Chapter 25: CHAPTER 25: THE LESSONS

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WHAT IS ALCHEMY?

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Ed finds himself in some sort of hospital wing of the Beauxbatons school, he stood up and saw the empty beds, and saw that this place is fancier than Hogwarts.

"You're awake." Said an old woman behind the desk, it was Perenelle, she was peeling oranges and eating them one by one. "How are you feeling?" asked the old woman.

            “Fine, I guess.” Ed answered, “Tired though.”

            "Yes, that's to be expected." Said the old woman while standing up, she took a glass from a nearby try and conjured water to it.

"Drink." She ordered. Ed took the glass of water and greedily drank it, not leaving a single drop of water.

            "What happened?" asked Perenelle while sitting down once more.

            "Aurors." Ed quickly answered, "They attacked me on sight once I got out of the human blood store."

            Perenelle nodded, "It’s bound to happen, the aurors there are merciless." Perenelle then brought out a trolley filled with food. "Eat, it’ll recover your energy a bit, I will call Nicolas and Albus to the wing."

            "Dumbledore is here?" Ed asked while bringing up the food.

            "Yes, as soon as you pass out, Nicolas contacted Albus." Said Perenelle, then she left the room to leave Ed alone. Ed just stares at the food, then he eats it slowly, he’s not exactly in the mood for eating currently, but Perenelle was right, he needs to recover his energy. He then pushed away the tray and just pondered in his mind, what he needs to do, the problems with Lucius, how to protect his foster parents….

But the thoughts were interrupted with the sound of footsteps. He saw Nicolas and Dumbledore enter the room.

 "Good evening Ed." Greeted Dumbledore.

 "Hello Professor." Ed said Weakly.

 "Are you well?" continued the old man.

 "I'm managing…"

            Dumbledore nodded, "Can we have a talk? Or do you want to rest first?"

 Ed shook his head, "It's fine Professor, we can talk now."

 and Nicolas then sat in a chair, they looked at each other and asked Ed what happened,

            "What happened in the market Ed?" asked Nicolas.

            "A lot." Ed grumbled, "I bought the things I need for the enchantment, all of them." Ed gulped, "and I saw someone familiar there." Ed continued.

            Dumbledore frowned, "Who?"

            "Lucius Malfoy." Ed scowled, "He's hiring someone to kill the parents of a kid, presumably me."

            Dumbledore frowned even more, "Did you hear their conversation?"

            "Yes I did Professor, I saw him handing a thousand Galleons to the man."

 Dumbledore nodded, "I will arrange a protection charm for the Andrews, don't worry about it Ed."

            Ed raised his eyebrow, "Just like that?"

            Dumbledore sighed, "Nicolas is not the only one who entered the library Ed, I did too, in exchange for a favour."

            "And the favour is?"

            "Protecting Edwyn's descendants." Said Dumbledore.

            Ed sighed, "Then what about Lucius?" questioned Ed.

            Dumbledore shook his head, "We can't do anything Ed, you've got no proof that he wanted to assassinate a muggle."

            Ed pondered for a while before saying, "There is one thing we can do."

            Dumbledore frowned, "No Ed, Killing is not the answer for everything."

            Ed nodded, "Yes, it is not the answer for everything, but it is the answer for this problem."

          "I won't allow you Ed," said Nicolas suddenly, "You don’t know what it’s like to kill, the guilt will either consume you, or corrupt you."

            "I'll do anything to protect my family." Ed said decisively.

            Dumbledore sighs in relief, "So you chose family then?"

            Ed shook his head, "Like I said, yes, but actually no."

            "What do you mean?" said Dumbledore while frowning.

            Ed smiled and said, "I chose both."

            "Both?" Nicolas questioned, "But I thought you were supposed to choose one of them."

            "It is a test Master Flamel," explained Ed, "the true answer is both, family cannot be supported without knowledge, and family will protect you from going mad in search of knowledge, like what the owl said, it is a cycle."

            The two nodded in enlightenment, especially Dumbledore, who had similar choices in his past, Ed can see he regretted what he did more right now.

            "Then what happens after you hear the conversation?" Nicolas continued, to divert Dumbledore's attention.

