excellent as always, love."

"Why thank you, dearest."

"Did you know I can still recall the first time you made me tea?"

"Do you?" said Perenelle Flamel as they both sat on the sofa. "I do not remember anymore."

"Yes. I remember thinking: 'she makes perfect tea as well. I am so doomed.'"

She giggled.

Truthfully, after living for over six hundred years, those times where more than a little bit blurry to him as well. The times when he wasn't even an alchemist yet. Before he became Flamel...

"You know, love," he said, putting an arm around his wife. "Now that I think about it, everything the Oracle had told me six centuries ago turned out to be true."

She snuggled to his side, smiling serenely. "Did it really?"

"Yes. You remained by my side all those years..." He turned his head and looked into her eyes lovingly. "I still can hardly believe it."

Perenelle laughed softly, her laughter like an enchanted melody. Oh, how fond Nicolas was of the sound; so beautiful and pure, just like herself. He watched her face with admiration, absorbing her features as if he'd never seen them before, despite remembering every single detail – every line, every curve, every imperfection… however in his eyes, she was absolutely perfect. She was his. She had chosen him and never betrayed him, not even once during their centuries of a lifetime together.

"I can hardly believe it, too," she told him, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. She moved to face him and put their foreheads together, looking directly into his eyes. Then, as if reading his mind, she said: "You could have chosen anyone in this world and yet, you decided to stay with me forever."

He knew Perenelle was right, in a way. With his name forever printed upon the pages of history, his original heritage was long forgotten and no longer mattered. He could have anyone in this world; his riches and fame guaranteed him power to satisfy any earthly desire, just like the Oracle had foretold. However, he ever had only one desire, something which could not be bought with gold, nor taken by force. And he considered himself the luckiest man in the world, because it was already his: the devotion of the person he loved.

Nicolas smiled. After living for over a half of millennium he grew weary of many things, but he could never be tired of her presence – and neither could she of his. Although it was no longer like when they were young (really young, not just in appearance), when every touch was filled with electricity and passion, it gradually became something even better; tranquility. Just being close to her and holding her in his arms, it filled him with pure bliss, putting his soul in state of peace in its truest form.

She was everything he ever needed.

"And you chose me," he responded, putting his arms around her slim form. "And I've been thanking Heavens for that every day of our life."

Perenelle returned his embrace and sighed in delight.

"I'm so glad," she said. "We spent our whole lives together, and now… we can move on together. I only hope we won't be separated in the afterlife."

"Perenelle, I will never leave you," he promised.

"I know," she put her hand to his face. "May our love bind us in the world beyond, Nicolas."

They stayed quiet for a long, peaceful moment.

"We haven't danced in a long while," Perenelle spoke.

Nicolas stood up from the couch and helped her up, holding her hand like a precious flower. "Then dance we shall, love."

Perenelle waved her wand, and a moment later they were spinning together to the soft violin music in the air.

London, Great Britain, Summer 1343

When star-crossed lovers meet for the first time, one might expect it to happen in some extraordinary, exciting circumstances. Their first meeting was anything but.

Nicolas, at the time nothing more than an orphan with no fame, riches or connections, worked as the junior assistant in a bookshop.

"...Good day sir, have a wonderful..." The door closed behind the customer as Nicolas finished weakly. "...day." He leaned against the counter and sighed.

Working in "Flourish and Blotts" was surprisingly dull - even for him, a Ravenclaw and a certified bookworm. He remembered how before he graduated Hogwarts (which wasn't too long ago) he dreamed of getting a job here, in the most renown magic bookstore of Great Britain. But now that he had actually gotten here, he realized just how lonely and monotone this place could be.

Nothing was ever happening here. Nothing changed, everything was always the same. Was this really what his life was going to be to the rest of his days? He wondered in disappointment. What he wouldn't give for someone intelligent to talk to. How ironic, considering Nicolas often avoided social interaction. It appeared even loners longed for company now and then.

"Is something the matter, good sir?" a pleasant female voice spoke to him in Old English.

His head turned in disinterest to the witch who approached him without his notice - for she was certainly a witch, not a Squib, considering the wand she carried in a pouch at her side. However, as soon their eyes met, the world seemed to freeze all of a sudden.

The strangest thing was, he had seen her before. She appeared in the store trice thus far, only looking at the showcase for a few moments and then leaving immediately without buying anything. He'd never paid attention to her, nor saw any reason to. However, she'd never stood as close to him as this, and he hadn't gotten a good look at her.

Now, he felt as if someone threw a petrifying spell at him and he found himself staring at the girl, like he had never seen anything nearly as fascinating. What was even more puzzling though, he had no idea what made his whole universe stop such screeching halt. Was it the tone of her voice? Was it the glimmer in her eyes? Was it the expression on her face? Or was it how stunningly beautiful she turned out to be...?

It took him a moment to realize that this breathtaking creature had asked a question and was still waiting for an answer. The world suddenly returned to its natural speed and he snapped out of the daze, flustered and stuttering.

"Oh! I- forgive me, fair maiden," he finally managed to get the words out of his mouth. He licked his lips nervously. He felt extremely foolish. Where had this nervousness come from? "Yes, I am quite well. A bit weary, I suppose..."

The girl smiled at him, her shyness evident. His heart skipped a beat, and he had to swallow. What on Earth was wrong with him? He cleared his throat, then decided to ask casually:

"I believe I have seen you here before?"

The young witch nodded. "Indeed... I am very fond of books," she admitted softly, looking at the showcase with longing in her eyes.

"I see..." he said slowly. He noticed that they were about the same age, which made him a little confused. "I wonder... where do you fare from? Certainly I would remember such lovely face at Hogwarts." His mouth blurted out the words before he registered what he was saying. The girl looked at him in surprise, and immediately a dark blush covered his cheeks. "Ah! I- I mean, not if you were not, I wouldn't... t-that is, of course your face is lovely, but regardless- I..." Merlin, how he wished for a bottomless pit to magically open in the ground underneath his feet and kindly devour him.

Much to his surprise the girl laughed, her voice ringing clearly like a silver bell. He could have sworn the sound summoned an army of Pixies into his stomach. Instantly weakness befell his knees that he was forced to support himself with his hands on the counter. Pleasantly he smiled at her to hide the effect this young woman had on him, but inside he was reeling in anxiety, mixed up with a strange sensation of bliss. How utterly bizarre.

"It is alright, good sir," she said, covering her mouth with her slim fingers. "No, I never set a foot in the famed Hogwarts castle. My father taught me magic and everything else I know."

"O-oh." He blinked. "Pardon my curiosity, it was uncalled for..."

"I understand," she replied in a calm manner. Then her tone became slightly teasing: "I am curious myself, as I did not attend Hogwarts, thus I never had the pleasure of meeting such fine gentleman before."

He laughed in surprise, pretending to take is as a joke, but truthfully his heart nearly stopped at the complement. Perhaps he was falling ill?

"You give me far more flattery than deserved, fair maiden," he responded with a bright smile. For some reason, pink covered the girl's pretty face. How very odd. "Uhm... My name is Nicolas," he introduced himself without knowing why, reaching out.

"Perenelle Maltravers." The witch let him take her hand and kiss it. They both froze the moment his lips touched her knuckles.

There was nothing special or unusual in the gesture, although it was a bit unnecessary. Considering how low the numbers of both wizards and witches were these days, in magical community, men and women stood on practically equal grounds. This gesture was nothing more than an expression of respect, something Nicolas had done it countless times before. But never before had ordinary skin contact caused shivers run through his whole body - nor did it make the girl tremble with him, like a leaf in the storm.

The moment they snapped out of their daze they stepped away from each other - both equally shocked judging by their identical, wide-eyed expressions.

An uncertain silence fell between them. Eventually Nicolas decided to cut the tension:

"Maltravers... As in, the Maltravers? Baron John Maltravers?"

She nodded slowly, her hand pressed against her chest like it had been burned. "He... that is the name of my father, yes."

"I heard of him." It was hard not to recognize the name. John Maltravers was famous for his service as a knight for King Edward the Third. Nicolas blinked in realization at what this meant. "Baron Maltravers is a wizard?"

"He is wise not to reveal himself to mundane nobles," Perenelle explained as her stiff posture relaxed, although the color on her cheeks remained. "These are dangerous times for those who are blessed with magic."

"Very true." He knew this all too well. Sadness crossed his features at the thought. The young witch didn't seem to like that, as she quickly asked:

"Perhaps... you could indulge me with some tales of Hogwarts?" She stepped forward, closing the space created between them moments ago, only the counter separating the two of them. "Is is truly as magnificent as they claim?"

There was no way Nicolas could refuse someone with a curious gleam in their eyes so familiar to his own. Before he knew it, he was spewing a tale of his attendance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Perenelle listened with a captivated look. The uneasy moment long forgotten, the two of them talked for an hour, oblivious to the rest of the customers, who quickly became irritated for being ignored. Forced to intervene, the store owner eventually separated the two, though not before Perenelle promised to come by again soon. The young wizard felt oddly carefree, despite the harsh scolding he got afterwards. Somehow, he wasn't bothered at all by the fact he almost got fired.

A few months passed and Perenelle Maltravers kept coming back, sometimes several times a week. Nicolas didn't know why she would travel to Diagon Alley this often as she certainly wasn't interested in buying any books, but he could honestly say he didn't care. He had a feeling it was strictly related to him working there though. Not that he minded - quite the opposite, actually.

Even the store owner soon gave up on the idea of separating the oblivious lovebirds and settled on a strict order to keep their meetings short and private. The more time Nicolas spent with miss Maltravers, the stronger the pull he felt towards her became.

Before Nicolas managed to admit the truth about his feelings, he was quite terrified. One would think that he would have already experienced infatuation throughout the adolescence and could recognize the signs, but as the matter of fact, the bookish wizard had never been in a situation even remotely close to this one. He had always been firmly convinced that looks didn't matter at all, and that people ought to focus solely on the intellectual value of individuals. His fellow Ravenclaws used to mock him for such beliefs, saying that he would someday end up the ugliest woman in the country as the result. He couldn't care less about them, of course, but secretly he worried that perhaps they were right - in his limited experience, beauty and intelligence rarely went in pairs. Maybe he really was destined to be with a woman of extremely poor looks, provided she had a depth to her.

Considering these circumstances, nothing could have shocked Nicolas more than not only falling in love with someone at (sort-of) first sight - which was absurd and completely illogical in itself! - but also the main reason for his downfall being that she was amazingly, irresistibly attractive. Perhaps if her personality had been appalling he could have been spared, but no such luck - beside her mesmerizing beauty she was incredibly clever, very witty in conversation and heart-meltingly sweet and kind. The more he got to know her, the more appealing she became to the point that his level of attachment became equivalent to one of an obsession; he couldn't spend an hour of his day not thinking about her. In the end, he had no other choice but to admit utter defeat, and that he was irrevocably besotted.

What was even more unexpected was that the girl who captured his heart obviously returned the sentiment, despite belonging to some of the highest British nobility. How could someone of her social standing look at someone like him and be interested? He wasn't a genius or especially handsome, and his heritage... utterly shameful. He didn't feel worthy of her.

Eventually, he gathered enough courage to tell her the truth: of how he was an orphan. Of his suspicions that he was a bastard on the top of it, because his birth mother was known to be unfaithful to her husband. Of how he was taken in by a couple of very poor, muggle-born wizards. Of how they couldn't even afford a wand for him, so his adopted father gave him his own. Of his loneliness, of being an outcast at Hogwarts, all of it. Perenelle listened to his story patiently. Nicolas finished: "Someone of your standing deserves much better, Perenelle," he said, lowering his eyes in humiliation.

A gentle hand pushed his chin upwards, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

Sweet Merlin, her eyes were beautiful. He admired a lot of things about her, but her eyes had to be his favorite. It wasn't their smooth shape or color or the long black eyelashes that allured him, as much as the expression in them. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul, and it had never felt as true as of now. Her eyes were so compassionate and kind, and he just couldn't get enough of them.

"Nicolas. I have never never met one more worthy than yourself," she told him sincerely, and in that moment, something snapped inside of him, some restraint he didn't know he had been holding onto.

"Perenelle," he whispered, mesmerized, and without breaking the eye-contact his face closed the small distance between them, connecting their lips for the first time.

Words could never do justice to what happened to him in that moment: the softness of cashmere, the taste of heaven, the fire in his skin, every wondrous sensation known to man coming to a focus... All Nicolas knew was that Perenelle, this wonderful miracle of a girl, just became the center of his world. She was his life, his light, his happiness, he would not be able to breathe without her.

And in that moment, with this one forbidden kiss, Nicolas knew he had sealed his fate. He was forever destined to love Perenelle Maltravers, and her alone. Even if he would have to challenge the whole world to have her, so mote it be.

Several days later, with courage he never knew he possessed, Nicolas was standing before Baron John Maltravers, asking him for his daughter's hand in marriage.

The Baron looked at him silently for a long moment. When finally he spoke, his voice was full of sadness.

"I am aware of how high in esteem my daughter holds you, young man. But I am afraid I must refuse your request."

Nicolas was not surprised, he had expected an outcome of the sort. Nevertheless, he was still determined. With a respectful bow, he proclaimed: "Allow me to prove my worth, My Lord. I beg of you."

