Roots [Open]

Grayson tapped a rolled up piece of parchment absentmindedly against the palm of his hand as he climbed the stairs to the Owlery at a leisurely pace. The parchment was tied with twine, and contained a letter to his mother, to whom he wrote regularly when possible. After all, she was the reason he was staying in the United Kingdom, it would all be rather pointless if he did not keep up correspondence with her.

He had stayed with her for a month over the summer, cooking for her, running errands, and assisting with her paperwork as she prepared to retire later in the year. Then he had done some light traveling, spending two weeks in France, and one in Germany, before returning home to his small cottage in Ireland, where he admittedly spent very little of his time.

The school year was just beginning, and this letter was really just a customary thing, of little importance save to let her know that he was thinking about her and he was doing all right. But then again, that sort of thing often meant the world to a lonely old widow living by herself, so he gladly took the time out of his day to put some thought into it.

As he reached the Owlery, he noticed he was not the only one there. This would not have particularly drawn his attention, except that the man standing by the wall was one of the new professors hired this term, and he had a rather distressed look on his face as he read from a piece of parchment.

Not wanting to disturb the man just yet, Grayson continued what he was doing, walking toward a small black owl that he had taken to using. He tied his letter to the owl's leg and carried it to a window, releasing it into the air. Then he turned and watched the other man for a moment. Nikolaj, he remembered. It had been announced along with the other new professors at the opening feast.

After several seconds of observing in silence from the opposite side of the room, he moved a little closer--though he remained a comfortable distance away, not wishing to invade the other man's space.

"Forgive me," he began in his naturally soft voice, "I don't mean to pry, but you seem troubled."

He refrained from asking if the man was okay--his face and body language clearly showed that he was not, and most people tended to lie when faced with a question like that, so it was rarely helpful. Instead, he left the statement open. Nikolaj could speak if he wanted to, or brush him off. Grayson would listen if spoken to, but he understood the desire for privacy, and would respect that it was none of his business if the other man did not want to talk.

The man took a moment to look up--composing himself, it seemed. Grayson nodded at the response to his unasked question.

"I understand," he said sincerely. And he did. His father had died of an illness just over two years ago. He'd been lucky enough to spend his final few months with him, but it could have been very different--in fact, he'd been planning to go to Mexico for a year, before learning of his father's illness. Had he gone through with his original plan to leave without returning to the United Kingdom first, he would have missed his father's death and funeral, along with having not laid eyes on the man in over fifteen years. So not only did he understand having an ill parent, he also understood being far away. Nikolaj had said his mother was in Sweden. Grayson imagined he must feel rather helpless being here in the UK, and not there with her.

"I'm sure the school would give you leave to visit her if you ever need to," he offered.

He shook the man's hand, a kindly expression on his own face as he introduced himself. "Grayson Hughes. Yes, the librarian."

The potions master seemed to want to change the subject, so Grayson let him. He was interested in the other man's experiences, but he did not wish to appear nosy. It did not do to push to hard, especially upon first meeting. Perhaps if they got to know each other better, he would learn more eventually.

"The restricted section is for many things. Mostly, it's to protect certain books that are extremely rare, valuable, or otherwise irreplaceable, to ensure that they are handled with care. It also houses books that are dangerous, whether due to powerful enchantments laid upon them, or due to contents that are deemed unsuitable for those who lack the proper maturity or judgement. Most of the knowledge in that section is actually available to the students who actively seek it out--they only need to ask permission, and prove that they can be trusted. Having a section for it is more so that younger students don't accidentally stumble upon dangerous magics before they are capable of handling them wisely."

He explained as best he could. He considered going on to list some examples of dark magic being abused by Hogwarts students in the past--the most infamous of course being Lord Voldemort, who had learned about horcruxes here at school--but he thought better of it. It was probably unnecessary. If Nikolaj still had questions about it, he could always clarify when the need arose.

"Why do you ask?" he added, almost as an afterthought. His tone was more flippant than he actually felt. He supposed the question was probably innocent enough, but asking about the restricted section struck Grayson as interesting, if not quite suspicious. He wasn't paranoid, but he was slow to trust new acquaintances, and it never hurt to be a little careful.

Grayson nodded, mostly satisfied with Nikolaj's answer, and chuckled softly at his comment. It was true--mixing fragile, valuable things with children seemed destined for disaster. He shrugged. It hadn't been his decision.

"Hogwarts has always prided itself on both its collection of rare books, and its ability to protect things. Personally, I'd reason that it's because books were meant to be read--a purpose they'd be unable to fulfill from behind a glass case in a museum. They would be just as useless if they were locked away as they would be if they were destroyed. We may as well give the students the chance to have access to something potentially valuable to their education."

Grayson nodded at Nikolaj's question. "Yes. Any of the professors and myself have the authority to grant permission. You would need to sign a pass, which the student would then give to me, and I would retrieve the book for them from the restricted section. I am obligated to trust your judgement, so you have complete discretion when it comes to your signature. Of course, that also means if you sign something and something terrible happens, I can and will blame you," he joked with a small, wry smile.

Grayson considered this proposed solution carefully. It truly wasn't a bad idea. Writing lines was a usual detention when he was a student, and he supposed this was just a different take on that, with the added benefit of being constructive to the community.

Wizarding copyright laws were different from muggle ones. Wizarding precautions against plagiarism were often to simply charm the book against magical copying, which was why he was unable to simply duplicate the books himself instantaneously. He had considered, briefly, having students manually transcribe some of them, but several problems had immediately presented themselves--namely, the incredible time commitment, and the unreliable nature of handwriting, which ranged among the students from neat and precise to nearly illegible.

However, the solution his colleague now proposed sounded like he was referring to muggle technology. Hogwarts had recently begun to integrate a little of modern technology--mobile phones and internet access were now common amongst the student body. Perhaps it wouldn't be out of the question to purchase a computer for the library. He could create an online database (not that he truly needed one, he had one in his head--but for the benefit of the students, and future librarians, the idea had merit), and it would make it easier to transcribe fragile books onto a more practical and long-lasting format.

He decided it definitely would be worth the effort, and nodded thoughtfully. "That is a promising idea, actually. I'll look into it and see what I can do. It may take some time to arrange, but I'll certainly bring your proposal to the headmistress to see what she thinks."

In response to the man's question, he gave an affirmative nod. "I do have an inventory, yes. I'll retrieve it for you whenever you decide to come by the library." The previous librarians had kept up a relatively complete list of everything, and when he'd started, one of the first things he had done was organize all the records and bring the inventories up to date--it had taken the better part of a week, but considering how large the library was, this was actually a testament to the diligence of his predecessors.