template taken from @blue-birdie612. been a while since i've yapped about Julia!! and theory for magic. fig still owes me O in owls and newts. i know he is dead. his graves owes me this much. so, her stats:
Wyrd is something I call wielders of ancient magic. It isn't an official term, just a silly word play I like something to designate them by + ancient magic isn't a kind of magic, it is an ability. A wielder of something is usually called a name, like welders or cobblers, so.
MAGIC
Julia is a wyrd. Her understanding of magic – the feel for it rather, is akin to what feels like speaking a language since birth to us.
Julia does not need to learn a formula or struggle to memorise things like names of the spells or wand movements; these mnemonics are fun but aren't important to her, not to mention each and every spell in the books have been created by someone with an intent, and that intent is nothing less of a whole another layer of a conceptualisation of the spell.
Diffindo is a severing charm. A seamstress created it. Tailoring scissors are sharp but should you imagine scissors before proceeding to analyse what 'to sever' means?.. Julia, sort of, skips the introductions because to sever means to sever; she is fast with conceptualisation and turning whatever that is she thinks about in to a form of magic.
There are limits to this capability. Native speakers of a language are able to speak it freely and quite complexly so, but not many are able to explain why certain things work a certain way or whether something does or does not make sense until they learn why (through philology, linguistics, and the like). Julia's case is the same. Something simple and relatively intuitive to her does not mean she understands what is going on.
As a student, however, she excels, because she is able to cast spells non-verbally, fast and at an astounding complexity; she also learns quick and she's generally intelligent enough to know to when to follow or diverge from given instructions.
Her sense for magic later allows her to become a builder (but before she became a full blown engineer she had to study, well, everything there is to building anything; Julia is a wyrd but she's never unbecome a muggle girl with muggle habits).
The rest is under the tag + another version of the template and the template's background.
STRENGTH
Not like Julia's delicate though. These arms can hold a hammer and can shoe a horse, work the garden and carry a cauldron, churn butter. It's just these arms wouldn't load coal or round a barrel – or moor a ship, or sucker-punch someone, or barehanded hold a horse in place.
SPEED
Julia isn't very fast either; her legs aren't for sprinting.
STAMINA
Her legs are for treading, hiking, jumping, balancing, stepping, trailing – for long walks. Julia can swim for a relatively long time, too. She's very resilient both physically and psychologically.
She grew up outdoors under the harsh weather of northern seas; she ran around Exeter like it was her personal playground until she started attending the muggle school – and then would help around the house of her adoptive family. She's not going to get tired from a walk across the Highlands or among busy town streets, or from doing some form of – often menial – house labour.
Granted, afterwards, she'd need a day to rest. She hates the creeping sense of the future fatigue.
AGILITY
With all that, Julia is also agile. She might not be strong enough or fast enough; she compensates with dexterity and reaction time, plus, she knows how to land herself and has a good sense of balance.
INTELLIGENCE
I don't know how to best describe it, but she is smart – and that smart, intelligent part of herself scares her as much as it makes people believe she is too cold, too sharp, too much of a shrewd, too direct, too blunt, a know-it-all, too unyielding, too demanding, too lax, too attentive, too uncooperative on the matters of sentiments, too stubborn in questions of attaching values to invaluable things, too reasonable, too unbending.
Julia is intelligent. It is her curse and a burden; she wishes she could possess the patience of Professor Weasley's or Aesop's.
CHARISMA
insert the joke about picking the white marble for tombstones Julia is charismatic in her own right!!
SPECIAL MOVE
Not as much as the move as much it is a passive ability. Her scar; it was left with the Expulso spell. Julia felt it like she was hit with a lightning. Since then, because of the residual magic stuck in her, she's able to sense electric currents around her (like a fox; when I compare Julia to a fox, that's what I refer to, albeit foxes use a slightly different mechanism when hunting – they're able to sense the magnetic field of Earth).
She can foretell the weather and read strong emotions of people.
BONUS: another version of the template (more blue)
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anyway i have a hl thought. i have a vague recollection of typing a similar post but
MC, under the guise of Phineas Black, tells Matilda to give Fig more leeway—likely had been thinking the professor had too much hours assigned to him to be able to pursue links to Ancient Magic freely.
But was it really the case?
From what little we know about Eleazar, he:
can call up the favour the Ministry of Magic owes him after he had defeated a graphorn near the Stonehenge;
could get in contact with the Minister, and did, when inquired him about the goblin uprising *directly*;
seems to be Black's errand man?;
not to mention Eleazar was the one to accompany him to meet with a Ministry's liaison—or could've done so in the real scenario;
knows not just a lot about magic—he has a bunch of unorthodox theories and frequently goes on some 'foolhardy adventures', likely to prove some of them or seek for evidence to support them;
has access to Black or to his office—he had to acquire his hairs somehow, and perhaps discretely so, correct?;
teaches Theory for Magic;
yet pupils are hardly aware, if even heard of him teaching anything, and most are confused about his subject as in, they straight up have not a clue about what he actually teaches.
Long thought train past, I think Fig isn't a teacher—at least, not by the time MC is enrolled in Hogwarts. He is likely the Curriculum Director(?), or a Methodologist(?)—the person behind composing and designing Hogwarts' curriculum and studying programmes.
This is why he answers directly to Black, is slightly above the staff as he designs their study plans (or at least, he is very respected among them even if some have a thorn for him e.g. Sharp and Weasley), and is a bit of a pain in everyone's arse.
Because imagine having both a limp and an urgent need to track down that bloke who must revise your lesson plan before you can submit it to the deputy headmistress or to the headmaster for… утверждение, блядь, как по-английски сказать-то, the approval, so it could be put at the table of a person who draws the timetable?
Because imagine doing the headmaster's job for the deputy head's salary and expecting one of your most long-standing colleagues to maybe help you a little here and there, but they are constantly away and also likely putting the life of a newly enrolled student at risk—and for what, for some silly extracurricular projects that absolutely must include venturing into the Forbidden Forest and meddling with the Rookwood's lot?
So, when MC asks Matilda to give Fig more leeway, it causes Matilda to flinch and clock something.
Fig does not answer to her as he isn't her subordinate—first; he is her equal. Second, Matilda isn't concerned with Fig as much as she is with MC, as MC is a student and thus is her direct responsibility; Fig could do anything at this point, but how does that concern a pupil?
Fig has warned MC at the start of the year: Matilda, in theory, could knew something about the Ancient Magic debacle, but Fig and MC's use of time to pursue AM would raise concerns, forcing Matilda to feel compelled to report it all to Black.
Black becoming increasingly more aware was out of question.
Black was clear: he does not believe rumours and will not care for some fairy tale nonsense about repo and ancient magic, he would have forbidden MC exist (as it would save him oh so precious nerve) and that would've been about that.
In other words,
imagine you wanting to talk about your colleague's absence that also strangely coincide with absence of the newly enrolled student, which is all so peculiar, and you *know* it is, and your boss is not pleased with it either—and then your boss is suddenly alright with it.
lmao.
