A problem we face as a school library is the possibility of students damaging library property. We enchant books against standard wear-and-tear of course, but we just can't prevent certain accidents. I feel like this is something that happens at magical schools more often, just because the library material is constantly surrounded by students casting spells, magic plants and animals spewing all sorts of mystery fluid around, and potions. Merlin's pants, the potions spill everywhere. We cast basic liquid-repelling bewitchments on all our books but for some strange reason, many potions can bypass the enchantment and suddenly we have paperbacks the size of phone books and textbooks that work better as paperweights than anything actually readable.
One of my favorite stories relating to this subject concerns a certain third-year by the name of Scorpius Malfoy (yes, that Malfoy- I know, I know, but I think he's actually a sweet kid despite the rumors.) From what I heard, the little Malfoy isn't as gifted at Potions like his father had been, and this is evident to me by the fact that one day, Scorpius came into the library holding what seemed to be a vaguely square-shaped whoopee cushion that he deposited on my desk. It wasn't until I read the label on the flat thing that said Magical Drafts and Potions that I realized it was his textbook, likely suffering from the effects of a Deflating Draught.
Now, how would you go about repairing this sort of thing? Well, for most spilled substances we use Madame Glossy's Silver Polish Magical Cleaning Solution to clear up the effects of potions from most things, including books, and a few simple Scourgify or Reparo charms for similar situations. That worked like a charm (ha ha!) for Scorpius' textbook, and for the books of many other students before him.
There are occasional problems we can run into where a special book- a very old, restricted section book that is more of a unique artifact than a book that should be circulated at all- gets damaged in some freak accident. This is a whole other issue, as these books can actually turn on the person trying to repair them and injure them with its protective enchantments. In this case, you just can't use any spells, but luckily that doesn't mean the book is forever lost. Sometimes we can manually repair them with the same methods and materials that muggles use. It's a manual, time-consuming process that is done with great care and a variety of materials- a list of which I will supply here.
Sometimes books are so badly damaged that they need to be entirely replaced. It's sad, but that sort of thing is why multiple copies are created, right?
One of my favorite stories relating to this subject concerns a certain third-year by the name of Scorpius Malfoy (yes, that Malfoy- I know, I know, but I think he's actually a sweet kid despite the rumors.) From what I heard, the little Malfoy isn't as gifted at Potions like his father had been, and this is evident to me by the fact that one day, Scorpius came into the library holding what seemed to be a vaguely square-shaped whoopee cushion that he deposited on my desk. It wasn't until I read the label on the flat thing that said Magical Drafts and Potions that I realized it was his textbook, likely suffering from the effects of a Deflating Draught.
Now, how would you go about repairing this sort of thing? Well, for most spilled substances we use Madame Glossy's Silver Polish Magical Cleaning Solution to clear up the effects of potions from most things, including books, and a few simple Scourgify or Reparo charms for similar situations. That worked like a charm (ha ha!) for Scorpius' textbook, and for the books of many other students before him.
There are occasional problems we can run into where a special book- a very old, restricted section book that is more of a unique artifact than a book that should be circulated at all- gets damaged in some freak accident. This is a whole other issue, as these books can actually turn on the person trying to repair them and injure them with its protective enchantments. In this case, you just can't use any spells, but luckily that doesn't mean the book is forever lost. Sometimes we can manually repair them with the same methods and materials that muggles use. It's a manual, time-consuming process that is done with great care and a variety of materials- a list of which I will supply here.
Sometimes books are so badly damaged that they need to be entirely replaced. It's sad, but that sort of thing is why multiple copies are created, right?
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