"I can work in peace and try out new things." Harry shrugged and Luna flitted about the room. "Feel free to hang out here for a bit if you want. I'm going to be trying my hand at a bit more Alchemy." Luna nodded as she picked up a book on Charms that had been left in the room. The small blonde happily set herself in a chair off to the side of the room and began reading. Harry chuckled at how easy Luna was to please and set to work removing one of the metal plates that came with his Alchemist Starter Kit. It had a pre-etched Transmutation Circle already capable of being used on it. That saved Harry quite a bit of time drawing it out himself. He was going to attempt to transmute his first Alchemical Metal, Oulm.
He'd chosen Oulm since it was a very basic and low-grade Alchemical Metal. If you knew how to transmute and could measure out the proper amounts of the mundane ingredients, Oulm wasn't difficult to make. While it wasn't really any stronger than mundane steel it did have quite a useful amount of Magic Conductivity. That is, Magic flowed through it well without breaking the metal down, so it made a good base to try forging a Magical Blade from. Now Harry just needed to measure out his ingredients, it was a good thing he'd ordered a good amount through Owl Order before returning to school.
"Alright, so Oulm's base ingredients are iron, copper, and ground dragon bone." Harry mumbled to himself as he gathered the materials. "One kilogram of iron, one kilogram of copper, and finally five hundred grams of powdered dragon bone." He continued to mutter as he measured out his ingredients on the set of scales that came with the Kit. He then placed the measured materials on the Transmutation Circle and prepared to pour his mana into the plate. "Here goes nothing." He mused before sending his mana into the plate.
The Transmutation Circle began to glow a bright blue as Harry's mana filled it. After a few seconds the only Magical Material, the powdered dragon bone, began to glow white-blue and quickly spread to the iron and copper. Harry watched on fascinated as the three materials seemingly merged together as they glowed. Small sparks of magical discharge came from the materials as they were transmuted and when the process finished Harry pulled his hands away from the plate. The newly transmuted metal was giving off small bits of light that floated about like dust particles.
"According to the instructions once the light fades away I can test it to see if I was successful." Harry nodded to himself as he looked over the 'Beginners Alchemy for Enchanters' book again to confirm. In just about a minute the glow faded and Harry picked up the transmuted metal. It was a dull grey color and weighed the same as the original materials combined. Other than that it had no real distinct features. "Alright, time to test it." Harry breathed deeply before exhaling to get rid of nerves. A small amount of mana flowed from Harry's hand and into the metal he was holding. The metal showed no reaction, so he poured a bit more mana into it. After a few moments, just when Harry was starting to think he'd failed, the metal in his hand began to glow faintly and even maintained the glow for several seconds after he stopped supplying mana to it.
"I think you succeeded, Harry." Luna piped up from where she was reading. The spacey blonde had watched the transmutation and felt the need to speak up.
"I think so too." Harry grinned as he looked at the Oulm in his hand. Even though it was low-grade Alchemical Metal, it was still Magical Metal and should, theoretically, be able to hold more complex Runic Arrays than mundane iron or steel. "Now I just have to forge you into the proper Form and apply an Array." He smiled as he thought about which Arrays he'd already worked out. None of them were everything he wanted in his Artifact Sword, but each Array was a separate part of the overall whole that would, someday, make up his Artifact Sword.
-A Week Later-
"Luna why're you here?" Penny asked as she was let into Harry's workshop and spotted the little blonde.
"Harry lets me hang out here and study if I want when he's in here working." Luna replied as she went over her homework at a desk Harry had moved into the corner of his workshop for her.
"Well that's nice of him." Penny smiled at Harry and got a smile back from the Artificer. Harry himself was busy preparing his newest batch of Oulm for the forge. His first bit…hadn't gone well. Harry had never tried to forge with Magical Metal before, so there was a very high chance that he'd make a mistake. He had and it had left his Oulm an inert slag after he'd made it too hot and basically 'beaten' the Magic out of it. Still Harry was confident he'd finally worked out the kinks of working with Oulm. So now he was preparing the next several ingots he'd made of the stuff for forge shaping.
"Luna, where are your shoes?" Penny asked and Harry looked up and saw the little blonde's bare feet exposed from beneath her robes.
"I couldn't find them this morning, so I had to go to classes without them. I didn't want to be late or miss a class." Luna replied looking at her feet.
"Did someone take your shoes, Luna?" Penny questioned gently, though Harry could practically feel the Prefect's Magic trembling with rage.
"I suppose it's possible." Luna looked saddened by this admission. "Several of our Housemates don't seem to like me talking about the Creatures we report about in the Quibbler." Penny gently rubbed the First Year's back and pulled her into a comforting hug. Harry frowned at what Luna had said; bullying was for those of lesser mind, not the 'supposedly' intelligent types that made up the Ravenclaw House. It seemed Luna would be needing a Ward Lock of her own for her dorm room. That wouldn't take him long and would solve part of the problem at least.
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