Potions & Charms

Family

Avriel needed a break. He scooted back against the couch and then took a shaky breath before he felt Scott's hands against the side of his neck. The baritone guided his head down until it hit one of the pillows, tried to be as gentle as possible while he brushed his thumb over Avi's cheek to comfort him.

"Avi, c'mon. Pull yourself out of there" he mumbled and watched his boyfriend's glazed over eyes for a change. "Avriel." This time Scott's voice was more firm — still gentle — but the bearded man didn't react.

He found himself reaching for his phone and Kirstie's name appeared on the screen even before he realized he had dialed her number.

"Scott?"

"Yeah. What do I do?" He didn't ask why she was awake. It was either late at night or too early in Iceland, but he assumed that she had noticed the interruption of his usually rather calm routine.

"Stop wandering around in his mind, I told you before, cause one day you'll mess up and-"

"Kirstin, you're not helping! What do I do?!" Panic rose in his voice and he bit his lip when Avi flinched. "He's so far away..."

"Shut up, I have to think!"

The man bit his lip and even though he had a lot to say, had the need to explain himself, he stayed quiet and waited for instructions. His eyes rested on Avi and he watched him curl up, cradling his head in his hands, pressing his fingertips against his forehead.

"Headache?" Scott asked quietly and reached out to touch the side of Avi's head. "Avriel, does your head hurt?"

"Is he responding?"

"No. Should I get him a Dreamless Sleep potion?"

"I wouldn't. You'd force his body to slow down but once it wears off it might ruin him. What triggered his reaction?"

Scott ran his thumb over the man's cheekbone. "His family. He remembered things about his family. I didn't do anything. Just stood there. And then it felt as if a bomb exploded right in front of us." The man heard Kirstie taking a deep breath. "And I barely got out of there before he forced me back."

"He might've hurt himself in the process. Don't use anything magical, okay? We don't know how sensitive he is when it comes to potions and you can't just go and let him have a full vial of some kind of potion. Avi will be busy in his head for a bit but I think he'll be fine. Just be there."

"Alright. Thank you. Can I call you later? Are you keeping an eye on him?"

"It's hard, I'm too far away, but I'll try. Keep me updated?"

"Of course. Thank you, Kirst. I owe you."

Scott ended the call and then turned his attention back to Avi. He was still curled up with his hands covering his head, his breaths were shallow and his hands trembled slightly, but he wasn't showing any signs of panic. Unsure if he wanted to be left alone or be with Scott the man reached for the light throw blanket and tucked him in before he made his way to the dining table.

Pen and paper appeared after a flick of his wand and he kept himself busy by noting down every single detail he had noticed in the swirl of memories, names and places he had heard and eventually found  himself in his own head to get as much reliable information as possible.

Then Scott made lunch (potato soup and another sandwich), answered his mom's letter ("yes, we'll be there in time, Avi is really excited to meet you guys") and spend some time doing the laundry the boring, muggle way. But it kept his body and mind busy while Avriel slowly dug his way up out of his mind again, until he blinked and groaned over how dry his eyes felt.

"Scott?" he asked and folded the blanket lazily.

"Right here" the Charms professor said and made his way over to the couch, helped Avi up. "Are you alright?"

"I think so. A little exhausted maybe? But alright. "I'm sorry for what happened."

But the tall baritone shook his head. "No, you're good. Perfectly normal reaction to what happened." He handed Avi a bowl of the reheated soup and sat down with him. "I got quite scared for a bit, not gonna lie. But I'm glad you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just- it was a lot at once. I didn't expect to find out that much." He brought the spoon to his lips and hummed at the taste of the soup.

"Well, you're a Visalia native."

"And I have a sister. Why do you think she never looked for me? And- I mean, my name is everywhere. On books, on articles, out in the world. Basically everywhere." Avi sat up and looked at Scott, tucked some hair behind his ear. "She's older. She has to know that I exist." 

The man hummed in agreement. "Yeah, probably. But maybe she's not part of the community? Maybe she's traumatized, memory loss or whatever — I mean look at you. You just found out where you were born, Avi."

But the bearded wizard was already one step ahead and interrupted Scott. "Will you help me find her? I want to meet her. Want to know more. She's my family." 

"No, I won't." 

Avi looked at him with his lips parted and his brows furrowed. "But-"

"Of course I will help you find her! Merlin's underwear." Scott started grinning and reached out to touch his boyfriend's shoulder. "We'll get you guys back together."