WHO: A motley crew WHAT: There's a storm a brewin' WHERE: Hogsmeade WHEN: Now!
He had not dressed for a blizzard.
Louis trudged past the storefronts of Hogsmeade, trying to, firstly, see more than a foot in front of him and secondly, wrap his mind around what was happening. Jack had told him to put on his ‘bad weather’ cloak. In April, that usually meant rain or bad wind.
But a blizzard? The quick quip of ‘a dark wizard’s getting his jollies off’ from Jack didn’t help much, and the harsh rain had turned into sleet, then to snow, and now---
“Oy!” Louis exclaimed. A piece of hail the size of a bludger dropped down on his shoulder and he pushed against the glass of the nearest store to take shelter under its awning. He watched as the hail crashed down into the pavement, inching closer to the sidewalk until it began to pelt the fabric above. Louis dared a quick lookup and groaned at the sight of rips already beginning to tear through.
Dark-magic-induced-blizzard-hail. What else could bloody go wrong?
He ducked to the side and grabbed the handle of the front door, struggling to pull it open against the winds of the blizzard. Hail began to break through the awning, and with one large tug, Louis pulled the door open far enough to sneak in. The door shut swiftly behind him and his chattering teeth filled the quiet.
For a moment.
“Now it’s a fucking party.”
Louis’ wand went up in surprise, eyes wide at the sound of another’s voice, but he dropped it quickly at the sight of---
“Jake,” he breathed. Jake Bexley was standing arms crossed and looking irritated behind the counter (Honeydukes, he’d recognize the smell anywhere). Seeing him made sense; Dark Magic meant aurors were all over the scene.
And as if they could hear his thoughts, another auror was in his view. Kera had appeared on his other side and began what seemed to be the auror’s version of a check-up (a Dark Magic scan, perhaps?). Louis wiped some of the frost from his eyes and looked about the store as she worked, thinking that he hadn’t been here in quite some time and that it looked the same as when---
“Oy,” he involuntarily (loudly) let out at the sight of Adian, further back in the shop. Louis felt frozen (literally and figuratively, now), eyes locked on the hit-wizard. Was he okay? How long had he been in the storm? Louis didn’t look away as he asked Kera (voice a little quieter, now), “How long have you been here?”
Kera glimpsed Adian slink back, further into his corner of the shop and farther away from his friends. She pulled her lips into a tight line, flicked her gaze toward Jake, and returned to checking over Louis. Keeping her gloves on, she worked through looking him over.
“Not long,” Kera said as she waved her wand idly over Louis’ head. What stubborn ice remaining in his hair melted away and Kera stepped back, pocketing her wand. She glanced again at Jake over her shoulder before continuing.
“Thunderstorm tornado on South forced us in here. Adian got separated from his unit.” Did she believe that? No, but she didn’t particularly care to entertain whatever Adian felt like hiding at a time like this. Kera nudged her chin toward Louis, her eyes locking on his Mediwizard bag.
“What are you doing out here?” Last she heard, the mediwizards had been pulled back to the train station. “You have any migraine-away draughts with you?”
“I went into Zonko’s because I thought I heard someone calling for help,” he mumbled, “but it was one of their diversion whizzbies going off. Then the blizzard started.”
Louis almost mindlessly reached into his bag to grab the draught, it had become something like second nature, knowing exactly where everything was in his bag. He moved to hand the vial to Kera without looking, but then he pulled his hand back.
“Migraine?” he asked, finally pulling his gaze away from the darkness of the back of the store. Louis looked Kera up and down and from the corner of his eye, he saw Jake’s head lift and he looked toward them. She didn’t seem to have suffered any injuries, but sometimes the worst ones were those you couldn’t see. “Does anyone need help?”
Jack’s voice rang in his head, his stern advice that he, Louis, be the judge of someone’s well-being. Whether or not these three would actually allow him to do that, however…
“Well---I should run a check on everyone, regardless…”
Kera lifted her brow and shifted her weight to the other foot. Since when did having headaches constitute a medical check-up in the field? She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from Louis’ hand.
“I’m fine,” Kera responded with a shrug. If getting rid of her temple pain meant getting poked and prodded by Louis here, now, with this crowd, then her head didn’t hurt that much.
