(Continued from this thread!)



Abby was having the time of her life. She sat in the front seat of the Volvo, glancing back and smiling at Sasha every once in a while, and looking to her right and grinning at the professor every few seconds. The car window was open, and her hair was flying every which way and kept getting into her mouth, but she didn't care! She was riding in a car! And it was going super fast!

She'd finally found something more exciting than the Underground, and it was called the motorway. Here, you could go faster, and you didn't have to stop at blinking lights or worry about pedestrians walking in front of you. There was a wonderful thing called a 'playlist' that the professor had put on the radio, so they could sing as they drove! Abby didn't understand why some of the people in other cars were just sitting there, looking bored and not singing. She'd stare at them and wave until they looked at her (or until Sasha told her she shouldn't), and most of them would roll up their windows or drive faster. The kids in backseats, at least, had some sense of humor and enjoyed making faces at her as they passed.

"This song!" Abby pointed suddenly at the radio. "Who's singing it? It's brill!"

She bobbed her head to the beat. They'd listened to a band called Muse, and then Queen, and now there was a woman singing about tellyphones!

"Call all you want, but there's no one home. And you're not gonna reach my telephone!"

Abby started laughing in between the singing, and there was really no hope for Sasha's ears now.

If this was how Abby reacted to Gaga in the confines of a car with a professor and an uptight Ravenclaw, Sasha could only imagine what she'd think of being in a dark, flashy club with a bunch of other teenagers.  Perhaps Sasha really should ask Jacoba to hang out with Abby once he was back in school.  The two of them together would probably spell doom for Greater London but Jacoba was probably the best qualified person for opening up Abby's world.  Especially given how familiar she was with both the wizarding and muggle worlds.  She could probably start her own business.  Muggle World Tour Guide. 

And, Jacoba was probably more likely to have an affinity for such repetitive rhythms.  And to want to leave her heart or head or whatever on the dance floor.  Sasha hadn't really ever seen a dance floor.  Not unless the Great Hall counted when it was decorated for school dances. 

Sasha was in the backseat of the volvo.  Among many other things, Professor Trishna seemed to have caught on quickly to the degree of comfort and security Sasha was still gaining from Baldur's presence so the dog had been invited along.  The shepherd was flopped unceremoniously on the rest of the seat next to him, his head flopped over Sasha's lap in just a way to get a full face of wind from Abby's open window. 

He'd never have guessed that Professor Trishna's musical tastes ran along rather ... pop-y lines.  He would have pegged the man as more of a ... well.  Actually.  Sasha tended to avoid making assumptions about professor's personal lives.  Sasha recognized most of the songs on the playlist, though.  Anna had always been much more 'modernly literate' when it came to popular culture.  Such music was usually playing somewhere in the house when he was home from school and Anna's friends were over. 

"It's Lady Gaga," Sasha offered, before Professor Trishna had a chance to supply the answer.   He glanced up from the game of tetris on his iphone and looked out the window before looking back down. 

Sasha answered Abby's question before he could, so Tapendra just laughed as Abby sang along. "And that's Beyonce," he added, as the song got to the second woman's part. "She's pretty good too. But I don't think I have any of her stuff with me at the moment."

Sasha didn't look particularly happy; it was due to this he'd turned the stereo down some time ago, but Abby's cheerfulness was hard not to get sucked into. Despite Sasha's seemingly long face, Tapendra was grinning and hoping he was heading the right way - he was going off vague directions to Neely's, since they were heading for the outskirts of the magical area of London.

He was also having to resist the urge to sing along. Normally he would, but Sasha was helping him restrain it. Abby was not. At least they hadn't gotten to the Beatles on the playlist yet. That he was required to sing to, by Carride Law.

"It's popular dance music," he explained, even as Abby kept singing. "With muggles. The wizarding stuff is...becoming similar, but it's not as good." For club dancing, anyway. He'd tried it. It just didn't have the energy, yet.

"Gaga?" Abby laughed, thinking it was perfectly ridiculous. "Be-yonc-ay," she repeated, giggling again. "Love it!"

The professor was grinning at her, but Sasha was much more subdued, focusing on his eye-fone and his thumb-dancing. Well, at least it was a form of dancing. Abby didn't think it counted, though. The professor explained that Lady Gaga was popular muggle dance music, and she nodded, agreeing that it sounded fresher than the wizarding stuff.

"Why aren't you two singing?" She stopped singing to admonish them for a moment. "You know the words better than I do! You should at least be dancing," she teased, starting a goofy dance as best she could while seated.

