To make it alone or keep a straight face.

"He...it's the way he conducts things. Always completely formal and proper and never flustered and it's terrifying," Aiden said, words slightly faster than normal. He didn't like talking about his father almost as much as he didn't like talking to him. Imagining the man scared him too.

Aaron noticed the way Aiden sped up his words, as if he was rushing to get it out and move on. "He sounds like a horrible, terrifying man," Aaron said. "What is your mom like?"

"He is," Ai muttered. "My mom...Well, she's also formal, but she also knows how to have down time. She's actually parent-like around me, instead of her usual business formal. She doesn't actually scare me, but..." He shrugged here.

"Parents suck sometimes," Aaron said. He had never met his mother, since he had lived on the run his entire life after his mother was killed by the death eaters. His father would not kill her himself, which did not please Voldemort. He was not willing to give up everything, so he was exiled, hunted down. His father, however, was a caring father, for the most part. Very paranoid, big on the rules, but not all bad.

"There has to be something good, though, right?"

"Yeah, they do," Aiden agreed. "Only mine suck pretty much all the time." He sighed with a frown. "I can't wait for my birthday. Then I can just leave and never have to look back at them again..."

Aaron nodded. "When's your birthday? It has to be soon, right? I mean, if I were you, I would not be able to take it otherwise." Aaron thought about it for a second. "Wait--you're not of age yet? Aren't you 17?"

"It's in July," Aiden replied, "and America is stupid and kept the wizarding coming of age the same as the Muggles, so I have to wait until I'm 18."

Aaron made a face. "That's terrible! Here you are most definitely of age. So, technically, while you're here, they can't touch you, right?" But I can, Aaron thought to himself, suppressing a grin.

"Then they would just make me leave...and while I sort of want to leave....well, it would just make them really angry at me and then they'll probably blame Salem and then unenroll me and that would just be a huge mess."

Aaron grinned. "No, you don't get it. Here you're of age. Meaning they cannot MAKE you do anything. The administration would not really recognize it. At least, I am pretty sure that is how it works."

"I don't know that it works that way...since I'm legally still a minor in the country that I'm a citizen of..."

Aaron pondered this for a moment. "Laws can be evaded? Besides, no one here really cares all that much."

Ai shrugged. "Whichever, whatever. I'm just going to stick to my parents' good sides and hope for the best."

Aaron sighed, frustrated. "Isn't that so dull, though? I could not stand to live such a restricted life, doing only what other people expected and wanted of me? Where's your sense of adventure? You're a teenage kid. There's nothing wrong with breaking the rules every once in a while!"

"With my parents, there is everything wrong with breaking a rule even once. I'll get a sense of adventure once I'm old enough for them to have no real say."

Aaron shook his head. "I honestly don't know how you survive. I kind of admire it, though. I would not be able to live your life."

"I would prefer to not live it, but I have no choice."

Aaron nodded. "Sometimes, it is those who survive in a forced situation that are the most admirable. They are flexible and able to cope."

"I guess...."

Aaron wanted to give Aiden a big old hug, but he guessed that that would go over very badly. Aiden seemed very closed off, his very posture seeming to ward off the outside world. He probably wouldn't appreciate much outside contact.

Ai awkwardly scuffed at the ground with his shoe then, not liking the silence that had descended but not really having anything to say either.

Aaron frowned. "Do you ever wonder about dirt and cement? Why would anyone use cement when it is really rough and bumpy, and dirt would stick in it."

He was in an odd mood.

Aiden gave him an odd look. "What?" he asked, voicing his confusion at the questions.

Aaron laughed. "Sorry. I sometimes wonder about strange things."

"It's alright. I'm used to odd things being said around me." Ai made a face. "Well sort of anyway..."