The next morning they all sat around the expanded table, as Dumbledore read the paper. 'SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP' was certainly a bold headline, especially when combined with the large picture of the dark mark in the night sky.
"Rita blames the ministry it seems, as if there was anything they could've done to prevent it." Dumbledore tutted, passing the newspaper down to Nicolas.
"Your ministry won't be happy… I know the French ministry is out for blood, I suspect the Bulgarian ministry isn't happy either… Now Rita is trying to get the public angry. Knowing Fudge, he's probably going to do something drastic." Nicolas pointed out as he read.
"If he is smart he won't, Horace managed to call in a few favours before he escaped to the states. They've been looking for any excuse to call a vote of no confidence, if it weren't for Lucius Malfoy and his minions then we would already have a new minister." Dumbledore said, a note of anger entering his voice.
"I doubt Fudge can be replaced, he's too important to the Rotfang Conspiracy." Xeno said, in a tone that was clearly meant to be wise.
"What Rotfang Conspiracy?" Lockhart asked, looking up from his latest fan-mail.
Almost as one, everyone else around the table groaned, while Xeno's eyes lit up. It hadn't taken long for Harry to realise Xeno and Luna didn't actually entirely believe in their more extreme conspiracies, they just enjoyed confusing people as a sort of prank.
"Well, now's as good a time as any. Your school letters arrived yesterday, but I felt it would be for the best if you didn't have to worry about them at the time."
Harry eagerly opened his letter, revealing two pieces of parchment. The first contained his grades from the end of year exams, while the second was the list of items he would need for the year.
"How did you do?" Nicolas asked, equally as eager.
"I got an Outstanding in; Arithmancy, charms, transfiguration, defence, runes, potions and divination. Exceeds Expectations in herbology and history of magic… although without Neville's help I would've probably failed herbology. Huh, I got an O+ in the defence practical but only an E in the written…" Harry couldn't hide the touch of disappointment within his voice, having expected to pass all his exams without any problems.
"At least you got disappointed on the mock exam and not the OWL's or NEWT's, of course, seven O's and two EE's are nothing to scoff at." Dumbledore pointed out kindly "And what about you, Luna?"
"Oh, I got an outstanding in astronomy and charms, E's in herbology, transfiguration, defence and potions." She replied simply, shrugging as if it wasn't any big deal.
"That's fantastic Luna!" Xeno cheered, planting a soft kiss on her forehead, causing the girl to smile brightly. Despite the happy scene, Harry felt a wave of sadness overcome him. He had gotten the better results and yet to him, Luna received the better reward.
It reminded him of all the times Dudley had been praised while he had been left to his room. He knew it wasn't fair to feel this way, everyone in the room clearly cared for him, but he couldn't help thinking that nothing had really changed. He was just expected to get on with it, to deal with things on his own.
"What subjects are you thinking of taking, Luna?" Nicolas asked cheerfully.
"Divination, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes."
"I'm going to write to Sirius, I need to fill him in on the world cup anyway." Harry said softly, leaving once Dumbledore nodded back, an easy smile on the man's face.
Upon reaching his room, he summoned a piece of muggle paper and his modified dictation quill. The quill would not only write down what he said like normal, it could also refill itself and would only write down what he personally said even if he was in a noisy room.
He activated the quill and set it upon the paper, then collapsed onto his bed and activated his privacy wards.
"Dear Sirius," he began "First, I should say that I am alive and well. The reason I say that is because the campsite we were staying in got attacked by Death Eaters, although luckily we got away before we got hurt. We even picked up Draco Malfoy and his friend Crabbe on the way out, suffice to say I didn't expect to see him.
"I also got to speak to my friend Dobby again, apparently he's been learning magic from a dryad of questionable origins. I'm ashamed to admit that I find myself scared of him sometimes, especially when I consider how much he has changed in the two years I have known him, in comparison I have changed very little.
"The main reason I wanted to write is because I find myself… confused. Today we (Me and Luna) received our grades, I got 7 O's and 2 EE's while Luna got 2's and 4 EE's. When Xenophilius heard Luna's grades he sounded thrilled, he even kissed her on the forehead.
"I should've been happy, and it's not like I want Luna to fail or anything, but I only felt sad. It reminded me of when I had to stay with the Dursley's and my cousin got rewarded all the time while I was always ignored, which is stupid because I know things are different now…
"Is it bad that I felt envious of Luna, when she has so little compared to me? I don't want to grow up to be bitter and jealous, like Professor Snape, but every so often I just can't help my feelings…
"Aside from that I'm doing well, although I find myself bored easily and can't wait to return to Hogwarts. I hope you're doing good too! From, Harry.
