Through the Looking Glass and into Muggledom! PV Closed

Colin tried so hard to keep up as Monica described how the tee vee works! But he found himself become ever more confused! There were so many strange concepts and weird words for things! "So --- so, the actors do their theatre on a pewter. And they say it's not magic, but it really is magic!? And there's webs in it? But Monica! How can they get news papers in there? That vee tee is up on the wall! You'd have to climb up to read it!"

Colin shook his head in disbelief. Was this girl teasing him? He watched Monica closely as she talked. She seemed to know what she was talking about --- and she did live in Muggledom after all! "Hah! You say that muggles don't have magic, but I can see, Monica! I know all about the leckarixity! Shia explained it all to me! Some muggle wizard invented it --- you attach a key to your kite string and fly it in a thunderstorm, right. And --- and then you get hit by the lightning and put the key into your bat tree and, er, that makes the tee vee work or the lights brighten!"

Colin nodded definitively. He was actually pretty proud of himself for having understood the intricacies of the muggle magic called electricity!

Monica seemed to hesitate just as she asked about the clues Colin and AngelFyre had been discussing. He shook his head. "It's okay, Monica. Um. Well, when I was first attacked, I found a letter! It didn't have names, but did have initials." He looked around again, just to make sure no one was listening in. "It said that the werewolves should kill me. And they could eat me if they liked ---"

Colin noticed that Monica seemed to stiffen a bit. He could scent the tension within her. "Um. Are you okay Monica?" Colin looked worried. Was this the moment she was going to run away? Colin himself suddenly became anxious --- what if his old fears were correct? What if she ran off and contacted the Ministry?

He realised that he must have turned as pale as Monica looked! But she did something Colin didn't expect. She reached across the table and touched his hand. She said she wasn't afraid. A wave of relief rolled over Colin. "I think it is really cool to meet a werewolf, and I don't hate you..." she said as she pulled out her sketch book. "How could I hate such a captivating model?"

Colin laughed! He never knew how these kinds of interactions would go, and he often assumed the worst only to be proven wrong!

"If I may ask... How did it happen?" she said.

Colin thought back to last August. "Whoa!" he said. "It's been just over a whole year! August 22nd. Me and Liam and our wee sister Ciarán decided to go up to the wee stone cottage for one last adventure before coming here to London for our first trip to Hoggys. After a while it got dark and the Moon rose. We thought it was so beautiful! But then we heard some noises, like a wild creature skulking around. At first we thought it might be one of the dogs, or maybe even a wolf. But it didn't look like a dog or a wolf!"

"It caught scent of us and turned to attack! I rushed forward to protect Liam and Ciarán especially. We fought and he scratched me and bit me too!" Colin wriggled a bit, getting his right shoulder out of the neck of his shirt. "See!!? Toothmarks!" He smiled at Monica, pointing out the scars. "Pretty wicked I think! Liam says they'll be a girl magnet for sure! But the werewolf wasn't very big, and I was able to wrestle him down. I thumped him a few times with a stone, and I think Liam and Ciarán must have too. Anyway, I whacked him so hard on his snout that I broke out one of his fangs!"

Colin showed Monica the wolf fang he wore on a cord around his neck. "This is what got me and FyreAngel thinking --- we should be looking for a bloke with a broken out jaw and missing one fang! Find out who he is, and we'll come closer to sorting out who the blokes are that wrote the letter! And we know they're still after me, because they came back to attack in July and now in August, too!"

Colin sat thoughtfully for a while. Memories of the fights mixed with curious wonder about all things muggle in Colin's mind. But there was one really concerning thing that he just had to ask Monica. He squirmed a bit, not quite sure how to approach the topic.

"Monica. There's something that's got me troubled," he began. Colin looked around the place to if anyone had any children with them. He nodded towards the lavvy. This was one area of muggle custom that Colin was thoroughly shocked to discover. "Um. I don't know how to ask this, and if it's, you know, too weird a question you don't have to answer."

