My housemates were thrilled by this outcome and Flitwick was right there with them. I only the other hand could only sigh and shake my head at Dumbledore. The old bastard had the audacity to look just the tiniest bit smug about focusing that spotlight on me. I was tempted to zap his backside for the trouble but chose to let him have his little victory given the amount of headaches my own actions must have given him this term. I got patted on the shoulder and back multiple times by my classmates in their excitement but tried to ignore it. -
Once the meal was over and the house cup had been moved into the common room for display by Flitwick I got to work stuffing my trunk into my suitcase before turning in for the night. In the morning there was breakfast and then everyone loaded up on the carriages to head to the Hogwarts express platform to get on the train. The sole exception was myself as Flammel was waiting on the grounds near the carriages for me.-
"Ah, now that brings me back! A suitcase to hold all of your things. You wouldn't happen to have a menagerie in there would you?" Flammel asked with a chuckle.
"I'm not Mr. Scamander, so definitely not. This is where I keep some of my less dangerous and valuable items for sale." I said patting the case.
"Oh? I might like to look that over. For obvious reasons I am certain I can afford it." he said intrigued.
"Perhaps later. What's the plan for now?" I asked.
He reached into his robe and pulled out a handful of rope.
"International portkey. Technically illegal to own but I won't say anything if you don't." he said with a playful wink.
I laughed "I'm not exactly clean myself so the secrets safe with me." I said grinning.
"Now then, we should leave these grounds lest the wards cause interference with the travel. Had that same problem a couple centuries back, ended up swimming in the channel rather than in France." he said half jokingly.
That made me slightly uncomfortable since getting dropped in the sea would very likely render me helpless. There was of course the chance that the curse of the fruit that weakens someone in water might not work outside the one piece world. But if I was going to test that theory I'd prefer doing it in a safe way and not by getting dropped into the sea.-
Whatever the case we left the wards of the castle by strolling into the forbidden forest before Flammel activated the portkey. That off putting sensation of getting sort of "hooked" in the belly button and then ripped through a straw thin tube rolled over me as the portkey did it's work. We went from the shaded cool forest to a bright and vibrant wheat field as we landed.
"This is..... Beauxbatons?" I asked confused at why we appeared here.
"As near as possible with a portkey yes. In order to reach my home we'll need to take the flu in the school. No helping it for the first trip I'm afraid since you aren't keyed into the wards." he said slightly apologetic.
"Protection from people harassing you and your wife I take it?" I asked and he nodded.
"The lure of endless wealth and life is one few can resist." he said helplessly.
"A shame you'd need to kill a lot of people to pull it off." I said casually but he froze.
"What do you know about that?" he asked a little stiffly.
"Magic is not a charity, it has a cost. The stronger the magic the higher that cost. The philosophers stone is no different. It's easy to figure out how you managed to create that stone once you line up your age with historical events. The black plague, perhaps you didn't cause it but you definitely used it. An estimated fifty million lives, plenty to fuel the creation of a single stone." I said casually.
He sagged in place slightly and sighed "So you have figured out my greatest sin. I won't deny it. I have long since accepted the wrong that I committed during that time. I was young and ambitious back then you see. I watched the plague spread and kill more and more people and in a moment of cruel inspiration tied the stones creation ritual to the disease. I could never have predicted that it would spread so far, kill so many. I thought I was only going to be able to create a false stone, like the one you saw before. Proof of concept, instead I created the real deal. I was so proud of my achievement at first, the horror at what I had done came later." he said softly.
"Did you use the lives or souls for the ritual?" I asked seriously.
"Just the lives, even in my ambition blinded state I didn't dare touch the souls." he said shaking his head firmly.
"Did you intentionally spread the plague?" I kept pressing.
"No, only a fool would fail to see how fast it spread. There was no need." he said honestly.
"Then you gave those deaths meaning! A cruel reasoning I know but consider if you hadn't used their ends to fuel your ritual? They still would have died, still would have suffered. But their suffering and deaths would have been without any use at all. Senseless and pointless culling at best. Thanks to you their deaths served a greater purpose. The philosophers stone! Endless life and wealth made manifest upon the Earth! You could even consider the stone as much their legacy as it is yours!" I said grandly.