Julian raised his arm with a smile, and to the stunned disbelief of both Helena and Seram, the massive bird settled onto it with surprising gentleness. His shoulder dipped sharply under the creature's weight, since it was nearly as large as a reasonably tall person and far heavier than it looked. Noticing how much effort Julian was using just to keep his arm up, the bird quickly hopped onto his shoulder instead, which gave it a much steadier perch. He still had to brace himself under the weight, of course, but at least he remained standing. "Chirp!" the bird called as it bent its neck around to meet Julian's gaze with a very familiar pair of golden eyes.
"I am officially jealous," Helena said with a pout. Julian laughed softly and scratched the bird beneath its chin, which it seemed to enjoy quite a lot. "At least it isn't trying to kill us, right?" he asked with a grin. "Hmph!" she huffed irritably before striding toward the building. Ollivander, meanwhile, was completely absorbed in marveling at the huge bird currently perched on Julian. "A truly wondrous creature. Now if only I could obtain a few feathers," he muttered under his breath, his expression growing calculating.
Both Julian and the bird heard that. Julian looked amused, while the bird looked about two seconds from tearing the old man's face apart. "Don't mind him too much. He has devoted his life to wandmaking, so he tends to become a little single-minded where things like this are concerned. If you give him a few loose feathers you would have shed anyway, he'll be perfectly content to leave you in peace," Julian suggested. The bird looked conflicted for a moment, then decisively plucked four of its own feathers and dropped them. Ollivander scrambled to catch them before they hit the ground.
Julian had not been exaggerating either, because the moment Ollivander had the feathers in hand, he became absorbed in examining their properties while absentmindedly following behind Julian as he approached the edge of the manor's wards. Holding out his signet ring, Julian watched the wards shimmer briefly before recognizing his magical signature and parting for him. Knowing Ollivander was too distracted to notice, Julian drew his wand and gave it a flick, banishing away all the overgrown vegetation clinging to the structure. With the plant life gone, he finally got a proper look at his ancestral home.
It was a stone manor radiating a density of magical power that only Hogwarts itself surpassed. The building looked grimy from the dust and cobwebs layered over it, but Julian did not care and walked up to the front door, a broad wooden thing reinforced with metal, before pulling the handle. The door opened smoothly, as though its hinges had been oiled only yesterday, revealing the interior beyond. It was surprisingly plain, honestly. Aside from the fireplace, the staircase, and the halls leading deeper into the house, the entrance hall was almost completely bare, with simple stone flooring and unpainted walls.
Helena stepped inside with a deeply nostalgic expression, clearly losing herself in memories from a life long gone. Julian did not interrupt her. Instead, he headed down the hallway immediately to the right to begin exploring his new home. That hall proved to be just as barren as the entrance hall, containing nothing except windows and doors leading into other rooms. When he opened the first one, he found a sparse guest room with only a bed and a chamber pot inside. The next two rooms were much the same, which hardly surprised him at this point.
After leaving that side of the manor, Julian crossed over to the other wing and found Helena standing in the first room there. Unlike the others, this one was decorated. It held books, drapes over the windows, a dresser, and even a full-length golden mirror in the corner. The room was messy, with clothes scattered about and spell marks scarred across the stone walls. Judging from the look on Helena's face as she wandered slowly through it, Julian could tell this had most likely been her room.
Leaving Helena alone with her thoughts, Julian continued farther down the hall and found the kitchens beside her room, as well as the final room on that floor, a pantry containing various potion ingredients preserved under a stasis charm. 'That woman really did love her stasis spells,' Julian thought with a chuckle as he shut the pantry door and turned away from that hall. Back in the entryway, he made his way up the stairs to the second floor. Once again, there were doors lining both wings, so Julian chose the left side to explore first.