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Bella doesn't hear anything from the librarian, and, when she checks in, is told that there is nothing - no expert faculty, no further available books, no correspondence course, nothing. The librarian does at least seem sympathetic. Bella is unhappy. She reads all the books on Occlumency, finds no clues, and tentatively gives up in the face of so much else to do. Her theory teacher, a Scottish import who takes a liking to her, calls her "his little Ravenclaw", which Bella looks up and determines to be a compliment.
She meets the library elves - Mith, Kay, and their small child who nonetheless does a prodigious amount of work, Hazzy. They are friendly, but don't seem to really understand her questions about them; at any rate no one seems to be gratuitously abusing them beyond allowing them their work, so she solicits their invaluable services in book-hunting.
Meanwhile, Sherlock settles into an unschedule. He's allowed the sleeping potion twice weekly to avoid dependence and excess side effects, and uses it Tuesdays and Thursdays; on weekends, Bella tries to absent herself from the room as much of the day as possible to let him catch up, and she does the same thing on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the afternoons. Sometimes she sleeps over in Tony's room, but this leaves her with an awful crick in her back even after she learns a Cushioning Charm, and she doesn't like to do it more than once or twice weekly.
Bella's birthday arrives, and Euterpe comes in with gifts from home - arm-warmers and candy and a calligraphy kit from Renée, a book and money "because I don't know what you need where you are" from Charlie. She does not get a broom from Tony. She did not really expect a broom from Tony, especially after ceasing to be her roommate, so she doesn't sulk or even comment.
Sherlock gets her a present, though, and if it's not quite better than a broom it's at least close. It appears on her desk, which narrows down the suspects, and he admits it when she asks, and it's a book on something called -
The Philosopher's Stone.
It doesn't have a recipe. No one knows the recipe. But it has lots of stuff about it.
Bella makes up her mind to become much more attentive in Potions.
And Sherlock gets very, very hugged.
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occluminous
"It is a dumb rule," says Feral.
occluminous
"Is there a reason for it besides magic being sorta dangerous?" Bella asks. "Because if that's all it could be that we can't try new spells that we haven't mastered, maybe, but we could still do things like Light Charms."
"Something called the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy," he says. "I think."
occluminous
"Yeah, I knew about that, but then we could do magic at home with our families who already know about it," Bella sighs.
"Nope, 'cause they don't trust you not to fuck it up and show somebody who's not supposed to know."
occluminous
Bella sighs. "At least that goes away, but not for years. Are they trying to make us ones who go back to the Muggle world find it a huge disappointment every time?"
"Probably," says Feral.
occluminous
"Yeah, I guess that seems like the sort of thing they might do. I like magic, but I'm really not thrilled about all the social studies type stuff, you know?"
"...Whaddya mean?"
occluminous
"Like how the government seems to work, and what magic people seem to care about, is kind of screwed up."
"Sure," says Feral. "It's the same way with Muggles."
occluminous
"Yes," Bella agrees. "But - but I think maybe it's worse with magic people, like Muggles at least pretend to care about some things that magic people don't and magic people are just as bad in the ways that Muggles are bad. I'm not sure yet, but that's what it looks like so far."
Feral shrugs. "Maybe so."
occluminous
"I'm not sure if pretending to care about stuff is actually better," says Bella after a musing pause. "But I have more practice arguing with people about really doing things they say they think they should than about arguing with them that they should care about things."
He shrugs again. "Not like I do much of either."
"...I dunno," he says. "What do you mean?"
occluminous
"Like, I care about people not having to get hurt and die, and having the stuff they need, and about nobody messing with my brain even though it turns out there's no good way to learn Occlumency that anybody knows about, and about knowing who I am," says Bella. "What stuff do you care about? Specially so, that most people don't, I mean."
"Uh... I don't really compare what I care about to what most people care about," he says. "I don't really think about what I care about, like that."
"Instead... of sitting around listing stuff that matters to me? Uh, I do all the other stuff I do with my time?"
occluminous
"No, I mean - how do you - maybe you just don't," says Bella. "Know what you'd do if different stuff happened. Maybe people who aren't me just don't."
Feral shrugs.
"I know what I'd do if some stuff happened. But not unless I've thought of it. And not unless it matters."
"I know what I'd do if some stuff happened. But not unless I've thought of it. And not unless it matters."
"...How do you?"