I would say that people would miss them. People they went to school with. Obviously James and Sirius(Im guessing here since James and Sirius did everything together) were close to them. Neville, the grandmother, their teachers.

If your going with the idea someone will need. I would venture to say that in most case's the people it would be worth using it on would not be allowed to escape.

 

Next time you want to insult someone, I advise checking your own posts bullshit meter.

As Sesc said, as the war progresses, what if someone say Dumbledore was critically wounded, and frankly, he is worth far more than some old forgotten ex auror.

Both of them were apparently aurors, who were beaten by a group of... 3 death eaters, I recall (Crouch Jr. and both Lestranges, but thats off the top of my head) in their own home, on their ground, wards should of easily provided enough warning. I'm not convinced to their competence. However, since we will not ever know the exact circumstances of it occurring, all this speculation is just us talking out of our ass. Myself included. So instead, lets pursue another course of debate.

To paraphrase Mrs. Flamel from the last chapter of Lie, she doesn't even know if it will work. Actually, here is the exact quote.

She doesn't even know if it will work on one person, even with the full dose, OR if it will actually last, will said person require continuous doses like the Flamels did to live? How much of a waste of the last existing dose of the Elixir of Life would it be, if it failed to cure either of them? Its a hope, that is all.

Another argument. Both Alice and Frank were quite clearly in love. How happy do you think either of them are going to be, being brought back, but not the other. Having your partner insane lying insane in St. Mungo's. I sure as fuck know that I wouldn't want to be brought back if my wife/love/parter would forever be a vegetable in a mental ward. Would you like to be woken to a world like that? Especially if they were brought back to fight. Of course the answer to this one is Neville. But then again, while he would be happy to have even one of his parents back, how would you feel as Neville, if you knew that your friend decided to bring back one of your parents, instead of the other? Also figure in the fact that the potion may not be permanent. How would it feel to get your father or mother back for 6 months, then have them go insane again. Seriously, I can't think of anything worse to happen to the poor kid.

And finally, an experienced ally? The only person in the world who could possibly match Lord Voldemort for power is Albus Dumbledore and eventually HJ. Killing Death Eaters is easy. HJ can do it, so can other aurors. No, the main threat is Voldemort. Either HJ could get injured, or perhaps Dumbledore. Either way, those two lives are by far the most important in the upcoming struggle. Everyone else is expendable, especially 2 people who have been insane for the past 13 years.

No, the only reason to bring back either Alice or Frank would be sentimental reasons. Which, I can perfectly understand the reasoning for, even though i'd pursue a different course of action.

Next time you want to insult someone, at least find someone who is spouting stupid shit, because this shit just made you look retarded.

Edit: Ragon - Yes, I agree. James and Sirius would definitely be happy to see Frank or Alice again, but, they have already gotten over the loss. Its in the past. People in the future could definitely use it more.

 

Even if Frank or Alice do wake up, they are not going to be much help. They would need to train up again like Sirus. They were in a little room doing nothing but eating, and sleeping.
Plus with the potion its not a 100% fix-all. Its been 12/13 years. They might have amnesia. It could fix the brain but not all of who they were would still be there.

 

Thanks for all the feedback.

As for saving it, yeah he could have. Dumbledore even pointed out that he could have done it. He may be wishing he had it before the end of the story. The big thing is he had it in his hands at that moment and made a choice to roll the dice.

I figured that it would spark a bit of debate which is always cool. Really, this was just kind of a sidebar adventure. The original outline of the chapter was pretty spartan. The confrontation between HJ and Lupin didn't feel like it was centerstage enough. The bedside chat with Fleur and then Aimee didn't reach centerstage level either.

After a time, I thought about the Flamel's. What if he was given a dose of the Elixir? What would he do?

Since I'm still trying to develop as a writer, I also wanted to try writing some drama and see how well I can do it at this stage and give HJ a dilemma. The drama worked for most, but didn't for others. Maybe in a year or two I'll look back and see how I could have pulled it off better.

 

Yeah, I have no issues with what HJ is done, sure, there are better options in that regard, I was just merely pointing out what was happening from my PoV.

Jbern, what is the romance part of this fic going to be like? I mean, frankly, the H/Susan in TFTCD came across as very forced to me. I didn't care about either of them, and it just got boring. You pull off the H/L drama in Bungle and TML very well, but i can't see that relationship going anywhere soon.

Just wondering what you are considering, as if you just suddenly had them get together and it be all happy in paradise, it would get boring fast. It seems to be coming to its conclusion, but I hope that you don't just make it all bland. Romance seems to be one of the hardest things for most writers to write. In that regard ,I think both Shezza and Nonjon do a good job of avoiding the ties, by just writing the 'chase' so to speak, but finish the story as they actually get together, etc etc.

I guess i am kinda rambling now, but just curious as to where you are thinking of taking it.

 

Whether or not it was the most logical thing to do, it seems like it just...fits.

Harry would have probably run back and used it on Aimee, feeling guilty that she got injured and even though she would heal anyway, he would consider that the most at-the-moment best thing to do.

James I'm guessing probably would have kept it.

HJ falls kinda in the middle, kinda outside the box entirely.

 

Something in particular that I liked about the latest chapter was Dumbledore's characterization of Nicholas Flamel as, well... kind of a dick.

Not something we see a lot of. When somebody writes about the Flamels, which is rarely, it's pretty much universally positive. But what would living for 500 years (or whatever his count is) do to change a person? I could definitely see it resulting in someone looking down on regular humans, like Dumbledore suggests Flamel did.

