Julian was satisfied with the bracelet, and he was also quietly pleased that he wasn't completely drained afterward. He was still tired, he had still enchanted something, but he hadn't nearly collapsed this time. Very little energy had been wasted, purely because the enchantment hadn't taken long to complete.
"What was that about?" Helena asked, curious, and Flitwick looked just as interested.
"Normally I need to slowly infuse the energy into the metal," Julian explained calmly, "or I risk shattering the ring. This time I just pushed it all in at once because I was confident the metal could handle it."
They both nodded in understanding.
Steve, however, looked personally offended by the blinding light he'd been forced to endure.
Julian rolled his eyes at the dramatic little creature, then ate some lembas bread along with his muscle potion. After that, he told Flitwick he was calling it here for now and planned to take a nap.
Flitwick didn't mind. It was the holidays, and there was nothing unreasonable about it.
...
Julian did nap, though only for an hour. After that, he meditated for another hour and a half.
Then he quickly enchanted the chakram meant for Flitwick's gift, stored it away in Greed, and actually ended his workday properly by heading to the Great Hall for dinner.
It was a quiet evening. Few people had recovered enough to speak much after the morning's horrible headline. Julian ate his share and went to bed, along with most of the Gryffindor dorm, including the twins.
...
The next day was noticeably better.
The paper reported that the Ministry had caught one of Grindelwald's followers and sentenced them to the dementor's kiss. It lifted spirits around the castle almost immediately.
Julian, after reading the article himself, knew it was a lie. There were too many contradictions in the story.
Probably a ploy to keep panic down, he thought with a quiet sigh. He didn't feel bad for the Ministry at all. The whole organization was corrupt to its core. Individual witches and wizards might not be rotten, but the structure absolutely was, and it had allowed monsters like Grindelwald and Voldemort to exist in the first place.
...
Julian still felt sick for the people in the towns and their families. Those lives were ruined, erased, because of one wizard who should have been killed long ago.
He shook his head, forcing the thoughts away, finished eating, and went to the workshop to complete his gift list by making presents for Daphne and Tracy.
For Daphne, he crafted an occlumency ring similar to Sanar, though weaker, lacking the mind art affinity that made Sanar what it was.
Tracy's gift was simpler. A ring that corrected her wand movements based on her memory of the proper technique. It would help with her consistency, which she struggled with.
It wasn't a cheat that made her instantly great at every spell. It just made it easier for her to go farther than she normally could.
...
Once those were finished, Julian wrapped each present, labeled them, and handed them off to the Hogwarts house elves to distribute on Christmas.
Then he ate dinner and turned in, satisfied with how much he'd managed to finish.
...
The next morning he woke at dawn, stretched, and decided to laze around the common room fire with cookies and milk.
Surprisingly, nobody seemed to know you could summon a house elf to the common room.
Julian didn't blame them. He'd only discovered it because his magical senses told him one of the lion busts could be pressed to trigger something.
Now he could sit by the warm fire with a snack and a drink whenever he wanted.
Christmas Eve was tomorrow, so Julian decided today would be for doing almost nothing.
...
He got plenty of surprised looks when the rest of the dorm started waking up. When they asked about it, he simply told them he'd finished everything that needed doing.
Ron immediately took the chance to challenge Julian to wizard's chess.
And, as usual, Ron lost.
It was genuinely funny watching the veteran chess pieces look offended and shocked as they were forced to accept defeat. Wizard chess pieces were enchanted with a kind of semi-sapience, which made the match feel closer to a real battle than a muggle board game ever could.