Chương 14: Philosopher's stone

Cross ate breakfast with Daphne. Carl and Blue on his shoulders. Daphne looked at him funnily and said "Are you trying to look like a zoo?" Cross chuckled and said "I'm not gonna leave them alone." Daphne shook her head and said "Are your things packed? We leave tomorrow."

Cross nodded and said "Everything is ready, you?" Daphne smiled and said "Me too!" Draco came and sat down next to them saying "What's up?" Cross and Daphne shook their heads and Draco said "You guys want to come to my house over the summer? We can go get our school supplies for next year together."

Daphne nodded and said "Okay." Cross looked at her and said "Isn't Astoria coming next year?" Daphne nodded and said "Yeah, but we don't need dad to come with us this time. We can go by ourselves that would be fun!" Cross smiled softly and looked at Draco before saying "How are we supposed to contact each other?"

Draco said "By owl of course." Cross shook his head and said "Honestly, for Wizards you're all so far behind." Draco and Daphne were confused and Cross smirked as he said "Listen, a company made these phones. They're for instantaneous communication anywhere!"

Draco frowned and said "A muggle company?" Cross nodded and said "Muggle, wizard, what's the difference? If they can make things more convenient it's better, no?" Daphne said "What is this phone?" Cross took out a piece of paper and drew two squares before saying so you're the first square and Draco is the second square, right?"

He drew a line connecting the squares and continued "Wherever Draco is, if you call him with your phone, and he has a phone as well, he will receive your call and you can talk to each other!" Daphne was startled and said "Anywhere?!" Cross nodded and said "Anywhere."

Draco was doubtful and said "If these are so amazing, why haven't we heard about them before or better yet using them?" Cross knocked on his head and said "Remind me what you think of muggles?" Draco said "Hate 'em." Cross replied "That's why."

Draco had a thoughtful look on his face, Hermione came and sat down at the table saying "What are you guys talking about." Cross said "Perfect example. Hermione, your parents are muggles right?" Hermione dimmed and nodded, Cross asked "They have phones in their house, right?"

Hermione was confused and said "Of course." Cross looked at Draco and said "These muggles have faster communication that people who use magic. Why would we not use them? It just doesn't make sense." Draco rubbed his chin and said "How much are these 'Phones'?" surprisingly looking at Hermione.

Hermione was startled and said "Umm around 900 Pounds." Cross calculated and said "So like 180 Galleons." Daphne and Draco were dumbfounded and said in shock "180 Galleons?!!" Cross tilted his head and twitched his ears as he said "Before tax, so probably around 250 Galleons."

Draco almost spat out blood and said "For a single item?! Are these muggles mad?!" Hermione giggled and Cross retorted "These are very powerful items. Imagine having instant information circling around without even being anywhere near each other. We could talk like this while being on opposite ends of the country!"

Daphne was startled as well and Draco quieted down as he thought about it.

The bell rang and Cross left saying "Maybe we should get some when we go back." the other two nodded and Hermione smiled.

The day passed slowly

Cross attended classes before slipping away to the infirmary to check what he heard about.

Sure enough.

Cross walked into the infirmary and saw Harry laying on a hospital bed. He walked over and looked at all the candies and gifts, he looked at Harry and said "Quite the celebrity, Mr. Potter." Harry said "What are you doing here?"

Cross picked up some candy and hand a bit as he said "To confirm the rumors for myself. I was quite curious you know. I hadn't seen Quirell since... Well anyway, I didn't see him since that day. Though I am curious, what exactly did you kill Quirell over?"

Harry said "I didn't kill him." Cross tilted his head and kept his blank face as he said "I think Quirell would disagree with you." Harry was silent and Cross said "If you don't want to tell me I understand. I merely came to see for myself. The boy who lived.. Twice in fact. You are very interesting."

Harry said "What does that mean?" Cross smiled and said "Come now, Mr. Potter. If I tell you everything, where is the fun of you finding out for yourself. Not to mention were are barely acquaintances, why should I tell you?"

Harry looked at Cross in confusion and Cross waved as he said "Anyway, hope you get well soon and all that nonsense." before he turned to leave, Harry looked at his back and said "The philosopher's stone." Cross stopped and frowned as he looked back and said "What."

Harry said "Quirell wanted the philosopher's stone." Cross frowned even harder and said "And the stone?" Harry shook his head and said "Destroyed." Cross twitched his ears and said "A pity." Harry said "Why, you wanted to use it?" getting a bit confrontational and accusatory.

Cross shook his head and said "No, I wanted to see if it was real or not." Harry frowned and said "It was real, I held it in my hand." Cross raised a brow and said "Oh? And what did it look like, Mr. Potter."

Harry said "Like a piece of glass. Not circular like a broken stone." Cross lost interest and shook his head saying "A mere replica." Harry said "Replica?" Cross didn't say anything else about it and looked at Harry before saying "Mr. Potter, for your stellar information. I will give you some in return.."

His strings spread out from the ground, checking the room and walls. He found a few wards and charms that shouldn't be there, Cross frowned and wrote something on a paper before throwing it to Harry and walking away.

Harry read the note before it burst into flames and disappeared. He frowned and thought about what it could mean. The note said 'Be careful whom you trust. Not everything is as it seems.' Suddenly unable to remember who he had just talked to.

Cross walked away from the infirmary, he kept the contents of the letter extremely vague and also charmed it to obliviate himself from Harry's memory of today's events. The only thing left was a mysterious letter given to him by someone.

