Potions & Charms

Questioning

Over the course of the next two days Scott was slowly getting used to Avi's unoccupied and empty spot in the Great Hall next to Kevin during their meals. He rarely saw him and found himself wandering through the dungeons more often now, hoping to catch a glimpse of his colleague to make sure he was alright. Even though the Headmistress would've told the staff if one of the professors wasn't well enough to teach he still worried because Avi didn't seem to be the person to miss class due to him being sick. He would take a potion and power through. The voice of the Potion Master ripped him out of his thoughts.

"The Charms classroom is upstairs" the bearded man said and held a few books in his hands. He was standing behind his desk in the classroom and looked at Scott, both surprised and annoyed about seeing him in the dungeons.

The tall man sighed. He hadn't noticed that had been in front of the room. "I know. You don't have to remind me."

"Then what are you doing here if you aren't lost?" Avi stacked parchments before he rolled them up tightly.

"I just- I wanted to- I don't know" Scott mumbled and raised his hand to scratch the back of his head. "Check on you."

"I'm fine." Avi approached him with the parchment tucked under his arm and locked the wooden door behind him. "Doing good. It's not Saturday yet."

Scott bit his lip. "I know. Still, I wanted to see if you're okay. I haven't seen you since-"

"The day before yesterday. Two days, Scott." Together they walked towards Avi's private rooms. "Don't you have other things to do? I don't need you to mother me. I am old enough to take care of myself. Bowtruckle." The door in front of them swung open and revealed Avi's living room. The Charms teacher wanted to follow him inside but Avi let out a surprisingly low growl. "No."

Startled, Scott stopped in his tracks. "Why not? I've been in there before."

"I don't care. Stay outside."

"You're being rude, Avi" he said and frowned. He had lost his patience with the Potion Master and something inside of him suddenly snapped. "I don't like it when you talk to me as if I am one of your students. I just wanted to make sure you are okay because I haven't seen you in the Great Hall and we're currently experimenting on your arm. I know that you have a different view on things but I care about you, Avi. I worry about you."

His small lecture had an effect on Avi and the man looked down. He genuinely felt bad for being so rough with Scott but on the other hand it was the behavior his teachers had forced him to adopt at the early age of nine together with a mindset that allowed him to indulge in the Dark Arts that made him act like this. The man opened his mouth to say something but Scott cut him off.

"No, keep it. Think about what I said. I'll see you tomorrow." With that Scott turner around and made his way back to the ground floor where he ran into Kirstie and Mitch. They were both laughing and luckily cheered Scott up at least a little.

"Scotty!"

"Hi Kirst, are you feeling better? I haven't seen you yesterday."

"Yeah, I'm doing good!" the witch said and grinned. "We were laughing about the grumpy gargoyle in the dungeons!"

"There's a new one? I didn't know we'd get another one. Is he too shy to join the others on the roof?"

Mitch couldn't help but chuckle. "She's talking about Avi, Scott. The castle has enough gargoyles on the roof."

"He's not a gargoyle" the baritone mumbled and sighed. "Stop making fun of him please. His life is hard enough."

Kirstie raised her hands in defense. "It wasn't us. One of the students said it and we took ten points from Gryffindor for that remark."

"Thank you. Uhm, about the game of chess - you have to play without me. I wanted to talk to Winky after dinner."

And that's what Scott did. He had a whole bunch of neatly peeled potatoes, steak and even some broccoli, then ice cream for dessert. After that he went to the kitchen near the Hufflepuff common room and looked for a small elf.

He found her sitting at one of the long, wooden tables, peeling and pitting peaches, lost in her thoughts. "Winky!" Scott said excitingly and grinned.

The elf dropped both the peach and the knife and turned around quickly. "Sir! Hello Sir! Oh, it's so good to see you, Sir!"

"It's good to see you too! How are you doing? Dinner was delicious, as always. Thank you."

Winky blushed. "Oh thank you, Sir! Winky is good!"

"Perfect" Scott said and sat down next to her. "Winky, do you think you can answer a few questions for me? You don't have to if you can't or don't want to, okay? No hand ironing."

"Yes, Sir! Winky can do that. No hand ironing." She sat down and looked at Scott, awaiting the questions.

"They are about the Potion Master, Avriel. Do you mind?"

"Not at all, Sir!"

"Alright...I'm just wondering how often you bring him food. I never see him in the Great Hall."

The elf smiled. "Winky brings Sir breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, Sir. He doesn't like crowded places and prefers to eat alone. Sometimes Winky comes back later and the plate is still full. Winky worries a lot about him."

Scott hummed. "I worry about him too. But I feel like he is slowly warming up, you know? Maybe I can be his friend."

"Winky would like that. But Sir is so angry sometimes. He can get so angry at himself but Winky doesn't know why. She has offered to help but Sir doesn't want help. Sir has thrown a book at Winky once."