A child's cry

[Ginny Weasly]

-Yes, now let's see if we can get him to own up to it like a good little boy.-

Cody was bouncing on his bed, thinking quickly, "So if you know who was listin', we can go to Uncle Fred and Uncle George's shop?"

Ginny nodded, "Yes, but only then."

He bit his lip, suddenly feeling like he was being led into a trap. He eyes Ginny suspiciousy, "Why?"

"Because, whoever was listening now knows quite a bit about your dad. That wouldn't do for anyone bad to know."

"What if someone good knows?" Cody asked suddenly, looking between the two.

[Xaver]

Xaver looked at Ginny - and was no less uneasy.
He rocked slightly, when Cody hopped up and down on the bed he sat on, but made no move to do anything. Watching, cat-like.

"An evesdropper never knows the whole truth of what is going on," he said quietly, to no one, really. "Even the good guys get things mixed up, and that can be a very bad thing.."

[Ginny Weasly]

Cody suddenly stopped and looked at xaver. His eyes changed as Xaver spoke and he became a bit more worried. He was silent for a moment, then couldn't hold the questions in any longer, "Daddy? Why were you sick? What was your bad dream about? Who's Aaro?"

Ginny's brow furrowed at the last. No where in the conversation had Aaro's name been said, Ginny had simply known who Xaver was speaking about. So how did Cody...?

[Xaver]

Even the good guys got things mixed up.
It was the ultimate truth, really - not only the bad guys did all those bad things... miscommunication, misinterpretation, misjudgement - they were all factors in this trigger-jumpy world. And, said factors were more common reasons for unnecessary death than ever - and Xaver knew that. Intimately.

"Daddy?"

Xaver blinked, shaking off the sudden reverie he'd drawn himself into, and focused on Cody. His little boy.
Focused, and absorbed the barage of questions.

"So it was you, who was the evesdropper?"

[Ginny Weasly]

Cody flushed a bright red, his ears growing hot. He reminded Ginny of her brother Ron for a moment as he looked down and stammered, "Uh....well...um..."

Ginny raised and eyebrow slightly, "You know better than to evesdrop."

Cody looked up, looking suddenly defiant, "But you never tell me anything anymore. And he never tells me anything at all!"

[Xaver]

Xaver fought the sudden urge to smile.
He wondered, vaguely, if the way he saw Cody now, was the way his own parents had once looked over him and Xences. They had been little boys themselves once - innocent, and untainted by the many years of turmoil sure to come later. Mischevious, undoubtedly, and full of energy - Xaver wondered, vaguely, if his father had ever felt the pride, and possessive love that Xaver knew for both Ginny, and their little boy.
Cody looked up at them, and Xaver's gaze flickered over him, his head tipping to the side, slightly.

"I tell you plenty, don't I? And you usually find out, anyway.."

[Ginny Weasly]

"No, you don't tell me anything important." Cody frowned at Xaver, a bit angrily.

Ginny stayed silent, watching to see what Xaver would do.

[Xaver]

When Cody frowned, the traces of what could have been a smile over Xaver's features, faded.
"Don't I, now? Haven't I made it a habit to keep you updated on what's going on?"
He frowned, himself.
"You know I don't tell you some things, Cody - but only for good reason."

[Ginny Weasly]

"But why?" Cody pressed, pushing his luck. He knew it, but he didn't know how far he could push Xaver yet, and now was as good a time as any to find out. "Why won't you tell me anything important?"

"Cody, hush."

"No, Momma. He never tells me anything important. Like why he left!"

[Xaver]

Xaver had been looking to the side, but now he looked at Cody sharply. He remained mellow, his composure remaining, at ease. His thoughts, though were running quickly, the gears turning in his head as he stared at his son, giving nothing away.

"Some things important are dangerous for you to know, Cody."

Xaver didn't know Cody's intentions. Didn't know what he was doing, really.
And that was frustrating.

[Ginny Weasly]

"Knowing isn't dangerous, Daddy! Why can't I know?" Cody whined, his voice raising in pitch.

"Cody, enough." Ginny's voice was sharp, she didn't want Cody agrivating Xaver.

"But Momma-"

"I said enough. Stop your whining right now."

Cody was silent for a moment, his eye growing dark with anger until he burst out, "No! Momma, no!"

[Xaver]

That was just it though, wasn't it?
Knowing things, certain things - was very dangerous.
Knowledge had a very long, and bloody history - being argued over, fought for - many would kill to know. Literally. Many died to find things out. It was a very tricky subject.

"Enough, Cody," Xaver said quietly, noting the darker tint to his son's eyes. "Don't speak to your mother like that."
Xaver shifted on the bed, his thoughts unreadable, but his aura still oddly mellow. Calm.
"Learning is not dangerous - but knowledge is power, and you know very well how dangerous power is."

[Ginny Weasly]

"Why is power dangerous? Power isn't dangerous, people are dangerous!" Cody said, frowning at Xaver, "People have secrets, and leave you, and hurt you!"

Ginny looked to Xaver, then back to Cody, "Not all people."

"Almost all people! People are mean, and horrid, and hateful! And that's when power is dangerous, when people have it. You said that once, Momma!"

"Angel, you shouldn't have heard that." Ginny said, softly. It was true she had said that once, to her mother, when she had though no one was around.

[Xaver]

"You are right."
Xaver was standing then, the transition between him sitting, and then leaning against Cody's bedpost, his arms folded loosely, blurred. He hadn't been thinking about it - and so his movements had been too fast to follow. He looked at Cody.
"Power is not dangerous. It is those people with power, and what they may, and most do, with it."
His features remained unchanged.
"Knowledge is power," he repeated. "And there is sometimes no extent to the lengths some people will go to acquire such power. If you know some things, you are in danger. And I will not have that, as much as possible. You are your mom's son. You are my son. You are always in danger, whether you believe it or not - and knowing some things will only worsen that fact."

"People have secrets, and leave you, and hurt you," he quoted.

Then, slowly - "Are you referring to me?"

[Ginny Weasly]

Ginny's breath caught, she knew what Cody was about to say.

Cody nodded, frowning, "Yea. You left Momma and me. You left us before I was born, and I still don't know why! You made Momma cry-"

"Hush." Ginny interrupted, "Don't say anything more Cody. Your father had his reasons, and you don't need to know them." She was actually being selfish. Xaver didn't know she cried at nights, almost every night before he had come back.