"Another mistake..." Harry sighed as he sat down on the sofa in his Hogwarts dorm room. His eyes stared at the alchemical circle on the floor as he ignored the room's chill. The walls were frozen solid, as were the floor and ceiling. The tables and decorations looked as if they had been encased in ice. Harry had a little ice and snow in his hair and on his clothes, but thanks to his body being tempered by the Devil Fruit, his own magic, and Haki, he didn't feel much.
It had been days since he'd locked himself in his room. This was for two reasons: he didn't want to answer so many questions about the magic he'd used on the dragon, and second, he was trying to improve it.
Cocytus wasn't a spell he'd bought from the group's shop, but rather something he'd created himself. But actually, the spell called Cocytus was something he'd created accidentally while researching temperature-altering magic. Cocytus, you could say, was the sister spell of Gehenna, a fire spell that could burn everything around it.
Harry's research and creation goal was to achieve temperature changes and, therefore, freeze and burn. That was accomplished without too much trouble, but the second goal was very difficult, perhaps the most difficult and complicated thing Harry had ever attempted, even more so than creating weapons capable of severing souls and deities. In the latter, Harry did have the right ingredients, after all.
Here, the problem wasn't resources or materials; Harry could obtain them at any time, even in this world. The process for achieving this goal was the most complicated.
Harry wanted to reach the lowest possible temperature, absolute zero.
And this was complicated. In fact, even a Maou like Serafall couldn't reach absolute zero with her powers. Sure, she could freeze a whole country if she wanted, but the temperature of her ice couldn't drop to absolute zero, even with magic, demonic power, and her bloodline all involved. So, through alchemy, Harry tried to achieve his goal, but he couldn't.
-273.15°C or 0°K was the target, but Harry only reached a minimum of 0.000000001038 Kelvin. And that was in Rias's world, and perhaps by pure luck. Here, he knew he couldn't do much, because it would attract too much attention. So he decided to better understand the interaction of temperatures in the world (around him).
And he had succeeded at one thing, but that very thing had started to give him a headache.
"No matter how far down I go... it's still impossible because of the heat coming in from outside," Harry grunted, rubbing his temples with his fingers.
"The most annoying thing is that I don't know what I could use to insulate it well enough so that the heat doesn't affect the experiment," Harry sighed again. He didn't want to use the group's shop for this; he wanted to figure things out on his own. And if there really wasn't a solution; if he exhausted every resource he had at hand or every idea in his head, only then would he take the time to think about buying a solution from the Aeternum group's shop.
For now...
"Time to eat something," Harry said, getting up and placing his hands on his knees. He let out a small groan as he felt a chill in his bones. As he left his room, he shook his hair, sending tiny flakes of ice flying everywhere.
"Hmm?" Harry glanced to the side, just to the side of his bedroom door. A small house-elf was waiting, fidgeting with its fingers a little nervously.
"Is something wrong, little one?"
"Ah!" The little house-elf jumped, literally. Its large eyes stared at Harry with a mixture of admiration and fear.
"Sir... The Ice Lord, the Great Bearded Master sent me because he wanted me to see him in his office."
"The Ice Lord... The Great Bearded Master..." Harry was speechless at the name he assumed was for him and Albus. He'd never been able to help but be amazed by the creativity of the little house-elves when it came to names.
"Did you wait too long?"
"Mimy did her job. Just like she was asked. No problem."
"Good, thank you very much for your work, Mimy," Harry smiled as he gently touched Mimy's head, giving her a little of his magic.
Little Mimy was surprised before she smiled at the sheer amount of magic she had received in a second. She waved goodbye before disappearing as Harry walked toward the headmaster's office.
"Oh, Mimy, if you don't mind, please take some food to the headmaster's office!" Harry called out a little too loudly. That would be enough, especially since he had already given her some of his magic.
When he arrived at the office, the headmaster looked at him with a touch of amusement as he pointed to a plate of food on his desk. Harry just nodded before looking at the other people inside the office.
As always, Lily and Minerva were there, near the headmaster. But now Fudge and Amelia Bones were there too. Hmm... this could be a little interesting, thought Harry as he sat down across from the headmaster and picked up his cutlery.
"Did you need me for something, Albus? Oh, I hope you don't mind me eating; I haven't had a bite for a few days."
"I don't mind. Though I am curious to know what you were doing locked away without eating."
"I was trying to make progress on my latest research. The relationship between magic and temperature."
"Hmm... I see," the headmaster remarked lightly, glancing sideways at the Minister and Madam Bones. They were both silent, but the former was a little annoyed at not having been acknowledged. However, he said nothing; he himself had seen what happened with the dragon.
"Sir... Henry..." Madame Bones spoke, hesitating slightly over how to address him. She already knew who he was, as did the Minister. They simply hadn't done anything until now because Albus had asked him as a favor.
"Yes?" Harry asked, cutting a piece of meat before putting it in his mouth and chewing slowly.