HOWEVER,
MC's talking out of their arse inadvertently turns Matilda against ever confronting the real Black about anything; if it's in vain and he is all aright with everything as it is, why bother? Matilda isn't compelled to report anymore—she takes the reins instead (and is likely pissed). Fig wasn't happy.
lmao.
So,
I have always said HL needs more staff room drama.
saw the game @creampuffcloudsdreaming @lyra-prag, thought I'd add Julia into the mix!! the og post.
Julia is my HLMC. A short description of her would be that she is a very jaded, coarse, dry, grim and all sour emotion under the sun until you start chatting with her. Then you learn she's just a busybody with quite a lot of things to do and places to be; she'd be a little distant, still, but all would be if they'd nearly died a couple of times and lived through something terrible an even larger amount of times.
OC Hypotheticals:
If your OC could travel back in time, would they? What would they change if they chose to?
Julia mourns the child she was. That child was, and she is; she does not know whether she'd like to change anything if it means losing peace she has built over the years.
TROLLEY PROBLEM! What does your OC do?
Removing trolley aside, nothing. She'd say, one life or five lives, the life itself is priceless; she cannot be convinced to save five at the price of an one nor the other way around. It's a dangerous way of thinking about life – to assign it a value based on a cumulative number.
They’re on the run after being accused of a crime they didn’t commit!! What do they do from here?
It's hard to be on the run after convincing half the Auror Office its glory days became oceans of unsorted paperwork and terrible management. That resentment could save Julia's life someday.
Zombie apocalypse/end of the world!! How are they faring?
What an excellent time to be a cottagecore lesbian witch!!
What would an alternate universe where they never existed look like?
Both of her parents probably survive, later moving to Denmark where they settle down as merchants/nouveau riche.
Aesop and his sisters never overcome their weaknesses and fears, with Aesop eventually leaving for a warmer country as the world he used to know collapses around him.
Imelda becomes a Quidditch star. Poppy becomes a magizoologist. They never grow close and never develop even a friendship.
After Natty takes down Harlow, she has to flee UK soon afterwards – as without Julia, a wedge between Ranrok and Rookwood never exists, thus they are not as distrustful of each other and are able to withstand hits such as the removal of Harlow.
Fig was never able to even open the locket the portkey was sealed in.
Ranrok never finds the repository under Hogwarts, but powers he had already obtained brought enough disorder to remove Spawin from his post. He gets replaced by someone Rookwood could manipulate and influence, thus making him the grey cardinal of the Wizarding UK.
Rookwood is responsible for slowly strangling Ranrok's rebellion forces deeming them as not serving in his interest anymore, and whilst their powers do intrigue him still, he doesn't need them anymore. Rookwood also re-establishes his family's name among the wizards and warlocks of Wizengamot.
OTP Hypotheticals (Imelda x Julia x Poppy):
If they broke up or drifted apart, how might their reunion and reconciliation play out?
This happens when Julia is nearing her mid-20s. At this point, she is exhausted by her legal struggles.
She was denied citizenship under numerous – and very strange at that – reasons, as if it was the Ministry's way to tell she was not welcome in this country.
She claimed two adoptions by two different families, proved she went to Hogwarts and had property in Hogsmeade. But being adopted twice by the UK's citizens apparently was not enough.
Her next move was to announce she was going to marry Ms Sweeting. Julia was suddenly denied marital rights unless she'd marry a man.
Her property – the shop in Hogsmeade – was rapidly transferred to the Sharps as her evident status of a nobody would not allow her to have any property to her name unless it's on the lease.
To all her wrathful questions she was said to work a couple of years and not as an independent merchant (that'd count for her licence though), but as a MInistry clerk or as a Ministry contractor 'if her skills would be deemed sufficient enough by anyone in the country, of course'.
Imagine everyone's fury at these ridiculous demands and what toll it took on Julia. She ground herself to a halt – and in the middle of this legal hell, Imelda is being tired of her perpetual exhaustion.
Yes, Julia's situation did cast shadow on Imelda's Quidditch career. Yes, Imelda also chose the worst words at the worst possible time. Yes, they get together at the end, but not by themselves – by the time this break up happens, a lot of people feel like Julia is a canary in the mine.
If she, a dutchie, is booted from the country, what would that mean, the rest – including Imelda's family, Hogwarts staff, members of the Quidditch League – would follow suit shortly afterwards? Besides, what's with people like Poppy, whose parents are criminals within wizUK's jurisdiction? booted, too, because how dare they share blood with some vermin? Julia must stay in the UK.
The scandal that ensued leads to Imelda and Julia getting married and becoming the first page of the Daily Prophet. Julia gets support from the League and Imelda is granted protections and she's a very valuable player as well. They later re-do the ceremony to include Poppy and form a coven – a recognised form of legal relationship under wizarding law. yes i made poly legal no i did not think through poly divorce but i am working on it
If the other was in danger, what would they do? Bonus: how far would they go for the other?
Julia would be absolutely selfless – like she has been since school.
Poppy doesn't know what danger is. Dragons, chimaeras, sphinxes are not dangerous. They are misunderstood. She will tell Imelda to tremble quietly, like Julia.
Brooms can be swung to land hits, too, and Imelda knows how.
As to how far they would go: they're not doing anything too questionable to face gnarly consequences. If we do not count Julia's uncle. He is not welcome at their house, though, and he doesn't like to come uninvited.
They swap bodies for a day! What new things might they learn about their partner’s life, and vice versa?
Julia feels very sorry for her girlies, they can't sleep on their stomachs. Imelda is also terribly strong for a chubby-squishy person she is. Poppy is super light but these hands are from a bird of prey; no one else could have such a strong grip.
If their partner did something that went against one of their core (likely moral) beliefs, how would they react?
Imelda's dirty talk is the crime against humanity but alas cold toilet seats or rock solid salt in the salt cellar are also crimes. Julia usually asks what the fuck was that and why did it happen.
Lighter question as relief for some of the others lol: they’re stuck in an elevator together!! What do they do?
Julia is going insane because lifts cause her nausea and Imelda's jokes would not help and Poppy's stories from work about how she was nigh eaten by a baby dragon wouldn't help either.
I cannot believe I am posting this at last!! My HL MC, Julia Wright.
#fic tag || spotify playlist || pinterest board || #her own tag || shitpost
Wall of text ahead. Mandatory warning: English isn't my first language.
Basic Information
Full name: Julia Vivienne Bouwens / Viljormurdottír / Wright / Sharp
being of the Dutch-Faroese descent, a Half-Blood, and after two adoptions, she acquired a menagerie of last names. She can add Imelda and Poppy's last names to the roster after they got together. Goes by Viljormurdottír past a certain point in life.
Nickname: Julie-bee [1], Princess [2], Wright [3], child [4].
[1] — by Poppy
[2] — by Imelda, de Vries, and Maurice
[3] — by Vera, Aesop, Imelda, and basically everyone else
[4] — by the Ashwinders
Gender: female
Species: human
Date of birth: 22/04/1875
Nationality: Dutch-Faroese
She was born on her father's trading sail somewhere in the North sea whilst it had been heading south, to the Netherlands, past coasts of Yorkshire.
