From the Ashes

Item	Quantity	Price
Unicorn Tail Hair	5	12g
Goblin Toenail Shavings	1oz	4g
Clabbert Webs	4 sheets	20g
Giant's Tears	8oz	16g
Bottled Patronal Mist	2 vials	10g
Atlantean Dust	1oz	2g
Fine Italian Chocolates	1 box	25s*
Fountain of Youth Vodka	1 bottle	5g, 7s*
Amorous Caramel Truffles	1 box	1g, 17s*
Sugar Biscuits	1 tin	10s, 3k*
	Total	72g, 8s, 3k**

* will accept sharing of portions in lieu of financial reimbursement
** items I would have bought you while actually in my right mind have not been included on this invoice

who: pete and ryland
when: saturday afternoon
where: infirmary
what: love potion finally over!

Ryland had been sitting in an uncomfortable, too small chair for what felt like many more hours than it actually had been. His ass was sore and his legs were awkwardly sprawled, but he was dealing. He didn't know what Gabe had done to Pete, exactly, but he knew Pete had been unconscious for hours. Ryland was determined to be there when he woke up.

The nurse hustled by him unexpectedly, startling him out of a rather extensive daydream sequence, and he sat up sharply. "Is he awake?"

At her absent nod, he heaved himself out of his chair and followed her through the curtain that had been drawn around Pete's bed. He was, in fact, awake. Which meant Ryland would only need to yell at Gabe a *little* for all of this.

Of course, what he was really nervous about was what Pete would say when he realized Ryland was there and Gabe was not. Ryland drew the curtain closed behind him and pushed his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels anxiously and waiting while the nurse checked Pete over and handed him a potion to swallow.

who: Pete & Gabe & anyone else
when: Saturday, lunch
where: Great Hall
what: Lunch! (and experimental cure potioning!)

Breakfast had been a tense, somber affair; Pete had spent most of it sulking in the closest chair he could get to Gabe, pondering the many and varied ways in which is tiny emo heart was breaking.

Lunch wasn't a whole lot better. Gabe still didn't love him and Ryland was still upset and avoiding him. He was starting to think about painting his nails black. And maybe throwing himself off the Astronomy tower.

He picked listlessly at his plate. There was food on it, but he wasn't particularly interested in it. Gabe hadn't been there when he'd shown up, and Pete had spent so long standing there in front of the staff table trying to predict which seat Gabe would pick that people started staring. Then he realized that Gabe would probably pick the chair farthest away from Pete, and almost cried. In public. In front of students.

Who: Gabe & Pete
Where: Gabe's room
When: Late Friday night
What: OMG WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?! Ahem Pete is very confused and troubled and needs comforting? Oh god.

Gabe was having a very serious conversation with Napoleon, a rhinocerous in a tutu, and this guy he'd met in a bazaar in Tripoli when a chandalier fell on his head, and then Napoleon turned to him and said, "Heads up, bucko," and Gabe woke up with his head half under the pillow and the realisation that someone was knocking on his door. In the middle of the goddamn night? Oh fuck, the sixth years had finally actually managed to do... whatever the hell it was they were trying to do. At this hour, Gabe's imagination was virulent but non-specific, and he barely paused to drag his blanket around his shoulders before staggering across to drag the door open.

Because he'd been thinking sixth-years, his gaze was actually at the right height to, when he blinked the dazzle of the corridor torches out of his eyes, recognise... "Pete?"

Who: Gabe & William
Where: Library
When: Saturday morning
What: Grumpy and grumpier (or: this argument amuses us but probably doesn't further the quest for a cure for Pete. Oops.)

The gift basket had been incredible, Gabe wasn't going to deny it. Maybe he'd had a moment (right after the how did he get clabbert webs? moment) when he'd thought maybe the whole situation wasn't so bad. Then he'd moved a bottle of vodka to reveal pink-wrapped heart-shaped chocolates and remembered that no, no, it really was that bad. And if he'd had any lingering doubt, last night's visit would've kicked its arse.

How serious was Gabe about putting an end to it? He had a full-strength hate potion brewing in his lab right now. That serious. What the hell, right? After this long, Pete knew a lot of the worst there was to know about Gabe already, and Gabe could live with him seeing the rest.

Except he had a feeling that it wouldn't work. The complications with the melding of recipes and the deviations and... Gabe honestly had no idea whether the hate potion might not actually make it worse. Call it a last resort. Plan B.

He was pushing through the library doors this morning in search of plan A. He marched up to the front desk (well, more sort of loped, but there was definite purpose there) and without greeting or preamble launched straight into, "This time I'm not turning your help down."

[large gift basket containing various expensive (and often disgusting) (and sometimes rare) (and a few illegal) potions ingredients side by side with bottles of alcohol and tins of biscuits and chocolates. Also included: a book of love poems in Spanish]

Who: Pete and William
Where: The pool ballroom
When: Friday night
What: Not running. Please, Merlin.

