Chapter 30: The Story of a Self Refilling Bottle

The weekend was what Hermione and Susan were eagerly waiting for this week: not because there was no classes, but because of what Kaiser promised them. He'd let them make their first runic construct, using his lab and the materials he'd provide. He would even get them a Rune stone, which was very expensive. But the experience would be invaluable.

Professor McGonagall had been kind enough to agree to chaperone them, so they met at her office. Kaiser brought with him a large trunk he could effortlessly lift, mainly because of the Featherweight charm applied to it.

Kaiser went inside the portable lab first, followed by the others. The place was nice and tidy, composed of a large area where his Enchanting Kit was kept, a few doors could be seen at each side. It was very impressive overall. Professor McGonagall, who understood how valuable what she was witnessing, marveled at the sight.

"This is amazing! So this is where you work most of the time!" Hermione said with shinning eyes, and Susan echoed the sentiment. They started inspecting the places, marveling at what each tool does. To be fair, comparing the magic world to the non magical world in terms of technological advancement is wrong, for different reasons. Mainly, because while the non magical world focused more on what they could perceive and feel, and use to their advantage, the same goes for the magical world. Except that what they could see was a lot more than the non magical world.

For starters, the non magical world has no way to perceive the soul, the most important aspect of humanity. The magical world could, and therefore spent a lot of time researching it. But the success they met was almost negligible, compared to the hundreds of years of research they spent on it.

What they were seeing right now was the best the Wizarding world has to offer, in term of enchanting technology, and it combined the pinnacle of several areas of magic, including transfiguration, charm, alchemy, magical theory, Arithmancy and even partially the elusive Mind Arts. ( A/N: a few chapters back, I spoke about Transfiguration, and how 'permanent' transfiguration was possible through "advanced Transfiguration". That was Alchemy, not transfiguration, that studies the permanent changes of properties, through transfiguration etc… As for Arithmancy, I haven't spoken much about it, I'll do so when the opportunity arises. )

"Well, let us begin then. Today's objective is the following: Making a self refiling water bottle. Have you made the necessary research?" Kaiser asked.

"Yes!" Susan jumped at the opportunity, hoping to impress Kaiser. "In order to make it, we would need three crucial parts. The first being the energy source. I believe the predictions we made mean point to Ambient Magical Energy being enough for the task, considering we would be using a Rune Stone."

"The second one is the ability to conjure water." Hermione Granger continued. "We have made certain that conjuring water is safe through our research, and concluded that the basic [Aguamenti] spell can perfectly fill the task."

"Finally, we need a way to figure out when the task of conjuring water should begin. We have found two ways to do so. The first one is to bind it to an action, for example a switch. The other is to detect the water presence at the targeted level." Susan finished.

"Very good." Kaiser was glad the days he spent tutoring them didn't go to waste, and McGonagall was listening curiously to everything. "Since the Runic Structure responsible for both Water Conjuring and Detection have long since been isolated, we don't have to analyze the spells. But we will briefly do so, just so you can deepen your understanding of the process."

Professor McGonagall was the most qualified to cast the spell, since she was a Transfiguration Master. She positioned herself on the testing area, and took very special wand, with many engravings, crystals and colors. It was a general type wand, focused most on precision, rather than ease of use or anything else. If one didn't master the spell they wish to analyze, they shouldn't bother.

The professor pointed the wand at a bowl that was already prepared, and without movement nor incantation, water started appearing and filling the bowl. Hermione, who had her hand on a crystal near the testing area, was overwhelmed by the influx of information going through her head. A new world of magic presented itself to her. It would be inaccurate to describe what she was seeing or feeling through normal words, as words fail to describe it. She was seeing a "picture" in the traditional four dimensional sense, but with a lot more information thrown in them. It's the same with the concept of time: we do not see it, but experience and feel it.

Energy flow, energy change, or even the basic concept of energy, which in itself was elusive enough, were now visible to her. Not that she could make sense of all of it, but she understood the relevant parts to their project. She could visualize how the spell was slowly feeding on the professor's Mana, then through a complex process, converted that energy to something else, before a phenomenon appeared at the center of the bowl, one that made water literally out of "nothing" to the untrained eye. Surprisingly, it was still obeying the laws of conservation of energy, which meant that Magic still obeyed a clear set of laws. It was up to the wizards to slowly discover what they were.

Susan was up next, eager to see for herself why Hermione had such an expression in her face, as if she was blind her whole life and finally able to see for the first time. And she was not disappointed.

