[September 5, 2016: Monday, Week 1. MEANWHILE. IN THE LIBRARY.] #06* Luke got lost a couple times on the way here, but he always managed to straighten himself out after a few minutes by getting directions from a helpful portrait. He peeks in the door and looks around, then wanders inside, closing the door behind him carefully. #06* Luke steps as quietly as he can, but he can't help making a little noise. He looks around guiltily to see if he's disturbing anyone, but fortunately the library's pretty empty this early in the term. He finds a table towards the back a bit but with a good view of the door, and settles in. He already has some homework to do, even on the first day of school, so he takes it out to work on it while waiting for Eliana like the conscientious little Hufflepuff he is. #06* Eliana walks in over half an hour later, looking around at all of the books. The library's huge and the books are varied, and it's everything a big, old library should be, leaving Eliana both awed and a tiny bit intimidated. "Luke?" she calls, trying not to be too loud. She's now ink-free thanks to Slughorn's spell, and she has her muggle backpack cross shoulder, just like before. #06* Luke looks up from his Transfiguration book on hearing Eliana's voice. He's finished his homework by now and was apparently just reading ahead in the book. He waves at Eliana when he spots her and calls quietly, "Over here!" #06* Eliana brightens when she sees Luke and hurries over. "Hi!" she says, keeping her voice relatively down. At least she has a healthy respect for libraries. #06* Eliana plops her backpack on one side of the table and climbs into the chair opposite Luke. #06* Luke smiles widely at Eliana as she approaches. "Hi! How'd it go?" #06* Luke closes his book and sets it aside. #06* Eliana wrinkles her nose. "Okay?" #01 I mean, I got permission, but... I'm not sure Headmistress McGonagall likes me very much. I got pretty mad at her. #06* Luke's smile dims, his expression shifting somewhere between apprehension and confusion. "What happened?" #06* Eliana chews on her lower lip very briefly before she says, "She wasn't being reasonable." #06* Luke blinks. "How come? What'd she say?" #01 I mean, I explained that I don't like skirts and that I could wear pants at my last school and everything, and then she started going on about tradition and how kids can't just wear what they want because they want to wear different things... #01 Professor Slughorn said that wasn't exactly what I was doing, because it *wasn't*. And then the headmistress said that it was okay. But at the end, she told me that I shouldn't compare the non-magical and wizarding worlds, and I got mad again. #06* Eliana tugs at her hair a little, looking down. "But I didn't say anything that time," she mutters. #06* Luke blinks more, absorbing all that. "Why shouldn't you compare muggle and wizard things?" #01 I don't know! It's stupid! #06* Eliana realizes she just more or less yelled and claps both hands over her mouth, glancing around. #06* Luke frowns, thinking. He didn't even notice Eliana yelled until she covers her mouth - he was too absorbed in the story. He looks around quickly, too, but no one's glaring at them, so it's mostly okay. #06* Eliana says, more quietly, "She asked me why we have uniforms and I told her, you know, 'to eliminate social and economic differences'. Because that's what I read about uniforms in the non-magical world." #01 And she also brought up tradition, which is *stupid*, but a pretty normal argument. So okay, I guess. #01 But I don't know what that has to do with anything. #01 She just said that the same rules do not apply, so I shouldn't do it. #06* Luke obviously has to take a moment to work out what "eliminating social and economic differences" means, but once he does he continues listening to Eliana attentively. #01 So- so I don't know. I don't know how *not* to do it. Not that I think I shouldn't, because that's just dumb. #06* Luke leans forward and rests his chin on his hand, thinking more. "I guess it's true that the same rules don't apply. I mean, they seem really different. But I dunno why that means you shouldn't compare them either." #01 I dunno. #01 Professor Slughorn said that she has to please a lot of people, so maybe that's why she was so... I don't know, strict? But I don't know what that has to do with it, if anything. ...maybe it's them that wouldn't want you comparing muggle things and wizard things? So it's okay if you