            "I went to the human blood shop." Ed said while shivered, "Worst place I've ever been, if you're there, the scream, the stench of blood, and I can't do anything, I just stood there, shivering from disgust, and tried to quickly got away from that place, and after that, the fight happened, aurors suddenly casted stunning spells at me once I got out. I blinked everywhere, I almost fell out of exhaustion, you never told me about the time the portkey activate."

            Then Ed pondered again for a while before continuing, "But I never got it why they didn't just attack the place, is it because of a deal or something?"

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            "It is," said Nicolas, "The owner made a deal with the market runner, so the auror can't touch him, but he didn't make a deal to not attack his customers, cunning man he is."

            Ed hummed, and continued, "I noticed that the place isn't like Knockturn Alley, or from what I've heard anyway, it's like any other market, no attacking randomly except the aurors of course, giving directions for the right price."

            Nicolas nodded, "Like I said, almost all the shop owners made a deal with the market runners, they opened a shop in there, in exchange for protection and freedom of what goods you sell, that's why that place is the biggest there is, there's a cohesive system running the place."

Ed then looked at Nicolas in the eye and questioned, “Why didn’t you warn me? About the aurors trying to kill me I mean, yeah you warn about aurors, but you didn’t warn me that they’re going to try and kill me.”

“It’s for your own good Ed.” Said Nicolas softly, “You have to realise that what you did, buying human blood is a horrific thing in everyone’s eyes, I let you do all that because I know you have a good heart and you won’t go dark, you’re Edwyn’s grandson after all, but other people will not see it like that, using human as an ingredient is an evil thing Ed, so right now, I have to remind you to not dwell too much in evil magic, not the type of dark magic that is lethal like your lightning spells and fire spells, no, the dark magic I’m talking about is the one that corrupts you, the one that will consumed your mind. This is my first lesson to you. I know your family dwells in knowledge, but sometimes, there’s knowledge that you don’t want to study. I did all this because I saw that you still want to make the item even though I show you the ingredients, I need you to see, that people won’t like it.”

            Ed sighed. Then Dumbledore stood up, "I believe that's enough for tonight," he said, "I will see you later Ed, in the meantime, you need to rest.

            Nicolas also stood up and nodded, "Yes, I will teach you starting tomorrow, I don't know if you will absorb the knowledge quickly or not, but let's hope you will, I haven't got much time to teach you, after all, I will be dead after Christmas."

            The two old men then get out of the wing, and Ed lay on the bed again, he sighed and closed his eyes, embracing the arms of Morpheus once more.

The next day, Ed wakes up in the hospital bed, his clothes still the same as before, torn and bloodied. He stood up and walked out of the hospital, he saw students looking at him with curiosity, he felt like he was an animal in the zoo while walking towards his room.

He arrived in front of his room, he took out his suitcase and enlarged it, he put it beside his bed and took out his clothes. He then showered for a long time, trying to clean the blood and dirt on his body, after that, he wore his uniform, tidied his hair, and got out of the room once more. He then walked to Flamel's office, which was quite close to his room. He knocked on the door, asking to enter.

“Come in.” an old voice said from the inside. Ed then opened the door; he saw Nicolas was alone sitting on his desk.

“Hello Ed, feeling better?” said the old man to Ed.

Ed nodded, “Still a bit tired, but I’ll manage.” He answered shortly.

“Good.” Nicolas then stood up and walked towards a shelf nearby. “Sit first.” He said to Ed, “I’ll prepare the material for the study session.”

Ed nodded weakly and sat in one of the guest chairs. He looked around the room aimlessly, trying to spend the time. Nicolas then walked to Ed with a book in his hand, he sat in front of Ed and asked him while handing the book.

“What do you know about alchemy Ed?” he asked softly.

Ed thought for a while before answering, “It’s like muggle science right? A study on the elements, oh, and also transmutation of substance, like your philosopher’s stone can turn any metal to gold.”

Nicolas nodded, “Then what do you know about enchanting?” he asked once again.

“It’s like jinxing or charming an object, but is it permanent? I don’t know…” Ed hesitantly answered.

“Not necessarily,” Nicolas said, “Enchanting is a form of arcane crafting, so it’s included in alchemy.”

Nicolas then took out a ring, “This is an enchanted ring, you see the carving?”