"Oh! P.S. Also, I just realised that in my haste to send you the necklace in our last letter, I forgot to tell you how it works.
"Basically, you put it around your neck and use a small firespell on the pendant, which will then completely change your appearance. No muggle or magical device will be able to see through it, although people like Moody will be able to realise you are wearing a disguise if they look too closely.
"As long as you don't do anything to draw attention to yourself (Which I know is difficult, given your stories from Hogwarts), you should be fine. To deactivate the necklace you need to use an ice spell on the pendant, you should be able to feel when it activates and deactivates."
Nodding to himself, Harry folded the paper into an envelope and gave it to Corvus the 2nd, who dutifully tucked it into his magically expanded internal pouch. Then, with a small hop, the metal crow took flight and soured up into the sky, turning invisible as it did so.
With a sigh, Harry put his quill back into his outer coat pocket and focused his occlumency, pushing his jealousy aside. Once he had regained control over his emotions, he opened his door and joined the others downstairs.
With the recent attack on the campsite and the new school year approaching, Nicolas had decided to move forward in his student's lessons. He wanted to be with Perenelle, but he knew there was nothing he could do, especially with his own time running out.
As much as it pained him to be away from his sick wife, his time was better spent teaching Harry all he could, especially if it helped save the boy's life.
"Today, we will be applying the properties of your dragon hide jacket to your trench coat. I have taught you everything you will need to know for this transmutation, so you will be the one to draw out the ritual circle, although I will of course be watching over you the entire time."
Nicolas felt pride swell through him when his apprentice simply nodded and withdrew a stick of blue chalk and a compass then set to work. The boy first checked the compass to find true North, before carefully placing the compass down.
He then emptied out the pockets of his trench coat, resulting in a considerably large pile of junk and items Harry considered important, having developed a trend of tucking stuff into his pockets then forgetting about them.
Once done, he settled both the trenchcoat and dragonskin jacket on the ground a few metres apart, with the compass in line with the centre of the connecting line. This meant the jacket was facing West and the trenchcoat facing East, then drew two circles around both. Nicolas found himself wincing at how poorly they were drawn, but said nothing as they served their purpose.
Harry then drew a relatively straight line connecting the two circles, then drew a curved line from the jacket's circle to the trenchcoat's circle.
"Could you explain the importance of that line?" He prompted, wanting to make sure Harry understood what he was doing.
"Sure. Basically, the line symbolises movement, in this case moving the properties of the jacket to the coat. To show this, the line starts below the connecting line on the jacket side, showing the jacket is the one losing a property. It then sweeps up over the connecting line and enters the coat circle."
"Excellent, but how do you know which side is the 'bottom', such that you can determine the line starts below the connecting line?"
"Because the bottom of an alchemical should always face North, while the top faces South. Although, if we were in the southern hemisphere then it would be the other way around."
"Good, carry on." He said proudly
Kneeling next to the North side of his curved line, Harry began carefully drawing the runes for dragon and skin in one circle then defence and invisibility in separate circles. This would tell the ritual what to take from the jacket, although Harry could've easily skipped this step by writing the runes on a slab of stone and putting it in a box next to the line.
On the South side he then drew the 'enhance' alchemical rune, telling the coat to add whatever was taken on top of the coat's existing properties instead of just replacing it.
With that done, Harry then picked up a muggle paper clip from his pile and tapped it against his gauntlet ring, causing the plastic to burn away and turn it to pure gold.
"Want to explain what you just did?" Nicolas asked
"Basically, having finished the base ritual, I now need a power source to fuel the reaction. This is because it is an unbalanced ritual, since I am taking something from the jacket without giving anything back. The fuel source will help balance it out so that it can work with minimal cost or risk.
"I decided gold would be the best fuel, mainly because it ensures the transfer will happen perfectly. I took the paper clip because I know it is made from galvanised steel, meaning Zinc, Iron and Carbon. So, I used the Philosopher's Stone to turn the steel into gold, using the plastic as the catalyst to save energy."
Nodding, he indicated Harry to continue, pleased with his answer. The boy placed the gold paperclip on the North side of the connecting line, then drew a circle around it. He then drew two curved lines from the newest circle to the jacket and coat circles.
After drawing 'fuel' runes on both lines, Harry stepped back to inspect his work. Nicolas took the opportunity to try and see any flaws, although he was unsurprised to find nothing wrong.
