A few minutes later, Harry and Morrigan were back in his bedroom in the magical tent. After she caught her breath and pushed away some nausea, she demanded an explanation. "Coal? Why?"
"Have you ever seen a diamond before?"
"If you mean the clear gemstone, then yes," Morrigan answered. "I saw a couple of them in one of the stores in Orzammar."
Harry nodded. "Good. Then I need to go over a little history from my world. Thousands of years before I was born, wizards began trying to purify or transmute certain materials into something of a better quality. The most famous of which was the goal of transforming lead into gold."
"Because gold was used as currency?" Morrigan suggested.
"For the most part, yes." Harry took off his shoes as they began to disrobe for bed. "It was used for other things on occasion, especially later once certain technological advances came about, but the main desire for gold was for wealth. However, along the way, some alchemists experimented with a number of other materials, and one of the discoveries was that coal could be transformed into diamonds. Chemistry would eventually reveal the reason why- both coal and diamonds are made of carbon- and thus it is actually one of the simpler alchemical transmutations to pull off.
"Gold, on the other hand, practically requires a masterpiece like the Philosopher's Stone, but that's a longer story for another day." Harry shook off the old memories that subject brought up.
"I assume there is a lot of material loss if you requested twenty pounds of coal?" Morrigan asked.
"No." Harry chuckled for a moment. "I'm just going to make a really big diamond."
"Why?"
"So that I can trap the soul of the Archdemon in it," he answered with a hint of a grin.
She frowned. "Do you really think that will work? I haven't heard of such a spell before; I certainly haven't read of anything in the spellbooks you've given me."
"It is a somewhat obscure spell, in part for practical reasons and also because of the nature of the spell," Harry shrugged briefly. "It would have been regarded as pretty dark back home to trap someone's soul, but it is very useful if you come up against someone who has already dabbled with soul magic. Very finicky, delicate magic when you start talking about souls- make a tiny error and you can doom yourself to a fate worse than death.
"When I was an older man, I eventually came across a dark witch who had created a horcrux."
"You've mentioned that term before," Morrigan interjected. "Something about Flemeth?"
"I believe she may have done something like that, although I can't say if the magic is the same or not," he explained. "My nemesis as a young man, Voldemort, had created several of the blasted things, and that made rendering him mortal quite a pain in the arse. We managed it eventually. It was too bad I hadn't found what was originally referred to as Dethed's Trap back then- it would've saved me a lot of time. Thankfully, by the time I ran into the witch I mentioned, I had learned the process.
"Unlike many spells, you need to have a very valuable gem prepared beforehand that will store the soul once it is trapped."
"And that is why you need to create such a large diamond." Morrigan scowled and looked away for a moment as she finished getting undressed. As hard as it may have been, Harry focused on her face rather than anything else. "Are you sure it will work?"
"I've never used it on an Archdemon before, but the theory is sound."
"What if there is another way?"
"We don't have a Grey Warden," Harry replied.
"I would think Avernus would know enough to be able to remedy that problem for us," she stated.
He sighed. "You're still stuck on Flemeth's plan. You should realize that it isn't certain that would work either."
"I know it would-"
"You may believe it would," Harry interrupted. "But the first four Blights were all stopped by the Grey Wardens, so you cannot know that it would work. I'm not saying Flemeth is wrong; Merlin knows she probably has more magical knowledge in this world than practically anyone else, but that doesn't mean something couldn't go wrong with her plan."
"How do you know her plan?" Morrigan asked.
"I read your memory when I first came here, remember?"
"You knew all this time?" she scowled at him.
"I didn't think it would still matter to you. We've been doing quite well without any Grey Wardens, and my plan should work."
"And if it doesn't?" Morrigan turned to Harry who was getting into bed. She nearly pounced as she climbed over him. "What if your spell isn't strong enough? Will you consider it then? The Dark Ritual, and the child it would create, could preserve something unique, something that should not be lost."
"The child could have terrible side effects from absorbing the soul of an Old God," he countered. "Not to mention what could happen to the mother. Just consider for a moment, Morrigan, how it always destroys the Grey Warden. Do you really want to risk that of yourself?"
"Yes."
The way she answered without hesitation was more than a little worrying. Harry thought he had progressed further beyond Flemeth's influence than that, but perhaps he hadn't done as well with Morrigan as he had hoped. He exhaled and waited for a moment before responding.
"You should understand that I cannot become a Grey Warden."
She sat back up and Harry forced himself to watch her expression instead of her glorious nudity, though it was a challenge.
"You think your immortal nature would cause the Joining to fail?"
"I don't know," he replied. "But I can't risk it."
"Why not?"
"Because, if I did become one, that would likely mean that I would be susceptible to the Calling that Grey Wardens all someday hear," Harry explained. "And if that were so, then the eventual madness could leave me as an immensely powerful, indestructible ghoulish creature. If I still had all my power, all my knowledge of magic, while lost to the madness of the Taint? I could become something potentially even worse than the darkspawn. Something that could destroy the world."
Morrigan sighed. "I see."
"Hey, it's not so bad," he tried to console her. "We can still defeat the Archdemon together."
"Yes, but not without sacrificing one of my goals."
He chuckled for a moment. "I wouldn't think you would be in such a rush to become a mother."
"A child with the soul of an Old God would be worth it," Morrigan answered softly with a far off look. She started to smirk and leaned down over Harry, kissing along his jawline. "Enough of that for now. Why don't we clear our heads with something a lot more enjoyable?"
"I thought you'd never ask," Harry said with a grin.
Morrigan was up before Harry the next day, so he awoke to an empty bed for a change. By the time he'd gotten dressed and joined the others for breakfast, he found that she'd been studying from the standard book of spells for seventh year. He knew that she'd skipped plenty of spells that she didn't see the use for, but he couldn't really blame her for that, and as far as he'd seen, Morrigan had little trouble with the magic from his world that she did try to use.
"Want to try to apparate today?" he asked.
She set the book aside for a moment and smirked. "Finally."
Sirius chuckled. "I'll come with to help if anything goes wrong. Splinching isn't any fun."
"I've never had that problem," Harry shrugged.
"Be glad for that," Sirius said with a grin. "I remember when we were learning it back in school, and Remus really struggled. Left behind his feet one time and fell right on his face."
"That sounds quite awful," Wynne added with a frown. "Wouldn't that need serious magical help to cure?"
"No, splinching is somewhat unique in that it's rather easy to fix," Harry explained. "There's still a connection between the parts of the body, as if apparition was a spell that hadn't quite finished taking effect. Thankfully, that usually means no horrible death and dismemberment."
He turned to Morrigan and winked. "Don't worry, I'm an expert."
"We shall see how well your tutelage goes then," Morrigan replied. "You'll have to prove that you're up to this reputation."
Outside a few minutes later, Harry conjured up a couple of bright blue hoops and set them on the ground about twenty feet apart.
"Do you still remember the three Ds?" Sirius asked.
"Destination, Deliberation, and Determination," Harry answered.
"That wasn't the order I remember," his godfather laughed. "Sounds like you might be screwing it all up, Harry. Was it still that painfully thin fellow teaching for you? Twilkie or something like that?"
"I think so," he said. "It's been a long time."
Morrigan looked between the two hoops and Harry motioned her over. "Stand inside the first hoop. Visualization is a handy part of this process, and the hoops are to help you focus on the two separate points."
"Alright, now what?"
Harry pointed to the other hoop. "The basic idea is that you use your magic to instantly move from one place to the other. The destination for you to fix in your mind is the other hoop. Deliberation and determination are useful to get in the right mindset. You focus your magic and tell it to move you from place to place."
"That's it?" Morrigan asked.
"Focusing your magic and telling it what to do is hard for some people to understand," Harry replied. "On a basic level, that's what any spell is really. In this case, there isn't a structured incantation or bodily movement to channel the magic into a specific spell."
"I remember some people tended to think of it as a spinning sensation," Sirius added.
"I think that was a lot more common for those from magical families who'd used portkeys before," Harry countered. "It doesn't feel like spinning to me."
"No, it was more like being squeezed," Morrigan said.
