5 March, 1892 — Crowdy Library

Ford didn't go to the library often; when he wanted to read he tended to revisit the same dozen books in his home collection. All of them were dog-eared and worn by this point, since he hadn't bought new books for himself since before his father died, but that was part of their charm; there was a comfort to rereading the same lines of verse multiple times. He mostly came to Crowdy when he was on the prowl for new things to read to Barnaby Wye, but today he was on a different errand. It had taken him a while to find the right section, given that he didn't really want to ask a librarian for directions, but after some time he'd found two books he thought would meet his needs. He had only taken a step or two away from the transfiguration theory section when he saw a familiar face: Tycho.

"Oh, hey," he said hurriedly, feeling a little caught. He shifted the books he was carrying so that their spines were pressed against the crook of his arm and the cover of the top book was up against his chest, at least partially obscuring the titles. "I, uhm — I didn't know you came here."

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Set by Lady!

There was only so many books on Transfiguration, the art of becoming an Animagus and other things of interest he held that he could personally possess. Some books were only available through the library. And so he sat at one of the tables, initially having been poring over the books that he wasn't allowed to take out of the library.

He was losing focus and had been seeing how long he could balance his quill on his nose when he saw a familiar face. "They have books I need that I cannot find elsewhere and I am not allowed to take them out either," Tycho said as he took the quill of his nose. "What about you? What are you reading up on?" Curious, he tried to get a good view of the books in Fords arms but he couldn't decipher what the titles were.

  

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At Tycho's question Ford clutched the books a little tighter, but what he said was, "Uh, nothing. Just browsing, is all." Ford was aware this was entirely at odds with his body language, and therefore a rather thin lie. Rather than giving his friend a chance to question him further, he decided to pose questions to Ty instead and hopefully distract him enough to lose interest. "You're looking at animagus books, then?" he asked, glancing at the books on the table. He hadn't been aware that there were some which weren't able to be removed from the library, though he supposed it made sense. Hopefully neither of the two he'd chosen were of that sort — if he had to walk back up here to return one from the checkout counter, with Tycho camped out at the nearest table, he'd be found out for sure.

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Set by Lady!

Tycho knew Ford well enough by now to realize he was being a little sketchy. "Yes and general Transfiguration ones. A few others that looked interesting as well." He eyed Ford, wondering what his friend was up to. "You look like you're expecting me to snatch those books right out of your arms," he teased lightly, Fords behavior making him all the more curious.

  

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At the suggestion that Tycho might try and take the books Ford reflexively clutched them a bit tighter. Of course that wasn't helping the perception issue at all, and he had to force himself to relax his shoulders slightly. "I'd prefer you didn't," he said, a thin attempt at a humorous deflection. "The librarians would probably prefer it, too. I think wrestling is generally discouraged here. What other things looked interesting?" This was the only question he could think to pose to try and redirect the conversation, but at this point he had very little hope that it would work. Tycho was clearly too interested in what Ford was doing to talk about himself. Maybe ending the conversation prematurely would have been a better strategy — but Ford didn't really have much faith that Ty wouldn't just get up and walk with him all the way down to the circulation desk, if he tried.

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Set by Lady!

Tychos lips twitched in amusement when Ford clutched his books a bit tighter. "If I was going to wrestle you, the library is the last place I would do so, I must agree," Tycho said without thinking. Luckily, there was nothing obviously untoward in his words despite his personal meaning being very untoward.

"You're hiding something from me and it has me curious," he said, getting up to see if that would provide him a better look.

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   Fortitude Greengrass

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Just as he'd suspected, Tycho hadn't been slowed even a moment by Ford's attempted diversion. Ford took half a step back as Ty stood and took a step towards him, though he wasn't sure what his end game was here. There was no way he was going to salvage this interaction and make Ty think he wasn't hiding something, if he'd already gotten that idea into his head, and it wasn't as though Ford could just turn around and sprint away through the shelves.

"I'm not," he said stubbornly. A lie, obviously, but in Ford's defense he had never exactly intended to hide anything. It simply had never occurred to him that Tycho could be in the library — he seemed like the sort who could send people out to buy whatever books he liked on a whim, so why would he spend time here?

"But if I was, it would be rather uncharitable of you to try and pry it out of me. What if it had to do with a birthday present, or something?" he continued. It didn't, but Ford was now at the phase of this conversation where he felt he needed to throw out any possible defense he could think of in order to stop Tycho advancing on him any farther. (If this worked, he was going to have to come up with something plausible he could have been researching in the library and then procure a related birthday present as a belated gift, but — well, it probably wouldn't work, so no reason to worry about that yet).

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Set by Lady!

Ford was just making it more obvious that he was doing something that he was trying to hide from Ford. "My dear, you are entirely too easy to read," Tycho teased fondly as Ford insisted that he wasn't hiding anything.

