Harry Potter and the Artificer Legacy Chapter 79 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Harry Potter and the Artificer Legacy! As time passes, Harry makes progress with his prototypes as a proof of concept. The Erdunn Dwarves reopen Baraz Irkul now that the bank’s holdings have been properly recorded and organized. The Witches and Wizards of the UK will once more work with the Dwarves when it comes to finances and banking needs. Penny’s work with the government is still ongoing as well, and Fleur continues her own scholarly works as well. But the long hinted at ‘Great Change’ is coming, and things will change in ways that no one can predict.

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 79 – A New Era Begins

Harry had a proud little smile on his face as he showed off his first proof of concept prototype to a group of high-level government employees and office holders. People from every branch of Britain’s government were here to see his newest creation and it wasn’t even an Artifact, which made Harry’s smile just a little bigger given the interest and excitement the Heat Honeycomb -Harry’s current placeholder name for his creation- was causing.

“It really produces that much heat consistently and continuously…” One of the government men, Mr. Shaw if Harry remembered correctly, marveled at the relatively small generator that Harry had made.

The ‘proof of concept’ included a rather large water tank, which the Heat Honeycomb was submerged in, then pipes that rose from the top to capture the steam and funnel it into smaller pipes to increase the pressure. The compressed steam was released onto a simple turbine, making it spin and generate electricity, which was currently powering lightbulbs, a television, a refrigerator, and a few standing fans that were oscillating from side to side. The ‘used’ steam condensed as it cooled, becoming liquid water again and returning to the initial water tank to be reused.

“We could scale this up, with the heat that Mr. Potter says these honeycombs can produce…we wouldn’t need to burn coal or gas…” Another government official said aloud, though he seemed to be talking to himself more than anything.

“Calm down, this would shake up the entire energy production sector…power generation is a massive industry comprising tens of thousands of jobs. We can’t just take away so many of our citizens’ livelihoods and toss all of those people onto the street without work.” A woman that seemed to hold a rather high position, given how more than a few of the other government people looked and spoke to her, said as she watched the small ‘hybrid’ (Magic/Mundane) generator continue to work.

Harry hadn’t really considered that angle. Indeed, the modern power generation system was comprised of more jobs than most people realized. Everything from the miners that excavated coal or extracted gas, to the people at the power plants that operated and maintained turbines, to linemen that maintained the substations and powerlines that made up the power grid.

“But still, this is revolutionary!” The man insisted as he turned to look at Harry. “How long could one of these…Heat Honeycombs…how long can they last?”

“That depends on their size, but the one powering this prototype can produce the same level of heat for about a month before it runs out of Magic.” Harry said and watched the eyes of more than a few of the government officials widen in surprise. “If I made the honeycomb larger, then it could potentially last longer, perhaps six months to a year, but those would definitely have to be ordered before I’d potentially make them. It’s a large amount of material to work with, a substantial length of time to actually construct the honeycomb, and even more time to etch the runic sequences into a working array.”

Even with the help of the Dwarves working at Potter and Erdunn Creations, a honeycomb of the theorized size in Harry’s head would still be a lengthy undertaking of production. It was best to give the longest timeframe for construction of a potential future project.

“We’re still very much interested, Mr. Potter.” The important-looking woman said as she glanced at the prototype again. “If we could talk about some potential numbers and locations to test this concept, I believe we’d all be happy to take the first steps to secure Britain’s power production for the future.”

Harry looked at Sirius and smiled, getting a smile back from his godfather at the success of this proof of concept. “We’d like that very much.”

While gold, silver, and bronze coins were the only currency in the Magical World, having a large amount of modern currency from the British government paying him for his creations wouldn’t hurt. As the integration continued, there was a good chance that both traditional Magical currency and modern bank notes would eventually both be accepted in the rejoined society of the future.

-Baraz Irkul ~ Diagon Alley-

A Witch stepped forward as the Dwarf woman at the nearby teller window called her over. “Good morning, I’d like to look into opening a vault.”

“Good morning to you as well.” The Dwarf woman greeted her politely (a far cry from how the Goblins used to treat their customers) and placed a parchment on the desk between them. “These are the vaults we offer here at Baraz Irkul. They go from the basic vault all the way up to the high-security vault. What kind of vault would you need?”

“Hmm, I think the basic vault would be enough.” The Witch said after a minute to look over the parchment and compare the prices of vault rental. “I must say, it’s rather nice not being rushed and growled at.” She smiled at the Dwarf woman.

The Dwarf teller laughed, a noticeably rougher sound than a female human’s laughter, before she returned the Witch’s smile. “We try to maintain a polite and friendly relationship with our customers.”

“The rental per month is a Sickle for the basic vault, but what are the transaction fees?” The Witch asked at seeing the reasonable price for the vault.

“We charge a Knut per transaction for small transactions that can be handled here at the teller window.” The Dwarf teller explained to the Witch politely. “For visits to the vault to physically take out coins, we charge slightly higher at three Knuts for the operation of the carts. Can’t have our cart operators working for free after all.” The Dwarf woman chuckled softly.

