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[wunderkind]

STUFF GOES IN HERE

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[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth hunches his shoulders. Sirius is right, of course, but the thought of the Ministry acting in so...evil a way - it's just - ]

So I'll tell the truth from the beginning. I'll not let them take credit.

[doggedly]

Then do it. But then you get the credit, and you have to accept that. No going back on it.

[He slumps back in his chair, his legs stretched out in front of him, arms crossed over his chest.]

That's the way this works.

[jurisimpudent]

But I don't want -

[He starts unhappily, falters, shakes his head.]

I...despise untruths. But I also don't want - all of that.

[doggedly]

[He shrugs, carelessly. And he doesn't care, of course, because this is Edgeworth's life, and Edgeworth's feelings which are stopping him from accepting either option.

But after a moment, he offers:]

I'll take care of it.

[jurisimpudent]

[He looks up, honestly confused.]

What do you mean?

[doggedly]

We'll work out a story, and I'll put them off.

[He shrugs.]

It's easy. I don't care about lying. You don't need to say a thing. We were both there, we were both witnesses. It'll be simple.

[jurisimpudent]

[But Edgeworth shakes his head.]

I care about you lying.

[doggedly]

[He snorts, dismissively.]

Don't waste the effort. Look, it doesn't matter. It gets you out of what you want to get out of, puts the credit where it's due, and doesn't let the Ministry get away with too much.

[jurisimpudent]

I...

[But it is neat. And it's easy. It's far neater and far easier than Edgeworth's dithering, wanting to have it both ways - both honesty and a lack of attention on him. Yet he's still hesitant - still feels like he's asking something immense and rather terrible of Sirius.]

What...sort of story are you suggesting you tell?

[doggedly]

[He glances up at the ceiling as he considers. And this is, really, no big thing. No bigger than anything else he's ever done or been willing to do. You betrayed your family, more or less, what's one lie?]

If you were hit with a spell that erased your memories of it completely, you wouldn't be able to say anything, right? They could tell you whatever they wanted.

[jurisimpudent]

[He opens his mouth, then closes it again, his brows knitted. He doesn't look pleased, but he allows:]

I suppose so.

[doggedly]

And any of them--

[Bellatrix, Malfoy, anyone who's buried beneath all the rubble--but Sirius only gestures to indicate that, he hardly needs to name names.]

--any of them could've done it. There's one possibility. I'm not going to say anything, and risk my family. And that would take care of you.

[jurisimpudent]

And then we get away cleanly. Scuttling off into the night, while the ministry positions themselves as the heroes.

[He's quiet a long moment then asks - the question seeming sudden, out of the blue - ]

Why do you think we maintain the Statute of Secrecy?

[doggedly]

[Have you got any better ideas, he'd nearly started to say it, swinging right back into nastiness--but the sudden shift distracts him, at least for the moment.]

For protection. What d'you mean, why?

[jurisimpudent]

Protection.

[He repeats that.]

For whom?

[doggedly]

For us.

[He looks at Edgeworth a bit strangely. This is basic, isn't it?]

You didn't sleep through History of Magic, did you--not you. You've heard how it was before they set up the Statute.

[jurisimpudent]

Right. Because wizardkind was being destroyed by humanity.

[He scowls down at the floor.]

And thank God we have that protection. Could you imagine what would have happened tonight had those two monstrous Muggles had knowledge of wizardkind?

[doggedly]

Not them. But don't act as if it's completely a mental suggestion. You've read the books, right? You know what happened, when it was open and equal and everyone knew everything about one another. Don't pretend as if there wasn't any danger.

People were killed. Not just wizards--but muggles, too, because they were suspected of being wizards. They're the ones that suffered. And yeah, it was inconvenient for us--but d'you really want to live like they lived, at the beck and call of everyone in your bloody village, just because of what you can do?

[jurisimpudent]

I've read the books, yes. But I also spent the first decade of my life amongst Muggles.

[He looks up.]

You know that it's not the seventeenth century any longer, correct?

[doggedly]

Oh, really? No, I hadn't any idea--thanks for telling me, you're such a godsend--

[He folds his arms over his chest, scowling.]

What's your point, exactly? Is that the next thing you're setting your sights on destroying, the bloody Statute of Secrecy?

[jurisimpudent]

[Edgeworth looks up to meet Sirius' eyes - and then, deliberately, pointedly, shrugs.]

[doggedly]

[He holds his glare a moment longer, waiting for Edgeworth to back down--but he doesn't, and Sirius laughs, once.]

You're not serious.

[jurisimpudent]

Do you know me suddenly as a jokester?

[He shakes his head, still just as stubborn.]

I do not like lying. I do not like secrecy. And I do not like the fact that someone like Voldemort was able to come along and just victimize people. Or that there's nothing to keep it from happening again.

[He crosses his arms.]

Or do you think the Ministry is suddenly going to start protecting Muggles?

[doggedly]

[The obvious answer is no. There's a few crackpots out there who are adamant about muggle rights and protection--but only a few, not enough to be of any consequence in the Ministry. They all get shunted into departments that no one gives a damn about, where they're busy enough to feel as if they're doing work, but not influential enough to really get anything done. And they have to know, deep down, that they're inconsequential, that they don't actually matter--]

Fine. So you don't like it. And, sorry--what exactly would cocking up the Statute of Secrecy do to protect muggles?

[jurisimpudent]

It would give them the ability to defend themselves.

[He nods, once, firmly, certain of himself.]

They'd not be caught up any longer in a war they don't even know exists.