Participants:
| Scene Title | The Big Idea |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Ginny and Amber think of the most Awesome Thing Ever! |
| Location | Hogwarts - Library |
| Date | Apr 4, 1995 |
| Watch For | Unstoppable Team Uniting |
| Logger | Holly |
Ginny has been spending a ridiculous amount of her free time in the library. Her fingers are stained with ink from notetaking, and even Madame Pince had started expecting her to be there, if her almost-cordial nod was any indication. It's not school work that Ginny is preoccupied with, although that's certainly on her mind with exams coming up.
No, it's something else entirely. After the attack at Hogsmeade, and narrowly missing getting Crucio'd, she's been in a bit of a state. Her way of coping with it is to plunder every single book about defense against the dark arts for information. There are stacks of dusty tomes surrounding her, and sheets and sheets of parchment covered with her untidy scroll.
—-
Amber's here for a different reason. Sure, she's been reading up on defense herself now and then, but at the moment, there's a much bigger problem - bigger than Death Eaters and dead friends. Namely, it's the fact that she's still zombie-coloured, and she kind of wants to get back to normal. Seeing the stack of books surrounding Ginny on her neverending quest through the library, she peers over it. "Oi, Weasley," she says, smiling.
After being here for several hours, it's nice to actually talk to someone.
Maybe she can take a break for a little while. Do something else for a change. After all, the purple doesn't seem to be harming her, and she can ask if Ginny's seen anything about fixing this in the meantime. "You see any books abou' changin' the colour of blood lately?"
—-
Ginny jumps about a mile when she's spoken to her. She and Madame Pince had an unspoken agreement - Ginny would keep quiet, and the librarian wouldn't throw her out. The result is that she's gotten used to the silence. "Blood?" She asks, recovering herself. "No, I don't think so. Blood magic is very dark. Can be used in some protective potions, though." Yes, that'd been covered in one of her most recent reads. Ginny was full of semi-useless information like that. "Why?" Glancing up then, she does a double-take. Amber wasn't the usual colour that humans tended to be.
—-
Amber indicates her face with a flourish. Pale. It looks cold. Dead. "'ad an accident with someone tha' shouldae been practicin' 'ealing magic is all," she says. Dark magic or not, whatever Trelawney did has altered Amber's appearance. "Figured I'd 'elp Pomfrey along, but I aren't found nothin' on blood changin' colours yet. Sorry fer scarin' ya. Mind if I take a look through your books 'ere?"
—-
Ginny blinks a few times, then nods, gesturing to the chair across from her. "Sure, help yourself. Got a lot of various topics here, there's probably something about blood somewhere. Maybe try those," she indicates two books about midway through one stack, both of their spines a worn shade of red. "Does it hurt at all?" The question might not be appropriate, but she's curious!
—-
"Thanks!" is Amber's reply. It's a quiet exclamation, considering their location, but she still sits down across from Ginny, as she starts to look through the books. Pulling a promising one out of the stack, she starts paging through it. Blood-borned curses, blood rites, blood, blood, blood… Vampires must love this book. "Nah, it don't 'urt. I mean, I scratched up me arm a bit. S'why Trelawney tried ta 'eal it."
Blood traitors. Skipping through that…
"I mean, this is jes' what I need, aye? All this stuff 'appenin', and me with a cosmetic problem. 'ardly seems worth it. Still, 'ard to take someone seriously, what with them bein' purple n' all."
—-
Ginny grins weakly. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Not that I'm purple or anything, but.." She shrugs, plucking the next book off the top of her "to read" stack. Her gaze lowers to the table of contents, and she flips to a promising looking chapter. "I just.. feel kind of useless right now. S'why I'm doing all this reading. Not sure what else to do. Can't not do anything. You know?" It looks like the recent lack of social contact has turned Ginny into a bit of a rambler.
—-
Amber's flipping through the book comes to a stop as she stares at the words on the page she's found. She's not actually reading them, just looking. Lately, she's been talkative, too, which is very strange for the usually silent Hufflepuff. "One 'o me good friends was killed," she says. "Couldnae do anythin' about it, an' now she's a ghost." Another page is flipped. Nothing. Another.
Amber's trying to do everything she can not to end up like Perpetua now, and she just doesn't know how. She's a fourth-year student, and she hadn't even heard of magic until four years ago. "Ya ever wish you could just be somethin' else? Get away from all this?"