The Witch looked slightly confused as she processed the first part of the Dwarf teller’s statement. “Transactions at the window?” The Goblins had never offered that beyond taking money or valuables to be placed in a vault. “Could you explain?”

“Of course,” The Dwarf woman nodded to the Witch. “We have a drawer that holds a certain amount of Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons at each teller window. If you only wish to withdraw, say, three Galleons, ten Sickles, and fifteen Knuts, we could simply handle that here and you wouldn’t have to make the trip all the way down to your vault each time. The amount that you withdraw would simply be deducted from your account, along with the one Knut transaction fee.”

“Oh, that’s much more convenient than taking the carts down to the vault every time.” The Witch smiled at the time she could save on her errands by skipping the cart ride down to her vault. “Yes, I’d like to open a basic vault today, please.”

The Dwarf teller nodded and got out a few parchments for the Witch to sign, along with a metal pen.

“Hm?” The Witch signed the agreement for the vault rental and noticed that the ‘ink’ from the metal pen was red before it faded into black. “What was that?”

“That’s a Contract Pen, ma’am. It’s similar to the Blood Quill that the Goblins used for these types of contracts, but it doesn’t hurt to use our pen.” The Dwarf woman explained the red ‘ink’ that had turned black on the parchment.

The Witch smiled at that, hearing from her parents about the pain of signing with a Blood Quill when they’d opened their Vaults and then having to do it again when they’d changed their individual vaults into a single joint vault after they’d gotten married. “This is a much better experience than the Goblins ever gave us.” She finished signing her name on the last line of the contract.

The Dwarf teller took the parchment and looked it over to make sure that everything was correct. “We certainly strive for a much better experience than that, Miss Spindle.” She smiled after reading the Witch’s name off the parchment. “One moment, please…” She reached into a drawer below the desk and pulled out a simple-looking iron key about ten centimeters long. “Please press your thumb against the bow of the key, you’ll feel a small sting, but that will secure your vault so that only you may enter.”

Miss Spindle pressed her thumb to the bow of the key, and just as the Dwarf woman had said, there was a brief sting that went away almost as quickly as it appeared. Taking her thumb off the bow, she now saw a silver circle on the bow of the key with the number ‘107’ imprinted on it. That was her new vault here at Baraz Irkul.

“As an added security measure, should someone with your key come to withdraw money, we will hold onto your key and deny them anything. Here at Baraz Irkul, we promise to uphold our agreement to protect your valuables from all forms of theft.” The Dwarf woman smiled at Miss Spindle.

“Thank you very much.” Miss Spindle smiled back as she took her new key and placed it into the inner pocket of her robe. “I need to make a somewhat hefty deposit, so I’ll need to visit the vault this first time.”

The Dwarf teller nodded in understanding and pointed to the end of the teller windows. “Please head over to the doorway at the end of the windows marked ‘Vaults’ and you’ll be taken to you vault shortly.”

After bidding the Dwarf woman a good day, Miss Spindle walked towards the large doors at the end of the main hall with the sign over the doorway that had the word ‘Vaults’ engraved into the stone and gilded in what appeared to be solid gold.

“One speed was just a lie?” A rather familiar voice asked as Miss Spindle entered the cart area.

“Aye, the carts can go slow or fast, depending on how fast a customer wants to get to their vault.” A Dwarf man replied to the large, hairy customer in the brown jacket.

“Professor Hagrid?” Miss Spindle greeted her former Professor.

Hagrid turned at the voice and only took a second to recall the Witch before him. “Well, if it isn’t Miss Elise Spindle! Been about a year since you graduated now, hasn’t it?”

Elise Spindle smiled at the jovial Care of Magical Creatures Professor. “Yep, I just finished up my apprenticeship with Atticus Herbology Greenhouse. My parents said that since I’ll be receiving full pay now, I should open my own account.”

“Ah, that’s a sure sign of a young Witch becoming an adult!” Hagrid chuckled at seeing a former student making their own way in the world. “I tell ya; the bank has changed for the better! The carts don’t have that ridiculous speed, or loops on the tracks…I didn’t get queasy on my way to my vault!” Hagrid was overjoyed by that change alone now that the Dwarves ran the bank.

“I’m certainly liking the change myself.” Elise agreed with a smile.

The two parted ways with Hagrid leaving through the large doors that even he didn’t have to duck down to fit through. Elise got into a cart and placed three Knuts into a small slot in the center as the transaction fee. It was rather blatantly labeled as ‘Transaction Fee’, so it wasn’t hard to figure out.

“Key?” The Dwarf man at the controls looked over his shoulder.

“Vault 107, please.” Elise showed the Dwarf her key.

After a quick inspection of the key, the Dwarf man handed it back to Elise. “Vault 107, what speed would you like, Miss?”

Elise blinked and said the first thing that came to mind. “Normal?”

The Dwarf nodded and pushed a lever, the cart rolled down the tracks at a steady pace, not slow, but not fast enough to make Elise’s long hair fly around either. It was a comfortable speed that the Witch had no problems enjoying as she was able to take in the sights of the large tunnels and caverns, all well-lit now as opposed to the dark and dank it had been when the Goblins had been in control.