"I can't see anything wrong with it, you have permission to start the ritual." Nicolas said formally, fulfilling the apprenticeship magic. Because he had given his apprentice permission to start, all responsibility had been passed onto him as the tutor.
In the worst case scenario, such as a ritual backfiring and destroying property or killing someone, Nicolas would be charged as the perpetrator. Harry would be considered blameless since he was under Nicolas' instructions. This was the main reason very few Masters took on apprentices, since for many the risks outweigh the reward.
With a nod, Harry acknowledged the words and summoned his green chalk, then using it to draw a triangle around the entire ritual. Seeing as the colour of the chalks didn't matter for this ritual, Harry was free to use the colours he liked best.
"Can you describe why you are using another colour chalk?"
"Basically, this ritual is made up of two parts, the frame and the altars. I used blue circles to symbolise the altars, while I am using the green triangle for the frame. If I used the same colour for both then there's a chance the ritual will consider the triangle an altar, meaning it would sacrifice everything inside it.
"Alternatively, it could consider the circles frames, which would result in nothing happening. By symbolising the frame and altars with different colours and shapes I am ensuring the magic can distinguish between them. In a more permanent setup, the frame would be a physical flat stone area while the altars would be raised platforms made of a different type of stone."
"Perfect, but why aren't we using stone here?"
"Because it would be pointless, this specific ritual will hopefully only be done once, meaning imbuing the runes into stone would just be a waste of stone. In the Roman empire, temples were often dedicated to holding some permanent rituals. The most notable would probably be the temple of Jupiter, which was used to make enchanted electrum, or imperial gold as it was known back then."
"Good, but why do you need a frame in a ritual?"
"Because the frame has a dual purpose, it's main purpose is to make it easier for the caster, in this case me, to specify what is part of the ritual. It's second purpose is to hopefully contain any magical backlash, although it very rarely gets used as such."
"That is a good enough answer. Very well, if you are satisfied with your work you may activate the ritual."
Kneeling at the tip of the triangle, Harry placed his finger on the chalk marking, sending twin lines of emerald green fire down the chalk. Once the fire met at the end base of the triangle, the three 'altars' burst into vivid blue fire. In a matter of moments the blue fire flared brightly then extinguished itself, quickly followed by the emerald fire.
With the fire extinguished, it revealed both jacket and coat seemingly untouched, although the jacket's sheen of dragonskin had moved to the coat. During the ritual, the fire had burned away all of the chalk and the golden paperclip, leaving behind no evidence of the ritual, aside from the lingering magic in the air.
Picking up his trenchcoat, Harry gave it a swift look over, before borrowing into it. With a slight frown of concentration, Harry successfully managed to activate his coat's new invisibility.
"Excellent!" Nicolas cheered, pleased to see his student's first proper alchemical ritual had gone perfectly.
Later that day Harry was standing in front of his bedroom mirror as he activated and deactivated his coat's invisibility, revelling in the childlike glee he got from seeing the result of his first ritual, when he was disturbed by a knock on his door.
As he rose, a quick Look revealed Professor Snape's dark blue magic behind the door. Satisfied, he sent a mental command to the door, causing the door to unlock with a soft click.
Despite the bright day outside, Snape was still dressed in his signature black robes, although he was clearly in a good mood as he was wearing a dark purple under robe.
"I was wondering if I could speak with you for a moment, Potter?"
"Sure." Harry replied, curious about what the professor wanted.
Snape did not speak until they were within Harry's study, door firmly shut and silence spells cast. If it was anyone else then Harry would've assumed he was about to hear grave news, but with Snape this was his normal behaviour.
"Firstly, I must congratulate you on your exam result, very few students can get an O in potions before their fifth year, Lily being one such student. She would be very proud."
"Thank you."
"You are welcome. Now, as you know I plan to experiment with the dementor ash and see how it reacts with the wolfsbane potion, something you have already agreed to help with. What are your thoughts in bringing in another student to help?" Harry couldn't help noticing the professor wasn't asking for permission to bring in said student.
"I suppose it would depend on who that student was." Harry replied guardedly, well used to Snape's mind games.
"She is in your year, Miss. Daphne Greengrass, from Slytherin. She is the only other student in your year to have gotten an O in potions, furthermore her father works for the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers. I will ask you to be discrete about this, but I have already chosen her as my next apprentice, assuming she gets the desired grades."
"I haven't really spoken to her, so I guess I have no problem working with her. I assume the reason you want her instead of an older student is because of her father?"
Snape nodded stiffly at that. "Indeed, although her potion skills aren't exaggerated… Of course, she lacks your innate ability when it comes to potions, but then, very few have your ability."
