(1937-11-02) Charming Inquiries
Details for Charming Inquiries
Summary: Zack bumps into Eibhlin at the quill shop in Hogsmeade, she questions him about designing spells.
Date: Fri Nov 02, 1937
Location:
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Characters
EibhlinZack

It's the evening of the Hogsmeade weekend and students are invading once their lessons at school are complete. Eibhlin is not with a gaggle of schoolmates like those flooding most shops are. She's alone and doesn't seem bothered by it as she browses through the shop. The young woman is standing by a display of journals, slowly looking over each in turn. Her hair, left loose, drapes over her shoulders and oft gets in the way, requiring hand to lift to tuck it back.

Zack tends to avoid going to any of the shops while the children of Hogwarts are let loose on the village, but today he has decided that he absolutely needs something from this store. Only, when he gets there he can't seem to remember what it is, and he wanders the store aimlessly for a few minutes before stopping at the journal display. But, since Eibhlin is there already, he hangs back and starts digging through the pockets of his scruffy robes in search of something.

Luckily enough for the shop and those adult patrons within, it's not a very common one with most of the more boisterous children. They're nearby, at the candy shop. Those that do come within are often the quieter, more studious sort. Like the redhead picking up a black and silver journal now. One of those advertised to self-index. She turns it over, letting fingers drift over the cover with the air of someone who has a love for such things and is not here out of mere necessity.

Not finding whatever he's looking for, Zack instead pulls out a fairly hefty stack of rumpled parchment and starts flicking through them with a frown. As he does, he steps forward towards the journal display, expecting the girl to have moved on by now. But when he looks up at the last second and finds her still there, he has to swerve to avoid hitting her, and his hand bumps into one of the shelves, knocking the sheafs of parchment from his hand and scattering them across the floor. "Oh," he says. "Sorry."

Unfortunately, this is the sort of situation where Eibhlin's tendencies to be absent-minded come into play. The teen is paying not a lick of attention when Zack nears and the bump into the shelves causes her some startlement. She takes a sudden step back, clutching the journal to her chest. "I'm sorry!" It's a knee-jerk reaction, really.

Zack peers at the pages strewn across the floor as if not sure what to do about them. He's still trying to decide when the girl speaks up, and he blinks at her. "Sorry?" he asks, not catching on right away. "Why are you…? Oh! No, I didn't expect you to still be there when I was walking." He half turns in a vague gesture towards where he was coming from. "Yeah, and I nearly walked into you, but I managed not to."

Eibhlin looks mildly embarrassed even still. She ducks her chin to regard the floor, before placing the journal back up and kneeling to help pick up the strewn parchment. "I… suppose you're not used to someone just browsing in here," she finally ventures, glancing up to Zack. "Most of the students fear if they come in a place like this, they won't have as much time for butterbeer and sweets."

"But I walked into the shelf instead," Zack goes on, caught up in his explanation of what happened without even realizing that the girl might be embarrassed. He turns back and adds, "Oh, where'd you go?" Then, noticing that she's helping to pick his pages back up, he looks down in surprise. "Oh, you don't have to…" he says quickly. "I'm the one who dropped them." If Eibhlin looks at what's on the pieces of parchment, she'll notice that all of them seem to be research notes, with diagrams and captions of wands and spells in nearly unreadable handwriting.

Being a quick reader and one who has a love of research, well. Eibhlin does indeed take notice. The teen's eyes widen a bit as she straightens and holds out the parchments to Zack. "Are you studying new spells?" Unable to hold back her curiousity, she reveals that she did indeed take a peek.

In the meantime, Zack pats at his robes until he finds where he put his wand, and he pulls it out to get his papers back. But by then Eibhlin has already recovered them, and he looks at the offered stack blankly for a second or two. "Oh, thank you," he says, taking it from her and putting his wand away again. At first he doesn't seem to have heard the question as he starts flipping through his work to make sure it's still there, but after a moment he absently answers, saying, "Oh, yeah. I come up with new ones sometimes."

"Anything of note?" Eibhlin inquires, reaching for that journal again to keep herelf from trying to catch another glimpse at the parchment. Can't be too nosy! "Anything they teach at Hogwarts, perhaps?"

Having confirmed that he has all of them, Zack looks up from his notes and seems surprised to find her still there. "Anything of note?" he repeats, confused. "Oh, you mean spells? I don't know. I don't know what gets used and what doesn't. Most of them are just twists on already existing spells anyway." He lifts his shoulders in a quick shrug. "I don't know what they teach at Hogwarts now. I haven't been there in years."

Eibhlin appears mildly disappointed. Perhaps she expected — hoped, like as not — to be in the presence of someone famous. At least, famous in her regard. "Oh, I see." Brow furrows a bit and she shifts to hold the journal against her midsection. "Well, ah. I wish you luck with whatever you're currently working on."

"I guess I could ask the others if anything we've come up with has been taught at Hogwarts," Zack goes on, though he sounds as if he's mostly talking to himself by now. He doesn't seem to notice Eibhlin's disappointment at all, but something about her questions does give him pause. "Oh. Yeah, thanks," he says when she wishes him luck. He hesitates, and then quickly adds, "Oh! Would you like to take a look?" He holds out his notes for her.

This, well, this wipes away that disappointment. Eibhlin shifts the journal to one hand to reach out with reverence for the notes with the other. "Oh yes, thank you! I've only been able to learn about some of the theory of creating new spells. I suppose they don't want us blowing anything up if we were to try." She glances over the parchment, eyes falling to the diagrams of wands. "Why do you need to study the wands?"

Zack isn't used to letting anyone look at his notes, and after he relinquishes them to Eibhlin he watches them as if concerned for their safety. But he resists the urge to take them back from her right away, instead managing a quick smile at what he takes as enthusiasm for his work. "Oh," he says. "Are you interested in creating spells? I blow things up all the time. Not on purpose… I just get a little carried away sometimes." His brow furrows at the question, and he leans forward slightly to peer at his notes. "Oh! Those are the movements. And most of the writing is about the incantation and how it would work with the movements. All of that is still experimental. The whole stack is for the one spell."

Fortunately for Zack, no harm will come to the parchment itself. Eibhlin handles them as one might a find belonging in a museum. After all, she may run into him again and want to know more. "I'm not sure," the teen admits. "I'm… interested in a great deal of things. It's hard to find that one thing I want to devote to." She glances up, grinning sheepishly. "Do you find some spells work better for some wands? I know some books claim that, but… as a creator of spells, you'd have an intimate understanding, right?"

"Yeah, I would," Zack agrees, though the way he scratches at his side betrays his discomfort at being taken for an expert on the matter. "I guess it could depend on the spell, but it depends more on the person if you ask me. Which you did," he adds quickly, though it sounds as if he's reminding himself more than her. "But yeah, it depends on how you hold your wand. If you have a very tight grip then a more flexible wand might work better for you, but if you can hold a wand loosely and allow your hand to control the movements then a sturdier wand might be better." He frowns slightly, wondering if that explanation was sufficient, but then he goes back to her previous remark all of a sudden. "I was like that too. And then I found this job."

"Hmm." Maybe it's given Eibhlin some reason to think or perhaps she's disappointed once again. The teen doesn't give much away. She glances down to her feet for a moment before holding out the parchment towards the man. "Perhaps I'll have the same luck someday. Right now it can be very confusing." She glances towards the door before blue gaze returns to Zack. "Thank you for humoring me, sir. I ought to get going if I want there to be any sweets at the other shop left." She grabs a couple of quills as she passes, heading to the counter to pay for her purchases.

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