"It is not a matter of worth," Baron Maltravers said in a strange, quiet tone. "Perenelle does not know the truth, for I hid it from her to in hope to protect her. However, I can see in your eyes how dearly you care for her, thus I believe that as her most trusted confidant, you deserve to know."

All of a sudden, Nicolas had a sense of foreboding. "Know about what, My Lord?" he asked, his heart pounding loudly in his chest.

John Maltravers' eyes were full of pain.

"My daughter is dying," he whispered.

And the world fell apart in an instant.

Meanwhile back in the present, England 1992, as the ancient lovers recalled their past and danced the last waltz of their lives... Elsewhere, in the beautiful household of Malfoy Manor, a certain house-elf was frantically smashing his hand with a rolling pin, simultaneously punishing himself and trying to think of ideas - because if there was anything Dobby the house-elf could do right, it was multitasking.

Dobby knew he wasn't like the others of his kind. Most house-elves were happy to loyally serve, it was their pride and joy to be useful and run the household of their masters. He should always think only about what was best for his family... But Dobby wasn't.

What the small elf had done, what he had been doing for weeks, was not only treason - it was disgrace for his race and eternal shame upon himself. And yet in spite of his hardest efforts, he still failed so horribly-

"Bad Dobby!" he wailed and struck with the rolling pin once again. But even with the throbbing ache in his hand, one thought remained in his mind: he had to save Harry Potter. Dobby owed the young master a debt of gratitude, and he had to repay it.

Twelve years ago, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named came to Malfoy Manor. Dobby remembered it - he would always remember. The Dark Lord was terrifying, cold and cruel, but most of all unforgiving. Dobby would never forget, because He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named came an inch short of murdering him for a small mistake.

Dobby was preparing supper and in his fear of the Dark Lord's presence accidentally switched spices. It had never happened before. Dobby was an excellent cook, he had to be since the Malfoys required their food to be cooked with utmost perfection. For the first time in his small existence, Dobby confused salt with sugar, making the roast sweet and insipid as the result. When master Lucius became aware of the error, the wizard paled so much he looked like he was about to faint - whether from fury or horror, it was unclear.

As master Lucius was stuttering an apology to the Dark Lord, blaming his servant for the mishap, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named pointed his wand at Dobby.

Luckily - or unluckily - for the elf, mistress Bellatrix was there to beat him to it.

"Crucio!" she snarled, making the house-elf curl on the floor and screech. "How dare you poison us with this pathetic excuse of a meal, you worm!"

"Dobby's so-so-sorry! P-please forgive stupid, p-p-pathetic D-D-Dobby, mistress!" he sobbed, thrashing in the agony of the curse. "Please, Dobby will do better!"

"Oh, will you, you pathetic piece of trash?"

"Yes, yes! Dobby will never make a mistake again, Dobby swears!"

The Dark Lord, satisfied that the elf was sufficiently punished for his blunder, quickly forgot about him. Dobby's life was spared that day - however, his life in Malfoy Manor got infinity worse. Master Lucius never forgave him for the shame he had brought upon the Malfoy family, and treated him worse than ever. He also ordered the elf to severely punish himself every time he made the smallest error. Dobby, having no choice, obeyed fearfully. He was certain his days were numbered, and the next time He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named entered their doors, he would be dead.

But then, on a Halloween night... The-Boy-Who-Lived happened. When the next day Dobby heard the news about the Dark Lord's fall, the elf had to hide in the attic to hide his tears of joy. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was gone! He would never come back to Malfoy Manor!

Things only got better. Over the commotion of the century's greatest wizarding war ending so abruptly, master Lucius temporary forgot all about his elf and the punishments. Barely a week later, the Lestranges were arrested and convicted to a lifetime in Azkaban. When Dobby realized he would not be killed or punished by mistress Bellatrix anymore, he made a vow of debt toward master Harry Potter. The little wizard saved Dobby's life, as well as many others. If opportunity would present itself someday, Dobby would pay him back and do it happily, regardless of the consequences.

Years passed and the Malfoys continued to mistreat him, but Dobby's gratitude stayed strong. He would never forget the one wizard who helped him, even if that person wasn't aware of it.

When master Draco returned home after his first year at Hogwarts, Dobby heard a lot of unpleasant things about Harry Potter: that he was mean, that he was arrogant and selfish... but Dobby didn't believe any of it. Harry Potter was a very good wizard, Dobby had no doubt; good and brave and powerful. For he also heard that Harry Potter stood against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for the second time, and that he came victorious just like in the past. Dobby owed Harry Potter once more...

But now, Harry Potter was in mortal danger and Dobby didn't know how to stop it.

Being a house-elf meant Dobby knew everything what was going on around the Manor, willingly or not. He knew He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named left master Lucius a diary from his Hogwarts years, the object oozing with dark magic. Master Lucius kept it hidden in a secret room and Dobby had orders to protect the cursed object at all costs. Now the order was changed as the item was about to be used in a wicked plot against master Lucius' enemies, someone called Mister Weasley... and sir Dumbledore.

Sir Dumbledore was the Headmaster of Hogwarts. It meant master Lucius would struck in the school. Where Harry Potter currently attended.

When the house-elf made the connection, at first he panicked. He couldn't go directly against his orders, and he couldn't go and tell master Lucius' secrets. He couldn't go to sir Dumbledore to warn him at all! What could he do? How would Dobby keep Harry Potter safe...?

"Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts," the elf mumbled, determined. But how would Dobby accomplish that? How could he convince Harry Potter to stay away from the school...?

And owl flew in through the open window, startling Dobby. The elf took the letter from the bird and read the name on it. It was from miss Pansy Parkinson, one of master Draco's friends at Hogwarts.

Dobby perked up. That was it!

All he had to do, was to convince Harry Potter his friends at Hogwarts didn't want him to come back! If he got no letters, he would believe he had no friends there. Then Harry Potter would stay at home where he was safe! And Dobby would go against no order, since master Lucius asked him to steal mail several times in the past. It was the perfect solution!

...At least, that's what Dobby believed at first. He spent the whole summer sneaking around Privet Drive, hiding in the garden, getting attacked by the wizard's owl (bad, bad elf Dobby certainly deserved it though) each time he took young master's mail. Dobby felt very guilty hiding Harry Potter's letters and birthday presents, but Dobby knew it was for his own good.

The elf also had the opportunity to observe Harry Potter in person. Much to his surprise, the wizard was... small. Too thin, even thinner than master Draco. He also appeared unhappy - perhaps because he had no contact with his friends throughout the summer. But, at least he was safe here, Dobby reassured himself. He was doing the right thing by keeping Harry Potter safe.

However, it didn't seem to be enough - Harry Potter still showed every intention of returning to Hogwarts in September, which terrified Dobby. Left with no other choice, the elf approached the wizard directly, apparating in the young master's bedroom in hope to convince him.

And what a shock the meeting had been! Instead of throwing him out or demanding information, Harry Potter politely asked Dobby to sit down! Dobby just had to burst into tears, much to the young master's chagrin. The elf had no idea the wizard would be so humble and modest! Treating him like an equal! Harry Potter really was a great wizard, so brave and kind, offering to help him even though it was futile. Dobby instantly loved Harry Potter, and swore to protect him whatever it would take.

Even if it took... well... dumping a bowl of pudding on the guests' heads.

Dobby was ashamed of his actions, and remembering them caused him to strike with the rolling pin more vigorously. He was such a bad elf! Harry Potter had so much goodness and needed to be protected, and Dobby failed him! How would Dobby stop him from going to Hogwarts now?!

Dobby suddenly stopped, his bat-like ears perking up as he finally got an idea.

"The train..." the house-elf whispered. "Harry Potter must enter the train to go to Hogwarts! If Harry Potter can't get onto the train, then he will not go!"

Dobby grinned happily, certain he was going to succeed this time.

...Then his ears dropped as he remembered he still had hand-smashing to do.

At Hogwarts, Alphonse Elric frowned scanning the words in front of him.

"I don't know, Brother… You don't think it's going to be a little too complicated for kids? I mean, we are dealing with eleven-year-olds."

It's been two weeks since their conversation with the Headmaster, and no sign of Nicolas. The brothers finally accepted the fact that they would have to stay in this world for a while, so they started preparing themselves for becoming teachers this school year. They started with establishing their Curriculum – luckily, it turned out that it wasn't that much different from what Ed and Al used to do for a living.

"Come on Al," Ed dismissed him with a wave of a hand. "I finished writing Human Transmutation theory be that age!"

Alphonse deadpanned. "Ed, you're a genius prodigy. You shouldn't compare yourself to ordinary children."

"You were only ten, Alphonse."

Al rolled his eyes.

"I'm just saying that kids are capable of understanding things. They can handle it once we explain it to them," Ed said confidently.

"I still think we should simplify it more," Alphonse insisted. "You know, use common words, insert some real-life references, examples… a couple of simple memorization exercises here and there… Look, this isn't a research paper on an alchemical theory, this is a textbook for children who've never heard about science before - it's supposed to be elementary."

"Ugh, fine." Edward gave in. "What do you think of the introduction paragraph? Is it alright?"

Alphonse smiled brightly. "I think it's great, Brother."

"Really?"

"Yeah! You captured the essence of the subject perfectly. I love it."

Ed grinned. "Thanks, Al."

Since they were creating a whole new subject, "Natural Laws and Magics" (they had to compromise on the name because Ed wanted it to be called "Natural Laws and Sciences", but Al predicted it would prevent pure-blood wizards from attending as it sounded too Muggle), a textbook needed to be created from scratch, which Edward was more than happy to do. He had experience with publishing science books and he enjoyed it a lot, even if it was hard work. Alphonse was adamant about putting less material in it though. He argued that with their schedule, it would be impossible to go through all of it in the span of two semesters. Reluctantly, Ed agreed, allowing his brother to edit the final copy.

"Overall it's pretty good, Brother," Al complimented. "I think we should be able to publish this by the end of the week."

He closed the cover, which said: "The Purposes of Science and Magic, written and completed by Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric". Their names were spelled separately at Al's request, after pointing out that "Edward and Alphonse Elric" sounded - the younger Elric shuddered - as if they were a couple. Ed just laughed at him.

What Edward didn't know was that the topic reminded him of a very unpleasant acquaintance from Xing. Well, not from Xing, they just met in Xing, but… Al quickly dismissed the thought of Ambassador Lenart, not willing to spend a second more thinking of the man.

"School schedules ready, textbook almost ready... So," Ed smirked. "All we need to do is get this 'apparition permit' and start testing."

"I'm still not convinced," Al argued jokingly. "'Instant transportation'... It's such an outlandish concept. Also, I have a feeling there's no way it's going to be as simple as teleporting ourselves home."

"It's still worth a shot, right?"

"I guess so." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We also need to schedule our visit to Professor Snape's classroom..."

"Yeah, Double Door's not letting that go apparently," Edward lifted his eyes to the ceiling. "Great, more bonding time with our favorite Professor..."

Before Alphonse could respond, a familiar face stepped through the door without a warning.

"Speak of the devil," Ed muttered in Amestrian.

Professor Snape looked at them sharply and all good humor was gone in an instant. Severus looked unusually tense.

"What is it?" asked Edward with a frown.

"The Headmaster asks you both to come to his office immediately."

There was no doubt in their minds what it was about. The brothers shared a glance and followed the Potions Master without a word.

"I'm guessing Mr. Flamel's dead," Alphonse said quietly to Ed.

"It appears so," Edward nodded, looking quite grim.

"We're really on our own then."

"Yeah."

They both walked the rest of the way in silence, taking comfort in the other's presence.

Snape stopped in front of the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office and looked at them for a long moment. Only then Edward realized Severus hadn't scolded them for talking in Amestrian as he usually did. And was Ed hallucinating or was that concern hiding behind the professor's sour expression...?

"Lemon drop," said Severus and the gargoyle jumped aside, revealing the entrance. He nodded shortly at them in what probably was supposed to be an encouraging gesture. Ed blinked in surprise, realizing the Professor was not accompanying them.

"Thanks," he said quietly and the brothers passed him.

Ed and Al entered the office with grim expression, fully expecting the worst. So it was a great surprise to them when Dumbledore welcomed them with a bright smile.

"Edward! Alphonse! I just got excellent news!" the Headmaster exclaimed, walking towards them with an old boot in his hands. This strange image caused the Elrics to stare at him in bemusement.

"You do?" said Al, confused.

"One of my acquaintances, Mundungus Fletcher, spotted Nicolas and his wife entering their mansion half an hour ago," Dumbledore stated, his eyes twinkling merrily.

It took exactly three seconds for the information to sink in.

"He's alive!"

"He's back?!"

"Yes, and here I have a Portkey that leads directly to their place!" Professor Dumbledore said, giving them a proudly-excited look not too different of a student's who turned their essay in at the last second. Ed would have laughed at the thought if he hadn't too distracted by the news.

"Well it's about damn time!" Edward growled, his face changing into a dangerous scowl. "I'm going to give that bastard a piece of my mind!" Al nodded in agreement, his eyes hard as steel.

The Headmaster and the Elrics each took a hold on the boot and disappeared from the office with a quiet pop.

Nicolas and Perenelle swayed together to the rhythm of music.

