Open No more normal

[Wendall Layton]

After finding out that Wendalls cousin Olive had been murdered, the Hufflepuff was more on edge than he’d ever been before in his life. He didn’t know what would happen next, where he would go, or what it meant for the boy, but things were coming that couldn’t have been good. The second year was still trying to study, not wanting his grades to be reflected badly because of the event, but it was hard to concentrate on anything at the moment. He sat at a table by himself in the student lounge, doing his very best to get in with his potions homework, but he couldn’t stop the occasional outburst of fresh tears as he was reminded of the recent events. No one really knew how Olive had been murdered, not by whom, only that she had been found a few days later at the scene of the crime. With very few traces that could be followed, the Laytons didn’t know if they’d ever have closure on the subject but that didn’t mean Wendall didn’t have hope. The second year did his best to wipe at his face with his sleeves, but the tears kept falling, staining the ink on his parchment despite his best efforts to keep them at bay.​

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon had seen Leda leave the great hall and even though that wasn't uncommon, it was the way she'd done so that had told him something was very wrong. When he'd found her later, he'd heard the horrible news. Her sister, Olive, was dead. Zennon had been in shock. He'd not known Olive well, but he'd seen her around quite a bit and knew of her from Leda back when she still talked about her. She'd helped him with a spell or two back in first year. Hearing what had happened, in as little detail as possible, had shocked and upset him. He could think of nothing worse to have happened to his friend, or what this might mean for her. He didn't know what their relationship had been for the past couple of years, but from what he saw of Leda, he could only imagine it hadn't been good. He hadn't meant to run into the other Layton. They certainly weren't friends and he wasn't sure the little Hufflepuff even liked him after their first meeting last year, but, seeing him like that, and knowing why, he couldn't not try to help. He was careful to try not to startle the kid as he entered the Student Lounge, which seemed to be mostly devoid of any life at all. "Hey, Wendall...." He started, but realised he wasn't sure what to say. "I heard what happened. I'm so sorry."​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall had never known anyone close to him to die before, much less taken before their time through someone else’s actions. Hearing his name he took a few sharp breaths and tried to calm himself down, looking up to see one of Ledas friends that had been at the slide the day he was kicked into the lake. He didn’t know his name, but he recognised his face. The older boy was saying sorry although Wendall didn’t really know what the right response was for something like that. “Sorry,” he said back, wiping his face and thinking that he was probably disturbing him with being so nosy. He looked back down at the page below, “She was really nice,” he added quietly. Olive hadn’t been directly involved in his life until the previous year, but as soon as she was, she was one of the biggest impacts and one of the most important influences. Olive had been the one to take him in, letting her stay at her home in New Zealand, and just a few weeks ago she’d been teaching Lysander and himself how to bake their own cupcakes.​

 

[Zennon Baros]

To go through what Wendall was, Zennon couldn't imagine how it must have felt. He'd never lost someone in his life like that. Sure, his dad had been seriously injured and it had been a time of great confusion and anxiety for the family, but, his dad was still alive, his siblings, his mum. Wendall had just lost someone Zennon assumed he was close to. That could not have been easy. As far as Zennon could see, he was handling it incredibly well. He moved closer to Wendall, standing across from him a bit and leaning against the nearest object. "Hey, don't apologise." Wendall was so young, this was such a tragedy. "I didn't know her very well, I'm sorry to say. I remember her being a great educator, I'm sure she was a great person too." There really wasn't much you could say in this matter, but, he wanted Wendall to know that he was here to listen, if he wanted to talk at all. Both as a Prefect and as someone he could trust, because maybe Zennon couldn't fix it, but he would certainly try to ease the hurt. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but, I'll just stand right here if you decide you want to."​

 

[Wendall Layton]

Wendall had only heard about Olive and her days as a professor from others, and that she’d worked with Professor Pendleton too. Was Monty the only real adult figure he now had left? Leda was technically an adult now but he didn’t think she really counted. This boy was being nicer than he was compared to last time they’d met, and even though he’d offered to stay and talk, Wendall was a little stumped as to what to say. “Are you in the same year as Leda?” The robes and the fact they were friends led him to believe so. Leda would graduate next year and then it would just be him and Monty left. There was something bothering the second year, an implication of his cousins death that would effect his life, especially outside the semesters. “Do wizards have to be an adult to live on their own?” He asked, leaving a streak from his nose on his sleeve. It might have been a stupid question in the muggle world, but after all, that’s not where he lived. Maybe he could stay at school over all the holidays too. The Hufflepuff sighed, sad and dejected.​

 

[Zennon Baros]

"No, she's the year above me. I'm only in sixth year." The question about Leda surprised him, but he supposed it wasn't an unreasonable one. After all, they were in the same house. He'd been surprised to learn of Wendall's existence last year, since he'd never heard of him before, but, that was just a hazard of being Leda's friend he supposed. She only gave up information she wanted to, when she wanted to do it. He'd been like that himself. Was it any wonder that they'd some how managed to become friends? Zennon didn't really know what to say to the Hufflepuff. Tragedy like this was horrible, but it was a tragedy, he didn't know the details, so he couldn't even say who was to blame or where the fault lie, which might have made it worse for the poor kid. He had no where to direct his feelings about the matter. He tilted his head a bit at the next question. "Well, yeah, for the most part. There's special circumstances sometimes, like emancipation and stuff, it's not dissimilar to the muggle world." Zennon assumed from the question, and given Leda's blood status, that Wendall was also a muggle born. Which probably meant he wasn't as familiar with wizarding law. Granted, nor was Zennon. "I'm not the best person to ask. The Headmistress might be able to shed some light... or maybe one of the other Professor's. Are you close to any of them?"​