Ignatius couldn't help but flush a bit. "I think there might be parallel planes of existence and we're just one of many of them." It had nothing to do with magic per se but just existence in general. "I think there might be another place where I - for instance - didn't attend Hogwarts through seventh year." The boy seemed the same class as him so he was pretty sure he would understand. It was rare for people of their social class to attend at all, much less past fifth year as Ignatius had done.

  

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Very much distracted from the quest at hand, Clue's grey eyes widened at this new concept. Parallel planes of existence? Clue felt like he was listening to some wizened old warlock, quite at odds with the young blond man from which these high concepts spawned.

But for all the grandness of this concept, the museum worker mused on something very small — schooling. So Clue added to the musing himself, just with more dramatic hypotheses:

"Or perhaps a word in which this disaster was never going to happen to begin with", he nodded back to the exhibit of the prophecy that had prevented a catastrophe. "Or a world of no Hogwarts at all; no wizards. Or, instead, no muggles."

Would either world last long?

  

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Ignatius's own blue eyes stayed on the boy as he seemed to be absorbing his tidbit of information. "It would be quite different, indeed. I'm not sure if I would want to be in any other universe but our own." For he was doing as well as could be expected and was well on his way to achieving a life long goal.

That is, if this curious fae didn't get him fired for allowing him to wander as he liked with keys that he shouldn't be using.

  

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Clue looked up at the young man thoughtfully; sometimes he wished he was part of another universe... but sometimes he did not. There was just too much he didn't know, making it impossible to make such an assertion.

"You've taught me a lesson, you know: some mysteries can be left unsolved." Clue raised the tiny key again; the key whose purpose he'd failed to discover. "Here; you can have this."

Never mind that it had already belonged to the museum to begin with.

  

---

Ignatius was surprised to hear that he had taught this young boy a lesson. It hadn't been his intention, not fully, but he was a stereotypical Ravenclaw when it came to a love of knowledge. And Ignatius was more than happy to provide it as well.

"Thank you," he said as he took the key from the boy. "If I find its purpose, I can inform you, if you would provide me with your name."

  

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Clue's instinct was to narrow his eyes in slight suspicion, and indeed he did so, taking a moment to keep his name a secret. And then he remembered that his name meant nothing at all, and his suspicious nature was manually quelled.

"Clue Leverett", he replied. "And... yes, I would like to know." That was about the closest the young guide would get to a "thank you".

  

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"I'm Ignatius Quirrell," he provided though he sensed that the other boy had already mentally moved on to other matters, more than likely. His promise made - which he would indeed keep - he left the boy to his own devices and went back to work.

  

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