do it on your own, just not in front of them. #06* Luke frowns. "Dunno who they are, though." #06* Eliana shrugs. "I dunno." #06* Eliana grins a little. "Maybe it's a wizard conspiracy. Keeping the non- magical man down." #06* Luke winces at that rather than grinning, as Eliana might have expected, and looks away. After a moment he says, "Um. You haven't had any history classes yet." He hesitates a moment. "Some people actually used to think stuff like that. There was a big war, a while back." #06* Eliana blinks. "What?" She tries to remember any recent wars. "Like... World War II?" #06* Luke blinks. "Um, I dunno what that was...I meant a wizard war. Um, there was a wizard - Lord Voldemort - who thought wizards were better than muggles and he was really powerful and he got a bunch of other people together and...they sort of tried to take over." #01 How can you not know what *World War 2* is? #06* Eliana brainskipped right over what Luke was actually saying and is staring at him like he lived under a rock. Which, to be fair, maybe wizards do. #06* Luke pulls back a little at Eliana's stare, tightening up in self- consciousness. "Er...no one ever told me? And I don't remember it any of the history books I've read?" #06* Eliana furrows her brow. "The Allies against the Axis? Germany and Italy and Japan - those were the Axis. The Allies were, um... pretty much everyone else. Us, the States, Russia - but it was bigger and the Soviet Union then..." #01 It was huge. It pretty much happened over the whole world, in the middle of the 20th century. And the Holocaust happened then, in Germany, and it was... it was really bad. A lot of people died, mostly because they were Jewish. #06* Luke looks smaller. (Than he already is.) "Oh. Um. Maybe that's what it would've been like, with Voldemort...he killed people just for being muggles, too." #06* Eliana stares at Luke. "So it was like a *muggle holocaust*?" #06* Luke bites his lip. "Um...I dunno what a holocaust is?" #06* Eliana tilts her head, then closes her eyes for a moment before quoting, "'The systematic mass slaughter of European Jews in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.'" #06* Luke 's eyes widen. "Oh..." #06* Eliana opens her eyes. "I read on wikipedia that about two thirds of nine million Jews were killed." #06* Luke looks *really* horrified now. After a moment, though, he swallows and shakes his head. "No, not like - not like that. Voldemort didn't...kill that many people. Though maybe he might've, if he'd won..." #06* Eliana nods, thinking. #01 Yeah, that makes sense. If he killed that many non-magical people, we would have noticed. #01 And I didn't hear anything about a really recent war in history. #06* Luke nods, still a little shaky at the idea of *that many* people dying. It was about, um...I think not quite twenty years ago. #01 Wow, that's... really recent. #06* Luke nods and says in a subdued voice, "My mum and dad said it was really awful. Everyone was all scared..." #06* Luke shakes his head. "They don't like talking about it much." #06* Eliana nods. "Yeah." She pauses, then says, "It sounds scary." #06* Luke nods and pulls one of his knees up to his chest to rest his chin on it. "Glad I wasn't born yet. I wouldn't want to be in a war." #01 Yeah. #06* Eliana looks at Luke, all curled up with his chin on his knees, and she doesn't know what to say. #06* Luke blinks after a moment and shakes himself, smiling at Eliana again. "Anyway! I dunno how we got started talking about that. I'm glad you got permission to wear pants from the Headmistress." #06* Eliana smiles a touch. "Yeah, it's pretty cool." #01 I'm gonna have to send an owl to my uncle to get pants. Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't have them yet. Hey, um...if you want Alannah can carry your letter? #06* Eliana brightens. "Really? That'd be great!" #01 Professor Slughorn said that there are school owls, but I bet Alannah'd be a lot better at it. #06* Luke nods, smiling more. "Oh, well, I dunno - no one's ever complained about the school owls. But Alannah can go, and so that'll be one less thing for the school owls to carry." #06* Eliana nods. "If it's okay. Vesper told me he'd show me where the owlery is after dinner today." #06* Luke smiles brightly. "It's fine. Oh - maybe I can go with you? That way I can introduce you to Alannah." #06* Luke blushes a little. "And, um, I don't know where the owlery is yet either. I bet Matthew would show me, but...well, this way he doesn't have to. I know he's really busy helping the other first-years." #01 Okay! I'll ask him; I'm sure he won't mind. #01 Why is Matthew busy helping all of the first-years? 