Mentor, Apprentice | Mad & JJ

Mad had sent an owl to her apprentice that she would come to collect the girl from her home for the day. The day's lesson was to be more instructional than practical. She wanted to educate the girl in how various spells, and charms in particular, were incorporated into the daily life of the witch or wizard.

Having apparated to a secure location not far from the girl's home, Mad made her way along the street, then up the front walk to the house. She was attired in a muggle dress suit, which somehow made her appear even more imposing than her robes. Lifting one fist, she knocked briskly on the door.

J. J. sat curled up in the window seat in her room, nervously petting her cat. Hermes sqwaked from his new purch but she the noise was nothing new now.

She had recieved an owl that her Mentor was coming, to her house - today. Of course it was merely to pick her up, and take her somewhere else but...

Everything seemed much more personal when it suddenly came to home - her home, her family's home. It wasn't just school anymore.

So, that morning she had woken up extra early, and hadn't moved from her spot by the window - keeping constant watch.

The minutes ticked past, and her anxiety grew with each movement of the clock hand. Then she saw the movement; someone coming up the street. The girl squinted trying to get a better look at the person... no... wait yes! It was Miss Mad.

Getting up quickly and displacing her kitten with a disgruntly Meow, J. J. rushed from her room and yelled before her mentor was anywhere near the door, "I got it!"

A few second later, J. J. was standing by the door and the knock came. She was so tense she jumped at the noise but opened the door before anyone else had even thought about it.

"Hello Miss Mad," she greeted the older woman, taking a moment to get use to the sight of her in Muggle clothes. Then she pause a moment not entirely sure what the protocal was now. "Do we go now? Or..."

She paused to look uncertainly at the house behind her, it wasn't that impressive, and most of her siblings had left stuff sprawled around so it was rather messy. She wasn't sure she wanted her Mentor to come in but she also didn't want to seem rude, "Did you want to come in for a moment?"

Mad gazed placidly past the girl into the hallway behind her. "Only if you feel it is necessary," she stated. "After all, we can't have your parents thinking I've abducted you. It would be far too much bother. I assume, however, that you have informed them I would be taking you out?"

JJ's parents really didn't have a say in the matter, as far as Mad was concerned. JJ was her apprentice, and like it or not, an apprentice's master or mistress had always had the first say in regard to said apprentice.

J. J. looked behind her at her house for a moment and then nodded, "They are well and informed."

She bent down to grab her bag which had her wand, and some other things and then grabbed the door.

"I'm going out Mama!" she called as she stepped out of the door, "I'll be back later."

She closed the door quickly before an other member of the house could get an idea to check on her and turned to her Mentor.

"Come along," Mad instructed. Turning, she made her way back down the walk and along the street to the apparation site. "We will be spending the day in Diagon Alley," she told the girl. "I wish to familiarize you with those spells commonly incorporated in the making of various items. We can also get your supplies for the coming school year."

Stopping at the spot that was shielded from a casual glance, Mad held out an arm to the girl. "Perhaps, you ought to try not focusing on our means of travel," she advised dryly.

J. J. pulled her bag higher up on to her shoulder and followed her mentor, egar to get started.

Of course, she wasn't egar for thier mode of travel.

She gave Miss Mad a rueful grin as she grabbed her arm, "Right, I will think only of happy thoughts - Rainbows and unicorns."

She laughed nervously and possibly gripped the woman's arm tighter than necessary with her still ill-at-ease attitude toward apparating.

Mad apparated them to Diagon Alley, giving JJ a moment to recover. "Ready?" she inquired. "Perhaps, we shall start with getting your school supplies and I shall point things out as we come across them? I don't suppose you have your supply list with you, perchance?"

J. J. groaned again and shivered slightly once they arrived but found that she recovered much faster than the last few times. hmm, she thought with an amused shrug, maybe I'm getting use to this.

"Umm," J. J. bit her lip and thought for a moment, "I think I might..."

She put down her bag and after a few minutes of rumagging through it sheepishly pulled out a rather crinkled list of books and potions supplies.

"...have it here."

Mad gave a nod of approval. "Good," she pronounced. "Where would you like to start? The apothecary? Flourish and Blotts? I shall allow you to decide."

J. J. paused and thought for a moment. It was on the tip of her tongue to say Florish and Blotts, she loved books, but at the last moment she decided against it.

She wanted to save that for last. It would be something to look forward to.

"Let's go to the apothecary," she decided with a nod.

"Very well," Mad agreed, indicating that JJ should lead the way.

When they arrived at their destination, the woman waited for the girl to look around a bit and collect some of her supplies for the coming school year. Then, she directed the girl's attention to a self-cleaning cauldron.

"What types of spells do you suppose have been placed on this item, JJ?" Mad asked.

Once they were in the store, J. J. consulted her crinkled list and grabbed an assortment of - usually gross looking - potions supplies, and then caught up with her mentor.

J. J. looked at the cauldron - which was being advertised as self-cleaning - and thought about the question for a long moment.

"Well," she said thoguhtfully, more or less thinking out loud, "There would have to be some sort of cleaning spell on it.. I think I heard the simpilest of those is Scourgify, but... if it's self-cleaning, it would probably have a much more complicated spell on it... or two spells, one to clean and one to do it automatically."

She bit her lip as she thought over what she just said. After a moment, she decided that it was going to be as good an answer as she could give, and nodded her head.

"Correct," Mad told the girl. "I believe the cleaning charm on this particular brand of self-cleaning cauldron is a modified tergeo. This is laid over the first spell - the one that triggers the cleaning charm. The activating charm can be any number of spells or a combination of two or more. Typically, a cauldron with three or four sensing and triggering spells woven together will work better and longer than a cauldron with only one. The most common of these spells is incoepit.

