[LOG] Searching the Stacks
Aug. 30th, 2009 12:02 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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ass_teaWhere: The Library
When: Mid-February, 2022 (Fifth Year)
It was getting increasingly difficult for Scorpius to find time apart from Alby, except for the classes they didn't share. It wasn't as if Scorpius really wanted to be apart from Alby; sure, there were occasional things he had to do without his boyfriend--such as use the loo and go to Ancient Runes--but those were short chunks of time. So on those rare occasions he wanted an entire block of a day to himself, it was hard to express that in a fashion where Alby wouldn't visibly deflate. It seemed the only instances where Scorpius had alone-time were when Alby was spending time with his family, namely his sweet younger sister and his total prat of an older brother. Scorpius always kindly excused himself from such events, ostensibly because he did not quite think of himself as Alby's family yet, and Alby never pressed him hard about it because all parties realized that Scorpius Malfoy and James Potter ought to be kept as far apart from each other as possible.
There had been something on Scorpius' mind that he'd been too embarrassed to ask or even mention to Alby, so on his free afternoon, Scorpius resolved to look into the matter himself. He considered himself a well-informed sort of fellow in comparison to his peers, and instead of asking another student when there was something he didn't know, his first recourse was always to look it up in a book. So far, this had produced better results than any other method. It seemed like a good plan, in general, at least until Scorpius approached the massive card catalog of the Library and was forced to consider where in the system of magical runes, numbers, and endless stacks would be filed a book about gay sex. It occurred to him that it was very unlikely that he would find anything in the catalog, but lo and behold, under the subject heading of "Human Sexuality" he managed to find a section, buried in an obscure corner where it just seemed that he might find what he was looking for. That is, until got there he looked at the titles.
"Magical Aides for Sexual Recreation in the Dark Ages: An Academic Analysis of Potions and Devices," Scorpius read. He wrinkled his nose. He'd hardly deem his activities with Alby "recreation," but after thinking about it, he had a hard time coming up with a better word that was devoid of any sexual explicitness.
"Witches, Magic, and the Myth of Sexual Promiscuity: An Overview of Muggle Witch-Hunting in the 17th Century."
"Wizards are from Mars and Witches are from Venus."
"Witches, Wizards, Muggles: Anecdotes of Magic-Muggle Couplings in Modern Britain."
"Our Bodies...Ourselves?" Scorpius took the large, bound tome from the shelf and immediately regretted opening it when he was treated to a detailed, illustrated view of the female reproductive system. He snapped the book shut and returned it to its place, but not before a look of mild horror had crossed his face.
It was merely two shelves of books, but it had seemed an eternity reading academic titles involving lengthy, dry treatises on sex. Under different circumstances, Scorpius might have thought these books interesting, but at the moment, none of them seemed to contain what he wanted to know (except for one titled, Homosexuality in the Wizarding World, that had seemed quite promising but was instead a lengthy volume about various Wizarding laws regarding homosexuality in different cultures over the years that contained absolutely none of the detailed information that Scorpius was trying to research), and he was starting to get a little bit frustrated.
"This is annoying," Scorpius muttered to himself. He stared balefully at the two shelves, his hands on his tips. He thought of the pamphlets that Professor Blackwood had given him, still sitting in the bottom of his bag because he was too mortified to actually take them out--that meant having to look at them. Deciding that today was not his day, Scorpius was about to turn away and stalk to some unoccupied table to apply his free time more wisely when the librarian, Madam Threader, sneaked up behind him.
"Can I help you with finding anything, Mr. Malfoy?"
Scorpius jumped, but recovered quickly. "Um..." he hesitated for a moment, his eyes quickly darting to the other books in the stacks and wondering whether or not Madam Threader, who looked very much like she ought to be the age to be having great-grandchildren already, had somehow deduced by where was standing what shelves he'd just been peeking at. Scorpius flushed and took two steps backward, hoping that whatever books were there were possibly less embarrassing to be standing next to.
"I was just, um..."
Madam Threader blinked.
"Trying to find something about modern Muggle culture. But..." Scorpius reached out and snagged the first book he found, which turned out to be The Hidden History of Hogwarts: Wizarding Schools and Sex in the 60's era of Free Love.
Scorpius almost choked. "But I...found this instead."
Madam Threader blinked again.
"So I'm fine, thank you!" Scorpius said quickly, holding the book aloft as if it had been what he'd been looking for. He felt his face turning red, but hoped that in the dim light of the corner, the librarian couldn't see.
"All right then, Mr. Malfoy, if you've found everything you need?"
"Yes. Yes absolutely."
Madam Threader smiled thinly. "If you have anymore questions, I'll be at my desk," she said and turned away.
Scorpius waited until the woman had walked well past his row before he sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against one of the shelves. He put the book back, and walked back to the desks, which were all full up. He found himself a seat at a table of Ravenclaw seventh years who hardly glanced up when he approached, their heads buried in their notes as they studied feverishly for their N.E.W.T.s.
Scorpius looked glumly at his bag, and dug out his Astronomy charts. So his great plan of doing research by looking in the library had failed him colossally. What was he supposed to do now? Ask someone? He gulped. There was no way, no way that he was going to ask anybody about it. The mere thought of walking up to somebody--whether it be a teacher or a fellow student--and ask them a question about sex and penetration was just too much. He couldn't do it, and it didn't seem like the library was going to reveal the intimacies of...well, gay intimacy to him today, if ever.
Great, just great. At this rate, he was going to be in the dark forever.
