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Long before they began to raise their death-defying daughter, Tegwen, the Gittins men faced their own struggles in a society that told them no. Together they faced the hardships and did whatever they could to live their lives the way they wanted to. But before that, the two had to get to know each other and they did.
It all started on a cold, rainy day with a cup of tea and quidditch practice.
Rhodes Prewett learned from a young age about acts of kindness, of treating people how he wanted to be treated. Of course, while he was nice to others, others weren't so nice to the large boy. Tall for his age and overweight, the judgemental stares of his peers were evident anytime he walked down the corridors. However, Rhodes didn't pay them any mind. He kept his head held up high and busied himself with his own hobbies. The dream of running his own business one day fueled the boy to spend long hours studying different tea leaves and discover different tastes of herbs.
He discovered that some of the freshest and best-tasting herbs and leaves grew on the castle grounds, and he certainly took advantage of that. Each morning he would walk out to pick what he wanted, rain or shine. Especially with winter months being cold and harsh, he had to collect as much as he could.
It was during those mornings, mainly on the weekends that he came upon those practicing quidditch at the pitch. He didn't have much of an interest for the sport, mainly because he struggled to sit on a broom anyways.
However, it was a Saturday morning, it was extremely cold but Rhodes was warm as he was bundled up. It began raining as soon as he left the castle, by the time he reached the area of the pitch, the rain had picked up drastically.
He was searching for a particularly minty herb when he heard sneezing. Glancing over, he saw one of the Slytherin quidditch players, the Seeker in particular. William Gittins was his name and from the looks of it, he was shivering from the cold as he waited to spot the snitch. He was the smallest person the team, some probably would have mistaken him for a lot younger than he was, but Rhodes remembered from the games that he had witnessed that William used his size to his advantage. The boy was able to maneuver around other players and nearly go unseen during a match.
However, his little size left him unable to produce much warmth, leaving him at the disadvantage of staying warm like the other players on his team.
Rhodes glanced down at the herbs he had collected so far on his trip and looked back up at the boy.
An idea popped into his head before he nodded to himself and walked back towards the castle.
William was pretty sure he was close to dying as he dismounted his broom at the end of practice. He had finally been able to catch the snitch but his teammates had to pry his cold and stiff fingers off of it in order to put it back. He could barely move as he collected his broom, dreading what seemed to be the longest walk back of his life heading back to the castle.
"Merlin, give me strength," he muttered under his breath as he was already falling behind his teammates that were hurrying back. He went to head on back, but suddenly, he spotted one of his classmates making his way towards him.
It was hard to miss Rhodes, the fiery red hair and his large stature making his way towards him. He was confused as to what the Hufflepuff was doing making his way towards him.
When Rhodes reached him, he didn't say anything but held out a cup towards him. William eyed the steaming cup of what appeared to be tea that was in front of him.
"What's this?" he asked.
"It's tea!" Rhodes said brightly. "For you!"
"Me?" William took the cup and held it, feeling all the heat race to his cold fingers.
"It'll warm you up, I promise!"
The boy certainly wanted to warm up as he lifted the cup to his lips and cautiously took a sip. It didn't burn his tongue or lips as he expected it too. Instead, as he swallowed he could feel the warmth trail all the way down to his toes.
It was also helpful that the tea tasted wonderful. There was a sweetness to it, perhaps from some honey, with a small kick of cinnamon.
"You made this?" He asked Rhodes.
"I did," Rhodes said proudly. "It's my favorite to make. I call it Rhodehouse!"
William stared at the boy, who looked so pleased with himself before letting out a light chuckle.
"Clever," he said before taking another sip. "What's in this?"
"A bit of everything really, I pulled out all the specialties from my stash!"
"Your stash?"
Rhodes nodded. "Would you like to see it?"
William took one more sip before nodding his head.
"Sure. As long as the stash is inside because it's freezing out here!"
