Both Obelia and Draco had successfully finished the first week of Hogwarts without any problems, and now they were both at the manor.
"Alright Draco, I shall explain to you why I am so great," Obelia said with a hint of pride, but all Draco saw in front of him was a Narcissist standing on a table.
"What is Alchemy you ask? Well, most people say it's the pursuit of creating gold, but I view it more as a way to combine magic with technology." Obelia took a long pause before picking up a very old book. "Wizards longed for new ways to evolve, creating gold was just a stepping stone."
"This day and age Alchemy isn't as big as it used to be, why you ask? Well, it's because why make technology that uses magic when you can use magic yourself without the hassle of worrying about formulas or other nonsense!?" Obelia said she didn't know if her explanation was making sense and thought maybe she should write a book for Draco to understand better.
"Why do others and you learn alchemy?" Draco asked, still not understanding what exactly Obelia was talking about.
"Magic can only get you so far, eventually you will reach a point where you can't cast a certain spell or do a certain thing. Wizards rely on magic too much these days, so much so you can't live a day without it."
"I doubt that I haven't used magic much these past few days." Draco quickly shot back a response, curious to see if Obelia would stand by her claims.
"Well you're a young wizard, now tell me, how do you clean your plates? How do you open the windows? How do you protect yourself and others?" Obelia knew Draco would say house elves and owls, but she also knew If Draco thought it through he would know not just anyone had house-elfs.
"But to say you can't survive in a world full of magic is a bit much don't you think? Squibs exist beside us, and muggles too." Draco accepted her answer but moved on to a different concern.
"Yes but squibs are viewed as low-lives, you know the one who cleans Hogwarts is a squib right? Can you imagine what your life would be like as a Squib? I think the only reason the Headmaster hired him was out of pity don't you think?" Obelia said in a joking tone, now wondering what exactly made him accept the job and why him. 'Interesting, I'll need to look into that, wouldn't it be more convenient if he could use magic?'
"Well living as a squib does sound terrible, but muggles live perfectly fine, even though there is some prejudice against them." Draco was not interested in the conversation, and curious about the response he would get. 'She would say something like 'Muggles have it worse, they aren't taken seriously' or something along those lines
"How do you travel? For wizards you have broomsticks, magic carriages, and for some few a knight bus." Obelia said, not mentioning the obvious answer of walking.
"Walking is always an option, most wizards don't even travel far from here," Draco said crossing his legs and nodding in agreement to what he said.
"…I can't help but feel like we are losing the point here…" Obelia called over Gin to bring some tea and began to talk again.
"For me, alchemy is the art of combining technology and magic." Obelia smelled the hot tea and smiled. "To me, it's a wonderful thing that can push wizards into a new era of creating, like the Renaissance."
"A new era?" Draco tilted his head, now curious about how big Obelia's dreams were.
"Yes, anyways magic is something that can be contained, like a two-way mirror or vanishing cabinet. The mirror and cabinet are both objects that contain magic, and are considered alchemy."
"But two-way mirrors and vanishing cabinets are old, expensive, and not many people know about them."
"That's because alchemy is hard, however, we can change that!" Obelia said, now standing up on the table once again. "Since I'm such a genius I've figured out how to not only speed up the process but also connect it worldwide." Obelia quickly pulled out a large book from her earring and threw it to Draco.
"Ruins? What are we? In ancient times?" Draco asked flipping the millions of pages filled with notes and smug marks.
"We might as well be with how much we lack compared to muggles!" Obelia said before continuing to speak, "Anyways, do you know what a talisman is? Talismans have inscriptions on them that are said to bring luck and protect the user."
Obelia pulled out an old talisman her family stole in Japan and placed it down carefully in front of Draco. "Watch carefully." Obelia set it down on a book and grabbed a match, trying to set the book on fire. The book remained intact, even when Obelia placed the lit match on top of the book.
"The talisman has a protection spell on it, its inscription says protection after all," Obelia said before blowing out the match and picking the talisman back up.
"Sure we can make inscriptions using the regular language we have today, however, old magic was strong and powerful." Obelia looked at Draco's face which seemed deep and thought and nodded her head. "Alchemy and ruins go hand and hand, two sides of the same coin, without one there is no other."
"So, by placing inscriptions containing ruins onto an object it creates an alchemy object?" Draco said, finally seeming to understand what Obelia was saying.
"It's harder than you think but that's the simplest term." Obelia smiled sadly, remembering all her failed attempts. "Alright, quiz time! Why alchemy objects and not an artifact?" Obelia tilted her head and crossed her legs watching Draco.
"Because they don't hold any weight to them? Artifacts aren't something that can be created overnight right?" Draco said looking at Obelia's reaction.
"Close! But there is one thing you miss." Obelia pulled out a small golden watch, unlike the silver one she always had and Draco could immediately tell it was different from anything he had seen before.
"You can't just call the ability to stop time whenever an alchemy object, that's just offensive, this Honey, is an object worthy of being called an artifact."
'And it can be made overnight, well, technically...'