"The Headmaster's reasons for calling you aren't simply out of curiosity. Rather, it's because of the incident with the dragon. Miss Delacour was saved by you, but the dragon was frozen like a statue and hasn't been able to move. Furthermore, the dragon reserve in Romania has requested compensation for the dragon's death."
"Then why aren't they giving him that compensation?"
"Boy! You're the one who froze the dragon! The Ministry has nothing to do with it!" Fudge exclaimed angrily, taking a step forward. But at that moment, Harry turned his head slightly, glancing sideways at the Minister.
"Watch your words, you don't know who you're talking to," Harry's cold words were accompanied by the pressure of his controlled Haki, causing Fudge to choke as he fell to his knees.
"People like you, who only have greed in their hearts, don't deserve their positions... You're nothing more than a dog licking the feet of those who stuff money into your pockets."
"...Know your place, vermin," Harry said angrily. He wasn't usually one to get angry so easily, but the mere word "boy" directed at him caused his anger to surface. While the word itself wouldn't bother him, the condescending way Fudge uttered it reminded him of Vernon and Petunia, two of the worst people he'd ever had to meet.
"Harry!" Albus and Lily exclaimed loudly, frightened as they saw Cornelius's face turn purple from the pressure, unable to breathe.
"Harry!" "Hmph," Harry snorted coldly, releasing his Fudge Haki and glancing at Amelia.
"I don't owe any compensation. First of all, the tournament was reinstated by the Ministry of Magic itself; they're the ones who prepare the tasks and even create them. And by the way, what were they thinking, putting dragons in front of three teenagers?"
"Secondly, Miss Delacour might have died if it weren't for me. And thirdly, if it weren't for me, once again, the entire British Ministry of Magic would have been branded incompetent for letting a young foreign witch die. And let's not even talk about the Delacour family—even the ICW would have descended upon you in fury..."
"You should thank me."
When Harry finished speaking, he cut another piece of steak and put it in his mouth. Everyone fell silent, and the only sound was the clinking of Harry's cutlery as he ate slowly.
" Madam Bones frowned as she watched Harry from behind. She hadn't heard about this Harry Potter, but she knew of his power. The dragon was just a glimpse of what he was capable of. And now that he was standing before her, she couldn't help but think of him as a king. The words that came out of his mouth would have seemed arrogant, especially coming from other people. But not with Harry; his tone of voice, the way he sat with his back straight but not touching the chair's back, the careful way he ate, his cold, bright eyes—everything about him made his actions seem natural.
And she was right. Harry had changed since he started working at the ICW and Aeternum in his own world. Dealing with different people had made him more refined, whether in his movements, his way of speaking, or the orders he gave. Then, when he arrived in Rias's world, he knew he had to act more powerful, or the devils wouldn't take him seriously. He had to be colder and more serious. Furthermore, Venelana had been teaching him the proper way to behave in different kinds of situations, especially when it came to conversations.
"Can't you thaw the dragon?" Minerva decided to ask.
"I can. But it's dead anyway," Harry replied.
"Henry, wouldn't you be willing to pay for the dragon?" Albus asked, deciding to try and resolve everything as easily as possible. Especially since both sides could gain something.
Harry smiled slightly and looked at Albus with bright eyes. At that moment, seeing Harry's expression, Albus couldn't help but press his lips together. Only then did he realize what Harry wanted.
"And do you think the reserve would be willing to part with the entire dragon for a sum of money?"
"It could be discussed," Madame Bones replied.
"Then speak to their contact. If they're willing to part with the dragon's carcass, then I'll pay a fair price."
"May I use your Floo, Headmaster?"
"You may."
Amelia sighed softly as she closed her eyes before walking to the fireplace to speak with the person from the Romanian reserve. The conversation was rather long, mainly because the man was reluctant to agree at first. However, it was agreed that if Harry paid ten million Galleons, everything would be fine. Obviously, this person was taking advantage. Even if dragon parts were expensive, ten million was still a bit much.
"I don't have ten million Galleons. Ask if you accept gems."
"As long as they're equivalent in value!" the man, who had overheard Harry, exclaimed from the other side.
Harry snorted before moving his hand, causing a magic circle to appear and spit out a large quantity of sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. In a few seconds, a small mountain of gems had formed. The gems weren't of the highest quality. Harry picked out the worst ones to get rid of them immediately.
Being a research wizard was expensive, so he always kept a lot of things in his magical storeroom. It didn't matter if they were gems, ingots, or any other precious metal or gem; he kept them to research their uses with magic.
Upon seeing the sheer quantity of precious gems, everyone's eyes widened, their mouths agape, unable to utter a single word.
"Eh... I think it's all sorted. Now I have some dragon materials..." Harry grinned broadly, showing that everything had been within his grasp. Not only did he gain the satisfaction of nearly killing Fudge, but he also had a whole dragon to tear apart and harvest materials from.