Chapter 7 – Nicholas Flamel

"Why is history homework so boring?" Ron complained, chewing on the end of his pencil.

Harry had no idea what he was talking about. Professor Binns' history class was certainly less practical than some of the other classes like Master Quirrell's battle class, but he still found it fascinating. Apparently Hermione agreed.

"It is not boring!" she claimed. "Just because it's not all embers and vine whips doesn't make it boring!"

Ron shot her a blank look. "No" he argued. "It being boring makes it boring!"

Hermione scowled and bent back over her homework.

"You guys agree with me, don't you?" Ron looked towards Harry and Neville sitting across from them in the study hall.

Neville shrugged his shoulders. "It's not so bad. It's better than Snape's item class" he said with a shudder. Harry grimaced as he remembered Neville's last attempt at a simple potion, the contents having exploded over the room.

"I kind of like it actually. I really like learning about where Pokemon came from. It's so weird to think that Skye's ancestors came from a whole different world where they were immortal spirits" Harry said, rubbing Skye's feathers under her beak.

Hermione looked up from her homework again, suddenly animated. "I know right! I'd love to visit the spirit world through the Republic City portal and see how the spirits live. Imagine how many species of Pokemon there potentially are that are still just in their spirit form!"

Harry smiled widely at her excitement. Before he could answer he was interrupted by Ron.

"Why do I even bother? Now I have to listen to your geek speak again!" he yelled in exasperation. "And now it's about history? At least get excited about an interesting class!"

Harry rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Ron had a point, he and Hermione were like two peas. Whenever they would do their homework they would excitedly talk about how great that day's classes were. They had been at Hogwarts for almost a month now and his amazement and captivation at learning about Pokemon still hadn't worn off, not even a little.

Most of the students had begun to groan and complain about their homework after just the first week, but he and Hermione were almost desperate to drink in any information they could.

Any misgivings that Harry had about Pokemon training had also been quickly cleared up. After Master Sprout had explained the truth about Pokeballs, he had begun to worry if it was right to force Pokemon to fight each other in battles. Master Quirrell however had quickly proven that battling was just part of the mystery of Pokemon. Some Pokemon definitely liked it more than others, but battling was simply a part of their nature.

He had showed them that Pokemon are far more impervious to long lasting damage than humans, and that it took a great deal of damage for a Pokemon to actually be killed. In fact, the only way that a Pokemon, any Pokemon, could die in battle is if they were on the receiving end of a barrage of attacks after having already fainted. Even then, it would take quite a lot.

If it weren't for item creation class Harry would have thought his time at Hogwarts was absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, the item creation class teacher Master Snape had taken an instant dislike to him. He attacked Harry immediately for not knowing answers to questions that he had yet to teach, and had continuously deducted points for every wrong answer.

Still, even with Master Snape making his life miserable in that one class, and with Dudley being a constant thorn in his side, Hogwarts was what he had always dreamed it would be.

"Sorry Ron" Harry said, snapping his book shut. "I just finished, so we can do something else if you want."

Ron's face lit up spectacularly. "Let's go battle!" he yelled out, earning an admonishing glare from Hermione.

"Youy know he'll only beat you again" she warned the red head.

Ron mimicked her words mockingly. Hermione screwed up her nose and returned her gaze to her homework once again.

Harry had to admit Hermione was probably correct in saying Harry would beat Ron. It wasn't because he was so skilled as a trainer, far from it in fact. It was just that Ron's Weedle was at a massive disadvantage against Skye.

"You coming Nev?" Ron asked the other boy.

Neville shook his head. "I need to finish my creation homework. I don't think I can handle Master Snape yelling at me again" he said nervously, as if it were inevitable anyway. Then again, it probably was, Harry realised.

Ron shrugged his shoulders and continued out of the hall and into the large courtyard where the airship had landed.

"Heads up!" a voice said from above. Harry looked up just in time to jump backwards and out of the way of an airbender gliding down towards them, just barely missing the ground before going back up.

Skye screeched in protest from her perch on Harry's shoulder. Harry simply watched him fly above them, re-joining several others who were using their gliders to fly above the school, their Pokemon flying at their sides.

"Bloody idiot" an annoyed Ron said, dusting off the dirt that the bender had kicked up with his wind.

Harry didn't respond, just kept watching with awe at their freedom. Since finding out that his father had been an airbender he had begun to hope that one day he might be able to awaken the ability.

