Astrid Ivanovich and The Spinner's Key [HP]

[wingstrike96]

Vote Tally : Astrid Ivanovich and The Spinner's Key [HP] | Page 18 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.1.18
[X] After thinking about it, you're no longer angry at your father. He may be strict, and he may overreact, but he's just trying to keep you safe. And, at the end of the day, he knows a lot more about the world than you do. Maybe he's right to keep so much from you and Maggie.
No. of Votes: 11
Daecl
Caversham
Corvus Black
HillaryEmail
Louie the Lilac
Oh I am slain!
Sereg
Shard
silentspirals
veekie
wingstrike96

[X] You're still angry at your father. You can't help it. He tries to keep half the stuff in the world away from you, and then acts all surprised when you want to find out more. It's his fault that you had to buy that book and eavesdrop in the first place, so it's hypocritical of him to punish you.
No. of Votes: 10
TheArcanist
Bugaboo
Dark Ness
Khaos
Kinematics
Lord Ultimus
Night_stalker
Prim the Amazing
Ridiculously Average Guy
Versharl


[X] You plan on keeping your promise to Harry. Every bit of it. You absolutely don't want to get in trouble with the Aurors, so you should listen to his advice.
No. of Votes: 6
Daecl
Caversham
Corvus Black
Kinematics
Oh I am slain!
silentspirals


[X] You plan on keeping part of your promise to Harry. You won't tell anybody what you heard about Death Eaters and Voldemort or whatever, but if there's something bad happening, you want to help stop it however you can.
No. of Votes: 14
TheArcanist
Bugaboo
HillaryEmail
Khaos
Lord Ultimus
Louie the Lilac
Night_stalker
Prim the Amazing
Ridiculously Average Guy
Sereg
Shard
veekie
Versharl
wingstrike96

[X] You don't plan on keeping your promise to Harry. You had to get out of that shop somehow without getting your memory wiped. Something is definitely going on, you want to find out more, and you'll need to be able to share what you know with your allies. That includes sharing the info you got.
No. of Votes: 1
Dark Ness

[X] No, you'll never be able to read everything you need to in one night. You have to find some way to get the information instead. Enchant the book to resist erasing, maybe, or get a quill to write it all down instead.
No. of Votes: 15
Prim the Amazing
Bugaboo
Caversham
Dark Ness
HillaryEmail
Khaos
Kinematics
Lord Ultimus
Louie the Lilac
Night_stalker
Ridiculously Average Guy
Sereg
Shard
veekie
wingstrike96


-[X] Go with the copying idea. Dad would probably notice if the erasing fails.
No. of Votes: 13
Prim the Amazing
Bugaboo
Caversham
Dark Ness
Khaos
Kinematics
Lord Ultimus
Night_stalker
Ridiculously Average Guy
Sereg
Shard
veekie
wingstrike96


-[X] Focus on copying out the parts on history if there's not enough time to copy the whole thing.
No. of Votes: 7
veekie
Bugaboo
Caversham
Kinematics
Sereg
Shard
wingstrike96

[X] If it's that bad, you don't want Maggie reading it. ... You guess that's how Dad feels about you. ... Anyway, it's better not to read the horrible bits now and be able to read all you want of the rest of the book later.
No. of Votes: 4
silentspirals
Corvus Black
Oh I am slain!
Versharl

-[X] Hug Maggie and promise to share the book with her after you finish copying
No. of Votes: 1
Caversham


-[X] Copy anything about Artificing, and then stop.
No. of Votes: 1
Louie the Lilac

-[X] Let Maggie stay and help.
No. of Votes: 1
Kinematics

-[X] Let Maggie stay and help if she swears not to tell anyone.
No. of Votes: 1
Bugaboo


Total No. of Voters: 21

 

[NavySeel]

[X] You're still angry at your father. You can't help it. He tries to keep half the stuff in the world away from you, and then acts all surprised when you want to find out more. It's his fault that you had to buy that book and eavesdrop in the first place, so it's hypocritical of him to punish you.

[X] You plan on keeping part of your promise to Harry. You won't tell anybody what you heard about Death Eaters and Voldemort or whatever, but if there's something bad happening, you want to help stop it however you can.

[X] No, you'll never be able to read everything you need to in one night. You have to find some way to get the information instead. Enchant the book to resist erasing, maybe, or get a quill to write it all down instead.
-[X] Go with the copying idea. Dad would probably notice if the erasing fails.

I wonder how much we reminded Harry of himself.

 

[Bugaboo]

[X] You're still angry at your father. You can't help it. He tries to keep half the stuff in the world away from you, and then acts all surprised when you want to find out more. It's his fault that you had to buy that book and eavesdrop in the first place, so it's hypocritical of him to punish you.