"Remember when we danced for the first time...?" said Perenelle with a dreamy smile.

"Of course. It was our wedding after all," Nicolas grinned, kissing her cheek.

"We were so young back then."

"We were."

"And yet we never got old... I wonder how it feels like."

"Not very pleasant, from what I've heard."

Perenelle shook her head in mock-disapproval. "Very funny, dearest. It's just strange when I think about it. We got to grow old together without actually growing old... It's so puzzling."

They both shared a laugh.

"You always thought too hard on things, love."

"Perhaps... then again, you sometimes think too little, darling," she teased him.

"Guilty, guilty as charged," he responded. "What penalty shall you bestow upon me, O Just One?"

She pretended to think about it, then smirked. "Oh, I think I've got an idea or two..."

Their lips were about to meet, when suddenly the doorbell interrupted them. They both stopped abruptly and looked at each other in surprise.

"Who can it be?"

"Only one person, I'm afraid..." Nicolas frowned. "Albus."

They walked towards the door, glancing at each other with concern.

"You said he wouldn't bother us?"

"That's what I thought, unless..." the alchemist breathed in sharply. "Something went wrong with the Philosopher's Stone."

Perenelle gasped, putting a hand to her mouth.

"This is bad..."

"Let's find out what this is about before we jump to conclusions," Nicolas patted her shoulder and turned the doorknob.

Just as expected, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore stood in front of Flamel Manor, two people standing behind him. Nicolas' frown deepened.

"Good morning Nicolas," greeted Albus with a neutral expression, which instantly made the ancient alchemist suspicious.

"Albus, as glad as I am to see you, what are you doing here?" he asked bluntly.

"Well, you see..."

"Out of my way, old man!" Suddenly Albus was pushed aside, a blond man impatiently pushing himself to the front.

"Who...?" Nicolas' voice caught in his throat as he stared at the blond with fiery golden eyes. He was... familiar. Scarily familiar in fact... but no, that was impossible, wasn't it...?

Then the man spoke to him... in a language he hadn't used for a long time.

"Hello Nick." A predatory grin appeared on the man's face. "Did you miss me?"

Nicolas gaped at the Amestrian, unaware of the fact he made the perfect impression of a stunned goldfish.

"Who… how...?" he stuttered in shock. This couldn't be happening. "Ed...ward?"

The blond's eyes flashed and before Nicolas knew it, a fist forcefully connected with his jaw.

'CRACK!'

The alchemist tumbled onto the floor like a sack of potatoes, a feminine scream and a loud argument booming above his head.

"What are you doing?!"

"Edward, my boy, this was uncalled for..."

"I'm sorry for my brother, Mrs. Flamel, he didn't mean it!"

"Of course I meant it, Al! In fact, I'm going to punch him again!"

"Brother, no!"

"Brother, yes!"

"Who are you? Why are you attacking my husband?!"

"Madam Flamel, I assure you..."

"Brother, control yourself! We need him alive, remember?!"

"Just one more hit, Al, I swear!"

"Like I'm going to believe that!"

"Did you bring a murderer here, Albus?!"

"This is all just a huge misunderstanding…!"

"Let me go Al!"

"Not until you calm down, Brother!"

Nicolas stood to his feet, groaning in pain and rubbing his jaw.

"Ouch... You punch like a grumpy Hippogriff," he spoke, effectively ending the four-way shouting match. "Still so violent, aren't you Edward?"

Edward Elric (because who else could it be?) snorted and responded: "And you're still a wimp. Did you write that book? 'How to Surrender like a Wimp 101'?"

The joke felt familiar, though if Nicolas were to be honest, he no longer remember where it originated from. From what he vaguely recalled, probably his first meeting with Edward.

Speaking of Edward...

"How are you here?" Nicolas mumbled as clearly as his broken jaw allowed him. "Why now? How is this possible?" He turned his head to his wife and pointed at the blond. "We're not dead yet, right? I'm not hallucinating him?"

"Oh, you're not dead yet," Ed practically growled the word. "But when I'm done with you, you'll wish!"

Perenelle sent the blond an alarmed look, but ignored Edward's promise of violence for a moment as she took out her wand and waved and her husband's face. "Episkey."

Nicolas breathed in relief as his jaw got set straight and smiled to Perenelle in wordless gratitude.

"That's cheating..." Ed muttered unhappily, pouting.

The other man, whose Nicolas hadn't taken much notice of before, rolled his eyes at Edward's behavior. "Brother, stop acting so immature," he lectured, inadvertently providing himself an identity. "Mrs. Flamel, I once again apologize for my brother's behavior. You see, we have some... history with your husband and I assure you his reaction was justified."

"You call breaking my husband's face with a fist 'justified'," Perenelle repeated in disbelief.

"Well..." Alphonse shrugged a little helplessly. "He kind of stole an evil artifact made out of human souls and imprisoned us in an interdimensional portal for six hundred years and now we're stuck here with no way back to our friends and loved ones, so..." he offered with an awkward grin.

Nicolas stared at the young man with wide eyes. "I did what?!"

Five minutes later - after due introductions and elaborations - the Elric brothers, the Flamels and Professor Dumbledore were sitting in the guest room.

"Let me see if I have this straight," Nicolas started, rubbing his forehead. "You," he turned to Dumbledore, "used my array like I asked you to do, then these two," he gestured towards Edward and Alphonse, "fell out of a portal that opened because of it. Meanwhile, you," he pointed at Edward "are from the time of our fight over the Philosopher's Stone, because you decided to jump into the portal to go after me… with you," he waved into Al's direction "following right behind him. And you two don't remember any time passing in between, making you skip the last six hundred years, and you're currently unable to return to your world."

"Yup, pretty much."

Nicolas groaned painfully, massaging his temples. "I can't believe this. This is insane."

"Tell me about it," Ed muttered sarcastically.

"I admit I don't remember our fight in perfect detail, Edward, but I am pretty sure I told you not to follow me."

Ed scoffed. "You couldn't have possibly believed I would listen to you in those circumstances? You were a thief on the run from the military, Nicolas!"

Nicolas sighed. "I know."

"You stole a dangerous illegal weapon from the Amestrian government!"

"I know..."

"Not to mention one made out of Goddamn human souls, Nicolas!"

"I know that!"

"Do you?! Because you were acting like a selfish little brat!"

"Edward-"

"You could have gone to Xing to learn Alkahestry like I told you to, but nooo! Let's instead take a leftover of a war that nearly tore Amestris apart and recklessly bring it to another world, because why the hell not!"

"I am sorry, alright?!" Nicolas exploded. "I am! I really, am! But there's so much you don't know, there was so much I didn't know, so much I thought I understood but I didn't! But I can't reverse it, I can't go back anymore, because I lost the medallion!"

"The medallion…?" Ed's eyes suddenly widened when he remembered:

Nicolas pulled something from under his black shirt. It wasn't exactly a locket, or a necklace either, more like a medallion. It was round, about two inches wide, with a sun symbol engraved on it. Only it didn't look like a normal ornament, but almost like a transmutation circle. There was a faint inscription on the lower half, but Ed wasn't close enough to read it.

Nicolas took the golden medallion off his neck, with a wand in the other hand. He made a circling movement with his wand and whispered profoundly:

"Saecula Saeculorum."

"You mean, that thing you had with you when you opened the portal… the golden medallion?"

"Golden medallion?" Alphonse repeated, frowning. "I remember you mentioning it once."

"Yes, the Saecula Amulet," Nicolas said unhappily. "Otherwise known as the Medallion of Eternity. It allows the user to travel freely through time and between worlds without limitations. It is possibly the most powerful artifact in the whole universe."

The Elric brothers stared at him incredulously.

"You mean to tell us..." Alphonse started.

"That you had in your possession an infinitely powerful magical artifact…" Ed continued with growing fury.

"...which allows to travel between worlds..."

"...without paying any toll at all..."

"AND YOU JUST LOST IT?!" they screamed at the same time.

Even Dumbledore's glasses slid down his nose in expression of disbelief. "That's… well…" said Hogwarts' Headmaster, blinking in shock. "Truthfully, trivial words such as 'unfortunate' or 'irresponsible' cannot do these circumstances justice."

Nicolas put his head into his hands. Perenelle patted him sympathetically on the back.

"My husband and I have made many mistakes when we were young," she said, sending the others a soft, regretful look. "Please understand that although there are things we no longer have the power to fix, we've spent centuries atoning for what we have done."

"Perenelle, we both know it was I who made most of those mistakes, not you," said Nicolas, lifting his head.

"How can I not take responsibility, when everything you've done was for my sake?" she asked.

And just like that, Edward knew. "You're the person Nicolas was searching for to cure, aren't you." When she turned to face him, he continued: "You were born with dystrophia progressiva pseudohypertrophica."

Mrs. Flamel nodded. "A little differently called, but similar, yes."

"So you took the Stone to heal your wife?" said Alphonse.

"We weren't married yet when I came to Amestris," Nicolas explained. "Perenelle and I came from very different backgrounds. When I asked her father for the permission to marry her, I knew he would most certainly refuse me."

"Apparently that didn't stop you," Ed smirked, gesturing at them sitting together.

"He did refuse me at first, but not for the reason I expected." Nicolas' eyes took a far-away look. "He told me that he would not let go of his daughter early, when he had so little time left with her. Perenelle had been examined by the finest physicians England had to offer at the time, but there was nothing they could do, just like they couldn't help her mother."

"Your mother?" Al asked sympathetically.

"From what I was told, she suffered from the same condition," said Perenelle. "She died too early for me to remember, but my father knew that eventually I would die young as well. To this day the condition is incurable and shortens the lifespan in half - even if treated properly."

"We still don't know if Xingese Alkahestry couldn't have helped her," Ed pointed out sourly. "If you have just listened to me and-"

"Nevermind that for now," Alphonse interrupted. "Mr. Flamel, how did you get such a medallion in the first place? To travel between worlds?"

"Truth to be told… It was given to me in exchange for another promise I never managed to keep."

"By whom?" Albus asked curiously, leaning forward, the Elric Brothers doing the same unconsciously.

"It is a bit of a long story," Nicolas said tiredly. "First, you must understand Edward that I truly regret the decisions of my youth. I don't know if it will be enough, but… Perhaps you remember seeing this." He pulled the collar of his robe down wide enough to reveal a faded scar on the left side of his chest.

Al gasped softly, while Dumbledore frowned.

"It looks like a curse scar of some kind," the Headmaster said in a serious voice.

"Curse scar?" Ed repeated, staring at the strange 'x' shape on Flamel's skin. The edges were just as uneven as he remembered, but it no longer looked sickly and gruesome. It figured, he supposed, considering the mark had over six hundred years to heal.

"It's what we call scars left by very dark magic," Nicolas explained, adjusting his robes to hide the scar from sight. "In my case, it was given to me by a Succubus."

Dumbledore looked shocked, while the Elrics were just confused.

"What's a 'Succubus'?" asked Edward with a lifted eyebrow.

"Wait, I think I've read about it," Alphonse said. "It was mentioned in the book of magical creatures, remember Brother? The one that had boggarts in it."

"Oh yeah, I remember." Ed recalled their rather silly conversation about what form their boggarts would take, and the deal they made afterwards. "So it's a magical creature?"

"Not just any magical creature," Dumbledore said. "It's one of the several that went extinct hundreds of years ago, much like the Naga. It is said that Succubi were especially powerful, and very malicious towards humans."

"I will be the last person to deny this," Flamel admitted. "However, it is also true that the species gained a lot of dark reputation over the years. Not all of them were evil, and definitely not every one of them hated humans, but many did. They possessed very dangerous magic, particularly mind-controlling powers - it is no wonder they became known as legendary seductresses."

"Seductresses?" Al repeated with slight apprehension.

"Yes. The Succubi drew power from carnal relationships - but no matter what kind of nonsense they might be writing about them these days, they did not use their powers solely to seduce men. In fact, it very rarely happened, as Succubi and Incubi - their male counterparts - were perfectly content to pair up for life with their own kind and avoid humans in general. From what I remember, most Succubi preferred solitude and were often hard to find."

"Until Muggles declared them demon spawns and wiped them out alongside many others," Mrs. Flamel added sadly. "So many species went extinct in those dark times, and wizards lost plenty of their own as well."

"But if they were so powerful, how were they wiped out?" Edward asked.

"You may not be aware of this, but Muggles greatly outnumber any magical species in existence. If Succubi and Incubi were an organized society, perhaps they could have stood a chance against them - but as I said, their preferred solitude. It didn't matter that they were powerful - they were simply unable to defend themselves against an army."

"What about wizards? Did they stood a chance against Succubi?"

"One wizard - no." Nicolas rubbed his chest meaningfully. "And I was a fool to ever think that I did."

"Don't tell me you were actually looking for one of those things," Edward said with narrowed eyes.

Nicolas made an embarrassed expression. "Well..."

Ed smacked him on the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

"For being an idiot!"

"But it happened over six hundred years ago!"

"Yeah, and thanks to you I didn't get the chance to hit you for your stupidity until now, so there!"

Alphonse and Perenelle watched them, quietly amused, while Professor Dumbledore blinked in astonishment at the interaction. Before now the Headmaster would have thought Edward absolutely despised Nicolas, considering all the harsh words he'd said about him - at this moment, however, it was clear that solid friendship once existed between those two men, and despite everything some of it was still there. It gave him hope that perhaps one day, he would be able to fix the broken trust between himself and the brothers.

