ASHER ʜᴀs ᴇɴᴛᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴀssʀᴏᴏᴍ
with startling clarity, gawain remembers the time he first met lianna's nephew, asher. a child who was naught but a scrawny thing, with long limbs && a mop of sable hair hiding his eyes. the need to protect the child was an irrational one, but perhaps that stems from how he wanted to be the guardian he wanted as a child for this young one.
but as fate would have it, gawain wouldn't be seeing the boy any time soon. not until many years later when he catches lianna arguing with someone over the phone one night, tears trailing over her cheeks. he caught the tail end of the conversation, but he hears that name once again,falling from his wife's lips like a mournful prayer.
"he's a wizard," lianna had muttered as they lay in bed. "he's alone...they just doesn't understand—"
"i'll take care of it," he replies earnestly, pressing a kiss between her brows to ease her mind. "he's family, and we take care of our own."
he doesn't regret breaking the boy out of his childhood home that was more of a prison than a safe haven. he willingly suffered the repercussions of his actions, but he would have done it again in a heartbeat. every wizard && witch deserved to tap into their potential, to grow.
pulling on a jumper whilst ending his stroll down memory lane, he casts a warming charm over himself when he exits his quarters to brave hogwart's cold halls. he didn't want to spend christmas alone this year like he had the last few years since his wife's passing.
entering the great hall, his eyes fall upon the hufflepuff table, relieved to find his nephew there. closing the distance between them, gawain settles onto the bench across from the seventh year.
"hello asher," he greets the boy with a smile. "any plans for the holidays?"
