Harry Potter and the Artificer Legacy Chapter 17 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Harry Potter and the Artificer Legacy! Back to Hogwarts! How much more can the Chamber be hampered by the presence of Aurors? What will be the next event to happen at Hogwarts this year? 

As always Patrons get all chapters early and all one-shots are Pat re on exclusive.

If you’d like to become a patron and get access to these chapters earlier, just head on over to Pat re on and add a /Kairomaru after the com.

Make sure to thank the patrons that make these stories possible by checking out the Patron Plaque on my profile!

So without further delay, please enjoy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 17 – Back to Hogwarts, Valentine’s Day?

“So nothing has happened during Yule Break?” Harry questioned and Penny shook her head.

“Nothing at all, or at least that’s what the Professors have told to us Prefects.” Penny replied as they sat at the Ravenclaw Table with Luna to Penny’s left and Harry to her right.

“So did the culprit go home for the Yule Break?” Harry wondered as he ate.

“Christmas should be spent with family.” Luna smiled at them both as she shaped her mashed potatoes into a vaguely castle-like form.

“Indeed it should, Luna.” Penny smiled at her fellow blonde.

“Not sure if the culprit cares much.” Harry shrugged.

“Even mean people like Christmas, right?” Luna asked and Harry instantly glanced at Snape in response. The Potions Professor was scowling, as always, so there was a fairly good chance he didn’t care for the Holidays.

“Maybe not all of them.” Harry responded with a shrug as he went back to his dinner.

The next day after classes Harry returned to his hidden workshop to experiment with altering the Oulm Circuit Knife’s Form. He carefully went through the Runic Sequences of the Array looking for anything that might have to be changed. Several minutes later he came to the two parts of the Array that he’d have to change if he wanted this idea to work. The ‘Severance’ Sequence and the ‘Cut Prevention’ Sequence would both have to be substituted out for other Runic Sequences to have any chance of working with a different Form.

“What sequence would work though?” Harry murmured to himself as he went through a few of his books. Not much progress was made on his first full day back at Hogwarts.

The weekend proved to be rather fruitful for Harry. He’d found a Runic Sequence that might work with his new idea. The ‘Block’ Sequence was used to keep a designated person, item, or other ‘Magically Recognized’ thing from moving past a certain point. While it was often used in Warding, nothing about the sequence suggested that it couldn’t be used on something mobile. It wasn’t a ‘Static’ sequence like his Rune Safe was. Now he just had to find a new Runic Sequence that would be able to make use of the ‘Block’ Sequence. Thankfully that only took him until Sunday evening. A rather obscure sequence used to transfer effects with contact. Harry would have to rewrite it and then try to integrate it together with the ‘Block’ Sequence and his own Runic Designation for Mana. If this worked out he should, theoretically, be able to change the Form of his Oulm Circuit Knife to something a bit more ‘in line’ with Police Work.

During Harry’s research for his new idea, Penny was still looking into what Slytherin’s Monster could be. She brought up a potential idea to Harry during the last week of January.

“It might have been a Cockatrice.” Penny suggested as she showed Harry some of her newest notes. “When a Cockatrice gets old enough they can develop a ‘Petrifying Gaze’ of their own. That fits with what happened to Mrs. Norris and Creevey. Plus Cockatrices do have snake tails, so Magically-speaking they might have enough of a relationship to other Magical Snakes to make crossbreeding easier.”

“That still doesn’t bode well for anybody in the castle.” Harry grimaced. A Cockatrice was a deadly Magical Beast after all. They were currently rated at XXXX by the Ministry of Magic. If they were old enough to have gained a ‘Petrifying Gaze’ then they moved up to XXXXX classification. Crossbreeding one with a different Magical Snake didn’t make them ‘less harmful’ by any means.

“It doesn’t, but it could give us a way to deal with the petrification problem.” Penny replied, happy that she’d found some kind of useful lead.

“Better than being caught unaware.” Harry agreed as he looked over his notes for the Oulm Circuit Array. He was still trying to rewrite the ‘Transfer’ Sequence to work how he wanted it to. So far he’d done seven different rewrites and none of them had worked out. The ‘Transfer’ Sequence was very…finicky…for lack of a better term. It had very little mutability in its structure before its purpose was lost. With a sigh Harry set about rewriting it again to try and get it to integrate with the ‘Block’ Sequence and his Runic Designation for ‘Mana’.