Ron dragged him by the arm to the other side of the courtyard to a small set of stairs. The stairs wrapped around the mountain and back into a cave underneath the courtyard. It was mostly empty except for two large metallic platforms on the ground near the back side by side. They were both surrounded by thick, gated fences which separated them from each other.

The two stepped onto the left platform, with Ron walking over to the wall to pull the lever. The sound of cogs and gears could be heard grinding underneath the metal before it slowly started to lower into the floor.

"I'll never get used to that" Ron said shakily. The elevator down was slow and shaky, as always. Skye had jumped off Harry's shoulder and was flying in lazy circles over their heads as they descended lower and lower. A few minutes later it stopped in a cave not unlike the one they had just come from. The lakefront area at the base of the mountain could be seen just outside.

There was plenty of space up above to have a battle, but most non-bending students wandered down to the lakefront in the afternoons anyway. It was a good opportunity to find it mostly empty, since half the students were focusing on their bending, and half the others were still doing their homework or tending to their Pokemon up above.

Still in the cave, Ron pulled out his pokeball and opened it, his Weedle appearing on the ground in front of him.

"Weedle!" it exclaimed eagerly. Skye squawked loudly towards the worm Pokemon and flew outside, the Weedle giving chase. Harry couldn't help but smile at the way his Pokemon simply took charge in every situation.

"Hey! Wait up!" Ron called out and ran after them. Harry ran to catch up a second later.

They ran to the left of the cave and around to the side of the mountain before Ron stopped abruptly and turned around.

"Let's go Harry. I'm gonna win this time" he said, a determined glint appearing in his eye.

Harry smiled, a more serious visage appearing on his face too. "If you think you can."

Skye had flown over to land in front of Harry, staring down Ron and his Weedle, while the Weedle itself had crawled its way over in front of Ron. It pointed its horn menacingly at them.

"Weedle, use poison sting!" Ron yelled, pointing at Skye. Weedle swing his tail, now shining purple, producing a number of small poison needles that rushed toward them.

"Skye, use gust!" Harry said. Skye began to flap her wings rapidly, creating a draft of wind that knocked the needles off course.

Their battles always began like this. Neither Pokemon had many moves at their disposal, so the battles became competitions of how to use the moves creatively rather than defeating each other through brute strength.

"Skye, use sand attack" Harry said, hoping to blind the worm Pokemon, ensuring their victory.

"Now's your chance Weedle, just like we practiced" Harry heard Ron say beyond the spray of sand and dust that Skye had kicked up.

Harry lifted a hand to screen his face from the dust storm. "Be ready, Skye" he warned. Ron had clearly been practicing to beat them.

Before Harry could even get a word out to his Pokemon, Weedle came shooting out of the dust and sand with closed eyes, his horn now glowing green. Just moments before he struck however, Skye flew up, avoiding the blow. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. That had definitely been the closest Ron had come to beating them.

"Skye, use quick attack!" Harry yelled out. She quickly flew upwards, becoming almost like a blur before turning back towards the ground and slamming into Weedle at max speed. The dust cleared, and the battle was over.

Ron ran a hand dramatically down his face. "I thought I had you that time" he said with a sad smile. He walked over and scooped Weedle up into his arms. "You did great, we'll get him next time" he said softly. Weedle made a whimpering noise in response before Ron recalled him back to his pokeball.

Skye landed on Harry's shoulder gently and nuzzled him with her beak. "Good job Skye" Harry complimented.

"I swear Harry" Ron said, "when Weedle evolves into a Beedrill, no way will you still win."

"Ickle Ronnikins, such a poor loser" a voice said from behind Harry before he had a chance to respond. Harry turned to see the twins approaching.

"I am not!" Ron argued loudly, his face turning red.

"Relax little bro, only teasing" Fred said, in a manner that suggested they still were teasing.

"What are you even doing down here?" Ron asked hotly.

"Well, if you're gonna be like that maybe we won't tell you about the rumour we just heard. And you'll want to know. Believe me" George said with a sly grin.

Ron's face went from annoyed to interest piqued almost instantly. The twins definitely knew how to get his attention.

"Oh come on" Ron pleaded. "Please?"

Fred and George both looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Ron, something akin to glee sparkling in their eyes.

"What do we get out of it?" Fred asked.

Ron sighed and pulled his Pokedex from his pocket. "How much?"

George shrugged. "We're not greedy, just this week's allowance will do." He too pulled his Pokedex and began tapping on it's screen. A few moments later Ron was putting his own back in his pocket with a grimace.