"Still so violent, I see," Nicolas said, rubbing his head.

"Still a wimp, I see."

"That's enough, Brother," Al interrupted Ed once again. "You were saying, sir?"

The ancient alchemist blinked, then shook his head and continued: "Ah, right, Succubi. Well, I was young and foolish and most of all, desperate - very desperate. I restlessly roamed the countryside, looking for a miracle to save her. I knew I couldn't return until I found some cure, so I asked everywhere and everyone. I stumbled upon a village where lived a very famous Fortune Teller-"

"Excuse me, did you just say 'Fortune Teller'?" Ed repeated skeptically, while Alphonse just sighed at another interruption. "As in one of those people who fake telling you your past and future?"

"Edward," Nicolas said in a calm, placating voice. "I'm not surprised that you might not believe in such a thing, but I assure you, Fortune Telling and Divination are quite real."

"Says you."

"To be fair," Perenelle spoke up. "There are many frauds out there. Not everyone who claims they can see the future actually can do it."

"Not to mention even the real Seers sometimes make mistakes," Professor Dumbledore added with a twinkle in his eyes. "Or exaggerate their abilities a bit."

Edward deadpanned at the Headmaster. "You're talking about that crazy bat Trelawney, aren't you."

"Brother..." Alphonse sighed in Amestrian.

"Oh, come on, Al! You can't tell me that lady is not totally insane!" Ed complained in their native language.

"Well, she might be a little, erm… eccentric, I suppose, but-"

"Al, she told me 'my golden aura proves how I was born in the middle of the summer'. My birthday is in freaking February!"

Al poked him in the ribs with his elbow. "You're just mad she told you your firstborn will be a girl."

Ed crossed his arms with a furious pout. "We'll, obviously she's wrong! So evidently she's a complete and utter fraud."

The brothers had the… frankly baffling pleasure of meeting Professor Sybill Trelawney about a week after officially becoming Board members in the school. The woman showed up out of nowhere (smelling suspiciously of alcohol), spouted some crazy predictions at the two of them - with a couple of death warnings to brighten up their day - and left like she was never there. The Elrics honestly had no idea what to make of that encounter at the time.

Alphonse rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Brother."

"Besides, you only like her because she told you that you'd end up with five kids."

Al sputtered and blushed. "That is not true!"

"So you don't wanna have five kids Al?" Ed smirked at his younger brother.

Al turned away with a huff. "I refuse to answer that question, because no matter what I say you're going to make fun of me."

"I admit five is a little excessive..."

"Brother," Alphonse growled in a warning.

"But hey, at least we know you won't be bored in the future!"

Al finally snapped and smacked his brother soundly on the head. "Stop embarrassing me in front of people, Ed!"

Nicolas looked at Dumbledore with a barely concealed smile. "It is truly astonishing that these two are related."

"Indeed," the Professor nodded with mock-seriousness. "I can see no resemblance at all."

"None whatsoever," Perenelle finished, drinking calmly her cup of tea.

"Now that's settled," Alphonse said in English as Edward nursed the freshly-acquired bump on his head. "Back on topic - if we keep getting sidetracked like this we're going to be here all day..."

"...And we happen to be a little short on time," Albus Dumbledore spoke, looking meaningfully at the Flamels through his half moons glasses.

Nicolas and Perenelle exchanged serious glances.

"Very true," the alchemist agreed. "We still have at least nine hours left, so we better get on with it."

At that moment the Elric Brothers were struck with the profound awareness that they were literally talking to people on their deathbed. It was such a strange thought, seeing as both Flamels didn't look a year over thirty and appeared in excellent health. But Ed had no delusions - they had the same aged, haunted look in their eyes as Hohenheim once did. To think that these two had lived even longer than their father...

"You were telling them about the Fortune-Teller," Perenelle reminded her husband.

"Of course, thank you love. I stumbled across a town where a very renowned Fortune-Teller resided - they called her 'the Great Oracle'." Nicolas looked thoughtful. "A funny coincidence, but I believe she was a distant relative of the Professor you spoke of earlier."

"Sure, because that gives her sooo much credibility," Ed muttered under his breath.

"Hush, Brother. Please continue, Mr. Flamel."

"I admit I was skeptical as well, since I never put much faith into Divination before. But, she was not what I expected. She told me many strange things, and they made me think. One of the warnings she gave me was about two characters she called 'the Hermits'."

Ed abruptly remember what Nicolas said about Succubi earlier - that they liked living in solitude. That did not bode well. Judging by Al's reaction, didn't miss the subtle hint either.

"According to the Oracle, one of the Hermits would grant me a blessing, and another a curse. At the time, I thought that perhaps it was a clue about where I could find the cure for Perenelle. And it fit, I thought - there were rumors that the hair of a Succubus can be used to make a potion which can banish almost any illness." Neither of the brothers didn't like where this was going. "Optimistic and naive to the extreme, I tracked down the nearest settlement of a Succubus to negotiate the price of a coil of her hair."

"Don't tell me you just trampled into the home of a human-hating creature to have a friendly chat-" Ed stopped and slapped himself. "...What am I saying, you're Nicolas - of course you did."

"As I said, I was naive to the point of foolishness. I thought I had a decent chance to make a deal with her, but unfortunately for me, that particular Succubus had a very deep grudge not only against humanity in general, but especially against men. You see, she was one of the unfortunate creatures who used to have romantic entanglement with a human, and… it didn't end well."

Ed frowned, confused. "Wait, you mean without using mind-control or something? That can happen?"

"If you mean inter-species relationships between humans and magical creatures, then yes," Nicolas confirmed. "Although it's a lot less common now, it still happens in this century. Some of them even have children together."

At that information, the Elrics actually gaped at the alchemist. "B-but," Alphonse stuttered. "But the books about magical creatures treated them like a totally separate group from humans! If they can have offsprings together-"

"-then it means they're genetically compatible," Ed finished, eyes widening in understanding. "Those bastards! They were trying to make wizard look superior to other species when in reality, they could be classified as magical creatures themselves!"

Nicolas and Perenelle looked genuinely surprised that this conclusion. Professor Dumbledore, on the other hand, had a merry gleam in his eyes as if he just witnessed his students making a classroom discovery.

"I admit, I never thought about it that way," Perenelle admitted with a thoughtful expression. "I never agreed with the Ministry of Magic's view on magical creatures, but to say that we are basically magical creatures ourselves…?"

"It is an interesting way to look at it," Nicolas said, looking intrigued by the idea.

"What matters is that it seems that magical creatures possess souls, and for us it is enough to define a human being," Edward said, looking angry. "But the books refer to them as if they were animals. Nicolas, what does a Succubus even look like? Did the one you met looked even remotely like a monster?"

"Goodness, no. She was a lot like a woman, I suppose. She also had bat-wings and a tail though. Her skin was paler than an average human… but don't get me wrong, even in human standards she could definitely be called beautiful. Even after what she had done to me… I don't think she looked like an animal, or a monster."

Ed released a breath. "But wizard think of magical creatures that way, don't they. Nicolas… If people knew we were from a different world, would they consider us not human?"

Nicolas raised his brow in astonishment. "Well, you sure know how to pose a difficult question Edward. Honestly, I have no idea. It's no secret the wizarding world is very prejudiced and unjust, even among its own kind. Would they consider you two humans, if you're technically aliens?" He shrugged helplessly. "I honestly don't know. But does it really matter? You know you're human, and I wouldn't imagine the world's opinion mattering to you all that much."

"It would, if we were to be exposed somehow," Ed said solemnly. "Al is a Squib. I checked the rules and laws regarding them in the magical world to see if it was any different from wizards. And you know what? I found out that the Squibs have close to none legal rights. The only ones who have less rights than Squibs are Muggles and magical creatures. If the Government decides we're one of those…"

"Brother, stop worrying so much," Al put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "No one has any reason to suspect anything. The only ones who know I'm a Squib is Mr. Ollivander and Professor Dumbledore!"

If Nicolas looked intrigued before, now he appeared utterly fascinated. "You're a Squib, Alphonse?"

"Yes, we tried getting me a wand, but none of them worked."

"But Al can see ghosts," Ed added quickly. "So apparently he can't be a Muggle."

"Now that is very interesting," Nicolas mused, but then he said: "There are things I don't recall about Amestris anymore, but since the time I've been there I formed many theories on how magic worked in that world. One of my theories is that to balance the minimal amount of magic in the environment, the magical potential is increased in every individual born in that world. However, as there are no materials to make a conductor to channel the magic, the potential is impossible to access - unless of course, you use a conductor from another world, such as a wand."

Ed nodded in understanding. "You mean like I used yours."

"Exactly. The thing is, if my theory is correct, your brother should have a high magical potential as well. The fact that he doesn't proves that there's something amiss in my theory."

The Elrics exchanged nervous glances. They had a feeling there was a completely different reason why Al didn't fit in Flamel's theory.

"In any case," Nicolas continued "The confrontation between myself and the Succubus turned out far worse than I could have ever predicted. I ended up marked with a curse for almost a decade, which influenced many of my decisions, especially the choices I made while I was in Amestris."

"What do you mean?" Ed asked slowly.

"I'll come back to that. After the confrontation, hopeless and wounded, I came across a castle hidden in the wilderness. At the time I didn't know that it was protected against intruders, and the master of the castle knew of my presence the moment I stepped onto his lands. For reasons which, I admit, to this day I still don't completely understand, he offered me the miracle I needed; the Saecula Amulet. The story of its origin was quite extraordinary and I can't begin to guess how much of it was true, although…"

Nicolas looked at the ceiling with a far-away look.

"Well, it's not that important. What mattered to me at the time was that not only would it allow me to travel to a world where a cure I was searching for existed... but also the time would stand still for the world I left behind." At the loudly drawn breaths by the Elrics, he nodded. "Yes. I believe no time has passed for your world, even if you two have been trapped in a portal for centuries. You see, the reason you ended up here in the first place is because the Amulet's purpose is to create connected portal between two separate places and times. They do close themselves after a short while, as they are not meant to exist permanently. But I wasn't going to risk leaving in open, so I closed it manually immediately after getting through. While you entered the portal from Amestris, I was already on the other side, closing the one behind me. Your entrance probably made you freeze in time between our worlds. You're incredibly lucky - you could have been there trapped forever. But the destruction of the Philosopher's Stone apparently forced open a rift between our worlds to allow the Amestrian souls to return to their birthplace…"

"So that's what it was..." Dumbledore murmured thoughtfully.

"But what happened to the Amulet?" Edward asked impatiently, literally on the edge of his seat. "Where did you lose it? When? How?"

Nicolas looked at Alphonse. "Actually… it was sort of your fault."

Al leaned away as if slapped in the face. "What? My fault? What did I do?!"

"Well, if I recall correctly after all this time, Edward and I were having a conversation-"

"You mean when you tied me up and cast a spell on me so I couldn't talk?"

"-when all of the sudden you blew off the entire wall with your alchemy-"

"Alkahestry. He did it with alkahestry."

"-whichever he used, and I dropped both my wand and the Amulet. I remembered to pick up my wand, naturally, it was given to me by my adopted father before he died so it was the most important thing to me in the world, but the Amulet..."

"You forgot to take it with you," Edward said disbelievingly.

"Can you blame me? The explosion, the dust in the air, the military on my tail… Not to mention your kind of intimidating entrance, Alphonse... It was quite the commotion."

Slowly, Ed turned to his little brother with wide eyes.

"Al. Do you realize what it means?"

Al nodded as if in slow motion.

"Yes, Brother." Al had an empty tone of his voice, as if he was trapped in a nightmare and he couldn't decide if it was real or not because of its ridiculousness. "We literally locked the door on our way out... and we forgot the key on the other side."

Ed thumped his head against the surface of the tea table.

Nicolas looked torn between patting Edward on the back on sympathy, and hiding his face in a corner. Perenelle looked very sheepish as well.

"I can't believe that wizards consider you one of the wisest wizards of all time…" Ed mumbled into the table. "Your people are idiots, Nick. And you're the worst of them."

Dumbledore nodded calmly as if he just heard an incredibly profound fact of the universe. Nicolas blushed shamefully.

"Eh… Everybody makes mistakes?" Alphonse offered uncertainly as a peace-offering.

"That's nice Al, but it doesn't change the fact that we're stuck here."

"Perhaps not," Nicolas mused, forgetting his embarrassment. "After all, you didn't arrive here through a portals the Amulet made, right? Which means there can still be other ways."

Ed lifted his head in dawning realization. "You're right! I can't believe I haven't thought of that! Nick, tell me more about the man who gave you the Amulet. Is it possible he had more than one?"

"I'm sorry, but I very much doubt it… The Peverells didn't exactly buy their artifacts on the market," Nicolas gave Albus a side-look.

The name had a visible impact on Albus. The Headmaster straightened, his eyes intense as he asked: "You knew them? You met the Peverells? They truly existed?"

"Of course they did," Nicolas sighed. "You have the proof right here with you, do you not?"

Edward and Alphonse looked quizzically at the Professor. They had a feeling there was a long story behind that statement.

