“Now for the moment of truth,” Sebastian said. He was obviously nervous and Ambrose didn’t blame him. If this canvas didn’t fit into the Triptych…

“It has to fit,” Ambrose said.

He approached the triptych and lined up the canvas with the panel on the right side. As soon as he laid it out the canvas piece grew and mended itself until it fit the space so well it was like it had never left it. Ambrose heard Sebastian sigh in relief behind him.

The new view was a coastline, specifically a cliff face with trees lining the top. Ambrose had no idea where it was. He was incredibly lucky Sebastian grew up in the Hogwarts area or they would be completely lost.

“I don’t suppose you recognize the location in this bit of canvas?” Ambrose asked.

“The good news is, I do, in fact,” Sebastian answered.

“And the bad news?”

“We’re in for more trouble.”

Now it was Ambrose’s turn to sigh, though not in relief. Of course. Why could nothing be simple? Why did he have to blast his way through goblins and poachers to complete even simple tasks like retrieving a piece of a portrait?

“I know that coast,” Sebastian told him. There was an edge to his voice Ambrose didn’t like. “Ranrok has taken over a huge mine and the surrounding area. Marunweem has suffered for it. It’s as bad as Feldcroft’s become. Should we head there now?”

Ambrose’s impulse was to say yes and just go to get it over with. What was one more of Ranrok’s messes to clean up? After that he was sure there’d be another. Better to get on top of it and get the job done than whine about it.

Unless there was a better way. Maybe instead of cleaning up all of Ranrok’s messes Ambrose could stop him from making them at all. He already had another pair of eyes that would suit that exact purpose.

“We should wait,” Ambrose suggested.

“Why?” Sebastian demanded. Ambrose narrowed his eyes at the tone but he let it slide like he always did. Sebastian always got touchy around the subject of Ranrok and goblins, but Ambrose knew Sebastian well enough to know touchy was all it would be.

“We’ve been a step behind Ranrok this whole time,” Ambrose pointed out. “I may know someone who could help us get ahead.”

“Who is that?” Sebastian asked. See, he was already more on edge than angry, which was progress.

“A friendly goblin,” Ambrose said, completely thoughtlessly. Maybe the rest of the situation could have been avoided had he put a little more thought into his words and the boy in front of him. “He won’t-”

“A friendly goblin?” Sebastian exclaimed. “You know goblins cursed my sister to shut her up. Said she should be ‘seen and not heard’.”

Ambrose did know that. He bit back another sigh. Sighing seemed to be all he did nowadays.

“I do,” Ambrose replied patiently. “But not all goblins-”

“Not all goblins what?!” Sebastian cried. “Have you forgotten Feldcroft? Have you forgotten the mine we just went through?”

Ambrose felt his fingers clenching into a fist as he tried to control his frustration. Sometimes Sebastian reacted in anger in a way he didn’t mean. All Ambrose had to do was stay calm and the anger would pass. But with Sebastian continuing to interrupt him he wasn’t sure how long his patience would hold.

Ambrose hated being angry. It made him feel dirty and wrong. He especially hated acting on his anger. That made him feel like his mother. His patience was his virtue. It kept him calm, collected, and had saved multiple tense situations from escalating.

But over the last few months he hadn’t been able to wish away his anger. He pushed it away but it just stored itself in the back of his mind. His frustration, exhaustion, irritation, even the pure rage he felt when the Poachers attacked his brother. He was on the edge of snapping already and Sebastian was making it hard.

“No, Sebastian, I haven’t,” Ambrose assured him. “But you aren’t listening to me.”

“Why would I listen to someone so ignorant?!”

Ambrose swung.

His fist collided with Sebastian’s jaw, sending him stumbling into the wall behind him. Before he even realized what he was doing Ambrose swung again, hitting him in the temple and leaving him sprawled on the ground.

“How fucking dare you,” Ambrose growled. “Ignorant? Me?! After everything I’ve done for you? I was right there next yo uou through your tempter tantrums and outbursts and stupid decisions, having your back you ungrateful child. I ask you for this one thing, to have an open mind and be reasonable, and you called me ignorant?!”

“You are so full of spite and bitterness you don’t even see it. How your darkness infects everyone around you. How ignorant you are. I clung to you anyway, so sure I could help you. For once not because I thought it was my responsibility, but because I wanted to because for some reason I care about you. I wanted to be your light but now I’m not even sure you deserve it. You don’t deserve my patience. You don’t deserve my trust. And after that you don’t deserve my friendship.”