—-
Ginny looks up abruptly from the page she was reading. "You knew Perpetua? I saw her the other day. In the armory. She's still not used to being a ghost, I don't think, but at least you can see her sometimes?" Stay positive, Ginny! She nods vigorously at this. "Yeah. Sometimes I just wish I could wake up, and it would be 10 years from now. I just wish I could find something in these stupid books," Hermione would kill her for saying that, "That'll give me some sort of information. Something I can do to protect others - protect myself."
—-
Amber's usually very upbeat. She can smile in the face of anything - life is a game, and she's a witch, for God's sake. Everything is awesome! Except when it comes to Perpetua. "This kinna sounds… Cold, but… I wish she woulda jes' died. There aren't nothin' I c'n do ta 'elp 'er, and she's gonna watch alla us get older. She never will. An 'undred years from now, she's still gonna look like she's a student at 'ogwarts. It aren't fair."
Setting the book aside, she pulls another out of the stack. A couple of the books fall, but Amber catches them before they slam against the floor. There's the slightest sniffle. "Did she… Mention what 'appened to 'er?" Amber asks. There's a bit of thought. She's already told one person about the rat animagus… "There were a rat that weren't a rat."
—-
On an impulse, Ginny reaches over and pats the older girl's hand. "I know. I'm sorry. It must be really hard." Flipping to the next page, she glances down at the muddle of tiny text on the parchment. "She did, a little bit. She said the rat was a man, and that the man called her names and was mean to her. Didn't get the full story, though - she was really upset. Kept saying she should've known."
—-
The Hufflepuff's eyes close. Poor Perpetua. And really, what can you do to make a ghost feel better? They're dead. There's kind of no recovering from that, and her Housemate was so young… It really wasn't fair. She'll never get to experience even a quarter of what most people would in their lifetimes. "'is name was Peter somethin', I don't r'member. Pr'fessor Moldavia tol' me." Paging through this new book, she finally finds something promising - Blood Hexes and Curses. Still, she looks up at Ginny first. "Must be somethin' cool ter be an animagus. I almost wanna figure it out meself. Give me somethin' ta take my mind off all this."
—-
"Peter, huh? I'll have to remember that." With a squeeze of Amber's hand, Ginny lets go, beginning to take some more notes. "Yeah. You heard Sirius Black is one, right? It was a really big deal when it came out during his trial. I wonder how hard it is to master? None of these books really talk about it." A glare is given to the books that don't seem to be doing much good.
—-
Amber doesn't much like Sirius Black, and the name makes her shiver. When he appeared in the Potions class, Amber was pretty terrified. "Do ya believe 'e's innocent?" Amber asks. "I mean, 'e musta been locked up for some reason, right? After all tha's 'appened, I jes'…" Amber looks uncomfortable, squishing down in her seat a little. "I… uh. I hid unner the table. Couldn't make meself come out. I'm not a coward— But… but there was spells flyin' everywhere, n' I thought maybe— Maybe 'e was there ta… Ya know." Let's not talk about Sirius Black!! "Oh, look, I bet Pomfrey could use this 'ere…" Pointing to a passage in the book, she asks, "D'ya mind if I take thissin'?"
—-
Ginny nods fairly enthusiastically. "I do, yeah. Harry says he is, anyway, and I believe Harry. But.. he's still a little scary, yeah. I'm not quite.. used to him." She shrugs, taking a few more notes down. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid, though." She smiles at the girl. "In time, we'll know if he's really innocent or not. I'd say trust Harry for now, though." Nodding, Ginny says, "Go ahead! Do you think it'll help get you back to a regular colour?"
—-
Amber's not about to go trusting convicted criminals just yet. Not without her own research - and hey, maybe she'll look into that. It's not as if she has to be all buddy-buddy with the guy, though. "I jes' wish 'e'd stay outta th'school," she says quietly, though she's quite a bit more comfortable with the fact that Ginny isn't repremanding her for being afraid. She could get to like this girl! "Yeh, look." Turning the book around so Ginny can read it, she indicates the section on curses involving blood colour, and what they've been used for in the past. "I bet if Pomfrey reads this, I'll be righ' as rain t'morrow!"
