Closed insatiable

[Elio Boneheart]

The discussion of Horcruxes and other avenues of dark magic had fascinated Elio. More than he cared to admit, if he was honest. For some reason, it generally felt as though he had this massive gap in his knowledge about things, what was really out there in the world, the kinds of things they were supposed to prepare for and he wasn't sure how they were supposed to prepare if no one wanted to tell them. He supposed in some ways he could understand that sometimes there was something a little more, there was frequently a tone in someone's voice or a look in their eyes that told him there had to be more, but he didn't know what that more was, and that was the part that annoyed him. He liked to know things, he liked to know what he was missing out on - how was he supposed to make informed choices and decisions if he couldn't even be expected to know the whole truth? Was that not why some people became aurors? But then he wondered, how did people make the choice to become aurors if they didn't know what was really going on? History of Magic shouldn't have been the only class willing to provide him with answers because it was a history class that only talked about what had happened, not what will happen, and whilst he was hardly expecting to suddenly divine the answer, he was hoping that he might be able to find more books on all of it in the only place that made sense - the library.

He dumped a bunch of books on one of the tables and went to find more, there was just never enough of what he needed and wanted when he needed and wanted it and he was pretty sure none of these books would be what he was looking for, but he had to at least try. Once he'd found what he hoped he needed, he flopped on one of the chairs and leaned over a book, taking quick notes as he did so for anything he might need to look up in another book for more context.​

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha had always thought Defence Against the Dark Arts was the best subject. Usually because it provided her with more good tips and spells for her duelling, but also because it genuinely interested her. She had considered becoming an auror one day, though she wasn't sure yet. It seemed like a rough career, though it still intrigued her. When Professor Borisyuk had mentioned Horcruxes in his History lesson but hadn't elaborated, Anisha had been frustrated. She had gone to his office to ask more information, which had helped, but she still wanted a bit more information. Unfortunately it was very difficult to find any in the library, and Anisha was getting the sinking feeling all the good stuff was in the restricted section. She barely found any books on the subject and was about to ask the librarian when she noticed someone else who had a few of the books she had been looking for. She frowned. It was Elio. He was new and Anisha didn't really know him, but what she had overheard at the meeting hadn't made her a fan. She walked over to him. "Can I borrow one of the ones you're not reading?" She asked, gesturing to the books.

 

[Elio Boneheart]

Elio was more than a little frustrated at how difficult it seemed to be to be able to find anything on anything about anything at the school. It wasn't that he was about to walk out of the castle gates and start incinerating everyone he saw but sometimes he felt like that was how the professors treated them, making sure that anything they could get their hands on was locked away behinds several vault like doors. He blew some hair out of his eyes and concentrated further on what he could get information on, the Gaunt family... sort of, as he looked up to see Anisha standing nearby. The prefect from the house meeting. Honestly he sort of needed to apologise to her, but he did feel like she'd been a little out of place with what she'd done. After all, he could clearly see the badge she wore pinned to her chest. His eyes dropped to the badge and then back up to her face. "Sure," he said pushing a handful of the books he'd finished over to her, and one or two he hadn't yet touched. "What exactly are you researching?" something similar to him, surely, or she wouldn't have needed these books.​

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha didn't miss the way Elio looked at her badge and she wondered if he was going to say something. She steeled herself, but he didn't. He just asked what she was researching. She grabbed a few of the books he pushed her way, looking down at the titles with a small frown. She wondered if she should even answer him, but she had the sneaking suspicion they were here for the same purpose. She sighed softly. "Horcruxes." She finally said with a shrug. "Though I can't find much so far. I'm starting to think it's all in the restricted section." She said, gesturing vaguely in the right direction.