Harry smiled innocently, knowing Snape was jealous of how powerful his mage sight was. While Snape could only Look at a potion and know it was magical, Harry had learned to see exactly how various ingredients worked together. All it took was completely memorising the properties of each and every ingredient, then learning how to see what properties the potion required.
Unfortunately for Harry, there were no shortcuts to the arithmancy or astronomy side of potion making, such as how many times and what direction a stir was required. Something Snape was a master at, along with the most efficient way to prepare ingredients.
"Well, if there is nothing you want to say, I have an owl to send."
"Actually… what with the Death Eaters at the world cup… and hearing about the dark mark… well-"
"You were curious?" Snape interrupted impatiently "You are not the first to ask, nor shall you be the last I imagine." With a flourish, he turned his arm palm up and drew his sleeve up.
It matched the dark mark from the newspaper perfectly, even the snake moving subtly. But the faint grey mark could only show him so much, his magesight showed him a deeper understanding.
To start with, the mark was made with Snape's own magic, instead of Voldemort's dark red. However that wasn't to say Voldemort's magic couldn't be found. Underneath the mark, physically inside Snape's arm, Harry could make out a faint orb of dark red magic.
"It's made from your own magic?" Harry asked, seeking clarification.
"Indeed, the Dark Lord seemed to relish making his followers use their own magic to create his mark. After all, what better way to prove your loyalty other than knowingly marking your skin with his mark permanently. After a follower marks themselves, the Dark Lord permits a drop of his blood to be embedded under the flesh."
"So… does that mean that anyone who took the mark can't have been under the imperius?" Harry asked slowly.
"I know of marked Death Eaters that took his mark against their consent, the ignorant and cursed amongst them. As such, I cannot in good faith say that every Death Eater that used the imperius defence is a liar." Snape replied silkily, the bite in his voice telling Harry to drop that line of questioning.
"What does the drop of blood do?"
"From what I can tell, it causes a sympathetic bond between the mark and the Dark Lord. Through it, the Dark Lord can quite literally summon his followers, by which I mean he has the ability to force his followers to apparate to his location. It can also be used to get the Dark Lord's attention. I have reason to believe he can also use the mark to locate his followers."
"Doesn't that mean you could use the bond against him?"
"Don't be foolish, do you really think the Dark Lord would leave himself open to such a weakness? The bond from the mark to the Dark Lord is only just strong enough to draw his attention, anything else must be initiated from his side… Besides, any attempt to remove or tamper with the mark would kill the bearer instantly, taking the connection with it."
"Can it do anything else? Such as drawing magic… or giving Voldemort healing runes."
"Ah, so the Headmaster told you that particular theory? It is true that a percentage of my magic flows into the mark, far more than should be required to keep the mark active. However, nobody has been able to prove that the magic goes to the Dark Lord, nor that the marks provides him any runic healing."
To his annoyance, his magesight could only confirm Snape's statement, the extremely faint sympathetic bond the only indication the mark was connected to anything at all. He couldn't even use the bond as a compass to locate Voldemort, as the bond vanished before it even left Snape's flesh.
"Ultimately however, it matters not. Even if the dark mark was giving the Dark Lord power, he would need to mark an entire country to see any tangible results. Suffice to say, while he has many hidden followers, he does not yet possess that many. Now, I must be off. Expect Ms. Greengrass to join us every other week."
With that, Snape stood up and with a swirl of his robes apparated from the home.
Later that night, Harry was relaxing on his bed, Dippet's book on conditional magick open in front of him, when he was interrupted by Corvus zooming into his room, dropping Sirius' letter down in front of him.
"Harry -
I am greatly relieved to know you are fine, it breaks my heart to have to be so far away from you, knowing that I can't be there to protect you every time you step outdoors.
The Death Eater attack is the latest in a series of strange rumours that have reached me here. They're saying Dumbledore has gotten Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is. However, even with Mad-Eye at Hogwarts this year, you must keep your eyes and ears open.
During my travels I heard a rumour saying the Triwizard Tournament has been re-established, with Hogwarts being chosen to host the event. If you do not already know about this, then I urge you to ask Dumbledore before the school year starts.
One final thing before I move onto the main part of the letter, Draco Malfoy. I have never met him, however his mother, Narcissa, is my cousin. From what both you and Moony have told me about him, he is a 1st class asshole, unfortunately he reminds me of myself when I was his age.
It may be that I am wrong, however it is likely that Draco is simply lashing out because he can't do anything else, but should you befriend him he could turn out to be a powerful ally.
