345 Returning friends

It wasn't all fun times for Nick though as he and Nazgul both hit a growth spurt at this point and started to grow. For Nick it was normal growth due to him being twelve and officially hitting puberty. For a human this was a little late but for an elf it was fairly standard due to their long lifespans allowing for a longer growth period. In Nazguls case however it was because she had eaten quite a few souls from small creatures since the last time she grew and now had enough energy stored to get bigger.-

She did too as by the time the holiday break was over she was slightly smaller than a horse in size and simply didn't fit in most parts of the castle anymore. At least not without making those areas a bit crowded. The hallways were large but even those were only so wide and she took up roughly half of them. Doorways were entirely impossible to fit through for her now much to her great distress. Nick was unfortunately left with little choice but to either keep her in the realm all the time or have her stay out of the castle entirely.-

Hitting puberty as an elf did something rather surprising for Nicks mana reserves that he hadn't expected. See for awhile now his mana growth had slowed to a crawl which was to be expected considering he had way more mana than a twelve year old had any business with at his disposal. As a result his growth had slowed down to allow his body to acclimate to the power within it. Hitting puberty however had accelerated his growth rate again though not by as fast as before , instead he was right beneath Harrys growth.-

This was much more acceptable than his previous speed considering the threats he had to actively prepare for. Still on new years day he wasn't thinking about any of that as he stood outside the castle waiting for his friends to arrive. When Nick spotted Hermione and the other girls leaving a carriage he smiled and waved at them. They all smiled and walked over "Welcome back." he said happily as they arrived before him. "That book on enchantments was a huge help with my studies over the holidays , thank you Nick!" Hermione said excitedly. "Same here" Daphne added with a smile without losing her composure.-

"Your gift got me in trouble with my father! He said metal working is not a thing a proper lady should do! Can you believe that!?" Tracy complained but it was still clear that she actually liked her gift. "Crafting knows no gender and any craftsman worthy of the name will say the same." Nick said reassuringly. "Yeah I know but it still sucks that my father doesn't agree." Tracy said with a sigh. "I take it you also like your gift Luna?" Nick said with a raised eyebrow at the girl who had changed her hair to a rainbow color.-

"Umu! The wrack spurts dance funny around it!" she said with a dopy smile. Nick chuckled at that answer "That's just because of how I made it , otherwise it isn't all that special." he said honestly. "Maybe not to you but I like it." Luna said and Nick smiled. "I'm surprised that Harry and Ron aren't with you all , hopefully they didn't try and take a flying car to school this time." Nick said jokingly. Hermione grimaced at the mention of that incident "Thank merlin not! We couldn't all fit into a carriage so they had to get in a different one is all." she explained with an exasperated expression.-

"Ah speak of the devil here they are." Nick said as the next carriage stopped and it's door opened to reveal Harry and Ron all bundled up to resist the weather. "Bloody hell , you wouldn't believe the looks I got from my family when they saw your gift Nick!" Ron complained immediately after the boys joined up with the group. "'Why I'd never thought I'd see the day my little Ronny would be excited to get a book!' That's what my mum said when she saw it before she forced me to spill it and tell them about me learning to make wands , it was dreadful!" he continued complaining.-

"Looks like a classic case of suffering from success to me." Nick joked and everyone else in the group smirked except Ron. "Don't you joke around about this , I never heard the end of it the rest of the holiday and felt like dying in embarrassment!" Ron said with a small smirk. "How about you Harry? What did you think of your gift?" Nick asked the only person who hadn't spoken yet. "It's brilliant! You should have seen how jealous Sirius was when I pulled it out of the sheathe." Harry said with a wide smile.