Closed Bad Habits, Productive Conversation

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn had never imagined he’d come back to New Zealand, never imagine he’d reach out to his mother again but here he was. He’d found out that his mother had only had two kids with her current husband, they were now both of age and off doing something else. Celestyn’s mother was so pleased to find out she had a grandson and had immediately taken to Charlie, doing up a whole room for him, baking things, giving him money, she insisted each time Celestyn asked her to tone it down that she was making up for lost time and Celestyn didn’t have the energy for it. Unsurprisingly the house was devoid of picture of Celestyn, there were pictures of his half brothers as they grew up, none of Celestyn. His mother had been less welcome to him than to his son, which he had expected, their relationship had never been good. Each day they spent here Celestyn had to motivate himself out of bed, had to motivate him to bite back the comments. If Charlie wanted to go to school here then the relationship had to be good. But when Charlie was out exploring, he and his mother would descend into their usual bitter snide comments. He was careful to not do it around Charlie, his mother sometimes less so.

The amount of times over dinner that either Celestyn or his step-father had told her to leave it was staggering and Celestyn as a fully grown adult with a son of his own was rather frustrated with himself for feeling every jab at him. Celestyn had gone to bed early that night, but it had been for nought when an old nightmare had woken him up. It was a little past midnight but everyone else was asleep. Celestyn cast a small spell to keep his footsteps from being heard though he perhaps hadn’t cast it quickly enough. He slipped on a jumper and got himself the open bottle of vodka and a glass and headed outside to the back porch. He poured himself a small glass and then from the jumper pocket pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He’d dropped smoking when he’d moved to America, but within hours of being in New Zealand he’d bought a pack. He took one out and lit it. He took a deep inhale and then slowly let the breath back out. New Zealand was a beautiful and magic filled place, but it was not a place he enjoyed coming back to. He took the glass and took a small sip of the sharp burning liquid. Letting his emotions be washed away with it. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie hadn't been sure about going to see his grandmother. He couldn't say that unease had let up any. She was nice, to Charlie, she made him treats and seemed insistent on giving him gifts. But she was hardly as nice to his dad. Charlie didn't always notice it, but he could tell her behavior towards his dad was weird, and he could see that his dad wasn't happy being here. Charlie hadn't known what to do. Part of him was blaming himself, like this whole mess was his fault.

Charlie hadn't been sleeping well here. It was a lot different than New York, and Charlie thought it was too quiet, like a horror movie where someone or something was going to come out and murder him. He sighed, and after the first few nights of tossing and turning, he realized as he watched the moon rising in the sky that tonight would be no better.