The only one in the car who seemed unaffected by Abby's behavior was the dog, which was typical. She and dogs got along quite well.

"I think I might still have some."  Sasha wasn't entirely sure why he was admitting to having Beyoncé on his iphone other than it was the truth.  After all, what if one of them went rummaging through his phone and came across that particular playlist.  It wasn't his, of course.  A detail which seemed important to explain before anyone got any wrong ideas.  "My younger sister insisted there was a playlist with stuff she could stand.  So, it infiltrated."

It was true he wasn't particularly enjoying the song selections but he was doing better than he had expected.  There was no getting around the choice of music making him nostalgic.  But, he was alright with it.  It was sad but not heart-wrenchingly so. 

"Sing?"  Sasha looked up from his iphone and gave the back of Abby's wind-blown head a startled look.  "I ... I don't ... This isn't the kind of stuff I sing.  I don't really know it well.  Only what they play in commercials."  Basically, Sasha didn't sing Gaga.  It was ... that should have gone without saying.

Tapendra couldn't help the grin that Abby's dance brought to his face, but he tried to keep his face straight. Sing? He wasn't, well. He had no problem singing in front of people, but somehow Sasha's glower made him uncomfortable doing so. Of course, there were things that'd make him sing, attempting to stay Respectable or not.

"Men don't sing Gaga, Abby," he said, serious tone completely undermined by the tell-tale twitch of his lips and how quickly he added, "Now, the Beatles, men sing that. Also Queen." They hadn't gotten to the Beatles on the playlist yet, admittedly. "Besides," he added, because obviously not singing to Gaga needed more excuses especially for him, "My voice is too deep for Gaga. It sounds weird." Which was why he wasn't allowed to sing those tracks on Rock Band even though he was obviously the best at those songs. Bloody song Nazis.

"You mind the Beatles, Sasha?" He asked.

Abby tried not to laugh when Sasha said his playlist had been 'infiltrated'. Well, apparently so had the professor's! What use was including good dance music if you weren't going to enjoy it properly? Singing and dancing was like a requirement!

"Oh, pshaw," she waved her hand in the air, scoffing at both the professor and Sasha. "Real men sing Gaga! I've decided."

She shot a grin at Professor Trishna. "Excuses!" She didn't buy that his voice was too deep, making it sound weird. Abby didn't care if she sounded weird; she was fairly certain she was a bit off key, but she had more than enough pep to make up for it.

"Any relation to Beedle the Bard?" Abby joked after hearing the name 'The Beatles'.

"Men don't sing Gaga," Sasha repeated to back Professor Trishna up.  "Or, Eric Clapton," Sasha added to the professor's list of artists men sing to. 

Of course, Sasha had also assumed that real men rarely listened to Gaga, either, but there did seem to be some current evidence to the contrary.  So, he kept that comment to himself.  After all, he wasn't entirely sure he was the leading expert on what real men did or didn't do.

An offer was put forth to change the music and chances were good Sasha would have agreed, regardless of what was offered.  Probably only Beastie Boys or that rap stuff that felt it was necessary to season their music with profanities like salt and pepper would have been a step in the wrong direction.  But, the alternative was not only an improvement - it was a pleasant surprise. 

"Yeah, definitely.  I mean, no, I don't mind."  Sasha paused the game and leaned forward towards the front seat.  "Or Paul Simon."  Or, anyone to show Abby that not all muggle music was as ... well, like Beyoncé.  "Especially Harrison. Do you have Revolver on that?" 

They do sing Gaga in the shower when no one's around, however, Tapendra added to himself. That was #567 on the list on things he never wanted Ignan walking in on him doing for a reason, though. Right after Ignan finding him playing Guitar Hero.

"Okay, maybe real men do," he admitted. "But self-conscious men don't." Which pegged him and Sasha pretty solidly.

He couldn't help but laugh when Sasha was quick to agree to the Beatles, and got about skipping forward to the section of the data cd with them on it. "Yeah, I have Revolver," he said, and after a few seconds the opening twangs of Yellow Submarine piped up. "No relation to the Bard," he added to Abby. "Just the best band ever." He grinned widely.

"You have to sing too!" he told Sasha suddenly, wagging a finger at him jokingly.

Then he turned back to the road, shifted his shoulders against the seat, and sang along, his deep voice making an odd contrast to the higher pitch of the singers.

"You two don't have to be self-conscious around me. Or Baldur! Baldur and I won't judge you," she smiled, reaching back to pat the dog on the head.

