"One hundred grams of Gold, eighty grams of powdered Quartz, twenty grams of dried Ugi Grass stabilizer. Melt the Gold first; pour mana into the liquefied metal as you add the Quartz and the stabilizer. Continue to supply mana as you stir the compound. After stirring for three minutes to even out the contents then you transmute it with Transmutation Circle plate number three." Harry spoke out the directions as he slowly performed them. Penny smiled fondly at him from where she was sitting and going over her homework. She'd bet that he didn't even realize he started speaking when he got wrapped up in his Enchanting. She found it rather adorable to be honest.
The blue glow of the Transmutation Circle lit up part of the workshop for just under a minute before Harry finished the final step of making Vitris Auri. The new Circuit Compound was still liquid in its vessel and Harry left it on the magical equivalent of a Bunsen burner he'd found in a supply closet in an abandoned classroom to keep it warm. Filling his Alchemic Pen with the golden material Harry carefully and precisely set about filling in the Runic Array and Circuit Lines of the first Sylvuan prototype. Almost thirty minutes later Harry finished and emptied his Alchemic Pen of the remaining Vitris Auri. Now it was time to try his next idea.
Harry still had some Oulm left over from his first prototypes so he quickly set about getting it hot enough in the forge to liquefy it. He had to carefully watch the Oulm so that he didn't 'melt' the Magic out of the low-grade Magical Metal. Extracting it too late would leave him with inert metal that was useless to Enchanting. Once he had the Oulm liquefied he filled his Alchemic Pen and set to work filling in the Runic Array and Circuit Lines of the next Sylvuan knife. A half hour later and Harry was sitting back and letting the Oulm cool and solidify into the knife.
"Harry, it's time for lunch." Penny spoke up as she stood up from the table she was sitting at.
"Alright, I need a break anyway." Harry agreed and the two left to the Great Hall to fill their stomachs. Luna sat with them at lunch and proceeded to tell them about Christmas at the Rookery, the Lovegood Family ancestral home. Apparently Luna lived near the Weasley Family and the two Families often got together during the Holidays. Harry thought the traditions of the Magical World would be either normal-ish or completely odd. There didn't seem to be much in-between in the Magical World. But it seemed certain traditions were practiced by some Families while others weren't and vice versa depending on the Family in question. It also seemed that the vast majority of students were heading home this year. Harry would bet money that it was because of the whole 'Heir of Slytherin' investigation currently still in-progress.
As of now there hadn't been another attack. Harry suspected that was because of the Auror presence within Hogwarts. It was hard to hide a monster moving through the school when all the portraits and ghosts, plus the Aurors were watching as much of the school as possible. Hopefully this 'Heir' would wise up and just leave everyone alone, or get caught soon, Harry wasn't particular about which. After lunch Harry and Penny returned to the hidden workshop. Harry quickly set about testing his new prototypes.
"First up, the Vitris Auri and Sylvuan knife." Harry stated as he created a Lumos Charm. A pass through the light with the blade and the Charm flickered and lost two thirds of its size and brightness. "Yes! Progress!" Harry cheered and Penny clapped for him from her table. "I better check the Array." Harry thought aloud as he started inspecting the prototype.
"Is it still working, Harry?" Penny asked a couple of minutes later.
"It appears to be." Harry replied. "I didn't find any evidence of damage. Let's see how many swings it takes to snuff out an average Lumos Charm." A ball of light appeared next to Harry and he swung the prototype through the spell. The Charm flickered and shrank to only a third of its original size and brightness. A second pass through the Charm dispersed it entirely. "Just a quick check…" Harry mumbled to himself as he inspected the prototype for damage. A minute later saw Harry whooping with joy. "No damage! It works! It works!"
"Congratulations Harry!" Penny cheered for him as well.
"I'll have to put it through some durability tests, see just how much it can take, but if it holds up I'll try combining two of the 'Base Arrays' into one functional Array and applying it to the next Sylvuan prototype." The young Artificer was practically glowing with glee at his progress.
"What about the other prototype?" Penny asked pointing at the Oulm Circuit Sylvuan knife.
"Right, right, almost forgot in the excitement." Harry shook his head to refocus. "Let's test this one out." Another Lumos Charm was conjured and Harry passed the Oulm Circuit knife through the spell. The Charm wavered when the blade was in contact with it, but it settled after the blade cleared the space. Neither size nor brightness had diminished.
"It did something at least?" Penny offered and Harry looked over the Array to check for any damage. Not seeing any after a few minutes Harry stabbed the Lumos Charm and watched it waver with the blade occupying the same space. Even as it wavered the Charm never went out, even after a solid minute of exposure to the prototype.
"How odd." Harry mused as he looked the knife over. "Same Runic Array, but different materials have gotten different reactions. Fascinating." The Artificer was smiling just as brightly as when his other prototype had succeeded. Penny could only smile fondly at Harry. Even when his work didn't quite 'work' he still found it interesting and was left with more things to try out and test. He didn't let failure stop him; in fact it seemed to spur him on, like he was taking it as a challenge. She had to admit, that work ethic was rather attractive.
"So what now?" Penny asked breaking Harry from his staring at the prototype. Harry thought about it for a moment and his eyes fell onto his prototype Oulm knife that had 'failed'. But the knife did have the interesting effect of leaving his fingers with the 'pins and needles' feeling when they were tapped by the edge of the blade.
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