Colin bit his lower lip, but finally worked up the courage to ask. "You see, in the lavvy right, I saw this other box on the wall." His eyes widened at the horrific memory of it. "Twas a doorway like. Wee kinda. Um." He leaned forward over the table with an expression of dread mingled with morbid curiosity and lowered his voice. "It said 'baby changing station'. Do --- Do muggles, often, exchange their babies in the lavvy? I mean --- like. Wh---Where do the babies go when they shove em through the door? And wh--- what do they get in return?"

@Monica Evans || Mentions: @AngelFyre McCubbin | @Shiawase Mamori

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Monica couldn't help by find herself laughing with Colin, the way he asked questions and explained electricity, he truly was a joy to be around, and more over a welcome company during this short time home. At some point Monica would take him to learn all he wanted about Tv, and lights, and any other muggle mysteries he had, but for right now good company was all she wanted.

Monica didn't know how to take any of this information... Wanted to kill Colin? But who on earth? And for what reason? Was there more this kilt wearing boy failed to tell her? Did he ever do something? Was his family involved in anything illegal?
Monica found her mind adrift, hard to focus, so many questions with no clear way of being able to answer any of them. She shifted in the bench, stroking Kiwi as she perched on Monica's shoulder.
"That is crazy! I mean, impressive you able to hold your own against a werewolf.... So what now? You and FyreAngel are just looking around the wizard world for anyone with a jacked tooth?" Monica took a sip of her drink, only to realize it had been but long empty, however she wouldn't look the fool, so she continued to tilt the mug as if drinking.
"Look I don't mean to be.... well for lack of better words, a know it all, but don't you have any more evidence or clues? Is there like a way to see a list of who is a werewolf, and narrow your search a bit? Have you seen if there was even a witness?" Perhaps they were dumb questions, were there records of all the werewolves that existed? And if someone did see the whole event, shouldn't the police handle this whole affair?
She fell back in her chair, feeling tied. A part of her wanted to find the blokes that had done this, but she didn't have the first idea of how to help, and what if she found them? Her verses werewolves? What chances of her survival in that scenario?

After sometime, Colin seemed to have gotten a little nervous. Not knowing how to take it, or what he could possibly want to ask, Monica tucked Kiwi into her pocket, just in case. However upon his question, Monica couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Oh.... Sorry, I---I'm not laughing at you....." Her breath was staggered, she could hardly breath. What an Idea!
She took a moment to collect herself.
"Um, it---- it's not a door. Its like a pull down table. Babies wear diapers, like underwear, but it collects..... um their----" At this point Monica realized what she was talking about, and hushed her voice, leaning in closer to Colin, "Their, like Poo and pee. Well an adult has to change their diaper when that happens.... and the table is for them to do that."
Then it crossed her mind, a question of her very own, "What do wizard babies do? Never poop?"

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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Colin McCoire |

Colin was happy that Monica didn't seem at all wigged out by him being a Werewolf. It was a lot to take in, he knew from past experience, so her look of curiosity was not a surprise to him. She must have a million questions --- if only Colin knew all the answers!

Colin was surprised when Monica said she was impressed that he actually fought off a Wolf. It felt really nice to be complimented that way and he straightened up and struck what he hoped was a warlike pose. He couldn't help but smile at Monica, so it probably ended up rather less fierce than he intended. And then came the serious Werewolf related questions. The ones that had been bugging him since July. "So what now? You and FyreAngel are just looking around the wizard world for anyone with a jacked tooth?" What real evidence did they even have?

"Well," Colin started, looking around the place again. His voice was almost a whisper: "There is a Ministry registration for Werewolves, but... Well, it might come as a shock to you, but not many Wolves actually register with the Ministry." Colin fervently hoped Monica wouldn't ask him if he himself were on their registry! "But it turns out that Ma has access to it. And, well, me and Fyre Angel had a shufty one night! There are only nine registered Wolves in the Highlands. And I can tell you, Monica, I counted more than nine when they attacked us recently."

Colin let out a breath. "Anyway, we wrote down the names and I can't wait to get back to Hoggys so I can do some research into who they might be! Some I know belong to local families, even distant kin. Others, I have no idea. A couple I'm pretty sure are dead, but --- whoa. Who knows, right?"

