So I have been toying with names for this story. This is going to be the first story and I'm planning on a sequel but both will be The 8th staff of Harry Potter. I just need a way to differentiate the two. Still haven't decided yet so it might change again.

The 8th Staff of Harry Potter

Harry sat in front of round golden sphere the size of a basketball. The sphere had a slot in the front the same size as the reservoir stone containing Fleurs Passion fire. He slid the stone into the slot and tapped his wand on the top causing the sphere to activate, tipping back so the slot was facing upwards and beginning to spin.

After several minutes the sphere stopped and tipped back towards the boy. The cube slid out several centimeters for easy access. Harry ignored it for the moment and picked up a piece of parchment that a quill had just finished writing the results on.

"I knew it. No physical qualities at all. It must be pure magic." Harry said quietly to himself.

He turned and grabbed the cube and put it down on the desk before holding his wand to it, causing the tip to glow red. After several seconds the glow changed colors to green prompting the boy to flick the wand up into the air. The glow flew off the tip and exploded into a shower of sparks. The sparks started to take form as they fell creating glowing words, hanging in mid air. Harry put down his wand and looked at the readings left behind by his test, not for the first time glad that he could do magic in designated laboratories as an apprentice.

The young wizard reached up to a rune stone that he wore on a choker. The stone was actually something Harry had asked Matt to cook up for him. It worked much like a muggle mic, picking up what he was saying and recording it on the stone. The stone could then come off the choker and be replaced by a blank stone while the recorded stone could be connected with an ear bud similar to the one Harry wore for French Translations. Even Nic had been impressed, asking for one of his own. It wasn't exactly going to be in high demand especially in the rigid society of Magical Europe but Harry couldn't help but be happy for his friend getting closer to his dream or creating something great.

"The magical scan reads subject 1 as being of the fire element. All other readings are unknown." Harry said into the stone before pulling his hand away and rubbing his face.

Harry had done some research when his first scans had come up inconclusive. The Flamel library was quiet extensive and there had been no shortage of books on Veela. No one quite knew what made Veela Veela. They were almost identical in every way to humans except for their control over fire and their allure. Several books claimed it was a curse or blessing laid upon a human that had been passed on to her female children. Other than that no one knew why only females could be Veela, or where they came from, or how they did what they did.

The young boy put the reservoir stone on a larger reservoir stone about a foot cubed. After taking a seat the apprentice tapped his wand on the larger stone, causing it to absorb the fire from the smaller stone above. The fire flared up a bit once free of its confines and settled in the center of the cube. Harry sighed as he cracked his neck, resigned to a long night of tests.

Several hours later Harry's head lay face down on the cube as he stared down at the fire inside. Every test he could think to run, everything he had learned, had failed. The door opened and Harry watched in dull annoyance as the flame fluttered at the influx of air.

"Can't figure it out?" Nic asked from the open doorway. Harry groaned in response. "I will take that as an affirmation. Don't fret, greater minds have spent years trying to figure out exactly what the Veela are."

"I don't want to know what they are. I want to know how to make fire like theirs. I would also like for you to close the door so that the fire will stop freaking the fuck out." Harry growled back in annoyance at his mentors chipper morning attitude. The flames reaction bothered him for some reason.

"Alright well if you want a cup of coffee Reginald just made a fresh pot." Nic replied before closing the door.

As soon as he did so the flame went back to its formerly calm state. The befuddling feeling of missing something didn't settle down though. Harry groaned and stood up. After being up all night he definitely needed that coffee. He was feeling paranoid all the sudden. The novice alchemist walked to the door and raised his finger up to the rune on it. After tracing over the rune he reached down to grip the handle when he froze.

The fire shouldn't have been affected by air flow in the reservoir stone. The room was warded, he had just undone the rune that fully sealed the room so he could leave. Something outside the room had been affecting the fire but he couldn't pick that up with the room warded. A niggling idea began to form at the back of his mind as he had a crazy idea of what was affecting the fire.

Nicholas Flamel was jerked from his morning paper as the door flew open to reveal his apprentice.

