thattimeofthemonth | Open RP Post

Luckily, even though the others looked confused, Jake came to Draco's rescue. "His parents are those weird hippie types. No electronics, they'll brainwash our kids or destroy the culture or something like that. Crazy types- no offense," he quickly finished up with a look of apology to Draco. The others just grunted or made little sounds of 'oh' and Ed mentioned knowing someone like that but it was a war veteran.

"So, forgiven already, let's go!" Jake hopped up to stand next to Ed, stretching out his neck.

Draco gave a nod of thanks for not having to explain it again. He got up and quickly dusted off his clothes and straightened them out. Curiously, he followed Jake and his friends.

He just had to make it back at a decent time so he can spend some time with Remus. He knew the next few days weren't going to be pleasant for him.

It would be quite the experience for someone who had never been in an entirely Muggle house before. Ed led his friends in, calling out to his mum that he had friends over and an answering call from somewhere deeper in the home. Everyone plopped around the living room with the kind of ease of people who had been here many times, except for Ed who started dragging out what looked a bit like instruments except without strings and perhaps only half-made.

Jake looked to Draco and gave a grin. "If you like music," since Draco had mentioned playing piano at some point in his life, "you'll like this game. Everyone can have their own difficulty so don't feel bad that Ed and me'll pick hard stuff. Lucy's not great at it either and Will can only play the drums." The latter sentence was shot over to his friends, making Lucy stick out her tongue at him.

"Excuse me, Will can rock the drums I think is what you should be saying," Will said with a smirk, grabbing the wooden drumsticks and giving them a twirl.

"Let me watch first to see how this goes and then I can give it a try," Draco commented. He was actually excited to try this out. At the same time he was distracted with looking about as discreetly as possible. The place looked a lot like Remus's place but with out any magical stuff mixed in.

When they did start to play Draco focused on the kids playing and tried to understand what they did to replicate the music.

Using the fake instruments (pay attention in Muggle Studies long enough to know about plastic properly, Draco?) they were hitting buttons or the drum pads in time to the dots moving on the screen. Not difficult in concept but...

After a song or two, in which Lucy proved to have a very lovely voice, Jake looked back to Draco and grinned. "Ready to give it a shot?" He waggled his guitar almost suggestively which made Ed laugh and mimic it back towards his friend with the other guitar.

So crude, Draco shook his head somewhat amused. "Fine, hand it over," Draco replied. He was quite surprised to find how light the fake instrument was. The plastic material felt strange.

It certainly seemed easy enough, but Draco found himself to be rather clumsy on his first round. With his second attempt it went smoother. There was still plenty of mistakes, but not as many as his first try. He was beginning to understand how it worked and find the rhythm to it.

"Look at that, he's a natural!" Jake said after Draco finished his second song (okay, it was on easy but still) with higher than an 80%. He grinned and patted Draco on the shoulder, then nudged Lucy with his elbow. "Let me have a turn."

"...You're going to put Draco through that already? Even on Easy it's rough-" Will said, looking up and back from his seat at the drums.

"Ah, he'll manage! It's my favorite!" As he was flicking through the songs, and landed on 'Through Fire and Flames'. "You know the song, Draco?"

80% was better then what he was expecting. Even if it was on easy. This was his first time touching a video game. Draco shook his head no. "Outside of classical music...I'm afraid I don't really listen to a lot of music. So this is all new for me. I'm just treating this as reading new sheet music."

Granted he did know some music outside of classical...bands that Muggles wouldn't know. It would be no good to bring that up. At least with classical music it really didn't change much.

Jake's brows went up, a little surprised at that. Couldn't believe how restricted Draco's home life had been. It was obvious the others were waiting for him to hit go, but he looked a bit uncertain. "...If you're not really keen on rock, I mean, you don't have to play...?" Was it because Draco didn't like anything but classical, or he just wasn't exposed to it?

If only Jake knew...He was heavily restricted on so much. Coming to live with Remus and Tonks had been a huge eye opener for him. The fact, he was standing in a Muggle household and playing a Muggle game...he was breaking so many rules.

"Don't change the music because of me. I still wouldn't mind playing it." Draco urged. "I can adjust."

"If you're sure?" Jake said, then his concern turned into a grin. "Awesome." So he hit start, looking excited.

Well, Will hadn't lied. It was ridiculously hard on the guitar even on easy, and Draco more than likely would fail out and need to be saved. Jake, though, proved he could sing wickedly along, clearly enjoying himself on the fast-paced lyrics.

Draco couldn't help but grin at the challenge. He failed horribly, yet it was still fun. He did find that he enjoyed the fast paced song verses the others. Maybe some point he would like to hear the actual version to the song.

"And this was easy?" Draco replied with a sheepish grin. At least he wasn't doing any of the singing. He would have failed miserably on all of them.

That got a laugh out of everyone. "That's probably one of the hardest easy songs in the whole game," Lucy informed Draco, while Jake just laughed again.

"Point is to have fun and rock out, which I believe we did." With dignity, which dissolved when he winked.

"Ed, want to sing? Give me the bass."

It would be a fun afternoon of goofing off, Muggle style. Lunch would be something Draco had never had before - some kind of sausage in a bun (hotdogs) and pop.

