milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Rose has been trying not to pay too much attention to holiday decorations. But today, she's determined not to
sulk over being Bound. She's not altogether unhappy about putting off her return home, truth be told.

Instead, she's at the piano, studying the black and white keys. She taps one gently, then another, listening to the different notes.

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"Oi!"

There is a young boy bounding up to Rose.

"What're you doing here?"

Rose gives James a Look.

"Same as you, I'd say. The door brought me in and then disappeared."

He returns the Look with one of skepticism.

"Since when?"

He's sure he would recognize her if she'd been here for a while.

"A little over two weeks. I just hope they're right that no time's gone by at Hogwarts," she says with a sigh, "or I'm going to be in detention until next year!"

James rolls his eyes.

"'Course you won't," he says confidently. "No one's got any reason to lie. Besides, if you end up in detention for a year, me and Teddy'll be in detention for two years!"

"Uh huh.
When did you get here?"

"September."

He makes a face.

Rose frowns. "It was September when I got here too," she says finally. "The night after I was Sorted at Hogwarts."

"Really? But didn't you say you got here two weeks ago?"

He frowns.

"You must be from a different time than me and Teddy, then!"

"Yes, I did.
Earlier? But not by much. A few months."

"Yeah."

Pause.

"You didn't see Albus come in too, did you?"

"..."

"No, I didn't. Did everyone get here ahead of me??"

James snorts.

"Well, I didn't see him," he says. "So I doubt he's been here at all. Haven't seen Hugo, either. But I saw Lily here once."

He shrugs.

"Me and Teddy are stuck here."

"Join the club. It doesn't seem all that bad, though."

She looks away for a second, biting her lip. "I went to Ravenclaw, not Gryffindor."

He is about to say that he and Teddy actually started the club, but it's the next thing she says that gets his attention.

"...What?" He frowns. "How come?" Both uncle Ron and auntie Hermione are Gryffindors.

"Because the Sorting Hat asked me where I wanted to go, and we agreed," she replies. Still not looking at him.

"You wanted to go to Ravenclaw?"

Not that he has anything against Ravenclaw, but given a choice, he wouldn't even have to blink an eye to choose Gryffindor.

"Yes. I know that's not what everyone else expected me to do, but know what? I don't care." Not really true, but she wouldn't change her mind now if she could.

He crosses his arms.

"You might not care, but what about uncle Ron? He'll care. We never even had a Ravenclaw in the family before."

"Dad," Rose shot back, "isn't the one who's at Hogwarts this time around. Just 'cause he'll be mad or bothered isn't enough for me to do whatever he wants forever, James!"

"Well, no," James agrees, frowning, "but still. Not a Gryffindor? That's gonna be news this Christmas."

He lets out a breath.

"Next thing I know, you'll be telling me Albus really is in Slytherin!"

"Maybe.

Ask him, when you see him," she suggests with a sly grin.

James groans, slapping a hand to his forehead.

"That's not funny, Rose!"

((I have to go, pick this up later?))

[ooc: sure! see you later!]

"It is a musical instrument," Teja explains to the child, in passing.

She looks up, smiling. "Yes. I was trying to work out how--I've never learned."

"I do not play that one - it's a piano," Teja says. "I play the harp. But it works the same way. Each key represents a string; each string, a note. You touch the keys, they touch their strings, the note is played. It is tuned, so the notes come out right, and there can be harmony, and melody."

"So first thing is to memorize the different keys...?" she nods, understanding, and taps several of the keys in order.
"You're a musician, sir?"

"Among other things, I am, yes," Teja says. "I am also a fighter" - indicating his axe slung over his shoulder - "and a smith."

Rose is impressed, and doesn't try to hide it. "That's a lot to have to learn--" she stops, blushing a little. "Excuse my manners. My name's Rose Weasley. I'm pleased to meet you."

"Greetings," Teja says. "I am Teja, son of Tagila; I was the last king of the Ostrogoths in Italy. I died in battle in the year 552 of Christian reckoning."

"Oh," she says softly. She's amazed to meet someone from that far back, but also feels a bit sorry for him. "You must miss your home a lot? Milliways is good, but..." She knows about the Milliways dead, by now.

"When I died, we had already lost Italy," Teja says. "But I do miss my people, that went to the north-lands we had come from, centuries ago. But they are alive, and prospered, which is good to know."

She nods, understanding. "Places can be replaced. Families or friends, not that well." And a good king, or a good man, would have been more concerned with his folk than anything.
"I'm from England, in the twenty-first century by that calendar. " A wry smile follows the words.

"Oh - another one from that small island on the edge of the Roman world; but I understand how it rose to importance with the discovery of the new lands beyond the oceans," Teja says.

Rose grins. "Small isn't always weak." She can speak from experience on that one! "And it means people don't always see you coming."

((fade here for now? *g* thanks for threading!))

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