Search for The Cure Open

Illowy's attention was pulled once more from the task at hand as the first year lad stood up, her ghostly eyes staring up at him. The girl didn't remember much of that night. Originally, she'd been among those who said to leave the sound be, to stay safely in their dorms. Then she become one of the few to try to go about opening the door in a safe and sensible manner. In the end, she was one of the three closest to the door when it was opened. The only thing she remembered after that was being bitten... constantly, and the agony that ensued after until she blacked out from the pain. To the best of her knowledge, no one had bothered to help her; only to be expected considering her lack of friends, even within her own house. She only recalled waking up in the infirmary, tightrope walking the edge of death. In a way, she was still doing that. All of the effected were.

The lad gave a polite bow of his head to the gaggle of young witches before speaking. Her eyes fell to his stack of books as offered his own material and sat down once again. Illowy then rose, moving to get a better look at the tomes as she picked one up, leafing through the aged pages, "Where did you get these?" she questioned, though it came out more as a command then anything, though she hadn't meant for it to. Where in the world had he managed to find such material if not in the library? Some of the books were ones she'd never even heard of, much less seen referenced in any of the books she'd been reading thus far. Had a Professor given them to him? Perhaps he was trying to cover himself for having snuck into the restricted section and stealing them?

This was exactly the kind of situation Flash was hoping to avoid by staying quiet. His back turned to the older girl, he let his scowl play across his lips before getting rid of it. It would have been easier to just do the research alone, as usual. After all, it was only natural that the Slytherin would want to know where he got the books, Flash himself would have been curious too, but to simply ask outright seemed like a bad move. He would have at least tried to butter the person up first, or learn through indirect questions. This way, he only felt more defensive about it. He didn’t know enough about the magical room nor this stranger to go about blabbing about it in the middle of a crowded library.

On the other hand, outright refusing to say where he got them was suspicious, especially when it pertained to information that could be saving lives. Certainly she could argue that the free distribution of knowledge was necessary given the circumstances, but she could just as likely be the fiend who caused the attacks in the first place, as far as anyone knew, and was trying to cover her tracks. He couldn’t trust her for no reason at all, especially with something so powerful.

He didn’t want to lie either. He couldn’t say something easy like ‘my parents sent them to me’, as nicely as that would wrap up the confusion. Lies always found a way back to you, it was better to avoid them even when they seemed temptingly easy. Flash’s process was more one of probable deniability. It was better to let people come to conclusions on their own and assume it's the truth, rather than taking a stance that can be scrutinized. Though, he hardly had time to think of something like that so quickly. He had to improvise.

”They’re not from the restricted section, if you’re worried.” Flash said, the tension in his shoulders making it hard to conceal his annoyance. ”They’re mine, but any of you can borrow them. I don’t need them back if they turn out to be useless.”

Perhaps that was enough for them to drop the issue, or at least buy him time to think of a better way to get her to stop asking. He tried to return to his reading, the burning pain of eyes on him hard to ignore.

@Illowy Magnard @Bridget Collins @Amara Dragamior

@Illowy Magnard | @Flash Holmwood | @Amara Dragamior

At least Amara had finally fallen silent. It was a bit awkward, her just sitting with them, but it was better than the tension of moments before. Ganging up against a younger student was not how Bridget wanted to spend her time; she knew full well how hard your first year could be. Besides, she and Illowy didn't have forever and catching the girl up on all that had happened so she could help would've taken much too long.

Illowy voiced a question she had been wondering herself: was what they needed in the Restricted Section? Bridget frowned. "Probably. Considering none of this is common knowledge, I doubt all the answers are helpfully contained in a book anyone can access. And whatever this curse is, it's not something they'd want students replicating." It was a depressing realization that the answers they needed, if anywhere, were off-limits. Certainly if none of the Professors had identified their affliction this curse wasn't stuff for twelve-year-olds. She supposed they had plenty good of a reason to be allowed access to the Restricted Section, but they didn't even really know what they were looking for and she doubted they'd be allowed to rifle through book after book until they found something. And if the librarian knew about such a book or even mention it surely would've been brought up by now. Their research was looking more and more pointless. How were they to find a cure if they didn't know what they needed to cure?

Another student approached their little group, evidently having overheard their conversation. He offered up his books for them to look through, books not from the Hogwarts library. Illowy took suspicion to this, which frankly surprised Bridget. Certainly it was feasible for his family to have their own library with its own selection of books if he came from magical blood, right? Or was that not normal? Being a Muggleborn, she had no way to know for sure. She trusted Illowy's judgement, though, so she could continue her interrogation if she saw it appropriate.

Bridget, however, was more than happy to take any resource she could get her hands on. Crossing to his pile, she picked up a book off the top and returned to her seat. As she flipped to the table of contents, all she could hope was that the book was trustworthy and contained the answers they so desperately needed.