Shore Studies PV Landon Storm Closed

Landon had found himself getting used to the dark and eerily quiet dungeons that passed for Slytherin's corridors. Even the stagnant cold air that hung against the brick walls seemed to had bothered him less and less as of late. But that didn't stop the eleven year old from taking his daily walks on the ground after his class and before dinner, which would make it too dark to even enjoy the scenery. At times, he found himself wandering endlessly but on this given day he decided to forgo the library and had chosen a nice spot on the lake the day before where he would dive into his daily studying routine. He recalled his parents complaining about 'work, life, balance' and his time at Hogwarts seemed to have brought clarity to the phrase.

When the lake came into view, he didn't see much of its usual sparkle on its surface. The sun's rays were hidden behind a thick layer of clouds. Landon predicted a coming storm and just as he rethought his original idea, he spotted another student near where he was going to slither up and study. Deciding to test his luck against the weather, he approached the girl from behind and noted the textbook she was reading from: A History of Magic.

It was Landon’s go to book during his time at Hogwarts. It filled in a lot of the gaps between the origins of magic and what little information his gleamed from his peers about the world he was thrust in. Hoping he wouldn’t frighten the girl too much, he decided to clear his throat first to signal his arrival before commenting, “Have you read about the Werewolf Code of Conduct yet? Talk about a complete fail.” He was referring to the fact that the appearance of werewolves had become more common than when those regulations were first introduced despite the ministry’s attempt to control werewolves.

Landon sat down next to the girl, who he assumed was a Hufflepuff by the color-scheme of her robes and asked, “Mind if I join you?” He was already taking out his own copy of the same text and opening it up to the night’s homework. It would be the second time he’d read it, having enjoyed the history book from cover to finish before boarding the train to Hogwarts. Remembering his manners, he added quickly, “I’m Landon, by the way. And you are …?” He extended a free hand in greeting.

Her focus was so thorough that she almost didn't notice anyone until the sound of rustling grace behind her startled her. Shelby's rose slightly but not enough for anyone to really notice. She heard someone clear their throat and turned her to the side, getting a view of the interrupter.

It was a boy, a Slytherin by the looks of him. She wondered why he'd bother to even speak to her, most people in his House had found out that she was a Muggle-Born and chose to ignore her completely. She couldn't complain, exactly. It was better than being bullied just because of her bloodline, something she couldn't help nor cared about.

He mentioned her book, referencing to a section she'd only glanced at. "Well, they are part wild, it's hard to control animals, so it makes sense," she explained, glancing down at the page. It was covering Red Caps, which had nothing to do with werewolves. But the latter sounded way more interesting than what she was reading.

The boy proceeded to sit next to her, which surprised her even more, though she didn't let on. She was glad, she had began feel a bit lonely after a while. Shelby gave him a smile as an answer, not really knowing what to say yet. "Shelby Clark," she replied, shaking his hand firmly. This time she did it correctly, unlike when she did with a fellow Hufflepuff. But this situation was less worrisome.

Landon had his own copy of the same book, of course. He seemed fond of it, in his manner. She became curious. "What's your favorite class? Don't tell me it's History." 

When Shelby took his hand in hers, he almost sensed a bit of hesitation or even untrustworthiness. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it was because of the color of his robes. People tended to avoid Slytherins whenever they could. Hell, he found himself avoiding some of his own house-peers, mostly the ones he found to be obnoxious and stereotypical snakes. But Landon wasn’t much like his fellow serpents. He had a little less venom in his fangs and didn’t seem to share their desire to rattle his tail around in intimidation. And, there were other reasons too. Blood-related, mostly.

Landon flipped through the book, the black ink from his quill evident against the pale parchment, until he found a section of the text that he had found difficult after his first reading about the night’s assignment. Halfway through a page flip, Landon stopped. His face turned slightly toward her, the page stuck between his thumb and index finger. He was surprised by her werewolf-comment and the emphasis she put on her remark.

It was easy to take everything that the book said to face value but Landon had approached the text with the realization that perhaps some ideas, concepts and/or opinions, were outdated. It was a common issue with history books, muggle-written or not. He thought about his response before he uttered it, making sure that he didn’t come off rude or too strongly about his own beliefs. “I always found that the human qualities were the harder ones to control. Urges, desires, opinions. When I first read it – it reminded me about how the world had a knack for trying to modify, eradicate,or control things that they didn’t understand. If you ask me, I think humans are in dire need of a code of conduct. Landon shrugged and continued his page flipping until he found a desired block of text to reread.

