Closed Where I Belong

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie had missed this apartment so much. He hurried inside while his dad moved to start on dinner. Charlie felt so hungry, nothing at school had ever tasted so good as the traditional dishes his dad made. Charlie showered quickly, feeling more relaxed than he had since he'd started school. He took a moment after he was done to just fall into his bed and listen to the sounds of the city. This was nice, he felt like himself again. He hurried into the kitchen, sitting down at the table and smiling broadly at his dad. "That smells amazing, dad," Charlie chattered, unbelievably pleased to be speaking Finnish again, bouncing in his chair. "Do you need help cooking? I can help," he offered. He'd missed his dad horribly, and if he was being honest Charlie just wanted to sleep with his dad and cuddle him all of break. He had missed his room, sure, but he missed his dad the most.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn had found the silence of the house in the last few month interesting. It had been weird, he had missed his son dearly, it was the longest and furtherest they'd ever been apart. He had found it difficult to stay there, he had been out a lot, connected with friends, spent lots of time working, and then the months had all passed and now his son was back. It was as if nothing had changed but a whole six months had passed. He looked relaxed and at ease back in his home but he knew the semester hadn't been the easiet. "Nah it's okay bud, it's almost done, you could set the table though?" Celestyn replied easily in finnish, he had made some old family staples, things that he knew Charlie wouldn't have gotten at school. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie nodded easily, hopping up and walking over to the cupboard. It wasn't as high up as he remembered. Had he gotten taller? He shook the thought, gathering plates and glasses and silverware and moving back to the table. "What have I missed? Have you been busy?" He asked, curious what his dad had been up to. "Did you save me copies of all your articles and stuff?" He set the table before grabbing a mountain dew from the fridge for him and going to sit down.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn smiled fondly at the questions, shaking his head lightly. "All I do is work, it's all very boring," he had copies of what he'd written and would give it to Charlie after the meal. He looked at him, "But tell me about school," he asked. he brought some of the food to the table and placed it onto Charlie's plate before sitting down in the other chair. "Tell me about Hufflepuff, about your classes, friends?" He asked, switching to english but he didn't mind if Charlie kept speaking in Finnish. ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie frowned, almost ready to protest that his dads work was never boring. But his dad placed his food on his plate before he could, and that distracted him immediately. Charlie dove into the meal, moaning softly. It was absolutely amazing, and it was several moments of wolfing down his food before he stopped to take a drink. "Um, school," he started, switching back like his dad did without a thought, taking another bite and thinking about his time away. "The hufflepuff common room is kinda cool, it's really comfortable," he shrugged. "Uh, there's a kid named Parker, he's cool, we talk a lot and stuff. And Eugene, he's my roommate, he's like musical and stuff, I help him with his tie like twice a week." Charlie was just inhaling his food, clearing his plate in no time. "Can I have some more please?"

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn could note perhaps the slight hesitance to talk about it, but perhaps that was just his hunger. He knew that Charlie had been skeptical about school and hoped that he would try his best with it and engage with it. Celestyn knew that staying at home was less fun, it was lonely and difficult. "Course bud," he told him as he asked for more, but he didn't serve him, just letting Charlie serve himself. "What kinda things do you and Parker talk about?" he asked, he didn't need to know any specifics but it would be interesting for him to hear about it. "Did Eugene's parents not show him how to tie a tie before sending him off to a school with a tie?" he said it lightly, thinking it was good of his son to help his roommate out, but could imagine it would be easier for them to just know how to do it. "And the classes aren't too hard?"​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie didn't hesitate, stacking his plate again before moving to scarf it down. "I really missed your cooking," he commented around a mouthful of food, taking a minute to down half of his drink. He shrugged. "We mostly complain about school, like we get textbooks that try to eat us but no math, phones don't work. Stuff like that," he didn't think anything of it. When his dad asked about Eugene, Charlie shook his head. "I don't think he has any," he took a bite of his food. "I think his mom died and he doesn't have a dad, he talks about a cousin but," Charlie shrugged again. "He's really happy all the time though, he's really great," Charlie took a large bite of his food.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn chuckled lightly, "If I could send some I would, maybe I'll just get you some recipe books you can show the elves," he knew it wouldn't be the same as the homecooked meals that Charlie probably wanted, but it could be close enough. He gave a little smile, "And here I thought no longer having to do maths would be a plus," Celestyn couldn't say if he would've thought the same if he'd gone to a magical school and ditched all those other subjects but he thought it was a little sweet how much Charlie had taken on from the partial muggle life they'd been surrounded by. Celestyn gave a sympathetic smile and noise at the stuff about the other boy. Feeling a moment of love for his son and being able to see him grow up. he knew that Charlie didn't have a mother around, but they still had each other and that counted for a lot. "Poor kid, I'm glad he manages to be happy. We should invite them round," he said, "What about your classes? Tell me about the how the article went? I hope you brought a copy of the Monthly so we can pin it to the fridge," ​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie nodded enthusiastically. "I can learn myself too, maybe make you dinner when I come home again," he offered, taking another huge bite. He shrugged as his dad spoke about math. "I'd rather fight with numbers than be on a stick a hundred feet in the air or getting in trouble with the head of house," he shrugged. "I'm not sure it was even like, getting scolded but like, the head of house made a point of talking to me because I don't go digging in the dirt in herbology or when I carried my tiny pumpkin back to the castle instead of doing that floating spell," he took another bite of his food.

