FicWad

Disclaimer: I’d love to own Harry Potter, I really would, but I’m afraid I just can’t take on the responsibility of having Rowling’s lawyers on my back twenty-four/seven. So I’m sorry, but you’ll have to ask someone else to claim work that isn’t theirs.

Author’s Notes: Once again, huge thank you to Insane Juggler for betaing! Also, thanks to David305 to catching many of the mistakes I've made in this chapter!

Alchemical Reactions
Chapter Eleven
Lunar Eclipse

Harry yawned. He was bored. Actually, he was beyond bored and he’d been in Hogwarts for less than a day. It was easy to find the cause of his boredom—the Gryffindors. Well, more specifically, the lack of Fred and George Weasley. The Gryffindors had begun an impromptu party, forgoing studying in favour of welcoming the newest student at Hogwarts. Frankly, Harry knew that there were some ulterior motives behind it. They were putting on more of an act that anything else. Privately, Harry believed that either they desperately wanted him in their House or the rumours of the betting pool the twins had begun were accurate. In fact, it sounded very much like something the twins would do—quite similar to sneaking into Hogsmeade and bringing some treats for the Gryffindors, as they had mentioned they were about to do before leaving him alone.

Of course, Neville was around… but Neville had said he had to study and would catch up later. Harry didn’t want to bother him, as he knew that Neville was studying as hard as he could for the potions exam on Tuesday and wanted to do well to make up for his abysmal marks during the year. Instead, Harry was left to watch the chaos that Gryffindors of almost all years generated, feeling almost ill watching them. They were far too social for his liking. If he heard one more person tell him that he belonged in Gryffindor for the sheer audacity of his actions at dinner, he would scream. He was seriously contemplating leaving the party, but knew it would be rude, and he wanted to stay on good terms with as many of the students as possible.

Sighing, he got up to move to a quieter corner of the room. A few eyes followed him, but by then the majority of people were too wrapped up in having a good time to really care. The only person there was a quiet girl with bushy brown hair, obviously attempting to study. She was mumbling furiously to herself, and from what Harry could tell she was studying potions, likely trying to remember the properties of Dragon’s Blood.

“Come up with an acronym,” Harry suggested as she once again cursed furiously and began listing the twelve properties again.

“Sorry?” she asked, looking up from her work.

“An acronym. You know, taking the first letter of each word and making a word from that.”

“I know what it means!” she snapped. “Sorry, I just can’t think with all this noise!”

“I understand,” he said, grinning wryly.

She sighed. “I was about to give up anyways. It’s just too loud when the twins start one of their parties…”

“Yeah, it’s a bit much for me too. I’ve thought of returning to my room, but that would be rude.”

“I don’t think it really matters anymore,” the girl pointed out, looking around the room. No one was really paying much attention to Harry.

“I meant to Fred and George. I hate being on the receiving side of their pranks.”

“Understandable,” she agreed. “I’m Hermione, by the way. Hermione Granger.” Harry opened his mouth to respond, when she cut him off. “And you’re Harold Flamel. I’m sorry to hear about Nicholas and Perenelle. Were you close?”

Harry barely restrained himself from glaring at the girl, who obviously held no malicious intent towards him, though he resented her taking over the function of speech for him.

“Not very close. They adopted me when I was about nine, and were more like teachers than anything to me.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised. “What did they teach you? Oh, did Nicholas teach you Alchemy? I hear he is—sorry, was—the best in his field! Did you get a chance to look at the Philosopher’s Stone? Does it actually produce elixir?”

Harry laughed in spite of himself, taking her onslaught of questions light-heartedly. “Slow down, Hermione!”

She blushed. “Sorry, I tend to get a bit carried away.”

“That’s alright. I did learn quite a bit from the Flamels, actually. We’ll see just how much of it can be applied to the Hogwarts curriculum in a few days, I suspect. I actually have my Journeyman’s in Alchemy, due to all of Nicholas’s teachings. He was an unexpectedly good teacher,” he said fondly, refusing to think past that.