[X] You plan on keeping part of your promise to Harry. You won't tell anybody what you heard about Death Eaters and Voldemort or whatever, but if there's something bad happening, you want to help stop it however you can.

[X] No, you'll never be able to read everything you need to in one night. You have to find some way to get the information instead. Enchant the book to resist erasing, maybe, or get a quill to write it all down instead.
-[X] Go with the copying idea. Dad would probably notice if the erasing fails.

I wonder how much we reminded Harry of himself.

Click to shrink...

Vote just closed. You almost managed to swing the vote to a tie.

 

[PutterMurr]

Rolling the d100

Alas, it doesn't seem like Dad likes copy quills much. Fits in with his attitude of not trivializing magic, but I thought I'd give it a roll to give you guys a chance.

PutterMurr threw 1 100-faced dice. Reason: Father's Copy Quill Total: 95

 

[Kinematics]

Oh, bah. Forgot about the dice while working on the vote. Oh well.

 

[PutterMurr]

[x] Copy the book.

You shoot a small, conspiratorial smile at Maggie.

"Well, come in, then. We don't have all night."

Your younger sister breaks into a wide grin and scampers inside your bedroom, shutting the door behind her. You really owe her for helping you -- knowing the state Dad was (is?) in after everything that happened, she put a lot on the line to sneak you your book. That's her advantage over you, honestly. While you're not exactly clumsy, Maggie is tiny and silent as a shadow when she wants to be. She invariably won at hide-and-seek when you were younger, even if you don't count the times her magic flared up and made her temporarily invisible. A bit unfair, to be frank, but right now, you aren't complaining.

She hands you the book, which you take over to the desk by your bed. There's a good bit of moonlight shining in through your window; unfortunately, it's hardly enough to read by, and both of you know it.

"Turn your light on," Maggie says, keeping her voice at a whisper. "I can't see anything."

"Are you mad?" you reply. "Tasha might see if we just turn on the lamp, and neither of us are supposed to be awake, much less reading. What time is it anyway?"

"Midnight," she says. "I had to wait until Dad went to bed to get into his library." Not a second later, she lets out a giant yawn that she tries in vain to stifle. This really is quite late for her to be up. You know you'll have to get used to it, since you'll have Astronomy once a week at midnight, but she's still a kid -- that's two years away for her. Poor thing.

"Thanks, Maggie," you say, smile turning less mischievous and more genuine. "I owe you one."

A bit of the fatigue clears up as she positively glows with pride.

"It's nothing. Really," she insists. "Just turn on some kind of light so we can get going."

"I have just the thing for that, actually." You stride over to your windowsill, where your wand sits, bathed in moonlight. You pick it up and brandish it, to the stunned gasping of your sister.

"But -- Astrid, you can't! The Ministry will find you, won't they?" she says.

"How could they?" you say. "It's not like I'm the only person here who can do magic. Dad does it, Tasha does it. You do it sometimes too, without meaning to. Even if they do sense a spell getting cast, they won't know it's me. I haven't been to Hogwarts yet, after all." You shrug. "Besides, it's just Lumos. It's the easiest spell there is."

Maggie only seems partly comforted.

"Alright. If you say so," she says, eyes staring at your wand expectantly. "You really know how to do it, then?"

"Of course I do," you say, entirely confident. In one fluid motion, you turn to the side, flick your wrist, and whisper, "Lumos."

The tip of your wand lights up immediately, and you've just cast your first proper spell. A bit anticlimactic, but oh well. At least nothing went wrong. Maggie lets out an impressed murmur, and that helps boost your ego some as well.

"I can see perfectly now!" she exclaims quietly -- though you suspect that's not entirely true, as your wandlight only produces a small halo, not the room-spanning coverage of your lamp. Still, it's much better than nothing, and you return to your desk, where the white light illuminates the silver engraving of the title and the gaunt skull on the cover.

Your fingers hover over the book for a few shallow breaths. And then, your pulse racing with that anxious excitement you've come to know, you open it.

Inside, the plain table of contents awaits you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword (by Xanthus Centurius)......................................................i
Chapter One: Where Light Meets Dark.................................................1
Chapter Two: Dark Wizards Through The Ages.........................................25
Chapter Three: Offensive Versus Dark (or 'The Political Declassification of Dark Spells')..........53
Chapter Four: Forgiving the Unforgivables........................................................75
Chapter Five: The Anatomy of the Soul...................................................................102
Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')..........130
​

You frown upon reading it. Truly -- only one hundred fifty or so pages? You shut the book and hold it at eye level. It looked much thicker than that in Flourish and Blotts. That's part of the reason why you paid seven whole galleons for it. Even now, you'd guess conservatively that the book you're holding has three hundred pages. And only one hundred fifty are written on? You hadn't paid attention to the pages numbers at the store, but it seems you've been cheated a bit.

