Just sort o random... open rP

[ugly-imp.livejournal.com]

Tyrion had been at Hogwarts for only a short time. He wasstill more or less learning where things were, an effort made more complicated by the fact that new corridors were constantly popping up out of nowhere.


However, now he'd found the library. It was vast and full of books on all sorts of esoteric subjects, most of which he'd never heard of. There was also a section identified as Restricted. That made him more than a little curious, and so, when no one appeared to be watching, he simply walked into that section of the library.

Fifteen minutes later, onemight find him, sitting at atable with a stack of books on advanced potion-making that appeared to be taller than he was, scribbling notes to himself on parchment.

Comments

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen had need of a book that he could not simply send Aloysius to fetch. While he had no doubt the house-elf could materialise in the Restricted Section if need be, he did doubt whether the librarian's own house-elf -- Tally, was that his name? -- would tolerate that, and had no desire to bring the wrath of the library elf down upon poor faithful Aloysius.

The cover of a book very familiar to him caught his eye as he passed a study table. It was a book that ought to have been in the Restricted Section itself, and he stopped to see why it was not. The answer sat partially concealed by the stack of books atop which the book in question perched. "Mr Lannister. Already you prove resourceful."

[ugly-imp.livejournal.com]

Tyrion looked up from the notes he was scribbling and quirked a half-smile at Stephen.

"Hello, Doctor. Ilike to think so, yes. This potion-making business is fascinating. I tried reading up on charms and the like, but I couldn'twrap my head around mostof what I was reading... This seems infinitely easier."

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

Stephen took a seat at the table, not exactly across from Tyrion -- then the stack of books would have stood between them -- but at something of a diagonal. "To say it is easier may not be true for everyone; there are some here who are quite good at charms and cannot seem to manage even the basic potions I teach in my class. I can say that to my mind, potions make far more intuitive sense. I might almost venture to say that to perform charms requires a certain sort of faith, a faith to which my own cast of mind is not lent. Before coming here, I was trained as a physician, though I do not practice the profession here, and it fell to me quite often to prepare medicines and ointments for my own patients. To me the so-called 'magic' of potions resides only in the scope of ingredients which the wizarding world knows and my world did not."

[ugly-imp.livejournal.com]

"Ahh, so you teach Potion making here, then? I think it would be a useful skill to have. It seems from these books that one can create a potion for just about anything. But how do you know if the recipes written down are actually accurate?"

[estebanmd.livejournal.com]

A shrug. "You do not, not at first. The language of learning in my world has for centuries been Latin, the language of the old Roman Empire and then of the Church that arose in it; here, the language of magic is also Latin, but a terribly mangled and ungrammatical version, sometimes deplorably so. The words of most of the charms you will have learned or read are this sort of Latin. The manuscripts I use in my potions research I find not always easy to interpret. There is nothing for it but to observe strict safety protocols in the laboratory, and to allow for the inevitable squandering of ingredients before a particular recipe may be perfected. What you find in the textbooks readily available to you, though, should not cause you any concern. Should you plan to continue your forays into the Restricted Section --" a wry twist of the mouth, not disapproving, and a pointed look toward the book whose origin Stephen knew -- "it is another matter."