Some Assistance Required

[Isaac Pinefoy]

Isaac knew untapped potential when he saw it - though like many people with even the smallest shred of wisdom, he was an enormous hypocrite who couldn't apply his own insights to himself. It felt to him as if the younger boy before him thought himself a little unintelligent. Or maybe very unintelligent. When in fact he'd said some quite clever things in the fifteen minutes they'd known one another. And some quite gracious things, which was just as important.

With this in mind, it was with some disappointment that he heard what year the boy was in. Well, he didn't outright tell Isaac - but he certainly made it clear. He had subjects to pick next year, apparently, and he certainly wasn't in fourth year - therefore, this boy was a second year. And Isaac a fourth year. Which meant that they couldn't really be friends. Hence the disappointment.

Keen as he was to keep the interest of the curious child, Isaac was struck with a sudden desire to lend him the Arithmancy book he was currently leafing through. But then he remembered that this was a library, and he could borrow it anyway - and that Isaac was actually in the middle of doing Arithmancy homework. It was amazing to think that anything could distract him from homework, but the mousy-haired second year had managed it.

"You should", he agreed with a nod of approval. "Subjects you want, not subjects you need", he added, though quickly regretted how confident this sounded. "I - I mean, unless you want to take the subjects you need". This rather undermined his own apparent wisdom.

It was just, Isaac had started to realise that while school was certainly a time for training and preparation, it was also a time to indulge curiosities and take advantage of the wealth of learning available. You were only a Hogwarts student for a comparatively small portion of your life, and so many would look back and wish they had learned more of what they were genuinely interested in.