“Then keep it!” Sebastian shouted back. “I don’t want it anymore if you’re going to think like this! I don’t want to be saved! I don’t need saved! Anne does! And if you aren’t going to help me get justice for her or save her then stay out of my life.”

Ambrose wanted to stay. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe to apologize. Maybe to yell more. Maybe to try and reason with him. But none of those things happened. None of those things would matter. Sebastian would hear none of them. So he left Sebastian there on a floor with an already forming bruise on his jaw and Ambrose’s broken heart right next to him.

He didn’t really expect anyone to look for him. No one else knew what happened to him. He assumed he could spend the rest of the night right where he was and just gather himself in the morning. As always, he underestimated his boyfriend.

When Ominis found him the Room of Requirement had been completely torn apart. As soon as Ambrose had stormed in he’d sent Deek away so the house elf wouldn’t have to see it, then he started throwing things to the ground and casting every destructive curse he knew. By the time he’d sank to the ground on the staircase, broken and defeated, there was nothing left intact.

His desk was in charred pieces. The potions stations had been demolished, spilling ingredients, glass phials, and deformed cauldrons onto the floor. Dirt covered half the room after he cast bombarda at his plants. Most of them were on fire now. The banners and statues he used to decorate the room had been torn apart.

When the door opened Ambrose didn’t bother to move other than to turn his head. Ominis stood there, wand lit with red light. He seemed frozen, trying to take in however much of the damage his wand could pick up. Ambrose wanted to warn him to be careful since he wouldn’t be able to see things like embers and glass, but his voice didn’t seem to work.

“Reparo,” Ominis casted. The spell worked perfectly. He’d need new ingredients and seeds but everything else fixed itself right before his eyes, down to the Slytherin banners on the wall. He felt sick looking at them now. His brain kept going back to the Scriptorium, where he’d let Sebastian torture him only for everything to end like this.

“Ambrose?” Ominis called into the room, grip on his wand so tight Ambrose could see his white knuckles from across the room. Right, Ambrose probably blended into the chaos Ominis had fixed for him.

“Over here,” Ambrose muttered.

Ominis approached him, putting a hand out to feel the staircase. He slid down to sit next to Ambrose. For a few minutes nothing happened. Neither of them moved or spoke or even touched. Just being around Ominis helped him relax some. It was hard to be angry around him. Not that he had much anger left. Now he just felt lost. At least with Ominis he didn’t feel alone.

“What happened?” Ominis asked quietly.

“Sebastian Sallow,” Ambrose answered, but calling his mumbles speech may be a stretch.

“I see,” Ominis sighed.

There was very little Ambrose had enjoyed about his journey to Hogwarts the previous year. But he had a feeling that he should be glad he skipped on visiting Diagon Alley. The place seemed lively and warm and like it should be quite fun, if only you weren't two children sentenced to navigate it on your own your first time being there.

"Ambrose!" Cas exclaimed and Ambrose felt a sharp pain in his ankle.

"Ow! Did you just kick me?" Ambrose complained.

"Yes, I did, because you've been too busy worrying to actually walk," Cas said.

"Alright, alright, you grindylow, let's go," Ambrose rolled his eyes. 

He double checked his wand was still in his very rushed bun then set off down the alley. He made sure to hold onto Cas with one hand, so as to not lose the much much shorter boy in the late summer crowd. It seemed every Hogwarts student and their mothers were in Diagon Alley that day. To be fair, Ambrose and Cas were doing their shopping rather late too. Term started in a week after all, but it took Ambrose this long to arrange for his parents to actually get them to Diagon Alley. He just hoped that certain…legal matter had been settled.

They got to Gringotts and thankfully they were escorted right back to Professor Fig's vault. Well, not quite thankfully. While he was of course thankful to his mentor for leaving him the money in his vault, he much preferred having the man alive and well. Still, he got the money he thought he'd need for his and Cas's supplies and left the rest in Fig's vault. Or, he supposed it was his vault now.

Now to figure out where the hell he was going. Gringotts was damn easy to find but he didn't even know what shops he was looking for, much less where they were. 

"Okay I do know there's an Ollivander's somewhere around here," Ambrose said but he was pretty much thinking aloud. "So let's start with your wand and see what other stores we spot looking for it, alright?"

"FUCK YEAH!"

"Oh I am going to regret this," Ambrose chuckled. 

