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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
"Oh." He shrugs. "Okay, that's fine too."
occluminous
"So if I find anything about how to do Legilimency and I have an idea of how Occlumency might work and I think it's all safe I'll ask you and you can be my test subject."
"Okay!" he repeats cheerfully.
occluminous
"I actually did find a how-to book on Legilimency but I didn't read it. I'll do that," says Bella, and she writes this down.
Feral grins.
occluminous
Bella grins right back.
And that is that for this meal! She scampers off to the library.
And that is that for this meal! She scampers off to the library.
That evening, there is a long thin package waiting for her in her room. It looks distinctly broom-shaped.
occluminous
She pounces on it! Carefully. She doesn't want to snap a straw.
The broom in question has twigs, not straw, as most modern flying brooms do. It's not especially sleek or shiny, but the twigs are straight, the handle is polished, and the binding is gleaming brass.
occluminous
Eeeeee. She wants to fly it right away, but it's almost lights out. She hugs it and props it up gently in a corner instead.
occluminous
"Thanks! Broom broom broom, the teacher even said at the start of the first class that if we have our own we can bring them, this one's way nicer than school brooms, Tony is getting so hugged tomorrow!"
occluminous
Sherlock can also be so hugged.
"I came up with a way to maybe learn Occlumency, sort of," she says chattily when the hug ends. "I mean it's not perfect, but Feral says he doesn't care if I read his mind, so I'm going to make up ways to learn Occlumency and he can try them and I can do Legilimency to see if they work, since there is an instructional book on that, which is weird and creepy but oh well."
"I came up with a way to maybe learn Occlumency, sort of," she says chattily when the hug ends. "I mean it's not perfect, but Feral says he doesn't care if I read his mind, so I'm going to make up ways to learn Occlumency and he can try them and I can do Legilimency to see if they work, since there is an instructional book on that, which is weird and creepy but oh well."
occluminous
"Thanks!"
And it has been a long and lovely birthday, and so Bella goes to bed.
The next day she reads the book on Legilimency. It's not long, and the spell isn't hard - creepy - but apparently the intrusion is the sort of thing you notice, so unless someone has been also memory-charming her, she doesn't think she's a victim. Apparently there's no serious risk associated with the spell, either, except for the parts that are actual nigh-intentional components of the mindreading itself.
She presents this information to Feral at lunch. It is a Sunday, so she has been able to spend all morning reading. "And I don't know what it will look like without any Occlumency at all, so I won't know if anything's working unless I have a baseline," she says.
And it has been a long and lovely birthday, and so Bella goes to bed.
The next day she reads the book on Legilimency. It's not long, and the spell isn't hard - creepy - but apparently the intrusion is the sort of thing you notice, so unless someone has been also memory-charming her, she doesn't think she's a victim. Apparently there's no serious risk associated with the spell, either, except for the parts that are actual nigh-intentional components of the mindreading itself.
She presents this information to Feral at lunch. It is a Sunday, so she has been able to spend all morning reading. "And I don't know what it will look like without any Occlumency at all, so I won't know if anything's working unless I have a baseline," she says.
Feral smiles. "So... you wanna read my mind, or what?"
occluminous
"Yeah. Your room? I try to stay out of mine during the day on weekends." She stashed her new broom in the student broom locker before breakfast so she could clear out and let Sherlock sleep.
"Okay!"
Nom nom lunch!
Nom nom lunch!
occluminous
Om nom lunch. "Okay, let's go, unless you have something else you need to do nowish?"
"Nope," he says serenely, and leads her to his room - a single-occupancy in the same wing as the infirmary, whose door opens by password instead of by wand-tap. He murmurs the password too low for Bella to hear.
occluminous
Bella doesn't try to listen for it, she just follows him in and sits down and peers at her wands before stuffing the hazel back in her hair and aiming the vine. "You ready?" she asks.
Feral shrugs. "Sure."
occluminous
"I need eye contact," she adds, when it doesn't materialize.
He looks at her.