“I suppose that makes sense.” He glanced at the book with renewed interest. Elara had been rambling slightly, but he actually appreciated the depth of her information. “Does it say anything about if they figure out why they transformed into spirits of chaos? Everything I’ve ever read suggested that it’s impossible to expel them from their associated location, even by choice. That would make sense if they couldn’t reflect on their previous lives, but if they can… well, I’d be interested to discover how a poltergeist might react to tiring of causing chaos, if that’s ever been documented.” Severus probably would enjoy the book, now that she’d brought it up. Well, that was his afternoon at the bookshop all sorted out.
“No,” he protested with an almost-teasing frown. “But you must admit, that’s a ridiculous number of books. I read fast as well - maybe not as fast as you - but I’d only be able to read that many in that short of a time period if reading was all I ever did. Tell me you at least go outside for a bit in between books.” He leaned his back against the end of the shelf as Elara described her book-giving versus book-keeping philosophy while she continued browsing. It was generous of her, to donate the ones she didn’t want to re-read - though he wondered how many of her previously-owned books were buried in the rubble of the now-destroyed Hogwarts library. “Understandable,” he said, regarding keeping her favorites. There were some books and stories that one could depend on for certain emotional or philosophical catharsis, and those were worth keeping safe. His own book-covered living room was proof of that; even though most of his were borrowed, it was still nice to have those old classics on hand.
“Small talk leads to conversation about things that either don’t matter or no one truly cares about,” he told her bluntly. “And if you’ll recall, I didn’t ask you to be nice.” They’d been having a perfectly civil and, actually, quite compelling conversation already, at least until it had gotten muddled. “I’ve gotten to know you plenty already without the banal how are you sorts of questions, don’t you agree?” he added, a bit less harshly this time. Elara Bloom, Pureblood, from France, missed visiting home, no career ambitions, worked at a candy shop, too smart for her own good. Despite being a Pureblood, she didn’t like the war, wanted to learn how to protect her friends - another curiosity - and probably needed to find a hobby besides reading. They didn’t need to resort to small talk when he knew all that; he really didn’t see why she thought his complaint made things “difficult.”
Severus refrained from telling Elara she could solve her problem by picking fewer books; she’d put them down like he suggested anyway, so it was a non-issue. Instead, he focused on answering her question. “It’s really not too exciting - bitterroot, antimony, dried chameleons’ eye, a few other things,” he explained as she turned her attention back to the bookshelves. “It’s one of those potions with an oddly specific set of stirring directions as well - remember those? Which isn’t terrible… but the more difficult part is that you’ve also got to make a second potion, the purpose of which is simply to coat the glass of the bottle you’re keeping the real one in - otherwise, the bottle will just keep turning invisible and use up all the potion itself over time.”
Reflecting on her reading of that particular book Elara tried to remember if it mentioned anything pertaining to his question, biting her lip. “No, it doesn’t mention why they transform into spirits of chaos. I think it’s because they don’t know the answer to that themselves. However, it does mention why they continue to cause chaos, but I’ll let it you read it for yourself to find that out.” Remembering what he had mentioned when asking the question, she quickly added, “Also poltergeists can’t necessarily be expelled, but they can be persuaded. They choose where they haunt and once they’ve made up their minds it’s nearly impossible to convince them to go, hence the misconception that they can’t leave.”
“I hope you know you sound like my aunt right now. Before I moved out she was always trying to tell me to get my nose out a book.” Elara laughed, running her fingers over the spines of some of the older books and glancing at Severus. “Of course I go outside still. I’m here right now, aren’t I? Between books, or sometimes chapters, I go out for coffee or tea, and sometimes I need to go get groceries. I also do still work for a living so I usually have to go out every second day for a shift.”
“Maybe. But something as simple as ‘how are you’ also lets you know that someone cares enough to check up on you every once in awhile.” Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Severus’ tone, Elara shrugged and looked at the books again. “I know it may be a new concept for you, but some people just like to be nice.” As much as she would have liked to ignore him, Severus did have a point. They hadn’t asked each other anything that would be considered small talk while in the coffee shop, but she supposed he probably would have learned a lot about her during that conversation. Sighing she looked at him again, a hint of a begrudging smile on the corners of her lips. “Fine, I see your point. You could at least have less attitude though.”
Nodding her head as she listened to him explain how the potion worked Elara also continued to look at the books, splitting her attention between the man beside her and the shelves. A few times while he was speaking she would pull a book out from the shelf and skim the summary to see if it was any good before putting it back. She only paused when he mentioned the potion having specific stirring and she grimaced lightly. Those had never been overly tricky for her since she was quick at picking up directions, but whenever they had done those types in class she had been stuck doing all the stirring due to the fact that her partner kept screwing up the directions and rendering the potion useless. For that reason alone she held a small resentment towards potions that had to be stirred in a certain way. “I remember a shop recently started selling vials made from the same metal as cauldrons. Something about them not absorbing the magic from potions as easily as glass. Would that work for an invisibility potion?”
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