Potions & Charms

Helping

"Uh-" Avi licked some of the caramel sauce off his fingers after he pushed the last piece of the brownie in his mouth. "Don't touch anything." He closed the door and turned to Scott. "I have a few potions to bottle, the vials have to be cleaned before."

"Okay! Sure, I can do that." The tall man reached for his wand but Avi shook his head. 

"No, with soap and water. Don't touch anything" he said again as he opened the door to his private laboratory and let Scott in. 

It looked just how Scott remembered it, when he had gotten in trouble in his sixth year for sneaking out of the castle at night and earned a whole month of detention with Professor Slughorn. The only difference was that it seemed more taken care of, more organized and clean. As if his colleague really used it and spent a lot of time in there.

"The last time I was in here I had to take apart the vanes of phoenix feathers. Sluggy wanted them off the shaft and stacked with sheets of parchment in-between to keep them from-"

"Sticking to each other, yes."

"It was horrible."

Avriel rolled his eyes and handed him a basket full of vials, at least a hundred, before he turned back to the bubbling cauldron. "Washed and dried."

"But-" Scott took a look at them. "They're clean."

"No, they look clean. But they aren't clean. Either help or get the hell out of here" he mumbled. 

The blonde man put down the basket and looked at Avi. "Avriel, listen. I am happy to help you but I expect you to be treated like a colleague and not some student who just got detention, okay? I brought you dessert and wanted to surprise you with it but when all I get is a grumpy order and silence I don't have any problems to leave and spend my time with my friends instead."

"First of all, I didn't ask you to bring me dessert. And you asked if you could help me. I answered your question."

"Still, you treat me like a student and that's not okay." Scott looked at him. "I know that you don't like Mitch, Kirstie and me. And the others. You don't like anyone but there's no need to be disrespectful and make everything harder for everyone here because we're not leaving anytime soon and you'll be stuck with us for the next couple of years. I just tried to be nice. Clean the vails yourself." The young professor looked at Avi before he turned around and walked out of the lab to the cozy living room. On one hand he felt bad for being that honest with Avi, on the other hand someone had to tell him that he wasn't the only teacher at the school and couldn't treat the others like his servants. And that someone was Scott. 

Avriel was both impressed and fuming after the little speech Scott had held in his laboratory. He hated to admit it but he was right. And to be fair, he had been surprised, in a good way, to see him standing there with the plate of goodies. "Scott-"

The professor stopped in his tracks. "What" he just said and had his hand resting on the old, iron door handle already. 

"I can clean the vials..would you mind labeling them?"

Scott took a deep breath and couldn't help but smile. "I don't, no. And I wouldn't mind cleaning the vials, I just would've appreciated you asking me if I even wanted to do it." He had walked back to the lab and took the basket. He turned on the water on the old sink in the corner of the room, right next to a plant that growled every time he came close to it. While he washed the vials and put them on a clean cloth. "Hey, what's that plant? I've never seen it. It's not native to Scotland, is it?"

Avriel looked up from the cauldron. He was used to working alone, in silence, but he didn't mind the question and company. "Uhm...no, it's not. It's not native to any country, I created it. It's an experiment."

"Oh wow! Geez, you have to be careful. It's snappy." Scott pulled back his finger and looked at the sharp thorns it had inside its head which looked similar to the venus flytrap one. 

"Yeah, he's hungry. Hasn't had dinner yet."

"What do you feed him?"

Avriel froze for a moment. He really couldn't tell Scott that the plant had a soft spot for one or two drops of blood. "Bugs" the man just said and shifted his focus back to the bubbling liquid in the cauldron. "Preferably worms."

"He looks pretty badass, not gonna lie. Does he classify as a plant or a creature?"

"Both. Are you done? The potion is finished and I don't want it to burn."

"Yeah, sure!" Scott put the vials back in the basket and handed it to Avi. "Do you want me to label them?"

But the potion master shook his head. "No, I- Thank you for your help. That's all." 

"Cool!" Scott watched him fill up and cork the vials with a blood replenishing potion, one by one, until all of them were ready to be labeled. "Are you up for a cup of tea or something? We could label them together?" Even though Scott hated labeling vials he started to enjoy Avi's company. They had talked about potions almost nonstop and he was impressed with the amount of knowledge Avi had about them. Sure, he knew that the man was smart, smarter than most people he knew, but hearing it in person and getting helpful replies to his questions when it came to his questions about potion was surprising. 

Avi had expected Scott to ask him way earlier about a cup of tea and he immediately denied it. He didn't want Scott to stay. It had been nice working with him while he of course still had a close eye on what the man did but Avi wasn't interested in being friends with him. He wanted to live and peace and be left alone. "No."