A French Encounter:
The morning of December the 21th had arrived. Harry got up early and continued his usual machinations on the recreation ground – Remus had begun to outstrip Harry easily, and it appeared that the wolf in him was being enhanced by the exercise. Harry did not see any notable improvement while Hermione had shaved a second off her usual time. After the text messages had updated each party on the relative performance of the individuals within their group, Harry walked with Remus back to his flat where both of them had the only type of breakfast that was appropriate before a trip to France.
Full English.
Then the ritual of dressing to impress began after Harry had apparated to the Dursley living room. Harry covered his bases, reinforced his compulsions on his relatives and showered. Now his routine included any number of products that Hermione had recommended. He observed that his skin and his face glowed. Gone was the paleness.
Too bad nobody would see it, today.
Nonetheless, he was quite pleased. The love, the food, the exercise and the company, had made his green eyes glow like smouldering emeralds. Perhaps it was the regular practice of magic too? He slowly opened his perfume box. Hermione had done a fantastic job of choosing a great cologne. He applied it, very sparingly and then began to slip on his newest set of robes he had commissioned at Madam Malkin. The robe felt snug but not in a limiting way. It highlighted a body that would be considered "very fit" by the Wizarding standards of adolescent witches. He, was not satisfied and was hoping to truly commit to bulking after the Sirius was out of Azkaban. The goal was to be chorded with a build in the middle of Remus and Hermione - a combination of well-developed and coordinated strength and speed.
The black leather pants contrasted beautifully and the vambrace was strapped underneath the sleeve along with his finger glove. The additional work on the robes had introduced extra animations and many features that were present in the Goth scene. Many belts, straps and strings had been added tastefully particularly to his midsection, arms and legs. Some of the areas also were made of black cloth mesh and were slightly visible. Lastly were the pistol and the power sword. He strapped the weapon holder to his leg and then decided that it looked too cool to hide. He then attached the hilt and the pistol and it snapped to the plate with a magnetic but solid click.
"Let the fuckfaces see it," he said to himself.
Harry descended the staircase and arrived in the null-box to find Remus and Mipsy present. Both of them were fully dressed. Remus looked imposing and far healthier than his initial arrival into Harry's little world. Mipsy was dressed also in full robes, which were a facsimile of Hermione's robes, complete with Peverell Iconography.
"Master Harry and Master Remus are going to make the witches sweat cold. As for me, well I look very cute in this. Mione's design is very classy, thank you?"
"Darn right Mipsy. You dress good, you feel good. I love the look. I will try to convince the elves to wear uniforms. Perhaps you can show yours off and they will change their mind." Harry replied as Invictus looked on and gave a crooked smile of approval. Harry shrunk his portrait, as he wore Invictus openly on his chest. He then affixed the pistol holster to Remus' leg.
"Gracie to Hermione's living room. Everything."
Grace nodded as she zapped the entire twelve hardshell cases and all the warm bodies directly to Hermione Granger's living room, which had been prepared beforehand. The furniture had been moved and there was a lot of open space. Harry and his gang found themselves staring at Hermione and her parents. Hermione then quickly came forward and gave her mandatory hugs and placed her hardshell case next to all the other cases.
"Well, have fun. Hope you bring back some quality baguettes. That is a lot of equipment I see. Maybe you can chuck some bread in there," William commented.
Everyone laughed.
"Dear wife, please call when you arrive, as soon as the roaming goes into effect. And Mr Lupin, keep an eye on them. I am trusting you with my family because Hermione knows her world better than I do. It still makes me uncomfortable that you have pistols, but I know it is necessary."
"Not to worry William, even in Wizarding England, I was considered quite talented with a wand. And I know possess the items that Harry has designed. Most importantly, we are aware and we assume nothing. I don't think Harry and Hermione will fail to throw down if they smell trouble."
"I know. Still, be safe," replied William. Mipsy sensing the tension chipped in.
"Master Williams, I will have Hermione on your doorstep if I smell anything suspicious. You have my word."
"Excellent my young friend, you have my thanks. Well, off you lot go!" replied William.
Harry then instructed:
"Alright scary masks on for the two of us. Rest of you, activate the distortion charm. Hoods up."
And Harry and Hermione were now looking every bit intimidating. Harry's robotic voice came from the helmet.
"Grace, to the Gringotts Lobby for all equipment, Aunty Jean and Moony and yourself."
ZAP!
"Excellent. Mipsy, to the side street nearest to Gringotts. Then you go directly to Gringotts Lobby."
Both of them became invisible, as that particular street was known to be busy.
"Alright, Mione hold my hand so we can keep track of each other. Teleporting in 3…2…1"
Harry then found himself in his familiar apparition spot. Harry then began to walk towards Gringotts with Hermione in tow. The street seemed to be packed full of people. Hermione upon observing the hustle and bustle took her vocoder off and whispered via the internal helmet comms, "Probably Christmas shopping I suppose? I don't get it, Wizards celebrating a commercial muggle celebration, with none of the religious practices, and then they complain about us?"
Harry laughed.
"Morons. Time to hit the catwalk. Uncloak in 3..2..1" Harry whispered.
The pair were then greeted by rather busy crowds that were swarming the stores. Suddenly muttering began as people began to point at their robes, as they closed into the last one hundred meter stretch towards the entrance of Gringotts. Harry and Hermione giggled as they heard the comments from the crowd, as they had not seen their masks under their hoods.
"That is pure acromantula?"
"Maa, those robes so fancy. I want robes like that, please!"
"He is so fitttt, look at him. So tall. His arms are nice!"
"Her skirt is so fancy. She has to be foreign."
"Is that arithmancy on their clothes?"
"What are those patterns? They look so magical."
"Do they have guns strapped to their legs?"
"Animated drawings on the robes? Why did we think not about that?"
"They have masks, you can't see anything!"
"Are they royalty?"
The crowds became quiet and whispering began to circulate. Invictus was enjoying the commotion but then noticed a group of men who were forming into a group and were now blocking their entrance into Gringotts.
"Grandchildren heads up. The jackasses took the bait. Exactly where we want them. Lorna is getting a tub of ice cream. Time to embarrass these pigs!"
Harry wasted no time and probed the wizards by reaching out with his magic. He quickly concluded that Lucius, Parkinson and Goyle who had been asking about them through intermediaries, were not moving. It seemed that they were preparing to make threats. They behaved as if they owned the place. The pictures that Lorna had managed to secure from old newspaper clippings, had been invaluable. He grinned - as his enemies had failed to fire off spells first, they had already been consigned to defeat.
Harry then whispered 'Familicus Magicus' and magnified his vision, while accessing his Mage sight. He could see the disgusting Dark Mark under their robes as it flared with a green sickly decaying magic. He looked at the small boy and determined that it was indeed Draco Malfoy - the same boy who had called himself and Hermione, 'filthy mudbloods' earlier in the year at Slugg and Jiggers Apothecary. Harry began augmenting his reflexes and realised that this was the first volley. Sympathisers of the Dark Lord would not be spared. They for now would receive a warning, with the promise of deadly force in the future. He understood that when he took action, there would be any number of articles and a manhunt, beginning on the next day. But they would not be looking for Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. They would be looking for a pureblooded Lord and Lady, and not muggle educated eclectics like themselves.
"Gameplan?" Hermione asked.
"My reflexes are already augmented. Full invisibility and shields for you. Close the distance to Draco and hold him. I am stunning the other three. Invisibility in 3…..2…..1"
There were whispers as the wizards of the moment disappeared. Some wondered if they had silently apparated? There also was no haze from a disillusionment spell. With their footwear silenced and the high feet traffic, there was no way to trace the footprint. Malfoy, Parkinson and Goyle had relaxed at this point. The new players in the game had run away. They put their wands deep into their robes and…..