"I asked you about the Peverells in the past," Dumbledore said. "Many times. You never told me anything."

"You know very well why I didn't, Albus. You had an unhealthy fixation on the Hallows - you and Grindelwald both."

"Grindelwald?" Ed caught the name immediately, recalling his time spent reading Chocolate Frog cards with Harry. "Wasn't that the dark wizard you defeated in 1945?"

"Yes," Dumbledore sighed. "I did. But I used to know him before that, many years ago… when we were best friends."

"Oh," Ed said with a wince. "He was… and it's one of your most famous… oh. That sucks."

"Very much so," Professor Dumbledore admitted wearily. "But the wizarding world doesn't know that, and if they did, I doubt it would improve my reputation."

"I wouldn't want the world to know something like that either," Ed said, then sent a look at his younger brother. They could relate to the issue too well - what would people of Amestris think of them if it came out that their father had been a living Philosopher's Stone? Or that the Homunculus that almost destroyed the entire country was technically related to them?

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you, Albus. I never met the Peverells you're interested in - the master of the castle was a descendant, from which one of the brothers I can't be sure, although it was probably the youngest. But I don't believe he ever received a Deathly Hallow from his ancestors..."

"Deathly Hallow? A cheery name," Ed said sarcastically. "I don't suppose it's something innocent, like a lantern for one of those strange English festivals with pumpkins and whatnot's?"

Nicolas laughed. "I'm afraid not, Edward."

"Most wizards consider Deathly Hallows a myth. They are described in a children's story passed among wizards for generations," Perenelle explained. "It is about three brothers who outwitted death - or at least, they thought they did."

That sounds ominous, Ed and Al thought. Nevertheless, they sat back, ready for the story.

"The story goes that they built a bridge above a treacherous river they wished to cross. But before they could reach the other side, a cloaked figure - death - blocked their way. Death felt cheated, but it was cunning, so it proceeded to congratulate the brothers on their magic and told them each would get to choose a prize for their cleverness."

Dumbledore joined in in recounting the tale. "The eldest asked for the most powerful wand in existence," he said, twirling his wand between his fingers. "So Death fashioned him one from an Elder tree nearby. A wand more powerful than any other."

The Elrics didn't miss the movement. So that's what Nicolas meant by 'having the proof right here', huh?

"The second brother," Nicolas said quietly with an intense look in his eyes, "Wanted to humiliate Death even further, so he asked for the power to recall loved ones from the grave."

At that, Ed and Al stared in disbelief. What?

"So Death picked a Stone from the river," he continued "And offered it to him, granting him the power to bring back people from the dead."

"But..." Ed protested, but Flamel silenced him with a gesture.

"Finally, Death turned to the youngest..." Nicolas turned to his wife, silently asking her to finish the story.

"He was a humble man," Perenelle took over. "And he was the smartest, for he did not trust Death and its praises. Instead asking for power like his older brothers, he asked for something that would allow him to leave that place without being followed by Death. And so it was that Death reluctantly handed him over its Cloak of Invisibility."

"Cloak of Invisibility? It definitely sounds like a fairy tale," Ed said, still mentally reeling from the part about the second brother.

"It does," Al agreed. "But I want to hear how it ends."

Mrs. Flamel took that as a permission to continue. "The first brother traveled to a distant village, where he killed a man with whom he once quarrelled. Drunk with the power of the Elder Wand, he bragged of his invincibility. But that night, when the brother fell asleep, another wizard stole the wand and slit his throat for good measure… And so, Death took the first brother for its own."

Well, that was a quick turn of events - although not unexpected. Ed wondered what kind of moron bragged about an all powerful weapon in front of everybody and going to sleep without putting up any security. 'Idiotic' couldn't begin to cover it.

"The second brother journeyed to his home, where he took the Stone and turned it trice in hand. To his delight, the girl he loved before her untimely death appeared before him… yet soon, she turned sad, and cold, for she did not belong in the world of the living."

Al blinked away the sudden moisture in his eyes. He remembered being in the Gate of Truth for the first time, when he thought he saw a glimpse of their mother. He remembered reaching out to her in desperation… and never reaching. The hand that grabbed him back did not belong to her, but to himself. Perhaps, he thought, that Stone from the story gave the power to see loved ones as they once were, but it could never allow to really reunite with them - not unless...

"Driven mad with hopeless longing," Perenelle spoke, her voice holding a distinct sadness "The second brother killed himself to join her… And so, Death took the second brother."

Ah, so that was the point of the story - Ed could see it now. Like Nicolas' wife said at the beginning - it was a tale of three brothers who thought they outwitted death. Heroes who flew on wings of wax and then came crashing down to Earth, clever ones who believed they could play God without consequences...

"As for the third brother, Death searched for many years but was never able to find him. Only when he reached a great age, the youngest brother took off his Invisibility Cloak and gave it to his son. He then greeted Death like an old friend and went with it gladly, parting this life as equals."

That ending was more optimistic than Edward expected, honestly. At least the third brother had some brains.

Alphonse on the other hand focused on the part that mentioned "parting this life as equals". Could a human being really pass away with death as his equal? He tried to imagine meeting Truth after all this time - not for something to be taken from him by force, but to willingly leave his world and face whatever awaited him beyond. It was… strangely, not a terrifying thought. He still had a lot to live for, and he would never leave his brother or friends behind willingly - but once they'd both lived long, satisfying lives with their families? The thought of leaving with death as an equal was almost comforting.

"But the Stone," Ed said. "The Stone to bring back people from the dead? Something like that couldn't possibly exist."

"Just like a Medallion to travel between worlds couldn't be real?" Dumbledore asked patiently. "Yet your presence here says otherwise."

"No, you don't understand, it can't exist," the older Elric insisted stubbornly. "We know it can't. It's a fact - I don't care what the fairy tale says, or if the other two Hallows exist or not."

"And how would you know that, Edward?" Professor Dumbledore said with curiosity.

Ed closed his mouth with a loud click. Then he turned to Nicolas.

"If you have experienced Truth," he stated meaningfully. "You know it is a fact."

Flamel's face suddenly lost all color. "You have seen It," he said, white like a sheet. Edward looked at Al with a silent question.

"We both did," Alphonse told them, putting his arm on his brother's shoulder.

"And we know for certain," Ed said, piercing through Nicolas with his eyes, "That bringing back people from the dead is not possible. Ever."

Perenelle put her hands to her mouth and looked at her husband with a conflicted expression. "But… Paul..."

Albus had been piecing together the mystery of the Elric Brothers since they first arrived in his office. All the hints he got so far were suggesting a dark, tragic past, but he lacked information to make a full picture. However, at this very moment, he knew for certain he figured out at least one of the major answers:

"Human Transmutation."

The other four people present all simultaneously flinched. If that wasn't a confirmation, he didn't know what was.

"Yes," Edward said flatly.

"Both of you?" Nicolas asked, his eyes wide.

"We performed the transmutation together. We tried to bring our mother back."

"How old were you?" he whispered with apprehension. Even Dumbledore held his breath as they waited for an answer.

"...Ten and eleven."

To say that the Flamels were shocked was a severe understatement.

"You performed human transmutation… when you were eleven," Nicolas repeated, looking like he was about to faint.

"You poor boys," Perenelle was blinking tears out of her eyes. "How did you survive?"

"What did It take from you?"

Edward decided to get all the pity over with - besides, he should have informed Dumbledore about this sooner, seeing as he was about to become his employer. But because of his distrust towards the Headmaster, he had been avoiding it until now. Deliberately, he reached his left leg and exposed the metal where the flesh of his shin should have been.

If the Flamels had been shocked before, now it looked like they were about to have heart attacks. Dumbledore seemed only curious.

"Automail," Ed explained. "Artificial limb. My wife made it for me."

"How far does it go?" Professor Dumbledore posed the question gently.

"Here," Ed pointed at several inches above his knee. "Went through surgery when I was still eleven. Took me a whole year of rehabilitation to get it working."

"To be fair, Brother, the usual rehabilitation period takes three years. You sped up the process so much you were spitting blood almost all the way through."

Ed grinned savagely. "But I made it, didn't I? I knew I couldn't let you wait that long to start searching for a way to get our bodies back."

"Your bodies back…" Nicolas said faintly. "Alphonse. The first time I saw you… You were wearing a huge suit of armor."

Al nodded. "Yeah."

"I thought you were a knight. But I'm sure I haven't seen anyone else ever wear armor for the seven years I spent in Amestris."

"Y-yeah… we don't really wear armors in Amestris," he scratched his head sheepishly. "...Usually."

"You mean you lost…?"

"...my whole body. Yeah."

Dumbledore didn't appear too shocked at that revelation.

"'Do you remember,'" he cited. "'When I gave up my blood seal to get your arm back? You didn't give up back then, are you really going to now?' Your words, Alphonse."

"His arm? But Edward lost a leg," Nicolas said uncomprehendingly.

"I used to have two automail limbs," Ed admitted, tugging his collar in a similar manner as Nicolas when he exposed his curse scar earlier, to reveal the scars on his shoulder. "The leg was the toll I paid in Human Transmutation… but I paid with my arm for Al's soul."

"Wait, wait a minute," the ancient alchemist put his palms up. "Let me see if I properly understand what you're telling me. First, not only did you perform Human Transmutation - at eleven - and survive, but your brother," he gestured towards Alphonse "Lost his entire body and you transmuted his soul onto a suit of armor. With your arm. While bleeding out from having your leg taken."

Ed's face had a grim look. "I had to. We were all each other had left." 'He was all I had left' went unspoken.

Dumbledore had long ago reached a conclusion that the Elric Brothers were a force to be reckoned with… but this was something entirely else.

"Edward," he said softly, with quiet but unfeigned admiration. "What you did is absolutely extraordinary. You're a true hero."

Ed's snort was so condescending it was a wonder the Headmaster didn't look away in shame. Instead, Dumbledore stared straight into his eyes.

"You are. You see only the tragedy of what happened to the both of you, but you saved your brother's life, while you must have been in terrible pain at the risk of your own. You are a hero."

"I was the one who dragged him into it in the first place, Old Man!" Ed snarled in anger. "Don't talk to me about being a Goddamn hero when you know nothing about the suffering I put him through for five years!"

"Brother!" Alphonse exploded. "How many times do we have to go over this?! It was my decision too!"

"But it was my idea!"

"Yes, you suggested it! But what did I do? I supported your plan all the way, I didn't even try to discourage you! I knew it was forbidden just as well as you did! We both share the blame equally, and you know it!"

"Alphonse is right," Perenelle said suddenly, grabbing her husband's hands and holding them in hers. "I doesn't matter whose idea it was. All people involved are to be blamed the same way, even if they haven't started it."

"Perenelle..." Nicolas said weakly. "But you didn't..."

"I didn't perform the transmutation with you, so what! But I was there, wasn't I? And I didn't stop you from killing Paul for the second time. I am as much guilty as you are."

"You didn't," Edward interrupted them. He had forgotten that they didn't know.

"Didn't what?" Nicolas said, confused.

"You didn't kill him," he told them firmly. "What you transmuted, Nick, it wasn't him."

A mixture of emotions passed through their faces.

"But," Perenelle said, her voice shaking. "He lived. For a short while, he was breathing, I saw it, but then..."

Ed shook his head. "What Al and I transmuted - it wasn't our mother. We thought it was, at first. But I heard someone asking if the hair color matched, of it had any characteristics of the person we tried to transmute. What we made… it was male, and it never had her soul in it."

Al continued as the Flamels took the information in with stricken expressions. "I had amnesia for a while after it happened, I suppose it was because of trauma, but… later, I remember looking at Brother through the eyes of what we transmuted. We never harnessed another's soul after all."

"Are you sure?" Nicolas asked with near desperation. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes." Ed said with utter confidence. Then he told them with uncharacteristic softness: "You didn't kill him for a second time."

At that, Nicolas and Perenelle crumbled. They held each other, their faces dry but their eyes shining with unshed tears.

"We didn't hurt him… He didn't suffer for what we did... "

It took them a minute to gather their composure.

"Edward. Alphonse." Nicolas said with much feeling: "Thank you."

There was a moment of silence.

"And thank you too, old friend," Dumbledore suddenly spoke, gathering the attention of everyone.

"What for?" asked Nicolas with a small frown.

"For forcing me to make that Unbreakable Vow," the Headmaster explained. "Because if you haven't, I might have… No. I certainly would have tried as well. You know what happened to Ariana. If I hadn't… there would have been nothing that would have stopped me."

"I'm sorry Nick," Ed said, thinking of the time when he and Nicolas spent time researching together. He avoided telling him about his past because he didn't want to be judged. He didn't want to deal with confessing his sins to a friend who respected him, who never made fun of him, who acknowledged his intellect as superior despite being younger than him. He never had a friend like that, not really, Nicolas had a humble spirit unlike almost anyone he had met. He had never regretted hiding the truth so much. "I should have warned you back when we studied alchemy together."

"It's not your fault, Edward."

"Maybe it isn't, but..." The older Elric rubbed his forehead. "Such damned legacy. First our teacher, then us, then you..."

"Even if you have told me, perhaps I would have tried anyway." Nicolas admitted with a sigh. "Many of my own students attempted it too, after all."

Ed swallowed. "How many?"