 

[Elio Boneheart]

Elio let out a breath, and then a short laugh. "Yeah, same actually, Professor Borisyuk didn't like me asking questions about it either so that was a bit of a dead end," he sighed, leaning back in his seat slightly. He doubted they would find anything in the restricted section either, but it didn't stop him from wondering exactly what was in the restricted section and why it might be restricted. He had always loved knowing things, he'd always wanted to know things when it came up. "Like, I get that it is this horrible thing, and they probably don't want anyone learning about how it's done, but I don't think we need to go that deep, you know? Maybe knowing the signs, you have to imagine someone would have to die for it, probably one of those eye for an eye things," and that was horrific enough honestly. He couldn't imagine splitting his soul, he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to. But there's been at least one person to do it in history, and probably more since Voldemort didn't invent that, he discovered it, apparently, probably. It was hard to say since nothing he'd read seemed to know anything more. Maybe this was a dangerous conversation to be having with one of his house prefects, but that didn't mean he wasn't at least slightly curious to hear her thoughts now that she'd mentioned it.​

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha hesitated for a moment, then sat down at Elio's table. She assumed he would say something if he minded. She sighed. "He did seem weirdly reluctant to talk about it, when he was the one who invited us to ask questions." She placed the books back on the table, her fingers drumming lightly on the cover as she listened to Elio. “That’s probably why it’s so hard to find information. They don’t want students, or anyone really, getting too close to the dark stuff. But I don’t see how it’s wrong to know things if you don’t intend to actually do it.” She sighed. “I’m not asking for a step-by-step guide or anything, just some basic understanding." She had to imagine Elio felt the same. She glanced down at the books. "Professor Borisyuk even told me I wouldn't find anything in books. I still just... wanted to try." She said with a small shrug. "I just like having the full picture. To know the full context of what we're learning about." She said. "I imagine you feel the same, you seem very active in classes." There was perhaps a hint of bitterness in her voice, as it seemed that lately Elio beat her to answering just about every question in class. But she had to appreciate his dedication, even if she still wanted to beat him. "Where did you transfer from?" She asked him, wondering why he had switched schools.

 

[Elio Boneheart]

"I just think that if you know what you're getting yourself into, you're going to be better equipped," he told her, shaking his head. It did seem oddly taboo as a subject, but that seemed like how Voldemort had gotten into it in the first place, no one else had known about it because there was no information and the information that had been available wasn't nearly enough to prepare anyone for it. He wasn't saying that he wanted to be the next dark lord, nor did he exactly want anyone else doing it too, but he was at least glad to see that he wasn't the only one who felt that way. "Right, I just want to know what it is, how it works, I don't expect to have to defend against it, I don't even need to know exactly what you need to do, but how does it affect someone, surely it's not all about immortality, is it power?" He shrugged, it all just felt like they were intentionally keeping things hidden and he didn't like it. He'd always believed that people had the right to know things that might affect them, clearly the Ministry had a different opinion, but that didn't mean he had to agree with it. He did wonder what Minister Fontaine would have said on the theory, not that he exactly had the ability to just walk up and ask her though. "I was homeschooled, actually," he said, trying not to analyse the strange tone in her voice. He thought he might know what it was, but he couldn't be sure, and he'd already jumped to conclusions about her already, he wasn't about to make the same mistakes. "Both my parents are alums though," well, his mum and step-father, he had no idea who his biological father was. Not that he really cared.​

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha nodded in agreement, a little shocked they felt the same way about this. She had sort of expected to disagree and clash with Elio's opinion in some way just because she had gone into the conversation not liking him. But he made a lot of good points, putting words to things she also felt. "Do you think there's anything in the restricted section? If it's anywhere, it would be there right?" She asked, glancing to the back of the library. "Think we could get in there if we asked?" She wasn't sure if there would be anything there, but if nothing else they might get closer to the subject.

As Elio said he had been home schooled, Anisha couldn't hide her surprise. "Oh." She said, she hadn't really thought of that as an option. "What was that like? Your parents must be good teachers, you're outsmarting almost everyone in class." She gave him a slight grin. "Not me, obviously." She half-joked.