-First Week of February-

“I think it works…” Harry breathed out happily as he looked over his latest rewrite. The ‘new’ version of the ‘Transfer’ Sequence finally fit with the ‘Block’ Sequence. His Runic Designation for ‘Mana’ also fit with the ‘Block’ Sequence and should finally be the ‘thing’ that was blocked when the ‘Transfer’ Sequence was used. The newly rewritten sequence made it so that physical contact had to take place and it could only transfer to something Magical. But these two limitations worked out just fine for what Harry wanted the Item in question to do. After all, Witches and Wizards were Magical, so the Array should work out just fine.

“Now I just have to test it.” Harry exhaled as he went to the smithy to start making the prototype of his new Oulm Circuit design. Harry was hopeful to get this done by April and have a working Item. It would make a great birthday gift for Tonks! Plus if she could demonstrate the Item’s uses and usefulness to the Aurors he might just be able to make a lucrative sale. If his Items proved useful in the hands of the British Aurors then he could potentially use that success as a means to market his Items to other Magical Police Forces across the world too.

-Friday, February 12th-

“He can’t be serious.” Harry groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Maybe it won’t be that bad?” Penny tried to reassure him, but even she looked unconvinced.

What were they lamenting about? Lockhart had just announced that he was going to be throwing a large ‘morale boosting’ Valentine’s Day for the castle. The man even said that he was hiring ‘cupids’ to deliver Valentine’s Day poems for the students if they wanted to submit one. This weekend was going to be a nightmare. Luckily Valentine’s Day fell on a Sunday this year so that classes wouldn’t be interrupted at least.

-Sunday, February 14th-

“I’ve got a musical message to deliver to Harry Potter in person.” A rough male voice behind Harry stated as he was almost to the Great Hall. He’d been safely secure, hiding, in his workshop for most of the day. Unfortunately Penny would be cross with him if he skipped meals so he’d had to leave his sanctuary.

“I’ll give you twenty Galleons, right now, to not do what you’re about to do.” Harry offered to the ‘cupid’ behind him as he turned to face the person; although the ‘person’ actually turned out to be a Dwarf; about a meter and a half tall, stocky and with a prominent beard. Harry had read about them a little bit when he was familiarizing himself with the Magical World in First Year. They weren’t mentioned much and seemed to exist on the very fringes of Magical Society. There was mention that they were excellent Blacksmiths, as well as Jewelers, and that they lived in mountains mostly. They were also often described as blunt and stubborn.

“Show me the gold first.” The Dwarf demanded and Harry, eager to avoid the inevitable embarrassment, fished into his pocket and pulled out a Magical Pouch. These were commonly sold in Diagon Alley and were a lesser version of the Mokeskin Pouch Harry had sitting in his Rune Safe. Opening the pouch Harry quickly pulled out twenty of the golden coins and showed them to the Dwarf.

“We have a deal.” The Dwarf nodded as he tore up the poem in his hands and then held his right hand out for payment. Harry handed the stack of coins over to the Dwarf and watched him place them into his own pouch. “Have a nice day.” With that the Dwarf turned to walk away, but Harry’s curiosity got the better of him.

“Sir Dwarf, if it’s not a bother, could I ask a few questions?” Harry inquired and the Dwarf turned to look at him.

“Make it quick, I still have a few more of these things to deliver before I can get out of this ‘costume’.” The Dwarf grumbled, clearly not a fan of the cupid outfit Lockhart forced them to wear.

“Right, since you already know my name, might I ask yours?” Harry wanted to make some form of introduction.

“Drad Erdunn.” The now named Drad replied brusquely.

“Thank you, Mr. Erdunn.” Harry thanked the Dwarf.

“The ‘Mister’ is unnecessary.” Drad shook his head.

“Beg your pardon?” Harry asked confused.

“Erdunn is proper address by Dwarven standards.” Drad informed him. “Mister and Misses are Human forms of address. Dwarves are not overly much for excess formalities.”

“Ah, I see, thank you for the information, Erdunn.” Harry nodded to the Dwarf.

“It is fine, lad.” Drad waved it off. “Anything you actually wanted to ask or can I be on my way?”

“Just a question or two, I won’t keep you long.” Harry stated before he asked his first question. “Why do this ‘job’ when you clearly hate it?”

“Not much choice, lad. Dwarves can barely get any work in the Magical World these days. We take whatever we can get to keep our families fed.” Drad replied a grimace on his face.

“I read up on what was available about Dwarves when I was familiarizing myself with the Magical World last year. I did notice a rather…lacking…amount of information on the Dwarves.” Harry remarked and he saw Drad’s eyes narrow in response.

