"You're planning to put space expansion charms on the cartridges?" Lys asked incredulously.
"Of course." I said like it was obvious, which it really was! "That way I can fill them up with any number of load-outs and achieve an effect that is far in excess to anything one could do with regular spells."
Lys frowned thoughtfully before nodding slowly. "Alright, I can see how that would work. What did you have in mind?"
I fiddled around with one of the shells for the caster while thinking about what I could do with it. "I'll definitely have to cook up some sort of explosive for one of the series, with the use of an engorgement charm to amplify the effect I should have a really powerful weapon should I need it. I just needed to find an easy to make explosives…" I said before trailing off. "I have no idea how to make anything like that though. The closest thing to it I could make is black powder. I know you could somehow use fertilizer to make explosives, but I had no clue exactly how."
"Black powder?" Lys questioned curiously.
"Precursor to today's gunpowder. Might actually be the same, not really sure. It's what you find in normal bullets where it's used as a propellant for the bullet." I explained absently.
"And that will explode?"
"Yep." I said, popping the P. "Provided that you mix it right and put it in a confined space. If I placed an engorgement charm on it, it should amplify the effect. Theoretically anyway. I'll have to test that out." I told her. Not that I thought that it was a viable option. It would be better to use some more modern explosives.
I needed to find information on how to make some or buy it. But where did you even come across that sort of information in this day an age?
Was the IRA a thing in Ireland right now? It might be a good idea to make a visit and have a look around.
My eyes briefly strayed to a glowing orb resting in my storage area. "I might finally have as use for that too," I said and pointed out the item to my companion.
Lys turned and looked to where I was pointig. "Oh? What is it?"
"It was basically a ball of tightly contained plasma. Lightning in a bottle, only without the bottle. It's one of my earlier experiments, based on things I've learned in muggle school. Generating plasma is a fairly simple process. You just need a vacuum tube, some aluminum, copper piping and a bit of high voltage. I created that using the same basic principle, only using spells in place of some of the necessary equipment. The result was actually far more powerful then I'd expected it to be." I noted absently. "A lightning strike on command. Should be stimulating." I made to note it down in my notebook. I'd have to slap an engorgement charm on that one to, it might increase the power.
Lys peered at dubiously for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, sure. What more do you got?"
"Maybe see if I can get my hands on some liquid hydrogen," I said.
"Liquid hydrogen?"
"A very cold liquid. Can freeze something in seconds." I told her before a thought wormed its way into my head. "It's also a component in rocket fuel…" I made another note.
"Rocket fuel?"
I waved the question away. "Later, it's not important right now. The hydrogen probably isn't enough in and of itself, I'll probably have to add a lot of water and probably a freezing charm on top of it to get the effect I want." I made another few notes before continuing. "Actually, just several hundred gallons of water under high pressure would probably fuck up someone's day right an proper." I made a note of that to. "We have a lake next door, would be a shame not to make use of it."
"You're gonna attack someone with lake water?"
"They will never see it coming!" I exclaimed enthusiastically before affecting a mock frown. "Wonder if I could stick the giant squid inside the shell? Bet that would take some people by surprise. Or maybe piranhas! Ooooh! Stinging jellyfish? Would they even survive long enough for it to be useful?"
Lys rolled her eyes. "Can you try to be serious for more than five seconds?"
"Oh come on! Can't you picture it? BAM! Giant Squid! Or just flesh-eating piranhas!" I shouted gleefully. "Bet it would be super effective against goblins! You could fill a shell full of water and fill the water with all sorts of nasty little critters and then use it on them. Bet it would be devastating underground in all those little tunnels they have!" I enthused.
I actually managed to get a little laugh out of the normally stoic dwarf maiden. I gave myself a mental pat on the back.
"I guess that could be funny." She admitted reluctantly before sighing. "I can't believe I'm actually considering it. This is all your fault." She complained and took a half-hearted swing at me.
"You can't fight awesome!" I exclaimed loudly. "Come my faithful sidekick! Let us bring the squid of justice to the deplorable goblins! With a side order of righteous flesh-eating piranhas!" I made to hug her but just got a face full of dwarf palm for my effort. I counted it as a victory that she just lightly pushed me away instead of sending me flying.
She was warming up to me!
Soon I'd have her bantering back!
It would be glorious!
"Who are you calling sidekick you manic idiot!?" She complained.
"Well, you can't be the mainliner; you are half my size…" I hinted with a smile.
"Really, you are going for the size jokes?" She told me flatly.
I smiled at her irreverently. "I have to go for the low hanging fruit or you won't be able to reach."
Lys gave me another dry look and just shook her head.
"It flew right over your head?" I tried.
"How about we continue." She suggested.
I chuckled and peered at the shell again. I wonder if I could make something like the Capsules from Dragonball. I would have to find a way to invert the folded space in a controlled manner without fragging the contents. I made another note on my pad.
"What more? Maybe fill a shell with miniaturized boulders and tie a cancelation charm to it? Not sure how useful that would be unless I could have the miniaturization canceled before the shell hit the target."
"Maybe have it activate when it is at a certain distance from the Caster?" Lys suggested.
"Mmm, I suppose that could work. You'd have to place yourself correctly though." I said. "Maybe some sort of timer?"
