"I meant that I could interpret the facts in support of my idea that a child's wandless magic is related to their later selves or in opposition to the idea," he explains. "But if what you were doing was manipulating their... well, wait, were you controlling their movements physically or convincing them?"
"I suppose not, with the lights off. Did you want to? There are glow-in-the-dark materials we could put in the dye. Phosphorus is an easy greenish color."
"I don't need any now," he chuckles. "We're doing all right, really, and I'm not caught up in any projects that need my full daily attention span."
Severus nearly laughs, and then scolds him in equally loud terms of affectionate despair, "Well, I don't know what you can expect if you have wine over dinner and then whiskey for chasers and then go spinning about with your eyes shut. You're not as young as you used to be, you know!" This is accompanied by an absolutely saucy wink; Rodolphus is well within a wizard's prime, and Severus is of course not in fact so very much younger than he is, and yet, and yet, and yet so many of these facts are not apparent to the casual observer...
Thanks. <3 I only wish I had the OED! In fact the keyboard shelf of my desk does keep falling down, but that's not what she was complaining about. Personally I think she was having PTSD flashbacks and looking for a way to explain the noises, which is consistent with what she told me about herself and which I was sympathetic to until she started telling people nasty things about me to explain them to herself and try to get me in trouble. I stole it, because we're melting over here at 27°! At least now my car is moved into a spot with less built up snow, so hopefully tomorrow morning I'll be able to move it onto the street without toooo much trouble. (sigh) I'm amazed I got it out of that spot it was in, frankly. My tires are dinky and my car isn't exactly a power tool (squishes it and its polyester old-person trousers). Yech! Here they send a police car down the street threatening to tow anyone who doesn't move their wheels RIGHT NOW. Might be worth not having to shovel, I guess, unless they then make you shovel at the tow yard.