Meanwhile, Julian finally turned the furnace on in his workshop after making very sure that his friends understood the lesson he had just taught them. Without exception, all of them decided to leave not long after he lit the furnace, since the temperature in the room quickly climbed to an uncomfortable level for anyone else. Julian, however, was unaffected by the heat and simply waited for the furnace to finish warming up. Once it was ready, he increased the cold flames inside it and prepared the Nazfea ring he had taken back from Helena so he could strip away its current enchantment and replace it with a new one.
He had already made sure the workshop door was securely locked, preventing even the slightest trace of energy from leaking out. That was a particular property of Hogwarts's walls and doors he had discovered the previous year, and he used it to full advantage in order to keep any hint of his forging methods away from prying eyes. The enchanting process for the ring was almost the same as the first time he had made it, but with one important addition. This version of the enchantment also incorporated the new knowledge and proficiency he had gained in veritology. The final result made him smile the moment he read the system's appraisal.
[RING NAME: Nazfea Mark 2
Grade: RARE
Abilities: Autosizing , spiritual solidification , magic foci , bound , loyal
Description: A ring capable of allowing pure spiritual beings to take corporeal form and allows the use of magic. The power of the wearer cannot increase unlike the living however.
System appraisal: An unusual ring that was made with ghost in mind created by an up and coming ring smith.]
Julian gave Helena a thumbs up, and she eagerly slid the band onto her finger. The moment she did, she immediately took on corporeal form. Julian's eyes widened when he sensed a large quantity of magical energy from the air of the castle rushing into her, as though filling an absence that had gone unnoticed until now. 'It's possible that only now, when her form can actually hold magic again, her ability to use it has returned,' he theorized. The mana, as he had taken to calling it over the summer, settled into her body at a level somewhere between Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley.
If he had to be more specific, he would have said she felt almost exactly as strong as Snape, perhaps a little stronger. His theory was that this was likely the exact level of power she had possessed while alive. This was by no means insignificant, since Snape was already one of the most powerful people on the planet despite being relatively young at only thirty-two years old. Helena, by contrast, had been born in 984 A.D. and murdered in 1000 A.D. She had only been twenty when she died.
That meant that despite being nearly a decade younger than Snape had been when Julian knew him, she had been just slightly more powerful than he was. Whether that was because of her own raw talent or because she had enjoyed unrestricted access to the books in the ancient section and had actually been able to read them, Julian could not say for certain. He was very aware of just how game changing the knowledge in that section was, so he had no real way of knowing which path Helena had taken to reach such a level of strength. What he did know from speaking with her was that she had been well on her way to reaching Dumbledore's level of power before she was killed.
She had said as much herself, and according to her that level was only a few steps below Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff, and even further below Salazar Slytherin, not to mention her mother, who had been the strongest of them all after reaching an entirely new level, even if it had killed her in the process. 'Does this mean that if given enough time, Snape might one day have become as powerful as Dumbledore or Voldemort!?' Julian thought with a shiver. Neither Dumbledore nor Voldemort had been ideal at their level of strength, but a Snape with that kind of power would have been far worse.
The only reason the man was not as cruel and sadistic as most Death Eaters was his love for Harry's mother, and if he had ever possessed the strength to bring the entire world to its knees, there was no telling what might have happened. 'Good thing he doesn't seem to want anything beyond protecting Harry and killing Voldemort,' Julian thought in relief. Helena then lifted her hand, and from across the room her paintbrush floated up and flew neatly into her grasp in a striking display of wandless magic.
Julian would have been more impressed if he had not been able to sense just how inefficient that simple movement had been for her. Even so, Helena looked delighted, and the broad smile on her face as she stared at the brush in her hand made that obvious. "Now all we need is to get you a wand. Lucky for you, I happen to know exactly where to find one," Julian said with a smirk. Over the next ten minutes, Helena tested the various wands Julian had in his possession before finally settling on one made of cherry wood with a unicorn hair core.