"I almost lost count. Two dozens of them, at least - and that's only counting my direct apprentices. No matter how much I warned them, no matter how much I lectured them… by the time I could stop it, theories about Human Transmuting spread around the world. Necromancy, the equivalent of Human Transmutation in magic, is a forbidden practice but no one made such a rule for alchemy until it was too late. I don't know how many died attempting Human Transmutation in this world… I only know that I never met another who actually survived it."

Al was saddened by what he had heard. So many lives lost, to the same foolishness that had cost them so much. "What did the Gate take from you, Mr. Flamel?"

Nicolas turned his palms upward and looked at his wife. "Love?"

Perenelle waved her wand muttering a spell. In an instant, faded but brutal scars showed all around his wrists.

"Truth took both of my hands from me. Something about 'holding onto things that had never been mine'." He shuddered. "We were unable to have children, so we took in a young boy to raise as our own - just like I was raised. But then… Someone heard about us possessing a cure for all ills. The rumor spread, and some wizards believed they could force the secret out of our son."

"They took him," Perenelle said with a grief that never faded, even after six hundred years. "But Paul knew nothing about the Philosopher's Stone. Probably in fear that he would expose their identities if returned to us, they… disposed of him. We never found the culprits."

"But, don't wizards have a spell to erase memory?" Edward asked in confusion. It was one of the things in wizarding world Edward and Alphonse found absolutely repulsive, such a reckless violation of the human mind - but they had to admit it was a better alternative than killing someone. But the potential to abuse such power was so enormous it was unthinkable.

"It was six hundred years in the past, " Nicolas reminded them. "Many spells that exist today did not exist at the time. Memory spells were one of them. In any case, we were devastated by what happened. I thought that perhaps, with the power of magic and alchemy..."

"But it failed."

"Yes. And I lost so much more than just my hands, but… I also gained knowledge. I suddenly knew equations I never knew were possible, and..."

"You discovered you could transmute without a circle."

"I admit it took me a while discover - I was very… subdued, after what happened. If it wasn't for Perenelle, I probably never would have snapped out of it."

"Forgive me for asking," Dumbledore spoke up. "But how did you regain your hands, Nicolas?"

"I thought you would have figured it out, Albus. Tolls taken by Truth cannot be recovered by magic, so I had no choice but to use a piece of the Philosopher's Stone."

"The Stone made out of human souls."

Nicolas was quiet for a moment. "You wondered why I didn't destroy the Stone a long time ago. Do you want to know the truth? The full truth?"

Albus gazed at his old friend calmly, without judgement. "Tell me."

"One of the reasons was that I couldn't bring it back to Amestris," he bowed his head towards Edward. "Like I promised someone once upon a time. I was faced with a decision to either waste the sacrifice of the people who died in the process of making that Stone… or using it up, hopefully for a noble purpose. Although for a while I honestly didn't know how to destroy it either. If I stopped using the Stone but didn't destroy it, someone else could get their hands on it and that was too much of a risk - I couldn't let anyone figure out how Philosopher's Stones are made. Luckily, no one ever did because the world believes I created it - and the fact that I'm known for being a pacifist might have helped."

"With that much I agree," Ed said with a deadpan. "Connecting such a wimp with mass murder wouldn't cross my mind either."

"Living for six hundred years was difficult," Nicolas continued undeterred "But I had Perenelle with me, supporting me through it all. And we knew that the moment one of us decided to stop using the Stone, we would both die. I admit with shame I wasn't in a hurry for that happen… it was much harder to let go at the beginning, because of the properties of the Elixir of Life."

"What do you mean?"

Nicolas rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Perenelle and I planned on using this in a symbolic way, but… I suppose you might find a better use for it. What do you say, love?"

Mrs. Flamel smiled at him in approval. "Whatever you believe is best, dearest."

Nicolas reached into his pocket, then - much to the Elric Brothers' surprise - proceed to pull out a bag from it that was way too big to ever fit in it. Then he reached his arm all the way into the bag, which also should be physically impossible, and rummaged through it for a minute before pulling out with a small glass flask in his hand.

"Here," he handed it to Edward. "This is all the Elixir of Life that had been left in existence. We wanted to spill it onto the ground in our final hour, to demonstrate our final valediction with this world. But I think you should have it, since I could never return the Stone to you like I promised."

Ed frowned at the transparent liquid. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought it was simple water. "So this is the Elixir you created with the Philosopher's Stone… but aren't there any human souls left in it?"

Nicolas shook his head. "No, I am sure of it. You see, the purpose was for consumption - the energy extracted from the Stone reverses all negative changes inflicted on the body whether by time, illness or injury - unless they originated from some very dark magic, like my curse scar or the scars on my wrists. In Perenelle's case, it was meant to reverse and stop any further damage her condition would be causing her. Each time a significant amount of the Elixir was extracted, a soul was released but the energy remained in this form. Think of it as if… as if you were cutting human hair."

Edward made a face. "That's still kind of gross. Not to mention I doubt it was not painful for the souls still trapped in the Stone."

"If you want details, I left all of my memorials and research documents to Albus. They're deeply coded of course, and even when decoded they don't contain the recipe for the Philosopher's Stone, but maybe they'll be of some use to you too. You don't mind showing the Elrics the books I left you in my will, do you Albus?"

The Professor agreed without hesitation: "Of course not, they might as well belong to them, after all."

As they talked, Alphonse took the flask from Ed and carefully examined it. Slowly, he opened it and took a whiff. As soon as he did, he gasped loudly.

"Al?" Ed asked in concern.

Alphonse shook his head. The smell of the Elixir was… invigorating wasn't an adequate expression. It smelled like thrill and laughter and summer wind and the joy of being alive. It was intoxicating - more than any alcohol. If that was just the smell, Al couldn't begin to imagine what it must have tasted like.

"That's why..." He said, trying to clear his head. "No wonder you couldn't stop. It smells… addictive."

Ed shot his brother an overprotective look and quickly took the flask from him. "You're not sniffing any more strange potions, Al!"

"Brother, I was just-"

"I mean it Alphonse," Edward growled furiously, putting the flask far out of his little brother's reach. "From now on you're banned from smelling potions - especially in Snape's lab, got it?"

Al sighed. When Ed got in his ridiculously-overprotective older brother mood, there was no use in arguing with him. "Yes, Brother."

Dumbledore asked: "I thought you said you made only enough of the Elixir to last for two months?"

"Which is all true. This vial was never meant for me or Perenelle. We kept it in case of an emergency, such as someone getting gravely injured. This vial is large enough to extend human life for years. It's just as effective in healing as phoenix tears..." Nicolas trailed off. "How's Fawkes, Albus?"

The Headmaster sighed. "He's… not well. He's rather depressed about your inevitable passing."

Nicolas smiled sadly. "Better take good care of him, Albus. He's a much more special bird than even you realize."

Dumbledore looked like he wanted to ask, but then changed his mind. There were more important things to focus on right now.

"Alphonse, there is something I've been meaning to ask you. If you had to trade your blood seal to get Edward's arm back, and Nicolas had to use some of his Philosopher's Stone to get his lost hands back… How did you restore your body in the end? Did you use the same Philosopher's Stone?"

Alphonse shook his head vehemently. "No. Brother and I made a promise to never sacrifice others to fix our own mistake, and we kept it." Then he sent his older brother a proud, loving smile. "It was all Ed."

"I remember..." Nicolas spoke suddenly, his eyes filling with understanding. "We spoke in a library about it, I think. You were panicking, because..."

"...Because I thought magic was some sort of alchemy, and I was not supposed to be capable of it anymore," Ed finished.

Flamel spoke with reverence: "You traded your ability to transmute. For your brother."

The Elrics nodded at the same time. The Headmaster would have been surprised, if he hadn't been suspecting something like that for a while. Even still, hearing a confirmation did not diminish the awe and respect he was feeling.

"Remarkable." Dumbledore said what all of them were thinking. To give up such power for the sake of family… This man was what Albus should have been as a young man. Edward Elric was his redemption personified - and instead of bringing pain, it brought joy to the old wizard's hearts. "But you still consider yourself an alchemist."

Ed huffed with pretended annoyance. "Of course I do. Alchemy isn't just transmutations, Old Man."

"It is our philosophy, our way of living. It's the flow of life, the pursuit of the truth and understanding," Alphonse explained. "One is All, and All is One."

Dumbledore smiled with a cheerful twinkle in his eyes. "I have a feeling this year we will be having some very interesting classes."

Edward laughed. "You better believe it, Double Door!"

Nicolas sighed with a tired yet content expression. "It seems I will be missing out. I wish you the best of luck, Ed - not that you need it." He smirked. "You're going to be a fantastic teacher too, Alphonse, I can tell."

Ed swallowed harshly, his tongue suddenly too stiff in his mouth. He looked down at the vial in his hands. "You could… I mean..." He cleared his throat, holding up the Elixir but his eyes still lowered. "You can still drink some of it, you know? You and your wife. You could help us with research for a way back to Amestris, and-"

"Edward."

He looked at Nicolas with a small amount of hesitation. Flamel was smiling softly at him.

"It's alright," he said, without a trace of fear and uncertainty in his voice as he held onto Perenelle's warm hand. "It is our time. We are ready. You don't need me to figure out a way back to Amestris."

"But..."

"Edward Elric, in all of my life I have never met an individual brighter and more determined than yourself." Nicolas turned for a second to Albus. "I hope you forgive me for saying that, my friend."

"I would be offended, if I didn't think exactly the same," Dumbledore said. "About both of them."

Al became extremely abashed, while Ed looked was between being flattered and exasperated.

"With that said, I have no doubt you will figure out how to return home very soon. If I believed my help was necessary for you two to make your way back I would have stayed, but I have a feeling I would only slow you down. I am an old man and I am tired, Edward. Please, let me rest."

Ed opened his mouth, closed it, and then nodded.

"Nevertheless, I am so happy I got to meet you for one last time before my time came. One of my biggest regrets in life was that I never got to properly reconcile with my friend, the man who inspired me so much I named myself after the symbol he carried on his coat." Nicolas said with such a sincere expression, it was impossible to take his words as anything less than honest truth. "I never forgot about everything you had done for me, and I never stopped being grateful. Thank you."

"I want to thank you as well," Perenelle spoke up, her beautiful features lighting up like the morning sky with a smile. "If you had not saved my husband's life when you first met, Edward, I would have suffered a terrible fate. You helped shape my Nicolas into the person he became, and I am so thankful for it. I know no apologies can be enough for what you have been through because of us, but I wish you the best of luck in finding your way home. I know both of you can do it." She looked at Alphonse "Nicolas has not spent as much time with you as with your brother, so I don't know much about you. But I am so glad I got to meet you as well, Alphonse."

Al smiled back at her. She really was a special woman, he thought. She reminded him a bit of their mother Trisha, before she passed away… No wonder Mr. Flamel loved her so much, or that he was willing to break taboos and laws in order to save her life. It made all of his actions so much more understandable.

Nicolas spoke again, addressing both of the brothers: "As for my actions when we last met… I apologize from the bottom of my heart. Like Perenelle said, it can never be enough, but I truly am sorry. I was not completely of a sound mind at the time, but it does not justify my actions: I should have never taken the Stone, and I should have never brought it into this world. Perhaps I could have helped Perenelle with that other alchemical art you mentioned, and I should have at least tried. Now, I guess we'll never know."

"...What do you mean, 'not completely of a sound mind'?" Ed asked in cautious tone.

"For all the years I spent in Amestris, I had the Succubus' curse placed on me. I was aware of what I was doing, and I made those choices. But please understand that I was emotionally compromised and by the end of my stay, and I hadn't been entirely myself for a while."

Ed opened his mouth to respond, but then another memory came to him:

"Nicolas… You sound crazy."

"...who knows, maybe I am."

"That was the curse?" Ed exclaimed in complete shock. "That's why you were so off that day?"

Nicolas grimaced. That particular memory did not fade after centuries, even though he really wished it did. "It all had been building up and by the time I tracked down the Stone, I was already falling apart. But when I finally got my hands on it… let's just say, hallucinations were the least of my worries."

Ed stared at him with fresh eyes of a completely different perspective. "You could have called me. Dammit, Nicolas - you knew I was in Resembool, you should have called me! I was your friend, I would have helped you if you just sent a word to me!"

"I know that now." Nicolas sighed, holding onto Perenelle tightly. "It's just, at the time, I felt so isolated. I felt so alone, I was so broken. And the curse… it just made everything so much worse."

"What exactly did that curse do to you?"

Flamel lowered his head. Perenelle wrapped her arms around and held him in silent support.

"You married that girl of yours, right Edward? What was her name?"

"Winry," Ed replied, puzzled at the change of topic.

"Yes, Winry. Now imagine if someone forcibly ripped out the memory of her from your head. Not just her face," Nicolas' eyes looked truly haunted "But even her name. Imagine trying to remember, day by day, and each attempt making you feel like there was a dagger stabbing you through your chest."

"Memory Vaccum Curse," Perenelle whispered. "Terrible dark magic. It takes the victim's most precious memories and rips them away… leaving a bleeding hole in your mind, slowly driving you insane, until the caster releases them from the spell." He eyes were dark. "If there is any sin deserving death in this world, it would be putting this curse on someone. It is a fate I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies."

Edward was speechless. So was Alphonse.

