(no subject)

[status_is_not_quo]

Now that everyone is done celebrating boorish feats of strength, I was wondering if I could get 5-10 volunteers to help me test a new spell that I've been working on. It's a very simple security spell, and I can guarantee with 82% certainty that you won't get hurt if you agree to be a subject. It's not intended to be harmful, we'll put it that way. (You might, however, experience residual tingling in the extremities, and possibly loosened bowels. I'm still working out the kinks.

For liability reasons, I'll only take volunteers third year and up (I would say fifth and up, but, well, I wouldn't want to exclude anyone my age). My name is Billy Harris, Slytherin 5th year, and if you leave your name, house, and year I will contact you within the next few days to sort out the experiment.

Comments

[marshall_lee]

What kind of security spell is this and please tell me you're not going to be testing it out in our dorm?

[status_is_not_quo]

A simple one, and actually I've been testing it in our room for weeks now. But depending on whether or not I get takers from other houses, no, I probably won't do the actual experiments in the common room.

[arrogantalloy]

[As if Tony could ever let an entry from the only Slytherin genius pass uncommented on by him.]

Is this going to be another one of your amazing experiments that turns out really well on your own then actually blows up in your face?

Because if it is. I want to be there to watch this happen.

[status_is_not_quo]

For your information, no, it's not. At worst, it will cause temporary numbness in the extremities.

And I don't know if I want to include you in the experiment.

[marshall_lee]

Well, as long as it doesn't blow up or cause any damage to anyones stuff..
What made you decide to work on a security spell anyways?

[arrogantalloy]

Oh I'm not volunteering to be a part of your death trap. I only risk my life if I know I'm going to live.

No, no. I just want to see if you come out of this with hair.

[status_is_not_quo]

It's not going to explode, Stark. And it's not a death trap! The entire experiment is "here, open this journal and tell me what it says".

[thesmallesttrickster]

Even though I cannot participate, I would greatly enjoy witnessing the experiment.

[status_is_not_quo]

Because people can be nosy, and I have stuff I don't want people seeing. It's just added security for notebooks and parchments and other things that people read.

I don't know how it could interfere with these journals. That could be interesting.

[status_is_not_quo]

If it makes it to the second stage of experimentation, I might allow first-years to handle it too. I think the actual experimenting part is going to be pretty boring, though.

[thesmallesttrickster]

I would still like to view the test. You never know what might happen.

[status_is_not_quo]

I appreciate the faith everyone seems to have in me.

Alright, I'll keep you in the loop when/where I end up having it.

[thesmallesttrickster]

I'm just curious

Thank you :o)

[arachnoble]

Perhaps you should test on things less likely to take issues to the Ministry if things go wrong.

[status_is_not_quo]

With all due respect, Professor, given the nature of the spell I can't actually do so and still get anything resembling accurate results. This isn't a test that can be done by a rat.

And besides, I was planning on having everyone sign a waiver before we began.

[arachnoble]

You're 13 and will be performing the spell on minors. I don't think telling the court you made them sign a waiver will cut it when you and others don't have legal standing.

[status_is_not_quo]

But the chance of something going wrong enough to inspire legal action is about 5%.

What if the experiment was supervised by a professor?

[wwistful]

I'm sure nothing I tell you will differ from what Miss Matteris has already covered.
[Filter]
I would suggest making that 82% closer to a 90 before you risk harming your class mates. What kind of security spell is it, exactly?

[arachnoble]

Five percent is still more then zero.

It would be better, but then the blame would fall on the professor dumb enough to let a child practice spells on others.

filtered; he's proud of this

[status_is_not_quo]

It not only obscures the text written on whatever it is that it's cast on, but it reads the person holding it and changes it to something that will make them specifically want to not touch it.

I was going to put the spell on a parchment with something simple written on it, and ask my classmates to tell me what they read on the parchment when they tried to read it.

[status_is_not_quo]

But I won't be casting the spell on other students. It'll be cast on a parchment with something unimportant written on it, and I'll ask my classmates to tell me what they see when they open the parchment.

The spell is meant to obscure the text on whatever it's cast on. It's that kind of security spell, Ma'am.

[arachnoble]

So why didn't you specify that?

And if you're not casting the spell on students, why would there be any side-effects? If you're getting them when you cast it, you might want to reconsider what you're doing.

filtered for the sake of science

[status_is_not_quo]

Because it's supposed to change the words on the page into something that will deter the reader from getting curious about what's really on it. It would be irresponsible to just leave it laying around and record the results as best as I can derive, but the hypothesis depends on them not knowing what exactly to expect.

I don't get any side-effects from casting it, but I don't know how it'll affect anyone else.

filtered

[arachnoble]

There's already a spell for that, you know.

filtered

[status_is_not_quo]

But this is specific to the person viewing the item in question. It draws on them specifically, in order to make it as effective a deterrent as possible.

I haven't had the chance to try it yet, but if it works well enough then at least one of the test subjects might be so affected that they don't want to tell me what's written on it.