"Now, compare what you saw, to the actual runic structure you researched. You'll notice that a lot of extra elements are added in the actual spell, simply because the contrary to the runes we'll carve on the bottle, this one uses our magical core as a medium. However, the essence of the spell never changes."

You might think of Runes as simple symbols written on paper that needs to be carved to an object, to imbue magical properties to it, but that's over simplifying things. They aren't drawing the runes like you would draw words. The symbols seen on paper were merely a representation of something far more complex to be visualized, and visualization is one of the fundamental aspects of magic. Humans tend to understand what they can visualize on a daily basis a lot easier. Images are the best way to make them understand, mainly because it's what they rely on the most. But that in itself is shackling them down, especially when it comes to magic.

"Now, let's begin carving the runes. We will begin with the detection charm first. What should we do before that?"

"We should figure out the correct order at which the Runes should be engraved." Hermione answered. "We have already done the homework." she gave him a stack of several papers, which he reviewed before nodding.

"Good. Now, you will each begin engrave a part of the runes sequentially. Remember, take your time. If you make a mistake, no one is going to blame you for it. Erase it and do it again, until you get it right. We have all the time in the world. Take a few moments to correct each other before proceeding to the next step."

Wrongly engraved runes can sometimes be catastrophic. You never know what the new sequence you made by mistake might do. For all you know, it would summon demons from another world. Which is why they should proceed with great caution, even though they were just fourteen years old, and should therefore not do such a critical task. As the French proverb goes: "It is by forging that one becomes a blacksmith." (FR: C'est en forgeant que l'on devient forgeron.)

While Hogwarts had a Runes elective, it does not allow student to carve Runes until they pass their OWLs. The Enchanter Kits available were very sensitive to errors, not to mention expensive. The school could not afford to sacrifice any of them for the sake of a beginner's mistake. Kaiser's, however, was full of fail-safes, not to mention a lot easier to use.

Susan began first, taking triple checking each step, praying not to make mistakes, while Kaiser was monitoring every detail. His Kit allowed for multiple enchanters to work on the same thing, with one doing the engraving, and three others monitoring each changes. It had an expensive amount of tools for different purposes, all to make sure the enchanter's work was of the best quality.

They took turns, each engraving a part of the detection spell, in the agreed upon order. It took more than two hours, just for the first step. Professor McGonagall came to check on them several times, and to see their progress.

"I think we finished the first part." Hermione said, and turned to Kaiser for confirmation.

"Yes." he nodded. They took a break, eating some lunch prepared beforehand.

"Now that we made sure there is no problems with our engravings, we need to test it to make sure it's giving the correct output." He pointed towards one of the tools in the testing section. "We will power it through the testing unit, by linking it to this Rune stone here. We will be able to "experience" what the spell is giving out."

The 'linking' part was a lot easier, and only took a few minutes to do so. When they finished, they both placed their hands on another pair of crystals, while Kaiser placed his wand above the bottle.

"Ready?" at their nod, he incanted. "Aguamenti." and water started filling the bottle. They both monitored the input of the spell, each time giving them information according to how much water it could detect. It didn't just sense the "presence" of water, but sensed the "amount" of water.

After making sure everything was in working order, they erased the links, and started working on the water conjuring part.

"Ready?" Kaiser asked. At their eager nod, he finally linked the whole system to the independent power source. They could immediately sense magical activity from the empty water bottle, and could clearly see water gradually filling it, until it reached a certain level and stopped.

"YES!" Hermione and Susan jumped in joy. Their first ever creation was in front of them, an achievement to be proud of at such a young age.

Professor McGonagall was very impressed by the final product, especially considering how young they were. While a great part was thanks to the equipment and Kaiser help, it was still something they did on their own.

They both gave Kaiser a bone crushing hug, thanking him over and over again, though Susan might have enjoyed it more than she should have. Kaiser couldn't be more grateful for his Occlumency training when Susan hugged him.

Even McGonagall thanked him for taking time to tutor his fellow students, and one of her favorite Gryffindors. She did like Hermione very much, and it was obvious, seeing how she gave her a Time Turner.

Even though Kaiser had better ways to spend his weekend, this was an investment for him. He was investing mainly in Hermione, but having Susan tag along was a welcome addition. Hermione had huge potential and thirst for knowledge, not to mention, she was a first generation witch. With all the discrimination she would have to face in order to succeed, Kaiser could easily draw her to his side, where she would shine the most brilliantly.