It was little surprise that the majority of those that had taken out all of their money from the bank when the control had shifted from the Goblins to the Dwarves had returned. Weeks of hearing about the better treatment of customers, the lower fees, and the other improvements had brought almost all of the Wizards and Witches of the British Isles back to Baraz Irkul to do their banking once more. Not to mention that the Dwarves were more than happy to offer their appraisal services on various items, gemstones, and other such things and offered fair exchanges of valuables for Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts.

-Fleur-

“Incendio!” One of Fleur’s colleagues cast the simple Charm and held it for a few seconds.

“Time!” Fleur called out after recording the measurements.

The flame stopped and the Wizard approached Fleur. “What’s the Thaum on that one? I feel like it’s such a simple Charm that it probably has the best ratio.”

Fleur compared the Thaum and Lum of the Charm and showed it to her colleague. “It’s efficient, but the Thaum to Lum is actually almost identical to the Ignition Charm.”

“Really?” The Wizard looked at the measurements and saw that they were indeed nearly the same. “Is this another case of two spells that’re the same, just done with different incantations?”

“It seems like it might be.” Fleur nodded as she made a note on the parchment.

That was one of the biggest components of the research group’s current studies. Discovering how many different spells were actually all one spell done with differing incantations and wand movements. The group of Scholars had already made a significant buzz with their first report that stated as much, and many in the field of Spellcraft were looking forward to the next report from the team’s research. It was truly opening the eyes of many Witches and Wizards that Magic wasn’t so rigid and that differing incantations and wand movements could produce the same spell.

“Hmm, if this keeps up, there’s a chance that almost all Fire Spells may actually be only one spell, just cast in different ways.” The Wizard hummed thoughtfully, comparing his notes with the previous tests. “They’ll have to completely redo Charms classes in the future if that’s the case. I still remember having to answer questions about different Flame Charms on my exams.” He chuckled a bit as a smile spread across his face. “If we’re correct in our hypothesis, I could’ve just written ‘They’re all the same’ on every question and I would’ve been correct!”

Fleur giggled lightly as well, having recalled similar questions on a few of her own exams. “I suppose so, but I doubt I’m going to go back to Beauxbatons and argue with my Professor to increase my old exams by a point or two.”

“I would hope not, Miss Delacour.” Madam Aveline said with a mirthful look on her face at her former student.

The Wizard looked at Madam Aveline and playfully rubbed his chin. “I don’t know… If it could raise my overall grade from an Outstanding to and Outstanding+…that could be something.”

Madam Aveline looked at the Wizard flatly. “I will not be making corrections on exams from five years ago, Mr. Aubert.”

Most of the Scholars in the large room began to laugh and Mr. Aubert snapped his fingers as if he’d been outwitted.

The cheer that the group was able to maintain as they worked and studied deeper into various spells and magics was one of the best parts of Fleur’s workplace, in her opinion.

-Tonks-

“What the bloody hell were you thinking?” Tonks questioned as she took custody of a Witch that had been selling Cheering Draughts to Non-Magical ‘junkies’ as the police called the criminal addicts.

“They paid good money, way more than what I could make in Diagon.” The other Witch, one Mabel Prott, answered snippily.

The police officer handing the Witch over to Tonks sighed. “We’ve got the ones that she was selling to in custody, we’ll be holding them for observation. If you could send a Healer over to examine them and recommend treatment, that would be greatly appreciated.” Magical Potions were an almost complete unknown on the ‘drug scene’ for the police, so catching them and trying to treat those that had substance abuse problems required help from the Magical Law Enforcement side.

“I’ll make the call.” Auror Hestia Jones, Tonks’s partner, nodded to the police officer and pulled out her Communications Mirror to call St. Mungos. “Hopefully it’ll only require a simple Flushing Draught to fix them up.” That was the best one could hope for when it came to mixing Potions with who-knows-what kind of drugs from the Non-Magical side.

The prompt response from the Hit Wizards and Aurors when it came to Magical Crime being committed on Non-Magicals was going a long way to rebuilding trust after the Goblin attack on London. PSA’s and leaflets describing various potions and their effects were circulating among the Non-Magical now, warning against imbibing unknown potions, elixirs, and draughts offered by unfamiliar Witches and Wizards. Likewise, Non-Magical people causing trouble in Diagon Alley or Diurn Alley were often quickly taken into custody by police when a call was made. Integration was still a bit slow with many people having either prejudice against the Magical or wanting revenge for lost loved ones after the Demon attack and the Goblin attack.

Things were calming down and progressing in a positive direction, but the pain in Britain was still raw for many.

-Penny-

“This one needs to be placed right…here.” Penny carefully measured out the distance from the previously placed runestone as she worked to cover 10 Downing Street in an Anti-Magic Area. It was the largest area that she’d ever tried to cover, and it had taken weeks of Arithmancy calculations to figure out everything required to make the Ward work.

The British government was paying very well to have this project done. Penny couldn’t complain about the pay at all. But the fact that there were already talks and considerations for protecting other important government sites and facilities, all much larger than 10 Downing Street, made Penny wonder if she wouldn’t have to turn them down.

