Ron was actually a fairly decent storyteller and had kept everyone entertained with a short story about his brother Charlie who was currently working in Romania with dragons. Everyone finished eating and went back to the Griffindor Tower in a much better mood then they had been when they had left. Harry opened the window when he entered the dorm room and went to his bed, opened his trunk, and took out the book on curses that Nevile had just returned.

Not long after that, Hedwig came in through the window with a whoosh. The others saw the large bags of owl treats and missed the package from the cauldron shop, both of which Harry tucked into his trunk. He thanked Hedwig again, gave her several treats, then told her that he would see her again tomorrow to send a letter. She hooted happily and left, which gave Ron an opportunity to see her swooping dive.

“Okay, yeah. That was cool.” Ron said as Harry shut the window. “Crazy, but cool.”

Harry chuckled. “She's the best.” He said and stretched as he faked a yawn. “I'm going to bed. I need to get up early in the morning.”

“Check your alarm.” Neville reminded him again.

Harry laughed as he checked it and it was set to the wrong time. “Thanks, Neville.”

Neville nodded and changed out of his robes and put on normal clothes. “I think I'll go help Hermione with her spell sorting.”

“I'll help!” Ron said and almost ran after him.

“She's not going to give you a galleon.” Neville warned him as they went down the stairs. Harry smiled as Ron protested that he wasn't doing it for the money, which made Neville laugh.

Harry climbed into bed and closed the curtain, then cast the silence spell and took out the cauldron order. He opened it and took out the five standard size two cauldrons and cancelled their shrinking spells. They popped back to their normal size and he set everything up with the philosopher's stone. He knew he needed to take his time and kept his wand handy, in case he needed the energize spell, and got to work.

He managed to convert two of the cauldrons to solid gold, with a short break in between, and felt very tired. He used the energize spell and waited for several minutes, then did another cauldron. He had to wait for nearly ten minutes before he felt ready to do the next one. He was a little shaky, so he knew he was taxing himself a bit too much. He did the fourth cauldron and a wave of sleepiness came over him.

Harry immediately cast the Energize spell and woke right up. He still felt weak, so he dug some food out of his trunk. He ate quite a bit before he felt good, which had taken a while, so he sat there and let it digest for a while more. Confident that he was okay, he used the stone on the last cauldron. To his surprise, it was a little bit easier. He hadn't noticed the change as he did the others because he did them so close together.

So, a longer break between lets me feel the difference if I'm doing multiples so close together. Harry thought. He ate some more, a little surprised that he didn't feel full after eating so much, and he waited. He knew the large cauldron might need a bit more concentration and magic to convert, since it was nearly twice the size of the cauldrons he had just converted.

He took the five solid gold cauldrons down into his trunk and put them on the bottom shelf, out of sight of the opening, and he went back up to look at the large one. He didn't have to use the energize spell on himself as he concentrated on changing it. He took several deep breaths and shared his magic with the stone, then let his magic cover the large cauldron. The conversion went exactly the same as it did for the smaller cauldrons and took the same amount of time.

Harry was surprised by this, because he thought that at twice the size, it would need more magic and take twice as long. Instead, it became solid gold just like the others. He looked at the stone as the glow faded and he smiled at it. He knew now that he could do what he wanted with it, so he wrapped it up and put it and the large cauldron into his trunk. He changed for bed, considering it was late, and he went to sleep with dreams of things to come. Things that he hoped no one would get angry at him for.

The alarm went off extra early and Harry woke up, grabbed his bath things, and took off to the closest bathroom. No one else was up, so he had the whole thing to himself. He didn't relax too much, though. He scrubbed properly and even used magic to help. He dried off and went back to the dorm, dressed for a day of magic, fun, and exhaustion.

The last thought made Harry chuckle, because he knew when Amelia got her hands on the book that he and Neville had scoured through for great spells, she would want to know what ones he could do and would ask him to perform them for her.

Harry wrote out a very important letter, one he had debated about sending for a while, then decided that it was the only proper thing to do. He sealed it and went to the window after casting a privacy curtain and silence. He wasn't surprised when Hedwig swooped over to him and landed on the window sill.

