Echoes of Another Age

Chapter 3: Echoes of Another Age Harry Potter was ten years old when the memory truly began. Not a dream. Not a flash. Not one of the strange fragments that had been haunting him for years. A memory. Complete. Living. Waiting. --- Rain tapped softly against his bedroom window. The house was quiet. Dudley had gone home hours ago after an afternoon spent arguing about whether dragons or dinosaurs were cooler. Harry lay awake beneath his blankets staring at the darkness. Sleep refused to come. Something felt different tonight. Heavy. Like a door slowly opening somewhere deep inside his mind. He could almost hear it. A distant click. Then another. Then— The world vanished. --- Harry stood on a dirt road. Not watching. Not remembering. Standing. Breathing. Living it. The sensation was so real that for a moment he forgot entirely who he was. The air smelled different. Wood smoke. Rain. Horse dung. Old earth. No cars. No electricity. No distant hum of modern life. Only wilderness. Harry looked down. His hands were larger. Older. Calloused. A wand rested beneath a worn travelling cloak. A sword hung at his side. Not decorative. Used. His heartbeat accelerated. Because he knew immediately what this was. A memory. One of his old lives. One of the centuries he had forgotten. The realization barely had time to settle before someone shouted. "OY!" The voice boomed across the forest. Trees shook. Birds exploded from branches. Harry turned. Something enormous burst through the undergrowth. Branches snapped. Bushes flattened. A giant figure stumbled into the road carrying what appeared to be half a tree over one shoulder. Then the giant tripped. Spectacularly. Harry barely managed to step aside before several hundred pounds of half-grown giant crashed into the mud. The ground trembled. Silence followed. The giant groaned. "...Ow." Harry blinked. Then laughed. --- The giant sat up. He looked about fifteen or sixteen. Perhaps younger. Enormous by human standards. Already over nine feet tall. His shaggy black hair covered half his face. Mud coated his coat. Broken branches hung from his beard. The tree was still somehow balanced on his shoulder. For several seconds neither spoke. Then the giant sighed. "That could've gone better." Harry laughed harder. The giant looked offended. "It weren't funny." "It absolutely was." "It weren't." "You fell over a tree while carrying another tree." The giant considered this. "...Fair point." --- The moment Harry saw him properly, recognition hit like lightning. Not from the memory. From the future. From another life. Hagrid. A much younger Hagrid. Decades younger. No beard reaching his waist. No giant umbrella. No pink umbrella wand hidden inside. Just a frightened boy pretending to be a man. And looking utterly lost. Harry suddenly remembered. This was shortly after the Chamber of Secrets. Shortly after Hogwarts had expelled him. Shortly after Tom Riddle had destroyed his future. Forty years before Harry's current life. --- Young Hagrid climbed awkwardly to his feet. He brushed mud from his coat. Mostly succeeding in spreading it around. Harry watched quietly. Something felt wrong. Not with the memory. With Hagrid. The giant carried himself like someone expecting stones to be thrown. Like someone accustomed to people looking away. Harry knew that feeling. He had seen it before. In war veterans. In broken men. In children abandoned by the world. The look of someone who no longer believed they belonged anywhere. Hagrid noticed him studying. His shoulders immediately tensed. "Look, if yer gonna call the Ministry, I ain't done nothin'." Harry blinked. "What?" "The last bloke threatened ter call the Ministry." "Why?" Hagrid looked genuinely confused. "'Cause I'm me." Harry stared. Then understanding dawned. Expelled. Accused. Half-giant. Alone. The wizarding world had already decided what Hagrid was. A problem. Not a person. Something unpleasant twisted inside Harry's chest. --- "What happened?" Harry asked. Hagrid's expression closed instantly. "Nothin'." "What happened?" "Nothin'." Harry folded his arms. The giant looked away. Harry waited. One minute. Two. Three. Eventually Hagrid muttered, "Got thrown out." "Hogwarts?" The giant froze. Slowly he nodded. Harry already knew. But memory required its own path. Its own rhythm. So he asked anyway. "Why?" Hagrid stared at the road. For a long time he said nothing. Then: "They think I did it." The words came out small. Broken. Nothing like the booming voice Harry remembered. "They think I opened the Chamber." Rain fell softly around them. Harry felt anger stir. Not the