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wunderkind

STUFF GOES IN HERE

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From:

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.

From:

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?

From:

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.

From:

jurisimpudent

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

I suppose so.

From:

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.

From:

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?

From:

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?

From:

jurisimpudent

Protection.

[He repeats that.]

For whom?

From:

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.

From:

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?

From:

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?

From:

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?

From:

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?

From:

jurisimpudent

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

From:

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.

From:

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?

From:

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?

From:

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.

From:

doggedly

No, then we could just have an actual war. That sounds so much better.

[They were nearly getting on, but Sirius glares over at Edgeworth with just as much intensity as he had before. And this is unfair to ask, this is a low fucking blow, but he says it anyways--]

If you found out who killed your father. What would you do?

From:

jurisimpudent

[He wasn't expecting that. He wasn't expecting that at all. If he were braced for it, then maybe he could handle himself a little bit better, but instead, the question catches him below the ribs like a physical blow. And he does flinch, physically, jerking away from him; at once, all his toughness and resolve melt away, and he just asks, unsteadily:]

What?

Edited (subject-verb agreement) Date: 2013-10-28 07:56 pm (UTC)

From:

doggedly

You heard me.

[He knows that Edgeworth heard it. It's not a what that requests clarification, or even an attempt to buy time. It just-- is. This is like sticking your fingers in someone's wound, like twisting a knife, and he does not back down.]

If you knew who they were, what would you do?

From:

jurisimpudent

I'd...

[He looks down at his hands. His voice is still faint, lacking conviction. It's not even unhappy. It's just dazed and distant.

He does have an answer. It's not the first time he's been asked this question. It is the first time he's been asked it in five years.]

I'd...ensure that they were in the grasp of the Ministry. For proper punishment.

From:

doggedly

You wouldn't.

[He sits back in his chair, tapping the ash from the end of his cigarette, a careful, practiced flick of his thumb.]

That's the answer you're meant to give, but you wouldn't.

From:

jurisimpudent

[And he shakes his head once, silently, staring down at his hands. Quietly:]

I wouldn't...murder him. I wouldn't kill him. If that's what you think.

From:

doggedly

Then what would you do.

[He's staring at Edgeworth, watching him watch his hands, his gaze narrow and focused.]

If you wouldn't kill him. But you wouldn't turn him in, either. So what would you do.