Landen Lockwood's Individual Study

Chase wandered into her office Monday shortly before dinner. It had been a mostly quiet week and she was quite happy to have finally reached an individual study time. Landen Lockwood had been a decent student during his course, but his hard work had earned him a spot in her NEWT classes, even though he'd only received an Exceeds Expectations on his OWL.

Chase moved to a filing cabinet and started to rifle through it, finally finding the L's and pulling out Landen Lockwoods, having to first go through the other Lockwood's to find his. She pulled it out, shut the drawer and sat down at her desk, opening the file. Inside was a detailed record of how well Landen had done through all of his Potions classes. She reviewed his homework, which was still kept in copies in the file. His grades and how well he had done  on OWLs were stored in the back of the file, as well as how well he'd done last year in his first NEWT year.

Glancing through his grades, Chase did this as she waited for the actual person to show up in her office.

It was strange for Landen to not have a class with his twin. To him, it felt strange, like he was only half there. Well usually he was only half there in his classes anyway. The fact that he had actually been allowed to NEWT in his potions class was surprising to him. He hadn’t really been all that proficient at it, which was probably why they had decided to do individualized study sessions with the professor.

He didn’t knock on the door as he entered the office, looking at the professor who seemed to be almost deep in thought on the file that was in front of her. “Professor Moor, I’m er…here for my study lesson.” He said looking at her.

Chase glanced up as Landen walked in and grinned. Study sessions were fun, they allowed much more hand's on training, and allowed the student to take the lead for the first time in their school career. Chase gestured to the cushioned sheet across from her desk and started to speak.

"Good evening, Mr. Lockwood. It's great to have you in my Potions NEWT.. you showed quite hard work to get here I see." She gestured to the file she was reading from, and pulled out a sheet that had his grades on it. "You didn't do quite so well in your OWLs, but they didn't seem to mirror your work, which is why you were allowed to continue into Potions NEWT." She looked up at him as though making sure he had sat down before continuing.

"This year is a bit different for Potions class. Seventh years will all be meeting with me individually, or if there is a common potion everyone wishes to learn, as a group. However, this year is all about experimentation, and putting to use the knowledge you've gained over the last few years." She shut his file and looked up at him, lacing her fingers under her chin and blowing a strand of red hair out of her face.

"So tell me Landen, what made you decide to continue on with your Potions NEWT?"

Landen had honestly thought at first this would be an attempt to get him to drop out of NEWT level potions. Especially after his of so glorious attempt at making the Draught of sleeping death had went less than brilliantly. Taking his seat, he looked at Professor Moor as she stated that he hadn’t done so well on his OWL’s. Yeah let’s not remind me of that fiasco. he thought to himself. He had thought he would have never heard the end of it when his father had seen his OWL grades, but he had still managed to make it into NEWT levels, which had seemed to pacify his family a bit.

Listening to her speak, she had begun to explain what this was all about. “Hasn’t this been in place for a bit? To allow more hands on training to those of us who might wish jobs dealing with that specific field?” he inquired curiously. He had known that his brother had mentioned it to him at one point. He had really thought nothing of it at the time until now. Now that he was in the potion master’s office discussing why he had wanted to continue on with NEWT potions.

Looking almost thoughtful for a moment, he ran his hand nervously through his hair, “Honestly, and I will be quite blunt with you on this,” he took in a deep breath, “I’m only truly taking this because it’s expected of myself. Especially with now three generations of Aurors in my family not taking potions into NEWT level would be completely and totally unforgivable.”

"Past years have had classes similar to the others years, especially in Potions class. Other teachers thought it'd be easier to handle their studies if they were done as one, however you're right in this provides a much easier one-on-one session that allows you to grow as an individual instead of as a class. You may get qualifications this year that other students do not have, even though they will have taken the same classes." She watched him carefully, her chin still rested in her hand.

Chase had always loved helping students, it was the best thing she could think of, and it was students like Landen that she was especially fond of teaching. The ones who showed no real desire to work, but still were exceptional at their classes. His true feelings about the course came out however, when he expressed that he was essentially being forced to take the class.