‘There’s only so large any single Ward can be. Something like Windsor Castle is just too large for the Anti-Magic Area to cover. Not to mention certain other facilities.’ Government offices, military bases, the list went on and on of locations where malicious magical influence needed to be prevented. “It’s not like I don’t understand their concern… But if we’re going to integrate, then there will eventually come a time when Witches and Wizards will work for, or with, the government.” The fact that such a time might see the rise of subtle magical corruption wasn’t lost on Penny though. People would be people, and many only looked out for themselves.

-June 18th-

Harry could say that he was rather happy right now. His creation of the Heat Cell, as it was named now, had finally had its first successful implementation in generating power on a somewhat large scale. After several smaller tests in other locations, his creation had proven its effectiveness and reliability. A small power station that had been closed in the early 80’s had been remodeled and the coal burners changed for his Heat Cell system after much work by engineering professionals to ensure that everything went as it should. Now the power station had been running for a week without a single piece of coal needing to be burned.

“Amazing… We’re producing almost eight-hundred megawatts of power for what’s essentially free.” The new head of the station said with a small, disbelieving laugh. “I’d have never believed it if I wasn’t watching it for the last week.”

“I’m glad that it’s working just as it should.” Harry said with a smile, this having been only the second time that he was allowed into the power station to check on the Heat Cell system. It was a rather simple Enchanted Item, so there was very little that could actually go wrong with it, that just meant that Harry had nothing to report other than that the Heat Cell was still running optimally. “Still wonder if it being put in Wandsworth wasn’t intentional because of the name.” Harry chuckled a bit. With the power station running, Greater London now had another stable source of electricity to keep the lights on, as it were.

No one could know what would happen just two days later.

-Moku Nalowale ~ June 20th-

“It is time.” Kaimana said as the first rays of the morning sun peeked over the horizon to begin the Summer Solstice.

All around the ritual site were various members of his tribe. Each person prepared to do their part for the ritual around the volcano. The other sites sent whispers on the wind to confirm that they were all ready as well.

With everyone ready, the Chieftain made the first step, then the second. Two more members followed his steps a second later. Thus began the dance of the island, as every member of the tribe poured their magic into guiding the energy of the sunlight through the sky and into the volcano, transforming the solar rays into magic energy through their vast ritual dance, before sending it deep into the earth.

-Later ~ Uluru ~ Northern Territory ~ Australia-

Uluru, most commonly known as Ayers Rock, was bathed in sunlight much as it was every day. The only difference was that this day, ancient art and symbols began to absorb that sunlight and convert it into magical power. Hidden from the eyes of all others, the people known by most as the aboriginal people of Australia had surrounded the massive Uluru and began to perform songs and music of their various tribes, telling ancient stories that spanned thousands of years as their magic swelled and acted as a guide to draw the power of the sun that had been turned to magic energy ever deeper into the earth.

-Later ~ Fenghuang, China-

Outside of the Ancient Town, in an area picked for its conversion of energies through feng shui, pagodas and pathways had been built over many, many years. Symbols and characters were etched into stone and filled with various materials relating to the Wu Xing (Five Elements). The hexagrams of I Ching had been arranged, arrays and formation meant to harness the vast amounts of energy that naturally moved through the world.

Of course, this was only one spot of multiple within China. Each of the locations had been chosen based on their natural energy and their location to each other to create a massive current of natural energy that would be further fueled by the sunlight of the longest day of the year, all of which would become magical energy and then be cycled into the earth.

Thousands of Chinese Wu (Shamans) had helped to set this up and watched over it to ensure that nothing went wrong or interfered. They knew that their part of this Great Work which spanned some of the largest land area in the world, was absolutely vital to the success of the centuries-long plan.

-Litochoro ~ Greece-

Altars burned within a hidden temple, sacrifices offered up to Magic itself as the singing and chanting of hundreds of Witches and Wizards filled the air. The temple glowed as almost every surface was covered in runes and glyphs, all of them taking in the bright rays of the sun and converting them to pure magical energy. The chorus of voices guided the magic energy into the flames, turning them dozens of different shades of color, at the various altars and then poured all of that raw power deep into the earth.

The temple held firm, even as the air seemed to hum with power and energy. The land beneath the temple lightly vibrated, making dust move and tiny pebbles bounce. The wind seemed to alight with tiny voices, whispers of words and songs in the air. The nearby Mt. Olympus seemed to resonate with the hidden temple, though no one around, even those on the mountain itself, seemed to notice the minute change in the area.

-Giza ~ Egypt-

The temple gleamed brightly in the sunlight. The ancient hieroglyphs on every surface gleaming and almost seeming to move. The black obelisk in the center vibrated as all of the sunlight touching the temple was converted into magical energy and funneled through it and into the ground. The sands were slowly being blown away from the temple as the wind picked up. The silver and gold hieroglyphs on the pitch black obelisk glowed with an ethereal light.

