Julian's dinner, as usual, contained a heavy amount of protein from several different sources like beans and meat. He also made sure to gather plenty of sweets, since his supply was starting to run low from how much he burned through during each forging session. Once he finished eating, he went straight to bed so he would be properly prepared for the next day, especially since it included one of his Herbology days. As with most education, the coursework kept growing more difficult over time, and even Quirrelmort's class managed to be somewhat useful despite the man's stutter and his obviously fake fear of the subject.
...
Herbology, however, had turned into the bane of Julian's existence. Even though he was becoming less human and more elvish with each passing day on a spiritual level, that did absolutely nothing for his dreadful lack of talent in the subject. According to Celebrimbor, that was because, contrary to what many assumed, being an elf did not automatically make someone good with plants. That particular myth only existed because elves generally preferred to live in balance with their surroundings, so their cities were usually filled with abundant plant life. Like any other race, though, elves varied in their talents. Some excelled at certain things and were hopeless at others.
Julian was very clearly far more suited to mysticism and crafting than to nature and Herbology, which left him miserable and frequently needing assistance during class. At this point, he had long since lost track of how many times he had been attacked or nearly killed by the plants in the greenhouses. Hogwarts possessed a vast collection of magical flora, and quite a few of them were extremely dangerous, such as mandrakes, which could kill with their cries. He had not yet been exposed to those since they were part of the second year curriculum, but he was not looking forward to that changing.
...
The following day, Julian survived the two Herbology periods while only getting stabbed by a viper root once, which counted as a great success considering his usual average was four or five times. Steve had, unfortunately, been banned from the greenhouses after trying to steal some silver veined ivy, but Professor Sprout did not really hold the little thief's actions against Julian since that sort of behavior was simply in Steve's nature. That did not stop her from complaining about it, however, while fretting over the injured plant.
Even so, Julian reached the workshop after class mostly intact and got started on his next attempt at creating a ring wraith. Just as he had planned, he replaced the word gul with fea during the forging, and when the ring was completed, the result was drastically different from the last one. The first obvious difference was its color. Instead of blue, the ring was red. Unlike the previous ring, this one also felt warm and inviting rather than cold. None of that would matter, though, if its effect was wrong, so Julian appraised it to decide what to do next.
[RING NAME: Nazfea
Grade: RARE
Abilities: Autosizing, spiritual solidification, bound, loyal
Description: A ring capable of allowing pure spiritual beings to take corporeal form but does not allow them to use magic.
System appraisal: A strange ring that was made with ghost in mind created by an up and coming ring smith.]
"It's not exactly a failure, but it isn't really a success either. Give it a try," Julian said, his brows furrowed.
Based on what he knew, the ring wraiths had been powerful sorcerers, so even though this ring granted corporeal form, it still failed to create the kind of being he had originally wanted. In effect, the ring merely turned a ghost into an immortal muggle that no longer needed food or sleep. That was undeniably an impressive accomplishment, but it fell far short of being useful enough for his purposes. Helena was far more careful this time after nearly being devoured by the previous ring, and because of that she put this one on much more slowly.
Still, the instant it settled onto her finger, she let out a yelp as a shimmer ran across her transparent body. Then her ghostly levitation abruptly failed, and she toppled to the ground. After more than a thousand years without any weight at all, the sudden change caught her completely off guard, but she recovered quickly. A wide smile spread across her face as she touched the floor with her hands and genuinely felt the texture beneath her fingertips. Trembling slightly, she rose to her feet and immediately reached for a normal metal block, lifting it eagerly into the air.
"I can feel and touch things, quick, give me a cookie!" she said eagerly, and Julian obliged by handing her a chocolate chip cookie.
She put the cookie in her mouth and bit into it, and though she looked on the verge of tears, she wore a huge smile as she truly tasted something again. Julian could not really blame her. She had once told him that after becoming ghosts, one of the things they missed most was being able to taste food. It was only after losing that ability that most ghosts realized just how little they had appreciated it while they were alive.