Something popped into existence. Before Malfoy senior could even register a threat, he saw three bolts of energy arrive. Then nothing.
The three large male bodies all fell flat on the ground, properly slumped. The crowd's attention quickly turned to the spectacle. Most of the Wizarding world knew the Wizengamot members and their allegiances. The darker families were celebrated for the wrong reasons, and people generally gave Lord Malfoy a wide berth. Malfoy and his friends were now stunned and on the ground. For the first time, the Wizarding world had seen a gun shoot off a magical spell. Thanks to the resonance tweaking and the huge energy storage in the power cell, the spell had travelled instantaneously to the targets. The crowd began to whisper in a frenzy. Then the whispering died down as everybody heard Draco Malfoy's scream in his pubescent voice:
"Wait till the minister hears about this!"
Draco then seemed to be fighting something. When he realised that it was a girl, he clamoured, "Unhand me you filthy whore…..I will end you and….Grhhhhggg"
The crowd went dead silent. The bigger boy had his hand around Draco's neck and it seemed that the little boy could barely breathe. Suddenly the young man took an item from his leg and a silvery translucent energy blade flared into existence. Draco had been put into a full body bind and silencing curse, and his eyes opened in full terror as a sword was now on his neck. The sword edge that was summoned was blunt, as Harry did not wish to cut Draco. However, Draco was too scared to notice anything, nor was he particularly bright.
Nobody had ever seen a blade made purely of energy and that scared the crowd. For the first time in public, Harry Potter spoke at the top of his voice as it lingered in his magic. He deliberately executed a Sonorous with his wand on his helmet, and the crowd heard the imperious tone magnified and menacing, due to the robotic vocoder, which was now active.
"and nothing important will come from your reprehensible and morally bankrupt family, you little shit stain. I don't have time to deal with jumped up little fuck-wits like yourself. You are a problem below my pay grade. Rune Priestess, as my darling sister, deal with this thunder cunt." The Wizarding world was quite conservative about their speech and they were quite surprised at the fragrant loud uncouth language on display. But then, after what they had just seen….
Hermione had already set herself up after carefully observing Harry. She switched on her vocoder and cast the same charm for her voice to be heard. However, while she was surveying the crowd, she noticed a speck of a man was fighting his way to the front by running directly down the middle of the street. She could hear "Ministry Auror, let me through! Out of my way!" He seemed to be at least forty meters away. She collected her thoughts and thought about a sentence where she could introduce Harry.
"Gladly bother. Let us make an example of the moron coming down the street. Let them feel the might of the Artificers!"
Hermione with the laser sight fully activated pointed the gun and drew upon her magic, willing it to help her aim correctly. While the Granger house magic was not combative, that did not mean that she could not use it to aid her. She had been using her magic to study and now she had been tapping the Dagworth-Granger House magic for at least the last three months.
"Magic is intent," she told herself in her mind.
She took a deep breath and let the magic flow. Then that the crowd saw the blue beam of light painted on the chest of the Auror. It glowed ominously, as the cloud cover indicated rain was on the way. "Dead centre," she thought as the Auror stopped to look at the beam painted on his chest.
"What a Milksop" she exclaimed loudly in a casual but condescending tone.
Hermione then exhaled and pulled the trigger. The spell hit the Auror far beyond what Wizards considered acceptable combat ranges and he fell unceremoniously, completely stunned.
Landing a directed spell at fifteen meters or approximately forty five feet was considered the territory of Amelia Bones, who easily had the best accuracy and was Head of the Auror department. But more than one hundred feet away? This was impossible. It was possible to send stunners and bombardas across vast distances like an artillery strike, but lobbing the spells at that distance left the target up to chance. Yet the girl had fired with dead accuracy to the middle of his chest. This revelation alone frightened the more experienced Wizards and Witches. Many hushed comments spread out in the crowd.
"Thank you sister mine, for that excellent shot. Who is next in line to fuck with us?" Harry said with an almost casual tone of voice.
The crowd was now so silent, that the dropping of a pin could be heard. Even the customers inside Gringotts were peeking out. The Goblins had also been looking on at the door. The other Aurors were so flabbergasted that they did not even bother to pull out their wands. The predominant question on their minds was how to get into at twenty five feet of range, to engage the two individuals. They were quite aware that both people could nail them, long before they arrived within an acceptable range. Apparition directly into Gringotts, for anything other than Goblin business, could carry severe consequences. As a result, they held off on taking any action and the drama show resumed.
"As for you Draco, observe what real power looks like. Tell your Death Eater father and his friends, they fucked with the wrong people in the last Wizarding War."
Many people began to nod in agreement now that their allegiances had been declared. People suddenly felt comfortable but remained wary. Harry continued:
"We fight for justice. For those who lost loved ones. Those were assaulted, raped, and forced to abandon everything? We will exterminate your kind little boy, with extreme prejudice. No mercy. We are the children born of the Storm!"
At this point that a random Auror did manage to get a stunner in, but to everyone's surprise, the boy merely flicked the sword and batted the spell away. Then the boy retracted his sword in the blink of an eye, took his weapon out and placed a shot into the crowd that passed through the space between all of the individuals. Only after it hit the offender directly in the head, did everyone figure out that the young man had somehow seen between every little space and he had not nicked a single person besides the Auror. The offender was now collapsed, and this added to the underlying threat that the pair wished to display to the public.
"Test us and you will fail like that little cretin. Rune Priestess, your final message for ninnyhammer supreme?"
"Yes, a lesson for the boy so that he may correct his actions and not end up like his father."
Hermione cancelled the silencing charm and kicked Draco Malfoy so hard in the groin that he let a squeal that sounded like a hippogriff being sodomised by a dragon. Draco fainted from the shock and toppled over like a felled tree as his body was still locked by the body bind curse. The confrontation had revealed their masks and everyone looked at the blinking lights, the robotic voices and the weapons they were packing.
Nobody had moved a single inch.
The two children then walked into Gringotts and then the crowd dispersed, understanding that Gringotts was neutral ground.
James and Lilly who had been paying attention to the entire fiasco from beyond the Veil started to cry with laughter.
"Damn Lillys, we could never be that cool. Did you see that shot? Mione blew Dawlish out of the water. At one hundred plus feet. Harry nailed Triton Selwyn inside the crowd. The Malfoys were humiliated, and this will be remembered for years."
"It certainly will. They have made their statement. Now they will chase the wizards, not the Muggles. Harry is such a Slytherin sometimes. He knows they won't look in the muggle world, because of their arrogance. He made it seem like they were biologically related and that too will throw Ministry of Magic investigators off track."
The Greengrass family was shopping not too far away, and they had witnessed the entire spectacle. Daphne knew that this was the same witch she had met at Madam Malkin. But never would she have believed that a Witch could be that dangerous. The blinking lights and the voice, how could someone be that cool? And she was a Rune-Priestess? Her mother had told her many stories about such powerful witches, in the days of Rowena Ravenclaw. And the other boy, he was magically powerful and fearless. He had targeted three full Lords like they were children. And he was an Artificer? What even was an Artificer?
She loved what the boy had called Draco. That was the new name for Draco from now on, particularly when she was talking to Astoria. Or perhaps T.C.D.M? Thunder-Cunt-Draco-Malfoy? This sounded exactly like something that her friend Tracey Davis would invent. Astoria on the other hand seemed to be having an identity crisis. She had seen a teenage female witch put down an Auror like he was a harmless pigmy puff.
With a single spell.
Astoria secretly envied the girl. But as far as she was concerned she hated the girl too because she hurt Draco. She didn't like the boy either. She could tell he was physically fit. His arm looked kind of big for his age. As a Slytherin minded girl, she admired the power, but she was also of the opinion that she 'loved' Draco.
