Chapter 18: Close call
"What does them working on metal have to do with this?" Harry asked as the rest he understood just fine. "When we were at the refinery how would you describe the men there?" Nick asked patiently and Harry thought about it for a minute before he figured it out. "Dirty!" he said in realization. Nick nodded with a grin "Smoke , metal dust , sweat and dirt is the price those men pay by working in that job. So the way I see it something shiny is pointless for them as it too will just get dirty. So instead I made something symbolic instead." Nick said proudly.-
Harry nodded in agreement "It's brilliant!" he said excitedly. "We'll make a trip on saturday to give the blokes the rings and I'm sure they'll agree!" Nick said with a grin. "For now though I need a bath." Nick said with a grimace as he smelt himself. Harry burst into laughter at this but Nick just ignored it as he went into the bathroom. 'I want to finish that blank of mine but I can't risk any of the others seeing me work and getting the ministries attention.' Nick thought with a sigh as he scrubbed himself thoroughly with the soap.-
He winced a bit when he went over the healing bruises on his body but otherwise finished up quickly and got changed into a set of plain grey cotton pajama's. He and Harry talked about "a history of magic" for the rest of the day until dinner after which they turned in for the night. The next day was Friday and school was as always a torturously boring event for Nick but he sucked it up. Neither he nor Harry did anything for the rest of that day beyond delve into their own chosen books and relax.-
Saturday though was a whole different matter as they packed up the rings in a small cardboard box miss smith had given them for it and set out to go deliver the rings. It never ceased to amaze Nick how many people actually walked everywhere in London. Nobody seemed to bat an eye at the two boys as they moved with the flow of foot traffic towards their destination at a brisk walking speed. What did catch people attention however was a strangely dressed man in a bright Hawaiian floral shirt and baggy sweat pants who apparently thought he was blending in.-
'If that's not a wizard I'll eat my shoes.' Nick thought with a grimace and began steering Harry clear of where the man was. Thankfully the wizard just continued minding his business and didn't bother the boys at all. "That guy must be barmy to walk around like that!" Harry gossiped after he was sure that they had left the man's hearing range. Nick shrugged "I don't know maybe he just found the clothes comfortable?" he offered noncommittal. Harry laughed at that response "think he might have escaped the loony bin?" he asked jokingly.-
'You aren't that far off really.' Nick thought to himself when he heard the question. What he said though was "No clue really , I just hope he doesn't cause any trouble.". This wasn't a lie either as if the wizard made a mistake and used magic without thinking the ministries' obliviators would get involved and that spelt trouble for him and Harry. While most of the time those people only targeted muggles who saw what they shouldn't have , a few cases may involve them needing to erase all evidence of a wizards passing , which was to say everyone who saw them.-
Nick wasn't willing to test if Sanar held up against brute force attack spells on his mind. He knew very well that the ring had a limit to how much it could resist that wasn't very high due to his lack of skill and experience. 'I'll reforge it later when I get much better at using the crafting style.' Nick vowed mentally. Thankfully no obliviators showed up and the two boys made it to the metal refinery without any issue an hour later. The workers were happy to see the two of them and asked how their project worked out.-
"Harry here found out that the work wasn't for him but otherwise it went great. We even brought the rings we promised!" Nick said excitedly leaving the workers stunned. "To be fair lad we didn't actually expect ya to go and really make us rings." The boss said with an awkward chuckle. Nick frowned "I gave my word and that meant I was going to follow through." he said slightly offended. The boss raised his hands in surrender "Didn't mean to upset ya lad , I've no doubts about yer honor but ya can understand not expecting a couple of wee lads like yerself to do such hard work , aye?" The man said calmly.
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