On the surface he couldn't really tell whether his father's single word acknowledgement was a positive or negative thing. However, knowing his father and the general importance of transfiguration in the family, it had to be disguised disappointment. He was trying, he spent more time trying to improve his transfiguration than he did any of his other subjects after his homework was done but he clearly wasn't a natural. It might well be performance anxiety that was getting in his way but Nico had no notion that that might be a thing, nor did he know how to separate transfiguration from the enormous pressure he put on himself to excel at it.

Whilst his father was probably disappointed with him, it seemed like a good time for what he'd really come down there for. Nico took a couple of tentative steps towards his father. He reached into one of his pockets and rummaged for a few seconds before producing a bright blue feather. Nico stared at his father's back as he suddenly had a wave of second thoughts wash over him. No, he'd better do it now before his father noticed his dithering. "Pa, I thought you might like to have this. For good luck." He noticed an almost imperceptible tremor in his hand as he extended it out towards his father. He was worried his father wouldn't like it or would think it childish of him, the last thing he needed was for his father to know that he was worried.

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