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[lilium_evansiae]

The sign on the bar this evening is written with glowing red and green letters:

Free Cracker with Your Drink

There is a large pile of gaily colored Cribbages Wizarding Crackers stacked next to the sign.

And there is a young, ginger-haired witch waiting to see if she has any customers. If the hat perched on her head is anything to go by, she has

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[alsoagreengrass]

"You might scare the Muggles with those," Scorpius says, pointing at the pile.

[alsoagreengrass]

"I think so," he says, fiddling with the cracker that he hasn't opened yet. "I - I got a gift for him too; I hope he likes it."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Oh, I'm sure he will," Lily says.

"Did you want me to ask what you got him?"

[alsoagreengrass]

"You don't have to ask, no."

Shrugging, he just tells her: "I got him a Muggle book. On the, uhm, history of the University of Oxford. Bar helped me get it."

He picked it out and she provided.

[lilium_evansiae]

"That sounds like just about the perfect present for Albus," Lily says.

"My dad went to Oxford, you know.

"Albus' great-grandfather."

[alsoagreengrass]

"Really? So it'd be a family-thing then, if Albus decides to follow through with going."

Which Scorpius thinks he ought to; Albus enjoys school.

[lilium_evansiae]

"Yeah, it would.

"I think he'd enjoy it, if he went.

"Do many wizards do things like that?"

[alsoagreengrass]

"Er. Not any that I know of."

Certainly none from his family.

[lilium_evansiae]

"Well, I guess someone has to go first, don't they?"

Might as well be Albus.

"I sometimes think it's rather sad, you know. How much wizards cut themselves off from. Even if I know there are sometimes reasons to. But other times, I think it's just ... habit or something."

[alsoagreengrass]

Scorpius frowns. "But we're not - We're not cutting ourselves short. We've just got our own way of doing things. Muggles might have all sorts of advancements and culture, but we've got our own too."

[lilium_evansiae]

"Oh, I know," Lily says. "And Wizard culture's brilliant, you'll notice I'm not handing out Muggle crackers, but ... Why wouldn't you want to know about both? There are so many wonderful things in both, to know and see and learn and hear and ... I dunno. I guess I just can't quite imagine not knowing about both."

[alsoagreengrass]

Scorpius shrugs. "I suppose, uhm - Interests vary? I don't know. Are you taking every class Hogwarts has to offer?"

[lilium_evansiae]

"No, of course not, but well, just because I'm not studying magical beasts doesn't mean I know absolutely nothing about them. And I'm not saying every wizard should be deeply interested in Muggle things, I just find it a little odd that so few are. At least in my day.

"Because ... there's this whole other society, right there, and things that happen in the one affect the other. Like, well, I can't think it's coincidence that Dumbledore defeated a dark German wizard in 1945, the same year as the end of a massive war, in which Germany and England were fighting each other."

[alsoagreengrass]

"We're not completely clueless about Muggles. And there are a lot more who are interested in Muggle things in Albus' and my time."

Scorpius fiddles with the cracker again, almost wanting to pull it apart and change the subject.

"A lot of this, er - Separation stems from things the Muggles started. I don't mean to blame them, only that their hunting us prompted a lot of wizards to retaliate with the idea that we're better than them. You've read about that all in History, right? And - Okay, I suppose it has become habit not to pursue Muggle things then and - I don't know."

[lilium_evansiae]

"I don't know either, really. And there's no easy solution, that much I do know. But I'm glad Albus is interested in Oxford."

There's a slight pause, and then she smiles.

"And this a terrible topic for Christmas, isn't it?"

[alsoagreengrass]

"Sort of," Scorpius responds with a twisted smile in return. "Whenever this ...topic comes up, I just - I always feel I have to apologise for being a wizard. As if it was this terrible thing to have been raised as a wizard. For being a pureblood."