"The Delacours live East of here right? Where.. South, North, what?"The boy asked excitedly. It took the man several seconds to process what was going on.

"Yes they do. South East to be exact. They live on the Mediterranean actually." Nicholas said looking confused. He watched as his apprentice turned stood facing the other way. After several seconds of muttering the boy looked out the window.

"So they live in that direction?" Harry finally said pointing to his left. "And Fleur should be there right now eating breakfast correct."

"Yes, or at least I suppose so." The older man answered wondering where the line of questioning was leading.

His apprentice turned and pulled the smaller reservoir stone with Passion fire inside out of his pocket. After placing it on the table he pulled out a small crystal on a chain from around his neck. He took the necklace and tapped the reservoir stone with it. The fire within rushed into the smaller crystal in a bright orange glow. The glow died down to show a little speck of orange light inside the crystal. The Alchemists eyebrows shot skywards as he fully understood the implications.

"I know what makes passion fire." Harry said looking up smiling widely. "Soul Magic."

Nicholas could feel the headache that was coming already.

"So you are telling me that you think that Veela had a Soul Magic curse put on them by something or someone." Nic said throwing back the last of his scotch.

"Or blessing." Harry added. "Just think of it all the stories have gods putting blessings on a family line or artifacts cursing poor adventurers. Everything has some sort of truth in it. What if Soul Magic is the answer."

"I guess it is possible. Not much is known about Soul Magic." Nic said thinking it over. "But wouldn't somebody remember how to use it if it was at all useful. I mean it was forgotten for a reason. If you are right couldn't somebody enslave a Veela or control a Werewolf indefinitely."

"Who says no one remembers. I mean most of the Magical world is secluded and little is known about it. The only continent that can say it is MOSTLY discovered is Europe. Other than that magic is a mystery." Harry said adamantly. Nicholas knew the boy could be right.

"If you can find some evidence you might be on the forefront of a breakthrough in understanding magical diseases. Admittedly a terrifying and powerful breakthrough but still." Nicholas said pouring a second drink. "So do you intend to try and use Soul Magic to create Passion fire."

"No I started this with Alchemy and I will end it the same way. It is what I do best after all." Harry said smiling.

"Alchemy is the only branch of magic that still knows how to do anything with souls that is true. It is a difficult element though. Untested in many cases, and often dangerous. Most people that mess with it end up dead or worse." Nicholas said very seriously.

"You taught me how though. I know that its reaction can't always be predicted by I know how to handle it. This is what you taught me for. Isn't it. To try on my own. To do what people haven't done before. Especially when it came to Soul. You said Soul was awesome and there was so much to do, but no one knows quite how to use it. I know you wanted me to discover it, or at least try." Harry replied.

"You don't have the experience. You have been doing this all of two months. You know the basics but you don't have the experience with reactions..." Nicholas started.

"Neither did you. Not when you started. Hell this is Soul Magic no one does you already pointed that out. Did that stop anyone to have ever done something great. It isn't innovation if someone else has already done it exactly the same." Harry interrupted. Nicholas stood looking into his apprentices pleading eyes. The boy needed encouragement more than he needed permission and the Master Alchemist knew it. He sighed inwardly.

"Alright but if something starts to go wrong you need to back off." The older wizard said firmly. Harry nodded solemnly, making sure his mentor knew he understood the weight of the statement, before making his way back down to the laboratory.

Harry stood looking over his equation. Passion fire could only be created by Veela, and the knowledge of Soul Magic was so far deteriorated that making it would be impossible. Instead Harry hoped to use the soul energy inside the Passion fire to bind the curse to an object of his own creation, like something that could go on a necklace or a bracelet. He would then control it using his own soul energy, flooding the object with it and making it into Passion fire. The easiest way would be by using his own blood as a medium. Instead of cutting himself every time he wanted to connect to his creation, Harry had decided to imbue the creation with his own blood in the creation process so he only had to be in direct contact with the stone to control it. This also gave him the added benefit of being the only one able to control the construct.

