Author's Note:
After reflection, I've decided to restart from Chapter 96 and discard the Animus Realm/Time Travel plotline that followed. Looking back, it became unnecessarily messy and rushed, creating complications that would be difficult to resolve without significant plot holes. Sometimes the best course is to step back and take a cleaner path forward.
I'll be updating more regularly but not daily, as that pace was contributing to some of the issues.
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Harry blinked as he stared at the black sludge still seeping into the snow around his feet. "Wait a second... we should collect this!"
He quickly pulled several crystal vials from his enchanted pouch, kneeling down to examine the dark substance. The stuff looked absolutely disgusting, it was oily and had an unpleasant smell that reminded him of rotting vegetables.
But if this was what his body had been carrying around as impurities, studying it might be incredibly valuable.
"The impurities might tell us something important about how the purification process works," Harry said, holding out the vials.
Nicolas smacked his forehead. "Of course! I was so stunned by your transformation that I completely forgot basic experimental procedure." He drew his wand and began levitating the remaining dark substance in the snow into Harry's vials. "So many years of alchemy training and I nearly let valuable research material soak into the ground."
Harry grinned. "Don't worry. I think anyone would be distracted by someone suddenly becoming ridiculously good-looking and then vomiting black goo everywhere."
"Such modesty," Perenelle said dryly, though she was smiling. "But, Nicolas, do you really think this could help improve the Elixir of Life? If we can figure out exactly what these impurities are and how they affect the body..."
Nicolas paused in his levitation work, looking thoughtful. "It's certainly worth investigating. The Elixir prevents aging and disease, but understanding what the body naturally wants to discard could give us insights into making it more efficient. Or perhaps developing entirely new healing potions."
Harry sealed another vial, watching the thick black substance settle inside.
"The real question," Harry said, "is whether this stuff is just normal bodily waste that got concentrated, or if there's something more magical about it. I mean, my body has been changing a lot lately with all the different powers I've gained."
Perenelle cleared her throat. "Speaking of experimental magic, shouldn't we move somewhere more secure for this? The garden isn't exactly the best place for potentially dangerous research."
Nicolas straightened up, looking embarrassed. "Two obvious oversights in as many minutes! At this rate, you'll think I'm losing my mental faculties." He smiled at Harry's skeptical expression. "Yes, yes, I know - six hundred years old and still sharp as a tack thanks to the Elixir. But even I have moments of distraction."
They made their way into Nicolas' underground testing chamber. Harry had spent countless hours down here over the past few months, practicing with his quintessence flames and learning alchemical theory.
The room felt almost like a second home now, really.
"Right then," Nicolas pulled out his wand and began reinforcing the protective enchantments around the room.
"Harry, whenever you're ready to attempt the portal."
He nodded and let his Soul Resonance Mist begin flowing from his fingers.
In the other world, he'd learned to use fear as a key to unlock passages between the physical world and the spirit realm.
But this universe operated on different rules, it had to!
One world ran on bending, the other ran on magic. How could the two ever be compared?
"Be careful," Perenelle said, gripping her wand tightly. "At the first sign of whispers or anything trying to communicate through the portal-"
"I know, I know," Harry rolled his eyes. "Close it immediately and don't listen to anything that might be trying to get through."
He focused on a spot in the middle of the chamber, about two meters away from the worktable. The Soul Resonance Mist began condensing, growing thicker and darker as he poured more fear into it. This process had felt natural, like he was working with the fundamental forces of universe in the previous world.
Here, it felt like he was pushing against something, not exactly resistance, but more like trying to use a key that was almost but not quite the right shape for the lock.
The dark mist suddenly solidified into what looked like a torn piece of fabric hanging in the air.
Then he heard them.
"Harry..." The voice was soft, feminine, filled with love and longing. "Harry, my darling boy..."
His heart stopped.
Harry knew that voice. How could he not when the memory awakened by the Dementor had been burned into his mind with his eidetic memory? How could he possibly forget when he was reminded of it every single second of the day?
"Mum?" he whispered, taking a step forward.
"Harry, son..." Another voice, deeper, warmer. "We've been waiting for you. We've missed you so much."
"Dad?" Harry's eyes filled with tears.
His parents were there, just beyond the veil. They were calling to him, wanting to see him again.
"Harry, no!" Nicolas shouted, but his voice sounded distant.
