ACT4CH52 - Metastability

The workshop was a maze of floating runes, shifting geometries, and carefully warded energy fields, an experiment in motion. The very air thrummed with power, humming at frequencies only the magically attuned could perceive.

Harry Potter stood at the center, barefoot on the cold, inscribed stone, the weight of his own magic pressing against the meticulously drawn circles at his feet. The walls were embedded with layers upon layers of enchanted silver, inscribed with containment measures that would mitigate the backlash if something went wrong.

Because things always went wrong.

To his left, Bathsheda Babbling scrawled a rapid sequence of modified runes, her quill scratching against a sheet of parchment that occasionally glowed in protest, as though the very ink was shifting under her intent. It was a far cry from the initial days of the Workshop, when all she had were fragmented ideas of different sigils, taken from different civilizations and mythologies.

To his right, Septima Vector flicked her wand at a hovering array of golden symbols, adjusting a minute detail in the geometric lattice that made up the primary containment array. She muttered to herself, a habit Harry had long since grown used to, her lips moving at lightning speed as she calculated in real time.

Above them, Aurora Sinistra carefully regulated the energy fields from above, and at the same time watched the ceiling of the chamber—an artificial sky, filled with projections of celestial bodies, the positions of stars shifting rapidly as divination markers spun around the room, their trajectories affected by whatever arcane interaction they were currently unraveling.

And finally, just outside the main circle, Fleur Delacour stood with a single, deliberate motion, her wand arcing gracefully as she wove ward after ward, each layer solidifying as structured spellcraft, reinforcing the delicate experiment from external influences.

It was a symphony of intellect, a convergence of science, magic, and raw theoretical exploration—and Harry was at the center of it all, not as a leader, but as a test subject, a conduit, and an anomaly all at once.

The experiment had one primary objective - to test the successful incorporation of Death runes into a warding system successfully. In short, achieving the very first goal of the Workshop.

"Initiating first sequence, " Fleur said, stepping back.

Septima Vector raised her wand, her expression calculating. “Harry, I’m going to send a standard Stupefy at you. Nothing too aggressive yet.”

Harry rolled his shoulders. “Go for it.”

A bolt of red light streaked toward him, only for the first of the Death runes, a circle containing an inverted pentagram bisected vertically, to react instantly beneath his feet.

This was Dümir, the severer of magical energies, the resolver of enchantments. The very first rune the Workshop had created since they had begun researching on Harry’s Death thaumaturgy. 

And it wasn’t the only one.

Kaeln, a rune consisting of a vertical line intersected by three short horizontal lines, evenly spaced, ignited right after, followed by Ithrys, a diamond-shaped structure with inward-pointing arrows at each corner. Kaeln was for cleansing, while Ithrys acted as a conduit. Kaeln removed impurities, restoring the energy into a state of neutrality and balance. Ithrys would serve as a pathway for the cleansed energies to safely sink into the wardstone placed at the bottom of the circle.

The red light fractured, dissolving into ghostly wisps of energy, cleansed, and got pooled into the wardstone, which glowed in acknowledgement.

"Success," Fleur whispered.

Septima’s eyes widened as she examined the results. "It’s holding. The ward didn’t just dismantle the spell—it’s integrating the residual magic into the structure itself.”

Harry let out a slow breath. That was part one. If their project succeeded, it could revolutionize defensive magic - a ward system that not only absorbed spells, but the absorbed energy could be used to empower the other magical wards that defended against attacks of a physical nature. A dual system that complemented and supplemented each other.

Now, for the second stage.

“Oui,” said Fleur. “Let’s see if ve can complete ze cycle.”

The next step was to determine whether they could refine the cleansed energy into another magical form. The assumption here was that regardless of its origins, once manifested, magic did business with the laws of physics and the conservation of energy.

Energy could neither be created or destroyed, merely altered from one form to another. The idea was to see if this natural, purified energy could be modified to reform back into magic, whether through runic applications or through reaction with unknown variables. But if it was possible, it could  create a ward that could maintain this structure indefinitely, a pseudo-perpetual machine so long as one fed this final variable into the system in adequate amounts.

Septima exchanged a look with Bathsheda before nodding. "I’ll guide the energy flow into a secondary transmutation array."

Aurora adjusted the divination markers above them. Mars now stood in the center of the ritual, with Pluto guiding the position for the Ithrys rune. Mars was the governor of drive and desire, while Pluto, the lord of transformation. "This is the part where things either go very well or horribly wrong."

