บท 35: Exploration

The main part of the feast went on for thirty minutes before the final part featuring deserts of all kinds began though most were full by this point. Nick sneakily stored away several tarts and cookies in greed for later and didn't notice how Dumbledore had trouble not laughing when he saw his actions. It was a childish action that earned a bit of good will from the old wizard AND gave him snacks for the next few days , though he only knew about the second part. This didn't mean that the old goat hadn't noticed the bird shaped ring on Harry's finger this entire time however.-

Once the feast was over the prefects of each house lead the first years to their dorm rooms where they were told how to get in as well as a few obvious ground rules like no entering the opposites sex's bedrooms. There were a few others but those were common sense things like not stealing from housemates and the like. After that was taken care of the first years were effectively cut loose to do whatever they wanted , though they needed to stay in the common room because of the nine o'clock curfew.-

"So ya ikkle firstie , lets talk shop shall we?" Fred and George showed up to grab Nick while Harry and Ron watched dumbfounded. The twins dragged him over to a private corner of the common room "So , whatcha want for em?" they asked at the same time excitedly. Nick grinned predatorily and shook his head while patting them on the shoulders "It's not about what I want but rather what you can give me , understand?" he said calmly. Both of the twins suddenly felt like they were flies that had flown into a spiders web willingly.-

Thirty minutes later both of the twins left Nick looking like they had just waltzed with a dementor from how lifeless they looked. Nick on the other hand was beaming happily as Ron walked up to him. "what did you do to them?" he asked curiously. Nick chuckled "They wanted a service from me and made the mistake of offering a blank check. Which I gratefully used to the utmost degree , not to worry though they aren't getting ripped off." he explained with a laugh. "What did you ask for that made them look like that?" Harry asked curiously.-

"Nothing serious , just a small durable magic furnace." Nick said like it wasn't a hard to find item. Not expensive mind you as it was fairly cheap at only fifteen Galleons , but since the list of people who would actually want such a thing is tiny they are basically all made to order. How did Nick know this? Because it was in the system description of one in the shop that would cost him three thousand points to get normally. "Why the bloody hell would you ever want one of those!?" Ron asked in astonishment.-

"Ah right. I forgot you haven't been filled in yet , I'm a ring smith. Made everything we have on our hands in fact." Nick said showing off Sanar and Greed. "Your brothers wanted something like this one here" he pointed at Greed "And I needed the furnace to do my work without worrying about burning down the castle or running out of fuel. It's a win win situation for everyone involved , the reason they looked like that though is because of how hard it is to get one of those furnaces." He explained honestly. Ron looked like he was about to asked for a ring of his own but Nick immediately shot him down by explaining that he doesn't work for free unless it's a birthday or christmas present and pointed at Harry's ring that was a birthday gift.-

The red head looked heart broken but understanding none the less as he dropped the topic. They all turned in for the day after that at which point they found out they were sharing a room with Neville Longbottom. The next day was sunday so they could go exploring the castle if they wished which Nick very much did. There was no elf during this nights sleep so Nick woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go nice and early at seven.-

No one else was up in the room so he got dressed in his casual robes and casually took out an oatmeal cookie from Greed to snack on as he walked. He first fully explored the third floor that was the same one his common room was found on minus the "forbidden corridor" and checked the shortcut through the humpbacked witch statue that was there. He knew it was there from the books but personally seeing it was something worth doing.