"True," he agreed. "Remembering how it felt to travel that way with me should be helpful for you to learn this."
"Fine," she nodded.
"Go ahead and give it a shot," Harry said. "Don't worry if it takes awhile to feel anything."
Morrigan took a deep breath and exhaled, her eyes narrowing as she stared at the other hoop. As nothing happened for a few minutes, Harry saw her raise one hand and make a fist. It looked like she may be trying to force something to happen and he wondered if this would give her more trouble than many other spells had.
And then something unexpected occurred, as Morrigan was thrown through the air into the other hoop, landing awkwardly and falling over.
Sirius barked out a laugh. "Now, that's one I haven't seen before."
Harry hurried and helped her back up. "Not quite what I had in mind."
"It could be related to her being a shapeshifter," Sirius suggested. "She already knows how to fly."
Harry nodded. "Try not to think of it as moving yourself through the air. You need to throw out the process and go straight to the result."
"What do you mean?" Morrigan asked.
Harry pursed his lips for a moment. "Alright, think of when you cast one of your cold spells. You don't force the weather to change, clouds to roll in, the temperature to drop, ice crystals starting to form, any of that. You just get right to the desired effect of using magic to make painful cold damage the enemies."
"I believe I understand," she exhaled. Closing her eyes, Morrigan focused inward and Harry waited to see what would come next.
After several minutes, she flickered in place. Harry raised his hand to stop Sirius from saying anything and they kept watch for another half an hour, with two more flickers.
Then a massive crack announced her first apparition. And Morrigan promptly fell over.
Harry looked down and saw that she'd left behind a few toes from her left foot. Sighing, he waved his wand over them and floated the missing appendages over to her.
Morrigan scowled. "I splinched, didn't I?"
"Take your shoe off and this will be easier," Harry said. "You had more of your weight on your right leg, didn't you?"
"Possibly," she admitted.
He reattached her toes and watched for a moment to make sure everything looked right. "Wiggle them for a moment. Does everything feel normal?"
Morrigan flexed her foot for a moment. "It feels fine."
"Try to keep your balance next time," he advised. "Take a moment to remind yourself of the entirety of your body. Even little things like your eyebrows. Then relax and slowly build your focus back up."
"I will," she says quietly as she's already standing back up and closing her eyes.
Harry backed away and walked over to stand next to Sirius.
"You're an even better teacher than I'd expected," his godfather whispered.
"I've done this a few times before," Harry replied softly, memories of children, grandchildren, and later orphans he'd mentored. He never really liked portkeys or floo travel, but apparition came naturally to him. Thankfully.
No more than five minutes later, Morrigan managed to apparate to the other hoop, this time without leaving anything behind. From there, Harry had her practice doing it over and over again.
"We'll work on longer distances next time," he said once she'd popped back and forth between the hoops four times rapidly.
"Why not now?" she asked.
"I need to go to the Tower to check on something," Harry said.
"Then I shall stay and do some research of my own."
"You don't want to come with me?" he teased.
"Your fondness for those mages who bow to the chantry is not rubbing off on me," Morrigan scoffed.
"We'll just have to give it some more time," Harry countered.
She rolled her eyes as she walked past him back towards Redcliffe castle.
"Want some company?" Sirius asked.
"No, I shouldn't be long," Harry answered. "Keep an eye on things here for me, will you? I'm a little worried about Morrigan."
"Why?"
He sighed and decided to give him an abbreviated version. "Flemeth and Morrigan had this plan to help the Grey Wardens stop the Blight. However, instead of having a Grey Warden sacrifice himself while delivering the killing blow to the Archdemon, Flemeth's plan would involve Morrigan conceiving a child with the Grey Warden. And in this plan, the tainted still-developing fetus would draw in the soul of the Old God, thus sparing the Grey Warden from certain death and supposedly leading to the child having immense power as it absorbed the power of the Old God."
"That sounds like a really bad idea," Sirius grimaced. "You don't just put some ancient demonic dragon soul into a baby and think everything will work out fine."