Now, about your 'confusion'. When I left my family home to stay at the Potters, it took me forever to get used to the fact I was allowed to do whatever I wanted around their house, and that was with James telling me it was okay every second of every day. As such, I can totally understand where you're coming from.
I would like to say you will wake up tomorrow and never feel these feelings again, however that would be a lie. But, you should know that just because you feel something bad, doesn't mean you are a bad person. I would suggest talking to someone about it, such as Dumbledore.
What happened to you was not right, and if I could change one thing from my past, then I would make it so I never went after that rat and ensured you had the happy childhood you deserve.
But, that aside, I am so very proud of you! When I was in your year, I was a straight A student. Hell, even with Lily and Moony breathing down our necks for our NEWT year, I only got 4 Outstandings (Which was confusing, because I was inside and sitting down for all my exams!).
From what I can see, it seems like you should be able to breeze through most of your exams, but even if you get your NEWT results and you find out you failed everything, I will still be proud of you. I know better than anyone that life is not determined by exam results, but by our actions.
As for your present, I had discovered the secret to activating the disguise after an… encounter with a Veela, a story that you are far too young to hear… so you will have to wait until I can see your reaction. I won't ask how you made it, although I can tell it's made the same as your sword.
Which reminds me, that sword is still burning. The patronus fire doesn't spread, but it's hard to explain why I have a flaming sword above my bed, even if it does keep the nightmares away.
Never be afraid to ask for help, asking for help is not a sign of weakness.
- Sirius"
Upon finishing the letter, Harry felt a huge weight being lifted from his shoulders, a weight he never knew he was carrying. The simple knowledge that Sirius was proud of him, regardless of his achievements or grades filled him with a warmth he had rarely felt.
While their only meeting within the Forbidden Forest at the end of the year had been short, their frequent letters had let Harry get to know his godfather. From the way he mixed humour with seriousness, to his rubbish puns.
With a smile on his face, Harry summoned his newest notebook and opened it to the first free page. A quick sticking charm ensured the letter wouldn't get removed by accident, while a preservation charm made it impossible for the ink letter to get ruined.
The book contained every single letter he had received from Sirius, all carefully stored and preserved. He had very carefully copied the picture of Sirius at his parent's wedding from his photo album, which he had stuck to the inside cover of his notebook.
He had then gilded the outer cover of his book with a thin layer of mithril, which prevented anyone who didn't have his exact magical signature from opening the book. The mithril also prevented the book from getting damaged, both natural damage or purposeful damage. It was with some shame that he had copied the book's protections from Tom Riddle's diary, except his book lacked the dark magic of the Horcrux.
Finally, he had gotten Dumbledore's help to draw a fairly complex conditional rune matrix on the back cover. Anyone that looked at the pages of the book were unknowingly agreeing to a condition that prevented them telling anyone what they had seen, so even if someone looked over his shoulder, Sirius would be safe.
Returning the book to his school trunk, he returned to Dippet's book. Even after over a year he hadn't managed to turn the book back into English, which had forced him to learn how to read French before he could make any progress.
His occlumency allowed his brain to accept new languages, while a narration charm told him how French worked. Nicolas, as a native French speaker, was a huge help, although he only judged Harry's current level as 'legible'.
The next day, he cornered Dumbledore after their breakfast.
"Err… Sir, could I talk to you?" Harry asked tentatively.
"Of course Harry, of course. Shall we retire to my office?"
His home office was fairly similar to his Hogwarts office, except far smaller and without the giant portraits on the walls. Here, Dumbledore only had two small pictures, one was himself, Nicolas and Harry. The other photo was over a hundred years old and had his brother, sister and parents smiling and waving in front of their old house. It had been taken before his sister had been attacked, back when his family was whole and happy.
When they entered, Fawkes looked up from his perch, before tucking his head back under his wing in disgust. With how busy the cottage had gotten the last few days, Fawkes had retreated from his normal spot in front of the fireplace to here.
"So Harry, what did you want to talk about?" He asked patiently, settling down in his chair.
"Well, in Sirius' latest letter, he said there's a rumour about the Triwizard tournament being held at Hogwarts and that I should ask you about it."
"Ah… that was meant to be a secret… but then… I suppose it is for the best." He mused. "Yes. I assume you do not know what the tournament is, Harry?"
"No, I've never heard about it before, although I can guess it's a tournament with three wizards, probably the best wizards from Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and… Ilvermorny?"
"Actually, the tournament is older than Ilvermorny, so the third school is Durmstrang by tradition. It was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry, which as you partly guessed are: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang.
