And here's the twelfth chapter, folks!

* Review Response:
lordamnesia, well, canon Bane is an ass, so it's only natural he attracts stuff like this in fanfiction. Seriously, I don't think he will be teased much - at least, within his earshot - as he's one of the stronger centaurs and not many want to be on his side.
ultima-owner, well, animal bones got to be some of the oldest magical implements used by humans, so... And it's not like Harry and Zero currently have access to other, better materials. That said, the final version of the Cartridge System made by Zero will be using a slightly different substance for its core, and the real Cartridge System produced by TSAB will use entirely synthetic materials.
Jostanos, Ranmaleopard, Pushi19, themadmartian, thank you for your reviews, folks!
The Ultimate Balance Chaos, between Eclipse Factor's effects on one's mind and Harry having to survive entirely on his own on the streets for a few months, I don't think it's actually very surprising that he is so nonchalant about using parts of the dead animal to make his own life slightly better.
nkh1, can she now?

* AN: I'm quite aware that this chapter is lacking both in size and in content, but this is the best I managed to come up with under the writer's block currently plaguing me. At least, I have some substantial ideas for the next couple of chapter, so, hopefully, they will be better than this (short) mess.

Disclaimer: "Harry Potter" and "Mahou Shoujou Lyrical Nanoha" belong to their respective owners. No profit is being made. The same goes for any other media that might be used as the sources of ideas and inspiration.

"speaking"
"telepathy"
「Devices speaking」
'thinking'
"spells"

Additional Disclaimer: The authors of this story in no way approve murder as a solution to interpersonal conflicts.

Power of Eclipse
Chapter XII: Winter Holidays

As it turned out, the boar's tusk could indeed be used for the core of a makeshift Cartridge System. It was far from the best possible material for that, though: its energy density for mana wasn't all that great, and it also 'leaked', albeit slowly. A cartridge made from it will have to be massive, both in size and weight, to store any meaningful amount of mana. Zero estimated that they'll need no less than sixty pounds of Iron Boar tusks to store the mana needed to power a Dimensional Transfer jump to the nearest known inhabited world. A better alternative would be much preferred, and the silver-haired Strosek supposed that body parts of different, more Magical, beasts might work better.

Harry agreed that it was a reasonable idea but, unfortunately, further exploration of the Forbidden Forest would have to wait until after the school resumed for the spring semester. The end-of-semester exams he was facing right now were exhausting, left him with neither spirit nor strength for an endeavor like that, and with only a handful students remaining at Hogwarts for the holidays, it looked like will be much more difficult for him to sneak past the staff on patrols, especially if he was bringing any 'trophies' into the castle.

Hell, the young Eclipse Driver wasn't even sure he'll be able to go on 'normal' hunts to keep his Eclipse-induced bloodlush in check during the holidays. That certainly didn't make him happy, but he was pretty sure that with most people out of the castle and no classes to attend he'll make it through the holidays without any major incidents.

And while he was dealing with his exams, Zero began working on reinventing the Mana Discharger Mechanism, arguably the most important component of the Cartridge System - cartridges, after all, would be rather useless if mana stored in them couldn't be extracted on demand. And, hopefully, whatever design she'll come up with will be mostly or completely independent of the material used to store mana as the cartridge's core.

Her progress was pretty slow so far, but that was to be expected given how her knowledge about the Cartridge System was limited to just the principles it functioned on. Still, the silver-haired Strosek was quite confident that she will have a working prototype in a couple of months. And should she succeed in this endeavor, then her Lord's dream of visiting the Administered Worlds will become a reality as soon as this next summer.

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Harry would definitely be lying through his teeth if he said that he didn't enjoy the food at the Christmas feast. That said, these festivities weren't anything truly meaningful for him as he had never had a chance to properly celebrate Christmas before. He still wished Zero a Merry Christmas as he went to bed that night, and she wished him one too in return.

