The target froze as a thin layer of ice formed over it's whole body and Nick nodded happy with the effect. "Congratulations it didn't explode." Luna said with a smile. Nick chuckled and patted her on the top of the head "That's because I haven't enchanted it with my method yet , speaking of you all need to wait outside for me to finish that." he said motioning for the door and making them all complain about it. Luna thought she could pull a fast one and use puppy dog eyes to get him to let her stay , it failed.-
Nick simply picked her up and deposited her outside the door with the rest of his friends before shutting and locking the door. As an extra measure he even transfigured a massive stone on this side of the door to weigh it down into an immovable state even if they somehow got the lock open. He wasn't going to risk it against Hermione and her freakishly good memory at things she's seen. Photographic memories may not be an actual thing without legilimency but her memory got uncomfortably close for Nicks taste. After seeing his key he doubted it would be difficult for her to transfigure a forged version.-
Once he was sure they wouldn't spy on him he took the ice ring off his finger and placed it on the anvil. He then grabbed his hammer that he had seen Luna staring at more than once and went to work. Outside the door the entire group had their ears pressed against the door to see if they could glean any information. This was mostly because just as Nick had expected Hermione had already unlocked the door with a fake key. The girl may act all prim and proper but she could be quite shameless in the pursuit of knowledge.-
Once it became clear that Nick was wise to their nonsense they had resorted to this current method of spying. Flitwick walked out of his office and froze for a moment when he saw the not small group of people pressing their ears against the door. He quickly figured out what was happening and chuckled however alerting the group who scrabbled in panic. "As much as I admire curiosity in my students , perhaps it's for the best if you don't know more about his enchantment method." he teased.-
"But we're just so curious! Can't you tell us anything since you have seen it?" Tracy asked pathetically. Flitwick shook his head "Afraid not as I rather prefer not dying to satisfy your curiosity." he said seriously. "I doubt he would kill you over something like this." Harry said reassuringly. Flitwick chuckled " Perhaps not , but then again he wouldn't need to since I signed a magical contract to never share what I've seen in that room , the penalty of breaking it is my death." he explained seriously. "That's so unfair though!" Hermione said quite upset to learn about this fact.-
Flitwick smiled "While I can appreciate the empathy but you need to understand that I signed that contract fully aware of the consequences of breaking it and I do not regret my decision at all." he said honestly. "Enough about all that though , what's he doing that he didn't want to wait until he was alone to try out?" Flitwick asked eagerly. Luna explained what Nick had said he was doing and Flitwick looked excited. "Oh my! So long as he succeeds I will certainly place an order personally!" the charms professor said while looking at the door hopefully.-
Nick meanwhile was Slowly working his enchantment into the ring as gently as he could in hopes he could succeed. The enchantment was extremely simple so it didn't take him long to infuse but he could only sigh and stop halfway through when a large crack formed on the band. Putting away his hammer he examined the ring to try and see where the problem came from and noted that it was from the runes conflicting with the later enchantment. The clashing energies caused the material to destabilize and crack. Removing the transfigured stone from the door he opened the door with a disappointed expression.-
He tossed the ring over to Flitwick who deftly caught it and looked it over before easily finding the problem. "Not much help I can offer here Nick , enchanting something with two separate systems of enchantment at the same time has never been researched before since there is only the usual way known until now." he said honestly and Nick took out a notebook from Greed and marked it down as a for later project. Nick was helpless in this regard as between researching organic smithing , spell control , classes , normal smithing , hanging out with his friends and waiting for Lockhart to royally screw up so he can get fired his hands were full and he had no time for another research project.
_____________________________________
my patrons can read at least twelve chapters ahead along with using the site as a way to directly contact myself rather than needing to hope i respond to your comments.
pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro