Potions & Charms

Confronting

Scott decided that it was time for bed when Avi kept letting the book slip onto his stomach and his head kept falling against Scott's chest. "C'mon" he mumbled and rubbed Avi's upper arms from behind. "Time to get ready for bed. You can barely keep your eyes open."

And the man got up without protesting. He closed the book and placed it on the other side of the couch, determined to finish it before Christmas, before he got up and leaned against Scott as they made their way over to the bedroom together.

"You need to wear something warm to bed, Avi. Shorts won't keep you cozy" the baritone mumbled and walked over to the small closet to fetch a pair of flannel pants for him. "Here, these should be fine. We're getting the tree tomorrow and need lots of sleep for that."

"Where are we getting it?"

Scott frowned and looked at him. "Like...from the woods? Where else would you get a beautiful tree."

"I saw some people selling them as we passed by with the train, in London" Avi mumbled and took the pajama pants from Scott. He grabbed one of the shirts he had packed, the small bag of toiletries and his hairbrush.

"Oh Merlin, no. We're not buying one. There are loads and loads just a few miles into the forest and they're still fresh. Not old and dry like the ones you can buy."

"Okay" Avi just said and shrugged. "Fine with me. I haven't celebrated Christmas in a long time, I don't really know how to. You're the pro." He walked to the bathroom and closed the door. The man kept his head low to avoid the large mirror over the sink and managed to get through his bedtime routine quickly, until he looked up for just a second and noticed the floor length mirror behind the door. Since he was currently shirtless the man was confronted with the first view ever of the deep scars the abuse at school had left him with as his reflection was perfectly visible through the mirror in front of him. Avi's eyes widened slowly and he found himself in some kind of trance, reaching back and around himself, over his shoulder, to touch them.

The potion master had always avoided even thinking about them. They brought back memories he thought he had lost on the way, memories he thought he had gotten rid of years ago. But the sad truth was that he had only pushed them down over and over again.

Avi took a shaky breath and blindly reached for the clean shirt. It hurt to see the deep, healed marks that were even lighter than his actual skin tone and once he had pulled the shirt over his head and down to his waist he ditched his hair brush and left the bathroom as quickly as possible. All he wanted right now was to be with Scott, with his face buried against his chest or some pillow to focus on burying the memories of his abuse deep in his mind again.

"Hey" Scott said with a chuckle when the bearded man quickly got into the large bed and shoved his face against his side. "Eager to cuddle?" The Charms teacher reached out and lightly rubbed Avi's upper back. "I have to brush my teeth before we can get comfy though. Why don't you find a nice spot to sleep and I'll be back in no time." With that Scott disappeared and left Avi behind, who balled his hands to fists and groaned.

It got harder to fight against the panic and imaginary pain that slowly spread across his back and at some point Avriel turned on his stomach to avoid putting more pressure on it. He tried to focus on the different kind of fabrics, the cool linen pillows, warmer flannel ones underneath, large patches of fur from sheep- Avi relaxed his hands before he formed fists again before he continued. The blanket on sop of his body, patches of warmth. His spinning mind came to a halt as he tried to figure out what on earth he was in bed with. The man reached down and couldn't help but smile softly when he found hot water bottles under a set of blankets. He was about to grab one when a hand was wrapped around his arm and pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Avi, don't touch them. Merlin. They would burn your skin" Scott said and pulled him back up to the headboard again. His face was full of concern and worry, but once Avi was lying down again with his head on the pillow he relaxed slowly. "Please don't touch them. They're covered for a reason." He got in next to the man and moved closer until he spooned him. Scott placed a soft kiss on Avi's temple and then slid his arm under Avi's to keep him close. "Sleep tight. Wake me if you need anything."

Avi stayed still for twenty minutes, until he was sure Scott was asleep. But when he turned around in his arms and looked at him he was not met by Scott's but his old Dark Arts professor's face that kept a tight grip around his body. The man gasped and quickly scrambled away. He fell off the bed and quickly got up again, stood on his shaky and weak legs when the person approached him again. When Avi checked if Scott was still in bed he found nothing but an empty spot.

That's when the pain got worse and brought him to his knees. The usually so calm and collected Potion Master begged for it to stop but when the whip cracked again he felt hot tears not only rising in his eyes but covering his cheeks as well. Avi kept begging, after every whip he sobbed and asked for forgiveness, asked for the punishment to stop, but nothing changed as his body didn't seem to listen to any commands his brain was sending out.

After what felt like forever he had crawled from the bedroom to the carpet in front of the fireplace where he, wounded and weak, allowed his limbs to give in.