Charlie slipped out of bed and wandered down the hall. He had meant to go to his father's room but realized as he opened the door that it was empty. He looked around for a few minutes and eventually saw his dad on the back porch. Charlie hesitated, but walked out anyway, coming up next to his dad and looking up to him. "Dad?" Charlie asked softly. He didn't know his dad smoked, and he wasn't sure what his dad was drinking but it smelled weird. It couldn't have been good for the man.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn was a little startled by the soft voice of his son. He was quick to put the glass down and stub out the cigarette. He let the smoke out as he turned to face his son a little better. ”Bud...what are you doing up?” he asked, perhaps it was the time difference. He’d planned it so as to hopefully minimise the amount of jet lag but he knew he couldn’t eliminate all of it. He was quick to pull up a chair for Charlie so he could sit with him. Between everything else, he actually hadn’t had much occasion to spend talking to Charlie, not in private and never for long. He wanted to know how he was finding it, how he was getting on, given that it would decide how much time he’d have to spend here. ”How are you finding New Zealand?”​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie smiled a little as his dad pulled up a chair. "I couldn't sleep," he responded easily, crawling up into the chair and sitting with his dad. "It's... different." He was a little hesitant, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't... really understand why we have to be here," he shifted a little. "Your mom- uh, grandma? It's like she's just... too nice. Can't we just go back to New York?" he asked, looking up to his dad.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn wasn’t too surprised that he couldn’t sleep, ”This place is very different from the apartment,” he agreed, there was little noise, there wasn’t the hum of a city, the animals, this was worlds away from that. He had to push away his slight frustration with his son as he seemed to have forgotten why they had bothered with this trip, though he knew his emotions were only heightened because of his mother, who was as Charlite commented almost too nice to Charlie. ”We’re here for that school, you know, I wanted you to be able to see how you liked it before I tried to get an application for you…” he said with a little tired smile. ”When I come to see you, I’ll stay here so that I can be rested and ready to spend time with you, so that if I’m working when you finish up, you’ll be able to stay here before I get you. Any other school bud, bar the one in America, would require us to move. Here, with my mother, we don’t have to,” he hated the fact he was having to rely on her, didn’t relish that he had to speak with her and deal with her, rekindle a relationship he’d long left. ”So, be honest with me and know you’ll never be at this house long, so, what do you think of New Zealand?” ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie could see his dad seemed frustrated and tried not to take it too personally, he was pretty sure it was something to do with Charlie's grandmother. He listened to the man speak, considering everything he was told and nodding when his dad finally asked him a question. As long as they didn't have to live here... "I like it," he spoke slowly. "I've met a couple of kids... they seem nice," he looked at his dad. "I think... the school would be okay," he looked down, fidgeting a little with his fingers. He was terrible with this kind of thing. "I... I'm really going to miss you, though, dad," he spoke a little shyly, feeling a blush heat his cheeks.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn nodded along with what Charlie was saying, he had to admit this wasn’t what he’d expected, he had somewhat hoped that he’d decide America was right, but if he like it, the kids seemed nice then this was where he should go. Celestyn didn’t know enough about the magical school in America to give more information. He only knew about this one more because he’d almost done his NEWTs at it. Regardless of how he felt, if this was what Charlie was more keen on then he’d do it. ”Well, course, I’ll miss you too, but it’ll fly by and you’ll see me whenever you can, and I’ll get you your own owl so you can write to me whenever and I’ll always write back,” he said, the last part said very definitely as a promise. He would write back every time, to every letter no matter how short. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie was unsure about the thought of getting his own owl but he nodded, he'd probably write to his dad at the very least once a week, and he would try to get good grades. Charlie yawned, rubbing his eyes, and looked up at his dad. "Dad? Um... Can I sleep with you tonight?" He asked, looking up to the man with sleepy eyes.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn gave a smile to his son and nodded, ”Sure bud, I’m probably going to be out here just a little longer, so just head on upstairs to bed and I’ll come join you,” he said, he leaned forward and place a quick kiss on his son’s head and then pulled away. He took another sip of his drink and knew that once Charlie was off to bed he’d probably grab another cigarette before heading to bed himself, he needed the air before he knew he’d be able to sleep properly. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie nodded, his eyes already dropping a little bit. He smiled softly, leaning into his dads touch a little bit. He yawned and stood, rubbing his eyes. He started for the door, but stopped, turning again to look back at his dad. "Dad, um... that creepy guy with the chainsaw or that masked guy from Scream, they aren't... gunna just pop out and try to kill us while we're sleeping, right?" He asked, a little shyly, kinda worried his dad would think he was being silly. Charlie couldn't help it, the quiet house just seemed too much like a horror movie set up.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn gave a little frown, ”No nothing’s going to pop out and kill us while we sleep, none of that is real for one, and two this house has the proper protection wards,” Celestyn assured him but he knew he was going to have to pay closer attention to what Charlie was watching. Perhaps removing him from muggle school will have helped this, no longer interacting with peers that might’ve seen it, after all, he wasn’t sure they had such things in the house. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie shook his head. "But everyone says that the chainsaw movie was based on a real story, and this older boy Danny, he says that there are lots of masked guys that like hide in the woods and stuff," he frowned, running a hand through his hair. "I'm gunna go crawl in bed, though, you could probably beat up those weirdos anyway," he laughed lightly, having complete confidence now that he was sleeping in his dads room that everything would be alright. He said goodnight to his dad and turned, opening up the door so he could go back inside.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn rolled his eyes, ”Yeah, they always say that, it’s almost never true, and anyway, no monster is going to stand a chance against your dad’s magic,” Celestyn told him. He really hoped that Charlie wouldn’t let those kind of things plague his mind too much. He nodded at the words, ”See exactly, I’ve spent enough time in New York that I can defend myself against some muggle monster.” He assured him, ”Night son, love you,” he said as the boy headed back inside. He waited until he was sure he could hear him going up the stairs that he took a long sigh, taking out another cigarette and taking a long drag, he’d be up there soon enough. ​