Bathsheda, who had been silent until now, flicked her wand, reinforcing three additional stabilizing runes at key points in the room. "If it goes wrong, we contain it immediately."

Harry sighed. "Alright. Let’s do this."

Septima activated the transmutation sequence.

The runes pulsed bright silver, directing the accumulated energy from the wardstone into a secondary lattice, where it was meant to be reconfigured.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then something did.

The energy resisted.

The power pooled at the center, no longer passive but almost sentient, as though refusing to be reshaped. The silver runes flickered, shifting erratically, unable to control the force now gathered. Harry felt a familiar pull—a resonance deep in his core, but before he could act upon it, the runes went blank and —

“PROTEGO!” yelled Fleur, Septima and Bathsheda together —

—And were bodily picked up off the ground, and hurled away, skidding across the floor of the workshop, while Aurora quickly encased herself in a Protego bubble and was sent flying against the ceiling. The only one untouched in the entire room was, unsurprisingly perhaps, Harry himself, a fine mesh of tendrils — a Binding spell, keeping the explosion at bay. When the dust settled, all they found were parts of the wardstone scattered across the floor, a hundred and fifty galleon investment now utterly destroyed.

“But…. why?” asked Fleur, coughing. “It was — was just un stunner.”

“Must have been an unstable energy state,” gathered Septima. “Even then, it doesn’t make sense. Energy doesn’t just sit there. It either disperses or transitions into something. This did neither and the moment we tried to change it…”

She frowned, her brows raised in thought.

Aurora Sinistra leaned back, arms crossed, watching the celestial projections overhead. “That’s the problem with relying on calculations alone,” she mused. “Magic doesn’t care about your neat little formulas. Sometimes, it just refuses to cooperate.”

Harry, standing in the center, observed the entire thing with a narrowed gaze. “It’s not Refusal,” he said, his Death-gaze affixed at the broken shards of the wardstone. “It achieved a stable state, and trying to force it to change caused that violent reaction.”

“Harry, you might be the expert on Death energy,” said Babbling crossly, “but you’re grossly incorrect there. The only stable form of energy  is the ambient energy of the world. And what we drained inside the wardstone was definitely not it. Unless….” she trailed off, exchanging wide-eyed glances with Sinistra and Fleur before looking back at Harry.

“Are ve all zinking what I am zinking?” asked Fleur.

“Please don’t tell me we just discovered another energy form that isn’t magic?” asked Aurora with a groan.

“No,” said Harry, his mind working through the pieces. “It’s not. Not a new form of energy either. It’s just… a transitory state. Unresolved, but stable. And one that apparently reacts violently to forceful conversion.”

“Are you even listening to what you’re saying? It wouldn’t be a transitory state if it were this stable.”

“Maybe…” whispered Vector, who for some reason, had gone eerily silent. “It’s a metastable state then.”

“A what?”

“Metastable,” Septima repeated, but Harry felt a strange hesitation emanating out of her. “It’s a theoretical concept in energy flux that muggle scientists employ to explain the workings of physicalities on the micro-level. It’s — it basically refers to an intermediate energetic state within a dynamical system other than the system’s state of least energy. Like say, a ball resting in a hollow on a slope. If the ball is only slightly pushed, it will settle back into its hollow, but a stronger push may start it rolling down the slope.”

Then she noted the looks that others were giving her.

“I… studied muggle chemistry and physics to augment my understanding of energy flux for my Masters in Arithmancy.”

“And?” asked Aurora.

“And I submitted a paper on it to the ICW Congress, suggesting the role that metastability might play in transitory states so common in transfiguration and its implications. I had expected to receive a letter from the Arithmancer’s Guild to pursue my Mastery, instead Tiberius Vale and Miranda Selwyn, the examiners, laughed at my paper.”

“They didn’t,” Babbling breathed.

“They did,” Septima half-snapped. “Why else do you think I’m stuck here teaching instead of working as an arithmancer for private companies or the ICW? My paper claimed that Magic, or magical energy, is a metastable state of the ambient energy of the world. In essence, the energy that muggles harness from their technological innovations was the same as Magic, albeit in a more stable state. Vale suggested that I was daydreaming, while Selwyn called me a mudblood in front of the entire group, for suggesting something so blasphemous!” She was all but yelling at this point. “And to think that they represent the pinnacle of magical innovation! My foot!”

Exhaling, she sagged down on a nearby chair. “Honestly, this Workshop has been the best thing to happen to me since I passed my NEWTs. And you have no idea how thankful I am for that.”

