The twins witnessed what happened, but all they could really do was mourn Peeves's poor decision to target the most intimidating first year they had ever heard of. That was not even an exaggeration. They had actually gone looking through old records for anyone remotely similar to Julian, but nobody came close. Sure, there had been prodigies like Dumbledore and someone called Thomas Riddle, yet none of them had been nearly so overwhelming in their first year at Hogwarts. The twins were far more observant than most people gave them credit for, so they had noticed how naturally Julian grasped magic in practice, almost as if magic itself whispered its secrets to him, which was not all that far from the truth.
Julian's ability to sense magic was so refined that after seeing a spell even once, he could get a rough impression of its nature. After that, all he needed was either to determine its inverse in order to dispel it or to practice until he could reproduce it himself. That insight only applied to the nature of the magic rather than its deeper workings, however, so he still had to study like everyone else. It was simply that he understood the practical side far more easily. Even without knowing all those details, the twins still recognized extraordinary talent when they saw it.
Setting that aside, Julian also had a certain kind of charisma that made it easy for him to take control of a conversation, and then there was what the twins considered the biggest factor of all, his crafting ability. By now, the entire school knew about the rings he made, and many students were openly jealous of those who could afford his work, Malfoy being one obvious example. Any one of those traits on its own might have marked someone as a genius, but all of them combined in a single person created something monstrous, and the twins very much preferred having that sort of person on their side.
"Well, if it isn't our favorite first year," Fred said.
"Soon to be a second year, at that. So what do we owe the visit to, more business?" George asked curiously, smoothly continuing where his twin left off.
Julian only smiled at them and shook his head. "No, I'm just taking in the castle since it will be the last time for quite a while that I get to see it," he said honestly, and both twins nodded in understanding.
"Ah yes, the home away from home feeling this place seems to have. Am I right?" Fred asked.
Julian nodded.
"Cheer up, mate. You've still got another six years before it's really goodbye," George said reassuringly, clapping Julian on the shoulder.
"I'm not sad or anything like that. I'm just thinking about how many important things have happened to me in this castle over the course of this year," Julian said with a chuckle.
Fred laughed. "It certainly has been an eventful year," he said with a grin.
After that, Julian left the twins to their mischief and made his way out of the castle itself to visit Hagrid's hut before departing. Along the way he noticed various people strolling beside the Black Lake, mostly couples.
Julian paid them no real attention, though. Instead, what caught his eye was Hagrid standing outside his hut beside a herd of pale, skeletal horse like creatures with batlike wings, thestrals. He was feeding them dead rats and checking them for injuries when Julian arrived. Hagrid probably would not even have noticed him if the creatures had not all dipped their heads toward him in unison.
Julian, of course, returned the gesture, and by then Hagrid had turned to see what had caused such a reaction.
"Oh, it's just you, Julian. Never seen them do that before, so I was wonderin what had gotten into them," Hagrid said.
"If it's you, though, I'd reckon it makes sense they'd treat you respectfully, what with your wand bein what it was," Hagrid added with a look of understanding.
Julian looked at the half giant in surprise, but Hagrid merely scoffed. "Don't be lookin at me like that. My memory's no good for most things, but I never forget a fact about beasts," he said proudly, even if the statement was a little self insulting.
"But enough about me. What can I do for you, lad?" he asked, changing the subject.
"I thought it would be rather rude to leave without saying goodbye, so here I am. These are the thestrals that pull the carriages, I take it?" Julian asked curiously.
"Aye, I was just getting them ready for the trip, actually. Odd that you can see them, though, since usually only those who've seen death can," Hagrid said, confused but not especially suspicious about it.
Julian, however, knew perfectly well why he could see them. Seen it, experienced it, and returned from it, in fact. If I said I understood death better than anyone, no one except Death itself could really argue with me, he thought as he reached out to rub one of the thestrals on the head, feeling the cold, rough scales beneath his fingers.