August 20th, 1893 — Emilia Wright's Academic Salon

In spite of her son's foolish ambitions to become Minister of Magic, Belphoebe and, as a result, Seneca, hadn't snubbed Emilia Wright's invitation to the Academic Salon. These were the sort of events that both Seneca and Belphoebe could agree that they preferred to the balls and luncheons typical of the Season. 

She'd left Belphoebe in one of the rooms and went looking for one that was more to her interests -- Potions, or perhaps Arithmancy. The latter had been Seneca's favourite elective at Hogwarts, finding fascinating the mathematical patterns that surrounded magic. Soph might have written more on the topic, if she understood math on the level Seneca did. 

She sat and listened to an Arithmancer who was talking about a theorem widely agreed to be unprovable. She left to get herself a drink and was happy to meet Cornelius Flint. "Oh, Mr. Flint, you must follow me to the Arithmancy room. Mr. Bottlebrush believes he can prove Zimrida's Theorem!"

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Mr. Bottlebrush is a well known Arithmancy scholar of their times for the purposes of this.
Zimrida is an Ancient Phoenician arithmancer who had a Theorem of math and spells and that's about the most I can think of that. xD

Cornelius Flint

  

It would be no surprise to any that Cornelius was going to attend Mrs. Wright’s Academic Salon, as it was an excellent excuse to be in company of people who were well educated and loved to discuss intriguing subjects at length. While most would see him as a quiet wallflower, and they would not be entirely wrong, they would be surprised by just how outgoing Cornelius was when in this sort of situation. He’d just finished up being in a rather large group discussing some of his latest research - the unclassified bits, at least - when he was spotted by Miss Lestrange, and it was hard to hide that his face lit up rather brightly.

“Does he?” Cornelius replied, rather skeptically, but still, he wasn’t going to pass up witnessing the attempt. He excused himself from the few that lingered after his previous discussion and accompanied Miss Lestrange to the Arithmancy room, “Speaking of theorems, did you have a chance to read any of my notes that I sent you? I don’t mean to rush you, of course, I’m sure you’re very busy, but I have been eager to hear your opinions.” He hoped it didn’t come out sounding too forward.

  

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Beautiful Set by MJ!

Mr. Flint had followed through with his promise after the ball and sent her his notes on Alchemy. Seneca liked that about him. Oftentimes, people would have such discussions, one of them would promise the other that they would send them some resource and then that promise would be forgotten the next day. Perhaps even due to awkwardness of seeming too forward, now that there wasn’t the intimacy of a ball surrounding them.

“I have,” she replied. “I am so very grateful for them, for while Heraclitus was a brilliant alchemist, he had no talent for writing and your notes have excellently captured the essence in what he is trying to explain in a whole chapter.” Seneca didn’t usually admit to feeling challenged by a text but she felt she could confide in Mr. Flint.

“And,” she continued and lowered her voice for only him to hear. “I found it very intriguing what you wrote about blood of different creatures bearing different results, so I did a bit of experimenting myself.”

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Of course, he had been a little worried that it might be a bit forward to send Miss Lestrange his notes, but his desire to get a fellow academic’s opinion on what he had to say outweighed that worry. He was just relieved that she wasn’t offended by it and he made the right choice. “I’m pleased to hear that,” he said with honesty; his cheeks tinged pink slightly as she praised his writing abilities since he wasn’t used to ladies giving him compliments of any kind, “I believe that if you can repeat what you have learned in simpler terms, it’s a sign that you have truly grasped the subject. Not to mention, knowledge is to be shared and sometimes all of those old scholars get far too wordy and overcomplicate everything, making it difficult to share.”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, though once again he was delighted by her enthusiasm in academia and to hear that she had done some experimenting on her own regarding his theories on using creature blood in magic. “Oh? If you wouldn’t mind, Miss Lestrange, I would be very interested in hearing about your findings,” Cornelius replied, lowering his own voice in turn.

  

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Beautiful Set by MJ!

Seneca went on to explain how she’s run a series of experiments using a variety of creatures’ blood and trying to get the ‘life force’ out of it. This was a key study in trying to create such creatures, like clones of sorts.

“But I confess, Mr. Flint, what intrigued me more was the theory that we could give magic to a muggle, by administrating to them the right amount of magical blood. It would solve so many problems, don’t you think?”

She had pulled Mr. Flint to a forgotten corner of an otherwise loud room. The perfect place for someone not to overhear possibly controversial blood magic alchemy talk.

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Cornelius would listen to her with interest, focusing completely on the words she was saying, doing his best not to interrupt no matter how many questions he had as he was sure she would answer them if he just gave her the chance. “It would,” he replied, “But it may start to beg the question, are these muggles turned wizards capable of the same level of magic as us? Are they no different than wizards of muggle parentage? If they begin to bleed for whatever reason, could they lose that magic? And even more - could it happen to those of us who started with magical blood?” There were tons of questions to consider, yet it was intriguing to imagine the possibility. He was glad that they were situated far from prying ears, since he was sure, especially in a political time of year, they could end up causing a scene if anyone became horribly offended by their theories.

  

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Beautiful Set by MJ!

Mr. Flint posed a number of intriguing questions, some of which Seneca had been having.