Blood status: Half-Blood
Her father was a muggle seafarer from Faroe Islands, her mother was a Master of Potions of some notoriety from the Netherlands.
Wand: Rowan, 10", Surprisingly Swishy.
Appearance
Hair colour: Auburn
Hairstyle: Wavy locks, styled to look barely governable.
Used to wear long hair, but had to shave it to scalp after had a headful of lice few months prior starting Hogwarts.
Eye colour: Grey
Skin tone: Pinky pale to sickly pale, depending on the day, time of year, lighting, her well-being, and what she’s doing. Her skin is also quite thin; sometimes it acquires blue-ish tint.
Height: around 1.6m in school, 1.8m in adult years.
The very last hit of pubescent growth caused her to become few more centimetres taller (however, Nurse Blainly blamed her potions experiments for it). Julia doesn't look particularly healthy because of this change, and it made her susceptant to cold more than she already was.
Weight: around 74kg in her 20s.
Clothing style: Usual wizarding wardrobe: robes, half-suits, hats. Julia likes to mix them with muggle clothes; she often dresses eclectically.
Accessories: Weaves flowers and jewellery in her hair – if she has the time.
Other distinguishing features:
Potions lock. A discoloured strand of hair Julia is never bothered to change to its original state because the discolouration was the consequence of constant exposure to potion vapours; the strand has been infused with magic. It reacts with magic. It sits at the front of Julia’s head – very convenient to use.
The crescent scar on the left side of her face. The Ashwinder named Maurice gave it to her around her first week at Hogwarts. Julia thought at first, it was for the kneazle rescue, but it became apparent very soon: the scar made it impossible for her to blend in or hide among crowds.
Personality
Traits: Wisecracking and utterly unbearable with her understanding of this word, Julia can be wry, sardonic, if not downright bratty or sassy, grim, and scarily observant. She prefers to let her whimsy overwhelm her, though, and, generally speaking, her main trait is empathy; its also the foundation for her volition to act on what she presumes is the correct way to resolve a situation.
Has mama instincts, in a sense. Brings blankets and hot drinks for the all-nighters in the Common Room. Shushes away the bullies—by all means necessary. Never backs away from the droplets of boiling water when she cooks pierogi. Can talk back at a teacher or at other figures of authority on someone’s behalf – can respectfully, or not so respectfully, disagree.
Likes: Pumpkin fizz. Tame cute fairy tale beasts. Potions. Old books. Hoarding pretty items like she's a magpie. Danish pastry. Pester local ornery potioneers for knowledge. Broom races. Insulating homes.
Dislikes: Sweets. Loud noises. Back aches. Cold. The tax office. British Ministry for Magic. London. And dragons.
Two of her most favourite people are working with dragons and regularly see them, often asking Julia to accompany them. One of these people is married to an entire family of dragon keepers. Julia can never escape her worst nightmares.
Good at: Potions. Transfiguration magic. Cooking, tailoring, woodworking, masonry, blacksmithing. Securing deals by accident.
Bad at: Astronomy. Charms theory. Family reunions. Holding herself from imploding sometimes.
Hobbies: Potions. Broom racing. Tailoring. Book binding. Colouring photographs. Daydreaming about women and writing bad poetry about them.
Fears: Abandonment, Rookwood, and her uncle – Reynard de Vries.
Ambition: Do everything in her ability to expose Ministry's ineffectiveness in seemingly anything besides very specific research in the 'non-troubled' fields, and to bring order in the school curricula at least on the supplement level. Also, to make enough money to be cut from all monetary obligations or dependencies—or promised inheritances.
Family & Social Standing
Julia has a huge extended family, I will only mention a small handful.
Father: Viljormur 'William' Bødvarrsson. Seafarer. An aspiring merchant. Was fascinated with Vivienne and her family.
Mother: Vivienne de Vos* (Vivienne Andrée Claudia Bouwens) is a Master of Potions and a bookwriter (wrote extensively on the topic of Applied Potions in Divination Practices), and also a guerrilla war aficionado. And a terrible alcoholic.
* Pseudonym.
Was believed to be dead from Rookwood's Gang hands for some years until she resurfaced to silently kill what was left of the gang after it’s demise.
Uncle: Reynard de Vries. The patriarch of the clan of traders which includes members of his own family and few smaller trading families from northern Germany, Frisia, Normandy, and Denmark. Killed few English wizarding aristrocrates in pursuit for Rookwood, in addition to killing the Malfoy scion over a historical grievance, and lived to tell the tale.
Has a fortune and no heirs, and severe PTSD. Wants to reconcile with Julia but to no success.
A goof.
Auntie: Annie. Wanted to become a shepherd but ended up marrying a dragon keeper of the McFusty clan from Argyll. Loves her dragons as much as her sheep, but can’t comprehend why hasn’t she seen any dragons back on Faroe.
Cousin: A yet to be named young man who killed a few Ashwinders with an axe, swore a vow of silence as a trauma response, and learnt telepathy to let people and fellow kinsmen he is alright.
Pet:
Samuel the kneazle. A large sable black kitty Julia saved in her first week of school.
Sliptongue the Common Welsh Green. She doesn't know how.
Other noteworthy relatives: British wizards are aware of her Dutch relatives but rarely speak of her as an association with them. They know and refer to her as that girl of the Sharps: she was adopted by them, and she an apprentice to both Aesop Sharp, Hogwarts Potions Master, and his older sister, Vera Sharp, one of the head constructors at the Diagon Alley’s Construction Bureau and the Builder’s Guild representative at the Ministry for Magic.
Social standing: Well-known in the Quidditch business (networking and supply chain), relatively known in the construction business (fastest constructor in all wizarding Britain), and barely known to the wizarding high society. Her family, at the other hand, is as old blood as they give, and are largely welcomed in places Julia might or might have not helped to build, but wouldn’t ever be invited at.
Individual Magic
haven’t touched this section much at all sorry for the silly mistakes and incoherent narration
Wand reaction when first held:
A surge of overwhelming warmth engulfed her with a strange sense of otherwordly power like a stake fire.
Suddenly, her hand could draw reality and erase it in a matter of fractions of seconds. She could blast to pieces and mend the mess back seamlessly. Bring into existence a spark of light and stomp it and away to its primordial homely voids of nonexistence – only to sparkle back, and forth, back, and sit it at the table corner for eternity.
Julia didn't know was it her intention – or wand's own amazement to finally have an owner it could aim; it has chosen her after all, and Mr. Olivander certainly knew more than her in that regard – and frankly, everyone did; claimed the Day of Connection is as important as the day of baptism, birthday and Christmas.
Did everyone feel the same; that joy, that warmth, as if the Sun had never touched upon her skin ever in her life and a wind never grazed the hairs of her nape until this very second.
Thoughts were filled with prickles of magic like needles, as if the wand sprouted its invisible routs through her veins and rushed to her very conciseness—but stopped as abruptly as it has just been eager to read her mind. Was it the absence of intent that stopped it – or did it feel it, too.
