Nicholas shook his head and waved a hand in the air, "Okay look if we're going to talk, you can't take offense to every word out of my mouth. I am ancient by any standard you chose to set. I interact with people so rarely and have a habit of calling everyone things like that. Privilege of old age. Some day a long time from now you may have the chance to find out."
Harry snorted at that comment but made no reply.
Nicholas raised his eyebrow but let the snort pass. "Be that as it may, I will attempt not to do so in the future if it bothers you, Harry."
Harry hesitated before sighing a bit and shaking his head, realizing with some dread that he'd overreacted and the people in front of him had been very patient. "My apologies, I didn't mean to be so jumpy. Just… a bad history with that name. But yes, I prefer being addressed by my name."
Harry hesitated before tilting his head curiously. "You said you could tell me four things about me that you were absolutely sure about?"
Nicholas nodded, as Perenelle finally moved from the doorway to take another chair in the room. When she had made herself comfortable Nicholas finally spoke again. "I obviously can't give you the exact circumstances, however first I can tell you that despite your apparent youth at some point in your life you had a virulent and absolutely lethal poison injected into your body through a bite or a sting from a magical beast, though I'm not certain exactly what it was, possibly a cockatrice or a manticore."
Nicholas was watching Harry who couldn't keep the expression of surprise out of his face. Harry had expected Nicholas to tell him he had just been in battle, or that he had grown up some place specifically based on his accent. He had not expected that.
Seeing the surprise and taking it for affirmation Nicholas continued, "Secondly, the only thing that saved you from death by the poison was a phoenix. You were cured by undiluted and fresh phoenix tears gifted freely by a phoenix."
This time Harry's eyes were wide with shock as he stared into Nicholas' eyes, wondering how on earth he could have known that.
Nicholas smiled slightly at the expression on Harry's face before continuing once more "Thirdly, you have been exposed to powerful and direct soul magic somehow."
Harry imperceptibly nodded, as Nicholas seemed to have a book on his very life.
"Fourth and finally, at some point after all three of those events, you found yourself under great physical or emotional duress and did something similar to apparition, only you did it in a pillar of flames. Though for all I know your first time doing it may have been this evening."
"How do you know all of that?" Harry half asked, half demanded, too shocked to be threatened by the point by point exactness.
Nicholas chuckled softly. "I think I've answered several of your questions and points. Would you care to tell me what happened, so I know exactly how accurate my assessment was?"
Harry's mouth twitched a moment and despite himself he was forced to chuckle softly "Pretty damned. It was a ruddy big basilisk that bit me and a phoenix did save me."
Nicholas' and Perenelle's expressions were both full of surprise "You survived a basilisk? That's… a new one. How did you not get killed by its glare, if you don't mind me asking?"
Harry shrugged a little bit, "The same phoenix that cried into the wound had already clawed its eyes out."
Nicholas frowned a little bit, "And the exposure to soul magic?"
Harry hesitated a moment chewing on his lip. "Before I answer that, I'd like to know how you knew all of that about me." Harry knew that they couldn't have pieced together the information from the paper, or anything since he had barely been on this world for a day.
Perenelle laughed softly, though it wasn't a laugh filled with amusement, as she looked at Harry. "Because very similar circumstances occurred to me a very long time ago."
Harry tilted his head curiously as a frown of confusion crossed his face, not certain what that statement meant.
Nicholas leaned back in his chair watching Harry, he was content to let Perenelle fill in the details while he watched the young man's reactions. He was very intrigued at the moment. Harry displayed a high level of paranoia, and his mannerisms practically screamed that his life up till now had not been easy. What was most worrisome to Nicholas was that things about Harry just couldn't reconcile themselves with one another. He seemed young, though he seemed undersized so Nicholas mentally conceded that that might add to Harry's youth, however even setting that aside, Harry couldn't be more than 15 or 16 maximum.
Except Harry's eyes. They seemed to be very old eyes, like someone who had seen too much.
His reactions were also one of someone who expected everyone he encountered to screw him over. It made Nicholas wonder what sort of life the boy had up to now.
Perenelle began to speak, "A very long time ago, my exposure was to a manticore. I was the victim of its sting. I was healed from the brink of death by Phoenix tears. To this day I don't know why that phoenix chose to heal me."
Harry frowned, "Yes but how did you know it happened to me?"
Perenelle laughed a little bit, "Patience youn—Harry. I will get there. Just bear with me."
Once Harry nodded in acceptance, she continued. "Shortly thereafter my people, who while they were magic users in the most basic of standards, they were also an incredibly superstitious lot, they decided in the middle of a drought that the best way to end the drought was a sacrifice to the gods."
Harry raised his eyebrows in shock, but wisely kept quiet at this statement.