'Cause he's one of the fifth-year prefects in Hufflepuff this year. It's usually the fifth-year prefects who take care of the first-years... #06* Luke looks briefly confused. "Is Vesper not yours?" #06* Eliana blinks. "No? Felix Blackstone is the fifth-year prefect. He showed us to our common room." #01 Vesper's the Head Boy. #06* Luke blinks back, and then he stares at Eliana. "The Head Boy's taking you to the owlery? How come?" #06* Eliana looks briefly confused by Luke's confusion. "Because I need to go. And he offered?" #01 I asked him about the school uniform, and he took me to talk to Professor Slughorn yesterday, too. Oh. I guess that makes sense. #06* Luke still looks kind of confused, but apparently he's just decided to let it go. #06* Eliana doesn't. "Is that weird?" Um, well, usually the older prefects don't have as much to do with the first-years? And the Head Boy and Girl are in charge of all the prefects. I mean, not that they won't help if you ask, it's just...not usually their job, I guess? #06* Eliana nods, thinking about that. #01 Okay. #01 Well, Vesper's been really nice to me! So even if it's not normal, I'm pretty sure he'll show us the owlery. #06* Luke nods. "Well if he *said* he would I'm sure he will. I was just, um, a little surprised." He smiles brightly at Eliana. #06* Eliana smiles, more hesitantly. "Okay." #06* Eliana shifts a little, looking around at the books. #06* Luke follows her gaze. "Neat, isn't it? I've never been in a library this big. I haven't really looked around yet, but I bet it'll be fun." #06* Eliana focuses on Luke again. "Yeah... we should do it sometime! Maybe this weekend? You don't go home for the weekend, right?" #06* Luke shakes his head. "Nah, just for breaks. And yeah, we should!" His eyes light up at the idea. #01 There's got to be tons of interesting stuff. I've never *seen* books this old before. #06* Luke nods energetically. "I wonder if some of them've been here since Hogwarts was founded? It'd be so cool to find a book like that!" #01 Oh *wow*. Yeah! We should look up when that was and see if we could find one! #06* Luke squinches up his eyes, trying to remember. "Well...no one knows *exactly*...but it was...around 990, they think?" #06* Eliana looks around at that, as though reassessing Hogwarts. "That's like... and the sorting hat's been around for almost that long?" #06* Luke nods. They say no one can do magic like the founders could, any more. #06* Luke shrugs, then grins. "I dunno, though. I don't really know any magic yet!" #01 I wonder why not. #01 I mean, usually things go the other way around, right? You build on things people already know to know more things. #01 Why wouldn't magic work the same way? Unless... a lot of stuff was destroyed and things they knew were forgotten? #06* Luke tilts his head, thinking about it. "Well...Salazar Slytherin did have a fight with the other founders...so maybe after that he wouldn't teach people the stuff he knew. But that doesn't explain *all* of it..." But if nobody knows what they could do, then nobody knows how much we forgot, do they? #06* Eliana blinks. "Is that another reason people don't like Slytherin? Because he got in a fight with the others over a thousand years ago?" #06* Luke blinks. "Oh, I keep forgetting..." He hesitates a moment, then continues, "Slytherin didn't want to let muggle-borns into Hogwarts. He thought they...weren't as good as pureblood witches and wizards." #06* Luke hunches a bit in his seat. "So, um, for a long time more people in Slytherin thought that too, and sometimes they still kind of do..." #06* Eliana frowns. "Oh." Pause. "That's really stupid." #01 But nobody's been mean to me because I'm not pureblood yet. #06* Luke nods, un-hunching. "Oh, that's good." #06* Eliana smiles a little at Luke, then blinks. "Oh!" #01 I was gonna give you a pen! #06* Luke blinks back in surprise. #06* Eliana fiddles with her backpack, opening one of the front pouches, and pulls out a handful of pens. She puts them on the table, and they roll about a little. #06* Luke leans forward to look at them, fascinated and puzzled at the same time. He keeps his hands under the table though, not touching them yet - they're not his, after all. #01 Here, pick one! I've got lots. #06* Luke reaches out a little hesitantly and picks up