"Pleasure doing business with you little bro" George said happily.

"Now will you tell me?" Ron pleaded.

"There's someone important coming to the school in a few days apparently. A bit of a hero of yours in fact" Fred explained.

"Tell me already!" Ron yelled, not even trying to contain his excitement. .

"Nicholas Flamel" Fred answered.

The excitement drained from his face. "I thought you were being serious" Ron said disappointed.

"Who's Nicholas Flamel?" Harry asked, confused by Ron's reaction.

"He was probably the most famous Pokemon Watcher in the world a few years ago. He had a TV show where he would observe rare Pokemon in the wild, it was awesome. They even caught on tape when he came across the Legendary Pokemon Yveltal rampaging in the countryside and helped the other Legendary, Xerneas, defeat it. He even became good friends with the Xerneas for a while" Ron explained before turning back to Fred and George with a glare.

"But then he went barmy, thinking that people were after him and stuff. He hasn't been seen or heard from in years, why would he come here?" Ron asked angrily.

Fred put his hands up in innocence. "I swear, half the school is talking about it. Apparently Master Trelawney accidentally let it slip that he's coming to meet with Master Dumbledore in one of her classes earlier" he said.

Ron looked thoughtful for a moment before his face broke into a face-splitting grin. "Harry! Nicholas Flamel! You'll love him, he's the best!"

Ron's smile dropped yet again. "Wait a minute, if half the school is talking about it, why did I need to pay to get you to tell-" he turned to face his older brothers, who had already run off during his excitement.

Harry laughed as Ron yelled after them.

"I still can't believe he's coming!" Ron said gleefully as they walked out of Quirrel's battle class. Normally at this time he would be excited about how good battle class was that day, but for two days all Harry, Neville and Hermione had heard about was Nicholas Flamel.

As soon as he had heard Flamel would be coming to Hogwarts, Ron had dragged Harry back to the dormitory to watch old episodes of his show that were saved onto his Pokedex. It was enjoyable, certainly, but Ron seemed almost obsessed with it, and was almost manic when he spoke of it, or him.

"Yes, but Ron he's not exactly going to be doing a presentation or anything, he's just here to see Master Dumbledore" Hermione said matter of factly. "Not to mention Dumbledore made it quite clear that we shouldn't ask for autographs or go out of our way to approach him."

That was true. Dumbledore had announced to the school that morning, despite everyone already having been talking about it for two days, that Nicholas Flamel would in fact be coming to see him. He added though that the man was more reserved and nervous than he was in his TV show days, and so not to approach him without definite need.

"Yes" Ron said, looking annoyed "but I might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him. I figure if we go and sit in front of the elevator at the lakefront he'll have to walk past, unless he comes by airship" Ron considered.

Neville looked suddenly nervous. "I don't want him to think we're confronting him…" he said.

Ron rolled his eyes. "We don't even have to talk to him, I just want to see him" he said. "You're with me Harry, right?" He asked.

Harry simply shrugged in response.

"Fine Ronald, we will go, but if you make a fool out of us and offend Mr Flamel I'm going to be very angry with you" Hermione huffed.

Ron smiled and quickly began to make his way down to the lakefront, the others following him half-heartedly.

They sat against the jagged side of the mountain just outside the elevator cave entrance when they got there. The lakefront was completely deserted, most students opting to stay upstairs for their study or bending lessons.

"Wasn't Master Flitwick's class interesting today?" Hermione commented, laying her studies down in front of her.

"I loved it, I'd never seen a ghost Pokemon before today" Harry agreed, thinking back to the day's biology class where Master Flitwick had them studying the ghost Pokemon Gastly.

"What's that?" Ron asked from where he stood several meters in front of them and staring out at the vast lake.

Harry squinted, trying to see any movement on the calm, blue water. "Where?" He asked.

"There, look!" He said excitedly, pointing.

Harry got to his feet and peered closer. There was definitely something moving on the water, but he couldn't make out what it was.

"I see it, but it could just be a Pokemon" Harry said. Whatever it was, it was coming closer.

"It's him!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry stared for a few moments longer, and was just able to make out a man riding on top of some sort of Pokemon, skimming across the top of the water quickly. It was only a few minutes before the Pokemon, man still sitting on its back, was walking up and out of the water.

