After that day, the younger students at Hogwarts noticed sothing curious: Nolan spent significantly less ti with his Muggle gaming device.
Instead, he seed obsessed with tinkering with the school's flying brooms. He disassembled and reassembled them repeatedly, often leaving so irreparably damaged. The Slytherins, though heartbroken, had no choice but to toss the broom fragnts into the common room fire as kindling.
At the insistence of Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain, Nolan reluctantly contributed a functional Nimbus 2000 for the team's use. The result? Silver and green streaks dominated the Quidditch pitch as the Slytherins reveled in the speed and stability of the broom. During the first Quidditch match of the season, their sixth-year Seeker captured the Golden Snitch in under thirty minutes, securing a victory over Hufflepuff.
As Christmas approached, Cho Chang beca increasingly persistent in her pursuit of Nolan. She seed determined to solidify their relationship before the holidays and to bring her boyfriend ho for her first winter break at Hogwarts.
"I thought Easterners were supposed to be reserved and shy," Nolan remarked one day, finally voicing his frustration.
"Oh, don't be silly, Nolan. For a girl, love is war. Would you show rcy to your opponent on the battlefield?" Cho retorted confidently.
Her argunt made a strange kind of sense to Nolan, so he decided to stop resisting her daily flirtations. This developnt left many Hogwarts girls heartbroken, as it seed the Slytherin prince was growing closer to the Asian witch. He began bringing his tinkering projects out of the Slytherin common room, sotis working on them in the Great Hall or even the library, where Madam Pince would repeatedly shout at them: "Take those filthy contraptions elsewhere!"
Cho occasionally tried to understand what Nolan was working on. However, when she managed to coax a piece of parchnt filled with strange runes and circular diagrams from him, she quickly gave up any hope of comprehension.
"What on earth is this?" she asked, baffled.
"Runic script," Nolan replied softly, setting aside a barely functional Cleansweep Seven. He stretched his stiff shoulders before gracefully sipping his special tomato juice. "Professor McGonagall introduced to these symbols. They're fascinating. Depending on how they're arranged, they can carry magical properties. Even the way each rune is written—the shape, size, and angle—affects the magic they produce. I've been researching runes through books in the library, but it's not enough. That's why I'm studying the internal structures of these brooms. I want to understand how their creators imbued them with their unique properties."
Cho nodded in a show of understanding, though it was clear she was lost.
Nolan considered her reaction for a mont. "A master of runes could create magical artifacts."
"Magical artifacts!" Cho exclaid, her eyes lighting up. "Could you make a makeup kit that sneaks in every morning to apply flawless eye makeup before you wake up?"
Nolan paused, caught off guard by the request. "Why would you think of sothing like that?" he asked softly before adding, "It doesn't sound too difficult."
On the last day before the holiday break, Eve still hadn't spoken to Nolan. She seed resolute in her decision to sever ties with him entirely.
Eve's situation hadn't improved much. Miles often muttered to Nolan when he returned to the dormitory, saying, "Eve was bullied again by her own housemates. They really tore into her this ti…"
Miles felt sorry for her and genuinely pitied her predicant. He also thought Eve was incredibly beautiful—perhaps even more so than Cho Chang, who had been spending so much ti with Nolan lately. Miles sotis fantasized about being brave enough to rescue Eve from the Slytherins' bullying and winning her heart in the process. Unfortunately, he neither had the courage nor the ans to make this fantasy a reality.
As such, he frequently dropped hints to Nolan: "Can't you do sothing to help her?"
Nolan kept his eyes fixed on the screen of his gaming device, replying softly, "If she asks for help, I'll do it. But she hates now, and I don't help people who hate ."
From the adjacent bed, Malcolm Baddock sneered. "That Mudblood, who word her way into Slytherin through sheer luck, has finally been abandoned by her protector, the great Nolan Von Draugr. As expected!"
Both Nolan and Miles snapped in unison, "Hey, Malcolm, shut your mouth!"
...
As the winter holidays approached, the first-years eagerly boarded the The Hogwarts Express heading back to London, excited for a whole month of rest.
"You have to co to my house!" Cho insisted as they parted ways. "I'll have Lemon Pie deliver you an invitation. Oh, and your sister is welco to join us too!"
Lemon Pie was apparently Cho's family owl. The aging bird spent over 300 days a year asleep, and Nolan wasn't entirely sure it could successfully find Randall Gorge.
After stepping off Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, Nolan said goodbye to Miles, Montague, and Alicia before finding the person who had co to collect him.
"Miss Theresa, you're right on ti," he said, taking the large cat she carried in her arms and gently stroking its fur. "Miss Nancy, as well—congratulations on not getting lost."
The cat let out a dignified huff, purring as if to say, Praise more.
During the break, it seed Miss Theresa had acquired a car. Nolan wasn't particularly fond of cars; they made him carsick. Steam trains were fine, but enclosed spaces in cars were a different matter.
While waiting for Miss Theresa to load his luggage into the trunk, Nolan noticed Eve Stock crying as she embraced her parents. Her family stood out with their striking silver hair, characteristic of their Danish heritage. Eve also had an older brother, perhaps four or five years her senior, who appeared envious of his sister's magical education. He was enthusiastically pestering her about magical gifts she might have brought back.
"Soone you know, Your Highness?" Miss Theresa asked politely after finishing with the luggage.
Nolan considered her question for a mont before replying softly, "Just an acquaintance."
As he climbed into the car, he seed to catch Eve's gaze. Her eyes were red, and tears stread down her face in steady trails.
"What a crybaby…" Miss Nancy remarked disdainfully, nestled in Nolan's arms.
Nolan hesitated before murmuring, "She must be happy to return to the Muggle world."
"Because her ti at Hogwarts… wasn't kind to her."
~~~----------------------
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