章節 40: Chapter 40: Lost Letters

Harry Potter drew his alchemy circle with a piece of chalk under the careful eye of Nicholas Flamel, who was there to ensure his young charge did not make any mistakes and blow himself up attempting to do something as precise and calculating as transmuting mercury.

He had wanted to use his blood for the medium, as blood was the best medium for channeling magic through due to it being inherently magical in nature, but Flamel had shot him down by stating that, while true, blood was really only used for the most complex of transmutation circles and not worth the amount of blood he would need to use to create such a simple circle.

The transmutation circle Harry was drawing right now was exactly one foot in diameter and circular. Within the circle was a square, which had it's four points touching the circle horizontally to Harry. Another square was present in this one, it was smaller, small enough to fit into the first square, and had been rotated exactly forty five degrees so that it's four points were touching the lines of the first square, making it look like a diamond to Harry. One last circle was situated inside of the square, with just a few parts of it's curve touching the four lines that made up the square.

In the center of the circle was the alchemical symbol for Mercury; a cross, a circle on top of the cross, followed by a crescent three-fourths circle on top of that with the curved edge lapping over the top edge of the full circle. Surrounding the symbol and outlining the inside of the inner circle was text, Latin to be precise.

The thousands of tiny Latin alphabetical symbols were the keys to this transmutation. While the circle itself would directed the flow of energy, and the symbol was letting the circle know which element was being transmuted, it was the writing that was being used to mold that directed energy to transmute the Mercury in the way Harry desired.

And in the center of it all, standing completely still as Harry had put a stasis charm on it, was exactly fifteen liters of Mercury shaped like a cylinder.

"Let me inspect it before you activate the circle."

Flamel stepped forward with Harry quickly and silently complying with the demand. Right now, the ancient alchemist was in his 'teacher mode'. It would not be wise to cross or countermand anything he said when like this, especially since he knew what he was doing when it came to alchemy whereas Harry was just starting.

"This is pretty good," Flamel mused, rubbing his stubble free chin. "Your circle was drawn flawlessly. I see no error in the design and there are no imperfection in your lines. Some of your script could be better, and I would have used something other than Latin, like Greek or perhaps even Mandarin for a transmutation such as this. Still, this should work for your purposes."

Harry took the criticism with grace, even if he didn't necessarily like having his work criticized. He knew better than to not accept the advice given. This man knew what he was saying.

Nicholas Flamel soon stepped back and gestured for Harry to activate the circle, which he did, crossing his hands in front of himself to form an 'X' as he began channeling the necessary amount of power needed to complete the transmutation. He had to be careful here. Too much magic and he would overload the circle and blow himself to pieces, too little and nothing would happen. He needed to use a very precise amount.

Placing his hands on the circle, he began pushing his magic into it, allowing the transmutation circle to regulate the flow of his energy and use it to help transmute the Mercury into the shape he desired.

Blue light began began emitting from the chalk used in the creation of his transmutation circle as it was activated. Lightning arcs of magic shot fourth from the Mercury as the transmutation began to take place. The Mercury began to expand upwards while the puddle it had formed started to shrink as the liquid metal began taking a more solidified shape. A rounded pommel formed formed first, followed by a knobbed hilt containing ridges for finger placement, then a slightly square shaped guard with rounded edges formed as the silvery substance expanded and morphed. This was soon followed by a leaf-shaped, double edged blade that looked like it was linked together as separate pieces instead of being crafted from one whole sheet of metal.

Harry grabbed the hilt of the blade, a gladius, as the light from the transmutation circle died down and lifted it up.

Nicholas began clapping.

"Marvelous! Simply marvelous!" the old man who looked no older than twenty crowed. "Such an incredible transmutation for your second work! You, my young apprentice, seem to be a natural at this."