Monica's mention of a lad with a jacked tooth reminded Colin of something, and he leaned over the table towards Monica. "Oh! Toothy lad! He was actually at my sister's wedding! I'm sure of it! Ugly bloke to begin with --- I sure hope I don't end up looking like that when I grow up! He had a big depression in his face --- right here!" Colin pointed just under his nose, where his right canine was. "Just like someone snapped his tooth out. And he was trying real hard to smile only from the left side of his mouth." Colin tried to imitate the wonky, lopsided smile for Monica.

He sat back in the bench. "I know it's a lot for you to take in, but even just talking about it helps me sort things out, Monica. I guess I just wish I'd found good friends like you sooner. I kind of spent most of first year keeping away from people. I don't know. I really thought everyone would try to hurt me or send me off to Azkaban or something!"

As the conversation turned towards the wee strange door in the lavvy, Colin sat in rapt attention as Monica described what it was actually for. When she was done, Colin sat for a moment in astonishment. So, muggles didn't trade their babies for changelings after all! "You --- You mean, it's about nappies!?" Colin threw his hands in the air in exasperation! "But! Why do they call it a baby changing station and not a nappy changing station!? Honestly, Monica, sometimes muggles just don't make any sense!"

But he had to laugh when she asked what wizarding parents did about nappies. Colin smirked at his friend. "Monica! We have, you know, spells for that! Like scourgify?" He shook his head and collapsed back into the seat laughing!

Colin worked some more on his lunch and looked back up at the telly pewter thing on the wall. "You know, it's a wonder the actors don't die. What with their bodies all cut off like that? Or is there more room inside the telly thing?" And then a wonderful thing happened inside the strange magical box! A powerful and rousing music came from it!

"WHOAH!! MONICA!!" Colin yelped and leaped up onto the bench pointing excitedly at the box on the wall as figures with flashing blue and red swords dashed across a starstrewn backdrop. "MONICA! I've heard of that! I read that book! The Star Wars! It's in the telly thing too --- whoa, a motion picture? I ..."

Colin stood silently on the bench. His fork still in his hand as his unblinking green eyes stared transfixed at the scenes playing out within the magical grey box up on the wall.

@Monica Evans || Mentions: @@AngelFyre McCubbin

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Wrapping her head around every word Colin shared, the cafe seeming more and more boxed it. She was now super aware of how many people lingered around them. Could any of them be wolves too? Unregistered? Was sitting here with Colin putting her on some sort of a list?
She took a sip from her drink, pushing the thoughts from the forefront of her brain...Nothing to do about it now, they had already been sitting for enough time that if she was going to be seen with Colin, she already had been, leaving right now would do nothing in her favour but be alone, and that seemed far worse than staying.
"So what you're saying is that there were unregistered werewolves that attacked you?! How and why on earth?" She continued to listen to Colin, trying to keep her questions to a minimum, surely he was tired of answering any questions about wolves, and she didn't want to pry too much, but being a curious soul, couldn't help herself now and then. "You SAW HIM! The one that attacked you? Why was he at that wedding? Is there another connection? Can you get him arrested or interrogated?" She could feel the word vomit pouring out of her, her head spinning with endless questions, all seeking for a satisfying answer, "Sorry, I really don't mean to be a bother with all of these questions... It is just so...Unreal! I mean getting attacked by wolves, turning into one, now looking for those responsible, sounds just like something out of a movie."

Monica rather enjoyed Colin's company, and when he mentioned wishing he had found a friend like her sooner, she could feel her face flush a bit. It had been such a hard year for her as well finding people to call friends. This whole time at Hogwarts had felt like a shattering of her reality, first time learning anything about magic, and it all just made her feel so isolated from everyone else. Not a good enough witch to bond with the other students at the school, but the only magical person in her family. On all fronts, Monica felt so alone, but here was Colin...Sitting right in front of her, saying that she was his friend.
"Thanks for saying that, I am glad to have met you! I haven't had the best luck with making friends this year either, so perhaps it's fate for both of us."
Having a good laugh over the naming of the baby changing station brought a well needed lightness to the conversation, "Well don't ask me why they call it that, I guess it's because you change the nappies, and it's on the baby so....you know I am learning more and more how odd things can be in the muggle world." Monica listened, trying to understand how a wizard cleaned up after their own offspring, "Okay so you just...wave your wand and the poop goes away? But you don't change anything? And you say what we do is weird." Monica let out a slight giggle, it was rather fun to learn more about the wizarding world, and how much magic was truly apart of it. Like air or gravity, it was always there, and in use.
Just on queue, the tv started to catch Colin's attention again. Monica turned to see what the fuss was about, [color=#3b7ab5d]"Oh yeah! Star Wars, my dad is like super into it. I haven't seen that one though, I think it's playing in theatres now." [/color]She paused and turned back to Colin, "Would you want to go see it? There is a theatre not far from here, and I wanted to check out that one anyways..." She looked around for the time, and found a nearly broken down clock hanging, "Looks like if we left now we would get there in enough time to also get popcorn."