Hermione’s eyes went wide. “B-but…Journeyman’s? That’s brilliant! I thought you needed a N.E.W.T in Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Potions to do that, though!”

“They might have bent the rules a touch for Nicholas…I suppose if I’d legally been able to take N.E.W.T.s in those three I would have.”

“Amazing,” Hermione breathed, seemingly in awe of him. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, more embarrassed than anything. “What can you tell me of Alchemy? I’ve always found the subject so fascinating but never had time to really study it, unfortunately. Is it really as complicated as it looks?”

Harry laughed nervously, more than a little uncomfortable by the look in Hermione’s eyes. “Alchemy is more or less the science of turning one thing into another. Not exactly like Transfiguration—though it can be considered almost a distant branch of it. There are certain rules that apply to Transfiguration that don’t apply to Alchemy. It combines Muggle science, Potions, Ancient Runes, and Arithmancy to form something new out of something old. That’s more or less the simple explanation. Explaining it more in-depth would likely drive any student mad.”

“I’m already insane. Try me,” Hermione said, slightly peeved that he wouldn’t say more.

Harry ran his hands through his hair, looking for the words to explain. “It’s…complicated. The best I can tell you is the application of the background knowledge in Alchemy and how it’s set up,” Hermione nodded, signalling for him to go on. “Well Potions and Muggle chemistry make up the basic composition of the items being transmuted. If you don’t have the right ingredients, you can’t get the right result. Muggles got as far as creating chemistry when they began Alchemy, and from there it kind of faded. Wizards, on the other hand, have never really given it up because of all the magical ingredients out there and their interactions based on different variables and settings, etcetera. So the basis of most Alchemy uses knowledge of those two topics.

“Ancient Runes and Arithmancy tend to apply to the more magical side of things. Different Runes set in patterns can change the results drastically. Arithmancy is needed to be able to accurately place the Runes in accordance with the time of year, the setting, a whole host of variables that depend on what you’re doing. It takes a long time to figure out most of the things required to successfully transmute something. More often than not Alchemists end up accidentally creating spells through the course of their work, than actually producing the results required. That’s the best I can explain it right now,” he finished, hoping Hermione had followed.

What he had told her was only part of the truth, however. It was the portion that the general public was allowed to know. The other part included something very similar to Transfiguration, but quicker and with fewer restrictions. When something needed to be transmuted quickly, an Alchemist who had the secret knowledge could successfully transmute it in less than thirty seconds, using a basic runic circle. The transmuted object would work as it was supposed to, as was often not the case in Transfiguration. Transfiguration could…say, turn paper into coal, but the coal wouldn’t burn as natural coal would—instead it would take on the properties of the paper and burn much quicker. If an Alchemist used a runic circle, all the paper would be coal in every single way, taking on its properties as well as its appearance. That was why it remained a secret—too much damage could be done with such knowledge and it contained the risk of completely obliterating Transfiguration, which still had its uses despite its limitations. The only true limit to Alchemy was that of transmuting living things. Harry could turn sand into an emerald, but he couldn’t turn a magpie into a cat, or sand into a cat. It just wasn’t possible.

The girl sitting in front of him was certainly unaware of the secrets in Alchemy. Instead, she took up the majority of his time at the party by asking him questions about Alchemy at first, then branching off into a wide variety of topics. Harry found this discussion to be vaguely interesting, though he wasn’t exactly in the mood for socializing. When the twins arrived back from their illicit trip to Hogsmeade, Harry talked with them for a bit before taking his leave, knowing that he really wouldn’t be missed.

________________________________________
When Harry awoke the next morning, he found that his testing schedule had been slipped under the door overnight. Shrugging, he skimmed it, seeing that his first exam was the next day (Herbology) and that all his exams were spaced out quite evenly, giving him plenty of time to do whatever he wanted. He suspected that the staff wanted him to study the material, but he honestly couldn’t care less. He was doing everything above his grade level as it was, and by now most of the knowledge was ingrained in his being…though he suspected that Herbology might give him a touch of trouble, enough ingredients were used in potions that it shouldn’t be too bad.