Draco found their lunch to be less appealing and couldn't help but make a face. He did eat it due to the fact that he was hungry and trying to be polite. Eventually, he did end up having to leave. He wanted to spend some time with Remus and also check in at home to see how his folks and Melinda were fairing. Overall, he did enjoy himself and was glad he decided to join them.

At the same time it left him confused about the beliefs he had been raised on. After saying good bye for the day he headed on back.

"Hey, wait a sec-" Jake said and followed Draco outside, shutting the door behind him so they were alone. He gave a bit of a grin and looked almost sheepish, peering to the other. "...I was hoping maybe we could get together again? Maybe just the two of us?"

He sounded easy about it, like it was no big thing, but there was a faint sign of nervousness when he shifted his weight before cocking a hand on his hip.

Draco was caught off guard by the request. He wasn't sure what this meant. If Jake honestly wanted to hang out with him or he had done something wrong. It was rare that someone would seak out his attention. He was used to hearing people to avoid him, but then it looked as if Jake never got the memo. In a way, Draco was relieved. Yet, Jake also appeared nervous despite trying to appear at ease. He wondered why he was nervous.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind hanging out again," Draco replied with a small smile.

Jake's eyes lit up and his grin grew. "Awesome! ...How about tomorrow night, 'round about half seven? Meet you outside the shop we first met at?" He laughed a bit. "This isn't easy without you having a phone."

As soon as he agreed, Draco began to realize what he signed up for. It was a bit of a shock, but at the same time he figured he would see where this went. He only ever knew Pansy. She claimed him before he could decide what he was interested in. She was approved by his parents therefore, safe.

He wished he had read the signs sooner, but he was never great with it. He only hopes that he wouldn't be given such a hard time. "Alright, see you then."

From Jake's POV, Draco seemed the type. Well put together, seemed interested, so he took the chance. He gifted Draco with a warm smile before he gave a quick two fingered wave. "See you then."

With that he ducked back into Ed's house, leaving Draco to return back. Remus was waiting, a map spread on the table that moved as he shifted it with his fingers. He looked up and gave a quick smile. "Had a good day? You missed tea so I figured you found something that caught your interest." Trusting, more than he probably should.

"Yeah, I meet some kids my age." Draco hesitantly replied as he joined Remus at the table. "They seemed like an interesting group. I'm just a little conflicted since I'm realizing that all I was taught to believe in was so...misguided? I'm not sure what to think."

He gave a curious glance at the map. "What's going on?"

"A group of Muggles??" Remus' brows went up before a grin split his lips. "I'm glad to hear that! It's very different around here but kids are kids no matter what culture they're from." He nudged out a chair out with his toe so that Draco could sit down with him.

"I'm not sure what you were taught, but... the thing you should know most is that. They're still people, in the end." He leaned back, looking over the map. "Shacklebolt wanted to update their maps with information on where I knew werewolves were in hiding. Odd bit of a request but happy enough to help."

"I just don't like the idea of having to make so many stories. Especially if I'm trying to earn their trust." Draco responded. Yeah, he was used to lying and giving answers people wanted...but that never established a sincere friendship. This time he just wanted to be himself. He sat down and studied the map, rather curious to know the locations himself.

"Do you think there might be something going on with them? Even with out Greyback to stir up trouble, don't they usually keep to themselves?"

"Unfortunately, that is one of the difficulties of being friends with Muggles," Remus said knowingly, looking with concern towards Draco. "But if you're as honest as you can be, it's the best you can do while protecting us as a whole."

He shifted the map, revealing an X hovering slightly over the map. "I don't know. They..." he hesitated, looking down, before saying quietly, "they live a horrible life. They're the lowest rung, poor, suffering. They're hunted. Scraping out a life and put down further by Wizards, so on top of the curse, they hate Wizards even more."

He gave a defeated nod, understanding why they had to keep it a secret. It was clear he didn't like it. This had been something he had never dreamed of having to do...hide the fact of something he had been proud of being.... a wizard. Out of everything he had done...this was the one thing he could connect with and be proud of.

Draco frowned as he focused on what Remus had said while he studied the map before him. He knew it was people like his family who were partially responsible for treating Werewolves like they are now. He just wondered if things would have been different should they had been given more help and treated with more respect.

"Is he going to have you reach out to them?" he asked after a long pause.

Remus didn't miss Draco's expression about having to hide that he was a wizard. For him, it was a mixed feeling about that reaction - first, because he could understand it personally. He was proud of being a wizard, given what else he was, and he cared for both cultures both Wizard and Muggle having grown up with both. However... it also was a bit of a cautionary concern, because there had been so many talks about how wizards shouldn't have to hide, particularly among the pure-blooded families, because they were superior to Muggles in the eyes of many. Third, because he wasn't sure he believed there needed to be a divide, despite the fact that he well knew Muggles would most likely grow angry, bitter, or jealous about having been hidden from this world-in-their-world all this time and not having magic themselves. Squibs showed those same attitudes too many times for it not to be a fear.

For now though, he focused on the problem at hand. "I doubt it. Too many of them learned the truth about my being a wizard during the Battle for it to be safe for me to go out to them, but I don't know why he would be trying now, either. There's a lot more to worry about than this, so I'm wondering if they've been having trouble again with a particular set."

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