"Close it now!" Perenelle's wand was pointed at the portal, but she hesitated to cast anything that might hurt Harry.
But Harry barely heard them. His parents were right there. After all these years of wondering what they sounded like, what they would say to him, here they were.
"We love you, Harry," his mother's voice called. "Come to us. Come home."
"We're so proud of you," his father added. "You've grown so strong, so brave. Just like your mother."
Harry took another step forward with his hand reaching out toward the dark fabric.
He could almost touch it now. Almost reach them…
This is what I've wanted my entire life. To hear them say they love me. To know they're proud of me.
"Harry!" Nicolas grabbed his arm, yanking him backward. "Those aren't your parents!"
"What?" Harry blinked, the spell breaking slightly. "But they sound just like-"
"The dead don't speak through portals, Harry," Perenelle said firmly. "Whatever is calling to you, it's not James and Lily Potter."
Harry's heart clenched. Of course it wasn't them. How could it be? His parents were dead, had been dead for eight years. They weren't waiting somewhere beyond a magical portal.
But the voices were so convincing. So full of love and warmth.
"Harry, please," his mother's voice called again. "Don't listen to them. We need you. We've been trapped here for so long..."
"Son, you're the only one who can help us," his father added. "The portal is closing. Hurry!"
Harry felt tears streaming down his face. Even knowing it wasn't really them, the voices sounded so real. So much like what he imagined his parents would sound like.
"I'm not stupid," he whispered.
He pulled his Soul Resonance Mist back, cutting off the connection. The dark fabric began to fade, but the voices grew more desperate.
"Harry, no! Don't leave us here!"
"Please, son! We love you!"
"Don't abandon us again!"
That last one made Harry pale slightly. The portal snapped shut with a sound like breaking glass, leaving only silence in the underground chamber.
For a long moment, nobody spoke.
Harry stood there, shaking, tears still running down his cheeks.
I knew it wasn't them. I knew it. Why would my parents try to trick me into an unknown portal? But hearing those voices...
"Harry?" Perenelle approached him carefully, like he might bolt. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he said automatically, then shook his head. "No, I'm not fine. That was horrible."
Nicolas put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to experience that. Whatever was speaking through the portal, it knew exactly what to say to hurt you most."
"It felt so real," Harry wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "I mean, I knew it wasn't actually them, but the voices were so..."
"Convincing," Perenelle finished. "That's what makes such entities so dangerous. They prey on our deepest desires and fears."
Harry nodded, trying to pull himself together. He'd faced down genocidal rebels, ancient spirits, and Princess Azula's emotional manipulation. He shouldn't be this shaken by some voices through a portal.
But those voices had offered him the one thing he wanted most in the world.
His parents' love and approval.
"What do you think it was?" he asked, grateful that his voice sounded steadier now.
"Hard to say," Nicolas frowned. "In the other world, you said the portal connected to the Spirit World. Here, it might have connected to, well, somewhere else entirely. Perhaps somewhere with things that feed on human love..."
"The Department of Mysteries in Britain has something similar," Perenelle added. "The Veil of Death. Unspeakables study it, but even they don't fully understand what lies beyond it. What is known is that it functions as a one-way portal, and when someone stands next to the Veil, they can hear faint whispering and murmuring noises. If you tried to communicate, the dead would try harder and their whispering and murmuring would become louder…"
Harry thought about that. The Veil of Death, he'd never read about it before.
Classified information, probably.
"So the Veil of Death might be like a weaker version of what I just created?" Harry asked, wiping the last of the tears from his face.
"It seems that way," Nicolas said grimly. "Though 'weaker' might not be the right word. Different, perhaps. The Veil doesn't allow clear communication, which might actually be a mercy."
Harry shuddered. If what he'd just experienced was the stronger version, he couldn't imagine how torturous it would be to hear faint whispers that might be his parents but never know for sure.
"Right," he said decisively. "We're not doing that again."
Perenelle raised an eyebrow. "Just like that? No curiosity about what was on the other side?"
"Oh, I'm curious," Harry sighed. "But I'm not stupid, even if I was being way too reckless just now because I had fortune to rely on. My good fortune most likely worked in my favor here in some way I'm not aware of, but my Hero's Journal would have surely given me some kind of hint if stepping through the portal could have lead to a new adventure. It didn't react at all, so it's now obvious to me that there was nothing good there and I should have closed the portal right away."
