Time passed swiftly. After the joyous engagement ceremony, over two months slipped by in a blur, and the year drew toward its close.
Following the engagement, Kael and Arwen had formally established their relationship in the eyes of all Middle-earth. Though not yet officially married, they could now openly be together without restraint or disapproval.
Though Kael felt some lingering regret about not yet bringing Arwen home as his wife, being able to openly hold his fiancée's hand in public and spend time together without hiding brought considerable consolation.
For a blissful period after the engagement, Kael remained close with Arwen, their footprints covering every cherished corner of Rivendell's hidden valley, Lothlórien's golden wood, and Weathertop's mountain heights.
Hogsmeade fishermen working at Weathertop's base were sometimes fortunate enough to glimpse across the dark lake their lord accompanying a radiantly beautiful elven maiden, strolling peacefully by the shore or playing with the gentle white Araw cattle.
During this peaceful time, Kael held a grand birthday celebration for Bilbo at Hogwarts Castle, gifting him a precious vial of Elixir of Life as a birthday present that left the hobbit speechless with gratitude.
After leisurely spending several pleasant months in courtship, one important matter's appearance made Kael quickly recover his focused determination.
By year's end, the Felix Felicis he had painstakingly created months earlier was finally completing its maturation.
Kael gazed at the golden liquid in the brown flask, watching golden droplets splash spontaneously on the liquid's surface—the telltale sign of success. A satisfied smile crossed his face.
After over half a year of patient waiting, Felix Felicis had finally succeeded.
Kael retrieved three small brown vials, carefully portioning the precious Felix Felicis from the flask with steady hands.
One small vial of Felix Felicis provided twelve full hours of extraordinary good luck.
Each small vial contained approximately three or four measured sips—with one sip granting three or four hours of enhanced fortune.
Though Felix Felicis proved remarkably miraculous, it absolutely couldn't be consumed carelessly or excessively. Overuse caused dangerous side effects—dizziness, reckless behavior, and overweening arrogance. Consuming large quantities proved highly toxic, potentially fatal.
Even legendary Potions Master Slughorn had consumed Felix Felicis only three times in his entire long life.
Once at age 24, again at 57, and lastly during the catastrophic Battle of Hogwarts when he had consumed Felix Felicis before entering the war. He ultimately survived completely unscathed against impossible odds.
Of the three small Felix Felicis vials, Kael planned to keep one complete vial for himself for the phoenix transformation. The remaining two he carefully divided into four smaller vials, each providing six hours of luck.
One vial went to Lord Glorfindel, thanking him sincerely for his previous generous blood gift. After all, Glorfindel had given him ten full drops of irreplaceable elven blood—enough to make several complete batches of Felix Felicis.
One vial Kael gave to Gandalf, expressing gratitude for his continued help and friendship over these months.
The remaining two vials went to Arwen and his future father-in-law, Lord Elrond, as thoughtful gifts.
Having finally obtained Felix Felicis after months of waiting, Kael naturally couldn't wait to experience its legendary effects firsthand.
Especially his long-desired phoenix Animagus transformation could now finally be attempted with reasonable safety.
But to ensure maximum safety during experimentation, Kael wisely decided the first Felix Felicis consumption would be dedicated to designing the elusive Thunderbird magical circulation systems.
The timing seemed perfect—his and Gandalf's Thunderbird magical transformation research had completely stagnated long ago without achieving significant results. Using Felix Felicis to test whether supernatural luck could help perfect the design made perfect sense.
Since the engagement, Gandalf had remained contentedly in Rivendell as an honored guest.
When Kael sought out Gandalf for this experiment, he brought along the four Felix Felicis vials intended for Gandalf, Glorfindel, Elrond, and Arwen.
Receiving the legendary luck-granting potion, all four recipients were intensely curious about its effects.
But knowing such rare luck potions could play unexpected crucial roles at critical life-or-death moments, none rashly consumed them immediately. They carried the vials carefully instead, saving them for true emergencies.
Gandalf and Kael returned to Weathertop through the Floo Network, with Arwen following along, curious to witness the experiment.