"Flemeth believed it would work," Harry said. "And deep down, Morrigan still believes much of what she learned from her. They had been planning this whole thing for several months, maybe even years or more on Flemeth's part. I worry that Morrigan won't put it aside easily, even though I have a better way to deal with the Archdemon."
"What's the plan?"
"Have you ever heard of a Soul Trap?"
"No," Sirius replied. "But are you sure it will work with something like this Archdemon?"
"That's why I'm going to create a really big diamond to make sure it will work," Harry answered. "The more powerful the soul means you need a bigger, better gem to encase it."
"How big are we talking?"
"Depends on how much coal the dwarves bring me," he shrugged.
Sirius put an arm around his shoulder and sighed. "Harry, please don't tell any women that you can make diamonds. We need to keep that sort of thing secret for big occasions."
Harry snorted. "I already told Morrigan."
"Dammit!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Why? Are you wanting me to help you with an engagement ring or something?"
"Not yet," his godfather replied. "But you never know what the future may bring."
Harry had disillusioned himself before he apparated, this time choosing to go directly to the quarters that Irving had set aside for his use. It was a lot closer to the young researchers he had helping him, and they were who he had come to see.
Finding Alia and Galen studying together once again brought a smile to his face. If the templars gave them any grief, Harry would probably start throwing Imperius curses left and right. The fact that the Chantry stole magical children and raised them away from their parents was something that would no doubt cause him to go to war against the Andrastians someday.
"Harry! Welcome back!" Alia cheerfully spoke once she looked up from her work. "Are you needing more help with something?"
"It's nice to see you as well," he replied as he sat down across the table from them. "I was hoping you would either know a bit of trivia or point me in the direction of someone who did. Specifically, it's about the Old Gods who are turned into Archdemons."
"Dumat was the first," Galen answered. "Then Zazikel, Toth, and Andoral followed."
"You knew that off the top of your head?" Harry asked.
"The Blights are fascinating," the young man said in response. "You're talking about some of the biggest events in all of Thedas' history."
"So, that leaves...?"
"Lusacan, Razikale, and Urthemiel," Galen said. "Theoretically, there should only be seven Blights possible. Once they're all over, who knows what the darkspawn will do?"
"Hmm," Harry muttered. "How have the dragons been identified?"
"By the Grey Wardens," Alia said. "As for how they can tell one from the others, that's something we don't know."
"I'll have to check in with Avernus, I suppose," he mused.
"Why do you ask?" Galen wondered.
"Names have power," Harry said softly. "Thank you for the help today."
"You're welcome," Alia smiled.
Harry then traveled over to the ancient Wardens Keep and found Levi Dryden and a few other men milling about the courtyard.
"Ah, Harry!" Levi spotted him first. "What brings you here today?"
Looking around, it appeared they were cleaning up and organizing things. "You've done some nice work here."
"Thank you."
"I'm here to speak with Avernus about something."
"Grey Warden business, of course," Levi nodded. "Let us know if you need anything. My brother is a blacksmith, so we could forge weapons, if you need any supplies."
"Another day, perhaps."
He excused himself and headed inside. It was a bit of a walk up to the tower with the ancient Grey Warden's lab, but Harry didn't want to risk interfering with anything magical that might have been going on by just apparating directly there.
Avernus was merely writing in a book when he arrived though. "You've returned sooner than I thought you might."
"Greetings," Harry said as he strode over to the desk where his counterpart sat. "I was hoping you could explain something to me."
"I may be able to," Avernus replied.
"The Archdemons." He leaned back against the nearby wall. "The Old Gods that get corrupted by the darkspawn and cause all these Blights- the first four have all been named in historical texts, apparently. How have the Grey Wardens been able to tell which is which?"
Avernus chuckled and put his writing away. "There are two different ways, neither of which are usually revealed to outsiders. However, I suppose you are one of us, in spirit at least. For one thing, centuries ago, the resting places of the Old Gods were known to some, and the knowledge is still kept by those highest in rank, mostly in the fortress at Weisshaupt. I am unsure of how exactly they discovered this knowledge- perhaps it dates back to the times when the empire still worshiped them as dragons- but their prisons are very, very deep underground. So before you ask, it would take all the armies in the world to mount an attempt to cut through untold darkspawn to burrow deep enough to kill them while they still sleep."
