Post by Deleted on May 28, 2014 0:28:51 GMT -8
“ THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY IS A SPHERE OF ACTIVITY in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives. ”
| Einstein
| Einstein
A young man sat alone on the lip of the Fountain of Magical Brethren. The vast atrium was silent, save for the splash of the water at his back, which resounded off the black stone walls. The falling streams multiplied, harmonizing with their own gentle melody, as the echoes rung out through the empty chamber. It was a soothing chorus. The lone figure took delight in the peace and solitude. He had remained, immovable, in his place until the last of the Ministry workers had trickled home, and left him to his seclusion. A few, those who knew him, had made attempts to rouse him from his seat, but to no avail. Right now, there was nowhere else he wanted to be. For this was the one place he was safe, where he belonged to nothing more than himself. It was a melancholy thing to seek on his twentieth birthday.
Exactly two decades ago, Linden Ridley Ollivander had been born into the world, already weighed down by whom he was. He came from a venerated lineage, and his earliest memories were learning what was expected of him. The same story had been told before, in many other prestigious families, and with greater tragedy. It was not the crux of Linden's adult life. But it was what held him back from going home on his birthday. If he had anything more than acquaintances (old Housemates, current co-workers, and the like), he might have been out with friends. Shy, awkward, and odd thing that he was, however, friends had never been in overabundance. His schooldays had been frittered away in books or solo adventures in the Forbidden Forest. He had actively sought out solitude, even then. Two years after graduating, he still clung to his reclusive habits. It might have seemed pitiable from the outside, but Linden did not mind. Being alone gave him time to think and space to breathe. He didn't have to come up with something interesting to say, and neither was he bombarded by the concepts of others... like his family, each of whom had a different idea how his life should proceed.
His crystal-blue eyes slid closed, so that he could take in the full sensation of the colossal, empty space surrounding him. He drew a deep breath in, and slowly fed it out between his lips. A serene smile spread on his face as his eyes fluttered open once more. Linden let a hand slip from the edge of the fountain, into the cool, clear water. It ran through his dainty fingers, and he began to hum absentmindedly to himself. Water is incredible, he mused. The Muggles call it the foundation of life, or was it the Fountain of Life? Just look at how the light swirls inside it, like veins of gold. I think I could stare at this water forever... "But then I'd miss everything else there is to see," he finished his thoughts aloud.
"I'm twenty today," he told the water. "You'd think I'd've already seen all there is to see, or at least, already appreciated all the world's beauty, but every moment is new, isn't it?"
Exactly two decades ago, Linden Ridley Ollivander had been born into the world, already weighed down by whom he was. He came from a venerated lineage, and his earliest memories were learning what was expected of him. The same story had been told before, in many other prestigious families, and with greater tragedy. It was not the crux of Linden's adult life. But it was what held him back from going home on his birthday. If he had anything more than acquaintances (old Housemates, current co-workers, and the like), he might have been out with friends. Shy, awkward, and odd thing that he was, however, friends had never been in overabundance. His schooldays had been frittered away in books or solo adventures in the Forbidden Forest. He had actively sought out solitude, even then. Two years after graduating, he still clung to his reclusive habits. It might have seemed pitiable from the outside, but Linden did not mind. Being alone gave him time to think and space to breathe. He didn't have to come up with something interesting to say, and neither was he bombarded by the concepts of others... like his family, each of whom had a different idea how his life should proceed.
His crystal-blue eyes slid closed, so that he could take in the full sensation of the colossal, empty space surrounding him. He drew a deep breath in, and slowly fed it out between his lips. A serene smile spread on his face as his eyes fluttered open once more. Linden let a hand slip from the edge of the fountain, into the cool, clear water. It ran through his dainty fingers, and he began to hum absentmindedly to himself. Water is incredible, he mused. The Muggles call it the foundation of life, or was it the Fountain of Life? Just look at how the light swirls inside it, like veins of gold. I think I could stare at this water forever... "But then I'd miss everything else there is to see," he finished his thoughts aloud.
"I'm twenty today," he told the water. "You'd think I'd've already seen all there is to see, or at least, already appreciated all the world's beauty, but every moment is new, isn't it?"