Ophelia broke the two girls out of their contemplations.
"Well girls, this memory is going to be spectacular to review in the pensieve. I can't wait to show your father. Perhaps Draco will learn that there are always bigger fish in the sea. I have seen this boy twice. Every time I see him, he looks a little stronger and there is always some improvement to be seen. He is a hard worker, and he seems to be very well-read.
There is no replacement for competency my dear children."
"Fillius, what did we just see there?" asked Minerva McGonagall.
"You are seeing what happens when you push people too far. The pureblood elitists asked for this and now they are getting what they deserve," replied Fillius Flitwick.
"I wish I could speak with those teenagers. Did you see their weapons? Those are not muggle weapons. Those are magical weapons! I got a good look and it uses stunners. Pinpoint accuracy! That was a powerful stupefy. That is the same way I remember Albus casting that spell when he taught me so many moons ago. But Albus didn't have that kind of range and his travel speed was nowhere that instantaneous." replied Pomona Sprout.
"As a Curromagus, I can use my magic to cast faster, when duelling. I can see that both of them used their magic to assist their reflexes. That means that they are already doing intent shaping. Did you notice the almost adult like reflexes? Not even Charlie Weasley has that type of precision as a seeker. And they are British and have a bone to pick with the Death Eaters. Maybe they might come to Hogwarts?" Fillius asked, hopefully.
"We can hope, perhaps. But they look like they could be beyond what we teach. Private tuition. Even Lucius Malfoy can't afford that, which means they are financially far more powerful. It was time someone knock Malfoy Senior down a peg." replied Minerva McGonagall.
As Harry and Hermione walked into the bank, the crowd looked on in silence as both the children put away their weapons on their leg holsters. The magnetic click echoed heavily as the pistol snapped into place. As the echo from the click died off, Harry and Hermione took off their gloves and displayed their house rings.
"Well met Master Goblin. I hope you will give your enemies a humiliation just like what we demonstrated outside of your institution. I hope you make as much gold as the headlines that are surely coming tomorrow morning. My sister and I have an appointment. We apologise for the humbug outside, but we don't parlay with vermin."
"Rightfully so, behind the counter please, follow me."
As soon as the door closed and both Harry and Hermione were out of earshot and sight, they both disabled the vocoder and took off their masks. Sharpsand then asked excitedly, "Are those the type of weapons you will be eventually manufacturing? The rumours have been going around among those who Bloodaxe can vouch for. I am in his corner, and I know the King well."
"Exactly my friend, we already have a replica of the pistol in a case for King Ragnok. We have some issues to fix, but yes, they are coming."
"Noted Lord Peverell. Lady Granger, I must commend you on your eye. Excellent aim."
"Thank you. I will make the memory available for you, to enjoy a laugh. Harry let us leave the memories with Bloodaxe and Griphook, let our friends have a looksie?"
Invictus who was finally out of the public observation commented on the spectacle that had played out.
"Excellent Harry and Hermione. No lasting damage was done and only their pride was injured. And perhaps the young's man dangly bits? Although, most likely there will be no change in his behaviour."
Harry and Hermione turned the corner and found Remus and Jean already standing in a brightly illuminated alcove. The Goblins were stacking all the cases and Bloodaxe and Griphook were ensuring everything was set. Harry and Hermione went up to Bloodaxe and Griphook and greeted them with the standard procedure. Harry informed the Goblins of the important information after the niceties had been observed:
"Before we go two things. That case with the word "Prototype" spray painted, that is a pistol for King Ragnok. You guys can take that one away. I think you heard about the fiasco outside. I consider the altercation outside a successful test."
"Indeed, we did. We will have to rewatch somebody's memories. I am sure it was entertaining." Bloodaxe replied.
"About that, I left early, so we would not be late due to unforeseen circumstances. We still have five minutes. How about Hermione and I give you our point-of-view?"
"That would be appreciated, Harry. Let us go to the Potter Office."
Harry and Hermione then withdrew their memories, before returning to the alcove. Jean was not the least bit aware that a showdown had occurred not too long ago and they both decided non-verbally, not to speak about anything yet. Lorna would pick up the Daily Prophet tomorrow morning and then they would have to face the music, particularly from their mothers who were out of the loop. As Harry and Hermione stood on the platform, he looked around and realised that the portkey was the carpet under his feet. Possibly, the portkey had been designed to transport the items by apparating the contents upwards, thereby respecting their stability by ensuring that any momentum introduced by the portkey was balanced by gravity. Harry considered it a very clever optimisation.
"Gracie, hang out with Lorna. I will call for you mentally. If I don't succeed, I will call on the phone. She has some bacon strips waiting for you."
"Ewe-Ewe!" she exclaimed as she nodded her head and disappeared, in a flash of electricity.
Griphook nodded at everyone. He indicated, "Prepare for transportation in 3..2..1"
Woosh- Woosh.
Harry found himself in a room no different to the one he had left. In the room were Goblins who initially had seemed uninterested in what they considered just a usual Portkey arrangement. That was until they began to examine the robes and they saw the masks.
And then the guns.
The French goblins knew from the gossiping that these were the Wizards who had designed the mining lasers and the new gear that they were now being trialled at selected Gringotts branches.
This was the Artificer and the Rune-Priestess.
No wonder King Ragnok had personally requested priority arrangements. It made sense they carried weapons. It was rumoured that they were rather secretive. A short plump man with a very pointed black beard came forward and introduced himself in English, albeit with a French accent that sounded highly aristocratic.
"Welcome to Paris, Lord Peverell. I am Monsieur Luis Delacour, Head Auror of Magical France. I am here to receive you. We will be going to Delacour Manor in a short while, to meet my mother. However, I must confirm that you do not mean my family harm. I do notice you seem to be carrying firearms. I am not familiar with that model."
Monsieur Delacour was talking to Remus and found the idea of children carrying firearms odd. Perhaps it came with the lifestyle. He was pleasantly surprised when the young boy came forward and took off his helmet. The rest of the people followed suit.
"Well met Mr Delacour. My name is Lord Hadrian Peverell, but, you may call me Harry. This is Remus Lupin, my uncle, and over here we have Hermione Granger and her mother Jean Granger. And lastly, my house elf Mipsy." Harry took out his wand and pointed it upwards. Delacour tensed initially, but then he noticed that the boy's body language seemed relaxed. Harry proceeded with the following oath.
"I Hadrian Peverell, swear upon my magic that neither myself nor anyone in my retinue has any malicious intentions towards your family. We came purely with the intent of getting a rather unusual project done. We also hope to get an update on the ink, as I believe that particular solution has been doing well. I also have a modified smartphone to distribute. I also promise all information that is acquired will never be used to harm the Delacour family and we promise to also respect the intellectual property and commercial interests of your family. Should we willingly break our oaths now or in the future, let Lady Magic take the accorded price.
Lumos!"
Upon this gesture, Luis Delacour almost fainted. He had not expected such a binding oath. Yet, the young man had given oaths for all of them, on his life. He had merely hoped to check them for dark artefacts. The young man spoke with such authority, almost as if he was accustomed to extravagantly doing things.
"Merde! Young man, that was not necessary. What if you are held under duress in the future? The oath could claim your life!"
Harry smiled.
"Monsieur Delacour, let them try to hold me to squeeze information from me. I dare the fuckwits to try!"
The Delacour patriarch gulped. He had not expected such language from a teenage boy. But there was a certain composure displayed by him and the girl. Perhaps, they had that type of power behind them? Remus considered his nephew and niece were making the front pages of the Daily Prophet bright and early tomorrow morning, because his werewolf ears had heard the whispers, and he was aware of the long term plans in any case. "Never a dull moment," he thought to himself.
