hh_mirror | flowers and kittens and nothing exploding ((closed, Rory and A))

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flowers and kittens and nothing exploding ((closed, Rory and A))

Rory was settling in, more or less. He and Amy and the Doctor had all found the Gryffindor dormitories eventually (the staircases moved, why would you build staircases that moved?) and there'd been a good few days of not having to run for their lives from anything, which left him more able to share their enthusiasm.

So here he was, out for a walk in the grounds. Someone was singing in the distance, and not having any other destination in mind, he followed the sound until it led him to a garden.

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"You've got a theme going with the names, then," Rory commented, since he hadn't heard Einstein's till now.

"Ryuuzaki named them," A told him, returning to his seat and scritching Wishbone behind his ears and under his chin. "He gave them to me, when I was new here and they were small kittens. I kept to tradition somewhat, though, when the mangosteen grove arrived. The flying squirrel I adopted is Bernoulli."

Joe named me! Wishbone said as he settled into A's lap. It was cause he wished for a dog on a wishbone, and then I came!

The mun totally made that up.

"It's a good name," Rory told him. "So you're a dog normally? I thought that might be it." ...He'd really just said the sentence 'so you're a dog normally', hadn't he? Yes, he had. Just go with it.

Still scratching behind Wishbone's ears, A looked at Rory thoughtfully. "That's a good deduction," he said. "What made you think it?"

Yessss... Wishbone said, eyes closed in bliss. I tried that spell that turns animals into other animals on myself.

Rory shrugged. "I wasn't sure about it, I just thought Wishbone sounds like a dog name. With the 'bone' part."

"That makes sense. I hadn't thought of it from that angle, but it's a reasonable line of conjecture."

That was when Schrodinger scampered over, mewing. She wanted some lap and petting action, too!

My lap, Wishbone said, settling down to sleep. Find your own. He nuzzled against A's leg as he started to fall asleep.

The other possibility had been a chicken with a rather cruel owner, but he didn't like to say that in front of Wishbone.

"You can have mine if you want," he told Schrodinger, reaching to pick her up if she'd let him. "So, there's a spell for turning into other animals? Is this one of those things where we've got to be careful about eating the food?" That had been bothering him, although so far nothing he'd eaten had had ill effects.

A nodded. "That's one thing that could happen if you eat something bespelled," he told Rory. "Or it could make you younger, or female, or interfere with your thinking, so you'd do things you usually wouldn't."

I turned human a couple of times. It was fun.

And Wishbone surrendered to the sleepy-rays.

Rory pondered for a moment how Amy would react to him suddenly becoming female, and then decided he'd better think about that later. "What kind of things you normally wouldn't?" That had sounded vague and ominous. "And - I mean, is there any way to tell before you eat something?"

"It could be almost anything," A said, knowing he wasn't being reassuring. "It's mostly not a good idea to eat something if it's not given to you directly. Some people leave things like that out just to cause trouble. But there are people who know it's risky, but eat it anyway. The affects usually aren't harmful in and of themselves, and don't last very long."

"So, don't eat food that's just left out. That - sounds easy enough. And I'm tempting fate by saying that, aren't I."

"Maybe." A realized he found that rather funny, tried not to laugh, and failed utterly. "It does take caution, being here. Most people are good, but some are very, very bad."

"...yeah." Rory sighed a little, remembering. "I heard about that at my Sorting." He rubbed his left elbow, not really conscious of the gesture - he wasn't bruised now and it hadn't been that bad to begin with, but being dropped onto a stone floor had still hurt.

"It, it's worth it," A told him, looking at his garden and greenhouse with a proud smile. "Being here. Where there is wind and sky and green things and people to learn new things from. The bad people, you, it, you can learn how to make them be afraid."

There was perhaps more relish than necessary in that last sentence.

That was just a bit unnerving, but very understandable. "I hope so." He looked down at the floor and the blissful cats. "I don't know how likely I am to be able to scare off mad exploding demons."

Oh, Rory, if only you knew.

"Oh, but there are things you can learn here. Ways to be stronger. I, if, if, there are people who would teach you things, if you asked."

"I'm - not much of a fighter," Rory said, quietly. "Amy is, the Doctor's... a lot of things. But I want to learn, while I'm here, not to make the - the bad guys afraid necessarily, but to protect her - protect people. In general. In more ways than waving a broom around and hoping I hit something important before getting stabbed."

"There are people here who use brooms to fly," A mused, sidetracked. "I haven't tried that. It would, I think, I don't think I want to." Shaking his head, he remembered what they'd been talking about. "There are spells. Hexes. Ways to protect yourself, to protect people."

Actual flying broomsticks. Somehow, he wasn't surprised at all.

He nodded. "I've... seen a couple done. Levitation. One to cause full-body paralysis." There was a rueful note to his voice that might indicate to A that he'd done more than seen those used.

Despite Rory's tone, A dissolved into giggles. "I, I, I've used that. The body-bind one. I'm good at that one."

Rory hesitated, wondering exactly how strong those cookies were. (And, guiltily, how stable A really was.) But it would be good to know...

"...you couldn't show me, could you?"

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