On the vast Mallorn tree's highest platform, exposed to open sky, Kael, Gandalf, and Arwen gathered in the afternoon light.
"Kael, what's your specific plan?" Gandalf inquired seriously.
Kael retrieved his precious Felix Felicis vial, his expression turning grave. "This time I'll consume Felix Felicis, using its supernatural luck to finally complete a successful Thunderbird magical transformation. But our time will be strictly limited—we absolutely cannot waste hours experimenting on disposable test subjects like spiders. We must perform the magical transformation directly on Thorondor himself, striving for complete success in one attempt."
"Of course, this approach means accepting huge risk," Kael continued honestly. "If Felix Felicis luck somehow isn't sufficient, severe magical transformation accidents could occur—minor ones causing permanent loss of sanity and reason, severe ones triggering explosive death!"
Kael turned directly toward Thorondor, who stood waiting patiently nearby. His tone remained grave as he asked for final confirmation. "Thorondor, are you absolutely certain about taking this considerable risk? There's no shame in waiting."
Thorondor couldn't speak human language, but his keen eyes blazed with extremely determined resolve as he nodded firmly without hesitation.
Receiving this unwavering answer, Kael didn't attempt to persuade him further. Since Thorondor genuinely wanted to grow significantly stronger and more useful, Kael wouldn't obstruct his companion's choice.
He just silently prayed that Felix Felicis would truly work as legendary tales claimed, ensuring smooth transformation without catastrophe.
Then he carefully opened the Felix Felicis vial, pouring out two precise spoonfuls to drink in one swallow.
This dosage provided six hours of enhanced luck—which should prove roughly sufficient for the complex work ahead.
The instant he swallowed Felix Felicis, Kael felt an unusual warm current rush pleasantly to his head. His entire being became extraordinarily confident and fortunate, as if absolutely nothing could possibly stump him or cause failure.
"Kael, how do you feel?" Gandalf and Arwen both looked at him with obvious curiosity, watching for changes.
"I feel—absolutely excellent!" Kael's face filled with irrepressible smiles, brimming with supernatural confidence. "Like I could accomplish anything."
"Alright then, let's begin the transformation!"
Then he drew his wand with a flourish, aiming carefully at Thorondor, beginning to cast the complex transfiguration magic.
Thorondor's current size was absolutely massive, his wingspan measuring fifty meters long—larger than many houses.
Under Kael's sustained transfiguration magic, Thorondor's body began constantly shrinking in controlled stages.
His huge wings continuously contracted down to a more manageable ten meters in length, while simultaneously growing a second pair of wings beneath the first. The tail feathers behind rapidly lengthened dramatically, developing two long, elegant tail feathers reminiscent of phoenixes.
Thorondor's fundamental Great Eagle appearance didn't change drastically in recognizable features, but his overall form had definitely become distinctly Thunderbird-like in proportions.
Reaching this step constituted merely an external cosmetic transformation—Thorondor's essential nature remained that of a Great Eagle beneath the surface.
Transforming such a massive Great Eagle consumed considerable magical power from Kael.
But for the current Obscurial Kael, with his rapidly growing, nearly bottomless magic reserves, this expenditure created no real pressure.
Moreover, Gandalf wearing Narya stood nearby ready to assist—Kael could draw upon magical power without serious concern about exhaustion.
After completing the surface transformation successfully, Kael next began the far more delicate work of transforming Thorondor's internal magic, forcibly changing and completely reshaping Thorondor's magical circulation system at a fundamental level.
Kael and Gandalf had previously achieved partial magical transformation that produced electricity-releasing "Thunderbirds" in their spider experiments, though their electrical output had been pitifully small—barely more than static shocks. Still, the results proved the concept worked.
As Kael's continuous stream of magic entered Thorondor's body, forcibly changing intricate internal magical circuits with surgical precision, Thorondor trembled visibly with pain. But the loyal eagle showed absolutely no resistance, persisting stoically throughout the ordeal.
Kael gradually covered the original magical operation pathways with the improved "Thunderbird" magical circulation system, replacing them bit by careful bit.
