Julian was still pleased with the bracelet, and even happier that he wasn't completely wiped out after enchanting it. Very little of his energy had been wasted, mostly because the working time had been so short. He was still tired, because enchanting always took something out of him, but at least he hadn't come close to collapsing.
"What was that about?" Helena asked, curiosity plain in her voice, and Flitwick looked like he wanted the answer just as badly.
"Normally I have to slowly infuse the energy into the metal," Julian explained evenly, "or I risk shattering the ring. In this case, I just pushed the energy in all at once because I was confident the metal could handle it."
Both of them nodded, satisfied with the explanation.
Steve, on the other hand, looked personally offended by the blinding light he'd been subjected to.
Julian rolled his eyes at the dramatic little creature, ate some lembas bread alongside his muscle potion, and then told Flitwick he was calling it there for now and planned to take a nap.
Flitwick didn't mind. It was the holidays, and if Julian wanted to sleep, there was nothing wrong with that.
...
Julian did nap, though it only lasted an hour. After that, he meditated for an hour and a half.
Then he quickly enchanted the chakram meant for Flitwick's gift, stored it away in Greed, and finally called the day finished before heading to the Great Hall for dinner.
The evening was quiet. Few people had recovered enough to talk much after the awful headline that morning. Julian ate, then turned in for the night along with most of Gryffindor, including the twins.
...
The next day was better.
The newspaper claimed the Ministry had captured one of Grindelwald's followers and sentenced them to the dementor's kiss. The news lifted the castle's spirits noticeably.
Julian read the article for himself and knew it was a lie. There were too many conflicting details to ignore.
Probably a ploy to keep the panic down, he thought, sighing. He didn't feel bad for the Ministry at all. The organization was corrupt to its core. Maybe not every wizard working there was rotten, but the structure itself clearly was, and it had allowed monsters like Grindelwald and Voldemort to rise.
...
Julian still felt sick thinking about the towns and the families left behind. All those lives had been ruined 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 Sanar carried.
Tracy's gift was simpler. A ring that corrected her wand movements based on her memory of the proper technique. It would help immensely with her consistency, which she struggled with.
It wasn't a cheat that suddenly made her brilliant at every spell. It simply 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 what he'd managed to finish.
...
The next morning Julian woke at dawn and stretched, then decided to laze around beside 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 found out because his magical senses had pointed out that one of the lion busts could be pressed to trigger an effect.
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 woke up. When they asked, he simply said he'd finished all the work he needed to do.
Ron immediately took the chance to challenge Julian to wizard's chess.
And, naturally, Ron lost.
It was genuinely funny seeing the grizzled veteran chess pieces look offended and shocked as they were forced to accept defeat. Wizard chess pieces were enchanted with semi-sapience, making the game feel closer to a real battle than muggle chess ever could.