"You are also correct in that each school put forth a champion, who would compete in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be an excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities — until the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."
"Oh." Harry said "Wait, so the champions died before and the tournament just kept on going?"
"Quite, apparently the heads of school at the time did not put much stock into the lives of their students, or they felt the glory for winning was worth the risk. You see, whoever wins the Triwizard cup gets 1,000 galleons and eternal glory. The winner's school also gets to boast that they trained Europe's best student… until the next tournament rolled around.
"As Hogwarts headmaster I find the entire tournament repulsive, however once Ludo Bagman presented the idea to Fudge, the minister then got in contact with the French and Norwegen ministries before I had the opportunity to find out and revoke the idea…Unfortunately, I have no choice in the matter. However, I was able to impose several rules to make this tournament safer."
"That's good I suppose, but why did Sirius think I should be told before I went to Hogwarts?"
"Well, one of the rules I pushed for is forbidding anyone under the age of 17 to enter their name. However, when I was your age I would've done anything to compete. Likewise, both your father and Sirius would've also attempted to enter together, they likely would've succeeded too, even if a school is only meant to select a single student." Dumbledore explained in a roundabout way.
"And you think I would try to enter myself?"
"Frankly, I could not say. You are far more cautious than either myself or your father were at your age, however I also know you want to prove yourself. You yourself have admitted to a desire to 'show-off' on more than one occasion."
Harry thought over the man's words and admitted he did find the idea appealing, although the risk of death was a huge turn-off.
"If it weren't for the death toll, I probably would've entered… I may want to prove myself, especially in front of two other schools, but I don't want to die doing it."
"A wise mindset to have. Especially when you factor in the fact it is extremely unlikely you will be allowed to use your mithril. The champions are signed into a magically binding contract that will kill them if they bring anything other than their wand into the tasks with them… I am unsure if your mithril will bypass this contract."
"Wait, are you saying that without my mithril I couldn't beat the tasks?" Harry asked, genuinely annoyed the headmaster believed so little of him.
"That is not what I said." Dumbledore replied sternly. "Could you beat the tasks? Almost definitely, even if they are designed for older students. Could you do so without risking your own life in the process? I am not sure, nor am I excited to find out. However, what I actually wanted to know was if you planned to enter, because if so I could try and enter you through official channels and avoid an international scandal."
Chastised, Harry considered his answer properly.
"If it only happens every five years, then I won't be there to compete in the next one if it happens… But I don't want to be internationally known as the kid that shows off his magic, I just want to keep inventing new stuff."
"I take that to mean you do not want your name entered? I must say, that is a relief. In all likelihood, if your name was entered you would be chosen, since the Gob-… impartial judge works by selecting the student with the largest magical potential."
"And, with my mithril, I easily have the highest potential?"
"Even without your mithril you would've likely been one of the strongest students in Hogwarts. Of course, you could still see how strong you are compared to other students, while they aren't officially sanctioned, the students often hold duelling or flying events."
"That could be fun, it would do me good to duel someone other than Tonks."
"I somehow doubt the average student would be much of a challenge to you… perhaps I should ban you from competing after all, just to give the other students a chance." Dumbledore said jokingly, causing Harry to roll his eyes in amusement.
"So, was there anything else you wanted from me? My door is of course always open to you."
"Nah, that was it. Wanted to get it out of the way before my trip to Gringotts."
"Ah, that explains it then. Do be safe out there, Harry."
"Of course, me and Tonks will be in disguise anyway, just in case."
After a series of letters being sent back and forth since Harry had last been to Gringotts, he finally stepped back into Maker Grukkukt's office. He was unsurprised to see the room unchanged.
"Greetings, Maker Potter." The goblin said solemnly.
"Good afternoon, Maker Grukkukt." Harry replied, nodding his head politely.
"To cut to the chase, you said you were interested in buying a bismuth kiln. Suffice to say, there is no standard procedure when it comes to this, as such I have been given the right to define the standard myself. You should feel proud, together we are writing a new page in the history of Goblinkind."
She then reached under her desk and pulled out a small kiln, which meant it was only as big as the drum of his aunt's washing machine.
"One of these normally costs around 1.2 million galleons to produce, although I cannot give you this for the direct cost."
"Why not? Surely it doesn't matter who is using it, as long as whoever gets paid for producing it?"
Grukkukt bared her teeth at that, grinning at Harry nastily.
"Because, whenever we use one, whatever profit is made by selling Meithralum quartz gets turned into the goblin empire. Which will eventually trickle back down into the crafter guild. Selling it to you, would result in this kiln only making the empire a fraction of what it would otherwise make."