 

I would of thought that HJ would of opted to give the elixir to Albus in the hopes that despite his stated limitation in the field of Alchemy, eventually a reproduction of the stone could have been produced. Then no choice would have had to be made regarding who was to come back, a few years tops to have ground work on it finished besides even if one of them is to come back they're not going to be going gung-ho with a wand anytime soon, thats taking into consideration that they're magic is still efficiently usable after 13 years of inactivity.

Anyway good chapter Jbern, as always a joy to read. Out of curiosity how many more chapters are we all looking at?

 

Unless I'm forgetting and jbern has told us that the 'original' PS was in fact a fake, then I don't see this making any sense. Dumbledore had possession of the stone for an entire year - if he thought he could reverse engineer the process, and wanted to do so, he would have done it then. Anyway, it seems like trying to reverse engineer a chicken from scrambled eggs.

 

Hmm, right now I'm wondering who or what are the organizators of the tournament going to hide away in the lake from all of the competitors.

 

Given Albus was forced to swear at least one oath relating to the stone it would seem logical that he could have been forced to swear others. Dumbledore himself also mentions that they should keep a piece of the potion to study it so as to recreate it. Obviously he would not need a piece of the potion to study if he had been given free reign to study the Stone itself and had failed.

 

I don't think Dumbledore says for sure that he'll be able to recreate the Elixir of Life, but it wouldn't hurt to try reverse-engineering a tiny sample of it. And like Immolo said, I'm sure that Nicholas Flamel required multiple, probably very strict oaths on Albus' part before relinquishing the stone.

 

If that's the case though, then surely that prevents him from dicking around with it, even now.

 

All we know is that Nicholas Flamel made Albus swear not to use the stone for his own purposes while it was in his posession. That's only the stone. I didn't see anything regarding experimenting with an Elixer of Life vial. It could've been part of the Oath, but until jbern says anything, it's all speculation.

Would the Oath run out when Flamel died? Or when the Stone was destroyed/given back?

 

Just to offer another POV - Dumbledore said in the canon that both Harry and Neville was possible candidates because their parents defied Voldie 3 times - makes them no slouches in the magical department themselves... And its something that HJ knows of via JP's memories.

But I won't deny that he might be in it for other sentimental reasons. Jim's got the final say on that, I guess. But HJ seems to be trying to become more decisive and less maudlin on the past, and if that's a leadership trial then I'll say its a good test on his character.

The issue of the time limits on the potion is dicey for decision making I guess, but my interpretation is that the "worse" case is a few years and the best case is no relapse.

 

It depends how we define 'defied' too be honest.

When Voldemort came alone to Godric's Hollow, and dueled James and Lily, we get the impression that he had no issues defeating both James or Lily. I think by 'defied', the prophecy means something else.

 

Maybe defied means firing curses at the Dark Lord and apparating away before he AKs back? Or badmouthing him at the local pub and running away thereafter?
I guess we'll never find out the meaning.
But JP was defending the house, thus making him vulnerable. That's partially why he was at a disadvantage. Or maybe its too crowded to dodge. Or because Voldie was attacking him and him alone?

EDIT: After thinking about it, I do believe it was more sentimental, since I felt that his words to Perenelle was "I have two friends....[know of two people]", which most likely suggests that he was thinking with his heart than logic.

Although I thinking putting too much thoughts into has-beens and what-nots is seriously a time-wasting... Should probably go back to my thesis dissertation.

 

Oooh, thesis dissertation? What on?

Either way, I agree on some points but disagree on others. What I disagree on mainly is the fact that since JP is defending his house, he has lots of things going for him, the least being wards. No, I think Voldemort was FAR superior to JP.

 

I'm wondering how precise a 'dose' of the Elixir of Life is, whether its something like 'a decanter full' or if it's measured down to the magical world's equivalent of a mL. Since you can't halve the dose and keep it effective enough (to restore a Longbottom at least), how much can you shave off of the dose before it starts losing potency? I'd laugh my ass off if those 'last few drops' that Dumbledore wants to reverse engineer are the difference between a permanent and a temporary cure. That actually seems like a viable possibility to me as well, given that they aren't sure whether a full dose will be enough for a permanent cure to begin with.


Only vaguely related, but what happens if you cut Elixir with unicorn blood? If Elixir really negates the curse it seems like you could get a bit more mileage out of a single dose by throwing a bit of unicorn blood in. Actually, given the little fear of Dumbledore's that the Elixir could be deceptively easy to make, I can't help but wonder whether the Stone is, in reality, simply a countercurse for unicorn blood. Dunno if it'll come up in Lie, but I'd love to see that subplot used intelligently somewhere.

 

Topic on Fuzzy Controls. Meh. Makes my head fuzzy.
I don't deny that Voldie is way more powerful, since people like Filius [was he a dueling champion in canon?] and Minerva stood no chance when they fought him in Book 7, even fighting in groups. But perhaps he may be portrayed in the same light as Moody, who died fighting in Book 7? Moody was good, was reasonably prepared [Constant Vigilance!] but it was just his luck that Voldie was there.
If I recall, JP was cursing his luck about having to fight Voldie and not his flunkies in the story.
Being prepared was one thing, but having to be a fight in a immobile position to protect the rearguard kinda puts you at a disadvantage too.

Having said that, I can only conclude the possibilities are limitless. Thus why we're debating, aren't we?

P.S: I almost forgot what I was arguing about in the first place.