“If zis energy is really… uh, meta—”

“Metastable,” said Septima. “Then it means we’ve just created an energy state that can inhabit for an indefinite length of time, until more energy is added to the system. If what I think is true, then this Death-purified energy can have its own unique transformation cycle.”

“Yes, all that is fascinating,” said Aurora. “But we shouldn’t forget what happened the moment you tried to morph it. That little push earlier didn’t send the ball settling back into its hollow, it resulted in an explosion.”

“From un leetle stunner,” Fleur added.

Harry, on the other hand, stayed carefully silent. He knew stable transitory states could be made to exist in whatever manner one wanted. It was the process behind Nicholas Flamel’s creation of the Philosopher’s Stone. What was truly worrying him here was the sheer hostility with which the transition process had been brought to a halt. 

“Yeah, um, that’s the part I haven’t quite figured out yet,” said Septima, if a little sheepishly. “This sort of pushback is unprecedented. It’s almost like it has —”

“An intent?” asked Harry.

Septima blinked. 

“I think we’ve been looking at the problem the wrong way,” said Harry. “We’ve been treating it as a spell absorption ward. Magic gets in, gets stripped down, cleansed, and then converted.”

“Si. Zat was ze logic,” said Fleur slowly.

“But magic isn’t just energy, is it? It has intent. Meaning. History.”

Bathsheda’s brow furrowed. “Are you suggesting—”

“Think about it. The moment a spell is cast, it’s bound to a purpose. A curse is meant to harm. A shield is meant to protect. When you strip away the intent, what’s left isn’t just energy, it’s something that’s been broken down, unshaped, unbound.”

He met their gazes. “It’s in limbo. For magic, anyway.”

Septima’s eyes widened instantly. “And if it’s in limbo, then it can’t just be assigned into a new form. It has to transition naturally. But given the resistance, it means it doesn’t want to become Magic.”

“Or the activation cost is simply that high,” finished Bathsheda. 

“Perhaps….” Harry murmured, and cast the Laguz rune.

Laguz. Symbol for water, fluidity, change, transformation.

Yet nothing happened.

Silence fell.

“Wait,” said Fleur. “So, zis ward produces energy zat is ‘aving an existential crisis because it doesn’t know what it’s to become?”

Harry had never quite heard it put that way, but it did describe the situation to a tee.

“Merlin’s bones,” breathed Sinistra. “Is this an energy that’s more stable than even the ambient energy of the world?” 

“No,” corrected Septima. “Just the slightest interference, and it transformed into an explosion. Physical force. It’s more likely that this is a different metastable energy state, just like Magic. I mean, I have no way of proving it, but it does make a lot of sense in hindsight. Magic alters the world energy to its wishes, while Death neuters Magic and cleans it down to this metastable state that eventually, is returned to the base state — natural world energy. The only reason nobody’s ever noticed it before is because the energy is inert, as far as magic is concerned, so we assumed that the energy was just ‘eaten’ by Death.”

The scowl on Harry’s face intensified. On one hand, his colleagues were getting excited at discovering a more stable energy level. On the other hand, he had seen Nicholas Flamel create such high-volatile energy states and still maintain them in stable forms.

As Philosopher Stones.

Even to this day, he wondered if seeing all that power contained inside that tiny stone had been an illusion.

But it hadn’t.

On one hand was this energy state, apparently so stable that not even the Laguz rune, when applied without any particular intent in mind, was unable to transition it into whatever next stage it was comfortable with. On the other hand, Flamel’s expertise lay in creating highly volatile energy states of extreme power, likely on the other end of the spectrum, and then coalescing them into tiny shards, manufacturing the magical equivalent of nuclear bombs, only something you could carry in your pocket.

At first look, their discovery seemed useless, but on second thought…

An energy form with such a huge inertia, that attempting to transform it back ended up in a violent explosion. One could even argue that ‘Cleansing by Death’ removed a component from the original magical energy, a component so fundamental to its existence that the cleansed energy simply rejected the idea of returning back to magic, or its counterpart.

Following Professor Vector’s logic of metastability, it would be a metastable state that could technically be ‘pushed out of the hollow’, only that no amount of pushing would change it to Magic. To put it as an analogy, the ‘hills’ for Magic and this cleansed energy variant were different, but shared a common valley — the ambient energy of the world. Or the universe for that matter.

By the same analogy, Flamel’s high-energy state could be imagined as the ball that had been pushed up to the very top of the ‘magic hill’, and then held under indefinite stasis by placing it inside a ‘hollow’ of its own making. How he did that was anybody’s guess, but it was definitely what allowed Flamel to become the Immortal Alchemist.

