"Is that why you have your magic hidden away at the moment?" Luna asked curiously and Nick nodded. He then for the briefest instant released his mana and watched as each of them flinched. "Don't misunderstand me , I am not Dumbledores equal in terms of pure power just on the same playing field he is." Nick said seriously. "Where do we stand then?" Daphne asked with a disbelieving look that told Nick she probably had an idea of the answer. "With the exception of Harry none of you are even tier one and even in his case it's due to extraordinary circumstances rather than him being that much better than the rest of you." Nick said honestly.-

His friends recoiled like they were injured at the statement and he could understand why too as he had basically just told them that they were basically ants compared to him. It was a vast gap that was made even harder to accept by his age being about the same as theirs , a point that got brought up by Hermione. "You are the same age as us though so how are you so different?" she asked with a frown-

"I was always different than all of you , more talented , and more willing to go to questionable lengths for power and knowledge. Did you know I have undergone no less than ten rituals to improve my power? Would any of you have even been willing to spends millions of galleons for a relatively small boost in power or even go hunt a creature that might kill you for the same? My drive and willingness to utilize every opportunity that I could for growth is what makes me different." Nick spoke firmly and without any hesitation to make it clear that he wasn't even operating on the same mental level as all of them.-

It was harsh but necessary as if he didn't make it clear now then there was a good possibility of them coming to resent him out of envy or just distancing themselves from him entirely. This was obviously not something he wanted so he chose to come clean. As expected each of them looked horrified at the information. "How could you use such dark magic?" Ron asked seemingly offended by the very idea. "Rituals aren't dark magic despite what the ministry tries to say but I will not deny that they are dangerous in the wrong hands."-

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"The basic idea behind rituals is that you give something in exchange for receiving something else. Alchemy works almost exactly the same but on a slightly different scale than rituals. The reason they are banned however isn't because of the ones that use actual dark magic but rather because of how dangerous they are if done incorrectly. A single mistake and the results can turn very ugly in an instant. The most common example of this is actually the Animagus ritual , yes the same one Mcgonagall , Sirius and even Harrys father willingly underwent."-

"A single mistake in that ritual can have devastating and sometimes permanent effects on the wizard themselves. All rituals share that same risk but in exchange if they are done correctly they can give great improvements to ones self. If it helps none of the rituals I underwent were of the dark variety , just expensive." Nick explained seriously. "How can we believe you? Whats to say you aren't lying about this as well?" Ron accused which stung a bit for Nick but he understood where the boy was coming from.-

"I have a list of the rituals I underwent to which you are free to ask Dumbledore himself about if my own word isn't good enough. He himself had likely used a few when he was younger and can confirm what I have said." Nick answered honestly. "Are you even still human after all those rituals?" Daphne asked since as an old pureblood house Greengrass was no stranger to rituals and so she knew he was probably telling the truth about the ones he used. "Which brings us to the next thing that needs to be addressed , wizards aren't fully human to begin with."-

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused. Even after all of these revelations it was still clear to Harry that Nick was still the same as he always was and he might be many things but a dark wizard isn't one of them. "Wizards are fundamentally different creatures than humans , how else could you explain why when two wizards have a child it also almost always has a bit of magical ability as well? Even in the case of those born of two muggles this fact holds true. Wizards are very similar to humans but are not in fact human. This fact becomes even more true the more powerful a wizard becomes as they get farther and farther from baseline muggles." Nick said seriously.