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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
occluminous
She stares into his eyes, and focuses like the book said.
"Legilimens."
"Legilimens."
Feral is wondering idly what reading someone's mind is like, and noticing that her eyes are very pretty, and she has a bit of dust caught on an eyelash, and he wonders if blinking would mess up the spell, and how long he should go without it if it does.
occluminous
Reading someone's mind is to curiosity like candy is to hunger. Instant gratification, packed as dense as possible, like his eyes are a direct funnel to his thoughts, like - as is in fact the case, as long as she holds eye contact - all she has to do is want, and she'll have.
(She'd tell him that blinking would mess up the spell, but as new as she is at it, she thinks talking would also mess up the spell. She can always do it over again.)
(She'd tell him that blinking would mess up the spell, but as new as she is at it, she thinks talking would also mess up the spell. She can always do it over again.)
...Feral giggles. He doesn't know why, exactly, but something about the sensation of her reading his mind feels funny, like a joke he's just on the edge of getting.
occluminous
Bella blinks first. The spell ends.
"I didn't expect it to work the first time," she remarks. "Maybe I just got lucky. I do need eye contact to sustain, but the book says later I'll only need it to establish."
"I didn't expect it to work the first time," she remarks. "Maybe I just got lucky. I do need eye contact to sustain, but the book says later I'll only need it to establish."
"That was fun!" says Feral. "Wanna try again?"
occluminous
"Yeah! This time I'll see if I can do memories, I'm supposed to be able to do memories, what should I look for?"
"Cooking," he says immediately. "Look for me cooking with the elves, it's super cute."
occluminous
"Okay!" She blinks a few times, reestablishes eye contact, and says again, "Legilimens."
She looks. It's like squinting, to get memories instead of just surface thoughts, but -
She looks. It's like squinting, to get memories instead of just surface thoughts, but -
- there he is, measuring ingredients into a mixing bowl as the kitchen elves chatter about proper pancake technique.
occluminous
She grins, and watches till her eyes itch and she has to blink again. "Neat. Now I know how hard it is when you don't know any Occlumency," she says. "What if you try to fight me off without any Occlumency practice, want to try that?"
"Sure!"
He tries to just - push her away, but in his head.
It pretty much doesn't work at all.
It pretty much doesn't work at all.
occluminous
"Hmm," says Bella. "Is there anything you don't want me to see - I mean I won't look for it if you really don't, but anything you could be more energetic about shooing me away from?"
"...Not... really," he says. "Well, kind of. But most of it's stuff you probably don't wanna see either."
occluminous
"...Oh. Yeah, there's that. Okay. So, the Occlumency books aren't very - stepwise - but they talk about having a clear mind, and about moving like water away from the attack, and one of them mentioned meditating. Can you work with that or should I invent something with more detail for you?"
"I can try to work with that!" he says.
occluminous
"Okay! Lemme know when you think you have something. I'm gonna go outside and play with my new broomstick," beams Bella.
"Sure," shrugs Feral. "See ya!"
occluminous
"Bye!"
And Bella runs off and plays with her new broomstick. She decides it needs a name, and goes with Terpsichore, to match Euterpe.
And Bella runs off and plays with her new broomstick. She decides it needs a name, and goes with Terpsichore, to match Euterpe.
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