Diving into the deepest trenches of magic and ruling as a predator. No wonder his animagus form was a shark.

The real quirk about this cleansed energy was that it reacted  violently the moment one attempted to push it ‘out of the hollow’. If Harry could learn how to stabilize this ‘energised’ state, he could unlock a vista of possibilities. Possibilities that could help him get past his newfound crippling limitations post becoming the Gatekeeper.

And here I thought I wouldn’t need a thing from him after I gained Summer and Binding, he thought dourly. It was like whatever way he took, things just ended up with him having to face the elder Warden.

Marked to vanquish Lord Voldemort as a baby. 

Destroying a Philosopher’s stone by touching it.

Facing Salazar’s mighty basilisk.

Fighting and killing off hordes of dementors.

And finally, creating a new runic framework that existed beyond Wenlock’s principles of Arithmancy.

Really, at times it felt like he existed just to challenge and vanquish the legacies of the former Wardens of the Sunken Vault. All the while becoming Death’s Vessel that somehow fulfilled all the above conditions while also running into ancient Vaults, dunamancy-driven chambers, and relics that empowered him with just the bit he needed to get past his challenges. It was such a serendipitous set of circumstances that Harry had trouble not calling it Destiny.

“We need to experiment on this energy,” said Harry at last. “Study it. It’s intention, uniqueness, purpose and overall entity. Build test scenarios that reflect different aspects of its character.”

“Agreed,” said Vector. “But before that, I want to test a theory. We know it’s relatively inert, and it needs an unknown activation cost, one that’s definitely not power.”

“Then… what?” asked Fleur.

“It’s like Harry said,” continued Vector with a smile. “Magic isn’t just energy. It has intent. It has history. The Laguz rune can only guide something that can naturally transform into something else, meaning, it has pre-existing intent pathways available, and it chooses the path of least resistance. But given that this energy form is in limbo —”

“We need to provide the intent ourselves,” Bathsheda said excitedly, only to frown again. “But that would be impossible. Our intent works on magical energy, not this… metastable state.”

“Which is why we need an intent that can influence external energy sources, including the ambient energy of the world.”

Harry narrowed his eyes. That sounded suspiciously like —

“Family Magic,” finished Vector. “And as far as I know, apart from Death, Harry here has access to two other forms of it.”

Harry cursed under his breath. He really should not have revealed his powers of Summer and Binding in front of Amelia Bones. But given how the Greengrass totem had manifested before Voldemort during the fight, it was likely that his secret would have been already out.

“Instead of channeling the cleansed energy into the wardstone, we need to pool it in front of Harry, so that he might exercise his Family Magics, and see if the energy bends before their providence.”

“C'est impossible!” Fleur snapped.

“I agree,” said Babbling immediately. “It’s simply unacceptable. Even putting aside concerns about whether this theory even works, it still puts Harry in a dangerous situation.”

“Harry has proven to handle things way more than just a tiny explosion,” Vector said. “And Harry is quite skilled with shields.”

“And what if zere is more zan just force?” Fleur insisted. “It iz a gambit you’re making with ‘is life, not yours.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” said Harry, putting an end to the growing conflict. “As much as I’m glad for your concerns, Professor Vector has a point. I’m the only one that can access multiple magics, which makes me the best option.”

It was an argument rooted in logic with little to do with his ‘saving people thing’, as Hermione Granger would have put it. There was also the fact that if he could truly perform it, it could add a very useful arrow up his quiver, one that could become the answer to Flamel’s high-energy ‘stable’ states.

Exhaling, he stepped forward, planting himself at the very heart of the rune matrix, feeling the thrum of power around him. “Alright,” he said, rolling his shoulders. “Let’s test this theory.”

Septima lifted her wand. “Applying structural adjustments now.”

Bathsheda rearranged a few core runes. Harry noted the excessive amount of Vaerth rune in them. Unlike the other two runes, Vaerth served as an amplifier. A spiral tapering into a single point, unwinding downward — Vaerth was entropy, the acceleration of decay, disorder and chaos.

Kaeln came next. Dümir would resolve the spell, while Vaerth would amplify its function. The extra addition of Kaeln array ensured the raw energy would be instantly cleaned for Harry to exert his Family magic.

“Celestial design ready,” said Aurora.

Fleur stood at the outer circle, prepared to reinforce the wards if the shift was too volatile. “If ‘Arry explodes, I’m hexing ze lot of you.”

