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After dinner, while Bella is squirreled away in her and Tony's room reading her History textbook as though it's a fantasy novel (for the two bear significant resemblance)...
Artemis Burberry is in her room, on Patricia Hall, lamenting to her great horned owl about the lack of relatively private fireplaces for Floo calls here, and wondering where her roommate is.
(Who names their daughter "Sherlock", anyway?)
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occluminous
occluminous
"We'll see him in Charms and Potions, anyway," says Bella. "And whatever you two have together without me. I have Magical Defense first, what about you?"
occluminous
"Lucky, I have to wait till after lunch for brooms," says Bella. "But I'm sure all my other stuff will be cool too. Next semester we get electives, I have no idea how I'm going to decide on anything!"
occluminous
Breakfast om nom nom.
And then Bella consults her map and looks for the Magical Defense classroom. She's decided that she doesn't like the sleeve holster for her second wand; they're both up in her hair now, crossed.
And then Bella consults her map and looks for the Magical Defense classroom. She's decided that she doesn't like the sleeve holster for her second wand; they're both up in her hair now, crossed.
The Magical Defense classroom is on the second floor of another building.
Correction: it is the second floor.
The number of students in the class is barely enough to fill a third of the enormous room.
Also, there's another familiar face present.
Correction: it is the second floor.
The number of students in the class is barely enough to fill a third of the enormous room.
Also, there's another familiar face present.
Feral waves back, grinning.
Class begins shortly afterward. Despite the room, the teacher seems much more interested in imparting the theory of magical defense than the practice.
Class begins shortly afterward. Despite the room, the teacher seems much more interested in imparting the theory of magical defense than the practice.
occluminous
That's fine with Bella. She takes notes. For all she knows, this is essential for not defending oneself into a crater of misfired spell.
Feral fidgets. And he doesn't take notes. But he does answer a question, once, when the teacher asks if anyone can name the three Unforgivable Curses.
"...Yes?" she says, seeming a little surprised.
"Imperius, Cruciatus, and the Killing Curse," he says.
"And where did you pick up that information?"
He shrugs carelessly. "Read it somewhere, I guess."
"You are correct," says the teacher. "And who can tell me the reason why they are called Unforgivable?"
No takers this time.
"It is because," she says, "in every lawful wizarding society in the world the use of any one of these curses is punishable by death or worse."
"...Yes?" she says, seeming a little surprised.
"Imperius, Cruciatus, and the Killing Curse," he says.
"And where did you pick up that information?"
He shrugs carelessly. "Read it somewhere, I guess."
"You are correct," says the teacher. "And who can tell me the reason why they are called Unforgivable?"
No takers this time.
"It is because," she says, "in every lawful wizarding society in the world the use of any one of these curses is punishable by death or worse."
occluminous
Bella blinks. Or worse? Maybe she'll ask in social studies; it seems potentially off topic here.
She writes her best guess on the spellings of the curse names in her notes, though. She's pretty close - imperious is a word she knows and crushiatus reasonable for a ten-year-old.
She writes her best guess on the spellings of the curse names in her notes, though. She's pretty close - imperious is a word she knows and crushiatus reasonable for a ten-year-old.
The teacher goes on to outline the effects of each curse - mind control, torture, and death - but soon returns to less horrifying topics. Feral doesn't say anything for the rest of class.
occluminous
Well, those curses sure all sound pretty horrifying. (Although Bella thinks that about half the charms in her Charms book, not to mention certain transfiguration applications, could all certainly torture or kill somebody if used creatively, those are not their only purposes; that's something.)
Bella has magical theory next, which is mostly vocabulary words this early in the year but promises some cool stuff later in the semester. After that she has transfiguration, and she successfully turns a chip of wood into a similarly shaped chunk of iron after spending an entire hour trying (she is neither fastest nor slowest).
Then lunch!
Bella has magical theory next, which is mostly vocabulary words this early in the year but promises some cool stuff later in the semester. After that she has transfiguration, and she successfully turns a chip of wood into a similarly shaped chunk of iron after spending an entire hour trying (she is neither fastest nor slowest).
Then lunch!
Lunch, indeed!
When she arrives, Feral is there, sitting all alone at a table by the wall. Nobody else in the admittedly sparsely populated room seems interested in talking to him.
When she arrives, Feral is there, sitting all alone at a table by the wall. Nobody else in the admittedly sparsely populated room seems interested in talking to him.
occluminous
Bella looks for the Starks first, but, finding them not in evidence, she goes and sits with Feral. "I thought you looked old enough to be a seventh grader but you're in my Defense class," she observes, plunking down her tray.
"I am a seventh grader," he says cheerfully, "but I'm a really dumb seventh grader, so I'm in a lot of remedial classes. Hi!"
occluminous
"Oh. Hi," says Bella, blinking. "Okay. Is that how you knew about the curses?"
"Nope," he says. "Somebody mentioned 'em and I wanted to know what was so Unforgivable about 'em, so I looked it up."
occluminous
"They do sound really bad. I don't know about the mind control one, but the other two don't sound all that special, so I'm confused about why they've got their own name all together. There's first-year spells that could hurt or kill somebody," she muses.
"The Killing Curse is unblockable," he explains. "In the whole history of magic there's apparently one guy who's ever survived it, and he did it when he was a baby and nobody knows how. And they don't have guns in magic land, so that really freaks people out."
occluminous
"Guns are blockable, anyway, that's what bulletproof vests are for," says Bella, but she writes down this information. "I don't suppose you also know what execution or worse is supposed to mean? I thought about asking in social studies but I think it might give -" She glances at her schedule. "Mr. Li the wrong idea."
"Oh, there's these things called Dementors and they can suck your soul out through your mouth," he says brightly. "They're banned six ways to Sunday over here, but in Europe they still use 'em to execute really nasty criminals. You end up with a body walking around with no mind in it."
Feral grins. "I know, right? Magic is nasty sometmes."