Working in the library (for anyone)

[queen_c_tm]

Cordelia hates the library. Too many books, too many people all sitting around being way too quiet. All that low whispering and page-flipping drives her up the wall

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[the_calcium_tm]

A flustered, red-eared and disheveled Hufflepuff fourth year plops in the chair next to her with three thick tomes and a pleading look on his face. "D'you know anything about Arithmancy? Specifically the dominant planets of the Chaldean magi?"

There's a look of desperate hope on his face that would be particularly endearing if for the fact he wasn't clutching her robes with a sort of manic frustration.

[queen_c_tm]

Cordelia looks down at his hand gripping her robes with a slight scowl, then back at him. She doesn't usually talk to younger boys, but she's bored and maybe he'll be able to help her. Besides, she's pretty sure he's a Quiddich player, so that makes him slightly less of a loser.

"Maybe." She took Arithmancy last year and wasn't half-bad at it. "Do you know anything abouat dragon's blood?"

Asking a fourth year for help on her Potions homework. She's officially reached a new low. But she still has four inches to write and she's out of ideas.

[the_calcium_tm]

This incredible loook of relief passes over his face. "Yes. Yes, how many of its uses have you written about so far?"

Potions is something -- one of a few somethings -- Jimmy can do well.

[queen_c_tm]

"I don't know, ten?" She unrolls her parchment some more and frowns down at it. "But I think I might have mentioned baldness twice. I know more," she adds defensively. "But we're only supposed to write about the regenerative potions in this. I only have four inches left."

The writing is in a girly, flowing script, and slightly bigger than normal. A good trick to take up more room faster.

[the_calcium_tm]

"The regenerative ones?" He pulls the parchment a little bit toward himself, skims it with a finger tracing down the page. "You -- you did mention baldness twice." He taps the portion that repeats.

"D'you have your book with you?"

[queen_c_tm]

Cordelia grumbles under her breath. Now she's going to have to rewrite the whole thing. She picks up her quill and scratches out the repeated portion, then slides her book over to him.

"I thought it was used for healing burns, but that's unicorn blood." She's whining just a bit. She'd really thought that would be enough to fill the last few inches. But now not only can she not use it, but she has even more parchment to fill after taking out that second baldness part.

Stupid potions.

[the_calcium_tm]

"Can you mention the bit where it lets you understand languages if you boil it first?" Jimmy flips through the Potions book, gnawing on his inner cheek. "'S sort of, erm, generative."

[queen_c_tm]

"But not regenerative, unless you used to know the languages and forgot," Cordelia points out. "Oh! Isn't there a potion for restoring memories? To counteract a memory charm? No, wait... you just use another memory charm for that. Nevermind."

She huffs out a frustrated breath, blowing some hair off of her forehead. This sucks.

[the_calcium_tm]

"You sure you couldn't just, erm, sort of... you know." He makes bague gestures with his left hand while he skips the section on engorging potions.

[queen_c_tm]

Cordelia looks at him in confusion. "Sort of you know, what?"

It would be really helpful if he would make sense. She supposes that's what she gets for asking a fourth year for help.

[the_calcium_tm]

"Sorta... kind of..."

But then Jimmy has an idea. "Did Professor Holmes say it had to be Dragon's blood, like the blood from a dragon, or did he just say, 'Dragon's blood'?"

[queen_c_tm]

"Blood from a dragon," she says with a tired sigh. She sees where he's going with that, but she's already been there, tried that.

"What about fingernails? Is there a potion to regrow those?" Surely there must be, right?

[the_calcium_tm]

"Well, yeah, but if you put Dragon's blood in it, it's a bit, erm. Potent."

Not to mention what happens with your cuticles.

"You sure you couldn't use the plant?"

[queen_c_tm]

"Right. That would be bad."

Or funny, depending who it's used on. She'll have to remember that for later...

"Yeah, definitely has to be the animal. He wants us to talk about which species are better for which potions, too." She grumbles some more and rubs her face. "Maybe I'll just write bigger when I re-copy it..."

[the_calcium_tm]

"Well, erm. If it's about species, maybe you're looking in the wrong places, yeah? These are all potions books. Maybe you should look at dragon books."

Jimmy's not smart, but he at least knows where to get information. Not that it helps much when he dosn't know what it's saying.

[queen_c_tm]

"Yeah, maybe..." She eyes the stacks warily. That would mean more research and more books. And therefore more time in the library.

"I'll look in a bit, I guess. I need a break. So what's your problem?"

She really just means his homework, but it comes out sounding a little more snobbish than intended.