Finally the day came when it was time to head back to Hogwarts for yet another exciting year of dealing with a threat to his very life. Unlike last year However Nick was starting the year out at the same level of power that an average seventh year student had in terms of pure magical power. He had accomplished this thanks to the boost he got from digesting the energy provided by the Nazgul ring , slowly this time to prevent any overfilling like the last time.-
While this sounds like a lot of power to have it should be noted that in terms of actual magical skill he was only equal to a fourth year student since he had mostly ever worked on his foundation despite his power. That was going to change this year though as Nick wanted to accelerate his magical skill to the same level as the average seventh year to match his current level of magical power. Unfortunately this will prove to be a hard goal to reach since the difficulty of each years knowledge increases considerably past the third year. To put it simply the first three years were technically the "adjustment period" of the students stay at Hogwarts to magic learning.-
The fourth year was when things got passed the novice level and into the average point of each subject. As one would expect it was a small jump in difficulty that sadly many will get stuck at for whatever reason. Nick woke up at dawn as per his usual except this time he dressed himself in his Hogwarts uniform that he then transfigured to look like normal clothes to prevent any muggles from getting suspicious. He had already had Dotty and Dusk follow Helena to Hogwarts since they definitely wouldn't be allowed on the train.-
"Looks like it's just you and me for right now Steve." Nick said to the niffler that was stuffing his hoard into his stomach pouch. Nick waited for Steve to finish up before tossing the niffler into his luggage and pulling the wheeled trunk out of the room. Olivander was already waiting to take Nick to the train station with a smile. "It has truly been a privilege to learn from you Mr. Olivander." Nick said honestly with his hand held out for a hand shake. Olivander's smile widened as he took the offered hand firmly "And it has been my honor to take part in guiding you towards whatever grand adventure surely awaits you." he said with no small amount of pride.-
They then apparated to King's cross station and Nick wordlessly made his way through the pillar between platforms nine and ten. The platform for the Hogwarts express was already filled with aurors prepared to make sure that nothing strange happened to the students boarding the train but was pretty much empty otherwise. 'Oh , it seems I get the pick of the litter this time , nice!' he thought with a smile as he boarded the train and chose a compartment at the back as he preferred.-
Most people liked to get the compartments as far up the train as possible for some reason and Nick preferred the back instead to avoid the hassle of people constantly checking to see if the room was taken yet. 'I wonder if Daphne and Tracy will seek me out when they get here.' he pondered as he watched more and more students entering the platform and separating from their families while they boarded the train. He saw a few that he recognized such as Lee Jordan and Seamus Finnegan but most were upper years or first years.-
'Now that I think about I never really paid much attention to people outside of my small group of friends last year. Not that that I plan to this year but I hadn't really noticed it until now.' Nick thought seeing clearly older students and yet not recognizing most of them. Soon enough though he watched as Hermione , Daphne and Tracy all entered the platform nearly at the same moment. He watched in amusement as Hermione looked over the train and saw him sitting against the window of his compartment with a smile on his face.-
Obviously she pointed him out to the other two girls who brightened up and started to drag their trunks behind them to the compartment he was in. Soon enough the door to the compartment opened and revealed the girls. "Good morning everyone , I hope you have all had a pleasant summer." Nick said with a smile before casting the levitation charm on their trunks and directing them into the shelves overhead. "Daphne and I heard a rumor that you have been rather busy over the summer , something about freeing the lord of house Black and setting right a decade old wrong if I remember correctly?" Tracy said with a teasing smile.
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