Christmas break ended with little fanfare, but left us with a lot of new things to worry about. Having Harry know about the basilisk ahead of time would hopefully change things for the best. And I'd been able to give him several vials worth of Petrification Draught before he went back to Hogwarts.
Sirius and Remus were also now completely onboard with me and extremely wary of Dumbledore. Though the presence of the former did make things a bit worrisome. Would the crazy Minister of Magic unleash the Dementors again to search for Black? Or would common sense prevail? Odds are we'd be disappointed.
New Years rolled around as well, and it was now officially 1993. So that meant we'd have to step up our game when it came to production quotas. But it also meant that new experiments had to be conducted.
And that was why, in mid-January, I was in a workshop filled with high-tech equipment, ready to begin a brand-new set of tests. With me were several individuals including Remus as my head of security, but also a few engineers and workmen that knew of magic whom I'd hired after the Christmas break.
Sirius Black was also here in disguise. Amazing what some hair dye, a shower, and a shave could do to change a man's appearance! The reason he was here was because he was interested in becoming an investor in my business. He'd been skeptical at first, but several demonstrations and successful experiments had been slowly changing his mind.
"Alright, Laser Rune Experiment 24… start!" I said, making sure the polarized glasses were securely placed over my eyes.
A button was pressed, and a beam of bright light was fired at a thin sheet of steel, carving a series of runes into the surface. Yes, that's right, I was using lasers to engrave runes in order to try and create a magical object!
The difference between laser etching and laser engraving is that laser etching used heat to raise marks on the surface of an object, like bumps and ridges. Meanwhile, laser engraving used heat to remove materials to create deep marks, like grooves and divots and dimples.
In this case, the laser was engraving the runes. Runes worked better that way, I'd found. Less chance of them getting damaged too.
A minute later, the sheet of metal had the runic sequence for Lumosengraved upon its surface. If it worked, the runes along with the steel would glow as if under the effects of a Lumosspell for several hours before needing to recharge.
A fan blew wind onto the steel to cool it as it was extracted, and then an eyedropper was filled up with some of Cauldron Remedies very own recipe of Hair Growth Potion. It was squeezed out and dripped onto the runes, a faint sizzling coming from the still hot metal. We all held our breath as we watched and waited.
"Experiment 24… success," I said as the runic sequence lit up and began to glow as the magic in the potion activated the runes. Cheers erupted and I let out a sigh I hadn't know I'd been holding.
Once more, I'd proven that it was possible to carve runes using lasers. A laser engraver could place the runes onto a sheet of ordinary stainless steel, and then it would only need a spark of magic via a potion or wand to activate.
Furthermore, because a laser could make the runes faster and more precisely than a human ever could, very rarely did a rune sequence come out wrong. It was usually a fault with the material that resulted in failed experiments rather than a problem with the person doing the engraving.
Now admittedly runes that were hand carved by a witch or wizard had an average of 25% improvement in output and longevity, possibly due to magic from the runesmith bleeding over, but it was such a modest dip in efficiency that unless you needed that extra 25% for something that demanded it like a ritual or whatnot, then machine or laser carving was the way to go.
'Now I have to figure out a way to use this discovery,' I thought to myself. What would I do with this knowledge? How could I leverage it? More importantly, how could I monetize it?
"Alright, you've proved me wrong," Sirius admitted when the experiment was over, grabbing my attention. "Apparently Muggles can do magic."
"Surprising, isn't it?" I chuckled.
"I'll say. My mother would be turning in her tomb if she could see this," the scion of House Black laughed with vindictive glee.
"Don't you mean rolling in her grave?" one of the engravers who'd worked on this project asked, and Sirius shook his head.
"Nah, graves are for commoners and Mudbloods, as dear old mum would say. My family has a mausoleum," the lord of House Black explained.
"I do not miss that sort of mindset," a Squib who was working on the project with us griped.
"Neither do I," Sirius agreed with a hearty nod of his head. "And you, Mr. Rose, have an investor."
"Wonderful!" I said, taking his hand and shaking it. "Shall we adjourn to the office to discuss matters further?"
Sirius and Remus walked with me to another room, and then I had Inky pop us over to my room above the factory. The two wizards then cast a couple spells to dissuade eavesdroppers, and we took our seats around my desk.
"What do you plan to do with this discovery?" Remus asked when we were alone in the office.
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