Torturing Small Animals

[Tatiana Carrow]

Tatiana ran a finger down a row of anatomy books, intent on the search for a title she had not read. Her chaperone shifted nervously as Tatty did so, but while perhaps this was not the most ladylike of pursuits it was not as though anyone knew why the soon-to-be seventh year wanted anatomy books. That was probably the issue with the twitchy creature that was supposed to be keeping an eye on Tatty — the woman knew. Tatty had made sure of it, making the woman scrub up the mess left by her experiments.

In truth the maid was as much of an experiment as what Tatty did with animals. It had been cats lately, although in the past she had worked on a wide variety of animals. Just not snakes — Aunt Mariana liked snakes, and Tatty hardly wanted to mistake one of her Aunt's pets for one of her test subjects.

Currently there was a cat shut in a box in her room, but Tatty found that she wanted to look up a few details of human anatomy so that she could apply what she learned from the cat's body to humans. Perhaps one day she might be able to acquire muggle children to experiment on (surely some would not be missed, and others she could have bought from parents who could not afford them), but until then animals would have to do even when a human would make a better subject.

The maid, though — that experiment, one in the effects of fear ... that one could go on until the woman snapped. After all, no one would care too much if a maid had to be let go because she went completely mad, and frankly if it seemed she might blab Tatiana might decide to use her to discover what murder was like.

With the maid incessantly dry-washing her hands beside her, Tatiana selected a volume from the shelf and opened it so that she could scan the pages to see if it held the information she needed to shed more light on her experiments.

  

[Rosamund Bones]

Rommy was trully not that scared of anatomy and the human body. Her mother was a healer, so the Hufflepuff knew quite some stuff about illnesses and herbs and such things. It was quite interesting to read about such things, though not half as fun as taking care of plants.

Rommy did not want plant books today, though. She had wandered at the plant books' section along with her chaperone for quite some time, until she decided to look for something different. The anatomy section was the one nearest, so Rommy decided to go there.

Surprisingly, she was not alone. Usually, that part of the shop was not that popular, but it wasn't as if Rommy minded some company. She recognized the girl as Miss Tatiana Lestrange, a girl she knew thanks to family connections, but Rommy did not feel that comfortable just approaching her like that.

A friendly conversation wouldn't hurt, though, right? Her parents always wanted her to have friends from good families and if the Lestrange family was not good then Rommy didn't know which one was. "It is always a delight that a girl's literature interests have to do with something other than sappy romances." Rommy commented with a friendly voice once she gathered enough courage to speak.

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

It was honestly a surprise that another young lady joined her. Tatty spared a glance for her twitchy maid, then turned her full attention to the younger Miss Bones. The incoming fourth year was a Hufflepuff, a fact that always made Tiana wonder what was wrong with the person in question, but her family was a good one.

"It is indeed a pleasure and a wonder," Tatiana said with a polite smile. She was very good at pretending things she did not feel; the smile even reached her eyes and looked as though she was actually glad to see the younger girl here. "Do you have an interest in anatomy as well?"

A foolish question, of course. There was no reason for Miss Bones to be here unless she was interested in anatomy. Still, it was the sort of thing that other people expected, and so Tatiana asked despite already knowing the answer to her question.

  

[Rosamund Bones]

Most of the time, Rommy found Slytherins to be slightly terrifying and preferred not to hang out with them, but Miss Tatiana Lestrange really seemed as an exception to her House. She seemed nice and friendly and Rommy was not usually the kind of person to suspect that people might be something other than what they showed.

"I am! It is a quite interesting topic." Rommy replied with a nod. Some books were too detailed for her tastes, but most of the time, Rommy was not too afraid of reading them. She was a practical person and she didn't mind getting her hands dirty. She was stronger than most upper class girls when certain things were concerned.

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

Tatiana smiled at Miss Bones; the expression was a perfect replica of a smile of surprised delight at finding someone with similar interests.

"It is very interesting," she agreed more enthusiastically than she felt, "and so very useful besides! I, of course, have no intention of ever having a career" — it was, in Tatty's opinion, Aunt Mariana's second biggest failing — "but I have thought that learning healing might be useful in my adult life. Certainly I would know when my future children needed to see a trained healer!"

Not, of course, that healing really had anything to do with Tatiana's interest in anatomy. Certainly the Lestrange girl wanted to understand the body, but she was far more interested in causing pain than alleviating it.

  

[Laura Morgan]

Anatomy had never been anything more than a passing interest to Laura. It wasn’t the physical that interested her, but the metaphysical. There was no excitement in something you could see and touch: it was obvious, pathetically so—there was no mystery in it, and by virtue of her profession alone it was the mysteries of the world that concerned her. But there was no denying there was some use for anatomy. After all, dark matter – her true passion, and she shivered at the thought of it alone – had to interact with something and the human body was as good a start as any.