hot anger of youth. The cold anger of age. The anger of a man who knew exactly who had truly been responsible. Tom Riddle. Even then. Even at sixteen. Already becoming a monster. Already destroying lives. --- "And did you?" Harry asked. Hagrid looked horrified. "No!" The answer came instantly. Without hesitation. Without thought. Pure truth. Harry smiled. "I didn't think so." The reaction was immediate. Hagrid stared. Completely stunned. "What?" "I said I didn't think so." The giant blinked. "But..." He looked genuinely confused. "Yer don't know me." "No." "Then why'd yer believe me?" Harry considered the question. Then shrugged. "Because innocent people always sound like that." Hagrid opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. No words came out. For perhaps the first time since his expulsion, someone had believed him immediately. Without demanding proof. Without suspicion. Without judgment. Just belief. Harry saw the exact moment something changed. A tiny crack forming in a wall of loneliness. --- Eventually Hagrid cleared his throat. "Ain't many people think that." "Their loss." Another stunned silence. Then— Unexpectedly— The giant laughed. It was awkward. Rusty. Like he hadn't done it in weeks. But it was real. Harry felt oddly proud. --- "Name's Hagrid," the giant said. Harry smiled. "I know." Hagrid frowned. "What?" Harry immediately realized his mistake. Right. Memory. Careful. "I had a feeling." Hagrid looked suspicious. Then shrugged. Fair enough. "What about yerself?" Harry looked down the road stretching into the distance. A younger version of himself. A wandering alchemist. Several centuries old. Still learning. Still searching. Still trying to become the man he would one day be. Then he looked back at the lonely giant standing in the rain. "My name is Harry." Hagrid froze. For a second something strange passed across his face. Recognition. Not of Harry. Of the name. As if fate itself had paused to listen. Neither understood why. Not yet. --- The rain grew heavier. Thunder rolled somewhere far away. Hagrid adjusted the tree on his shoulder. "So..." He looked uncertain. "Which way're yer headed?" Harry smiled. The memory around him sharpened. Expanded. The road stretching onward. The forest waiting. The beginning of something important. Something that would change both their lives. "That depends," Harry said. "On what?" Harry glanced at the giant. Then at the road. Then back again. "How do you feel about company?" For a moment Hagrid simply stared. As if nobody had asked him that question in a very long time. Then, slowly— Very slowly— He smiled. And the memory moved forward. --- The rain continued for another hour. Neither Harry nor Hagrid seemed particularly bothered by it. The giant trudged along the road carrying his tree. Harry walked beside him beneath a weathered travelling cloak. From a distance they made a strange sight. A centuries-old alchemist trapped inside a memory. And a half-giant boy whose life had just fallen apart. --- For a while neither spoke. Not because conversation had ended. Because both were thinking. Hagrid kept glancing sideways. As if expecting Harry to disappear. Or reveal some hidden reason for being kind. Harry recognized the behavior immediately. Distrust born from disappointment. The sort that only came after repeated betrayal. The sort that took time to heal. --- Eventually Harry broke the silence. "So where are you going?" Hagrid shrugged. "No idea." That answer carried far more weight than the words themselves. Harry looked up. "No idea?" "Nah." The giant kicked a stone off the road. "It don't matter much." Harry didn't like that answer. Not because it was wrong. Because Hagrid believed it. --- "What about your family?" Harry asked. The reaction was immediate. Pain flashed across Hagrid's face. Gone almost instantly. But Harry saw it. Family. Another wound. --- "Dad's dead." The words came quietly. "Sorry." Hagrid shrugged again. Trying very hard to pretend it didn't matter. It mattered. A great deal. Harry knew enough of Hagrid's history to understand. His mother had abandoned him. His father had died. Now Hogwarts had thrown him away. One loss might break a person. Three could leave them drifting. --- "Any friends?" Hagrid laughed. A bitter sound. "After gettin' expelled?" Harry nodded slowly. Fair point. --- The road curved through dense woodland. Ancient trees towered overhead. Rain dripped from branches. The forest felt old. The sort of place where magic gathered naturally. Harry enjoyed places like that. Always had. Even before becoming the Flamels' apprentice. Even before centuries