The Pokemon was big and blue with a pale yellow shell-like helmet, and the same coloured shell appendages on all four of its legs. It resembled a sea-lion and had a thick white moustache.

The man himself, Flamel, he guessed, had short gray hair and a messy beard of matching colour. His elderly face was twitching.

Both Flamel and his Pokemon looked around curiously before Harry eyes met with the Pokemons. It wandered slowly over towards him.

Ron was practically wheezing now, apparently struggling to breathe in the presence of his childhood hero.

"What are you doing?" The man on the Pokemon's back asked nervously, swatting it lightly on the neck.

"Samu" it said, it's voice deep and rumbling. It craned it's head around to look sideways at the man on it's back. It was almost as if they were having a telepathic conversation, the man's face contorting through a number of different emotions. He finally sighed and looked towards Harry and Ron.

"I don't suppose you could tell me how to find Master Dumbledore" he asked hopefully, his voice shaky. He seemed almost scared of them.

Harry would have been happy to let Ron answer, but his friend seemed too shocked to say anything at all, instead making a number of strange high pitched noises.

"Uhh, yes" Harry finally answered. "Just in the cave you can take the elevator to the top, its just in the main building at the top, take a left and go to the end of the hall as soon as you go inside."

The man nodded his head and tried to urge his Pokemon forward, but it wouldn't budge, instead staring intently at Harry. It took a step closer, now it's head probably less than a metre from Harry's own.

"Pidgey" Skye said atop his shoulder. It wasn't threatening, sounding more like a casual conversation.

"Samu" the larger Pokemon returned before stepping past them and into the cave. Harry stared blankly after him.

"That was rather odd" Hermione said.

Harry could only agree.

There was a lot of excitement back upstairs as well. Students had lined the halls to get a glimpse of the famous former TV star, and were now running about the hallways telling everyone who would listen.

Harry and Hermione meanwhile had occupied their usual seats in the hall, their homework scattered out in front of them while Ron practically talked Neville's ears off.

"Did you see how old and pathetic he was? I mean he never even became a bender" a grating voice said from the Slytherin table. A few people laughed around him. Harry didn't even need to look up from his book to know who it was who had spoken. He rolled his eyes and tried to focus on his work, but there was something about Dudley that just irked him to the point of retaliation.

"Neither are you" Harry pointed out.

Dudley went beet red and looked at him from the Slytherin table. "No, but the ability is in my family. That's more than I can say for you."

"Actually Dursley" Draco said casually "the Potter line goes back millenia. Didn't your father ever tell you that he is simply the custodian of the Avem City gym, and that it has always belonged to the Potter family? Surely you know it is his" he nodded towards Harry, "by right of birth."

Harry raised an eyebrow. He had never spoken to Malfoy, but he would still have been among the last people Harry would have thought would defend him.

Dudley sputtered and went even redder in what was a terrible reminder of his father.

"Like any Pokemon would choose him to give bending to" he argued, glaring at Harry.

Harry shrugged. "I can't speak for what Skye will or won't do, but at least she likes me, right girl?" He stopped to smile at the Pokemon perched on his shoulder, who whistled in agreement. "Last I checked, your Gulpin still won't listen to a word you say."

The room was silent now, despite being filled with people. Everyone was staring at the two of them. Harry was beginning to feel self conscious under the scrutiny of so many people, but still stared his cousin down.

"I've never need a Pokemon or bending to take you down before, I still don't need one now" Dudley said angrily, stepping forward with clenched fists.

Before he could take a second step, Skye was on him, pecking him all over with her beak.

"Mr Potter! Call back your Pokemon right now!" A stern voice carried across the room.

Skye rushed back over to Harry's shoulder, having heard McGonagall's voice for herself.

Dudley was on the ground, cowering under his hands and whimpering loudly. The hall remained utterly silent.

"Show me your face Mr. Dursley" she ordered. Dudley slowly moved his hands from in front of his face, but there was no visible sign that Skye had done anything at all thankfully.

"Luckily for you, she didn't seem to be attacking you seriously. Even so" she turned to face Harry. "Surely you know that you should never… never attack another student using your Pokemon, or by any other method for that matter."

Harry withered under her stare.

McGonagall sighed and shook her head. "Come with me please" she said. Harry's stomach dropped. They wouldn't expel him for this would they?

"But Skye was only defending-" Ron began, stopping when McGonagall turned her powerful glare on him.

Harry followed her out of the Hall and down the hallway outside. Harry began to panic even more when he realised they were heading towards the Headmaster's office.