The first step had been to transfer the soul energy from the small soul gem pendant that Harry had used earlier, into a larger soul gem that Harry didn't mind losing in the process. Soul gems were containers for souls much like a reservoir stone. Reservoir stones held the magic of whatever it held in though, meaning any spell or manipulation of the contained substance would trap the magic instead. This usually produced a muddled magical mixture that sometimes ruined a reagent. Though with soul energy it was just as likely to explode. A soul gem could hold a soul and allow for manipulation of the contained soul.

Once Harry had the soul in a gem he placed the gem into a slot in a smooth round black stone called Uborum. Uborum was what Azkaban was made out of. It was notorious for slowly leeching soul energy, weakening inmates as well as leaving them weakened and sensitive to certain magics, such as the Dementors. The soul gem and blood would keep the Uborum from affecting Harry, but he molded gold around the edges of the stone because gold was a powerful metal that was so precious because it held life energy and caused positive emotions. The gold would negate the effects of the stone.

A second metal was used to line the slot the gem was held in. The blood red metal Harry used was a compound that was made when a metal called Primal was tempered in the essence of life from the tree Yggdrasil, Eitr. The compound would help Harry control the stone and bind the soul energy. It was the spark that would create the fire.

Harry dipped the stone in a cauldron of his own blood that he had been saving up for just such a situation. The amateur alchemist looked up at the one way glass that he knew his mentor was standing behind. The glass could only look in on the room as the runes inside required complete isolation from the outside world to keep from affecting the creation process. The only thing inside the room was a single table that Harry was using.

Harry grabbed a pair of clips much like those found on a set of jumper cables. They allowed an alchemist to pour large amounts of magic into an object. Checking to make sure they were good and secure the alchemist took a deep breath and began to infuse the object with as much energy as he could in order to bind the soul to the stone.

Nicholas Flamel watched safely outside the sealed room, as his student carefully prepared to bind the passion fires soul energy into the stone. The old man couldn't help but feel pride at the careful precision Harry had. Nicholas would never had admitted it aloud for fear of jinxing it but when he had first gotten a full measure of what Harry Potter was capable of he had realized that the boy would be the father of Alchemy.

He had been looking for someone to delve into the relatively unknown field of the element Soul for some time. At one time the Master Alchemist had believed Albus Dumbledore would be that pupil, but while powerful and intelligent the man had shown himself ill suited for alchemy.

Nicholas himself had pioneered Blood, Eitr, and even created the rumored Philosophers stone. In fact the stone had been his final creation. After its completion he had decided to retire quietly as soon as he found a replacement. Harry Potter would be that replacement, and this passion fire would allow him to take the old alchemist's place as the foremost pioneer in the field.

The old alchemist was dragged from his thoughts when he noticed something wasn't right. He looked at a magical reading to his left to find to find the magical output was jumping to dangerous levels. The view port on the door was obscured by flames, but when he checked the door wouldn't open. Nicholas grabbed his communicator and signaled Reginald.

Harry felt something change. He had been flooding the stone with his energy at full blast. It was like forcing something through a tube. Then suddenly the resistance disappeared. In fact he wasn't in control anymore. The object was literally tearing his magic from his body.

Suddenly the object caught on fire. The fire exploded outwards, surrounding Harry with a wall of flames that conformed to the rooms dimensions. The runes on the walls began to glow bright gold as they held against the magic.

The magic in his core was being drained rapidly. Several minutes passed as Harry tried to pull away from the object. His mind was calm. Not out of choice or willpower, he could feel a part of himself panicking, but the object's reaction didn't seem wrong to him deep down inside. It was holding back the fear that he felt, but it wasn't a numb feeling, the stone was calming him.

He didn't know how long he stood their but he knew that by now most wizards his age would have been dead, drained of their magic. Nicholas had tested his magic as soon as they had started his training. Apparently he had the same amount as an average full grown wizard, more than 4 times what he should have at his age.

The minutes passed and his struggling to pull away stopped as he ran out of energy. He sank to his knees and rested his head against the platform the object lay on. The young alchemist still felt calm, even as he felt his last ounce of magic leave his body.