"What's the matter?" Maggie asks, seeing your peculiar behavior. "Is the spine broken, or something?"

"No," you reply, setting the book back down. "The table of contents just doesn't make any sense, is all."

"What do you mean?" she says, sidling up next to you on the chair. "Let me see."

You open the cover again and hold your wandlight over the disappointingly short list of chapters. She looks over it, growing steadily more confused as she reads.

"What does 'declassification' mean?" she asks, pointing to the large word.

"It's..." you start, trying to find the right way to describe it. You yourself only have a general idea of what it means, and that's more from context clues than anything else. "It's like when something used to be called one thing, but then it's changed to something else."

"Oh!" she says. "So like Transfiguration for words?"

You blink. That's...not what you meant at all. But now's not the time to get into it.

"Anyway." You quickly change the subject. "You see? It says there are only about one hundred and fifty pages in this book, when it looks like there are plenty more from the outside. Unless the last chapter goes on for the entire rest of the book, which I really don't think is possible."

Maggie looks just as confused as you are, now that you've explained the problem.

"Is there a continuation on the next page?" she asks. That would be an embarrassing oversight on your part if there was, but when you flip the page, you see only the beginning of the foreword. Brilliant. You almost got in trouble with the Head Auror over a book that's only half-written. You give a frustrated sigh, about to close the book, when you feel Maggie tug on your sleeve.

"Astrid!" she hisses, pointing to the side of the page she can see on your left. "Look!"

Curious, you turn back to the table of contents -- and gasp. In the combined silver lights of your wand and the moon, new words are inking themselves right below the last chapter listed. It takes only a moment for them to appear completely.
​

Chapter Seven: The Forbidden Threshold.............X
​

Next to you, Maggie begins to tremble.

"What does it mean, 'X'?" she asks. "Why wasn't that there before? Do you suppose this is what Dad was talking about?"

"I don't know," you reply, eyes still glued to the newly listed chapter name. You highly doubt Dad would have let you touch a book with a hidden extra chapter, especially in a book about Dark Magic, so you assume it only appeared just now. You shake your head, temporarily ignoring this new development. "Listen, Maggie. We have to copy down as much of this book as we can before morning, or it could be gone forever. There could be important information in here that Dad would never tell us on his own -- and we'll probably forget it all if we try and read it all in one go, won't we?"

Your sister hesitantly looks up at you, tearing her eyes away from the book.

"Yeah...I guess," she agrees, clearly not at ease. "But we won't be able to copy the whole thing. Dad hates Copying Quills. You know that."

You grimace. Yes, you certainly do -- he always goes on about plagiarism and laziness and the trivialization of magic whenever they come up. You also know that they're not terribly difficult to make, but only if you know what you're doing, and despite your passing grade at Artificing a few months ago, you don't think you'd be able to manage it without prior research into the spells. You may be able to flawlessly cast Lumos; however, creating a wandlight and enchanting a quill to perform an intellectual task are entirely different beasts.

So you'll have to do this the hard way. The Muggle way.

"It'll be slow," you admit, "but it's our only option. You don't even have to think about what you're writing, Maggie, just write as fast as you can. Dad himself said he wasn't going to erase the whole thing, so we only have to copy the chapters we think he dislikes." You smile. "Your penmanship is always perfect. I know you can manage it, even if you're just scribbling down the words."

She relaxes a bit at the compliment.

"Alright," she says at last. "Let's get on with it."

You pore over the table of contents together, each edging for the most room on the uncomfortable wooden chair.

(Based on this roll (for Astrid) and this roll (for Maggie), you may copy three chapters together before the night is done. Choose which you'd like to copy down. You may copy less than three and get more sleep, if you choose.)

[ ] Foreword (by Xanthus Centurius)
[ ] Chapter One: Where Light Meets Dark
[ ] Chapter Two: Dark Wizards Through The Ages
[ ] Chapter Three: Offensive Versus Dark (or 'The Political Declassification of Dark Spells')
[ ] Chapter Four: Forgiving the Unforgivables
[ ] Chapter Five: The Anatomy of the Soul
[ ] Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')

[ ] You're intrigued by that last, mysterious chapter. You'd like to check it out, once you and Maggie are done copying.
[ ] The sudden appearance of that last chapter scared you. You're going nowhere near it.​

 

[PutterMurr]

You're so damn good at Charms you automatically cast Lumos without needing to roll. Congrats. You also succeeded in several Intelligence checks to both avoid getting caught and avoid trying to cast a fifth year series of spells with no training, so good on you.

