✷ ✷ ✷ ɐılnɾ ✷ ✷ ✷ (hurlyburly) wrote in thedisplaced, @ 2018-06-09 14:33:00 |
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Julia’s home did not look like much from the outside. An unfriendly, abandoned warehouse building made of brick in the less desirable part of Tumbleweed with other neglected buildings that had never really amounted to much. Inside was a different story, but Snape didn’t have to get inside, just disable the wards to meet the hedgewitch where she waited for him on the front steps drinking an iced coffee she’d gotten for herself after work. Out in the sun, she had her hair pulled up into a bun, sunglasses, and a simple summer dress to save her from the Texas heat. In order to meet her on the steps, Snape would have to disable the wards. Julia looked forward to watching from her front row seat. When she saw him approach, she waved, but didn’t stand to properly greet him, instead taking another sip from her coffee drink. By necessity Severus had been required to rethink his wardrobe in Texas, and so he had done so, trading in all black long wizarding clothes, for something a bit lighter. The trousers were a dark color still, but they were linen, so they breathed more easily than the wool he'd typically worn at Hogwarts, and the shirt was a simple white button-up, tucked in neatly. He wouldn't probably pass as a Texan, but he'd pass as a Muggle and he was not too hot, so it was enough. As he saw Julia, he slowed, and with a glance up and down the street, he pulled out his wand, muttering a simple, "Revelo" as he waved it. He didn't expect it to reveal all of the wards, at all, but it would probably give him an idea of where to begin. Julia always thought wards looked like spiderwebs. There were gossamer strands of magic locked into place by a series of puzzles and long logic trains of meta-math to be solved. She wondered if the wards Severus used looked anything like them. It was actually exciting to think about. Setting down her drink, Jula perked up, elbows on her legs, and watched him work. How would it work with a wand? She’d only seen wards disabled with specific movements of fingers. There was just the one layer, designed by Marina that the two of them maintained. Plenty to keep muggles out with the goal -- at least in Marina’s mind -- of keeping out other magic users. Her eyes were locked on him. It was a sort of shimmer of magic - enough to bring Severus to pause on the street, with the approximate location of the wards. That was a good start. The question of course, was how they were put together, which was something he couldn't be entirely certain having not had a super detailed course in how Julia's magic operated. He understood a bit though, there were spells, and they had talked at least some theory, and he understood how wards and spells worked in his own magic, and so for a moment, he considered the web in front of him. Wards in his own world built on each other, an elaborate puzzle that would trap and ensnare and protect the building or area warded from penetration. This would likely be no different, and if it were like his own, the trick would be to find the weak point - the place where you could push, and things would tumble in on each other. On the other hand, those were the complicated wards, such as what he had on his own place at home, and then those on places like Hogwarts were even more complicated, this was not at home, and there were not other magicians around. He muttered the revealing spell again, this time, careful to watch the web as it moved. For a moment, he stood still and then he muttered a simple disarming spell - something that would remove a basic ward in his own world. He didn't expect it to work, but he would try it. The wards shimmered but held. A simpler ward, one designed only to keep muggles out, would have collapsed. Same with some of the wards used by the less knowledgeable hedges. But Marina’s stayed. Julia stood up and stepped closer to the other side of the ward, though not directly in front of the wizard in case any of his spells used raw force to take the protective barrier down. The reality was that Julia wanted to learn to create a new kind of ward, combining their knowledge. But her first step was to get Snape’s interest and his opinion on what magic from her world was able to do. So the basic wouldn't work then. That seemed to almost please Severus, and he took his time considering other options, several of them, trying out a multiple spells for nearly fifteen minutes before a series of spells seemed to create a shimmer across the ward - even if it didn't quite undo it. But like a dog that's caught the scent, Severus persisted with it his mind running through what he knew of breaking through defensive magic like wards, and in this instance he switched the last spell and instead of the shimmer, he could feel it - that energy that persisted when magic shifted and was gone. He answered the probability of the ward coming down with a smile, and that revealing spell again. "Well," he said to Julia, with a pleased look on his face from having managed to break through. "Not bad, tell me what I just got through." “Orlov’s Lock. There are several different kinds of magical wards where I come from, depending upon the effect you’re going for. The more people available to cast, the more complicated and powerful the wards can get.” She paused, picked up her coffee drink and stepped over next to Snape. Severus nodded in agreement. "Our more complicated wards typically involve several casters as well," he told her as she proceeded to reset the ward, using both hands and chanting something in Russian. Revealing the magic took little more than a wave of her hand to reveal the spiderweb network of magic, where Julia showed Snape the basic principles of the ward and