"When the Succubus put the curse on me, she wanted me to suffer. She did not believe my love for Perenelle was as true as I made it out to be, so she challenged me. She knew that the memory of her was the most precious thing I had. In order to prove a point, she forced me to forget everything I loved about her - but in an awful, painful way that would never allow me to forget completely. She made a deal with me, that she would only lift the curse if I proved my faithfulness by fulfilling my quest and finding the cure for Perenelle - but without the comfort of her memory. I knew what I needed to to, but I was feeling empty and hopeless every step on the way. The seven years I spent in Amestris were indescribable. I saw a world so wonderful and strange and different from my own… But my mind was burdened constantly, and it made me forget to care about others."

"Edward," Nicolas looked directly into his eyes. "You were right about me. I did act like a selfish little brat back then. I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I refused to acknowledge that you could have helped me, even if you couldn't remove the curse from my mind. But worst of all, I ignored your warnings. The Philosopher's Stone brought so much pain and suffering into this world, even if I never told anyone how to make one - my son was the first of many to pay for my mistake. I was a fool, and I am so, truly, sorry, my friend."

Ed's eyes stings suspiciously, but when he blinked, his eyes were dry. He swallowed heavily. "Nick, you absolute idiot," he said hoarsely. Then, finally, his resolve snapped.

Edward Elric stood up from his chair and hugged the daylights out of his moron of a friend he could no longer be angry at.

Author's Note:

Over. Twenty. Two. Thousand. Words.

Oh my potatoes.

Have I lost my mind? I must have. I wasn't supposed to post over 14,000 words per chapter. Don't expect for THIS to happen again, because this is just crazy.

But if you think this chapter is too long? Well folks, to your information, it used to be twice as long as this. Yes, I really am that insane, apparently - I just wasn't aware of the word count at the time. It's also one of the reasons why it took me almost two years to update - I am so sorry about that by the way, I know you guys have been waiting for so long…

At first I wrote an insanely long flashback for this chapter. Then I got thinking that I didn't like the point of view all that much. Perhaps it will be better if I rewrite it in a conversation…

Then, as if the universe was mocking me, I lost my entire file.

To say I was furious was an understatement. Yes, I was going to change it I thought, but that didn't mean I wanted to lose the whole freaking thing! I was so frustrated I completely gave up for a couple of months. It didn't help that there were some pretty bad things going on in my life too. I had to relocate because of that. I started writing again after another equipment-change happened. File-conversion caused an insane amount of mistakes to correct and I spend a month on THAT.

Then I lost what I wrote, again. I almost threw my freaking laptop at the wall. What's the point of writing if you constantly lose data? It was horrible.

Then I became an aunt. And that was the most wonderful thing ever :D

Yes, I am a woman and yes, I have a brother and yes, he is married and yes, his first kid was born less than a year ago. My nephew is the most adorable baby on the freaking planet. I mean really, you think your relatives are cute? They got nothing on my nephew. He's got such a cute face it should be illegal. I have a particular weakness for kids so of course everything else vanished from my brain for a couple of months.

And so, almost two years passed and I didn't update the story even once. I know those are weak excuses, since I posted different stuff - a couple of humor fics, go check them out if you'd like - but please consider that I don't get paid for this, and it was a ridiculous amount of work just for one chapter.

However, I promised not to abandon this and I won't. So, here I proudly present my work. I hope it was to your liking ;)

Filling plot-holes and explaining the unexplained:

1. Horcruxes and their 'Indestructibility', Part II

I know I already made an entry about Horcruxes, but one of my reviewers said something that got me thinking:

"The horcruxes and the homunculi - that connection alone was pretty mind blowing. Other crossover stories have touched on it but when I read that entry my mind did this crazy jump and started suggesting that maybe, MAYBE homunculi are horcruxes in a way. I mean, really, Father did the same thing that Voldemort did. He split his soul into seven extra pieces." - BelloftheSea's review of chapter 7

If Voldemort unknowingly did the same thing that Father did… Does this mean each of his Horcruxes represents one of the Deadly Sins?

I thought about it and you know what? It sounds extremely likely! In fact, everything fits to support that theory - I bet you're going to be surprised just how much.

First, allow me to explain the distinction I'm going to make between greed, gluttony and lust as human sins, because it will be important.

Greed is about wanting something just for the purpose of having it - to possess, to keep everything to yourself. Usually it's about power or money, but it can include pretty much everything:

"I want everything you can possibly imagine. I want money and women, power and sex, status, glory! I demand the finer things in life!" - Greed

Basically, greed is the desire people have to fill that emptiness we all have inside.

Gluttony is about longing for something, giving in to instinct, using things in a purely selfish way. Usually it's about food or money, but it generally implies carnal urges, instinct, mindless craving - unlike greed it is not about gaining and keeping, but using and consuming.

It is a different type of emptiness to fill - one that requires immediate attention instead of being a planned-out, continuous want.

Lust is a curious combination of the other two. It is longing and wanting, to both use and possess, yet selfishly share at the same time. Usually it's about people and power.

I observed an interesting phenomenon in our culture that we use the phrases "lust for power" and "bloodlust" rather that than "greed for power" or " blood-greed". It's because greed implies keeping things to yourself, while lust is connected to the thrill, to the ecstasy of using things selfishly while sharing them at the same time - although not necessarily equally. That's why the first connection people make to this sin is sex; it's desire, but it is also a hungry, greedy selfishness despite the shared aspect of the act.

Now, let's compare the Homunculi Father created to the Horcruxes made by Voldemort.

1) Pride and the Diary of T. M. Riddle

Pride was the first Homunculus Father made after the destruction of Xerxes. While the container looked like a human child, Selim Bradley, the being inside looked much like the Dwarf in the Flask. It was the essence of Father's arrogance that would forever stay young in appearance. Pride met an ironic end (like all the Homunculi), by being reduced to his real, pathetically tiny form by Edward.

Riddle made the Diary while he was still a teenager, and it was his first Horcrux as well. It contained all of his power-hungry arrogance as the Heir of Slytherin; he wasn't even called 'Voldemort' yet (not officially anyway) and he already believed himself to be the most powerful wizard in the world! Tell me if that doesn't scream 'Pride' to you. Also, the Diary was destroyed by the venom of the basilisk, the very creature Riddle was so proud to control - which was an ironic end on its own.

Moreover, the Diary had the ability to possess the person who spoke with it through writing. Pride managed to possess Alphonse through his blood seal because of them being technically blood-relatives, attempted to do the same to Edward to save himself, pretty much extracted Human Transmutation out of the mind of the Gold-Toothed Doctor and forced Mustang' Gate of Truth wide open against his will. If those doesn't speak of Pride's possessing skills, I don't know what does - and it matches the Diary perfectly.

2) Wrath and the Ring of Cadmus Peverell

Here I hesitated for a bit - was Wrath or Greed more fitting for this Horcrux? But after analyzing the circumstances of their creation, I decided that Wrath was more fitting.

Wrath, also called King Bradley, was the only Homunculus that could age. Before he became one of the Homunculi, he was a nameless human whose only purpose was to become Fuhrer. After the transformation was done, he had no intention of becoming human again. Deceptively unassuming and middle-aged, he was one of the most dangerous foes in battle. He did some of the worst of damage to the other side, like killing off Old Man Fu and Buccaneer in one fight, and doing some serious damage to Scar while already dying from previous injuries. After the hard-fought battle Wrath, ironically enough, rested in peace.

Before it became a Horcrux, the Ring had a history of its own. As one of the Deathly Hallows, which belonged to the second brother from the Tale of Three Brothers, it was a heirloom passed down the Gaunt family for generations. But the family gradually lost all of its glory and humanity, ending with Tom Riddle. Out of anger on the both sides of his family, young Tom Riddle murdered his father and grandparents in the Riddle Manor, and altered his uncle Morfin's memory so he would believe he was the murderer.

Once losing his humanity to this utterly depraved act, Tom certainly had no intention of leaving the path of destruction. All of his wrath was poured into the stolen Ring, and it inflicted some of the worst damage in the second wizarding war - it put a lethal curse on Dumbledore, which would have ended his life if he hadn't asked Snape to mercifully end his life first. But the story of the Ring did not end there - Dumbledore took the Stone of Resurrection out of it and gave it in his will to Harry, hidden in a Snitch. After using it to see Lily, James, Sirius and Remus, Harry dropped the Stone in the Forbidden Forest… where it rests in peace, forever. Sound familiar, no?

3) Lust and the Locket of Salazar Slytherin

Lust was an excellent agent in the field. Not only was she very capable in a fight - her Ultimate Spear fingernails nearly killed Barry the Chopper, Havoc, Mustang and Alphonse all in one day - but she was excellent in extracting information as a spy. She was so good, in fact, that the author of the manga herself, Hiromi Arakawa (widely known by her pen-name, Hiromu Arakawa) said in an interview she had to "kill her off early because she was just too good at what she did". And I totally agree - if Mustang hadn't burnt her to death (another ironic Homunculus death), the good guys would have a much harder time winning. It was Lust's speciality to create disarray among humans, if what she did with Gluttony and Envy in Liore is anything to go by.

The Slytherin's Locket used to belong to Riddle's mother, Merope. Desperate for money after being left by Tom Riddle Senior, she sold her family heirloom to Caractacus Burke for ten Galleons, a price far below what the priceless artefact was truly worth. Tom found it later in the possession of Madam Hepzibah Smith, a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff and a collector of antiques whom he had befriended (playing the 'spy' - rings any bells?). Unsurprisingly, instead of negotiating buying the Locket from her like a normal person would, or even demanding the Locket back as it was his birthright (to which Hepzibah surely would have agreed, it was his mother's for goodness sake!), he basically stabbed her in the back (sound familiars… Lust did that to Havoc, didn't she? Literally. Geez, Arakawa sure loves her ironies), took the Locket and Hufflepuff's Cup as well to turn it into a different Horcrux and framed the house-elf for the crime. What a busy day he had…

Anyway, the Locket was later taken by Regulus Black, who gave it to by Kreacher the house-elf, then stolen by Mundungus Fletcher, then obtained as a bribe by Dolores Umbridge, then finally found by the Golden Trio to destroy it. But before they got the Sword of Gryffindor to do it, the Locket itself created quite a lot of disarray among the group, to the point that Ron left Harry and Hermione behind. Then, ironically enough, when Ron returned and Harry convinced him to be the one to destroy the Horcrux, the Locked showed him a vision of Harry and Hermione in a romantic relationship. Hmm, causing disarray among allies and playing with one of the good guys feelings… Sounds familiar for some reason… (*cough* Lust and Havoc again *cough*)

4) Gluttony and the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff

The first connection is so obvious I'll get it out of the way: they're both food-related. There. I said it.

Now, Gluttony is the Homunculus who was always accompanying Lust - just like with literal lust being followed by 'hunger', and the Cup being stolen together with the Locket. Like I said at the beginning, gluttony represents the mindless need of possessing things in order to consumed them, like it was with Riddle's murder of Hepzibah Smith. Gluttony the Homunculus was so busy constantly thinking about food that he had the intellectual capacity of a spoiled five-year-old. Although, in a way, he was the most innocent of them all… eh, if cannibalism can be called 'innocent' that is…

In any case, Gluttony was childish to the extreme, and he had this simple-mindedness about him that he even asked Alphonse for advice about what he should do when he accidentally swallowed Ed, Ling and Envy. There wasn't any arrogance to him, he wasn't working for Father out of malice, superiority or hatred towards humanity, but only because he was afraid of Father and had a strong attachment to Lust. Personally, I was almost sad when he died (devoured by Pride… Man, I won't even comment on the irony anymore...). Still, underneath it all he was a very dangerous Homunculus once he revealed his secret weapon - the false Gate of Truth inside his belly.

The Cup was also deceptively not a very big threat, but once touched it multiplied like crazy and burned the hand of the person who reached for it. Those might have been Gringotts' protection spells, but still those defence-mechanisms were impressive. But they only became an issue once triggered (like Gluttony was triggered after hearing Mustang's name).

Also, since the Cup never rightfully belonged to Riddle, I can't help but think that gluttony was the sin which must have directed Voldemort's actions here. I mean, mindlessly taking and possessing for a selfish use? That's more than being greedy. And gluttony sounds exactly like Voldemort's desire to possess all the Founders' artifacts and turn them into his Horcruxes.

5) Sloth and the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw

Sloth doesn't sound like it has much in common with such a pretty thing, does it? But, then again, what is 'sloth'? It isn't just laziness; it's lack of caring, it's apathy. It's not a sin through doing something wrong - it's a sin through not doing enough. Which is something many people overlook nowadays.

The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw was taken by Rowena Ravenclaw's own daughter. Her selfish apathy caused her to steal her mother's precious artifact, and her cruel lack of caring about the Baron's feelings lead to her death. Sloth seems to be one of the main sins behind that awful tragedy.

While that wouldn't explain why the Diadem would represent Sloth as Voldemort's Horcrux… He was, frankly, stupidly lazy by hiding this Horcrux in the Room of Requirement. I mean really, he had put no safety measures on it - like on the Locket - or hidden it in a highly-secure facility - like the Cup. He was just going by the assumption that "nobody else was clever enough to figure it out" - which is just being dumb. It must have been one of the last Horcruxes he created and he just felt so confident in himself that he hid the Diadem right under Dumbledore's nose. Never-mind that he could have, I don't know, HIDDEN IT IN THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS OR SOMETHING!