Harry continued, "By the way, we need to call Mr Granger and assure him that his wife and daughter are safe. I am sure you sympathize."
"Yes, no problem at all. I suppose this is your equipment? I will have it all loaded up into our vehicles. Oi!...
Then some instructions were rapidly issued in French to a set of men who were dressed in casual clothes. There was no indication that they were wizards. The entire group followed Monsieur Delacour, as Jean dialled her husband. Luis realised that the word 'call' was not magical but was related to a working smartphone. But then the boy had mentioned that he possessed a modified smartphone? Perhaps all of them were already using such items.
"Hi Honey, we are in Gringotts in Paris. We are safe and the phones are holding up. Yes, we will keep in touch, love you too," Jean replied to her husband.
Luis who was contemplating everything realised why his mother was interested in the boy. His daughter had wanted one for such a long time. Perhaps his mother was finally going to give Fleur a present that she had wanted for such a long time. His mother had a unique ability to screen people quickly and she was excited to meet the young man. The entire party left Gringotts and were now in some type of Government office. Harry wondered if the French Ministry of Magic shared a better relationship with their Goblins, as the buildings seemed to be joined, somewhat. He also observed that most of the wizards and witches were dressed in wardrobes that would be considered very traditional and silk seemed to be the preferred cloth.
"Please, refer to me as Luis. I think we will be doing a lot of talking. I am curious about something. Do your smartphones truly work in magical environments? Our Auror department has been after this for years. We use our phones outside of magical areas. I think our Ministry would be quite interested in ordering the modifications. We are becoming much more open to non-magical things. We will be travelling by car to a secondary location."
"Well Luis, we can arrange something. If I am successful with my current project, we can trash out the details."
To everyone's surprise, they had arrived in a garage. Harry and Hermione immediately recognised the choice of vehicle and laughed.
"Are those AMG ML-350's in the garage?" Harry asked.
"I am not sure. I was trained to drive them and do basic maintenance. I do enjoy the vehicle. I know nothing much about the non-magical world I am afraid. Are you familiar with this vehicle?"
"Yes, I am. Very luxurious. But it is a great performer too. Bet it rides like a dream. It is a fine piece of German engineering. You should get into the habit of just taking the vehicle for a long drive. On a long stretch of road, you can feel the acceleration"
"It is better than any magical coach I have taken. The air conditioning is very nice."
"I think I like France already. About the firearms, I do commend your eyes. Not a standard model and no bullets. These pistols were made by myself. They are based around an American Smith and Wesson Magnum, but they have been modified to fire spells."
"I see. Why does such a young person need such weapons?"
"The type of intellectual property we need to protect? Oh boy. The pistols are primarily to scare morons off. I have a stunner and an explosive setting. When we get to the manor, you can borrow it and take a few shots and tell me what you think."
"Oui! I would like that. I have never seen a gun that can fire spells before. No wonder my mother is excited to meet you!"
The men who had packed the two SUVs with all the cases, and they were already seated.
"Remus take shotgun as you are the biggest. You will leave room for the rest of us in the back, we can squeeze four easily. Looks like traffic." Harry commented.
"Indeed, it is. We are going a short distance to a safehouse and then we can floo to our manor." Luis replied.
The two vehicles then arrived at a rather nondescript building. They parked outside and then walked into the building with the men carrying all the tools and equipment. The building appeared to be some type of public transportation hub for wizards who were travelling into or out of the French wizarding world. Luis nodded to a blond-haired woman as she directed them to a rather huge space, where they were instructed to line up, adjacent to each other. It almost felt like an extremely long chimney. Luis asked everyone to be silent. He then yelled aloud "Delacour Manor" and pressed a rune, on what looked like a control panel.
One second later the whole entourage found themselves in a building that seemed rather non-descript. Then a gust of air blew all the dust off. Harry even felt a cleaning charm being fired off. In comparison to the English floo experience, which Harry had heard about, that was easily far more organised. Even Jean seemed to be stable and planted on her two feet. It was not uncommon for people to topple over.
"Welcome to Delacour Manor. We are deep in the French countryside. We are in our garden outhouse. Let us walk to the manor."
The group followed Luis.
"Be aware, my mother loves the 'la bise' or touch on the cheek as it is French tradition. Handshakes are accepted for formal occasions but I get the feeling she….."
"would not have it any other way. I know who are likeable and who are not!"
Matroness Clementine Delacour stood with a wand as she watered a patch of roses. She summoned the water non-verbally and then made it behave almost as if it came from a sprinkler. When she was finished, she walked over to the entire group. She seemed to be easily a century old, and yet she moved with such vibrance. Her walk was graceful and effortless. And her eyes seemed to sparkle, against the contrast of her very yellow robe was well complemented by a thin black strap around the waist. Harry immediately understood that this woman was a total uncontrollable firecracker just masquerading as French poise. She somehow looked like a giant bee in her outfit and she made it look glorious and stylish.
Clementine was rather simple. She lived by the maxim "I will do what I want, when I want, how I want."
Matroness Clementine stepped forward and as an older witch with much experience, she immediately ascertained the identity of Lord Peverell. His magical core was huge and better yet, he seemed healthy and physically fit. He had an almost grave intelligence in his look. She observed the boy a bit closer. Eyes were the window to the soul after all.
His eyes. The poor boy had suffered immense pain. His eyes looked so old. Such a worn soul in such a young body. She could also tell that the girl was his sister by magic. The mother seemed to be mundane, but considering that her very own father had been a non-magical, this was no issue with her. And the man suffered from something. After she quested, she realised the issue. He was a werewolf. He had undergone his transformation recently. However, it seemed almost like the wolf was being suppressed by his human side? The man seemed to be in direct control of the wolf, and that was unusual and even unheard of?
Clementine had always believed that the measure of a man was in how he treated his supposed lessers. This elf seemed like a family member but she had hair? Her face almost resembled that of a small child. She had heard rumours and even read Grimore's accounts - elves were once human-like. And this was a confirmation in front of her eyes? The elf was well dressed and her magic was very strong. This elf was cherished. So, she had confirmation that the boy was decent, at the very least. Her son quickly stepped up to her and whispered something in her ears. She nodded with a pleased smile and jabbered something in French. It seemed to be instructions as to where to take the equipment. She then took out her wand and intoned in English….
"I Matroness Delacour, swear to keep all that I learn within our interactions during your stay an enduring secret from this time forward. I will respect the skills, intellectual property and commercial interests of all my guests now and in the future, or let magic decide on my last breath if the secrets are given with my conscious collaboration."
She then shouted 'Lux!' and the tip of her wand glowed a white ball of light. She continued by walking up to Harry and slightly kneeling with a surprising amount of agility before touching his shoulder. Clementine touched his left cheek with her own while making a kissing noise and Hermione who had coached all of them on the traditions was quite pleased to see Harry execute flawlessly.
"Salut! Clementine at your service. Welcome to France, Lord Peverell. I never imagined you were so young. But perhaps that is a good thing? I do not thrive on meaningless titles, such things are unkind to my ears, especially with the usual clientele. But please introduce your little family here and do tell me your titles because I am hoping for a laugh! I can tell you and your sister are different!"
Harry then looked at Hermione and decided if Clementine wanted a laugh, she would get one. Harry then put on his helmet and Hermione understanding what was about to happen followed suit and put on her vocoder.
"I am Palatine Artificer Lord Peverell. Bow to magical might. Bow to technological supremacy!"
"I am Rune-Priestess Lady Granger, Last of Morgana's line. You will be made to feel the call of the Runes. Challenge me at your own peril!"
Then they both took off the helmets as Clementine burst out into a full bellyful of laughter.
