Julian was surprised to see that the island's ecosystem had developed into a nearly perfect balance between large and small creatures, as well as herbivores and carnivores. The colo colos clearly served as the most common small prey animal on the island, while the snawfus were just as obviously the most abundant large prey species. There were also just enough predators present to keep the rapidly growing populations of both creatures from spiraling out of control. And that was without even counting the sea-dwelling magical creatures that had gathered around the island because of the leyline node beneath it.
That particular detail certainly had not escaped Julian's notice when he first arrived, but he had chosen to ignore it for the moment because what self-respecting wizard would not want a leyline node all to themselves, along with the rich concentration of mana that came with it? The mana levels here were not quite on the level of Hogwarts, which sat atop a leyline nexus and had also spent the last thousand years slowly absorbing the excess magical energy of its students, but they were still vastly higher than what could be found in Diagon Alley. It was also the exact reason so many species from all over the world had been able to adapt to the island's climate instead of dying off.
Thanks to the abundance of mana, they had been able to evolve far faster than normal by making use of wild magic over time. Unfortunately, wild magic was something only magical creatures naturally possessed, though wizards had once learned how to imitate its effects through druidic spells before that process was eventually lost. Julian knew this because he had once gone searching through the Hogwarts library for anything related to it, only to discover that the practice had been passed down strictly from master to apprentice and never written down. So when history had done what history always did, every practitioner died without a successor and the entire body of knowledge vanished with them.
Julian had cursed those idiots when he learned that, because it was absurd that an entire field of magic had disappeared just because of tradition. Tradition was supposed to preserve knowledge and history, yet in this case it had destroyed both. Shaking his head to clear away the distraction, Julian focused on the manor, the surrounding grounds, and the path leading back to the carriage. 'Clearing about twenty feet around the building and widening the path to the carriage by another ten feet on each side should be more than enough,' he decided before flying back down to the front of the manor.
Ollivander was waiting for him with obvious impatience by the time Julian's feet touched the ground. "As monumental as it is to visit the ancient home of Rowena Ravenclaw, I would like to begin experimenting with those feathers as soon as possible," the old man said frankly. Julian chuckled. "That won't be much of a problem, since I do not have time to start renovating the place properly at the moment," he replied before calling Helena, Seram, and Dotty over to him.
The house-elf appeared immediately, while the other two took a few minutes to arrive since they had wandered off. The ho-ho returned as well, though since Julian did not know its name, he had not been able to summon it directly, so that worked out well enough. First, Julian pulled all the lembas bread he still had inside Greed and handed it over to Seram. "We are going to be leaving for a while, so I'll leave all of this with you to keep you fed. You seem to have the whole guardian of the island matter well under control anyway," he said. The manticore merely gave a rough chortle and accepted the nine and a half loaves from him.
When Julian looked toward the bird, he hesitated for a moment, because depending on what happened next, things might become rather strange back in Diagon Alley, well, stranger than they already were. "I don't know why you've stayed on this island all this time, but if you want, I can bring you with me to Hogwarts. There's a phoenix there, and I'm sure the two of you would get along wonderfully," Julian offered. The bird considered that for a moment, then nodded before flying high into the air in such a way that the sun shone directly behind it.
Before Julian could voice his confusion, the bird literally shimmered and collapsed into a small sphere of golden light that dropped to the ground and then disappeared, revealing a much smaller bird with fluffy black and red feathers, along with three peacock-like crown feathers decorating both its head and tail. "So that is what the rebirth of a ho-ho looks like. Not nearly as violent as the other two immortal birds. In fact, it is almost gentle," Ollivander said in fascination while Julian picked up the little bird and settled it comfortably onto his shoulder. After that, Julian had Dotty apparate each member of the departing group back to the wand shop, where Ollivander immediately locked himself away in the workshop, much to Julian's amusement.