People often had several choices when trying to eat something hard to stomach. First, they could prepare the food until it was no longer hard to stomach. Second, they could grit their teeth and eat it, leaving their tongue, taste buds, and stomach to deal with the problem. Third-they could strengthen their eating organs until the troublesome food became a piece of cake. Books were no exception.
Brian had originally thought the Book had gone to such lengths to prepare all those ingredients in order to cook the Cursed Book-in other words, it had chosen the first option. In reality, however, it had chosen the third. It jumped straight into the Pensieve, plunging into that multicolored mixture.
This development was admittedly rather sudden. Even though the Book had given him a warning before diving in, it still caught Brian somewhat off guard. Fortunately, he was no longer the rookie wizard he had once been. Having weathered plenty of storms and seen all sorts of novelties, he could now be called an old hand among Britain's wizards-not that old. He soon understood what the Book's actions meant.
"Ah, I get it, I get it. This is what they call a medicinal bath. Some dragons have inherited the practice of soaking themselves in nutrient solution to strengthen their skin. Apparently, some ancient wizards in the East-they seem to call them cultivators over there-did this too." Enlightened, Brian thoughtfully added Constant-Burning Fire Magic beneath the Pensieve. "Scrape away the hair, cleanse the marrow-a thorough purification. Once this pot of richly flavored medicine makes you richly flavored too, you'll be a brand-new book, right?"
The dripping Book displayed a brightly highlighted check mark, affirming Brian's understanding. That was good. Although Brian did not quite understand why a paper book needed to cleanse its hair