Instead, Harry spent his off time exploring Hogwarts, mapping it out mentally in his mind. After finding the library on his own (he had refused to ask anyone, determined to find his way around), he chose to spend mornings exploring and afternoons when he didn’t have exams in the library. In the evening he alternated between practicing magic, reading for pleasure, or reading another dusty old tome from the library. During mealtimes he alternated sitting at each table, not really talking to anyone but experiencing the atmosphere of highly stressed students, which was rather enlightening, though he would have preferred to take meals in his room. There was not much for it, though.

Harry had begun his exams and had found them, so far, to be suspiciously easy. Either the curriculum at Hogwarts wasn’t nearly as good as everyone claimed, or he had underestimated his knowledge levels on each subject. As of yet, he felt confident in the four exams he had taken (Herbology, History of Magic, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes) and wasn’t too worried about the rest, though he highly suspected he’d be sticking to magic without a wand for the practical exams involving magic—his magic with a wand was still a bit too sporadic and he felt more comfortable pretending he was using a wand as opposed to actually using one.

In fact, one afternoon a week and a half after Harry’s arrival at Hogwarts, Harry found himself standing outside the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom, waiting to be let in by the Professor. He was quite confident that he would find his exam to be disgustingly easy, what with all the training Nicholas had forced him to attend, and was rather relaxed.

It was only a minute until his exam was due to start when a rather harried man came walking quickly down the corridor, making his way to Harry’s side. His robes were in poor condition, and he looked as if he was perpetually tired. However, he did carry his wand in a holster, Harry observed, noticing the tell-tale shape of the sleeve to display it. He had yet to really see this Professor around the school, as it appeared he avoided meals quite often.

“Sorry I’m late,” the man breathed. “Professor Lupin,” he said offering his hand. He then unlocked the door, gesturing for Harry to enter first. Following him, he closed the door behind the two of them and set his briefcase on the teacher’s desk. “What would you like to start with, Mr. Flamel? We can begin with either the practical or the theoretical—your choice. You did ask for something above graduate level, no?”

“Yes, sir,” Harry replied politely. “Could we begin with the theoretical please?”

The professor nodded, grabbing a scroll of parchment from his briefcase and handing it to Harry. “I’m sure you’re quite familiar with these by now,” he grinned, handing Harry an anti-cheating quill. Harry took it without comment, though offered the professor a small smile, though at the same time staring intently at the man’s magical aura with his Magic Sight. Something was off with it…it was almost tainted.

“Please take a seat in front of my desk. I’ll just be grading some papers, don’t mind me,” Lupin said, before seating himself behind his desk. “Oh, and you have two hours,” he added, before taking out his own papers to mark.

Ignoring the puzzle of Lupin’s aura for now, Harry sped through the test, pausing here and there to add a more detailed answer or two. He finished it in half the allocated time, stretching out a cramp in his hand. Truly, the only reason he had hurried was because he had a fascinating book back in his room he’d really like to get through.

“Professor?” Harry said, breaking the silence that had previously only been interrupted by the scratching of his quill. “I’m finished.”

“So soon?” Lupin asked, surprised. “Did you find it too difficult to handle?”

Harry restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Almost every Professor so far had asked him that when he had finished an exam in less than the allocated time. He restrained himself from a biting retort and instead said, “Not at all, sir. I’m merely a quick thinker.”

Lupin nodded, still looking a bit doubtful but leaving it alone for now. “Okay, let’s get on with your practical then. You’ve actually got two choices for this one. You can either duel me, or we can Floo over to the Auror Academy and get one of their students to duel you. It’s up to you.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. Seeing his expression, Lupin hastily added, “You won’t be expected to beat us, of course. You only last long enough to display your skill and knowledge.”

