Don’t DissMy Air Yo // Arabella & Sirius // April 4th, 2015
The person began to laugh, quietly at first, but then with more force. By the time they looked back up at Sirius, he was staring at them, confused, eyebrows raised slightly. He was too surprised to even look back at the encryption running across the computer screen.
Did he know who they were? “Erm… no.” Why would he? They looked fairly average: slim build, blonde hair, dressed casual. From what he could tell, they were just another tech junky capitalizing on the wizarding world’s relative idiocy. Figg… it sounded familiar, but it took Sirius a long time to place it. Something he’d read in the Prophet a few times about…
“Oh… OH.” It dawned on him. Squib rights. Fuck. They were a damn squib. Sirius flushed with embarrassment for possibly the first time since he was twelve. “I didn’t… I’m sorry. I had no idea. I was actually just wondering if it worked better than a scourgify. Sometimes muggle methods work better on muggle things, but… you know that, obviously.” He cut off his nervous rambling with a quiet ‘shit’ and another apology before quickly turning back to his screen.
He found himself wishing the process was faster no longer just because the ministry was a dangerous place for such activities but also so that they would stop giving him that look.
Arabella said nothing as they watched recognition give way to understanding. If his awkward reply and stuttering sentences were not telling enough, the thinly veiled attempt to rephrase himself had Arabella convinced he was likely yet another pureblood boy, trained to be polite to anyone and everyone lest you burn some bridge that may be of some personal use in the future. His type was not uncommon in these halls but his name rang no bells in Arabella’s mind.
Finally, after several long moments studying the profile of his face -- just to make him squirm a bit -- Arabella looked away, back down to the computer town in front of them, and shrugged. “I don’t have much to compare it to.” They started spraying bursts of air once more, clearing the dust away from the ports Arabella was planning to utilize in this off-the-books upgrade.
“I tend to avoid any sort of magical assistance these days.” Arabella did not look back up at him as they worked. Without looking up at the top of the desk over their head Arabella pulled the package of circuit boards into their lap and opened it up. Arabella doubted that the man would have much else to say to them now that he had pinned down Arabella’s identity and this was quite fine by the squib.