He nodded as his dad said he should invite over Eugene. "He's musical and stuff, he's really good at playing the guitar," Charlie took another bite, hiding that he was learning the violin. He wasn't sure what his dad would think of that, really. And he wasn't sure how to bring it up, either. "I was wanting to do some shopping, actually, get some stuff for Parker and Eugene before I go back," he told his dad.

He shrugged as his dad asked about his classes. "They're hard, but I'm not failing. I'm getting like B's and C's I think," he sipped his drink. "The article went okay I think. I kept the first few drafts, I don't know if you want those, I had to trim it down for the paper." Charlie rolled his eyes. "As soon as it was out one of the guys on the Gryffindor team was complaining I gave his team 'bad press', but all I did was cover the game. Gryffindor lost. One of the chasers did a decent job, but the Slytherin team are the champions. They played better." He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, even if he'd felt bad about it at the time.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn frowned a little, not wanting to play quidditch or fly he could get, it wasn’t for everyone, but the herbology stuff, that confused him. ”Why didn’t you do the spell? Digging in the dirt sure, but why not the spell, it would’ve been easier?” he wanted to figure out if Charlie had perhaps just not known how to and if so had he explained that to the professor. A professor couldn’t be mad because of an inability to do a spell, but Celestyn didn’t know given that he’d never experienced that. He nodded as Charlie asked to do some shopping for his friends, and he could be assured at least that his son wasn’t completely alone or without others. He nodded, ”We could look at getting you a tutor over the summer if you’d like?” he said, extra help might end up being useful to him if he wanted that. As for the bad press, he knew he was lucky he didn’t often see the people he wrote about until a while later. ”It’s one of the downsides to being a journalist, someone will always be unhappy, but you just gotta stick to the truth and the facts.”​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie shrugged. "It was a really small pumpkin. I made it into a jack o lantern and sent it to you? It just seemed like overkill to use a spell for that when it was so easy to carry," he shrugged. "We already used the spell to grow it." He took another bite of his food. "Everything at school is so dependent on magic, it's almost ridiculous," He rolled his eyes. His eyes actually lit up when his dad offered him a tutor over the summer. "Yeah, that might really help actually, I don't understand transfiguration at all," he sipped his drink. He nodded as his dad talked about sticking to the truth and the facts. "I liked my first draft, honestly, it was very even. The one I printed was more for word count, so I had to cut some of it," He sighed, finishing off his plate.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn shrugged a little and then gave a little smile, ”This whole apartment has magic flowing in it,” he pointed out, ”And I mean, muggle schools are dependent on their electricity, on the internet, things that make their life easier. Magical people do too with magic. Sure a small pumpkin a small distance to you isn’t much, but, to someone else it might be, so, why not let magic take care of it.” Celestyn told him, he knew that Charlie was partly right in what he said, but Celestyn didn’t consider magical people dependence on magic any different from muggle dependence on the internet, on electricity. He also thought it valid to allow the consideration that something could be easier for some than others. He just nodded, getting Charlie something to help him out with classes would be easily doable. He knew plenty of co-workers had done the same with their own children. He nodded at Charlie talking about his article. ”The editor was right, you should stick the given word count and really, a good rule of thumb when you’re writing, once done, force yourself to get rid of 10% of it, that’ll help make concise,”​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie shrugged. "Yeah, but the apartment is mixed. We have both. Most muggles don't have the option for anything else. I just don't see how intentionally confining yourself to candlelight and cold castles is preferable." He scowled. "School wouldn't suck so bad if I could just call you sometimes," he grumbled, stabbing at his food grumpily.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn wondered if perhaps he had let Charlie a little too loose in the muggle world, and he couldn’t know if the magical castle was actually cold. ”if you’re cold, talk to one of the professors, they might be able to make it warmer,” he told him. He knew if they could share the world with muggles it might be easier to argue from the point of magic. He figured as Charlie continued that he was just missing him, missing this life, and that anything to do with magic was just suffering because of that feeling of missing home. ”I know buddy, you know I’ve heard about enchanted mirrors, like two way mirrors, you get one, I get one and we can talk via that. Should I look into getting us some?”​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie shrugged at the suggestion. He wasn't sure the Professors would really care. He had just finished his second plate when his dad started speaking again. He had just sipped his drink when he heard what his dad was saying. He almost snorted his drink. "Wait, really? That- that would be awesome, can you really do that?" He asked, feeling really excited.

 

[Celestyn Helkovaara]

Celestyn gave a little shrug, ”I’ll look into it, no promises,” he said. The man would need to look into where he might get one the cost and everything else to do with it. But if he felt like this would allow his son to enjoy magical school a little more then he would do it. It would be something small. The man hoped that over time Charlie would come to enjoy school and magic, he knew that him studying at home just wasn’t an option, he knew that was worse, it was lonely and hard. ”What else do you have to tell me about school?” he asked.​

 

[Charlie Helkovaara]

Charlie tried not to pout too much, pushing away his empty plate and cradling his drink in both hands. He smiled softly. "Well, there are events. Mostly dances, though I did win one of the categories for the Halloween Costume Contest," he told his dad with a small smile. "That was fun." His smile wavered a little and a thoughtful look came over his face. "I was noticing at the last dance there are a lot of couples and stuff though," he looked to his dad. "I guess I've never really given romance things much thought like... ever. Am I old enough for us to talk about that yet?" He asked, more mildly curious than anything else.