[By nature, Edgeworth is deeply contrarian. Before Mr Black had come in here and started throwing his weight around, Edgeworth's manner towards Sirius Black was still rather guarded and standoffish; now, the rewards of honesty far outweigh the drawbacks, because even though it means a loss of dignity it also means a bit more defiance towards Orion.
So when Sirius speaks to him, his manner gentles and loses its stridency. There is no outward expression of affection, naturally, but his respect for Sirius and his question is both clear and pointed. The point of it is to send a message to that stiff back: Look; your son deserves and gets far more respect than you do.]
I've no love for lies. You know that. Better this idiocy than deceiving the whole of the wizarding world.
[Orion ignores all of that. He speaks a single word of warning: Sirius.]
[He should get some guarantee out of Edgeworth, level some threat, to ensure that he will be left out of it. If he's going to tell the truth and get their rewards--all for the sake of getting one over Orion Black (and that's such a strange thought that Sirius can't even process it right now, can't make sense of the weird pitch in his stomach--something so like respect, for Edgeworth, for daring this at all)--but Sirius must be left out because of his family, and his name, and his ties to everything that Edgeworth has just destroyed.
He should say something more. But he doesn't. And there's some part of him that hates how he turns to follow his father, at the sound of his name, like a dog being told to heel. He glances back at Edgeworth, once more, a lingering look that he risks even though his father could turn to him at any moment and catch him. For one mad second, Sirius wishes he would. He wishes he could stay, right now, and not go back to Grimmauld Place. He doesn't know where he would go instead. He doesn't know where this urge comes from, or what it means; it's briefly overpowering and then it fades, or else he makes it to fade.]
Fine. It's-- your life.
[Mudblood, something, he should tack on some viciousness. But he doesn't. Instead, he nods at Edgeworth, once, curtly. That's all he can manage. The world is going to be chaotic and he is going to catch some sort of hell for his involvement in this, and he will lie and maybe get out of it, most of it, and even if his father suspects something more he will not say. And the thing that ties him to Edgeworth--his reluctant bond with him--it's changed, and he can't work out why. Or more, he doesn't want to work out why.]
[And Orion's back is turned, so Edgeworth is willing to dare something a bit more before Sirius follows his father out. He nods in return, a perfect mirror of Sirius' short gesture - but then he offers a slight smile. It's there and then gone at once, a ghostly thing, but the message of it is clear - or at least he hopes it is clear. Nothing has changed between us. No matter your allegiance, we are still together in this. And - if they are not friends, then they are something friendlier, better, than two simply forced together by circumstance. They are, in some way, bound.
Edgeworth had predicted Azkaban for what he'd done that night. Sirius had predicted the Order of Merlin. Sirius was closer to being right than Edgeworth was; after the Blacks disappear from the Ministry, the first rounds of questioning begin and get progressively friendlier. There are hints that perhaps an Auror assisted, but they're let to drop when Edgeworth doesn't respond to them - and there's not even any hostility as soon as Edgeworth makes it clear that he'll cooperate fully with the Ministry. Someone evidently digs up some records about Edgeworth halfway through the night, and there are a few quick questions about his dad which he answers stiffly; when the officials get their answers, they look downright pleased, and fetch him a cup of tea and arrange for a room for him to sleep in as long as possible.
Edgeworth puzzles over that a while; he realizes as he's drifting off to sleep that of course they'd like it. It's a very politically pleasing story.
He sleeps only a few hours, and restlessly. He dreams of Voldemort. But in the morning, it's confirmed to him that the man seems truly to be dead; nothing of his remains were found save a dark rough ash where he would have been, but across the world his followers are turning themselves in or fleeing.
Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy survived the collapse. Edgeworth takes comfort in that. The others did not, and that weighs heavily on him.
He's two days in questioning and debriefing before they let him go. They want to keep him in custody, but it seems that Dumbledore intervenes on his behalf - points out that it'll be a Tuesday, he's already missed a day of school; one of the Aurors relates that to Miles with an incredulous laugh. Dumbledore meets with him as soon as he's back at Hogwarts; he doesn't comment on the incident, but simply tells him that he can take a few days to recuperate before starting classes again.
How surreal it is, to have killed Voldemort and then found himself back at school. The Gryffindor common room will of course be full of people; his first destination, when he wanders out of the Headmaster's office, is an obvious one. He goes to the library.]