All around the temple, men dressed in the robes of ancient priests chanted furthering the function of their temple as it funneled more and more magical energy into the ground. The nearby Great Pyramid, full of tourists as it almost always was, felt the wind pick up and saw sand in the distance swirl into the air. The locals knew the beginnings of a sandstorm when they saw one and many began to hurry the tourists towards shelter. It wouldn’t be good to be outside in a sandstorm that looked to be getting stronger and stronger, the wind was already whipping through the area, blowing off hats and sending small things not attached to the ground flying through the air.

-Maracaibo ~ Venezuela-

The Never-Ending Storm of Catatumbo was acting oddly. The near continuous lightning strikes that were such an awe-inspiring sight were less scattered than normal. In fact, it seemed as if the majority of them were hitting around a single area. No one knew what was causing the famous natural phenomenon to do this, at least no one not in the know.

The lightning strikes were being converted into magical energy. The power slipped through the land, guided by the work of hundreds in secret, and energized the forest and every bit of Magic within it. The trees all swayed slightly, even without a breeze. Their leaves almost brighter than they should be, as they absorbed the sunlight from the longest day of the year and sank it deep into the earth through their roots. Anyone in the forest would swear that one could hear whispers and birdsong, despite their not being anyone around and no birds visible anywhere. The entire land and forest felt charged with energy that even the Non-Magical could practically feel.

-Santa Fe ~ New Mexico-

“Now everything’s coming full circle.” An old, haggard man said as he felt the change in the air.

“The site is starting to cause mirages.” His son pointed out, the young man looking into the desert and seeing brief glimpses of different scenery.

“You guys hear that too, right?” The young woman asked her brother and father.

Indeed a slight hum was in the air. Barely heard to the Magical, and still silent to the Non-Magical. All of this was caused by a large scale native ritual taking place in a hidden village built into a cliffside that no one could see unless they were part of the tribe. The singing and chanting of the shamans, the beating of drums, the stomping of feet, the movements of the dancers. All of it built up, raising their magic high to draw the power of the sun into their village and into the earth. The wind whispered, the earth hummed, and the desert began to show glimpses of its long, long history in the form of brief mirages as the air twisted.

-Saskatchewan ~ Canada-

The wind howled through the trees, sending them swaying about. The lakes and rivers flowed ever onward, their bubbling sound rising up as if in song, the land hummed lowly like distant thunder. The totem poles around the various ritual sites were glowing and the sounds of animals and nature could be heard resonating form each one. The entire forest, the rivers and lakes, the earth and mountains, the sky itself…everything was singing in time with the people within the sites.

The sun high in the sky seemed to shine brighter. The light that fell upon the lands drawn deep, deep into the earth through the trees, the mountains, and the rivers. Animals noticed the change and stayed still; the voice of the land could almost be heard if one were to listen. An ancient song that had not been heard since time immemorial to most once more filled the central north.

Over the course of the summer solstice in these sites and dozens of other smaller ones scattered across the world in secret, hidden places, rituals of old and ages long in the past were performed. All of them invoking Magic in ways that had long been lost to the majority of the world’s Witches and Wizards. Very few noticed any change, only localized changes that could be passed off as natural phenomena.

But there was one who felt the changes close to him and knew the time had finally come…no matter how much he wished it wasn’t necessary.

-Akhmim ~ Egypt-

“And so it begins…” Zosimos closed his eyes and hug his head, his many Homunculi gathered around him, all with their heads bowed as they kneeled to their creator.

They’d done everything they could, created and stored all of the food and shelter that they could make. All that was left was to save and support everyone they could once the initial chaos calmed down. Helping humanity rebuild and recover in a world that would be similar and yet distinctly different than what it had been before; closer to what it had been ages ago.

-June 21st-

It started with a rumble.

Everywhere.

People that were awake in places where the next day had already dawned looked down at the ground, some in confusion as earthquakes were not normal for their area, others in only mild surprise at the seemingly tiny quake.

Others still sleeping or working overnight woke up or were shaken to full awareness by the rumble. Many looked around in confusion, half awake or just not processing what had just happened.

A sound, indescribable my words and letters, seemed to fill the air and only caused more confusion for the brief moment that it existed.

And then the world changed.

-Pacific Ocean-

The ocean rose upwards into a towering wave. The water twisted around, briefly taking the form and shape. A fish, a whale, a seal, a shark, an eel, a sea serpent, only to return to being amorphous water over and over again as it began to move across the vast open ocean. The massive…thing…of water registered on radars and sonars from its sheer size…but it wasn’t the only one.

In the north of the Pacific, the south, the east, the west, and the center, the same anomalous masses of water formed and began to move like giant storms. Always changing form for brief moments as they moved, following the natural ocean currents or ignoring them entirely.

-Atlantic Ocean-

The same strange massive water anomalies formed in the second largest ocean. The wind warped around the masses of water as their forms changed from one sea creature to the next. In the north, west, south, east, and center what would appear to be storms to radars everywhere formed in mere moments on scales that most had never seen.

The amorphous waves moved as well, following a current, going a completely different direction, or even circling one large part of the ocean. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the various paths the towering waters took.

