Obsessive Research Solo

Date: February 15th, 2020
Time: Noon
Colors: Zykeal | House Elf 1

Hands clutched each side of his head as he sat there in one of the isles of the library, he had found a book on wand lore and was intently reading it. Zykeal couldn't even manage to bring the book to a proper table to be seated there, he was excited. As soon as he found the book that he had asked the librarian for, he sat himself down and leaned back against the bookshelf. The book, which name he couldn't even figure out, the covers of the book seemed so old that they seemed to have just faded away. It took ages of looking through books to even figure that he had found the right one, or just one about wands at all.

At first, he had skimmed through some of the sectionalized chapters, it was a chaotic book in general with no real structure to it. It took him a while of intense scanning to be able to find the area where he was most interested in, the wood the wands are made up of. Although he had also researched the core of the wands previously, he was obsessed with the key element that made his wand and others like it stand out in ways that no other wood wands did. The sheer beauty of it was one thing, the aspen wood wands were ivory in color.

When he noticed that he excelled in charms over all other courses, he started to watch the very few others in the school with the same wand base as his own. They all seemed to be doing well in the areas he excelled at as well. Not only that, but they also seemed to have similar outlooks on life, personality, and general demeanor he himself had as well. All of these attributes made him keen to invest as much free time in research on the subject as he could. So, there he was, sitting in the isle of the library on the weekend when everyone else was enjoying the sunshine of the day, researching the history of the aspen wood wands.

Unfortunately, this book wasn't what he was looking for in the end. Annoyingly, it seemed to be the same old repeating junk that all of the other books he had delved into spewed. It was useful knowledge, no doubt about that and he didn't mind reading about the history of his wands base repeatedly, but, he wanted something more. At this point, he'd set the book to the side and lean his back against the shelves he was nearest. A stretch was given and he looked around the library to notice that he was at least alone in this area of it. One deep breath was given before he let his hand shift down and pick his wand up that was laying in his lap.

A crude habit of his was to twirl his wand within his fingers as a muggle drummer would, this was something that he had become accustomed to as he studied and researched different materials on wand lore in general. There was a time where he had skimmed through the theories of the famous elder wand that so many before had possessed, this didn't interest him though. Neither did the twin core theories that seemed so problematic for a certain dark wizard not long past. It was the personality of the wands that interested him most, after all, the wand chose the wizard.

After a few more moments, he'd fetch the book he had taken before and stand with his wand neatly stowed within the sidelining of his jeans. Wearing his muggle attire was one thing he could never give up on the weekends, besides, it was more fashionable than some robes. After he stood, he replaced the book that he had and started to scan the shelves once more for anything that seemed to stand out to him. A bright red one caught his eye, but as soon as he retrieved it and opened it, sparks flew out and nearly caught him in the forehead. A sneer was made towards the book and he slammed it back into the shelf.

As he forcefully put that book back, another book caught his eye, its cover was completely silver and it caused a little memory to stir within the back of his mind. Matter of fact, it was when he had first retrieved his wand and when he went to leave, the old man who sold him the wand had said something to him. "What.. was it?" Zykeal questioned to himself. Shifting now, he turned to pace slowly up and down the aisle, one hand twirling the wand like a drumstick, while his other rapped the tips of his fingers against his jawline. "Silver... silver, silver serpents?" he questioned to himself, "No no, don't be stupid, the hell would a serpent have to do with anything," he bemused.

Towards the end of the row of shelves was one of those moving paintings that littered Hogwarts walls, as he approached the end of the row, he looked up and saw that a knight with a lance was galloping along a battlefield. That was the spark that he needed to cry out in too loud of voice for the library, "Silver Spears!" was announced to anyone who was within the area. The hand that was tapping against his jaw came to close over his mouth then, he waited, sure enough, it wasn't 15 seconds before the little house-elf librarian came running through the library and turned the corner of the row he was at.

"Master Lane, how many times!" she shouted from the end of the hall, "We must be quiet in the library or I will see you are not allowed back in!" she said as she walked closer to him, hand jutting out and a violent looking long finger stuck out, pointing at him directly. The elf had an intimidating look upon her, she seemed to have been dealing with a lot of issues with the students lately.

Zykeal dropped his hand from his mouth and let his wand rest for a moment, relaxing his arms to his sides and dropping his head in shame for a moment. Hopefully, this would at least calm her anger, if he looked pathetic enough, but it was all just a ploy for him to see if she would ease her annoyance and he could ask her a question. When she settled in front of him, she just stared down at him and glared, "And what on Earth are you even doing here on the weekend? Ravenclaws are usually the only ones in here. You Gryffindors are usually up to trouble," she asked accusatorially in a high pitched squeaking voice.

"I'm sorry miss elf, as you know, I've been doing some research into wand lore," he said in a softer voice than normal. As he was still looking down, he lifted his head a little and tried to look as apologetic as possible, "It's just that, I think I remembered something that the wandmaker told me when I got my wand," he said, trailing off to barely audible in the ending of his sentence. Lifting his head up fully, he raised his free hand and scratched at the side of his head as he offered a faint smile towards the intimidating little house elf librarian. "Can I ask you a question?" he muttered.