“I suppose that is your next question?” Drad asked for clarification.

“If it isn’t an imposition, of course.” Harry nodded. “Feel free not to answer if you don’t want to.”

“The Dwarves have been pushed to the very edge of the Magical World. Especially in Europe, our own native lands. It started almost a thousand years ago and now we have been reduced to this.” Drad grumbled as he motioned to the cupid outfit he was wearing. “Just so that we can eke out a living.”

“How did that happen? The books don’t say anything about that. They only mention that the Dwarves were excellent Blacksmiths, Jewelers, and that they lived in mountains.”

“Those were the days.” Drad exhaled deeply. “My people were driven from our mountain halls; all because the Wizards of the past wanted their fighting with the Goblins to end.” The Dwarf snorted at this. “Lot of good that did them, Rebellions have happened throughout the ages since.”

“Wizard and Witches pushed the Dwarves out?” Harry questioned in shock.

“They don’t mention that in their books, do they?” Drad huffed as he shook his head, his beard swaying slightly. “A thousand years ago ‘Gringotts’ had a different name, ‘Baraz Irkul’. Before we were driven out and the Goblins took it over with their filthy, grubby claws.”

“That’s disgusting.” Harry grimaced at what had been done to the Dwarves. No wonder there was barely anything on them. They’d almost been wiped from Magical History in the last thousand years. All for what appeared to amount to a failed treaty with the Goblins of all things.

“We don’t blame the Wizards and Witches of today for the actions of their ancestors.” Drad informed him. “We do hold the Goblins in contempt, but that has more to do with our longstanding feud with them for what they took from us.”

“What happened to your mountain halls?” Harry questioned and Drad sighed despondently.

“The mountain is gone. All the Magic harvested out when the mountain was mined to almost nothing in a few short generations. When the Magic was gone it was sold to some Mundane King for profit. I believe it’s been built over entirely now with a Mundane City, but I couldn’t tell you the name of the place.” Drad muttered out.

‘Even their mountain is gone now?’ Harry thought with pity. How long had these Dwarves been stuck, holed up wherever they could find space, barely keeping themselves afloat as the ages passed.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Erdunn.” Harry offered his sympathies. “I don’t suppose there is much I can do to help though.”

“That’s alright, lad. We Dwarves will endure. We’re a hardy people, one day we’ll get back what was taken from us.” Drad replied as he clenched his fist. “Don’t suppose it’ll help much, but if you happen to find the ‘Sword of Gryffindor’ in your years here, send it to my father ‘King’ Drasurd Erdunn if you could.”

“What would you want the ‘Sword of Gryffindor’ for?” Harry questioned.

“You don’t really believe that Goblins forged such a powerful weapon for a Wizard, do you?” Drad asked and Harry remembered questioning that very fact when he’d been reading up on Magical Swords. “That sword was forged by Dwarven Smiths; my ancestors at that. Only a direct descendant of Gryffindor or a descendant of Erdunn can truly claim that sword and reveal its true power.”

“I’ll keep my eye out for it then.” Harry agreed as he now had much more to think about. “Thank you for speaking with me, Erdunn.”

“It was good to meet a Wizard that’s willing to listen.” Drad replied as he turned and headed off. Harry was left with his thoughts and the revelation that a chunk of Magical History had basically been covered up by guilty Wizards in the past.

“At least I’m not the only one that doesn’t trust the Goblins.” Harry mumbled to himself quietly as he made his way into the Great Hall.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Harry.” Penny smiled at him as she handed him a few choice bars of various Honeydukes’ Chocolate.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Penny.” Harry smiled back as he handed her an assortment of Honeydukes’ Finest, some of the most expensive chocolates that Honeydukes produced. He’d sent a similar gift to Tonks last night with Hedwig. As if thinking about her summoned the snowy owl, Hedwig swooped down to him with an envelope attached to her leg. “Hey girl, did Tonks send you back?” He asked his owl while removing the letter. Hedwig gave him an affectionate nibble while also taking some food for herself from his plate. With a ‘Prek’ the snowy owl flew off to the Owlery to rest. 

Harry opened the envelope and read the letter. Tonks thanked him for the chocolates and said her Valentine’s Gift was in the envelope. Curious, Harry pulled out what remained in the envelope and smiled when he saw the Magical Photograph of Tonks smiling at him. The Tonks in the photo then stepped backwards a few steps and revealed that she was wearing a VERY skimpy bikini. Harry felt his cheeks heating up as he watched ‘photo Tonks’ increase the size of her breasts or give herself a ridiculously curvy body that was the ‘perfect’ hourglass shape. She even turned around and showed him her ass in multiple sizes!