"That explains some of it," Harry sighed. "What about the current Archdemon that has awoken?"
"Urthemiel," Avernus said.
"How do you know?"
"I can sense him," came the reply as the old warden closed his eyes. "He haunts my dreams. Even as we speak, his voice is a whisper in my ears. I told you, I am well past the age that normal Grey Wardens hear the Calling and depart to the Deep Roads, to do whatever good they can before they are overwhelmed. If I came too close to the Archdemon, I doubt how long my self control could last.
"My experiments with Blood Magic and the Taint have brought me this far, but I worry about how much further I may go."
Harry rubbed his chin. "Someday, we may need to do something other than sending you off to the Deep Roads. Your Calling may end up much worse than others."
"I am well aware," Avernus agreed. "I may need someone to put an end to me, if things go poorly enough. Especially if the Blight starts to spread. But if not, I still have a few years left for my studies."
"I'll try to stay in touch then," Harry replied. "Let me know if you have any problems. And thank you for this- knowing that it's Urthemiel may be key to his defeat."
Over the next couple of days, Harry and Morrigan practiced apparating for several hours until he was sure that she was proficient in the skill. She was able to manage the distance between Warden's Keep in the north and her mother's deserted home in the Korcari wilds in far southern Ferelden without any problems, so Harry suggested that she keep such a distance in mind before trying anything further for now. The lyrium in the stone near Orzammar did require more power on Harry's part, and he didn't want to risk any complications for Morrigan unless it was necessary so they avoided trying anything with the underground dwarven kingdom for the time being.
Thankfully, Rica Brosca also came through with her delivery as part of a Carta 'trade delegation' traversing through the surface world. Harry noticed that they also smuggled lyrium into the tower to Godwin, the same mage that he and Morrigan had done something similar with a few weeks prior.
That led to Harry setting up a workspace in the quarters at the Circle Tower for his alchemical needs. A conjured marble table, completely smooth and clean, was the first step he took.
"Wow, that stone is beautiful," Dagna marveled. The three young researchers at the Tower had joined him and Morrigan that day, curious to see what he was going to do.
"I always thought so too," Harry answered as he ran his hand along the top. "Metal or wood needed to be avoided for today's work, but otherwise I could have used something else."
"Why would you need to avoid metal or wood?" Galen asked.
"Many metals are actually alloys, which mix various chemicals in their overall composition," he replied. "While that is very useful for forging purposes, I wouldn't want any contamination to occur. As for wood, it's a bit too dangerous for my purposes as I wouldn't want the table to actually catch fire."
He chuckled for a moment. "You'll all want to stand back a bit once I start performing the magic, just in case. My wand does favor flames after all."
"Because of the phoenix feather?" Morrigan suggested.
"Precisely," Harry nodded. And almost on cue, Fawkes arrived with a happy note in his voice, a burst of flames just a few feet away. "Thank you for getting here now, old friend."
"What type of bird is that?" Alia asked.
"This is Fawkes, and he is a phoenix." He scratched behind the plumage on his head, and the bird let out a soft trill of pleasure. "As you saw from his entrance, phoenixes can travel great distances via some sort of flame magic. They're also immune to fire, as it is part of them, and the fact that my wand uses one of Fawkes' tail feathers as a magical core means that a bit of his nature carries through. It's one of the reasons I have a predilection for using Fiendfyre when particularly nasty things need to be dealt with- I have better control over the magic due to my wand's affinity."
"Even then, it seems that the spell is particularly difficult," Morrigan said.
"It definitely is," Harry agreed. "But, powerful magic often has some sort of drawback or disadvantage."
"So, what do you do next?" Dagna cut in, eager to see Harry get to work.
He smiled. "Alright, so next I set the coal on the table."
Waving his wand, he levitated the chunk of rock into the center of the marble table top. Then he drew out a small knife and set it down. "This next step isn't necessary according to most of the texts I've read, but in my experience it is helpful. This is also technically blood magic from my homeland, so let's not worry Irving or any of the templars with that little detail."