The magic. The ancient fleur of it. The bottomless reservoirs of power and a realisation it has all belonged to it to channel and transform; perhaps it was the reason other wands reacted as violently or cautiously.
Lumos was a simple spell.
The wand produced the most pristine spark Julia had ever seen.
Seemingly responsive of her every command, awaiting as a loyal ally-in-arms; a servant; a menace; a friend; a tool – most powerful and capable of all she had ever touched in her life.
For a moment, the wand and her were mutually curios of each other as a pair of long lost siblings would.
And then, nothing – nothing sharp anymore. Only calm and steady, like a promise never to let go or away.
Boggart: Kelpie -> Victor Rookwood -> Reynard de Vries
# Julia used to fear kelpies after her father died.# Victor once was very close to reveal who Julia really was—a long lost daughter of his prey, enemy, and an impossible prize that he couldn’t let live on her own. Such talent ought to work in his favour, not oppose hi,! A promise that man had was too alluring, yet he knew Julia would never agree to have anything from him his hand, he did not feel hesitation to disclose her every last bit of her biography. He was perfectly aware it's her old wound and her weakest spot – and a rupture of her backbone. Julia did not know who de Vos was, but missed her mother Vivienne terribly, and he knew it.
# Reynard nearly killed her; refused and dismissed the thought and Julia’s own word that she was indeed Julia (pronounced Yulia*), his niece, and not a conveniently shaped impersonator.
Patronus: Rattlesnake.
Animagus (regardless of if able to transform): Magpie.
Polyjuice: Liquorice.
Amortentia: It smells to her like the brisk air of winter – it invokes the ache for the warm embrace at a cosy house filled with scents of pastries and flowery ghost of a smell of Poppy’s pomade. It is love as a feel and experience trapped in a bottle as Julia remembers it, and she hates that potion for how *exploitative* this potion is, for how truly evocative – if that word is even applicable – it draws images in her head, and that drinking it will never bring these musings to life. That being said, one sniff at amortentia means Poppy is dealing with an especially clingy Julia.
What Could’ve Been Without Magic
Even if Julia was never to wield magic, her family had a place for her nonetheless.
She could stay in the Netherlands or move to Denmark, or to anywhere she could want, but she would have a job, a family, a future secured within the both worlds, because it wasn't magic that had to circulate in those veins – it was the skill and family business first and foremost.
However, Rookwood Gang's activity and its strive to steal wizarding children and children of magical descent to use their resource for automated thievery from everyone for the benefit of an one unsavoury man – Victor Rookwood – brought this prospect to ruination.
Julia’s family fought back.
So they killed her father when Julia was 7.
The gang created a rift between her mother and her, in a sense, too.
Vivienne, engrieved, wished to hide Julia until her 11th birthday somewhere safe – in England – supposed the gang was too busy with the Continent to sail home even for Christmas.
She hid Julia for years, but after no letter from Hogwarts arrived (neither did the letter from other schools), Vivienne lost hope. Her child was not magical; Hogwarts, Aurors, not even herself could protect Julia under the magical law – and chose being effectively a nobody in a foreign country, Vivienne jeopardised Julia’s class privileges. She wasn’t a scion to an immense wealth and status associated with it anymore – she was a regular, ordinary muggle girl with a few skills and talents that did worth something but only so much in contrast to what could have been.
Vivienne staged her own death from the scarlet fever (so her 'corpse' couldn't be exhumed) and fled the country, leaving Julia to a family of Exeter merchants – the Wrights – whom she bewitched rather than befriended, and convinced to sign up Julia for a kind of descent muggle school.
Vivienne’s plan never included the possibility Julia could come to magic late. She assumed Julia was either a squib, or non-magical at all. So it would go like this:
Julia would be found by the rest of the family after she would receive Vivienne's wedwand on her 17th birthday – to prevent the Trace from catching on the magic of her wand.
Vivienne hoped, by that time Rookwood Gang would become no more slain either by her own hand, or Reynard’s, and they could be reunited thereafter.
Until then, Julia had very scarce and sparse memory of her life before her 7th birthday, and she didn't remember much of anything from that point on besides the Wrights and Exeter.
But.
Julia gets enlisted to Hogwarts shortly after her 15th birthday, and she receives the wand on her 16th birthday as a gift from her adoptive parents (they sensed Julia is not coming back to Exeter and wanted her to have her things at where she was).
The plan went awry – and wait, it gets worse (c). Vivienne had never contacted Reynard: she hoped he was less devastated about her vanishing and she supposed he could never hurt Julia.
Years at Hogwarts
Fifth year
Best subject: Potions & Transfiguration.
Julia has a very steady hand and she isn't prone to experiment until she knows enough. Besides, she enjoyed cooking; potion-making felt the same except less predictable. Although she didn't know a lot at first and had to rely heavily on what Sharp and others could provide, managed to pass the O.W.L. with flying colours and not forget what she had so painstakingly studied over the course of this tumultuous year. It only meant she was set for more work, though.
Naturally gifted with Transfiguration. Non-verbal form impressed the examining committee so much that they nearly offered Julia a job without waiting for her grade to be finalised in their heads.
Favourite subject: Potions, DADA, Beasts.
Favourite teacher: Professors Garlic and Sharp.
Worst subject: Astronomy.
Too much theory, too much practice, and Julia had time for neither. She passed only because and thanks to 1) her reads on cosmology and its relation to potion-making, 2) remembered a few things about stars from what her father used to tell or sing her (he did that in Faroese; Julia weeped trying to translate or play match-the-word).
Least favourite subject: History of Magic.
Least favourite teacher: Professor Shah.
Julia deemed her demands unreasonable for a student of her evident lack of knowledge. Julia could try and pull of something if she would've been a third or a fourth year but being in her fifth, she had barely any time for something as complex and unyielding. Not to mention she had Charms and DADA to sit through and learn as much theory as she could.
Quidditch: nan but she loved broom racing.
Friends: Poppy, Imelda. Natty, Everett, Garreth; Danny @catohphm Amara @boxdstars Aubrey @thriftstorebabayaga mentioned.
Hogsmeade: Absolutely in love with the hub of capitalism village and was glad to secure a shop with the home security pre-installed. Christmas holiday: Was too busy doing everyone's bidding (didn't regret Natty's and Poppy's one bit) and the Third Trial to celebrate.
Other: Was adopted by Sharp by the end of the year.
Sharp was once hinted at the fact Julia had nobody to legally protect her, considering how the Wizengamot looked at her; they could become hungry vultures soaring over her dying body one day, and that day could come rather fast if she’s all alone.
He also learnt about Vivienne, Ancient Magic, Ranrok, and basically everything he could about Julia not to become her confidant. So he became. It was his duty.
Julia hated duty, pity, obligation, debt, and other words Sharp tried to use to describe his need to help her; Julia was nevertheless adamant that he was letting his cop to talk to her – and willing to be needlessly formal about it – and not his real self: the blunt and awkward mancoward he really was.
All that was better than to watch such a brilliant student wane and wither, Sharp thought.