of wandering. Magic had a voice. Most people never learned to hear it. Harry had spent lifetimes listening. --- "Yer a wizard then?" Hagrid suddenly asked. Harry smiled. "That obvious?" "A bloke carryin' a wand in the middle o' nowhere?" "Fair." "And yer don't walk like a Muggle." Harry glanced sideways. "What does that mean?" Hagrid thought about it. Then pointed vaguely. "Yer notice stuff." Harry blinked. That was surprisingly perceptive. --- "Most folk walk through forests," Hagrid explained. "Yer walk like yer listenin' ter it." The statement caught Harry off guard. Because it was true. Entirely true. --- The giant scratched his beard. "Ain't many wizards do that." Harry felt something warm settle inside him. For perhaps the first time since meeting, Hagrid wasn't looking at him as a stranger. He was looking at him as an equal. --- "You're observant." Hagrid snorted. "Nobody's ever said that before." "They should." --- The giant looked suspicious. Again. Harry was beginning to find it amusing. Hagrid clearly expected mockery whenever somebody complimented him. As though kindness itself seemed suspicious. That realization made Harry unexpectedly angry. Not at Hagrid. At the world. --- They continued walking. Hours passed. The rain finally stopped. Sunlight broke through grey clouds. Steam rose from wet earth. Birdsong slowly returned. The forest seemed to breathe again. --- Then Hagrid stopped. Abruptly. Without warning. --- "What?" The giant pointed. "Trouble." Harry followed the gesture. Ahead, the road narrowed beside a rocky hillside. Three men blocked the path. Dirty. Armed. Unpleasant. The sort of people who measured strangers by the contents of their pockets. --- Bandits. Or the magical equivalent. Harry couldn't tell yet. --- The largest stepped forward. "Afternoon." Nobody ever began with "afternoon" when they intended something pleasant. Harry had learned that centuries ago. --- The man's eyes moved immediately to Hagrid. Disgust appeared. Then fear. Then calculation. --- "What've we got here?" The second man laughed. "A giant." "Half-giant," Hagrid muttered. The correction did not help. --- Harry watched quietly. Observing. Listening. The way Nicolas had taught him. People always revealed themselves if given enough time. --- The leader smiled. A terrible smile. "We're collecting tolls." "No road toll here," Harry replied. The man's smile widened. "There is now." --- Hagrid shifted uneasily. Not afraid. Ashamed. Harry recognized that too. The giant expected trouble to become his fault. Even when it wasn't. --- The leader pointed. "Leave the pack." Harry sighed. The conversation had reached its predictable conclusion. --- "No." The man blinked. "No?" "No." --- Silence. --- Then Hagrid surprised everyone. Including himself. --- "No." All heads turned. The giant swallowed. Then straightened slightly. "No, he said." The words sounded uncertain. But they existed. And that mattered. --- Harry glanced sideways. Interesting. Very interesting. --- The bandits chose violence. Predictably. --- The wand came up. A curse began forming. --- It never finished. --- Hagrid moved. --- For somebody his size, he moved astonishingly fast. One enormous hand grabbed the attacker's wrist. The wand flew into nearby bushes. The man screamed. --- The second bandit charged. A terrible decision. --- The tree Hagrid had been carrying all day finally became relevant. --- THUMP. --- The bandit landed in a ditch. --- The third fled immediately. Possibly the smartest decision made all afternoon. --- Silence returned. --- The remaining two scrambled away. Covered in mud. Bruised. Humiliated. --- Hagrid stared after them. Breathing heavily. The tree still rested in his hands. --- Then he looked at Harry. "Huh." "Huh?" "I won." Harry nodded. "You did." --- The giant continued staring. As though the concept required verification. --- "I actually won." "You are carrying a tree." "Oh." Hagrid considered that. "Right." --- Then something wonderful happened. --- He laughed. --- Not the small awkward laugh from earlier. Not the nervous chuckle of somebody trying to fit in. A real laugh. Loud. Joyful. Unrestrained. The sound echoed through the forest. Birds fled again. --- Harry found himself laughing too. --- For several minutes neither could stop. --- Eventually Hagrid wiped tears from his eyes. "That was brilliant." "It really was." --- The giant looked different now. Still sad. Still lost. Still wounded. But not defeated. Not quite. --- A tiny spark had returned. The belief that maybe he wasn't powerless. Maybe he wasn't broken. Maybe the world hadn't ended when Hogwarts threw