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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Colin McCoire |

Monica seemed really quite worried as Colin's history with the Werewolves unfolded. But she mastered her fear and that helped Colin open up to her. Most of his friends knew, of course, but even among them, not many seemed so keenly interested. AngelFyre certainly was, and he couldn't wait to see her again in September. Kim and he had grown unexpectedly close over the summer, after their own encounter with Wolves. Most everyone else just knew the essentials. Colin's appreciation for Momica grew even they sat together. He wondered if this girl could also become a strong friend like Sophia and AngelFyre.

"So what you're saying is that there were unregistered werewolves that attacked you?! How and why on earth?" she asked him.

"I reckon. I mean, think about it, Monica! Lycanthropy is potentially a really dangerous condition. Sophia has always said that taking the aconite keeps us safe. But not all Wolves have access to it, and some, perhaps, simply refuse. I mean, it is horrible stuff! But those that don't become --- extremely dangerous. Registration means the Ministry know all about you." He looked around the place again. "Frankly, the less the Ministry know about me the better, as far as I'm concerned! And I think most Werewolves must feel the same way."

He shrugged. "My Ma works with the Ministry --- I think that's more than enough!" he said with a sudden laugh. "I'll tell ye this, Monica: I think it has something to do with the War. Da and his brother, my Uncle Colin, they both fought. They were pretty deep in it against Riddle, and I know they both killed Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I --- I think it has to do with that. I think it's revenge."

For all her concern, Monica really did seem to be genuinely interested, even though she apologised for asking so many questions. Colin was actually impressed. Here was a friend who came from the muggle world and was surely just coming to grips with the very existence of magic and the creatures and peoples that were magical; and the more she learned about the horrors, the stronger she seemed to become. He smiled, but kept those thoughts in his heart. He knew he'd need strong friends as time went on --- especially if his hunch were right that his death was supposed to be a revenge killing.

"Yeah. It was him, at the wedding. I'm sure of it. There were loads of people at the wedding. Family and kin of course. Loads of 'bloods and of course lots of blokes from the Ministry. It was actually a big to do! I'm just glad us kids didn't have to mess around with all that! Our job was to stay out of the way, and I was glad for that. But it did give me and Fyre Angel some time to think and spy. I haven't had much chance to figure out who the chap is, though. When I do, I hope it'll bring me closer to solving the mystery!"

Colin was rather surprised, as the conversation turned to them meeting, that Monica had experienced difficulty making friends. He gave her a disbelieving look! "What do you mean you've had a hard time finding friends? You seem pretty cool to me! I mean --- I've told you some of the worst things about me! You know. The Werewolf thing --- I only tell that to people I can trust." Colin shrugged and smiled broadly at Monica. "I feel l can trust you! We were put together for a reason, I believe. Maybe we can be friends for real now!"

When Monica asked him if he wanted to go see the Star Wars pictures being moved around, Colin nearly jumped from the bench with excitement! "Whoa!! I'd love to see them act that! Maybe I can finally understand how moving pictures around fits in with a theatre? That's still so confusing! But ---" Colin shook his head, as if to rid himself of his confoundment. "--- Come on! Red means Go!" Colin stood up on the bench and threw his arms into the air jubilantly! "To the theatre my good friend!"