Sixth Year
Best subject: Potions & Herbology
Favourite subject: Herbology
Favourite teacher: Professor Sharp
Worst subject: Charms
Quidditch: After its reinstatement around the latter part of the 1890/91 school year, Julia was flung on the Pitch by Imelda went for the tryouts and was selected as a substitute for the Seeker position for her House’s team.
During the events of the sixth year, Julia had to eventually claim the position – for the Hogwarts School Quidditch team, that is.
She was one of the fastest flyers in the entire school, and some believed she could secure Hogwarts a victory in the interschool Quidditch games during the Triwizard Tournament.
Friends: The same roster + Amit and Leander.
Poppy becomes her Very Official And Not Secret Girlfriend around the end of the 5th year and Imelda has a secret massive girlcrush on her starting… at some point in the Autumn.
Hogsmeade: Began to work as a shopkeeper.
Her licence, which she acquired during the summer break with a little help from the newly found family, allowed her to sell basic ingredients, non-alcoholic potion bases, simple remedies and other silly small things. Certain Mr Pippin and Mr Teasdale weren't happy but their irritance was the only thing Julia faced from them. She was taught methods of The Fair Competition TM.
Christmas holiday: Missed Exeter dearly but was afraid to go there because of the scar. Everyone was also unavailable for the holiday so she thought she'd spend it in the castle – just like the last year, but in lonely silence.
She was almost ready to accept it until Aesop noticed she was sulking in the corner of his class and was willing to stay after class more often than usual. So he offered to visit a few places during the winter break – including Exeter and Vivienne’s grave (at this point in the story, Julia doesn't know she is alive, and Aesop only suspected as much; he found it hard to believe, that a mother would just… leave her child stranded like this, he was in denial and didn’t want to emburden Julia with any of this).
Other: Her uncle nearly kills her around the last Quidditch match between the schools. Julia won that match.
However, besides other things, Imelda’s girlcrush drama had been brewing, and finally escaped containment after that match. Julia’s catch was front page material; she stole everyone’s attention by: sliding few long meters on the slippery grass on her back holding the snitch in her whitened grip.
Julia didn’t want that fame. If not for Imelda, they wouldn’t be able to end the match just in time to claw the victory score at just 10 points difference.
And yet. Imelda scolds Julia for being such a princess who knows not a single truly bad day in her life, besides the obvious, and can’t even acknowledge something has been wrong in that press conference.
Julia, upset, leaves the Pitch to spend some moments alone and to ugly cry.
Imelda felt like an idiot at first. Then Imelda felt like a murderer after she learnt her hysterical demeanour lead Julia to the deathtrap. They did mend the friendship and all afterwards, but what happens with that drama is, essentially, Julia broke the silence by scaring the entire hate campaign shitless with her candid regret to have ever risked her life for such a vile, presumptuous, and cruel lot that took it upon themselves to spoil the blood of her dear friend over something they had not a iota of an idea about.
These words weren’t met cordially and kinda burnt the bridge between Julia and professor Weasley, because her words were an indirect attack on her pupil management.
Seventh Year
it's a wip
Best subject: Potions
Favourite subject: Potions
Favourite teacher: Professors Garlic, Sharp, and Weasley
-# Her and professor Weasley’s relationship were strained again, but Julia knew the professor wouldn’t set her up for a fail at the Transfiguration N.E.W.T.
Worst subject: Charms
Quidditch: Played as a substitute Seeker for the rest of the year.
Friends: Same roster + Antoine, the champion of Beauxbatons (an aspiring alchemist).
Developed the throuple affair of her, Poppy and Imelda over the course of the year, which was strange, but also felt like a dream – a very good one at that. Julia was uncertain about the whole thing but never felt so safe, happy, serene and hopeful in her life, and by the end of the years, wished to keep it.
Hogsmeade: Renovated the shop after learning some neat construction techniques over the summer. Had installed the second floor, a stove with a chimney Continent-style, did some zoning.
It was a small house but cosy.
Certain Amara Ambrose was invading the cellar once a month.
Christmas holiday: Met with Imelda's family. Got scolded for not being the perfect fit for their daughter. Gained Imelda's abuela's support, because that woman knew every single Imelda's girlcrush and hoped her mija would find her best one day. Was pleased to know she was that to Imelda – albeit neither thought they were, quite, working yet, especially that they were three and not two, and were only beginning to build their sapphic heavens and most importantly: establishing boundaries and finding trust.
To calm the storm, Julia played the Rich Uncle card. She never intended to cash it out, though, but sensed anything could go towards to make Imelda’s family certain their daughter didn’t pick mindlessly at the moment. Pick Mindlessly(c) was a drama of its own as Imelda And Her Girlcrush was usually the tea of the family.
Other: Her favourite and easily the best year at Hogwarts. She misses it dearly.
Eleazar dies not so much from a physical injury but from inhaling the junk from the repo after it has been dismantled, and veined the entire area with what we know is called 'pain'. Then, Eleazar subsequently suffers a heart arrest (supposedly).
The junk is not really 'pain'. It is not Ancient Magic either; everyone is able to see them. Pieces of souls, these are. Memories. Something that stings you in the very heart when a thought of something happy, painful, awful, horrifying, or aggravating crosses your memory in that very specific way that makes your mind screech I MISS YOU / I HATE YOU / I AM MISERABLE / I MISS MY LIFE / I WISH TO HAVE DIED.
It's melancholy—or the bittersweet longing for something ethereal of depression. A dream, maybe, or a wish for something that cuts that pain—that sting—that scald away.
As all scalds, it can sit deep. Rather, this repo junk are the condensed spirits of Depression, or the amplifier of rage and violence in us—the Desperation.
Someone like Ranrok or Isidora, idealists to the brim deep within themselves, are also *violent* and stubborn. They are most prone to fall in the state of rabid desperation. They are pained by not seeing a better world; they want to bring it closer, in a way they imagined it.
They got lost in how best to achieve it, if they even thought of any plans whatsoever past a certain point. Ranrok's Loyalists, some of whom used to be peaceful protesters and activists, had fallen for that feeling as well (Belgruff the Bludgeoner, to name an one).
That was their demise, ultimately.
Someone like Eleazar—a kind and a simple man, honourable, nor prone to get what he needs by force or deception, well, except just a little but he fails a it—would succumb to grieving upon taking in some of that junk.
Throughout the game, rarely a scene passes where he is *not* mentioning Miriam or *not* being fascinated by her findings and research or, evidently, being very much in love with her; he keeps a tiny letter near his bed, written in her hand, where she wrote that he was right about the bowtruckles and that she owed him 3 knuts. He remembers. He loves. He does not let go.
He would've been overwhelmed—on top of suffering from an injury.
Perhaps, he could've got by just fine. He is a strong man. He had never betrayed his composure, and when it did happen, we see it only briefly and in passing, fleeting even. But at the last moments of his life, he was also extremely proud of MC.
He saw his young charge of just four fucking months* defeating an unfathomable creature of unknown powers and abilities. They were at their prime, they have also shown that to the entire staff body minus few people; they are everything Miriam could've wanted to see, plus the fight with Ranrok.
