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]

"Is there nobody who figures this stuff out?"

[sparksflying]

"Sure," says Tony, "but I am not that person."

[occluminous]

"Oh. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time in the library, I think. Can thestrals see each other? Can animals see them?"

[sparksflying]

"I'm pretty sure they can see each other or I have a hard time imagining how you'd get new Thestrals," she says. "No idea about other animals."

[occluminous]

"But you have to see a person die to get to see them, not, like, a spider."

[sparksflying]

"Yeah."

[occluminous]

"That is weird. Do people who aren't humans count?"

[sparksflying]

Tony shrugs helplessly.

[occluminous]

"Sorry," laughs Bella. "Just, you're there, and the librarian isn't back from vacation till tomorrow morning so I can't go look it up in the library right now."

[sparksflying]

"It's cool," she laughs.

[occluminous]

Bella writes all of her questions down for later. "It would be only fair if you interrogated me, but I suppose I don't even maybe know anything you really want to know."

[sparksflying]

"I don't really have that many pressing questions about, like, stuff," Tony admits.

[occluminous]

"Well, if you think of any, you can ask me," Bella says.

[sparksflying]

"Deal."

[occluminous]

"I'm going to go to the kitchen and see if there are house-elves in it, as long as I can't go to the library," says Bella. "You want to come?"

[sparksflying]

She hesitates, then shakes her head.

"Nah, go ahead, I better unpack. And I wanna be here in case Nike shows up."

[occluminous]

"Okay." Bella points at Euterpe. "You be friendly with her eagle, okay?"

Euterpe whinny-hoots.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." And she's off to the kitchens.

[pythbox]

The kitchens are moderately difficult to locate.

They do contain elves - small large-eyed floppy-eared personlike creatures wearing a ragged but meticulously clean assortment of (sometimes not very) clothing-like items.

They also contain one human, not very much older than Bella. He glances up once when she enters the room, and then goes right back to washing dishes by hand while the elves cluster around her.

"Is miss lost?"

"Does miss want something to eat?"

"There are lots of snacks for miss if she wants them!"

[occluminous]

"I'm Bella," Bella tells the elves. "I don't need a snack, I just wanted to meet some elves. I've never met any before, you see, and I only found out about you a little while ago." She peers at the human, but doesn't address him.

[pythbox]

"Now miss has met some elves!" says an elf.

"Would miss like a snack anyway?" asks another.

"There are lots of snacks for miss," a third reminds her.

The human boy continues to wash dishes; one of the elves who is at the fringe of the Bella-centric cluster darts away to help rinse and dry.

[occluminous]

"I'm not hungry," says Bella. "Are you all very busy? I don't want to interrupt you if you don't have time to just talk."

"Us is kitchen elves, miss, kitchen is always busy except when it's time for sleeping," says an elf.

"Library elves," says one derisively, "sometimes have spare time."

"Oh," says Bella. "Well, all right, thank you for letting me know."

"Would miss like a snack to take to the library?" asks an elf. "There is gingersnaps and fresh potato chips!"

"...I will try a little bit of each," Bella says, tempted. "I can't go to the library, though, it's closed till tomorrow."

[pythbox]

"I helped with the gingersnaps," says the human, not looking up from his washing but smiling down at the dishes. The elf who's helping him gives an exaggerated sniff of disapproval, then looks up at him with a smile, as though sharing some private joke.

[occluminous]

Bella accepts the offered snacks in their little Chinese takeout style boxes. "You just like to cook?" she guesses. She eats a gingersnap. "They're yummy."

[pythbox]

"I love to cook," says the human, grinning.

"Feral Orphan comes and helps every chance he gets," says the elf who's drying dishes. "But only when he is allowed."

This is clearly another joke between them.

[occluminous]

"...Feral Orphan?"