He started pacing around the chamber with a deep frown on his face.
"And whatever was speaking through that portal knew things it shouldn't have known. It knew my parents' names, it knew I was their son, and it knew exactly what to say to tempt me to step through."
Either it can bypass all of our Occlumency Shields without us even noticing, or it has access to knowledge about our world.
Neither option is good.
He doubted it was a problem with their Occlumency, though if it was… he was getting really annoyed at unknown ancient beings seemingly ignoring it!
"Besides," Harry continued, "in the other world, the portal connected me to a part of that universe's natural order. Here, I have no idea where that portal led, and frankly, I don't want to find out anymore."
Nicolas nodded approvingly. "Wisdom beyond your years, Harry. It's tempting to explore every new magical discovery, but some doors are better left unopened."
"Especially when the things behind those doors are actively trying to trick you into opening them wider," Perenelle added.
Harry stopped pacing and looked at the spot where the portal had been.
The air looked completely normal now, but he could still feel a faint chill in that area.
Nicolas clapped his hands together. "Well, after that rather unpleasant experience with otherworldly entities, I think we have something that will cheer you up considerably."
Harry looked between Nicolas and Perenelle, curious despite still feeling slightly shaken from the portal incident.
"A present?"
"Indeed," Perenelle said with a mysterious smile. "Though perhaps 'present' isn't quite the right word. Consider it an investment in your continued development."
The Flamels said nothing more as they led him up from the underground chamber to the cozy living room. Harry's mind was still partially occupied with thoughts about the portal and those terrible, convincing voices, but their excitement was infectious.
Nicolas waved his wand with a flourish, and a wooden chest appeared on the coffee table with a soft thud.
"Go ahead," Nicolas said, gesturing toward the chest. "Open it."
Harry approached the chest cautiously. After the portal incident, he was feeling a bit more wary of magical surprises. But this was Nicolas and Perenelle, and they'd never put him in danger.
He lifted the heavy lid and immediately stepped back in shock.
Inside the chest, nestled in what looked like specially treated silk, was a dragon's heart. Not just any dragon's heart either, no, Harry could tell from the size and the ridged texture that this had come from a Hungarian Horntail. The organ was massive, easily the size of his own head, and despite being removed from its body, it still seemed to pulse.
"Nicolas... Perenelle..." Harry stared at them in amazement. "This must have cost a fortune."
Perenelle laughed. "Harry, dear, when you've lived as long as we have and mastered the art of turning base metals into gold, cost becomes rather irrelevant."
"Besides," Nicolas added, "we've been watching you develop all these incredible abilities. When we learned about your... unique dietary requirements regarding dragon hearts, we knew we had to help."
Harry felt tears prick at his eyes again, but these were good tears. After the emotional manipulation from whatever had been speaking through that portal, having people who genuinely cared about him and wanted to help him grow stronger felt overwhelming.
He hugged them both tightly. "Thank you. Both of you. I don't know what I did to deserve having you in my life."
"You were yourself," Perenelle said simply, patting his back. "That's always been enough."
Harry stepped back and looked at the dragon heart again. It had been a long time since he'd received the power to consume dragon hearts and gain something in return.
He could still remember the exact wording of that offer.
It matters not from where a dragon originates, for a dragon is still a dragon, and there is power within their hearts. Whenever you consume the heart of a dragon, regardless of its exact nature, then you will find yourself gaining a new power or ability based upon whose heart you have consumed. The heart of a dragon attuned to the arcane would see you capable of utilizing its magical breath, while a dragon known for its physical strength would see you summoning its claws.
Hungarian Horntails weren't exactly known for being particularly magical beyond the basic dragon abilities. They were fierce, aggressive, and had incredibly hot flames, but they weren't like the ancient dragons from children's stories that could cast spells or speak in riddles.
Still, Harry thought as he stared at the heart, my fortune has a way of making sure I get the best possible outcome from anything that could benefit me. And this definitely qualifies.
The heart looked... well, it looked like raw meat.
Which is exactly what it was.
Harry had eaten stranger things during his travels, and he didn't need to worry about getting sick from eating raw dragon organs.
"Are you sure about this?" Nicolas asked, watching Harry's expression. "We could prepare it somehow, perhaps brew it into a potion or-"
"No," Harry shook his head. "I need to eat it raw. That's how the power works."