“No, it’s alright Professor. I’m not too worried about that… I must say, though, it’s a bit unusual for an exam at Hogwarts, isn’t it?” Harry didn’t actually know if that was the case, but if he was guessing accurately—and he was pretty sure he was—someone had decided he needed more of a challenge. Whoever that had been, Harry owed them a large thank you for finding a way to alleviate his boredom.

“No, it is quite unusual…” Lupin agreed. “I believe Professor Snape suggested this method of testing—said he’d spoken with you,” he gave Harry a sharp glance, silently asking for confirmation.

“Oh, so/ that/ was what it was about,” Harry said, thinking quickly on his feet. “He asked me at dinner a couple days ago what I’d prefer: to duel a professor or to duel an Auror. I said it didn’t really matter at the time, I think. As long as they weren’t trying to kill me, of course.”

Lupin nodded, though he still looked slightly suspicious. “Alright then. But could you please make a decision now?”

“The Auror, sir. No offence, meant.”

“None taken,” Professor Lupin replied genially. “I’m a bit rusty on my dueling anyways.” He led Harry to his office and activated the Floo, giving Harry his instructions. “Just say ‘Auror Academy of England’ and you’re there. I’ll follow.”

Harry wanted to protest that—he wanted the Professor to go first, but realized it wouldn’t really matter anyways. If there was something that there wasn’t supposed to be on the other end of the Floo, he wouldn’t know either way if the Professor went first or he did. Taking the handful of Floo powder offered to him, Harry quickly recited the words and found himself spinning through the system.

He came out the other end, coughing up soot. Floo was possibly his least favourite method of travel, and it just had to be the cheapest one. Annoying, that. Lupin came out the other end, brushing dust off his clothing before leading Harry down a hallway, where Harry assumed he would be taking the test.

“Harry, this is Auror Tonks,” Remus said as he led Harry into the room. “She’s finishing up her third year of Auror training next month.”

Harry shook the hand that was offered, not even doing a double take when the witch in front of him changed her hair colour from a vivid electric blue to an equally bright pink. “More or less I’m the only one with some off time right now to study for my exams—otherwise you would have probably been stuck with some idiot from first year,” the witch said brightly. “By then they haven’t weeded out the serious from the fickle.”

Harry nodded, not really knowing what to say. He did, however, find it rather odd that they had been expecting him. Wasn’t he supposed to have chosen between the two and then informed the Auror Academy of his choice? Was he that easy to read after only a few days at Hogwarts? Perhaps…but no. If he asked to duel both at once he would probably be falling right into what they wanted him to do; it was clear that they expected him to go for the toughest challenge available.

“So…shall we begin?” asked Tonks.

“Rules first, for you too, Tonks,” Lupin said, answering her pout with a stern glare. “No Dark Arts—”

“But what’s defined as Dark Arts, sir?” Harry interrupted. “Because there are plenty of spells classified as Dark Arts that aren’t harmful in any way.”

“We can discuss this later,” Lupin said, looking thoughtful. “For now, keep it strictly to what the Ministry allows—we are in a Ministry funded building, after all.” Harry nodded his assent as did Tonks.

Lupin continued, “Obviously, no Unforgivables or anything that would cause permanent damage. To win, your opponent will have to either be disarmed or unconscious.”

Again, the two nodded, before beginning the duel.

________________________________________
Remus Lupin was very rarely confused. He had too much to keep up with in his life to afford to be. Everything from the lunar cycle to the last time the Headmaster left the school, Remus had to be aware and alert. There was no telling what could go wrong. He was, of course, a werewolf, but his inner beast tended to be a bit more volatile that most documented records. Maybe it had something to do with him contracting the bite when he was very young, he wasn’t quite sure, but Remus did know that he could not afford to be angry, and therefore could not afford to be confused. If he was angered, he was likely to go feral. This was why he spent a lot of his free time sorting out any issues or problems he had before doing anything involving human interaction. He didn’t want the slightest thing to set him off.

However, this confusion was more of an annoyance than anything else. It was all centered on the young boy, not even fourteen, who looked so unshakably familiar—but he could not place who he looked like. Remus, being a man who didn’t like to dwell, did not want to go through all the photographs he owned looking for the owner of that face—for he knew that he recognized it. The knowledge was at the back of his brain, trying to wiggle out.

