Nick took it easy for the entire day as well as christmas eve itself which actually proved to bother his friends as by now they were used to him being who knows where whenever he had free time. The fact that he was actually lazing about all day was such a change from normal that it caught them totally off guard. Not to say that they weren't happy to hang out with him , merely that they found it strange is all. They weren't the only ones either as Dumbledore had also noticed this irregularity but saw it as Nick simply enjoying his holidays and left it alone.-

It wasn't all relaxation however as after his public appearance at Fudges ball Nick received even more letters from various pureblood houses looking to try and take advantage of his young age and inexperience. Nick simply ignored these people entirely and burned their letters after reading them as he had no time to entertain fools. What bothered Nick the most however was the complete lack of action on Voldemort's side during the holidays when the castle was nearly empty. 'I would have used this opportunity to try and decipher the rest of the defenses around the stone , but maybe he's waiting for a better time.' Nick thought with a shrug.-

It honestly didn't matter in the end since Nick had already deduced that the stone in the castle was likely a fake. The reason he thought so was due to both how easily it was destroyed as well as the fact that the Flammels were said to die after this year. A fun little fact about the famous alchemist was that he had faked his own death no less than seven times in his long life before resurfacing a few decades later.-

Nick doubted that the man would actually give the key to his survival to some else , even if that person was his long time friend and student Dumbledore. 'Still it doesn't matter to me though as I still need to figure out my own problems.' he thought remembering the newest change he had experienced. This was in reference in fact to the golden color that had began to appear during his forging sessions. Apparently the shift in his soul's existence was starting to physically manifest on his spiritual energy which came with it's own problems.-

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First and foremost was that this was causing his mere presence to begin to shift ever so slowly which isn't a problem yet but is bound to be noticed eventually. This was the beginnings of his elvish self starting to become clear. See according to Celebrimbor even though they looked almost identical to humans no elf could ever be mistaken as such due to this sort of natural presence they had that felt almost unearthly to the mortal races. In magical terms once he fully transforms into an elf Nick will feel qualitatively different than most other wizards.-

Thankfully however this could be explained away by a surprisingly high number of things as wizards have been known to have strange presences due to their magic. If asked about it Nick could easily pass it off to his bloodline magics and no one would bat an eye at it again , not even Dumbledore. Another problem that came with this however was that it was a forerunner to his body itself beginning to shift. By his and Celebrimbor's estimations he had a month from now left of being fully human at most. Nick's biggest concern was how the fused soul of the celestial bird into his own will affect this change.-

Clearly his magic was bound to skyrocket as a result of it but as for his appearance he had no clue. Still Nick decided to let the change run it's course and enjoy the benefits it brings him while worrying about the problems later. Christmas eve was a jittery time in the castle as everyone was anxious to see what presents they got. "I bet mum's made both of you sweaters so be prepared." Ron said with a grimace. "It can't be that bad right?" Nick asked curiously.-

Ron sighed "Sure they're comfortable but my sweater is always bloody maroon of all things!" he said exasperated. "Cheer up mate , that's a noble color in muggle culture." Nick said comfortingly. Ron looked surprised "Really?" he asked clearly curious. Nick nodded "Yep muggles long ago had a great deal of trouble getting cloth the color blue , purple or maroon so any clothes made with those colors were only used by the nobles or royalty hence making them noble colors." he explained honestly. Ron seemed happy to know this fairly useless piece of information as it served to make him less uncomfortable at the idea of wearing such a horrible color.

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