Secret alchemist

Nick was also fairly bored since all he had to do for the pageant was sit in place while the two beasts soaked up the attention. With that in mind he had broke out his quill and a blank book that he started to write down his take on all the magical items he memorized yesterday. He of course labeled each individual item neatly but the book quickly started to get covered in runes on both the front and backs of the pages. He frowned a bit after he finished the book since he still had quite a few more enchantments to write down.-

He could only shrug and take out another blank book and continue after labeling the title as part two. He didn't notice it at first since there was a bunch of different magical signatures around him but one had stopped at his stand. It was a middle aged looking man with short brown hair and curious blue eyes that picked up the first book Nick had set down and was looking through it with interest. "A little crude but all these enchantments would certainly work." the man said with a smile as he put the book down.-

Nick looked up from the second book at this time and immediately paled at what his magical senses were telling him. This person was old , like REALLY old , and powerful to boot. This persons magical energy was between Dumbledore and Slytherin with a heavy inclination towards the laters power level. "Nicolas Flammel I take it?" Nick quickly recovered and asked politely. The man was taken back by this question for a moment before laughing and nodding his head with a look of understanding. "You have magical sight or is it hearing? No need to answer I prefer to figure it out myself. Those are the only way you could have seen through my disguise after all."

"If it's not too troublesome can you tell me what specifically gave me away?" The man spoke calmly and with a burning curiosity. Nick smiled bitterly "I hadn't expected that one of my secrets would be seen through just from exposing you. It was both your age as well as your mana level that exceeded even that of Dumbledore that gave you away" he said honestly since there was no point in lying.-

The man before him was an ancient wizard with all the knowledge that may come from such a long lifespan because unlike most wizards he loved research and learning new things. Few could understand the implications behind that but Nick was very much aware of what it meant. It means that despite having less mana than Slytherin he had so much more knowledge and skill that he could very likely toss the founder around without much effort. Nicolas Flammel was a magical juggernaut and everyone knew it , that was why no one dared to try and directly steal from the man or attack him.-

"Ah yes , that would certainly do it. I hadn't expected to meet someone with your rare gift and neglected to hide those. While I can't remove my disguise for understandable reasons I suppose introductions are in order , Nicolas Flammel , alchemist." Flammel said with a slight bow. "Nicholas Ravenclaw , ring maker." Nick said returning the bow. "I have been rather curious about you for quite some time little fellow. You can then of course imagine my delight to find you visiting my alma mater with my student and friend." Flammel said while wandlessly conjuring a chair to sit in.-

"You said my rune sentences were crude , why?" Nick asked while pointing at the book. "Not crude as in incorrect as each rune and even the sentence structure is flawless , however you wrote them like you were talking or holding a conversation. Runes were never meant to be used in that manner , they were designed to cause complex things with simply concepts. Take wands for example you only need three or four runes to create a working wand but adding more rarely makes the finished product better. Complex enchantments like this need merely a handful of carefully chosen words alongside the correct will while engraving them to function." the old alchemist said and Nick understood what he meant.-

"So I've been looking at runes wrong this entire time then." He said with a disappointed sigh. "No child , not wrong but skewed instead. It was like you were looking at the subject with only a single eye , the image you received was not wrong but incomplete , off if you would. What is most impressive is that you clearly didn't learn runes in a traditional manner as this is a simple and basic thing taught in the class." The old alchemist said with a smile.-