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IS - Chapter 158: The Furnace
🕑 Added 2025-07-14 11:30:10 +0000 UTCDisclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
-Author notes-
Chapter 158: The Furnace
“Everyone ready?” James asked as he stood before the laboratory table.
Three copies of himself were standing behind him while Nyxaris and Primum flew around the chamber, observing with curiosity what their creator was about to make now.
“Yes, we are ready…” one of the James clones said with exasperation.
“You know we are, as we share the same consciousness,” another one added.
The real James turned to look at them. “You could say that it's merely a formality to speak these things out loud. You know your part… get to it.”
He walked past the clones and toward the middle of the chamber.
The three clones all had their tasks to complete.
One of them got to work on the potion left behind by the previous clone and lit a fire beneath the cauldron.
The second one took a container with a special ink that had been carefully left on the desk and began to write complex symbols on the divine leather.
The last clone went to assist James in organizing the rest of the materials.
The real James opened a dozen pockets in his robes, and countless boxes began to fly out.
The clone used wandless magic to capture these boxes and place them with more care on the ground.
Each box went to a specific place. Only once they were all set up did they begin opening them.
“Master, you were holding all of that?...” Nyxaris stared in shock at the boxes as their contents were emptied on the floor of the chamber.
Soon, these materials started to form piles that continued to grow bigger.
The largest one was made purely of large chunks of gold. There was enough gold in that pile to almost crash the economy of Magical Britain, as it kept piling up until it was close to touching the ceiling.
The only reason it was not collapsing was because James’ clone was keeping it steady with magic.
Smaller piles were composed of other precious metals like silver, copper, and palladium.
Of course, James had not paid for any of these materials. They were all transfigured using the ability of the Philosopher’s Stone to alter matter.
The old tales made people believe that it could only be used to transfigure gold but that was not the case. It was just that creating gold was the dream of many, so that was the part of the tale that was passed down the generations.
“Beautiful, huh?” James stared at the large shiny mounds of metal in front of him.
“Don’t waste time. I only have one-fourth of your magic, remember?” The clone next to him said. His expression showed how much effort he had to put in to keep everything steady.
James rolled up his sleeves and took his wand out. “It will only take a minute.” He glanced behind for a moment.
“Almost ready,” the clone preparing the potion said.
“I’m just finishing with my part,” the clone writing the symbols on the leather added.
“Ten seconds, and you place it inside the cauldron.” The clone continued to stir the liquid inside as it began to gain a golden glow.
“Master… what are you going to do with all of that metal?” Nyxaris could not help herself but ask.
“Kyu?!” Primum was also wondering the same thing.
James conjured a pure golden flame right in the middle of all the precious metals, and they started to melt almost immediately under the intense heat.
“There is a Greek legend that speaks about a fleece created by a primordial god. It was made from the body of a winged golden ram and it was imbued with powerful abilities.” James spoke as he manipulated the flames.
“I am trying to create something that will surpass that…” He glanced behind him. “Well?... timing is important.”
“Almost done!” his clones said together as they dipped the piece of leather inside the cauldron.
“I’m going to pull everything together. Make sure nothing falls out of place.” James spoke to the one beside him.
“Tsk… I know.” Beads of sweat fell across the clone’s face as he forced his limited magic to its limits. Moving thousands of tons of metal could put a toll on the most veteran of wizards.
Piles of gold, silver, copper, and palladium flew into the air and circled around the golden flames, melting and combining with each other while James' magic was also added to the mix.
There was a very precise amount of every single type of metal. All of them were going to fuse and form a very sturdy magical alloy called Glintmetal.
“We are ready!” the clones came running with the piece of leather floating beside them.
They couldn’t touch it anymore, as it had absorbed the contents of the cauldron, making it emit a tremendous amount of energy in the form of heat.
One of the clones positioned the glowing piece of leather ahead of where James was standing, right below the molten mass of metal.
“ Remember that we are aiming for thirteen layers, and… we are starting,” James said.
The sphere of molten metal had taken a light golden tone and shone brightly like a star.
James used his magic to manipulate the substance and divide it into thirteen equal portions.
“I… I can’t…” The clone that was helping James keep the thousands of tons of metal in the air ran out of magic and was forcefully dispelled.
“I got it!” Another clone took his place immediately, so the alloy would not fall on top of them.
James began to move down each of the portions of Glintmetal and got them closer to the leather.
The last clone helped James in shaping them into plates that would then wrap around the glowing leather.
Instead of being destroyed, the leather seemed to absorb the magical alloy with tremendous hunger, just like a dry sponge would take in all the water that came into contact with it.
The runes seemed to gain strength as this happened.
“Second layer!” James warned them as he moved another… another… another one.
While this was happening, Nyxaris and Primum were keeping their distance, as much as possible.
Even with all of their incredible resistances, they would be destroyed if they ventured too close to all that fire and molten metal.
The Chamber of Secrets had been turned into a furnace, and it was being used to craft a magical artifact like the world had yet to see.