It would've *hurt* because it's how the Depression-Desperation just might manifest. I am going to give an insight into this, it might feel like TMI, but Depression is my brand so please bear, hee hee.
Sometimes, it's the feeling of being left behind and needing to keep up—without dissection, it translates to spurs of envy. What you really feel is, you aren't as productive and/or as amazing in raw quality, which are just… skills. It shouldn't eat you up like this. You can and will learn, and you will develop your own techniques.
The feeling of happiness for yourself or someone else, but it burns you away because just *feeling* feelings is unbearable, like washing a fresh cut in a lukewarm water or breathing on a burn. It's just… too much sensitivity.
The feeling of trying to comprehend the *comprehensible* but the sheer scale of it frights and induces a weird sting of panic that you will not ever understand what you have just seen, let alone repeat. If you have ever learnt a difficult skill or another language, you know how it feels sometimes.
Eleazar, overwhelmed with grief for Miriam, but also brimmed with pride for MC, dies from his heart stopping, unable to process such complex and intense feelings. Maybe, he was just too old for this. Or maybe, the injury wore him down just enough for the third thing to play its part—the stress. Anyway. He had too much. And yet. On the deathfloor, he does not just remember Miriam.
He acknowledges MC as a friend, of him and Miriam, who would've absolutely *loved* them to be around and not just *liked*. Well. I lied. His heart was able to process—but not keep up with it.
Thank you for staying by my brief violent moment of indescribable sadness. I ascend, okbye.
*the game starts on sept 1ts, 1890. the fourth trial and the final repository quests happen shortly after christmas, so it must be january, 1891, perhaps, even early january, still during the christmas break. i typically place the repo quest on jan, 4th, 1891.
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🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here
"Julia. I cannot.
"If you are so eager – I may explain."
"I am—"
"I will humour your curiosity only this once. You have been with us for so little time and achieved what many struggle to grasp for decades, and yet, still so far behind us on our customs. You ought to hear me now.
"Your need in help is evident. The kind of help you seek, however, is not something I – and anyone else – may easily provide without your authorisation. Otherwise, your peers and I risk walking to a curse.
"Do you know why? I trust that you have been curious about your Defence Against the Dark Arts assigned textbooks list as much as you have about anything I teach here in my class."
"I have."
"Curiosity is an admirable quality. I advise you exercise it with due diligence I and the rest of my colleagues expect from all of our pupils.
"However, I also believe our writers often omit our habit to rely on… a multitude of factors present in the wizarding youth, really, that is not the case with you. Not at all, Julia. I ask again: Do you know why?"
"I don't."
"Steps your psyche demands me to take – foresee a troubling encounter, for one, reliance on me when I least expect it, other little events you may recall – may inadvertently place a curse on me. Neither of us know the extent of your…"
"So you fear?"
"Potent, powerful curses are lifted with the removal of their often fretful progenitors.
"I can live with another curse to my name. Believe me. A shame that will accompany the waste of such resolve and talent such as yours, is no quick recovery.
"All I ask – have always asked of you – is to pay heed to my advice. I wish you no ill."
"Wasn't your advice to share my troubles with you?"
"It was. Ordinary I dare not speak blunt, but. You have been offered a safe and welcoming environ and granted an opportunity to exploit it. I would not mind it before, nor will I after what you had done for this school and Eleazar. It is my promise to you."
"Aren't those a form of verbal contract, too?"
"Ah. So you did pay attention."
"Since the offer is free for the taking, I am grabbing it. You should've not done this, sir. To offer me this. I will not be able to repay for your kindness."
"When I say exploit, Julia, I mean turn to me when you need or must do something silly, such as thinking it is an exchange of favours. I am glad you've made familiar with monetary exchanges; do not presume all exchange is monetary. Besides. I've seen, fought, eluded, tricked and crossed enough to be of help – should you find yourself against another hundred of idiots with wands."
"I will think about it."
"Splendid."
"But. Would you be up for anecdotes, too, professor sir?"
"Silly life stories is what you think aid should be? My case record is public."
"Yes but I need to familiarise myself with more wizarding customs and traditions through an easy-to-understand kind of thing, sir. Students are mean to me when I am not aware of something minor. Ms Reyes especially."
Ravenclaw should be the only House Aesop can excuse – some – tardiness.
I'll explain.
You are a Ravenclaw student.
You have returned to the common room late, and the knocker asks, say, 'a hound and a fox, they are stuck in a chase; I've been its witness for eons and at where they race, I gaze'.
Would you be able to answer the riddle if you've not read about the Teumessian fox and Laelaps.
Some Ravenclaws wouldn't know – even if they know the answer is Canis Major and Canis Minor, they could be stuck thinking they need to name the fox and the dog.
They will sleep anywhere but inside their House's dorms that night; and some nights, the knocker's riddle will confound simply everyone.
Aesop totally could cut them some slack (curious man he is, he should have examined the knocker in his youth and felt happy since the door to the Slytherin common room requires a password).
It seems, me and @espressoristretto-patronum were struck by the same lightning strike of creativity: we needed the old photography.
And the mechanics behind taking a photo when there are barely any artificial lights, and the camera itself looks like a box, weighs quite a lot and requires a tripod to mount it, lest you want to waste a sum of anywhere from 30 to 120 dollars (~$950 to ~$4500 today). Anyway.
I am sure that, over the years, the greater HP fandom has come with their own explanations. Multiple times. Moving pictures are one of the HP's selling features after all; they quite literally cherish old gifs. I haven't read any of those, but I may repeat someone by the sheer accident of a thought being simple will visit many heads.
The post is going to be long-ish.
To put photography super simple: a photo is an impression left by the light that gets captured on the camera's photosensitive: 1) matrix, if it's a digital camera, 2) film, plate, or paper, if it's an analog camera.
In digital cameras, that impression is coded a certain way and stored as a file on the memory card. Our stories and HP itself don't present the technology at all, so I will not discuss it much.
In analog cameras, you may say, the impression of light is captured by exposing silver halides, or similar material, to something well-lit.
Both kinds of cameras require being exposed to the light for a period of time. This period is called exposure time. The more light camera receives, the more visual information it gathers and is able to etch on to the surface of its unit of storage. Short exposure times are most excellent if there is a sufficient amount of light, and long exposure times will be the best option for if you are capturing something that emits a very little amount of light (e.g. night sky).
The need for continuos exposure of light can be somewhat mitigated by using ISO(=increasing light sensitivity of the sensor) in the digital cameras:
But if you can use exposure, i.e. provide enough light per unit area, enough lux, better use that. Analog cameras, as you likely notice by now, can't afford any such luxuries.
Analog photography requires a set-up for two reasons:
memory capacity is dictated by what you literally have on hand to store the latent images—plates, papers, or rolls of film—and these options are often costly to make anew;
too little or too much light are not valid options, there is only one and it's called Enough Lux.
Then, it all depends on the kind of the camera. For the sake of our timeline—1900s—I'm not going to mention something old-school. Instead, I will thoroughly mention graveyard.