[It nearly ends with Sirius out of school. But it doesn't. He's sent back, after the weekend. They don't ship him on the train, but send him back to Hogsmeade with his father.
After the Ministry, he had gone back to Grimmauld Place, with his father, and they'd gotten the good news of Bellatrix and Malfoy. His mother had been crying. That in of itself was a rare event. The tears were hardly over worry for Sirius. She cried when she got the good news, too, in the parlor with the family tree on the walls. That was where they gathered, as if there was some strength to get from the branches. Sirius felt only a weight, sitting in there. Like everyone was watching.
Before the news of Bellatrix, they were all asking him questions. And his father had been watching him, was watching him all weekend long, as if he knew. Maybe he did know. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility. On Sunday they all went to St Mungo's to see Bellatrix. Sirius stayed outside of the room. No one asked why. And then, afterwards, his father took him by the arm and they Apparated to Hogsmeade-- and then they ride up to Hogwarts in a carriage together. Sirius supposes that this is a show of power and opulence. Even without Voldemort, the Black family remains important, a cornerstone of pureblood society.
It all feels so hollow, though.
On Monday, he does not go to any of his classes. On Tuesday, he skips them as well. He does not sleep in the dormitory. He finds a tower and sleeps there, and Filch doesn't come across him, so he sleeps there again on Monday night. Regulus is looking for him, but he avoids everyone.
On Tuesday afternoon, there's a class in the next tower over, so Sirius beats a retreat, lest he be discovered. He slinks through the empty corridors. Behind the doors, classes go on--he can hear the murmur of voices, lessons being taught, lectures and practicals--but all of it feels removed from him, as if he's a ghost, haunting the halls.
Somehow, he ends up in the library. It isn't deliberate, but it's as good a place to hide out as any, and as he's ducking between the stacks, he sees him. Miles Edgeworth. Something in his chest twists, suddenly, as violent a movement as if there were something in his chest, and he stops, and stares, and does not approach him. Not yet. Maybe he won't at all.]
[Miles knows that eventually, he's going to be getting attention for this. He despises attention. It's not out of any particular shyness, nothing so idiotic as that; he just doesn't like having people scrutinize him, bother him with a great lot of nonsense. And they'll be calling him a hero, he supposes - the Gryffindors, at least - and the Slytherins will hate him all the more, and that's nonsense of the highest order, the lot of it; and he knows that the Ministry will call him back soon, as well, and that there'll be more talk of what he's done.
He wishes so much that Sirius were still on his side. He wishes so much that the other boy could take the blame, or the praise, and that Miles himself could just quietly go on in the background and maybe leverage all this to become an Auror after all. He'd like to, still, especially with his knowledge that there are still so many Dark wizards out there; Voldemort wasn't the first, won't be the last -
He happens to look up and catch a glimpse of someone, concealed by the books, watching him. He thinks to himself that he ought to put a stop to this from the very start - head it off at the pass, as it were - and so he stands at once, and says, every bit the Prefect once more (if he even is one, he didn't ask Dumbledore whether he even has the right to that title any longer) - ]
You should be at lessons; it's midday, and -
[But by then he's moved forward enough to get a good glimpse of just who it is. He stops.]
[Fucking hell. He'd had just a few seconds there where he could have slipped away, unnoticed--but he'd lingered too long, because he's an idiot, and maybe because he's sentimental, or at least still thinking too slowly. And now Edgeworth's seen him, and he can't just walk away now, can he?
No, he could. And he nearly does. He doesn't owe him anything, right? They're not anything to one another. Except that's a lie.
And what's he going to do, anyways? Run away from him? He's not some bloody coward, and Edgeworth isn't some threat. He's not anything.
So Sirius stays where he is, his chin raised a little, stubbornly.]
They let you come back.
[The same could be said of him, of course. But he levels the observation at Edgeworth before Edgeworth can say it to him.]
[He can't help but feel a little defensive at that. He can't help but feel like he has to justify his presence.]
Dumbledore insisted.
[But it comes out weirdly shameful, weirdly embarrassed; he looks down at his feet. He ought to be questioning Sirius' presence; he ought to be pointing out that it's odd for him to be here, too. But questioning that will inevitably go back to Orion Black, and that cold command that the two of them weren't to have anything to do with one another, so he stays silent instead.]
Your cousin is alive.
