The Charms of Literature Closed

The library had been Kazuo's second home from the moment he had discovered it. Much of his free time was spent there, either for class studies or personal reading. He was beginning to memorize the seemingly endless rows of bookshelves, gaining at least a general understanding of where to find certain topics from wandering the stacks daily. He had found himself an out of the way corner, claiming a relatively comfortable chair and a small side table upon which he would stack his chosen reading material.

This was where he was, sitting cross-legged with a book on charms in his lap, his wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose as he lost himself in the deciphering of English. His brow was furrowed with the effort and the other students that might come and go from the library were a distant existence. But even deep in focus as he was, he couldn't ignore the startled shout nor the loud thump of a book hitting the floor. He cringed at the sound, glancing up from his book to locate the offending student.

His eyes settled on a panicked looking first year, tilting his head slightly as he closed his book and placed it on the table. He removed his glasses, tucking them into his pocket, then slipped off the chair and walked over to the boy. He leaned down and picked up the book, examining the cover with curiosity before handing it back to the boy. "I would advise taking the book to a table. The librarian might fine you for book abuse if you drop it again. Or worse, the book itself might take offense."

@Kazuo Shimada

Blaise was still quite shaken for a few moments.
"Wh-Whatta-THAT THING JUST SNARLED AT ME! How-no, WHY is that even a thing?!"
The boy exclaimed, turning to his new peculiar acquaintance.
"Did you write that book or something? You sure talk like someone who writes school-books." Blaise uttered as he patted some book-dust off his pants. He then raised his head to examine the boy that approached him.
It was a sharp-looking black-haired boy. Seemingly a first-year like Blaise. He had a strong Japanese accent.
Blaise was kind of annoyed with the way the other kid talked to him. He felt the kid was patronizing him, and found his attitude condescending, even if not on purpose.
"Yeah, you can take that... THING - to a table if you want. Maybe it'll purr for YOU."
Blaise paused for a moment and composed himself, straightening his back.
"You know of any books that don't scream at you? Something fun, preferably with pictures." The boy inquired desperately.
'Just some simple fun, please. No flashes, snarling, bangs and fangs. Just a normal book, darn it!' He thought.
The tall boy's mind wandered a bit.
"Or maybe something with cool spells that aren't in the books they had us buy."
Blaise had a sudden thought.
"I heard some people talk about Jinxes. You know any books on THAT?"

I don't mind at all

"Did you write that book or something? You sure talk like someone who writes school-books."

Left holding the book, watching Blaise collect himself and dust off his pants, Kazuo couldn't help but to laugh softly at the suggestion that he might write school books.

"That could be interesting. Maybe one day I will be published but I doubt it will be for research on..." He checked the title of the book again. "Graphorn?" He read it, frowning, momentarily distracted by the English name. "I don't think I've heard of this one..."

"You know of any books that don't scream at you? Something fun, preferably with pictures. Or maybe something with cool spells that aren't in the books they had us buy."

He gave the other boy a slow blink, tilting his head slightly at the question. Books in this library that don't do strange things? He shrugged. He tapped his lips thoughtfully, reviewing his knowledge of the library as a new voice joined the conversation.

"Well most of the books here aren't very normal, so good luck finding one that doesn't growl at you. In fact, let me know if you even do."

He turned his head to look at the newcomer, a smallish first year like himself, with dark hair and an Asian cast to his features. He grinned and nodded in agreement.

"The books they send the first years to seem to be normal... at least as normal as any book in this library can be. As for Jinxes, there is a section for them. I can show you where they are. Those books shouldn't bark or growl. Are you both interested in Jinxes?"

@Blaise Linwood Mallory @Quinton Lee

"You know what? Jinxes it is!" Blaise announced.
"Lead the way, teach." He gestured to Kazuo.
Blaise didn't know what to expect. Only that the physical edge that helped him in the muggle world won't be of much help in the wizarding world. He could probably be knocked out in a second with a simple swish of the wand. He assumed it wouldn't be a bad idea to have some trick up his sleeves other than what is taught in class.
'Couldn't hurt to know how to...' Blaise paused mid-thought as he realised something.
"What do Jinxes ACTUALLY do? I guess they're like... BAD, but what kind of bad?" He inquired, talking to both of the boys with him.
'I wonder if you can explode things. That would be neat. I bet you can. I just need to find out how. That sure is more exciting than lighting the tip of my wand.'
Then, Blaise thought for a moment that he wasn't even successful with this simple spell. Are jinxes more complicated, or are they simple? He tried hard to embrace for whatever he might encounter, letting no sign of insecurity radiate out from him.
"Whatever they do, I bet it's gonna be wicked!" Blaise added enthusiastically.

