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[wunderkind]

STUFF GOES IN HERE

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[bitty_justice]

Well, out of scientific interest, of course...

[Which is the answer he knows he ought to give; here's the real answer, and he breaks and delivers it with a big grin - ]

And also because it's so cool. You get to see the colored smoke forming into a cyclone, and they do the sounds and everything -

[parumcanis]

[All right, yeah, that's cool. Science isn't cool, but coloured smoke and cyclones and sounds--]

D'you get to stand in it?

[bitty_justice]

[Miles grins and nods.]

Not in the ones that you make, but there's a big central one where you get to run through it, yeah.

[parumcanis]

Wow.

[He's openly impressed with that, and there's a moment as he just-- tries to imagine the full experience of running through a tornado. Brilliant.]

Is it in London?

[bitty_justice]

Mm-hm. That's where we live now - me and Dad. We're from America originally but moved here five years ago. Anyway, our flat is petty small, but you can definitely stay in my room. If you don't have a place to stay in London, that is. You're not from London, right?

[He chatters cheerfully at Sirius, quite pleased with this prospect for the holiday break.]

I have a pretty good ear for accents, and you don't sound like it. Plus if you haven't been around non-magical stuff much.

[parumcanis]

[He tries, gamely, to keep up his assurance, to not let reality encroach on this idea. It would be brilliant, going over to Miles' flat--for the novelty, if nothing else. Americans and muggles, a totally separate world--

But everything his parents have said creeps in, poisoning the little thrill of excitement, drawing him down. He smiles, patiently, kicking his heels against the bench again.]

No, we live in London. Just-- separate.

[Abruptly, he pulls his legs up, pulls his knees to his chest.]

Where did you live in America?

[bitty_justice]

Oh - um, California.

[Miles can tell that Sirius seems suddenly less enthusiastic; he's afraid that maybe he doesn't like Americans. That would be...really rotten - he's got his permanent residency in Great Britain, though, and he'll get his citizenship eventually, he thinks.]

I've tried to get rid of my accent, though. I think I've done a pretty good job.

[parumcanis]

California.

[There is little of the muggle world that Sirius knows--he's been too isolated to know very much--but California is still something of a mystical land, thanks to the little that he's managed to absorb. Not as good as New York, maybe, but still. Pretty good!]

I wouldn't have guessed that. Are you really from California? So do you know muggle film stars, then? I've only seen one film. I snuck in, once. My mother was furious.

[bitty_justice]

[Miles gives a little laugh and shakes his head.]

No, I don't know any. I think I saw one once, though - there was a limo and everything.

[Still, it's good to know Sirius' mom isn't so different from his dad - ]

My dad would be really mad if I snuck into a movie, too. You do always have to pay.

[parumcanis]

She wasn't angry about that.

[Don't you know? He wants to ask Miles, but he seems so-- happy. He doesn't know. Not about the Blacks, not about Sirius' parents, or where he comes from--or even what he is going to face.

He should tell him. He knows he should. But he can't, yet, and perhaps that makes him a coward. Sirius looks down at the floor.]

What's a limo?

[bitty_justice]

[Miles starts to ask what she was mad about, then - but he's distracted by that second question. It's weird that Sirius knows so little about his world - the "Muggle" world, and that's a strange word, too - but it's really kind of fun telling him about the cooler parts of it. After all, he's excited about where he's going, but he's proud of where he came from, too.]

Oh, it's a...really expensive car. It's not fuel-efficient at all, so that's bad - [He's obliged to throw in a little bit of sanctimony, of course - ] But it's really long, and the inside is done up with really plush seats and they put hot tubs and that sort of thing in there. I don't know. I've never been in one. But maybe someday.

[parumcanis]

[Fuel efficient means absolutely nothing to him, but the rest of that, Merlin's pants--]

They put a hot tub in a car! How do they do that? I didn't know muggles could do things like that--without magic, I mean, without stretching charms and things--

How do you know about them if you've not been in one?

[bitty_justice]

TV.

[He admits that with a guilty grin.]

I don't really watch it myself, but my friends back home - sometimes I'd go over to their house and we'd watch it. Anyway, I think the hot tub...It probably didn't work at all. Probably splashed everywhere.

[parumcanis]

But it would be brilliant, wouldn't it! You could drive in a car with a bath in it. It's mental.

[The more he considers this, the more excited he gets. It's exactly the sort of ridiculous and superfluous nonsense he likes, when all is said and done. Somehow he's managed to escape some of the stuffy superiority of a pureblood childhood.]

We should find one.

[bitty_justice]

[Miles, meanwhile, is stuffy - is marvelously stuffy - but Sirius, as it turns out, has a naturally infectious enthusiasm. Besides, this is a new situation, and he's still figuring out who he's going to be; he is going to, as it turns out, in this situation, be someone who doesn't get sanctimonious about stupid things, but instead get a little excited as well.]

I bet we could. My dad has a car - I bet he'd be willing to drive us out to the really stupid custom car dealerships -

[parumcanis]

You should write him, as soon as we get to Hogwarts, and ask.

[He leans forward, eagerly--and if they go from Hogwarts, his parents won't ever find out. He can go and see the muggle world, and the limousine, and no one will ever know.]

You don't think he'd mind?

[bitty_justice]

[Miles shakes his head, though his voice is dubious.]

No, he wouldn't. He...wouldn't get it, I think, because he sort of thinks all things like that are a bit stupid, but he wouldn't mind at all. He likes when people expand their horizons.

[And he's quite certain of this last fact, so this he says with confidence.]

And he'd like you a lot.

[parumcanis]

Really?

[If Miles is dubious of the actual trip to the limo, Sirius is dubious of-- well, the rest of it.]

Even though he doesn't-- know me?

[bitty_justice]

[Miles wrinkles his nose; he'd never outright say that's a stupid question - or, at least, not when he's thinking about Dad, who taught him good manners - but he's definitely thinking it.]

Well, he'll know you once he meets you, won't he?

[parumcanis]

Well-- yeah--

[Truth be told, this is his first time of meeting people he doesn't know already--or really, more accurately, people that don't know him. The unknown is strange to encounter, and--he's not nervous. He's fairly likable, probably, he thinks. But still.]

If you say so. I s'ppose it would be okay. D'you think they'd let us go back to London? From school, I mean.

[bitty_justice]

Well, for breaks.

[He frowns a little bit, trying to remember the term schedule.]

I don't know about for weekend trips and the like...Perhaps not. But there's no harm done in asking permission...

[He looks up and brightens.]

But of course it would work out for breaks, wouldn't it? You're in London anyway. You'd hardly have to travel at all to get to my place.

[parumcanis]

[Oh. Sirius' shoulders slump a little, and he looks down at his hands.]

I'm not allowed to--to go into London, at home. My parents wouldn't let me go. [He scowls, faintly, bunching his fingers into fists--and then he looks up at Miles again, determined.] But if we went on the weekend from school, they'd never know--

[bitty_justice]

You're not allowed to go?

[Miles frowns at that, uncertain.]

Well...What if they met Dad first? So they would know he's trustworthy and that you'd be safe.

[parumcanis]

[A worse idea yet. Sirius folds his arms over his chest, hunching his shoulders a little.]

We could just go from school.

[bitty_justice]

[And Miles stares, confused and a little bit alarmed by Sirius' clear reluctance. And then, finally, he understands - ]

Do your parents not like...science?

[...almost understands.]