Success! Sasha was interested in The Beatles! Abby couldn't wait to hear the band that Trishna and Sasha liked; it had to be good if they could agree on it.

Abby grinned when the professor told Sasha he had to sing too, and listened to his voice when he started, surprised he was actually heeding her advice. When it got to the well-known chorus, Abby perked up in her seat.

"This part sounds easy. Sasha, even you can do it," she teased over her shoulder.

"We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine," Abby caught the last few lines, then attempted to guess what the next lyrics would be.

"And our friends... all broads. Wait- abroad!" She corrected herself, dissolving into giggles.

Just like Sasha would never understand being so footloose that he'd do the Achy Breaky Heart in the middle of Times Square, it was clear Abby would never understand being self-conscious.  And, yes, Professor Trishna had pretty much pegged it.  "I- you're-"  You're a girl and he's a professor would have been the conclusion to that sentence.  Of course he was going to be self-conscious.  For once, though, he didn't feel the need to demonstrate his superhuman abilities to state the obvious. 

"They're pretty excellent," Sasha confirmed after Professor Trishna aptly named them the best band, ever.  "Three of them were brilliant.  Ringo was kind of strange."  Jacoba insisted Ringo was her favorite of the four; Sasha wasn't sure if that was, really, the case or if that was just one of many examples of Jacoba's attempts to get a reaction out of him. 

"I - what?"  Sasha glanced at Professor Trishna.  "Why do I have to sing?"  Did this qualify as whining?  Even if he wasn't asking in a whiny tone?  He was content to be listening, wasn't that improvement sufficient?  "I don't- I'm not very good-" 

Tapendra beamed at Sasha's words, which were, of course, the gospel truth. "Well said! Ten points to Ravenclaw!" he said, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel in time with the simple beat of the song. Abby sang along, which helped, even if it ruined it as he cracked up as she said 'broads'. 

"The point isn't to be good, it's to have fun, Sasha! Live a little!" Tapendra was, obviously, much happier to sing the Beatles in company than he was to sing Gaga. "Baldur won't judge you, and we certainly won't." Much. Tapendra was very good at singing the Beatles even if his voice didn't match and so he, of course, had nothing to worry about.

"Come ooooon," he said, tone goading.

"You know you want tooooo," Abby chimed in after the professor, having more fun than was probably healthy pushing Sasha out of his comfort zone. It was just so easy! Especially when she had a partner in crime/singing. Abby glanced at Professor Trishna and grinned.

"I'll be the strange one, like Ringo," she offered in-between choruses. "The professor can be the... cute red-head!" Oh, she was shameless.

"And Sasha, you can-- does Baldur ever howl to music? That'd make four," Abby cut herself off in the middle of her own sentence, turning around to peer at the dog hopefully.

"Does that really work?" 

Sasha looked curiously (and hopefully) at Professor Trishna, trying to gauge if the man was being sarcastic or not.  Could one earn house points outside of Hogwarts?  It wasn't even clear if he was even technically a Ravenclaw.  But, it had been far too long since Sasha had earned his house some points and he had no idea where things stood in terms of the house cup. 

"I am having fun!" Sasha insisted, though he wasn't entirely sure either of them heard him over their singing.  It wasn't about whether or not they'd judge him.  Okay.  That wasn't true.  Everything was always about who might judge him.  And, Professor Trishna was still a professor.  But it wasn't about that ... he just didn't sing just anything!  He definitely didn't sing along to the Beatles.  Him singing the Beatles was like MC Hammer singing Carmina Burana. 

Perhaps he was over thinking this just a bit. 

Sasha cast a glance at Baldur.  The dog lifted his head and peered back up at Sasha, thumping his tail once, expectantly, against the car seat.  "You're not helping," he murmured to the dog.  Sasha rolled his eyes and sighed, turning back to his iphone and flipping through the music selection but decided against his own contribution and listened to the track and the other two singing. 

"I can be the what?" He asked Abby with a laugh, the car swerving as he took his eyes off the road. Thankfully for Abby - or possibly for Tapendra and Sasha - Sasha's mutter distracted him long enough to get his mind off it.

"Fine, Sasha, fine," he said, waving a hand vaguely. He went back to singing, letting boy be lame pout in the backseat as the song wrapped up.

Then the final cords faded, he paused the stereo, aware of how loud the silence sounded. "Are we on course, Sasha? You said Miss Woolfolk lived downtown. Near Diagon, correct...?" He looked at Abby. "Have you even been to the muggle area near her home?"