talked him through other common variations. Then she showed him how hedges broke through wards. Not with specific spells but by recognizing the elements that made up the ward and using her hands to untangle the magic like a lockpick. It still took her a few minutes to take down the ward that way not using the actual method for getting through the wards Marina and Julia set up. She set the wards back up one more time before she looked at Snape and smiled. “Think I can get through your wards?” Severus found himself fascinated by the differences between the magic. In some ways it worked similarly, a skill, an ability that they could tap into and learn how to control, and yet the ways that they controlled it were different. Hands and spellcasting versus wands and spell casting, although in its own way he supposed, those things were related as well. Successful spell casting with a wand depended upon the proper motion, the proper annunciation, and these things seemed true for Julia's work as well. "Perhaps," he considered, a small smirk pressing against his lips. "At least a simple single ward like this you might be able to do. Shall we see?" Julia returned his smirk with a broad smile. While she had a very serious objective behind experimenting with wards, this was also fun for her. Learning about magic was all she ever wanted, and finding someone of Snape’s calibur willing to do magic with her was more precious than a book from Brakebills’ library. “Do you want to set it up here or go to your place?” she asked. At least then they wouldn’t be casting out on the street. Severus considered this, but it was probably smart to go to his place, it was a bit out of the way, and they'd been here long enough. "We could go to mine," he suggested. "Do you want to Apparate?" “Not especially,” Julia said. Her lips curled into a wry smile. “But I don’t want to pay for a cab, either.” It wasn’t a question of trust. Julia didn’t question Snape’s ability to apparate with her. It was being the tagalong that was unpleasant, as good as she was at hiding the feeling. The first time was exciting to experience it. After that? The magical theory behind it was still interesting, learning to do it herself would be exciting. But this was not that. She stepped in closer to him to apparate anyway. It was too hot to walk. Like before, she pushed down the queasy feeling in her stomach once they arrived. Severus gave her a beat upon arrival, checking to be certain she was alright and not likely to throw up on his shoes before he moved them closer to his house. The small townhouse contained the two up two down that he'd been born and raised in, although from the outside it didn't look anything like it. It was still plainer than many of the homes around Tumbleweed. The wards were there, and they were firm so he stood back and tilted his head at her. "When you've recovered," he told her softly. She did not, thankfully, throw up on his shoes or throw up at all. Like before, she worked through the unpleasant feeling until she could just ignore it. Unlike Snape, Julia did not require a wand or even an incantation to reveal the magical workings of his wards, just the wave of her hand. Unlike Snape, she didn’t have an arsenal of spells or education to disable his wards. Just her eyes, looking at the construction of the magic itself. It took her a few moments of just staring, trying to find the logic of the construction before she finally reached her hand forward and manipulated the magical energy itself, moving it just slightly. It didn’t break the ward, however. It looked more like a game of cat’s cradle. She had to figure out how the strings of magic were knotted and shaped before she could unshape them. She worked at it slowly. Sometimes she had to go back and carefully set things the way they were, forging a different path ahead. Her method was much more like picking a lock. It was when she finally used her second hand to finish the delicate untying that the wards finally came down. It’d taken her longer than it had Snape, but she also had a vague understanding of the underlying magic behind it when she was done. Julia didn’t know if she could actually replicate it, but it did give her a few new ideas. She waved her hand again to make sure there wasn’t something else still lingering. “Did I miss anything?” she asked. Severus watched her, and the magic, understanding perhaps a bit better how her magic worked as well. It was fascinating to him watching her - the way she approached magic lacked the intentionality of what he taught students, but it reminded him, sometimes, of how he had approached it himself as a student - experimenting, working through the pieces, building on them, creating something and growing a better understanding of it. It would be a lie to say that he was not impressed by this. "Well done," he didn't even smirk as he glanced back at the building. "There's one more, near the front door - it's created to be indistinguishable in the initial warding - it's created precisely to catch someone off guard. It's entirely unnecessary here, likely, but if he showed up, I would be glad it existed. I suspect you can bring it down easily enough now that you know it is there - especially with what you did with the others. Julia brought her hands up, and after murmuring a few words, created a window with the thumbs and index fingers of her hands to look at his front door. “At this point if I were trying to break into your house, I’d probably just go through the window.” Julia looked at Snape with her brows raised. It almost sounded like a joke. It was actually a reference to needing to get to him in an emergency. She didn’t explain herself when she approached the front door. The next ward did go down in less than four minutes as she pulled and collapsed the magic