Even the boy’s self-confidence reminded him of someone. The way his eyes glittered sharply when making a statement, the intelligence they portrayed…it was puzzling, to say the least.

As Remus settled down to watch the duel between Harold and Tonks, he let his mind wander on the connection between his memories and Harold’s face, letting it work out the problem while he monitored the duel. He expected that both would play fair, though Harry’s question about the Dark Arts had thrown him off guard. It was true that classifying something as dark rarely meant that it was evil or harmful…just not exactly within the boundaries of the law. He himself was classified as a dark creature, yet he had fought solidly on the light side during the last war.

Tonks and Harold bowed to each other, both raising their wands. Remus signalled for them to begin, and just watched. He had no idea what to expect from Harold, though he knew the boy felt confident, and was astonished when at first the two were evenly matched. Harold was barely moving his wand or uttering the incantations, which marked a possible talent in magic without a wand, though the boy probably had no idea. Probably.

The two traded spells back and forth, neither really landing a hit, before Harold got a good temporary blindness spell in on Tonks. However, Tonks was a rather adept Auror-trainee, if a bit of a klutz. She was able to fire off a spell or two in Harold’s general direction, but he closed in on her much faster. Dodging around the random spell, Harold kept himself quiet enough that he grabbed Tonks’ wand right out of her hand.

He raised the wand victorious, though seconds later Tonks had tackled him to the ground, sensing his presence and was wrestling him for it. Remus rose quickly from the chair he had been judging from, pulling the two apart with the advantage of his extra strength. He was staring at Harry wide-eyed, not really taking in the fact that a thirteen year old boy had beat a third year Auror trainee. It was unheard of!

Both Harry and Tonks were panting. The latter was glaring at the former, obviously resenting her defeat. Seeing the look, Harry appeased her.

“I wouldn’t have won if it’d been a real fight,” Harry said.

The Auror still grumbled her annoyance. “Who taught you to duel like that?” she asked. “I barely recognize that spell you used on me at the last—the last time I heard that it was also being cast on me by old Mad-Eye Moody.”

“Er… well, Moody did, Auror Tonks,” Harry replied. At the astonished looks of Lupin and Tonks, he added “He and Nicholas were old friends and Nicholas asked him to give a hand with my tutoring.”

“Impressive,” muttered Lupin. “Well, while I can’t exactly tell you whether you passed the practical or not, I’d say that the wand in your hand speaks for itself.”

Harry, who had forgotten he held Tonks’s wand, hastily returned it to her. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I won’t mention the duel to anyone—probably won’t help your training much if it gets out.”

Tonks nodded. “Though, I suppose that if they knew you’d been trained by Mad-Eye himself it’d be different. As it stands, you are quite good for someone your age,” she added with a cheeky grin, changing her own hair to Harry’s black and white.

“Looks better on me,” Harry said, pouting. He liked this bubbly Auror, who had gotten over her loss to Harry rather quickly, something he liked. Not too much pride.

Harry sped through the last of his exams rather quickly, doing well in all of them. The easiest had by far been potions—he figured the Potions Master was underestimating him again—and the one he had found the most challenging had definitely been Transfiguration, as he much preferred Alchemy to accomplish anything involving transmutations and transformations.

He hadn’t really wanted to change the kitten he had been provided with into a pig, and had instead claimed fatigue and asked to turn a parrot into a mouse instead. He had probably lost marks for that, but the tiny black kitten he had gained instead was definitely worth it. Some aspect of him found birds and rodents to be more annoying than anything, though he personally found cats to be highly intelligent. The Flamels had never let him have a pet before, and he felt the small kitten was perfect, though he wasn’t quite sure what he’d name it yet.

