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wunderkind

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From:

jurisimpudent

Maybe not.

[There's no use lying, of course; Sirius saw into his mind, saw how his thoughts on this matter broke down: his wild, fanciful daydreams saw him winning, while his sad sick feelings of dread were all centered around what would happen when he failed. But it comes down to this:]

But I have to try. Even if I die, I want to show him that we'll stand up for ourselves. That we won't just let him trample upon us. That we won't just lay down and die when he wants us to.

From:

doggedly

And you'll show him that by dying. Well done.

[He takes another drag on his ciagrette, looking away across the grounds. Fucking hell, what is he doing arguing this at all? He'd be better off just getting up and walking away. They're done now--perhaps they can be done forever.

But he doesn't. Maybe it's something to do with what he saw in Edgeworth's head, the bleakness of the fate that he's certain he's down for. It's a different bleakness, but the echo is there.]

Don't be stupid. This party isn't the place to do that.

From:

jurisimpudent

[Miles had been expecting that bit of sarcasm. It's a perspective that's quite outside Sirius' worldview, isn't it - laying down your life for something like that. When you're a Black, you've a responsibility to continue on so that the line continues. To marry, to father sons, to carry on the name. Just that, if nothing else.

(How utterly bleak and depressing that is. It's no wonder that the Purebloods are terrified of all of them, the Muggle-borns and the Muggles, because they've been stagnant for years.)

That second part, though, turns his head; he furrows his brow, not quite certain he catches Black's meaning. Don't be stupid is clear enough. But this party isn't the place - He asks, cautiously:]

Then where is the place?

From:

doggedly

[He shrugs, moodily. This feels very much like betrayal, even if he's not actually saying anything, and not planning to say anything--]

Dunno. But not there. [A beat; he sucks at his cigarette, shrugs again.] Think about it. They're all our age, bit older, maybe. They're mad for him. It's like a bloody concert for them, nearly a religious ceremony--if you start something there, you'd better be ready to finish it.

If you'd manage to finish it, which, given the crowd--wouldn't be likely. [He smiles, grimly.] I know these people.

From:

jurisimpudent

[It's not that second comment that gets to him; it's the first. He turns towards Sirius fully, his brows drawing together, his lips tightening - he looks scared, then, and sad. The question he asks is:]

You're saying I'd...have to kill - the people following him? [He shakes his head at once - ] No. That's - I won't do that. I shouldn't have to. It would - Surely it would just end when he died.

From:

doggedly

[But he's already shaking his head, even as Edgeworth is rambling through that protest.]

You were thinking they'd just give it up without him? Cutting the head off the king cobra, that's good. But you're still standing in a snake pit, and now they're pissed.

You're not really thinking, if you thought it was going to be that easy.

From:

jurisimpudent

I rather...thought - [Hoped - ] That they'd just...lose their spirit.

[But that's stupid, isn't it? That's just really a stupid thought. Of course they wouldn't. So he shifts, uncomfortably, and says - ]

I'd...let them kill me, then. I suppose.

[Which is all right. Which he sort of was going to do anyway. Just - He hates the thought of that passivity. Just letting it happen. Letting his last act be giving up, when he never gave up before.]

From:

doggedly

[Sirius snorts, loudly and dismissively.]

That's the dumbest thing you've said yet.

From:

jurisimpudent

[He's not sure which part Sirius is referring to; he looks up, gives a stiff shrug, and offers a response to the latter being the stupid part - because that's the part he can argue against, since the former was indeed irrefutably very, very stupid.]

I'm not going to murder all of your cousins, Black. Especially not when there's no confirmation that they've actually hurt any Muggles themselves.

From:

doggedly

[Oh, good one. At that, Sirius actually laughs aloud--a short, bitter thing.]

I don't care about them. If they're stupid enough to be caught, then they deserve whatever the hell happens to them. I meant the whole bit about letting them kill you. That's the stupid bit.

From:

jurisimpudent

Well, I'd try to run away, I suppose.

[He pulls at another blade of grass and confesses unhappily:]

I don't have my apparition license yet. I'm - I haven't had my seventeenth birthday yet.

[A pause, and then he shrugs.]

I suppose the hall will have an anti-Disapparition jinx on it anyway, won't it.

From:

doggedly

[Sirius stares at him, blankly, for a moment--and then he makes a noise of disgust, shoving his fingers through his hair.]

Merlin's beard. This is pathetic. Yes, the hall will have an anti-Disapparition jinx on it. And it will be full of witches and wizards who will bloody hamstring you before you get two paces out on that merry run of yours.

I'm not even plotting this and I'm doing a better job of it than you.

From:

jurisimpudent

[Edgeworth frowns up at him.]

Well, I - I'd have done more research before actually going in. Bear in mind that I've only known about this for -

[He has no idea how long. He doesn't know how long their minds were joined up...Five minutes or an hour or any amount of time in between.]

A - comparatively short amount of time. So I think I'm doing all right. I came up with the plan to impersonate you, didn't I? And I got information from you.