 

[Elio Boneheart]

He nodded to her, though he wasn't sure it would be anywhere in the school honestly. Not after what Professor Borisyuk had said. "If it's going to be anywhere here, yeah, I think it would be in there but I don't think it is going to be in there honestly, I think it is more likely to be some kind of forbidden library probably some kind of a banned text, which I really dont' like, because I don't think you should ban a book no matter how many times you say you should or whatever is in it. If it's okay enough for publish, it can't be that bad." Somehow he had the sneaking suspicion that a book like that would belong only in the secret libraries some families had access to in their long family lines. However he did kind of want to go. "We could always try honestly, I doubt it's likely to cause too much of a fuss, especially if we find nothing." He said with a shrug before she followed up by asking about homeschooling. "I think that was the worst and best part. One of the things I loved about being homeschooled was the sort of self-paced study that you can't get here and if you want to get ahead of everyone else the only thing to do was to buy another book instead of practicing." he added, assuming she would get it.​

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha had to agree with Elio. Still... they could try. "I don't think there will be much there," She agreed. "But maybe at least a mention, or something. I'm not expecting a step-by-step guide" She said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You know, I think keeping it from us like that is just kind of silly. Being told I can't know only makes me want to know more." She admitted, smiling slightly. She had to assume it was the same way for him. "If we do try, we should figure out which professor to ask for permission." She said, frowning a bit as she thought about it. Him talking about being homeschooled was interesting and Anisha listened closely. "Wasn't it lonely?" She asked after a beat. She liked being at Hogwarts and being surrounded by people, staying home to learn seemed quiet and a bit sad in her opinion, even if it sounded nice to advance whenever you were ready.

 

[Elio Boneheart]

She was probably right honestly, Elio couldn't think of a reason to not at least check, though clearly the History of Magic professor was not about to let them into the restricted section, certainly not him in any case and if Anisha had gone about asking him about horcruxes too, then, probably not her either. She might have had a better conversation with the man for all Elio knew, but if they asked him he would probably be suspicious, he didn't seem to trust Elio very much as it was, and he didn't necessarily like that thought, the man was in charge of his education after all. "I agree, I don't like it when I can't find information on something and it annoys me that Professor Borisyuk mentioned it so casually but then got annoyed when I wanted to actually know more about it. I feel like it would have been better not to mention it at all," it probably wouldn't have occurred to Elio to even check if he hadn't said something about it beforehand, he'd never paid too much attention to anything about dark magic when it was mentioned before because there was always more information. So if they weren't supposed to ask questions, why bring it up? It just seemed silly. "We could ask Cade? He's out head of house, do you think he would ask us for specifics about what we want to look for?" As an Auror he might understand the curiosity, but it might also mean he considers them suspicious for wanting to know more and Elio didn't think they should lie about it. If there's nothing in the restricted section than maybe he would just let them in to find their own disappointment. He shrugged a little when she asked him if it was lonely, "well, you know, no more than normal I guess, I had my siblings around for the most part, and Rhys will start school next year which will be nice, I've missed having him around," he admitted, but since he didn't really know any differently it was hard to say. "I was homeschooled for five years so I don't really know how to answer that question to be honest, it's more that I have to get used to how things work now, more than anything else."​

 

[Anisha Khatri]

Anisha nodded in agreement with Elio. She understood his frustration and shared it. "Right? Why mention it if we can't know." She said with a small huff of annoyance, shaking her head. She hesitated a little when Elio suggested they ask Cade. She didn't know him that well and had honestly convinced herself he probably hated her, but it might be a good starting point. "Maybe." She said after a beat. "But I'm not sure he's my biggest fan after the house meeting." She admitted. "He'll probably ask, though. Do you think we should lie?" Anisha hadn't considered that. Was wanting information about Horcruxes really that bad? Or would he understand they just wanted the background information on a lecture? "We could just say it was mentioned and we want to know more...?" She suggested hesitantly.