Exploring the Sacred Halls of Knowledge Closed

The sound of shuffling footsteps alerted Alma of someone coming towards her table. She glanced up from her book, fully expecting yet another Ravenclaw joining them, when she saw Marcia. She was smiling to herself, seemingly very pleased about something. Someone should probably tell her that she had a dirt smudge on her cheek, though.

When Marcia had settled down in one of the unoccupied chairs and gotten the wind back into her (apparently she wasn't too fond of stairs), Marcia presented her with some Alehoof she'd apparently found by the lake. Alma didn't think too much of that discovery. Alehoof was a fairly common variety of mint that liked forest-y soil and water. Also seeing that it was mint and therefore something that nothing, short of a well-placed bombarda, could ever keep from growing, it wouldn't be too uncommon to find on school grounds. Still, Alma remembered that Marcia was rather fond of herbology and therefore wrecked her brain for a suitable way of approval.

"It looks quite good, actually. Well-spotted! I cannot imagine that it was easy to find the mint in the high grass of the lake. I'm certain you could -." Alma stopped herself, going over what she'd just said, what Marcia had just said. "You found it by the lake? As in, you went near the lake?"

She knew how much the books meant to Alma, to see how she immediately looked up in order to examine the in fact boring plant was heartwarming. Marcias smile widened when Alma praised her find and she wanted to truly believe her.

"You found it by the lake? As in, you went near the lake?", her roommate said with honest surprise in her eyes, which caused Marcia to laugh at her expression. Not too loud and not long enough to offend Alma. She put her hands up and formed a T with her body, the single Alehoof carefully tucked in her closed palm.

"You could have put a Quidditch field between me and the water's edge. Please excuse my wording, the Lake was near in my mind. I saw some movement from the Giant Squid, though. I must say it is far less intimidating when it's under the water, not swimming past our window." She was serious but she was afraid Alma would laugh at her. Her friend wasn't nearly as worried about the monster - or anything in particular - as Marcia was.

She lowered her hands again and stuck them between her legs and the stair on which she sat. Rather uncomfortable since she still tried to avoid crushing the Alehoof.

"I don't want to disturb you in what you're doing so please feel free to say 'No', but I've hoped you could help me with something?"

To sit on her closed hand was too painful, she finally decided, so she shifted her legs once again. With her fingers barely touching the plant she was draping it on the table just above the pile of books and was pleased about how it still looked fresh, although she had picked it quite a while ago.

Her gaze fixed at the plant she asked Alma for a favor. "You see, Ive hoped you could help me find some spell to prevent the plant from withering? As I said, I don't want to cut into you reading your books, but since it's a spell I'm looking for I imagined that you would lend me some help?"

Alma pondered about that for a while. She herself knew several charms that could keep a plant from withering, yet the magic was far too advanced for her to actually cast them. Her father would have been in his element, so would have been her mother with her preservation charm work she usually put on especially fragile books. Alma however, has little experience with charms that didn’t involve effectively disarming an opponent...

“I suppose,” she finally said. “That you could ask a teacher for a stasis charm to be cast on the plant. Preservation charms of ingredients such as this one are more trickery but I’m confident that both our Professors in Potions and Herbology would be able to cast that one. It’s more permanent, you see, and preserves the magical properties. Some herbs and plants lose potency when dried because the etheric oils are lost in the process. Other than that, you could buy a magical herbarium. They are fairly expensive but they automatically preserve the plants you put into them.”

Alma stood up and disappeared behind a corner, looking for a book about stasis charms. Luckily the library was sensibly sorted and it only took her a few minutes to find an appropriate book. She carried it back to Marcia.

“You can also start learning them yourself. With your fondness for plants, I am certain you could make use of such a skill. The professors would also approve and maybe even make them more inclined to help if they see that you’re already on it to learn the spells yourself. It would mean that they wouldn’t end up stuck with a student who’d ask for their assistance multiple times a day, you see?”

As expected the spell she was looking for was advanced, too advanced for a first year like her. She'd only just leaned how to illuminate her wand, nevertheless she had hoped there existed a spell even a beginner like her could master in given time.

Her gaze lingered on the books Alma had brought her and on the spells they depicted. She never thought it could proof to be that complicated to stop a plant from withering. Marcia sighed and slumped onto the chair, counting how many coins she had at her disposal right now. It was not nearly enough to buy a herbarium and she didn't want to ask her parents for money after a week at Hogwarts. It was probably best to ask her brother to help her cast a spell, at least for now, until she had learned on of her own. She could ask the professors for assistance as Alma had proposed but she would rather not bother them all the time.

"You think I can learn the Stasis spell on my own?" she reached for her wand, which still felt foreign to her and casted a Lumos. "All I can do is this. Maybe I should ask someone to teach me. The books are helpful but I don't get half of what they say."

Alma shrugged, not really worried at the prospect of trying her hand at more advanced magic. The worst that could happen with a stasis spell was fail, right? Maybe she could find a book better fit for a younger audience that explained the whole procedure in a simpler manner? Maybe Alma could help? But then again she had little knowledge about stasis charms, so she’d be better off finding Marcia a tutor for it.

“How about,” Alma began, moving the book closer so she could peer inside, “we work together. Maybe make something similar to a study group out of it? We could work on projects or do homework together and, if need be, study together for the exams, once they arrive at the end of term.”

Alma dug around her bag in search for her schedule, looking for free blocks to use for the group. First years unfortunately didn’t seem to have many free periods in between classes so they’d have to meet up, should Marcia agree to it, after classes were over. Alma wouldn’t mind spending more time in the library as she already spent most of her time there, anyways. However Marcia might prefer to have some time left to go outside and generally spend it with someone else other than Alma.