"She is not a problem, but you two are completely unknown and trespassing on top of that, so explain yourselves or get ready to be eaten," Seram said aggressively. Julian lifted his hand to display the signet ring on his finger. "I am Julian I Ravenclaw, here to reclaim my ancestral home, and this is my teacher, who has come to assist me in that effort," he said calmly, though there was clear authority in his tone. The manticore flicked her gaze toward Helena and only relaxed after Helena gave a confirming nod. "Very well then. As the heir and lord of this estate, it is your duty to carry out your ancestor's obligation of satisfying my hunger."
"You have exactly one week before I assume you are offering your own life in payment," Seram added in the same casual tone someone might use to comment on the weather rather than on eating a person. Julian chuckled at how blunt the manticore was and pulled out a pair of loaves of lembas bread. "Try this," he said, tossing them toward her without hesitation. Seram snapped both loaves up with a puzzled look, certain there was no way something so small could contain enough energy to sustain her for long. She was wrong.
Almost at once, the gnawing hunger that had lingered at the edge of her mind and body began to fade, replaced by a growing sense of fullness. "What is this strange food, and how does it work?" Seram asked, clearly intrigued by the obviously magical bread as she felt her strength beginning to return. A starving manticore had very little power compared to a well-fed one, but their bodies were efficient enough to recover from most nonlethal conditions, including malnutrition, so long as they were given enough food and time. "Lembas bread. It's a magical bread that contains all the nourishment and energy a normal human would need for a month in a single loaf, and you just ate enough to sustain a person for two months," Julian said with a grin.
Seram laughed. "What an amusing creation. It sounds like something Helga would have made," she said, entertained that such a convenient food existed. "Actually, all the credit for that stuff in this world goes to me," Julian said, which was not technically a lie, since he had received the recipe from Celebrimbor, who only existed here because of the system tied to him. "Oh? Then if you keep supplying that bread, I think you and I will get along very well," Seram said cheerfully.
"Now that we've settled that, I assume you won't mind if we continue clearing the path to the house?" Julian asked seriously. "Why would I care? It's your island. I only guard it," the manticore replied with a shrug of her feline shoulders. "A bit of warning though, the old bird may try to attack you once it notices you're here," Seram added offhandedly. "That grouchy bastard is still here!? I would have thought he'd be gone by now," Helena said in disbelief. "Uh, exactly what are you talking about?" Julian asked curiously.
"My mother once traveled to Japan, and in exchange for enchanting something for the imperial family, she was gifted a chick from their immortal bird species, a ho-ho," Helena explained honestly. "Normally they do not survive into adulthood, much like thunderbirds and phoenixes, but this one did, which makes it technically immortal. A thousand years ago it already had a terrible attitude and was a real nuisance. I always assumed the bastard would have left by now, but I suppose he must have grown attached to the place."
"I've always wanted to know whether ho-ho feathers were supreme wand ingredients like phoenix and thunderbird feathers, since they all belong to the same family. Unfortunately, the feathers are a tightly guarded resource of the imperial family, so I was never able to get my hands on any," Ollivander said, visibly excited by the idea of encountering such a creature. "This should certainly make for an interesting meeting," Julian agreed, while privately wondering how a bird like that would react to him. He had not met enough members of the immortal bird family to have any real idea, since the only one he had encountered so far was Fawkes, and that one had shown him respect.
With Seram leading the way, no other magical beast dared approach the group as they worked on clearing the route to the manor. That changed once they came within sight of the building, which, just as Helena had said, looked almost untouched by time apart from being somewhat overgrown. "TZZEEERRR!" A sharp bird cry, something between the call of an eagle and a hawk, rang out through the air just before a large shadow passed over the group. Julian looked up without flinching and saw an enormous bird with black and red feathers, its appearance somewhere between an eagle and a peacock, diving straight down at them with its claws outstretched.