a blue-colored pen. He looks at it closely, but doesn't seem any more enlightened about how to work it. #06* Luke remembers his manners and looks back up at Eliana. "Thanks!" Um...how does it work? #06* Luke blushes a little as he asks. #01 It has ink in it, and you take off the cap or click the top... the button up there, see? #06* Eliana points. "So a ball comes down, with a little spring, and then the ink goes to the top of the ball." #01 And when you move it on paper, or um... parchment, the ink goes to the bottom and it writes. #01 It's a lot smoother than a quill. And harder to spill ink. #01 I think it should work, 'cause there's no electricity. #06* Luke clicks as instructed, then frowns at the tiny ball that appears at the other end of the pen, bringing it so close to his face he nearly goes cross-eyed trying to see it. Then his eyes widen in enlightenment and he looks back up at Eliana, delighted. "Oh, I see - what? What's electricity?" #06* Luke is instantly confused again. #06* Eliana blinks, but for once she doesn't look at Luke like he asked what water is. "That's what makes a lot of technology work. It's like... like lightning. Kind of. That goes through wires, and we hook it up to things and can make things like phones and computers and stuff work." #01 Professor Slughorn said that 'muggle-built things' don't work in Hogwarts because magic messes it up for some reason. He didn't tell me exactly why, but I bet it's because they use electricity, because obviously not *everything* from outside doesn't work. Just some things, like my phone. #06* Luke blinks rapidly, trying to absorb all this. "...muggles can make lightning go through wires? And...your phone..." He frowns, struggling to remember. "That's the thing with the strings that played music, right?" #06* Eliana nods. "Yeah. I was playing music, but I can also use it to talk to people and check my e-mail and look at things on the internet and watch movies... But it doesn't work here." She looks a little sad, then adds, "And it's not exactly lightning, like lightning bolts, but yeah, lightning's basically made of electricity." #06* Luke rests his chin on his hand, trying to figure this out. "...lightning's made out of electricity like Hogwarts is made out of stone and stuff?" #06* Eliana smiles. "Yeah!" #06* Luke frowns more, digesting this. "Huh. So...muggles make stuff work with...electricity...instead of magic?" He pauses and looks at the pen in his hand again. "Most stuff." #06* Luke is still looking pretty confused. "So...how come your electricity stuff doesn't work at Hogwarts, if lightning does?" #06* Eliana nods. "Yup. And pens don't have any, see..." She grabs one of the pens and, without preamble, unscrews the bottom so the innards of the ball point pen fall to the table. Spring, thin tube of ink, and so on. #06* Luke leans forward again in fascination, distracted from his second question by the innards of the pen. #01 And I dunno. I asked Professor Slughorn, but he said it's really advanced magical theory and he barely understands it himself. #06* Eliana leans over and half-whispers to Luke (probably as he looks at pen insides), "I bet that means he doesn't actually know." #06* Luke looks up from pen insides and blinks at her. "That is what he said, isn't it? That he doesn't understand it much?" #01 Yeah, but adults say that kind of thing to me all the time when I ask questions. #06* Eliana sits back down. "Usually it's because they don't know. I guess it's better than making something up, which they *also* do." Oh. Well...maybe sometimes. Or maybe sometimes it really *is* complicated and they just don't want to explain it? My dad always explained stuff to me, even if I couldn't understand it... #06* Eliana nods. "Yeah. Maybe." She tugs at her hair. "Your dad sounds really cool." #01 My dad, um... he'd explain stuff, but usually he was kind of busy and distracted. Mom's job was to take care of me, I think, and she doesn't... We don't like each other very much. #06* Luke smiles brightly. "He is! He has a shop and he builds all kinds of neat things, and after Matthew and Mark both came to Hogwarts and I was all by myself, he'd let me stay there and watch while he worked...oh. I'm sorry." #01 But Uncle Nerius explained stuff! And if he didn't know, he'd get a book for me or help me look it up online! #06* Luke brightens again. "Oh! That's good - what's online?" #01 That's being on the internet. #01 It's like- okay. Like, you know about