The pair trotted off down the street, more wandering than anything. han anything. The leather pouch full of coins felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket, right along with the two supply lists. At least he only had to buy books for himself, though he did need some new quills. Cas needed a uniform, his books, a wand, cauldron, telescope, scales, parchment, quills…it was fine. Ambrose could pull this off. God the Wizarding World was hard enough to get used to when he only had to worry about himself. He missed his field guide. 

“Oh finally,” Ambrose sighed in relief. “Ollivander’s.” 

Ambrose steered them into the shop and rang the bell. He heard a noise from above and looked up to see Anton Ollivander leaning precariously over the balcony railing towards one of the shelves.

“I’ll be down in just one mome-” Mr Ollivander began. But a wand box fell from the shelf and hit the ground, opening the box and setting off the wand which of course fired some sort of magic right at the balcony railing turning it into something that looked suspiciously like chalk. It crumbled beneath Mr. Ollivander’s weight and Ambrose barely saw the chalk crack before he whipped out his wand.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” Ambrose cried, catching the wandmaker in mid air. He carefully lowered Mr. Ollivander to the ground. Then he switched gears, casting reparo on the railing and following it up with a quick alteration spell, turning it back into wood. 

"That was terribly embarassing, wasn't it?" Mr. Ollivander laughed. "Grovend Ollivander, now at your service."

Mr. Ollivander's gaze drifted to Ambrose's wand as he stuck it back in his bun.

"How strange," Mr. Ollivander hummed. "I don't seem to remember your wand. Or you."

"I got it at the Ollivanders in Hogsmeade," Ambrose said. "I started Hogwarts as a 5th and couldn't get to Diagon Alley because my, my professor was helping me catch up. Then on the way to Hogwarts there was an incident with a dragon...it's a long story. It's uh, Aspen wood and a Phoenix feather."

"My my, that is quite the powerful wand," Mr. Ollivander nodded. "You must be a force to be reckoned with. However if you already have one, I assume the wand you are here to find is for this young man?"

"Yes sir," Everett said. He was already grinning ear to ear and Ambrose could tell he'd be shaking his hands if they weren't clenched into fists.

"Then let us begin our search!" Mr. Ollivander clapped.

He moved to the shelves and shelves stuffed to the brim with wand boxes, Everett right on his heels. Ollivander hummed as he scanned the boxes. There were multiple times we're he reached for one only to shake his head at the last second. After at least a full minute he finally pulled a box off the shelf and offered it to Everett.

"Pine wood and unicorn hair," Ollivander said. "Let's try this, shall we?"

Everett took the wand and glanced at Ambrose.

"Flick it," Ambrose chuckled.

Everett flicked the wand and the entire thing erupted in angry red flames. Everett shrieked and dropped it. Ambrose immediately rushed to his side, grabbing his hands to inspect them for burns. Thankfully he found nothing. A sigh of relief left him and he quickly kissed Everett's forehead, more for his own reassurance honestly.

"Aquamenti!" Ollivander exclaimed, putting out the wand with a gush of water. Somehow the thing remained completely unscorched. He picked it up by the tip with two fingers like he was worried it would ignite again. No more flames showed up so he put it back in the box and put it on a shelf as far from Everett as he could.

"Not that one," Ollivander told them, like that wasn't obvious. He knew it wasn't the old man's fault but Ambrose still felt the urge to smack him upside the head with a wand box.

Ollivander checked the shelves again, this time grabbing a box and just handing the whole thing to Everett.

"Try that one," Ollivander said. "Larch wood and phoenix feather, quite versatile."

Ambrose also took a step to the side just to be safe.

"And this one won't set on fire?" Everett checked.

"The chances of it doing so are miniscule I assure you," Ollivander claimed. "Even if it is an I'll match, the likelihood of two wands having the same negative reaction are infinitesimal."

Everett went to flick the wand but before he could even bring it down, the thing shot out of his hand towards the ceiling before falling back down.

"At least nothing is on fire?" Ambrose offered.

"Shush," Everett waved him off. He carefully put the wand in the box and handed the box back to Ollivander.

In return Ollivander handed him a third box. Just like the last two this one (Willow and dragon heartstring) rejected him. Everett was starting to look more and more rejected as they went through another two wands, meaning he'd tried five wands with horrible reactions each time.

"Is it possible for a wizard to have no wand match?" Everett wondered, barely hiding the light quiver in his voice.