The shoulders of the house-elf seemed to be released and lowered some, this caught Zyks eye and he seemed to have eased the anger that brewed up inside the elf. "Well, what is it, master? I haven't got all day. If it's in this library, I'll know of it," she stated bluntly. Zykeal didn't think that any one person could know the true depths of the Hogwarts library, even this elf, but he had to put his question out there and hoped it didn't cause any trouble.

"Do you know what a Silver Spear is?"

Zykeal had just come out and said it, he might as well have, he didn't even know what the phrase even meant. It took the elf a moment to respond, "And this is for?" she asked questioningly, she seemed a little hesitant to give an answer to his question. Zykeal was quite quick when it came to situations like these though, he enjoyed playing dumb in front of most, but it was all strategy in the end. "A charms essay," he stated bluntly.

If the house-elf knew anything about wand lore, she'd make the connection on why he was researching his wand. After all, with the research he had done, he had discovered that magical study of charms seemed natural to those who used the aspen wood wands. This was made clear to him when all of his homework grades proved to be outstanding in grade, while most of his other subjects were just a simple exceeds expectations. It was no great secret though that some wands had specific properties about them that made them stand out from each other, this was just common knowledge.

What felt like an hour passed within those 30 seconds that it took her to respond to his question, apparently she couldn't figure out why he'd be so keen on researching something like wand lore, to begin with, but he wasn't really expecting the answer that she gave him, "You'll want to Magical Societies of the 18th Century," she exclaimed in the high pitch voice that seemed to ring throughout the library, "if you promise to go sit quietly," she stopped and spoke up a bit more, "Quietly," she continued with a chirp, "go and sit at a table like every other student who studies, I will retrieve the book for you, master Lane."

"Brilliant!" he exclaimed, then cupped his free hand quickly over his mouth as he figured that his voice seemed to excitedly loud at the moment. The bulge of her eyes made him worried that she was about to give him the toss out the door, but he whispered to her, "Sorry miss elf, I will be quiet and sit as you say," he said, a soft smile forming to his features as he brought his hand down and slowly made his way around her and on towards a more suitable area for her to keep her eye upon him.

Having snatched up his bag along the way out of the isle of the library he was previously set up at, he made his way to sit at a table in the section that had only one girl that seemed to be furiously studying a star chart. A brow was raised towards the girl and he couldn't think of why anyone would be bothered to study that absurd subject, but, to each their own. When he settled down, he'd set his wand in front of him on the table and rest his eyes for the moment, lids coming down to cover those golden hues of his.

It took half an hour for the house-elf assistant librarian to come waltzing down the middle of the library with a book no bigger than his potions school book, covered in specs of dust, with the elf using a dirty cloth furiously still rubbing at the grime trying to polish it off before she could give it to him. Honestly, he thought she might be a little embarrassed at the state of the book more than anything. When she set the book down on the table in front of him, she blabbered, "Well, I don't think anyone has ever read it in a hundred years, but, good luck master Lane," and she left, but called out over her shoulder, "and keep your mouth closed. Reading doesn't involve speaking you know."

A smile was given as he watched the little elf walk away, despite her annoying temperament, she was helpful to him more than anyone else at this school had been to this date. When she was a few feet away and made her last suggestion to him, he couldn't help but offer a slight chuckle as he looked down towards the cover of "Magical Societies of the 18th Century". When he opened the book, he nearly coughed with the amount of dust that billowed up at him. With a wave of his hand in front of his face to clear the dust away, he looked down at what he presumed to be what he desired most of all at the moment. Answers.

It took about an hour of reading through the contents of the book, cleaning off dust-covered pages before he found anything noteworthy, "how did dust even get between the pages," he muttered after one page caught him unaware and blanketed his face with a new coat. As he dusted down this page though, he found the phrase he was looking for, "Silver Spear," he said to himself before he delved down into reading the book's entry. Unfortunately, it didn't have much to be said.

"An infamous and secretive eighteenth-century dueling club, which called itself The Silver Spears, was reputed to admit only those who owned aspen wands."

What was the wandmaker eluding too? Was this all there was upon the subject? This both intrigued him and bothered him greatly. For one, he was absolutely enthralled by the idea of a club dedicated to those only who wielded aspen wands, but, what more information was thereupon the club itself? What did they do? Did they have any notable achievements? The questions that played through Zykeals mind at that time seemed to overwhelm his thoughts. A sigh was finally given as he focused on what mattered most to the research that he was doing and why he was doing it. The fact that others had also recognized how superior the aspen wood wand was.

An idea started to form then, "why not..." he muttered aloud, eyes snapping up to make sure that the elf didn't hear him speak. A smile came to him then, satisfaction, still he'd want to go back to the wandmaker when he had the opportunity to question him further on the subject. For now, though, he was content on doing something in line with those relics of the 18th century, start an exclusive club that only witches and wizards that had aspen wood wands could join. Not just any of them either, specific ones, Zykeal would need to do research.

One more moment to re-read the passage in the book and he had figured he had spent enough time in the library for a lifetime. Snapping the book closed then, letting it be audible enough for the house-elf librarian to look up and give him a scowl, he'd stand and collect his things. Off he went then, dropping the book on the counter for the kind elf, and he continued on, whistling then as he shifted his way through the library and into the halls of Hogwarts, plans brewing within his mind as he twirled his ivory-colored wand through his fingers.

Word Count
First Post: 2500+
Second Post: TBD