These same anomalies appeared in every ocean in the world almost simultaneously, to the point that seawater receded from coastlines noticeably. Sirens began to blare all over coastal regions as what appeared to be storms and possibly tsunamis were moving towards land or, in some cases, away from it. Movements that no meteorologist or oceanologist could hope to understand or predict but were clearly being shown on radar screens.

Until said screens suddenly went out entirely and refused to come back on.

-United States ~ Southwest-

Rmmmble

Thunder shook the air louder than most people had ever heard in their lives. Clouds began to form and darken rapidly, unnaturally, as people stared up at the sky. Lightning flashed and the air shook, forcing most people inside just as the wind began to pick up and howl. A massive deluge began to fall on the parched land and a few people would swear they saw massive eagle-like birds flying among the storm clouds in the brief flashes of lightning.

A massive thunderstorm that shouldn’t have been possible had formed over the desert region in seconds and was rapidly sending it into a dangerous state of flash flooding.

But what one would only notice if they captured some of the rain was that it sparkled unnaturally and if put in a pitch black room, would actually glow faintly.

-Canada-

A strange hum was heard if one paid attention.

The air felt charged, for lack of a better term.

The wind blew and the summer breeze was unlight anything that the residents could recall. The sound of voices and whispers filled the air, the sounds of animals, the flow of rivers. It was soon followed by the ground shaking and from the rumbling earth strange spires soil, rock, clay, and even plants rose upwards before moving as if they were living creatures, never taking one form for long, sometimes humanoid, other time animal-like, but they only made the same odd hum that had been on the wind earlier.

Naturally, people panicked, trying to stay away from the strangeness that they saw.

But that proved to be impossible as the forests started to grow and spread, the rivers, lakes, streams, and ponds swirled and flowed, some rising over their banks while others formed whirlpools for no reason or even stranger, made swirling waterspouts that reached high into the air.

-Central America-

The world didn’t make sense anymore!

Rain fell from cloudless skies, but everywhere the droplets hit, a plant would grow rapidly. The plant would either remain or wither and turn to dust, seemingly at random. Farmlands grew taller and thicker than was normal, crops growing to larger sizes than they would naturally. Stange phenomena sent livestock into frenzies only to inexplicably calm down before the farmers and ranchers could get to them or even see what was wrong.

Clouds formed at ground level only to move against the wind, some briefly taking shapes of animals or humanoids before falling back into formless fluffy clouds. Those touched by the clouds didn’t even get wet, instead they stood stock still, gazing at nothing with a thousand yard stare for a few seconds, only to then fall on their asses and look around confused. Many would yell that they’d just heard hundreds of voices all at once, in languages that were familiar or in ones that didn’t sound like words at all.

-Japan-

A brief earthquake, small, nothing to be alarmed about, shook the island nation.

Mt. Fuji rumbled and sent seismographs into a brief frenzy before all movement suddenly stopped. Those monitoring the mountain could only stare at the brief spike in activity in confusion.

The ocean crashed against the eastern shores and the wind picked up. Lights glowed in the ocean from seemingly no source, some of the lights rising above the waves and into the air.

Windstorms sprung up all over the country at random, picking up things and throwing them around before disappearing as fast as they came. Forests rattled with the sounds of leaves and the cracking of branches as if the trees themselves were moving. Fields of crops burst into life, suddenly ready to harvest in mere moments. The skies were filled with crows and other birds over Tokyo, the cries of the avians louder than the normally bustling city and sending most people running into nearby buildings. In the mountains strange phantoms were seen, making many cry out about yokai and spirits.

-Russia-

The wind had become hot. Not warm, hot.

Several people quickly removed a layer of clothing if they could just from the heat. Others went inside immediately to escape the sudden heated breeze.

Sounds echoed everywhere, seemingly without source. From alleyways in cities to expansive fields far from anything. The temperature in one part of the country suddenly plummeted, turning summer into winter as clouds formed unnaturally fast and snow began to fall.

Forests and fields swayed in a breeze that didn’t exist. Sounds were suddenly silenced, only to return a few moments later as if nothing had happened.

With a thunderous noise a large section of the earth in the center of the country rose upwards as if the land itself had decided that it no longer wished to remain where it was. The amorphous mass of land walked like a human for a short time before taking on a quadrupedal stance much like a bear and then returning to the rolling landslide of stone, dirt, and clay it had been before.

-India-

Rivers all over the country were boiling.

Everyone ran from the deadly waters in panic and fear.

Everything within the rivers seemed to be falling apart and turning to nothing. However the fish swam as if everything was normal, like the boiling water was only a trick of the eye. Birds and other animals didn’t seem to notice any problems as they went about their lives in the boiling water.

Docks made of wood fell apart and collapsed into the boiling water. Boats began to form holes and leaks, making those on them scramble to try and bail the boiling water out or direct their boat towards the shore as fast as possible. Trash, plastics, metal, all of it fell apart and seemed to disappear into nothing.

People from several boats ended up falling into the boiling rivers screaming, only to emerge moments later in absolute shock that they were unharmed.