Monica Evans

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Choosing to leave the rest of her questions till later on, if Colin was serious about being friends than there was plenty of time later to talk about all his werewolf endeavours... plus Monica needed some head space to process all she had just received. The reality that werewolves were real! Not some cheap Hollywood shtick, but real people that turned into real wolf creatures... Her mind started to wonder to the possibilities that maybe some muggles know more about the wizarding world than one would care to admit, I mean what sane person comes up with an idea of a person turning into a dog unless it was real?

Snapping back to the conversation, Monica smiled back at Colin, "It's super nice of you to say... but yeah believe it or not, I haven't had the best luck making friends so far. I don't fully understand wizard culture, and I am learning that is more of a potential friendship ruiner than an interesting conversation point." She went to take a sip of her drink, only to remember it was empty, "I don't know... I just haven't had the best time connecting with others. Even my own family is...distant from me." Those words had never escaped her mouth before. It almost threw herself for a loop just to hear them, but it was true.
After returning home from her first year away, it was like her family didn't know how to talk with her anymore. Her father, the mad who used to tuck her in every night, or always be an ear to listen to her daily struggles, was less around. She could feel the fear they had over her ability with magic. Though her brothers were a pain before, now a days Monica longed for them to crack some sort of a joke on her... She never thought she would miss their teasing so much.
"Sorry, don't mean to just drop that on you...um I would very much like it to be friends!" She could feel her eyes grow heavy. She forced herself not to let a single tear slip.
Sweet relief when the tv commercial came on to break the emotional tension. Monica gladly got up and walked with Colin to the theatre.

It wasn't a far walk, just down a few blocks and taking a right at a cross walk. The whole time Monica kept more silent, but would engage in any question or conversation Colin brought up along the way.

At last they made it to the theatre, there were a few people in line at the box office, but it wasn't a pact night at all. Monica turned to Colin, "Okay so we just have to buy a ticket from there," she pointed out the man sitting in a glass box just at the entrance of the theatre. He looked like a teenager, with red greasy hair, big bulky glasses, and covered in pimples. "Than we are able to get some snacks before the movie starts..." Monica looked at Colins, stoping in her tracks before walking more, "You have money right?" Seemed like a dumb question, but she learned really quick that wizard money and muggle money were quite different.

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OOC Note:

Reducio

Sorry for the Delay, Just an FYI I am away doing a camping intensive for a week so will be a bit before I will respond again.

| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Colin McCoire |

Monica told Colin about how hard it had been to find and make friends, especially coming from muggledom. That he could understand. But when she said her own family distanced itself from her, that Colin couldn't fathom. He'd heard the story before, of course. He gave her a queer look of disbelief. "Monica. H---I mean, you're magical and come from a muggle family, but why can't they just see you for who you are? Right? It's not like they changed you in the lavvy! I've heard other kids say that about their families." He shrugged. "I don't get that at all."

"Sorry, don't mean to just drop that on you...um I would very much like it to be friends!" Colin could only imagine of the weight of all that pressing on her, but at least she wanted to be friends with him. It must have taken quite an act of courage to say that to him. After all, muggles didn't know anything at all about werewolves, and she was just beginning to learn some of the things he'd always lived with. And then she had to accept that the boy offering his friendship is actually one of those monsters!

Colin felt much better about the day as she led him along the streets towards the main road where the theatre was. As they walked along, Monica fell silent. Colin couldn't help but wonder, though: "If we're going to watch muggle moving pictures about, why do they call it a theatre and not a picture gallery? That makes more sense."

And at last they came to the main road. A strange sensation came over Colin as she led him to the edge. He felt his steps hesitate on the pavements. Tall metal posts were everywhere with bizarre pictures on them, like some strange runes of an ancient language. Some looked like pictures of people running, but most were just meaningless numbers, oddly bent runes, or random words. One caught his eye. Give Way. "Give? --- What way am I supposed to give?" he muttered and the bright lights were everywhere and there were so many motorcars!

Colin's nostrils flared and he tried to clear his head of the sights and smells barraging him from all sides. There must have been a million people on the street and ten million motor cars and pantechnicons and busses. And everything and everyone was in constant motion! And everyone held those strange little black boxes in front of their faces! "Monica! How do muggles know where to go when they're always staring at those wee boxes? Are they pewter too?"