When Harry passed through the common room the next morning, he noticed a small package, supposedly addressed to him, lying under the Christmas tree. Now, that was quite unexpected. After all, he certainly wasn't popular with his housemates. Or students from the other houses. Or the staff… In other words, the green-eyed Driver had no idea, who this package was from. The only thing he could be sure of, it wasn't from Zero: his Strosek would've given any gifts to him directly.

Confident that his powers will protect him from any damage, should this 'gift' turn out to be a trap, Harry gave in to his curiosity and picked up the parcel. Removing the colorful wrapping paper, he saw that the mysterious gift was nothing more than a small package of assorted Magical sweets. But who could have sent him these?

Decided that solving this mystery can wait, the green-eyed youth stuffed the package into a pocket and continued on his way to the Great Hall. There was a breakfast waiting for him there!

Having nothing better to do that morning, Harry retreated to an out-of-the-way abandoned classroom he had stumbled upon earlier this month and set about some workout. It might not be the best way to keep his Eclipse-induced lust for battle in check, but it was still better than nothing. That, and exercising like this helped him stay in shape, so there were no cons to it.

Having not bothered with keeping the track of time, Harry kept working out well into the afternoon. The lunch was long over by then. At least he still had that package of sweets with him - he'd rather not go hungry till dinner if he could help it. And so, he took those snacks out of his pocket and began eating.

After a few minutes, though, it became quite clear that a handful of cookies, no matter how good those were, wasn't going to cut it and he needed a real meal to sate his hunger. Perhaps, he should drop by the kitchens - he knew where those were, though he didn't particularly like that place: he found the house elves working there to be rather annoying in their helpfulness. Still...

A not-so-long walk later, Harry found himself standing in front of a painting that depicted a large bowl of fruit. After a moment of hesitations, he tickled the pear, making it giggle and turn into a door handle. Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves for what he knew was coming, he opened the door and stepped into the kitchens. Almost immediately, a house elf appeared in front of him.

"Young Master be coming to the kitchens." The creature spoke. "Did young Master like his Christmas cookies? We have more if young Master wants." So this is where his mysterious gift come from…

"You were the ones who put that package under the Christmas tree, weren't you?" Harry asked, seeking a confirmation to his guess. The elf nodded. "Why?"

"This be a Hogwarts tradition for many decades. We are to give some sweets to all children who get no gifts by the end of the night." Well, the green-eyed Driver thought, that was a pretty neat idea. He remembered Dudley mock him for not getting - it wasn't a nice feeling, and Harry was sure that being revealed as someone who didn't get any presents in front of all his classmates would only be worse.

"Thanks, I guess." He said.

"Young Master liked his gift." The elf beamed. "Mipsi be so happy! Would young Master like more Christmas cookies?"

"Yeah, If you have some left…" Harry said. Seeing the elves scramble to fetch him those, he quickly added: "But I actually came here because I missed lunch and would like something to eat. Do you have anything left?"

"Most certainly." Mipsi replied. "There is much food left from lunch. Young Master is free to eat as much as he wants." The elf said, gesturing towards a large pile food sitting on table in the corner of the kitchen. Harry nodded a thank you and moved to that table, eager to get to his meal. "Does young Master require anything else?" The elf asked next, oblivious to how the said 'young Master' believed their conversation to be over. It took Harry quite a bit of self-control to squash his annoyance and not lash out at the creature that was only trying to help him.

"No." He said in a low growl, making it clear that he didn't want to be disturbed in the immediate future. The elf gave him a quick bow, before disappearing towards the stoves on the other side of the cavernous room, thus letting the green-eyed Driver have his meal in peace.

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The next few days passed without anything really notable happening. Zero was working on developing the Mana Discharger Mechanism for the Cartridge System. Her progress so far was pretty slow, but the silver-haired Strosek was positive that she will be able to produce a working prototype by spring.