She was not alone. The anatomy section had never been, in Laura’s experience, particularly popular but there were already two occupants and she remembered neither from her previous visits. The first, a dainty looking thing, was entirely uninteresting, but the second… Well, she had a rather familiar glint to her eye indeed.

“I don’t suppose there’s room for another?” Laura said, arching one sharply sculpted brow. Whether there was room or not was no concern of hers but normal people asked, didn't they?

  

[Rosamund Bones]

It was so great, meeting new people at the bookshop! Rommy smiled kindly when an older lady joined them. She looked very smart and Rommy liked meeting smart people. There were always so many interesting things to learn from them.

"Oh, but of course there is!" Rommy replied cheerfully with that same smile on her lips. It was a good thing that there were still women interested in something other than just romance books.

"And learning healing is definitely very useful. The herbs, especially! I love learning about the herbs and what each of them does to us!"

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

The woman who asked to join them was not someone that Tatiana recognized from her Aunt's social circles, and so usually Tatty would have immediately dismissed the woman as unworthy of her time.

Still, there was something about the woman — a knowing look in her eye — that kept Tatty from writing her off completely.

"You are welcome to join us. Miss Bones and I were just discussing the benefits of learning about healing," Tatty said with a small smile. "It appears that she is more interested in herbs, but personally I find the way the body works fascinating."

  

[Laura Morgan]

Laura had been right in her initial assessment. The younger girl—and her fondness for herbs—was disappointingly typical and it was quite plain she could expect nothing intelligible from the peppy Miss Bones. The other, as yet unnamed, remained intriguing and Laura settled herself into an empty seat with the book she had selected from the shelves. It was a dingy little book, the cover significantly tattered, but these miserable, neglected little texts were often a treasure trove of knowledge usually absent from their somewhat more polished relations.

“Herbs?” Laura echoed, perfectly polite but there was a note of derision in her voice she suspected the oblivious Miss Bones would miss. A bemused smile played at her lips. “A prospective healer, I gather?”

  

[Rosamund Bones]

Rommy was not sure if she wanted to be a healer. It sounded as a great fun, but it was also not the most lady-like thing to do. Not that she considered her mother a bad lady, but she could be a healer and still be graceful and lady-like. Rommy, on the other hand, felt that she would lose all prospects of marriage if she even considered healing. It was enough that she was a plain girl.

"Probably not." Rommy replied rather modestly. "But I would like to know the basics of healing. It would be nice to be able to help people when they are in need, even if I wouldn't be a true healer."

  

[Tatiana Carrow]

"I would not dream of it, although my aunt is the head of her division," Tatiana said promptly. She had no intention of having a career, nor of needing one. She did, however, need to keep an eye out for potential husbands even before her debut or she could very well find herself tied to her cousin Valerian despite the fact that she had grander aspirations.

Like being the wife of the Minister of Magic.

"My interest is more academic than anything," she volunteered. "I sometimes think that I could have made a very good Ravenclaw." Tatty laughed lightly, and it sounded false and silly even to her own ears, but it was necessary to point out that she was joking. She glanced at the older woman then with carefully smothered appraisal in her eyes. "Excuse me for not introducing myself; I am Miss Tatiana Lestrange."

  

[Laura Morgan]

A Lestrange. Well now that was rather more intriguing. Laura herself had never necessarily conformed to the idea that genetics made the witch or wizard, but there was a certain majesty about the clan, coupled with pride bordering on arrogance, that she had always dreamed of investigating deeper. She was not foolish though; her work required her continued survival and she would not, so the rumours suggested, survive more than a day should she proceed with a dissection. But this Miss Tatiana Lestrange was a seemingly magnificent specimen! She wondered vaguely how the girl was related to her colleague at the Ministry, but dismissed the thought as inconsequential.

"Mrs. Laura Morgan," she replied. Her name was hardly as grand as the young woman's, but if the girl had any intellect at all she would know better than to dismiss a person based on their family name alone. The Lestranges too had once been nothing but matter, floating in nothingess. "I remember rather distinctly the difficulty the Sorting Hat had in placing me," though purely because she had ensured she was startlingly difficult to read, "but I am quite sure I made an able Slytherin."

She briefly spared a thought for Miss Bones; a Hufflepuff, she suspected, but one had to be polite and inquire.

"And yourself, Miss Bones?"

  

[Rosamund Bones]

Oh, she was surrounded by Slytherins! Rommy felt sligthly anxious for a few seconds, for Hufflepuff was always considered nothing to the house of green and silver. Her mother had been a Slytherin and she had never been too unhappy about her sorting, but most Slytherins tended to judge her and her Hufflepuff peers. Those were not immature twelve-year-olds, though.

"The Hat sent me to Hufflepuff almost immediately!" Rommy replied cheerfully. Her governess had always told her to sound as confident as possible and if she wasn't confident in her House then how could others consider it important and great?

"I thought Mother would take it bad, but I think she was happy for me. I am lucky to come from a family with diverity when the Sorting is concerned. I believe there's at least one person from each house from both the Bones and the Longbottom side."