"You mentioned missing a ward stone in order to complete this Fayth. Why would you require such a thing? Much like my stone with so much power this item should be nearly indestructible." Flammel asked with a curious expression as he looked at the statue.
"The ward stone isn't to defend the Fayth, not exactly anyways. It's to hide it. No matter how perfect I make this physical representation of the realm I should in theory only be able to access freely this Fayth will remain a point of bypass. With the right effort and knowledge anyone could use this to go around the exclusivity of the realm and come in. I need the ward stone to hide the magical energy fluctuations coming off this thing. No one can use it like that if they can't find it after all." I explained seeing no reason to lie.
"That would take an incredibly specialized ward scheme to accomplish wouldn't it?" Madam Maxime said with a frown.
"Indeed! I have already deconstructed a few with aspects useful in this regard and fused the useful parts together into a comprehensive ward designed specifically for cloaking my Fayth. Take a look." I said as I pulled out the folded parchment I had the ward scheme written on and handed it to Flammel.
They both examined it seriously and quickly had looks of disbelief and amazement.
"This ward is a work of genius! Anti-divination, anti spatial locking, causality manipulation, magical absorption, negation and recycling. I dare say anything hidden under such a ward would be impossible to find without extreme natural luck or a guide." Flammel said with an impressed expression.
"And you said you made this on your own?" Madam Maxime asked with a disbelieving look.
"It took me about two and a half weeks to finish but yes, I designed it." I said honestly.
"No wonder Albus is so concerned about you turning to darkness. To accomplish something like this as a first year... It's unbelievable." Flammel said seriously.
'Well to be fair I AM sort of cheating so it's not just talent.' I thought with a mental chuckle.
"Putting aside the incredulity of the situation how would the fake philosophers stone solve this issue?" Madam Maxime asked confused.
"The stone might be a failure but it IS still a solid and most importantly stable magical conduit. It could used used in the exact same manner a ward stone might, even further the stone possesses false life properties that would make the summoned realm all the more life like I'd imagine." Flammel explained proving his expertise on the matter once again.
"That's right. It's simply a perfect addition to complete the Fayth once the ward scheme is layered over it." I said frankly.
"I admit the stone holds little value to me but clearly you value it considerably higher. Allow me to look over your merchandise and i'll see if there's anything among it that I'd be willing to trade the stone for." Flammel made his offer.
I saw no problem with that and led the way to the carefully chosen collection of otherworld items that I had in the suitcase currently.
"None of my most precious merchandise is here on the off chance someone broke into this suitcase but I have a list written of what I have available amongst these goods. There is also a list of things I could acquire through my contacts as well." I explained calmly as they both looked over the collection.
Very few things seemed to interest Madam Maxime while Flammel was the opposite in that he seemed intrigued by everything.
"This here. Where did you get it?" Flammel ended up asking as he came across a certain long thought lost ring.
"One of my contacts gave it to me as part of a trade. You recognize it I take it?" I said and he nodded seriously.
"This ring was stolen over fifty years ago by the followers of Grindelwald, after the war ended it was never recovered." he said and Madam Maxime looked grave at this revelation.
"Is that so? I just thought it a nice piece due to the brilliant craftsmanship and enchantments on it." I lied casually.
I knew exactly where the ring came from since I was the one who retrieved it from one of Grindelwald's stashes. Obviously I couldn't say that however as with the man himself missing from his prison anything tied to him was highly suspect.
"I see. Would you be willing to trade the stone for it? I'd like to see it returned it it's rightful owner." Flammel asked softly.
I nodded "That's acceptable. If anything you are making a loss in this deal, why not pick something else as well?" I said wanting to earn some brownie points while I was at it.
He smiled and ended up choosing the remaining sword I had sitting around from Whitebeard this whole time. Apparently he felt the blade seemed to possess a spirit of it's own and that intrigued him. I wasn't surprised by this as weapons in that world and ships as well all developed their own spirits over time. The swords spirit was likely one built up over many years by whoever originally owned it before Whitebeard eventually got it and stored it in his treasury.