Seriously, Voldemort, why?! It was the perfect place and the only place in the school where literally no one else had access to! How could you have missed that!? Any rule-breaking student could have figured out something valuable was hidden in the Room of Requirement, even if they didn't know about your Horcruxes! Why, I ask you?

Also, Sloth died in an exhausting, hard-fought battle - there, here's your irony. Moving on!

6) Envy and Nagini

GREEN!

Haha, get it? 'Cause Envy's true form is like a lizard and Nagini's a snake and in even in the 2003 version of Fullmetal Alchemist Envy turned into a dragon at the end and "jealousy is green" and that dragon was green too… like a… snake…

(Spends an hour in the corner in shame of pointing out the obviously obvious obviousness.)

But anyway, another similarity is that Envy was often used as a spy, like Lust, because he was capable of blending in with his surroundings. Nagini possessed that ability as well. While Envy's death was ironic because he ended his own life - taking away from himself the only thing he ever rightfully owned and did not have to be jealous about - Nagini's fate was a twist because it was killed by the most unlikely, unassuming of Gryffindors. There was also a curiously parallel moment in both FMA and HP books of a beloved father-figure being terribly injured by this sin. In Arthur Weasley's case he survived just barely, but Hughes...

*sob* Hughes… I miss you… Why did you have to die…?

(Spends another hour in the corner weeping)

(Comes back)

I'm good now.

And finally, we have:

7) Greed and Harry Potter

Greed was the only Homunculus that ever defied Father, the only defect among the living incarnations of the Deadly Sins. He became an ally to Edward Elric, helped defeat Father, and ultimately sacrificed himself to weaken him - the bane of Father's existence, beside Hohenheim that is. In other words, Greed was frickin' awesome.

Harry Potter was, similarly, the bane of Voldemort's life - heck, there was even a prophecy about it. Since the very beginning, from defying Voldemort's attempt to kill him as a baby to sacrificing himself to weaken him Harry played exactly the same role as Greed. The only real difference between the two was that Greed wasn't the main character.

Imagine this: "Greed the Avaricious and the Chimeras of Dublith - the Anime!" I would definitely watch it, wouldn't you? ;)

Ling and Harry also shared a similar trait - the desire to protect. Ling was willing to absolutely anything for the power to protect his people, to the point of giving himself up to Greed. Harry was the same, willing to even to mentally search for Voldemort in his mind in the seventh book in spite of all warnings to never do it after what happened in the Department of Mysteries. They were both very reckless with their safety, the moment the people they cared about were in danger.

The main reason I hesitated if Greed wasn't meant to parallel the Peverell's Ring instead of Harry was because of the "Wrath being human turned Homunculus" thing. I would fit Harry as a human Horcrux, right? Well, then I realized that Greed was also a human turned Homunculus (at least the second one), and I felt silly.

Then again, Harry was one really angry teenager, and there was a lot of wrath and hatred going on between Voldemort and Harry… and Voldemort certainly took the Ring from Morfin out of greed.

But overall, I think Harry as Greed and Wrath as the Ring fits more than the other way around. What do you guys think?

2. Gryffindor's Sword

Ah, Godric Gryffindor. He really sounds epic, doesn't he? You'd think all wizards would turn out lazy because they could do almost anything with a single wave of a wand - but not him! Not only does his House represents the qualities of chivalry and courage, he himself stood in defense of Muggles and Muggle-borns, using a sword in battle - not a wand, but a real sword! To use a sword you have to be well-trained and put effort into it, and he was said to be one of the best duelists of his time! "To train the mind you must first train the body" - Ed and Al would have been proud.

Also there is the fact that the Sword was made out of goblin steel. Consider for a moment what that meant, in the light of constant wars between goblins and wizards over the centuries… To be friendly enough with goblins for them to make a sword specifically for you? Gryffindor must have been special indeed.

Now, you might remember how Griphook claimed that the Sword rightfully belonged to goblins after the death of its rightful owner. But as a matter of fact, Griphook was incorrect, even taking into account their traditions about the inheritance of goblin-made artifacts.

You see, the whole problem with this misunderstanding between the goblins and wizards is that both sides went into business trade with each other without understanding the other's culture. Wizards - or rather humans in general - upon death pass to their children all of their possessions, whether made or bought within their lifetime. Meanwhile goblins treat everything in life like a loan - even the metals they "borrowed" from the Earth. As such, their tradition demands for them to be buried with everything they've ever owned.

Now, goblins are greedy creatures and they don't part with treasures easily, so they invented a compromise - Gringotts Wizarding Bank was built underground of this purpose. While the goblins technically "part" with their ancestor's artifacts by putting them underground, they don't really give them up. And while such a loophole is fine for most goblins to accept, their prejudice and general dislike of humans doesn't make them willing to make the same allowance for wizards. In fact, they're exceptionally unfair, considering that when the wizard possessing a goblin-made artifact dies, its original maker is often dead as well, and there is no one to return the artefact to left. But because the wizards don't share the tradition of burying their dead with all their valuables, the goblins feel like it's unjust for the artifacts to be passed on to their children, and demand them back. The wizards don't agree, of course, and the dislike between the races grows.

If modern goblins were being fair about this law, they would have remembered that the goblins who made the Sword for Gryffindor - out of gratitude towards his actions in defending them among his own kind - agreed for the Sword to stay and defend Hogwarts even after the owner's death. While Godric's body was buried in a tomb deep beneath Hogwarts along with his Sword - like the goblin tradition demanded - the weapon had powerful enchantments on it, made both by the goblin makers and Gryffindor himself. It would always return to the hand of a True Gryffindor in the time of need through the Sorting Hat's decision - because the Hat can read minds, and it knows who is worthy.

The Sword's magic was very special among other goblin-made artifacts - in fact, there had never been another one like it since. One of the reasons is because both a powerful wizard and goblins were working on the enchantments. It is said that goblin-made items only imbibe what makes them stronger, but no other known artifact was capable of absorbing basilisk's venom of all things. Basilisk's venom is the strongest poison in the world and no ordinary steel, not even goblin-made, would be able to gain its properties. The Sword was also incredibly durable - practically indestructible, and it would never rust or lose its sharpness.

Actually, know that I think about it - if Voldemort has ever gotten his hands on that sword and made it his Horcrux, Harry and everybody else would have been done for. I mean, not only would there not be an epic sword capable of destroying Horcruxes out there, but also the Sword itself would have been the most difficult item to destroy EVER. The other Founders' artifacts were not as durable because they were not meant for battle, nor for defending Hogwarts for years to come.

Thank GOD Voldemort was such an incompetent villain.

(By the way, on of the reviewers commented on my head-cannon origins of the Gryffindor's Sorting Hat - that the Hat itself declared in a song how Godric had taken it off his head and made it into the Sorting Hat. However! I did take that into account. Naturally, the Hat wasn't going to tell the children the full story of its origin. But after Rohesia Gryffindor's soul was attached to her favorite hat, Godric did indeed wear it on his head - it was how he communicated with her. When the need for a method of sorting arose, Rohesia made the suggestion and with a couple of spells, Godric made it possible. Thus, both versions are true.)

3. Love Potions

Or, let's be honest here, the magical version of date rape drugs. Because really, that's exactly what love potions are. How are they not illegal again?

I am completely serious, how are they not illegal? Because Imperio is illegal - heck, you get a life sentence in Azkaban for it! - and they do the exact same thing: they take away the victim's free will. How can any society allow such a thing?

Some people could argue that: "Oh no, it's never said that wizards are actually ALLOWED to use love potions, just to brew them!" Um, have you missed the part where Fred and George HAD AN ENTIRE FREAKING LINE OF LOVE POTIONS IN THEIR SHOP? Not just one kind, oh no, they have a whole bunch of them! Who cares if they're officially banned at Hogwarts, it's not like the students don't get away with breaking the rules all the time (*cough* all three main characters *cough*). Even Molly Weasley admitted she brew a love potion at Hogwarts once! And this is the iconic Light Side wizard family we're talking about here!

How, I'm asking you dear Rowling, HOW could you ever allow this in your book? How can the good guys use such a thing as if it was no big deal, as if it was funny? Manipulating someone through magic to make them believe they're in love with you is NOT. FUNNY. Under any circumstances. Sure, it might seem harmless on the surface, especially if it's an accident - like one of two people who hate each other suddenly "falling in love" with their enemy and the other is trying to fend the unwanted affections off. That sounds downright hilarious, right?

Well, imagine if the person who is not under the influence of the potion actually starts to believe the other's affections are genuine. They start to hang out and suddenly, the potion wears off. Not only does the person who was (let's call it as it is) drugged feels violated, because they did and said things they would NEVER agree to out of their own free will, but the person who didn't know is terribly hurt as well, and it wasn't even their fault.

And that's the least harmful scenario! Imagine if a guy uses the potion to seduce an innocent girl. He can easily claim what they did was fully consensual, but he straight-up raped her and goes free without any consequences. I won't even mention if he got her pregnant! Sex is a very serious thing, it can make or destroy relationships and once done it's something that can never be erased - more often than not it has irreversible consequences.

Then how, I ask you, are love potions legal in the Wizarding World? Well, let's take a closer look at what they precisely do before we give a verdict.

We know that there are many love potions out there - all of which have the same purpose, but their means may vary. Amortentia, for example, is said to be the most powerful love potion in the world. It works instantly, inducing a powerful obsession in the victim towards a particular individual. It is also said that no magic can produce true love - that is permanent and unconditional affection towards another. So while Amortentia can make someone seem like they're in love, it is not real. We also know that it does not last, the effects wear off after a given period of time. If the victim remembers - and I'm quite certain that they do - they realize instantly that they no longer feel the same way, thus there was a spell cast on them.

I assume this is the potion Merope Gaunt used to seduce Tom Riddle Senior. Everything matches with the story told by Dumbledore. It is the prime example of how much harm false love can do, not just to the victim but to people indirectly affected by it, such as Tom Marvolo Riddle.

But it is only "the most powerful love potion" which works like that. Who's to say the rest of them are the same? Perhaps this one is an exception, not a rule, of how love potions affect people.

Let's say that most love potions only make other people seem more appealing. For instance, the drinker of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes' "Kissing Concoction" would want to kiss the person who administered the potion, but doesn't become obsessed over doing it. The victim still has their free will - most of it, anyway - and if they are not the type of person who would kiss everyone they meet on the street if they could, they can resist easily, especially if it's something that goes against their nature.

Or a different example - what if an average love potion is similar to alcohol? It lowers inhibitions, but it doesn't turn the drinker into a totally different person - it just takes down some barriers. Sure, people make a lot of mistakes when they're drunk, and I expect it's the same with love potions, but then not everything can be blamed on the drink. There has to be some choice beneath it all. A person who feels absolutely no attraction towards another will NOT be willing to sleep with them, even under alcohol's influence.

As such, perhaps love potions are not meant to create fake love out of nothing, but help discover feelings and desires that are already there. If that's the case, then love potions become something far more believable and understandable in such circumstances.

There is also the possibility that most wizards use love potions on themselves - in previously established relationships and for completely consensual reasons. If it is generally supposed to be a consensual thing, then I believe there must be some law regulations after all. Drinking alcohol has age-limits, so perhaps the same goes for love potions? It would explain why it's banned at Hogwarts. I believe it would also make it illegal to use it on Muggles, taking the Statute of Secrecy into account (because I refuse to believe that what Merope did was legal). There's also certainly a law about signing documents under influence of magic, making them immediately invalid. Perhaps it is even a crime to administer love potion to someone who's already in a relationship with someone else (like engagement or marriage) - or to administer any potion without the consumer's permission in general.

If this is all true, then I feel a lot better about the existence of love potions in HP universe. It doesn't explain the carelessness of wizards whenever they talk about them - because seriously, they treat the topic of love potions as if it was a joke - but maybe that's because in the books we usually see things from the teenage point of view. From a culture which revels in silliness and pranks, it is almost expected. Perhaps love potions are treated far more seriously by the adults than the kids.

Besides, there are plenty of other dangerous spells and potions out there already, many of which affect the person's mood (like the Tickling Charm or Calming Draught), but they can certainly be used for good - or at least non-unethical - purposes. After all, the intentions often matter as much as the actual act.

Still, there better be an Azkaban sentence for non-consensual use of Amortentia because seriously people, that stuff is dangerous. I have no idea what Slughorn was thinking showing it to a bunch of hormonal teenagers in 'The Half-Blood Prince'. Perhaps the old age's getting to him...

In the next entry of "Filling plot-holes and explaining the unexplained": Divination and house-elves. Any more suggestions? Please put them in your review if you have some ideas.

Once again, I'm sorry for not updating for so long. Next time it will not take that long for one chapter, promise.

Also - thank you all so very much for helping me reach 300 favorites, over 400 followers, places in 8 communities, almost 200 reviews and most of all over 35,000 view! You guys are so amazing! :'D

Thank you all for reading, for all your wonderful compliments and suggestions, please post reviews if possible, add the story to favorites and follow if you can, but most importantly - read on and enjoy! ;)