He reached into the chest and lifted the heart. It was heavier than he'd expected, and he could feel residual warmth still radiating from it. The texture was tough and fibrous, nothing like normal meat.
Well, here goes nothing.
Harry lifted the heart to his mouth and took a large bite. The taste was... intense. It wasn't pleasant, exactly, but it wasn't as horrible as he'd feared either. It tasted like iron and fire and something wild and untamed. The blood ran down his chin as he chewed and swallowed.
The moment the dragon heart hit his stomach, everything changed.
His entire digestive system roared to life with supernatural intensity. Harry could feel his body breaking down the tough flesh at a rapid pace, dissolving it and pulling something deeper from within, not just nutrients, but pure draconic essence that seemed to burn through his veins like molten metal.
Then his Po Soul exploded into activity.
Harry gasped as power surged through him, his body suddenly trying to reshape itself. He could feel his bones wanting to stretch and thicken, his skin itching as it tried to sprout scales. Something was pushing at his skull, trying to grow horns, while his spine felt like it wanted to extend into a massive tail.
No!
I want to stay human!
I don't want to become some kind of dragon-human hybrid!
His will slammed down like an iron wall, and his Po Soul's stability kicked in to keep his human form intact.
But the draconic essence didn't just disappear, it had to go somewhere.
Harry's eyes widened as he felt the raw dragon power flowing upward through his body like a river of liquid fire. The essence gathered in his Hun Soul, and suddenly he wasn't just Harry Potter anymore. He was Harry Potter with a Hungarian Horntail living inside his soul.
The draconic essence began forming something incredible within his Hun Soul. Harry could sense it taking shape into massive wings that could blot out the sun, claws that could tear through castle walls, ridged scales harder than steel, and most importantly, a head filled with flames hot enough to melt stone.
It's like having an entire dragon as part of me, but I'm still completely human…
Then some kind of instinct became an innate part of his being, as clear as if the dragon itself was whispering instructions. He could make parts of this spectral dragon appear in the real world by pushing them from his Hun Soul into his Po Soul, where his magical energy would make them solid and real.
"This is incredible!" Harry breathed, wiping dragon blood from his chin with shaking hands.
"How do you feel?" Perenelle asked, though she was clearly trying not to smile. "Any pain? Nausea? Sudden urges to hoard treasure and kidnap princesses?"
Harry laughed at that. "No treasure hoarding urges! But I need to test this outside right now. I can feel what I can do, and I really don't want to accidentally burn down the cottage or put claw marks through your walls."
They moved to the back garden, where Nicolas quickly conjured several thick wooden targets.
"Will these survive whatever you're planning?"
"We're about to find out!" Harry grinned, closing his eyes and focusing on the spectral dragon within his Hun Soul.
Let's start with the head. Come on, show me what you can do.
He pushed a portion of the spectral dragon from his Hun Soul into his Po Soul, feeling his magical energy rush into it like water filling a mold. Then, with a thought that felt more like a roar of triumph, he forced it into the physical world.
A massive dragon head forced itself into the air above him.
"It really worked," Nicolas whispered.
The head was easily three feet long and covered in the distinctive ridged scales of a Hungarian Horntail. It looked completely real, though Harry could sense invisible threads of magical energy connecting it to his soul. The eyes glowed with inner fire, and when the massive jaws opened slightly, he could see the furnace burning within.
This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me.
"Watch this," Harry said, grinning so widely his face hurt.
The dragon head turned toward the wooden targets, and Harry instinctively knew he could make it breathe fire. He focused, and flames burst forth from the spectral head's mouth, not his own azure flames, but the natural orange-red fire of a Hungarian Horntail.
The flames were so hot they turned the wooden targets to ash in seconds, leaving only glowing embers floating in the air.
Not as strong as his own flames, but did that matter?!
The visual impact was way more important!
"Did you see that?!" Harry spun toward Nicolas and Perenelle. "It's like having a dragon fighting alongside me, but it's actually part of me! I can control it perfectly!"
Nicolas and Perenelle exchanged a look that clearly said 'he's like a child who just discovered he can fly.'
"Very impressive, dear," Perenelle said warmly. "What else can you do?"
Harry dismissed the head and tried manifesting claws instead. Five massive talons appeared in front of his right hand, each one easily eight inches long and sharp enough to cut through steel. He swiped at another target, and the spectral claws followed his movement seamlessly, tearing through the wood like it was made of parchment.