“Just a headache.” Kera leaned back on her heel, opening up her and Louis’ line of sight to Jake. She looked him up and down. “Jake?”
Louis held back a sigh as Jake dropped his gaze back down to the counter. His gut was telling him to insist on a checkup, as there was dark magic in the air (it could’ve infected skin, their lungs, or…), but forcing strangers to listen was hard enough, let alone three very strong-willed friends. With Adian nowhere to be seen, it seemed like a rather fruitless fight to make right now. It felt against what he’d normally push to do on the field (perhaps Jack’s bedside manner had rubbed off on him), but these were his friends, and…
He put the draught on the top of an aisle end-cap for Kera to take when or if she needed it. A migraine was concerning, but...they were professionals, yeah? If they needed help they’d ask him for it.
A loud crackle of thunder shook the building, causing Louis to look over his shoulder and out toward the streets. They were going to be here a while, weren’t they? His lips pressed together and he nodded at Kera before making his way to the back of the candy store. Louis knew it would eat at him if he didn’t at least offer Adian some help, and while the help being accepted didn’t feel likely, he had to try.
Adian glanced up as Louis slowly approached. His eyes never wavered from Louis as he made way down the sweets aisle toward him, watching each step in heavy silence. He leaned harder against the wall, unmoving with his face flat and shoulders hunched even when Louis stopped in front of him.
“Hey,” Louis said. To not allow a moment of predicted awkwardness, Louis dug straight into his bag. “I wanted to make sure you were okay, that everyone was... it’s rough out there, so--”
He cut himself off at the sight Adian’s hands.
“That’s gotta sting,” Louis said with a wince. Frostbite, maybe? He paused and tried to quickly look Adian over for any other injuries. “I’ve got a balm that’ll help. If you want it.”
He knew nothing had changed since he rushed in here, but still, Adian attempted to unlock his fingers. They, like the rest of his hand, remained locked in place from… well… he supposed, the cold. Wasn’t it frostbite when you couldn’t feel anything? Adian knew he should’ve brought his gloves, Sturgis had said to, but he hadn’t… there hadn’t been time.
Adian let out a breath, something between a huff and a sigh as he thought over Louis’ offer. He sucked in his cheek to bite on it, keen to ignore the heavy uncomfortable weight stirring in his stomach.
“Yeah. Sure,” Adian finally let out, half-heartedly twisting his wrists to look over his hands once more. He needed his hands, he needed to be able to hold his wand when it was finally safe to go back outside.
Despite accepting the help, Adian kept his head down, unable to look at Louis higher than the bottom of his chin (that hadn’t stopped him, however, from noting Louis’ glasses). He cleared his throat of a lodge that hadn’t been there moments earlier and gingerly lifted his hands up a little higher. “Sure.”
How many times in his life had he grabbed hold of Adian’s hands? Out of excitement, or fear, or to look at that! or let’s go this way! It felt so strange to be hesitant, but being in his work robes helped push past that peculiar anxiety.
“It’s going to feel like the tingles when your hand falls asleep, at first. Times ten.” Louis frowned, but looked empathetic, “That’s the healing element, it goes by fast. Then it’ll warm and feel good. Times ten.”
He risked a glance up to make sure his help was still being accepted, and not being able to catch Adian’s eye caused a light, quick droop of his shoulders. Louis nodded and gingerly spread the balm on the back of Adian’s hands.
“When you can bend your fingers, massage it into your palm, cover everything up.” He stood-by to watch, to offer more help if needed. Then, a quick glance at a shelf over Adian’s shoulder prompted an idea. Louis reached for a small foil bag with flames coursing up its sides. “Pepper Imps are good for frostbite too, actually.”
He tore the bag open with his mouth, then froze, Pepper Imps bag dangling between his teeth; would Jake consider this stealing? After a beat and no alarming sounds from the auror, Louis took the bag and placed it on a shelf to Adian’s side.
“Well...if you need anything, I’ll be around,” Louis said with a light wave of his hand. With the seeming strength of the continuing storm outside, he looked about to find a place to bunker down. As he walked away, Adian lifted his gaze to watch Louis unseen once more. He grimaced, a new pain blossoming in his hands.