Quill Brainstorm
Since I'm sick on a Friday night and can barely concentrate on TV due to my cold meds, I thought I would brainstorm! Why not? :)
If you read, be prepared for rambles and stream of consciousness. You've been warned.
1. The Hogwarts Quill senses and records magical births within the UK. It's a quill designed to sense magic from hundreds, even thousands of miles away. Very interesting. I wonder at what point the quill records. At birth? At the first manifestation of magic? Could the worrying Pureblood families who are afraid of a Squib child simply look at the Hogwarts birth book for reassurance?
To sense magic, the quill must be able to sense energy, possibly electromagnetic energy, so does the quill recognize the magical energy inside the person or outside once they use magic for the first time? To me, it seems likelier for the quill to sense and record the manifestation of a new magic user, thus making the Hogwarts book useless to families wishing to learn the abilities of their children. Otherwise, Neville's Uncle Algie wouldn't have thrown him out of that window to see if he'd bounce. If they had a book they could check or a diagnostic spell that would quantify his latent magic, I doubt they would have employed such drastic methods. Maybe someone should work on a spell for detecting magic in people... On second thought, that may work out as well as ultrasounds in India for poor Squibs, so maybe that's not the best idea.
What kind of checks are on the quill? Can there even be checks? Surely, there is some Ministry department in charge of tracking magical births. Has the quill ever missed a child to disastrous results? (Sounds a bit like the start of a Mary Sue story - Harry Potter's twin wasn't recognized by the quill! Oh noes!) Or included an almost-Squib who didn't have enough magic to really be able to attend Hogwarts? What do you even do with almost-Squibs if they have some magic but not enough to go to a wizarding school? Repress their magic? Make sure they have proper schooling for what magic they do possess? Is this another branch of the Ministry? But I digress...
What else could a sensing quill be used for? Could it be keyed to someone and record their activities? Sounds like a good spying tool. You could even charm the quill invisible and soundless. Rita's quill floats next to her, so it seems that quills can be keyed to follow people.
2. Quick-notes Quills write down what you say. Rita Skeeter's quill exaggerated what was said, shock journalism style. Did she charm it that way or was it made that way? Seems ineffectual if it was made that way (well, not for shock journalists I suppose). I know I wouldn't use it if I were trying to write an essay.
It seems to me that it would be easier to spell it to record exactly what it heard like a Dicto-quill. Aaand it seems based on my research that Dicto-quills are fanon, not canon. I hadn't realized! But it stands to reason that there would be such a thing. I wonder if the quills register different voices and if they are differentiated on the parchment. Is the handwriting of the person speaking reflected? That would be a handy bit of magic. I would say that the most dicto-quills have a general font to their writing, but specialized dicto-quills could be personalized. If you were trying to dictate something, it would have to be in a quiet place too because otherwise other voices could be recorded. Or perhaps there could be a charm that imprints the owner's voice so the quill would only record him or her.
Dicto-quills would be a good trick for Professor Binns' class (random trivia: JKR's scrapbook listed his first name as Cuthbert, HAHA best name ever!). If he doesn't notice everyone napping, surely he would notice a quickly scratching quill on parchment without the aid of a student's hand. The quill would have to be self-inking. It would stink to have all those blank piece of parchment full of invisible notes because you ran out of ink. I would always buy self-inking quills. Those pots of ink seem like a disaster waiting to happen.
3. Some quills can be phoenix feathers. Probably for the rich because phoenix feathers are also used as wand cores and seem to be rare gifts. What properties do phoenix feathers have that allow them to be outlets of magic in the form of wands? I'm going to have to reread the Ollivander parts of DH :) I wonder if Dumbledore ever gave phoenix feathers as presents.
4. I'll have to think about the dicto-quills and the magic-sensing quills some more to really wrap my head around their concepts. Also wands.
Odds and ends: Neville's blond?! WHAT?
If you read, be prepared for rambles and stream of consciousness. You've been warned.
1. The Hogwarts Quill senses and records magical births within the UK. It's a quill designed to sense magic from hundreds, even thousands of miles away. Very interesting. I wonder at what point the quill records. At birth? At the first manifestation of magic? Could the worrying Pureblood families who are afraid of a Squib child simply look at the Hogwarts birth book for reassurance?
To sense magic, the quill must be able to sense energy, possibly electromagnetic energy, so does the quill recognize the magical energy inside the person or outside once they use magic for the first time? To me, it seems likelier for the quill to sense and record the manifestation of a new magic user, thus making the Hogwarts book useless to families wishing to learn the abilities of their children. Otherwise, Neville's Uncle Algie wouldn't have thrown him out of that window to see if he'd bounce. If they had a book they could check or a diagnostic spell that would quantify his latent magic, I doubt they would have employed such drastic methods. Maybe someone should work on a spell for detecting magic in people... On second thought, that may work out as well as ultrasounds in India for poor Squibs, so maybe that's not the best idea.
What kind of checks are on the quill? Can there even be checks? Surely, there is some Ministry department in charge of tracking magical births. Has the quill ever missed a child to disastrous results? (Sounds a bit like the start of a Mary Sue story - Harry Potter's twin wasn't recognized by the quill! Oh noes!) Or included an almost-Squib who didn't have enough magic to really be able to attend Hogwarts? What do you even do with almost-Squibs if they have some magic but not enough to go to a wizarding school? Repress their magic? Make sure they have proper schooling for what magic they do possess? Is this another branch of the Ministry? But I digress...
What else could a sensing quill be used for? Could it be keyed to someone and record their activities? Sounds like a good spying tool. You could even charm the quill invisible and soundless. Rita's quill floats next to her, so it seems that quills can be keyed to follow people.
2. Quick-notes Quills write down what you say. Rita Skeeter's quill exaggerated what was said, shock journalism style. Did she charm it that way or was it made that way? Seems ineffectual if it was made that way (well, not for shock journalists I suppose). I know I wouldn't use it if I were trying to write an essay.
It seems to me that it would be easier to spell it to record exactly what it heard like a Dicto-quill. Aaand it seems based on my research that Dicto-quills are fanon, not canon. I hadn't realized! But it stands to reason that there would be such a thing. I wonder if the quills register different voices and if they are differentiated on the parchment. Is the handwriting of the person speaking reflected? That would be a handy bit of magic. I would say that the most dicto-quills have a general font to their writing, but specialized dicto-quills could be personalized. If you were trying to dictate something, it would have to be in a quiet place too because otherwise other voices could be recorded. Or perhaps there could be a charm that imprints the owner's voice so the quill would only record him or her.
Dicto-quills would be a good trick for Professor Binns' class (random trivia: JKR's scrapbook listed his first name as Cuthbert, HAHA best name ever!). If he doesn't notice everyone napping, surely he would notice a quickly scratching quill on parchment without the aid of a student's hand. The quill would have to be self-inking. It would stink to have all those blank piece of parchment full of invisible notes because you ran out of ink. I would always buy self-inking quills. Those pots of ink seem like a disaster waiting to happen.
3. Some quills can be phoenix feathers. Probably for the rich because phoenix feathers are also used as wand cores and seem to be rare gifts. What properties do phoenix feathers have that allow them to be outlets of magic in the form of wands? I'm going to have to reread the Ollivander parts of DH :) I wonder if Dumbledore ever gave phoenix feathers as presents.
4. I'll have to think about the dicto-quills and the magic-sensing quills some more to really wrap my head around their concepts. Also wands.
Odds and ends: Neville's blond?! WHAT?