'Whoa! That's disorienting as all hell!' Nick thought as his mind registered the complete shift in environment. The snow falling from the sky melted on contact with his feathers as his body actively radiated a great deal of heat on it's own. Nick noticed this but thought it made sense if he was what he thought he was. 'So I was right and Nazgul did get the elemental teleportation from the celestial bird part of me.' He thought before mentally grinning as he spread his wings and flapped them hard. "FWOOSH!" a powerful gust of wind was created pushing the falling snow aside from the power of this movement.-
Nick shot into the air as he flapped his wings and couldn't help but be happy to fly without any outside assistance. It was hard to describe really as it was like a weight had been lifted from him and he suddenly felt light enough to touch the clouds above. "TZZEEERR!" He cried out as he poured on more and more speed. To his surprise fire and lightning rose from his body as he pushed his speed to the limit before he felt something shatter and he watched the surroundings blur.-
'Did I just break the sound barrier?' he thought in amazement as he barely felt any resistance from the air at all despite reaching such a speed. He could still make out the surroundings as he passed by but he couldn't focus on anything for more than a moment before it was already behind him. 'I shouldn't get too far from the school since I still need to turn back to normal.' he thought as he banked sharply and unnaturally fast thanks to his second set of wings.-
Thanks to the storm it was quite dim outside the castle so when Nick reentered it's proximity he drew a LOT of attention. It would be rather difficult to ignore a brightly lit giant avian creature flying stupidly fast outside the windows after all. Nick slowed down which also caused the flames and lightning covering him to retreat within his body as he saw Dumbledore watching him from the astronomy tower. Landing gracefully on the unoccupied spot on the tower Nick looked down at the headmaster smugly. "I admit that it really is an extraordinary form that well suits you but remember that there is a reason wizards are considered superior." Dumbledore said sternly.-
Nicks form rippled and he returned to his normal state with a small difference in that his nails remained hard and dark in color. "Way to kill the mood and here I was enjoying myself." Nick complained before they chuckling. "Out of curiosity how'd you know to wait for me here?" he then asked confused. "Fawkes was quite vocal in celebrating your success which told me all I needed to know." Dumbledore said honestly. "Species resonance huh? Nifty." Nick said surprised to a degree but after thinking about it it made sense.-
Immortal birds were all highly independent so it makes sense that they could feel the proximity of other members of the their races. Otherwise there would probably be a lot of incidents involving them fighting considering the global traveling the phoenixes do on the regular. "So is this the part where I hand over the modified ritual to you so you can turn into a phoenix or nah?" Nick asked casually. "What would make you think I want that?" Dumbledore asked with a look of interest. "Please don't act like not being able to take the form of your Patronus was not the only reason you a master of transfiguration haven't undergone the ritual yourself." Nick said with a scoff.-
Dumbledore chuckled "I can not deny that but I am not the sort to take the hard earned merit of another." He said with a small smile. "Oh believe me I know , which is why I am waiting for you to make an offer for the knowledge instead." Nick said casually. "It seems like you understand me quite well and yet I find you difficult to fully decipher. Don't misunderstand me I hold you in high regard for the way you act despite your many talents and power. You are arrogant true but compared to how you could be instead it is far from unacceptable." Dumbledore said bluntly.-
Nick was taken off guard by this as like himself Dumbledore prefers to speak vaguely most the time. Still Nick couldn't deny that the old goat was right however as while he was quite prideful he could be so much worse considering his unique situation. "Be that as it may I believe we are getting off topic , the ritual?" Nick reminded and Dumbledore smiled. "You'll have to forgive me I tend to get caught up in my thoughts during a conversation. Yes I would like to use your ritual but under the condition it not be made public." He said calmly.
Nick scoffed at that "I can't even reveal my own transformation at the moment , why would I reveal yours and make people suspicious? Not saying you aren't skilled or anything but you haven't made any publicly known strides in magic in a long time and yet you suddenly figured out how to turn into a magical creature via the Animagus ritual , suspicious as hell." nick said honestly. "I suppose you are right but it wouldn't be the first time you've used my past to cause me harm." Dumbledore pointed out with a chuckle.-
Nick winced at that "That might have been a bit far in hindsight but to be fair you crossed that line first." he said honestly. "I suppose I did but enough beating the bush as the the muggles say , we have a trade to make." Dumbledore said butchering a phrase while he was at it. "It's 'beating around the bush' and yeah we should probably get this over with. Remove the age limit for the tournament next year and I'll call it even." Nick said with a shrug. This seemed to catch Dumbledore of guard as he hadn't expected Nick to even know about the Tri-wizard tournament much less one of it's rules.-
"Ironically that alone will not allow you to participate in the tournament as the other two schools participating have insisted that you not be allowed to participate." Dumbledore said honestly. It was Nicks turn to be caught off guard this time as he wasn't expecting something like this at all. "Have they said why they don't want me to participate?" he asked curiously. "I believe the consensus reached was for the fairness of the other participants though I imagine it is more likely because they lack confidence of victory should you participate." Dumbledore said honestly.-
"Well as it would happen I wasn't planning to participate personally for that exact reason. I am not a fan of bullying after all. No in fact I was hoping to have Harry take part instead." Nick explained calmly. Dumbledore looked confused "While he shows a high level of proficiency in dueling I don't see any indication of him being ready for such a challenging endeavor." the old goat said seriously. "Do you know what is holding Harry back the most right now in regards to his magical capabilities?" Nick asked and Dumbledore shook his head.-
"It's experience and imagination , Harrys journey as a wizard has been fairly smooth past the first year and as a result he lacks the experiences and creativity that would have accelerated his prowess by leagues at this point. He is ahead of most other third year students but nowhere near where he would be if he had been given true challenges to overcome." Nick said honestly. This was true too as by this point in the canon timeline Harry was already learning the Patronus charm and showing off incredibly amounts of mana for his age.-
Now however Harry was more skilled with what he knew but lacked the edge he had in the canon timeline. Dumbledore seemed thoughtful after hearing this and could understand why Nick would think it. Conflict made strong wizards while peace made weak wizards that brought conflict in an endless cycle. The key was to have enough conflict for growth but not enough to spark trouble. "You hope that the tournament might help Harry grow further then? An admirable idea but what of Harrys own wishes in the matter? Perhaps he won't want to participate in the tournament to begin with , what then?" Dumbledore asked and Nick chuckled.-
"Then that will be up to him I only want to allow him the opportunity to reach his full potential. Whether he takes it or not is entirely up to him." Nick said with a shrug. "I see , very well then I shall see to it that the age requirement be lowered accordingly. After that however it will be up to Harry to enter the tournament or not." Dumbledore said with a smile. Nick casually took out a sheet of parchment and handed it over. "Just so you know I had planned to give you the ritual regardless of what I got out of it since it will prove useful to me in the future." Nick said before jumping off the tower and turning back to his Animagus form.-
There was one detail that even Dumbledore may have forgotten to think about if he succeeded in becoming a phoenix Animagus. He may get the chance to exploit the magic to a degree and undergo nirvana like normal phoenixes do which will return him to his prime without lowering his power at all. Nick however knew that he didn't have this option since his very being will be tied to his realm instead so he will be reconstituted from scratch while Dumbledore will have to go through the youth stage again.