An Exchange

The next couple of days were filled with her working, coming home to fix dinner and trying to acclimate Sirius to muggle life. Although he was somewhat acquainted with muggle ways, he still had much to learn. She had introduced him the ease of the microwave only find that she'd forgotten to tell him not to putal tal therein. End result was a trip to Wal-Mart for a first aid kit and a new microwave.

She sighed as she cleaned up the mess...that was a quick hundred bucks! Give the mutt credit though. He did help with 'scourify' and a rueful grin on his face. Always the rogue charm. It worried her to think that one-day, when he was better acquainted the the muggle world, that he would find someone more suitable and lovely with which to spend his time. Dammit! She loved the boy! Oh bother!

He asked questions about things she took for granted and it was in some ways like teaching a child. This child though was very lusty and easily distracted her with his roaming hands and heated kisses. Like that was a drawback! Still, they would have to get serious about his learning this stuff sooner or later though she suspected that he learned and abed bed more than he let on. She had no proof of course and that in itself was frustrating. Still, she couldn't help but love his mixture of wickedness and innocence.

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His mind went over the microwave disaster detail by detail. It had been horrible and he had been sure she would castrate him for it. Sometimes he wondered if she'd fallen for him.

*Hmph! This muggle stuff wasn't 'that' complicated!* he thought to himself as he slid the metal pot filled with soup into the microwave and set the time for 2 minutes. Almost immediately the thing started to spark. *Hmmm.....never did that for her!* Within a minute the thing had exploded sending soup, pot and shrapnel everywhere! She had rushed into the kitchen looking frantic.

"What in the hell HAPPENED??"

He lay against a wall bleeding from several places and pieces of metal and plastic embedded in the wall, other things and him. She rushed over to him and pulled him to the sink where she grabbed a towel. Wetting it she began cleaning off the blood then after a few minutes of searching found a pair of tweezers in a drawer to remove the shrapnel. He hissed as she pulled things out but it wasn't till she applied the Listerine that he cried out in pain.

"What is Merlin's name *is* that stuff??"

"Listerine. It kills germs so it will help keep you from getting infected. It's all I have.” She faced skewed with concern. “I'm sorry Sirius but this has to be done."

"And you muggles put up with this much pain on a daily basis?? No wonder you're a hardy group!" He voiced showed reluctant respect and admiration.

He still wondered what was beyond her doors and whether or not he was doomed to be a prisoner of one sort or another. He cared for her. How could he not? But he wanted to get out and explore th. He. He knew she wanted to avoid drawing attention to themselves because he was still mostly unaccustomed to muggle ways. Who knew the muggles could be so complicated? You can't wear this because it was what gay men wore, you couldn't wear that because the wrong color in the wrong neighborhood could get you killed. He shook his head. It was all so complicated. Why not do things simpler as the wizarding world did? He'd asked that. She'd said that at one time things were relatively simple.... then as people became more numerous they became more territorial and the social rituals became more complicated so one could tell who you were and your rank in their society by how you acted, shook hands, etc.

Finally she was done and had exhausted her supply of band-aid strips to which she sighed saying that she would have to go out for more. Now was his chance.

"I'll get my coat."

She looked hesitant but she merely nodded. He was ready for a fight, an argument.... anything but a simple nod of her head giving in. She looked sad. Why? What was wrong with her? Females!

They went to someplace called 'Wal-mart'. The store was huge! Far bigger than any store he'd ever seen before! There were so many... 'things’. Arthur Weasley would be in heaven were he to come here! He watched her weave deftly between the other shoppers seeming to know exactly where she was going and stopping in front of a number of stacked white boxes with a red cross on the front.

"What are these?" He asked quietly into her ear. He felt she shiver involuntarily. He loved how responsive she was.

"They are first-aid kits. They will help with future accidents. This one was my fault because I forgot to tell you that you couldn’t put metal into a microwave. I hope you can forgive me." She raised her hand to my cheek brushing it gently, eyes so filled with tender emotion.

"I suppose I should have asked." I consoled her as I bent to kiss her gently. She was trying so hard to be a good teacher, lover, friend and guide. I owed her a debt I could never repay here and I doubted that we'd ever get home where I could. She was ever hungry this one and I could feel her make the kiss deeper, quite unashamed of doing this in a public place. We would simply have to see how much of an adventurer she was.

We put the white box of medical supplies in the cart along with a few additional things, shampoo, soap, toothpaste and an extra tooth brush, deodorant for us both, brush and comb.... the list seemed to be endless. The final thing we got was another microwave. She said it was cheaper than the one she had bought before, bigger and more powerful. *Oh good!* I thought ungraciously. *A bigger explosion the next time I screw up.* The box was huge so I helped her with it though it was surprisingly light.

I was beginning to understand why Arthur admired muggles so much. They were so innovative! We wandered around the store occasionally picking up things but, mostly she explained things to me... what things were and how they worked. There were gadgets for everything! Some neither of us understood the necessity for but they were there all the same. She passed by a bread machine saying, as she did, that she preferred to make her own by hand.

When we finally left, my mind was still trying to assimilate all that I'd been told and seen. I hadn't noticed that she'd stepped into the parking lot and was heading to the car and when I went to follow her.... it was only to hear a horn and see a car heading directly for me. *Oh shit!*