Freaks: Year Two

Lost

Referenced abuse.

Toby, Ethan, and Francis were in the Apothecary. They were instructed by Jasper to stay there while he and Harry looked for Edgar in the apparently quite scary Knockturn Alley. Toby was hesitant to let them go alone but at least they had magic to defend themselves and someone needed to watch the other two and of course, that duty would fall to him. 

Francis was by the window, looking at all the owls that passed giving them a wave with every passing one and Ethan kept touching the breakable items of the shop which was almost everything as all the ingredients were in glass bottles or glass vials which left Toby rushing to different shelves back and forth around the shop before they could drop to the ground. After scolding Ethan about touching things and racing through the aisles, Toby went over to check on Francis as he was the one who tended to get distracted by flying creatures and wanted to ensure that he would stay inside.

Alabaster was also in the same shop, his eyes scanning over everything, nervously. As soon as he had left Ollivanders he had felt this ache in his stomach that had yet to go away. In fact, it had gotten worse knowing that his cousins were in another shop probably having a nice time shopping while he was all alone feeling nauseous.

What he needed was to get potion supplies for the class, but the labels were hard to read, plus he was quite overwhelmed by all the people in the shop. So much noise, and it would not stop.

Ethan was looking at a book about ingredients that undid the effects of poison when he bumped into Alabaster. Ethan looked up and saw the spooked look on his face. "Why do you look so scared?"

Alabaster flushed now quite embarrassed. "I'm not..."

"Have you never been here before or something?" Ethan asked.

"I have not been in the shop, no," Alabaster said taking a potion ingredient down but he could not stop thinking about the fact that he was now talking to a person. A person that wasn't his family! He was so worried that he'd mess up at being what his family called normal. He just needed to act natural and have a normal conversation with this boy. "I am preparing for Hogwarts, it's my first year."

Alabaster thought he was succeeding thus far.

Ethan nodded. "Still doesn't explain why you looked so scared." He gave a crooked smile toward Alabaster. "Do you think I'm going to eat you, or something? Boo!"

Alabaster stared at him, bewildered. Eat? "What are you doing? Why are you booing me?"

Ethan grinned at this very odd little kid. He must have been eleven if he was going into first year, as he had listened to Jasper's long-winded explanation about why he was a year older than the kids in his own year putting the normal first year age at eleven but Ethan was still the same height as the kid in front of him and Ethan liked to think he was tall. "Trying to scare you, don't worry about it."

Alabaster bit his lip, nervously. Why was this boy trying to scare him? Was this one of the many things his parents warned him about? He quickly decided it would be best to continue with his school shopping so he turned back to the label on the potion bottle and he squinted trying to read it.

"Do you need glasses?" Ethan asked, watching this.

Alabaster looked up. "What?"

Ethan shrugged and nabbed the bottle away from him. "Whoa, a toad leg! So cool – I mean, it's fine." He handed it back to Alabaster. Despite this kid being odd, he was a wizard, and Ethan wanted to be cool in front of a wizard. He didn't want to be seen as the person who didn't know anything about magic. He wanted to be perceived as a very cool wizard like everyone else in the shop. He didn't want anyone to think he was different. He didn't want it to be like school and this was a chance to change that.