Clouds formed over cities and even wastelands, rain falling in spots while leaving areas all around said spots bone dry. Livestock stared up at the sky for seemingly no reason, confusing and frightening farmers all across the country. All the while people cried out as they occasionally saw trees move unnaturally, or would see strange lights racing through the streets of towns and cities.

-Italy-

The Mediterranean Sea was moving unnaturally. Streams rose up from the water to flow through the air before falling back into the sea. Ships and yachts would fall apart in the waters for seemingly no reason, the parts vanishing as if they were dissolved completely by the water. The city of Venice was in confusion as boats fell apart, but only some of them, others remained floating perfectly fine in the canals of the city. Strange lights and shadows were seen in the waters briefly, but no one could look long enough to identify what they were before the anomalies vanished.

The farmlands were not spared strange events, as the summer sun was blocked out by clouds that dropped not rain, but droplets of fire! As people ran screaming and farmers saw flames rain down on their lands, a strange truth came to be realized…the fire didn’t burn! Everything the flames touched was wet! People stuck their hands into the falling fire only to pull them back soaking wet. No one could tell if the flames were an illusion or real, but those that stepped into them came out of the flames wet and completely clean, as if they’d showered and cleansed themselves.

Rome was inundated with people hearing voices when no one was there. People claimed to see shadows in the Colosseum and many people claimed that they were seeing visions of the past as they walked the streets. It was as if the ancient city’s roads and stone structures were replaying moments of their long existence before the people’s eyes for brief moments.

-Saharan Africa-

The people could hardly believe the gentle rain they were getting. Nothing like heavy rains or monsoons, but gentle rain that feel from a sky filled with strangely blue-grey clouds. Regions that were normally dry for most of the year were becoming not only lightly soaked, but crops that were growing, trees, shrubs, and other plant life was visibly getting larger.

But amidst what seemed to be a blessing for the normally arid regions, strange things were happening as well. Ice had formed across a swath of Algeria, the light rain instantly freezing when it hit the ground and forming a thickening sheet of ice. Libya was experiencing the oddest sound phenomena as the rain fell not with the normal sound, but with random noises ranging from the sound of an animal, to a rock hitting another rock, even a whisper of a word or song, but never the sound of rain. Niger was not only getting rain, but occasionally bouts of snow. Only the snow was a rainbow of colors and if it was touched it didn’t melt, it evaporated instantly, vanishing as if it had never been there. Mali had reports of the rain forming rivers and streams in the sky, the water flowing through the air before falling like waterfalls in random areas. Mauritania was blessed with the rain as well, but to the shock of the people, the water was not only clean, but tasted different every time a person drank it. Sometimes sweet, other times like fruit, sometimes like meat of all things, and many other flavors, even while only looking and smelling like regular rainwater.

-France ~ Delacour Chateau-

“What in the world?” Marius could hardly believe what he was seeing.

Everything was slightly ‘off’ in color. Grass was more of a greenish blue color, the stones that made up the patio were a rainbow swirl of colors, as if someone had thrown pastel paint all over them, even the window glass he’d been looking out of before he’d opened the window was all different colors ranging from red to green, to purple and everything in between.

“Darling, the trees are walking…” Apolline pointed out.

Sure enough, the trees at one end of the property were walking along the grassy ground as if was perfectly normal. The long roots of their ‘feet’ dragged along the ground as they walked along, seemingly circling around the property.

Marius quickly checked the Wards around their home, only to blink when they were as strong as ever one moment, then on the verge of breaking the next, only to then be stronger than he’d ever seen them before. The nebulous state of the Wards made the man worry that they’d soon collapse entirely.

-Potter Manor-

WooOOooOOnnGG

“Huh?!” Tonks jerked awake at the weird sound. Looking around the master bedroom and seeing nothing that could cause said sound, she blinked in half-awake confusion.

“What was that?” Penny asked, also looking around while trying to get the sleep out of her eyes.

Fleur sat up and checked the clock. “It’s still early.”

Harry managed to get out of bed and open the curtains. What he saw made him beyond confused. “The field is visible?”

“The what?” Tonks asked as she moved to the window, only to stop talking and just stare.

Penny and Fleur quickly joined their lovers and could only gape at what they saw.

All over the Potter Lands, as far as the range of the Artifact House reached, was a visible, shimmering, golden dome. Small sparks occasionally arced across the surface o the dome, but nothing changed on the inside.

“What the fuck?” Harry could tell that some kind of Magic was trying to be done in defiance of the power of his Artifact House, but the High Grade Artifact that he’d poured his blood, sweat, and Magic into for months as he’d built it was holding it off.

Knock Knock Knock

The knocking on the master bedroom door got all of their attention.

“Harry! Are you and the girls okay?!” Sirius’s voice called out, he and Marlie having been staying over after going swimming all day yesterday.

“We’re fine, Sirius.” Penny called out and the door opened a second later to show Sirius in his pajamas with a housecoat thrown over them.

“I see that you’ve noticed the dome…” Sirius mentioned as he nodded to the window. “Any idea what’s going on?”

Tonks shook her head, her hair changing from blue to pink. “Not a clue.

“Is someone casting a spell against the barrier?” Fleur asked with the simplest reason that their home could be reacting like this.

