Budding Curiosity

Elias giggled as his sarcasm flew over Miranda's head. If this is how all pure-bloods are, he's certainly going to have fun messing with the more snooty ones. He would have to check himself around the good ones. The last thing he'd want to do is make them feel stupid. He stared around and his gaze, too fell on the lake. Maybe he'd go for a swim one day. He'd have to find some trunks first though.

As Miranda told him about densaugeo, his eyes went wide to match hers. "That. Is incredible. That would really put some jerks in their places! I'm sure I could find use for it. My brain is kind of fried, so maybe you could teach it to me one day?" While this was true, he also didn't want Miranda to feel like he was taking advantage of her. She was already answering his questions, to ask her to teach him a spell before classes have even started would be too much to ask.

Another moment or two of silence passed before Elias spoke up again, "I'm glad I found out that I can do magic," Yeah, it was a rather sudden change in topic, but just had so much on his mind. "I thought that I would just live some normal life, in a normal town. But all of this. It's, well, magical. Even though I have a hard time with it, I'm extremely excited to start learning everything I can."

"I sure can," Miranda replied with a nod. "Although, I'm not exactly sure how to cast it myself just yet, but I can look it up, no problem."

There was a pause after that, and Miranda took advantage of it to look backwards, up at the tall towers of the school. From her vantage point, she could just barely make out the observation deck on the astronomy tower.

Suddenly, she realized Elias had begun talking again, but this time the subject was about how glad he was he'd learnt about magic.

"Aren't we all?" Miranda said. "Even the pure-bloods that act like they couldn't care less are glad to be here, I'm sure." She stopped talking for a long moment, then her eyes lit up. "So, when was the first time you used magic? I've heard all sorts of really crazy stories around here, and they all seem to be different in their own ways. So, what about you?"

It was true what she'd said. Everyone seemed to have a different story, and they all seemed more outlandish than the ones that came before. Although, in Miranda's family, everyone seemed to use fire when it came to accidental magic. Fire and explosions.

While one might find the fact that Miranda keeps drifting off and losing herself in thought as weird, this was something Elias was used to and even slightly familiar with himself. Navigating his old group of "friends," he had to deal with this all the time as most had ADD or ADHD on some level. Patience was the key, as most people he knew would become extremely insecure if their lack of attention was pointed out.

As Miranda asked about how he discovered his magic, he couldn't help but to chuckle at how ironic it was. "You know, it's almost as if you already know, looking at the astronomy tower like that." He rubbed the back of his head before continuing, "I don't really talk about it too much. Especially around my mom. She was in overdrive denial about the whole thing. Up until I left to come here. The two of us were at a museum, in the astronomy section of all things. It was one of those really cool interactive ones where you can learn about the rotation of the planets, or the different constellations by playing these sort of games they have," As Elias continued, his expression started to become somewhat pained. "I accidentally hurt my mom when it happened. Some other kid wasn't following the rules and decided to climb up on one of the exhibits. Which, unsurprisingly fell. Only it happened to fall towards us. I kind of just panicked, and next thing I know, my mom is being slid across the room. She bangs her head on something and she's sitting there bleeding while I get hit by the exhibit. I was lucky all it did was break my arm."

As soon as he finished his story, his smile returned, "But we're okay now! And while I do feel guilty for hurting my mom like that, I'm sure worse would have happened if I didn't push her away. Though I'm sure it's nowhere near as exciting as your story! How did you discover yours?"

Miranda listened with interest to Elias's story, then grinned. "Well, compared to my story, that one's pretty good."

Without further ado, she burst into her own story, still smiling faintly as if at some private joke. "It happened when I was seven. So, just in case I never mentioned it, I have a younger brother named Cedar. He's a Gryffindor student, of course, although I haven't seen him much since school started." Miranda paused, recollected her thought, then continued. "Anyways, I was going to meet up with my brother in one of the smaller towns near our home, because our parents were away for the day and didn't want us anywhere near the animals on our farm without them there." She realized she kept on straying from the point, and winced. "Well, when I found him, he was with a bunch of older boys from the town, and they were insulting him. Calling him a freak and all that because we lived away from everyone else. I won't lie, I can see what they meant, but still; insulting a six-year-old child? That was too far. So, like any good sister-" Here Miranda grinned widely, her eyes alight in amusement. "-I came over and started yelling at them. Of course, they just saw me as an equally freaky and annoying gnat, and they laughed. So I set their shoes on fire."

Miranda chuckled, her eyes distant. "I told you my family always tends to use fire and/or explosions during accidental magic, didn't I? Well, that's what happened. I got so mad that I made their shoes combust. It was hilarious, but also kind of terrifying at the same time."

Elias listened and nodded as Miranda told her story. For a moment he thought about asking which town she lived in, but of course he wouldn't know where anything was. He had only been living in London for a little over a year, he didn't know the city, let alone smaller towns around the country. He slightly shook his head as he realized he was losing focus and focused back on Miranda's story.

As she finished, he burst out laughing, "You set their shoes on fire!? That's absolutely hilarious!" He laughed for a moment and put on a serious face, "You did good. That's something all older siblings should do. Set a bully's shoes on fire. I wish I could do that back in the States. There are a few shoes I would have liked to make combust," He burst out laughing again and took a few minutes to calm himself . "Just, please, remind me not to make you angry okay? I only brought one extra pair of shoes, can't go losing both of them."