Of course, Cross didn't erase Harry's memories of himself completely. Just today's conversation. It required an extremely strong control over Ligilimency and the obliviate spell. It wasn't a coincidence that Cross was proficient in Obliviate. He had practiced this spell the most during his training session, feeling it was better to obliviate certain events after getting information.

Looks like he made the right choice.

Cross was still thinking about the Philosopher's stone replica. He would love to get his hands on it and find out how it worked. He knew what the Philosopher's stone was but the one in his memories was different from the one Harry described.

The actual Philosopher's stone was a circular blood red orb, that didn't reflect any light whatsoever. The stone's purpose was against the laws of nature. Basically in Alchemy, to acquire something it requires the same value of materials on the other side. This was called Equivalent Exchange, it was a fundamental law of the world, but the Philosopher's stone ignored this law. Whatever you wanted, you would have.

Alchemists would be able to transmute without having to give anything in exchange. Not only limited to Alchemical uses, the stone was able to turn metal into gold, produce the Elixir of Life, and even bring people back from the dead.

The last use was the primary reason why the stone was so highly sought after. Imagine bringing back your loved ones or friends, it was against the rules of the world. The stone also had the capability to vary between how it brought the dead back.

For example, you could bring your family and friends back easily and without consequence but you could also bring back your enemies as zombies or slaves. The stone had the power to imprint a soul brand on the revival subject if the owner so chooses to use it.

Imagine that, an army of zombie slaves. That was the reason the stone was destroyed in the first place. It was deemed far too dangerous to be kept by anyone. Power and Greed could turn even the most faithful monk into a demon.

The original Philosopher's stone was an artifact made from the earth. Impossible to re-create. The replica maker must have found a shard of the original and used his own means to re-create his own Philosopher's stone. Surely he was hunted down when people found out, though, Cross wasn't sure if anybody still knew the original Philosopher's stone, but he was sure that the replica didn't even have a fraction of the original power of the original.

A while later

Cross walked the hallways, going back to his room to sleep before leaving tomorrow to go back home. Surprisingly nothing happened during today.

Dinner was fine, Cross paid attention to everyone and found that other than Hermione and Daphne, nobody was even paying attention to him. Which made him happy, it seemed like the obliviate decision was the right one!

Gryffindor won the house cup and the entirety of Slytherin was enraged. Gryffindor had gone from last place to first and won the house cup right out from under them. The only one who didn't really care at all, was Cross. He was confused as to why everyone else did, but he kept the act and cursed just like everyone else.

The next day

Cross got all his stuff and boarded the train back, Draco was still angry next to him. Cross looked at him and said "Why does the house cup mean so much to you?" Draco said "It's the house cup! What do you mean?!"

Cross shook his head and sat in a train cart as he said "You realize that all you get is your banners hung in the dining hall and an announcement, right? What's the appeal? Is this exciting? Are there other rewards?" Draco was unable to reply, it was indeed just that.

Cross shook his head again and added "Is there really a need to get so riled up? Its like you were going to die if you didn't get the house cup..." he looked at Draco and frowned. Cross reached out his hand and touched Draco's forehead.

Cross' eyes opened wide in shock and he pulled back, looking at Draco with a frown. Draco was confused and said "What?" Cross shushed him and spread out his strings, covering the entire room, blocking the door and windows.

There were no wards, charms, or spells. He even checked for living creatures, not a single one.

Cross grabbed Draco's head and said in Elven "Cleanse!" a green aura shrouded Draco and wiped away all the harmful intruders in his mind, Cross kept checking and found another one he shouted angrily in Elven "Ultimate purge of the Divine Tree!"

A gold aura swept through Draco's entire body, getting rid of every charm, spell, ward, etc. Cross closed his eyes and said again "Nature's Protection." putting the barrier back in place.

Cross leaned back and took his strings back, Draco blinked and said "What happened?" Cross said seriously "All my barriers were broken." Draco trembled and said "How is that possible!?" Cross shook his head and said "Who have to been with since I put it up."

Draco thought for a moment and said "You, Daphne, the MUDBLOOD, Potter, Weasley, Snape, Hagrid, McGonagall, Filtch, and my parents." Cross said seriously "If it has only been these people then one of them has to be the one to destroy the barrier. We can rule out the first years, Filtch, and Hagrid. The rest are suspects."

Draco said "Even my parents?!" Cross nodded and said "Even them. Perhaps, they did in fact do it. If you saw a barrier on your child and didn't know where it was from, would you let it be?" Draco shook his head and Cross nodded again as he said "Exactly, perhaps the intent is not malicious but the effect afterwards harmed you."

Draco was silent for a moment before saying "What about this time, if it was my parents then they would just find out again. If it happens twice it's a problem." Cross snapped his fingers and they glowed white, he tapped on Draco's forehead and said "I hid it. Only you and me can see it now. Do not! Under any circumstances mention that it was me who helped you. This will put you and me both in extreme danger, understand?"

Draco nodded seriously, he was still curious about Cross and asked "Are you like a House-Elf or something?" Cross shook his head and said "It's better if you don't know. Maybe you will find out in the future, for now focus on keeping your mind secure. I have no idea if the person who took down the barrier has read your mind. If they did, we may have a problem."

Draco got super serious and nodded. Cross nodded and laid back, letting out a breath as he said "Good to be going home..."