“Much appreciated,” Harry deadpanned.

The experiment began again.

“Stupefy!” said Septima, and the spell raced at Harry. Instantly, the runes activated, dismantling the spell into raw form, cleansing it and directing it towards Harry —

—And then the energy dissipated into thin air.

“What happened?” asked Bathsheda, annoyed. “The energy just… vanished. That wasn’t supposed to happen!”

“The runes were working properly too. The equations are set,” said Septima, frowning at Harry. “It should have worked.”

Harry shook his head. “It did. I just… couldn’t feel it.”

Aurora gave him a look of disbelief. “Couldn’t feel it?”

“It was too little.”

“‘Arry,” scoffed Fleur. “Zat little stunner energy did all that damage.”

“Yes, but I’m not just a wardstone, am I? Look, this is Family Magic we’re talking about. You want something to burn, you use an Incendio. Family Magic? It would probably erupt a volcano.”

He let that bit settle on them.

“You want me to exercise Family Magic? Then give me an acceptable target size to use it on. I don’t suppose any of you are good with raw, destructive magic?”

“I’m an Arithmancer,” scoffed Septima. “I’m all about efficiency, not flamboyance.”

“Astronoma,” said Aurora Sinistra, as if that explained everything. Fleur, though, had stayed silent.

“Does it have to be from the Horribilis series?” asked Babbling. “What if we used something that’s just as destructive?”

Harry’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh, this sounds exciting,” drawled Vector. “Sheda, what madness are you contemplating?”

“Well, I am a runesmith,” said Babbling. “And I experiment with all sorts of things in my office. Too bad I don’t have the necessary fuel to enact anything truly dangerous —”

“Thank Merlin,” said Vector, which was loud enough for everyone, but Bathsheda happily ignored it. 

“— but here, we do have several wardstones filled with raw power, so…” she trailed off. 

“If something goes horribly wrong and we all die, then I’ll spend my afterlife nagging you about it,” Vector promised.

“Agreed,” said Babbling, and raised her wand. “Whenever you’re ready, Harry.”

At his nod, she performed rapid strokes of her wand, casting multiple Fehu runes, chained together with Laguz, for fluidity, and Uruz, serving as the channel for the primal, untamable force that Fehu symbolised. The fourth component was Tiwaz, a focus and direction for the energy, imbuing it with a decisive, combative force. The fifth and final variable was the Sowilo, the promise of deliverance of power, and in this case, the action of a radiant, finishing strike.

The very atmosphere around it shimmered as if reality itself were bending under the spell’s raw, primal might. Fulminata Maxima, the bolt of lightning, raced towards Harry with an almost sentient urgency, slicing through the air, the sound of its furious flight echoing like a war cry.

It clashed against the invisible barrier surrounding him like a runaway truck — hitting a runaway truck barrier.

Don’t fight it, he told himself. Welcome it. Guide it. 

He exhaled, focusing inward.

Harry simply dug a heel into the floor, as the runes activated at an instant, the power of Death rising from his very being, cold and all-consuming. It didn’t just disperse the lightning, it was consuming it, just like how it had consumed Ekrizdis’s attacks, only to be cleansed by Kaeln, turning into that new and strange form of unbound energy, and pushing it into him. 

That was the easy part. The one following it, not so much.

A ripple of calmness surged through his hands, already humming with the power of Binding.  He had almost, almost used Summer, but he didn’t want to fight lightning with flame during an unstable experiment. Algiz flared into being, followed by Gebo, weaving the philosophy of Binding into Algiz’s message of protection. An unbreakable bond.

Eihwaz was next, catalyzing the transformation of the stable energy into something fluid and responsive. The energy would morph, shifting into a delicate dance with the elements. In that fleeting moment, Isa was inscribed with a flash of icy light, freezing the volatile transformation process in place, locking things into a steadfast shimmering barrier. 

Only, it didn’t work out that way.

“What… is that?” asked Septima, warily, pointing fingers at the thing that had materialised at the edge of the barrier. No, it was more proper to say that the barrier had been assimilated by this thing. Pale, transparent and came just a bit more than his waist. Its appearance was odd and unnatural, but not particularly threatening. It looked like an odd caricature of a human, its body casually swaying left and right as it moved, swinging its arms as if they didn’t have bones. It exerted no offending pressure and it didn’t appear to have any combative capability, and looked utterly harmless.

And it was devouring the Fulminata Maxima like it was its favorite snack.

“...Bloody hell!” said Harry.