"Okay, but what about the mithril reactor I taught you? I imagine that would give you far more than this single kiln."
"Unfortunately, our meithralum does not take well to the runes you taught us. Despite this, we have been able to get a working reactor, but it is not as beneficial as we had hoped."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Harry said genuinely, feeling guilty that he had essentially scammed the goblins after they had helped him.
"The information you gave us was honest and you had no way of knowing our meithralum would behave differently." Grukkukt said, waving off his concerns. "I knew that was a possibility going into the deal, but deemed the possible costs worth the risk."
"Well then, I could try and give you a mithril reactor made of my mithril, in return for this kiln. Something you can't make in return for something I can't make." Harry offered
Grukkukt leaned back at that, stroking her thin beard passively. Eventually, she rose out of her chair and offered her soot covered hand.
"That deal is acceptable with me, one kiln for one reactor of equal size."
After shaking her hand, he followed her out of the office and back into the forge area. It was evidently a slow day as there were only two goblins watching over the kiln, which was roaring faintly. The only new addition was a large triangular pyramid that took up an entire corner. It was completely covered in several runes, with several meithralum lines connecting it to the central kiln.
"Despite its size, this reactor barely produces a quarter of what a dragon can produce, despite being half the size of an average dragon. Our meithralum resists modification once finished, which has served us well for a millenia, however it means carving runes post-forge is… difficult."
Harry crept closer and cautiously placed his hand on the reactor, feeling the magic swirl inside the metal. It seemed the goblins had forged four separate pieces, carved the runes while the metal was setting then quickly merged each side together.
It would've taken an extraordinary amount of coordination, especially when faced with a time limit. However, this forced the reactor to be hollow, meaning the vast majority of the reactor wasn't doing anything.
"Do you want me to fix this reactor, or make a completely new one?" Harry asked
For a brief moment, a look of surprise appeared on Grukkukt's face before it was replaced by cool intrigue.
"We did not believe it was possible to 'fix' this reactor… Certainly, if you can improve it then that will be more than satisfactory… Although, how dangerous will a fully functional reactor be? That is to say, what is the chance the reactor could damage the forge."
"That… I would like to say there is no chance, but I don't know how the dragon fire would react to the reactor. It could be the fire would just make the reactor stop altogether, but it might… explode if it began producing and storing too much magic."
"Hmm, that is a risk I cannot condone. Follow me, if you will."
He was led to a new room, which was essentially a large empty rock cavern.
"This was a weapon testing area, until it was replaced with a more modernised location. The rock can withstand a significant amount of explosives and is far away from anything important."
"So, I assume this is where you want the reactor?" Harry asked rhetorically, moving to the centre of the cavern.
"Indeed. If you give me a moment I can have the reactor moved here for you to work."
"I could just make a completely new one, which would probably be easier for me to make to be honest."
"As you say. Please, don't let me stop you, I just ask that you make it possible for us to move the reactor in the future should the need arise."
Nodding, Harry began the process of making the reactor. He began by forming a smaller, more solid, version of the goblin's reactor, then carefully etched in the growth rune. Once the top of the pyramid reached his chest he removed the runes and set about the next stage.
He gave the mithril the ideology for hovering, decay and heat, he then drew the preservation rune and told the mithril to burn off excess magic as heat. A quick freezing charm both temporarily stopped the heat production and cooled the mithril back down, allowing Harry time to finish the reactor without a meltdown.
A second, hollow, pyramid was now formed around the original, which would both keep summoning water until the gap was filled and keep the core floating perfectly inside it. When the reactor wasn't running at full power the inside core would soon become boiling hot. The water was required to allow the bleed the heat out, as well as preventing the room from becoming equally hot.
Next, he added a small spout on the top of the reactor, which would stop any liquid escaping. He then added a small mithril cone on top of that spout, which would vanish any steam inside it. Finally, he also added a hole in the front of the pyramid which went inside the core, which he soon filled with a large cylinder of mithril.
The cylinder acted as the output for the magic, which would allow the goblins to syphon the magic for their own means. The cylinder also doubled as the control station, as it allowed him to control both the core and cooling layer from the cylinder. Finally, he added a hovering ideology that would keep the reactor exactly one foot of the ground.
With bated breath, Harry removed the freezing charm and felt the core roar into life, soon the sounds of water boiling soon reaching his ears. Eventually steam started to drift out of the spout.
"Ta dah, one mithril kettle!" Harry said extravagantly, turning to an unamused Grukkukt.
"Indeed…" She replied shortly, raising a single eyebrow. "I trust it works just like your original plans?"