—-
Ginny nods understandably. "Yeah, I know. You can always read about his trial.. that's how I heard about the animagus thing." Leaning forward to read the page, she nods enthusiastically. "That looks good! I'm surprised there are so many different ways to turn your blood - does that say into chocolate? Wouldn't that be problematic?"
—
Amber quickly turns the book around, reading the bit about chocolate blood. "W— I guess if I 'ad ta go, I suppose bein' prac'tically made outta chocolate would be my pick." She scowls, reading over it. Seriously, what a horrible way to die. Horribly blissful. "A'least that's with a potion, yeh? No one can 'ex you into chocolate." She shivers. The spells aren't actually listed in the book, but maybe… "I bet the spells are in the r'stricted section for these…" She pauses, thinking. "I bet the spells for becomin' an animagus are in there, too. I've thought abou' tryin' it. Wonner if I could."
—-
Ginny laughs slightly, nodding. "Yeah, that's true. But only if you got to eat chocolate while being turned into chocolate." Nodding firmly, she agrees. "I'd be worried, elsewise. I wonder what the symptoms for that are?" Yes, the substitute Potions Professor has made her think about that sort of thing. "Do you know if there are a lot of spells for it? Becoming an animagus, I mean? I wonder how hard it is.." She looks most decidedly thoughtful.
—-
And she can't help wonder if, after you died, you'd come back as a chocolate ghost.
"I dunno, I think you'd know perdy fast if your blood was chocolate. I don't think chocolate carries oxygen." She scratches her head, pushing hair back out of her eyes. Amber continues looking over the page for another moment, before she folds over the corner - Pince would kill her! - and closes the cover.
An idea occurs to her. "We should go see Ol' McGonagall!" she says. "I mean, I 'unno if we could do it or not, but maybe we could see somma the spells. Just, you know, fer research." Extra credit. Whatever. "I mean, if some jerk rat could do it, I bet we could, too."
—-
Ginny chuckles, and shakes her head. "I don't think it does, either. Unless it was charmed or something." Adjusting her 'already read' stack, she puts the book she was currently reading on the stack. "I think that's a good idea. Maybe she can help us with this. I mean, if we say we'll do it with adult supervision, she can't deny us, can she? It'll be a learning experience!" Ginny leans forward, looking excited. "What kind of animal d'you think you'd be? I wonder if you get to pick it?"
—-
And it would be so awesome to be an animal, besides. A lot of people have probably tried it, though, and failed, or else there would be more Animagi in the world. To this, Amber says, "Well, I cannae imagine it'd be easy…" But that's neither here nor now! Now is the time to be excited! "I'unno! Uh… I never really tho' much abou' it. I mean, I kinna considered it b'fore, but I just… put it outta me 'ead. Maybe a badger." That's original.
—-
Ginny grins, bouncing a little in her seat. She's getting into this! "Yeah, I bet it's really hard. Still, if we try.. and when we fail we don't die but just try again," Very positive, Ginny! "It might work out. We should at least try, and see what happens. I don't know what animal I'd be, either." Ginny looks thoughtful at this train of thought. "It'll be interesting to see what we turn out as."
—-
"Oh man, this is gonna be so awesome!" It's as good as done, as far as Amber's concerned! They can so do this. Maybe it's just that a lot of people were just totally too lazy to do it. Besides, Ginny's enthusiasm is catching, and even if Amber was in a bit of a melancholy mood before, she's not now. "I bet it'll take awhile, but that's all right. Wouldn't be worth doin' if it wasn't 'ard, yeah? Well, I guess it would be, but then ev'ryone'd be an animagus, and it'd be boring. I 'ope I'm not somethin' dumb, like a worm."
—-
Ginny beams at the older girl. "Yes, I think it'll be really fun! As long as we don't die! I bet it'll help us with other subjects, too, if we're studying it so hard." One can only hope, at least! "It might not take too long.. I mean, if we study really hard. Besides, it'll be worth it in the end." She chuckles, and nods. "Or a moth, or something."
—-
"Well… I'll take this, and we'll meet up at some point when I'm no' purple." Standing, Amber picks up the book and taps it. Hopefully, Pomfrey will be able to find something in there to help. "We'll talk abou' goin' ta see McGonagall."
—-
Ginny grins, and nods. "I should get back to my notes. This is a good idea! I'll get a hold of you soon, or you can get a hold of me. Good luck with getting your blood back to normal!" With a grin, Ginny turns back to her plethora of books.