Regimentum ⪼ Sirius Black/OC

Ex Adverso

Chapter Thirteen | Ex Adverso

[From the opposite side]

Jane Austen once said: "Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way." Vivian wouldn't necessarily say that her current mission is silly, of course, but it is does have some inkling of foolhardiness within it, and there is certainly a layer of impudence to it at that. Such brazen recklessness is not the sort of quality that Vivian Blair often exemplifies. She prefers to save those things for her Gryffindor counterparts, who seem to take up a large portion of her life these days and never fail to amaze her with their brashness. Of course, she wouldn't necessarily call said brashness silly either. She prefers the word 'idiotic', but she digresses. Thinking of it in such terms only serves to remind her that she is currently being a touch idiotic herself, and she is certainly no reckless Gryffindor.

In any case, before Vivian Blair can go off on yet another tangent involving the superior qualities of a good and proper Slytherin, a scene is in wont of being set:

Before her, the Thames River cuts a dark and quiet path through the heart of London. The hour is far too late to accommodate any lingering trace of the sun. Instead, the moon sits at an angled arch in the sky, and the light that beams down from it is soft and gets easily lost in the scattering of the strange electric lights that the muggles insist upon using. As a result of both moon and electric lights, the river beneath her looks like a snake with shimmering scales that is constantly moving but never ending, and Vivian finds it oddly mesmerizing as she stands at the railing of the Westminster Bridge and looks down upon it.

She has never been this far into Muggle London by herself. In recent months attending Order meetings in odd pubs and other non-magical places, she's seen more of it than she ever had before, but those moments were accompanied by Sirius and the others. This is certainly no traipse into the old bookstore she used to frequent back in school, nor does it require very much maneuvering to get to.

A bracing wind lifts up from the river and tunnels into her as she stands alone upon the bridge. She huddles deeper into her cloak, curling her fingers around the folds of fabric and dipping her eyes curiously over the nighttime city as it follows the Thames. She's never seen London at night before, not like this. She can't decide if she likes it or not. After all, the current circumstances of her viewing it comes at something of a price, and though she is willing to pay it, she's not sure whether her companion will be. The edge of doubt that lingers over her rather ruins the otherwise fascinating view. Her mind twists and turns just like the Thames. One moment, she is thinking about that little scrap of paper she had given her father; the next, she drifts again and wonders just how those electric lights work, and why not simply use candles – and what is the spark, exactly, that powers them?

Is it fire, or lightening, or some other element acting as catalyst? And how did these muggles contrive of the idea? Perhaps she will ask Lily, but only if she's able to find a rare moment in which Potter is away. He'd probably take the micky out of her if he heard her ask such a childlike question. Lily wouldn't mind answering, though. She always seems to understand that this world Vivian finds herself in is entirely new to her.

Another breeze presses into her, and it takes her thoughts and displaces them. The calm emptiness is slowly filled with other musings. Why do these muggles drive those dangerous-looking contraptions that race along the pavement behind her? Why do they call that tower 'Ben', and why do they still allow themselves to operate under their strange monarchial system? Why do they wear such odd fabrics and bright colors and what would Sirius think if he knew she was here –

She brushes that thought away when it creeps into the tangle of others, and lifts a hand to run it through her hair. She'll worry about that later. For now, she needs all her faculties in top condition if she wants to hold her own against a fellow Slytherin. She doesn't actually believe that Gryffindors are all idiots, of course, but she would certainly argue that they are easier to navigate than one of her own.