"Basically, yeah. I forgot what I actually included in the original plans so I basically made this up on the spot based on what I remember thinking. This will continue to make magic for a very long time, which can be accessed from this cylinder, you just need to hook up your wires to the mithril.
"I programmed the mithril to pass its magic onto anything that asks for it, which means your wires will work fine. Once you start drawing magic, the inner core will start to bleed off less heat, so you will only get steam coming out if the reactor starts to store magic.
"The steam catcher on top is removable, so if you have something that can use the steam you can connect it to the spout and use it. Otherwise, this thing should just keep making magic without any upkeep… although it might be worth checking on the runes inside every so often."
"Thank you very much Maker Potter." Grukkukt said, bowing deeply. "But, could you explain why you suggest we inspect the runes?"
"Oh, sure. Basically, the core is constantly trying to destroy itself, while the runes keep it in perfect condition. But, because the mithril is still trying to destroy itself it keeps producing magic… Anyway, if the runes stop working then the reactor core will just decay into nothingness, meaning it will stop working."
"Is there any danger in this?"
"No." Harry replied firmly "Even if the runes get destroyed completely, the outer layer isn't affected by the runes and will keep producing water. At most, the core will start to rapidly increase in heat until it disappears, meaning you will start to get a ton of steam coming out the top."
"Very well… for this, I feel no shame in giving you our meithralum quartz kiln for free. I hope it works as well for you as it does for us." Grukkukt said sincerely.
"Thank you."
It was only when they got back to Grukkukt's office that he realised his problem.
"The… The bismuth can go into a magically expanded space, right?" He asked sheepishly, suddenly realising he may have to lug the entire kiln home with him.
"As long as the space is just bigger on the inside then it will go in no problem, if the space works by shrinking whatever is being added then no, it will not."
Cautiously, he opened his coat pocket as wide as it could go then started lowering it onto the kiln. Unfortunately, the entrance to Harry's pocket wasn't wide enough to accept the kiln.
Seeing his difficulty, Grukkukt produced a Gringotts bag and easily tipped the kiln into the bag. She then drew the drawstrings until the entire bag was sealed and fit within her palm, where she then passed the bag to Harry.
Harry was unpleasantly surprised to discover the Gringotts bag didn't negate the weight of the kiln, meaning the moment Grukkukt let go of the bag Harry almost dropped it until he got used to the weight. He was about to place the bag inside his coat pocket when Grukkukt interrupted him.
"I wouldn't attempt to place the bag into your coat, but this should make it easier to carry."
"Thank you very much, I hope the reactor brings you good fortune."
"And may your kiln bring you much treasure."
This has been a long time coming, but I am in need of volunteers. For a long time I have been unhappy with the quality of the first 20 chapters of this story, but I don't have time to go over the chapters and keep writing new ones. As such, I would greatly appreciate it if people could go through the chapters in their free time and improve them.
If anyone is interested, please DM me so that I can explain thins better and add you to the Google Doc.
Things I think need explaining:
- Slughorn acting behind the scenes with Fudge: If you remember the last time Slughorn appeared, he and Dumbledore were scheming how to get rid of Fudge. That's still happening behind the scenes, but doesn't currently involve Harry so isn't featured.
- Imperial Gold: Basically the same imperial gold from Percy Jackson, which was used to make Lockhart's gold arm. Seeing as the metal is made using magic, it is significantly better at retaining magic compared to most other metals.
- Snape choosing Daphne: To start with, her father is a highly skilled potion master so Snape is hoping she inherited his skill. Secondly, this is his way of testing her abilities to see if she is worth tutoring. Finally as Harry suggested, Snape is hoping she will mention their experiments to her father, who will invest in the project, meaning more money and recognition for Snape.
- Harry's mage sight in relation to others: Currently only Moody has the same strength of magesight, however their sight works differently to each other. Harry's works like a microscope, meaning if he has something nearby he can look and see how it works. Moody's works like a telescope and infrared camera, meaning he can identify anything magical around him regardless of what's in the way. Both only achieved this through magical artefacts; Harry's Mithrilium in his head and Moody's eye.
- Fudge contacting Norwegian ministry: I expect a fair few of you thought I had made a mistake when I said the Norwegian ministry instead of Bulgarian, however in this universe Durmstrang is in Norway, while Krum simply plays for the Bulgarian team. The exact details will be explained in a future chapter
- Harry's reactor: It basically works like a nuclear reactor, except slightly safer. However its power output is proportional to its size, meaning it can't be shrunk small enough to fit inside and power his tools.