"Wouldn't that just end the same way?"
I winced, that had been stupid. "Oh… right."
Lys giggled quietly. "Maybe you should be my sidekick."
"Now you're just talking nonsense." I mocked.
"How about molten rock?" Lys suggested.
"You want to shoot lava at someone?" I asked in mock-affront. "Why, young lady. That's impressive. Make a note of it!"
"You make a note of it."
I made a note of it. "Lava… Brilliant."
"How about Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder?" Lys suggested.
"Brilliant!" I exclaimed happily. "And on the subject of brilliant, I wonder if I could get my hands on some white phosphorus! Oh! A flash-bang! Have to figure out how to make one of those."
"What's a flash-bang?"
"It's something muggles use, it emits a flash of bright light and deafening noise. It stuns people allowing for easier takedowns. Very useful."
Lys nodded thoughtfully. "How about Garrotting Gas?"
"Yes!" I exclaimed enthusiastically, pointing my pen at her before writing it down. "Gaaaas, excellent! You're a nasty one Miss Lys."
Lys shrugged unconcernedly. "It works well in tight spaces, like tunnels."
I chuckled before looking down at my little list. I would need a lot of materials for it. Fortunately, most of it could be gotten from the normal world which would cut down on the price, which was good. My resources, while substantial, wasn't limitless by any means. I really had to figure out a good way to make money, both in the normal world and in the magical world. Preferably without having to give up something truly valuable.
My eyes briefly flickered to a plain metal case sitting a bit apart on one of the shelves. Within was my cellphone. A piece of technology that was almost fifty years in advance to anything currently on the market. Selling it to the right people would likely make me filthy rich. But it would also cost me the phone without anything comparable to replace it with.
I found it a surprisingly unattractive prospect despite the huge payoff. I shook my head and dismissed those thoughts. I'd deal with that when I had to, for now…
"Alright, we'll need to head over into the muggle world for some materials," I said out loud. "I can probably slip away during the Hogsmeade weekend."
"We," Lys stated.
"What?"
"I'm coming with," Lys said like it was obvious.
"Why?" I asked, drawing out the word.
"Because I want to." She told me primely
I frowned as all the diffrent reason why it wasn't sensible to take this magic worlder, who had no idea how the muggle world worked, into said world, "I don't know if that's a good idea."
"Like that's ever stopped you." Was Lys very reasonable response. "Stop arguing or I'll just tattle on you."
I gaped at her for a moment before snorting in amusement. "Point. Fine. You can come."
She gave me a wide smug smile. "Was that so hard?"
"Do you really want to go down that road?" I asked her with dark amusement. "Do you feel ready to challenge me in my lair?"
Lys rolled her eyes. "When I think you can't say anything more stupid you find ways to surprise me."
---
Felicitania was presently sitting in her room, on her bed, silently contemplating her day. This would have come as a surprise to those that knew her seeing as she was rarely silent and never thoughtful as a general rule. The cause of this quite was the object of her current obsession, Drew. Or more the fact that she was no closer to figuring out what to do with the boy. He wasn't normal, which was the problem, much to her irritation.
She had been hoping that her mother would have some advice on how to best get to him and had thus approached her once school had let out. But much to her surprise and consternation her mother had advised her to look elsewhere once she had told her of her problems. She had agreed that it was likely that Drew would likely be hugely successful after he left Hogwarts, and any girl that could catch his fancy was likely to share in that success and be elevated far beyond most others. But her mother had then dashed her hopes when she told her that boys like that were always too driven to pay attention to what was truly important, preferring instead to focus on whatever silly thing that they were obsessed with. Any woman that wanted to catch their attention would have to in some way play into that to gain any sort of recognition. And that, she said, was far to much work for something that might not pan out even then. Boys like that were always strange in what kind of girl might attract their interest. it would be better if she focused her attention on someone that let their urges rule them, where her beauty would lend her an advantage.
Felicitania found that to be a thoroughly unsatisfying answer even as she thought that her mother was doubtlessly right. It explained why that stupid little dwarf had been able to just walk right in and be welcomed, she'd found out that one of the places that Drew went to after class was the Metalshop, and she'd also seen that he wasn't very good at it, but the chubby little ball of meat from Hufflepuff was. He was obviously using her for that.
While that revelation was satisfying to her, it didn't help her in her goal to snag the new up and coming star in the wizarding world. She had no illusions of her academic performance, her grades were good, great even, she estimated that she was in the top ten Gryffindor in her year and at least in the top thirty in her year overall. But Drew was something else now that he'd stopped trying to go unnoticed, he was already making waves in his classes if rumors were to be believed. She wouldn't be able to perform at that level and honestly didn't want to, there were more important things to worry about than school.
Pretty much anything was worth more than worrying about classes. It wasn't like she would have any use of it after she left this drab place. The only reason she saw to apply herself was that it would look bad on her if she was considered stupid - being seen as stupid would mean that she could be taken advantage of and it would attract more irritants like Janus to her. He was quite enough as it was.
She sighed in irritation, nothing of this was helping her find an answer.
Why couldn't he be a stupid boy who only used what was between his legs? Why couldn't this be easy?