Harry wished he could help her some but, alas, he had absolutely no idea what she was doing. Thus, he spent his time alternating between just lazing around in the dormitory and doing working out in 'his' unused classroom-turned gymnasium…

A few days before the start of the spring semester, it got to the point where the young Driver felt like he would got to pieces the moment something annoyed him… And since he'd rather not be in such a state when the other students return from the holidays, a prompt visit to the Forbidden Forest was in order.

Slipping out of the castle wasn't especially difficult, though he had to dodge Mrs. Norris in the corridors. And then, once outside, he had to hide in the shadows for a short while as he waited for his head of the house to finish her conversation with Hagrid - something about plants from the forest for one of her classes… Once the adults finished talked and went on their ways, the green-eyed youth quickly crossed the grassland and disappeared into the Forbidden Forest.

The hunt itself also went pretty well: it took Harry just half an hour to find a strong, mean beastie to fight in the dark depth of the forest. Too bad, the creature he fought wasn't especially Magical and harvesting it for body parts wouldn't help Zero in her quest to reinvent the Cartridge System much if at all.

His battle-lust satisfied, the young Eclipse Driver headed back to the castle. And this time, thanks to the onset of the night, there was no one outdoors to see him walk out of the Forbidden Forest. Once inside, though, he almost immediately ran into a professor on patrol. Not feeling like hiding in the shadows till the man was gone, Harry took the 'scenic route' to the Hufflepuff dormitories instead. Alas, it looked like a good hunt was the extent of his good luck for tonight: he ran into yet another patrol as he was crossing the fourth floor. Deciding that he didn't want to deal with this professor either, he silently slipped into an unlocked room to his left.

Contrary to his expectations, the unused classroom wasn't devoid of any source of light. In its far corner there was a pair of everlasting torches, illuminating a strange mirror. Well, it probably was a mirror of some sort, but all that Harry could see was a mat surface that showed no reflection. He did notice his mana being drained though. Apparently, there was some Magic within this mirror, and it was trying to attach itself to him. Curious, he walked up to the ornate artifact.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi." He 'read' the inscription on the Mirror. This didn't sound like any proper language, but the green-eyed Eclipse Driver was nevertheless sure that it wasn't just a random nonsense. The mirror looked like too valuable an object to be defaced like that. He didn't get a change to think about it as the classroom's door opened.

"Mr. Potter." He heard the headmaster's voice say. "Aren't you supposed to be in the Hufflepuff dormitory right now? It's already past the curfew." Harry remained silent. "But worry not, my boy." The man continued in a jovial tone. "A little adventure never really hurt anyone. Still, this room isn't a place you should be in tonight, regardless of curfews."

"Why is that?" Harry asked.

"The Mirror of Erised is a very powerful and quite dangerous Magical artifact. It has a long history of causing wizards and witches waste away before itself, never knowing whether the images they saw are real or even possible. In reality, it shows one the deepest desires of his heart, and a few have gone mad from staring into the mirror for too long." The Hogwarts' Headmaster explained. Yes, Harry agreed silently, the artifact in front of him was a subtle and dangerous killer of minds - at least for those who didn't have the will (or Anti-Magic Field) to resist it… Meanwhile, Dumbledore continued: "The Mirror will be moved to new place tomorrow morning, and I will be very thankful if you don't go looking for it."

"I won't." The young Driver promised. As curious as he was about what he really wanted, he didn't want to risk exposing himself to the wicked Magics of the Mirror.

"Good." The Headmaster said. There was a rather long pause, before he suddenly asked: "Please forgive the old man, but I'm rather curious what someone ...special like you might see in this mirror."

"I don't see anything at all." Harry replied honestly. "My powers prevent whatever Magic that operate this mirror from working on me."

"I see..." The aged warlock said. "Anyhow." He continued after a moment or two of silence. "It's getting really late, Mr. Potter, and while there are no classes tomorrow, you still should retire for the night." Nodding silently, Harry followed the man's advice and left the classroom.

That's all, folks!
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