And just when Colin thought his mind was going to explode with the confusion of muggledom, all the dancing coloured lights changed their colours! Other lights flashed and --- Colin wanted to say 'as if by magic' but it was truly magical! --- all of the huge lorries and busses and motorcars came to a stop! And the millions of people began to pour out into the street! Colin looked down at the street where the vehicles had just previously been zooming by. Words were written there. Look Right. Colin looked right. "What am I supposed to --- yeeep!"

His friend yanked him off of the pavements and out into this kind of huge box of white stripes. "Is there some kind of charm that keeps all the motor cars out of the stripey box?" He looked this way and that, but could find no one with or without a wand who was in control of the confusion. And as soon as he stepped onto the opposite pavement, Coin heard a mighty roar behind him, like a dragon awakening from slumber! "Yoiks!" He turned and watched in horror as thousands and myriads of motorcars, cycles, vans, and vehicles of every description pounced into the stripey box where he had just moments before been walking! "MONICA! WE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!"

Colin was relieved, though, when they got to the theatre at last. Bright red and blue lights poured directly into Colin's brain, enticing him to come closer! His eyes widened at the prospect of watching muggles moving pictures around and seeing how the Star Wars got played out on a stage! "This is so cool Monica!!" he cried as they got up to ticket booth.

"Okay so we just have to buy a ticket from there," she said.

"Right. Tickets. Easy!" This was more like it! Muggledom wasn't completely inaccessible to the average wizard. You had to buy a ticket to get into a quidditch match, right? Same principle here, it would seem. She pointed to a red haired lad sitting inside a glass and metal booth, right in the midst of all the flashing lights. "He looks bored. How could he possibly be bored with the excitement of moving pictures all around him!?"

"Than we are able to get some snacks before the movie starts..." Monica said. Colin smiled broadly. He liked the idea of snacks! She stopped him suddenly, saying: "You have money right?"

Colin blinked at his friend. "Oh! Aye! I've muggle money! I can pay!" Colin was certain she had muggle money too and knew how to use it; but it felt good that she let him handle this situation! He smiled at Monica and said: "I've got this lass!"

When it was their turn, Colin stepped up the lad behind the glass box and said: "Heyo laddie! We want to watch the muggle moving pictures about!" The red haired boy gave him a vacant look like he couldn't understand plain English. "Er. The Star Wars thing? We want to watch that! I've got muggle money and everything!" Colin reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of paper notes and coins. "Twenty one pound, nineteen shillings, fifteen and half pence! Is that enough do you reckon?"

Reducio

@Monica Evans

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Monica sat, thinking about her family. It was weird but she couldn't explain the distance. And in all honesty, she had no idea who to talk to about this, even if she did.... What would she say? My parents don't understand me because I know how to levitate objects, and set things on fire by will, and fly on a broom, and they can't....It was just hard to open up, to know how she felt, let alone trying to talk to other about it. Thankfully Colin didn't dwell too much on the conversation. Though she couldn't keep herself from laughing at the thought of her parents having 'changed her' as Colin put it.

Coming to the theatre, Monica thought about Colin's question, "To be honest, I don't know why we call it that. I guess it was because before movies, it was people preforming plays... and that was in a theatre, so I guess movies are like the new version of that?" Confused at what Colin was asking about, what boxes? Then she saw, he was referring to the phones in peoples hands, at least that was her assumption.

"Oh those are phones, I would assume they look up every now and then to see where they are going. I would say they are like Computers... like small that fit in your hand. A way to communicate with people far away while you are on the go."

Coming up to a cross walk, Monica kept her eye on the light, and saw that the time to walk was not now, but Colin nearly walked on to the street, before Monica could react he stepped back. "Well there are lights up there... you see." She pointed at the traffic light. "There are people driving the cars inside, and when the light is green they go, but when is red they stop. We have to wait until they stop before we can cross." Once their light changed, and the little man shown across the road, she lead him across. Rolling her eyes at his worry of nearly being run over. "Don't worry Colin, I wouldn't let you get hit by a car, who would be my friend then." She smiled at him, nudging his shoulder slightly as they continued to walk on.

