Brave New World (Jory/Hyacinth)

[Jory Addison]

"They help," Jory said. "And pretty much everyone has issues before they start school. Just getting your wand will help out a lot. I know I had a tendency to change the colors of the curtains when I was aggravated. Kids can't control it, you have to learn to." Hyacinth was much older than most beginning students, however, and Jory couldn't help but wonder what untrained magic could do when the person was older.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth gave a relieved sigh, and after a moment, a light chuckle, thrilled beyond words to hear that, at least in this place, some of those things which most terrified him were not only okay, but normal. "I am so thankful, Jory! Thank you so much! I cannot explain my happiness..." He paused, his breaths quickening as he struggled to put his thoughts into English.

"My hair, it changes colors, that is the worst of it, when I change. And my haircut grows back, and many things happen, but this happens to all magic people? And the wand," he went on, gesturing again, as though holding a stick, "it is needed, and it will help me not to do these things when I do not mean to?" He reached without thinking for the cross that hung against his abdomen.

[Jory Addison]

"Yeah, you have to have a wand," Jory said, reaching for his wand to show. "It'll choose you, and then it's with you forever." Or until it broke, but he didn't intend to put his in any kind of danger. "And you know, there's this special kind of wizard called a metamorphmagus that can change their appearance whenever they want. They're really rare, though, and a lot of people randomly change things before they get their wand. It'd be kind of cool if you were one, though." He doubted it, but Jory couldn't say he had never wished he was one.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

As carefully as Hyacinth was listening, there was a word he'd missed, and he reached back into his pocket after a pen, dropping his cross. "That word," he said, clicking the pen on, "Changing what I look like, that is rare, maybe? Could you say that word again? I want to write down, I have many questions." His hair shifted to a vibrant red in his excitement.

[Jory Addison]

"Metamorphmagus," Jory said, then paused to spell it out, though his eyes darted to Hyacinth's hair. That seemed much more obvious than normal. "I don't know if there's a test for it or anything, or if someone just says you are one." He thumbed his wand absently for a moment before sliding it away again.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

"I will ask professors," Hyacinth said, printing as neat a description as he could beneath the word, considering he was holding the paper against his palm. "I will see the librarian about not-magic things, and a professor laSalle to make my English better, and the counselor. One of them will know, yes? Or they will test me?" He looked up and clicked his pen shut before tucking it away again. He gave Jory a hopeful smile.

[Jory Addison]

"Definitely, they'll know. The professors are all pretty great," Jory said. "They've helped me out in the past, they'll try to help you wherever you need it." He paused outside of the wand shop. "Ready to get your wand?" he asked, gesturing toward the door.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth looked up at the shop's sign, his red hair slowly fading toward white. He reached for his cross again. Maybe he didn't want to do this. Despite the assurances of his teacher, he was being asked to embrace witchcraft, and it was frightening. His teacher, for all his knowledge, was no priest.

But his only other choice was to refuse, to return everything to the way it was. If this was a gift, a calling, then it was really no choice at all. Hand clasped around his cross, Hyacinth nodded at last.

[Jory Addison]

www.magikal05.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=wands&action=display&thread=6840&page=1

"So what do you want to get next?" Jory asked as they exited the wand shop. He knew the general list, as it was more or less the same each year, just with different levels of books. Books and supplies still needed to be bought, a pet if Hyacinth wanted one.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth went after his list again, unfolding it to look it over. Then he looked up to see which shops were the closest. "I need paper and pens," he said, "and I need many books. Some the professors will have for me to borrow, but I will need many others." The year-specific books would be lent to him, but those which were used every year, such as History of Magic, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, and Magical Drafts and Potions, he needed to buy.

[Jory Addison]

"Quills and parchment and stuff is right across the street," Jory said, gesturing. It was strange going to buy everything the first time again, though he had gone to much smaller shops. He had been all but bouncing as he led his parents through shops and tried to convince them to buy the pretty blue quill instead of the boring white one.

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Hyacinth nodded, and it was only as they approached that he realized Quills and Parchment wasn't simply a fancy name. He stopped to look at the window display, where various feather quills lay in groups, or singly on decorative pillows. His eyes caught on a long, thin black quill locked in its own case, and on the sign below it.

Writes only in the blood of the user. Never buy ink again!

He stepped back and crossed himself, then reached for his rosary.

[Jory Addison]

Jory was already getting used to the crossing, though he didn't quite understand it fully. "Yeah, no one uses those. I heard of one woman that taught at the school forever ago that did, but I'm pretty sure she ended up in jail or something for using it on students," he said, wrinkling his nose. "Don't get too freaked out by things like that, they're usually not really common."

[Hyacinth Duprel]

Jory's anecdote about the quill only brought another quickly-murmured prayer, despite the attempted reassurance which followed. He kept an eye on the thing, as though it might develop a mind of its own, until it was out of sight and they were inside. Then distraction claimed him again.

There were all number of things that Hyacinth had never seen, and he was nearly overwhelmed by the beauty and extravagance of it all. He had sat in magnificent churches beneath the brilliant multi-colored light streaming through stained-glass, but these were things he might own, things which he alone of his large family might possess.

Thou shalt not covet.

[Jory Addison]

"You're gonna want to get a good number of cheap quills. I heard that if you're not used to using them they can break and stuff. And you're going to be writing a lot of essays so you'll need a ton of parchment. But if you get the right kind of ink you can clear off parchment and reuse it..." Jory trailed off as his attention was grabbed by the display of specialty quills.