Chapter 151: The Heart Prism

The final containment test began with six crystals and a hammer.

Burke placed the revised pouches on separate stands, then turned the stands so Edward could not choose the easiest angle. Kreacher watched from behind the workshop ward with his arms folded and his ears flattened.

"If a fragment crosses the red line, the design fails," Burke said. "If a recognition bead remains connected, it fails. If the pouch catches fire, it fails."

Edward checked the silver cradles, silk cords, and double dragonhide layers. "Ready."

Burke struck the first crystal. The cradle opened, the cord parted, and the pouch caught every piece. The next three behaved the same way. The fifth produced a long splinter that lodged between the leather layers without piercing them.

The sixth crystal did not break. The impact tore the cradle from its mounting instead.

Edward reached for the register.

"Well?" Burke asked.

"The fragments were contained in five tests. The sixth found a failure we did not predict."

"Does that condemn the design?"

"It condemns the mounting."

Burke nodded once. "Now you are learning."

They replaced the fixed mounting with a sliding clasp that released the whole pouch under a strong impact. Another six trials left the broken pieces enclosed. Burke still refused to call it safe. He called it ready for a shield test behind two wards.

Preparing the spell took the rest of the morning. Edward used the reviewed sequence from Hogwarts, stripped of every optional flourish. The quartz held one brief barrier. The silver cradle linked the external recognition bead to the spoken phrase. Four groups of marks controlled the direction, release, duration, and inert failure.

Burke inspected each carving under three lenses. Kreacher compared them with Edward's written diagram. Only then did Edward close the cradle.

"Who attunes it?" Burke asked.

"I do."

"Who witnesses?"

"You and Kreacher, if Kreacher agrees."

The house-elf drew himself up. "Kreacher agrees to witness Master Edward's choice. Kreacher does not agree that young masters should let crystals explode near their faces."

"Record both statements," Burke said.

Edward touched his wand to a fresh clay bead and gave the smallest magical sample the seal would accept. He explained the object's purpose and risks in his own words. He confirmed that he could destroy the bead without penalty and that the device would cease to recognize him afterward.

Burke asked whether anyone had ordered him to consent.

"No."

Kreacher asked whether Sirius would want him to consent.

"He authorized the test. The decision is mine."

They signed the record and attached the bead outside the pouch.

For the first trial, the Heart Prism rested on a wooden figure. Edward stood behind the inner ward and touched the recognition bead with a charmed rod.

"Protego Brevis."

A pale barrier appeared before the figure. Burke released a practice bolt. It struck the barrier, scattered into sparks, and left a black mark on the floor. The shield dissolved before a second timer ring.

Nothing attacked the source of the bolt. Nothing drew more magic from Edward. The crystal did not heat.

They waited ten minutes before approaching.

Burke inspected the pouch, the cradle, and the marks. Kreacher searched the stand for residue. Edward measured the crystal against its original outline and found no visible change.

"One successful release," Burke said. "What does it prove?"

"That this piece produced one brief barrier under these conditions."

"And what does it not prove?"

"That it will survive travel, cold, moisture, concealment beneath clothing, a real curse, panic, or a damaged spoken phrase. It does not prove another person can use it safely."

Burke allowed a second release after lunch. This time the practice bolt arrived from an angle. The barrier formed in the direction of the silver cradle, not the direction of the threat, and the bolt struck the figure's shoulder.

Edward stopped the test.

"It followed its mark," he said. "The bearer would have to aim before speaking."

"Is that a defect?"

"It is a limitation. Hiding it would be a defect."

The report gained a diagram showing the narrow protected arc. Edward removed every sentence suggesting that the prism surrounded its bearer. It did not detect danger, turn itself, or make a defensive choice.

They tested the erasure clause next. Edward crushed the clay bead with gloved fingers. A revealing charm showed no recognizable sample in the fragments. When he tried the release phrase again, nothing happened.

Kreacher searched twice more.

Burke sealed the fragments for later examination. "No residue found by the methods used. Do not shorten that to no residue."

Edward copied the exact wording.

The old alchemist then returned the prototype to its case. "You may take it home. You may not wear it. You may demonstrate it only with an adult supervisor and the same physical wards. If you change the setting or spell, my approval no longer applies."

Edward had hoped for more tests. He also knew that hoping did not create evidence.

"What do I owe you?"

"Professor Babbling paid for the inspection from a school research fund."

"That cannot cover three days."

"It covers my time. The destroyed materials came from your cases. If you want to repay me, send a copy of the failure register after Hogwarts reviews it."

Burke tapped the first page. "Most young inventors preserve only their successes. That teaches the next fool to repeat every hidden mistake."

Before leaving, Edward asked why Burke had agreed to see him. The old man glanced toward the iron bird at the gate.

"Your family sold my grandfather an object that nearly killed him because its maker omitted a failed test. Professor Babbling said you were willing to keep the ugly pages."

It was neither forgiveness nor family friendship. Edward respected it more than either.

Back at Grimmauld Place, a message from Sirius waited in the kitchen. He had reached a guarded camp near the Albanian border and would meet Dumbledore's contacts there. The abandoned shelter contained signs of recent occupation, but no person had been found. A broken charm and traces of dark magic were being examined by the investigators. Sirius warned Edward not to infer more.

Edward carried the cases to the drawing room instead of the cellar. He placed the revised prism, the broken crystals, and the sealed recognition fragments before the two-way mirror. Sirius appeared in it near midnight, tired and muddy but uninjured. Edward began with the failed mounting rather than the successful barrier. Sirius read Burke's restrictions through the glass and confirmed the written consent he had already lodged with the family solicitor.

Then Sirius described Albania. The witnesses had been frightened, not consistent. The shelter smelled of blood and old spellwork. Something had moved through nearby animals without leaving ordinary tracks, but the investigators could not tell whether it was Voldemort, a servant, or another dark creature. The evidence supported vigilance, not certainty.

"We left before the trail could choose the ground for us," Sirius said.

"Good."

"That sounded painful."

"It was meant as praise."

Edward stored the Heart Prism in a locked cabinet. Sirius kept the second key in the sealed pouch he carried abroad, and the failure register went beside the cabinet. A third key did not exist.

At the next alliance meeting, Edward showed the members the broken mounting and the pierced first pouch before describing the barrier. He reported the angled failure and the limits of the residue search. No one asked to wear the object afterward.

They approved further school-supervised work by a narrow vote. They rejected production for members unanimously.

Draco studied the plain leather pouch. "It looked better before."

"It was less honest before," Edward said.

The prism remained a prototype. Its greatest improvement was not a stronger spell or a brighter flame. It was that everyone in the room understood exactly how little had been proven.