"You know what? Jinxes it is!" Blaise announced.
"Lead the way, teach."

Kazuo chuckled Blaise's response, noting that Quinton seemed to be a bit less excitable than Blaise. He couldn't help but think that perhaps Quinton had more experience with magic than Blaise did. Blaise seemed to be responding to things in the same way he had seen other students who came from nonmagical homes.

"Are you a... what do they call it when you were raised without magic?" Kazuo asked Blaise bluntly, not seeming to understand that it might be a rude question. He glanced up at the bookshelves that surrounded them, looking for the markers before leading them toward the section full of books on charms.

"Books on jinxes actually sounds quite interesting, compared to a lot others here anyways. I mean, maybe it's just the fact that I already don't enjoy reading. But so many of the books here are purely informational or biographies."

"Why don't you enjoy reading?" Kazuo asked, genuinely curious. "I don't like biographies either, most of the time. Especially autobiographies. Wizards seem... pretty full of themselves when they write."

"What do Jinxes ACTUALLY do? I guess they're like... BAD, but what kind of bad?"

"They're not that bad. I noticed that some Jinxes and Charms are actually listed in both sections. Jinxes are like... the mean pranks of the spell catalogue, I think. Usually harmless little things. Mean tricks but I think they could be useful in other situations too. Like the Dancing Feet Spell you learn in Charms. I saw it listed in one of the Jinx books." He led them down the Charms aisle to a shelf, pointing out the row of books dedicated to Jinxes. "There they are."

Blaise looked at Kazuo, confused.
"They have a name for that here?" he questioned.
'Great, that's gonna be a blast to deal with.' The boy thought to himself bitterly.
After Kazuo explained about Jinxes, Blaise got even more excited.
"That sounds so AWESOME!" He exclaimed loudly, seemingly not caring about the fact they were in a library.
"We gotta find some good books on that, and you two can translate all the wizard-babble to me!" He continued.
Finally, he found something to get excited about in this magical world.
Maybe not all magic has to be SO bad. Perhaps it doesn't have to be either inherently good or almost-kill-someone-bad.
Perhaps there's a middle-ground where Blaise can find a comfortable niche for himself.
He wouldn't show it, but he actually hoped with all his heart that through these little niches of interest, he might find himself a place within Hogwarts. Maybe even the wizarding world.
For the first time in a while, he didn't consider Marina or his mother.
'This can work. This has GOT to work. And it seems fine, so why not. There isn't going to be another Gordy, not if I can help it and learn how to avoid it.' He thought.

@Blaise Linwood Mallory @Quinton Lee

"They have a name for that here?"

Kazuo paused at the boy's response. It seemed he didn't realize yet that there were unspoken lines drawn between the students based on their lineages. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be the one to explain it but it might be better than Blaise discovering it in less... friendly ways. He frowned a bit as he concentrated on finding the word. "Muggle. They call them muggles, yes? People without magic. What a strange word... You come from a family without magic. That's okay. It just means you might need to study harder to understand what some of us were already taught. Like I have to study harder to understand he way you do things differently here." He paused then, giving Blaise a wicked grin. "If any of those other purebloods give you a hard time about it, ask them if they know how to use a smartphone."

"Ah not really, I'm only a half-blood. But even then I didn't grow up in the wizarding world, let alone with much magic practiced in my house. So I'm kind of at a loss here too. He seems to be the smartest out of us three if I'm being honest."

He glanced at Quinn as the other boy admitted to being a half-blood and he gave a wry smile at the compliment. "I just like magic. If I have this ability, I want to be able to make it useful. And Jinxes... well they seem very useful to me. I don't like the way they talk about good magic and bad magic. Magic is just a tool. It's how you use it that makes it good or bad."

He turned to the shelf, running his fingers over the spines until he found the book he was looking for. Flipping through it, he settled on a page that detailed the Backfiring Jinx. He turned the book, showing the other boys.

"Like this. This jinx causes a spell to backfire. If someone is casting a spell at you that could harm you, this would be very useful to know."

No worries, life happens