"Oh La Vache! That was splendid. Good for demoralizing your foes!" she replied, as she considered that being of Morgana's line was no small achievement. She suspected that the story would become very complex. For her at least, those were the stories that she loved to hear about. She looked on as Harry introduced everyone:
"Let me make introductions. In the back, we have Mr Remus Lupin my uncle and we have Jean Granger, Hermione's mother. And my dear little friend here, Mipsy."
Lady Delacour knelt and kiss Hermione exactly. She then greeted Remus and Jean respectively.
"Walk with me to my studio. And you Monsieur, in the little frame over there. You are the subject of my tender ministrations this afternoon?"
"I certainly am. Master Artificer Invictus Peverell by title but more accurately to my young charges, Gramps!"
"Excellent Monsieur! Let us get settled in!"
The entire party found themselves in easily the most fantastic studio that they had ever seen. Thousands of brushes and an entire spectrum of paints, mortars and pestles laid strewn about in an almost indiscriminate manner. Yes, there seemed to be some type of organisational structure. And the parchment? There were hundreds of colours and textures. Also present were many styles of picture frames. The most noticeable highlight was a little work desk where she stuck pictures of things that inspired her, and on the adjacent wall were his letters.
"Please sit anywhere you like. Tell me about yourselves, Hadrian and Hermione."
After the group had become rather comfortable with the couches that littered the studio, Harry explained (minus the details) how he had met his adoptive family. The summary was rather simple. He knew nothing about magic but had a painful accident that forced him to remember forgotten memories from his childhood. From there he began to work backwards until he came into his inheritance. Naturally, he was curious about if both his non-magical education and his magical knowledge could work together, and he came into certain discoveries that allowed him to do business in the muggle world.
Hermione explained her perspective as a young girl who had no idea about magic, but always suspected that she was special. She had met Harry at school and how they began to work together as similarly minded people. She described how Harry's unusual activities had caused her to consider that she could have a magical inheritance. After the development of her rune schema, she had stepped into her title.
"Well – I must say, your family probably have to deal with very unusual circumstances, but they seem to handle it well enough. I am aware that your mother, Hermione is a non-magical. You will find in France, we care not for such things. I always wondered why the British are concerned about such nonsense. I suppose we are all children of the revolution."
"They certainly like their Lord and Ladies very much," Hermione replied.
Some house-elves appeared with a couple of charcuterie boards. Harry requested strong black coffee while the rest decided on tea. Clementine after enjoying much of the storytelling over the last twenty minutes decided to hammer out the details.
"Well, down to business. I have many questions. The agreed business was the material I sent and the item for my granddaughter. Regardless, if you were not been successful in any of these ventures, I would still be willing to work with you. However, the material you sent ahead? You have saved my profession and many of the old portraits that need restoration! This ink has been a lost recipe for so long and I have easily enough for two years. An opportunity to see into how you do your work alone is worth its weight in gold. I find myself in the need of mental stimulation and I find myself curious about so many other things too!"
"Oh dear, I am flattered. What else do you find interesting?" asked Harry.
"I must comment on your robes. They are beautiful. I have never seen designs like those. You will have to show me where you obtained those ideas. I love the aesthetic! I love your helmets too! An explanation of how your helmets work too would be appreciated. I love the lights! I found your correspondence to be beautiful. As you notice – I have it stuck in my study area. I would like you to show me how it all works, whatever you use."
Harry and Hermione then began to cackle with laughter. Clementine then began for the first time to feel a little nervous.
"Children, what is so funny?" questioned Clementine.
"Nothing, it is just that we are rather unassuming and not concerned with image and standing on ceremony. Everything we have done is a prank on the English wizarding world so far. We hope to let gossip blow the rumours out of control. A selective misinformation campaign for free, essentially. As to why, well what can I say. Politics or as I like to call it, Poli-Tricks!" giggled Hermione.
"Ah! I see. Quite ambitious for children I suppose. You honestly had me fooled. So there is drama and theatre in what you do, yes? I am glad you told me this, many of my other clients prefer the formality."
"Ah. You do commissions for uppity types. Gah, they are everywhere, aren't they? They are a rather exhausting bunch of people." commented Harry.
Clementine smiled. Here she was sitting with young children who seemed to be superbly talented. Yet, they were easygoing. She thought to herself, "These are good friends for Fleur and Gabrielle! They look like troublemakers but at least my grandaughters will get a laugh out of them!"
Clementine continued, "This powder you manufacture, it must truly be in high demand. You make it sound like 50,000 galleons is small money."
"Well not small money but I can put that out easily," replied Harry.
"Merde! I was told the mundane world had numerous business opportunities. I think I will have to investigate this?"
"You should. My House magic like yours specialises in a particular skill. I can permanently transfigure exotic materials by thought. I began to manufacture this substance because it was in demand, and I didn't need much to reproduce a lot of the material. Muggle university students often need large amounts."
"How much does the bottle cost?" asked Clementine.
"For agreeing to help me with what might be one of the most annoying projects you will ever do with Gramps, nothing. But if you are curious about the value a bottle of this goes for 70 pounds. I have an additional 6000 bottles of the powder ready to be teleported right to this room via my phoenix. That is the end of your paint problem I think. Payment is against what I need to get done because if you are capable, I will visit you as my projects get far more complex."
"That is generous. Are you sure you don't want me to purchase the powder? My current costs are almost triple that. And I still have to pay security to get it safely from Russia. Your asking price is a steal of a deal! And you have a phoenix as your magical familiar? I have only heard legends about them! How many surprises you have in your pocket, young man?"
"Enough to scare my folks to death regularly. I don't think the weapons attached to our legs have gone unnoticed by you. Permission to call my phoenix? She can slip through wards. I hope that isn't offensive?"
"With the oath in effect, it is of no consequence. Please call her."
Harry reached reach out with his mind to communicate with Grace. As he quested for her presence, he felt nothing. The distance was too far. Perhaps practice was necessary for him to increase his effective range. He called Lorna.
"Hi Lorna, France is going quite great. Put me on speaker with Grace please?"
"Uwe-Uwe!" Grace chirruped over the phone.
"Hey girl, you are finding me in France and then bringing in all the boxes. Quietly and right next to me. In ten seconds….."
Harry got up and positioned himself in a place where his immediate surroundings were clear from any objects.
"Alright…in 3..2..1"
zzzzzzZZZZZZZZAAAAAAPPPPPPPPP.
Grace looked quite contented with herself as she cooed proudly. She had transported an easy five hundred kilograms of material, and the stack of cardboard boxes looked impressive. Clementine was surprised with the quantity of material she had casually received. Harry scratched Grace's head before walking back to where Clementine was sitting. Grace hopped off and sat on Clementine's hand rest and fanned her feathers out quite proudly like a peacock. She was just looking for attention and was interested in the charcuterie board.
"Clementine meet Grace my lightning phoenix. Go on Grace, introduce yourself. You know you want pets."
Clementine found herself shocked to find a Phoenix sitting on her lap. As she cautiously stroked her back, she noted how long and vibrant her feathers were. But most hilarious was the behaviour of the bird. The bird behaved just like a cat.
"I already understand some of the thoughts on your mind. Phoenixes are supposedly creatures of fire. But Grace is proof that they probably span the entire range of elements. Lightning is her element. In terms of personality, she is a cat. Some of her other tricks include laughing at jokes, having large levels of attitude and pranking us when she feels like it. She gets a lot of exercise and love."
"Fantastique! She is so beautiful. Can I show my granddaughter?"
"Sure, call her. I think the smartphone I have modified is for her? Bring the previous device, and we will set it up for her. Hermione before I forget, tell Clementine what you have in your possession?"
"Oh right! Matroness Dela…"
"Clementine dear child, Clementine Hermione."