Watching Colin walk up to the guy in the ticket booth was a hoot, but when Monica saw the money he pulled out and placed down, added to that all the talk he was having about muggles, she could see the confusion in the teens eyes. Monica stepped in... "Ah Colin, here." She handed him 40 euros. Whispering in his ear, "That is great, but that isn't quite enough, give him this."

After getting inside, she lead them to the snack bar, "Alright, you fancy some popcorn?"

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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Colin McCoire |

"Blimey! Did you know, lad, they've got this wee man in a box on the street corner, and when he starts dancing about, that's when the muggles know it's time to walk in the street! Brilliant! I reckon it's better than getting run down by those bloody big houses on wheel things!"

Monica shoved some different kind of muggle money into Colin's hand. "You what? Oh! You rows. What's this a different kind of muggle money! Is this what they use in theatres? That's kind of odd, don't you think, lad?" Colin asked as the poor fellow took the money Monica had given him. He looked so confused, Colin thought he probably could have given him two pieces of blank parchment! "Brilliant!" He gave Colin the tickets and he realised that the boy couldn't have been much older than he and Monica. "Nica, why do muggles have different money for theatres?"

"Oo! Popping corn! Aye!" Monica led him to the snack bar. "Gosh. Muggles have all kinds of strange snacks too, don't they!" As Monica bought some snacks, Colin was struck by a thought. He looked from the muggle behind the counter to Monica. He realised that he had been talking about muggles and their strange ways, all while knowing that this was the culture Monica had come out of. Yet, in his mind, to his way of thinking, she was not a muggle. It was odd in a way. Colin had heard the terms 'halfblood' and 'muggleborn' and the like. Even the more degrading words, yes he'd heard those often enough.

He looked at Monica closely. He knew deep down that all three of them, himself the pureblood, the muggle woman behind the counter, and his friend Monica, the muggleborn, shared in common their humanity. As his seanmamó would say, we're all children of God it's just that some of us bear the cross of magic. In a way, she'd taught him that there's really no such thing as blood purity. That a girl like Monica was every bit as much wizardkind as he himself was.

Colin smiled. He knew which side of the great blood purity debates he would take. He would have to take the side of right. Monica might come out of muggledom, but she's wizardkind. And that's the end of the story. Just like Sophia. He'd stand nose to nose with anyone who called them mudbloods and trounce them until they begged for mercy.

The place was huge! It wasn't just one theatre but a whole theatre of theatres! "Whoa, there's like eight theatres in here! Does that mean we can watch em all? Maybe if there's a boring bit in one, we can go to a different one? I can't wait to tell Liam about all this!"

At last, they found the correct theatre and Colin all but dragged Monica inside to find seats, he was so excited to see how muggles move pictures! But once inside, a profound change came over Colin. As soon as the house lights went down and the images started flickering on the screen, Colin's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened and fixated on the picture. Sometimes he would crouch up on the seat like a dog or lean over the row of seats in front of them. But for the longest while, he didn't say a word.

Not until the dark screen was replaced by the opening crawl and whole place thundered with the opening music! STAR WARS!!

"OWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Colin howled with excitement as the movie began! He threw both arm into the air and cheered as the Rebels scored hit after hit on the Imperial forces. He hissed and jeered the latter and jumped up and down on his chair hollering at the people in the space ships. "NOOOO!! Don't go there! It's a TRAAAP!"

He flopped himself over the back of his seat! "I told them it was a trap!"

Some muggle girls behind them seemed quite startled at Colin's reaction. One yelled at himi: "Oi! Shut it you! We're trying to watch the movie right!" A couple of the girls whispered to each other about what muggles were anyway?

Colin turned around and knelt in his chair. "I know right! Me too!" And with a dramatic, pleading gesture, he said: "But how can you two just sit there and them fly right into A TRAP!?" He turned around and sank down into his chair, putting his shoes up on the seat in front of them. They weren't the only muggles who had choice words to say to Colin, but it was sooooo exasperating! How can they just sit there!?

"NOOOOOOO!!!" Huge explosions rocked the theatre. Colin's arms flew out in yet another dramatic gesture. "See Nica!? If only they had listened --- OI!! WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING!? --- Oh man!" Colin sighed in frustration. They were hardly twenty minutes into the movie and Colin couldn't stand it any more!