William showed up to the pool room with a stack of books so tall it threatened more than once to topple when rounding corners. Most if not all of them would prove useless, he was almost certain, but it was better than nothing. The room was empty when he arrived, but he wasn't terribly worried about it. He had faith that his current method of Pete-wrangling would be a success.

The plan, such as it was, involved reading by the pool while Pete swam enough laps to exhaust him, so that he would fall right asleep and not go chasing after Gabe while he was trying to work. It wasn't the most evolved plan ever invented, but William thought it ought to suffice. He could make listening noises when appropriate, send any useful information on potions along to Gabe, and tuck Pete into bed at a relatively early hour without his chaperon duties extending to physical restraint.

He hoped they wouldn't extend to physical restraint. If necessary, though, he was fully prepared to confiscate Pete's wand and tackle him.

who: ryland and gabe
when: friday night
where: gabe's classroom
what: second night of trying to fix pete

This was taking far longer than Ryland had anticipated. Their efforts the night before had been fruitless, and so far, current efforts were proving no better. Ryland handed over another ingredient when Gabe requested it...eye of newt, tail of lizard, whatever, and scowled. "Aren't you supposed to be some extremely talented potion's master?"

Because Ryland was not convinced this was the truth. Not when they were on the second fucking night of trying to make Pete normal again.

Who: Pete & Ryland
When: Friday Afternoon
Where: Pete's classroom
What: Postponement

Pete had tried to figure out some way to get his class to help him woo Gabe. Sadly, he'd been lacking in enough imagination to come up with it, and just because he was in love didn't mean he was stupid enough to think getting his class to proofread his very romantic and adoring love poetry was a good idea.

But luckily he had free period, so he had all the time in the world to sit on his desk and turn roses into rose petals. By hand. Hundreds of them.

"Come in," he called absently, carefully plucking the petals off the rose in his hand.

Pete,

Want to go swimming in the ballroom tonight? I heard Professor Saporta complimenting your abs during dinner; I'd love for mine to look like that as well. There's no time like the present to get in shape, right?

WEB

who: ryland and william
when: after dinner
where: william's room
what: :|


Ryland was almost certain that he was not a) crazy or b) cursed. Therefore, he had no explanation for what he had just witnessed at dinner. Namely, Pete spending the whole meal gazing adoringly at Gabe, or talking adoringly at Gabe, or, finally, following Gabe adoringly out of the Great Hall.

Since he was unable to confront either Gabe or Pete about this, as they were far too busy either adoring or being adored, he jumped one more person down on the list and went to find William instead.

Surely if there was anyone else as completely at a loss over this, it had to be William. No matter how cool he and Gabe attempted to play it, Ryland had most certainly seen them making eyes at each other in very much the same way he and Pete did, so.

He marched up to William's door and knocked, sharply.

Who: Gabe and William
When: Dinner break, Thursday
Where: Just outside the library
What: Suspicion, evasion, inquisition, deception. You know, the usual.

The students had been more whisper-y than usual over the past hour or two. Most of the time William chalked this up to restlessness and the customary inability to pay attention to anything for more than a few minutes, but today heralded the somewhat unusual addition of total silence falling whenever any of them caught sight of William watching them.

This was a goal William had been striving toward for months, but now that it had been achieved, he had to admit it was making him slightly nervous. The lack of stolen glances meant that it wasn't about him, which was reassuring - after Pete's antics, he now knew exactly what that was like - but rather something they didn't want him to know. He was hoping it was something he really didn't care about anyway, i.e. which Quidditch player Pritha Chandiramani was smiling at this week, rather than something he really should find out about as soon as possible in order to prevent bloodshed and/or magical mishap.

He'd just locked the door to the library, on his way to see if anyone in the Great Hall could possibly illuminate the situation over a quick bite of dinner, when he looked up and saw that he wasn't alone in the hallway. His first thought was to hide the mongoose under his robe and possibly make a dignified run for it before anything noisy and embarrassing happened, and then he relaxed when he remembered there was not going to be any further giggling from that corner, hopefully ever again.

"Professor Saporta," he said, relieved. "Do you need something? I was about to head down to dinner."

[insert four page love poem here]

Have you delivered baked goods to the staff lounge?
Find the Potions Professor. Before he finds you.
Really.

who: Gabe & Pete
when: thursdayish, post-patronuses
what: uh oh
where: staffroom

So everything was basically back to normal; Pete's Patronus was back...wherever Patroni usually chill, his magic was back, and he was so proud of one of Gabe's Slytherins for pulling off a seriously complex Quidditch move that he could basically burst.

Also, he'd heard a rumor that there was fresh coffee. Well, it was less a rumor and more hopeful anticipation that someone had made fresh coffee. His hopes were dashed, of course, by the crusty-smelling and empty pot, but it was a simple wave of his wand to set a new pot fixing. He flopped on one of the squashy chairs across from Gabe and pulled a face at him.

"I miss my lion," he lamented. "One roar and every student would shut it immediately. It was brilliant."