"I'll go inside first and explain the situation, then you will be called in, understand?" McGonagall said, her strict teacher demeanour firmly in place. Harry nodded weakly.

She disappeared behind Dumbledore's door for several minutes while the worry grew in Harry.

Skye made a sort of clucking noise and brushed up against the side of Harry's face, seemingly apologising. Harry smiled weakly at her.

"It's not your fault, I shouldn't have picked a fight with him" he said regretfully.

The door opened again and McGonagall stepped out. "He's ready for you" she said.

With a gulp, Harry stepped inside.

"Harry my boy!" Dumbledore said happily. "Do come in!" Harry's face automatically changed into a frown. This was an odd way to begin a punishment.

"I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine" he stretched out a hand to the man in front of his desk, who turned around to face Harry.

"This is Nicholas Flamel, I'm sure you've heard of him by now" he said.

"Nice to meet you" Harry said politely. With everything that had just happened in the hall, Harry had forgotten he was here.

"Ahh, you're the kind young man who gave me directions to this office aren't you" he smiled, his earlier nervous state all but gone. "Very kind students you have here Albus."

"Ahh yes, young Harry here gets that from his mother I think" Dumbledore said conversationally.

This was not at all how Harry expected this conversation to go.

"If you'll just wait there for a moment Harry while Nicholas and I finish up our business, we will only take a moment" he said.

Harry nodded and stepped to the back of the room.

"So you've brought it with you?" Dumbledore asked.

Nicholas put his hand inside his jacket. As soon as he did so, a loud high pitched squeal filled the room. Harry put his hands over his ears to block it out.

Nicholas pulled out a small, dark blue orb. As soon as he saw it he realised it was the source of the noise. Nicholas put it down on the desk, and the noise stopped.

"What is that?" Harry asked, unable to take his eyes off the strange object.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that Harry. In fact, I would greatly appreciate it if you could not tell anybody about it at all" Dumbledore said, staring at Harry intently.

"Of course" Harry said. "But is it supposed to make the noise?"

Both Nicholas and Dumbledore gave him a strange look.

"Noise?" Nicholas asked. Dumbledore smiled slightly.

"Nothing to worry about Harry" he said. Harry scowled and let their meeting continue.

"You're sure about this Albus? It's a big risk."

Dumbledore nodded firmly. "The biggest risk is to take no risk at all" he said cryptically.

Nicholas nodded firmly before getting to his feet. "Then I'll let you get back to your Headmaster duties" he said. "It was nice seeing you Albus" he said fondly.

"You too, my old friend" Dumbledore said, shaking his hand. There was something about the encounter that seemed rather more significant than a normal goodbye, Harry thought.

"And it was nice meeting you, too" Nicholas said, smniling at Harry. "You've got a bright future ahead of you, make sure you listen to Master Dumbledore."

Harry gave him an odd look before smiling. "I will, it was nice meeting you too."

Nicholas walked past, but just before he stepped through the door, Harry called out to him.

"I hope you don't think I'm imposing, but my friend is a really big fan of yours. Is it too much to ask for an autograph for him?" Harry asked hopefully, hoping this wouldn't get him into trouble.

Nicholas laughed happily. "Of course not, if Albus is happy to supply the pen." Dumbledore did so with a smile.

He pulled an expensive looking Pokeball out of his jacket. "What is your friends name?" He asked.

"Ron Weasley" Harry answered.

'To Ron Weasley, Gotta catch 'em all. He wrote, putting his signature on the end. Harry knew from the few episodes Ron had made him watch that it was his catchphrase from the Tv Show. Ron was going to be chuffed.

"Hope he enjoys that" he said.

"Thankyou so much" Harry said.

Nicholas nodded and left the room.

"So how are you enjoying Hogwarts so far?" Dumbledore asked him. Again, Harry was confused, having expected Dumbledore to get on with the punishment once his friend left.

"I love it here" Harry admitted easily.

"I'm glad to hear it" Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling as always. "But I suppose you have homework to get to, better hop to it. It's not wise to leave these things until the last minute after all."

"But what about…?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore dismissed his concern with a wave of his hand. "Boys will be boys, I'm sure you wont do it again."

"No sir" Harry said.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore said. "Now hop to Harry, I think you have a present to deliver."

Notes

Sorry this took so long :\... Definitely not abandoned. Its a New Year, so hopefully more frequent updates.

Hope you guys enjoy!