Potions & Charms

Trusting

They sat there for a while before Scott spoke up. "You still owe me an explanation, Avi."

"I know" the man said but continued to stare into the fire. He held the cup with both hands now, sipping every now and then, allowing the tea to cloud his brain. He was tired. It had been a long day, he still wasn't back to full strength after the incident and having to take care of students all day, especially on the grounds where Dementors were lurking, hadn't been easy. "I started developing the first prototypes in Argentina, by collecting and cross breeding different varieties that appeared near a vampire nest I stumbled upon a few days after my arrival. My goal was, and still is, to create a potion that cures the after effects of a bite. Both wizards and muggles are heavily impacted after an encounter with them."

Scott nodded slowly. "Yeah, I've heard of that. I actually lost two friends after they encountered a vampire. And you think that the plant can help you?"

"Yes. The flowers of one of the plants I used to develop the new variety are being used for treatment already, to neutralize the venom. I'm hoping that, once it has matured, the whole plant can be used to restore the destroyed cells. But it takes time, patience and precision."

"And blood."

Avriel hummed and leaned back before he closed his eyes.

"Would you like more tea?" Scott then asked and got up. He was happy with what Avi had told him, he hadn't expected an answer at all, and since Avi seemed to be exhausted he decided to give him some rest.

"Yes please" the bearded man said and handed Scott his cup. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Avi. How is your arm?"

"It doesn't hurt, which is good. Otherwise I'm not feeling anything."

After returning the now full cup Scott sat back down and exhaled. "I'm happy when the week is over. Don't get me wrong, I like teaching, but everyone is still way too hyper. I can imagine that I was almost as bad as the first year kids when I came to Hogwarts."

Avi turned his head and looked at him for a moment before he kept staring at the fire. "I don't really remember my first week at school. But...they punished us a lot, throughout the years." He took another sip and closed his eyes again. Even though he hadn't planned on sharing anything about his private life it was surprisingly easy to talk to Scott because he just listened and seemed genuinely interested and didn't act like he was a burden.

After Avi had said that Scott felt the need to scoot closer and hug him. After what Kevin and now Avi had revealed from the school it sounded like they were closer to being a military training facility than a school and he felt bad for the bearded man next to him. "But...you're in Hogwarts now" Scott said after a long pause and when he didn't get a reply he looked at the Potion Master.

The man was asleep. The halfway emptied cup rested on his thigh, his chin was on his chest and loose strands of hair were falling into his face. His breathing was quiet and calm and Scott couldn't help but smile.

He thought about helping Avi to lay down so he could sleep on the couch in front of the fireplace but then the man woke up by himself after the wood in the fireplace cracked. The moment he opened his eyes he tensed and looked around, with an almost panicked expression on his face.

"It's okay, Avi. You fell asleep for a minute or two, no worries. Do you want to head back to the dungeons or stay here?"

Avi shook his head and finished his cup of tea. "I'll head back downstairs. Thank you for the tea and..uhm, for taking care of my arm."

The tall baritone smiled, pushed his round, golden glasses back up and brought Avi to the door. "Of course. I would like to take another look at it in two days, okay? Saturday morning. Mitch, Kirstie and I were planning to head to Hogsmead for a Butterbeer or two, at eight later that day. You're welcome to join us."

The grumpy Potion Master didn't know what to say at first. Kevin had given up on asking him to go out for something to drink or even just come over for a tea for obvious reasons but with Scott it was different. When he opened his mouth Scott spoke up again.

"You don't have to decide now. Take your time and then just meet us in front of the Great Hall at half past seven. We want to leave ten minutes later, twenty to eight, and then head down to the village together." Scott smiled lightly. "And thank you for trusting me. You're always welcome to come over, have tea and chat, or we can just sit in silence. I don't mind that."

Avi just nodded. The way Scott stood there, leaning against the wall with his hands in the pockets of his pants, made him look even better than before and Avi mentally slapped himself for having such forbidden thoughts before he turned around and almost stumbled over his own feet while he rushed down the hallway towards the staircases. Feelings were bad, feelings meant weakness and Avi wasn't weak. The teachers had made sure that he wouldn't forget what they taught him and the scars on his back were proof of it.