“Harry, are you okay? Your face is rather red.” Penny asked in concern. “What did Tonks send you?”

“Nothing!” Harry exclaimed as he quickly stuffed the picture into the inner pocket of his robes. Penny raised an eyebrow at his reaction before sighing.

“She sent you something naughty, didn’t she?” Penny asked with a shake of her head.

“No?” Harry replied, though he didn’t sound convincing even to himself. Penny rolled her eyes before ruffling his hair a bit.

“Don’t let her corrupt you completely, Harry.” Penny advised with a small smile.

“Ok.” Harry agreed and they both started on their lunch.

-Last Week of February-

“Carefully…slowly…almost there.” Harry mumbled to himself as he filled in the last of the Magic Circuits with his Oulm Circuit material. Even with his Alchemic Pen it was a pain in the ass to fill in the Circuits on a round surface! But after multiple failed attempts at it, Harry finally finished his new Item prototype. “Just let it cool and finish solidifying then we can test out Auror Baton prototype number one.” Harry had copied the idea of the Policeman’s Baton from the Non-Magical World and applied his new Runic Array to a Sylvuan baton with Oulm Circuits. If the baton operated the same way as the prototype knife, then Harry would give the first one to Tonks and make a few more if the Auror Department was interested.

“Now I just need to test it out.” Harry mused on how to do that without using himself as the Guinea Pig. Penny would be upset with him if he tested out his Items on himself again. “Maybe I should take a page out of the Weasley Twin’s handbook and pay some people to be test subjects.” With a chuckle Harry pulled a piece of blank parchment over and set about writing out his proposal. He’d have Penny take a look at it and help revise it when she came by. For now he’d continue looking over the Communication Mirror notes he’d gotten from Remus. He’d been puzzling over them in his free time lately, but he still couldn’t figure out what made the successful pair work. Remus was indeed a meticulous note keeper; Harry had read through the Marauder’s attempt to use the same Charms and Enchantments that worked on the successful pair on others. The others were all failures though, each and every time. It was truly baffling as to why.

-First Week of March-

“Harry, you’re sure you know what you’re doing?” Penny questioned in concern.

“It’s not really any different from a knife, just bigger and double edged.” Harry tried to reassure Penny as he held his first successfully forged sword prototype. He had yet to actually etch the Runic Array into it, but his success with the Vitris Auri and Sylvuan knife had spurned him to move forward with the next step to his Artifact Sword. He’d worked out a new addition to his Runic Array as well. The ‘Enhance’ Sequence was fairly common as a boosting sequence to increase either potency or range of a Magical Effect. The best part was that unlike the ‘Transfer’ Sequence the ‘Enhance’ Sequence was much more mutable. It had only taken Harry three attempts to rewrite it so that it would integrate into his Array.

“I’m staying to make sure you don’t do something dangerous as a test.” Penny informed him and Harry nodded. She hadn’t been overly pleased about him wanting to hire test subjects either. But she’d relented as it was better than him testing his prototypes on himself. Harry had even promised to do the tests as close to the Hospital Wing as possible if it would put her at ease. Speaking of he needed to set up the first tests of the Auror Baton soon, now that Penny was ‘on board’.

“I appreciate your concern, Penny, thank you.” Harry smiled at her and Penny gave him a small smile in return. Harry took out his Adamantite Etching Tool and set to work on the hand and a half broadsword he’d forged. As he etched the Runes into the metal he had a good feeling about this prototype. By the time evening had fallen Harry had finished etching the Array and the Circuit Lines along the blade. After a break for dinner Harry and Penny returned to the workshop and Harry made enough Vitris Auri to fill in the Array and Circuit Lines. He wanted to wait for it to cool and solidify so that he could test it right away. Unfortunately curfew was getting close and Penny wouldn’t allow him to break the rules as he wanted.

On their way back towards Ravenclaw Tower they overheard Filch complaining about one of the girls’ bathrooms on the second floor flooding, again. The Caretaker was grumbling and muttering about this being the fifth time this year so Penny and Harry made sure to stay out of the man’s sight. Filch was unpleasant normally, give the grizzled old man a reason to be angry and he’d invent reasons to try and punish a student.