 

[Bugaboo]

I've got complete choice paralysis. Chapter 4 will probably be erased, but I don't see it being all that useful either. The Foreword could hold some interesting information for further research and a clue to who the author is or the origin of the book.

 

[Shard]

[X] Chapter Five: The Anatomy of the Soul
[X] Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')
[X] Moar Sleep

[X] You're intrigued by that last, mysterious chapter. You'd like to check it out, once you and Maggie are done copying.

 

[TheArcanist]

[X] Chapter Two: Dark Wizards Through The Ages
[X] Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')
[X] More Sleep
Chapters two and six in particular strike me as the ones Dad is most likely to censor for reasons I'm not entirely convinced are rational.

[X] The sudden appearance of that last chapter scared you. You're going nowhere near it.
This is something straight out of a horror movie. Run, Astrid, and don't even bother looking back!

Oh, something I noticed a while back but didn't comment on - Astrid mentioned that muggle-born first-years had to do their shopping accompanied by a Ministry escort. Is there a reason their parents couldn't do it? Because I'm pretty sure the parents of muggle-born children ARE allowed in Diagon Alley(at least to escort their own kids), because Hermione's parents were shown changing money at Gringott's in the second book.

 

[Bugaboo]

EDIT: Changing vote.

 

[veekie]

[X] Chapter One: Where Light Meets Dark
[X] Chapter Two: Dark Wizards Through The Ages
[X] Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')

These are the chapters most likely to be nuked due to talking about the dark history. Chapter 5 is also likely to be censored due to leading to Horcruxes, but we don't QUITE need to know that.

[X] The sudden appearance of that last chapter scared you. You're going nowhere near it.

Last chapter is a forbidden threshold...let's not cross that without knowing more.

 

[silentspirals]

[X] Chapter Two: Dark Wizards Through The Ages
[X] Chapter Five: The Anatomy of the Soul
[X] Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')

[X] The sudden appearance of that last chapter scared you. You're going nowhere near it.

Oh, something I noticed a while back but didn't comment on - Astrid mentioned that muggle-born first-years had to do their shopping accompanied by a Ministry escort. Is there a reason their parents couldn't do it? Because I'm pretty sure the parents of muggle-born children ARE allowed in Diagon Alley(at least to escort their own kids), because Hermione's parents were shown changing money at Gringott's in the second book.

Click to shrink...

Presumably, it is part of a scheme to introduce kids to the muggle world.

Maybe the parents were there, but didn't get a mention? Or were sitting in a pub, overwhelmed? Or couldn't afford transport to London and the Ministry weren't interested in being helpful?

 

[TheArcanist]

Astrid notes that the book looks like it's ~300 pages, but the listed chapters only go out to half that. Then this mystery chapter, calling itself the 'Forbidden Threshold', pops up.

Are we seriously to believe this new chapter encompasses the rest of the book? I think it's pretty clear there's really two different books here altogether. I think the first seven chapters are of relatively benign things, possibly to keep the entire work from being completely destroyed by censors - but that the tone and content of the book does a total 180 once you find this little hidden tidbit. It calls itself the 'Forbidden Threshold' because, well, what's a threshold, exactly?

It's a point you need to cross for something to happen, that's what.

I, uh. Think Dad might have been right. This book is insanely fucking shady and we should *really* tread lightly around it.

 

[silentspirals]

I, uh. Think Dad might have been right. This book is insanely fucking shady and we should *really* tread lightly around it.

Click to shrink...

This actually opens up a mess of questions. Has Dad realised this (makes sense because he is a dark wizard) or missed this (makes sense because he is a censor)?

If he had to take out three-quarters of the book, presumably he wouldn't give it back, so that suggests he doesn't. If so, do we want to read the extra things? Would we be safer telling him?

Conversely, maybe the book is not that shady, just well protected from unperceptive censors and book-burners. The second half, then, would be practical information. Or advanced criticism of people who are anti-Dark Arts.

 

[Bugaboo]

The main reason I want to read it is because I'm afraid that Astrid's father will find it when he gets around to editing the book. While their is a decent chance he won't notice it, this still might be our only chance to read it.

 

[Corvus Black]

[X] Chapter One: Where Light Meets Dark
[X] Chapter Two: Dark Wizards Through The Ages
[X] Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')

Well, for a start, we want to see where the line is drawn between what is Light and what is Dark. Then, we want to know Dark Wizards throughout the ages - maybe it will mention this Voldemort and his Death Eaters? And then obviously, we want to know more about the War.