Many of the old cameras followed the design of the camera obscura and rarely had lenses made in accordance of the principles of optics.
The old camera is typically two boxes: 1) the front box has in-built lens that can be capped, 2) the read box could slide back and forth and had the ground glass aka focusing screen: a matted glass plate mounted at the face of the box on which the image from the front was projected laterally reversed (i.e. upside down).
An additional prism or lens could be installed to flip the image, but it wasn't strictly necessary. By sliding the box, the image was brought in to the camera focus—appeared sharp on the screen. The infamous photographer's cloak was needed precisely to help the man focus the image as otherwise it was nearly impossible to see it in the daylight.
The photosensitive material, usually a plate, is installed afterwards. The cap on the lens acts like a shutter.
The film (or plate, like in daguerrotype, or paper, let's say, Bayard or calotype) then must be processed to render it insensitive to light.
The development of the photosensitive materials went hand in hand with the evolution of cameras. Not all cameras were as simple, if not to say crude; going forward, they became more and more advanced, as shorter exposure times were desired, so was the need for different focal ratios (the ability to control the amount of light on the sensor).
The Camera that we are all familiar with does not appear until 1930s.
With that in mind, to reconstruct a possible kind of camera used by the wizards, we should keep in mind that those would be huge and cumbersome apparatuses mounted on tripods.
So this image of Ranrok from the beginning of the game:
was captured with something like this:
and put to paper likely using a variation of halftone or photogravure; woodcut could do, too.
I'm not overly familiar with the contemporary printing techniques. Will read on them.
Today, organising a set-up like this isn't impossible even if you take your photos with the authentic cameras from two centuries ago. But how was it for people living back then?
I went very in-depth and in-detail. It is needed to draw a picture, or an approximation of it, before I can theorise anything about the wizards. I have a headcanon, yes, but it is not easy to put to concise wording without an atrociously long exposition to the topic of the early photography.
So.
The technology being was it was—crude at the wee hours of its dawn—left many to their own devices. Organising the process and getting the materials and the room, as well as the fact many photographers processed their photos themselves, rendered photography quite a prosperous business venue—if you could afford everything needed for it and could keep up with both the demand of a client and the process itself. It was ridiculously tiresome and hazardous, cumbrous even for something so monotonous and simple.
Besides, early photography was also notoriously long. Anywhere from few seconds to nearly an hour, depending on the intensity of the light and whether if you had fallen asleep or yawned or shuddered.
Hours long exposition was the thing in the landscape photography, that includes city photography. By today's standards, 5 seconds is a lot. But in the 1800s, it would've been considered incredibly quick!
Early techniques used photosensitive materials of poor sensitivity. This is why you'd commonly spend around few minutes before the camera lens: light needed to leave strong enough impression on the plate.
The main source of light was the Sun. Just making windows larger was not enough. The entire room was transformed or constructed in a form of a greenhouse to accommodate the camera's design and the plate's poor light-catching qualities. This set-up, established in the 1840s followed the overwhelming popularity of the daguerrotypes, had remained barely touched or changed until the 1860s.
Usually, it would something like this:
Obvious it is that the working process was dictated by the weather. Inconvenient, to say the least, and bankruptcy for an average brit. Exposure time was also, as I said, long. Long. Up to 30 minutes long.
Up to 30 minuted in the direct sunlight put through glass. People tanned while taking photos sometimes. If you've wondered why people on the old photos are uncanny and serious, this is one of the reasons why. In addition to that, if you move after the exposure has been set…
Long-exposure photos are quite popular today. You can use longer exposure to create effects like motion blur and many others.
Few examples, (c) Boarsart:
Allow yours truly to contribute to the bit with this crappy shot of the mouse light shaken near the lens:
But if you are shooting a single family portrait for 30 minutes straight (and nobody can move), any such effect will be catastrophic. It is not as much of an issue for the photographies recorded in film (by the time it is film, the photos are also taken much faster) but if you are making a daguerreotype—you are going to ruin it.
By the way: the "ghosts" on the photographs are caused by this effect. How it happens? Imagine exposure not only as gathering light thing, but as layering with transparent paints except you are also able to layer light on top of dark—because it's light theory, not colour theory. Anything you add to the solid foundation will be translucent. Therefore, if you have appeared mid-shoot, your figure would appear ghostly on the final photo—or not seen at all if your clothes blend with the background too much.
But don't worry. People couldn't give in into the slumber for long. To keep them straight and well-posed, other people invented yet another Victorian torture device: head-rests!
These beasts weighed tens of kilograms and had to be moved and recalibrated to fit each new customer manually. People were quite afraid of these things, hence the caricature from above (I believe, it's from Punch?). To shorten the exposure time, some photographers even applied white powders, like flour, on their clients' faces, as white reflects most light, therefore, it appears brighter. Can also explain the Perfect Skin people from the old photos often have.
Sitting underneath direct sunlight wasn't pleasant for the eyes either.
The photo room is commonly at the roof, has white or pastel-colour walls, and look much like a greenhouse. The light is blindingly bright. How to solve… this, somewhat, at least? Install blue-tinted windows! It's actinic anyway—meaning, affecting the photochemical reaction—and the daguerrotype plate is sensitive to light at the blue end of the spectrum, only barely affects the exposure time, and simultaneously keeps the client's eyes relatively unstrained. Don't worry though, they could blink. If you are supposed to sit before a camera for more than even 5 seconds, a blink wouldn't be registered. It's too fast to catch.
Atrocious exposure times were also the reason why people preferred to sit during the shooting.
By the time it's 1850s, something needed to change.
Sunlight was a terrible source of light. The entire work process is tied to the vagaries of the weather. Daguerrotypes, albeit photosensitive, weren't terrific at it at all. Not only that: they were hazardous. Fixing—the post-process, if you will—required the person working with the negatives to work with mercury vapours as it was the method of de-sentification the plates to light. As a result, many people died from the effects of the mercury poisoning in the years following the boom of daguerrotype photography. But it wasn't the main reason why the daguerrotypes were soon to be replaced with the ambrotypes and ferrotypes.
Underexposure was the deal-breaker for daguerrotype photography. It didn't solve this issue, nor offered solutions, neither was cheap enough to keep going. To make a plate for this kind of photography, you need an amalgam of (preferably) pure silver and copper or brass. It's too expensive in the long run. And it goes without saying to suppose it was a quest to replicate an image from the daguerrotype.
The replacement for it had already been introduced but but before the faster wet collodion methods, ambrotype and ferrotype, could take over (either was as sharp as the daguerrotype whilst requiring a lot less maintenance and possessing the duplicability of calotype), photographers needed to find sources of the artificial light.
Said light, however, with technology at hand, ought to be in the blue part of the spectrum. Anything like kerosene lamps—a very new thing at the time yet taking over the market at a rapid pace as it was the replacement for candles—couldn't be used; the light of the kerosene lamp is in the red part of the spectrum.