-The Next Afternoon-

Harry grinned widely as he lifted his prototype sword in his hands and checked over the Array and Circuits. Everything looked good, the Runes were perfect and the Circuits were properly spaced. All in all Harry was very happy with this prototype. Now all that was left was to test it. With a thought a large Lumos Charm appeared in the air before Harry. Checking to make sure Penny was far enough away, which she was as she waved to him from next to the wall; Harry made a slow swing through the Lumos Charm. The ball of light blinked out as soon as the blade passed through it. Harry stood there for a moment and then cheered.

“It worked! Yes!” Harry exclaimed happily.

“Congratulations Harry!” Penny smiled brightly at him. She was happy to see Harry succeed on something he’d been working on for so long.

“That’s another step in the right direction!” Harry grinned as he checked over the Runes and Circuits again. He had to make sure there was no damage from the prototype using its effect after all. It wouldn’t really be a success if one use destroyed the sword. Seeing that everything looked undamaged Harry summoned another Lumos Charm and dispelled it with a stab from the prototype sword. “So slashing and stabbing both work; that’s good to know.”

“How many tests will you put this one through?” Penny inquired as Harry checked over the sword again for any damages.

“Several, mostly to check its durability and make sure the Runes and Circuits hold up. Though I’ll also try cutting different spells too; it would be kind of a lame creation if it could only put out Lumos Charms.” Harry chuckled as he placed the sword down. “You said you might have had a way to avoid the monster’s petrification, right?”

“Yes, after some in-depth study of Cockatrices, I’ve found out that breaking the line of sight with one nullifies its ‘Petrifying Gaze’. Most people that have slain one wore some kind of enchanted eye protection to block out the Cockatrice’s ability. If we had something similar we shouldn’t have to worry about the monster’s gaze.” Penny informed him as she showed him her notes on the subject.

“I could probably make something like that with a bit of time.” Harry mused as he looked over the historical accounts of Wizards and Witches that had brought down Cockatrices in the past. Even without their gaze they were still fast, strong, and armed with razor sharp, poisonous talons. They definitely earned their XXXX danger rating. If Slytherin’s monster was indeed some kind of hybrid of Cockatrice and Magical Snake then it would pay to be prepared.

-That Weekend-

Harry grinned at the small turnout for his tests. About ten students had gathered in an unused classroom down the hall from the Hospital Wing. At one Galleon per test Harry was burning some money for testing, but Penny wouldn’t let him test on students, even willing ones, without proper compensation for potential injury.

“Thank you all for coming.” Harry welcomed the ten students. He didn’t know any of them personally, but he had two girls and eight boys. None from Slytherin, but four from Hufflepuff, five from Gryffindor, and two from Ravenclaw; so it was a good mix of people. “You’re all here today to help me test out my newest Item.” Harry grinned as he held up the Auror Baton prototype. “This is a prototype for an Item I hope to sell to the Aurors to aid them in their work. It should do nothing more than make whatever limb is struck with it unable to move for a time.”

“That’s it?” One of the Gryffindors asked.

“That’s it.” Harry nodded to him.

“It’ll wear off, right?” One of the girls asked; a Hufflepuff judging by her uniform.

“Yes, the effect is only temporary, if you feel uncomfortable tell me and we will make the short trip to the Hospital Wing.” Harry replied and all ten of the students nodded. Harry moved over to the first student and gently tapped him with the Baton.

“I don’t think it worked.” The Gryffindor boy remarked as he moved his arm around.

“Perhaps a bit stronger?” Harry mused as he reared back a little farther and struck the boy’s arm a bit harder.

“Hey, that stings…” The boy trailed off as he realized his arm was flopping down at his side, unmoving.

“Can you move your arm?” Harry asked and the Gryffindor shook his head, still staring at his arm that he couldn’t feel anymore.

“This is weird.” The boy remarked as he used his other hand to move his ‘dead’ arm around. “It’s like I slept on it for way too long, except it’s not cold.”

“That’s what I was going for.” Harry nodded pleased with the first test. “Can I get the next volunteer, please?” He asked politely and one of the Hufflepuff boys stepped forward. Harry hoped the rest of the tests went as well.

-End Chapter-

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Huh, seems a few things are happening! Harry’s progressing and testing his new Item! But now he knows a hidden secret of Magical History. The Dwarves have suffered and been pushed away to the fringes of Magical Society; all for a treaty that ultimately failed. Is Drad being honest about the true history of the ‘Sword of Gryffindor’? If so what kind of impact will such a thing have on the future? Can the Dwarves be helped? If not now, than in the future perhaps? Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!