"What about the ambient magic you mentioned?" Julian asked after taking a moment to process everything he had just been told.
"That is the interesting part," the elf replied. "The system could not factor that in when it first gave you your transformation timeline, because it cannot use information that you yourself do not have. It is not some all powerful force, it is just a tool. It can only work with what you feed into it. In a sense, it is completely powerless without you."
He went on calmly. "Until you arrived at Hogwarts, it was completely blind to the extremely dense and powerful magic in your surroundings."
Julian immediately understood the implication.
"So the timeline for my transformation is actually shorter now?" he asked, wanting to hear it confirmed.
"Drastically shorter," the elf answered. "It has gone from three years to one year and a few days."
He gave Julian a reassuring smile. "The good news is that this emotional chaos you are dealing with should clear up in three days. So do your best to hold yourself together until then."
The dream faded, and Julian woke.
...
He dragged himself out of bed, washed up, and quietly reapplied the glamour charm over his face so no one would see what was going on underneath.
I can handle three days, he told himself firmly.
He discovered very quickly that he had underestimated the difficulty.
Flitwick noticed the glamour at once.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Iron?" the professor asked, clearly concerned.
"It is nothing to worry about, Professor. I will be fine in a few days," Julian replied, fighting to keep his voice steady and neutral.
"Very well. But if you find you need help, please do come to me," Flitwick said gently, though it was obvious he did not quite believe the reassurance.
He did not push any further, but throughout the class he kept sending worried glances toward Julian.
Once the lesson ended, Julian slipped away before his friends could catch him, and found somewhere out of the way to hide while his mood continued to twist and turn.
...
The next day was worse.
During flying, he had to grip his broom in a white knuckled hold just to keep it steady. His emotional state kept shifting, and the broom responded to every spike and drop, twitching under him in ways that could easily have ended in a fall if he lost focus.
Astronomy, mercifully, was easier to handle. It was mostly memorizing facts, charts, and positions, and there was very little in it that required emotional balance.
Defense Against the Dark Arts, however, was a disaster waiting to happen.
Quirrelmort seemed to have decided that Julian was his personal project for the day.
"Mr. Iron, demonstrate the spell."
"Mr. Iron, read the third paragraph aloud."
"Mr. Iron, partner up with Mr. Malfoy," and so on.
It did not take a genius to notice that something was wrong with Julian, and none of his friends managed to track him down after class to even ask.
More than once, Julian came very close to drawing his wand and cursing the professor where he stood. Quirrell's body language made it clear that he half expected that reaction, his stance always shifting slightly as if anticipating a duel.
Julian avoided meals that day and the next, relying entirely on lembas bread to sustain himself. His empty seat at the table did not go unnoticed.
...
Thursday began badly. Defense was the first class of the morning. He got through it without snapping, but it took everything he had. The rest of the day went much more smoothly.
Professor Binns droned on about the Goblin Wars in History of Magic, and Julian could let his mind drift without much trouble. Professor McGonagall did little more than confirm that he was still capable of doing his work, then left him alone.
Just as the elf in his dreams had promised, the emotional storm finally settled late that night.
Julian fell asleep not long after that and slept like a corpse. The accumulated strain of having his moods swing wildly for three days straight finally crashed down on him.
When Ron and Harry woke up before him the next morning, they stared at his unmoving form for a moment, then shook him hard, worried that something had gone seriously wrong.
Julian groaned and slowly forced himself upright.
"Ugh. Thank Merlin it is finally over," he muttered as he climbed out of bed.
"Did you get taller?" Ron asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.
Julian blinked, looked at him properly, and realized that he now had to tilt his head down slightly to make eye contact. He had grown a couple of inches overnight.
"Looks like it," he said. "Let me tell you, mate, puberty is awful."
"Was that what had you acting strange this whole time?" Harry asked, still confused.
Julian nodded. "Something like that. My emotions have been all over the place for the last three days, probably tied to this growth spurt. I did not want to bother any of you with it, so I kept my distance. Sorry about that," he said, rubbing the back of his head and looking embarrassed.
"So long as you are all right now, it's fine," Ron said, relieved it had nothing to do with them.
"Yep. Fit as a fiddle and twice as handsome," Julian said with a grin.
Harry laughed. "Yep, that is definitely you back to normal."
They dressed and headed down to breakfast together. Julian was more than ready to stop living off nearly tasteless lembas and go back to real food.
At the staff table, several professors looked quietly pleased to see him behaving normally again. Only one of them seemed disappointed that the strange fluctuations had stopped.