computers, right? #06* Luke 's baffled expression gets more self-conscious and he squirms a bit in his seat. "...um...no...?" #01 Okay, well, computers store stuff digitally. Lots of stuff. Books and movies and pictures and music and video games and all sorts of stuff. And you can access that stuff from the computer. So there are a WHOLE LOT of them with TONS of information on them, basically just storing stuff, all over the world. #06* Luke blinks a little. More processing to do. "...like your phone, with the music? Only...more stuff?" #01 So if you make them servers and connect them to the internet - which is just this big network where they're connected to each other - then you can access them from any *other* computer that can also get to the internet. Like my phone, yeah! It's like a little computer. #01 It can't hold a lot of stuff, but it can hold some stuff, and I can use it to get to the internet and get a lot MORE stuff, temporarily. #01 So anyway, non-magical people use it to talk to each other and play games together and look up information and all sorts of stuff! And it's really, really fast. #06* Eliana smiles. "Is there something like that in the wizarding world? Like... a magicnet?" #06* Luke frowns, struggling again. "I don't...really know? I don't *think* so...but...okay, the computers store stuff. Like a library, except...with other stuff. And littler. And then they can go to the internet and..." #01 Yeah! #06* Luke trails off, frowning unhappily. "I don't understand." #01 And you can search for it, so like, if you want to know about how electricity works, you just go to google and type in 'how does electricity work'. #01 And then you get a whole lot of websites talking about how electricity works! #06* Luke is now completely, utterly lost. #06* Eliana smiles again, then realizes that Luke is confused and sighs. "Maybe I should just show you sometime." #01 If um. We're far enough away from Hogwarts anyway. #06* Luke pulls himself up out of his muddle and manages a smile at Eliana again. "Okay. Maybe that would be easier. And um...on the train back for break, maybe? I don't think we'll be far enough before then." #06* Eliana brightens. "Yeah! That'll be fun!" #06* Luke looked briefly troubled at some thought, but he smiles again as Eliana brightens. "We just have to remember. But I guess we will, you'll probably want to listen to your music again, right?" #01 Uh huh. #06* Eliana glooms a little. "If my phone works, anyway. The battery might be dead." #06* Luke blinks. "Battery?" #01 Oh, it stores... um, basically stores the electricity my phone needs to work. #01 So if I use too much of it, it runs out until I recharge it. Huh. But...you can't use your phone here. So it won't run out, right? #01 I think so, but it wasn't really full when I got to Hogwarts, so even if it doesn't run out, it won't have a lot on the way back. Oh, hm. Well...hopefully you'll have enough to listen to music and show me the internet. And you can fill it back up when you get home, right? #01 Yeah. #06* Luke frowns a little, thinking. "I wonder if anyone has any chimers of music like yours..." #06* Eliana blinks. "Chimers?" #06* Luke comes back to himself, blinking. "Oh, um...they play music. Sort of like your phone I guess, only there's no strings for your ears, they just play it out loud." #01 Oh, cool! Do you have one? Can I see it? Oh, um - not of my own, just my family's...I think Mark does, though. Maybe I can borrow his to show you. #01 Okay! #06* Eliana looks down and sees the pen bits, then picks them up and starts fitting them together. Time to reassemble a ballpoint pen. #06* Luke watches in fascination, then remembers that he was going to ask something else. "Hey, what was the name of the guy who wrote your music? I'll ask people and find out if anyone has anything like it." #01 Huh? Beethoven. But I like all sorts of music... #06* Eliana smiles at Luke. "Thanks." And she screws the bottom back on before testing her pen by clicking it in and then out. Oh. Well, um, write them down for me and I'll ask about them, too. #01 Sure. Oh! I have to write the letter to Uncle Nerius, too... Oh, right! I should let you do that, then. #06* Eliana nods, scooping her pens back up - except for the one Luke took, since that's his now. "Okay! I'll see you at dinner?" #06* Luke nods vigorously. "Sure! I'll see you then!" And he smiles and waves goodbye to her. #06* Eliana smiles back, waving as she scoots off to the dungeons. #01 [End!]