A of emptiness permeated his body. He sluggishly realized that he was about to die. A light shined through his closed eyelids prompting him to try to open them. As soon as he managed to he noticed the stone at the center of the object glowing bright enough to blind him. Without warning he felt energy begin to flood into his body from the stone. It was a torrent, causing his arms to jerk and spasm as it rushed into his core.

Harry rose to one knee. He was hot, so hot he was sweating. A feeling began to well up inside him, like a thousand cheering charms had hit him. He began to laugh loudly without any control over it. The fire around the room collapsed in on him creating a halo around him that rotated and wobbled around his body.

Harry was pulled from staring at the fire as the door burst open to reveal Mrs. Delacour. She took one look at him before calling up flames of her own around her hands. The woman approached cautiously before reaching out and trying to pass through the halo around him. The flames didn't let her though, instead smacking her hand aside.

The blow didn't phase her in the slightest, but Harrys head jerked just as her hand had. He shook himself from the blow as his head spun. As it cleared it was replaced by a growing feeling of anger. He didn't know what he was angry at, but it grew and grew until he knew nothing else.

Ms. Delacour reached forward again, but this time her hand was not repulsed. It pushed against the fire as if the fire were solid. As she did a screech began to fill the room. The screech was soon joined by a scream. She looked up to find Harry looking at her with bloodshot eyes, his face red with rage as he screamed angrily at her.

With renewed purpose she pushed harder against the flames. The halo held for a short time before it began to wobble. She poured more energy into it and it began to wobble wildly before finally breaking. The broken flames lashed out, one of them passing by her robes and catching them on fire, while the other whipped across her cheek. The Veela woman ignored the pain and rushed forward to catch Harry as he fell unconscious. She felt someone hit her with several spells before Reginald and Nicholas helped her with Harry.

The three of them took the boy up to his room before Appoline and Nicholas stepped outside to talk, leaving Reginald to look after Harry.

"Are you ok?" The alchemist asked.

"Yes. He was maintaining quite a powerful fire if it burned me." She said touching her cheek lightly and looking in the mirror. She had a red line a half an inch wide across her face from where it had burned.

"He?"

"Oh yes. The object might have created the fire but Harry was maintaining it." She replied.

"But that was Veela Passion Fire. It took me 8 of my strongest spells to put out." Nicholas said confused. "Did he succeed."

"Yes. But it looks like the stone isn't the only thing that has been given the ability of Passion Fire." She said watching as Nicholas shut his mouth, his eyes widening in surprise. She took a moment to admire the look as he didn't show it often. "He will need training or else he might burn something every time he gets angry."

"I will arrange for his stuff to be packed." Nicholas replied, his years of experience telling him to not question an expert on the subject no matter how intelligent he himself was.

"Good I will arrange to have him transferred to the enclave after he wakes up. Would you like me to contact your wife about this."

"If you would be willing. I need to go have a look at this stone." Nicholas explained before turning to walk downstairs. He was certainly glad they had covered all the basics before Harry had tried this. If things went the way he thought they would then his time with the boy would be just about over.

The tired alchemist walked carefully into the singed lab room. There sitting on the warped work table in the middle was the stone Harry had created. Nicholas carefully moved his hand towards the stone to check the temperature around it. Finding the air cool he gently picked up the stone and looked at it in the palm of his hand. He slowly pushed a little of his magic into the stone and watched as a tongue of Passion Fire grew from the center.

He took his other hand and manipulated the fire into it and pulling away from the stone. The fire stayed lit and Nicholas found he could manipulate it as his own magic. He slowly put the stone down on the table and as he pulled away the fire went out.

The Alchemist once more created passion fire in his hand, but this time he set a bit of cloth on fire. It burned just as it would with true Veela made fire. Looking at the table in front of him the Alchemist created a large ball of fire and blasted the table with it. Having already taken quite a bit of heat and pressure the tables runes gave out with a shower of gold light before the table was blown into several medium sized pieces.