"Clementine, I was wondering if you knew about how a potion may be tested for side effects. I have a new potion that I developed, by tweaking an existing potion and using mundane methods. We call it Medi-spray. It heals burns, and wounds almost instantly. No pain, no smoking. It numbs the area and it can also fix minor scarring. We used it on Remus, he was in bad condition a couple of days ago. No problems since then. But we want someone to put it through certification testing."
"Not too far from the French Ministry of Magic, is the I.C.W Pioneering Guild. I will accompany you after we get Hadrian's project sorted out. I would like to see this myself. I have a good friend there. I am also too tired of hearing Fleur and Gabrielle complain about the wound cleaning potion – it burns their wounds. They often cry long tears."
"Not surprising, the Wound Cleaning Potion would kill a non-magical dead. Your granddaughters probably have something in their body that doesn't play well with the extremely acidic nature of the potion."
Clementine nodded. She considered that she would not be able to hide her granddaughters' Veela heritage. But then, they had no issues with a werewolf amongst them. Perhaps such silly ideas as discrimination were of no consequence to them. She non-verbally sent a Patronus to summon her son and her granddaughters hoping that everything would work out. At least, Fleur would be able to communicate via the mundane object. Fleur had always talked about smartphones. She wanted to speak to people her age. That, however, was problematic.
"Your house-elf is fascinating. I can sense magic well enough and I know the signature. But how does she look so healthy? I could mistake her for a little child? I had always heard a rumour that they looked human-like, and such things are recorded in my family grimoire. And to see this suspicion confirmed is a surprise!"
Hermione continued to survey the room as Harry explained the situation:
"I have a rare gift called Mage sight, and I can see magic with my eyes. Naturally, that allows me to see behaviours that others cannot. I always noticed when I gave my elves thanks, the magic would travel to them and circulate in their body. I decided, well what if I could push the magic deliberately into the elves?"
"You can see magic, Hadrian? That is such a beautiful gift!"
"Yes. So I have managed to copy a lot of good mundane designs in the creation of my objects. My artefacts need large amounts of magic, more than what Wizards could put out bodily or via a wand. I designed an item to pump magic for a completely unrelated project, and the item was able to fix a lot of Mipsy's issues. After a small trial, I saw so much improvement with all my elves!"
"Merde! This is an Order of Merlin First Class! This is a lost piece of information that nobody could have ever figured out!"
"More importantly, it is an opportunity to fix our little friends. Perhaps as the knowledge was lost, the elves degraded over the centuries. Mipsy could probably apparate me directly to England and back here if my house was the destination."
"I would like for your elf Mipsy to talk to my elves and tell them about her experiences. Whatever can be arranged, I will pay for the item myself. I also think our Ministry will purchase the artefacts."
"Those empty tables over there…Harry, what do you think?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, good. Moony come help us." Harry replied.
Harry took out his wand and floated the tables to the centre of the studio. Hermione continued after him, as they recreated the arrangement from the Null-Box. Clementine did not fail to notice that their magical capability was almost approaching that of young teenagers. She then queried, "Hadrian a question, how old are you? I suspect that you might be about ten? You look like thirteen? I even sense both of you pack a lot of power too."
"We are both approaching eleven next year. Yes, we know that we look much older. Hermione and I are advanced in our bodily development. We do a mundane military workout that is designed to train adult soldiers. We consume probably twice the amount of food a child our age consumes."
Clementine's eyebrows raised in disbelief. Harry continued:
"That is a long explanation. Let me do it in parts. As the body becomes physically strong under physical stress the ability to channel magic increases drastically. I don't think wizards get more powerful. Merely their bodies become more efficient. Hermione, get our notebook?"
Clementine for the next fifteen minutes got a biology crash course on the purpose of the cell. As she browsed through the book, she began to realise the muggles knew far more than magical society gave them credit for, and this was secondary school work?
"Now that you have some idea about cells, the mitochondria are small structures that exist in your cells. They produce energy for all humans to survive. We believe that wizards have a version of mitochondria that captures magical energy from the environment, for bodily storage. Physical activity and magical practice make them more efficient."
"So the magical core doesn't get bigger, just better efficiency?" Clementine asked.
"Yes. Practice is important too in building efficiency. We will often cast spells up to 1,000 times a day. Take a single spell and within half an hour cast as many times as possible, to naturalise the intent. Then three or four sets of that, as we work on different spells. When the intent becomes strong enough, we can eliminate wand movements."
"One thousand times a day? How long have you been doing this?"
"About twenty two months. Physical exercise builds new body tissue and pushes the cells in the body. Every morning, we do a two kilometre sprint at top speed. That is followed by one hundred push-ups, squats, burpees, sit-ups and lunges. Then we continue with a five kilometre endurance run. And we suppress the magic, and only rely on physical effort."
"That is truly stellar. I don't think even my son could run that distance. What do you do next during a typical day?"
"After morning exercise, I do magical studies. I also run my businesses, along with studying the equivalent mundane subjects at the secondary level. We are educated in both spheres of life. As to why all this, well we have reason to believe war might be approaching. We aren't sure but we suspect England will be unstable again."
"Merde, no wonder you drink coffee at such a young age. You have a brain that always needs a buzz like a bee!"
"Exactly that!" Harry laughed
"I hope you will tell me more about this…war that looms on the horizon. It seems ominous." Clementine asked.
"Certainly. It is..complicated and personal." Harry replied. Clementine came over and observed what was being unpacked. She had never seen any of these devices. To the children, it seemed to be merely normality.
Fleur, Gabrielle and Luis slowly walked into the room. Fleur and Gabrielle then greeted their grandmother affectionately in French. Harry could see that both Fleur and Gabrielle were staring at Grace and probably trying to identify her. They also seemed perplexed by the presence of an unknown child that seemed to be content while knitting a scarf. While Harry and Hermione had no clue what was being said, they ascertained with the pointing and with the phrases "Rune-Priestess" and "Palatine Artificer", that she was explaining their magical competencies. Clementine also pointed to the boxes of Graphene Flakes as she explained to her granddaughters that her paint problems were now gone. Fleur and Gabrielle who were not easily impressed by anything, and perhaps who were somewhat hostile as they had never encountered anyone nice, tested the water by waving to Harry and Hermione, with a little smile on both their faces.
Harry who could feel their magic, immediately picked up on the fact that there was something extra. He walked right up to both of them and took their hands and closed his eyes and he felt the magic. Both girls were very surprised by his sudden physical contact. When his face took a still expression, the girls immediately understood that he was trying to figure out something important.
The magic felt like the magic Remus possessed, but it was more temperamental. Remus' magic felt agile and strong. Their magic felt almost ethereal and full of fire. He then spoke:
"I can feel their magical cores. Let us say Remus over there suffers with what we like to call a furry little problem. I know what he feels like, the extra wolfy bit. I can feel their magical cores and I know there is something extra with these two here. I can also tell that whatever it is has caused them a lot of trouble. Trust me, Clementine I understand EXACTLY what that feels like, considering when the accident I spoke of earlier happened, I was clinically dead for four minutes."
"Mon Dieu! I had suspected when I saw your eyes. They look too old and experienced. I shudder to think about what happened to you. Like myself, Luis is a part Veela. However, there is no issue with the males generally. His wife Apolline is also half vela. So, as you can imagine…"
"The sensation I am feeling, I suppose it either makes most males stupid or sometimes makes other women uncomfortable?"
"Exactly. It has been hard for them to make friends."
"I might have a solution, let me get unpacked. The old smartphone?"
Clementine said something in French and Luis passed Harry the old smartphone box. Harry nodded to Hermione who quickly took everything apart and began to figure out the provider and the necessary settings by googling information on her phone. She also disassembled the shielded handset and moved the old sim card to the new phone. Harry noticed that both the girls were still staring at the bird and decided to make introductions.
