Harry's eyes sharpened as he fixed on Nicholas at that statement. "What do you mean? What other changes does it cause?"
Once again Harry watched Nicholas and Perenelle exchange a look, though to Harry's experienced eye it seemed to be more of a "proceed carefully" look than anything else.
Nicholas nodded slowly, "Forgive the temporary rudeness of answering a question with a question. Tell me Harry, what do you know about us? I mean about the Flamel's specifically."
Harry frowned at the sudden shift of topic but nodded slowly, "I know you're older than 600 years old. Nicholas worked with Dumbledore on the twelve uses for dragon blood. Nicholas invented the philosopher's stone. Did you get stung before or after you he invented the philosopher's stone?" Harry managed to keep most of the disgust regarding Dumbledore out of his curiously as he tried to recall anything else that had to do with the Flamel's.
Nicholas chuckled softly and leaned back in his chair, "Someone knows their chocolate frog cards." He hadn't missed the slight drop in Harry's voice when he mentioned Dumbledore's name and that caused at least one raised eyebrow.
Harry blushed a little bit at the comment but didn't deny it.
Perenelle's expression however was more serious as she regarded Harry. "Harry, Nicholas invented the philosopher's stone in the 14th century, and was the result of a long time of hard work. Of… over a dozen centuries of research and experimentation done almost exclusively by Nicholas."
"With a great deal of help of help from my wife!" Nicholas interjected quickly, a comment that earned him a small smile from his wife and an expression of confusion on Harry's face.
Harry frowned as doubt spread across his features, "How could you have done it almost all alone if it took centuries?"
This time Nicholas' expression was serious as he replied "Harry, going by the current calendar, Perenelle and I have been around since almost 3000 B.C."
Harry blinked.
And blinked again.
"I'm sorry… what?" Harry asked, his expression blank.
"Perenelle and I have been around since almost 3000 B.C." Nicholas reiterated, watching as Harry just sat there looking stunned.
After doing some not so quick math in his head, and then repeating the process twice to make sure the ridiculousness he was contemplating was accurate, "You're 5,000 years old?!"
Nicholas nodded but Perenelle shook her head and added almost primly, "Not quite, I just celebrated my 4991st birthday during the past summer solstice. We didn't keep the current calendar back then, so a general celebration on the summer solstice if you were born in the first half of the year, and a celebration on the winter solstice if you were born in the second half of the year."
Harry just looked back and forth between the two of them, doubt spreading across his face as he contemplated the ridiculousness of it.
Almost reading his mind, Perenelle pulled out her wand again with a sigh, "I swear on my life that I have spoken nothing but the truth to the best of my knowledge since I last cross the threshold and entered this room." The magical flare of the spell's white tendrils sliding over her body caused Harry's eyes to widen again.
"How are you still alive?" Harry asked bluntly after several seconds of silence.
Perenelle frowned and tilted her head, "Because I haven't lied to you, I really am over 4 thousand years old."
Harry shook his head quickly. "That's not what I meant. I meant how are you not dead if you're that old and Nicholas didn't invent the philosopher's stone until the 14th century?"
Perenelle met Harry's incredulous expression evenly. "Like I said, the rather exotic combination of a lethal poison of a manticore, the fresh tears of a phoenix who chose to give me his tears to save my life and an exposure to soul magic. That combination makes me functionally immortal."
Harry frowned, doubt battling the words they were telling him in his mind, despite Perenelle's oath. Finally Harry's eyes narrowed and turned to Nicholas "If the events are so rare, how did they happen to both of you?"
Nicholas and Perenelle exchanged a glance again and this time Nicholas spoke up. "They didn't happen to me." Nicholas immediately held up a hand to forestall any follow-up from Harry. "Before you ask me ever so subtly why I am not dead, let us explain."
Harry nodded, and shifted, wincing slightly from the throbbing pain in his shoulder but at the moment he had more important things to focus on.
Perenelle spoke up this time. "That's magic. Those three elements changed me., and I had Nicholas as my husband, or my mate if you prefer. It affected my magic. My magic had never what you might call powerful. It still isn't, but it became wild… volatile. It required rigid control at all times. If I lost control of my emotions, or my temper, my magic could lash out in the most uncontrollable of ways. Of course it then left me drained afterward."
Perenelle's voice became more and more solemn as she spoke. "It was completely unbalanced and it was dangerous to be around me for a few months. However, So my magic, even though relatively weak by some standards wasn't killing me, it was searching for balance. Nicholas and I loved one another and he tried to calm me one of the times my magic was lashing out. Unexpectedly it bonded the two of us. Nicholas was my balance."
Perenelle shrugged a little bit and spread her hands. "I call it balance, a bond, but call it what you wish. The other half of me, a soul mate, whatever. It's something we've seen in at least three of the other times we have encountered someone who experienced the same circumstances. They find one or more compatible partners around whom their magic settles, forming a bond quite similar to mine. Or perhaps magic itself works to balance the equation by drawing them together. We're not sure. But once we both accepted it, we became bonded in the most permanent way imaginable."
Nicholas nodded in agreement with a small laugh. "Divorce is not an option."