In an Alternate Universe

Chapter 35 ~ A Suitable Place

After hustling a ready-to-cuddle Severus out of her bathroom and bedroom (which
took a bit of doing and a couple of threats), Hermione dressed, feeling relaxed
and actually in a fairly decent mood. She was going to Knockturn Alley today to
haggle with the apothecary over some rare potions ingredients she had ordered.
She ought to be able to knock the price down a few galleons.

In his room, Severus also got dressed, a smile plastered to his face as he
relived his first sexual shower experience over and over in his mind. His only
regret was that he didn’t attempt to use any Karma Sutra positions, but hell . .
. he wasn’t thinking. He was too busy doing.

The professor that is.

When they finished, she kicked him out, but it didn’t bother him. He was getting
used to her ways. Just because she kicked him to the castle curb didn’t mean she
didn’t enjoy their time together. The fact was the witch liked him, and that was
what he wanted all along. His ability to seduce her was proof of that fact. Now
he felt like a million galleons.

What was even better, he didn’t have to wait as long as he would have if she
were still under the Oath. Persuasion seemed to work much better than coercion.
He’d have to remember that.

He exited his bedroom just in time to see the wall slide down. Hermione had just
left. He waited a few minutes, just in case she returned for some reason. When
he was satisfied she was gone for good, he entered her bedroom and then the
bathroom, pulling out his wand as he approached the loo. He hadn’t used it,
instead pissing in a jar and scourgifying it. He didn’t want to mingle
ingredients.

He flicked his wand at the loo and a small covered jar appeared, filled with
Hermione’s “Golden Fluid,” commonly known as urine, or to the lowbrow . . .
piss, which was the Prima Materia necessary to create a Philosopher’s
Stone.

The process by which the stone is created is fairly simple but still
complicated. Everything that is needed is already contained in the human body
and accessible through processing the urine. There would have to be two separate
processings. The process which produced the White Earth and Oil, and then the
one that produced the Red Oil. Then these ingredients would be combined to create the Stone itself.

Producing the Red Earth was going to be rather nasty, since the urine had to be
allowed to putrefy. That’s what the young wizard found gross. Urine in itself
was a rather common potion ingredient, but it was usually fresh. Also, the urine
used to produce the Red Oil could only be subjected to moonlight. Daylight or
artificial light would ruin it.

Severus picked up the jar and studied its color. It was a rich yellow, most
likely because it was the first piss of the day and so more concentrated. He had
about the same amount of urine as he did Morning Dew. He could use this to make
a preliminary test.

He reduced the jar and placed it in his pocket, then returned to his room and
retrieved Flamel’s notes and the jar of dew, also reducing those and pocketing
them. Then he left the dungeon area and had a quick breakfast with Ron and Harry
before excusing himself and telling the pair he had brewing to do.

They were far more understanding this time.

The Gryffindor took the shifting stairwell up to the second level and began
looking for a particular door. The one that led to the Room of Requirement. It
had provided him a safe haven to test his brewing adaptations. He was sure it
could provide him cover for creating the stone. After about an hour of searching
he located the door. It opened and he stepped through. There was nothing in the
room.

It was waiting.

Neville had discovered the secret to using the ROR to its fullest capabilities.
One had to tell it exactly what was needed and either it would provide the
scenario, or lead one to a place that would provide it. Severus wasn’t sure what
would happen as he explained what he needed to the remarkable room.

”Um, I need a lab with equipment to complete a very special and secretive
project. I am creating a Philosopher’s Stone, or hope to create one. I think I
am going to need two areas, one that only provides moonlight to see by. It has
to be powerfully hidden because I don’t want to be discovered. Can you do that?”
he asked the room, feeling a bit unsettled at addressing it as if it were alive
and could understand him.

Severus stood there, waiting for several minutes as the room processed his
request. Suddenly there was a white flash on the far wall, then a white
rectangular box appeared, transforming into a wooden door, the wood rather rough
and faded. The pewter knob formed the snarling face of a demon. Severus walked
up to the door and looked at the knob, not sure if he wanted to know what was
behind it. But the room produced it. It wouldn’t produce anything that would
harm him.

At least, that’s what he believed.

Slowly Severus placed his hand on the knob and opened the door, seeing only
blackness. As he peered inside, suddenly there was a roar and the wizard was
sucked inside, the door slamming shut behind him and vanishing.

Severus yelled as he was drawn through utter darkness, feeling a great, pulsing
pressure on all sides of him, and then the kind of space-bending tightening that
occurred during Apparition. He couldn’t breath!

Suddenly, the pressure ceased and he dropped to the ground, landing on his feet.
Gasping and trying to calm his racing heart, the Gryffindor straightened and
drew his wand, holding it out defensively before him as he looked at his
surroundings. His mouth dropped open. It appeared he was in a cave, a cave that
had once served as a laboratory. Torches burned in the wall and there were
counters and equipment, covered in cobwebs and dust, though the quality of the
air seemed fine. Slowly he walked over to a glass distiller, studying the
dust-covered tubing. On the floor were all types of cauldrons, bowls, jars,
mortars and pestles. Symbols were etched in the stone walls and there was
another door.

