It took Julian a great many attempts, but eventually he managed to cast the spell with enough control to split a wand housing without blowing it apart. 'Anyone who says having more power makes simple spells easier is lying through their damned teeth,' Julian swore to himself after yet another failed attempt, one of many over the last four days. As far as he could tell, the real factor was not raw magical strength at all, but spellcasting experience, and that was something he simply did not have enough of yet.
If anything, his greater power had turned out to be a disadvantage here, because he had to consciously stop himself from casting at full force the way he was used to. Some spells worked best when unleashed that way, but others demanded exact precision, and in those cases overwhelming force only ruined them. 'Still, this is good practice for my magical control. That could easily prove useful later,' he thought as he finally managed to split a housing correctly. After that, he went to eat dinner at Crumonte's, as had become his habit, before heading to bed, since he intended to go shopping for furnishings for the Ravenclaw manor the next day.
Julian woke at dawn as usual and got dressed for the day before saying good morning to Ollivander and leaving the wand shop with Dotty following after him. House-elves were absurdly useful for furniture shopping, because all it took was one snap of Dotty's fingers for anything Julian bought to be sent directly to the island. By the time the day ended, he had purchased enough mattresses, rugs, toilets, and other decorative or essential items to completely refurnish the entire Ravenclaw manor.
For the moment, everything was being stored in the greenhouse, but he planned to visit the island personally the next day and set it all in place. Early the following morning, Julian traveled to the island with only Helena this time, which meant he could use magic freely without worrying about being seen. He took the chance to cut back the plant growth the way he had wanted to before. He left all the fully grown trees untouched, but the rest of the overgrowth around the manor was reduced quite a bit. Julian also used magic to strip away the vines and grime that had covered the building for the last thousand years, restoring its regal appearance.
After that, he went through the entire house and decorated it thoroughly so it no longer felt like a cold, hollow shell but instead like a place that was warm and welcoming. The toilets he had bought were magical models that banished waste after flushing. Julian, being a fairly modern person, absolutely refused to use primitive nonsense like chamber pots. The only room that saw almost no changes was the bathing chamber, since that one had already been close to perfect as it was.
All the furniture from over a thousand years ago was placed into one of the unused rooms in case Julian ever decided he wanted to use it or sell it as the antique collection it was. "It's strange seeing this place feel so lively and comfortable," Helena admitted when he was finished. Julian shook his head. "Just because this place never felt like a home before doesn't mean it never should. After all, every block of ice melts sooner or later," he said with a grin. "So it does," she agreed as she looked over the changes he had made. "Now all I need is to graduate from Hogwarts so I can establish a permanent workshop here," Julian said with a sigh.
"Unless you somehow manage to graduate several years early, I'm afraid you still have six more years to go," Helena said with a giggle. "Ugh, I know, but sitting through classes for that long when it's all material I've already learned is so bloody dull," he complained dramatically. She laughed. "You'll live," she said, rolling her eyes. Once his work on the island was finished, Julian returned to the shop and resumed practicing the splitting spell. Thanks to his steady effort to improve his control, he had grown fairly competent with it by then.
One interesting thing he learned was the reason Ollivander had never said anything about him using magic despite the trace being able to detect it. Julian only found that out because he brought it up when the old man told him to practice. Apparently the restrictions on underage magic actually contained exceptions for situations that were not considered a threat to the statute, such as pureblood households or formal apprenticeships like Julian's. It was not the most useful piece of information in the world, but Julian still appreciated knowing it.