After one last laughing fit he let out a long sigh, "We really are freaks aren't we? Accidentally knocking out our parent. Setting shoes on fire. I'm sure everyone here has an equally weird story to tell. We're all a bunch of freaks and weirdos,"

"Don't worry, your shoes are safe from me," Miranda replied with a smile.

Elias laughed for a moment, then stopped and sighed. "We really are freaks aren't we? Accidentally knocking out our parent. Setting shoes on fire. I'm sure everyone here has an equally weird story to tell. We're all a bunch of freaks and weirdos."

Miranda was thoughtful for a while before answering. "That depends. What does being a freak necessarily mean? That you're different from others? But then how can we be freaks if there's an entire civilisation just like us our there. Also, how do we know that it isn't the Muggles that are the weirdos? To a wizard or witch, the things they do are quite strange. So in that way, both Muggles and Wizards are freaks and weirdos." She shrugged. "If you get what I mean."

Of course, this hadn't been the first time she'd thought about that topic, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last. To her, Muggles were the weird ones. Their "technology" and their purely non-magical lives seemed like that strangest thing to her. However, to a muggle-born like Elias, it was wizardry that seemed odd to him, with their wands and magic.

Elias smiled when he was told that his shoes were safe. Good, these were his favorite pair!

He slightly cocked his head to the side as Miranda asked what being a freak truly means. That she thinks muggles are the weird ones. Elias could feel his brain trying to follow, but no matter how he looked at it, he couldn't just see it the same way as her. It's not something he had even tried to think about before. When she was done, Elias just shrugged and said, "Eh, I guess it just depends on the perspective of the person. Muggles would see wizards as weird and freaks. Wizards would see muggles as such. Really just depends on which side of the fence you grew up on, I guess."

Elias just couldn't understand how pure-bloods could go living without some of the stuff he was so used to. His hand itched for his cell phone. But even if he brought it, he knew it wouldn't work. Maybe technology could eventually break through the magical properties of the area. But Elias knew darn well that he would never be the one to figure it out.

That's when, without really thinking, he just blurted out, "Ya know, I don't get why the wizards just don't make themselves known to the world? Why be all secretive about it? I'm sure both sides working together could achieve the unimaginable. It just seems so strange it hasn't happened yet."

"Ya know, I don't get why the wizards just don't make themselves known to the world? Why be all secretive about it? I'm sure both sides working together could achieve the unimaginable. It just seems so strange it hasn't happened yet," Elias said.

"Well, don't get me wrong, but I think the world of wizards is kept secret for convenience on our part," Miranda answered. She didn't know how Elias would take her explanation, which, while it might not be true, didn't put wizards in a very good light. "If we revealed our existence, all of the muggles would want our help with everything from healing the smallest wounds to waging wars against one another. Or they might just decide that trying to wipe us out like did before is a good idea, and we'll have to hide for a few hundred years until they forget again." She sighed, gazing out into the distance at the treetops of the Forbidden Forest. "And think of how chaotic things would be. Some muggles would be jealous that they can't perform magic, and might hurt or even kill wizards or witches in their rage, while others would want to use our power for nefarious gain."

Miranda paused, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "And maybe one day, without the excuse of hiding our existence to hold them back, some wizards might decide to enslave the muggles. The idea, as much as I regret to say, has been thrown around before. Have you ever heard of Lord Voldemort?"

Elias thought on this for a long moment. Miranda did have a point. Muggles are narrow minded, greedy, trigger happy.... he shook his head, stopping that thought. He could be there a long time listing all the negative qualities. Not something he was very keen on doing right now. He nodded as she brought up the idea that muggles might end up enslaved. Absolutely a great possibility if the bad wizards get their way. Maybe one day the two could live together in harmony, but that wouldn't be any time soon for sure.

As Miranda brought up Voldemort, Elias thought for another long moment. He remembered something about mold and warts. "Ummm, I remember something about warts and some guy named, uh, Scarry Flopper?" He knew he butchered the names. His first day, he remembered some kids throwing around these names. But they made no sense to Elias. There was no face or significance for him, so the excitement was just confusing.

"Yeah, no," Elias said again as he shook his head. "I don't have a single clue who that is. Was he some sort of professor here? Or benefactor who tried to gain power? I'm really just guessing. That's the kind of thing you'd see in the muggle world. Not quite sure if that would really apply here though."

"Yeah, no," Elias said, shaking his head. "I don't have a single clue who that is. Was he some sort of professor here? Or benefactor who tried to gain power? I'm really just guessing. That's the kind of thing you'd see in the muggle world. Not quite sure if that would really apply here though."

Miranda shrugged. "A lot of the details are kind of vague, because most people don't like to talk about him anymore, so finding anything out is hard. From what I've gathered, though, he was a dark wizard - one of the darkest of them all - and he actually succeeded in taking over the wizarding world, at least temporarily. He was defeated by Harry Potter in the end, but a lot of his old followers are still out there." She shrugged. "These days, though, the few people that still speak of him are either deadly scared of even his name, or they think of him as a bad dream or a fairy tale. It's pretty strange."

She fingered a vine that clung to a nearby wall, not really paying attention to what she was doing. The mystery that still shrouded the events concerning Voldemort's defeat intrigued her, but it was unlikely Miranda would ever find the real truth.