Michael Corner (folkdevil) wrote in caged, @ 2013-11-01 23:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! 97-11, [ log ], michael corner, susan bones |
WHO: Michael Corner and Susan Bones
WHAT: Working on the DA journal
WHEN: 1 November, 1997 - before Potterwatch
WHERE: Room of Requirement
STATUS: Complete!
Michael had been right: fuck Percy Weasley. Fuck the Ministry. FUCK EVERYTHING. It was a phrase she’d write on the wall, or on every wall, if she thought it would make herself, or Michael or anyone, feel better. This time it felt like too insignificant of an action to take. Practically everything felt that way today. Small, pointless. They were children locked away in a school. What could they possibly do? Still, she had to try, which was why she found herself sitting alone in the Room, with a stack of parchment, waiting for Michael to arrive. They were going to make progress on the DA journal today, she was determined. They’d been working on it for nearly two months now, and she figured they were due a breakthrough. And it would be something hopefully to take Michael’s mind off their Muggle Studies “lesson” for a bit. No matter how upset and angry she was, she knew he must feel worse. Her mum was out there somewhere, and even if she was lying dead in a ditch, it’d be a fate better than Azkaban. That broke her heart. “All right, you,” she said, holding a piece of the parchment up in the air, examining it. She tapped it lightly with her wand after a moment. “Work.” “It really ought to listen to you, I think,” Michael replied, considering both Susan and the parchment she was holding for a moment before looking down at the journal in his hands with a bit of a frown. It was more considering though, than actually upset. He’d had his moments earlier, of being angry, sad, frustrated, and practically every other negative emotion rolled into a tight ball that liked to sit in the pit of his stomach and never leave. It wasn’t exactly that he was feeling better now. But he was feeling calmer. Working on the DA journal would help. Because as much as it seemed like they kept hitting brick walls with it, it was still an attempt to really do something and he needed that. He desperately needed that and he was glad that he was with Susan and working on it now. Michael was tired of thinking about Azkaban. “We’re going to get this to work today. I’ve decided, so I hope the parchment is listening,” he said, quirking a small smile. At the sound of his voice, Susan looked over and smiled. It was a smile tinged with sadness but a smile nonetheless. Michael's presence often had that effect on her. "Hey you," she said letting her hand and the parchment fall to her lap. She considered briefly getting up to hug him but felt awkward about the prospect and remained where she was. "Me too. If we can get text to appear on coins, we should be able to get what we write to appear on another page, just like the journals." Nodding, Michael ran a hand through his hair before walking over to where Susan was, taking a seat nearby though he paused to grab a couple of texts that were being kept in the Room on his way. He knew better than to think they might not need to reference things, after all they’d been working at this for a while, but he hoped that somehow they’d just make a breakthrough with it. “I feel like it shouldn’t be that different. And we’re smart. Capable. This is going to work,” he said, more because he needed to hear it himself than because he thought Susan did. “Have you been waiting long?” Susan made a face at the texts, even though of course they needed him. “I only just got here, don’t worry. What I’m trying to do now is make what I write here-”” She tapped the parchment with her quill. “--appear on that sheet. It’s going about as usual.” She shrugged, then wrote in big letters “HOW ARE YOU???” across the parchment. The text didn’t transfer over. “Well maybe that’s really how we ought to be thinking about it. Less like replicating the journals and more like replicating the coins, but with more bells and whistles tacked on.” It wasn’t really an entirely novel idea, but it was a strategy at the very least. “I mean, the wards are obviously arithmancy based, but…” Trailing off, Michael pulled out his wand but he didn’t cast anything, instead opening one of the texts and perusing quietly for a moment. Reaching over his grabbed his own sheet of parchment, tapping his wand on it before writing today fucking sucks. It didn’t transfer over either, but after working on it for so long, he’d grown accustomed to not getting it right on the first try. Or at all, but he wasn’t going to think about it that way. “I really hope they’re making progress on the wards. I mean, I’m sure they are, but we have to get those working before we can do this.” She stopped and gave Michael a sheepish smile. “Not that we’re making much progress either. I just don’t think we can integrate a new journal onto the network until we know we can hide the wards, or even just… I think we should test it out under wards, too. You’re probably right that we’re going about it from the wrong angle, though. So something related to the protean charm?” She paused for a moment, then cast a quick charm. “I wish I could make it better,” Susan wrote on her own sheet and then reached over to draw a frown on his when what she wrote didn’t appear. Michael looked down at the frowny face and smiled slightly. It seemed a little ridiculous to smile at a frown, but he couldn’t really help himself. It wasn’t that Susan understood everything that he was feeling, but he knew that she had a better grasp than other people possibly could and that was comforting all in its own. “We should test it out under wards. I don’t think we can afford to risk anyone knowing that we’re trying to do this. You know, if we manage to get farther than the point we’re at now,” Michael agreed. As soon as someone had an idea, they’d lose any of the benefit the journal might have. “And yeah, I think the protean charm might be a good place to start.” It would be more complicated than that, he was sure, but what the hell. Michael cast another spell on the parchment, writing This helps. Thank you. on his piece before looking to see if it transferred. And more properly smiling when he realised that it did. “Well, look at that.” Finally. Susan let out a delighted sound and clapped her hands. “You’re bloody brilliant,” she said, turning to Michael with a huge smile. “Show me how you did it? But wait--” “Good. I could kiss you, Michael Corner. O++++,” she wrote across her page. After working on this for so long, even as small a step as this felt like a big relief, and Michael started to laugh, which felt nice after the day they’d had. He laughed even harder once he read what Susan wrote, and he wrote back You’re always welcome to, Susan Bones before running a hand through his hair. “Let’s see if we can do it again though, yeah?” “XOXO,”Susan quickly scrawled across his page, an uncharacteristic blush on her cheeks. It felt good to finally make progress, to finally feel like this DA journal project was going to work out. “All right,” she said, lifting her wand. “I know it will, though, and I can’t wait to tell everyone else.” |