“This might take you a while to deliver, so I want you to be careful and rest when you can.” Harry said and put his arms around her to give her a very gentle hug.

“Hoot.” Hedwig said softly and he let her go, used his fingers to straighten her slightly ruffled feathers, then he gave her several owl treats.

“Please stay safe.” Harry said. “Do you want a Disillusionment charm?”

Hedwig shook her head from side to side.

Harry reached down to use his wand to carve her name onto the small pouch on her leg, then he handed her the letter. “I'll see you when you get back.”

Hedwig stared at him and gave him a long slow blink.

“I'm going to miss you, too.” Harry whispered and lightly touched her belly feathers.

Hedwig used both wingtips to touch his cheeks this time, then she turned around and dove from the window. It gave her a lot of speed and she shot up into the air like a rocket and quickly disappeared from sight.

Harry watched her for several minutes, then he dug into his trunk to put the things he would need on the top shelf, right by the lid of the trunk, and closed it. He picked it up and could barely contain his excitement as he left the dorm room. Barely anyone else was up this early, so he went down to the Entrance Hall and went out the large oak doors. He walked quickly down to the large iron gates and waited for Amelia to appear.

Barely ten minutes later, Amelia popped into existence and Harry did his best to not hop from foot to foot anxiously as she tapped the gates with her wand to open them.

“Good morn...” Amelia started to say as Harry pretty much lunged at her in his excitement.

“Hi!” Harry said and hugged her tightly. “Come on, let's go!”

Amelia chuckled and hugged him back. “I think someone's a little excited to get going.”

Harry nodded and the two of them walked a short distance away with their arms around each other, then Amelia caught her breath as Harry shared his magic with her for them to apparate.

It's stronger again. Amelia thought in surprise. It's only been a week! What has he been doing that he didn't put into the letter? She asked herself. “All right. Concentrate.” She said instead of what she was thinking, more for herself than for him. She calmed herself and cleared her mind, directed the magic properly, and covered them and the trunk with it. “One, two, three.”

They disappeared from there and reappeared inside the apparating room at the hospital. Harry turned and opened the door with his free hand, held it open with his foot, then took Amelia's hand and dragged her out of the room.

“Harry! What are you doing?” Amelia asked as she jogged to keep up with him.

“I don't want to run ahead and have to wait for you to catch up.” Harry said and had to let her hand go to open the door to the stairwell.

“What's got you all worked up?” Amelia asked as he took her hand again and dragged her into the stairwell.

“Hopefully something that will work so well that no one will understand what happened.” Harry said, almost with a laugh, and he ran up the stairs.

“You should slow down. Sirius isn't going anywhere.” Amelia said as she attempted to reason with him.

“If this works, he will be.” Harry said and he had to let her hand go again when they reached the third floor and opened the door. He slowed to a walk as he approached Room 303 and the door was open. He looked inside and Sirius was sitting up in the bed and had a big smile on his face.

“Harry, my boy!” Sirius said and waved. “Good morning!”

“Morning.” Harry said and entered the room. “Where's Healer Ela?”

“I finally convinced her that I wanted to try eating actual eggs for breakfast instead of that god-awful potion.” Sirius said and Amelia let out a chuckle. “I guess you've taken it, too.”

“I went through something that had me in here for a short visit, so I know what you're going through.” Amelia said.

“I know it's supposed to be healthy and all that; but, why couldn't they make it taste like fire whisky or even pumpkin juice?” Sirius shook his head. “We can do magic! Why does it have to taste so bad?”

“Maybe it's an exception to Gamp's law.” Harry said and both Sirius and Amelia laughed.

“More than likely.” Amelia said and gave Harry a squinted look. “I thought you were in a rush to get up here for some reason?”

“Oh! Right.” Harry said and put his trunk down. “I'm going to do something and show you something that I don't want you to get angry about.”

Amelia gave him an odd look. “Then why did you drag me up here to show me?”

“He doesn't want to hide it from you, obviously.” Sirius said, catching on right away.

“Why do you think I'll get angry?” Amelia asked.

“I don't know that you will, just that you might, especially when you see what it is.” Harry said. “Please, please don't be mad.”