him away. --- Harry knew that spark. He had spent centuries protecting sparks exactly like it. --- They resumed walking. The sun slowly descended. Golden light filtered through the trees. Long shadows stretched across the road. --- "Harry?" "Yes?" --- Hagrid hesitated. --- "Thanks." The word came quietly. Honestly. --- Harry looked ahead. Toward the setting sun. Toward the road still stretching beyond sight. Toward a future neither of them fully understood. --- Then he smiled. --- "For what?" --- Hagrid thought for several seconds. --- Finally he answered. --- "Believin' me." --- Harry felt something tighten in his chest. Because he knew what the future held. He knew Hagrid would spend decades being underestimated. Mocked. Ignored. Used. Yet still choose kindness. Still choose loyalty. Still choose love. --- Very few people managed that. --- "You made it easy," Harry said. --- The giant grinned. And together they continued down the road. Toward a distant village. Toward supper. Toward the next chapter of a friendship that would echo across lifetimes. --- Far away, in the present, ten-year-old Harry shifted in his sleep. The memory continued unfolding. Growing clearer. Deeper. More complete. --- And somewhere beyond the next bend in that ancient road waited a creature that would change everything. A creature only Hagrid could save. And only Harry could understand. --- The village turned out to be smaller than expected. A handful of stone cottages stood around a muddy square. Smoke drifted from chimneys. Children played near a well. A pair of old witches argued loudly over the price of onions. To most travelers it would have looked unremarkable. To Hagrid, it looked welcoming. To Harry, it looked temporary. Because the memory was pulling them onward. Toward something important. --- They spent the evening in a small inn. Hagrid consumed enough food to alarm the owner. Harry suspected the giant had not eaten properly for days. Neither mentioned it. --- The next morning they resumed their journey. The road soon gave way to rough hills and scattered woodland. By noon they heard it. A cry. High-pitched. Pained. Afraid. --- Hagrid stopped instantly. “Did yer hear that?” Harry nodded. Another cry echoed through the trees. The giant was already moving. --- Branches snapped beneath his enormous boots. Harry followed. The sound led them into a narrow ravine hidden between rocky slopes. There they found the source. --- A small creature lay trapped beneath fallen stones. It was no larger than a dog. Covered in silver scales. Two folded wings trembled weakly against its sides. Golden eyes stared up in terror. --- “A dragon,” Hagrid whispered. The wonder in his voice was unmistakable. --- Not fear. Not caution. Wonder. Pure and immediate. --- Harry smiled. Some things never changed. --- The hatchling growled. A tiny puff of smoke escaped its nostrils. The effect would have been intimidating if it hadn't immediately sneezed afterward. --- Hagrid's face lit up. “It sneezed.” “Yes.” “It sneezed smoke.” “Yes.” “It’s brilliant.” Harry laughed. --- The dragon tried to pull itself free. Pain immediately followed. One wing had been injured. The creature whimpered. --- Hagrid's smile vanished. “Poor thing.” The giant carefully knelt beside it. Slowly. Patiently. Allowing the frightened hatchling to see every movement. --- The dragon snapped at him. Its tiny teeth failed to reach his hand. --- “That’s alright,” Hagrid said softly. “Nobody likes bein’ hurt.” --- Harry watched quietly. The moment felt important. Not because of the dragon. Because of Hagrid. --- This was who he truly was. Not a failed student. Not an expelled wizard. Not a half-giant. A caretaker. A protector. Someone who loved magical creatures so completely that fear barely entered the equation. --- The hatchling relaxed first. Just a little. Enough. --- Together they lifted the fallen stones. The dragon cried out once. Then stumbled free. --- Its injured wing dragged behind it. The creature could barely walk. --- “We can’t leave it.” The statement emerged from Hagrid instantly. As though there had never been another possibility. --- Harry nodded. “I know.” --- The giant carefully scooped the hatchling into his arms. The dragon protested briefly. Then curled against his chest. --- “See?” Hagrid said proudly. “It likes me.” “It tolerated you.” “Same thing.” “It really isn't.” --- Hagrid ignored him. --- The rest of the day became a search. Somewhere nearby had to be a nesting ground. A mother dragon. A hidden sanctuary. Something. --- Hours passed. The sun slowly descended. Still nothing. --- Eventually Harry