From:

doggedly

[But Sirius' shoulders immediately hunch at that reference. Information, it wasn't just information--there was loads more to it--and he scowls, blackly, taking a sharp drag on his cigarette--]

On purpose. That's what you set out to do, obviously, get information from me. It wasn't that your spell cocked up-- look, I'm telling you, they expect shit at that party. If anything happens, that's where it'll happen, and they'll all be there to tear you to pieces. They're waiting for it. They want it.

From:

jurisimpudent

[Frustration drives him to ask:]

Then what should I do? Really, what should I do. Because if I wait, if I do nothing, that'll be another - ten dead. Hundred dead. Thousand dead, depending on when the next opportunity is.

From:

doggedly

[He huffs a laugh that's equally as frustrated--though it's bitter irritation that stands out most clearly.]

Yeah, and if you do what you're planning, that's just one dead, but then those ten, those hundred--those thousand--they die as well anyways.

Be clever. Difficult for a Gryffindor, I know. But be clever. Merlin, I can't believe I'm telling you anything, I ought to hand you over to them, save you the trouble of doing it yourself--

From:

jurisimpudent

[Edgeworth doesn't react to that last threat, though. After so much time inside Sirius' head, he knows that's an idle comment - something to save face, to try to sound tough.

After a moment - ]

I - I would need your cooperation if I took it to Dumbledore. [A pause, and then - only because Sirius already knows, because that had been a constant anxiety churning at the back of his mind - ] You would be free to report my conduct, of course. I would get in quite a great deal of trouble for it.

From:

doggedly

[He looks over at Edgeworth so quickly he could get whiplash from it. There's a horrible, ringing silence, and then, abruptly, roughly:]

No.

From:

jurisimpudent

If I went to him, and you came with me, you'd be able to control the...flow of information.

[He knows, if he were an Auror - a proper, brave, ruthless Auror - that would be a threat. It's up to you to control this, that's what this would be. It's on you to ensure this doesn't turn uglier than it already has. You can keep your family from danger - but only if you minimize it now. But instead, the statement is tentative. He's just being honest, genuinely trying to help him.]

Because if I go to Dumbledore, it's going to come back to you anyway.

From:

doggedly

[He reads that threat there. He's been taught, to find threats, to know when something someone is saying could mean something more. To look between the layers. That's part of it, because you have to know what people are saying about you, what they think of you--

And he's not particularly convinced that Edgeworth would follow through. It's a threat, but it might not be one he could necessarily carry out.

His mouth is set in a hard line, almost mutinously so.]

So it comes back to me. And I don't have to tell Dumbledore shit, either. There's no law that says I do.

From:

jurisimpudent

[And Edgeworth turns his head to the side, looking firmly away from Sirius. Quietly:]

And if Dumbledore takes it to the Ministry? Or if I do?

[Because the Ministry is desperate. That much is well known. Edgeworth admires them, truly - of course he does; he wants to work with them, to help them catch Dark wizards - but their tactics are...Even he cannot defend them. Even he, with his zealous hatred of Dark magic and Muggle-killers, can't defend some of the actions they're rumored to have taken. The torture of suspects, supposedly, with the Cruciatus curse. The alliance with the Dementors. If Sirius has access to information that the Ministry wants - and the Ministry will be desperate to get it - they will not be kind.]

From:

doggedly

[And he knows that, too--better than most might. His family has always been suspected of Dark business, underhanded dealings. The Ministry loathes his family--or that's the muttered word that goes about at family parties. There's a sense of paranoia, of deep betrayal--after all they've done for the Ministry, the donations, the support--]

My name's still worth something.

[It's a gamble. But it's true.]

The Ministry isn't as pure as you'd like it to be. [And then, more honestly:] I can't.

From:

jurisimpudent

[And because Sirius knows all his secrets already, everything about him, Edgeworth speaks more honestly than he would with any other:]

I don't think anyone who makes compacts with Dementors can be called pure.

[He says that quietly, sadly; then he shakes his head. Moving on from that - ]

What if I...What if we made it seem as though I had you under the Imperius curse? Your family couldn't... [But he shakes his head a moment after; if that were the case, the Ministry would stop it at once; they'd not permit such a thing.] Or if you...went into hiding. Perhaps if you pretend to have fled - Then the Ministry won't be able to call on you.

From:

doggedly

I'm not a fucking coward.

[He practically spits that out. Every bit of this conversation is reminding him of how much he knows about Edgeworth--and how much Edgeworth, conversely, knows about him. It's almost unfair, to be laid so bare.

But he isn't a coward. Edgeworth will know that. He is many things, but he's not going to hide.]

And I'm not selling my family out because you think it's the right thing to do, because you want to-- assuage your conscience or play the hero or whatever you're looking to do here, exactly.

Got to the Ministry if you want. Go to Dumbledore. But you're doing it alone. I told you, I'm not playing your inside man.

From:

jurisimpudent

[He wants to protest it's not about his conscience; he wants to protest that it's not about heroics. But it is, and it is; it's more than that, as well, yes, but at its core it is about the way he failed Dad, and the way he needs to not fail anyone else.

But what does it matter why he's doing it? Because it is the right thing to do. It absolutely is. And there's one point - ]

This isn't selling your family out. It would be - saving them from becoming - [What's a term that Sirius would hate quite a lot - ] Servants.