Harry cut into his left palm and cupped his hand as a bit of blood pooled there. He used his fingertip to draw a line with his blood, forming a rectangle a few inches around the coal. "By marking this area off with my blood, I am using my magic and life force to claim dominion over this territory, magically speaking. This helps to keep other magics from contaminating the alchemical process. While someone else could theoretically cast a spell into the area and disrupt things, the backlash wouldn't be as extreme as my magic would help to keep the transformative magical energies from exploding outwards and killing us all."
"So..." Galen gulped. "We won't be doing any alchemical experiments without your supervision."
"Speak for yourself," Dagna muttered.
"It is safer to have help, definitely," Harry said. He healed the cut on his hand and put the knife away. "Next, we have the purifying step. There are different ways to do this- a few potions can be used, poured over the base substance, or you could use blood magic again, bleeding over the stone and exerting your will to cleanse it. That takes a fair amount of concentration and generally leaves you very weak afterwards though from the blood loss. Thankfully, there is a spell I found which does the same thing."
He turned his focus to the coal and began to chant.
"an cruthú seo a chur ar ais ina bhuneilimintí"
Harry heard a small intake of breath but paid it no mind, his tongue forming the words even as his conscious mind went to a deeper level as he channeled the old magic.
"an cruthú seo a chur ar ais ina bhuneilimintí"
It took only a moment before he could feel the coal change, its identity ready for him to mold it anew into something else.
"And now, I use my magic to weave the soul of the stone into its new shape."
"The stone has a soul?" Galen asked.
"Of course it does," Dagna snorted. "Every dwarf knows that."
Harry grinned at the interplay. "I don't mean it in quite the same way. It's more that the fundamental nature of the stone- long ago there was a belief called animism that held that everything had a distinct spiritual essence. Not just humans or animals, but even rocks, trees, rivers, clouds- everything. And as I've learned more alchemy over the course of my life, I find myself liking the idea. It makes one more aware of the world around the individual."
"Is there another spell you'll use?" Morrigan asked.
"Not for this step. I could, theoretically create one, but it would need to specify changing coal into diamond. If I wanted to transmute something else, I would have to come up with another, separate incantation. I've found that it's better to merely focus on the magic, willpower, and visualization at this point. So, I ask that you all give me a few minutes of peace and quiet while I get to work."
As they all nodded at him, Harry took a deep breath and leaned over the coal. The carbon base element helped immensely at this point- it was amusing for his family when he had begun studying chemistry, going back to school as it were when he was in his forties. It was fitting though- the muggles had split off on their own scientific path hundreds of years prior, and of course their new branch chemistry was related to the older tradition. You could even see it in their names.
Diamond.
Hardness. That was key. Strength, sharp edges.
Clarity. The shine of the bright gems. Less key, but useful to those who liked pretty things. Even that stray thought was helpful, as it focused more of his mind on old gemstones he had seen for many years.
Electrical insulation. Theoretically much more important than it would seem in this case. He wouldn't want any lightning magic striking the stone and causing it to break the cage he was preparing.
Exclude boron. He didn't want a blue diamond, as that would nullify the previous. Might be useful later on though- for another project someday.
Chemical stability. Unless exposed to extreme heat, the stone would remain.
Hardness again. Repeat the first as it was most important. The strength of the gem would tie it to the strength of the target he had in mind.
Urthemiel. The Old God whose final prison he was creating. A gem to trap and seal away the ancient soul.
Diamond.
"Great Maker," Galen whispered as the coal disappeared before their very eyes and turned into the largest gem he had ever seen.
Alia was nodding alongside him, thinking of the Elven creator god June. Would this be something that he would have done eons ago?
Dagna's eyes were maybe the biggest though. The spells she had seen were brilliant and looked like so much fun, but this...
This was something that called out deeply to her as a dwarf. This felt like a type of magic that she might actually be able to perform. It may not be the same way that her new human and elven friends could launch fireballs at their enemies, but she came from a long line of crafters.
Morrigan merely contemplated what else Harry might be able to create. Would this idea of his truly work?
And was there no way to convince him otherwise?