"Grace? Introduce yourself to our new friends over here?"
After Grace had settled on Gabrielle's shoulder and the length of her tail was seen by both the girls, Clementine explained that a phoenix was sitting on her shoulder and that she was the magical familiar of Hadrian. After an initial period of shock, it didn't take too long for the petting to get started. Grace was soon a floppy cat and was chirping and singing. Hermione was quite pleased as the new modified phone started with the familiar chime. She set the language to French and then navigated around the phone.
"I am doing to give it to her and we can see if her magic from her finger shorts out the device. I will get the laptop started up and I will start plugging up the optical trigger system."
Hermione walked over and handed the device to Fleur who had not noticed what had been going on, as she and her sister were both much too busy playing with Grace. When Fleur realised what she was holding in her hand, she quickly dialled someone. After talking to someone for probably two minutes, she hung up and gave Hermione the biggest hug that she could manage. Fleur was now crying long tears. She ran over to Harry and hugged him before she managed a hoarse, and rather unsure "Thank You" in a heavy accent.
Harry returned the hug with a big smile, understanding that she probably had felt lonely. Harry remembered the cupboard and frowned. At least, the smartphone would allow her to make friends with people. He decided that he would try his best to see how her magical aura could be suppressed. He was hoping his trusty generator would do the job of pumping away her aura, as long as he could design the right type of coil. The envelope of her magical aura just needed to be reduced to something much closer to their bodies.
Hermione who observed Harry thinking with his mouth wide open, leaned into Clementine and explained that when Harry got a truly amazing idea he generally got disconnected from the environment. She levitated a piece of cheese and a slice of ham into his mouth as a joke. By the time Harry had processed the events, everyone was having a good laugh at him. Harry decided just to chomp on the cheese and ham, and not say anything.
"That my friends, is when Harry's brain is running so quickly the rest of him gets disconnected." sniggered Hermione.
Clementine who was humbled that the young man had solved two of her biggest problems already, and had not concerned himself with asking for an exorbitant amount of money wondered what she could offer him as a sign of gratitude.
"Hadrian, you have done much for my business. And my granddaughter will be able to talk to some of the girls who are not immune to the allure. You have not even asked for anything in return. How can I reward you?"
"Thank you. I need a lot of favours from you. But none of them are monetary. I am not fussed because I have learnt sometimes in the act of giving you also receive. I need to access connections for materials like wand cores and whatnot. Magical materials. I also would like an intimate look into French Culture and French Food. We are aware of the culture present in your nation and we sadly admit we eat trashy snacks and our table manners might be lacking. We would like to learn. Finally, have you ever been interested in an apprentice?"
"That I can do. We do have many unique creatures in France. I would very much love to teach you about France. As for meeting our cultural standards, not to worry, I think you both are quick minds. As for an apprentice, I have been looking for some time. Painting must start when you are young." answered Clementine.
"About that, I met a young girl called Luna. She loves art. She is only ten years old so age isn't a problem. We acquired her to design enclosures for our items that are aesthetically pleasing. We for now just put everything we build into differently sized boxes. That doesn't look nice." Hermione replied.
"I will have to meet her, and only then I can make a decision. But at her age, she can learn to bend the magic into the brush from early on. I will consider it. Although if she knows you, I get the feeling I am in for a surprise. I have to look at her pieces, and then I will say…."
"Hermione, were you not looking for a French pen pal? Fleur might be exactly what you need. I think the live conversation will be better for learning language."
Hermione nodded to Harry's suggestion.
"Anyway, let me get Gramps ready. He decided to take a nap."
Harry then woke up Invictus who had taken to sleeping a lot lately. Harry wondered if this was due to the age of his portrait. He decided to get cracking as all his tools and equipment were laid out. He called Clementine over and began to explain what they were trying to do.
"Alright, now that the paint and the smartphone are handled, let me explain some of the misconceptions of the mundane world. These explanations will aid in your ability to use the tools I use for art and whatever else. It also explains what we want to do with the portrait.
Harry booted his shielded ThinkPad and connected it to a temporary mobile hotspot. He demonstrated Google Maps, explained that Muggles had gone to the moon, and gave the Frenchwoman a crash course in how satellites powered communications. He demoed instantaneous communication when he called Hermione's father. He even logged into his production line cameras and displayed the live video feed.
Clementine began to understand that her mundane item was not a personal artefact, but one of billions that was distributed throughout the world. It was a far different approach, from how magicals manufactured only what they needed in small volumes. This realization led her to enquire about how mundanes did business, and she was soon introduced to Amazon and Harry's product listing. Then, the exploration took Clementine into Animation, Digital art and Word Processing. Clementine and Luis sat for a while after it was all over, rather shocked. Then Luis began to realise why the French were adopting more technology.
"Sacrebleu! We have been left behind. Non-magicals are taking pictures of Jupiter? And we think they are just quaint people with funny devices. We used to laugh at them, but they are far more sophisticated than magicals are comfortable to admit."
"Exactly, and after enjoying the last two hours of getting 'caught up' in the muggle world, this is where things are going to get entertaining. These things I have shown you were to provide context. We want to restore Invictus to spanking new because his portrait is five centuries old. We have also built a device that I think can make him communicate with this machine. Now after all that we have seen…"
Clementine was very excited as she suspected where this was going.
"I want you to imagine Invictus in his fully restored form, using this machine. He can find information and provide it to us. Not just mundane information, but also Wizarding information that has been stored in formats that is compatible with the technology. Searching entire volumes for a single word, comparing documents, in some cases, getting translations too. No page-turning and no dusty tomes. Instant information recall."
"The type of research you could do? That would be amazing. Would you consider giving me access to your library when it is completed?" Clementine asked.
"As soon as I get the rudimentary access up, it will not be an issue at all. I considered just letting him stare at the laptop screen from inside his portrait, but I would prefer to get the visuals directly in his portrait environment. Is there any way to take the images on this screen and map them exactly?"
"Not that I know of. Maybe you will have to figure out something?" Clementine explained.
The conversation continued for the next hour. Harry was able to ascertain that the intelligence and memory capability of a portrait was related to its size. He was also quite disappointed that nobody knew exactly how the sensory perception in portraits worked. The other question that followed was if a 'portrait intelligence' could jump from one frame to another, was the intelligence a byproduct of portrait structure, or was it tied to the magic? Was the magical 'pattern' sentient? And how was that related to the painting of a fresh portrait from scratch? These questions surprised Clementine, who admitted that she had never bothered to consider the implications. These enquiries were towards the result of getting the video feed directly into Invictus' image processing neural networks. But now, things were even more unclear. Perhaps something was better than nothing. He would settle for painting the objects in the portrait's environment, to let Invictus manually operate the objects.
Clementine found the conversation exhilarating. She learned much from the textbooks that both of the children had packed for reference. The mundanes truly knew the components of the body and the brain. But it made sense, after what she had seen - they certainly built complicated many devices. Hermione who had been sipping her tea then asked the million dollar question….
"Harry does the LCD panel work? Isn't it true that the crystals create the image and the light shines through the backlight? My dad had his backlight replaced recently."
"Sure and I….Ohhhh… WAIT A DAMNED MINUTE….." Harry replied as he looked at Clementine.
"I wonder if the LCD technology has already existed in the magical world. Maybe the other additives in your ink are made up of liquid crystals. I wonder if that is how those animated photos work?" Harry excitedly said.
"That is pretty wild, if that is the case, Harry?"
"Moine, get the external monitor for me. The portable shielded one. We might have to wreck it."
She nodded as she connected it to the ThinkPad, with excitement buzzing in her face.
"Here it comes. This is when they have the breakthrough." Remus whispered to Jean and Luis.