Severus cautiously opened it, and found himself in another room. It was pitch
black. Cautiously he lit his wand and saw this room was similarly filled with
counters and equipment. The walls here however, were completely mirrored and
there were no sconces for torches. The slight glow of his wand tip was amplified
greatly. A wooden lever rested next to the door. Severus grasped it with one
hand and pulled, changing its position. A terrible grating noise sounded and
Severus looked up to see the stone ceiling sliding back, letting in . . .
moonlight. He blinked at the opening and around the room.

It was brightly lit.

”Wow,” he breathed, then pushed the lever down and the opening noisily closed.

”What is this place?” he wondered, exiting the Moon room and walking into the
other. He looked around and saw a piece of parchment on the table, covered in
dust. It was yellowed and obviously very old, too old to pick up. It seemed to
have been torn out of a book. He carefully used his wand to remove some of the
dust and read what was written on the parchment:



December 14th, 1438

Gustav Meyrink and I have had a falling out, he wanting to add a foreign
substance to the urine because it precipitates as a white salt at the bottom.
But pure human aggregate is best in my opinion. He doesn’t agree and seeks to
put man’s knowledge ahead of that of the universe’s endless store of
understanding. I have created this place to work alone. Due to irreconcilable
differences, it’s best Gustav go his way and I go mine. I know I have uncovered
the secret to the Stone ~ Nicholas Flamel



Severus stared at the date of the entry. Obviously, Mr. Flamel did uncover the
secret, considering it was now the twentieth century and he’d just gotten around
to dying.

”The laboratory of Nicholas Flamel,” he breathed in wonder.

Then the wizard set about cleaning up and making it presentable. The ROR had
certainly come through.

***************************************

After about three hours, Severus had the lab cleaned and ready for business. He
took out the parchments, the morning dew and the urine, resizing them and
studying Flamel’s notes. They were simple enough. He focused on the initial
instructions

The Prime Materia or First Matter for the stone is a mercurial-sulfur
everyone possesses in abundance, regard merely as waste - Urine.

Dilute the urine by adding twice its volume of pure distilled morning dew water.
Any water will do, but pure distilled Morning Dew will help produce more oil.


Never add more fresh liquid after the first day has passed.

You must let it putrefy for 2 weeks and separate out the clear oil and white
earth.

The white earth is ammonium nitrate and phosphate compounds. The urea breaks
down and becomes ammonia, then bacteria converts the ammonia into nitrates.


Severus quickly set up the distillery and added the morning dew, watching it
carefully as it circulated through the distiller. He would be using only a bit
of Hermione’s urine and carefully measured out a third of it. When the morning
dew was ready, he also measured that, adding twice as much water as there was
urine. Now he had to let it putrefy for two weeks. He carefully covered it and
walked over to a cabinet in the wall. It was dark and cool. He set the solution
inside and closed the door, slipping the eyehook into the catch.

He sighed as he looked at the cabinet. He had to wait now to see if the urine
separated into the necessary components. He was also going to need much more
urine from Hermione.

Which meant he was going to have to find a way to make her pee more and in
greater volume.

Gods, this was going to be dangerous.

He cleaned up his work space, then took a few turns around the lab, wondering
how he was going to get back to Hogwarts. As soon as he did, a door appeared in
the wall. It was the same door, with the snarling demon doorknob. Severus
blinked at it. Soaring through the darkness wasn’t a very pleasant feeling, but
if that were the only way he would be able to work, he’d have to handle it.
Pocketing his wand securely, the Gryffindor took a deep breath and opened the
door.

He was unceremoniously sucked through.

************************************

His hair wind-swept and appearance disheveled, Severus was returned to the ROR,
his heart pounding in his chest. He was going to have to get used to that mode
of travel. Maybe taking a Calming draught beforehand would help.

He straightened himself out, then exited the ROR, satisfied with his work up
until now. It would be a lot messier the next time, when he had to separate the
ingredients. He’d need a mask and gloves to handle the rancid urine. He hoped
the oil would form. According to Flamel, it didn’t always appear, in which case
the process would have to be started again. Severus planned to have several jars
carefully dated and putrefying. In this manner he had a better chance of
success.

Flamel also wrote that he could use plain water, but morning dew would produce
more oil, and the oil was important to future processing. Well, his next visit,
he would work on producing the red oil. Apparently, the Red Earth was created
from the morning dew itself. That was the only external ingredient.

As Severus walked back to the dungeons, he couldn’t help but think how ingenious
the creation of the Stone was. No wonder not many wizards could create it. It
was just . . . too simple. It seemed Gustav was of the mind that more than
smelly piss was needed to make a Stone. Using urine certainly did sound like
quackery. Perhaps that’s why it remained a secret, because the complicated route
was the route most people took.

Severus had believed that lives had to be taken to create the Stone. He was
quite relieved that wasn’t the case or he wouldn’t have dared try to recreate
it. Now, if he had been a Slytherin, there might have been a few missing persons
in the Wizarding World. But, he was Gryffindor through and through.

One driven by Love.

He was sure the stone would be the answer to permanently acquiring what he
desired most in the world.

The snarky Potions mistress.

He returned to the dungeons and took out his Advanced Potions book, studying the
next brewing. He’d have to start transcribing it too. Professor Granger would
need it to present to the Headmaster.

He rose and headed for the labs. It was time to get to work.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.