Amelia let out a sigh. “I'll do my best to not get angry, no matter what you do.” She said. “I've been lenient with you so far, haven't I?”

“About what?” Sirius asked, curious.

“Destroying a ghost and apparating without a license and with a passenger.” Amelia said. “Me.”

“Harry!” Sirius said loudly. “You apparated?!?”

Harry nodded, his face red, and Sirius gave him a huge grin instead of a talking down.

“I should have known you'd be as ballsy as your mother!” Sirius exclaimed and then laughed. “Well, I'm convinced. Go ahead and show us this thing, whatever it is.”

Harry opened his trunk and took out a vial of red liquid and a small brown cloth wrapped bundle. He opened the cloth and both Amelia and Sirius took in sharp breaths at the bright red jewel in his hand that was the size of his palm.

“Blimey, Harry!” Sirius said. “Where in the hell...” He shook his head. “Never mind where you got it. Forget I asked. I assume that this thing is what Dumbledore lost and is looking for?”

Harry nodded.

“What is it?” Amelia asked.

Harry didn't want to say the name out loud, so he stepped close to Sirius. “This won't hurt.” He said and shared his magic with the stone to make it glow.

“Harry... what...” Amelia started to say.

“Hush, woman.” Sirius said. “Harry has to concentrate.”

Harry smiled at him and rested the glowing red stone against Sirius' forehead. He then shared his magic with Sirius, as if they were going to apparate. The man took in a quick breath at the strength of it, especially in comparison to his own weak and fractured magic. They were both surprised when they felt his magic react to the stone.

“What...” Sirus stopped talking and reached out to take Harry's free hand.

Harry felt Sirius try to help and he concentrated on what he needed the stone to do. He spoke the chant in his mind and mouthed the words, as if he was actually speaking it, and wished with all his might for it to work.

To their surprise, a ripple seemed to form on Sirius' forehead where the stone touched. It rolled out, like tossing a stone into a calm lake, and then another ripple formed and followed it. They went out and out, flowed down over him and as they watched in astonishment, the skin plumped out and the atrophied muscles grew. That was only on the surface and visible.

Inside him, the ripples fixed his partially failing organs, expanded his stomach out to the normal size, and repaired his damaged lungs from the lingering pneumonia that Sirius couldn't shake. All of his ailments faded as the ripples rolled through him and when they reached his magic, all of the ripples converged and folded into it to repair it.

Sirius put his free hand over his heart as he felt the magic inside of him be restored. The glow from the stone faded when its work was done and Amelia and Sirius stared at Harry.

“Drink this.” Harry said and handed him the vial of red liquid.

Sirius didn't hesitate as he popped the cork and upended it, drank it down, and smacked his lips. “Now that is a proper potion!” He said with a smile. “It didn't turn my stomach!”

Harry let out a laugh and relaxed, because in front of him was a completely healed man that looked healthy, happy, and energetic. The stone had worked!

There was a clatter behind them and the sound of a plate smashing, so they all turned to look at the door. Healer Ela stood there with a shocked expression on her face.

“Wh-what... what...”

Sirius pushed the blanket off and hopped out of bed, gave Harry a quick hug in thanks, then walked over to the healer. “Guess what my brilliant godson just did?”

Healer Ela took one long look at a completely restored Sirius and fainted.

Sirius barked a laugh as he easily caught her, then he carried her over to his bed. “I knew she was going to faint.”

“I'm pretty close myself.” Amelia said and waved a hand in front of her face.

Harry put the stone into a pocket and stepped close as he put his arms around her to hold her.

Amelia took several breaths and calmed down as she recovered. “Harry, you... do you know what this means?”

“It means Sirius isn't hurt anymore.” Harry said.

“Harry...” Amelia took another deep breath and let it out. “...this could change everything.”

“No, it can't.” Harry said and let her go. He went to the trunk and grabbed the other two vials. “I need your help.”

Amelia looked at Sirius and saw him tending to the healer.

“I'll stay here with her.” Sirius said and waved for Amelia to go. “Help Harry in whatever he wants to do.”

Amelia nodded and left the room with Harry right behind her.