wunderkind | (no subject)

wunderkind

STUFF GOES IN HERE

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From:

bitty_justice

Ahh - augh!

[Miles, by luck or skill, in spite of his stumbling backwards, manages to catch it neatly between his cupped hands. He braces himself for further magically-animated trauma - and then realizes that he...caught it, and that it's contained, just hopping gently against his hands.

He's breathing hard, his eyes wide, and asks - ]

It's - it - You're supposed to eat it alive?

From:

parumcanis

[He snickers at that reaction, but Edgeworth's question has such horror in it that it even gives Sirius a moment of pause. Er--]

It's not actually alive, y'know. It's a charm. They're all charmed like that. Anyway, that's half the fun, isn't it!

From:

bitty_justice

[Miles peers down at his cupped hands. And he asks, firmly:]

You promise that it's not actually alive? Because if it's alive, then I'm going to release it.

From:

parumcanis

I swear! And you can't release it--if you let it go, it's just going to melt, or someone else is going to eat it--

[The frog is struggling, and it's even making a faint ribbit every now and then, and Sirius points urgently to Edgeworth's hands--]

Eat it! Go on, it'll get away if you don't--

From:

bitty_justice

[And Miles cracks open his hands to see the frog there, jumping, and he tries to imagine himself eating it and then shakes his head.]

I - I can't. I'm sorry! It's just...too...

[He thrusts out his hands.]

I can't. You - you eat it, and I won't look...

From:

parumcanis

You're joking.

[He stares at Edgeworth's hands, then at his face, his nose wrinkled.]

You seriously don't want it? Fine--

[He's not yet developed any need to try to convince people to do what they secretly want to do, and he really likes chocolate frogs, so--fine, yeah, he snatches it out of Edgeworth's hands and shoves it into his mouth, all at once. One eye screws up, intently, and his nose wrinkles--]

Mphgf--

From:

bitty_justice

[And Miles has yet to develop any real pride. He gives a little noise, and reaches up to cover his eyes; horror is tempered with a mad desire to giggle, because this is all so weird and strange and inexplicable - ]

Tell me when you're done -

From:

parumcanis

Mghpf mghhrf myfnfds--

[The frog is struggling a little, and Sirius rolls his eyes, expressively, patting hard at his left cheek--and then he bites, once, very obviously, and swallows.]

Done! The chocolate is really good, mate, you have to have one! You can't go your whole life without having a chocolate frog, c'mon--

[His arms are full of sweets and things, but he fumbles around till he digs one out and holds it out to Edgeworth, expectantly, grinning, chocolate on his teeth.]

Oi. Weirdo. Open your eyes!

From:

bitty_justice

[And Miles opens his eyes, reluctantly, and then wrinkles his nose at the barbaric appearance of the boy in front of him. Still, he's not going to comment, because he doesn't want to seem a scaredy-cat, and doesn't want to seem like someone overly sensitive. So, nervously, hesitantly, he says:]

I'll - open it for the card. I quite like the cards, at least.

[And so he takes the package from Sirius, and cracks it open only enough to slip the card out - ]

Um - Salazar Slytherin. That's my next one.

From:

parumcanis

[Sirius takes the package back--it's already begun to struggle, a frantic croaking coming from within--but he holds it firmly as he glances at the card.]

Oh. I've got about a hundred of him.

[He doesn't sound too impressed. In fact, something shut-up has come over him; he twists his fingers around the frog package, a little too firmly. The croaking takes on a slightly more desperate air.]

Well, keep it. You'll need at least one if you're going to have a decent collection.

From:

bitty_justice

[And Miles takes it, but his eyes are fixed on Sirius' face. He tilts his head very slightly to the side and asks, with hardly a bit of self-consciousness:]

Is something the matter with him?

From:

parumcanis

[He shrugs, kicking at the floor a little.]

Nah. He was a really great wizard.

[A beat.]

Did you hear about all of the Houses, yet?

From:

bitty_justice

[That sounds like a lie - maybe? Miles can't quite tell, but there's something else there. He can't tell...but he's been asked a question, and so he answers:]

No, I - I don't think so. What are they?

From:

parumcanis

Really?

[He's genuinely surprised by that answer, but he's also please just to have something else to talk about. It will lead back to Slytherin, of course, but that's all right, for now--]

The four Hogwarts houses. Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. When you get Sorted. You do know about the Sorting, right?

From:

bitty_justice

[Miles shakes his head. Apologetically, with a hesitant smile:]

Sorry. I'm...pretty new to this.

From:

parumcanis

Whaaaaat!

[His disbelief is more fond and amused than anything accusatory.]

Merlin! What do you know-- well, c'mon, let's get in the compartment, I'll tell you about it. You can't get to Hogwarts and know absolutely nothing--

[He ducks past Edgeworth, to the compartment he and James claimed for themselves--that girl Evans and the greasy Snape have long since fled, thank God, so it's blessedly empty. He holds the door open for Edgeworth, expectantly.]

Come on!

From:

bitty_justice

[Miles' luggage is three compartments back, and he does hesitate a moment, because they'd spent a good amount of that strange money on robes and cauldrons and all of that, and if it ends up stolen - But a worse prospect, he thinks, than losing a few books is losing the possibility of earning the friendship of Sirius Black, who's strange and a little bit barbaric but also really nice and funny. So it's a short moment he pauses - and then he ducks inside after him, answering that (possibly rhetorical) question.]