Harry shook his head. “I doubt it. That’s way too much sustained Magic for even a group of people to keep up for this long.”

“We should probably call everyone we can and see what’s going on.” Marlie said as she made it to the master bedroom. “Hopefully the Communication Mirrors are being affected by whatever this is.”

-Rocky Mountains ~ Secure Giant Valley-

“What the fuck?!” One of the American Witches manning the station that observed the last large colony of Giants in North America cried out as the wards across the whole valley sparked and flickered.

“Shit! They’re going to break!” A Wizard called out a warning as the Wards nearly solidified from an overload of Magic before turning to invisible thin waves in the air.

With a sound like glass shattering and metal being crushed simultaneously, the Wards broke.

“Damn it, damn it…” The Head of the observation station cursed. “Wands ready! We have to keep the giants in the valley at all costs!”

-Valley-

“Mmgh?” A giant with a massive club over his shoulder blinked as he looked at the area where the Ward had just become visible before disappearing entirely. With a slow hand, having experienced the painfulness of trying to touch the Ward before, the giant reached out. When his hand passed through the area that used to stop any giant that neared it without issue, the giant took a few moments to process the change. “UUUUAAAAGGHH!!!” The giant bellowed loudly as he raised his club high into the air.

The bellowing yell echoed in the valley for a moment.

“UUUUAAAHHH!!!” A return bellow, many of them, echoed back from further in the valley.

The giant at the Ward edge stomped forward with a deep laugh. They were finally free!

As he passed the first observatory building on the side of a cliff, the giant swung his club and shattered the building into a rain of splintered and stone that fell to the ground below the cliff. He didn’t see any humans falling, but he didn’t care. If they got in his way, he’d just crush them. His tribe would soon be following behind him too, leaving no need for fear in the giant’s mind.

-Wales ~ Draig Werrd Reserve-

“What the bloody hell is going on?!” Rhys Hughes, the Head of the Welsh Dragon Reserve demanded as the Wards above the reserves flickered wildly, becoming so thick and powerful as to be nearly solid in the air, to dimming until they weren’t even visible as heatwaves like they normally were.

“Sir! If this keeps up the wards are going to fail!” One of the senior handlers yelled out in alarm.

Rhys wasn’t about to have a dragon outbreak on his watch. “Seal the top of the reserve, immediately!”

Crack

The powerful Wards that kept the dragons from escaping the reserve shattered all at once. The shock of so many layered Wards breaking simultaneously knocked most of the dragon handlers on their asses.

“ROOOOAAAARRRR!!!” A roars of dozens and dozens of dragons shook the air. The Wards breaking, and the crazy fluctuating Magic that had caused the Wards to fail in the first place, had greatly agitated the dragons and sent them into a frenzy.

Rhys barely managed to get to his feet in time to see the dragons of the reserves flaying out of the enclosed area and into the sky. The flock of dragons spread out in every direction, the creatures normally territorial, and flew off. Small young dragons, medium-sized adults, and large older dragons that had reached the max size of their species. “No!” The man ran to the nearby wall and tapped his wand on a specific spot.

An alarm blared and every dragon handler on the reserve quickly rushed to get their specialized gear for recapturing (or killing if necessary) an escaped dragon.

“Fuck…” Rhys quickly rushed to his office to Floo the Ministry of Magic. He had to warn everyone that the dragons had escaped! “By Merlin I hope we’re not too late!”

Dragons were a threat to everyone. If they were hungry they’d eat anything they could get, livestock, wild animals, people. The great lizards didn’t care! If they got very lucky, considering that most of the dragons here were Common Welsh Greens, the dragons would all settle in areas away from people and be docile until they could get them back.

But Rhys Hughes didn’t deal in ‘hopefully’ when it came to dragons.

“How much damage will be done before we can get a handle on this? And what the hell happened?!” Rhys questioned himself as he got his own specialized dragon handling gear.

It would never be fully known to most just ‘How’ this had happened, but soon enough, many on the Magical side would know ‘What’ had happened.

Magic was suddenly overflowing from the earth causing all of the vast changes, Ward failures, and damage across the globe.

It remained to be seen all of the effects that this Great Change would produce.

-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-

Well, shit…

The Great Work has finally been completed!

Magic energy has been converted from the sunlight over the course of the summer solstice and funneled deep into the earth!

As it permeates the world, we see a WIDE variety of strange things happening all over the planet!

Digital electronics are starting to fry as well, which is very bad for modern society!

Wards are failing in various parts of the world, fluctuating between being too strong to almost breaking over and over until they shatter.

Giants have escaped in North America! Dragons broke out in Wales!

You can only imagine what other large and dangerous Magical Creatures have escaped from other reserves around the world!

Not to mention how many aversion, obscuration, and other such Wards have shattered and reveal hidden Magical villages and the like.

Potter Manor seems to be holding up well at the very least…

And everything seemed to be going so well at the beginning of the chapter!

What happens next?

Keep reading to find out!

Current Mana Levels

Harry – 41,720

Tonks – 32,382

Penelope – 26,144

Fleur – 26,218

Until I get your reviews, later!