Julian set most of the segments aside to work on later, then picked one up and used a steel punch to drive a hole through the center. After that he widened the opening while rounding the edges, working the metal until it became a plain iron band, dull grey and completely unremarkable.
He repeated the process with the remaining segments until he had ten simple iron rings laid out.
Julian checked each one for cracks or faults. Finding none, he moved on.
...
He locked the workshop door, drew in a deep breath, and began to glow bright white as usual. This time, though, there was the faintest tinge of gold threaded through the light, subtle enough that nobody would have noticed in the moment.
The glow narrowed and dimmed as it concentrated entirely into his hand and the hammer.
Then he began striking the rings one by one, and a loud hum spread through the room with every impact.
Unlike the twins' rings, these weren't being linked together. They were simply being enchanted with the exact same effect at the same time.
...
It was obviously an extremely demanding process in both energy and time, but it was still less intensive than stacking multiple powerful effects onto a single ring, which was the only reason he dared attempt it.
It took him nearly seven hours to finish, long enough that he missed dinner entirely.
By the time he was done, it was around 8:45. Instead of heading to the common room and risking Filch catching him wandering the halls, Julian transfigured the floor into a massive pillow of soft cotton and fell asleep right there.
Steve wasted no time cuddling up beside him, and the night passed without trouble.
...
In the morning, Julian yawned and stretched as he got up. The floor had returned to normal at some point while he slept.
He wasn't sore, his body was sturdy enough that sleeping on the ground wasn't much of an issue, but he still worked his limbs and back thoroughly to make sure no hidden cramps decided to ambush him later.
Then he picked up the rings he'd left on the anvil overnight and checked them with the system.
...
[RING NAME: Ring of Protection
Grade: COMMON
Abilities: Autosizing, Sacrificial Defense
Description: A plain iron ring created with an inbuilt shield charm that is overpowered in exchange for costing the ring it's on use.
System appraisal: A good single use protective item created by an up and coming ring smith.]
...
Every ring returned the exact same appraisal, with no differences at all.
That alone proved he'd succeeded in creating a mass-produced product.
Of course, ten at a time wasn't remotely enough when there were around a hundred students in the castle who regularly used magic, or had magic used on them. For what Julian had in mind, he would need a stockpile at least double, maybe triple that.
Still, there was an upcoming holiday, and he also had whatever free time he could scrape together after classes to keep producing them.
...
If he made ten more rings every day, it would take around twenty days to build up two hundred.
Obviously not everyone will buy one, Julian calculated grimly. But I expect at least sixty people to place orders, and maybe twenty to order more than one at a time. Ten sickles each puts it at roughly thirty-six galleons.
He knew he wasn't doing it for money, but the low profit compared to the effort still stung a bit.
It'll pay off in the end. Probably, he thought, leaning into the hope as he left the workshop with Steve and headed for breakfast.
...
"Where'd you go yesterday, Julian?" Harry asked when Julian sat beside him.
"Got caught up in a project and lost track of time," Julian said casually. "Slept in the workshop with Steve here."
He handed the niffler a sausage, which Steve devoured greedily.
Despite their cute appearance, nifflers were omnivores. They ate almost anything, except mint, which they hated for some reason.
Hermione looked a little jealous at the interaction, though she kept it mostly to herself aside from a small pout.
...
Ron joked that Steve was the perfect pet for Julian, since he was just as much of a glutton.
Julian laughed and said he was bulking up, but none of them had any idea what he meant, so the joke landed flat.
After breakfast came Potions, and Steve needed to make himself scarce. Snape didn't find it funny at all when Steve stole a silver sickle from Malfoy last time and got caught.
Julian hadn't gotten detention, but he had lost Gryffindor thirty points, and he'd had to let Steve spend a day as Snape's guinea pig.
Steve refused to go anywhere near Snape's classroom after that.