Christmas

There was another strange set of gifts as well from various people around the world that were thankfully more reasonable than last year. For example lumber from their local trees such as snakewood from South America. Other than that it was mostly food once again which Nick was perfectly fine with as he quite enjoyed the stuff he got from last christmas. "Is every year going to be like this for you from now on?" Ron asked jealously when he woke up to see the huge amount of presents Nick got.-

"It should lessen after this year since everyone will have better things to do than send me stuff." Nick said calmly while eating some fruit jerky from brazil that seemed to be made with acai , mango and bananas. From the looks of it the food was crushed together and then dried in the sun before getting broken up. Still it was sweet and had a good flavor to it so Nick enjoyed it immensely. "Did you get anything interesting like last year?" Harry asked curiously. "Well I got a few things that could be considered interesting I suppose but nothing weird thankfully." Nick said honestly.-

"Mums sent another sweater from the looks of it." Ron said opening a gift from his mom that was indeed another sweater. It was maroon like every year with a big orange R on the front of it. "I got one." "Me too." Nick and Harry said opening their gifts from her as well. Harrys sweater was red with a yellow H on it and Nicks was blue with a white N on the front. They put them on before moving back to the rest of their gifts. "Thanks Nick!" Ron said excitedly as he opened the gift that Nick had given him. It was an ornate silver and green wood carving knife that Nick created out of the light of a star with his twilight style.-

That stars material in particular had the unique property of improving wood that it was in contact with which paired wonderfully with veritology. It wasn't a major improvement but it would certainly increase the quality of any wand or staff carved using it. Sadly it only worked on raw wood so any treated or finished wands got no benefit from it. Nick still wanted to find a way to elevate his own wand as it was unfortunately starting to have difficulty growing to match his power.-

This wasn't because of the materials that comprised it but rather that the techniques that crafted it were never pushed to this length and were starting to falter. While it was true that a wand was able to grow nigh infinitely that growth was meant to be slow and steady like a wizards own growth not the constant leaps forward that Nick made in a relatively short period. Even now Nicks wand had not fully adapted to his transformation over the summer and thus was mostly for decoration if he didn't want to destroy it.-

The shows of magic he had been doing that looked to use his wand had infact actually been him wandlessly casting spells under the guise of using a wand. "What even is this?" Harry asked confused when he opened his own gift. "Ah yes the puzzle box! I am quite proud of that little thing. Like the name implies it is a box that is sealed shut via a puzzle of my own design that you'll find is quite challenging. It has a very large expanded space inside it that you can use to store anything you would like safely." Nick explained proudly.-

"How do you open it then?" Ron asked interested as it was a cool looking item. "Like this." Nick said and placed Harrys thumb out that struck the locking mechanism and was accepted. The box then started to twist and click as it rearranged itself and grew larger in size until it was the size of a trunk before the entrance opened up like an eye dilating. "Wicked!" Harry said as he looked inside the opening that was just empty space with nothing in it at this time.-

"Right now the pattern for the puzzle is you simply pressing you thumb on the lock there but while the box is open you can input a new opening sequence based on how you move your thumb. Try sliding your thumb down and to the left." Nick said and Harry did it and the box clicked a few times before closing again. "Now to open the box you have to place your thumb on the lock before moving it down and then to the left." Nick explained with a grin. "What if I forget the pattern?" Harry asked worried.