She looked away from him for a moment, and opened his file once more, pouring over the homework grades he had gotten, and then twisted a page over to view his OWL grades. She glanced up at him and then in a very soft, yet kind voice, asked. "And do you want to be an Auror?"

Landen nodded, understanding what she had said. He honestly hated school. Even though he knew that there was no reason he really needed to actually continue after he had completed his OWL’s, he had stayed, not wanting to be separated from his twin, or the beating that he knew would have come had he not returned to complete his NEWT’s. Everyone in his family had expected him to want to take after his father and older brother, but Landen didn’t really know what he wanted to do.

Looking at Professor Moor, Landen was probed with a question that no one had seemed to want to ask him until now. He knew it would eventually come from his head of house, but he still had yet to have his one on one time with Professor Delk. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“Quite honestly, I haven’t the faintest idea of what I want to do.” He let out a small chuckle, “Never really been asked, or even thought about it really. Parents and family kind of just assume that we’ll do what the last two…scratch that, three generations of our family have done. Apparently it’s quite the honor we’d be doing to have three siblings become Aurors.”

Chase looked at Landen critically for a few seconds after he answered the question. She kept her gaze on him until finally she stood up and moved to the cabinet his folder had come from. Here she pulled out another folder and sat back down, opening it and rifling through it for a moment with a small nod. "Landen I do believe you are quite old enough to think for yourself." She looked at him and there was a smile on her face.

"Your twin seems to do decently in school. However, you are not your twin." She shut the folder and picked his up again and set it on top of his cousins. It was a small action but somehow it held weight as she looked at him, giving him her full attention. "What are your hobbies Landen? Passing interests, something you wish you could get into but feel held back by family pressures.. once you are out of school, it is your own life. Not your families, so you are here in NEWT class, but you have to ask yourself... do you really want to be?" She didn't look away from him while she spoke.

"The fact remains, I can talk to your head of house and get your schedule moved around some if you'd like. Get you into classes for a career you wish to be in... My NEWT students will be learning some potions that... if your heart is not in the right place, it may go very badly. So I do need to know, if you really want to learn Potions, or if it's for your family."

In a way, Landen felt like he was being judged by Professor Moor. Out of all the things, he wasn’t too terribly fond of these individualized studies. He was too used to being near his twin and had only had one class where Austin and himself weren’t together. “I am thinking for myself.” He responded to her, “Well thinking for me anyway.” He didn’t like the prying that he felt was going on in his private life, even though he had opened himself up to it.

Landen ran his hand through his hair, “Well I am.” He pointed out, “Just very few differences really. After all, Austin and I are identical.” He chuckled a little at the comment. “If I told you my hobbies, I’d be in detention until I graduated.” He had been a bit of a trouble maker and he knew if a professor knew just how many parties he threw in school, he’d never be allowed out of the detention room.

At the mention of his schedule getting moved around Landen became quickly wide eyed. Moving around his schedule would separate him more from his twin. They had been kept away from the rest of their siblings, he couldn’t let Austin and him become separated yet. “You can’t do that!” he exclaimed looking at her. “I honestly don’t know what I want to do with my life. I’m only seventeen years old!”

Chase realized too late that she'd pushed too far. Here was a kid who'd lost his identity to his twin, and couldn't see how much he needed to be moved apart because one day he wouldn't be able to be with him all the time. Individual studies were good for that sort of thing, and Chase almost felt a sort of pity for the poor kid, in how his life had turned around without him even noticing.

"It's alright, calm down, I'm not going to do anything you don't want to do. I'm simply trying to make sure you are prepared for the potions that we will be working on individually." She laced her fingers together and set her chin on top of them, her elbows on the desk while she looked at him.

"What are your weaknesses in potion making? Is there anything you feel you could use help in mastering, or bringing up a skill you feel you lack?" She was all back to potions now, as it seemed the boy wouldn't be pushed into anything right away.