History of Magic - Done!

This is mostly turn-in post for HoM, because I had a lot of fun with it.

Name: CraftyGryphon
House: Slytherin, Sixth Year
Option: 1 - Research a Wizarding Family Tree
Project Page: Sybil's Slytherin Scarf
Tag: sqwin12
Yards: 289


Hello, professors! While flailing about in the library, I stumbled upon the case of Professor Salomons, who was (is?) the daughter of a pure-blooded wizard who chose to live in the Muggle world.

Sybil Salomons (b 1844 - d _____), second daughter of Sir David Salomons and Lady Laura, nee de Stern. David, orphaned at a young age and raised by Muggle relatives (the senior branch of the Salomons in our world being aged two at the time, and quite unable to guard a much-older nephew easily), was a writer and inventor, and interested in astronomy, chemistry, civil engineering, geology, geography, meteorology, commerce, physics, military, inventions, archaeology, law, statistics, zoology, botany, agriculture, electrical engineering, photography, microscopy, and "self-propelled traffic". He became Sir David upon the death of his uncle, and remained in the Muggle world. Of his five children, only his second daughter, Sybil, possessed any talent for magic, and at age fifteen "died" in the Muggle world, becoming permanently a part of the Wizarding world.

Sybil, with her unrestrained curiosity "about everything" and a burning ambition to discover why she, and none of her siblings, was a witch, was sorted into Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She excelled at Herbology and Potions, becoming, briefly, one of the youngest Potions Professors in the school's history. In addition to teaching a very popular set of lectures, she spent whatever spare time she had researching the origins of magic in humankind, and how it differed from that found magical creatures. During her research, she is alleged to have discovered the "patterning key" that causes magical ability to express in a child. As a true half-blooded witch (Sir David being a pure-blood able to trace his ancestry back to Alhambra and across to The Island, her mother's family having had exactly NOTHING to do with magic for at least fifteen generations, before which records were lost), she chose to experiment on herself to see if she could activate and deactivate the patterning key. The spell involved was (of necessity) complex, convoluted, and, sadly, irreproducible. Sybil did, indeed, succeed in activating the key; as such, she became a being of pure magic, and unable to communicate with her fellow teachers or students. After much trial and error, she was able to re-form her essence into that of Grimoire, with her knowledge written upon its pages in hopes that someone would read her research, and be able to reverse the spell.

The book is made of strong leather, dyed a deep green, with interlocking silver bands which lock along the top, sides and bottom and two elaborate double-Ss on the front cover. Many who have seen the Sybil Grimoire have mistaken the "S"s to mean "Slytherin" or the interlocking to represent snakes; this is, clearly, not correct, as they are simply Sybil's initials, although why they appear in duplicate is not known.


The book cannot be destroyed or stolen, but is passed along, seemingly at whim, to the "next person that needs it," which seems to be, in actuality, "the next person who might be able to deactivate the key". The book is periodically returned to the Restricted Section of the library at Hogwarts; it tends to vanish shortly thereafter.

Sybil, or, rather, the book that is Sybil, was most recently sighted in a small curiosity shop outside of Turnbrige Wells, in the company of a tall carroty-haired gentleman. Her current whereabouts are unknown.

In Professor Salomon's honor, I have made a scarf reminiscent of the book that she now is, green with double silver bands. The bands are too thick to be mistaken for a typical Slytherin House scarf, but close enough to hint at the Professor's ties to the House.


I will wear it with pride!

And, just because it's cool, I was totally justified in putting the TOTAL amount of the three skeins of yarn down for yardage, because this is ALL I had left when I was finished!!