There was a man from the Ministry of Magic who came to our home, but he only was there for about ten minutes before he left. He hardly answered any questions. And the boy in my compartment was very, very rude and wouldn't talk to me.

[There, Miles feels no compunctions about having a bad word to say about someone. The translucently pale boy had turned up his lip in a blatant sneer when Miles had tried to strike up a shy conversation. There were many things Miles had been taught to forgive; such base unpleasantness wasn't one.]

I know that Hogwarts is very architecturally impressive. The man from the ministry left us a, um, pamphlet.

From:

parumcanis

Who was he?

[Sirius will know the boy, whoever he is. He'll have met him before, at one stilted party or another, and he will not like him, but he will have had to pretend as if he did.

Dismissively, he snorts, as he climbs back into his seat. James' trunk is shoved above their heads, precarious. Sirius' is wedged very particularly into place. The side of it bears his initials in gleaming gold; he stares at it a moment before he looks at Edgeworth, his nose wrinkled.]

A pamphlet. Hogwarts is too great for a pamphlet. There's four Houses, right--Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Slytherin is for the clever and the crafty--Gryffindors are courageous and foolish-- [Though despite himself there's a touch of admiration to his tone, foolish, it's brilliant, being brave and foolish, too much time spent with James Potter already--] Ravenclaw is for those clever with books and things, and Hufflepuff is crap, you don't want to be Sorted into Hufflepuff.

From:

bitty_justice

The man from the ministry? I think it was - Cogswallow. Um - Romulus Cogswallow. Dad thought that was a fake name.

[Still, Miles sits down and listens attentively. Each bit of information he considers, turns over in his mind, and then nods. He reserves judgment on Hufflepuff - you can't hold faith with someone saying something is terrible, Dad taught him; you can believe the good that people say, but not the bad - but listens to the others. And he says, dubiously:]

So Ravenclaw is the best, then?

From:

parumcanis

I meant the kid. Cogswallow is a stupid name, though.

[He observes that without any real rancor--it's just true, he might as well say it. But Edgeworth's question gets a snort out of him.]

They aren't. Are you really that keen on being brainy?

From:

bitty_justice

Oh. He wouldn't even tell me his name when I asked. He was really tall, though, and was really pale.

Anyway, being brainy is good. My Dad always says that you should try to be clever, and you should try to be brave. But you already said that the Gryffindors are also fools, and so that sort of leaves them out.

From:

parumcanis

[Really pale describes a great many people--and it doesn't actually matter, so Sirius just snorts dismissively.]

Fools because they're so brave, yeah. They're better than Ravenclaw.

[He glances towards the door, like someone is going to burst in and tell him off for suggesting that. But of course there's no one, and he glances back at Edgeworth. There's a beat of silence, and then he confesses:]

Everyone in my family's been in Slytherin.

From:

bitty_justice

[It's not hard to tell that this was quite a big thing for Sirius to have admitted; Miles isn't really sure why, because even if Miles doesn't envision himself as being crafty there's nothing altogether wrong with it. Maybe because Sirius wants to be in Gryffindor? That's not hard to tell at all.]

Well, I'm sure Slytherin's really good. It sounds like the - the man from the card did a lot of really impressive things.

[But that's mostly diplomatic rather than genuine - not because Miles has anything against Slytherin, but just because of Sirius' attitude.]

But I bet you'd be really happy if you ended up in Gryffindor, too. You seem pretty brave.

From:

parumcanis

[He screws up his nose a little, like he's going to defer that braveness--but he likes that it was observed about him, it lights something in him, gives him a feeling of warmth and pride. So what if Edgeworth is probably just making the observance because it's clear that's what Sirius wants. Maybe he isn't. Maybe it's more than that. Maybe there really is something in Sirius that rates Gryffindor, and that testament to his bravery urges a new boldness in him.]

Maybe. The Sorting Hat will work it out, it's good at things like that. Godric Gryffindor was great, too--he's on a card. If you open another one, you might get him.

Are you hoping for Ravenclaw, then?

From:

bitty_justice

[And Miles can see that pride. It's not hard to. He guesses - probably Sirius' mom and dad want him to end up in Slytherin like them. Dad never pressured Miles or anything, but Miles is pretty sure that Dad was always so happy that Miles wanted to be a lawyer (and he still will be a lawyer, he's decided, just a magical one). It's probably the same thing here - Mr and Mrs Black would just be really happy if they saw Sirius ending up like them, and Sirius must be scared of the possibility of not making them happy.

But Dad's said time and again that he'd be happy if Miles ends up a lawyer and he'll be happy if he ends up a wizard and he'll be happy if he ends up a garbageman back in America. Miles knows, in his heart of hearts, that Mr and Mrs Black would be proud of Sirius even if he were put into Hufflepuff.]

I don't know. I guess I'm not really hoping for anything. I like to read - [He gives a little nod, like he's confirming something that isn't obvious.] And I get good marks. So I guess that would be...natural. [He hesitates - ] People still get to be friends with people in other houses, right?