Nicholas put down the stone once more and watched as the fire continued to burn even though he was no longer controlling it. Earlier in the day the wizard would have been overjoyed at his students success, and he still was, but it left a bitter taste in his mouth. After seeing what the stone had done, what it could do, he was reminded of just how dangerous something he made could be. The thrill of invention and success often blinded men to the dangers of their creations. He knew what had to be done. It might have been Harry's first disaster, but it would not be his, nor would it be their last.

Harry woke up to a throbbing headache. After several minutes of pain he opened his eyes. The light hurt and he was forced to close them but not before he saw the fuzzy outline of Mr. Flamel.

"I told you that Soul was unpredictable."

"UGGHHHHH." Harry groaned putting his arm over his eyes in hopes that the absence of light would alleviate the pain.

"How do you feel?" Mr. Flamel asked. Placing his cool hand on Harry's forhead.

"UGGHHH." Harry repeated.

"That good huh? Well I have some good news and some bad news." Harry started to sit up quickly before falling back onto the pillow with a groan, prompting his master to smile. "Well your time as my apprentice has ended."

"What." Harry actually succeeded at sitting at the mention of his apprenticeships termination.

"...Because you are now a fully licensed Alchemist." He couldn't help but stop to smile at his apprentices excitement, even if it was tempered by his headache. "You are allowed entry to the Alchemists Guildhall, as well as the ability to take work as an accredited Alchemist. Normally you would be allowed to take an apprentice at this point but the Guild has taken into account your age and asked that you wait until you are 16 before doing so. Congratulations if you work hard enough you may also become a Master Alchemist like me."

Harry's smile turned quizzical. "Don't I have to take a test before I am accredited?"

"Oh that. I gave you that your 3rd week here and you passed with flying colors. I simply waited until now to send it in. In fact your new stone will gain you the rank of Master if you can teach it to one of the Masters." Nicholas answered. Harry's eyes widened.

"So it did work." Harry said. "I figured something went wrong."

"Oh it did. You almost died in fact. However that is the second reason for the ending of your stay here." Harry looked confused at the statement. "You will be going to live with the Veela to learn how to control your new powers."

"Powers?" Harry asked.

"Yes, the stone creates flames... but for some reason you can as well... NO NO... NO.. not in the house." Nicholas said quickly at the look on his apprentices face. "I know that look... last time you had that look we succeeded at blowing up the lab... Again."

Harry smiled at the memory.

"Will you use the stone for your Mastery?"

"No. I almost died. Who knows what saved me. Someone else might not be so lucky." Harry answered sighing.

"I admit I was afraid that you would say yes. That stone is destructive. I understand why you made it. In fact I enjoyed watching you make it. It was exciting as my first few decades as an alchemist. But now that it has been completed, I can see no use for it other than evil." Nicholas said laying his hand on the boys shoulder. Harry looked up to see sincerity in his mentors eyes. The boy didn't know what to say. He had never really thought about it. He saw that the man was right in fact, the stone had no purpose, and no possibilities outside destruction.

"What do I do?" Harry asked finally.

"This is not a new trial for the Alchemists. We have a vault under the Guild for creations such as this. Before you go to the Delacours I would like to take you to the Vault and store the stone." Nicholas answered. Harry nodded in acceptance. "Good."

Harry walked through the winding halls of the Alchemists guild vaults. He had been to the Guild several times with Nicholas, but this was his first time as a fully fledged alchemist. The Guild hall was only 3 stories tall, but the area underground was filled with vaults for the alchemists. Nicholas and the Vault Keeper, a man by the name of Mr. Gump, had already shown him the vault that he would be allowed to use to store his own creations and materials. That wasn't all that the Guild had to offer though. It had a library that Harry had been all to excited to visit on several occasions when his master had been taking care of business with the Guild. The Hall also held a very special Vault, a storage room for all the creations that should never have been created. Some of these things were simply too powerful, while others were just plain wrong.

Remembering why he was there Harry looked down at the stone in his hand. It seemed like such an innocent thing, but he had almost destroyed the Flamel Mansion with it. Fire was not intrinsically evil, but Passion Fire was unnecessarily powerful, and impossible to fully control unless you were the creator. Some Dark Veela were said to have been more powerful than even some of the strongest wizards.

