(no subject)

[lilium_evansiae]

Wingardium Leviosa is a first year spell, one Lily's had down for years now, simple levitation.

Still, it's good to practice the basics sometimes.

Which is why there's a small brown teapot (empty, of course) hovering about five feet above a table tonight.

And below it, a redheaded witch with her wand out, watching it slowly spin in the air.

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Huh," says Ellen. "I had no idea. It sounds pretty normal, although I'm a little surprised there's a separate church for wizards."

(She means the Ministry. Someone only got taught American forms of government. Our apologies.)

[lilium_evansiae]

Lily blinks, trying to think back over what she could have said that equates to church.

(Her family is C. of E., if not terribly observant.)

"Church?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"... ministry?" says Ellen hesitantly. "You mean that's not...?"

[lilium_evansiae]

"Oh!"

Yes, she can see where the confusion is coming in.

"No, it's more like ... the Ministry for Magic is like the government. It oversees all the legal and administrative things relating to wizards and witches."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh! All right," says Ellen. "There didn't used to be anything in the American government that had a name like that, it was all Department of This and Bureau of That, when it wasn't Congress or the President or the Supreme Court. I'm sorry, I didn't realize."

[lilium_evansiae]

"It's about the same thing, I think, though I don't know all that much about how the American government works.

"There's a lot to learn here, isn't there, about how other people talk about things?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh yes," Ellen agrees. "And it seems like it's something to learn differently for every person here, sometimes."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Do people tend to be nice about it?" Lily asks, curiously. "When you don't understand things, or say things that sound completely mad to them?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Most of the time, yes," says Ellen. "Sometimes they just get confused and then there has to be a lot of explanation on both sides. Once in a while you run into people who're really unpleasant, but they're kind of rare- by the way, if you run into an English policeman named Nicholas Angel, don't even try talking to him. He seems to think that everywhere in the world, in anybody's world, ought to behave exactly like the way he thinks his world's supposed to be."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Nicholas Angel," she repeats. "Right.

"I know people like that. Back home, I mean.

"I don't like talking to them, either."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen just shakes her head. "I know I should be more patient, but people like that just get under my skin," she says. "Good thing most people around here aren't like that."

[lilium_evansiae]

"I guess you only need to be patient if you think there's a chance of changing their minds.

"Otherwise you're just wasting time and making yourself unhappy."