discovered the problem. The hatchling wasn't lost. It had been abandoned. --- A deformity twisted part of the damaged wing. Nothing severe. Nothing life-threatening. But enough. --- Nature could be cruel. --- When Harry explained, Hagrid fell silent. The dragon slept against his shoulder. --- “They left it?” “Yes.” --- The giant looked down at the sleeping creature. For a moment Harry saw old wounds reopening. --- Abandoned. Rejected. Cast aside. --- The similarities weren't difficult to spot. --- “They shouldn't've.” “No.” “They should've kept it.” “Yes.” --- Hagrid stared at the horizon. --- “Everyone deserves someone.” The words came quietly. Almost too quietly to hear. --- Harry felt a strange ache in his chest. Because forty years later, Hagrid would still believe that. Despite everything. Despite everyone who failed him. --- The giant looked at the hatchling again. Then straightened. Decision made. --- “I’m keepin’ it.” --- Harry laughed. Of course he was. --- “You have nowhere to live.” “I’ll figure somethin’ out.” “You have no money.” “I'll figure somethin’ out.” “You were expelled less than a month ago.” “I’ll figure somethin’ out.” --- Harry shook his head. --- The remarkable thing wasn't that Hagrid had no plan. The remarkable thing was that somehow those plans usually worked. --- Night settled around them. A campfire crackled beneath the stars. The hatchling slept between them. --- For the first time since Harry met him, Hagrid looked peaceful. Not happy. Not completely. But better. --- The giant stared into the flames. “Harry?” “Yes?” --- “D’yer think things get better?” --- The question hung in the darkness. --- Harry knew the answer. He had lived it. Seen it. Watched Hagrid become gamekeeper. Friend. Hero. Family. --- But memory had rules. He couldn't reveal everything. --- So he answered simply. --- “Yes.” --- Hagrid looked up. “Really?” --- Harry smiled. --- “Really.” --- The giant nodded slowly. As though storing those words away for later. For difficult days. For lonely years. --- Above them, stars filled the sky. Ancient. Patient. Watching. --- And far away in the future, ten-year-old Harry slept on Privet Drive while another forgotten door opened inside his mind. The memory was not finished. Not yet. Because tomorrow they would meet a wizard who would offer Hagrid a chance to start over. A chance neither of them would ever forget. --- The morning arrived wrapped in mist. Harry awoke before sunrise. For a moment he forgot where he was. The campfire had burned down to glowing embers. The forest stood silent around them. And beside the fire lay a sleeping dragon hatchling. The memory settled back into place. Across from him, Hagrid snored loud enough to frighten nearby wildlife. Harry smiled. Some things truly never changed. --- The hatchling woke first. Golden eyes blinked open. It immediately attempted to bite Harry's boot. The effort lacked conviction. The creature was mostly hungry. --- “Good morning to you too.” The dragon sneezed smoke. --- Several minutes later Hagrid woke. The giant sat upright suddenly. Looked around. Spotted the dragon. And grinned. --- “Oh right.” Harry laughed. “You forgot?” “Only fer a second.” --- The hatchling climbed into Hagrid's lap. The giant looked absurdly pleased. As though someone had handed him the greatest treasure in the world. Perhaps they had. --- Breakfast consisted of bread, cheese, and several fish Hagrid caught from a nearby stream. The dragon ate most of them. --- “It's got an appetite.” “It's a dragon.” “Fair point.” --- Shortly before noon they heard hoofbeats. Not horses. Something larger. More deliberate. --- Harry looked up immediately. The memory around him sharpened. This was the moment. The reason the memory had surfaced. The reason fate had chosen this particular story. --- A tall wizard emerged from the mist. Silver hair. Long beard. Blue robes. Ancient eyes filled with kindness and calculation. --- Albus Dumbledore. Not yet Headmaster. Not yet legend. But already extraordinary. --- Young Hagrid froze. --- “Professor?” The word escaped like a prayer. --- Harry watched carefully. Because now he understood. This was the day. The day everything changed. --- Dumbledore dismounted gracefully. His gaze moved from Harry to Hagrid. Then to the dragon. --- One eyebrow rose. --- “Interesting.” --- Hagrid immediately began talking. Very quickly. Very loudly. And not particularly coherently. --- “We found it and it were hurt and I weren't stealin' it and I know dragons ain't allowed but—” --- “Rubeus.” --- Silence. --- Dumbledore smiled gently. --- “Breathe.” --- Hagrid obeyed. --- The