"Now, what would you say the two primary problems with such a piece of equipment might be?"

J. J. listened facinated by the workings of magic. She mindlessly ran her finger around the edge of the cauldron as Miss Mad spoke.

She bit her lip slightly as she thought through her answer.

"Well... I would think that even the most powerful spells would wear out eventually after continual use, and I do feel like the spells on this peice might not be all that well worked," she mused, drawing on her usual beliefs of quality of store items. "So I guess one problem would be that the spells won't last for ever."

Her brain seemed to draw a bit of blank after that point. After a long moment of silence, she decided she would just grasp at straws for the second one.

"Would not having preformed the spells yourself be a problem?"

"The charms do, in fact, need to be recast," Mad confirmed. "Due to way the spells are laid on the cauldron, this can be difficult or even impossible to do."

She listened to the girl's second response. "A fair guess, but inaccurate. The second problem often associated with items like this is also related to how the spells are woven together. The activating spell, or spells, settle over the cauldron like a very thin, but non-visible, layer. If there is a weakness in this later, matter can leak through, making it impossible to make truly clean and thereby ruining any potion one attempts to brew in it.

"Have you gathered everything you need from here? I shall purchase it for you."

J. J. listened with fascination, kind of wishing she had something to take notes with. She wanted to remember this. For a moment she thought she might have something in her bag but in the end she thought it would take too much effort and she'd forget it by the times she got the paper anyways.

So instead she listened closely and vowed to write it all down when she got home.

J. J. looked at her list and the things before nodding, "I believe so-"

She stopped and looked at her mentor, "You really don't need to do that Miss Mad - I have money somewhere..."

J. J. trailed off as she fumbled through her bag looking for the pocket she had put her wallet in. Her mentor shouldn't have to pay for her supplies - she already bought her Hermes.

"Don't be absurd," Mad told the girl. "Call me old-fashioned, if it helps ease your mind. When I was a girl, my own mentor purchased all my necessary supplies - as well as supplied me an allowance. You are my apprentice, as such, it is my responsibility to see that you are properly equipped for your studies. Whether or not other masters do the same, matters not.

"Come along, JJ," she instructed. "We'll pay for your supplies and continue to the next shop."

J. J. gave a little nod as a grateful smile spread over her face, "Thank you Miss Mad."

She took her hand out of her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and hurried after her mentor to pay for her supplies and move on to the next thing.

As always she was excited to learn new things, and ready to get to that... plus her potion ingredent had started to unnerve her again and she was more than ready to put them away.

Paying for the items, Mad led the way from the shop, pausing to look down at J.J.

"Well?" the woman asked. "Where to, next?"

J. J. glanced at her list before looking at the area around her.

"I need books so," she kept scanning until she found what she was looking for and then grinned, "Florish and Blotts?"

The girl could feel excitment rising in her - she loved books, and words of any kind.

Mad let J.J. lead the way to Florish and Blotts, following the girl inside the store. "Alright, you find the texts you'll be needing for this year," she instructed. "I have need of purchasing a couple books for myself. Meet me in the Dark Arts section in ten minutes."

The woman made her way directly to where the books she desired were shelved. One was a new text on Charms theory and use (not that Mad had much need of such a text, in fact, she'd probably end up quilling corrections into the margins and posting it to the author), while the other was an advance defensive arts guide she was going to put in on of the training rooms at Maius Bonum headquarters.

Making her way to the Dark Arts section, she located her next object lesson. Leaving it on the shelf, she waited calmly for J.J. to join her.

J. J. skipped off excitedly to explore among the books. She walked along, running her hand across the spins of books as she looked for the ones on her list.

Every few moments she would get distracted by a title that wasn't the one that she was looking for but sounded interesting. Most of the time she restrained herself from taking them off the shelf.

Before long she had grabbed all the books she needed for class, and looking through the isles of books looking for the Dark Arts section and her mentor.

"What are we looking at this time, Miss Mad?" she asked looking around her when she finally arrived.

"Just a couple volumes for my personal collection," Mad replied. "Did you locate everything you need?"

The woman gestured to book on the shelf beside them. "I want you to take that book and I want you to open it," she instructed.



(NOTE: The book WILL start screaming.)

J. J. held up the books in here arms with a small smile, "Yes, Ma'am."

She looked at the book on the shelf and briefly wondered what could be so important about it. It must have some important words in it or something that she should read.

Setting her books down she pulled the large book off the shelf and not expecting anything but a book flipped open the cover with a flick of her wrist.

Only to have the volume let out a constant gut-wrenching, eardrum breaking scream.

J. J. startled beyond belief let out a small screech of her own and jumped, fumbling with the book and eventually dropping it on the floor, where, because the cover did not close, it continued to scream.

Wincing from the sound, J. J. quickly bent down and slammed the cover shut with more force than was necassery. The girl stayed down there for a few moments, waiting for her heartbeat to go back to a normal speed, before she picked up the book - holding it away from herself as if it might somehow harm or contaminat her - and sraightening once more.

"What," she paused agian to take a deep, calming breath, "was that?"

Mad's smirk was undoubtedly amused as she took the book back from the girl. "It was a ward, placed on some texts to keep them out of the hands of the untrained and ill-prepared. Others are set to keep out those who aren't members of a certain group or family. It depends on the book," she answered, returning the volume to its place on the shelf.

"How might such spellwork be laid on a book, do you think, J.J.?"