[He says that like Sirius doesn't already know, which is patently absurd. His embarrassment simply increases. The comment hangs out there, strange, before he mumbles:]
[He nods, once, at Edgeworth's explanation, because: yeah, it would be Dumbledore that would have intervened with that. Sirius has never been particularly impressed by the headmaster, but nor has he disdained him like so many others are so quick to do. Not actually. He might have gone along with what was being said, but he never really felt the same.
At mention of Bellatrix, though, Sirius' face does a weird sort of half-smirk, and he turns away.]
[The bitterness, the unhappiness - those are...expected, Edgeworth supposes. The fact that Black is talking to him at all is more than what's expected. Even though Edgeworth could easily chide the other boy for his unkindness, he doesn't; he doesn't want to drive him away, to anger him, to even just give him an excuse to retreat.
Or - in theory, he doesn't. Yet the first question out of his mouth is:]
Are your parents being all right to you?
[Which - if there's anything that will make Sirius storm off in a rage, it's...something like that.]
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2013-11-26 01:40 pm (UTC)So when Sirius speaks to him, his manner gentles and loses its stridency. There is no outward expression of affection, naturally, but his respect for Sirius and his question is both clear and pointed. The point of it is to send a message to that stiff back: Look; your son deserves and gets far more respect than you do.]
I've no love for lies. You know that. Better this idiocy than deceiving the whole of the wizarding world.
[Orion ignores all of that. He speaks a single word of warning: Sirius.]
no subject
Date: 2013-11-26 03:38 pm (UTC)[He should get some guarantee out of Edgeworth, level some threat, to ensure that he will be left out of it. If he's going to tell the truth and get their rewards--all for the sake of getting one over Orion Black (and that's such a strange thought that Sirius can't even process it right now, can't make sense of the weird pitch in his stomach--something so like respect, for Edgeworth, for daring this at all)--but Sirius must be left out because of his family, and his name, and his ties to everything that Edgeworth has just destroyed.
He should say something more. But he doesn't. And there's some part of him that hates how he turns to follow his father, at the sound of his name, like a dog being told to heel. He glances back at Edgeworth, once more, a lingering look that he risks even though his father could turn to him at any moment and catch him. For one mad second, Sirius wishes he would. He wishes he could stay, right now, and not go back to Grimmauld Place. He doesn't know where he would go instead. He doesn't know where this urge comes from, or what it means; it's briefly overpowering and then it fades, or else he makes it to fade.]
Fine. It's-- your life.
[Mudblood, something, he should tack on some viciousness. But he doesn't. Instead, he nods at Edgeworth, once, curtly. That's all he can manage. The world is going to be chaotic and he is going to catch some sort of hell for his involvement in this, and he will lie and maybe get out of it, most of it, and even if his father suspects something more he will not say. And the thing that ties him to Edgeworth--his reluctant bond with him--it's changed, and he can't work out why. Or more, he doesn't want to work out why.]
no subject
Date: 2013-11-26 11:58 pm (UTC)Edgeworth had predicted Azkaban for what he'd done that night. Sirius had predicted the Order of Merlin. Sirius was closer to being right than Edgeworth was; after the Blacks disappear from the Ministry, the first rounds of questioning begin and get progressively friendlier. There are hints that perhaps an Auror assisted, but they're let to drop when Edgeworth doesn't respond to them - and there's not even any hostility as soon as Edgeworth makes it clear that he'll cooperate fully with the Ministry. Someone evidently digs up some records about Edgeworth halfway through the night, and there are a few quick questions about his dad which he answers stiffly; when the officials get their answers, they look downright pleased, and fetch him a cup of tea and arrange for a room for him to sleep in as long as possible.
Edgeworth puzzles over that a while; he realizes as he's drifting off to sleep that of course they'd like it. It's a very politically pleasing story.
He sleeps only a few hours, and restlessly. He dreams of Voldemort. But in the morning, it's confirmed to him that the man seems truly to be dead; nothing of his remains were found save a dark rough ash where he would have been, but across the world his followers are turning themselves in or fleeing.
Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy survived the collapse. Edgeworth takes comfort in that. The others did not, and that weighs heavily on him.
He's two days in questioning and debriefing before they let him go. They want to keep him in custody, but it seems that Dumbledore intervenes on his behalf - points out that it'll be a Tuesday, he's already missed a day of school; one of the Aurors relates that to Miles with an incredulous laugh. Dumbledore meets with him as soon as he's back at Hogwarts; he doesn't comment on the incident, but simply tells him that he can take a few days to recuperate before starting classes again.