Finally, after the new magical circulation system had completely replaced Thorondor's original Great Eagle circuits, the eagle's feathers began releasing faint crackling electrical sparks, successfully gaining electrical discharge ability.
Current Thorondor had completely become another type of creature—even the finite incantatem reversal spell couldn't revert him to his original form.
Reaching this step still relied primarily on Kael and Gandalf's previous months of research results.
Previously, Kael and Gandalf had successfully transformed a giant spider into an electricity-releasing "Thunderbird" using these same techniques.
Perhaps because Great Eagles possessed inherently stronger magic than giant spiders, Thorondor's transformed "Thunderbird" form released electrical power several times greater than the spider versions.
But even accounting for this improvement, this "Thunderbird" remained far from the true legendary Thunderbirds described in magical texts.
Real Thunderbirds could create devastating storms, summon rain covering entire cities like New York, and release genuine lightning strikes—they were powerful magical creatures naturally mastering complex weather magic.
Without proper references or leads, Kael and Gandalf's previous Thunderbird transformation experiments had stalled frustratingly at exactly this step without any progress for weeks.
But now, having consumed Felix Felicis, Kael felt divinely inspired with sudden clarity.
In his magically enhanced perception, Thorondor's current internal magical circulation system had numerous awkward, inefficient places—he instinctively felt that carefully adjusting these pathways would improve performance tremendously.
Following this inexplicable but compelling feeling, Kael immediately attempted to improve and perfect these magical circuits based on pure intuition.
He slightly adjusted some minor magical circuits—and the electrical sparks dancing across Thorondor immediately became visibly much brighter and more powerful.
Seeing this modification actually work, Kael's eyes brightened with excitement. He immediately continued confidently to modify other problematic magical circuit areas.
Magical creatures' internal magical circulation systems resembled extraordinarily complex meridian diagrams with thousands of pathways. Under Kael's inspired changes and careful adjustments, they became increasingly complete and smoothly flowing.
While perfecting these improvements, Kael didn't proceed entirely smoothly without setbacks. When encountering the magical circuit's critical core position, Kael slightly changed one seemingly minor magical pathway—and immediately triggered overall catastrophic magical chaos and violent conflict throughout Thorondor's body.
This frightening development scared Kael into frantically suppressing the dangerously rioting magic, then desperately making corrective adjustments before the entire transformation exploded.
Just when even optimistic Kael thought complete failure was absolutely imminent, he unexpectedly stumbled upon an even more perfect magical pathway configuration that stabilized everything.
As precious time gradually passed, Thorondor's internal magical circulation system became progressively more complete and powerful.
But magical circulation systems proved too extraordinarily complex—even proceeding relatively smoothly with luck's aid, Kael simply couldn't improve all necessary magical circuits in the short time available.
Seeing his Felix Felicis effects running dangerously low, Kael prepared to consume additional potion.
But Gandalf acted first, retrieving the Felix Felicis vial Kael had given him earlier. He drank exactly half—gaining three additional hours of supernatural luck.
"This Felix Felicis is truly miraculous beyond description! I now feel completely favored by fortune itself—like I could succeed at absolutely anything I attempted!" Gandalf praised with genuine wonder.
Then he immediately began helping Kael perfect Thorondor's remaining internal magical circulation system with renewed energy.
Gandalf truly deserved his reputation as a sage among Istari—under Felix Felicis effects, his displayed abilities far exceeded even Kael's enhanced performance by countless times.
He could always quickly grasp fleeting inspiration flashes before they vanished, instantly discovering magical pathway problems and finding optimal alternative routes. He guided Kael expertly to rapidly improve and adjust magical circuits with maximum efficiency.
Even after Kael's original Felix Felicis effects finally ended, under Gandalf's continuous expert guidance, Thorondor's internal magical circulation system became increasingly perfect and powerful.
Gandalf even experienced a brilliant flash of inspiration, successfully integrating his own lightning-summoning magic directly into the magical operations, granting even stronger storm abilities.
Finally, after hours of intense work, the magical circulation system needed absolutely no more changes. It had become perfectly complete and balanced, flowing as naturally as if it had formed this way from birth.
A perfect, true Thunderbird had finally been born!