September 2
01:00 AM
Wilhelm's Laboratory, Ravenclaw Boys' Dorm, Hogwarts Castle
"It's an hour past midnight. I have finally arrived at Hogwarts, which means I can begin the second phase of Project: Paradox," Wilhelm said, sitting in his lab while enchanting a glove.
"My main priority is to eventually stop the engine from exploding. Since I can't directly stop the engine from being built, warn the world, or rush the world's development, I need to find a better solution."
"What I can do currently is introduce modern magical engineering, develop counter-technology, mentor innovators, or establish a legacy—which is highly risky."
"After researching and collecting information on the current technology, creating a biocomputer is out of the question. What I can create is a runic computer, which, while not as efficient, is still better than anything else I can access."
"After getting my class schedule in the morning, I'll have a better understanding of how much time I'll have to do my research."
---
Wilhelm woke to the soft sound of birds chirping, the early rays of sunlight filtering through the tall windows of the Ravenclaw dormitory. After a quick bath, he made his way down the quiet staircases toward the Great Hall.
It was still early, and the hall was quite empty. Only a few were there mostly sleepy-eyed seniors and a handful of first-years sat at the long tables, their plates clinking with cutlery.
Wilhelm spotted Theodore already at the Slytherin table, reading The Daily Prophet with a bored expression. Theodore caught Wilhelm's eye and gave a small nod, which Wilhelm returned silently before making his way to the Ravenclaw table.
Breakfast was simple: some toast, eggs, and pumpkin juice. As Wilhelm finished, the Ravenclaw prefect, Penelope Clearwater, approached with a polite smile and handed out folded pieces of parchment.
"Here's your class schedule. You're free to explore the castle today, best get familiar with the routes before lessons start tomorrow," she advised.
Wilhelm unfolded the parchment, scanning it carefully.
'Classes from 8:30 to 12:00, an hour for lunch, then classes from 1:00 to 4:30 again. Hmm, I can work with this... for now,' he thought to himself, slipping the schedule carefully into his robes.
Without wasting any time, Wilhelm set out to explore the castle of Hogwarts. Walking through the long corridors, several empty classrooms, and abandoned club rooms scattered throughout the castle, Wilhelm used his ability to sense residual mana to understand which routes were frequently traveled and which classrooms hadn't been used in decades.
Wilhelm also found several hidden passages like one hidden behind the one-eyed witch statue near the floo station of the grand staircase and several other challange rooms designed to help students master a specific spell.
The castle, despite being almost a thousand years old, still flowed with mana, and its teachings had remained relevant until the 2050s.
At the end of his exploration journey, Wilhelm made his way toward what he remembered should be the Room of Requirement. Although Wilhelm didn't plan to use the room just yet, studying how it worked would prove beneficial to his research.
---
Deciding to skip lunch, Wilhelm returned back to his dorm and slipped into his lab in the suitcase. Inside, the lab was a mess, several materials scattered around, several prototypes and unfinished projects. Wilhelm sighed and waved his wand, instantly the messy lab was transformed into an organised workspace.
Wilhelm pulled out a thick leather-bound notebook labeled Project: Paradox and set it on the desk beside an array of carved rune stones, enchanted silver wires which conducted mana, and shimmering precious crystals and gemstones he looted from Gringotts.
"Time to begin," Wilhelm muttered.
He started by preparing the Runic Board, the magical equivalent of a motherboard.
In modern computers, circuits conducted electricity to transmit information between components. But Wilhelm couldn't rely on electricity instead, he would use mana currents channeled through Rune Circuits.
Runes, at their core, were ancient symbolic languages that could interface directly with the mana around them. Each rune symbolized a function: logic, flow, storage, memory, calculation, branching, and more. Where modern circuits used transistors to create binary logic gates (1s and 0s), Wilhelm used runes to manipulate mana states – active and passive flows.
He carefully engraved several basic rune patterns onto polished wood:
Ehwaz: Movement — allowed mana to flow through a line.
Kenaz: Knowledge — recorded a temporary mana imprint, acting as memory.
Ansuz: Communication — routed mana signals between different rune clusters.
Gebo: Balance — acted like a logical AND gate, requiring multiple mana inputs to activate an output.
Thurisaz: Protection — isolated sections to prevent mana leakage (similar to a circuit fuse).
Each rune cluster was linked with fine silver wires, replacing copper traces on traditional PCBs. He reinforced the connections with binding wax mixed with the help of powdered Moonstone, which enhanced mana flow and prevented accidental dispersal.
Instead of a silicon chip, Wilhelm prepared a core crystal using a specially treated Clear Quartz etched with micro-runes too small to be seen by the naked eye. This would serve as the Mana Processor Unit (MPU), capable of interpreting complex sequences of rune-logic at incredible speeds compared to traditional spellcasting.
Every component on the Runic Board had to be balanced and perfect meaning not just the shape of the runes mattered, but also the spacing, angle, and resonance between them. Even a slight misalignment could cause a feedback loop and melt the entire board.
Wilhelm used a precision rune-etching quill, one of Wilhelms first creations, to carve the basic mana-loop connecting input and output paths. The first version of the Runic Computer wouldn't be powerful enough to, perform simple calculations, store information as mana patterns, run basic diagnostic enchantments.
---
Wilhelm carefully laid out all the components on a large table he had conjured. He had spent the last few hours carving the core runes on thin slices of enchanted wood and metal sheets, each one acting like a "chip" or "module."
The base of the Runic Computer was a smooth wooden board, covered by a thin layer of silver metal sheets to ensure perfect mana conductivity. Wilhelm began by placing the central rune cluster, a series of interconnected glyphs that would act like the "CPU", at the center.
Each rune cluster was connected by thin, mana conduits that functioned as wires or circuits. Instead of electricity, these conduits channeled mana pulses, carrying encoded information based on how the runes modified the flow.
As he worked, Wilhelm muttered small chants, enchanting everything and locking each rune into place. Processing runes handled logical operations like comparisons, calculations, and decision-making. Memory runes were layered, enchanted to temporarily hold mana in a specific structure functioning like a RAM. Input/output runes would later be linked to enchanted crystals or gemstones, allowing him to interact with the machine.
Each connection had to be perfect, because even a tiny mana leak could cause the entire structure to either fail or worse spiral into magical burnout, like it did to the mana engine.
Slowly after hours of work, the Runic Computer was nearing its completion. A hexagonal layout for efficient mana flow. Modular "stacks" that could be upgraded later by inserting new rune panels. A small mana stabilizer crystal embedded at the core to regulate the mana frequency, similar to how a quartz crystal regulated a traditional watch.
Wilhelm wiped the sweat from his forehead as he double-checked the rune patterns.
He pressed his hand lightly on the activation rune, sending a controlled pulse of mana into the system.
Soon the Crystal ball came into life signalling that Wilhelm had successfully recreated the Runic Computer.
---
Wilhelm stepped out of his trunk.
"Merlin's beard," exclaimed Terry seeing Wilhelm walk out of his trunk. "You just came out of your trunk mate."
Wilhelm stood there frozen.
---
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter or any of the original elements from the books, movies, or universe. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling and the respective creators. This is just a fanfiction made for fun. I'm not a professional author—just someone who had an idea and wanted to write it down. Please don't expect perfect grammar or writing, I'm doing my best and learning as I go.