The boy watched as the Vault Keeper stopped at vault 666 and opened the gigantic door. The cavernous room was almost 60 feet high and stretched back for miles. Torches began to light up along the walls. With that light came the sight of a demon.

"What the HELL is that?" Harry asked in surprise at the sight.

"That is why there are strict regulations on the transmutation of living beings." Mr. Gump said watching the boy walk towards the diamond cube that encased the Dark Iron bars surrounding the beast. "The diamond is spelled to hold the heat of the flames as well as reinforce the bars. It also drains whatever magic he has."

"Then why is he chained down?" Harry questioned pointing to the collar and manacles chaining the creatures arms and legs spread to keep him from releasing himself.

"We still aren't sure even this much protection is enough." Mr. Gump said shaking his head. "A plan to build a Dragons blood Orichaltum cage around the diamond is in the works thanks to your master."

Harry watched as the creature stretched its neck as far as possible to look at him. It was over 20 feet tall, with dark red scales on most of its body. It looked humanoid, with arms and legs, even a humanoid torso but that was where the similarity to humans ended. A second set of Black scales covered its face and down the back of its neck, down his spine all the way to his tail. The tail was lizard like, but ended in a sharp arrow shaped spine, and it moved to flexibly to be any reptile tail that Harry had ever seen. A pair of large horns stuck out of the creatures skull and curved to jut forwards like a bull. Its head was dragon like, but with a short snout that was most definitely not a dragon trait. The creature had what appeared to be wings on its back, chained to its body to keep it from spreading them.

"What is it?"

"That is what happens when someone tries to transmutate a Minotaur and a Dragon. It was much smaller at first, only a little bigger than a normal minotaur. We still don't know how powerful it is, or when it will stop growing. The chains are almost at their limit as it is." Nicholas explained looking at the creature.

"You said it had magic." Harry said inquisitively.

"Yes... but not any magic we have ever seen. Some have come to call it Devil magic. Most of the people that saw it are dead. An entire Battalion of Templar Knights captured it and only one survived. If an Alchemist hadn't thought up an ingenious trap, and this cage, then it would still be wreaking havoc." Nicholas said, his eyes belaying his fear at the sight of the creature.

"Why have I never heard of it?"

"Well everyone calls it the Great London Fire. Even the Magicals don't know what caused the fire or what this creature is. No one lived to tell the tale. Most Alchemists don't even know it exists."

"Why are you showing me this?" Harry asked looking around and noticing it was the only thing in the room.

"Because I want you to know just how powerful Alchemy is. And understand that with that power we have a responsibility to use it wisely, or else we could create something like this. I also harbor the thought that you might be a leader in this Guild one day, or if not then certainly in the Magical world. If this creature should ever break loose, then you must help fight it." Harry's eyes grew wide at his Masters words. "But that is enough of that subject let us take your stone to the vault."

Harry nodded, still half in shock, and followed the two men to the vault just down the hall number 332. The inside of this vault was much more normal, not unlike his own but much bigger. It housed several more creatures created through alchemy in cages, though none as scary as the first. Some of the objects in the rooms were locked in cases, or kept separate for whatever reason. Some required they be submerged in a pool at the back of the room even. The rest lay about in piles or on tables. Harry couldn't fathom just how many mistakes had been made over the years.

At Nicholas's bidding he placed the stone on a nearly empty table near the pool. Harry took one last look at his creation before turning to leave. He didn't know what lay in store for him at the Veela Enclave, but he hoped it would be an adventure. There was so much he could learn about the Veela. He hadn't been prepared for this much excitement in one summer.

Hope you liked it. I had a bit of trouble with some of the content in this one. Figuring out all the mechanics is the hardest part of this story... you know next to the mass amount of ideas and research I have to put into all of it. SO I think you should all review to help motivate me in my efforts because I really think you are going to like what I have coming up. Also I am not sure if the Demon will be seen again. If I use him again it might not be until the sequel. I just had the idea pop in my head.