older wizard crouched beside the hatchling. The dragon sniffed his beard. Then sneezed. --- Harry fought laughter. Dumbledore looked mildly offended. --- “Thank you.” --- The dragon appeared proud of itself. --- For several minutes Dumbledore examined the damaged wing. His expression softened. --- “A difficult life awaits this one.” --- “Yeah,” Hagrid whispered. --- The answer carried more meaning than intended. --- Dumbledore noticed. Of course he noticed. He always noticed. --- The older wizard stood. His attention settled fully upon Hagrid. --- “Walk with me.” --- They moved a short distance away. Not far enough. Harry could still hear. The memory wanted him to hear. --- For a long time neither spoke. Then Dumbledore asked: --- “Have you decided what comes next?” --- Hagrid looked down. --- “No, sir.” --- “Do you wish to?” --- The giant hesitated. --- “Yes.” --- “Good.” --- Hagrid blinked. --- That was all. Just one word. Good. --- Yet Harry watched the impact land. Like sunlight breaking through clouds. --- Because everybody else had treated Hagrid's expulsion as the end of his story. Dumbledore treated it as a chapter. Nothing more. --- “You made mistakes,” Dumbledore continued. “You also showed courage.” --- Hagrid stared. --- “Nobody's said that.” --- “Then they were blind.” --- The answer came instantly. Without hesitation. Without doubt. --- Harry smiled. The same thing he had done yesterday. The same thing Hagrid needed. Someone believing in him. --- Dumbledore glanced briefly toward Harry. Their eyes met. --- For one impossible second, Harry felt as though the old wizard saw far more than he should. Saw the centuries hidden behind younger eyes. Saw the traveler walking through memory. Saw everything. --- Then the moment passed. --- Perhaps it had never happened at all. --- Dumbledore returned his attention to Hagrid. --- “I have spoken with Professor Dippet.” --- The giant held his breath. --- “There may be a position available at Hogwarts.” --- Silence. --- Complete silence. --- Then: --- “At Hogwarts?” --- “Yes.” --- The giant's voice cracked. --- “But they threw me out.” --- “Yes.” --- “But... Hogwarts?” --- “Yes.” --- The word became a lifeline. --- A home. A future. A second chance. --- Tears filled Hagrid's eyes. --- He looked away immediately. Trying to hide them. --- Harry pretended not to notice. Dumbledore did the same. --- Some kindnesses required discretion. --- The conversation lasted another hour. Details. Arrangements. Possibilities. Hope. --- By the end, Hagrid stood taller. Not physically. Spiritually. --- The defeated boy Harry met on the road was gone. Not healed. Not entirely. But recovering. --- A beginning. --- Before leaving, Dumbledore approached Harry. --- “Thank you.” --- Harry blinked. --- “For what?” --- The old wizard smiled. --- “For being where you were needed.” --- A chill ran down Harry's spine. --- Because somehow that answer felt directed beyond the memory. Beyond the moment. Beyond time itself. --- Then Dumbledore mounted his horse. --- Hagrid gathered the dragon. --- And the future shifted. --- Harry watched them go. The giant laughing. The hatchling squeaking. Hope returning one step at a time. --- The memory finally began to fade. --- Colors blurred. Voices echoed. The forest dissolved. --- Harry reached instinctively toward the scene. Toward Hagrid. Toward a friendship that had survived lifetimes. --- Then darkness returned. --- And Harry Potter woke. --- Rain tapped against his bedroom window. Number Four Privet Drive sat silent beneath the night sky. For several seconds he lay perfectly still. Breathing. Thinking. Remembering. --- The memory remained. Every detail. Every word. Every feeling. --- Not a dream. Not imagination. Memory. --- Real. --- Harry sat upright. His heart raced. His hands trembled. --- “Hagrid.” --- The name escaped before he could stop it. --- Somewhere deep within his sealed memories, ancient doors continued opening. Slowly. Patiently. Inevitably. --- He remembered now. Not everything. Not yet. But enough. Enough to know who Hagrid truly was. Enough to know why the giant mattered. Enough to know that his former life was waiting. Watching. Returning. --- Outside, thunder rolled across distant clouds. Inside, Harry stared into the darkness. --- And for the first time since the memories began, he wanted more. --- Because somewhere inside the centuries he had forgotten were answers. About himself. About the Flamels. About the Eternal Stone. And about the destiny still approaching. --- The Child of Eternity had taken another step toward awakening. And the journey was only beginning.