How surreal it is, to have killed Voldemort and then found himself back at school. The Gryffindor common room will of course be full of people; his first destination, when he wanders out of the Headmaster's office, is an obvious one. He goes to the library.]
no subject
Date: 2013-11-27 09:05 am (UTC)After the Ministry, he had gone back to Grimmauld Place, with his father, and they'd gotten the good news of Bellatrix and Malfoy. His mother had been crying. That in of itself was a rare event. The tears were hardly over worry for Sirius. She cried when she got the good news, too, in the parlor with the family tree on the walls. That was where they gathered, as if there was some strength to get from the branches. Sirius felt only a weight, sitting in there. Like everyone was watching.
Before the news of Bellatrix, they were all asking him questions. And his father had been watching him, was watching him all weekend long, as if he knew. Maybe he did know. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility. On Sunday they all went to St Mungo's to see Bellatrix. Sirius stayed outside of the room. No one asked why. And then, afterwards, his father took him by the arm and they Apparated to Hogsmeade-- and then they ride up to Hogwarts in a carriage together. Sirius supposes that this is a show of power and opulence. Even without Voldemort, the Black family remains important, a cornerstone of pureblood society.
It all feels so hollow, though.
On Monday, he does not go to any of his classes. On Tuesday, he skips them as well. He does not sleep in the dormitory. He finds a tower and sleeps there, and Filch doesn't come across him, so he sleeps there again on Monday night. Regulus is looking for him, but he avoids everyone.
On Tuesday afternoon, there's a class in the next tower over, so Sirius beats a retreat, lest he be discovered. He slinks through the empty corridors. Behind the doors, classes go on--he can hear the murmur of voices, lessons being taught, lectures and practicals--but all of it feels removed from him, as if he's a ghost, haunting the halls.
Somehow, he ends up in the library. It isn't deliberate, but it's as good a place to hide out as any, and as he's ducking between the stacks, he sees him. Miles Edgeworth. Something in his chest twists, suddenly, as violent a movement as if there were something in his chest, and he stops, and stares, and does not approach him. Not yet. Maybe he won't at all.]
no subject
Date: 2013-11-27 12:06 pm (UTC)He wishes so much that Sirius were still on his side. He wishes so much that the other boy could take the blame, or the praise, and that Miles himself could just quietly go on in the background and maybe leverage all this to become an Auror after all. He'd like to, still, especially with his knowledge that there are still so many Dark wizards out there; Voldemort wasn't the first, won't be the last -
He happens to look up and catch a glimpse of someone, concealed by the books, watching him. He thinks to himself that he ought to put a stop to this from the very start - head it off at the pass, as it were - and so he stands at once, and says, every bit the Prefect once more (if he even is one, he didn't ask Dumbledore whether he even has the right to that title any longer) - ]
You should be at lessons; it's midday, and -
[But by then he's moved forward enough to get a good glimpse of just who it is. He stops.]
Black?
no subject
Date: 2013-11-27 02:34 pm (UTC)No, he could. And he nearly does. He doesn't owe him anything, right? They're not anything to one another. Except that's a lie.
And what's he going to do, anyways? Run away from him? He's not some bloody coward, and Edgeworth isn't some threat. He's not anything.
So Sirius stays where he is, his chin raised a little, stubbornly.]
They let you come back.
[The same could be said of him, of course. But he levels the observation at Edgeworth before Edgeworth can say it to him.]
no subject
Date: 2013-11-27 05:44 pm (UTC)Dumbledore insisted.
[But it comes out weirdly shameful, weirdly embarrassed; he looks down at his feet. He ought to be questioning Sirius' presence; he ought to be pointing out that it's odd for him to be here, too. But questioning that will inevitably go back to Orion Black, and that cold command that the two of them weren't to have anything to do with one another, so he stays silent instead.]
Your cousin is alive.
[He says that like Sirius doesn't already know, which is patently absurd. His embarrassment simply increases. The comment hangs out there, strange, before he mumbles:]
I'm glad of it.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-27 07:28 pm (UTC)At mention of Bellatrix, though, Sirius' face does a weird sort of half-smirk, and he turns away.]
Yeah. Well. That makes one of us.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-28 08:50 pm (UTC)Or - in theory, he doesn't. Yet the first question out of his mouth is:]
Are your parents being all right to you?
[Which - if there's anything that will make Sirius storm off in a rage, it's...something like that.]