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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:55:45 GMT -5
Dare looked aside at Michael, letting Elouai lead for now. There was a pause before he watched where he was going again. "Of course Purebloods don't have cooties," he said to himself. "Maybe it's an American thing, or a Muggle thing, I don't know. Anyway, the boys and girls all said the other had cooties, like... imaginary germs or something, and you could get them by touching each other. The girls were so asking for it. They'd go off on who had cooties and you just ran at them and they'd scatter, screaming." His lips quirked at the memories.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 20:58:22 GMT -5
"I suppose we were just kind of resigned to our fate," Michael said, though he looked off into nothing as he thought. He didn't remember anything of the sort being said in his circle. "I mean, we knew there was no getting out of it, and if we did as we were told then all the better for us when we got home. If we refused to dance, we'd get in trouble." He hadn't really minded dancing, and some of the girls had even been nice, but he hated being forced to do it.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 21:24:00 GMT -5
"That sounds like it'd suck the fun right out of things," Dare said. Michael's childhood-- his past in general --seemed so bleak. How had Michael turned out... Not an hour ago they'd been tumbling around laughing. Michael had brought out that camera that he'd gotten so much use out of all those months ago. "I love you," Dare said again.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 21:35:50 GMT -5
"I love you, too," Michael said and glanced up at Dare. "It wasn't bad all the time," he said, "I had this one cousin, third cousin, I think she was, and I liked dancing with her. It was always fun then." They had always had commentary to say about the other people there. It had been fun, and not fun like what he had had later when he was with Emilian and Mano.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 21:43:14 GMT -5
Dare's lips curved slightly, and he gave Michael's hand another squeeze of thanks for the assurance. It was a relief to know that he'd had fun, aside from the stories Dare knew about Emilian. It was a complicated picture, the isolation interspersed with moments like that, the mentorship/friendship/discomfort of Emilian. Dare felt very lucky that somehow all of that had made the Michael he knew. "I really do love you," he repeated, then leaned over to steal a quick kiss while no one was looking. It was entirely different on Diagon Alley than in London.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 21:53:31 GMT -5
Michael smiled and pulled closer to Dare. "I love you, too," he said again. He loved the warmth that had come from that small kiss, he loved the memories it brought of a time when just being touched by Dare was enough to make him shiver. He wanted more of it, but he had to keep himself from doing anything and continuously reminded himself that they weren't in London, but in Diagon Alley.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 22:18:35 GMT -5
Dare easily returned that smile. If his own was slightly more subdued, the shine in his eyes made up for it. Those eyes were busy looking at Michael when he nearly tripped over Elouai. He stumbled, then stopped, looking down at her. Her ears were pricked and standing high, and for a moment she stood stock-still. Then her tail wagged furiously, stopped, and wagged again. Dare looked ahead, and there was a witch standing at a display window with a leashed dog at her side.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 22:30:51 GMT -5
Michael had already taken an extra step or two by the time he realized Dare and Elouai had stopped. "She acts like she's never seen a dog before," he said, grinning as Elouai greeted the other dog. He stepped closer to Dare, almost forgetting that they were in Diagon Alley and, therefore, wouldn't be as accepted as they were in London.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 22:40:23 GMT -5
Dare wasn't thinking about that at all. The only places he'd been out with Michael for quite a while now were London and Hogwarts, which had for the most part gotten bored of tormenting them. It didn't mean they didn't get stared at or hear tittering laughter and the occasional slur, but he was used to that. At Hogwarts.
So he watched as the slightly smaller dog walked to the end of its leash and Elouai walked to the end of hers. They sniffed each other, Elouai far more boldly than the other dog. Dare's eyes widened when he saw for the first time a display of dominance that he'd read about in their dog book. He tugged at her leash and tried to call her back.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 18, 2009 22:50:07 GMT -5
Michael's eyes widened and he apologized to the woman for it, and she murmured a quite all right that was cut short when she realized the two of them were holding hands. Her nose wrinkled and she tugged at her own leash to walk away. Michael told himself it was because of what Elouai had done, not because of them, though he knew that it was a lie. His hand tightened in Dare's.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 19, 2009 7:30:57 GMT -5
Dare's gaze rose from Elouai as she tried unsuccessfully to follow the other dog. For a moment he just looked at her, his mind taking the time to switch gears from t he display he'd just seen. Then all at once his eyes darkened and his own hand tightened. He called the woman something rather impolite under his breath, then raised his and Michael's clasped hands to press another soft kiss against the back, glaring at her back as she disappeared. "The wizarding world needs to get over itself," he said absently. He knew it wasn't just wizards, but that was where most of their trouble had come from, and at the moment, that was the focus of his frustration.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 19, 2009 14:02:48 GMT -5
Michael glared after the woman and resisted saying something after her. "I don't see it happening," he said. Elouai had settled herself into sitting at their feet and looking up at them expectantly. He had a flickering thought of just living with the muggles, but he didn't think he could handle that, either. He sighed and started walking. "Well, we have some people, you know?" They didn't have many at all, but they had a few.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 19, 2009 14:09:07 GMT -5
"Yeah," Dare said, though he wasn't that convinced. Ten people wasn't very many. Nine, he corrected himself. "At least we're close to London." Just a few minutes' walk and they could be out on the streets where people saw it enough every day not to notice another couple. He wasn't tempted to live with the Muggles either, though. He didn't want to think about how closely they'd be watched if they were the only wizards in an entire neighborhood.
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Post by Michael Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 19, 2009 14:16:31 GMT -5
Michael nodded and decided to not talk about it. He didn't want to focus on the fact that they were so unwanted and didn't really fit in anywhere. In London, they were still hiding the fact they were wizards, and in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and Hogwarts they got looks for so much as breathing because everyone knew. He ran his thumb absently over Dare's skin as he thought, though he tried to move his mind to something more pleasant.
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Post by Dare Blackwood-Hardt on Mar 19, 2009 14:24:25 GMT -5
"Do you think," Dare started, pausing as he tried to work through his words, "do you think if the Prophet hadn't run that article, we'd be like this?" he asked, looking aside at Michael. He knew it was an odd question, and he knew that this was still new and fragile, but he wanted to talk with Michael, and so he'd talk about anything that would let them think. Something that there was no quick answer to, something that might keep this going.
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