apart. She didn’t enter the house, but she did unlock the door with a gesture of her fingers from one hand before stepping back so Snape could let her in. "Tea?" He asked her quietly as he pushed open the door and let her into the house, which looked surprisingly like the one on the film. The front downstairs room is wall to wall bookshelves excepting for the window, and the fireplace on the wall opposite. The kitchen can be seen through an open door. Although it's still dark, it's perhaps a bit less so than it used to me - Severus has cleaned the windows, bought a new lamp, it's this that he turned on as he entered the room. "Would you consider the wards you did to be simple or moderate?" “No, thank you,” Julia said. After the iced coffee, the last thing she needed was tea. She would have turned to make eye contact, but the wall of bookshelves had her completely mesmerized. She stepped closer to read the spines of the books but kept her hands to herself, going as far as to place them behind her back as to not tempt herself. The only other place she’d so many potentially magical books had been Brakebills’ library. “Moderate — are these all about magic?” Because the wards were important and something she still wanted to explore, but Julia had personally seen hedges steal and kill one another over less. "Most of them," Severus responded, his eyes sharply on her as she considered the shelves. He could see she was interested, and it was something he related to. When he'd first started learning about magic and witchcraft, it had been from two of his mother's old Hogwarts texts, and over the years - with very little to apply his salary towards in the end, he'd spent it all collecting books. "There are a few Muggle piece in there, mostly literature and histories." He leaned his elbow on the mantle. "Would you like to look at some of them?" Julia’s eyes went wide, while the rest of her tried to remain calm with a slow exhale. She nodded, taking a step back so he could make the selection, treating his offer with the utmost respect. At the same time, she tried not to look as starved for knowledge as she felt. She’d looked over the books at the cottage but this was a collection. Without a wand or the magical background he had from his world, she wasn’t sure how much could apply to her, but rarely did she let a challenge or limitation stop her. Severus smiled at the reaction, of course she wanted it, she practically thrummed with it, and that was understandable. He'd felt the same way when he walked into the Hogwarts library. He stepped forward, and tilted his head at her. "What type of magic are you most interested in? Most of them will not bite, although there are a few." “What are you willing to share?” Julia asked. Which was her way of saying all of it. In her experience, people didn’t tend to share what they knew, claiming it was a trust issue but Julia couldn’t help but suspect it was really a power issue. Though he said none of the books would bite, she still couldn’t bring herself to just reach out and touch one of the books. The books Marina had were protected with dark magic, and the memories of Kady’s mom dying when they tried to steal from Marina 40 were fresh enough that Julia still wasn’t about to grab blindly. He reached out and picked up a simple transfiguration tome, and handed it over to her. "This is basic transfiguration - easily understandable by a second or third year student, but it might be new to you, as our magics are not the same exactly." He scanned the shelves again, and reached for a potions text. "This one covers potions made primarily from non-magical ingredients - and there are a few." Julia held the books carefully as though they were made of fine china. Books on magic -- entire books -- were some of the most precious things she ever handled when it came to magic. The leo blade, batteries, other enchanted items were all very important, sure. But without the knowledge to create or use them, they weren’t nearly as valuable as a book. “The portal sent me a key,” Julia said. She might have been planning to show him more of the magic from her world, but giving him access to the key seemed like a fair trade for access to books. “We called it the Truth Key. Holding it reveals hidden things. I have it stored at the Physical Cottage with my friends in case anyone needed access to it. But, if you ever need it, let me know. I’ll warn you, it’s uncomfortable to hold.” Julia’s fingers traced carefully along the edge of the covers. She was eager to read them, but there would be time for that later. Severus had heard of truth potions, and of course he could perform legilimency, but he'd never heard of a truth key. Something that revealed hidden things. He knew enough about magic to know that it could work in ways you might not be expecting, and he noted the existence of such a thing here for future reference. "I don't know that I have need of it, but I am curious about it," he told her. "You may borrow that one for later if you wish. I trust you will be careful with it." It was not an irreplaceable book - although Severus supposed that most books here were irreplaceable. But he knew most of the things in it so concretely that if it should go missing, it would not be the worst thing in the world, and if she were careful and trustworthy with it, then there were others he would consider. “Thank you,” she said. Julia looked down at it and exhaled slowly. “So, want to try some wandless casting?” She didn’t want to dwell on how grateful she was to be loaned a book. It might not have been a very big deal to him, but to her it was everything. “I could show you a few things,” she offered. Severus had done wandless casting before, but not anything like what Julia seemed to do regularly, he nodded briefly, "I'd like that." |