The lines quoted is the opening of Shakespeare's Richard III.
~*~
His button up Muggle shirt pinched, and it was covered in soot, but it would be dark inside, and nobody would notice. Uncle Iroh caught them each, one at a time as they fell out of the floo, wiping dirty faces and disappearing ash off clothes. When it was his turn, Zuko batted him away. "I'm fine, Uncle."
Iroh just flicked his wand, tucking in Zuko's shirt and smoothing his trouser pockets. "Now you are fine."
Azula looked down her nose when Iroh came close. There was a streak of soot running down one cheek, and another from her elbow to her knuckles. She snatched the cloth out of his hands, and turned around to wipe it away, as if she could pretend, if nobody watched her do it, that she had stepped out of the grate looking perfect.
"Everyone have their tickets?" Iroh asked, when Azula handed back the washcloth. They held them up to show him. Aunt Wu said he had spent almost all of May playing with the new computer, and buying the tickets online. Yue said that one of the boys in her year kept going on about how computers were a sinister plot by the Muggles to sap away the vitality of Wizarding culture, and he hadn't shut up until Toph hit him with a spit ball.
There were only eleven of them left, Jin, Song, Haru, Teo, Jet, Yue, Hahn, Hide, and On Ji. And Zuko and Azula. They lined up in a row, and Uncle Iroh counted them and their tickets off before walking in front of them like a mother duck on a pond. The bandage over his eye was stiff and caked with the goo he had to smeer on the burn every morning, and he hung back at the end of the queue. Iroh held Azula's hand and made her walk next to him. He had told everybody at Hogwarts that he had used the charm on himself, and they had believed him, but Uncle Iroh didn't, and he didn't believe it when he said he'd cursed it so that it couldn't be healed magically trying to heal it himself. So Azula had to walk in the front, where he could keep an eye on her, and he wasn't letting her do anything anymore.
She was just going to get him back when they got back to Hogwarts.
The theater didn't look like much, and Zuko remembered looking at it when he was little, coming there the first time, thinking, This is what they had to spend all that time on the train and come into London for? What interesting thing could Muggles possibly do there that the Ministry wanted them to learn about so badly?
The usher took his ticket and tore it, waving him inside the gloomy, dusty chamber after the rest. Jet traded seats with Jin so that he didn't have to sit next to Zuko, and Teo got the end seat, his chair in the isle of Zuko's other side, right where Zuko wanted to be, as far from Azula as possible.
It didn't matter. Iroh had let him pick out the play this time.
The audience filed in slowly, and Zuko wanted to yell at the to hurry up for the show to begin. Song and Yue were playing some kind of game with their hands next to him, and he wanted to yell at them to stop. They always did things like that when they went to the theater. They just didn't get it.
When the lights finally dimmed, he stopped being able to breathe, and when the curtain rose and the stage lights blazed to life, he swallowed, and swallowed, trying to unstick his throat. A rush of air filled his lungs. The Duke of Gloucester walked out onto the stage. "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York, and all the clouds that lour'd upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried..."
Someday, he wanted to write plays like that, even if nobody could anymore.
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branchandroot
Hufflepuff Zuko: Over the Summer
Date: 2011-08-13 07:25 pm (UTC)~*~
His button up Muggle shirt pinched, and it was covered in soot, but it would be dark inside, and nobody would notice. Uncle Iroh caught them each, one at a time as they fell out of the floo, wiping dirty faces and disappearing ash off clothes. When it was his turn, Zuko batted him away. "I'm fine, Uncle."
Iroh just flicked his wand, tucking in Zuko's shirt and smoothing his trouser pockets. "Now you are fine."
Azula looked down her nose when Iroh came close. There was a streak of soot running down one cheek, and another from her elbow to her knuckles. She snatched the cloth out of his hands, and turned around to wipe it away, as if she could pretend, if nobody watched her do it, that she had stepped out of the grate looking perfect.
"Everyone have their tickets?" Iroh asked, when Azula handed back the washcloth. They held them up to show him. Aunt Wu said he had spent almost all of May playing with the new computer, and buying the tickets online. Yue said that one of the boys in her year kept going on about how computers were a sinister plot by the Muggles to sap away the vitality of Wizarding culture, and he hadn't shut up until Toph hit him with a spit ball.
There were only eleven of them left, Jin, Song, Haru, Teo, Jet, Yue, Hahn, Hide, and On Ji. And Zuko and Azula. They lined up in a row, and Uncle Iroh counted them and their tickets off before walking in front of them like a mother duck on a pond. The bandage over his eye was stiff and caked with the goo he had to smeer on the burn every morning, and he hung back at the end of the queue. Iroh held Azula's hand and made her walk next to him. He had told everybody at Hogwarts that he had used the charm on himself, and they had believed him, but Uncle Iroh didn't, and he didn't believe it when he said he'd cursed it so that it couldn't be healed magically trying to heal it himself. So Azula had to walk in the front, where he could keep an eye on her, and he wasn't letting her do anything anymore.
She was just going to get him back when they got back to Hogwarts.
The theater didn't look like much, and Zuko remembered looking at it when he was little, coming there the first time, thinking, This is what they had to spend all that time on the train and come into London for? What interesting thing could Muggles possibly do there that the Ministry wanted them to learn about so badly?
The usher took his ticket and tore it, waving him inside the gloomy, dusty chamber after the rest. Jet traded seats with Jin so that he didn't have to sit next to Zuko, and Teo got the end seat, his chair in the isle of Zuko's other side, right where Zuko wanted to be, as far from Azula as possible.
It didn't matter. Iroh had let him pick out the play this time.
The audience filed in slowly, and Zuko wanted to yell at the to hurry up for the show to begin. Song and Yue were playing some kind of game with their hands next to him, and he wanted to yell at them to stop. They always did things like that when they went to the theater. They just didn't get it.
When the lights finally dimmed, he stopped being able to breathe, and when the curtain rose and the stage lights blazed to life, he swallowed, and swallowed, trying to unstick his throat. A rush of air filled his lungs. The Duke of Gloucester walked out onto the stage. "Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York, and all the clouds that lour'd upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried..."
Someday, he wanted to write plays like that, even if nobody could anymore.