Ed nodded, then Nicolas continued, “That is the source of the enchantment, instead of using a charm, or a jinx, an enchantment uses ingredients to make an item ‘magical’, therefore, it’s much more powerful and durable than using charm or jinx.”

“Wait,” Ed said, “So this is a form of alchemy that you discovered using-”

“Using the knowledge from the library, yes.” Nicolas nodded. “Using the principality of equivalent exchange, I am able to discover this branch of alchemy.”

“So, I will be studying this?” Ed asked, a bit excited at the thought of learning otherworld knowledge.

“Of course.” Nicolas answered, “But first, read the book, it’s about basic alchemy, master that, then I’ll teach you enchanting.”

Ed nodded vigorously, and opened the book, quickly studying it.

A couple of hours later, Ed was still reading the book, while questioning the things that he didn’t understand about Nicolas.

“Okay, so the basic elements is just fire, water, earth, and air, but when you can make other elements by mixing the four, you can make other advanced element like ice from air and water, metal from fire and earth, and other things…” he said, half explaining to Nicolas, which the old man just nodded, but then the boy asked, “But then what about space and time? As far as I know from the initiation ceremony of the family, those two count as elements as well.”

Nicolas nodded once again at the question, “Good question Ed.” Nicolas sipped the tea he made, and answered, “There are advanced elements that didn’t come from the four, such as you said, space and time, but yes, most of the elements can be derived from the four, even one combination such as water and air can create multiple elements depending on the quantity and the quality of the basic element.”

Ed nodded weakly at the answer, then Nicolas looked at the time and said, “It’s quite late Ed, you should go back, take the book with you, if you have any more questions, you can ask me tomorrow.”

Ed nodded hesitantly, before standing up and exiting the room, Ed then walked to his room. He wanted to continue to read the book, but then an owl flew to him, dropping a letter.

“What’s this?” he whispered to himself. He opened the letter and read that it was Richard who sent the letter. He rushed to the room to read the letter in detail, he sat on the desk in his room and read the content.

He was asking Ed about Lockhart's problem and why he warned them about him, and he also mentioned about Hermione ignoring his warning, which was quite surprising.

Ed then prepared a paper and a quill to answer it, he just told him the truth that he used the obliviate spell to people with good stories, so he warned them once again that if they recently got on an adventure and Lockhart started to questioned them, run at once, or even attack him if they can, and about Hermione, just told her the content of the letter, but if she ignored it also, it’s her life, and if she wants to be obliviated, then he won’t stop her. Ed also told him to watch Draco, and immediately informed him if the pale boy talked about something interesting that he might want to hear.

Then, he packed the letter, sealed it using the Aldrich seal, and ran to the owl post in the school and sent it to Richard. He saw the sky outside and it was getting dark, he went back to his room and entered the suitcase, he sat in front of the fireplace and enjoyed the warmth a bit, he thought about his spells arsenal, lightning, fire, ice, space, and other charms and curses, it’s quite extensive now, he’s going to learn alchemy and enchanting, all of the elements have progressed quite a bit too except space…, realising this he called Gilligan.

“Gilligan…” he called softly, to which the owl answered and appeared beside him.

“I need more training on the space element Gilligan, why am I only using it for blinking? there must be something more.” He asked Ed.

The owl frowned, “You know it’s dangerous Ed, if you meddle with space, you could accidentally mess up and create a black hole that you couldn’t contain, it will be disastrous.”

“Then teach me something that’s not as risky as that,” Ed said in annoyance, “There must be something…”

The owl pondered a while, before saying, “I could teach you how to sense space fluctuation and your surroundings.”

“Now why didn’t you teach me that from the start?” Ed questioned the owl in frustration, “It doesn’t seem like it had terrible consequences.”

“I originally didn’t want to teach you this.” Gilligan said, “But when Baldeth asked me to teach you how to sense your and your family’s blood, it will probably be useful for when you will eventually go to find your parents.”

“Well, it’s still useful now, I can sense enemies that used Disillusionment charm or an invisibility cloak using that right?”

Gilligan nodded, “Very well, I will teach you, come.”

Ed excitedly stood up, “Nice, then my time in Beauxbatons, I will use it to expand my knowledge a bit, so I will be ready when Tom shows himself.”

Ed then entered the training room with Gilligan, ready for learning a new knowledge.

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