Pain in the pocket

That was what Nick did too as he informed Vlad and the other royal vampires who held a messaging mirror of the list of things he needed for the ceremony. {Is this list accurate? Not to pry but much of this is extinct or nearly extinct and all have uses in rituals.} Vlad messaged back nearly immediately. {I am aware of that and in fact I do need them for a series of rituals i wish to undergo.} Nick replied honestly since it was pointless to hide his reason for wanting the ingredients. Vlad merely needed to glance at the list to see the commonality shared by the ingredients and by extension why Nick wanted them.-

{I do hope you reconsider whatever rituals it is that you are planning as just from the ingredients required I can tell that they will alter you fundamentally as a wizard and thus pose grave danger should something go awry} Vlad sent back seriously. {I am aware of the risks but they are necessary. Not to worry though as I will not rush the matter but ensure that all possibilities within my control are accounted for.} Nick sent to offer reassurance. {Very well as I see that you won't be dissuaded I can only hope that your preparations prove adequate.}-

After that Vlad sent Nick a list of his own of the ingredients that he possessed as well as his prices for them. Nick could only hiss at the prices attached while being surprised by how many Vlad had from the list he sent originally. Nearly half of the total amount of ingredients in fact with some being unusually cheap suspiciously enough. 'Does this guy have a garden of these things or something?' Nick thought as he noticed most of the cheaper things were plants that could be cultivated with enough effort.-

For the things that couldn't be cultivated however the price never went below ten thousand galleons. Such a price was extreme even for Nick to pay with his fortune but he couldn't say it wasn't fair as most of these ingredients could be considered family heirlooms for wizarding families. So with a pained wallet Nick shelled out nearly two million Galleons leaving his fortune at a mere one hundred fifty seven thousand galleons. Still a lot to be sure but Nick was no longer considered uber wealthy as he had less money than the Malfoys by quite a bit.-

'At least I have money pouring in from blitzball so while this is a heavy expenditure I will eventually recover.' Nick thought to try and ease the pain that came from handing out such a vast amount of money. Nicks perception of wealth was rather skewed but even he could understand that what he had paid was a stupid high amount of money. That didn't even count the percentage that the goblins took for facilitating the trade. Unfortunately Nick soon found out that his luck for collecting the ingredients ended with Vlad as the rest of the royal vampire only had one or two additional ingredients and also charged a vast amount for them.-

There were a few however that thankfully only wanted a few custom enchanted pieces of equipment for their ingredients which was a trade Nick was all too happy to take. Over the next month or so Nick got in the ingredients and even witnessed the dragon eggs hatching under Hagrid's care. The scene was actually a bit funny as the half giant was in tears of joy during the event while even Dumbledore who was present marveled at it. -

"Remarkable creatures these dragons , look at these scales that seem to actively absorb the magic from the air and how they thrive within this extreme heat." Dumbledore commented as he inspected the dragon hatchlings. Nick wasn't surprised to see that the old goat didn't seem to notice how this dragons were not naturally evolved as all traces of the magic used to alter their previous generations had been truly integrated into their biology and thus looked natural. Nick didn't plan on pointing it out either as that would bring up questions he didn't want to share the answers to.-

For example where he found them exactly and who or what modified the species originally. All of these were secrets that Nick had no intention of sharing with the wizarding word at large through Dumbledore. To be fair to the old goat he had been surprisingly chill about the whole situation and only wanted the best for the "new" species of dragons that had been undiscovered until now due to their habitat and small population. Nick had moved the small colony of dragons to a nearby volcano and told Dumbledore that was where they had been found which the old man accepted easily enough.