[X] The sudden appearance of that last chapter scared you. You're going nowhere near it.

Not that Astrid knows it, but this is seriously Riddle-esque. Words just appearing on page? Stay away! Stay away!

I've got complete choice paralysis. Chapter 4 will probably be erased, but I don't see it being all that useful either. The Foreword could hold some interesting information for further research and a clue to who the author is or the origin of the book.

Click to shrink...

Yes, Chapters Four and Five will definitely be erased. I mean, seriously, the Unforgivables and Horcruxes - how the fuck did this book get into Flourish and Blotts?! And did the checkout assistant not take a quick look at it - at least look at the chapter titles considering it's called the "Forbidden Arts" - and think to themselves, maybe I shouldn't sell this to a young, First Year girl.

 

[veekie]

Yes, Chapters Four and Five will definitely be erased. I mean, seriously, the Unforgivables and Horcruxes - how the fuck did this book get into Flourish and Blotts?! And did the checkout assistant not take a quick look at it - at least look at the chapter titles considering it's called the "Forbidden Arts" - and think to themselves, maybe I shouldn't sell this to a young, First Year girl.

Click to shrink...

At least, Dad's reaction is...justified. The book is SO getting redacted.

Though if we're in it for the historical knowledge it's not so bad, but holy shit. It's like a Beginner's Guide to Becoming a Dark Lord, complete with "Pitfalls of Past Dark Lords" for how not to fuck up.

 

[Bugaboo]

At least, Dad's reaction is...justified. The book is SO getting redacted.

Though if we're in it for the historical knowledge it's not so bad, but holy shit. It's like a Beginner's Guide to Becoming a Dark Lord, complete with "Pitfalls of Past Dark Lords" for how not to fuck up.

Click to shrink...

I so wish we could save every part of this book. It just seems like such a cool find and it's a shame parts of it are getting erased. For all we know it's one of a kind and it always makes me sad when rare things are damaged in some way.

 

[Sereg]

[X] Chapter One: Where Light Meets Dark
[X] Chapter Two: Dark Wizards Through The Ages
[X] Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')

[X] The sudden appearance of that last chapter scared you. You're going nowhere near it.

Books in Harry Potter can be pretty terrifying. We don't want to get cursed or possessed.

 

[ebolasos]

[X] Chapter One: Where Light Meets Dark
[X] Chapter Two: Dark Wizards Through The Ages
[X] Chapter Six: The Dark Mark (or 'A Critical Analysis of the Second Wizarding War')
[X] You're intrigued by that last, mysterious chapter. You'd like to check it out, once you and Maggie are done copying.


The shiny calls, SV your duty is to follow that fucking shiny to the ends of the universe.

Besides I like the idea of using dark magic and we shouldn't restrict ourselves when learning it.

 

[TheArcanist]

Besides I like the idea of using dark magic and we shouldn't restrict ourselves when learning it.

Click to shrink...

Not that Astrid knows it, but this is seriously Riddle-esque. Words just appearing on page? Stay away! Stay away!

Click to shrink...

That's why we should at least be careful. We should remember that this is Harry Potter, so when the book on dark magic starts spontaneously writing new material we should, I dunno, question what's going on and whether or not it's a good idea. We should always keep in mind that while not necessarily inherently evil, the Dark Arts are dangerous, particularly when we have no idea what we're doing.

Reading a little further, I think I have an idea as to what's going on with this book. Apparently Dad didn't notice this at all, or he'd have probably destroyed that book on sight or else made it flat-out impossible for us to get our hands on it, and *we* didn't notice it until we very actively thought and vocalized 'that's weird, is this really it? I want more.'

I don't think that's a coincidence. I think the book's magic makes it so that you have to honestly want to see more of it in order for it to reveal itself - which makes sense, because would-be censors would obviously not fit that criteria.

 

[Corvus Black]

Besides I like the idea of using dark magic and we shouldn't restrict ourselves when learning it.

Click to shrink...

We're not restricting ourselves, we're saving Astrid from being possessed. Think about it, what better way to disguise your Horcrux than as a shiny, attention grabbing, textbook.

 

[ebolasos]

Can we write in votes?

If we could i would vote
[] while interesting you know words and chapters appearing isn't normal, leave it for now until your understanding of the dark arts is better.

 

[ebolasos]

We're not restricting ourselves, we're saving Astrid from being possessed. Think about it, what better way to disguise your Horcrux than as a shiny, attention grabbing, textbook.

Click to shrink...

Remember to even possess some one riddles dairy had to have the victim pour " there being" into it.
If the book starts talking to us throw it into the fire place but until then learn from it.