Days went by in a blur of holiday activities and magical experiments. I found myself once again in my mother's basement, which had transformed into my personal potions laboratory over the break. The stone walls were lined with shelves holding ingredients I'd either smuggled from Hogwarts or convinced Mum to purchase from Diagon Alley.
Dried herbs hung from the ceiling, their subtle fragrances mixing with the sharp, acrid smell of brewing potions.
I stared at one of my mum's bronze cauldrons, its surface shimmering with an odd metallic sheen that seemed to shift colors in the flickering light. today was the day I was going to try and brew the Polyjuice potion, probably the most difficult thing I'd attempted to brew so far.
I'd only learned about it thanks to Mum, who had given me full range to learn whatever I wanted from her books and what she had taught me in the summer, this had happened during summer classes, she had showed me the recipe once since she said it was her favorite potion luckily enough. She'd mentioned learning it from a Professor Slughorn.
I couldn't help but wonder if this Slughorn was the professor who taught before Snape. The way Mum described him - jovial, fond of collecting talented students - seemed the complete opposite of our current Potions master.
Still, I couldn't waste time wondering about past professors.
The lacewing flies needed exactly 21 days of stewing, and time was running short. I'd started brewing on December 15th, the day after getting home, and now it was already January 5th. With only three days left before returning to Hogwarts, I needed to make every minute count.
Now you may be wondering what mom thought of the whole thing. Well not much really, she'd occasionally peek in, maybe ask a question or two, but never pressed for details when I was vague with my answers.
Perhaps it came from her own secretive nature - whatever her job was, she never talked about it. Sometimes I wondered if she was some sort of special Auror, working on classified cases. It would explain a lot about her behavior.
The work area around me was meticulously organized, with labeled jars and vials arranged in brewing order.
Most precious among them was a jar of fluxweed I'd managed to collect during the last full moon at Hogwarts - which had been surprisingly easy with the map, I just went into the Herbology gardens and got it there. The only ingredient I still lacked was something from Dumbledore himself.
I kicked myself mentally for not thinking to grab a hair or something during my visit to his office. Now I'd have to figure out another way to get a DNA sample - maybe snag his teacup after a meal? That was definitely a problem for future Felix to solve.
The bronze cauldron gleamed in the basement's dim light as I began the brewing process. My peculiar memory allowed me to recall the recipe perfectly - Mum had shown it to me over summer, and like everything else, it was stored away like pages in a book I could flip through at will.
Part 1, step one: Add 3 measures of fluxweed to the cauldron (must have been picked on a full moon). The dried leaves crackled as they hit the simmering base, releasing a sharp, medicinal scent.
Add 2 bundles of knotgrass to the cauldron - the twisted stems unraveled as they sank into the mixture.
Stir 4 times, clockwise, watching the colors swirl and blend. Wave your wand (which I did with my hand and just moved magic above it) then let potion brew for 80 minutes in a Pewter Cauldron, though thankfully the bronze cauldron would only need 60.
Part 1, step two was more complex.
Add 4 leeches to the cauldron, watching them dissolve into black streaks. Add 2 scoops of lacewing flies to the mortar, crush to a fine paste (this part was particularly unpleasant - the wings had a tendency to stick to everything), then add 2 measures of the crushed lacewings to the cauldron. Heat for 30 seconds on a low heat, adjusting the flames carefully to maintain the perfect temperature.
Wave your wand to complete this stage of the potion - the magic tingled through my arm as it connected with the brewing mixture. Add 3 measures of boomslang skin to the cauldron, watching it sink beneath the surface like sheets of translucent silk. Add 1 measure of bicorn horn to the mortar, crush to a fine powder (this required significant effort - bicorn horn was surprisingly tough), then add one measure of the crushed horn to the cauldron.
Heat for 20 seconds at a high temperature, careful not to let it boil over. Wave your wand then let potion brew for 24 hours in a Pewter Cauldron - though the bronze cauldron would thankfully only need 18 hours. Timing was crucial at this stage.
With this part of the potion completed, all I could do was wait. I checked my watch - 18:16. The second hand ticked past 53, and I realized I'd wasted seven precious seconds just staring at the potion. Mental calculations told me I'd need to be back here at exactly 12:16 and 46 seconds tomorrow. Precision was everything in potion-making.
Sighing at the tedium of waiting, I made my way up the basement stairs. Opening the door revealed Jarvey lounging in the hallway, temporarily silenced by my charm. Mum's anti-noise charm on the basement itself was helpful, but Jarvey had a remarkable ability to make himself heard despite magical barriers.
The silencing charm was necessary - left alone, he'd probably wake the whole neighborhood with his creative vocabulary which they would just here like a baby crying, seriously Ferrets made some really weird sounds from what I had been told.
I waved my hand, dispelling the charm with a casual wandless gesture. Kneeling down to his level, I prepared for the inevitable tirade.
"You fucker stop charming me, I don't like it, it feels really weird."
"I'm sorry Jarvey but until you can stay quiet I need to do this."
"I still fucking hate it."
"Yeah, yeah come on jump on my shoulder."
He did as I said, his small but surprisingly strong claws gripping my arm as he pulled himself up with practiced ease. His head settled on my shoulder while the rest of his body wrapped around my arm like a furry serpent. The weight was familiar now, comforting even.
"Let's try to finish the magic radio today."
"That's a really bad name you know."
"I know but do you have anything better."
"How about the Jarvey Radio that rolls perfectly off the tongue."
"Hmm, how about this if you stop cursing so much, I'll name it the Jarvey Radio, but the channel will be called Real Wizards FM, deal?"
His tail extended toward my right hand, stiffening like a miniature handshake. The gesture was oddly formal for a creature who spent most of his time inventing new combinations of swear words.
I grabbed it and we shook on it as Jarvey said while we walked up to my room.
"Deal."
Opening my bedroom door revealed my latest project - a completely dismantled radio spread across my desk in organized chaos. My research had shown that the main component for transmitting radio waves was the transmitter, which consisted of several crucial parts working in harmony:
The Oscillator generated the carrier wave at the desired frequency (like 88-108 MHz for FM) - I'd modified this extensively to work with magical energy. The Audio Input Stage took the audio signal (like music or voice) from a microphone or other source, requiring careful calibration to handle both magical and mundane sounds.
The Modulator combined the audio signal with the carrier wave using either Amplitude modulation (AM) - varying the strength of the carrier wave - or Frequency modulation (FM) - varying the frequency of the carrier wave.
The Power Amplifier boosted the modulated signal to the required power level, while the Antenna served as the final and crucial component that converted the electrical signal into electromagnetic waves that propagated through the air.
The main problem I'd encountered was magical interference - particularly from wards, which seemed to create a kind of static field that disrupted the radio waves. The Wizard Wireless Network (WNN) existed, of course, but it was vulnerable to magical blocking, which defeated my purpose. I wanted something that could penetrate magical barriers, bringing music to even the most heavily warded areas of Hogwarts.
Every attempt so far had resulted in failure - the transmitter picked up nothing but static when exposed to even simple charms. Plus, I wanted to miniaturize the whole thing, make it more portable than the bulky WNN sets or standard Muggle radios.
As I stared at the transmitter, turning it over in my hands, inspiration struck. The sentient objects I'd been studying all had intricate magical circuits woven into their very elements. What if I applied the same principle here?
Not full sentience - that would be overkill (besides I still hadn't figured out the exact charms needed to do so) - but just enough to make the device respond to magical input while remaining immune to external interference.
After all, my experiments had shown that only outside magic disrupted the radio waves. A modified protego which just covered the radio waves like a thin film would work.
"This could actually work. I'm a fucking genius."
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