" Knowledge is a weapon. How come are you defenseless?" Harry gestured at the shirt. "I mean you and Tante Nell have had centuries to acquire your knowledge, no one else has a chance."
They all laughed and Nic said, "You have a point."
After breakfast they opened presents, most of which were Harry's from his friends. Most were candy or books or art related gifts but there were a couple of surprises. One that had arrived by a decrepit owl one had been a hand knit sweater in green that was accompanied by some homemade fudge that came from the Weasleys. The second which must have been snuck into the other gifts when he was packing was a practice snitch from Draco Malfoy. Harry was shocked to receive a gift from his fellow Slytherin especially when he knew the cost of the item. The Flamels appreciated the mead Harry had brought them, and Harry appreciated the journal they had gotten him to record the things he learned over the next year. After the presents the Flamels and Harry went to the kitchen where they worked together on a Christmas dinner of foie gras and truffle appetizer, roast goose with chestnut stuffing, potato gratin, pureed carrot and parsnips, peas, a spinach salad that had berries and a stilton cheese that served as a cheese course and a Yule log dessert.
Harry had his doubts about the appetizer but discovered that fresh seared foie gras served with black truffle, and a sprig of fresh marjoram on a wholegrain cracker was actually very good. Nic and Nell also opened various wines with each course and encouraged Harry to develop his palette for wine. He only had a taste of each wine they served, and by the end of dinner he had a better understanding of some wines.
The day after Christmas Harry resumed his studies with zest. As Harry read the books on wand lore he learned about how winning a wand in a duel won the loyalty of that wand to the victorious wizard or witch. But in this, as in all aspects of magic, intent counted. A wand won in a friendly match would stay true to its owner, but one won in a duel of intent would transfer its allegiance.
In reading the books on wand lore he found that every wood was associated with an element, which endowed the wand with certain characteristics that in turn strengthened the casters ability to do magic. Some woods were considered masculine, others feminine. He found mention of why wands with more than one wood had metal and stone as part of the wand. While a stone on a normal wand was merely decorative, one on a wand with more than one wood acted as a ground, preventing the magic of the woods from burning out the wand.
Harry went through and identified the traits of the woods of his wand, Maple was considered a masculine wood of the earth element and symbolic of life. Elder was also masculine, but it was of fire and symbolic of death but also of rebirth. Ebony was a feminine wood of water and symbolized darkness of night and the casting off of evil. Cedar the final wood in his wand was also feminine of air and symbolized life and light in the midst of darkness.
Harry read about wand cores quickly because there was no mention of snow phoenixes. Then he moved onto the book about the elemental wand from India. That wand had belonged to a powerful witch. She had been married to a prince and she used her magic to protect and defend his kingdom. Considering that kingdom had been the wealthiest she'd had her work cut out for her. All the woods in her wand had been feminine: ash, cherry, lilac and purpleheart. Harry didn't understand the significance of the fact her wand was grounded by a star sapphire and copper wire. The details about what spells the witch did, were sketchy as best, much to his disappointment, so after returning his current materials to the bin that would put them back he investigated metals and gems and elemental magic.
His search led him to discover that the sapphire was a gem that lent itself to spiritual awareness and that copper was highly conductive but only resonated on certain frequency. He found that his own silver wire was loosely connected to the moon but also that it meant purity and light, his aquamarine was supposed to endow him with courage, foresight and happiness. Harry couldn't help but notice the thematic trend of his wand. He wondered about the balances that existed in it and what it meant for him.
That night over dinner he and the Flamels discussed light and dark magic, wine, and what spells were on the vault and Harry extracted a promise that they would teach him a light spell before he returned to England in a week.
Two days later they went to Paris for an overnight. Their first day Nic and Nell showed Harry where to find the French Ministry and then they took him to Rue de Magie Paris's equivalent to Diagon Alley. They went to Faubourg Saint Honoré and Montmartre for shopping the next day. Harry got Nell the scarf he planned as well as one that would be a birthday gift for Petunia. He also found the fabric stores of Montmartre wonderful and couldn't resist browsing through them. He found some fabulous fabric on sale and wound up spending all the francs he had in his pockets.
Nic couldn't resist, "Harry, you shop like my wife. Are you sure you're a boy?"
Perenelle noticed Harry stiffen slightly, before he replied, "I am an artist. Color, texture, the feel of things are hard for me to resist. As to shopping I learned at an early age to like it when I went with my aunt."