Aurora Sinistra (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alt_sinistra) wrote2014-08-06 07:54 am
alt_sinistra) wrote2014-08-06 07:54 am
Order Only
Reading back through things, clearly it'd help to know what resources I have.
Astronomy and research: Besides the obvious (stars, locational and chronological magics, navigation) astronomy is the art of patterns, understanding the unseen through observation of the barely visible. It is a more broadly useful skill than most people realise.
My projection stones are likely useless for your needs, but the research that went into them might not be. I keep up with various subfields of Arithmancy, Charms, and Runes, and I spent a recent year researching some of the charms and magics built into Hogwarts.
Defence: My husband and I spent a great deal of time on the topic, both theory and practice, including discussion of his own training and those of others on the Council. We particularly focused on warding, personal protections and on thinking through possible situations. Turns out there's only so much preparation of what-ifs one can do. Apparently.
My spaces at Hogwarts are rather obsessively warded, and I created and use charmed items to tell me who is on the Astronomy tower.
Practical resources: One absurdly large and empty house in New London, though uncomfortably close to both Buckingham and St James Palace. The garden was replanted in the last year and includes a rosa incantatus (useful for some potions, I gather) and a poison garden (ditto). Two house-elves, insufficiently occupied. A space for full-out duelling practice. Money I'd not mind finding a good use for.
I have a solid library for my field and access to others, and am a full Master in my guild (with all the rank, privilege, obligations and annoyances thereof). Various items, protective and otherwise.
Connections: I am not naturally socially adept, and use a method my research mentor taught me to keep detailed notes on people I might deal with professionally and socially (time and labour intensive, but effective). My notes cover my Guild, former YPL and Ministry contacts, and those who moved in the same social circles as my husband. They include family background, professional credentials and associations, topics to bring up and avoid, and sometimes other things.
Through the YPL work and circumstance, I have acquired an odd collection of acquaintances and sometimes friends. In particular, Tosha - Antonin Dolohov - has been very good to me. I understand this is extremely complicated for many of you, with excellent reason. More on him below.
Other skills: I'm a decent cook, have some basic training for managing injuries, not horrible on a broom, and I'm normally (but not at the moment) a strong apparator at distance, comfortable working from coordinates. A variety of household and family magics, though Mum is much better at all of them. I do have the habit of thinking through possible challenges and solutions in advance. Perhaps obsessively.
I am fluent in English, German, and Latin. Enough wizarding Arabic to make private comments to Tosha in staff meetings (and translate astronomy) and enough Welsh to order beer and complain about the weather. Other subjects, I'd need vocabulary help.
You should not rely on my ability to identify a plant, take the floo, proof my own arithmantic calculations, deal with sudden change, or do anything complicated between about dawn and noon.
Finally: I miss my husband a very great deal. My stamina, my focus, my magic, and my ability to have a coherent conversation remain unpredictable, though Poppy and others assure me there's steady improvement.
I'm sure there may be questions. I'll do my best to answer.
Astronomy and research: Besides the obvious (stars, locational and chronological magics, navigation) astronomy is the art of patterns, understanding the unseen through observation of the barely visible. It is a more broadly useful skill than most people realise.
My projection stones are likely useless for your needs, but the research that went into them might not be. I keep up with various subfields of Arithmancy, Charms, and Runes, and I spent a recent year researching some of the charms and magics built into Hogwarts.
Defence: My husband and I spent a great deal of time on the topic, both theory and practice, including discussion of his own training and those of others on the Council. We particularly focused on warding, personal protections and on thinking through possible situations. Turns out there's only so much preparation of what-ifs one can do. Apparently.
My spaces at Hogwarts are rather obsessively warded, and I created and use charmed items to tell me who is on the Astronomy tower.
Practical resources: One absurdly large and empty house in New London, though uncomfortably close to both Buckingham and St James Palace. The garden was replanted in the last year and includes a rosa incantatus (useful for some potions, I gather) and a poison garden (ditto). Two house-elves, insufficiently occupied. A space for full-out duelling practice. Money I'd not mind finding a good use for.
I have a solid library for my field and access to others, and am a full Master in my guild (with all the rank, privilege, obligations and annoyances thereof). Various items, protective and otherwise.
Connections: I am not naturally socially adept, and use a method my research mentor taught me to keep detailed notes on people I might deal with professionally and socially (time and labour intensive, but effective). My notes cover my Guild, former YPL and Ministry contacts, and those who moved in the same social circles as my husband. They include family background, professional credentials and associations, topics to bring up and avoid, and sometimes other things.
Through the YPL work and circumstance, I have acquired an odd collection of acquaintances and sometimes friends. In particular, Tosha - Antonin Dolohov - has been very good to me. I understand this is extremely complicated for many of you, with excellent reason. More on him below.
Other skills: I'm a decent cook, have some basic training for managing injuries, not horrible on a broom, and I'm normally (but not at the moment) a strong apparator at distance, comfortable working from coordinates. A variety of household and family magics, though Mum is much better at all of them. I do have the habit of thinking through possible challenges and solutions in advance. Perhaps obsessively.
I am fluent in English, German, and Latin. Enough wizarding Arabic to make private comments to Tosha in staff meetings (and translate astronomy) and enough Welsh to order beer and complain about the weather. Other subjects, I'd need vocabulary help.
You should not rely on my ability to identify a plant, take the floo, proof my own arithmantic calculations, deal with sudden change, or do anything complicated between about dawn and noon.
Finally: I miss my husband a very great deal. My stamina, my focus, my magic, and my ability to have a coherent conversation remain unpredictable, though Poppy and others assure me there's steady improvement.
I'm sure there may be questions. I'll do my best to answer.
no subject
no subject
Right. Pocket lecture. When they put the wards up, it affected a lot of the calculations for locational magic. Most of the time it doesn't matter much, but if you're trying to go from one place to another, it especially does.
And the first set of wards, in 83, affected different places differently, so between 85 and 87 they had several people go through and do really thorough calibration measurements. (I did Wales, it's why my Welsh is largely useful in pubs. It takes forever to do a complete survey.)
My best guess is that the rite eighteen months ago did something similar, but I don't know if it's a general offset, or something that's affected by other variables. (Like the amount of local magic in the area, nearby ley lines, and so on.)
Normally, the measurement tables would get filed with my Guild, but I don't think they were this last time. (I can ask.) If not, it's possible to do the measurements, but of course you'd have to do it for the places you wanted to go to, individually.
Beyond that, I've no idea if MLE's put anything in place that might affect things or cause an alert: portkeys are unusual enough as a kind of magic they'd be possible to identify by signature, yes?