When: Mid-February, 2022 (Fifth Year)
It was getting increasingly difficult for Scorpius to find time apart from Alby, except for the classes they didn't share. It wasn't as if Scorpius really wanted to be apart from Alby; sure, there were occasional things he had to do without his boyfriend--such as use the loo and go to Ancient Runes--but those were short chunks of time. So on those rare occasions he wanted an entire block of a day to himself, it was hard to express that in a fashion where Alby wouldn't visibly deflate. It seemed the only instances where Scorpius had alone-time were when Alby was spending time with his family, namely his sweet younger sister and his total prat of an older brother. Scorpius always kindly excused himself from such events, ostensibly because he did not quite think of himself as Alby's family yet, and Alby never pressed him hard about it because all parties realized that Scorpius Malfoy and James Potter ought to be kept as far apart from each other as possible.
There had been something on Scorpius' mind that he'd been too embarrassed to ask or even mention to Alby, so on his free afternoon, Scorpius resolved to look into the matter himself. He considered himself a well-informed sort of fellow in comparison to his peers, and instead of asking another student when there was something he didn't know, his first recourse was always to look it up in a book. So far, this had produced better results than any other method. It seemed like a good plan, in general, at least until Scorpius approached the massive card catalog of the Library and was forced to consider where in the system of magical runes, numbers, and endless stacks would be filed a book about gay sex. It occurred to him that it was very unlikely that he would find anything in the catalog, but lo and behold, under the subject heading of "Human Sexuality" he managed to find a section, buried in an obscure corner where it just seemed that he might find what he was looking for. That is, until got there he looked at the titles.
"Magical Aides for Sexual Recreation in the Dark Ages: An Academic Analysis of Potions and Devices," Scorpius read. He wrinkled his nose. He'd hardly deem his activities with Alby "recreation," but after thinking about it, he had a hard time coming up with a better word that was devoid of any sexual explicitness.
"Witches, Magic, and the Myth of Sexual Promiscuity: An Overview of Muggle Witch-Hunting in the 17th Century."
"Wizards are from Mars and Witches are from Venus."
"Witches, Wizards, Muggles: Anecdotes of Magic-Muggle Couplings in Modern Britain."
"Our Bodies...Ourselves?" Scorpius took the large, bound tome from the shelf and immediately regretted opening it when he was treated to a detailed, illustrated view of the female reproductive system. He snapped the book shut and returned it to its place, but not before a look of mild horror had crossed his face.
It was merely two shelves of books, but it had seemed an eternity reading academic titles involving lengthy, dry treatises on sex. Under different circumstances, Scorpius might have thought these books interesting, but at the moment, none of them seemed to contain what he wanted to know (except for one titled, Homosexuality in the Wizarding World, that had seemed quite promising but was instead a lengthy volume about various Wizarding laws regarding homosexuality in different cultures over the years that contained absolutely none of the detailed information that Scorpius was trying to research), and he was starting to get a little bit frustrated.
"This is annoying," Scorpius muttered to himself. He stared balefully at the two shelves, his hands on his tips. He thought of the pamphlets that Professor Blackwood had given him, still sitting in the bottom of his bag because he was too mortified to actually take them out--that meant having to look at them. Deciding that today was not his day, Scorpius was about to turn away and stalk to some unoccupied table to apply his free time more wisely when the librarian, Madam Threader, sneaked up behind him.
"Can I help you with finding anything, Mr. Malfoy?"
Scorpius jumped, but recovered quickly. "Um..." he hesitated for a moment, his eyes quickly darting to the other books in the stacks and wondering whether or not Madam Threader, who looked very much like she ought to be the age to be having great-grandchildren already, had somehow deduced by where was standing what shelves he'd just been peeking at. Scorpius flushed and took two steps backward, hoping that whatever books were there were possibly less embarrassing to be standing next to.
"I was just, um..."
Madam Threader blinked.
"Trying to find something about modern Muggle culture. But..." Scorpius reached out and snagged the first book he found, which turned out to be The Hidden History of Hogwarts: Wizarding Schools and Sex in the 60's era of Free Love.
Scorpius almost choked. "But I...found this instead."
Madam Threader blinked again.
"So I'm fine, thank you!" Scorpius said quickly, holding the book aloft as if it had been what he'd been looking for. He felt his face turning red, but hoped that in the dim light of the corner, the librarian couldn't see.
"All right then, Mr. Malfoy, if you've found everything you need?"
"Yes. Yes absolutely."
Madam Threader smiled thinly. "If you have anymore questions, I'll be at my desk," she said and turned away.
Scorpius waited until the woman had walked well past his row before he sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against one of the shelves. He put the book back, and walked back to the desks, which were all full up. He found himself a seat at a table of Ravenclaw seventh years who hardly glanced up when he approached, their heads buried in their notes as they studied feverishly for their N.E.W.T.s.
Scorpius looked glumly at his bag, and dug out his Astronomy charts. So his great plan of doing research by looking in the library had failed him colossally. What was he supposed to do now? Ask someone? He gulped. There was no way, no way that he was going to ask anybody about it. The mere thought of walking up to somebody--whether it be a teacher or a fellow student--and ask them a question about sex and penetration was just too much. He couldn't do it, and it didn't seem like the library was going to reveal the intimacies of...well, gay intimacy to him today, if ever.
Great, just great. At this rate, he was going to be in the dark forever.
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Date: 2009-08-31 08:11 am (UTC)I actually started the Alby/Hawk log, but have been completely eaten by last-minute costuming. If I don't get it out before I leave for Dragon*Con, I will definitely finish it right when I get back!