Potions & Charms

Digressing

He cleaned Avi's arm, healed the deep and infected wounds as much as possible with his wand and some potions before he pulled some more of the yellow flowers off of the plant and covered the teeth marks with them. Scott made sure the bandage wasn't too tight and he carefully covered it with the fabric of Avi's sleeve. Then he smiled lightly. "All done. If that happens again- please don't wait to come over, okay? Just pop in, I don't care what time it is. I don't like it when my friends are hurt."

Avi's head shot up and he stared at the other professor with wide eyes. He wanted to say something but again, just like the day before, Scott interrupted him.

"No, you're my friend and I care about you as much as I care about Kirstie or Mitch." The Charms teacher carefully closed the small button on the cuff of Avi's shirt and smiled lightly. "I'm not asking for you to accept me as your friend cause either way you're not getting rid of me. I can only imagine how horrible it was to attend Durmstrang and- I'm sorry that they were so harsh with you. But this isn't Durmstrang, this is Hogwarts, and people don't get punished for having friends. We take care of each other here."

The Potion Master slowly nodded. He didn't know what to say and while Scott's words touched something deep inside of him and the wall he had built around his fragile heart over time began to crack, he didn't allow himself to give in.

"Alright. I just wanted to let you know that you're always welcome. Don't forget about the trip to Hogsmead tonight, okay?"

"I won't" the bearded man said, finished his tea and got up. He cleared his throat. "Thank you for-" he gestured to his arm and made sure the bandage was covered by his shirt and the heavy cloak. "This."

"You're welcome, Avi. Enjoy your Saturday and take care."

Avi did enjoy his Saturday as much as he enjoyed every day. Not a whole lot. Since the Dementors had taken over the castle grounds and he tried not to use his arm too much due to the pain any kind of movement caused, he avoided going outside as much as possible which was heavy on his heart. Nature has always been special to him, it always provided some sort of much needed peace whenever his thoughts were all over the place or he felt restless and, before the ministry had sent the dark creatures, he used to spend as much time as possible away from the building in the forests.

The man sighed softly as he made his way down from Scott's chambers to the dungeons. It was barely 8am and most residents of the castle were still asleep but of course his thoughts were already up and running lap after lap in his head.

Scott had called him his friend.

That was all he could think of right now. He had called him his friend and while gentle heat appeared deep inside of him he couldn't fully enjoy it. Avi wasn't allowed to have friends. He suddenly stopped, in a rather secluded area, and remembered an incident in first grade, just a few days after school had started.

"Kaplan!" he heard one of the teachers yell and Avi stopped in his tracks immediately while another boy kept running and eventually disappeared around the next corner. "Come here!"

Avi bit his lip and quickly made his way to the professor standing in the middle of the hallway. He wasn't used to being spoken to in such a harsh tone but the first few days at Durmstrang had taught him that he would have to get used to it if he had any plans to graduate.

"No running in the hallways. No running at all. Did you already forget the rules? Are you stupid? We don't want stupid students here. And who was the other boy?"

"He's my friend, Professor" Avi answered honestly and looked at the teacher with wide eyes. "We were on the way to the creatures!"

Instead of saying something the tall and rather slim woman held him by his upper arm and dragged him through half of the school until they reached the headmaster's office. Avi was squirming, the tight grip hurt, but the elderly witch didn't let go. "You will be punished for your behavior" she simply said and pushed him into the room.

Avi stumbled forward and fell to his hands and knees. He then looked up and couldn't hold back a gasp when he saw the headmaster in front of him, holding a cane in his hands, and suddenly he wasn't able to move anymore. He tried to scream when it came in contact with the skin on his back but not a single noise came out.

"Professor?"

Avi flinched hard and pulled himself out of his thoughts. In front of him stood the small, black haired woman and twisted a silver curl around her finger. "Professor Maldonado" he mumbled and nodded once. He still felt a little shaky and preferred not to say too much.

"Are you alright? You seem a little..." she paused and tilted her head, "shaken up." Kirstie reached out, took his hand and brought him to one of the stone benches standing near the walls. "But I'm glad I ran into you. We have to talk."

Before Avi had a chance to react he felt the cold stone against the bend of his knees and sat down.

"I know that you don't want anyone close to you because of your past but Scott is a really nice guy and he just wants you to be okay. We all want that. Nobody is here to hurt you and you don't have to create this kind of...mystery around your person when you're actually the nicest guy alive. Your soul is suffering with every minute you're hiding it from the world" Kirstie said and frowned. "And I can't sleep because you're fucking with your future, Avi. It keeps me up at night."

"Then stop lurking. It's none of your business" he grumbled and stood up again. He wasn't in the mood for a conversation.

"It is. Scott made you part of the pack when he first saw you and we're in this together."

Avi huffed. "I don't want to be in anybody's pack."

"But you are. As inexcusable your behavior is, it won't change the fact that you deserve love and warmth too." Kirstie stood up. "Please join us tonight. I know that you don't want to but- we would like to spend the evening with you."