Dangerous Books?

Linette had heard of this bookshop but had only ventured in there once and left without buying a single book. What need had she when the prices of books in the shop in which she now worked had books which were much more affordable for the student version of Linette. A shop assistant didn't get much money and she did have expenses than she did when her income was whatever spending money her parents could afford to give her out of their respective wages but she still had more than back in those not yet distant days.

She set foot inside the store and knew she'd entered a very different world of books than those she was used to. This was very different to the shop in Amethyst Alley or the shop she'd recently discovered somewhere else in Paris or even the second hand shop she worked in. Linette could feel it and she stepped further into the store. Yes. This was different and she was certain it was more than just the reputation for selling books of magic which were that little bit more intense than anywhere else she'd ever been. Possibly more so than the restricted section of the Beauxbatons library and there had been some very interesting books there.

The witch smiled as her fingers trailed lightly over the spines of books on a nearby shelf. Her hand stopped over one book and she pulled it out. Was this the one to get? She opened it up and then half considered doing Osmund's trick but stopped herself in time. Smelling a book wasn't going to tell her what it was about. Instead she glanced at the title page. The Magic of Books. Under was the subtitle: The Dangers and the Risks. Her brow wrinkled as she stared at the title. "What's so dangerous about books?" she asked out loud. Her other puzzlement about this book was it sounded like something she could just as easily find in any other bookshop.

Quinn wasn't much of a fan of going down Whisper Alley, heading the warnings his Daddy had given him, but occasionally he went there if he had a purpose and on that day, he did have a purpose. He had recalled seeing a bookstore down the alley last time he had gone and now he felt that it was important to check out the shop.

The things sold in Whisper Alley had a tendency to possess a higher magic, sometimes more dangerous level of magic, than that sold on the mainstreets, which inspired the thought that maybe Quinn would be able to find a book that would give him all knowledge required for a test without actually having to read it. Even with the chance that the book might be cursed, Quinn was willing to take the risk.

Once inside the shop, Quinn hadn't a clue where to even start looking. However, he had a feeling that the shopkeeper here was a lot less friendly than the one's on Amethyst Alley, so he kept his questions to himself and tried to make his way through the shop in pursuit of his book. He paused and nearly turned around when he walked down a shelf where another witch was. However, he recognized her as the old announcer and eased up. He wasn't sure if he should greet her or not, not really knowing her outside of quidditch, but she seemingly didn't even notice he was there, talking aloud to herself.

"Well there's paper cuts," Quinn offered. "And Daddy told me that some books are cursed." He examined the book in her hand to see if it was the one he wanted. Alas, it wasn't.

"Cursed?" she asked as she turned to face a younger wizard whom she recognised. It wasn't hard to when the announcing she'd done was a little over a year ago and this was one of the players as well as Christian's younger cousin. "I've managed to avoid papercuts but the idea of a book being cursed...Now there's a new way to read." Linette smiled at the thought of reading suddenly becoming just that little bit more risky than staring down at an open book whilst you walked down a street.

She shook herself out of her reverie as she refocused on the boy standing in front of her. "So what brings you in here? I would have thought you'd have the same level of respect for books that your cousin has." Not very highly but the way Linette saw it, no-body was perfect. Linette glanced down at the cover of the book she held and opened it. "No screams. No death and dying or anything else so far. Seems safe enough." She shut it again and stared at the title. "Maybe it tells us about the dangerous books out there." Her voice lowered, "or even the books in this shop."