"The durability should be the same as the original dragon," Harry said, staring at the claws in wonder. "Hungarian Horntail scales can withstand most spells, so if I can make the scales cover me like armor..."
He tried it, and thick dragon scales began covering his arms and chest. They felt incredibly heavy and strong, but also awkward and oversized.
Wait, I should be able to adjust the size, shouldn't I? The dragon in my Hun Soul isn't fixed, I feel I have some influence over it…
Harry focused on the spectral dragon within his soul, trying to compress its outline. The dragon shrank from its original massive size to something more proportional to his human body. When he forced the scales into the real world again, they fit him perfectly while still maintaining their protective properties.
"Much better," he said, flexing his scale-covered arms and watching how the dragon scales moved like a second skin. "Human-sized dragon armor that actually fits."
Next he tried wings.
The dragon wings that appeared from his shoulders were massive and powerful, but when he tried to flap them, nothing happened.
Harry frowned and tried again, but his feet remained firmly planted on the ground.
"I can't actually fly with these," he realized, though he didn't sound all that disappointed. "They're just constructs. They don't have the proper muscle connections or bone structure to actually lift me. Maybe if it was a different type of dragon that was more magical, but Hungarian Horntails are more about physical power than any kind of magic."
"Still incredibly impressive though," Perenelle commented, and she sounded genuinely amazed. "You've essentially gained the ability to summon dragon parts at will."
Harry nodded eagerly and dismissed the wings to try a tail instead. A long, thick dragon tail appeared, complete with the spiked tip that Hungarian Horntails were famous for. He could control its movement, and when he used it to smash another target, the reinforced wood exploded into splinters.
"The possibilities are endless!" Harry whispered, making the dragon tail whip around in a circle before dismissing it. "I could use the head for fire attacks and biting, the claws for close combat, the scales for armor, the tail for smashing things... it's like having an entire dragon's arsenal at my disposal!"
He paused, and his grin became almost predatory as he thought about what this meant for his future adventures.
If I encounter dragons in future worlds, unintelligent ones or evil ones that need to be stopped, I can kill them and eat their hearts to gain access to their abilities. Each dragon I defeat makes me stronger. And if there are worlds with dozens of different dragon species...
The thought made him practically vibrate with excitement.
But then another question occurred to him, and his expression became more thoughtful.
What would happen if he ate a different type of dragon heart? Would another spectral dragon appear in his Hun Soul? Would they merge somehow? Would the Hungarian Horntail get stronger, or would he end up with multiple dragons floating around in there? And what if he found a really magical dragon, one that could cast spells or had special abilities beyond just physical power?
He honestly had no idea, and that uncertainty was both thrilling and slightly concerning.
But mostly thrilling.
"Nicolas," Harry began, turning to face his mentor, but Nicolas just chuckled and held up a hand.
"Already three steps ahead of you," Nicolas said, and his eyes were twinkling with the same kind of mischief Harry had seen in Grandpa Dumbledore's eyes. "I've placed orders for several more dragon hearts. We should have a Welsh Green heart by tomorrow, and I'm confident we can acquire specimens from all twelve known species by the end of March."
Harry's eyes went wide. "Really? All twelve species? You don't have to-"
"Nonsense!" Perenelle interrupted, waving her hand dismissively. "We want to see what happens just as much as you do. Besides, watching you discover new abilities is far more entertaining than our usual research projects."
"Though I must admit, it's considerably more expensive than our usual hobbies," Nicolas added with mock seriousness. "I may have to transmute half the garden fence into gold to cover the costs."
Harry burst out laughing. "The terrible hardships of being an immortal alchemist with the ability to create unlimited wealth."
"You have no idea how difficult our lives are," Nicolas said dramatically, placing a hand over his heart. "Do you know how tedious it gets, turning base metals into precious ones? The same process, over and over, for six hundred years. Last week I was so bored I turned our entire garden gate into platinum just to see if it would look different."
"It looked ridiculous," Perenelle said firmly. "Completely ridiculous. I made him change it back."
"I thought it looked distinguished," Nicolas protested.
"It looked like we were showing off," Perenelle countered.
Harry grinned at their banter. This was what he'd missed most during his time in the other world, not just having people who cared about him, but having people who felt comfortable enough around him to be completely themselves. People who would spend fortunes on dragon hearts just to see him smile, and who would tease him about it afterward.
This is what family feels like.