Photographers tried candlelight. Weak and insufficient source of light. Some tried the Drummond light—limelight—as it was super bright and was widely used in theaters and music halls. At the start of the 19th century some even suggested to use it for street illumination but… This is how the limelight looks like:
A piece of calcium carbonate, usually in cylindrical form, is skewered on the thin rod on top. To make it candescent, flame was required, and was put directly at the piece whilst it has been continuously rotated. Besides, the piece was not burning away evenly and required an abysmal amount hydrogen gas. You can change it for the coal gas, also known as the town gas, or for acetylene. Either way, you are stuck with a highly flammable and agressive chemical reaction.
The size of the piece was also a huge problem. It was too big to be safely and effectively utilised for this purpose. Look at the packaging:
So. The limelight is expensive. Needed additional pair of hands. Could engulf the entire studio with uncontrollable flames and take down the entire building with it—not to mention mercury. You don't want mercury vapours raw—and certainly don't desire them travelling around the city block trapped in a thick cloud of smoke.
The photographs made with the limelight were overexposed and had "chalky" look to them. Photographers couldn't really stick to it. Yet, it was used occasionally up until the 1860s because it was still light and the clients have paid for the session.
If you had ever seen or felt the intensity of a scoop light, limelights are as blinding. Daylight or this, for so a lot of decades, was the only choice besides the option of refusing to make photo of themselves for many people (it sounds quite dramatic; taking a photo wasn't formidably expensive for most people but depended on the kind of the technology involved; the daguerrotype would be more expensive (silver) than an ambrotype (glass) or a ferrotype (iron sheet), or a calotype (paper)).
There were other attempts to introduce chemical sources of light to the process but neither could provide the necessary amount of blue, nor they were sufficient light sources.
I have mentioned 1860s a few times. What happens in the 1860s?
The invention of magnesium wire.
Its light is highly actinic and it's continuous. Magnesium wires were used to take photos of the catacombs of Rome in the late 1860s—to give an indication of just how bright they can be:
It was the breakthrough.
But magnesium introduced few new troubles. First off, staring at the wire could hurt the eyes. Second, the wire was prone to fuming and snuffing itself; dousing it in water could cause it to burn even brighter due to the reaction with hydrogen in the water's vapour. Thirdly, that thing blasted like gunshots.
It is then when you see the change in postures on the old photos, too. People could stand! (c) photos. A jardinière becomes a Very Important Decorum:
Flattening the wire, developing the special casings for it, performing the shooting in synch with the burning helped a bit but now it was too much uncontrollable light.
To mitigate this whilst still providing enough lux, magnesium flash was developed after the few years of unsuccessful tries. We know this flash under another name: the flash-powder.
It was usually a mix of potassium perchlorate and magnesium, but PP could've been replaced with 1) nitrates of barium, thorium, or ammonium, 2) or with potassium permanganate. Sometimes, sulfur was added (you don't want to do that, it's not gunpowder!!!).
If you supposed the new solution introduced storage complications, spontaneous combustion and smoke clouds enshrouding the sitters, you are most correct. Photographers were granted mobility in their work to escape dinner parties before guests could realise their gowns and food were coated in grime. The flash itself was also quite loud:
The flash-powder had remained in use until well into the 1960s.
Cheap, quick, serving its purpose well until electric flashes eventually came to replace it. Albeit, the flash gives a very soft light; we struggle to replicate it with safer alternatives today, believe it or not.
Flash-powder was also a cheaper option between it and the flashbulb used in the analog cameras we know circa 1930. The bulb had been rapidly modified and worked on since, as the first examples of this technology were single-use items. And, you know. Flashbulbs.
Colin's camera is an indication that analog cameras can be used in the wizarding world. Especially the older cameras, the box-n'-box, something like Thornton Pickard, Houghton's Midg or the Brownie.
All of these use something called gelatin silver print as a unit of storage—in other, more familiar words, it is the Kodak film we all know and remember (hopefully; please tell me we are all old farts).
It was lousy of me not to mention what were exactly these many -types of photography and photographs. They are all based on the two discoveries that made photography even possible: 1) camera obscura that has been known c.5 century B.C. and 2) photosensitivity of the silver nitrate (when powdered and exposed to sun, turns black as ink), discovered in 1614 by Angelo Sala. So, what are these:
1839-1856: daguerrotypes. Required polished-to-mirror-finish sheets of silver-platted copper or brass. Needed to be exposed to a source of light, could take seconds, could claim tens of minutes. The latent image is only visible when exposed to mercury vapours for a few minutes; could've been entirely avoided by exposing the plates to the sun after covering them with red or yellow colour filter but was rarely if at all done due to the process taking at least a day. Besides, the image could appear as both negative and positive if viewed at different angles but only under specific light. Fixing is done by a rinsing with fixer and and in auric chloride. The plate is then sealed behind glass. Expensive and lengthy process.
1856-mid1860s: ambrotype. Glass plate is the base material. One side is coated with a thin layer of collodion and then dipped in the silver nitrate—so it will stick to the glass. Then the plate is exposed for a time necessary, but quick enough to avoid over-exposition or drying. Remove, develop, fix. The back of the ambrotype image was usually covered with something black: lacquer or cloth—done to highlight the opaque areas that appear lighter when viewed against the dark background. The glass used could be tinted. The resulting negative is always positive image and can be seen under any light. Cheaper and slightly shorter in comparison.
1860s-mid1950s: ferrotype. Basically, ambrotype, but the base material is a thin sheet of iron. Eventually, replaced ambrotype photography due to the flaking of the ambrotype images. Before the glass for ambrotype would be ready, it required a thorough cleaning to degrease it. Iron for a ferrotype was a lot easier to prepare, it was faster to shoot with, to fix and develop it and seal the resulting image. All could take just few minutes. Inexpensive and fast option.
1890s—nowadays: kodak film gelatin silver print. Insanely long-lasting, incredibly photosensitive, an absolute winner.
Essentially, all use silver and a some kind of emulsion to stabilise it for a period of time, enough to capture something. Now that I wrote all this,
my headcanon.
Wizarding photography as we know it really took off only after the flash-powder was made. In muggle photography, the flash creates enough light to leave an impression.
Wizards are different. They do not capture light. Instead, they expose a kind of unit of storage but for magic readings and call it exposure.
Too much magical impression—which I can characterise as nothing less than magical residue left by any soul and particle of the universe—"corrupts" the film. This is why magical photography is usually few seconds long, but can also act like a normal magical painting. Sometimes.
So, why using the flash?
It blinds the magic. It is also too much magic. An overload or better say, over-exposition. The first ever photo made with the flash was thought to be ruined but…
Magnesium is an element alchemists supposed being able to burn if not forever, then persistently. They also thought it was used in the process of making the Philosopher's Stone. What if you add sulphur to it, too?
The magic has been rejuvenated but kept repeats itself an infinite number of times after has been hit with a sulfur-magnesium flash; it's imposed a some kind of self-circuiting behaviour that allows it to just flash the same scene over and over again. It is persistent, at least.
phew
That should be all. I might return to this post to review it in the future and maybe clean up details here and there and add clarity. Hope it was informative. Oh and there was a guy in 1901. He was measuring the heights of the Moon's mountains. I forgot to mention.
