Perenelle smiled in approval of his silence before she chuckled, "They attempted a ritual they thought would offer my soul to the spirits of the weather in exchange for the end to the drought. It was an incredibly painful experience it felt like my mind was being pulled from my body but it was interrupted when Nicholas showed up. My hero." Nicholas snorted a little bit at that which drew Harry's attention but Pernelle continued as if she hadn't heard anything. "He showed up to save me. Though granted… he could have thought things through a little better. His escape plan got a little bit away from him."
Nicholas actually blushed and looked down, murmuring with playful grumpiness, "You'd think after all these years you'd let that go."
"Sweetheart, you decided to set fire to the meadow they were holding me in. Set fire to dry grass… in the middle of a drought." Perenelle said, laughter and affection in her voice. "Anyway, the villagers all fled the oncoming fire while Nicholas freed me. However by the time he freed me we were encircled by the fire."
"The flames had us trapped, however before they could consume us. I felt this build up inside me and suddenly I burst into flames and one moment we were there and the next we were miles away from the fire and our village." Perenelle met Harry's eyes evenly.
"Flaming." Harry stated needlessly.
Perenelle once more burst out into laughter while Nicholas scowled "That's what Perenelle calls it too!"
This time it was Perenelle who snorted, "You've yet to come up with a better name that isn't a mouth full. 'Incendiary apparition' is just annoying to say over and over."
Harry actually laughed a little bit at that before getting serious again. "How long ago was that?"
Perenelle and Nicholas exchanged a look that was far more sober than their amusement of a minute ago. "It was a very long time ago. However, that is how we found you. For those like us, we can… hear? Or perhaps sense is a better word. We can sense when someone else flames and with enough experience you can do a fairly good job of tracking it. It's like a beacon. Which is how we found you. "
Harry frowned a little bit and tilted his head as he tried to wrap his head around what they said. "So... how do you know one has to do with the other?"
Perenelle tilted her head curiously at that question. "Do you have another theory?"
Harry frowned a little bit, before shrugging, "I thought it had something to do with one of my animagus forms."
"Forms, plural? As in you have more than one animagus form? And at your age?" Nicholas asked, sitting forward with a surprised look on his face.
Harry looked back and forth between the two people staring at him before nodding reluctantly, "I'm older than I look. I have two forms. Yes I know. I'm a freak." He rolled his eyes slightly at the shock expressed on their face.
Nicholas voice was speculative, "Why would having two forms have anything to do with an ability to flame?"
But Perenelle's voice cut in before Harry could reply. "A phoenix…" She breathed deeply, her tone one of both shock and reverence. While Nicholas' expression was just one of shock.
Harry looked self-conscious at their appraisal after that announcement, but he nodded a little bit. "I took the potion and learned about my forms, almost a year after I learned to flame."
"There has only been three recorded magical animagi in history." Nicholas stated sounding thoughtful.
"What is your other form?" Pernelle asked eagerly.
Harry shifted a bit, nervously. "My other form isn't quite so amazing. It's a black panther. Nothing magical about it."
Harry was well aware of how rare it was for someone to have a magical animagus form. However he hadn't really thought about his animagus forms in quite awhile. When he was on the other world, his body had been too damaged for transforming to be of any use. Injuries didn't disappear when one shifted between forms. The panther was useless with one leg crippled. The phoenix form wasn't quite as hobbled with one leg crippled, it could still fly, though landing was a major problem. Only having one eye when he shifted also completely ruined any depth perception he had, and after experimenting and flying head first into the ground on more than one occasion, Harry had written it off.
Their expressions remained shocked, so Harry shrugged a little bit. "Like I said, that was my theory. I take it from your expressions that you do not have an animagus form?"
Perenelle shook her head. "Nicholas helped create the potion, but I don't have one and he believes his form is a fish, so he made no effort to actually change." She smirked a little bit at her husband at that statement. "He hates swimming."
"Maybe flaming is just something some people can do. It could be a magical gift like being a metamorphagus or something. That was the theory…" Harry cut himself off from adding his final words, but "that Hermione came up with." floated through his head all the same.
Nicholas nodded, a pleased smile on his face, wiping away the shock from Harry's revelations, and embarrassment from his wife. He was pleased that perhaps because of Despite his cautious nature, Harry didn't automatically accept an explanation without thinking of alternatives. "We have lived a long time, and it has only happened a handful of times. A grand total of six times in history, or rather seven times now if we include you. And each one has had the same three things in common."
Harry nodded thoughtfully "The poison, the fresh phoenix tears, and soul magic." Despite him still wondering if it might have something to do with his phoenix form, Harry couldn't deny the fact that the Flamels were easily able to pick out events in his life, merely because of one of his abilities. "Huh. No wonder Hermione could never do it." Harry murmured quietly, looking thoughtful.
Nicholas let Harry digest that for several minutes before he continued. "That combination seems to cause a change in people, causing several… effects. Some physical. Some not so much."