July, 1895 — Crowdy Library

Cranwould's Curses, A Partial Compendium was proving only marginally useful. The text had clearly been partially expurgated, and he suspected a more complete copy could probably be obtained on one of the libraries' upper levels. The editor's note said the missing segments were "lost" due to manuscript damage that could not be recovered during the reprinting, but it was a little too convenient that all the good bits — all the bits that would tell you precisely how to replicate these curses — were the ones "lost" in such fashion. What remained were descriptions of the effects of the curse and known cases of use, and a rather more thorough treatment of remedies than Dil thought was necessary. It was an easy thing to make a catch-all countercurse. He always carried one. It might not reverse all curses, but could usually be relied upon to reduce the effects long enough to get to a healer, and that was all anyone untrained in healing or cursebreaking ought to be doing, anyway.

He flipped through the pages. The curse on question was one that numbed the body, beginning with the fingertips. In minor cases it caused fumbling, in the most severe case a growing paralysis. Quite a range of effects, so important to get the measures right — shame someone had made that significantly harder by redacting the instructions. They must know people were still going to do it, didn't they? Why keep a book like this available if they didn't expect to need the references on curse reduction?

The remedy might hold the clue, now that he thought of it. Many curses he had experience with could be reduced or resolved by undoing specific things that had made them up. If the counter-curse instructions were detailed enough — and if they were real, not pure untested speculation — he might be able to work his way backwards.

"Cranwould," he heard someone mutter, which startled him enough to look up. They were scanning the shelf across from his table, with a reference slip in their hand. They were looking for this book. Diligent slouched over it, hoping not to be noticed, but too curious to keep himself from staring keenly at them (which probably gave him away).

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Antelope walked through the library whilst her chaperone had a cup of tea. The older woman, an aunt who lived in London was quite used to Antelope's lack of haste when it came exploring mysterious knowledge so she made herself comfortable with a book and a brew and allowed the teenager to go about her business until she was done.

Today the well dressed young lady was examining the shelves with a purpose in mind. Hogsmeade library had not proved fruitful so she hoped that Crowdy would do her better. She had to curse herself (a poor choice of words) for her carelessness. She had found the book in Hogwarts library and it had fascinated her immediately. She was certain it would probably have had a better home in the restricted section, maybe it had been misplaced during the new librarian's reorganisation. Perhaps she would recommend it be moved once she returned it in September. But a book that leaked jungle into its surroundings when opened, how could the little witch resist checking it out and taking it home to study.

Only... she was now convinced that it was a curse. The lovely Grace house in Wellingtonshire, a place that only this year she had gained her parents trust to floo to in private to study, was now slowly filling with foliage that threatened its very fabric. No amount of slamming the book shut or moving it to the garden seemed to have fixed it. She needed to sort it out before her parents returned from their summer tour or they would never trust her again.

"Cranwould" she muttered to herself as she ran her fingers along the edge of the shelf. She had been told that this tome was useful for people who wanted to undo unusual curses, but where was it?

A subtle movement out of the corner of her eyes made her pause. Perhaps it was the book making her paranoid as she could have sworn some jungle cat had been watching her sleep the other night but it had turned out to be new and well placed orchid flower on the wall. She glanced over and smiled as she spotted a man looking at her. It took her another second to realise he was watching her. "I dont suppose you know anything about curses?" she asked politely.

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Diligent Grimshawe

  

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Her name is pronounced similarly to Penelope

He did, obviously, but that didn't mean he was ready to waste his afternoon hours playing Hogwarts professor to a rich brat. The teen didn't look like she'd graduated yet, and by the way she was dressed he'd wager the handkerchief she used to rub her snot-nose cost more than his good coat. What could she want with a curse? What might ever possibly have gone wrong in her whole spoiled life that she thought she ought to revenge herself on someone for it?

"It's a library, not a lecture hall," he pointed out, slouching a bit further over the book so that she mightn't see the page header. "I didn't come in 'cause I knew a lot and was looking for someone to explain it all to."

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Antelope raised an eyebrow at the man as he slouched near to her "Oh... is it not? I wondered where all the benches were?" she smirked and continued looking back along the shelf edge. If he was being deliberately difficult she was oblivious to it, having little dealings with adult men beyond family and professors.

"Fortunately, I am looking for a book and not a lecture, its by Cranwould, it should be right here." she tapped her nail on the edge of the shelf below a conspicous gap in the volumes. She sighed "How much do you think cursebreakers charge?" she said, mostly thinking aloud.

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Diligent Grimshawe

  

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Her name is pronounced similarly to Penelope

Diligent hadn't the faintest idea what he had done to invite this conversation, other than existing within this teen girl's sightlines. Perhaps that was enough; perhaps she was so full of self-importance that it took not the slightest provocation for her to be convinced of someone's wanting to talk with her. To her eyes the world was likely full of individuals wanting nothing so much as an opportunity to smile at her attempts at witticism.

She mentioned his book and he nearly replied that perhaps she ought to ask a librarian, but thought better of it. If she called a librarian over they might recognize the book on the table as the one she was seeking, and then he'd have to answer to why he hadn't said as much. Not that it mattered much what he might have said; she wasn't pausing for responses. More of a mind to hear her own voice than to engage in any actual exchange of information. Was this last sentence a real question? She'd phrased it as such, and trailed off. Was she actually expecting him to answer it?

"I've never had occasion to know," he returned diffidently. More than he did, probably, but it wasn't as though he had ever engaged one. He did his own cursebreaking, when the occasion called for it (though it usually didn't). He was given to understand that the most complicated part of cursebreaking was safely dealing with an unknown curse — it wasn't really the same if he understood how it had been made and how it was triggered.

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She shook her head dismissively at the silly idea, engaging a cursebreaker would absolutely alert her parents to the problem anyway and that was the reason she was trying to solve it herself. She caught him shifting again as he watched her, his position looked wrong, almost uncomfortable, like he was hiding something beneath his arms.

She glanced over and her eyebrow raised in a mixture of curiosity and suspicion, it would be an odd coincidence if he happened to be resting on her book. But Antelope believed in the weird and coincidence was easy.

"Sir... are you resting on a book? It would not be the one I am seeking would it?" there was a grin forming on her face. She might be the unknowing participant, but she liked games and wanted to know which one she was in.

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Diligent Grimshawe

  

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Her name is pronounced similarly to Penelope