TED TONKS: 16 May 1970

[orlanstamos]

Dear Julie,

Glad to hear school is going well. I knew you'd get to liking it eventually. Mum said you and the Bennet twins are practically inseparable. They're the two with the pigtails, yes? What are their names- Elizabeth and Olivia? Something like that.

School here is busy. I have O.W.L.s in a few weeks so I've been studying like mad

Comments

[brave_phoenix]

*teases*
Glad I'm not a fifth year like you! OWLs sound like no fun at all!

*smiles genuinely*
Good job on your project, though. Pretty cool that you got the highest mark! You guys deserve it with all the work you put into it!

Seriously -- 14 uses?

[orlanstamos]

*groans good naturedly* They're awful! Agony distilled into an academic form!

*laughs* Well, how much of it was work and how much of it was bickering with one another is up for debate. But it is pretty neat, yeah.

Seriously, 14. I guess rose quartz is used as the base for a couple of burn salves or some such.

[brave_phoenix]

*grins*
Well, apparently enough of it was work.

*perhaps a little too interested*
Burn salves? Really? Hmmm... *murmurs* ...those could be useful at times...
*a bit louder*
So did they teach you about the salves in Potions or just mention them?

[orlanstamos]

Apparently. Or it's the Shoemaker and the elves story done in with arithmancy projects instead of shoes.

Yes, I expect burn salves are pretty neat, but they've limited uses. I mean, it's not as though burn salves can, say, solve world hunger or shine your shoes.

*shrugs* We learned a bit about them, but it's not as though I could whip up one for you on the spot. Maybe you get to doing that in NEWTs but I suspect that Potions and I won't get to that level in our relationship.

[lefthandstars]

I loved arithmancy by the time I got to fourth year. First and second year arithmancy were hell, though.
Personally, I do think you should be worrying more about your upcoming Astronomy essay than the uses of Rose Quartz, Mr Tonks, because actually using it for most of those requires a more in depth knowledge of potions making anyway.

Also, CDs? aren't going to be invented for another 15 years.

[orlanstamos]

Arithmancy and I aren't friends, professor. I'd just rather have words than numbers.

*laughs* But I actually like Astronomy class, so I don't have to worry about the essay. Is it sad that I actually look forward to working on it, because the subject's so interesting?

*facepalm* I completely, utterly fail at life. It meant to say records, I swear.

[lefthandstars]

*raises eyebrow*
It is a little sad, Mr Tonks. *smiles* But I'll let it pass just this once. I do look forward to reading your essay. Which planet will you be writing on?

[orlanstamos]

*head tilts to the side as he talks, considering*

Well, I've a couple options. I'm leaning towards Uranus and how Muggles found Neptune based on inconsistencies with Uranus measurements. And contrast that with Wizard's first encounters with Uranus and Neptune, emphasizing the differences in astronomy between wizards and Muggles. Be pretty neat, especially considering that astronomy is, arguably, the discipline that has most in common with Muggle science.

But then the 'Is Pluto a Planet?' debate also holds appeal. So, not sure yet.

[leavingforlove]

Technically, I maintain that was a trick question. There are 14 uses for crushed rose quartz in Potions, yes. But it can also be used to make jewelry. Although why anyone would want pink jewelry is beyond me.

I'm glad our presenation went well, although you did go on. If that's how you are about Arithmancy, remind me to never get you started on something you do like, all right?

[orlanstamos]

I don't know how exactly you can use crushed rose quartz in jewelry making. Rose quartz in general, yes, on account making pendants and brooches and such. But not once it's crushed.

I think old women like pink jewelry. Once you hit fifty you start reaching for really tasteless bright things, it's an unspoken law.

*grins at her* And we had such low expectations at the start of it all! Stephen told me that Professor Vector teared up a bit at the end of our presentation, but I suspect he was taking the piss.

It's just that it's can all be so interesting! I just got a book on the curses used by the Moche culture in Peru, and it's bloody fascinating.

[leavingforlove]

No, it works. What you do is crush it up, not really fine, and then mix it into melted glass or plastic, then make the pendants out of that. Then you have these clear pendants with little coloured sparkly bits floating in them. It's pretty cheap jewelry, but kind of nice looking.

I fear for my future, then.

Yes, I rather think he was. Sounds like the kind of thing he'd do.

I've never even heard of the Moche culture of Peru. Your tastes certainly do run to the eclectic.

[orlanstamos]

Well, if I ever find myself with some crushed rose quartz, I know who to come to.

*laughs* You'll probably have one of those bright green wide-brimmed hats! It'll be wonderful.

He's locked up in the dorm, trying to do the last of the spells on the gramophone needle. If all goes well, we'll have 3 Dog Night warbling in the Common Room in just a few minutes.

*grins* They're pretty neat. Very violent culture, you know. One of the first state systems to appear in the New World with magic receptors.

[gryffire_lily]

*hopeful* You've figured out how to get records to play at Hogwarts? That's brilliant! I hope you'll share the secret, I have a lot of records, well, some of them are Petunia's, but I'd really like to play them at Hogwarts.

[orlanstamos]

Well, it was more Stephen then me. But he's got one of those old wizarding gramophones from the turn of the century, and he's been fiddling with it for the past few weeks. Trying to decode the hexes on the old spelled records and transfer them to Muggle vinyls.

*grins* But if it works, believe you me, we'll pass the gramophone onto you once we're gone.