"Equivalent Exchange"
[Beep! Level of Power of a Rank 5 Wizard detected. Analyzing Situation… Weakness detected. The opponent's body is very weak, it has deteriorated through the many centuries, he can only attack with the Power of a Rank 4 Wizard and is slower than most. A quick and deadly attack has a 53% chance of succeeding since the Host is in Close Range.]
'Only 53% success chance??? So basically a coin flip. This Situation is extremely dangerous. I thought he would be nicer since he isn't the Dark Lord who created the Stone and was portrayed as a nice Person in the Movies. Did I miscalculate? How to calm him down?' were Matthews's thoughts as he desperately tried to think of a way to solve this situation.
Suddenly Perenelle stood up and hit Nicholas on the Shoulder and a slight crack was heard, "Stop scaring our guest you old fool."
The suppressive aura around Nicholas disappeared, "Ouch, Perenelle please! But he still tried to extort me. And he clearly wants to take advantage of the Situation.", he complained as he put his shoulder who was dislocated back into place without a twitch.
"Well maybe he is a Slytherin at Hogwarts they tend to have a similar disposition to Ombrelune Students in Beauxbatons. And you know that is the way they have to act in this kind of house to gain respect or to even survive. That doesn't make him a bad or evil Person!" she berated her husband.
'Ombrelune is one of the three Houses in Beauxbatons known for their cunning, logic, ambition, curiosity, and cold. Which is basically a combination of Slytherin and Ravenclaw. So she is not wrong.' Realized Matthew as he recalled what he read about the most prominent Magic School in France which the Flamels attended in the past and are sponsoring it over the last few Centuries.
"Well, you are not completely wrong Perenelle. But I am a Ravenclaw student although the Sorting hat considered Slytherin for me, but because of today's political situation and the extreme prejudice against me being a first Generation Wizard, it put me into Ravenclaw since I fitted in both houses." Explained Matthew politely.
"See! You old Fool."
"Sorry, Perenelle but that doesn't change the fact that he tried to extort me." Complained the ancient alchemist.
"Well, that's not true. I admit my wording could be a bit misleading, and I apologize for that. But I was actually suggesting a trade between us. I am offering the Philosopher Stone in my possession." Continued Matthew with a smile.
"And what is stopping me to take it from you now that you are here." Asked Nicholas with a glint in his eyes.
"The hat still wanted to sort me into Slytherin. Obviously, I hid it somewhere only I know and can reach the location. And you don't even need to try Legillimency on me, I was able to fool Voldemort for a whole year. It will be very hard for any Wizard to even read my surface thoughts."
"Hmpf. What do you want boy?" asked Nicholas a bit grumpy.
"I want to become your Student." Offered Matthew.
"Denied, I don't take any permanent Students anymore. I swore an Oath on that." Denied the Alchemist without a moment of thought, "Ask for something else boy."
Matthew already expected this answer, this was only his opening offer after all. "Then I want access to your personal Library without you removing any books or censoring any of them. I also need some information you have, for that I want an explanation that is answered truthfully." Requested Matthew.
"Hmmm, I can give you access to my Library but only for one week. You can read as many books as you want and you will get access to all of them. From today on, until next Saturday you can access my Library, I will even create a Portkey for that week." Offered the Alchemist with a grim smile.
'Ha, the old man is trying to trick me. He believes me to only be a talented Student who can only read a few books in a week, after all in my last life when I began to read it took me 6 hours to read a Harry Potter book even if I became faster over the years it would still take almost 5 hours and for magic or science books it will take much longer. Even with perfect recollection, I am still limited by my reading speed. Normally. Too bad for him I already solved that problem. With my scanning Spell, I can read books just by touching them so I can read more than a handful of books in the Minute.' Laughed Matthew internally while nodding his head, "Okay, deal. And my other request?"
His grin became wider for a moment before becoming serious again, "Well that depends on what you want to know, if it isn't something very personal, inappropriate or out of my knowledge I will answer it truthfully with all background information." said the Old Man.
"That's acceptable. How about we write it up in a formal contract with both of us putting a validity charm on it and each of us gets a copy. I know they are not magically binding, but this contract could still harm your reputation if I made the details public. View it as a safety measure for me." Requested Matthew.
"I would never break my Word, brat. But if it makes you happy let's do it." Grunted the old man.
"Here is some Paper and a Quill, this is a blood quill it will make it even more valid." Said Perenelle as she summoned said tools. The blood quill was a black feather with a few enchantments on it. But it didn't give off the feeling of dark magic, so it wasn't really a dark artifact as depicted in the Harry Potter books but rather a tool that could be misused as a torture device.
After the contract was written up and checked by me and Nicholas for any Mistakes, we both checked the contents for any mistakes or tricks. Once we both were happy with it we signed it by using the blood quill, Matthew only felt a slight sting on the back of his hand while writing with it but no wound appeared. You need to write more with it for that to happen.
'Maybe if Dumbledore would have to sign with his whole name, he could get a wound.' Thought Matthew while Matthew watched Nicholas sign.
"Now that that is done. Get my Stone boy." Requested the old man.
"Just a moment." Said Matthew as he took his wand out and pointed it onto his hand. He wordlessly activated a Rune formation he prepared beforehand and summoned the Philosopher Stone to his hand from his trunk in London. "Here is your Stone." while thinking, 'I still can summon it to me for a few weeks if you should break our agreement since the magic of the rune formation is active now.'
The Immortal Alchemist took the Stone and put it back into his pocket. "Since I am in a good mood and today already is halfway over. You can use my Library until tomorrow in a week." He said with a smug smile thinking he had tricked Matthew. "I will show you the way in a moment. But first, let's finish the second part of our Deal. What is it that you want to know from me?"
'We will see who will have the last laugh, old man.' Thought Matthew as he asked, "Well I want to know something pretty simple. Who is the real Creator of the Philosopher Stone, and is that Dark Lord still alive?" he directly dropped the bomb.
"So you studied the stone that deeply. Not even Albus knows about that. Well, that's something I can answer. After all, this is something you should now know either way since you used the Stone and made a powerful enemy with that." Explained Nicholas, " The Person who created my Philosopher Stone is dead, I killed him although I was too slow to save so many lives. You must already know what the Stone is made of. But the Person who Invented the Stone was his teacher and is still alive his name is… "
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