He couldn’t help but scoff at the ridiculous notion that he needed anything from Ida Chang. Nowhere in that statement did he say he couldn’t find them, and if he was hell bent on having them, he’d spend the night (or even a few) from stealing them before he took them off her hands. He was not a charity case – even if his friends had never once said he was, it was just always that certain look they got in their eyes or the way their lips would tilt downward into a frown when they saw Cliff struggling – and would refuse help from anyone and everyone. He had no intention of asking her for them, so he pursed his lips together and grunted at her. “Yeah, sure.” This was why he didn’t like to talk; people always assumed he needed something when he opened his mouth, when the only thing Cliff needed was for people to leave him alone.

Instead he focused his eyes back on the runes carved into the candle. “Even I’m not dumb enough to cross a Knockturn shopkeeper like that.” He finally murmured as he raised his eyes to look at her. “So, I guess that means we’re burning it, hm? Just so you can appraise if it’s valuable, of course.” There was no doubt it meant they were burning it, or at least he was, and if Ida decided she wanted to have a little fun he wouldn’t be opposed. She rolled her eyes and he laughed, almost jovially, at her; she did have enough brains for both of them and he wondered if maybe he would have done better at Hogwarts if he’d had someone as smart as Ida helping him. How old was she anyway? They might have overlapped, now that he was thinking of it.

Blinking at her, his grin widened as she laughed, breaking her seriousness about what the candle might do to him. “Ida, Ida, Ida. Are you going to live your life so uptight that you abide by every rule imaginable? Or are you going to live a little?” He quipped an eyebrow at her. Maybe it was because Cliff hadn’t had much parenting in his life, or maybe it was because he was working class, but he cared very little for what was considered proper. He knew though, that he had it a little easier because he was a male and Ida had her reputation to protect. But in the end, if she was living life and happy, who bloody cared if what she did was proper or not? “Remember what I said? I protect what’s mine, and you… I think? Loosely, are my friend.” He added, just in case she was worried about the candle actually hurting her. (The thought of classifying Ida as a friend was odd too and the word felt heavy on his tongue. He hadn’t called someone his friend outside of Algae and Imane in years.)

His face lit up at her next statement, though. “That’s my girl!” Cliff laughed as he pushed the candle into her hands before he swung an arm around her shoulder, pulling her tight against his side. Then he was swinging them around to face the way they’d come from. “You’re about to witness real magic Ida.” Using his free hand, Cliff swept his arm across in front of them. “And don’t worry. If your plan to get us out fails, I’m never one to enter without a plan to escape.” Even if she’d already witnessed his terrible escape plan the day they’d met – it might kill him (or really now, them) in the end, but it was at least a plan. That counted for something, didn’t it?

“You’re in charge of that now.” He hummed about the candle as directed her toward the front of the alleyway, his arm dropping from her shoulder to the small of her back. “The tent is somewhere outside of Padmore Park. Wanna walk, or I can apparate us.” Because that he could do in an alleyway where people couldn’t see them.

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