Harry gulped his 5th cup of coffee in an unceremonious motion. After squinting his eyes, he shut off the inbuilt screen, just to be safe. He began to consider how to carry out what he considered to be, 'monkey see, monkey do' to get Invictus to view a screen within his environment.
"Clementine, can you paint an object into a fresh canvas. A wall-sized piece. Paint a section of the parchment with these dimensions like a blank wizarding newspaper." She smiled and began to paint the object. The boy seemed to be on to something.
To see Clementine's work was so spellbinding, that Harry and Hermione stopped everything and watched. Clementine flicked and dragged brushes as she took her other hand and spread the ink magically. Harry upon observing the process with his Mage sight, realised that the function of her left hand was to align the Graphene flakes in a manner where it was magically conductive. As she worked, she mixed colours deftly and demonstrated every type of line and stroke that was necessary. She often would float brushes and wandlessly summon items as she needed them. As she worked, she commented…
"Magnifique! The ink is so responsive. I used to put a little at a time and build slowly by the layer. This? It drinks the energy. Is this sufficient here? I think I am finished with the blank newspaper."
"I am going to try an experiment. I am going to adapt a Protean charm to do something new," he replied.
Harry touched the external monitor with his finger and fell into an occlumentic trance. He summoned a minuscule tickle of magic and felt the liquid crystals in the display layer of the LCD. He hoped that the titanium shielding would prevent the electricity from undergoing voltage amplification.
"Familicus Magicus" he whispered.
He then willed his magic to 'slave' the crystal positions in the portrait ink into the same orientation as the LCD crystals. He also guided his magic to make a copy of the monitor feed. He hoped magic would make the assumptions, as he was not an electronic engineer after all. He hoped that with the sensory augmentation, the mental trance would acquire an object that he could not accurately target with his wand.
"Time to capitalise on the Grandfather Clock Paradox," he thought to himself.
When he was sure his intent was correct, he whispered "Proteus Servus!" to link the crystals on the portrait to the monitor. Harry opened his eyes to find in the parchment was now sporting a full facsimile of the external widescreen monitor. Magic had assumed what he needed and provided the correct crystal illumination, the backlight and everything to function.
"Mon Dieu! That was fantastic! I can see it at the same size! And the images are moving, look!" Clementine exclaimed.
She then pointed to Invictus. "Monsieur, jump across to the parchment and see if you can see the object in your space!" Invictus then jumped across into the new painting. He suddenly felt young and his mind was sharp. The new paint was doing wonders for him. His fatigue and his sleepiness were gone.
"How does it feel Monsieur Peverell?" Clementine asked.
Invictus replied, "I can see everything as if the object was physically before me. The fatigue and weariness are gone. I feel less claustrophobic. I can think more clearly."
"Yes, the high quality of the ink is restoring the damage caused by age. The amount of money I will make from restoring dying portraits, I will have work for a long time. The Russian ink could not work, not the way this does. What now Hadrian?"
"Can you paint objects that do things in the environment?"
"I can. What do you have in mind?"
"I need you to paint a keyboard just like this image is displayed here on the computer. Invictus, when he presses a key it should light up a specific little square. It should be no different to painting a light switch. In fact…."
Harry built a small circuit with a switch and demonstrated how muggle lighting worked. Clementine was utterly fascinated and after watching some videos of how Muggle lights worked in apartment buildings, she understood what she had to do.
"Ah Harry, so what you are asking is not a problem. Painting and charming this much..ah..switches? It will take me about two days of work. I will have to charm them individually. I think it would be best if we start fresh from tomorrow. We have accommodation here, not to worry. You must have dinner with us as this has been very entertaining. I understand we are going to see some interesting things this evening?"
"Weapons. Let us load new magazines into our pistols," Harry replied.
As Harry, Hermione and Remus prepared the weapons, the conversation shifted to other non-important things – Harry was looking for dependable contractors who did refurbishment. Clementine knew of a company, and she could vouch for their professionality and secrecy. The boy also hoped that Mipsy would learn some French dishes from her elves, and he in return offered any recipes that she knew. Clementine was quite ecstatic to also obtain some of Amba's recipes that were his favourites. The discussion also encompassed the development of his power storage devices. A half-hour later, Clementine summoned Luis and his team of Aurors. Harry had explained that the best demonstration of their weapons, would be for all three of them (Harry, Hermione and Remus) to all focus on shooting floating targets at increasing ranges. This was no problem for Luis, as he often was responsible for training junior Aurors. After the markers were set up and the men gave their oaths the demonstration began. Luis transfigured any number of rocks into tennis balls and floated them in the air with a small amount of drift. All three of them began to fire their guns at a range of ten meters. After a successful round, they backed off an additional five meters of distance.
As Luis and his men observed the pistol demonstration, it became obvious that Harry was an absolute crack shot in terms of accuracy. He never missed. However, he would take some time to acquire the shot. Hermione sometimes missed, but she was almost approaching twice as fast in terms of her ability to aim. She could acquire the target far faster. Already, their accuracy was far better than many experienced Aurors. Remus seemed to be placed somewhere in the middle of Harry and Hermione. Soon after, the explosive barrel was switched in and the trio destroyed the set of levitated rocks into smithereens. Clementine and Jean began to bet on who would score the highest number of shots.
Luis came to conclude the blue 'laser sight' helped with the accuracy. Luis observed that up to a distance of fifty meters, both the children could still hit targets quite well. That was double his effective range. After a hearty round of applause, there was a handover and Luis and his men each took turns among themselves, throwing and shooting targets. Luis realised that a lot of his skill carried over and his accuracy was far better. However, he seemed to be a good bit behind the trio. He wondered if the children had been trained. He clarified, out of curiosity.
"Were you trained to shoot with this much accuracy? This will change law enforcement. I would personally vouch for these weapons to my government. There was a discussion about using pistols, but we didn't like the bullets. We prefer not to draw blood unless we are sending the Legionnaires or worse, a Kill Team"
"Somewhat. We practice informally. However, we are technically cheating. We have had so much exercise and magical practice that we can use wandless magic to augment our accuracy. When we are trained, we will be far more effective. But, the initial carryover from aiming with a wand isn't so bad."
"How do the spells pack so much power? Why do they travel so fast? How do you get a spell from this thing?" asked one of the men.
"That is the trade secret. All I will say is that I approached the problem like an engineer. I considered that magical energy is no different to electrical energy. There are some similarities, that carry over."
This caused the man, Antoine to nod. He concluded that the young man was someone who had high expertise in both fields. He was a mundane born wizard, and his father had been a professional pipeline welder for many years. He deeply appreciated hearing the word 'engineer' being used. Fleur, Gabrielle and Apolline were quietly watching the spectacle from the third floor of Delacour Manor. All of them were flabbergasted. The questions on everyone's minds was uncomplicated - If they were this good now, what would they be as adults?
When the demonstration was finished, everyone headed to dinner. Clementine was impressed and continued to beam at Harry and Hermione. While both children received many handshakes and adoring praise, Harry thought about how he would deal with introducing a new type of warfare to the wizarding world, without shooting himself in his foot.
Harry was not going to be naïve. He had already planned to give every gun a unique signature and implement a system for remote activation, deactivation and an internal acid pocket that could permanently destroy the wand core. He planned to manufacture enough pistols for foreign veteran Aurors, and an oath for its usage would be required to receive the weapon. The biggest joke would be the availability of the gun in Magical England. Until the war was over, none of his weapons would be available to locals. That would leave them the laughingstock of all the I.C.W. countries. Also, to ensure that he would continue to have the upper advantage, he would keep the assault rifles, shotguns, grenades and armour mostly to himself and trusted allies. Then when he revealed his arsenal, he would use that and his economic power to bludgeon himself into the Wizengamot.