Reaching again in his bag for his quill and small bottle of ink, he placed it beside him on the grass before answering Shelby’s question, “It is actually. I didn’t grow up knowing about magic. But honestly, sometimes I wonder how accurate the book is – it doesn’t seem to be completely factual-focused. But …" Another shrug, “I’m hoping that I’ll eventually have access to more … restricted areas in the library to get a better sense of exactly how magic started.” The desire and curiosity were genuine and full of well intentions. Landon assumed that by learning about not only the history of magic but its origins too, he’d learn more about himself in the process.

Shelby began to relax more as time went passed. She still was on edge, he was a Slytherin of course, but her reason was not based on other's opinions but came from her own experiences, having muggle heritage and not anything 'pure'. She found it disgusting, it was the equivalent to racism in the wizarding world. The only difference wasn't about skin colour but of blood. At the end of the day, Shelby always thought, did it really matter?

Considering this, Shelby suddenly came to the conclusion that it went both ways. If some Slytherins were reacting to her being Muggle-Born negatively, how would some feel if she were reacting to nearly every Slytherin similarly like they were all about to spit venom at her because she wasn't like them?

She looked at Landon out of the corner of her as he spoke. She hadn't caught when he reacted to her statement about werewolves and their beastly qualities, but she might've sounded a little...dull. Her face heated a bit; this Slytherin sounded really smart, and she knew was, too, but her intelligence had always come seemingly effortless, people compliment her because she passed things with flying colours without a drop of sweat. Yet once she entered the wizarding world, without an ounce of knowledge, besides 'witches ride brooms', she just felt like...a deflated balloon, one that had never experience a sliver of air.

She flipped the page of her book, though she wasn't really reading anymore, more like scrolling blurred lines. "Humans get codes of conduct all the time, and they never follow them, at least not for long," she mused, watching as Landon out his quill and ink. "Muggle or witch, it doesn't matter. As long as you can boo-boo—" She giggled a little. "and have red juice flowing through your veins, you will...I guess sin is a good word." She thought over something most eleven-years wouldn't consider, thinking, but what is sinning, exactly? What it's called when you break rules written in a book by humans.

Following up on his statement, Shelby shared her own interests. "I actually like...I think my favourite class might be Defense Against the Dark Arts. At least that's what I tell most people," she said, looking out at the lake. "I just say that mostly because of something called the Patronus Charm. I guess it keeps demons away? I know that they're called something else but it makes the spell sound more important anyway."

She went quiet for a moment. She never gave much about the Restricted Area of the library but an idea began to stir in her mind, something that involved a different adventure. She glanced at Landon again, this time with slightly narrowed eyes. "What if..," she began, but then she shook her head, decided she might already be setting herself up for enough trouble. "Uh, nevermind." She cleared her throat a little too loudly.

Landon nodded along to Shelby’s comment about humans breaking their own human conducts, whether they were written with the law in mind or with morals to consider. He remembered seeing numerous acts of injustice on the news before he came to Hogwarts. Between police brutality, the rights of people within the LGBTQ community being stripped away, to just prejudice in its raw-est form, it was a wonder to Landon why there wasn’t anything more being done. It almost made him feel guilty and ashamed, sitting there next to the lake, completed detached and removed from the rest of the world. In considering it now, Landon wondered why there were no televisions in Hogwarts. Was it so that no student had the notion to use the magical gifts that the Professors were teaching them and actually use them to fix some of the issues on the other side of the world?

Landon hadn’t realized that he had the quill in his hand, the ink dripping on the edge of the textbook’s page. Shaking himself out of his own thoughts, he moved the quill away from the book and balanced it on the inkbottle’s open lid.

Sin

It wasn’t a word he heard often at Hogwarts and when Shelby uttered it, he looked at her. Sin was a very muggle-ish term. And it fit perfectly to what they were discussing and what had been in his thoughts during the last few moments. “Sin, that’s a good word to use to unify us all,” he added in agreement.

It was also a word he was familiar with. Though his parents never outright said it – he wondered if they would have thought of him as a sin if he ever had the chance to tell them that their perfect scholarly son was attracted to the same sex. He never really considered the thought, having hoped that his parents were progressive enough to accept him for who he was. But he never really gave them the chance – or at least magic didn’t. Just when he thought he was going to come out to them – his innate magical abilities decided to come out first. A part of him was dreading going back home, realizing that he would have to inevitably have that conversation with him.

When Shelby mentioned the Patronus Charm, Landon found himself nodding along again with her in agreement. The spell’s concept had intrigued him as well. After all, who didn’t want more protection against the … demons or darkness that prevailed in the world around them? The idea comforted him and he sometimes had imagined the various forms or animals that his own spell might embody.

Landon noted how Shelby’s eyes narrowed slightly when she turned to him and he recognized the beginning works of a plan or idea in them. “What if … what?” Landon’s curiosity peaked and he found himself abandoning the book and setting it to the side. “Don’t tease a snake with an apple, little badger.” He chuckled a little at his own attempt at their individual house’s mascot reference.