arts magical

[occluminous]

Bella has been living in the dorms for two days when the term properly starts. The buses begin arriving and discharging the students who didn't need to arrive early just in time for them to join the early attendees for lunch. Bella is sitting at a half-full table, reading her Charms textbook and prodding at one of her notebooks with the hazel wand. The vine one is still in her hair; she uses it for most things (to the extent that there is a 'most things', but she's getting a jump on her assignments) but she's giving the hazel a try for this particular charm. It's supposed to make the notebook refuse to open for anyone but her. Poke. Poke. "Claudo!"

Her notebook snaps itself shut abruptly. She opens the cover, closes it, passes it to the girl on her right and gets her to try, observes that it does not open. She puts the hazel wand back in her sleeve.

Comments

[occluminous]

"How? Maybe I need to pay closer attention to Euterpe."

[sparksflying]

"...I dunno, she just... does stuff," says Tony.

[occluminous]

"Maybe she'll show me sometime," says Bella.

[sparksflying]

Tony shrugs.

[occluminous]

"Euterpe makes musical little noises. It's why I named her that. I thought owls just hooted till I was in a shopful of them."

[nobodyelse]

"I wanted a raven," says Sherlock, "because ravens speak, but the shop was out and there hasn't been time to go back."

[occluminous]

"That's a pity they were out," says Bella. "Are you going to go back later? Can you mail-order them? I wonder how mail-ordering a mail-delivering bird would work. Maybe you borrow somebody's owl and then later you get two owls back, with a receipt on your new owl's leg. How much do ravens know how to say? Is it like parrots or are they really smart?"

[nobodyelse]

"...The way that they speak is similar to the way that parrots speak."

[occluminous]

"That's an awfully complete sentence," observes Bella. "Did I say something insensitive about parrots? Are parrots smart?"

[nobodyelse]

"I have no idea how smart parrots are. I have never spoken to one. Nor to a raven."

[occluminous]

"Oh."

Bella is quiet for a moment, then says, "I wonder if I ought to be a vegetarian or something. I didn't think owls were smarter than chickens, before I met Euterpe. I'm still not sure if owls are smarter than chickens, but they're brighter than I expected."

[nobodyelse]

Sherlock shrugs.

[occluminous]

"I bet there is a book on it in the library." Bella writes down that she should check this out.

[sparksflying]

"It's weird that everybody's not vegetarian, though," says Tony. "If chickens are as smart as owls."

[occluminous]

"I don't think it's that weird. There used to be, like, slavery, with slaves who were actually humans," says Bella. "If chickens are smart as magic owls, then it's bad for people to eat them, but not weird."

[nobodyelse]

Sherlock nods.

[occluminous]

"But I don't care about whether I'm weird or not if being weird would make me better," says Bella. "I mean, I might care a little, if people made fun of me, but I think being a vegetarian is probably not strange enough to be a big deal there."

[sparksflying]

Tony opens her mouth.

Tony closes her mouth.

Tony says, slowly, "...Has anybody told you about house elves yet?"

[occluminous]

"...No?"

[nobodyelse]

"They are a species of magical creature with humanlike intelligence, significant magical ability, and an obsessive need to act as servants."

[occluminous]

Bella stares at Sherlock openmouthed for a long, long moment.

"...Go on?" she manages finally.

[nobodyelse]

"What more do you want to know?"

[occluminous]

"How did they get that way? Are there lots? Do they like it or just have to like some people have to wash their hands and stuff?"

[nobodyelse]

"I have never met an elf," says Sherlock.

[sparksflying]

"They're a lot rarer than humans, but not that rare," says Tony. "A lot of the old pureblood families have a few around, and some big institutions like schools or the wizard rail."