"So nothing has happened during Yule Break?" Harry questioned and Penny shook her head.
"Nothing at all, or at least that's what the Professors have told to us Prefects." Penny replied as they sat at the Ravenclaw Table with Luna to Penny's left and Harry to her right.
"So did the culprit go home for the Yule Break?" Harry wondered as he ate.
"Christmas should be spent with family." Luna smiled at them both as she shaped her mashed potatoes into a vaguely castle-like form.
"Indeed it should, Luna." Penny smiled at her fellow blonde.
"Not sure if the culprit cares much." Harry shrugged.
"Even mean people like Christmas, right?" Luna asked and Harry instantly glanced at Snape in response. The Potions Professor was scowling, as always, so there was a fairly good chance he didn't care for the Holidays.
"Maybe not all of them." Harry responded with a shrug as he went back to his dinner.
The next day after classes Harry returned to his hidden workshop to experiment with altering the Oulm Circuit Knife's Form. He carefully went through the Runic Sequences of the Array looking for anything that might have to be changed. Several minutes later he came to the two parts of the Array that he'd have to change if he wanted this idea to work. The 'Severance' Sequence and the 'Cut Prevention' Sequence would both have to be substituted out for other Runic Sequences to have any chance of working with a different Form.
"What sequence would work though?" Harry murmured to himself as he went through a few of his books. Not much progress was made on his first full day back at Hogwarts.
The weekend proved to be rather fruitful for Harry. He'd found a Runic Sequence that might work with his new idea. The 'Block' Sequence was used to keep a designated person, item, or other 'Magically Recognized' thing from moving past a certain point. While it was often used in Warding, nothing about the sequence suggested that it couldn't be used on something mobile. It wasn't a 'Static' sequence like his Rune Safe was. Now he just had to find a new Runic Sequence that would be able to make use of the 'Block' Sequence. Thankfully that only took him until Sunday evening. A rather obscure sequence used to transfer effects with contact. Harry would have to rewrite it and then try to integrate it together with the 'Block' Sequence and his own Runic Designation for Mana. If this worked out he should, theoretically, be able to change the Form of his Oulm Circuit Knife to something a bit more 'in line' with Police Work.
During Harry's research for his new idea, Penny was still looking into what Slytherin's Monster could be. She brought up a potential idea to Harry during the last week of January.
"It might have been a Cockatrice." Penny suggested as she showed Harry some of her newest notes. "When a Cockatrice gets old enough they can develop a 'Petrifying Gaze' of their own. That fits with what happened to Mrs. Norris and Creevey. Plus Cockatrices do have snake tails, so Magically-speaking they might have enough of a relationship to other Magical Snakes to make crossbreeding easier."
"That still doesn't bode well for anybody in the castle." Harry grimaced. A Cockatrice was a deadly Magical Beast after all. They were currently rated at XXXX by the Ministry of Magic. If they were old enough to have gained a 'Petrifying Gaze' then they moved up to XXXXX classification. Crossbreeding one with a different Magical Snake didn't make them 'less harmful' by any means.
"It doesn't, but it could give us a way to deal with the petrification problem." Penny replied, happy that she'd found some kind of useful lead.
"Better than being caught unaware." Harry agreed as he looked over his notes for the Oulm Circuit Array. He was still trying to rewrite the 'Transfer' Sequence to work how he wanted it to. So far he'd done seven different rewrites and none of them had worked out. The 'Transfer' Sequence was very…finicky…for lack of a better term. It had very little mutability in its structure before its purpose was lost. With a sigh Harry set about rewriting it again to try and get it to integrate with the 'Block' Sequence and his Runic Designation for 'Mana'.
-First Week of February-
"I think it works…" Harry breathed out happily as he looked over his latest rewrite. The 'new' version of the 'Transfer' Sequence finally fit with the 'Block' Sequence. His Runic Designation for 'Mana' also fit with the 'Block' Sequence and should finally be the 'thing' that was blocked when the 'Transfer' Sequence was used. The newly rewritten sequence made it so that physical contact had to take place and it could only transfer to something Magical. But these two limitations worked out just fine for what Harry wanted the Item in question to do. After all, Witches and Wizards were Magical, so the Array should work out just fine.
"Now I just have to test it." Harry exhaled as he went to the smithy to start making the prototype of his new Oulm Circuit design. Harry was hopeful to get this done by April and have a working Item. It would make a great birthday gift for Tonks! Plus if she could demonstrate the Item's uses and usefulness to the Aurors he might just be able to make a lucrative sale. If his Items proved useful in the hands of the British Aurors then he could potentially use that success as a means to market his Items to other Magical Police Forces across the world too.
-Friday, February 12th-
"He can't be serious." Harry groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Maybe it won't be that bad?" Penny tried to reassure him, but even she looked unconvinced.
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