His last exam was Astronomy, taken at midnight from the tower, which faced the grounds and the Forbidden Forest. Harry had barely begun his star chart when a flicker of magic caught his eye. He had his Magic Sight set a bit higher—it allowed him to see the stars a bit easier—and he had definitely seen three or four flashes down by the large hut. Angling his telescope towards the scene, he ignored his Professor’s commands to turn the telescope to face the sky once more.

A shocking scene met his eyes: two figures, likely one of the twins’ brothers and another figure were running towards a large tree whose limbs were waving quite violently in the wind. They appeared to be chasing after something, another small flash of magic, until a large, dark shape appeared almost out of nowhere. Also magical, it knocked down the red-headed figure and began dragging it towards the tree.

Harry knew he owed the twins quite a bit. The two of them had been among his first friends and he knew that they would be devastated at the loss of any of their siblings, even Percy. He knew that he had to do right by his friends and attempt to help, though he didn’t know how. He didn’t want to have to play hero…but it was something he had to do.

He quickly sprinted down from the Tower, ignoring the professor’s shouts to return. He called back a quick “Sorry, emergency!” before dashing off down several flights of steps to the Entrance Hall. He exited the school at a run, ignoring the portraits yelling at him to “Slow down!” and pushing the large doors open. For the first time he was glad that he had gone through those physical fitness routines while at the Flamels, not really seeing him using them practically up until now. He much preferred the library to rescue missions.

Following his memories viewing the ‘kidnapping attempt’ through the telescope, Harry made his way past the large hut on the grounds, nearly tripping on the uneven ground as he ran. He stopped in front of the tree, seeing no sign of the events that had occurred aside from the violent tree.

A figure darted out from under a tree. “Mr. Flamel?” It was Severus Snape.

“Yes, Professor?” Harry asked, breathing a sigh of relief. He had had a curse at his finger tips just in case.

“Get back to the school.”

“No,” Harry replied bluntly. “I owe Fred and George Weasley. That was definitely a member of their family that went in there. I’m not leaving.”

Snape stared at him for a long time, taking in Harry’s stubbornness. “Gryffindor or Slytherin, Mr. Flamel?”

“Slytherin,” Harry replied, knowing that Snape was asking his motives for doing this. Not only did Harry owe the Weasley twins, but he also didn’t want to be on the opposing end of their pranks once he ended up in a house that wasn’t Gryffindor.

The professor nodded, before motioning for Harry to follow him. He picked up a large branch from the ground, just out of reach of the violent tree, and pressed a knot on its bark. The tree instantly froze and Harry found himself following Snape into a secret passage.

They came out in a large dusty room, where it looked as if something had recently been dragged. Following the trail, Harry and Snape made their way to a door, pushing it open but staying back. No one noticed. Harry slipped inside, not caring that his hair was getting tangled with cobwebs, while mentally preparing a runic circle to draw quickly if necessary. He really needed to prepare some in advance…

There were five magical beings in the room. The first was Ron, lying on a bed in obvious pain. His leg was the source, already bandaged. The second was in his hands, a small rat that was struggling against Ron’s grip. The third was Neville, who stood over Ron grasping his wand with a tight grip and pointing it at the two other people in the room: Professor Lupin and large black dog, almost grim like in appearance.

The dog, obviously an animagus by its magic, turned back into a human, to display the infamous face of Azkaban Prison escapee, Sirius Black.

“James?” a raspy voice asked, looking pale and weak. “You’re alive?”

Lupin stared at him, hard. Golden eyes met green, and suddenly Remus knew. “Not James. Harry Potter.”

Abruptly, two stunning spells hit both men in the chest, coming from directly behind Harry.

Then the shouting began.

Author’s Notes (again):/ Credit goes to sambee for the idea of the twins betting pool! Thank you! Well, I know the first little bit was a tad filler, but I figured you all ought to know some of the Alchemical processes working with this story. Though I suppose you must have forgotten it considering the meetings that occur afterwards. Sorry about the notable absence of Slytherins, but I figured they wouldn’t want to talk to Harry anyways at this point in time shrug. That’s my best excuse. Anyways, hope you enjoyed that extra-long chapter (5000 words)! R&R!/