"It's never happened before," Ollivander replied. "Yet we are running out...oh!"

Ollivander rushed to the back and came back with a wand that didn't even have a box. It was a bit paler than Ambrose's wand, but not quite white. It had rings leading up to the hand, which turned into a crooked swirl of light and dark brown.

"This is a Dogwood wand with an...experimental core," Ollivander told them. "I've long believed there were other possibilities for cores beyond the three wandmakers have become comfortable with. I was experimenting with this one. I only just finished it this morning. It's core is made from the ash of an ashwinder."

Everett stepped forward with an almost glazed look in his eyes. He took the wand with a severance and care Ambrose had never seen before. This time when he swished it a beautiful stream of lights explodes from the tip, dancing around the shop in every color Ambrose could imagine, and even some he couldn't.

"The perfect match," Ollivander was grinning like a kid on Christmas, which was a rather odd look on such an aged man. "Take it, on me. Consider it thanks for proving my theory correct."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Ollivander," Ambrose said.

"I'll put it to good use," Everett promised. He was practically vibrating in pure joy, bouncing on his toes and vigorously shaking the hand that wasn't clutching his wand.

"Come on little firefly," Ambrose laughed, wrapping his arm around Everett's shoulders to steer him out of the shop before his excitement lit something else on fire. "I take it you like it?"

"It's a magic fucking wand Ambrose!" Everett giggled. "Yes I like it! And I used it! Because I'm a freaking wizard!"

"Yeah you are," Ambrose ruffled Everett's hair only to get shrieked at. "What do you think, books next?"

"Ambrose?"

Ambrose stopped mid step, immediately searching the crowds for that oh so welcome and oh so familiar voice. Within moments Sebastian appeared in front of them and Ambrose didn't hesitated to drag him into his arms. Just having Sebastian close melted all the tension from his system. All his worries about the crowds, the money, and his parents just faded away. It was the first time he'd felt a feeling of home since the term ended.

"Merlin I've missed you," Sebastian murmured into Ambrose's shoulder. "Have you been okay? It hasn't been too bad, has it?"

"I told you I'd send you an owl if it was," Ambrose reminded him, still not surfacing from Sebastian's hair.

"I also know your definition of bad is much lower than it should be," Sebastian pointed out. Ambrose finally pulled back to cup Sebastian's face in his hands, tilting it back and forth to look him over. As hard as he'd tried, he hadn't been able to find a way for Sebastian to stay with him over the summer. "I'm fine, Rose."

"Quiet you," Ambrose shushed him. Eventually he was satisfied and let his hands drop to Sebastian's shoulders as Sebastians arms were still around his waist.

"Like I said, I'm fine," Sebastian swore. "I've been working and staying at the Leaky Cauldron to have a roof over my head. Got just enough extra money for my supplies this year."

"Okay good, I'm glad!"

"Hi there!" Everett chirped from behind him.

"Fuck," Ambrose muttered and stepped to the side, but Sebastian still kept an arm around his waist. "This is Everett."

"Your brother?" Sebastian's eyebrows shot up and almost disappeared into his bangs.

"Yeah, him," Ambrose nodded. "Ev, this is my boyfriend-"

"Ominis or Sebastian?" Everett cut him off, eyes now narrowed. Was he threatening? How was he threatening?

"Sebastian," Sebastian answered with a chuckle.

Everett's eyes narrowed further and before Ambrose realized what he was doing, the hem of Sebastian's robes was engulfed in flame.

"Ow!" Sebastian cried as he threw his robes onto the ground to escape the flames.

"Everett!" Ambrose scolded. But Everett just stood there glaring at Sebastian with his arms crossed, four feet and nine inches of 11 year old rage.

"Don't call my brother ignorant," Everett warned.

"Trust me I have apologized for that at length," Sebastian swore. "Multiple times."

Everett glanced at Ambrose who nodded, and suddenly Everett was his normal lighthearted self, holding his hand out for Sebastian to shake.

"Nice to meet you then," Everett grinned. Sebastian hesitantly shook his hand. "You know Diagon Alley?"

"Pretty well, if I say so myself," Sebastian said.

"Good because Ambrose is lost," Everet informed him.

"I am not lost," Ambrose protested. "I just...haven't found everything yet."

"We only have my wand."

"Don't make me hold on to it until next week."

"You suck."

Ambrose sighed, trying to ignore Sebastian snickering next to him.

"Fine, I guess some help would be appreciated," Ambrose admitted.