Colin stood up on his chair and began railing at the audience! "Oi! Why aren't any of you lot helping them!! Miss Prissy and Miss Prassy are back here," he said, imitating their whiny fake posh accents; "we only want to watch the movie!" He turned back to the huge screen that seemed to open a window on an entirely different universe.

People were starting to turn and stare at Colin. Quite a few seemed rather angry, but Colin took no notice. How could these muggles not even care what was going on in the battle? "LOOK! I tried to warn them it's a trap! And now the Imperials are kicking six kinds of shite out of them and none of you even care! We need to help them!"

Colin collapsed back down into his chair for a moment. He remembered that Monica was with him. She's a witch, surely she won't stand by and just let the Imperial forces destroy the Rebels! She would help him! Colin frantically poked Monica's arm. "Come on lass!" Colin stood up! "We've got to go in there and help them!!"

@Monica Evans

Dialogue: ✕ | Thoughts: ✕ | Quotes: ✕
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Walking into the building, oddly enough, Monica wasn't filled with regret, she was just having a great time with Colin. His spirits, and how he just was who he was, not caring at all what people thought of him. It was refreshing... why didn't he care if he was causing a scene? Perhaps it was a Wizarding thing? Pondering on the thought more, Monica came to the conclusion that if she had grown up always knowing about magic, perhaps she would have more confidence when it came to people. How silly fear seemed to be, when wheeling magic was an option.

Monica couldn't contain her laughter, when Colin mentioned Muggles having strange snacks, the girl getting their snacks gave a quizzical look. "Yeah... I mean, I guess if you don't grow up with it, our snacks can be rather odd... though I have to say, the first time I tried a chocolate frog, I nearly had a heart attack! No one ever told me they could MOVE!" Monica laughed at herself, now knowing, it becoming more thrilling to get a chocolate frog, but that first time... the most fear she had ever experienced. Seems Magic did take away some fear that muggles have, now Monica wouldn't bat an eye an a moving piece of candy.

It seemed to be taking forever for their food to be served, but at last they had some popcorn and Monica's favourite candy, gummy bears. They took their tickets to the ticket clerk, and got the theatre for their film, Colin began again with questions,
"Whoa, there's like eight theatres in here! Does that mean we can watch em all? Maybe if there's a boring bit in one, we can go to a different one? I can't wait to tell Liam about all this!"
Monica smiled at her friend, "Oh what you are talking about is theatre jumping! My brothers and I do it a lot... but you have to be sneaky about it, they don't like you watching more than one film on a ticket... but it is possible. If you want to, I can show you how to theatre jump!" What fun! This random encounter turned out to be better than Monica could have every dreamed for! Colin was a super fun person, and she was more than glad she met him!

Being dragged into the theatre, they had finally found seats to settle into. And Monica waited for the film to start, wondering how Colin would react to the whole thing. "It shouldn't be that bad, after all they have moving photos... this is practically the same thing." She thought to herself, but she could not be more wrong!

It seemed Colin thought the people on the screen were real, and that they needed saving. Others in the theatre were yelling at Colin, and some girls were whispering about him. Though Colin didn't seemed phased by this, it really boiled Monica's blood. She turned around to address the person who yelled out to Colin, "Hey! Watch the volume yourself, it's his first Movie, if you have issues you can leave!" She wouldn't tolerate anyone being rude to Colin! He was just a chipper soul that was curious about the muggle world, there shouldn't be anything wrong with that.

A little bit further in the movie and Colin stood up asking Monica to help him save those in the screen, Monica took Colin's hand, pulling him down to his seat next to her, "It's okay Colin... I know they look real, but..." She had to think for a moment, how could she say this in a way he would understand? "But...there in a sound canceling bubble... they can't see or hear us... we can only watch what happens." It wasn't the truth... but the truth seemed to be more confusing the more Monica thought about it... how do you explain a movie to someone who has never seen one?

The movie finally came to an end... and as the credit's began to roll Monica turned to face Colin in her seat, "So how did you like the film?"The man that had yelled earlier gave Monica a sneer as he left, her response was simply sticking out her tongue at him.

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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Colin McCoire |