“For your first question, I believe it is nurture as well as nature. Someone who is born to a Wizarding family, especially one such as ours, that has kept the magical legacy for so long, has more resources to make him a strong wizard, to the point that it becomes his second nature, whereas someone of muggle blood has too many influences from that side and at least a generation or two is needed to shoo the muggle away.”

The other questions were less of a sociological nature and more of a biological one. “And for your other points, I believe that if we manage to find the right concoction to give muggles magic, they would need to have this thing administrated to them, to keep having magic. Similarly to how one needs to cling to the philosopher’s stone to remain immortal. In that regard, someone born a wizard would always be superior to a muggle. But in any case, a fully magical world, that is the utopia we should all strive for.”

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While Cornelius supposed he would be considered a purist since he did believe those of magic blood were inherently superior, he also didn’t care that much to debate that sort of thing as it seemed unimportant in the grand scheme of things. However, in this discussion, the concept of changing muggles into wizards, he would have to completely agree that for at least the first few generations, they had too many muggle influences and would not be true wizards - at least in the eyes of most people.

“If you needed to continuously give them this concoction to keep their magic, do you think it can be passed down in further generations?” he asked, since the last statement considered they needed to breed the muggle out of their system, “Or would only the first set or two need it? I think it could possibly awaken something - if we are to believe the theory that muggleborn wizards are descended from a line of squibs.” It was certainly something to consider. He nodded, “There are easier ways to get that utopia, Miss Lestrange, but such things are considered… distasteful.” Not that he’d endorse that kind of solution.

  

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Beautiful Set by MJ!

There were people in their circles that would wish to employ the final solution on the Muggle Problem, if they were allowed. An idea that was extreme, even to the harshest purists. Seneca herself, was not attracted to the idea of chasing down muggles with the idea of destroying them, but if someone else was to begin that plan, she probably wouldn’t have stopped them either, given her upbringing and influences.

“That is the solution of brutes,” Sen said. “But that other theory, that poses an academic question. Something that the brightest minds could try to solve. Oh, Mr. Flint, I so wish to study what is within us, what makes us wizards. I hear that healers study over… bodies, to understand their workings better.”

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He would have to agree with Miss Lestrange on that matter; he knew plenty in the circles that the most prominent pureblood families spent time in had discussed doing such things, but Cornelius believed it to be a rather barbaric idea that he simply could not support if he was asked. It would make things easier if they didn’t have to worry about muggles all the time, sure, but he had no problem simply ignoring them and carrying on with his day, it’s not as if they were really causing them harm.

“True,” he agreed, but he was also interested in her academic interest in what made them wizards; he often wondered that too, but couldn’t find many resources on any real experiments done to figure that out. They had magic simply because they just did as far as everyone was concerned, but it would be interesting if there was more to it than that, “I would like to know as well, though I can’t say I’ve done much research on the subject other than to see if there had been any research done previously. I suppose if you were able to acquire a body donated to science you could study it, but I’d imagine you would have to have a form of license or permission for that sort of thing.” It felt rather improper for him to talk about something that was so morbid in front of a lady, but Miss Lestrange was the one who started it so he had hoped she wouldn’t mind him saying it.

  

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Beautiful Set by MJ!

“Very true, unless I was, of course, to forego the official routes,” Seneca observed jokingly, because in her mind it was perfectly funny and witty to joke about studying dead bodies in secret.

She studied Mr. Flint, waiting to see how he would react to that.

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Cornelius’s eyebrows raised slightly and he shifted a bit in his seat, rather surprised at Miss Lestrange’s comment as he really wasn’t sure whether she was joking about that or she was serious. Regardless, he had no place to judge her, after all, much of his work was not exactly in tune with the law, considering his specialization in dark artifacts and honestly, he doubted she’d resort to murder to get the bodies. “Am I now your accomplice?” he questioned her, a small, but hesitant smile crossing his lips, almost amused as if he decided she was joking about it, “As long as you share your findings, I suppose I can keep quiet.”

  

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“Just as long as you don’t steal my ideas and present them as your own,” Seneca replied with a mischievous grin, finding great joy in their hypothetical illegal anatomical study camaraderie. “Because then, Mr. Flint, you may find yourself being an accomplice in a different way.” She kept a dead pan face for a moment, before letting it a laugh and placing a hand in his arm momentarily. “Oh, I am only joking p, of course.”

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“I would never do something so pathetic,” Cornelius assured her, though he was smiling as if he might; though, truthfully, he found such behavior in poor taste and felt credit should be given to those who deserve it. It may not be the most ambitious way of doing things, but he never really was a good fit for Slytherin, anyway. His eyes went wide when she threatened him, but he laughed; it was a genuine laugh and not one of those forced ones he was used to doing at balls when making small talk with his peers - he attracted some attention from the others in the room, but most of them looked away again in disinterest. “Well, I promise you that I will not do anything to incur your wrath, Miss Lestrange; at least not on purpose,” he smiled at her.

  

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Beautiful Set by MJ!

“I can assure you that your presence brings me nothing but joy so far, Mr. Flint,” Sen said genuinely. How many men would joke with her about the things they had?

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Cornelius seemed to have a permanent smile on his face as he leaned back into his chair, happy to hear that Miss Lestrange was enjoying his company today and that they could talk about things as outlandish and even mildly illegal as this without fear of saying things wrong or offending the other. “The feeling is mutual, Miss Lestrange, I assure you,” he agreed.

  

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Beautiful Set by MJ!