"Though you have a point. You are entitled to your secrets though I don't buy that excuse," Tycho relented somewhat. "It has to do with Transfiguration is my only guess."

  

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Ford probably should have been expecting that Tycho would make that logical leap, given that he'd been caught walking out of the transfiguration section, but even so he felt a little defeated by the pronouncement. His shoulders sagged and he started to worry the inside edge of his lower lip with his teeth. If Tycho had figured that much out, he had to already have a solid idea about what Ford was doing here. It wasn't as though there was much in his daily life that involved transfiguration, and it was a skill he never used at work. He'd already admitted to Ty that he hadn't even gotten an OWL in the subject, so it wasn't exactly plausible that he'd decided to read up on transfiguration theory just for fun.

"Don't be mad," Ford said (as though saying it would have any impact at all on how Tycho reacted), before turning the books around to reveal the titles: Risks Inherent in Animagi Transformations and Animagus Case Studies: The Greatest Successes and Failures in Human Self-Transfiguration Through the Ages.

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Set by Lady!

Tycho had no idea why Ford thought he might be mad before seeing the titles. He sighed a little when he saw them. "Are you still worrying that I will end up living my life as some sort of half-animal?" Tycho asked as he came closer to get a better look at the books in Fords arms. "How can I be mad when you are obviously just caring for my safety?" It wasn't like he didn't know the dangers but as with most bad things in his life, they were kind of just 'well, if it happens I will worry about it then' types of things. Obviously they seemed to weigh on Fords mind a little more than it did his own.

  

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Well, he was certainly going to start worrying about it now. Part of the reason Ford had come to the library today in the first place was that he didn't have a full grasp of what the risks were, with this sort of magic. He'd always heard that animagi transformations were very advanced and difficult magic, and that it could be dangerous if it went wrong, but his knowledge of the subject didn't go much deeper than that. Having to walk one of his closest friends through the halls of the Ministry while he was trapped in the body of a lion had certainly made Ford give the matter more serious thought — that, and the fact that despite everything he'd been through in the last month, Tycho seemed undeterred in his efforts to become an animagus.

"I wasn't going to try and talk you out of it, or anything," Ford clarified, a little defensively. He didn't want Tycho thinking Ford was trying to mother him... particularly not when he knew that Tycho had a bit of an antagonistic relationship with his mother, based at least in part on her worrying too much about what he got up to living on his own and pursuing adventures on a whim. "I just... if you're going to do it I want to be prepared. In case something does go wrong."

The word prepared was doing a lot of work in that sentence. Partly, Ford meant that he wanted to be able to help, if something happened where he could help. Partly, he wanted to be able to recognize the signs that something might be about to go wrong, and try to prevent it. Part of it was also a sort of emotional preparation: arming himself with knowledge so that he wouldn't be shocked into inaction. Partly — and perhaps he had not fully admitted this even to himself — he wanted to know what the likelihood was that Tycho could die.

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Set by Lady!

Well, that was good. Tycho figured Ford knew by now that once Tycho made up his mind about something, there was little that would change his mind. He could get stubborn like that. It did warm him that Ford cared so deeply that he was looking into things about how to prepare for something going wrong.

"Are you going to save me if something does?" Tycho couldn't resist asking as he settled back down at his table.

  

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Ford hesitated. He shifted the books in his arms aimlessly. He wasn't sure how to read Tycho's question, and therefore wasn't sure how to answer it. Ty didn't seem angry, but Ford didn't want to give the impression he was overstepping. That, and faced with the question it did seem a little unlikely that he'd be any help no matter how much he read about the subject beforehand.

"Probably best if you plan to not need any saving," he admitted. "I guess it's more... helping me know what's normal and what to worry about."

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Set by Lady!

"Well, I won't begrudge you easing your own mind," Tycho said with a chuckle. "I am good at magic though and fairly proficient in Transfiguration if that comforts you. " He had to be considering his enjoyment of tinkering with different enchantments. A deep dive into Charms and Transfiguration tended to come with the territory there.

  

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Ford released a long breath, unsure if Tycho was actually trying to make him feel better or teasing him. "You'd better be, if you're going to go through with this," he said, shaking his head lightly. If there was one thing he knew definitively, before reading the worst-case scenarios from the books, it was that this was extremely difficult magic. Even Tycho, with his spontaneous ideas and pursuit of adventures, would not attempt something like that if he weren't good at the relevant magics. Hopefully.

"When do you think you're going to try?" Ford asked, edging closer to the table to see what books Ty had been studying.

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Set by Lady!

"You've seen the kind of magic I can do," Tycho reminded Ford teasingly. Granted, all of that was messing with external things and not his own self. And he rather valued himself. He wouldn't risk messing up his appearance forever if he wasn't fairly confident that he could do things well.

"The environment needs to be just right so likely in a couple of months though I am midway through some of the process. There needs to be a lightning storm so during spring or summer seems a good bet to start the final stages."

  

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